Science Fair Experiment Ideas The Chemistry of Cooking

Some of the safest and most interesting science fair projects involve the foods we eat. Food chemistry projects have the advantage of using materials that are readily available and generally nontoxic. A Few Ideas Think about ways you can explore questions related to food and cooking, and use these questions to help trigger more food chemistry ideas. Does eating hot or spicy food change your body temperature?Does mint gum or mouthwash really chill your mouth?Will chilling an onion before cutting it keep you from crying?If you shake up different kinds or brands of soft drinks (e.g., carbonated), will they all spew the same amount?Do all breakfast cereals that say they have 100 percent of the U.S. recommended daily allowance of iron really have the same amount? (Heres the test.)Are all potato chips equally greasy? (You can crush them to get uniform samples and look at the diameter of a grease spot on brown paper.) Is greasiness different if different oils are used (e.g., peanut versus soybean)?Does eating breakfast have an effect on school performance?Do the same types of mold grow on all types of bread?Does increasing the ethylene concentration ripen fruit more quickly?Does light affect the rate at which foods spoil?Do foods containing preservatives really stay fresh longer than foods without them?How does time or season of harves t affect the chemistry and nutritional content of food?Does exposure to light affect the amount of vitamin C in juice?Can you use a household water filter to remove flavor or color from other liquids?Does the power of a microwave affect how well it makes popcorn?Can you tell/taste the difference between these beef cuts—hamburger, ground chuck, and ground round—after they have been cooked?

The two peaces of poetry I have studied by Seamus Heaney...

The two peaces of poetry I have studied by Seamus Heaney include Follower and The Early Purges. Heaneys poems both relate back to his younger, adolescent life. In the poem Early purges, he describes young kittens being drowned on the farm. His maturity is shown when he says with perception, And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown, I just shrug, Bloody pups . But we are shown that he is still careless now, as well in a casual way by saying I just shrug. He is also unsympathetic, and justifies his actions like Dan. He is now older, looking back and changed. The language used by Heaney also expresses the fact that little was thought of these so-called nuisances. He says they are slung and Dan Taggart†¦show more content†¦But the fear came back. In this particular occasion, the full stop emphasises a space of time where Dan had no regret of what he had done with no disgust, but suddenly the opposite is true over a moment in time. A couple of vicious verbs used in this same stanza, are sickening tug, which shows that Dan was sickened by things that he had done with his violent actions. I think that the up until the final two verses, Heaneys outlook is that of a young boy, who doesnt understand why something so cruel should happen. Heaney then shows his maturity again by showing his understanding that the kittens, or pests, did actually have to be removed. In the final stanza, a feeling of regret still takes place where he is trying to convince himself that he did the right thing and that the kittens are better off dead than alive. Overall in this poem, it is made up of 3 simple line stanzas, where the first and third lines rhyme. In the poem Follower,the voice is of the son. He is speaking about his father who he looks up to and admires. The poem starts with the lines My father worked with a horse-plough, his shoulders globed like a full sail strung. The image given to us immediately is of a large piece of machinery controlled by a large a powerful man. We are told his shoulders are like a full sail strung, so straight away I think of a large yacht sailing at great speed and nothing can stop it. I thinkShow MoreRelatedPoems Comparison Essay examples2477 Words   |  10 Pagesï » ¿ICCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE POETRY COURSEWORK In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence Discuss the poets’ treatment of any aspect of the theme of loss in at least 6 of the poems you have studied. A minimum of 3 poems should be taken from the anthology. Poems for discussion: In detail - Prayer Before Birth (Louis MacNeice) - Do not go gentle into that good night (Dylan Thomas) -

Four Basic Market Structures

Question: Discuss about the Four Basic Market Structures. Answer: Introduction: Dee beer Diamond Company has exercised monopoly through ensuring that the product they are dealing with has no close substitutes. In addition, the same product has a large number of buyers all over the world thus, controlling about 80% of the market share. They are in a position to set prices and influence the market ("AmosWEB is Economics: Encyclonomic WEB*pedia", 2017). Moreover their involvement in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea, as well as aggressive advertising, make it hard for new market entrants thus maintaining the monopoly. In a situation where the Dee Bee Company has to operate in a monopolistic environment, the company will lose the sole role of determining prices in the market. The company will also have to differentiate itself in the market by either branding or packaging in order to sell more. The market share will reduce from 80% to about 5%. The company will also seek alternative methods to lower its production cost in order to maximize profit (Mahoney, 2014). The airline industry in the market cited by the study has dominant firms such Delta, as well as struggling firms such as the southwest airline. In addition, the companies operating in this market are seen to be offering the same services differentiated class such as first-class, business class and economic class. Delta airline was the first to introduce flat-bed seats on flights from New York to London first class in an effort to attract more clients. The market has barriers to entry following aviation regulation for security and safety. The market has very high initial capital outlay that give first movers a minimum average cost advantage. In the case, southwest airline is frustrated in its efforts to penetrate the La Guardia market. A careful analysis of the case study shows that the oligopolistic environment thatUnited and Continental Airlines are operating in seem to have a stable pricing, where by the competitive advantage that can help in wooing more clients is only providing better and quality services such as the flat bed seats by Delta ("Eyeing the Four Basic Market Structures - dummies", 2017) . The merger will help a lot in improving the services currently offered by the two airlines separately, as well as reduce the cost of operation. Moreover, they will have a wide customer base as they will pool together all their clients. In situations where the two companies decide to increase its prices, they will lose a large share of the market as they will become uncompetitive compared to other firms ("Market structures: Monopolies | Policonomics", 2017). If the firms reduce the prices of airlines, they attract a huge demand and increase the market share. The only barriers will be that the rest of the firms ope rating in the same market, as they might not allow the reduction of prices. Therefore the only way to ensure that they attain maximum profit on output is to collude with other airline firms and set a standard price, though collusion is illegal in oligopoly, tactical collusion is hard to detect and it is the only way that United and Continental Airlines can ensure that the oligopolistic market work for their good . References Eyeing the Four Basic Market Structures - dummies. (2017). dummies. Retrieved 19 January 2017, from https://www.dummies.com/business/marketing/eyeing-the-four-basic-market-structures/ Mahoney, D. (2014). Demand, Market Structure, Entry, And Exit In Airline Markets (Phd). University Of Oregon.https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/18338/Mahoney_oregon_0171A_10943.pdf?sequence=1 Market structures: Monopolies | Policonomics. (2017). Policonomics.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017, from https://www.policonomics.com/lp-market-structures-monopoly/ AmosWEB is Economics: Encyclonomic WEB*pedia. (2017). Amosweb.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017, fromhttps://www.amosweb.com/cgibin/awb_nav.pl?s=wpdc=dspk=monopolistic+competition,+characteristics.

