Plasma Television And LCD Television Essay

Introduction Television technology has continued to evolve to be what it is today since the late 1930s when it was first commercially available. Today the television set has become a very basic household commodity in institutions and homes as source of entertainment and news. The T.V. today has evolved from the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) to such advanced technology like the Plasma and LCD televisions that have taken the world by storm. But what’s the difference between these two latest models? Outwardly the models are almost alike, they are thin and flat. However, they differ in the technology behind them though they deliver almost similar results. (Robert Silva) The technology behind the Plasma television is based on the fluorescent light lamb and the display consists of cells. A narrow gap separates the two glass panels within each cell, where neon-xenon gas is injected and sealed in plasma form in the process of manufacturing. The LCD television on the hand uses a different technology of manufacture. LCD panels that are made of two layers of transparent material are â€Å"polarized† and bound together. (Robert Silva)   A special polymer is coated in one of the layers that hold the various liquid crystals. To create an image, current is passed through each individual crystal, these allows the crystals to pass or block light forming an image. Because the crystals by nature do not produce their own light, external lights like a fluorescent bulb are required to illuminate the created images for visibility. (Robert Silva) LCD television is more expensive than the Plasma television, however most consumers or users are never interested in the technicalities thus do not understand the difference, all they look for is a stylish set to suit their homes. (Robert Silva) REFERENCE Robert Silva: What are the Differences Between an LCD TV and a Plasma TV? Retrieved on 17th March 2008, from http://hometheater.about.com/od/lcdtvfaqs/f/lcdfaq2.htm

The Jones Family, Incorporated

THE JONES FAMILY, INCORPORATED Principles of Corporate Finance 6th Edition Richard A. Brealey and Stewart C. Myers The accompanying table summarizes Johnny's NPV calculation. He assumed Marsha would take 25 100-mile trips per year, saving $200, plus $1. 00 per mile, plus a $40 tip on every trip. Operating costs would be $. 45 per mile. The net savings are $295 per trip and $7375 per year.These savings increase with inflation at an assumed rate of 4% per year. It seems that Marsha's horse transporter was a good buy after all: NPV is positive (+ $14,325). MINICASE SOLUTIONS THE JONES FAMILY'S HORSE TRANSPORTER |Year |0 |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 | |1.Investment (plus ending value in | | | | | | | | | | |year 8) |-35,000 | | | | | | | |+15,000 | |2. Insurancea |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 |-1,200 | | |3.Net savings vs. rented | | | | | | | | | | |transporterb | |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 |+7,375 | | | | | | | | | | | | |4.Cash flow |- 36,200 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+6,175 |+21,175 | |5. Adjusted for 4% inflationc | | | | | | | | | | | |-36,200 |+6,422 |+6,679 |+6,946 |+7,224 |+7,513 |+7,813 |+8,126 |+28,979 | |6.Present valued |-36,200 |+5,892 |+5,622 |+5,364 |+5,118 |+4,883 |+4,658 |+4,445 |+14,543 | NPV = + 14,325 a Paid at start of year. b Savings per 100-mile trip: 200 + 100 (1. 00 – . 45) + 40 = $295. For 25 trips per year, annual savings are 295 x 25 = $7375. Here the savings are entered at end of year (or start of the next year). This understates their value: the Jones family would actually begin to save right away. c Savings increase by 4% per year. Year 8 cash inflows from line 4 are multiplied by (1. 04)8. d Line 5 discounted at 9%.

Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths

ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Graduate School of Business MARKETING MANAGEMENT 555 ASSIGNMENT 2 Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Actual Count: 3624 (Excluding cover, contents and reference pages) Page 0 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Neural Correlates †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Ethics of Neuromarketing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Free will & Decision-making †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 CONCLUSION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 REFERENCES:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 Page 1 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Deb unking the Myths? INTRODUCTION Neuromarketing, argues Lee, Broderick, & Chamberlain (2007) is an emerging interdisciplinary field that combines economics, neuroscience and psychology, with Neuromarketing being term just six years ago says Smidts (2002). The goal of neuromarketing suggests Laybourne & Lewis, (2005) and Smidts (2002) is to study how the brain is physiologically affected by marketing strategies and advertising. Brain activity resulting from viewing an advertisement is monitored and measured using neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as shown in Figure 1, and electroencephalography (EEG) is used in order to evaluate the Figure 1 fMRI Image effectiveness of these strategies (Laybourne & Lewis 2005). McClure et al (2004) says neuromarketing studies usually measure preference between products in terms of brand familiarity or product preference. As a viewer may hold a cognitive bias in traditional marketing studies, measures such as the product preference for a particular advertisement is sometimes difficult to measure argues Schaefer, Berens, Heinze, & Rotte (2006). Walter, Abler, Ciaramidaro, & Erk, (2005) suggest in neuromarketing studies, brand familiarity and product preference have been correlated with neural activity. Further, consumer protection groups and academics view the field of neuromarketing with caution due to the possible ethical implications of designing advertisements to intentionally cause specific neurological effects (Commercial Alert, 2003). Laybourne & Lewis (2005) and Smidts (2002) says functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) are intrinsic neuromarketing are neuroimaging techniques and comprise the neuroscience aspect of the field. fMRI requires a participant to lay on a bed, with their head located inside the ring of a scanner. Researchers can measure the neural activity throughout the brain in terms of blood flow via oxygen usage by monitoring the participant? s brain with fMRI. As a contrast for this technique researchers can also use EEG equipment as it is fairly portable and light. Using numerous electrodes that are placed on the articipant? s scalp in a Figure 2 Brain Cap Page 2 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? net-like fashion, as shown in Figure 2, EEGs can measure brain activity by assessing electrical activity at the scalp. Using both behavioural responses as well as neural activations Fugate (2007) says researchers are able to use neuroimaging to monitor and conduct marketing studies of the participant? s response. Fugate (2007) explains neuromarketing as being the process that involves asking subjects to perform experimental tasks and control tasks whilst being wired to various electronic devices. Researchers are able to compare differences in the images produced during the respective tasks as the devices generate instant, colourful images of a working brain. Researchers are then able to see what parts of the brain have responded to the stimuli used (Fugate 2007). Fugate (2007) describes the mechanics behind neuromarketing, as a revolution in the marketing, however, Fugate (2007) has overlooked some critical scientific concepts, specifically the corollary nature to neuromarketing research. Nneuromarketing as a concept suggests Smidts (2002) emerged prior to the word actually being used in 2002, despite suggestions otherwise. Many studies lacked the spatial resolution to make any useful claims as to the mechanisms behind effective and ineffective advertising techniques due to limitations of neuroimaging techniques conducted in the past few decades (Smidts 2002). An example argues Reeves, Lang, Thorson, and Rothschild (1989), is their claim that in an EEG study television scenes with negative content causes activation of the frontal portion of the right hemisphere while positive messages cause greater left hemisphere activity in the frontal region. It is important to note that as only four electrodes were used (in addition to the two reference electrodes) cortical arousal was only monitored in terms of frontal versus occipital (Reeves, Lang, Thorson, and Rothschild 1989). Now days, EEG systems are much more precise and often have up to 256 electrodes to monitor brain activity. Many other studies from the same time period by Krugman, (1971); Rothschild, Hyun, Reeves, Thorson, & Goldstein (1988); Rothschild & Hyun (1990); Weinstein, Appel, & Weinstein (1980) also employ „hemisphere? activations as key findings. Nonetheless, suggest Weinstein et al (1980) it is not the fact that earlier research in „neuromarketing? has been imprecise that is of greatest importance, but rather how quickly the field has evolved over the last few years. Page 3 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Conditioning & Marketing Two methods are typically employed in neuromarketing research as means of evaluating an individual? s preference between products: product preference and brand familiarity. Product Preference Product preference comparisons involve two known brands or products, which is unlike brand familiarity. Walter et al. (2005) uses an example of male participants being asked to rate a car? s looks regardless of cost and practical requirements, given the choice between a high performance sports vehicle, a midsized vehicle and a small car. Participants ranked the sports car first, followed by the med-sized car, with the small car ranked last. Walter et al (2005) suggested the sports cars as a primary reinforcer for social dominance, representing independence, power and speed. In this example, the sports car acted as a secondary reward. Money or cultural goods are secondary rewards that reinforce behaviour only after prior learning, through associations with primary rewards (innate reinforcers including food, water, and sexual stimuli). The three main functions of rewards as outlined by Walter et al (2005) can: (a) induce positive effect, (b) induce learning via positive reinforcement, and (c) induce consuming behaviour for acquiring the reward. Sports cars are preferred, as seen from the study conducted by Walter et al (2005), as they correlate with primary rewards that we innately seek. They also represents characteristics that we perceive our culture values. Morgan et al (2002), as cited by Walter et al, (2005) say this study was also adapted from a previous study of dominance and social hierarchy involving prime mates. In short, given two identifiable products, preference will be given towards one over the other, which is due primarily to the preferred product having more reinforcing qualities in terms of secondary reinforcers we identify as being relevant at a personally level, as well as to our cultural heritage. (Walter et al 2005) Brand Familiarity Comparisons between amiliar and unfamiliar products are defined as brand familiarity (Campbell and Keller 2003). When a consumer first sees an advertisement for an unfamiliar brand Campbell and Keller (2003) suggest they feel negative uncertainty towards it as it is unfamiliar. However, repetition of an advertising message, argues Campbell and Keller (2003), Page 4 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the M yths? at low levels, decreases this uncertainty and increases the effectiveness. One way that products can earn the trust of the consumer and become more familiar, suggest Fugate (2007), is through the use of celebrity endorsements. Repeated exposures can decrease the effectiveness of the advertisement by annoying the viewer, argues Campbell & Keller (2003), so therefore advertisers must keep in mind not to advertise too much. Consumers can only store knowledge for the familiar, but not the unfamiliar, so repeated exposures for an already familiar product provides more time for the consumer to process the advertisement and their associated experiences from using the product (Fugate 2007). Consumer can become bored and even annoyed more easily for unfamiliar brands as there is less knowledge to process (Fugate 2007). Therefore, for consumers to recognise a new brand entering into the markets Campbell & Keller (2003) suggest they need to be conservative in their marketing efforts by not overdo it. More identifiable brands, such as Pepsi, are able to advertise more often with less concern of annoying their audience argues Campbell & Keller (2003). Neural Correlates A key principle of neuromarketing, suggest Damasio (1996), is that it is based on finding a neural correlates for buying consumers such as product preference and brand familiarity. As most studies are only able to monitor neural activity observationally it is important to acknowledge that researchers are only able to seek a correlate and do not induce product preference via neural stimulation (Damasio 1996). Interestingly, peer reviewed evidence has been found linking brand familiarity and product preference with the medial prefrontal cortex, says Damasio (1996). The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), suggest Damasio (1996), is a repository of linkages between bioregulatory states and factual knowledge. In the more specific instance of advertising , this translates into experiences and product information being linked to positive effect, via the mPFC (Damasio 1996). IMAGE 1. mPFC Studies by Kable and Glimcher (2007) point to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as the locus of interest for neuromarketing studies are quite notable. As outlined in the sports car study earlier Walter et al (2005) advise product preference has been correlated with the activation of Page 5 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? several brain regions in the reward circuitry of the brain, including the mPFC. Preference has also been correlated with mPFC activity independent of prices argues Knutson, Rick, Wimmer, Prelec, & Loewenstein (2007) and was found to be predictive of subsequent purchasing. Studies by Paulus & Frank (2003) observed when using a visual discrimination task as a control they found coinciding results when a simpler preference judgement study was conducted. McClure et al. (2004) conducted one of the most compelling neuromarketing studies. Researchers conducting a study monitored neural activity when drinking either Coca-Cola or Pepsi (see Figure 3). Using an fMRI for an experiment McClure et al (2004) had two conditions, (a) brand-cued delivery, and (b) blind taste test. When conducting a blind taste test, brain activity between the Coca-Cola and Pepsi was observed as being nearly identical. However, in the brand-cued condition, significant differences were observed in with neural activity, primarily in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (McClure et al 2004). Figure 3 Coke Vs Pepsi The significant observation was no neural activation differences were identified when no brand nformation was provided, but when brands were identified, product preference and brand familiarity came into play with Coca-Cola being generally preferred by the participants, which caused significantly more activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region of the brain says McClure et al (2004). An important aspect of the study is that no choices are made by the participant; the soft drink were given to the participants in the fMRI in small quantities; the manipulation was based when the brand was first announced; the finding was based on the activated regions on the brain as measured by the fMRI. Brand preference and previous conditioning is only demonstrated in brand-cued delivery, and only then is there significant ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation. Koenigs & Tranel (2008) in a follow-up to the McClure et al (2004) study shed more light on the paradox of cola preference. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) explain that subjects tend to prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola, or have no reliable preference, in a blind-taste test, yet Coca-Cola consistently Page 6 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? outsells Pepsi therefore creating a Pepsi paradox. When brand information is available, CocaCola is preferred, however, when brand information is not provided, no reliable preferences can be made, which is creating the paradox (Koenigs and Tranel 2008). Cola preference was counterbalanced in the McClure et al (2004) study. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) tested predictions from previous studies by using participants with damaged prefrontal cortex. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) discovered that when patients are presented with brand information, it makes no difference on their preferences. The conclusion was this finding mirrors effects found in normal individuals participating in blind-taste tests. Gladwell (2005) suggest the strong brand image of Coca-Cola, not taste, is the reason Coca-Cola is preferred over Pepsi. Several studies have connected brand familiarity with mPFC. Schaefer et al (2006) and Schaefer & Rotte (2007) report that when comparing familiar and unfamiliar products with mPFC activity differences in neural activity are detected, which can also be connected to neurolearning literature of novelty detection in rat lesion studies suggest Dias & Honey (2002). Campbell and Keller (2003) suggest relative to behavioural principles, brand familiarity is of extreme importance to advertisers. Fear the unknown pushed consumers away, and in advertising, this fear creates uncertainty for product that results in consumers selecting a known product. For culturally familiar brands relative to unfamiliar brands Schaefer and Rotte (2007) demonstrate this as superior fr ontal activity and increased mPFC. In short, studies conducted McClure et al (2004), Paulus & Frank (2003), Walter et al (2005) have linked medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activation to preference judgements. Further, Schaefer et al (2006) and Schaefer & Rotte (2007) suggest mPFC can be attributed to the preference for the familiar over the unfamiliar, assuming that the consumer is going to buy a product either way (i. e. a vehicle). Preferences between the available choices in terms of their relative value, suggests Montague (2008), is the next step in the consumer decision making. Consumers can evaluate their choices by weighing the pros and cons of all the available choices (Montague 2008). Research by Sutherland (2004) shows that this process is primarily undertaken by the medial prefrontal cortex, which some have dubbed the „liking centre? f the brain. Several other areas have been implicated as key brain regions relevant to neuromarketing research, suggest Walter et al (2005), other than the medial prefrontal cortex. Some of these Page 7 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? regions include the ventral striatum, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, (Walter et al 2005). The ventral striatum says Knutson et al (2007), Walter et al (2005), is the reward center of the brain and has been correlated with self-reported self arousal but only as an indicator of the predicted value of the reward. This is used as a mechanism for learning as it is thought of as prediction error. The amygdale says Walter et al (2005) has also been correlated with reward intensity in neuromarketing studies, however, is commonly known for its role in processing emotional information. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), says Walter et al (2005), consists of mainly two regions: the lateral and medial (and is mainly thought of as a measure of preference. The medial OFC is activated by rewarding stimuli, which includes the medial prefrontal cortex. Lateral OFC activity is correlated with punishing stimuli. The use of neuroimaging is not limited to neural activation measures says Fugate (2007). For example, in terms of hormonal secretions such as dopamine neuroimaging quantitatively measure this affect (Fugate, 2007). Though the field is expanding rapidly there is much to discover in terms of neural correlates and interest to neuromarketing, suggests Fugate (2007). Ethics of Neuromarketing In order to enhance a commercial gain a major issue for research in neuromarketing is the ethical concerns of neuroimaging. Neuromarketing is nowhere near ready to allow researchers to design a marketing campaign, so addictive that overrides an individual? free will. Founded or unfounded concerns are being allayed regarding this. A consumer protection group in America, known as Consumer Alert, has filed complaints to the US federal government, as well as a US senate committee, and universities, protesting the ethics of neuromarketing. Consumer Alert believe neuromarketing as â€Å"find[ing] a buy but ton inside the skull† (Commercial Alert 2003, 1). Commercial Alert (2003, 3) claims: â€Å"Our children are suffering from extraordinary levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes, anorexia, bulimia, and pathological gambling, while millions will eventually die from the marketing of tobacco. According to Consumer Alert (2003), the rise of neuromarketing will bring an end to free will. Lee et al (2007, 202) suggest â€Å"Unfortunately, the barely concealed disdain for the idea of „neuromarketing? in the neuroscience literature is clearly based on the opinion that marketing research is a commercial activity purely designed to sell products to the public†¦ † which many Page 8 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? academics are also hesitant to embrace (Thompson, 2003). Neuroscience academics tend to focus on more medically relevant questions, though there are many journals dedicated to economics and marketing (Thompson, 2003). As such, some believe that â€Å"brain imaging will be used in ways that infringe personal privacy to a totally unacceptable degree† (Editorial, 2004b, 71). An anonymous author in Nature Neuroscience, took a similar stance, saying â€Å"Neuromarketing is little more than a new fad exploited by scientists and marketing consultants to blind corporate clients with science. † (Laybourne & Lewis 2005, 29). Neuromarketing research may help reduce the problems raised by Commercial Alert (2003). For example, Montague, Hyman, & Cohen (2004) say, by examining the differences between the brain activity of compulsive overpurchasers may help to understand why these compulsive individuals tend to spend outside of their means. In addition, it can provide useful information for how clinicians treat these disorders by looking at the correlations between buying behaviour and clinical disorders. For example, the reward circuitry of the brain and in value-based decisionmaking and the medial prefrontal cortex are quite important says Montague, Hyman, & Cohen (2004). Two significant ethical issues are present in neuromarketing research argues Murphy, Illes, and Reiner (2008), being: (a) protection of consumer autonomy if neuromarketing reaches critical effectiveness, and (b) protecting vulnerable parties from harm. To mitigate, recommendations for a „code of ethics? to be adopted by the neuromarketing industry are proposed by Murphy et al (2008). Some of the recommendations include (1) accurate representation of scientific methods to businesses and the media, (2) full disclosure of ethical principles used in the study, and (3) protecting research subjects from any coercion. Free will & Decision-making Murphy et al (2008) suggests that if neuromarketing ever does reach critical effectiveness then the concerns of Commercial Alert (2003) may not be unfounded after all as neuromarketing may infringe on an individual? s free will. The importance of neuromarketing is not restricted to neuroimaging, but also includes computational neuroscience, which is the study of quantifying the component steps that underlie a given behavioural process. Value-based decision-making, for example, can be broken down into five steps suggest Rangel, Camerer, & Montague, (2008), Page 9 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? which are: (1) identifying the decision problem; (2) weighing the possible choices; (3) making a decision based upon the evaluation of the choices available; (4) after carrying out the decision, consider the resulting consequences; and (5) learn from the decision-making process in order to make better decisions in the future. Montague (2008, 584) says, â€Å"Viewed this way, it? s easy to see why „free? choice is an unconstructive way to conceptualize the way humans choose†¦ †. Vohs & Schooler (2008) suggests that free will and the ability to manipulate perception of it have also recently become apparent. However, it has been many years, suggests Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl (1983) since neuroimaging studies have suggested that neural activity does precede conscious intention, especially if it can be monitored. The decision of whether or not to buy a product is a result of from balancing the gain of obtaining the product, says Knutson et al (2007), offset by the act of actually having to purchase for the product, which is an interplay of corresponding valuations and choices. Using computational neuroscience, rather than neuroimaging, Walvis (2008), is able to connect neuroscience with common marketing principles. Walvis (2008) suggests three propositions of how the brain organises information and states, â€Å"These three propositions function similarly to the basis of an artificial neural network model, implicating the importance of what other „elements? the brand is associated with, the strength of these associations, and the sheer number of associations that are present between the brand and other „elements? in the network† (Walvis, 2008, 182). These form the basis, say (Walvis, 2008, 186) for the â€Å"Three Branding Laws†, based upon how engaging the branding environment is to the consumer, how repetitive and targeted the branding efforts are, and how personally relevant the brand? s marketing strategy is to the consumer. The stronger these pathways and connections are, the more likely a given product will be selected by a consumer. We can again quantify factors involved in choice behaviour, through the use of an artificial neural network, by using these laws says Walvis (2008). Neuromarketing can greatly improve marketing techniques when using a strong neuroscientific basis for branding, as suggested by Walvis (2008), even without the use of neuroimaging, but rather employing other aspects of neuroscience. Page 10 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? CONCLUSION Fugate (2007) suggests a revolution will soon overcome current market research as a consequence of several key implications of neuromarketing. Researchers are better able to evaluate an advertisement? s effectiveness much more scientifically, when applying neuromarketing techniques, in terms of how the ad affects the viewer? emotional state (i. e. , excitement or humour) as well as the viewer? s attention to the ad. Product appeal, suggested by Walter et al (2005) and the „sports car? study are also identified with respect to the findings with the reward circuitry of the brain. Neuromarketing was shown to be able to connect and quantify the effects of celebrity endorsements, suggested by Fugate (2007) that links the auditory and visual stimuli of the celebrity as they cause hormonal secretions in consumers that identify with the product endorsement, which can lead to a positive emotional response and feelings of trust. As researched by McClure et al (2004), logo/brand selection and emotional attachment was shown to be significant with consumers, which explained the result that Coca-Cola outperforms Pepsi. Only time will tell how much of an effect these new techniques will have on marketing success as the future implications of neuromarketing show great potential. Neuromarketing, in its current stage, is by no means adequate in determining if an advertisement is effective. Stimulating the medial prefrontal cortex does not mean that an advertisement will be effective as it is only a corollary response. The medial prefrontal cortex region of the brain is also the subject of other research studies, which include those in fear conditioning as suggested by Baratta, Lucero, Amat, Watkins, & Maier (2008), provocation resulting in eating disorders (Uher et al. , 2004), and startle responses (Day-Wilson, Jones, Southam, Cilia, & Totterdell, 2006). The field shows great promise as being the next step in market research despite the current flaws in neuromarketing research. Advertisers are likely to be more successful in making a longer lasting impression on the consumer if they took advantage to the many psychology studies that have been previously conducted as they would be better able to direct their efforts towards a target demographic. It is debatable if improved marketing capabilities are good or bad for the consumer; however, with ethics being enforced through legislation I feel we are seeing the myths of neuromarketing being debunked. Page 11 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? REFERENCES: Baratta, V. , Lucero, T. , Amat, J. , Watkins, L. & Maier, S. 2008. Role of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex in mediating behavioral control-induced reduction of later conditioned fear. Learning & Memory, 15(2), 84–87. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Campbell, M. , & Keller, L. 2003. Brand familiarity and ad repetition effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 30, 292–304. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Commercial Alert. 2003. Commercial alert asks Emory University to halt neuromarketing experiments. Commercial Alert News Release. Page 12 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? http://www. commercialalert. org/PDFs/neuromarketingrel. pdf accessed 26 February, 2011). Damasio, A. 1996. The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological sciences, 351, 1413–1420. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Day-Wilson, K. , Jones, D. , Southam, E. , Cilia, J. , & Totterdell, S. 2006. Medial prefrontal cortex volume loss in rats with isolation rearing-induced deficits in prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle. Neuroscience, 141(3), 1113–1121. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Dias, R. , & Honey, R. C. 2002. Involvement of the rat medial prefrontal cortex in novelty detection. Behavioral Neuroscience, 116(3), 498–503. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Editorial. 2004a. Brain scam? Nature Neuroscience, 7(10), 1015. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Editorial. 2004b. Neuromarketing: beyond branding. The Lancet Neurology, 3, 71. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. urtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Fugate, D. L. 2007. Neuromarketing: a layman? s look at neuroscience and its potential application to marketing practice. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(7), 385–394. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Gladwell, M. 2005. Blink. New York: Time Warner Book Group. http://p roquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Kable, J. W. , & Glimcher, P. W. 2007. The neural correlates of subjective value during intertemporal choice. Nature Neuroscience, 10(12), 1625–1633. http://proquest. mi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Page 13 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Knutson, B. , Rick, S. , Wimmer, G. E. , Prelec, D. , & Loewenstein, G. 2007. Neural predictors of purchases. Neuron, 53, 147–157. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Koenigs, M. , & Tranel, D. 2008. Prefrontal cortex damage abolishes brand-cued changes in cola preference. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 3(1), 1–6. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Krugman, H. 1971. Brain wave measures of media involvement. Journal of Advertising Research, 11, 3–9. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Laybourne, P. , & Lewis, D. 2005. Neuromarketing: the future of consumer research? Admap, 461, 28–30. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Lee, N. , Broderick, A. J. , & Chamberlain, L. 2007. What is „neuromarketing A discussion and agenda for future research. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 199–204. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Libet, B. , Gleason, C. , Wright, E. , & Pearl, D. 1983. Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential). the unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain, 106(Pt 3), 623–642. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). McClure, S. , Li, J. , Tomlin, D. , Cypert, K. , Montague, L. , & Montague, P. 2004. Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44, 379– 387. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Montague, R. 2006. Why choose this book? : How we make decisions. Toronto: Penguin Group. Montague, R. 2008. Free will. Current Biology, 18(4), R584–R585. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Page 14 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Montague, R. , Hyman, S. , & Cohen, J. 2004. Computational roles for dopamine in behavioural control. Nature, 431, 760–767. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Murphy, E. , Illes, J. , & Reiner, P. 2008. Neuroethics of neuromarketing. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 7, 293–302. ttp://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Paulus, M. , & Frank, L. 2003. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation is critical for preference judgments. Neuroreport, 14, 1311–1315. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Rangel, A. , Camerer, C. , & Montague, P. R. 2008. A f ramework for studying the neurobiology of value-based decision making. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(7), 545–556. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Reeves, B. , Lang, A. , Thorson, E. , & Rothschild, M. 989. Emotional television scenes and hemispheric specialization. Human Communication Research, 15(4), 493–508 http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Rothschild, M. , & Hyun, Y. 1990. Predicting memory for components of TV commercials from EEG. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 472–478. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Rothschild, M. , Hyun, Y. , Reeves, B. , Thorson, E. , & Goldstein, R. 1988. Hemispherically lateralized EEG as a response to television commercials. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 185–198. ttp://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Schaefer, M. , & Rotte, M. 2007. Favorite brands as cultural objects modulate reward circuit. Neuroreport, 18, 141–145. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Page 15 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Schaefer, M. , Berens, H. , Heinze, H. , & Rotte, M. 2006. Neural correlates of culturally familiar brands of car manufacturers. Neuroimage, 31, 861–865. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Sutherland, M. 004. Synopsis of reported neuromarketing studies. Neuroreport, 28, 15–18. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Thompson, C. 2003. There? s a sucker born in every medial prefrontal cortex. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(3), 11-12. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Uher, R. , Murphy, T. , Brammer, M. , Dalgleish, T. , Phillips, M. , Ng, V. 2004. Medial Prefrontal Cortex Activity Associated With Symptom Provocation in Eating Disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(7), 1238–1246. http://proquest. mi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Vohs, K. , & Schooler, J. 2008. The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science, 19(6), 49-54. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Walter, H. , Abler, B. , Ciaramidaro, A. , & Erk, S. 2005. Motivating forces of human actions: Neuroimaging reward and social interaction. Brain Research Bulletin, 67, 368–381. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Walvis, T. 2008. Three laws of branding: Neuroscientific foundations of effective brand building. Journal of Brand Management, 16, 176-194. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Weinstein, S. , Appel, V. , & Weinstein, C. 1980. Brain-activity responses to magazine and television advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 20(3), 57–63. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Welberg, L. 2007. Shopping centres in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(2), 84-85. http://proquest. umi. com. dbgw. lis. curtin. edu. au (accessed 26 February, 2011). Page 16 of 18

