Career Plans Essay

Business schools look keenly at your career goals because they know that students who are clear about their goals make the most of MBA programs. They are able to focus on relevant parts of the curriculum, make use of the on-campus activities to their advantage and by doing well in their careers become good ambassadors for their programs. You need to share goals that have captured your imagination and burn in your heart. Imagine you have just graduated from your dream school after two years of rigorous study. What kind of work would you like to do now? Think about responsibilities you want to shoulder, positions you want to hold, challenges you want to meet, skills you want to build, and contributions you want to make. Be specific – which industry, what role, what would you like to do and achieve? Reflecting on all this will take time. Be patient with yourself. Keep the questions in your head and pen down your thoughts as they pop up. Working this way prepare a career progress graph in your mind. Keep in mind the fact that your aim here is to fulfill your aspirations and leverage your strengths. When you sit down to write your goals in the essays, explain: How did the goals develop? How well are your goals connected with your professional background and personal strengths and abilities? How have you assessed suitability for the required career? Show understanding of the career you wish to get into. CAREER PROGRESS You would share your career progression through an essay. Some schools have an essay that asks for it. Or you would share it through the way you describe your work experience through the application form and the resume. In whichever way you share your career progress, remember that your objective is to demonstrate how your past experiences qualify you to seek the career you now desire, which you will share through the career goals essay. Your past is looked at keenly since it adds credibility to claims you make about the future you seek. Start by thinking about all the career-related decisions you’ve made till now. You laid the foundations of your career when you chose your undergraduate specialization. Think about what motivated you then. You learned new skills and your first degree qualified you either to get a job or continue further studies. What motivated you then? What were your career plans when you took up your first job? How have they changed over the years? While on your job, did you discover any new aspects of your personality or work style? List the areas in which you excelled and all the new skills you developed. Consider all the job changes and reflect on the reasons that made you want to change. What did you gain or lose in the process? Think of all the new assignments you undertook and how you handled them. How did you feel about changing your style of working to suit the demands of the new assignment? Were you comfortable? Did you falter? What did you learn from each experience of success or failure? Get the most significant answers from the above questions into your essays, application form or resume and strengthen your case for admission. All the Best

Death Penalty for Rapists

Even Death penalty for Rape is not good enough! Social issues by Editor ‘Rape’ the word itself sends across chills down the spine! Only a woman who has undergone such brutality understands the pain, dismay and disgrace that it beholds. Rape or forcible sexual contact is indeed the most shameful facet of humanity. It causes ultimate social and psychological dissuasion of a woman. Indian society still lacks the compassion and humanity to treat raped women with grace and sympathy.Even though women are no way guilty for the sexual offense they have gone through, neighbors, relatives and friends blame her for her circumstances. It makes their life even more unbearable. Understanding the disgraceful after-effects of an incident like ‘Rape’, women are often afraid to seek legal assistance on this matter. Instead they keep such matters under secrecy which often instigate the offenders to commit the same crime over and over again. Currently the legal punishment alloc ated to rapists is 7 years’ jail sentence.Apart from cases featuring exceptional brutality, often rapists do not face death penalty sentences. Now the death penalty debate is one of the most controversial matters being churned in India . Personally I feel rape death penalty should be implemented with strictest possible terms of logic and common sense. Following are the reasons why there should be death penalty for rape: Indeed rape is one of the most heinous crimes out there but it has become a common practice in Indian society.Nowadays, you would find at least one (sometimes more than one) crime news covering ‘rape’ every day on Television or Newspapers and crimes against women are increasing. It implies that the 7 years’ imprisonment penalty assigned for rape is not good enough to put a stop on this brutality. Generally death penalty is exercised for rarest cases in India. Rape death penalty, if implemented will ensure that people would think twice befor e committing this crime which will in turn reduce the statistics significantly.This will bring down the crime ratio and sexual harassment against women, people would certainly not take the chance. Till date death sentence is considered the most critical punishment possible. And when a woman is raped, it turns out to be social death for her. Hence the offender, who causes such destitution to the victim, should also suffer the same consequence. If death is allocated as rape penalty, it will instill the fear in people, often in rural parts of India; people use rape as a common method to settle personal scores.If they know that raping a woman might take its toll of their own lives, they might refrain themselves from committing rape. A healthy legal system should strive to provide justice to the victims of crimes. The motto of Indian constitution is to help the nation with proper verdict that will improve their condition by ending the misery. Death sentence is generally given to criminal s who have gone far away from being reformed and RAPE is one crime which implies that the convicted has lost his humanitarian qualities and turned into a brute.Hence they should be punished to death for their misdeed. DEATH SENTENCE is the strictest of all punishments given to offenders. If death penalty is assigned to rapists, it will set example for those who commit such a crime. Moreover, if a person is set free after 7 years’ confinement, he will certainly feel even more confident to commit the same crime over and over again which can cause severe threat to the entire legal system of the country.Death penalty sentences cost a lot of turmoil, questioning and solid proofs. If the country and its legal system are serious about putting an end to a raped woman’s suffering for good, it should consider assigning death penalty for rapists. Not only it will provide proper judgment for the worst and brutal crime but also it will cause significant drop in rape statistics and crimes against women in India. If you have better solutions than this then do share†¦.

Techniques for Providing Fresh Water to Arid Regions Essay

Techniques for Providing Fresh Water to Arid Regions - Essay Example For a pipeline, a network of pipelines will have to be constructed so as to connect various users to the water source. Acquisition of the pipes and the pumps costs a lot of money and the capital costs may force a country to borrow the required resources (World Bank, 1994). Besides, maintenance of the pipelines and checking of water quality should be done constantly, and this again adds to the overall costs which may be extreme in the event the pipeline length is long (Grossman, 2004).Construction of small dams can easily be done with locally available materials and human labour, making it cheaper. According to a study carried out in Kenya, a single sand dam with a capacity of holding 2,000m3 with a life span of 50 years only costs US$ 7,500 (Borst and Haas, 2006). For the large dams, the construction can easily run into billions of dollars considering the scale of the project, materials requires and the machinery and equipment employed not forgetting the technical personnel on the gr ound. IFPRI (1997) observes that the maintenance of dams mainly includes dredging the dams to maintain its depth by scooping the silt deposited on the floor of the dam. This is a capital intensive exercise and it may run into a lot of money. Overall, costs of large dams are so high and can only be funded by large investments in the project probably the government with the help of financial partners.Compared to other methods of provision of water to dry areas, ground water provides the cheaper alternative.

Impact of the human activities on the sustainability of cities Essay

Impact of the human activities on the sustainability of cities - Essay Example This urbanization then results to increasing numbers of people in these particular areas and hence continued and sustainable growth of the towns. This growth or even the sprouting of the new towns can be attributed to the fact that the new populations are always scrambling for the limited facilities. Therefore, the investors on pointing the new market niches ventures to the cities and hence the whole process of urbanization continues. In this essay, we will seek to explore the activities these people carry-out and their effects in these areas before and after inhabiting the cities. Shenzhen city in China will be used as a case study. Human activities in urban areas can be categorized into two main categories: positive and the negative activities. On the positive side, we will seek to elaborate those activities enhance not only the areas that this entire process of urbanization takes place but also the human beings themselves and the entire ecosystem. We will also highlight the merits this process brings about in the long run (Myron, 2001). On the other hand, in the negative side, we will seek to explain the human effects that the urbanization process has brought about to the ecosystem and the possible results of this process to human life and the entire ecosystem. Effects of human activities in cities are of great concern to everyone who has interests on the sprawling of cities. Investment is one of the major human activities in the process. We are living in a business world whereby everyone aspires to maximize their returns on every single cent they invest in any venture. It is, therefore, true to say that investors deserve the biggest part of the credit for urbanization. Well, how do investors contribute to this? First and foremost it is important to know that the main reason people move from rural areas to urban centers in their endeavor to secure employment and hence better

Sexuality Interviewee Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexuality Interviewee Report - Assignment Example Cross dressing. The question asked in this context is whether the interviewee has any friend who is a homosexual and a cross dresser. Robert responds saying that despite the fact that there is no such person in his friends’ circle, he witnesses many cross dressers around himself at school. Most of his acquaintances who are cross dressers are girls rather than dudes. These girls both dress and act like guys. Aly Al responds that he knows no such peers who are cross dressers and gay. According to previously recorded literatures, gay and lesbian young people show behavior which deviates from their gender. Cross dressing is an aggressive or rebellious manner comes up in circumstance where they feel the presence of some hostile behaviors which might lay a challenge before their self esteem. Often when a homosexual person or youngster is surrounded by gay peers they often give up the habit of gender deviant or cross dressing (Unks, 1995, p. 24). The conversation held here is more or less close ende d and hence the impact of gay peers on a homosexual teenager’s way of dressing could not be captured. Impact of homosexual peer on group participation When asked if working with peers affected the interviewee’s group participation and performance, Robert says that he would not care if the peer was a homosexual girl but would not work with a gay male since he does not want to â€Å"lose†. In case he is teamed up with a gay male, he would carry out the class room activities with him but no outdoor work since he is not sure of the sexual experience he might face otherwise. Aly Al also says something similar. He does not consider playing sports because he does not think the gay people are capable or interested in playing sports. But he has no problem in-house activities of project work. This clearly shows the lack of trust that the straight male teenagers have on the sexual behaviors of homosexual peers. Their answers clearly reveal their sexual discomfort around the gay peers especially when left outside the class or in case of sports where physical association might perhaps occur accidentally or intentionally on part of the gay peer. Teacher’ sexual preference – teaching ability When asked about the association between a teacher’s sexual orientation and talent in teaching, Robert replies that the teacher’s teaching ability would not be affected but he would not be at ease around him. Aly Al also thinks the same way and would avoid one-to-one lesson or assistance from the homosexual male teacher. This shows that the teenager s normally do not associate talent and soft skills with sexual preference but they are uncomfortable to be around them physically. The answer merely reveals their opinion about the aspect but not their practical experience of being harassed in any way by a gay teacher. Neither does it express whether a teacher’s sexual preference might affect the education or performance of the student. From the answers it might be deduced that the performances are not influenced by a teacher’s sexual orientation. Gay actors/actresses Lastly, the participants were asked what they think about gay or lesbian actors and actresses. Are they merely acting or are they actually gay are the questions on which opinion is sought. Here the two participants differ largely as they express opposing views. Robert thinks these actors are actually gay because one