Single

Introduction Teaching and learning involves more than just interaction between learners and their teachers. It is therefore necessary to understand each group involved in the learning process and how their participation in learning affects the overall education of learners.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Single-sex Classes specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some issues in education arise because of the education policies put in place by those mandated to determine the course of education of a nation or by the cultural practices of a nation or religion. Single-sex education is a major issue common in Middle East countries which are predominantly Islamic; however, this issue has never received much attention it deserves especially in those countries that practice it. It is often assumed that the objective of providing education to children is to prepare them succeed in their lives, yet most people are not conscious on what makes a child develop sufficiently through formal education. It has been hotly debated as to whether education systems or facilities need to be strictly single-sex or multi-sex. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries which strictly adopt single-sex education from elementary level to institutions of higher learning. Single-sex/single-gender education refers to an education or school system where male and female learners learn in separate classes (Joshi, Leonard Sullivan, 2010). This could be in separate schools or buildings. Single-sex classes have been adopted in many regions across the globe and are largely based on tradition and religion of the cultures where they exists (Sullivan, 2009). Single-sex education in Saudi Arabia Most schools in the Middle East are single-sex schools. In such instances, each school admits girls or boys exclusively. This is common in Saudi Arabia where I practised as a teacher for three years. Influence of religion on Saudi Arabian education syst em In Saudi Arabia, Sharia is the law, and therefore, learners go to sex-segregated public schools since Islamic religion is against social interaction that occurs between women/girls and male non-relatives, particularly between those are who so far not married. In Islam, ensuring that girls are not seen by men is a virtue and is seen to encourage modesty and respect, and helps achieve honour within a family (Dilek, 2000). The country follows Wahhabism interpretation of the religion which is well-known for its keen observation of segregation of sexes.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Education ensures strict separation between boys and girls in both public and some private schools. All mainstream as well as government funded schools are single sex throughout the country, and are guided by Islamic religious rules. In this country, it is even wrong for bo ys and girls to swim in the same swimming pool. Segregation policy of Saudi Arabian education According to the policies (Article 155) of the Ministry of Education all learners from four years and above have to attend single-sex classes (Johnson, 2010). The policy outlaws combining of boys and girls in single classrooms in public schools, and all schools in Saudi Arabia which operate under the Sharia law or are government funded. It is only kindergartens and nurseries as well as foreign international private schools where mixed-sex classes are allowed. This segregation is founded on Islamic religious pillar which recognizes that each gender was assigned different responsibilities by God, and therefore, should be provided with education that suits the gender roles (Hamdan, 2005). In addition, they have to be taught by a teacher of the same sex. This also applies to learners in international schools which are funded either fully or partially by the Saudi Arabian government. According t o Johnson (2010) the decision to include international schools under the segregation policy was announced in the Saudi Gazette in October 2010. This came about as a result of the increasing number of learners of Saudi origin joining international schools in the country. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education ensures that these schools adhere to regulations as well as Islamic principles and practices. Single-sex classes and mathematics curriculum Single-sex education system formed on the basis of religion is based on the idea that there are differences in males and females which make men more suitable for particular hard tasks than women. As a result, males would generally perform better than women in mathematics, chemistry, physics, geography, as well as, arts education. On the other hand, females are believed to perform better in biology, languages as well as handicrafts as compared to males. These stereotypes discourage female learners from pursuing physics and mathematics subjec ts as well as related courses when they join institutions of higher learning. Influence of religious segregation on mathematics and science subjects Since girls and boys brains develop in different trajectories, single-sex education requires mathematics curriculum that adopts different teaching strategies for all-boys classrooms and all-girls classrooms. However, few educators including those in Saudi Arabia have acquired formal training to apply gender-specific teaching techniques, meaning that they may not provide education that specifically benefits the gender they are dealing with. This means that those in charge of developing mathematics curriculum have to produce curriculum that takes into account the learning differences that exist between boys and girls, and gives confidence to girls in mathematics and sciences.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Single-sex Classes specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Stereotyp ical view of mathematics According to Novotney (2011) previous studies have proved that girls do not trust their ability to build up their mathematics skills when faced with difficult mathematical problems. This comes from the belief created in them when establishing single-sex schools, that girls have lower abilities in mathematics and science than boys. In other words, girls in single-sex schools have stereotypical view of mathematics. In Saudi Arabia, girls are taught strictly by female teachers, who might have acquired the belief that science subjects and mathematics are masculine. This means that they also transfer knowledge limited to their capacity and perception of what girls ought to know in those subjects. Reduced motivation and confidence in mathematics Since girls do not learn with boys in the same classroom, they lack the spirit of positive competition to help them improve their knowledge in mathematics, and hence their grades. Besides, girls in a pure girls’ sch ool do not have the boys, whom they believe are better than them in mathematics, to encourage them to develop positive attitude towards mathematics or help them develop confidence in solving complex tasks in Mathematics. Smyth (2010) asserts that boys contribute greatly towards classroom interaction. This implies that they are often unable to develop aspirations and self-esteem in mathematics and science subjects, especially in education systems which are founded on the idea that girls have lower ability to perform in these subjects. According to Smyth (2010) previous studies have shown that girls tend to view mathematics and physics as masculine, and this instills fear and negative attitude towards the subjects in them. Significance of single-sex classes to education Sex stereotyping and discrimination Single-sex classes is of real concern as it amounts to gender discrimination. It is a violation of learners’ civil rights on the basis of sex. Both boys and girls are affected by single-sex classes although girls are more disadvantaged. Previous studies have shown that the strict separation of sexes in schools or classes leads to sex stereotyping as well as sex discrimination which in turn affects learners’ academic achievement. Separating girls and boys generates disdain as well as fear between them, and therefore, prevents cross communication. Low achievement in mathematics among girls More importantly, it decreases the level of learning especially in female learners, in mathematics and science subjects. Science and mathematics achievement have become significant indicators of national economic as well as political strength (Stanberry, 2010). Smyth (2010) reports that there are usually no gender disparities in mathematics among children who have not joined school; however, this only occurs in middle school years onwards. Gender imbalance in the society In an education system where single-sex classes are made mandatory because of the belief that girls have lower abilities in mathematics, and science subjects, as well as, to preserve cultural values, girls tend to pursue arts courses and courses related to their gender roles in that particular society. This leads to low level of participation of women in technical fields of study and jobs, and hence, creating gender imbalance between men and women.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In such societies, women are not empowered to achieve their maximum potential. Girls are majorly given education that corresponds to their gender roles in that society, which are associated with traditional and religious teachings of that society. In Saudi Arabia for example, the education and training provided to girls and women ensures that their level of competence is always inferior to that of men. As a result, they mostly occupy subordinate positions in workplaces and leadership positions since they often have second-rate qualifications to their male counterparts (Hamdan, 2005). This is because the teaching contents have been structured to preserve the country’s Islamic foundations and not to empower males and females equally. Such an education system leads to few women in fields such as engineering, medicine, law, dentistry, statistics and such like high profile careers. Relationship problems at workplaces Students who graduate from single-sex classrooms such as those i n Saudi Arabia are expected to work side-by-side with those of the opposite sex. This type of education limits their ability to work cooperatively as well as to co-exist successfully with colleagues of the opposite sex (Daly, 1996). High cost of operation in schools and education systems Gender segregation in the education system means that schools, especially private and foreign international schools have to spend more money to provide learning resources as well as salaries for additional teachers. To provide adequate and quality education to learners, it means schools have to separate mixed communal facilities like libraries as well as playgrounds. This increases the operation costs for schools and lowers economic efficiency in education systems and schools. Recommendations To overcome these disparities that occur in single-sex education, co-education should be adopted to improve education in parts of the world where single-sex classes are implemented. Sex differences in achieveme nt should not be used to adopt segregation in learning institutions (Stromquist, 2007). The American Council on Education believes that there is less academic gap between girls and boys in terms of their achievement (Stanberry, 2010). Mixed-sex classes would help open the minds of learners and remove the perceived differences between the sexes. This would encourage girls to compete boys at all educational levels and fields. Mixing boys and girls in one classroom would encourage girls to perfect their abilities in subjects considered to be masculine. Again it would also help achieve equality between the sexes in education. In the past years, educational reforms in girls’ education in Saudi Arabia have majorly focused on improving the teacher-student ratio, infrastructure and increasing the curriculum content. However, there is a gap between the type of skills offered through the curricula of public education for females and those required in the labour market. Thus, it is impo rtant to improve the curricula for girls to make it same level to that used to educate boys. They should be enabled to perform in mathematics and science subjects as well as in related courses just like boys. One way to improve their achievement in the perceived masculine subjects and course is to provide teacher training that is gender-specific. This would promote the use of gender-specific teaching strategies to improve learning of mathematics and science subjects among the girls of Saudi Arabia. As a result, this would improve equity outcomes in education allowing for girls’ further training and productivity (Almunajjed, 2009). In addition, it would be more appropriate to include both male and female teachers in all-girls and all-boys classrooms so as to remove the stereotypes as regards science subjects and mathematics. Well-trained male teachers would help bridge the academic gap that exists between boys and girls in girls’ schools. Finally, education systems whic h adopt single-sex classes need to establish counseling and guidance sessions to help both boys and girls overcome stereotypes, and to encourage them improve their performance in subjects perceived to belong to the opposite sex (Norfleet Richards, 2003). Conclusion Single-sex classes can be effective in helping learners achieve their academic aspirations and full potentials if properly implemented. However, this effectiveness depends on the basis of its formulation. Single-sex classes established to preserve the cultural values of a society may disproportionately disadvantage girls in that society. It is therefore necessary to ensure that girls are offered equal learning opportunities as boys, and that proper teaching strategies are adopted to improve their learning in science subjects and mathematics. Reference List Almunajjed, M. (2009). Women’s education in Saudi Arabia: The way forward. Riyadh: Booz Company Inc. Daly, P. (1996). The effects of single-sex and coeducation al schooling on girls’ achievement. Research Papers in Education, 11: 289-306. Dilek C. (2000). Virginity tests and artificial virginity in modern Turkish medicine. In à lkkaracan, P. (Ed.) Women and sexuality in Muslim societies. Istanbul: Women for Women’s Human Rights. Hamdan, A. (2005). Women and education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and achievements. International Education Journal, 6(1): 42-64. Johnson, R. (2010). Single sex education for expatriates in Saudi Arabian financed schools. Web. Joshi, H. and Leonard, D. Sullivan, A. (2010). Single-sex Schooling and Academic Attainment at School and through the Lifecourse. American Educational Research Journal, 47(1): 6-36. Norfleet, J. A. Richards, H. (2003). Escaping stereotypes: Educational attitudes of male alumni of single-sex and coed schools. Psychology of Men and Masculinity 4: 136-148. Novotney, A. (2011). Coeducation versus single-sex education: Does separating boys and girls improve their education? Expe rts on both sides of the issue weigh in. American Psychological Association, 42(2): 58. Smyth, E. (2010). Single-sex education: What does research tell us? Revue franà §aise de pà ©dagogie, 171: 47-55. Stanberry, K. (2010). Single-sex education: The pros and cons. Web. Stromquist, N. P. (2007). The gender socialization process in schools: A cross-national comparison. Web. Sullivan, A. (2009). Academic self-concept, gender and single-sex schooling. British Educational Research Journal, 35(2): 259-288. This essay on Single-sex Classes was written and submitted by user Catalina Camacho to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Chinese Interpretation of Various Aspects of Life through the Film titled Red Cliff

