Thursday, October 31, 2019

Contract for an Independent HR Contractor and the Importance of Having Research Paper

Contract for an Independent HR Contractor and the Importance of Having A Contract - Research Paper Example As the paper declares when a company employs independent contractors, it has to be categorically established that there is no â€Å"employer-employee relationship† between the worker and the company, and the better way to make this clear-cut is by entering into a contract that may be called, Independent Contractor’s Agreement. It is very essential that a contract should be executed, wherein all the terms and conditions should be clearly stated that could strengthen what had been verbally agreed upon by the employer and the independent contractor. In reality, when there is a contract, it could easily prevent the misclassification of the other regular employees. A contract would easily differentiate the independent contractor from the regular employee. This report stresses that all contracts should start by declaring the identities of the parties who will be the signatories in the contract, and they are the independent contractor, who could be the freelancer or the agency who will supply contingent workers, and the company who will be hiring the independent contractor/s. This should be followed by the establishment of what the independent contractor can do, and what he is equipped with, and it is at this point that it should be mentioned whether the contractor possesses a license or not, when it is specifically required, and that the company is desirous of engaging the independent contractor’s skills or expertise.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Vulnerability Assessment Essay Example for Free

Vulnerability Assessment Essay The importance and criticality of water for the existence, continuity, safety and comfort of human existence has remained acknowledged since the beginning of human life. Different generations and civilizations have tried in various ways to harness it for diverse purposes, for sustenance, transportation, human safety, irrigation, power generation, and industry. While previous civilizations were content with settling near water sources, or in areas with greater rainfall, advances in technology and increases in population, have led (a) to the emergence of issues like urbanization, sanitation, control of waterborne diseases, water treatment, depletion, conservation, and reuse, (b) to the extensive study of water resources and water cycles, and (c) to the formulation and implementation of various actions to ensure its appropriate use for human comfort and development. Recent decades have seen the development of issues like widespread asphalting and concreting in urban areas, sharply increased demands for water on a global basis, increased contamination of naturally available water, disturbances in water cycles because of pollution and global warming, and terrorist threats aimed at contaminating or damaging water storage and supply systems. Water supply, and its availability for human usage, has thus become increasingly vulnerable to diverse forces, forcing administrations and decision makers to respond with short and long term strategies to reduce water vulnerability, now and in the future. Objective The three county region of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, in Southern Florida, represents one such area in the United States where rapid urbanization, increasing population and significant increases in water consumption have led to increased water vulnerability and to carefully thought out and constructed responses by administrators and policymakers to counter this development, both in the short and long term. This assignment aims to study, assess and analyze the issue on the basis of the following requirements, parameters and assumptions: †¢ Identification of supply and demand factors that, at present, define and affect water supply for specified tri county region on the basis of research. †¢ Identification and assessment of the natural and manmade hazards that can currently affect water supplies in the three counties. †¢ Forecasting of the likely environment, and identification of water supply and demand issues after 60 years, i. e. , in 2067, considering that (a) half the existing square footage of impervious surface is added every 30 years, (b) another 50% of the existing footage is remodeled every 30 years, and, the annual population grows at the rate of 1. 5% annually. †¢ Identification of measures to (a) mitigate adverse impacts to water supply and (b) to adapt buildings to the projected realities of 2067, on the basis of a comparative assessment of water supply vulnerability in 2007 and 2067. The research effort depends primarily upon material available on the subject by way of texts, journals, and magazines, in electronic and print format, as well as on official and other websites. All information sources are available in the bibliography. The assignment is structured into sections that deal with issues sequentially and thus enable progression of ideas and cohesion of thought. 2. Current Demand and Supply Factors that define and affect Water Supply in the Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties of Southern Florida. The Tri County area in Southern Florida lies in the southeastern tip of the United States, the peninsular finger like landmass that stretches into the oceans, bounded by the Atlantic on the east and the Gulf of Mexico on the west. Apart from its unique, practically tropical ecosystem, the Tri County area is well known for its diverse ethnic structure, its agricultural produce, its burgeoning population, its rapid urbanization, and its sophisticated and controlled water management system. All these factors, ecological and anthropogenic, have led to opposing environmental stresses, burgeoning demand, and a complex and vulnerable water supply situation. (Blake) a. Demand Demand factors have thus been governed by burgeoning population, increased demand for agricultural water, greater use of recreational facilities, and increased industrial demand. Demand for water has increased significantly during the last four decades. The population of the tri county area has increased from about 3500 in 1900 to more than five and a half million in 2006, making it one of the most densely inhabited areas of the USA. This sharp growth in population is due, apart from migration from other states and organic growth of local population, to significant immigration influx, which, in turn has led to a multi ethnic and multicultural demographic structure. The present population of 5. 5 million consists of 1. 29 million people living in Palm Beach, 2. 4 million in Miami-Dade, and 1. 79 million in Broward. The population is a mix of white, African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian ethnicity, the continuous expansion occurring because of agricultural development and expansion in the early and middle years of the 20th century, its substitution by industry and mining, and extensive urbanization. Water is needed for municipal, agricultural, recreational, industrial, and power generation needs. Usage of water in the Tri County increased, by about 250%, between 1965 and 2000, i. e. , from 875 to 2140 Mgal/day. (Impact of Anthropogenic Development on Coastal Ground-Water Hydrology in Southeastern Florida, 1900-2000) b. Supply Supply of water in the Tri County area is met in approximately proportions by surficial aquifer and ground water systems. Ground water is the principal source of municipal supply and is obtained from numerous well fields. Water for agricultural purposes comes largely from surface sources in Palm Beach and Miami Dade, and while its requirement had steadily increased until the late 80s, has since declined because of substitution. Freshwater in the Tri County is limited in quantity and is of inadequate quality. Groundwater has been subjected to surface contamination and by underground saltwater incursion. Some wells are near landfills, treatment plants, and contaminated sites, and are thus vulnerable to increasing contamination. Some areas still rely upon septic tank sanitation and private wells, both of which can cause public health problems. The Tri County area is characterized by high evapotranspiration, periodic floods and droughts, and infrequent hurricanes. Annual precipitation is between 50 to 62 inches. (Thomas) The Tri County and contiguous areas have had to suffer the development of a controlled water management system, aimed at using land for urbanization and agriculture, and comprising of a widespread system of â€Å"canals, levees, impoundments, surface-water control structures, and numerous municipal well fields, †¦ used to sustain the present-day Everglades hydrologic system, prevent overland flow from moving eastward and flooding urban and agricultural areas, maintain water levels to prevent saltwater intrusion, and provide †¦ adequate water supply. † (Impact of Anthropogenic Development on Coastal Ground-Water Hydrology in Southeastern Florida, 1900-2000) Fast increasing population and rapid urbanization has led to the development of unprecedented urbanization, with consequent asphalting and concreting of vast tracts of land. In an area dependent upon potable water ground wells for most of its fresh water resource, this has resulted in depletion of surface and intermediate aquifers, because of the forced routing of rainwater, unable to penetrate impervious concretized and asphalted surfaces, through runoffs and drains, into the seas. (Blake) 3. Identification and Assessment of Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards that can Currently Affect Water Supplies in the Tri County Area. Natural hazards in the area can arise from periodic floods and droughts. In fact, a drought like situation in 2007 has resulted in restriction of water supplies. Palm Beach and Broward are under Phase III water restrictions, with stipulations that outdoor watering should not occur more than once a week, whereas Miami-Dade is under a Phase II restriction. Hurricanes also occur but are reasonably infrequent. The area has seen massive human intervention for a number of decades, resulting in wide ranging changes to the ecosystem and the development of potentially hazardous situations. Population growth and urbanization have led to changes in the coastal hydrology of the surficial aquifer system. The construction of a complex water management system, involving drainage facilities, large well fields, and levees, along with widespread concretization, has led to the depletion of aquifers and can result in exacerbation of drought like conditions. The population explosion has put enormous stress on sanitation and water treatment facilities, and there is significant risk of drinking contamination where people still depend upon private wells, especially in areas where septic tanks are still in use. Runoffs from urbanized areas have introduced high level of phosphorus, nitrogen and other contaminants in water bodies, which can certainly pose health hazards if not tackled adequately. These pollutants, along with salt water intrusions can threaten the quality of groundwater, and in fact, have forced new well digging to move westwards, away from the sea. Ecological damage to existing flora and fauna and to the natural ecosystem has been extensive, resulting in (a) loss and damage of the water from the natural system due to discharge and seepage, (b) drop in wading bird populations, (c) infestation of land with exotic invasive plants and (d) the development of thousands of contaminated (brownfield) sites. (Thomas) Continuous population expansion, currently pegged at 1. 8% annually can also result in further pressure on water supply to the three counties. 4. Forecasting of Situation in 2067 on the basis of Assumptions provided in the Objectives listed in Section 1. The situation in 2067, sixty years from now, is unpredictable because of the largely unknown consequences of global warming and its effect upon annual precipitation, the periodicity of droughts and floods, temperature fluctuations, and the occurrence of hurricanes. Recent disasters like the Tsunami and Katrina have driven home the point that uncertainties in weather and geological behavior are going to become more pronounced, and while predictability is going to be difficult, implementation of early action warning systems could help in mitigating extensive damage to life and property. Projections need to be made upon the basis of certain assumptions, and in the Tri County area depend mainly upon population growth. While the average population growth in the past in this region has averaged 1. 8% annually, the forecasted growth of 1. 5% per annum would lead to the following population figures for the Tri County.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Strategies for Nation Building