Innovation Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Innovation Business - Essay Example Energy: Global energy requirement is growing continuously notwithstanding the exhaustible nature of conventional sources like coal, oil and natural gas, or even in the face of growth of renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal, tidal etc. This trend will get accentuated as mankind breaks the shackles of earthly existence, to routinely make interplanetary travel to colonize the outer space. In this scenario, conventional meaning of energy or its quantities will become obsolete. What could be the characteristics of such energy? The new form of energy may be something from within rather than without. For example, a person walks by the mere intention of walking, aided by muscular power. Can the intention or the mental power, which is limitless, be made more important than the limited muscular power? Mental power is inherent to living things and I forecast that we will discover something similar in non-living things as well, and follow it up by innovations to energize it in a limitl ess manner. Inner-city transport: Personal and public transport as we see today is unsustainable as a factor of growth. Millions of cars on the ever-expanding streets/highways, or rail-transport systems moving masses of humanity, cry for alternative solutions for people living in metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai. The expensive fuel that is being spent and the exhausting nature of travel just to get to somewhere is the rationale for innovative ideas for inner-city transport. I forecast that a system of point-to-point moving platforms will substantially reduce roads/vehicles in a way that will combine the convenience of private vehicles and sustainability of public transport. Water: Water in oceans and other saline waters make up for the bulk of global water constituting 97.5% while only 1% of all the water on earth is fit for use by humans, according to the US Geological Survey; of this 1%, groundwater is 99% balance being surface water in la kes and rivers (n.d. web, USGS). Thus potable water is one of the very scarce but vital resources of earth, seriously impacting millions of people. As pointed out by USGS, the earth is a practically closed system, neither losing nor gaining any matter including water (ibid.). This natural phenomenon makes me forecast innovative recycling of the entire quantity of water that we use, at individual household level rather than the present practice of wastewater treatment and discharge by municipalities. Q.2 Threat of substitution GE’s innovative diamonds from coal are substitutes for DeBeers natural diamonds who enjoyed virtual monopoly in diamond trade till now. This situation changes the industry competition to oligopoly. Pure oligopoly markets are characterized by a few players producing identical products while in differentiated oligopoly, product features, styling, service etc. differ. GE’s synthetic diamonds are more economical and as the CEO of DeBeers, I can only m eet this price challenge by significantly reducing/destroying the profitability of the industry. Further more, there is no guarantee that GE’s success is not repeated by another firm with equal technical and financial clout, although there are not likely to be too many competitors of GE’s stature. Hence, price is not the weapon of combat. In the normal course, a customer perceives value of his purchase in terms of

Market Development for small businesses in the USA Dissertation

Market Development for small businesses in the USA - Dissertation Example Medical instrument industry is a significant component of an entire health care system. The proposal has started with a background analysis where the entire medical equipment market has been discussed. It is quite important to understand the market itself before entering into a specific market. In the later segments the research methodology would be discussed with research objectives. A brief discussion of the supporting theories has been also provided in this research proposal. Background and Academic Analysis The Medical Equipment Market in USA The medical and dental instrument industry in USA is diverse in nature and technologically dynamic in its operation. The medical devices come up in an extensive range of products used in the health care. The devices can range from mere tongue depressors to some extremely sophisticated diagnostic devices. The US medical and dental apparatus and supplies industry can be segmented in five different products segments including surgical appliance s and supplies, surgical and medical instruments, dental equipment and supplies, electromedical equipments, x-ray apparatus and tubes (AASBEA, n.d., p.1-2). The products of this industry are articulated as follows. Surgical instruments such as clamps, syringes, suture needles and hypodermic, laparoscopic devices, stethoscopes, catheters and blood pressure measuring devices. Appliances such as wheelchairs, bandages, implantable devices and prosthetics. Dental equipments such as hand instruments, drills, plaster, cements, amalgams, dental chairs and sterilizers. X-ray tools and tubes. Electromedical apparatus like patient monitoring equipments, pacemakers etc. Diagnostic tools like ultrasonic scanning instruments, magnetic resonance imaging equipment. Ophthalmic goods like sunglasses, contact lenses and eye-glasses (Shippey, 1995, p.149). The growth of this industry would depend on the expenditures in national health care including the expense to come up with new regulatory norms to e nsure effectiveness and safety in the instruments and appliances. Even the changes in the insurance coverage drive the growth in the medical instrument and appliances market. It is pretty significant to analyse the macro environment of the players operating in this specific industry. The macro environmental driving forces are determining forces to shape up the company’s strategies to place itself in the market. Macro Environment Analysis – PESTLE Analysis Political and Legal Environment – The medical instrument industry in US is governed by several regulatory norms; some of them have been quite influential to the industry itself. Such a norm, 1990 Safe Medical Devices Act, redefined the processes to bring in medical instruments to the respective market. This norm was established to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the products pouring into the market. For an instance, manufacturer of certain medical instruments must include the safety and effectiveness dat a in the premarket notification applications. As per the law, the high risk apparatus which had been introduced after the year 1990 are required to have post market surveillanc

Balanced Scorecard and Ethical Issues Assignment

Balanced Scorecard and Ethical Issues - Assignment Example It has been observed that majority of the firms utilize BSC in order to evaluate the ‘balance’ existing between its compensation plan and the performance measures over a certain period of time which further assists the organization to design effective strategies (Ittner, Larcker, & Meyer, 1997). Performance measurement facilitates managers to evaluate the outcomes of the overall organization as well as employees’ operational activities. Performance measurement also depicts the effectiveness of resources and the possibilities through which the activities and the resources satisfy organizational missions and objectives in a rational manner. Recent researches have often regarded BSC as a management tool which can deliver successful and well-documented outcomes (US Department of Energy, 2013). However, when measuring the attributes considered in the BSC framework, various ethical issues can also be observed to disrupt its validity as well as the reliability of the ove rall evaluation process outcomes. As stated by Bieker & Waxenberger (2002), the BSC approach lacks in considering the wide group of stakeholders including the community members who can also impose significant influences on the organizational performances. Thus, by ignoring the organizational responsibilities and its performances towards the stakeholders, business incorporations may have to witness significant ethical concerns when applying the mechanism of BSC. Unethical Behavior As A Result of Wrong Performance Measures Majority of the companies in today’s contemporary era, evaluate performance indicators in order to improve the overall performance of the organization and directly tie with the compensation system which comprise various aspects such as customer satisfaction, cost of the products and quality of the services offered along with providing job satisfaction among the employees. It is in this context that as the BSC framework focuses on a multidimensional approach t o performance measurement, in majority companies, managers attempt to use this particular framework extensively (Lichiello & Turnock, 2006). With due consideration towards the critical viewpoint obtainable through the application of BSC approach, it can be regarded as an appropriate measurement tool through which Sparkling-Automotive Company (SAC) can tie its the compensation system with performance and thus enhance efficiency in its overall business process. However, SAC should also focus on recognizing the limitations of applying the BSC framework prior to its implementation for the purpose of its performance management. As stated by Butler, Henderson & Raiborn (2011), although the framework inculcates a multidimensional approach towards measuring performances of an organization, incorporation of sustainable issues, such as environmental concerns and stakeholders interests make the evaluation process quite complex. Owing to this particular limitation, managers often have to face o bstructions in detailing appropriate and almost accurate information relating to the performance measures. Furthermore, as explained by Rillo (2004), when measuring the cause-effect relationship between the implemented strategies and obtained outcomes through organizational pe

Network Simulator Essay Example for Free

Network Simulator Essay INTRODUCTION IEEE 802.11 is the de facto standard for WLANs. It specifies both the medium access control (MAC) and the physical (PHY) layers for WLANs. The MAC layer operates on top of one of several physical layers. Medium access is performed using Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance. However, simple CSMA is susceptible to the hidden node problem, especially in so called ad hoc networks where a node may communicate directly with every other node in range or using intermediate nodes as relays otherwise. Hidden nodes cause costly packet collisions and thus significantly affect network performance. In order to combat the hidden node problem, a mechanism known as Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) handshake is often used. RTS/CTS mechanism is supported in the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. The RTS/CTS mechanism was initially proposed in a protocol called Multiple- Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA). From a network point of view, one of the primary reasons for using the RTS/CTS mechanism is to avoid network congestion resulting from frequent packet collisions. Figure 1 depicts a conceptual â€Å"throughput versus Packet Size† curve for a network. In the presence of congestion, the throughput goes to zero as the Packet Size is increased beyond a certain value. A properly designed network, on the other hand, maintains the maximum throughput as the Packet Size goes to infinity. LITERATURE REVIEW The IEEE 802.11 standard includes an optional feature of the RTS/CTS (Request to Send/Clear to Send) function to control station access to the medium when collisions occur due to the hidden node. This option is also known as virtual carrier sensing. Through the proper use of RTS/CTS, you can fine-tune the operation of your wireless LAN since it solves the hidden node problem and provides additional protection against collisions. If you enable RTS/CTS on a particular station, it will refrain from sending a data frame until the station completes a RTS/CTS handshake with another station, such as an access point. A station initiates the process by sending a RTS frame. The access point (AP) or another station receives the RTS and responds with a CTS frame. The station must receive a CTS frame before sending the data frame. The CTS also contains a time value that alerts other stations to hold off from accessing the medium while the station initiating the RTS transmits  its data. Thus, the use of RTS/CTS reduces collisions and improves the performance of the network if hidden nodes are present. SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT We use Ns-3 as simulation tool. NS-3 is built using C++ and Python and scripting is available with both languages. The ns-3 library is wrapped to python thanks to the pybindgen library which delegates the parsing of the ns-3 C++ headers to gccxml and pygccxml to generate automatically the corresponding C++ binding glue. These automatically-generated C++ files are finally compiled into the ns-3 python module to allow users to interact with the C++ ns-3 models and core through python scripts. Graphical visualization of raw or processed data collected in a simulation is graphed using Gnuplot tool. Our experimental done in Ubuntu 11.10 with installation of all needed tools. Simulation environment based on the command below, sudo apt-get install build-essential g++ python mercurial NS-3 is available in (linux, osx, cygwin, mingw) and we deploy Development version: http://code.nsnam.org/ns-3-dev. The development version is usually stable; a lot of people use it for daily work. RESULT ANALYSIS The results analysis are based on the following factors * Enabling and disabling RTS/CTS * Protocol bases, either UDP or TCP * WLAN standards which are IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g * Variation of Throughput, Packet Loss Ratio, Delay with Packet Size and Wifi Nodes. From the graphs below result obtained through the following * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * UDP protocol used * IEEE 802.11b standard used * Variation of Packet Size (500-2200) Considering the second result with use of TcpTahoe, TcpNewReno, TcpReno and UDP transport protocols with the following * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * UDP protocol used * IEEE 802.11b standard used * Variation of Packet Size Fig. Tahoe 1 Fig. Tahoe 2 Fig. Tahoe 3 Fig. Reno 1 Fig. Reno 2 Fig. Reno 3 Fig. Newreno 1 Fig. Newreno 2 Fig. Newreno 3 Considering the third result for different IEEE802.11 standards (802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g). * Disabling and enabling RTS/CTS * TCP protocol used * IEEE 802.11a/ IEEE 802.11b/ IEEE 802.11g standard used * Variation of Wifi Nodes Fig. 802.11a (i) Fig. 802.11a (ii) Fig. 802.11a (iii) Fig. 802.11b (i) Fig. 802.11b (ii) Fig. 802.11b (iii) Fig. 802.11g (i) Fig. 802.11g (ii) Fig. 802.11g (iii) CONCLUSION From the result analysis obtained above, it is clearly seen that IEEE 802.11a has better performance compared to other wireless standards due to the following reasons; * Provides maximum data rate of about 54 Mbps. * It operates in 5GHz ISM band. * It is not subjected to interference from other products designed , * It is characterized with higher throughput * It is suited for connectivity provision over densely populated user environment Also from the result analysis above, TCP Tahoe is the best TCP variant due to the following facts; * It is characterized by fast retransmit. * It is characterized by fast recovery. * Reduce congestion window REFERENCES 1. E. Ayanoglu, S. Paul, T. F. LaPorta, K. K. Sabnani, and R. D.Gitlin, â€Å"AIRMAIL: A link-layer protocol for wireless networks,† ACMACM/Baltzer Wireless Networks J., vol. 1, pp. 47–60, Feb. 1995. 2. A. Bakre and B. R. Badrinath, â€Å"Handoff and system support for indirectTCP/IP,† in Proc. 2nd Usenix Symp. Mobile and Location-IndependentComputing, Apr. 1995. 3. S. Keshav, â€Å"REAL: A Network Simulator,† University of California at * Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, Tech. Rep., 1988. * 4. V. Naoumov and A. Gross, â€Å"Simulation of Large Ad Hoc Networks,† In Proceedings of the 6th ACM Workshop on Modeling, Analysis, and * Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems, 2003.