The ancient Chinese film titled Red Cliff showcases Chinese epic war. The film’s concepts were borrowed from the battle of red cliffs and occurrences, which took place during the final stages of Han Dynasty. In addition, the film was produced just before the emancipation of the famous Chinese three kingdoms.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Chinese Interpretation of Various Aspects of Life through the Film titled Red Cliff specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The film symbolizes the Chinese interpretation of various aspects of life such as the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between an individual and the state. This paper endeavors to analyze how the film Red Cliff displays the Chinese interpretation of various aspects of life, most importantly, the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between an individual and the state. An Overview of Battle of Red Cliffs The bat tle of red cliffs marked the end of the Han Dynasty. A great warrior known as Cao Cao led his group from the South and fought with his rivals who were led by Liu Cong. As a result, Liu Cong gave up Jing Province (McCurry 5). This was a significant achievement for Cao Cao. After Cao Cao had captured Jing Province, other rivals united to oppose him. Lu Su and Lie Bei combined and formed a strong force that fought Cao Cao’s men at Red Cliffs (Elley 6). The battle between Cao Cao’s warlords and the combined force consisting of Su and Bei’s supporters is known as the battle of red cliffs. The combined force rattled Cao Cao’s men forcing them to retreat. Consequently, Cao Cao conceded defeat. As a result, Cao Cao flew to the North. This boosted the strength of Su and Bei’s territories. Cao Cao decided to consolidate his power in the North. Later, another ruler known as Sun fought Cao Cao and captured Jing Province. After the death of Cao Cao, Lu declared himself as the king of Han Dynasty. However, the remnants of the Han Dynasty engaged in various fights until the dynasty collapsed completely. The collapse of the Dynasty paved way for the emergence of the three kingdoms (McCurry 5). An Overview of the Three Kingdoms The three Kingdoms is a Chinese historical era, which was mainly characterized by disunity. It occurred immediately after the collapse of Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty is considered as a significant historical event that has shaped Chinese political and cultural aspects. During the Han Dynasty era, China was divided into various regions, which served as administrative posts (Tang 7). In addition, the country had a number of autonomous kingdoms. During the Han Dynasty, China realized economic prosperity. The country was divided into three regional markets. They included the Northwest, the North and the Sichuan. In addition, the routes connecting the three markets were manmade, and they were controlled by the government. The government had immense power and it controlled many affairs. When the Han Dynasty collapsed, the three kingdoms emerged.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This period is regarded as the bloodiest in the Country’s history. It was marred with violence as each kingdom fought for supremacy (Tang 7). However, during the three kingdoms period, the county realized numerous technological advancements (Elley 8). The three kingdoms finally collapsed following disagreements between leaders of the rival kingdoms. Many individuals who lived during this period have become legends. The film titled Red Cliff mirrors the events of the battle of red cliff. A critical Analysis The first Chinese model explaining the relationship between an individual and the state was documented by Zhang Taiyan (UCP, 2004). Zhang engineered the nationalism concept. Individuals are supposed to put their nati on first (UCP 3). This concept is reflected in the film Red Cliff. In the Film, which is a reflection of the battle of red cliffs, which occurred many centuries ago, each leader puts the country’s interest first. In the film, there are several rival territories each competing for sovereignty as was the case in the battle of red cliffs. For example, the character who mimics Cao Coa aims at solidifying his region’s economic and military prowess. Thus, he fights his rival, Liu Cong in order to capture Jing province. Jing province was an economic and agricultural centre and any leader wanted to control this province. In the film, Red Cliff, the character who is portrayed as Coa Coa shows nationalism by fighting in order to secure a key economic territory for his kingdom. Likewise, the other leaders like Lu Su and Lie Bei fought for the benefit of their territories. At that time, each territory was seen as an independent state, so each leader strived to protect his territor y. The approach used by Lu Su and Lie Bei in which they formed an allied force to oppose Coa Coa’s rivalry, is also highlighted in the film on Red Cliff. This is another sign of the Chinese interpretation of nationalism. The two leaders, Lu Su and Lie Bei, represent true nationalism by joining forces to conquer the enemy. According to Zhan’s interpretation of nationalism, individuals are supposed to cooperate during hard times (UCP 3). In addition, the Chinese interpretation with regard to the relationship between man and nature is best explained ecologically. On top of that, the relationship between man and nature is also linked to the Chinese concept of Confucianism. Thus, the respect for humanity is paramount. Since man relies on nature, Chinese believed that nature has to be guarded against harm. This concept is also portrayed in the film Red Cliff. The rival parties did not interfere with nature. Chinese believe that nature and man are friends and their friendship should not be compromised. Chinese believed that there â€Å"is a need to awe the mandate of heaven and the benevolent regarding anything under heaven and on earth as an integral unity† (Meng 1). Chinese tradition with regard to nature has received global fame. The Chinese culture sees man as an integral part of nature.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Chinese Interpretation of Various Aspects of Life through the Film titled Red Cliff specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to the Chinese tradition, taking life as the essence of benevolence enlivens not only the human consciousness of life, but also an ecology oriented consciousness† (Meng 1). These aspects are portrayed in the film of Red Cliffs. Red Cliff showcases Chinese epic war between rival territories. However, even in the midst of a tough battle, nature is guarded. This is a clear interpretation of the Chinese view with regard to the rel ationship between man and nature. Conclusion This paper has noted that the concepts of the film Red Cliff were borrowed from battle of red cliffs and occurrences, which took place during the final stages of Han Dynasty. The film symbolizes the Chinese interpretation of various aspects of life such as the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between an individual and the state. The battle of the Red Cliff marked the end of the Han Dynasty. A great warrior known as Cao Cao led his group from the south and fought with his rivals who were led by Liu Cong. As a result, Liu Cong gave up Jing Province. This led to the emancipation of the three kingdoms. The three Kingdoms is a Chinese historical era, which was mainly characterized by disunity. It occurred immediately after the collapse of Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty is considered as a significant historical event that has shaped Chinese political and cultural aspects. The first Chinese model explaining the relationshi p between an individual and the state was documented by Zhang Taiyan (UCP, 2004). Zhang engineered the nationalism concept. Individuals are supposed to put their nation first (UCP 5). In the film Red Cliff, the main character shows nationalism by fighting to secure a key economic territory for his kingdom. Likewise, the other characters mimic leaders like Lu Su and Lie Bei also fight for their regions’ wellbeing. At that time, each territory was seen as an independent state, so each leader strived to protect his territory. The approach used by Lu SU and Lie Bei in which they formed an allied force to oppose Coa Coa’s rivalry is also highlighted in the film Red Cliff. This is another sign of the Chinese interpretation of nationalism. In addition, the Chinese interpretation with regard to the relationship between man and nature is best explained ecologically. On top of that, the relationship between man and nature is also linked to the Chinese concept of Confucianism. Th us, the respect for humanity is paramount. Since man relies on nature, Chinese believe that nature has to be guarded from harm. These aspects are portrayed in the film Red Cliffs. Red Cliff showcases Chinese epic war between rival territories. However, even in the midst of a tough battle, nature is guarded. This is a clear interpretation of the Chinese view with regard to the relationship between man and nature; man and nature are friends.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Elley, Derek. The Red Cliff Review. Moviereviews 29 June 2008. Web. McCurry, Justin. â€Å"Chinese epic loses the plot as actors quit  £40m project†. The Guardian 2 April 2007: 1-10. Web. Meng, Peiyuan. Relationship Between Man and Nature in Traditional Human Rights Concepts of China and West. Chinesestudies 4 May 2008. Web. Tang, Ayu. Choice of Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang criticized. Asiansite 12 March 2007. Web. University of Califonia Press (UCP). The Relationship between the Individual and the People. Chinesestudies 7 May 2004. Web. This essay on Chinese Interpretation of Various Aspects of Life through the Film titled Red Cliff was written and submitted by user Kat1e to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Juvenile Recidivism and Restitution essays