Financial report analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Financial report analysis - Essay Example Origin made it generation capacity more than doubled by expanding or adding power plants in 2010. The capacity was 704 MW in the financial year of 2009; it was increased to 1620 MW in 2010. The company’s performance improved even its retail sector where a profit of $90 million to $565 million was achieved. The sale of company’s solar systems provided further profit to the company. Despite all above factors company reported a substantial decrease in Net Profit after tax as it was calculated 91% lower than the previous fiscal year, i.e. in 2009. The statuary profit was decreased to $612 million in comparison with $6941 million of the previous year. In this loss the dilution of Origin’s interest in Australia Pacific LNG alone comprised of $6411 million to that period while the net benefit in this number of items being only $27 in this year. The earnings per share for the period hence decreased to a nominal 69 cps (cents per share) from the 791 cps of last year. A fi nal dividend of 25 cents per share was paid to its shareholders in the month of September, 2010. The company expanded its presence in south East Asia to the portfolio of oil and gas drilling. This exercise has been totally unprofitable for the company as excluding this exercise company’s underlying profit would have been up by 15% or 609 million. Apart from that Underlying Earning per Share noticed a growth of 10% as it increased to 66.6 cent per share from 60.5 cent per share, the average weighted capital base being 878 million. The main cause of such loss in company’s account will definitely be amounted because of the dilution exercise processed with the Australia Pacific LNG which definitely was a bad decision in favour of the company. (Origin Energy, 2011, Annual report) Introduction In February 2000 the Australian Conglomerate Boral Limited was demerged and its energy segment was removed from it to form a new company Origin Energy. This was done to separate the en ergy business from building and construction business. In the year 200 and 2001 the companied grew to a substantial size by acquiring Electricity retailers Powercor and Citypower. Till 2004 the company has further acquired 50% holding in Kupe Gas Field and 51.4% holding in Edison Mission Energy. By The month of March this year the company has bought the retail division of Country Energy and Integral Energy in $3250 million from the Govt. of New South Wales The principal activities of Origin Energy are in the fields of Oil, Gas and Electricity. The company owns Oil and Gas reserves in South Australia and Queensland. Outside the Australia also the company is intended to develop Kupe Gas Field in New Zealand. In Retail sector the company serves over three million customers’ gas or electricity in New Zealand, Australia and in the south pacific. In generation business the company generates electricity mainly natural gas. None of the coal fired power plant is owned by the company. In fields of Gas transportation and distributing Origin Energy had shareholding of 17% in Envesta Limited and 33% in SEAGas pipeline and these shareholdings were sold to APA group in 2007. The company policy of producing energy from renewable sources is well appreciated. The company is highly active in this field and have spent years of research in this field. The company does not own any equity in wind farms

Using and Applying mathematics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Using and Applying mathematics - Essay Example delicate balance is required between letting the child have some time and freedom to develop his own approach to strategy to problem solving, and sensitive questioning which develops the child’s thinking (Hopkins et al. 1996). Beginning with the problem-solving framework, the teacher has a very specialized and highly-involved role in the education of the students, and the recognition of the likely effect of intervention and non-intervention are critical. In this paper, teaching strategies will be presented which promote problem solving and mathematical thinking in the developing children of the United Kingdom. Solving problems is one crucial component of using and applying mathematics. According to the 1999 Framework for teaching mathematics, numeracy is a proficiency that requires a child to have an ability to solve problems when given different contexts. Problem solving for the children from primary years one to six has been embedded into mathematics teaching and learning, thereby becoming an integral part of the children’s work. This progression analysis highlights the increasing complexity of the mathematical problems that the children tackle as they move from one year to the next. Through years one to six Block A covers counting, partitioning, and calculating; securing number facts and understanding shape in Block B; handling data and measures in Block C; calculating, measuring and understanding shape in Block D; and securing number facts, relationships and calculating in Block E (Tanner & J1s 2000). In Block A, each student should be able to solve problems, recognise and utilize the number system, recognise prior experience with mathematic operations, and communicate the abstract concepts of math in a concrete, tangible form. In Block B, they name shapes and their characteristics, forming a basis for the examination of 2-D and 3-D shapes which extends through Year five. In Block C, they sort and present information in diagrams and use units of

Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Politics - Essay Example There are three main topics which I cover in this essay, the first is explaining the current approaches to the post - Cold war international order, secondly I examine the role of the U.S.A in the international order, and finally, I discuss the future possibilities of the international order. I take each topic in turn, present both arguments and show the similarities and differences between Liberals and Marxists. The end of the Cold War can be analysed as a significant development in world politics and as the defeat of Marxism and triumph of Liberalism. Fukuyama is quoted as saying that this is â€Å"the end of History† and explains in his thesis, â€Å" [the end of the Cold war is] not to an â€Å"end of ideology† or a convergence between capitalism and socialism, but to an unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism† (1989 pp.39). The triumphant Liberals will claim that the post-Cold war world order has the U.S.A as the single world super-power, however, they have grasped this power through consent rather than through imperialist measures like past super-powers have done, for example, Great British Empire throughout the 19th century. This has been achieved through introduction of Free-trade agreements via the WTO, and, as a result of certain policies and economic development, other important liberal factors, such as democracy and freedom, have flourished, pa rticularly in former Soviet Union satellite states such as Poland and the Ukraine. The traditional Liberal position on the international order is a â€Å"bottom-up approach† (p121) which means that the needs of the individuals is paramount so the states orientations reflect the peoples desires and not the other way around. This in turn is reflected onto the international scene where different states want different things and hence free-trade can be quite effective in this position. From the

International Financial Risk and Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Financial Risk and Control - Essay Example It is imperative for transnational business organizations to recognize the determinants of exchange rates and whether the exchange rate variations can be forecasted. International parity conditions refer to the economic theories that connect exchange rates, level of prices as well as the interest rates. In this study, we would attempt to see whether the international parity conditions are effective in forecasting the variations in the exchange rates in the real world. In doing so, we would consider the bilateral exchange rate movements of Euro/Dollar over the past twelve months and observe whether the variations were consistent with one or more of the International Parity Conditions. Subsequently, we would conclude the study by discussing the extent of effectiveness of the International Parity Conditions as a forecasting tool (Eiteman et al., 2007, p.170). In this section of the study, we would assess the relative exchange rate movement of Euro expressed in terms of United States Dol lar. For the convenience of the study, the Euro versus Dollar exchange rate fluctuations for the period of last twelve months were considered. However, to analyze the latest trend of the Euro/USD exchange rate, we would initially focus on the last 120 days movement of the currency. During this period, the highest value for Euro was 1.3788 USD (as recorded on November 8, 2011) while the lowest value of Euro during the same period was 1.2669 (as recorded on January 16, 2012). The latest value of 1 Euro (as on April 20, 2012) was observed to be 1.3192 USD (Source: X-Rates, 2012). The graph above represents the exchange rate movements EUR/USD for the period starting from May 2011 and ending at April 2012. A closer look at the exchange rate chart reveals that the value of Euro in terms of USD during the specified time frame had fluctuated from 1.45 to around 1.3 USD approximately.  

Pharmacology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pharmacology - Essay Example At this point, Mary was prescribed the corticosteroid known commercially as Advair. Initially, she was compliant with the recommended dose of two inhalations daily, but later began to forget. In her most recent clinic visit, this practitioner has diagnosed Mary with bacterial pneumonia following chest x-ray and isolated cultures from sputum samples. Cough was initially dry, but grew productive over the course of 24 hours. Spirometry was performed in which she achieved a forced expiratory volume of 62%. The chest x-ray revealed a flattened diaphragm, following this observation Mary was diagnosed with COPD. To treat her infection, she was given amoxicillin. Joseph (4 years old) was brought in by his parents with a high temperature and productive cough. He had no past medical history or allergies and took no prescription or over-the-counter medications. This was a comparatively difficult assessment based upon the prior experience of the practitioner considering that the questions were more directed at the parents than at the child, a frequent necessity of pediatric medicine. But the same overall structure familiar to the practitioner was maintained. As advised by Dorp (2008) the GP used simple language to communicate with the child to provide reassurance. Before asking questions she played with the child to try and gain trust. It is also advised to have a child friendly atmosphere during these assessments (Dorp 2008); but a dedicated area designed to be child friendly is not feasible at present. Following the consultation and examination, a chest infection was detected, and Paracetamol and Amoxicillin were prescribed. COPD is not contingent upon a single organic condition; impaired airflow into the lungs with subsequent breathing difficulty can result from a selection of pathologies, including chest infections. It is often tested through spirometry (Celli, 2000; CDC, 2011). This condition is a risk for both men and women, and the rates of death can

Chronic Pain or Mental Illnesses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chronic Pain or Mental Illnesses - Assignment Example There are numerous causes of chronic pain and these including different underlying chronic pathologies such as congenital abnormalities in the structure of the spinal cord, trauma, obesity, ageing and other underlying conditions such as multiple sclerosis, AIDS and cancer. When carrying out an assessment of an individual with chronic pain, there are several issues which have to be addressed; however, among these issues there are three main questions that are important for the physician. The first question is the extent of the disease affecting the patient; the magnitude of the disease in terms of suffering and pain and how these intrude into the everyday life of the patient; and finally, whether the complaints of the patient are in coherence with the disease or if there are some signs of exaggeration indicating a psychological component to the condition of the patient. There two patients that were examined and one was a 45 year old male with a history of brachial plexus injury and the other a 75 year old woman suffering from tendonitis. The 45 year old male complains of pain that has lasted for approximately a year. The patient complains of pain that is associated with a tingling sensation in the form of an electric shock. Upon examination, the patient displays weakness in the arm and he also says he feels numbness in his right arm. The 75 year old woman has a history of tendonitis which is approximately 25 years. The patient reports pain that is predominantly in her wrist area and there is also significant swelling in the wrist area. Upon examination, the patient was found to have swelling at the area of the thumb and was diagnosed with DeQuervain’ tenosynovitis. The patients both went through a psychological examination and this indicated that there was no exaggeration of pain among these patients and it was in coherence to the medical co nditions which they were found to have. The