Econ Problem Set Essay Example for Free

Econ Problem Set Essay 1) Describe the effects on output and welfare if the government regulates a monopoly so that it may not charge a price above p, which lies between the unregulated monopoly price and the optimally regulate price (determined by the intersection of the firm’s marginal cost and the market demand curve). As usual, the monopoly determines its optimal output on the basis of MR = MC. Here, however, it cannot charge a price in excess of p*. So, for any output less than Q(p*) (where Q(p) is the demand function) its marginal revenue is p*. On the graph below that gives: pm p* MR MC Demand q m q * 2) The inverse demand curve a monopoly faces is p=10Q-1/2. The firm’s cost curve is c(Q) = 10 + 5Q. Find the profit maximizing price and quantity, and economic profit for the monopoly. Revenue = pQ = Q(10Q-1/2) = 10Q1/2 MR = 5Q-1/2 MC = 5 Profit maximization implies MR = MC, so 5Q-1/2 = 5, or Q* = 1; p* = 10. Economic Profit = Revenue – Cost = Q Ãâ€" p – c(Q) = 1(10) – (10 + 5Q) Economic Profit = 10 – 15 = -5. So, the monopoly will not produce at all, and will have a profit of zero. 3) The inverse demand curve a monopoly faces is p = 100 – Q. Find the profit maximizing price and quantity, and economic profit if: a) The total cost curve is c(Q) = 10 + 5Q. p = 100 – Q, R = p Ãâ€" Q = (100 – Q) Ãâ€" Q, so MR = 100 – 2Q. C(Q) = 10 + 5Q, therefore MC = 5. The profit-maximizing rule is MR = MC. 100 – 2Q = 5 ⇒ Q* = 47.5, p* = 100 – Q* = 52.5 So the profit-maximizing quantity is 47.5 units. The firm will charge $52.5 per unit. Economic Profit = Revenue – Cost = Q Ãâ€" p – c(Q) = Q(100 – Q) – (10 + 5Q) Economic Profit = 47.5(52.5) – (10 + 5(47.5)) = $2,246.25 b) The total cost curve is c(Q) = 100 + 5Q. How is this similar/different from that found in part a? The optimal price and quantity are the same, because the marginal cost doesn’t change. The marginal cost is constant at $5 as before. By setting MR = MC, the firm will have the same profit-maximizing solution. The only thing that changes is economic profit. Economic profit here is $90 less than in the previous problem (because of the difference in fixed costs). So, Economic Profit = $2,246.25 – 90 = $2,156.25. c) If the total cost curve is given by c(Q) = 16 + Q2. C(Q) = 16 + Q2, therefore MC = 2Q. The profit-maximizing rule is MR = MC. 100 – 2Q = 2Q ⇒ Q* = 25, p* = 100 – Q* = 75 So the profit-maximizing quantity is 25 units. The firm will charge $75 per unit. Economic Profit = Revenue – Cost = Q Ãâ€" p – c(Q) = 25(75) – (16 + Q2) = $1234. d) If the (total) cost curve is given by c(Q) = 16 + 4Q2, find the monopolist’s profit-maximizing quantity and price. How much economic profit will the monopolist earn? C(Q) = 16 + 4Q2, therefore MC = 8Q. The profit-maximizing rule is MR = MC. 100 – 2Q = 8Q ⇒ Q* = 10, p* = 100 – Q* = 90 So the profit-maximizing quantity is 10 units. The firm will charge $90 per unit. Economic Profit = Revenue – Cost = Q Ãâ€" p – c(Q) = 10(90) – (16 + 4Q2) = $484. e) Suppose (again) that the total cost curve is given by c(Q) = 16 + Q2 and the monopolist has access to a foreign market in which it can sell whatever quantity it chooses at a constant price of 60. How much will it sell in the foreign market? What will its new quantity and price be in the original market? It will sell on the foreign market up to the point where its marginal cost = 60. Since Marginal Cost = 2Q that means total production is 2QT = 60 or QT = 30. Domestic sales are now based on the marginal cost of $60 per unit, so The profit-maximizing rule is MR = MC. 100 – 2Q = 60 ⇒ QD = 20, pD = 100 – QD = 80 It will sell the remainder on the foreign market: QF = 30 – 20 = 10 units. f) Finally suppose the monopolist has a long-run constant marginal cost curve of MC = 20. Find the monopolist’s profit-maximizing quantity and price. Find the efficiency loss from this monopoly. MR = 100 – 2Q. The profit-maximizing rule is MR = MC. 100 – 2Q = 20 ⇒ Q* = 40, p* = 100 – Q* = 60 So the profit-maximizing quantity is 40 units. The firm will charge $60 per unit. Efficient production and price are: pe = 20; Qe = 80. Then Dead-Weight-Loss =  ½ (60 – 20) (80 – 40) = $800. 4) A monopoly sells its good in the United States, where the elasticity of demand is –2, and in Japan, where the elasticity of demand is –5. Its marginal cost is $10. a) At what price does the monopoly sell its good in each country if resales are impossible? The price-discriminating monopoly maximizes its profit by operating where its marginal revenue for each country equals the firm’s marginal cost. Hence, the marginal revenues for the two countries are equal; MRUS = MC = MRJ. MRUS = PUS (1 + 1/ÃŽ µUS) = MC. PUS (1 – 1/2) = 10. Therefore, PUS =20. MRJ = PJ (1 + 1/ÃŽ µJ) = MC. PJ (1 1/5) = 10. Therefore, PJ =12.5. b) What happens to the prices that the monopoly charges in the two countries if retailers can buy the good in Japan and ship it to the United States at a cost of (a) $10 or (b) $0 per unit? If retailers can buy the good in Japan and ship it to the United States at a cost of $10, then it can sell the good in the United States at the price of $22.50. Since it is not profitable, it never happens and nothing changes. However, if the shipping cost is zero, retailers can buy the good in Japan for $12.50 and sell it in the United States for $19 for a profit and undercut the monopolist. This means the monopoly cannot price-discriminate any more. As a result, there will be a single common price which will be somewhere between $12.5 and $ 20. 5) A monopoly sells in two countries, and resales between the countries are impossible. The demand curves in the two countries are p1=100 – Q1, p2=120 – 2Q2. The monopoly’s marginal cost is m = 30. Solve for the equilibrium price in each country. The price-discriminating monopoly maximizes its profit by operating where its marginal revenue for each country equals the firm’s marginal cost. Hence, the marginal revenues for the two countries are equal; MR1 = MC = MR2. P1 = 100 – Q1 MR1 = 100 – 2Q1, MC = 30 Since MR1 = MC, Q1*=35. Therefore, P1* = 65. P2 = 120 – 2Q2 MR2 = 120 – 4Q2, MC = 30. Similarly, MR2 = MC. Therefore, MQ2*=22.5 and P1* = 75.