Strategies for Nation Building CHAPTER THREE INTRODUCTION 2.1 Defining nation The term nation is hard to define. Therefore various scholars have come up with different definitions of the term nation. Karlsson (2009) sees a nation as a birthmark. A nation can be described as an idea searching for a reality which a minority often violently forced upon a majority with standardization as a goal and with an iron glove as an instrument to eradicate previous diversity. Nations are constructed and invented. Nation is defined as mobilizing ideology in force that is used to concientise the masses against any kind of oppression or resistance that might be seen as opposing feature. The order of precedence of the factors that characterize a nation has always been a subject to discussion ranging from mutual traditions and collective political awareness, common antecedents, affiliation to a tribe or people, joint territory, customs and language, culture and religion. The inhabitants of a country are a nation despite their different languages and cultures. Karl Proper, the philosopher, stated at the Second World War that â€Å"it has been said that a race is a collection of people who are united by their origin but by a common misconception about their antecedents†. Karlsson compares this to a nation as he states that a nation is a collection of people united by a common misconception about their history. Thus, nations are not eternally defined entities, but they are in fact created. Nationalism invents nations where they do not exist Anderson (1990), Smith (1990) and Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2007) are of the view that a nation is an imagined community where members share the same history and envision reality in the same way. It is synonymous with self determination for those who have the good fortune to live in a society which has its own history, language, culture and religion but it can also be xenophobic, intolerant, aggressive, hegemonic and authotarian, lacking the will and ability to allow others what the nation claims for. Renan (1882) was concerned in that nation affinity was not a question of race, religion place of birth, but instead was a matter of daily referendum. A nation is based on all individuals having something in common. A nation is a spiritual principle with its origins in the deep complexity of history, an intellectual family not only by sacrifices one has made and those that one is disposed to make again. It supposes a past; it renews itself particularly in the present by a tangible deed, the approval, the desire, clearly expressed to continue the daily life. The existence of a nation is a referendum. Nationalism can be defined as the process of identity making can be best understood in the words of Reicher and Hopkins. This understanding of nationalism is further amplified by a British Labor politician who likened nationalism to electricity that can be used for good and bad purposes. He continued that it can electrocute someone in the electric chair or it can heat and light the world adding that: â€Å"Nationalism can be exhilarating revolutionary force for progress but we only have to open our newspapers today to areas where nationalism becomes in the wrong hands. A primeval force of darkness and reaction†¦ I can say originally, we ought to utilize the potential revolutionary force of nationalism by our readership to ensure that the dark side does not emerge† Nationalism can be manipulated to serve one interests. Hence this nationalism can be hegemonies as the elites can influence nationalism for their own good and suppress the lower class in the process. 2.1 Defining nation building Nation building is a highly complex term that means different things to different people. Nation building is evolutionary as it takes time and is a social process that cannot be achieved from outside. The notion of nation is used in a different way. It can be used not to challenge the existing territorial and political order, but to create a sense of national unity for a given polity. This sort of work is often called nation b building. Zolberg (1967:461) notes that nation building takes predominance over all tasks including economic development. This implies that nation building involves the political development, social development and economical development in a nation. In the African context, Young (2004) noted how â€Å"innumerable rituals of state drummed the national idea into the public consciousness: national holidays, national anthems, and daily flag raising ceremonies at all administrative headquarters. In a dozen banal ways, the nation was subliminally communicated through its ubiquitous flag, its currency, its postage stamps, its identity cards.† Soon after independence African states created their national holidays, national anthems, changed their country names from colonial names and had their own currency. In way this helped to build nation as everything had to be nationalized to suit the African society. Nation building is whereby a society with diverse origins, cultures, histories, languages and religion come together within the boundaries of a sovereign state with a unified constitutional and legal dispensation, a national public education system an integrated national economy, shared symbols and values, as equals, to work towards eradicating the divisions and injustices of the past, to foster unity and promote a country wide consciousness of proudly Africans promoted to the country and open to the continent and the world. Nation building by www.usip.org is not just about the physical construction service provision or material wealth. It is also about using the country’s shared customs to prevent further escalation of conflict as well as upholding values, customs, traditional practices that can be enshrined in national identity. In other words, a nation is not the sum of material possessions. Rather people are the most important asserts that, they are the nation and how each citizen behaves becomes the reflection of nation’s characters. The best way for the nation to hold itself to its own standards is to teach the youngest citizens to remind everyone of whom they are as people. The following section will be looking at the processes of nation building with relation to print media. 3.2 Process of nation building 3.2.1 Sports Sport is an aspect of nation building. Riordan stresses that it is overt that sport in many societies is a serious business with serious functions to perform. It is accordingly, state controlled, encouraged and shaped by specific Unitarian and ideological designs. It is by no means a matter of fun and games. Riordan further points out that in Africa, Asia and Latin America, sports development is closely associated with hygiene, health, defence, patriotism, integration, productivity, international recognition, even cultural, identity and nation building. Sport therefore has a role of being an agent of social change with the state as the pilot. During the twentieth century nearly sixty new states have been established. Houlihan states that many of these new states were faced with the acute problem of establishing a sense of national identity. For former colonies it meant that they were the enemies of the newly independent nations. Maguire argues sport could form one of the significant arenas by which nations become more real. Particular sports came to symbolize the nation. The close bind of sport with national identification arenas by which nations become more real. Particular sports come to symbolize the nation. Sport can forge and reinforce community or national identities. It can foster also unity among societies. In particular attention to Zimbabwe, every year during the independence celebrations there is the uhuru cup whereby local soccer teams contest for the cup. Soccer is used to foster unity among a nation. In celebrating Independence Day, sports are used for entertainment and also fostering unity. With the regard to the use of sports for nation building, Houlihan points out that modern state want not only national unity and distinctiveness but also an international stage on which to project that identity utilizing an increasing common array of cultural symbols to demonstrate their individuality. In cases like Olympics when one individual is victorious in any of the games, the national anthem is sung and the flag is raised. Success in sports events and particularly by the hosting of sports events provides a benign and uncritical backdrop of the parade of national achievement (Dauncey and Hare 1993). They go on to point that the victory of France in the 1998, football World Cup save a great opportunity to demonstrate public services, values, successful French integration and traditional French values in the international arena.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Genetic Engineering: The History of Gene Therapy Essay -- Expository E

The History of Gene Therapy In today’s society, the demand for perfection is strong. Imagine the possibility that you could choose the traits your child would possess. As technology increases, eventually humans could be able to create the ‘perfect’ child, with a ‘perfect’ behavior by replacing one gene with another. Vision the possibility that diseased or mutated genes could be replaced, ridding the world of hereditary diseases. In order to do this, technology must be increased in the area of gene therapy. Gene therapy has come a long way in its short existence. Genetic enhancement of humans may someday be possible, following the successful completion of the Human Genome Project. According to an article in New Statesman (v. 127) by Caroline Daniel, the Human Genome Project is an ‘international scientific collaboration’. The project was started in 1990. More than two billion Pounds, was funded by the European public. The United States is the main country in favor of this research. Organizations such as the National Institute of health and the US Department of Energy are among those in favor. Though this research might sound promising and exciting, much more needs to be learned about genes and the composition of DNA. DNA is a double helix with nearly three billion chemical letters of genetic text, located in more than one hundred thousand different genes. The difficult part is not identifying each individual gene, but rather to figure out how each gene works, their reactions to disease and response to the environment. The Human Genome Project’s goal is to sequence every human gene before the year 2005, and surprisingly it is right on schedule. In late 1997 50,000 genes had been mapped. Originally, the th... ...t all. In closing, though the science of gene therapy has only been around for just more than a decade much progress has been made. Through this research, helpful information about genes and diseases, what links them, and how to cure them, is being uncovered. As long as gene therapy is used solely for the purpose of curing disease, or helping the overall health of mankind, then I am not against it. This is a new technology that someday could help extend the average life span of human beings. Man-kind could really benefit from this research. As the days pass, we are making progress in this field. Only time can tell when genetic disorders will be unheard of. Works Cited Adelman, Ken. â€Å"Changing who we are.† Washingtonian v. 35 no. 11 (2000): 25-28. Daniel, Caroline. â€Å"Human Genetics: the dinner-party guide.† New Statesman v. 127 (1998): page 30.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Ship Accidents