Juvenile Recidivism and Restitution essays Develop a list of reasons why restitution should reduce recidivism and a list of reasons why it might not. Does restitution make sense to you? In the response to the high rise in crime, most states have adopted a "get tough" response to juveniles that focuses solely on punishment. However, many states, strive to maintain a balance between reducing crime and helping young offenders to learn from their mistakes and avoid possible incarceration in the future. A restitution program is a court diversion program that was developed in collaboration with the Juvenile Justice System. The purpose of the program is to provide an alternative to prosecution for first-time juvenile offenders, in certain misdemeanor cases. The focus of the program is to enable youth who have been arrested for committing a crime (e.g. burglary; vandalism; minor assault or other misdemeanors), to meet face to face with the victim and work out a payment plan for the damage suffered by the victim. The program provides all parties in a juvenile offense (the victim, the offending juvenile, and the juvenile's parents or guardians) the opportunity to work out an acceptable plan that directly addresses the harm caused by the criminal act. As a court diversion program, the juvenile restitution program also provides an alternative to criminal prosecution and the exigencies of the criminal justice system. As a diversion program, the offender may avoid criminal prosecution, court appearances, sentencing alternatives and a record of criminal conviction. Likewise, the victim is not subjected to the rigors involved in a legal case, and may have a better opportunity for direct compensation. The victims are often schools, parks, or other government bodies, as well as private shop owners and property owners. The victims and juvenile offenders are often from the same neighborhood or the same general part of the island. Victims and the parents of the juvenile offenders report...