Cost Volume Profit Analysis: Advantages and Disadvantages

Cost Volume Profit Analysis: Advantages and Disadvantages â€Å"Cost Volume Profit Analysis is not appropriate in an environment where companies produce many diverse products†. Cost volume profit analysis is the study of the effects of output volume on revenue, costs and profit (Horngren, Sundem and Stratton). The most common use of cost volume profit analysis is to find break-even point in terms of number of units sold. In its simplest form cost volume profit analysis works for single product companies. But most of the companies produce more than one product. Sales mix is the relative proportion of quantities of different products that comprise total sales. When sales mix changes, break-even point changes and so does the profit. Like any model, cost volume profit analysis is based on certain assumptions. This paper looks at the applicability of the assumptions, especially for a company producing more than one product. Most of the assumptions in cost volume profit model are based on the linearity of cost and sales with units. Major elements impacting cost are sudden increase in fixed costs, gain in worker efficiency and higher bargaining power of the company. Similarly revenues are non-linear because companies give varying discounts to different customers. Assumptions made in cost volume profit analysis: Unit selling price remains constant. This implies that the price of the product or service will not change as sales volume varies. In reality the situation is different as reduced selling prices are normally associated with increased sales volume and this supports the supply-demand hypothesis which states that lowering of price will result in higher sales and vice-versa. It is a common practice in the business world to offer different discounts to different customers based on the volume of purchase and the strategic importance of sale. Companies offer bulk discounts to larger customers. Managers often reduce prices as volume increases to attract more customers. Also stiff competition means selling product at discounts during lean periods or during festive times. Bigger companies producing more than one product have often more than one sales manager and they have their own targets. Each sales manager would adjust his sales volume and price to maximize his products profits and this may not result in ideal sales mix for the whole company. Hence the assumption of constant sales price is rarely applicable in today’s dynamic world. The realistic sales-output relationship is more like a curve than a straight line. And when a company is selling more than one product, the analysis of break-even point under multiple non-linear relationships becomes more difficult. The behavior of costs is linear (straight line) over the relevant range. This implies the following assumptions: Costs can be categorised as fixed or variable. In a large organisation with multi-product it becomes very difficult to organize costs into fixed and variable. Not only there are a large number of costs involved but also there are a large number of cost drivers acting on those costs. Under such circumstances segregating costs into fixed and variable is a very tedious and time consuming job. Unit variable costs are fixed and constant. It is possible that unit variable costs remain fixed under circumstances like where a company produces just one standard product. Most businesses enjoy benefits of economics of scale as their production increases in terms of Higher trade discounts; Better credit and financing terms. The above benefits result in reduction of variable cost per unit with increase in number of units. The assumption of linear variable costs doesn’t hold true in reality and will result in a situation where the relationship between variable cost and output is a non-linear relation (Williamson). Also when a company sells many products, unit variable costs can’t be identified properly and hence not known. It is hard to classify variable cost to each product. As an example, a superstore sells thousands of products at different prices. Calculating break-even point in terms of number of units sold would be meaningless. In such scenarios, companies can use total sales and total variable costs to calculate variable costs as a percentage of total sales. Fixed costs remain fixed over a wide range of activity. Companies, based on their experience and studies, can analyse fixed cost over a range of activity. But it would be improper to assume that fixed costs would remain constant over a wide range of activity. In a multi-product company, different products will take different unit time of various production facilities. A change in sales mix may not be met by existing fixed capacity and involve setting up of further facilities resulting in higher fixed costs. Many times fixed cost has a step change and a particular fixed cost is applicable for a range of production only. Because of sudden change in fixed costs, unit costs can vary a lot just near the step change point. In case of multi product companies, because of change in sales mix, it becomes difficult to access which product has caused the change in fixed costs. The efficiency and productivity of the production process and workers remain constant. Under economics of scale, efficiency of production processes increases with increase in production of units. Higher production levels should result in lower variable cost due to higher productivity. This means that assumption of constant unit variable costs doesn’t hold true when there is a change in productivity and efficiency. It is easier to calculate efficiency gains in a single product business. But for a company involved in multiple products, it becomes difficult to track efficiency gains in each process. In multi-product organizations, the sales mix remains constant over the relevant range. It is hardly a scenario where all products perform as per budget expectations in terms of number of units sold. Let’s first examine the scenario where sales-output relationship is a straight line. If products have different contribution percentages, change in sales mix would change overall contribution. A change in sales mix is now basically a question of working out new contribution to sales ratio which is a weighted average based on the number and contribution percentage of each product sold. Change in sales mix would change the contribution ratio and hence the break-even point. If now sales-output relationship is a non-linear one, it becomes much more difficult to calculate contribution percentage at different sales mix. The use of computer programming has made the task of calculations much easier but managers can miss the learning by just focusing on overall break-even point and profits. Fearon (1960) reasoned that the problem of maintaining a constant product-mix in a multi-product company may not be that serious because of the following main points: Break-even analysis is not just to give exact answer, it is more to throw light on the problem areas for management; Break-even point should be used as approximation and as an area rather than a point; Over time, multi-product companies reach a stable product mix which changes slowly. Hence constant product mix could be a good approximation for such scenarios; and Also if company uses constant margin over the cost for all products, then it is much simpler to use cost volume analysis. For companies adopting this pricing strategy, sales mix is not a complex issue. Ignores the time value of money. Cost volume profit analysis doesn’t take into account the time value of money. All cash flows are taken at face value. In real world, there are differences in timing of cash inflows and outflows. Companies have to pay for buying stock, workers salary, marketing and distribution before they can realize sales. Companies pay interest on any money borrowed to finance their working capital. Companies operating in high margin products can still manage to ignore the time value of money but companies with low-margin products have to take into account interest charges. There is no change in inventory levels at the beginning and end of the period. This is hardly the case as most of the companies have work in progress at the beginning and end of a period. It can be a coincidence that the inventory levels are same at the beginning and end, but very rarely a company would plan inventory levels in such a way so that there is no net change in inventory during a period. The task of managing inventory with multiple products is even more difficult. This is not a major issue as companies do stock taking at the end of a period for financial records. But the change in prices over the period and interest on working capital should be taken into account for proper cost volume profit calculations. Fearon (1960) suggested some techniques to incorporate the product mix in a multi-product company for cost volume profit analysis. Though he suggested five different ways of adopting simple cost volume profit analysis in a multi-product company, he himself wasn’t fully satisfied with any of those solutions. But he mentioned that the sales mix could be approximated to benefit from the cost volume profit analysis. With all its shortcomings and assumptions, cost volume profit analysis can be used to look at the profitability levels. Companies producing multiple products in today’s dynamic world should carry on the analysis with a view to look at the results as an approximation and not the definite answer. Management should use the results to highlight problem areas. CONCLUSION Cost volume profit analysis is a common tool used to find break-even point in terms of number of units sold. Assumptions used in cost volume profit analysis are debatable because of linearity of cost and sales price. In real world, both cost and sales price remain fixed only over a narrow range and are impacted by elements like improvement in worker efficiency, bulk discounts both in purchasing and being offered to clients and competition. When a company produces more than one product, a change in the relative proportion of quantities of different products changes the break-even point and profit. Because of the non-linearity and change in sales mix, cost volume profit analysis will not give a correct answer but could be a good approximation of what levels of production should a company target to break-even or to make certain level of profits. Management should use the analysis to look more at the problem areas and profitability of products rather than finding exact profit numbers. BIBLIOGRAPHY Fearon, H. E. (1960). â€Å"Constant product mix – A limiting assumption in B-E analysis†, National Association of Accountants, NAA Bulletin, July 1960, Pg. 61 Horngren, C.T., G.L. Sundem and W.O. Stratton. â€Å"Introduction to management accounting†. Prentice Hall International, Eleventh edition. Williamson, D. â€Å"Cost Volume Profit Analysis: Its assumptions and their pitfalls†, (http://business.fortunecity.com/discount/29/cvpass.htm), date 21 January 2007

Prader-Willi Syndrome Essay -- essays research papers

Prader-Willi Syndrom Prader-Willi Syndrome is a serious genetic disorder that begins at birth with no known cure ; causing mental retardation,short stature,low muscle tone,incomplete sexual development,and its main charecteristic,the desire to eat everything and anything in sight. Prader-Willi syndrome was first known as Prader-Labhart-Willi Syndrome after three Swiss doctors who first described the disorder in 1956. The doctors described a small group of kids with obesity, short stature and mental deficiency , neonatal hypotonia (floppiness) and a desire to constantly eat because they are always hungry. Many other features of PWS have since been described, but extreme obesity and the health problems associated with being fat are the most prominent features. Individuals with PWS have some but not all of the same features and symptoms. PWS is a birth defect. A defect in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain, is suspected to be the cause.The hypothalamus determines hunger and satiety.They can’t fell satiety,so they always have a urge to eat.Some PWS cases are so out of control thay will eat bottlecaps,glass,pencils,garbage,bugs,dogfood, and anything else they can stuff in their mouths. "The ingenuity and determination of PWS children in surreptitiously obtaining edibles is almost legendary and belies their cognitive defects. Serial weighing may be the only way to discover whether such a child is, in fact, stealing food"(Finey,1983). PWS occurs in about l in 10,000 births. It occurs in both males and females equally and is found in people of all races and all nations.It is one of the ten most common conditions seen in genetics clinics. Young people with PWS resemble each other very much.Most of the time, they look like brother and sister. Most of PWS people have almond shaped eyes, narrow foreheads, downturned mouth, thin upper lip and a small chin. Other common features are : obesity , they may be short; they have small hands and feet; have a skin picking habit, thick and sticky saliiva,incomplete sexual development, a curved spine (scoliosis),and chronic sleepiness. PWS patients also have similar personalities: talkative, friendly,extreme attempts towards getting food,arguementivness,repetitve thoughts and behavior, stubbornness, frequent temper tantrums, and sometimes sudden acts of violence. Most people with PWS have some degree of men... ...th PWS after six months of growth hormone treatment Other significant actions of growth hormone that have been reported is an improvement of muscle mass, muscle strength, energy expenditure, bone mineralization ,sexual development ,and also a decrease in fat mass ,have led to further investigations in people with PWS. Children with PWS have distinct behavioral abnormalities because of all the frustrations associated with the syndrome. These behaviors may begin as early as two years of age. They will get a variety of different eating behaviors like foraging for food, secretly eating large amounts of food, and other attempts to continue eating. Other problems include verbally and physically aggressive behaviors such as lying, stealing, scratching and skin picking. Tantrums and unprovoked outbursts are common among children and youths with PWS. People with mild cases of PWS can do many things their normal peers can do,such as go to school,get jobs,and sometimes even move away from home.However they need a lot of help.Kids going to school would need to be enrolled in special education programs(Otherwise they’d be eating their pencil and paper).They need to be constantly supervised.