ABSTRACT Safety may be defined as an acceptable state of risk by society. In this respect, for assessing the current safety level of ships, it is necessary to quantify the risk level of the operating world fleet, thus estimate and assess the basic contributors to risk, namely the frequency of maritime accidents and the extent of their consequences. As this paper deals with a systematic analysis of ship accidents in recent years and evaluates the current level of safety for the majority of ship subtypes present in the world fleet, namely, tankers, bulk carriers, containerships passenger and cruise ships, passenger Ro-Ro cargo vessels, Ro-Ro cargo ships, general cargo vessels, reefer ships, car carriers, fishing vessels, LNG and LPG carriers. Introduction The history of maritime transport is marked by ship accidents with partly disastrous consequences on human lives and impact on society and the marine environment. In response to these disastrous accidents, more and more new requirements and amendments of existing regulations for the safe maritime transport were introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as this paper gives an overview of the global safety level of all basic merchant ship types in terms of accidents' occurrence, frequencies and consequences. For each ship type, accidents occurred within the time period 1990-2012 are presented and analyzed with respect to the degree of accident severity, accident category and accident's geographic area, number of fatalities and total losses of ships. Furthermore, the total accident frequency and frequencies per main accident categories are given as well as comparative results among the different ship types. The ultimate goal of this investigation is the assessment of the relative safety level per ship type in order to identify those ship types that are more prone to marine accidents (per ship type), possible historical trends, and geographical areas, where accidents more often happen. Frequencies and basic consequences were investigated for the entire period of interest (i.e. 2012), as well as separately for the last decade of the studied period. The source of the analyzed accidental data is the IHS Sea-web ® database and the analysis pertains to the generic ship types as defined by the particular database; namely, Bulk carriers, Passenger and Cruise ships, Passenger Ro-Ro cargo vessels, Ro-Ro cargo ships, General Cargo vessels, Reefer ships, Car carriers, Fishing vessels, LNG and LPG carriers. The analysis of accident records was performed for the time period 1990-2012; we included those accidents associated with merchant passenger and cargo ships, regardless ship size, however built after 1980. Operational fleet at risk has been calculated from the Lloyd's Register of Shipping ® database for all the afore-mentioned ship types. The output of the particular calculations was compared with corresponding data from Clarkson's SIN ® and a rather good fit of the respective results was recorded. The presented results related to Cellular Containerships and Large Crude Oil tankers (greater than 60,000 DWT) are coming from two earlier completed research projects of NTUA, namely CONTIOPT (2011-2013) and SAFEDOR (2005-2009), as well as from internal NTUA research (Eliopoulou et al. 2012, 2013).

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Into the Woods

Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim, blends various familiar fairy tales into an original story of a childless Baker and his Wife, who catalyze the action of the story by attempting to reverse a curse on their family in order to have a child. In the first act, the characters set out to achieve their goal of living "Happily Ever After" through familiar routes and at the end of Act I, all characters seem poised to live "Happily Ever After". Act Two, however, deals with the consequences that traditional fairy tales conveniently ignore. As they face a genuine threat to their community, they realize that all actions have consequences, and their lives are inescapably interdependent, but also that that interdependence is their greatest strength. Act one begins with an introduction of the main characters, many of whom need little or no introduction. Henry Austin Bragg and Emily Gatesman are comically wonderful as the Baker and the Baker's Wife, which are the two central characters, and Wendy Fox plays the Wicked Witch, who splendidly portrays the motherly side of a witch. Erin Sauter plays Cinderella, who is terribly confused about what she wants, Kevin Quillon plays Jack, whose greed starts to take over what little common sense he has and Tina Ghandchilar plays Little Red Riding Hood, whose hunger for food turns into a hunger for blood. The play is based on the different obstacles the characters face in achieving their wish and how they work through them to reach a happy ending. The main conflict is between the Baker and his Wife who desperately want to have a child and the Wicked Witch who sends them on a journey into the woods to break the spell she has placed upon their family. The Baker and his wife need four things to break the spell, and each have a connection to one of the other main characters. While they are trying to obtain their items from the other characters, the Baker and the Baker's Wife have conflict amongst them...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Success in the mist Professor Ramos Blog

Success in the mist Success in the mist Horrible! I was doing horrible at keeping my feet centered to hit the ball properly in the game and everyone in the crowd knew I needed practice pronto. Coach immediately noticed that I was being a cancer to the team and decided to take the next step and sub me out of the game around the 75th minute of the game. For those of you that don’t know there are 90 minutes in a full soccer game, not including extra time. As soon as I sat down on the bench my father and I made instant eye contact but for different reasons. I was pretty much discouraged to play another minute of soccer knowing that I was putting a negative effect on the team. On the other side my dad had made eye contact with me because he knew it was time to grind and show out for the next game because we were about to be close to a championship game and my father would rather die than see me slip up in a big important game like that. My father is about 6’2 190 pounds with a great big bald head and a nice gleaming white smile. He is probably the most positive and understanding person I know but besides the fact, it was time for me to hit the field that was next to my house and try to figure out how I’m going to fix these major flaws that were affecting my craft. We first started off by passing the ball to each other because passing is a huge part of my position, which was midfielder. Midfielders in soccer have a big say on what happens on the field because not only can they pass the ball and they can also score and even run back on the other side of the field and play defense. Soon after we moved on to a new drill which was running thru cones and receiving a pass from my dad then having to return a pass back to him accurately, which at first took a lot of focus but after about 15 minutes of doing the drill it soon became second nature. After the big practice that my father and I had was over, we started heading back home because it was starting to get dark and I wouldn’t want anything like an injury to occur on the field, which happens to a lot of athletes that try to over train. When I finally reached home I had a sense of success in my head and confidence that I would have an amazing game and with another day of important practice but there was a problem, my father was not going to be able to attend practice because he had to go to work. That’s when my brother lance stepped up and came to take my dads spot. Lance stands at 6’4 and weighs about 250 pounds and yes we did get our height from my dads side of the family. My brother had played soccer when he was a kid and believe it or not his big ass was an all star at soccer, all around great scorer and passer. In fact he was so good to the point where the coach would come pick him up from his house before games because the coach knew that if la nce didn’t attend the games they would more than likely lose. So he had some pretty good knowledge of soccer and what I needed to work on to be team booster and not a downer. So we went to the same field that my father and I attend when we had our practice and once we arrived I was thinking it was going to be a full technique practice to really focus on my craft but it turns out I was going to be running like an animal. He had me running for about 20 minutes but when I was in the process of running it felt like I have been running for 2 hours. After all the running was pretty much over with and I was about half way done with breathing like a dog, I looked at lance and he says â€Å" fatigue brings a coward out of an athlete†, which to me opened up my mind and made total sense because in the game I was trying to do certain things like passing and making sure my passes were accurate but it was so hard because I was so tired It was the next day and it was game day, and I had been watching videos on YouTube to help me mentally get ready for the game and put me in the mood to play the best I can possibly play. I felt a little more confident then I usually felt knowing that I was going to play a championship game for all the marbles. We were up against a really great team that had actually been undefeated just like us but we all felt that we had to fight for the victory because we didn’t do all this training for nothing. We came out for warm ups and my father is the first person I spotted in the stands with his dad cap on cheering for my team and I. I knew it was a very big game because the stands that were not usually filled with people, were filled completely up and even had other soccer teams on the side of the bleachers to watch this game. About 5 minutes later I was getting more and more nervous by the second and I look up and the referee is calling for the captains to come up. Adrian, the scor er on my team and defender Nico start to head towards the referee. At this point I’m nervous out of my mind and my palms are very sweaty but at the same time I was trying to mentally picture the game from my point and see how I would react if certain things happened from my perspective. So the game starts and we all ascend to our positions and we go back and forth in steals and stops for a majority of the game and at this point in the game I get really exhausted and start slowing down a little bit but something clicks and I remember what my brother tells me about being fatigued and I instantly turn into a key player on the field. Whoop whoop! I juke out the defender that was in front of me that was trying to keep me from making a key pass and I look up and see Adrian our big time scorer on the run and headed straight for the net, so I instantly make the pass to Adrian and boom! He kicks the ball passed the goalkeeper and it’s a goal!!!! At this point in the game there are 5 minutes left in the game and the opposing team is driving Down to get there goal and I see Nico sliding to get the offensive player and I immediately run down and stop the player and we kick the ball away from our goal. Ring!!!!!! The whistle blows and it’s game over. We won the championship and the crowd goes crazy, and through all the celebration and happiness I look into the crowd and see my fathers big huge white smile and I smile back because I knew all this work has really paid off.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Mandatory Reporting Is a Legal Requirement Essay Example