The changing demographics in Texas have transformed electoral politics Essay

The changing demographics in Texas have transformed electoral politics - Essay Example The public policies and traditionally conservative politics of the state, together with the domineering responsibility of a leading structure, are entrenched in these cultural patterns (Zuczek, 2006). This paper will look at how the changing demographics in Texas have transformed electoral politics. Texas has diverse demographics. There has been a significant rise in the general population, with considerable increases among Asian Americans and Hispanics. Hispanics went beyond 35% of the Texas population in 2010. It is also estimated that they will have reach 41% by 2020. In addition, African Americans were approximately 30% of the Texas population during the Civil War, but are now almost 12%. Also, there is a small Native American population made up of three tribes; the Kickapoo, the Tigua, and the Alabama-Coushatta, making up 0.6% of the population. In addition, Asian Americans are approximately 2.7% of the existing population and are anticipated to rise to almost 4.2% by 2020. Angl os make up almost 52.5% of the population and are estimated to decrease as a percentage of the entire population in the next 30 years. In the first quarter of the 20th century, Texas will have a majority minority (Maxwell, Crain & Santos, 2013). The line between San Antonio and Texarkana in effect splits the subcultures of Texas. A large number of Anglos who settled west and north of this line were from the upper South and tremendously influenced by the individualistic subculture, which prefers limited government. Anglos who settled east and south of the line were by large from the lower South and fashioned by its traditionalistic culture (Zuczek, 2006). Politics in Texas is basically fashioned by the racial and ethnic makeup of the population, and, even though the concerns of minorities were historically overlooked, they are now getting increased consideration. This consideration can be accredited in part, to the rising number of minorities elected to local and state offices. Over the last ten years, the population of Texas has risen much quicker than the national average. Between 1990 and 2000, the population of Texas rose by approximately four million people (Maxwell, Crain & Santos, 2013). Movement from other states of the country with stout Republican Party traditions has played a significant part in the transformation of Texas’ conventional one-party Democratic political system into a two-party system. In spite of the sense of wide open spaces and size, Texas is an urban area, with almost 85% of the people living in urban areas. The rise in population presents new requirements on all levels of government, as will the rise in the average age of the population of the state (Maxwell, Crain & Santos, 2013). Almost 10% of the population in Texas was over 65 years old. This number is estimated to rise to 17% by 2030. In addition, significant differences in income levels and wealth exist in the state, leading to political benefits for people who have sig nificant financial resources. Therefore, the economic class has turned into a political subject and income is evidently associated to ethnicity and race, African Americans and Hispanics are more probable to get incomes lower than $15,000. Moreover, there are also significant diffe

Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Risk Management - Essay Example Previously, the safety culture at BP had presented a cause for concern with the Texas City Refinery explosion and other events presenting an adverse image. Toney Hayward, the former CEO of BP, had tried to enhance safety at BP when he took office at a time when BP faced three criminal investigations. However, it would appear that the managerial decision-making processes at BP remained flawed as managers continued to take risks in efforts directed towards trying to manage costs and delays while neglecting safety. Although it is likely that a blowout preventer with a flawed design contributed to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the managerial emphasis on costs and delays caused BP subcontractors to become negligent. BP managers refused Halliburton recommendations to use twenty-one centralisers and proceeded to cement the well using only six centralisers. Halliburton used cement that did not pass its own laboratory tests to cement the well and this contributed to the flow of hydrocarb ons into the well. Transocean crew did not take adequate notice of the kick in the well that pointed to a loss of well control and proceeded to release gases from the well on to the rig through the mud gas separator instead of diverting the gas away from the rig. In addition, inadequate maintenance of the blowout preventer was to contribute to events. Because bonuses presented to BP project managers depended on completing projects close to budgeted costs and schedule, the wrong emphasis had persisted. It is likely that independent verification of managerial decision-making emphasising safety from a command that is distinct from the project management command at BP under a Chief Safety Officer reporting directly to the CEO at BP will help present the correct emphasis. BP did have a safety director at the time of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, but it will appear that this safety director lacked powers, a separate chain of command and a capacity for working effectively to give effe ct to his mandate. The new CEO at BP has promised to create a safety division at BP with sweeping powers. BP project managers should now receive bonuses that emphasise correctness of their managerial decision-making for a project instead of receiving rewards for trying to complete a job within budget and schedule while taking risks with safety. In addition, it will make sense for BP to try to contribute towards helping to improve the design and reliability of superior technology for offshore operations, including subsea blowout preventers. Contents Introduction 1 What Went Wrong? An Analysis of BP’s Approach to Risk Management that Influenced the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster 3 A Reasoned Discussion about How BP Should Progress in the Future with Regard to Risk Management 15 Conclusion 19 Bibliography / References 22 List of Figures Figure 1: Typical Subsea Blowout Preventer Stack 7 Figure 2: Deepwater Drilling with Subsea Blowout Preventer 8 (This page intentionally left bla nk) Introduction The word â€Å"risk† refers to the possibility of loss, injury or harm, and it is unfortunately true that it is not possible to assign absolute certainty to the occurrence of any one event because there will always be some level of uncertainty associated with the outcome of events (Bonham, 2008, Pp. 183 –

Geology in The United Arab Emirates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Geology in The United Arab Emirates - Essay Example Over the response of the plate tectonic movement, the two have behaved as a unit. The begun of the separation of this two from African plate started aver about 25- 30 million years ago with the red sea being the initial opening. The U.A.E ancient story was in some points a rumor. A rock, as per the Precambrian history, does not outcrop in the regions of the UAE also; they are not known information drill. In Saudi Arabia and Sultanate of Oman, the exposure of the Precambrian sedimentary rocks were experienced and from this exposure, it participated in delayed Precambrian glaciations. That in many desperate parts of the today’s world were known due the evidence of geology. A shallow red sea covers not much time after the initial appearance of the abundant fossil stable lifestyles during the Middle Cambrian time, a general region that is in the reach of UAE (The Emirates). Thick accumulation of salt and the early Cambrian sediments of both the Arabian sides being included reveal that the area have been the site of first stage drifting from a larger continent that later formed an ocean basin. At the continental edge, the interpretation would account for the UAE subsequent position. The movements of the Afro-Arabian plate in the period of the Paleozoic caused the pass near the South Pole in the Ordovician period. During this period is when North Africa and UAE became glaciated. During the middle of the Paleozoic, the Afro-Arabian continent became the largest in the southern Gondwana supercontinent. The continent later broke into Permian and Triassic. UAE has remained in the tropical latitudes since the end of Paleozoic. The appearance of the UAE has remained tectonically to stable despite the travels. Rather than local tectonic and climatic fluctuations, the geological history of the country as a whole has been based on the primary legend of the advance and retreat of the sea in response to the global idea. The make that was to become of UAE was through the