Blackberry Picking Essay Example for Free

Blackberry Picking Essay Task: Choose a poem that deals with an aspect of ordinary living. Analyse the poem showing how it . Pleasures are like poppies spread You seize the flower, its bloom is shed Bums Seamus Heaneys sensual and disturbing poem Blackberry -Picking explores aspects of ordinary living and enables us to see clearly the truth about a core element of human nature. This engaging piece of verse, written early in the Nobel laureates career, exposes humans perpetual desire for pleasure and the seemingly inescapable negative consequences attached to this pursuit. The poem is produced in a style readers familiar with Heaney will recognise: the deeper meaning is heavily cloaked in metaphor, and is therefore made clearer and more emphatic once understood. Upon reflection of these underlying themes about ordinary life, the reader experiences the clarity of vision usually associated with seeing something for the first time; this is a quality Heaney has claimed is essential to poetry. The poem is, on the surface, about a boys experiences at berry-picking time in the countryside. The anticipation and participation in this apparently very pleasant practice is conveyed for most of the first stanza of this two stanza piece. The poet describes an insatiable appetite (that verges upon greed) for indulging in the activity. In the latter part of this first stanza, however, a far less hedonistic mood can be detected by a very noticeable change in lexical choice and imagery; indeed, guilt and perhaps even remorse are evident here. In the second stanza the picked fruit becomes grotesque as it decays and the inevitable destructive forces of time take effect: Primarily, it is necessary to detail the larger metaphor which is relevant from the very beginning of the poem the title: Blackberry-Picking. The concept of picking fruit has irreducible associations with the Biblical story of Genesis an explanation of creation and mankinds fall from a state of innocence to one of sin a nd guilt. In this book Adam and Eve are templed by Satan to pick the forbidden fruit, resulting in their expulsion from Paradise. From this we can infer that the berries of Heaneys poem symbolise temptation, and that this temptation will lead to a loss of innocence and the incursion of guilt and sin into the world of the poem. In addition to this, the idea that the propensity for giving in to temptation is central to human nature, as it is of such ancient  origin, is strongly suggested. †¢ The time of year when these symbolic berries are picked, Late August, is given in the first line, and the sultry, humid, sensual atmosphere of this time of year is evoked by the following zeugma: given heavy rain and sun. This sensual atmosphere is developed in the first nine lines of the poem, and it clearly contains allusions to sex in lines 5-7: You ate that first one, and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summers blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking. Here the idea of the irresistible allure of the berries is emphasised, and the allusions to sexual pleasure through the lexical choice of that first one, its flesh was sweet, Leaving stains upon the tongue, and the direct reference to lust, heighten the mood of sensual temptation. This is reinforced and strengthened by the suggestion of intoxication in line 6 when the flesh of the berries is described in a simile as being Like thickened wine. Summer is subsequently personified and this reference to Summers blood thickens the languid, warm, impassioned atmosphere. In this section of the poem, then, very ordinary aspects of life sensuousness, sexuality, desire, temptation are conveyed cleverly and clearly through the metaphor of blackberry picking. This metaphor enables us to see these things as extraordinary driving forces behind our actions, and this is a disturbing realisation. The boy experiencing this burgeoning, bountiful time of the rural calendar cannot, as has been shown ab ove, get enough of the fruit he picks. He and others set out between lines 9-12 to gather as many berries as they can. After they have indulged in this harvest, however, a contrasting mood is introduced: .. on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeards. Here the poetry is loaded with imagery and cultural associations. Initially the monosyllabic alliteration of the plosive b in big dark blobs burned strikes the reader as ponderous and menacing. This reaction is reinforced by the connotations of pain in the verb burned. The effect of this is aided by the gruesome and macabre simile that follows. The berries are described as being Like a plate of eyes. The very different mood engendered by this imagery is developed by the subsequent allusion to the crucifixion of Christ in hands in thorn pricks and the simile incorporating the legendary  character Bluebeard (a pirate who murdered many wives). This section of the poem, then, gives three consecutive images that evoke . connotations of guilt: the mutilation of the berries nat ural environment, the indirect reference to Christ (crucified by mankind), and the comparison between the berry pickers hands and the bloody hands of a serial murderer. In stanza two the mood of the poem deteriorates further as the harvested berries decay. In the first line the word hoarded, used to describe the volume of berries stored, reminds us of the insatiable appetite and self-indulgence depicted in the first stanza. The berries are now rotting, however, and this is conveyed effectively through word choice. They are described with the verbs stinking and fermented. Furthermore, a disease is spreading through the hoard. This is described as A ratgrey fungus, glutting on our cache. The connotations of disgust, revulsion and disappointment evident here are developed in lines 20-21: Once off the bush/I the sweet flesh would turn sour. What we can also perceive here is the notion of the inevitable and regularly experienced fate of all pleasure it cannot last and becomes satiety and guilt. The anguish at the fate of the berries, and therefore the fate of all indulgence is emphasised by the tone of the third last line: I always felt like crying. It wasnt fair. The boy of the poem is clearly still becoming accustomed to the irresistible forces of time. In the last line, however, we learn that the boy experiences this annually: That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not Perpetual hope and the following inevitable disappointment is emphasised here, and the reader can directly engage with this as we all experience such sequences in ordinary life. By the process of reflecting upon, and understanding, the blackberry picking metaphor, the reader sees the driving forces behind human behaviour afresh, and they become extraordinary and disturbing. Blackberry-Picking is a sensual and evocative poem which entices the reader with rich and opulent images. In stanza one we are drawn into the pleasure of the activities depicted by the poet. The ideas of guilt, disgust, and disappointment are then introduced as the greed of the pickers and the decay of the berries are illustrated. The extension of this cycle to others areas of life is performed by the use of sexual and cultural  allusions, symbolism and metaphor. Through these techniques we are given a startlingly clear picture of a common and ordinary reality we may never before have considered: that our lives are driven by perpetually disappointed hope and desire and that pleasure cannot last. The disturbing nature of this realisation is compounded by the religious symbolism of the berries this state of affairs may have been with us from the very beginning, and there is no reason why it should not be with us to the end.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Joining A Currency Union Economics Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Joining A Currency Union Economics Essay Currency Union are a group of countries that share a single currency. There is a misconception that currency unions are a product of the 20th century globalization, but it is not true. They have existed since the times of Roman, but still they havent been adopted as a global financial system. The reason being despite it having many advantages it has few disadvantages as well. I will discuss these advantages and the disadvantages in the first part of my essay. While in the second part I will show some light on the current heated debate about UK joining the Euro Zone. Transaction cost:- The most essential advantage connected with changing to a single currency was the removal of the need to change currency . Savings are very large because of the elimination of the transaction cost connected to the exchanging currency, the taxes for countries that have most of the exports to the European counties only. The significant decrease in the cost of exports will be most useful for small scale business to achieve economies of scale. By switching to the euro, members of the EMU were expected to save as much as $30 billion a year (The Euro, the European, pp. 154), :- Daniel Portone. Investment:- As there is low transaction cost there is large amount of investment because companies now this is one of the most important decreases in the cross border investment. This has lead to large cross border investment like in France the foreign direct investment has increased from 12% to 18%. The disappearance of the cost of transaction and the introduction of the common currency makes the money market deeper and integrated. The major financial institutes are being listed in the Euro, which in turn attracts potential investors to gain confidence in different EU financial markets . The market combination provides various links to dilute the risk in the EMU. If we assume that the French and German bond and equity markets are fully integrated, it will facilitate the adjustment to asymmetric shocks (see Figure 1). When France is hit by a negative shock, companies there make losses and that drives down stock prices of these companies.- Jean Monnet.which bring the profit to germen investors ,thus the boom in germany brings profit to French . A very similar mechanism also works through the fully integrated bond market, Jean Monnet Exchange rate stability (Common Currency):- Common currency generates a platform to judge the price relationship, make price difference more noticeable and helps to equalise it across borders.- Jean Monnet .Along with the removal of the need to change currency, there is also problem with the volatility of the exchange rates also. When the rate fluctuates it also affects the profitability of the company and increasing the risk which in turn decreases the net investment into the country. Thus to stabilise the situation it is useful for a company to enter in a currency union. .. having the same currency can boost trade by a factor of three. Canada again provides the example : inspire of close proximity to the US and similarities in culture , Canadian provinces trade twelve to twenty times more amongst themselves than with the US states The common currency provides the member nation to compare the prices efficiently . The poor regions would never become richer simply by devaluing its cur rency repeatedly. On the contrary the associated high inflation would introduce economic distortion and reduce its average real income, :- Professor Alec Chrystal Free movement of workers :- Free mobility area of the labour helps the countries to prevent from an asymmetric shock which is the result of inflation in one country A and a recession in country B . If there is mobility of labour ie they can move freely this will lead to release the inflation in A and increasing employment of the people in B. For example, workers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand account for 10 percent of the employment in Singapore. Emigration has been as much as 2 percent of the labor force of the sending countries- (http://www.adb.org/Documents/ERD/Working_Papers/WP012.pdf ) The prevention of competitive devaluations and speculation:- The Monetary unions protect the member countries damaging effect of competitive devaluation of the currency which may lead to steeling the business of the other . But is any country which try to do this with the monetary unions has an adverse effect of high inflation. Other advantages of joining the currency union are as follows. The country gets an access to larger markets and thus increasing the overall income of the country. It also reduces the effect of shocks from exterior instability to an individual country. Joining the currency union is very important for those countries which lack internal control . This allows free movement of goods and sevices without any obstacles. This also keeps peace between the nation as they now that they are all interdependent on each other . the one of the most important advantage is it it will increase the tourism in the countries as there is easy movement and no currency changes . Disadvantages of currency union Loss of sovereignty: This means that country adopting the Common currency has to give up the Monetary policies to the body who is controlling the union . like in the case of European union all the 12 countries had to give up their monetary rights to the European central bank with decides the monetary policies for all the nation . Its most biggest disadvantages come during the crisis when the situation are different in all the different countries and cannot be handled in the same way. Like in a case of sudden increase in the unemployment the governments income will decrease as taxes are not paid so the government will have to increase the taxes which will lead to further disaster decrease in the interest rates during the crisis will help some but will adversely affect the other . So it is very difficult to be in an currency union . In the United States, Texas could not avoid a recession in the wake of the 1986 oil price fall, whereas demand for Sterling changed in the light of the ne w oil price, adjusting the exchange rate downwards.- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/single_currency/25081.stm Cost of adopting the new currency: The adopting of new currency will have a very huge cost to the economy. These are like Such changes include educating customers, changing labels, and training staff, changing computer software and adjusting tills.- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/single_currency/25081.stm Lower inflation and reduced transactions costs of trade provide gains, while the inability to respond to idiosyncratic asymmetric shocks generate losses.:- Andrew K. Rose1 New negative cross-border spillovers of fiscal policy:- a national fiscal expansion raises the demand for savings, ceteris paribus pushing up the long-run interest rate and discouraging investment. In an integrated capital market strengthened by monetary unification, this effect will spread to other countries, imposing a negative externality. A monetary union may also generate new negative spillovers. An increase in domestic government purchases, in affecting the demand for domestic products, raises local inflation, thereby pushing up average euro-area inflation and forcing the ECB to contract monetary policy for the entire area. Further, a national fiscal expansion may cause an appreciation of the euro, thereby undermining the external competitive position of all union members.- (http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/4305) The other disadvantages of the Monetary unions are as follows, the one of the biggest disadvantage is the difference in languages with in turn leads to the decrease in the mobility of labour Language in Europe is a huge barrier to labour force mobility. This may lead to pockets of deeply depressed areas in which people cannot find work (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/single_currency/25081.stm.). The countries in the currency union also lose the ability to cope with the external shocks. It have to leave it on itself so be rectified with in todays time is very difficult. Should Britain join euro Britain is one of the biggest financial hub in the world, which is also the worlds largest hub for currency trading . Britain does the maximum currency trading . Britain from the beginning has been independent and has been flourishing . But it was a real shock to the Britain when EMU was formed and the biggest threat . After reading the list of journals , it is very difficult to say whether or not Britain should join the Euro or not . There are many arguments and thoughts over it and would like to bring them forward to you . I would first like to bring forward all the positive aspects of the Britain joining the euro with the real facts about it . There has been a significant decrease in foreign direct investment in Britain after the formation of the EMU . Britains share of the foreign direct investment coming into Europe has fallen by a half (see Table 3). In 2001 the Netherlands received more of this investment than Britain.:- Richard Layard, Willem Buiter, Christopher Huhne, Will Hutton, London as mentioned is a important financial hub, but the pound has little to do with it. Where most of the trading is done mostly in dollars in most of the transaction , but the euro outranked the pound ,where euro was involved in 41% and pound in just 24 % of the transactions (as seen in the table 1). The other thing is that this financial centre employ about 1,50,000 people creating  £10- £15billion annual invisible exports . If the UK exercises its opt-out, long-term damage would be inflicted on the City, which will ultimately lose its pre-eminence to Frankfurt or even Paris, in part because trading in the Euro will be focused within its area of operation:- Brian Burkitt The continues increase in the instability will decrease the attractiveness of Britain has as a destination of capital flow. The stock of euro-denominated corporate bonds nearly tripled between 1998 and 2001, to 1.2 trillion Euros. This clearly shows the euro-zone has reconstructed its business which has increased the annual cross border foreign direct investment by 4 fold. Britain almost has its 50% of its trade with the EMU, which is shown in table 2, so it would be better for the UK to join the euro and thus reduce its cost of import and exports .During November 2002 the Chief Executive of Ford UK specifically stated that euro/sterling exchange rates were damaging the profits of the company:- http://www.fpma.scot.nhs.uk/euro_pros_cons.pdf The British consumers will be now able to compare prices all over Europe . This will end the phenomenon of rip-off Britain that allowed coca-cola to charge double here what it charges in Spain, or Ford to charge 43% more for a focus than in Denmark. :- Christopher Huhne . From long time the MNCs new that Britain is the Treasure Island and the consumer are willing to pay high price. Britain chance to exploit the Asia and the America is by joining the bigger currency thats the Euro

Malicious Babo of Benito Cereno by Melville Essay -- Benito Cereno

Malicious Babo Benito Cereno is a short novel written by Melville, with a surprise ending. At least it was quite a surprise that Babo, the negro servant of Cereno, ends up being the one in charge of the ship. Babo fought for his freedom, which is good, but Babo went above and beyond the means necessary to get his freedom. Along with that he has much more serious problems with himself. Here are some ways to see it. There are two ways to look at what Babo did. When he was fighting for his freedom he was either fighting for his life or for his quality of life. Babo was fighting for a cause that is unjustifiable after the actions that he committed. Babo was fighting for his quality of life and what Babo did to improve his quality of life was terrible and with malicious intent. Yet, there is always another side to an argument so first I will show the way Babo could be seen as a symbol of good. These concepts, life versus quality of life and how Babo is seen as both good and evil, I will clarify in the paragraphs that follow. Babo could be considered a good leader Babo could also be considered a genius Another good quality of Babo is his will to live Fighting for your life is when you are in danger of losing your life. Babo was never in danger of losing his life before he took over Cerenos' ship. Babo didn't like the situation that he was in. So yes, do something about being a slave but there is no need to kill anyone. Babo could have remained on the ship, been sold into slavery and then reposes his freedom much like how Fredrick Douglass attained his. Fredrick Douglass got out of slavery without a single life lost. If Babo had done what he was told to do, Babos' head wouldn't be on a stick right now. Babo would b... ... to steal his ship. Another trait of Babo is that he is a selfish human being. He tries to get what he wants all the time. Babo forces his way of thinking onto his fellow slaves by telling them what to do. If you put these qualities together in one person you will get something bad. Actually to be specific you will get an unethical, dictating liar that rules in such a way that he will get the most personal gain. In conclusion, Babos' actions can speak for themselves. He took fighting for his life over the top, to the point where he became a malicious, gruesome, savage beast that fought to improve his life without taking into consideration the lives of others. He was willing to stop at nothing to get what he wanted. This included murdering and stealing his way to the top where he thought nobody would be able to stop him. I think Babo is where he needs to be.