Mandatory Reporting Is a Legal Requirement Essay Example Mandatory Reporting Is a Legal Requirement Essay Mandatory Reporting Is a Legal Requirement Essay Mandatory reporting is a legal requirement, in state statute or regulation, for nurses to report an occurrence or individual, including another nurse, when the public is at risk. Mandatory reporting is enacted when the interest of public protection requires state-enforced regulation. This article offers guidance to help nurses better understand their roles and responsibilities in mandatory reporting. What Is Mandatory to Report? In addition to reporting of nurses by other nurses, states seek to protect at-risk individuals by requiring health professionals to divulge suspicions about behaviors such as abuse and neglect. There is a wide range of interpretation from state to state as to how vulnerable situations are identified, which states mandate reporting, and who is required to report. All states require reporting of child abuse, for example, but only a few states require reporting of domestic violence against a man or woman who is not classified as a child or elder. Mandatory Reporting Law in Your State The details regarding mandatory reporting of nurses can be found through the licensing board for nurses in your state. A link to all boards of nursing can be accessed through the  National Council of State Boards of Nursing  (NCSBN). A note: some nurses are licensed under a health commission, department of health, or other type of umbrella agency, which is also listed on the NCSBN Website. Links and phone numbers for reporting child abuse can be found through the Child Welfare Information Gateway sponsored by the  U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Their state-by-state list is updated regularly. State-specific details for reporting elder abuse are available at the  U. S. Administration on Agings National Center on Elder Abuse  Website. Child abuse. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was passed in 1974. This federal law defines the parameters under which state law must provide regulations mandating child abuse reporting by professionals. Some states, such as New York, have responded by mandating coursework in detecting and reporting child abuse for all health professionals as part of licensing requirements. According to CAPTA, child abuse/neglect is defined as follows: Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. To comply with federal law, all states have some form of regulation that requires health professionals to report child abuse/neglect to the appropriate agency. Elder abuse. Elder abuse is an umbrella term that encompasses physical, sexual, emotional, or financial abuse of an elderly, frail individual. All states have reporting laws for health professionals who encounter elder abuse, neglect, or self-neglect,  but reporting is not mandated by every state. Colorado law, for example strongly urges and suggests that a report should be made but does not mandate such a report. Even when reporting is mandated, health professionals infrequently report abuse of an elder. Physicians often fail to report abuse because of concerns about conflict and loss of trust in the patient-provider relationship. Physicians have also voiced concerns about malpractice and personal liability if a report of abuse turns out to be ungrounded. Domestic violence. State law varies widely regarding the duty of health professionals to report domestic or interpersonal violence. Two states, Kentucky and California, mandate that health care professionals report domestic violence injuries to police, whether or not the patient consents to the report. This has generated many studies exploring the impact of mandated reporting on survivors of physical or domestic abuse. In one study, survivors overwhelmingly asserted that reporting should not be mandatory until a number of changes are made in the system to promote victims safety. Other Types of Mandatory Reporting by Health Professionals In addition to the above examples, state law may require nurses to report injuries resulting from a weapon, high blood alcohol levels, impaired driving, communicable disease, and threats to harm self or others. There is also a trend toward requiring healthcare professionals to report errors. The federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 establishes a framework in which healthcare providers report medical errors to a certified patient safety organization, which analyzes the aggregate data and proposes measures to eliminate medical errors. Some states have enacted requirements that organizations report serious adverse events, such as wrong-site surgeries and medication errors resulting in death or disability. If an organization is required to report such events, then individuals who practice at the organization will no doubt be required to report these incidents as well. Although a comprehensive discussion of all mandatory reporting law is beyond the scope of this article, it is recommended that nurses place more emphasis on reporting obligations in their initial or continuing education. Administrators,  educators, and regulators should also become more informed about mandatory reporting by nurses. [pic]

Saturday, October 19, 2019

The Problems Encountered by DOH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Problems Encountered by DOH - Essay Example The researcher states that not too long ago, DOH was compelled to subcontract a batch of work to another firm so that it could make it to new delivery deadlines. DOH’s managing director had a lot of fears and reservations regarding this move. His primary fear was the quality of subcontracted work. He felt that the quality of the work would suffer and it would be of an inferior standard. However, this fear was removed when no defects were found in the subcontracted batch. On the other hand, DOH‘s main customer is not happy with the services being offered and the quality of batches that are being delivered to him. He insists that any further quality failures in future because of defective parts would lead to strict penalty charges like a cost of labor etc involved in removing the part from the vehicle. This is a grave concern for the management of DOH. They do not want these fears to rise and turn into a general impression in the industry. The quality concerns have to be t aken care off with immediate effect or else DOH might lose out on a lot of key contracts and accounts with various customers. Hard problems are problems which can be quantified i.e. they can be measured whereas soft problems are those problems which cannot be measured. They are qualitative in nature. The hard problems that the company can monitor are the number of defected parts being sent per month, the amount of loss being incurred, which site is producing more defected batches of work and what is the difference in quality if a bigger quality assurance team is in place. On the other hand some of the soft problems that DOH is facing include the coordination between different teams, quality control instructions have not been clearly communicated to the workers, strict check on quality throughout the process instead of just a last minute audit. There are a lot of middle managers which has wrecked a lot of havoc in the hierarchy of the workforce. Secondly, there is little or no regard for teamwork.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Ethical Marketing Solutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Marketing Solutions - Essay Example While the easiest solution for all these ethical issues is to tackle them head-on, it becomes complicated when the companies consider the profits they make. Best way for McDonald’s to tackle the obesity problem is to stop making fast foods altogether. The problem comes in when this is their main commodity and all their food chains around the world deal in fast foods. Several lawsuits against McDonald’s have been listened to in court but they end up paying for damages instead of being stopped from making these deadly fast foods. In appropriate adverts are trending worldwide with huge companies selling their products through sexual appeal and violence. All these should receive bans in order to be ethically appropriate but they prefer the market coverage to the ethics. Cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris is the fifth most unethical company due to its marketing strategies. In the past, the company has targeted children and exploited their vulnerability to addictive habits. The company has also employed underage girls to handout free Marlboro cigarettes to children at clubs and concerts. On top of this unethical marketing, the company issued a report in the Czech Republic saying that premature smokers deaths have ‘positive effects’ because they save governments money (actionforourplanet.com, 2013). The above-mentioned company is my point of interest in this study, just as part of the ethical issues associated with tobacco smoking. An epidemic broke out in the year 2003 known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). This syndrome caused thousands of death and the world health organization had to respond in finding the causative agent. The disease vectors discovered originated in a country that was hesitant to ban their production. They were still smuggled out of the country in order for the company responsible to cut their losses. After the vectors landed in another country, they were legally on sale therefore

HR Strategy Responding to a Union Organizing Drive Assignment

HR Strategy Responding to a Union Organizing Drive - Assignment Example My first approach in this case will be to create a communication bridge between the management and the workers by being friendlier with them. Unless and until each and every employee starts opening up, it will become difficult for me to discuss the issues with them. The employees need to realize the fact that the labour unions chosen by them were doing well in negotiations. The company on the other hand needs to be aware of all the rules of NLRA and also the fact that if the elections took place and the union was not voted then there would be an appeal. In a representation election representatives are given a decision of one or all the more bargaining agents or no illustrative whatsoever. To be confirmed as the bargaining delegate, a singular or a work association must appropriate a greater part of the substantial votes throws. My next step will be to ensure that the supervisors are taking proper care of the employees in sense that all the problems of the employees are being communic ated to the management on time. The supervisors are the representatives of the employees. It is their duty to receive the messages and deliver it to the management. In order to ensure this, I will be conducting a face to face meeting of the management, supervisors, and the employees where all the issues will be discussed. This will also maintain a transparency between everyone. In case the union is at fault, an election may be held by understanding between the head honcho and the singular or work association guaranteeing to speak to the representatives. In such an understanding the gatherings might state the time and spot coincided on, the decisions to be incorporated on the ticket, and a strategy to figure out who is qualified to vote. They might likewise sanction the NLRB Regional Director to lead the election. Collective bargaining is characterized in the Act. Segment 8(d) of NLRA, requires a business and the agent of its representatives to meet at

Strategic objectives for a business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic objectives for a business - Essay Example Its mission is offering excellent hair services and beauty products, to its customers. Its values include respect, leadership, integrity, diversity, and accountability. The paper will look at the business objectives in relation to the four pillars of balanced scorecard including the financial pillar, customer pillar, internal operations pillar, and employees’ pillar. One of the key objectives as far as the financial pillar is concerned is coming up with an effective internal control environment. Such an environment would prevent financial crimes such as fraud or embezzlement of the business’ financial resources. The second key objective is ensuring stability in revenue and profitability. This is important as far as growing the shareholder wealth. For example, ensuring profitability stability contributes to the stability of the shares’ prices, which is in the best interest of the shareholders. The third key strategic objective is maximizing the shareholder wealth. This would happen, for example, by a business operating at optimum level would maximize the shareholder wealth. One of the key strategic objectives as far as customer pillar is concerned is enhancing customer satisfaction. Since the business is offering both services and products, customer satisfaction is extremely important. It helps in ensuring that the customers make repeat visits in the business, which helps in growing the market share. A key metric for this objective is the number of absenteeism within a given period. The second key strategic objective is offering high quality services and products to the customers. The customers expect value for money when they purchase the beauty products (Chia-Chen, 2006). The hair services should be excellent, which would translate into increased customer satisfaction. An effective metric for this objective is the number of repeat customers per a given period. The third strategic

Thursday, October 17, 2019

FORMAL LETTERS AND REPORTS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FORMAL LETTERS AND REPORTS - Assignment Example Elsie Chan agreed with the report on the factor that there is a communication breakdown between some health professionals and their patients. Elsie agreed that some doctors judge patients based on past experiences of similar illnesses and on such basis may lose a point as all patients must be examined individually. The doctors failed to fully understand the patients problems as the patients were not given time to express themselves. Logan advocated for awareness to be created for all health professionals to examine patients individually and consider each situation on its own. Marion Hale considered the point of discrimination of patients to be totally unethical and that doctors should embrace the spirit of responsibility to their patients. Marion advocated for a separate office to be created in all hospitals to report cases of discrimination by doctors or nurses and the respective hospital management to reprimand such doctors accordingly. Kelly Mitchell seconded this idea. Mark Ryan advocated that all doctors should be reminded of their code of conduct and ethics which they vowed to follow when they graduated. Ryan proposed that these values be printed and posted in various sections of hospitals to remind them regularly. Nick Yanes raised concerns that patients too had a role to play in the whole scenario. He advocated for patients to be sensitized on the importance of them giving adequate information to doctors as this will help doctors assess them accordingly. Mitchell Jones advocated for strengthening of the counseling department in hospitals to assist those patients that are emotionally despaired due to their illnesses and not willing to