Junk Food in Schools Essay

Junk Food in Schools Essay Ahmed ALfaraj Schools, it seems, always need more money. One way many of them found funding for things they needed was through corporate sponsorship. While there have been stories about school gymnasiums named after Pepsi, there was a much less noticeable way that corporations sponsored schools and that was through the food that schools provide for the children. The law that says schools must provide children with breakfast and lunches if the kids’ parents cannot afford to pay for them, made it so that schools had to come up with a lot of food for poor kids and that is expensive. Food corporations stepped in and offered their products to schools and schools accepted even if they were not the healthiest of foods. Now, because of things like Pizza Hut pizza, and Smucker’s Uncrustables, without meaning to, schools are contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic by including junk foods in lunches and vending machines. However, thanks to people like Michelle Obama, the unhealthy food h as started to be replaced in many schools through some innovative programs and new government rules about what kind of food can be included in school lunches have helped to keep kids healthy. Most people would agree that offering unhealthy meals to kids at school does not seem like the right thing to do. It is bad enough that many children do not get adequate nutrition at home, but to have the same type of food offered to them at school also seems like a hypocritical thing to do especially when schools are responsible for also teaching healthy life behavior such as eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise. The reason a law was made that required schools to serve healthy lunches and breakfast is that lower-income children may not get enough to eat at home. Not only that with many single-parent households and working families, there may not be anyone to fix meals for children. The law was made so that children would not go hungry. It is a shame that schools then would feed children unhealthy food and allow vending machines that sell junk food. Another reason schools offer meals to children is that children who have eaten breakfast and lunch do much better in school. That has recently been proven by many studies, but that is not the only reason school lunches have been given to children. Nick Confessore of the New York Times says, â€Å"It was the U.S. military that first advanced the national-security implications of a healthful lunch. . . . Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, a former school principal . . . told the lawmakers that as many as 40 percent of rejected draftees had been turned away owing to poor diets† (Confessore). That is how the original National School Lunch program came about. During the 1980s, it was cut along with most other social services by the Reagan administration. Schools began to rely on food from corporations who were competing for the attention of schoolchildren. Of course, there were those federal laws that schools had to comply with, but one way they got around the federal law was to offer unhealth y vending machine products. â€Å"Some districts even struck deals with McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and other fast-food chains to sell versions of their commercial products directly to school kitchens† (Confessore). That was how Pizza Hut pizza ended up on school lunch trays across the country. Some corporations even drastically reduce the cost of their products for schools. It makes healthy food like fresh fruits and vegetables difficult to serve because they cost so much more than what the corporations provide for free. To compete, the USDA subsidizes school lunch programs. In the Journal of Public Policy Marketing Bree Dority, Mary McGarvey, and Patricia Kennedy explain that the USDA compensates those schools who serve lunches through the National School Lunch Program that meet the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (205). If a school relies too heavily on corporate sponsorship, they may not get the government money and the breakfast and lunches they serve to children will not be as healthy as those that do receive the government subsidy, but they may actually spend less on food per student. The cost is that those students have a greater risk of becoming overweight or obese and of being not as healthy as children who attend schools where the lunch program is governme nt supported. Most people do not even know that some schools opt for the corporate sponsorship over government sponsorship. Most parents do not look into whether or not their children are served lunches at their school subsidized by government or corporate money. Most probably assume that if there is a free or reduced-cost lunch program that it is through the government. If a person were to ask a group of parents what they thought about the different ways that school lunch programs are funded, those parents would not know that one of the ways is through allowing corporations to provide processed, high in calorie foods for lunches and junk foods in vending machines to schools. Some if not most of those people would say that it is wrong to give children junk food and they would probably find it especially wrong that junk food should be available in schools. Even parents who prepare a lunch at home for their children are having their efforts challenged by the presence of vending machines that offer junk food to children. The presumably healthy food that children bring from home can easily be tossed out and the child can fill up his/her stomach o the empty calorie food found in vending machines. Some people like Phebe Gibson and Lily Swartz are calling for updating the policies concerning junk food at the federal level. Not every school has them because states often oversee school policy and not all states show as great as concern over the health of their children as others. Eliminating junk foods from school cafeterias makes children healthier though. Gibson and Swartz explain that many people all over the country want to remove junk foods from schools. â€Å"A recent poll in California indicates  96% of voters  support serving healthier foods and beverages in schools, and a study conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that banning junk food from a la carte lines would result in an18% reductionin overweight or obese students† (Gibson and Swartz). Not only will children be healthier if junk foods are removed from school cafeterias and vending machines, but the childhood obesity problem may be stopped. The argument against the federal government setting guidelines about the types of food that are served in school lunches comes from people who believe the government should not intervene in the lives of people to the extent that they tell them what to eat at school or otherwise. Some say that people should be free to eat what they want even if it is unhealthy. They say that it violates a person’s freedom when the government tells people what they can and cannot eat. Parents should be the ones who decide what their kids eat. Lindsey Tanner of the Huffington Post cites many obesity experts who worry that legislating what people eat may backfire especially where schools are particularly dependent upon food corporation dollars for survival (Tanner). Yet studies show that schools that do ban junk food have fewer overweight and obese students. The same people who want government out of their food are often the ones who say that the presence of junk food in school lunches and vending machines is not the cause of the obesity epidemic. Not every child who eats junk food will become obese. Even those children whose parents are obese may not become obese from eating junk food, even if it is more of a risk for them. The school lunch funding programs that exist help to fund other activities at schools that will help to prevent overweight and obese children such as after-school sports, dance and cheerleading. Linda Gorman also notes that when things like soda are banned, then products like fruit juice, which frequently has just as much sugar as soda, is allowed. Parents and students alike think they are getting healthier foods, but they are not. Gorman says that many feel that banning junk foods will not stop the obesity epidemic (Gorman). For those who believe this, education about the dangers of junk foods is a better policy. Another argument they use is the cost of food. Jan Christensen of CNN says that schools in the more expensive districts such as San Francisco spend, on average, $2.74 per child per lunch. To serve a child a healthy lunch, most experts agree that it costs about $5 per child per lunch (Christensen). Many parents cannot afford to spend that kind of money on their kids’ lunches and many legislators do not want to give that kind of money to schools. Without the corporate sponsorship, it costs too much to provide healthy food in schools. Unfortunately, companies do not give fresh fruits and vegetables to schools. Even if they did, critics of government involvement in school lunch programs point out that the fresh food does not have a long shelf life. Fresh fruits and vegetables become inedible in just a few days. When they go bad, they must be thrown out and that wastes money. The processed food that corporations provide never goes bad, or at least not for a very long time, so there is little waste. Perhaps the real problem is the cost of healthy food and the presence of junk food everywhere in the American culture. Perhaps the regulations should be placed on corporations advertising practices instead of banning them from schools. If kids and their parents saw more promotion of healthier foods, they may be more likely to buy and consume them. Children who eat healthy at home would not develop a taste for empty-calorie food. Then kids would go to school looking for healthy foods and not junk foods and schools would have the opposite problem on their hands: that of turning down sponsorship from companies who want to promote junk foods to children. Either way, school lunches are subsidized by government dollars, and if they are, those dollars should not be adding to the obesity problem that will cost more money down the road to battle. Even if it costs more to put healthy foods in school lunches and in vending machines in schools, it is the right thing to do for the health of child ren. Works Cited Christensen, Jan. Obama Admin Bans Junk Food In Schools. 29 September 2010. CNN. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/29/school.food.investigation/>. Confessore, Nicholas. How School Lunch Became the Latest Political Battleground. 7 October 2014. New York Times. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/magazine/how-school-lunch-became-the-latest-political-battleground.html?_r=0>. Dority, Bree L., Mary G. McGarvey and Patricia F. Kennedy. Marketing Foods And Beverages In Schools: The Effect Of School Food Policy On Students’ Overweight Measures. Journal Of Public Policy Marketing 29.2 (2010): 204-218. PsycINFO. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. Gibson, Phebe and Lily Swartz. Setting a New Academic Standard: Getting Junk Food Out of Schools. 2015. Prevention Institue. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.preventioninstitute.org/about-us/lp/851-setting-a-new-academic-standard-getting-junk-food-out-of-schools.html>. Gorman, Linda. Junk Food Availability in Schools Raises Obesity. 2015. The National Bureau of Economic Research. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.nber.org/digest/sep05/w11177.html>. Tanner, Lindsay. Do Junk Food Laws Actually Work To Fight Kids Obesity? 13 August 2012. Huffington Post. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/study-junk-food-laws-may-_n_1771352.html>.