Deaf Culture Essay -- Hearing Loss Essays

Deaf Culture I may not be considered part of the hearing culture due to my severe to profound hearing loss, but some people might be surprised to hear that I am not considered a part of the Deaf culture. A majority of the Deaf culture is very critical of those who assimilate with hearing people and accept hearing culture as their majority culture. I believe that every hearing impaired and deaf person is an individual and needs to do what is best for them instead of being worried about following the rules of the Deaf culture. The members of Deaf culture have many different levels of hearing that range from profoundly deaf to slightly hard of hearing (Halpern). However, none of the members of the Deaf culture consider themselves hearing-impaired. Deaf culture has its own jokes, language and theatre. People who can suddenly hear find that they are the one with the handicap when they walk into the Deaf culture. The Deaf community takes pride in their identity and does not have any desire to become part of the hearing culture. This community also displays its pride by capitalizing their culture with a capital D (Halpern). "Thou shalt honor thy mother and father, diverse Deaf role models and hearing allies" (Weinstock), is one of the Ten Commandments of the culturally Deaf . This gives an idea of how Deaf culture considers hearing people as allies and not necessary as a part of their culture. The Deaf community's all or nothing philosophy can be shown in the Deaf culture's many jokes and narratives. There are the Ten Commandments of the culturally Deaf which state some rules and beliefs that the Deaf culture hold. Pride is shown in this statement, "I am a proud Deaf Being who brought you out of pure oralism, out of oppressi... ...eturn, I should get some respect for the lifestyle that I have chosen. Feel free to email me with your imput and comments! Works Cited Halpern, Carla. "Listening in on Deaf Culture." 1996: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://stripe.colorado.edu/~standard/V5N2/AWARD/halpern.html. Matlin, Marlee. Letter. TIME Domestic 24 October 1994: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://pathfinder.com. Van Biema, David. "Beyond the Sound Barrier Deaf Americans are proud that one of their own is Miss America. But can her example apply to them?" TIME Domestic 3 October 1994: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://pathfinder.com. Weinstock, Janet. "The Ten Commandments of the Culturally Deaf." May 1993: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/deaf-info/commandments.html.

Quest For Family Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Quest for Family   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 1950’s were a decade of growth and expansion. Growth of the middle class, expansion of religion and a growing economy kept Americans on the move- literally. Families were moving from the cities and into the suburbs. â€Å"This massive shift in population from the central city was accompanied by a baby boom that started during World War II. Young married couples began to have three, four, or even five children (compared with only one or two children in American families during the 1930’s) (The American Story, pg. 729). This style of living began making the immediate family isolated from the extended family, making the extended family a thing of the past. â€Å"For many families, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives would become more distant figures seen on only special occasions† (The American Story, pg. 732). These new living standards were the result of a booming economy. The economic explosion was a result of the culmination of the war- Americans were no longer faced with the hardships of the depression and could indulge in material goods. This meant television, automobiles, or any other item from the long list of novelties that Americans craved found their way into the suburbs too. Religion also found its way into these communities. â€Å"Ministers priests and rabbis all commented ...

Race and notions of intellectual inferiority in America Essay

Introduction In public schools, it could not be denied that the administrations prioritize the needs of the White American students. Aside from the reason that the place of the institution is the so-called White’s territory, the administration, being diverse consider the White American students to be more superior among the other students. In this regard, they are able to provide the needs of the White students amply compared to how they are able to provide for those others who belong to minor races. Not to mention that these minor students belong to the ‘poor sector’ of the society, they are less taken care of by their administrative officers. Of course, knowing that the public schools cater to such type of students, the government of the United States sees to it that the said educational institutions are able to get the possible funds that could be used in utilizing some psychological applications and therapeutic health remedies that could be made available for the students. However, as clearly stated earlier, the administration of the schools, as the ‘trustees’ of the fund are given the responsibility to provide for their students directly. Due to the discriminative attitude of several administrative officers, these services are not equally distributed and accessed by the students. Usually, the ones who are able to have full benefits of the said provisions are only the White students and their family. Psychologists claim that such neglect of student need does not only display a clear picture of racial inequality but also aggravates the situation of the students who are less serviced well. Hence, instead of being progressively taught by concerned educators, minorities are left behind to learn things on their own, which they could not obviously do because of their difficulties in learning. It may not be as obvious as it stated in this study, but actual situations suggest the fact that discriminative measures that institutional administrations of the public schools usually overlook this need. As a result, their role in assisting the children enrolled in their institution is not completely realized. Worse case scenario suggests that the aggravation of such situations leads to deeper social depression that may not be obvious, but is felt by the students under the condition of having a learning disability and belonging to a minor race in the society. As these young learners grow up they begin to see the actual results of social divide. During most periods of history, civil rights granted by governments were often altered or withdrawn at will, which led to continued struggles for freedom of speech. Starting in the middle ages, some of the people demanded a written statement spelling out their rights, with limitations placed on government control of those rights. As a result, significant bills of rights began to be formulated. Among these was the Magna Carta, a landmark in the field of human rights. Dealing with human rights issues have always been the main core of debate among social enthusiasts within the American region. The respect for life and the right for living that every individual is entitled to has long been a withholding topic that almost everyone is highly concerned about. Within the American history, human rights issues have also been the reason why there existed several civil movements against the state during the early decades of development within the said society. To be able to examine how these issues primarily affects the present American society and its relationship with American-African minorities, relating the situation with history of the relationship that existed between the two races is essential for discussion.

“An Indian Story” by Roger Jack Essay

In â€Å"An Indian Story† by Roger Jack is an example of family solidarity and care giving within a minority family. When Jack was just a young boy, his mother died, then his father remarried and started a new family that made the boy uncomfortable with his living situation. After that, he decided to go living with his late mother’s sister, Aunt Greta. It is an evident that even before he decided to move with Greta, Jack was very close to her when he stated, â€Å"I walked to Aunt Greta’s house and asked if I could move in with her since I had already spend so much time with her anyway†(53). This is our first example of the strong ties to extended family in this story. As the story progresses we learn that Greta has sacrificed not only for her nephew but for her father as well. Greta had been married for a long time but her husband just died five years into their marriage. The reason why Greta and her husband never had any children and she never remarried was because she took care of her father after her mother died. The fact that Greta looked after her father demonstrates another tight family bond and support for one another but it was also evident that the two share a close relationship. The author states, â€Å"She [Greta] had so much love and knowledge to share, which she passed on to me naturally and freely† (53). Hence, tradition was very important to Greta’s family as well as their Indian culture and Greta shared it with Jack. During the years, Jack and his aunt form an even stronger bond and she became a mother to him as they shared many adventures together.