What Ministerial Ordination Means to Me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What Ministerial Ordination Means to Me - Essay Example Everyone can access it but not everyone chooses to focus on it, or emphasizes it in daily living or honours it first. Being ordained means that I do. Those who do not understand have challenged me with the charge that being non-denominational means practicing a hodge podge of bits and pieces that do not come down from a direct scriptural lineage. In my ministry, I practice Integrated Energy Therapy (IET), which involves releasing the energy patterns from the past, which limit one’s capacity for power and joy. The outcome of this healing modality is that the person becomes empowered and balanced. In order to do this work, I too must allow any energy patterns from the past to be released, so that I too empowered and balanced. Only from this place can I help others. I make myself available for communication with angels. I make use of the violet energy ray, with the help of healing angels, to work directly with the client’s 12 strand DNA. ... Energy flows through me and is accepted by the client, applied to wherever it is needed. My intention is only to make my body and spirit available for this energy to flow through, without obstruction. Being ordained is a marking of this understanding that it is not me, not my agenda, not my power, but is universal energy moving though me. Being ordained is a declaration of availability. Being ordained means keeping myself in a positive energetic space, as much as possible, so that I can model and invite positive influence for the benefit of my clients. It means that I consistently think about what is good and beneficial, because the Law of Attraction teaches that like attracts like. Focusing on dark thoughts will invite darkness, but focusing on positive thoughts invites the Light. I have heard the opinion expressed that a minister is called by God, that being ordained is an affirmative reply to that call. To me, being ordained is a seal on my commitment to myself, the channeling of cosmic energy and to my community. It is a formal answer to the cosmic call I have heard with my deepest being. This call is an invitation to take on responsibility to organize my life ministry, to serve others, to provide an example of living in which every act is sacred. I am human and therefore I have ignorance, jealousy, vanity, insecurity, fear, greed, and other obstructions of the Light. How can I lead? I am, at the same time, blessed with compassion, empathy, an open heart, appreciation, the sight of miracles, and other gifts that promote contact with the Light. Through grace, I reach for Light, and I help others who long for it, as I do. But what is my tradition and what are its boundaries? Ordination means being connected to a

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Strategic objectives for a business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic objectives for a business - Essay Example Its mission is offering excellent hair services and beauty products, to its customers. Its values include respect, leadership, integrity, diversity, and accountability. The paper will look at the business objectives in relation to the four pillars of balanced scorecard including the financial pillar, customer pillar, internal operations pillar, and employees’ pillar. One of the key objectives as far as the financial pillar is concerned is coming up with an effective internal control environment. Such an environment would prevent financial crimes such as fraud or embezzlement of the business’ financial resources. The second key objective is ensuring stability in revenue and profitability. This is important as far as growing the shareholder wealth. For example, ensuring profitability stability contributes to the stability of the shares’ prices, which is in the best interest of the shareholders. The third key strategic objective is maximizing the shareholder wealth. This would happen, for example, by a business operating at optimum level would maximize the shareholder wealth. One of the key strategic objectives as far as customer pillar is concerned is enhancing customer satisfaction. Since the business is offering both services and products, customer satisfaction is extremely important. It helps in ensuring that the customers make repeat visits in the business, which helps in growing the market share. A key metric for this objective is the number of absenteeism within a given period. The second key strategic objective is offering high quality services and products to the customers. The customers expect value for money when they purchase the beauty products (Chia-Chen, 2006). The hair services should be excellent, which would translate into increased customer satisfaction. An effective metric for this objective is the number of repeat customers per a given period. The third strategic

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

What Ministerial Ordination Means to Me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What Ministerial Ordination Means to Me - Essay Example Everyone can access it but not everyone chooses to focus on it, or emphasizes it in daily living or honours it first. Being ordained means that I do. Those who do not understand have challenged me with the charge that being non-denominational means practicing a hodge podge of bits and pieces that do not come down from a direct scriptural lineage. In my ministry, I practice Integrated Energy Therapy (IET), which involves releasing the energy patterns from the past, which limit one’s capacity for power and joy. The outcome of this healing modality is that the person becomes empowered and balanced. In order to do this work, I too must allow any energy patterns from the past to be released, so that I too empowered and balanced. Only from this place can I help others. I make myself available for communication with angels. I make use of the violet energy ray, with the help of healing angels, to work directly with the client’s 12 strand DNA. ... Energy flows through me and is accepted by the client, applied to wherever it is needed. My intention is only to make my body and spirit available for this energy to flow through, without obstruction. Being ordained is a marking of this understanding that it is not me, not my agenda, not my power, but is universal energy moving though me. Being ordained is a declaration of availability. Being ordained means keeping myself in a positive energetic space, as much as possible, so that I can model and invite positive influence for the benefit of my clients. It means that I consistently think about what is good and beneficial, because the Law of Attraction teaches that like attracts like. Focusing on dark thoughts will invite darkness, but focusing on positive thoughts invites the Light. I have heard the opinion expressed that a minister is called by God, that being ordained is an affirmative reply to that call. To me, being ordained is a seal on my commitment to myself, the channeling of cosmic energy and to my community. It is a formal answer to the cosmic call I have heard with my deepest being. This call is an invitation to take on responsibility to organize my life ministry, to serve others, to provide an example of living in which every act is sacred. I am human and therefore I have ignorance, jealousy, vanity, insecurity, fear, greed, and other obstructions of the Light. How can I lead? I am, at the same time, blessed with compassion, empathy, an open heart, appreciation, the sight of miracles, and other gifts that promote contact with the Light. Through grace, I reach for Light, and I help others who long for it, as I do. But what is my tradition and what are its boundaries? Ordination means being connected to a

Once You Open Your Eyes Essay Example for Free

Once You Open Your Eyes Essay When a human being is a victim, they need to have courage and follow their ways, no matter what others say. Jem and Scout see people become victims of prejudice, rumors, poverty, and other atrocities in their own little town, as they grew older. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the children learn life lessons from witnessing people striving to survive different situations within Maycomb. When a challenge causes one to struggle, the children see that person, or themselves, have to have courage to do as they have before. Jem and Scout see their small town judge the Radleys, but the Radleys still do what they have done for as long as any single person can remember. They never talk to their neighbors or open their doors and windows on Sunday. Since they have odd habits, from other’s perspectives, and keep to themselves, citizens of Maycomb start rumors about them, saying â€Å"Radley pecans [will] kill you† (Lee 9). These rumors criticized the Radleys and made people afraid of them. Calpunia had something to say about them, stating one day that Mr. Radley was â€Å"the meanest man God ever blew breath into† (Lee 12). Since he was â€Å"mean,† that held more rumors to be made about them. The stories make children believe Boo was locked up in a damp basement in the courthouse for years and is now chained up in his house. The Radleys stay the way they are; despite the rumors, remaining removed from human contact. The Radleys are victims of misunderstanding and people’s cruel stories â€Å"unwilling to discard their initial suspicions† (Lee 9). Jem and Scout witness the Radleys to stick to their ways since they go against the crowd, despite society’s wants. The Finch children begin to notice many children’s families are victims of poverty, especially the Cunninghams, but the Cunninghams are different; they never take charity or have to depend on others. The Cunninghams are one of the poorest families in Maycomb, but they have the strongest determination to survive; and are the hardest workers. They have a great deal of pride and are respectable people. â€Å"‘The Cunninghams never [take] anything from anybody, they get along with what they have,’ † states Scout (Lee 20). Walter Cunningham would not even take a quarter of a dollar to buy a lunch because of how he was raised. The Finch children realize the Cunninghams are a brave family to live under their circumstances and not accept anyone else’s charity. If one does not accept others’ charity, they suffer more and do not always know when they are receiving their next paycheck. It is scary to not know these things, but the Cunninghams are proud and brave when to not accept the offerings of other people. The Finch children understand this from listening to Atticus talk about the Cunningham family. Tom Robinson suffered because of people and their prejudice beliefs. He also suffers from others misdeeds and died as innocent as a mockingbird. Jem becomes a victim when Tom Robinson was found guilty. He realizes the court does not always work. Jem became a victim of the system’s flaws and shortcomings. He used to believe that the court always worked, but learned it did not, when a jury found a clearly innocent man guilty. This crushed him, but it made him grow up and learn to accept things like this, because when maturing, one has to realize the world isn’t perfect. He had to have courage to accept this factor in life. It is a atrocious crime to take a persons life to merely keep the truth in the shadows; but with the pain of Tom’s death blooms a new hope of equality for the town of Maycomb, with just a baby step. Like all other children, Scout and Jem have to face all the challenges of growing up, but they have to keep going on with their lives, no matter what problems arise for them. Scout experiences the challenges of growing up when her aunt moved in. She criticized Scout for wearing pants and not acting in a lady-like manner, but that was only a small problem, and Scout stayed herself. She kept wearing pants and speaking her mind because she wanted to be an individual. Scout is surprised by prejudice, while going up. She was not aware that prejudice existed. She witnesses others victimize each other because they are different, either because of their color, friends, how they act, or many other reasons. She learns and sees this happen when listening to neighbors gossip about the Radleys, her teacher bad-mouth African Americans, or even her own self be criticized by the way she speaks her mind. Scout does not understand why people are like this, putting labels on certain types of people, like African Americans, saying â€Å"all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women† (Lee 204). Scout knows that not all people are perfect. She has to accept that some humans do not always treat others with kindness. Both Jem and Scout have to be brave and deal with the changes in the world. Scout and Jem learn from people, or themselves, when they are victims of different situations, but they are still brave. Atticus points out that real courage is when someone goes through life, still fighting, even if they are victims of prejudice, rumors, lies, hate, misunderstanding, or life’s shortcomings; to not give up even if you’ve already lost . Jem and Scout learn to keep their ways, adjust, and not judge people without knowing the full truth about them. They hope for the world to be a more understanding place.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Fast Food Marketing for Children