What Affects the Rate of Reaction? :: Reaction Rates Energy Science Essays

What Affects the Rate of Reaction? Hypothesis To form a reaction the particles must collide in high speed. The faster the particles collide the more kinetic energy is produced. This produces a bigger reaction. There are five key variables that affect the rate of a reaction (in this case with a solid and a solution): * Change in temperature An increase in heat energy within the particles leads to more kinetic energy. Therefore there is more collision of particles and it increases the rate of the reaction. When we decrease the amount of heat energy, this will evidently slow down the reaction. For example we slow down the process of our food rotting by placing it in a fridge or a freezer. * Change in concentration The concentrations of acids are classed in molars, so 2m would quite a strong concentrated acid, 0.5m would be a very dilute weak acid and 1m would be in between the two. Also, the more concentrated the acid, the more particles it contains, so there is more of a chance for collisions. * Change of particle size Increasing the surface area of the particles would lead to more collision. We do this by making the particles smaller. For instance peeling a large potato would not take as long as peeling four small potatoes; this is because the smaller potatoes have a larger surface area for you to peel. * Pressure (for gases only) Increasing the pressure would bring particles closer together so there would be more of a chance for collision. * Catalyst A catalyst lowers the activation of energy required, consequently there being a faster reaction. The three variables we are choosing to show which effect the rate of reaction in our experiments are: * Particle size * Concentration * Temperature Pressure was inappropriate to use as a variable, because we were not using two gases and a catalyst was unsuitable to use for small tests like these. I think that the tests in changing the temperature will have the fastest times, as the hotter a solution is the more the particles will move and collide, thus the rate of carbon dioxide being produce will be faster. I also think that the large particles test will take the slowest amount of time because of the lack of surface area and the reverse will occur with the test with powered calcium carbonate. Plan We will be running a various number of experiments to prove what effects the rate of reaction with calcium carbonate (marble chips) and hydrochloric acid. The balanced equation for these reactants along with the products: Calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid calcium chloride + carbon dioxide + water 2 2 3 2

Negative Utilitarianism: An Overview

Most utilitarian theories deal with producing the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Negative utilitarianism (NU) requires us to promote the least amount of evil or harm, or to prevent the greatest amount of suffering for the greatest number. Proponents like Karl Popper, Christoph Fehige and Clark Wolf argue that this is a more effective ethical formula, since, they contend, the greatest harms are more consequential than the greatest goods. Karl Popper also referred to an epistemological argument: â€Å"It adds to clarity in the fields of ethics, if we formulate our demands negatively, i. e. if we demand the elimination of suffering rather than the promotion of happiness. †(Karl R. Popper,1945) Most forms of utilitarianism hold that we ought to do that which maximises the good and minimises the bad. There is some disagreement about what the good and the bad are– whether the good is people being happy and the bad is people being unhappy, or the go od is people getting what they want and the bad is people not getting what they want, or whatever–but most utilitarians agree that whatever the good and the bad are, we ought to bring about as much of the former and as little of the latter as is possible. Negative utilitarians disagree. Negative utilitarians are concerned only with minimising the bad. They don't think we ought to maximise the good and minimise the bad, and that when we must choose between the two we must weigh the difference that we can make to the one against the difference that we can make to the other; rather, negative utilitarians hold just that we ought to minimise the bad, that we ought to alleviate suffering as far as we are able to do so. Suppose that I have a choice to make: I can either make the happiest man in the world even happier than he already is, or I can alleviate some of the suffering of the unhappiest man in the world. Suppose further that the difference that I can make to the happy man is much greater than the difference that I can make to the unhappy man. Most utilitarians would say that in this case I ought to help the happy man. As I can make a greater difference to the life of the happy man than I can make to the life of the unhappy man, it is the happy man whom I should help. Negative utilitarians disagree. Negative utilitarians hold that it is more important to alleviate suffering than it is to promote pleasure, and that I should therefore always choose to alleviate suffering rather than promote pleasure when forced to choose between the two. In most supporters of moderate NU the preference to survive is stronger than the wish to be freed from suffering, so that they refuse the idea of a quick and painless destruction of life. Some of them believe that, in time, the worst cases of suffering is defeated and a world of minor suffering can be realized. The big problem with negative utilitarianism is that it appears to require the destruction of the world. The world contains much suffering, and the future, presumably, contains a great deal more suffering than the present. Each of us will suffer many calamaties in the course of our lives, before those lives finally end with the suffering of death. There is a way, however, to reduce this suffering: we could end it all now. With nuclear weapons technology, we have the capability to blow up the planet, making it uninhabitable. Doing so would cause us all to suffer death, but death is going to come to us all anyway, so causing everyone to die will not increase the suffering in the world. Causing us to die now, though, will decrease the suffering in the world; it will prevent us from suffering those calamaties that were going to plague us during the remainder of our lives. Destroying the planet, then, will reduce the suffering in the world. According to negative utilitarianism, then, it is what we ought to do. That, though, is surely absurd. Negative utilitarianism, therefore, is false.

To Do vs. To Make

To Do vs. To Make To Do vs. To Make To Do vs. To Make By Maeve Maddox Pointing out that some languages, like Russian, have only one verb to express the meanings of English make and do, a reader requests a little guidance: Please could you explain the difference between the verbs â€Å"to do† and â€Å"to make.† Is there some kind of formula or method? Would that I could postulate some foolproof rule for knowing when to use do and when to use make. Some general guidelines do exist, but for many of the idioms, memorization is the ESL speaker’s only recourse. Generally speaking, the verb do and its forms are used to talk about duties, jobs, or leisure activities: England expects that every man will do his duty. Who does your hair? He’s doing time for assault. She can’t do enough for that lay-about husband of hers. Jake does the crossword every morning on the train. Have you done your homework? The verb make is used to talk about constructing, creating, or performing something: The company has made an offer on a new building. Excuse me while I make a phone call. The child made a face behind the teacher’s back. The builders are making progress on the house. Time is running out; we must make a decision now. We tried to move without making a noise. It’s possible to use do with an adverb: I hope he will do well there. He did badly in his last job. Make is usually followed by a noun: make the bed make amends make a mistake make a visit make a speech Exceptions are the idioms â€Å"to make nice† (behave in an agreeable manner), and â€Å"to make do† (get along with what one has†): His mother told him to make nice with the neighbor’s children. As we haven’t the money for a new car, we shall have to make do with this one. A great many expressions that are used with make can be rephrased with verbs that correspond to the noun that follows make or with another verb: to make a confession > to confess to make a visit > to visit to make a suggestion > to suggest to make a face > to grimace to make believe > to imagine Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives25 Russian Words Used in English (and 25 More That Should Be)Neither... or?