Sbi Change Management

THE WORD CHANGE Change is inequitable; not a respecter of persons. Change is for the better or for the worst, depending on where you view it. Change has an adjustment period, which varies on the individual. It is uncomfortable, for changing from one state to the next upsets our control over outcomes. Change has a ripping effect on those who won’t let go. Change is awkward — at first. Change is a muscle that develops to abundantly enjoy the dynamics of the life set before us.Change calls own strength beyond anyone of us. Change pushes you to do your personal best. Change draws out those poised for a new way. Change isn’t for chickens. Change does have casualties of those defeated. Change will cause us to churn or to learn. Change changes the speed of time. Time is so slow for the reluctant, and yet it is a whirlwind for those who embrace it. Change is more fun to do than to be done to. Change seeks a better place at the end and is complete when you realize you are different. Change Management:Change management is a set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashion to effect organizational change. One of the goals of change management is with regards to the human aspects of overcoming resistance to change in order for organizational members to buy into change and achieve the organization's goal of an orderly and effective transformation. Organizational change management takes into consideration both the processes and tools that managers use to make changes at an organizational level.Most organizations want change implemented with the least resistance and with the most buy-in as possible. For this to occur, change must be applied with a structured approach so that transition from one type of behavior to another organization wide will be smooth. SBI: State Bank of India is the largest state-owned banking and financial services company in India, by almost every p arameter – revenues, profits, assets, market capitalization, etc. The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding in 1806 of the Bank ofCalcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. The Government of India nationalised the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the Government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India. SBI provides a range of banking products through its vast network of branches in India and overseas, including products aimed at NRIs. The State Bank Group, with over 16,000 branches, has the largest banking branch network in India.With an asset base of $260 billion and $195 billion in deposits, it is a banking behemoth. It has a market share among Indian commercial banks of about 20% in deposits and advances, and SBI accounts for almost one-fifth of the nation's loans. * The Stat e bank of India is the 29th most reputed company in the world according to Forbes. * State Bank of India is the largest of the Big Four Banks of India, along with ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank — its main competitors. Change Trigger: Liberalisation of the Indian Banking system:During the 1990s, the Indian economy began a period of rapid growth as the country's low labor costs, intellectual capital, and improving telecommunications technology allowed India to offer its commercial services on a global basis. This growth was also aided by the government's decision to allow the creation of private-sector banks (they had been nationalized in the 1960s) Private sector banks made their first appearance in January 1993. The private-sector banks, such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, altered the banking landscape in India.Core banking systems and electronic delivery channels that allowed these banks to introduce new products and provide greater convenience to customers acted as a hur dle for the PSBs. During that period, Public Sector Banks accounted for over three-fourths of total banking industry assets. They were weighed down with huge NPAs(Non-Performing Assets), falling revenues, lack of modern technology and a massive and highly unionized workforce. New entrants began to erode the market share of the nationalized banks, especially in metro cities and urban areas.The PSBs found it increasingly difficult to compete with the new private sector banks and the foreign banks. These banks also employed state-of-the-art technology, which helped them to save on manpower costs and concentrate on providing better service. Changes in SBI: Drivers for a New Core System Though SBI had undertaken a massive computerization effort in the 1990s to automate all of its branches, implementing a highly customized version of Kindle Banking Systems' Bankmaster core banking system (now owned by Misys).However, because of the bank's historic use of local processing and the lack of r eliable telecommunications in some areas, it deployed a distributed system with operations located at each branch. Although the computerization improved the efficiency and accuracy of the branches, the local implementation restricted customers' use to their local branches and inhibited the introduction of new banking products and centralization of operations functions.The local implementation prevented the bank from easily gaining a single view of corporate accounts, and management lacked readily available information needed for decision making and strategic planning. The advantages in products and efficiency of the private-sector banks became increasing evident in the late 1990s as SBI (and India's other public-sector banks) lost existing customers and could not attract the rapidly growing middle market in India. In fact, this technology-savvy market segment viewed the public-sector banks as technology laggards that could not meet their banking needs.In 2002, SBI adopted a new tech nology that included the implementation of a new centralized core banking system. This effort encompasses the largest 3,300 branches of the bank that were located in city and suburban areas. The State Bank of India's objectives for its project to modernize core systems included: †¢ The delivery of new product capabilities to all customers, including those in rural areas †¢ The unification of processes across the bank to realize operational efficiencies and improve customer service. Provision of a single customer view of all accounts †¢ The ability to merge the affiliate banks into SBI †¢ Support for all SBI existing products †¢ Reduced customer wait times in branches †¢ Reversal of the customer attrition trend Challenges for the bank: The bank faced several extraordinary challenges in implementing a centralized core processing system. These challenges included finding a new core system that could process approximately 75 million accounts daily — a number greater than any bank in the world was processing on a centralized basis.Moreover, the bank lacked experience in implementing centralized systems, and its large employee base took great pride in executing complex transactions on local in-branch systems. This practice led some people to doubt that the employees would effectively use the new system. Initial Conversion Project: The conversion effort began in August 2003, when SBI converted three pilot branches to the BaNCS system. The successful conversion and operation of the pilot branches was followed by the conversion of 350 retail branches with high-net-worth customers between August 2003 and September 2004.At this point, the bank intentionally halted the conversions to analyze and resolve reported problems. After the software and procedural changes were implemented, SBI converted an additional 800 branches between December 2004 and March 2005. Unlike in the previous conversions, this group of branches included predominan tly commercially oriented offices. The conversion effort then refocused on retail branches until November 2005, when the bank paused again to resolve problems that came up during this second group of conversions.After the second round of changes, the system and processes were functioning smoothly, and management believed the branch conversion could be accelerated. Based on the successful pilot survey, SBI decided to convert the approximately 6,700 remaining SBI branches to the BaNCS system. The conversion of the remaining branches began in June 2006, with the stated goal of completing the conversion by year-end 2008. Managing the change: The factors which helped SBI in managing such a huge change are as follows: * Senior management commitment.The project was driven by the chairman of SBI, who met every month with the information technology (IT) and the business sector heads. The chairman monitored the overall status and ensured that sufficient resources were allocated to the project . TCS senior managers were thoroughly committed to the project as well and periodically met with the SBI chairman to review the project status. †¢ Staffing and empowerment of project team. The core banking team consisted of the bank's managing director of IT acting as team head and 75 business and IT people selected by the bank.TCS also staffed the project with approximately 300 IT professionals trained on the BaNCS system. Importantly, the SBI business people were viewed not just as contributors to a key project but as future bank leaders. This team reported to the SBI chairman and was empowered with all decision-making authority. †¢ Ownership by business heads. The regional business line heads were responsible for the success of conversion of their respective branches and reported the status to the chairman. Thus, the business heads' objectives were aligned with those of the project team. Focus on training: SBI used its network of 58 training centers across India to trai n employees on the new system. TCS personnel first educated approximately 100 SBI professional trainers, who then trained 100,000 SBI employees at the centers; the remaining employees trained at their respective job sites. Benefits of New Core Systems Implementation The new core system has resulted in benefits throughout the bank for both the customers and the employees of SBI. For example, the new core banking system has allowed the bank to redesign processes.It established 400 regional processing centers for all metro and urban branches that have assumed functions previously performed in the individual branches. The customers after implementation of this CBS system were no longer only the â€Å"customer of the branch is no longer only the customer of the branch but has also became the customer of the bank†. Meaning, they can carry out any transaction in any branch of the bank. After implementation of this system the bank has reversed the trend of customer attrition and is n ow gaining new market share.

Is Being Fashionable a Sin?