Josef Stalin :: essays research papers

Josef Stalin was born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21st, 1897 in. As a young boy he was nicknamed "Soso". He had a sickly childhood, with disease and poverty taking a toll on his life. He was the only child of his parents that lived past infancy. He had dark hair, yellow eyes, and a ruddy complexion and stood just 5 feet 4 inches. Stalin then went on to serve in the military, but his rise to power came after he ousted Leon Trotsky. Then Stalin began great purges where he would sweep through the people beneath him and kill anyone he suspected was not 100% loyal to him. Very few people beneath Stalin stayed there for long. Stalin then started several five-year plans. Soon the USSR was a superpower, and it was because Stalin brought them there. When the German armies attacked the USSR in June 1941, Stalin, after suffering a brief nervous collapse, personally took command of the Soviet armed forces. With the help of a small defense committee (war cabinet), he made all major military, political, and diplomatic decisions throughout the war. He pursued victory with increasing skill, determination, and courage, by staying on in the Kremlin when Hitler's armies stood at the gates of Moscow, ordering a fantastic shifting of industrial plants from European Russia to the east, arranging for lend-lease from the Western powers, selecting more and more first-rate military commanders, and developing increasingly effective military strategy, including the remarkable counteroffensives at Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk. He under girded the strength and morale of his people by fostering their traditional religious and patriotic sentiments, and conducting adroitly the complicated diplomacy from the Teheran conference to Potsdam. Of course, vi ctory could not have been achieved without the patriotism and fortitude of the Russian people, the quality and skill of the Soviet military professionals, the efforts of the USSR's allies, and the enormous political and military miscalculations of Hitler. In 1945, at the end of the war, there was a general expectation that in the USSR, which had shown itself to be one of the world's truly great powers, the despotic system of rule and institutional rigidities would disappear or at the least be tempered. Instead, Stalin and his men restored almost completely the pre-war system, molded the occupied countries of eastern Europe in the Stalinist image and placed them under Moscow's control, and entirely isolated the whole bloc of Communist nations from the West.

Communism in Chinese Education

China has a long and rich cultural tradition in which education has played a major role. In 124 BC the first university was established for training prospective bureaucrats in Confucian learning and the Chinese classics. Only members of the upper class could attend school. Peasants and factory workers did not have the time to attend school; therefore as of 1949 only 20% of China was literate. The Communists who controlled China considered illiteracy a major stumbling block in their promotion of political programs. They then combined political propaganda with educational development. During the first few years (1949-51) of this push on education, over 60 million peasants enrolled in winter schools, or sessions, established to take advantage of the slack season for agricultural workers. Mao, the Communist leader of China, felt that the ultimate goal of education was to eliminate class distinction. After Mao†s death in 1976 a review of government policies concerning education was started. Out of this review came standardized testing and the reinstitution of entrance exams to get into schools and these exams were also used to get in the civil service. Chinese children entered school at age six and stayed for six years. They would study the Chinese language, math and other basic subjects. After going to an elementary school children would enter a middle school. The subjects the Chinese taught were particularly important for the advancement of the country. During the Ming dynasty Chinese novels became very popular. There were many poems and collections of short stories. The Ming also established free schools for the public hoping to expand education in china. Gifted students were selected for studying abroad especially in the United States. As these students finished their education and returned to China some of them teaching at Chinese Universities a major political unrest began to place. The recently educated youth of China challenged the Communist policies of their country. Many protest and rallies took place led by university students. This protest was because students did not want the government to have total power. Many of these protestors were killed or jailed and still are in jail today. The more educated the Chinese people became they realized that their present way of life was not as good as it should be.

Market Equilibrium Process Essay

– Relate the concepts of the market equilibrating process in the Weeks One and Two readings and learning activities to a prior real-world experience occurring in a free market. The experience does not necessarily have to be work related. – Explain the market equilibrating process in relation to your experience. Include academic research to support your ideas. – Consider the following components in your explanation: †¢ Law of demand and the determinants of demand †¢ Law of supply and the determinants of supply †¢ Efficient markets theory †¢ Surplus and shortage – Use University of Phoenix Material: Appendix A to create graphs illustrating the equilibrating process in price relation to the shift in supply and demand. – Deliver the content as a 350- to 500-word paper, 7- to 10-slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation, 2- to 3-minute video, or 1-page comic strip illustration. http://academicwritingtips.org/component/k2/item/932-market-equilibrium-process.html Market equilibrium refers to the selling price â€Å"where the intentions of buyers and sellers match†. This means that the quantity sellers are willing to sell at a particular price matches the quantity buyers are willing to purchase at that same price, or, in other words, where the quantity demanded equals the quantity supplied. A surplus results when the price is too high (quantity supplied is more than consumers are willing to buy) and a shortage occurs when the price is too low (quantity demanded is more than quantity supplied). The equilibrium price changes when there is a shift in either supply or demand. The market is made up of two basic groups, households and businesses. These two units buy and sell goods and services from and to each other. The market system uses competition among buyers and sellers to regulate the price of available goods and services. Theoretically, this insures that no one buyer or seller will be able to monopolize the market because others can c ome in and undercut the price. Supply and demand are affected by changes in consumer preferences, number of buyers in the market, consumers’ incomes, the prices of related goods, and consumer expectations. The economy is currently in a recession, or depression depending on whom you ask, that has greatly affected these determinants of demand. Many industries and individual consumers have seen a steep decline in income due to this market low period. The recession has had a significant affect on the construction industry in which this author currently works. There is currently a surplus of commercial and residential properties on the market. This surplus discourages businesses from starting new construction projects. This has led to businesses reducing their workforces which has in turn led to consumers reducing their spending and has become a circle of lower buying and selling. The construction industry was not the only one affected by this cycle. Nearly all industries that depend on consumers discretionary funds, those not spent on necessities, were affected. Large manufacturers that have been around forever went bankrupt and small companies everywhere  suffered the same fate. The United States economy is market based. Sellers and consumers are free to trade in any way that works for them with relatively little interference from government. This system allows the price of products and services to be set by supply and demand and determines the allocation of limited resources. Suppliers and consumers are connected in a circle of buying and selling, and when there is a major shift in the economy all can be affected. References This is a hanging indent. To keep the hanging indent format, simply delete this line of text using the backspace key, and replace the information with your reference entry. http://www.e-m-h.org/introduction.html http://www.healthmr.com/resources/newsletter-archive/1011-fa-3-ways-to-increase-revenues-in-home-health-and-hospice http://academicwritingtips.org/component/k2/item/932-market-equilibrium-process.html http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/165/6/750 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