Fast Food Marketing for Children INTRODUCTION Overview and Background of the Topic Fast food came around after the after the Second World War and has come a long way since then. In the past it was a mere convenience provider and time saver, the easiest and fastest way to fill appetites, as the name suggests. It has now evolved into a premium luxury item. It is now very popular amongst all ages of people, especially children. Fast food Marketing is a necessity for Fast Food brands these days. Fast Food despite being a treat to the taste buds is hazardous to health and comes bearing a plethora of ailments. Therefore, it must essentially be advertised and marketed in order for businesses to make sales and be profitable. Fast food sales are increasing at a rapid pace mainly due to effective marketing strategy. Edwin Land rightfully said  Marketing is what you do when your product is no good which holds true in this case. Marketing camouflages the dangerous truth and sways the consumer into thinking that the temporary taste is worth more than the life-long disease. Marketers hence must undergo the pain of coming up with a successful marketing campaign using the various advertising methods to manipulate customers because this very art of creating an artificial need out of a want or a desire is what fast food marketers like Coca Cola do, for e.g. Food is askin for Coca-Cola, a thousand calories are finge r-lickin good by Kentucky Fried Chicken and the mounds of cheese that come with Im lovin it by McDonalds. Children are a very lucrative market for fast food brands because they are young and impressionable. Children are easier to target as they see color and sound and are wooed. This study will examine the various Fast Food Marketing Methods used; both above the line and below the line and explore their various impacts on childrens consumption of fast food. Importance of the Study Fast Food originated from the West particularly the U.S and spread throughout the world until it became a craze. It gained popularity in the East rapidly due to the ease of communication globally.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  The success of Fast Food chains relies heavily on their marketing and thus they vest everything in it. The scarce information that there is available suggests that children form a large proportion of the fast food target market and a major reason for their families consuming fast food too. Also as John Scully says, no great marketing decisions have ever been made on qualitative data, thus in order to aid fast food chains this substantially quantitative research must be conducted. A few examples of the marketing methods used are television commercials, billboards, print ads like posters, banners, flyers and standees, internet ads via websites, blogs and social forums and radio ads. The topic has a lot of scope considering the number of fast food chains that exist in todays t ime and the fact that more and more keep opening every day. Fast Food is an immensely successful business in Pakistan where majority comprises of foodies. Therefore the study has relevance to Pakistan as Fast Food businesses continuously use a variety of marketing strategies and advertising campaigns to sell their products and services and reap more profits. Research Question Very few people have endeavored to undertake such a research. However in order to under why marketing of fast food has the impact that it has on children and how fast food chains can take advantage of it, this topic needs to be addressed. Therefore the study aims to answer the following Research Question: What is the most effective fast food marketing method catered to children? LITERATURE REVIEW The literature review will set the context for and inform the study by examining previous research on this topic. The aim of the literature review is to evaluate the existing literature on the importance of fast food marketing to children in order to do an analysis of the advertisements being used to fulfill the purpose. Fran Lowry (2010) in a study for the assessment of total annual exposure to food advertising for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, television ratings data from Nielsen Media Research were used. Three different age groups of children were assessed using the data, i.e. 2 to 5 years, 6 to 11 years, and 12 to 17 years. Exposure to advertisements for beverages, sweets and fast food restaurants was also examined. In 2003, it was found that children aged 2 to 5 years, 6 to 11 years and 12 to 17 years were exposed to 13.3, 13.6 and 13.1 food advertisements per day on the average respectively. In all three age groups the exposure to beverage advertisements underwent a decrease from 27% to 30% with a lump sum fall in advertisements of sugar-sweetened beverages like fruit drinks and regular soft-drinks. Fast food advertisements most frequently targeted to all ages of children and seen most by children of 6 to 11 years were those of McDonalds. This showed targeted branding according to the authors. Bur ger King similarly also targeted mostly the 6- to 11-year-olds. Exposure to advertisements for Subway, Taco Bell, and KFC also rose among 2- to 5-year-olds and 6- to 11-year-olds, but advertisements seen by children in these age groups continued to be dominated by McDonalds and Burger King, according to the authors. The study also found that black children in all age groups in 2003, 2005, and 2007, saw more food advertisements per day when compared to white children. Also, the racial gap in exposure to food advertising grew between 2003 and 2007, particularly for fast food advertisements. By 2007, black children aged 2 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 17 years saw 1.5, 1.4, and 1.6 times as many food advertisements per day, respectively, compared with white children of these ages and they also had more than double the rate of increase in exposure to fast food advertisements. According to the study, exposure to television advertisements for fast food among children increased by as much as 20 .4% between 2003 and 2007, whereas advertisements for beverages and sweets declined, The results of the study was that many positive changes have occurred in childrens exposure to food advertising, consistent checking of this exposure as well as the nutritional analysis is required to further appraise self-regulatory pledges. Lisa Powell (2006 ) and her colleagues from the University of Illinois in Chicago write that there has been a rising trend in total energy intake derived from away-from-home, specifically fast food, outlets and also that excess fat and sugar intake and consumption of items such as sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food have been linked with higher energy intake and obesity. Television is a major advertising medium to reach children, and there is strong evidence that television advertising influences childrens dietary intake. Jennifer L. Harris et al. (2010) in the study answered the research question: Do these actions have a positive impact? Or, does the sheer volume of fast food marketing eclipse any of these industry initiatives? They base their analysis on the twelve restaurants; McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Taco Bell, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Dominos, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and So nic.They assess the marketing practices and strategies of all these and compare it with the industry in totality. The methods included analyzing the nutritional quality of restaurant menu items; analyzing data on media exposure and spending from syndicated sources (i.e., The Nielsen Company, Score Inc. and Arbitron Inc.)They studied three components of their marketing plans i.e. menu composition, external advertising and in-store marketing. The three criteria to identify marketing that were targeted to children, teens, and African American and Hispanic youth. Children were exposed to more than 1,200 traditi onal fast food ads per year and this strategy was used a lot by fast food restaurants to encourage potential customers to visit. Many fast food restaurants have expanded into newer forms of marketing that are relatively inexpensive and more difficult to give numerical value to. McDonalds and Burger King indulge in web-based marketing starts with children as young as 2 at Ronald.com, McWorld.com, HappyMeal.com, and ClubBK.com. KFC.com and Starbucks.com also appeared in the top 10 most frequently visited fast food websites in the study. Banner ads from these restaurants reached up to 70 million unique viewers every month. Social and viral media used by fast food restaurants has also increased largely. The use of mobile marketing by fast food restaurants has also begun but most restaurants placed banner ads on third-party mobile websites, eight have introduced downloadable iPhone applications, and a few have begun to conduct text message advertising to customers who opt-in to this feat ure. Fast food marketing is becoming omnipresent. These restaurants also purchased more than two-thirds of fast food radio and outdoor, there was little variation in their marketing messages and the products they promoted. Restaurants appeared to compete primarily by introducing new menu items and promoting the value of their foods. A few restaurants (Subway and Wendys) promoted their food quality. Banner advertising and social media marketing also predominantly emphasized special offers, and value/cheap and new/improved messages; and promoted new menu item introductions, dollar/value menus, and combo meals. Licensed characters were meant for children. Eight restaurants offered kids meals catered specifically to children, while four used external marketing to address children i.e. McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Dairy Queen . McDonalds and Burger King had maximum advertising targeted to children. Children viewed approximately one child-targeted ad per day for these two restauran ts (in addition to ads for other products not exclusively targeted to children). The McDonalds Research by Grier (1996) and colleagues demonstrated that higher exposure to fast food advertising by parents was associated with increased frequency of taking their children to these restaurants because the advertising influenced their beliefs about how often other parents took their children. The authors recommended that fast food restaurants build better standards for every item in child-targeted marketing that applies to every fast food restaurant and also in all of kids meals served. Shin Yi Chou et al. (2005) in the study shed light on the link between television fast food advertising and the consequent childhood obesity around the world especially in the United States. The aim of the paper is to utilize the 1979 Child-Young Adult National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore the effects of fast-food restaurant advertising on children and adolescents being overweight. The results showed that a ban on these advertisements would decrease the number of overweight children ages 3-11 in a fixed population and overweight adolescents ages 12 to 18 years by 10 and 12 percent respectively. The absence of tax deductibility of this kind of advertising would lead to lesser decreases of between 3 and 5 percent in these outcomes but would result in lower costs on children. The 1997 sample consisted of 8,984 respondents from 6,819 different households, ages 12 to 18 years. There were two sub-samples: one consisting of 6,748 respondents born between 1980 and 1984. The second comprising of 2,236 oversampled black and Hispanic respondents. A survey was conducted on them. Television watching time and advertising messages were found to be positively correlated. Results also reflected that the number of hours of messages seen on television has a long impact on both children and adolescents. It could also be seen that fast food restaurant advertising has a larger effect on the Body Mass Index of adolescents than on children, despite children being expose longer to fast-food restaurant advertising due to longer television viewing time. In totality the results showed a direct lasting effect of exposure to fast-food restaurant advertising on the body mass index for children. Lesser impact on the probability of being overweight is less important. Thomas N.Robinson et al. (2007) in his experimental study on fast food branding aimed to explore how cumulative real-world marketing and brand exposures influence young children by means of testing the effects of branding on taste preferences through extensively marketed sources. The sample comprised of sixty- three children from low-income preschools, whose average age was 3.5 to 5.4 years. They had to taste 5 identical food items with beverages in matching McDonalds packaging but were actually not branded and to compare the taste of each. A summary total taste preference score (ranging from -1 for the unbranded samples to 0 for no preference and +1 for McDonalds branded samples) was used to test the null hypothesis that children would express no preference. The results of the study showed that average total taste preference score across all foods and beverages compared was 0.37  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  0.45 (median, 0.20; inter-quartile range, 0.00-0.80) and much more than zero (P Sharon Beder (1998) in her study aims to examine four aspects of marketing to children i.e. the development of a consumer, forms of marketing, advertising on the Internet and concerns. Advertising takes advantage of individual insecurities, creates artificial needs and offers quality solutions. It leads to consumption. Children specifically are the target. In Australia, an average $31.60 is spent weekly by children below18 have and they control above 70 per cent of their parents fast food purchases. Children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 17 spend n the US there are over 57 million school age children and teenagers who spend about $100 billion yearly of personal and family money on sweets, food and drinks. Brandweek magazine pointed out that even in China where children save most of the little income they get and their total spending amounts to $2.6 billion yearly, second only to the US. Brandweek cited a survey showing McDonalds was the favorite fast food worldwide and Cok e was the favorite drink. It argued:If it is possible to create global preferences with food productswhere obstacles like differences in local cuisine and culture existtranscending cultural boundaries with toys, clothing and entertainment products should be considerably easier. Television ads account for almost 70% of the total amount spent on advertising to children in the US. Total advertising expenditure accounts for almost 15% of the total budget for marketing to children. A new trend in advertising is the internet. The authors question the ability of the young to understand advertising and its purpose and not be impressioned by it. The study thus emphasizes Fast food marketing and how it is a vast industry. Mary Story and Simone French (2004) in a study aimed to appraise the food advertising and marketing channels used to target children and adolescents in the US, the effect of food advertising on eating habits, and current policies. The youth is a major profitable target market for food and beverage industries. Consequently children and adolescents are now marketed to extensively. Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because of their spending power, their purchasing influence, and as future adult consumers. Multiple techniques and channels are used to reach youth, beginning when they are toddlers, to foster brand-building and influence food product purchase behavior. These food marketing channels include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions, such as cross-selling and tie-ins. wide range of food advertising techniques and channels are used to reach child ren and adolescents to foster brand awareness to encourage product sales. Marketing channels include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions. Experimental studies continuously showed that children exposed to food advertising prefer advertised food products more often than those not exposed to such ads. Studies with children under age 11 have found strong links between television watching time by children and number of childrens requests to parents for those foods, and availability of those foods in their homes. African American and Hispanic children watch more television when compared to white children and so viewed more food ads. Various studies have established that children under 8 years of age are developmentally unable to understand the purpose of advertisements and consider advertising claims as factual. V. Henderson and B. Kelly (2005) in their study documented the sorts of foods advertised nutritional claims made whilst advertising on African American television as well as the general market. The sample comprised of 553 advertisements that were analyzed for their content during 101.5 prime-time Television hours. This resulted in classification of advertisements according to fast food restaurant, sit-down restaurant, packaged food), specific food type, and the presence of a weight-related nutritional claim.T and Chi-square tests were used to make comparisons. The results showed that more advertisements were aired on the African-American Television than on general market. These were mostly for fast food, fizzy drinks, candy, meat, and were rarely for cornflakes, grains and pasta or fruits, vegetables, desserts or liquor. People framing policies need to have a greater awareness of the prevailing advertisements for food and their possible effect on behavior as well as knowledge and thu s should seriously work with manufacturers of food to pave way for the creation and promotion of healthy food according to the authors. Hill, J. M. and Radimer, K. L. (1998) in a study examined food advertisements aired on Australian television during programs for children below 10 years of age. Kinds of foods that were promoted linked messages and the impression of food and eating habits in comparison to current dietary recommendations. 239 advertisements were appraised, of which 25% were for fast food restaurants and 22% for chocolate. Of the main foods advertised, 11% were for cereal products, 8% for fruit and only 1% for vegetables. Main tactics used by advertisers to sell foods were give-aways (20%), taste (16%) and fun (14%). On the contrary, advertisements for breakfast cereals often used nutritional claims and often contained messages that were in line with current dietary guidelines for Australians. Generally, the complete dietary picture shown to children through advertisements was said to be poorly balanced and only included a narrow range of foods. Michele Roberts and Simone Pettigrew (2007) studied behaviors modeled in food advertising are influencing childrens diets. They conducted a food advertising audit targeted to children find out aspects that affect childrens food socialization. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to provide (1) descriptive statistics of incidence and (2) a thematic analysis of messages contained in a sample of food advertisements screened in Perth, Australia, during childrens morning television programming. In 28.5 hours of childrens television programs, 950 advertisements were broadcasts, 212 of which were for food. The Qualitative aspect observable in the ads were the existence of grazing, the denigration of main foods, exaggerated health claims and the implied ability of specific foods to emphasize popularity, functionality and mood. The most popular advertising appeal was fantasy, present in 57% of the campaigns. The outcomes of the study are of interest to many stakeholders, including the food and advertising industries, policy makers, child health advocates and academic researchers. Driven by concerns about childhood obesity, there is escalating demand for responsible food advertising to children (McDonald 2003). According to the authors advertisers must respond to these issues. Kay M. Hammond et al. (2008) aimed to expose internationally, the balance of television advertising for healthy and less-healthy foods to which children and adolescents are exposed. The sample comprised 9-17 year old New Zealanders to explore the extent to which they were exposed to advertising for a variety of food groups over a year and compared New Zealand rates of advertising with a 13-country study. The method used was People meter data collected over three months May and September 1995 and February 1996 and food advertising from a sample week of television during hours when children were likely to be watching were also examined. The Comparison was made with a similar 1989 South Australian study and an international study covering 13 countries.The results showed that the exposure estimated for a year and the opportunities for exposure in the sample week were maximum for sweet snacks, drinks, fast food/takeaways and breakfast cereals. There were very low levels for fruit, vegeta bles, and meat/fish/ eggs and water was not advertised in any sample month. Comparisons with the 13-country study showed New Zealand had the third-highest rate of food advertising, the highest rate of confectionery and drinks advertising, and the second-highest rate of restaurant advertising which included fast food restaurants.To conclude the authors suggest that the immediate trends in food advertising create a difference in interest between public health and commercial interests. Regulation of food advertising may be required to solve this problem. METHODOLOGY Research Type I will be conducting Primary/Field or Quantitative Research, gathering first hand data from my sample population about how the fast food marketing methods used by marketers influence their children or children around them. I will later be quantifying the results. Data Type and Research Period The study is based on peoples perceptions and how they feel they are influenced by advertisements and how these fast food marketing methods are a major contributing factor in their childrens consumption of fast food. Therefore Primary or Field Research which is basically quantitative in nature is more suitable. Sources of Data The sources will be questionnaire surveys and focus groups targeted to the sample population. Operational Definitions Dependant Variable: Fast Food Consumption This variable addresses the Fast Food Purchases by consumers. It is the result of Fast Food advertising and the ultimate motive of Fast Food sellers. It basically deals with fast food sales. Therefore it is the consequence of Fast Food Marketing through various mediums. Independent Variables Television Advertisements: This variable is an integral means of marketing Fast Food to consumers considering its reach and ease of access in todays time. The more people watch Television and are exposed to advertisements of fast food, the more they consume fast food. It thus has a positive relation with fast food consumption. Billboards: This variable sheds light on yet another Fast Food Marketing medium. It is a physical medium for people to be exposed to frequently. It has a positive relation with fast food consumption as the more billboards people see the greater will be their fast food consumption. Internet Advertisements: This variable appraises a combination of official websites as well as social website mediums like Facebook and Twitter used by Fast Food marketers to reach consumers. The greater the amount of fast food advertisements people are exposed to on the internet, the more they will purchase or consume fast food, thus it denotes a positive relation between the dependant and the independent variable. Print Advertisements: This variable comprises of the various print mediums like the newspapers, posters, flyers and banners that fast food marketers use to advertise the fast food to consumers. Naturally the more peoples exposure to these is the more they end up consuming fast food, indicating a positive relation. Radio: This variable emphasizes the use of broadcasting to market fast food to consumers. It is a cheap means to reach more people. The frequency of advertisements on the radio is usually more due to the low cost. Therefore people are exposed to more fast food advertisements and thus consume more of it and this also has a positive relation with the dependent variable. Population, Working population and planned sample The target population for the research will be people living in Lahore who have children of ages 3 to 17 years, in their families who consume fast food. The working population will be targeted specifically. The planned sample will include people ranging between the ages of 20-40 years, including working adult males and females from Lahore who have kids and as well as working youngsters or students with younger siblings who consume fast food. Research hypothesis Ho-Frequent exposure to Fast Food marketing methods leads to increased Fast Food Consumption by children H1-Television is the most influential Fast Food Marketing Method for children H2-Billboards are very appealing to children and lead to frequent fast food consumption H3-Print advertisement doesnt influence childrens purchase of Fast Food so much H4-Internet is not a very effective medium for Fast Food marketing to children H5-Radio is not a very effective medium of Fast Food marketing to children Techniques Cross-Tabulation was done due to using the statistics from the questionnaire surveys. Data analysis A cross-tabulation was done using the SPSS software 17.0 and frequency charts were also made. Data interpretation After gathering first-hand information from the sample population, the data was quantified and the statistics were used to make cross-tabulations and frequency charts. The results were then analyzed using tables and charts results. RESULTS Demographics The primary research for the study comprised of questionnaire surveys that were floated amongst 50 respondents, both married and unmarried, falling in the age bracket of 20 to 40 years. 25 of the respondents were male and 25 female in order to eliminate gender bias. The people with children were targeted to find out more about their childrens fast food consumption resulting from advertising exposure. The working population was targeted to specifically because they have a need for fast food. This was done with the purpose of finding out the most effective method of fast food marketing that results in consumption of fast food by children in Lahore. Most of the married respondents were bankers, doctors, engineers and teachers who had children, whilst the unmarried respondents were mostly students at the Lahore School of Economics and had younger siblings between the ages of 3 to 17 years, who consume fast food. The target population for the research will be people living in Lahore who h ave children in their families who consume fast food. 75% fell in the age group of 20 to 29 years, whereas the remaining 25% were aged between 30 to 40 years. Most of these individuals belonged to the upper and upper middle class with lump sum pocket monies or household incomes, and had exposure to all sorts of fast food advertisements. A majority fell in the 30,000-40,000 income range. The five independent variables were separately analyzed to determine their impact on the dependant variable. The results have been analyzed below. Independent Variable: Television Ads Ho-Frequent exposure to Fast Food marketing methods leads to increased Fast Food Consumption by children H1-Television is the most influential Fast Food Marketing Method for children TVADSQ1a Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 21 42.0 42.0 2.00 25 50.0 50.0 3.00 2 4.0 4.0 4.00 1 2.0 2.0 5.00 1 2.0 2.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The above table shows the frequencies of responses when people were asked whether they thought images of food were an important element of a fast food advertisement. It can be seen that 21 people out of 50 i.e. 42% strongly agreed that images of food are important to children. 25 respondents or 50% also agreed with this.2 people or 4% remained neutral. 1 out of 50 respondents or 2% disagreed while another 2% also strongly disagreed with the statement. TVADSQ1b Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 11 22.0 22.0 2.00 25 50.0 50.0 3.00 13 26.0 26.0 4.00 1 2.0 2.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The table illustrates the frequencies of the responses for the importance that a catchy slogan holds for children in a fast food television commercial.11 out of 50 respondents i.e. 22% strongly agreed that a catchy slogan is very important to children whilst 50% also agreed with this.26% remained neutral about it and 2% disagreed and didnt think that a catchy slogan is important to children. TVADSQ1c Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 14 28.0 28.0 2.00 17 34.0 34.0 3.00 13 26.0 26.0 4.00 6 12.0 12.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 As per the above frequencies 14 out of 50 respondents i.e. a celebrity endorser was very important to children according to 28% or 14 out of 50 respondents and 34% also thought the same.26% were neutral about it and 12% disagreed. TVADSQ1d Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 15 30.0 30.0 2.00 23 46.0 46.0 3.00 10 20.0 20.0 4.00 2 4.0 4.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The frequency table shows that the jingle was very important to children according to 30% of the respondents who strongly agreed along with the 46% majority who agreed with this. 20% remained neutral to it and only 4% disagreed. TVADSQ1e Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 3 6.0 6.0 2.00 9 18.0 18.0 3.00 11 22.0 22.0 4.00 19 38.0 38.0 5.00 8 16.0 16.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 According to the above table, the frequencies of responses showed that 6% of the respondents strongly agreed that price matters to children in a fast food television commercial and 18% also agreed.22% remained neutral about it. However 38% and 16% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively that children do