â€Å"Don't Judge a book from it's cover† is a great phrase, but we do actually Judge appearance first before getting to know people. That first impression helps anywhere, and good knowledge of fashion, and being well groomed really helps. I think it was Marilyn Monroe that said, â€Å"Clothing should be tight enough to show you are a woman, but loose enough to show you are a lady†. Words to live by!! I want to tell them that being modest does NOT mean covering yourself in a shapeless denim bag of a dress that hides any last speck of femininity!It is possible to be beautiful, stylish, and modest. A move toward beautiful clothes that are modest and actually make the person look good is always needed in the fashion world. Remaining fashionable is also a status war in itself, because you can only attain the status at which you can personally afford. I find concept of something being â€Å"fashionable† quite puzzling. Why many people feel obliged to wear â€Å"fashi onable clothes†? They don't wear it because of aesthetic value – or do they?If something was fashionable last season and now it is not, does it mean that the aesthetic Judgment changed or do people recognize value in conforming to the majority? The answer is simpler than you think. â€Å"Fashion† is the effect, not the cause. Combine two separate concepts: First, that pleasure resulting from a certain aesthetic fades over time. So yes to your first question, it is the aesthetic value that changes. You can only eat ice cream so long until you get tired of eating it, even though nothing changed about the ice cream.Similarly, people get tired of seeing the same kind of clothes being worn all the time. There is a certain pleasure in novelty. Second, fashion has a social value, as well as an individual one. Socially, what people ear is a significant part of our environment, so it's more pleasing to see people well- dressed. Individually, to wear clothes that other peo ple find pleasing arouses our vanity, so we have a personal interest in pleasing our society. â€Å"Fashion† refers to this careful equilibrium between social pleasure and individual vanity.It's more of a sign claiming â€Å"I'm up to date† than any aesthetics, but being up to date is very valued by many people, even if it is about something as irrelevant as clothing and even if being up to date about irrelevant things implies an opportunity cost and earns lost opportunities to be up to date about relevant things. Subconscious thoughts are not characterized for being very deep. TOPIC: People nowadays are paying a lot of attention to fashion. Do you think this is a good thing? As a kind of art, fashion has its own values and benefits for people such as making them more beautiful.Nowadays, people are paying a lot of attention to fashion and I think this is a very good thing because of the following reasons. First, fashion makes people become more attractive. On the roads , a girl dressing in fashionable clothes always attracts more attention of people than one in outdated outfit. This is because as human beings, we all want something that is new and appealing rather than boring. And fashion, in this case, contributes a lot to the beauty of people. It makes them more pretty in apparels that are updated to the popular trends, which a number of people are interested in.Secondly, fashion indirectly builds up a healthy lifestyle. People who love fashion always want to be in the most up-to-date dress. However, these clothes are Just suitable for certain body shape, which is usually a thin one. Therefore, fashion and he love for it are encouraging more and more people to follow a healthful diet, to do exercise and to work out in order to have perfect bodies that are fitted in the clothes they like. Last but not least, fashion makes our world an interesting place to live in. If fashion did not exist, the world might be a dull place where all people wore the same things with the same color.We could never see attractive girls in fashionable clothes on the roads or youthful boy in hip hop costumes. Moreover, no fashion meaner no traditional costume, which is a unique part that differentiates each culture. Therefore, with cushion, people can enjoy a colorful world where everyone looks beautiful and attractive in their own fashion style. In short, I believe that the special attention of people to fashion is reasonable and needed to be encouraged. It is because fashion contributes a lot to better people's appearance, to create a healthy lifestyle and a colorful world.Fashion is a sword TTT can heal or destroy. Ultimately in today's age, Fashion Just destroys people's lives. Fashion as healing: As an art, fashion can bring healing and meaning to people's lives especially ones who are gifted in designing and have passion for it. As destructive. Too many to describe. Fashion sprung out from man's perversity to want to dress to impress. To dres s to look good so that who benefits? They benefit and feel better about themselves. Look presentable is the goal for most organizations but that has just set a mindset especially in work cultures where dressing good matters.It does really create stratifications and psychological stress on people to dress a certain way if not be ready to meet the Judgment or isolation in some cases. What do these benefit a person when they reflect back upon the impact of fashion in society? Not forgetting what many people above have indicated on fashion's influence on self esteem and other matters. Fashion like science gives people a reason to have a Job and to feel good about it but it may actually be one of the reasons why people began to sin and erode the societal norms and family unities.Fashion makes people liberal in whatever they want such that they don't have to care anymore bat people around. Making a statement is bold but a great way to make oneself unique and humans crave that because they need to stand out and make a marquee in the community. They want to feel significant and stand out from the crowd. I'm saying good that you stand out but if the assumptive effect of fashion leads to the detrimental destruction on human unity and communion, then fashion shall be no more than a subtle piece of timber waiting to explode in someone's lives in some form of cheat or sick way.It really matters how you dress but many people's lives have been testimonies of the human need to find acceptance and prominence in some way and fashion is really not a good way. Predictability is a fine line between looking good and attention seeking. Conclusion; Fashion destroys pulp's lives very subtly and slowly if no appropriate boundaries are observed. Any since no one can restrict anyone from wearing anything, the trend is that fashion is one factor that harms our society and its a fact that no one can refute.Fashion here refers to the general consensus that dressing encompasses in our curren t day where we dress to show rather than to be presentable. That is the case TTT MAJORITY of brands try to proliferate. Sex sells is the message of the day. Just look at most of the biggest companies and you can be sure TTT is one of their drives in the company. Inner beauty not outer fashion ‘For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone,' is a famous quote by Audrey Hepburn.Thus it is about the inner beauty not the outer fashion. Lol, thank you can't think of anything else Self Respect has officially disappeared Women nowadays no longer dress to impress instead they dress to expose. Even though as women we may think that if we dress in a particular way, it would attract a guy we need to remember that if we respect who we are and how we portray ourselves, men will see this and respect us as well. Children as young as 12 are beginning to dress in clothes with a lot of exposure which is a sign that they are growing up.Children need to be children when they have the time and discovering and understanding grown up stuff should be left for their futures ahead. Makes people feel inadequate. Fashion is greedy and kills individuality. We are told that if you wear this or wear that, men will want you, etc. It is a load of rubbish. You can't Just wear what you want because that isn't ‘in' for that year, or month, or even week. Fashion churns out lines from every high street store in the country. Style and creativity (great things) should not be synonymous with fashion This organized fashion world however is something else.A grotesque facet of humanity and offshoot of capitalism, it commodities and homogeneous almost everything on this planet. Ultimately, in order to reproduce the same shallow, greedy hierarchy behind the the finished/contrived products mediated and presented to us. It DOES damage the planet. It DOES kill animals. It DOES caus e eating disorders. It DOES cause low self esteem. It fuels competitiveness and ignorance, and an irresponsible denial of reality. It causes us to ignore who we really are, who other people really are and values and issues which can't be turned into something sexy and desirable.It causes us to overlook the wonderful non-airbrushed world we already live in, and it also causes us to refuse to acknowledge and solve the problems that are there in it. It causes us to rule out knowing entire groups of people, adopting entire ways of thinking. It also – despite its self-proclaimed image of not doing so – continues racism and tethering. For several years I fell into the fashion trap set for all people. Lured in by the glossiness, the perfection, the sex, glamour, the manipulative language and presentation.I looked at the world through fashion's demeaning gaze and missed out on so much and hurt many people. I hurt my savings! I hurt my development! I wasted time. I hurt myself in developing an eating disorder and not embracing the absolutely wonderful person I already was. I also hurt people close to me, acquaintances, with the inherent Judgment fashion instills. I hurt people all around the world by paying attention to fashion, as fashion is a system relying on the people outside/at the bottom.I also no doubt perpetuated the harsh living standards for those at the bottom of the fashion industry making these clothes. And I damaged the planet. I don't believe that the meaner meet the ends whatsoever and if fashion was really that great it wouldn't need the billions and billions spent on constant PR & advertising. I think our society is seriously lacking in education/seriously over indoctrinated by the media now if a several million dollar ad which taps into your biological/instinctive yearnings to sell you an unrelated and inanimate object is seen s totally normal and an art form.I would also bring into question fashion houses funding of things which maint ain the hierarchy and the concept of ‘cool' and commodities ‘e. Galleries, shows, films, celebrities, buildings and why Italian fashion houses donate millions to the maintenance of crumbling Italian buildings which fuel the rest of the worlds perception of beautiful Italy etc etc I know there are other issues in play. I wrote this very quickly and it may seem reductive but I'm positive my argument is stronger than those trying to reassure themselves fashion is a necessary art form.It deviates youngsters from studies Youngsters who pay more attention to fashion are less attentive to their studies and when it comes to devoting time to their academic career, they seem to be less concerned. This very attitude and the role of fashion Magazines is harming the very basics of the student community and they start feeling that their life would reach a certain height if they involve their selves in the fashion activities. It is making people's minds more dependent on material thing s. It puts this image in your head that its all about how you look and what to wear and tepidity such as that.People are too dependent on what factories and what the government and what industries provide for them, when you can benefit you and your mind set by buying clothes that are for needs, not 50 million shirts to wear because you NEED every dang color. I understand that fashion is a way that people can express themselves, but when you take it too far and make it something you cannot live without, it shows true weakness in you AND society as a whole. Fashion rules the world. How many people do you know that don't care about the way they dress?I could count mine on one hand. People spend money they don't even have on clothes they will only wear once or twice at the most. When you spend money you don't have, your creating a problem for yourself, and others. Once you go broke, you start to have to get help from the government. The government gets it's money from the taxes and stuf f from the people who choose to spend their money the right way. Is it fair either? Fashion is harmful to society It makes you feel not K each season. So in an effort to feel K you pressure yourself to buy.It's not about creating peace or Joy in one's, but rather reinforcing you're not k unless you wear this designer or can afford this fashion. It's a waste of human resources. Displays the â€Å"perfect† image to viewers This causes them to believe in that image and strive to achieve it in order to feed their need to look beautiful. They try to follow the way that they are shown in the fashion industry which will help them to be accepted and look like the perfect beautiful woman so that they can match the society's requirements on beauty.Fashion depresses peoples freedom to be an individual Everyone here seems to be talking about clothes, but following fashion is in my mind, owing something that everyone is supposedly doing at the moment whether it be types of clothes, cars, behavior. Basically copying others Just to fit in or gain supposed social recognition. This can be harmful to a persons individuality, self esteem and general happiness if taken so far to stop people feeling they can freely be themselves. They have to follow the fashion no matter what the cost or think it's k to treat people who don't follow suit as outcasts.People are too bind to realize what fashion can do to person. I know this from experience and have watched people surfer. Fashion is killing naggers and some adults. Fashion is a waste of time. What happened to people expressing themselves? There are too many people wrapped up in what's in or getting the next best thing. Also, the so-called fashion of â€Å"hot bodies†; what the hell is up with that? I watched a friend who is so called â€Å"fat and ugly† struggle with being in style and having a body people want to see. She starved herself and made herself throw up Just to fit in.Honestly, I used to be wrapped up in fashion, but my mom made me realize that I don't need the newest things out there. I don't need make up as I used to think. My mom showed me how to express myself through everything I do. I thank her for that! I may be only 16 but I know what it used to be like. I don't care about fashion because being â€Å"in† is showing how low people can be and labeling them as trash, ugly, poor and worse. Fashion is harmful to a society and there is so much more around us. The sad thing is that most of the world is too blind to see it.People think fashion is so important because they always want to look good. Why do people always think fashion is so important? Well that is my question to you! Why is it so important? Why do you have to ooh good for people to like you? Some people in this world think that life is all about fashion! Well its not! Soot all you losers out there who think fashion is the best things in life.. Well stop thinking that. If you don't stop thinking that then you will grow up to have no friends and will have the worst life ever. So I came here to say fashion is not everything in life and it is harmful to some girls.If girls think that they will be liked if they look good then they will grow up to be lonely and have no friends. So if your one of those people think about al the other important things in life before you go to a party or get dressed up. Young girls are trying to emulate celebrities/models and can't differentiate the celebrity's â€Å"public persona† wardrobe from their everyday â€Å"at-home† wardrobe. Young girls look to celebrities and/or models when trying to figure out fashion. They see what is dished out to them from the media or from in-person events.They don't understand that much of what celebrities wear is worn specifically for the publicity. Some even for shock value Just to get into the forefront of the public eye. They see models with unrealistic body shapes and think that to be beautiful and successful they too have to be unhealthily thin. They don't know how many models are throwing up the only calories their bodies receive on a daily basis. They don't understand that celebrities that are dressing in body-hugging clothes and see-through tops are purposefully dressing that way because sex sells.Girls are so obsessed with being popular and accepted that they are trying to bypass being a girl and instead are trying to rush into being a woman. They aren't even getting the chance to figure out for themselves the stupidity of celebrities who spend a good sum of money walking in 9†³ stilettos or shoes without heels all for the sake of publicity. It is obvious that the celebrity is Just hiding behind the same insecurity that the little girls have about being accepted and loved for who they are. For the record, people with real talent do not need to hide behind the facade of fashion absurdity.At schools, girls have started to rank themselves with fashion. Girls have started to decid ed who's who by what they wear, and if one doesn't have enough money to buy a certain piece of clothing, then see it being worn around schools, than their self-esteems can be lowered to a certain degree, and can be seen as a target to bullies, making the situation worse. I feel that fashion is harmful to society, because it promotes a culture that is based solely on appearance. The fashion industry encourages an unrealistic outlook for men and women in regards to their bodies and their looks.Women and men have gone to great extremes to mold their bodies into what the fashion world has decided is â€Å"perfect†, often disregarding their health and well-being, Just to look like the air-brushed, rail-thin models that the industry has deemed beautiful. Fashion is definitely harmful to society, because it inspires people to make potentially harmful lifestyle choices. Societal problems, such as anorexia and teen violence, are exemplary as to why fashion can actually be harmful. The media pushes the idea of beauty, as it is associated with apparently emaciated super models and punks wearing baggy pants and chains.Our children try to emulate what they are seeing on television. Some restrict their eating to the point that their health suffers, and others steal and even resort to violence to obtain clothes that look like those their television heroes wear. Fashion contributes to excluding certain individuals from society by labeling them as different. Fashion meaner being able to express oneself, but when an individual does not have access to fashionable clothes for financial reasons or cultural ones, this individual is generally excluded from society.Fashion contributes in directing our attention towards appearances, and it impacts in a negative way what people think of each other. It harms the environment, it promotes low paid work, an unhealthy self-image and futility and contributes to the increase of consumerism. Most clothes are made with processes that pol lute the atmosphere and water sources, produce CO and other harmful gas, and a lot of waste. Most of the clothes are made y people who are paid around 12 cents a day and work in very poor conditions. The fashion industry employs models who are too thin and present their bodies as desirable and normal – how your body should be.And because the magazines, ads and whatnot make the clothes – and the whole industry – look so glamorous, people then feel tempted to buy more and more. This way, our society is becoming more image-centered, more futile and consuming. The fashion industry can be harmful to society, due to its unnatural display of weight requirements. In recent years, the alarming trend of fashion models' unnatural weight acquirement has directly affected our society, both as consumers and as individuals dealing with self-esteem issues that turn into dangerous health conditions.Teen and preteen girls are especially susceptible to the trends that the â€Å"h ouses of fashion† determine are â€Å"in†. Fashion is harmful to society for several reasons and it shouldn't be taken as seriously. Fashion is harmful to society because it makes people feel like they have to dress like the models and worst of all have to be the same size as the models. Children get shunned at school because of fashion and not wearing the top labels of clothing. It is unfair to Judge on fashion but that is what we do most of the time. I believe fashion is harmful to society.As the mother of a thirteen year old girl I can tell you that many things that are considered fashionable are ruining society. Whether it be the way they are wearing their clothes or what. There are also other issues that fall into this category television shows and radio. What is acceptable and what isn't? It is all a very thin line but all of it is becoming our undoing. Fashion is not harmful to society as it simply personifies freedom Fashion allows people to express themselves i n an individual way. It provides diversity in society which can only be a healthy thing.It shows that people have freedom and therefore allows them to relax and feel comfortable for who they are. Overall it makes for happier individuals which results in a more prosperous society. Fashion is the reason so many people are up to their neck in credit card debt. How many times do you go to a department store and not get asked by the cashier if you want a charge card for that store. The answer is almost never. Not only will the store charge you $100 for that pair of Sears, they will let you pay more than that if you onto want to pay for it all right now.Fashion is the biggest scam in consumer product because their products are never worth what you have to pay to be fashionable. Fashion beautifies the society There is nothing wrong with the fashion around us. Its Just our perspective that needs to looked upon and changed regarding fashion. Fashion is all around us so we can't imagine a soc iety without fashion. It would Just look like a prehistoric society without fashion. Fashion is the result of the man,s mental development, so there is nothing wrong with it.