Chlamydia Trachomatis Sexual Health Control Health And Social Care Essay

This chapter provides the background treatment of sexually transmitted infections ( STIs ) concentrating on Chlamydia trachomatis infection since the survey is positioned within this country taking down to the specific research inquiry and aims. In add-on, sexual wellness bar and control schemes have been explored.2.1 IntroductionHealth has been defined by the World Health Organization ( WHO ) as â€Å" the scientific discipline and art of forestalling disease, protracting life and advancing wellness through organised attempts of society † ( WHO, n.d. ) . Sexual activity is known as an indispensable component of human wellness and well-being contributing to quality of grownup partnerships and a demand for natural creative activity. Yet it poses a batch of hazards to wellness through transmittal of STIs. Although pox, gonorrhea and chancroid are by and large considered as the chief STIs, assorted other pathogens are catching including Herpes Simplex Virus type 2, Chlamydia trac homatis, Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) Herpes Papilloma Virus, and Hepatitis B Virus ( HPA, 2010 ) ( Figure 1 ) . STIs affect people of all ages with the greatest happening amongst those under the age of 25 old ages ( Nicoll, 1999 ; Johnson, 2001 ; NCSP, 2009 ) . In the UK, certain groups of populations are affected more than others therefore making sexual wellness inequalities ( HPA,2010 ; Marmott, 2010 ) . The research has delved into chiefly secondary literature from equal reviewed journal articles, books, wellness bureau or regulating organic structures ‘ studies and articles to show what past research workers have established on CI. Furthermore, sexual wellness bar and control schemes have been explored in order to put CI in a context that engages with appropriate literature.Figure 1: Number of diagnosings of selected STIs and HIV in the UK, females: 2000-20092.2 Chlamydia Infection TrendsChlamydia trachomatis is the most widespread bacterial pathogen transmitted through infected secernments and mucose membranes of urethra, neck, rectum, conjunctivae and pharynx following unprotected sexual contact with an septic spouse. An septic pregnant adult female can infect her babe during vaginal bringing. Genital Chlamydial infection is presently the most common STI in the UK with prevalence ‘s between 2 % and 12 % detected in surveies of adult females go toing general pattern ( Fenton et al. , 2001 ; Creighton et al. , 2003 ; HPA, 2010 ) . Chlamydia infection rates are disproportionately high in under 25s ( Low, 2001 ; HPA, 2010 ) . Rate of infectivity for Chlamydia at national degree for immature people aged 15-24 is one in 10 back uping the degree of sexual activity in that group ( HPA 2010 ; NHS Salford, 2010. In 2001, adult females under 20 old ages of age had reported instances of 36 % of Chlamydia. CI instances rose by 108 % during 1998 to mid-2004 ( Ryan, 2004 ) . As reported by the Department of Health ( DH ) , diagnosing of new Chlamydia and other STI diagnosed instances in the UK such as re-infections made in GUM showed a gradual rise in 1995-2009 ( Figures 2, 3 ) ( HPA, 2010 ) .Figure 2: Number of diagnosings of Chlamydia^ , England: 1995-2009Figure 3: Number of venereal Chlamydia diagnosings by sex and age group, and figure of research labs utilizing nucleic acerb elaboration trials ( NAATs ) : 1999-2008 ( females )STI informations from research lab studies in England, Wales and Scotland and Chlamydia nucleic acid elaboration trial ( NAAT ) information from the UK National External Quality Assurance Scheme ( NEQAS ) . Most people infected with Chlamydia are symptomless ( 70 % females and 50 % males ) until a diagnostic trial is performed ( HPA, 2010 ) . Chlamydia infection is important to adult females ‘s generative wellness jobs since 10-40 % of those untreated septic adult females develop PID ( Garside, 2001 ; Sweet & A ; Gibbs, 2009 ; Pippa et al. , 2010 ) . If efficient and effectual wellness steps are non administered, the disease has the potency of doing important wellness complications to adult females ‘s well-being including relentless pelvic hurting, sterility, ectopic gestation, PID, Chlamydial pneumonia of the newborn, neonatal pinkeye, pre-term labour/delivery and neonatal decease ( Figure 4 ) ( Golden, et Al, 2000 ; Simms et al. , 2000, 2007 ; Garnett, 2008 ; Oakeshott et al. , 2010 ) . There is besides greater hazard in those with repeating and untreated infections to distribute to other generative variety meats ensuing in chronic pelvic strivings ( La Montagne, et Al, 20 07 ; Evans et al. , 2009 ; Hosenfeld et al. , 2009 ) . Sweet & A ; Gibbs ( 2009 ) province that CI can besides ease HIV transmittal adding to the already long-run effects it poses.Figure 4: Chlamydial infection complicationsBeginning: HPA catching diseases surveillance Centre. The figure of diagnosed episodes of Chlamydia infection has been lifting over the past 10 old ages ( Figures 5, 6 ) . Because GUM clinic informations is skewed towards diagnostic patients and Chlamydia is extremely symptomless, prevalence is besides used to depict the epidemiology.Figure 5: Ratess of venereal Chlamydia infection adult females by age group ( 1995 – 2004 )Datas beginnings: KC60 and STISS/ISD ( D ) 5 returns from GUM clinics, United Kingdom ( HPA, London )Figure 6: Chlamydia positiveness rates in screens performed by NCSP, 2007 ( HPA, 2008 )Surveies by Pimenta et Al. ( 2003 ) and Adams et Al. ( 2005 ) support findings of highest prevalence rates of Chlamydia infection in immature adult females aged 16-24. Pimenta et Al ( 2003 ) measured prevalence of Chlamydia infections in 16-24 twelvemonth old females instead than merely reported instances from GUM clinics ( Figure 7 ) . In Portsmouth there was a 9.8 % prevalence of Chlamydia infection in 16-24 twelvemonth old adult females, with the 18-year old adult females holding the highest extremum and Wirral had 11.2 % with the 20-year old adult females holding the highest extremum ( Pimenta et al. , 2003 ) . Most of these persons from both sites would hold been incognizant of their infection and therefore at hazard of developing Chlamydial complications.Figure 7: Prevalence of Chlamydial infections, 16-24 twelvemonth old females, Portsmouth and Wirral, 1999-2000 ( Pimenta, et al. , 2003 ) .Furthermore, the economic impact of Chlamydia infections on the wellness service is tremendous with high cost in the direction of female wellness complications ( Simms, 2006 ; Skinner, 2010 ; Land et al. , 2010 ) . United kingdom costs to NHS are estimated at & gt ; ?100 million per twelvemonth ( HPA, 2010 ) . Because of the impact of CI on the wellness of immature people, it is of import to place and handle septic patients and their spouses and as a consequence cut down the load of the disease on the people and wellness systems ( Appleby et al. , 2007 ; Adams et al. , 2007 ; Low et al. , 2009 ) .2.3 Chlamydia Awareness and KnowledgeChlamydia rates of infection do vary in each part in the UK ( HPA, 2010 ) . This fluctuation may uncover the proviso of diagnostic services every bit much as disease prevalence. Unfortunately, Chlamydia trachomatis infection like most STIs brings about negative public wellness results due to its part or causes to ill-health. In the UK and other parts of the universe, CI pose tremendous challenges for public wellness such as single wellbeing, the load of wellness costs or mental wellness. Chlamydia rate of infectivity at national degree for immature people aged 15-24 is one in 10 back uping the degree of sexual activity in that group. In the UK, certain groups of populations are affected more than others therefore making sexual wellness inequalities with immature people bearing the greatest load by being disproportionately affected by CI ( Figure 8, Table 2-4 ) ( NCSP, 2009 ; Marmott, 2010 ; HPA, 2010 ) .Figure 8: Age-specific distribution of the rate of diagnosed with Chlamydia at STI clinics, England: 2009Beginning: STI informations from GU medical specialty clinics ( HPA, 2010 )Table 2: Number of Chlamydia diagnosings by gender, male sexual orientation, age group and patient state: 2009Beginning: STI informations from GU medical specialty clinics ( HPA, 2010 )Table 3: Number of Chlamydia diagnosings by gender, male sexual orientation, age group and patient SHA: 2009Beginning: STI informations from GU medical specialty clinics ( HPA, 2010 )Table 4: Number of Chlamydia diagnosings by continent of birth: 2009Beginning: STI informations from GU medical specialty clinics ( HPA, 2010 )2.4 Sexual Behaviour: Chlamydia InfectionAlthough sex has become safer to a important extent through the usage of rubbers, Chlamydia rates significantly increased in recent old ages in the UK preponderantly from assorted factors like sexual hazard behaviors and hapless infection control. It has become a major public wellness concern as highlighted in the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV ( DH, 2001 ) . The 15-24 twelvemonth age group comprises merely 12 % of the population but has the largest diagnosing of STI instances of about 50 % of freshly acquired infections. Control of Chlamydia infection is complicated since it is symptomless. The sexual behavior of the population is an of import determiner of the rates of STIs. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles II identified sexual behavior as the hazard of geting an STI in the immature age groups ( McDowall et al. , 2006 ) . The factors included low age at clip of first sexual intercourse, frequent changing of spouses, increased likeliness of being involved with coincident partnerships, irregular usage of rubbers and the increased opportunities of being involved with a spouse who comes from a portion of the universe other than UK that is regarded every bit high hazard ( Figure 9 ) ( Hughes, 2000 ; Johnson, 2001, Mueller, 2008 ; Waylen, 2009 ; Skinner, 2010 ) . The immature people appear to be the cardinal portion of the hazard of go throughing on the infection to other groups of the population. Thus bar should be largely targeted at this nucleus group which would ensue in economic benefits.Figure 9: Chlamydia prevalence by hazard factors 2003  œ non GUM scenes( Montagne et al. , 2004 ) .A survey by Shiely et Al. ( 2010 ) proved that expedited spouse therapy ( EPT ) offer decreases in hazards of repeating or continual CI in straight persons, and heightening the per centum of those sex spouses who obtain intervention. Thus EPT was revealed as better than standard spouse referral over an extended scope of socio-demographic and behaviourally typical subgroups. Behavioural intercessions might be limited because picks about behavior are controlled by local context and civilization. Smedley and Syme ( 2000 ) province that, â€Å" It is clear that behaviour alteration is a hard and complex challenge. It is unreasonable to anticipate that people will alter their behaviors easy when so many forces in the societal, cultural and physical environment conspire against such alteration. † For illustration, Cohen et Al. ( 2006 ) survey found that when striplings were exposed to arouse instruction categories and parent-child communicating about sex, they intended to pattern safer sex ; nevertheless, this did non really lead to increased rubber usage. Rather, situational properties, including spouse attitudes about, or the handiness of, rubbers played a greater function in behavior. However, the effects of environmental hazards like poorness and favoritism might be moderated by intercessions focused on the person: â€Å" But such attempts do litt le to turn to the broader societal and economic forces that influence these hazards † ( Smedley & A ; Syme, 2000 ) . Bandura ( 1986 ) developed the self-efficacy theoretical account which offers a grade of confidence for working with persons in order to cut down hazardous behavior. Since the adult females are immature, they might non hold the necessary accomplishments to negociate and pull off rubber usage ; Bandura ‘s theoretical account may be specifically suited for them. Bandura suggested that persons beliefs in their competency to carry on certain behaviors impacts on the manner they engage themselves, their self-control when faced with troubles, and their effort in carry oning these behaviors. Foresight direct behavior with respect to peculiarly expected outcomes, though self-control allows for the control of behaviors based on criterions that are internal. Above all, self-reflection Lashkar-e-Taiba persons reflect on and go knowing by larning from their experiences.2.5 Sexual Health Prevention and Control: Chlamydia InfectionPeoples ‘s wellness and the societal and economic succe ss of the UK are highly connected. The related economic and societal costs of CI and other STIs to public wellness are tremendous and surpass UK ‘s hereafter. Two of Marmott ‘s ( 2010 ) six recommendations support the bar and control of STIs in UK ‘s population: â€Å" enabling all kids, immature people and grownups to maximize their capablenesss and have control over their lives † and â€Å" beef uping the function and impact of ill-health first-class wellbeing over their lives † . It is critical that the UK ‘s population is educated on sexual wellness issues so that they are able to do good informed sex determinations that contribute to their wellbeing and cut downing the load caused by STIs. Marmott ‘s study farther emphasised other research work ( Picket & A ; Wilkinson, 2009 ) that â€Å" it is non merely the hapless who suffer from the effects of inequality, but the bulk of the population † . High precedence should hence be given to the integrating of STI control measures into primary wellness attention. The world-wide involvement in and resources committed to forestalling AIDS supply a alone chance for wellness workers to do considerable advancement in commanding CI and other STIs.2.5.1 Chlamydia infection: attacks to bar and controlAlthough Chlamydia is a reportable infective disease, easy treated with antibiotics, and mostly prevented with rubber usage, challenges still exist globally in its bar and control. Public wellness efforts to forestall and command Chlamydia and other bacterial STIs have been applied through surveillance, clinical services, spouse presentment schemes and behavioral intercession schemes. Clinical services are an built-in portion of CI and other STIs bar programmes implemented in all communities. Chlamydia clinical services are available in a assortment of other scenes such as community wellness Centres, household planning clinics, GP surgeries, infirmary exigency suites, and prison scenes. Increasingly, CIs are being diagnosed in scenes other than public wellness clinics. Surveillance is a cardinal public wellness duty which involves monitoring of Chlamydia or its effects, antimicrobic opposition, sexual behavior, testing and healthcare quality and coverage. It is critical in observing and supervising disagreements in Chlamydia and other STIs. It is deficient to follow merely Chlamydia infection case-associated demographics for acquiring penetration into the kineticss of Chlamydia transmittal and its continuity in the affected communities. However, consideration into how and when to use the current schemes or to bring forth new 1s is critical for an efficient lessening in Chlamydia infection rates in the hazard groups. It is merely out of utilizing several surveillance attacks, everyday information analysis and reading, and rating that the load of these complex Chlamydia infections may be comprehended decently. Primary bar attempts include promoting rubber usage and patient instruction about abstention, hold of sexual intercourse, and monogamous sexual behavior. Secondary bar attempts include early and frequent showing, which have shown to cut down the prevalence of the disease ( CDC, 2000 ; HPA, 2010 ) .2.5.1 National chlamydia testing programme and spousesThe National Chlamydia Screening Programme ( NCSP ) was established back in 2003 in the UK to supply timeserving showing trials aiming sexually active adult females and work forces under 25 old ages of age who attend wellness and non-health attention scenes. Systematic showing in the UK is performed merely at GUM clinics. The debut of the NCSP in 2003 and other wellness screens in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in Scotland in 2005 resulted in an addition of sexual wellness screens from 759,770 to 1,219,308. The programme was rolled out to the remainder of England in 2007 and it aims at testing immature adult females go toing GUM , household planning and expiration of gestation clinics ; foremost cervical vilification, young person clinics, colleges, schools and universities. Pharmacies are besides offering testing trials to immature adult females seeking exigency hormonal contraceptive method ( Brabin et al. , 2009 ) . The HPA was appointed in November 2005 by the DH to administrate the NCSP which is delivered by 152 PCTs in England. However, this was rolled out by the Greater Manchester wellness authorization part in Salford in December 2006 by puting up RUClear programme which works in coaction with NCSP and all registered showing sites. Its spouses include wellness attention suppliers and research labs in supplying high-quality CI surveillance informations required by the wellness protection bureau which is indispensable for placing and supervising CI wellness disparities. RUClear coordinates testing services through easy handiness of testing and intervention services every bit good as happening ways of carrying the immature population to utilize these services ( Appendix B ) . Diagnosis of Chlamydia instances increased by 7 % , 217,570 in 2009 from 203,773 in 2008 ( Table 6 ) ( HPA, 2010 ) . NCSP has national marks for which by 31st March 2010, 25 % of all 15-24 twelvemonth olds were screened a nd from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011 the mark was raised to 35 % ( anon. , 2010 ) .Table 6: Entire figure of Chlamydia diagnosings in GU medical specialty clinics and community-based scenes by gender, UK and England, 2008-2009The symptomless nature of CI consequences in important under sensing by instance coverage. Those who are symptomless might non obtain attention and hence are non likely to bring forth a instance study. Furthermore, CI may be distributed otherwise in similar racial or cultural group.Figure 11: NCSP proving locales by sex: England April – December 2010 ( HPA, 2011 ) .The showing and treating of Chlamydia is puting a batch of force per unit area for the Primary Care Trusts ( PCTs ) that have to present in instance the immature people are unwilling to see clinical services. The challenge is to acquire advanced methods that would carry the immature people to take on showing services. The standards for testing Chlamydia, although more loosely applicable, are chiefly for sexually active adult females and work forces aged under 25 old ages. In order for Chlamydia showing to be effectual, HAs should closely supervise attachment to testing standards. For case, when there is grounds of high rates of pregnant adult females accessing healthcare service but testing Numberss are low, so it means the recommended attention is non being received by these adult females. Provision of regular showing services for symptomless immature people-at-risk and prompt diagnosing and accurate intervention for immature people infected with or exposed to CI are critical constituents of effectual clinical CI infection bar and control. Correct designation and appropriate intervention are cardinal elements of CI clinical attention but spouse presentment services and reding are besides critical in hazard decrease. However, even with commercial handiness of good diagnostic trials, effectual medicines, and testing and intervention counsel for forestalling and bring arounding Chlamydia, several challenges restrict the full potency of these tools in supplying quality attention for the immature adult females. Given the reported high incidence rates of CI, the load is much more for immature people ( Figure 12, Table 5 ) ( Fenton et al. , 2005 ) . It is imperative to determine effectual bar programmes. Although heightening entree to Chlamydia testing has been an of import and pressing focal point of Chlamydia consciousness programmes and has led to regenerate attempts to increase entree to Chlamydia testing ( WHO, 2001 ; Santer, 2000, 2003 ; HPA, 2010 ) . As more people including this identified group aged under 25 learn their Chlamydia position, and in acknowledgment of the long latent period of the disease before symptoms prevail, factors related to Chlamydia consciousness remain important to place in order to plan comprehensive Chlamydia direction services that meet the demands of the population at hazard of infection ( Wight, 2000, 2002 ; Low, 2007 ; Brabin et al. , 2009 ) .Figure 12: Proportion of positive instances by age and sex: April – December 2010Table 5: Entire figure of Chlamydia diagnosings by patient Percentage: 2009Beginning: STI informations from GU medical specialty clinics ( HPA, 2010 )2.7 DrumheadIn drumhead, the above reappraisal signifier a background for understanding Chlamydia trachomatis infection and a yardstick for measuring the sexual wellness bar and control schemes whilst carefully considered and acknowledged the reported high incidence rates of infection. This chapter has vindicated many challenges and concerns that public wellness face today. Following is Chapter 3 depicting the adopted research methodological analysis to garnering pertinent research informations.