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

Gatsby Essay Reserving Judgements is a Matter of Infinite Hope† pg. 6 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This quote is the fundamental axiom that the book revolves around. Nick’s father told this to him and he hasn’t forgotten the quote or the intrinsic moral significance that goes along with it. So much is spoken and gossiped about Jay Gatsby before he is even introduced in the novel that no one knows his true character, except for the fact he’s a rich man who throws wild parties in West Egg. In the novel, both social image and the perception of wealth play important parts in illustrating the internal class structure of West and East Egg. The fact the Gatsby is such an enigmatic character makes the audience wonder about the internal make-up of his personality, since most of his life Gatsby has been trying to escape his true image. In the case with Nick, the narrator, and Gatsby, as long as judgments are not made, Nick can be optimistic about Gatsby and their relationship and hope for the best, even if the best situation is not always reached. Mo re generally, however, it advocates tolerance and understanding regardless of social status, or preconceived information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within the first chapter of the novel, there is already a contradiction and a questioning of Nick’s moral integrity as he regresses from his comment slightly. While he nobly and humbly mentions that he is tolerant and nonjudgmental, he also regards himself as morally privileged, having a greater sense of ‘decencies’ than other people. It makes sense that New York’s social dichotomy and the vast difference between the rich and the poor, the arrogant and the humble has given Nick a complete moral spectrum.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This quote not only symbolizes a creed that Nick lives by, but it also represents the ideal morality that unfortunately many of the frantic, materialistic, capitalistic easterners lack. Judgments and stereotypes and the declination of American values play a huge role in explaining the relationship with the two distinct sides of the neighborhood. The main distinction is between East Egg and the old rich people, who claimed their wealth through inheritance from ancestors who were among the richest people in the country, and the new rich people, like Gatsby, who obtained their wealth through entrepreneurial business that sometimes lacked integrity and morality. In addition to the difference in the assumption of wealth, the older rich people from East Egg tend to be more humble, graceful, and elegant with their riches, while the new rice West Eggers are ostentatious, and vulgar, as is characterized by Gatsby’s tasteless, wild drinking parties.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Marxism Essay -- essays research papers

In this paper, I am going to explore the differences between communism and socialism and how different the thoughts and opinions of these two ways of life are from the current western views on religion and God. To explain about the differences between socialism/communism and western thoughts on religion I will explore the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. They are founders and writers of a lot of the socialist and communist thoughts on religion and God. In our western society when we discuss God and religion, people for the most part are going to lean one way or another when it comes to their beliefs on religion. If you are from the western part of globe like myself the views and thoughts hinge on the belief of God as a superior being, a perfect one, one who controls everything that happens. The other side of the coin in western culture would be the atheist who does not believe in God at all. There are many other views about God and Religion that differ greatly from the vi ews that are held throughout the western regions of the world. In a lot of the Eastern countries of the world the teaching of the Socialist and Communist parties that rule these areas of the world has influenced the views that have been passed down and taught through out the years. Communism and Socialism do not believe in the theory that there is one perfect God and that you can only receive salvation through him. In the western religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, God is the one and only Supreme Being, the Creator of everything. Nothing exists in the world to these religions unless God had created it. God is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all good and eternal to salvation. God created the world and all its components for a purpose. God created human beings to know, to love, to honor, to serve and to obey Him. God is to be thought of in masculine terms, even though God is a pure spirit and has no material or bodily parts. Humans will be judged after death as to how well they have fulfilled God's plan for them. Those who have failed, the sinners, will be punished for eternity. Those who have succeeded will be rewarded for eternity. The exact nature of the reward or punishment is hotly disputed, but all seem to agree that those who are rewarded will be in God's presence and those who are punished will not. There are many arguments from people who do not believe... ...gard to the next world. Religion is the opium of the people, that is, it acts as a kind of painkiller. Religion makes bearable the unbearable, such as: poverty, hunger, inequality and repression that happen in the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Christian religion means salvation to some and to others it is only something that only resides in the thoughts of the people of that society. A Marxist would tell you that true salvation could only be achieved here on earth by working. Salvation is something that all would hope would be in the future for themselves. In this paper we have examined two differing opinions on how salvation can be achieved one was through religion and the other was the socialist way of life. The argument between societies about religion will not be settled here on earth. Who is right and who is wrong in the argument about religion? Is religion just a figment of our imagination, is it something humans made up to make us feel good about the future and our salvation. Or are the Marxists wrong, could religion be everything it is meant to be in the Christian religion. Could religion be the real salvation? These are great questions to ponder and talk about.