Family Traditions Essay

How does The Keeping Quilt help you understand traditions and what they mean to families? The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco shows how immigrants came to a new country and passed down traditions to their family overtime. It also shows how traditions are integrated with other cultures to create a new culture. The Keeping Quilt demonstrates how historical and cultural traditions, teaching children social themes through children literature in the classroom can effectively increase cultural values in children’s social skills in reality. In reading the story The Keeping Quilt the author Patricia Polacco reflects on when her great grandma Anna came to America from Russia were grandma came to with only her old dress a babushka and old coat. Grandma later decides to use the old coat and pieces of other family members clothing to make a quilt. â€Å" We will make a quilt to help us always remember home† Anna’s mother said. † It will be like having the family in back home Russia dance around us at night. †(4). Here, the quilt was a significant symbol to the family to always remember their native land. It was used for the birth of family members to the family and used as huppa in weddings. Later the quilt was even used as a tablecloth and covering for caskets at funerals. The quilt became a symbol of the love and family values. The story The Keeping Quilt demonstrates to readers how some traditions and customs from our ancestors are embedded within individuals. These traditions help shape and influence our ideas values and beliefs. However in reading the story The Keeping Quilt it emphasizes some characterics of the historical values in the black African American cultures as to the movie or novel Roots by Alex Haley whereas the family kept their traditional heritage alive with jumping the broom as a symbolic union in marriage during their struggles through slavery. Another example is Escaping slavery: Sweet Clara and the freedom quilt by Sue Ann Miller, were a slave girl, Clara goes on her journey to freedom using the quilt as her symbolic inspiration from slavery. These stories and The Keeping Quilt shows readers how tradition customs individuals inherit from their ancestors used to remind them of their heritage such as the quilt was significant because it served as a piece of history passed down through generation to generation. Although Grandma Anna migrated from Russia she did not abandon her homeland once arriving in America, instead she tried to capture the memories by creating a quilt from different family members clothing each scrap of a family member clothing told a story. In creating the quilt grandma Anna kept her family history alive because it represented every significant moment in the family’s life. The Keeping Quilt also shows how cultures when migrating to a new country bring their own traditions and values. â€Å"Carle was given a gift gold, flower, salt, and bread to welcome her into the world each having a symbolic meaning. Whereas the gold represented she will never know poverty, a flower so she would always know love, salt so life would give her flavor, and bread so that she would never know hunger. However the story also shows how cultures bring their own traditions from their homeland they also create new traditions. Patricia Polacco stated† at my wedding men and women danced together, whereas in the pass they were not allowed to dance together (10). Although some traditions had changed in The Keeping Quilt overtime, the quilt remained an important tool used to connect the families past to the present. It also served as something used to preserve traditions the author Patricia Polacco states â€Å" I too will be a grandmother, and tell the story of The Keeping Quilt to my grandbabies†. 32) In addition, The Keeping Quilt is great example to express it is important to pass the torch of family traditions, this imparts a sense of continuity, bonding and more importantly love. It is incumbent on each generation of parents to keep the family tradition up and running. Family traditions are valuable instruments for child rearing because they install social values and contribute to creating close family ties. Whereas quality family time can help to build and maintain strong family ties sharing is the key ingredient for creating quality moments. On the other hand traditions make sharing easy for offering a common ground of knowledge and experiences. Teaching the new generation to honor the old family traditions through the years can help preserve encouraged interaction through shared activities. Many of most meaningful traditional activities revolve around food, with families gatherings eat and celebrate different events or holidays. In telling her story Patricia Polacco says that she come from past of storytellers, quoting† My fondest memories are sitting around a stove or open fire, eating apples and popping corn, while listening to the old ones tell glorious stories about their homeland and past. † In celebrating, traditions are highly important to welfare of many diverse families were Jews celebrate Passover and Hanukah, African Americans enjoy Kwanzaa, christens honor the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, but all giving thanks on Thanksgivings and etc. Traditions help people feel a sense of identity and belonging from a generational perspective, family traditions are practices or belief, they also pave the way for the good times and good memories. They create a connectedness with the past and hope for the future. This book is well integrated into History and Social Studies the study of families ethic religious, occupational and so forth. In reading this book illustration The Keeping Quilt emphasizes the family value and encourages children that valuable tools of family traditions ensure them with warmth and closeness family bondage now.

Agenda Setting Theory Introduction

Therefore the main effect of media in agenda setting is telling people not what to think, but what to think of. The policy agenda is the issues that policy makers consider important after the public start to make campaign or petition to show protest against the organizations. Mass Communication plays an important role in our society its purpose is to inform the public about current and past events. Mass communication is defined in â€Å"Mass Media, Mass Culture† as the process whereby professional communicators use technological devices to share messages over great distances to influence large audiences. Within this process the media, which can be a newspaper, a book and television, takes control of the information we see or hear. The media then uses gate keeping  and agenda setting to â€Å"control our access to news, information, and  entertainment† (Wilson 14). Gate keeping is a series of checkpoints  that the news has to go through before it gets to the public. Through this process many people have to  decide whether  or not the news  is to be seen or heard. Some gatekeepers might include reporters, writers, and  editors. After gate keeping comes  agenda setting. Elaboration of the Theory The Agenda-Setting Theory says the media (mainly the news media) aren’t always successful at telling us what to think, but they are quite successful at telling us what to think about. The power of news media is to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence. For example, newspapers provide a host of cues about the salience of the topics in daily news. They will lead story on first page, large headlines and etc. Besides that, television also consider as a mass communication tool. Television offers numerous cues about salience too. Their opening story is on newscast, length of time devoted to the story and etc. As said by Walter Lippmann, Agenda-Setting Theory is â€Å"the world outside the pictures in our heads†. The news media are a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is â€Å"out of reach, out of sight, out of mind. † Agenda setting is divided into two levels where the first level stress on common subject that media thinks the subject is important. The second level decides which part of the subject is important. Both level leads to the concept of agenda setting where the concept is divided into three parts. The first part of the process is the importance of the issues that are going to be discussed in the media. Second, the issues discussed in the media have an impact over the way the public thinks, this is referred as public agenda. Ultimately the public agenda influences the policy agenda. Furthermore, the media agenda affects the public agenda, and the public agenda affects the policy agenda. People would attend only to news and views that didn’t threaten their established beliefs. Agenda-setting will reconfirms the power of the press while still maintaining that individuals were free to choose. The agenda-setting function is a 3 part-process. Firstly, media agenda is the issues discussed in the media. Secondly, public agenda means issues discussed and personally relevant to public. Lastly, policy agenda is the issues that policy makers consider important. Media agenda and public agenda are close to each other. Media agenda is the set of issue addressed by media sources. It is a composite index of media prominence reveled the importance of foreign policy, law and order, fiscal policy, public welfare and civil rights. While public agenda are issues the public consider important. It is the rank of the five issues was identical to the media agenda. The key concept and terms are agenda setting, salience transfer, gatekeeping, framing, priming and determinants of agenda-setting effects. Agenda setting is giving priorities to alternative policy issues but in the early communications studies, shown a mixture about the ability to influence public opinion on the given issue. Salience transfer refers to the capacity of the media to influence the relative importance individuals attached to the policy. Next is gate keeping is a process that control the media content. Framing is the importance and interpretation of people attach to potential items on the public agenda are strongly influenced by how the media present news stories. Priming happen when framing centers on political loading of the presentation of news, it can be conscious and not conscious. Priming basically mean draw attention to certain issue even in a neutral manner. Last but not least is the determinant of agenda-setting effects. Media credibility or also known as media reliance are found that the determinant is weaker than the media exposure and media exposure are more important than media credibility in relation to presidential state of the union addresses. Application of the Theory In Malaysia, one of the case studies was to examine the Malay language newspaper’s media agenda during the general election. (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, UPM) The study was conducted to examine the use of the Barisan Nasional (BN) manifesto as the media agenda during the general election for the year 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1999. A model for the study was constructed based on the Agenda Setting Theory. A content analysis was conducted on 50 issues of Utusan Malaysia (UM) and Berita Harian (BH). Throughout the studies, it was found that there were 11 major themes frequently used in the BN manifesto namely: politics, foreign policy, development, economy, social education, security, religion, workers welfare, agriculture and the quality of life. Above were the main themes in the news during the general election for the year of study. The content analysis also found that there were 4461 news with the BN manifesto shown in 11 major news themes with â€Å"politics† in the lead and the â€Å"quality of life† ending the list. It also showed that the BN manifesto was mainly covered in various sections such as the Local News, Foreign News, Special Column, Main Column, Editorial, Advertisement, Economy, Asean, Forum, Articles and others. While the coverage on News, Articles, Photographs, Editorial, Letter to the Editor, Cartoon, Columnist and Comments also showed the present of BN manifesto. There was also a small difference between the two newspapers in terms of its news coverage on the BN manifesto during the general election. The study clearly showed that the media agenda of the two mainstream newspapers in the country was framed by the content of the BN manifesto during the duration of the general election for the year 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1999 and thus, strengthening the Agenda Setting Theory. The media institution and politic institution are closely linked to each other and are hardly being separated. Both the institutions are interdependent on each other. In Malaysia, we are practicing the democracy system, thus, media are an important instrument to achieve the democracy level; Media play a role in influencing the public in deciding their votes during a general election, either to vote for the specific individual or the party. Besides, media also take control in the politic process as mentioned earlier in the Agenda Setting Theory. In a democratic country like Malaysia, the process in politics often involve media as a tool to spread the news on certain parties’ issues and frame some of the suggestions or views on certain parties or individuals. In order to achieve a country that is practicing democratic system, the general elections were often used as a measurement tool in testing the level of support among the voters toward a specific party. Personal experience interpersonal communication among elites and other individuals So, the process of general election in Malaysia is a very crucial component in a democratic way. There were 12 general elections being held so far in Malaysia which were in the year 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1999 and 2004. Also, there were 6 Prime Ministers that have involved themselves in became the main politic communicators in every general election that have been done. Every Prime Minister has their own plans in collaboration with the media to enhance their communication through media, and utilized it in a proper ways. Gatekeepers’ influential media spectacular news events Policy Agenda Public Agenda Media Agenda Real world indications of the importance of an agenda, issue or event Figure 1: Three Main Components in Agenda Setting Process In political communication, media is one of the aspects to be deal with. Others include media agenda, public agenda and policy agenda. All these three main components form a process (Agenda Setting Process) by which a complete political communication is carried out where the media were used to disseminate the messages or information to mass audiences. This process is involved in the Agenda Setting Process and has TWO levels: The media agenda affects the public agenda, and the public agenda affects the policy agenda. The communication using media has done by the politicians to publish their views and news or in this case, the manifesto of Barisan Nasional in Utusan Melaysia and Barita Harian in the media agenda. However, there are existence of gatekeepers that may influence the news and events to be published. In the case studies on BN manifesto, the gatekeepers here would be the editor and the owner of Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian newspapers publishers. The purposes of having gatekeepers here is to avoid harmful, negative, sensitive or religious issues being discussed which may cause misunderstanding within the nation According to the research, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian used media agenda to influence the public, and this has brought the issue to a broader step which is the public agenda, where the public start discussing about the issue. In the case studies, there are some similarities in the manifesto of Barisan Nasional. During the general election, extensive media coverage on the political issues of BN were published continuously especially in the front page of the newspapers being analyzed: Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian. Those issues are similar to the manifesto of BN. Therefore, the public can gain most of the information about BN from the newspaper than the other party. After the public has start discussing about the issue, which is the involvement of BN’s manifesto in both the newspapers being mentioned, there were some activists who tried to support or banned the manifesto. The real world indicator will decide the importance of the agenda itself. Then, through the personal experiences and interpersonal communications among the elites and other individuals, there might be changes in the policy agenda. Finally, the policy agenda causes the media agenda to publish about the news and information all over again. The Agenda Setting Process will be repeated. ————————————————- Strengths and Weakness of the Theory We found that agenda setting theory has three strengths. First, agenda setting theory has explanatory power. Because this theory explains why most of the people prioritize the same issues as important. Therefore, most of the people will discuss the same issues at the same time. They will also concentrate discuss the issues because they think that the issues are affecting them. Second, this theory also has predictive power as it predicts that if people are exposed to the same media, they will feel the same issues as important. For example, if one issue be the headline of all the newspapers for one week, people will feel that this issue is very important and it will affect their life. Furthermore, this theory has organizing power because it helps organize existing knowledge of media effects. There are also weaknesses, such as media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Media just tell them what to think about the issues. People just know the appearance of the issues and not deeply engage in the issues. They will also think that are the issues reported correct or the media have hide something bad that they do not know about the issues. So, some of the people do not trust what the media have said. Instead, people may pay only casual and intermittent attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. News media cannot create or conceal problems; they may only alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attached to a set of problems. Research has largely been inconclusive in establishing a casual relationship between public salience and media coverage. Suggestions to Improve on the Theory For communication theory to be adopted by researchers and remain viable, it must be able to survive and grow through its ability to adapt to changing environments, encourage further research, and serve as a foundation for studies beyond those in which the founders originally applied their theory. According to McCombs and Shaw (1972) the result of their study shows that fewer voters knew about specific issues. While they found out that media were often effective in raising awareness of issues with undecided voters. They also found that issues presented by media that were new to audiences were better received by the public than issues with which the public was already familiar. The key factor to the ability of media to have an agenda-setting effect upon their audiences depends on the desire of the viewers to become informed about the issues. For example, when the voters wants to know more about their ideal government leaders the public have to search for more information about the leaders and the party as the desired for them to become informed on the issues instills a strong motivation factors for the public’s. Although the theory may seem to be acceptable but the theory still have its own weaknesses and failure which are visible and need to be improved. For example, while the article concentrate on the presentation of the issues during the election campaigns, the willingness of voters to listen to issues presented by the media, they fail to examine the degree to which mass media is able to raise issues and attract information-seeking audiences on its own but they fail to examine the degree of how the mass media is able to heightened public interest of political issues during election seasons to perform an agenda-setting function. Besides that, the media agenda in agenda-setting theory have their own limitations, as media may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. The information from the media may not deliver appropriately, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Therefore to improve the theory effectiveness of the theory, the media should increase the understanding of the issues by reporting a more detail information about the election with wide range of information. In addition, the media can also carry out a survey to understand better the level of absorption information of the readers, listeners and viewers. The media should also aware of the public acceptance and understanding of the issues as the agenda-setting theory has its own limitations in dispersing the news. Conclusion In conclusion, the Agenda Setting Theory is a very important practice in media industry especially in a democratic country like Malaysia. The media collaborate with government to control what to be think and discussed among the public. The purpose is to shape their perception over certain issues. It can be from a political issue to welfare issue. This theory proved that whatever issue has been discussed shape the importance of that specific issue and bring to the discussion in the public as in the public agenda. If the public or majorities think that there are some dissatisfactions or objections going on, there will be changes in the policy agenda. Thus, agenda setting is a very important tool in media even though there are still some weaknesses in this practice. So, the media should take in to account to improve their practice by injecting more information not only to a specific area but make it more widely than today in order for the public to have more knowledge about our nation and this may create a more critical thinking nation. References Agenda-Setting Theory – Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw(n. d. ). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://www. ninosoriadeveyra. com/uploads/3/0/1/1/3011660/agenda-setting_ justine_kate_gian. ppt. Agenda-Setting Theory: Presentation paper abstracts (n. . ). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://realhomepages. com/wecapps/agenda%20setting. htm Agenda-Setting Theory: Strengths and weaknesses of theory (n. d. ). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://www. servinghistory. com/topics/Agenda-setting_theory::sub::Strengths_And_ Weaknesses_Of_Theory Garson, G. D. (2006). Agenda setting theory. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://faculty. chass. ncsu. edu/garson/PA765/agendasetting. htm Media Tenor Innovatio – Agenda setting theory (n. d. ). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http:// www. agendasetting. com/res_theory. php M. Sanchez Spring 2002. (2002). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://zimmer. csufresno. edu/~ johnca/spch100/7-4-agenda. htm Spring 2001 theory workbook. (2001). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://www. uky. edu/~ drlane/capstone/mass/agenda. htm The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion (n. d. ). Retrieved July 30, 2010 from http://www. infoamerica. org/documentos_pdf/mccombs01. pdf