Important Steps to Take for Earthquake Preparedness

Important Steps to Take for Earthquake Preparedness On the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, thousands of scientists, engineers and emergency management experts gathered in San Francisco for a conference. From that meeting of the minds came 10 recommended action steps for the region to take against future earthquakes. These 10 action steps apply to society at all levels, including individuals, businesses, and governments. This means that all of us who work for businesses and participate in government activities have ways to help beyond taking care of ourselves at home. This is not a checklist, but rather an outline of a permanent program. Not everyone can utilize all 10 steps, but everyone should try to carry out as many as possible. People elsewhere take part in a culture of preparedness for their regional hazard, whether they live in an area prone to hurricanes, tornados, blizzards or fires. Its different in earthquake country because the big events are rare and they occur without warning. Things on this list that may seem obvious in other places have yet to be learned in earthquake country   or, they were learned and forgotten, like the San Francisco region in the years after the 1906 quake. These action steps are crucial elements of a disaster-resilient civilization and serve 3 distinct purposes: making preparedness part of the regional culture, investing to reduce losses, and planning for recovery. Preparedness Know your risks. Study the buildings that you live in, work in or own: On what kind of ground are they sited? How might the transportation systems serving them be threatened? What seismic risks affect their lifelines? And how can they be made safer for you?Prepare to be self-sufficient. Not just your home, but your workplace too should be ready for 3 to 5 days without water, power or food. While this is the normal suggestion, FEMA suggests carrying up to 2 weeks worth of food and water.  Care for the most vulnerable. Individuals may be able to help their families and immediate neighbors, but people with special needs will need special preparations. Ensuring this necessary response for vulnerable populations and neighborhoods will take concerted, sustained action by governments.Collaborate on a regional response. Emergency responders already do this, but the effort should extend further. Government agencies and major industries must work together to help their regions prepare for ma jor earthquakes. This includes regional plans, training, and exercises as well as continuous public education. Loss Reduction Focus on dangerous buildings. Fixing buildings that are likely to collapse will save the most lives. Mitigation measures for these buildings include retrofitting, rebuilding and controlling occupancy to reduce exposure to risk. Governments and building owners, working with earthquake professionals, bear the most responsibility here.Ensure essential facilities function. Every facility needed for emergency response must be capable of not just surviving a large quake, but also remaining functional afterward. These include fire and police stations, hospitals, schools and shelters and emergency command posts. Much of this task is already a legal requirement in many states.Invest in critical infrastructure. Energy supplies, sewage, and water, roads, and bridges, rail lines and airports, dams, and levees, cellular communications the list is long of functions that must be ready for survival and quick recovery. Governments need to prioritize these and invest in retrofitting or rebuilding as much as they can while keeping a long-term perspective. Recovery Plan for regional housing. In the midst of disrupted infrastructure, uninhabitable buildings and widespread fires, displaced people will need relocation housing for both the short and the long term. Governments and major industries must plan for this in collaboration.Protect your financial recovery. Everyone   individuals, agencies, and businesses must estimate what their repair and recovery costs are likely to be after a major earthquake, then arrange a plan to cover those costs.Plan for regional economic recovery. Governments at all levels must collaborate with the insurance industry and major regional industries to ensure the provision of relief money for individuals and for communities. Timely funds are crucial for recovery, and the better the plans, the fewer mistakes will be made. Edited by Brooks Mitchell

Explain Descartess concept of Hyperbolic doubt Essay

Explain Descartess concept of Hyperbolic doubt - Essay Example Conclusively, the concept validates the view that an individual, though may doubt, cannot doubt his existence. Just like any other concept, employing hyperbolic doubt has both positive and negative sides. One of the major benefits is that the universal application of the concept can help in freeing the world from the pervasive war between the existing religions, as evident between Muslims and Christians. Naturally, the war exists because of the different beliefs held by each party. This means that employing hyperbolic doubt will unveil the truth consequently quelling away the war of beliefs (Nicholas and Schindler, 172). Employing hyperbolic doubt may prove to promote innovation and development if applied on a large scale. Most of the innovations, especially in medicine and technology, were once perceived as impossible; consequently, in the presence of the concept, the innovators come up with doubts on their possible projects until they achieve the truth. In essence, it promotes the ability of the world to move forward because it orients the subjects to constantly doubt things to the point of getting real answers. The major disadvantage of employing the concept is that it ends up promoting suspicion among its subjects. The suspicion created triggers the belief that evil is pervasive, especially in instances where there is no clear understanding of a given aspect (Nicholas and Schindler, 172). Usually, this makes the subject unfriendly because of the inescapable mistrust coming as the result of holding hyperbolic doubt. Further, the hyperbolic doubt also subjects individual to avoid judgment using â€Å"face value† making them only believe on the worst case scenario. Intuitively, employing the concept will only make other people look more sinister than we care. Hyperbolic doubt is a sub-set of skepticism considering that it concerns doubting aspects to the point where all the slightest doubts are subdued. In which case, skepticism

Criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Criminal justice - Essay Example (socyberty.com/social-sciences 2011). Police presence in any situation, in most cases, is a crime prevention measure. While the police do fight crime, the media does not always depict the police in a realistic light. The police are shown as being in a position to sacrifice their lives to uphold and enforce the law; however, this label is real but an over-emphasized depiction. As police go through the day to day deed of fighting crime, the media does not report the ordinary times between events. (Dantzker, 2003). Events that occur without inflated incident will be less likely to be noted by the media due to lack of interest or drama involved on viewers. (socyberty.com/ 2011). Television plays an important role in the myths associated with police crime fighters. According to Dr. Podlas the overall pattern of television programs that viewers are exposed to cultivates a common perception of reality. (Podlas 2006). â€Å"The â€Å"reality† tends to mirror what viewers see on the TV screen.† He contends that people who watch a great deal of television will see the real world as a match to television. (Podlas 2006). The news media do, in fact, overdramatize crime. (C. Michael, 2009). Examples of over-dramatization are such things as racial and ethnic crimes. Television news stories about drugs show blacks 50 percent of the time and white 32 percent of the time. However, statistics show that only 15 percent of illegal drug users in the US are black and 70 percent are white. Newspapers also focus their attention to white crime victims even though most violent crimes are interracial. (C.Michael 2009). The media manipulates reports through misleading information or bias. They randomly select people to interview who support the reporter’s view. Also, vital information, such as history and background information, is purposely deleted from a crime story. (C.Michael, 2009).

Heidegger's distinction between the ready-to-hand and the Essay

Heidegger's distinction between the ready-to-hand and the present-to-hand - Essay Example Heidegger has approved the explanation with regard to philosophy as 'its own time comprehended in thought'; the same thought has been delivered by the historians. According to Heidegger, the history of philosophy was to be considered as Western civilization's ever-deepening forgetfulness or oblivion of being, and he disapproved the belief that supported progressive self-realization of spirit version of history f philosophy. Heidegger was also supportive of the notion that Eastern intellectual thoughts can be of support towards technological understanding of being. Heidegger once commented that, 'I am convinced that a change can only be prepared from the same place in the world where the modern technological world originated. It cannot come about by the adoption of Zen Buddhism or other Eastern experiences of the world. The help of the European tradition and a new appropriation of that tradition are needed for a change in thinking. Thinking will only be transformed by a thinking that has the same origin and destiny. The technological world must be superseded in the Hegelian sense, not removed, superseded, but not by human beings alone'(G. Neske, 1990). Heideggar's philosophy has much in similar with the philosophy proposed by Edmund Husserl. Heidegger was much impressed by the article of Husserl on Logical Investigations. Heidegger acknowledged that Husserl's phenomenology produced significant impact on his personal work. Phenomenology is with reference to the science of consciousness and the related objects. The Cartesian tradition has been foundation for phenomenology, Husserl is of the opinion that one can reach the phenomenological attitude, based on the detail analysis of the content of consciousness, from natural attitude, based on actual world and related affairs by the application of methodological procedure. Freedom from prejudice and achievement of purity is possible through phenomenological reduction. Heidegger believes that phenomenology is based on separate analysis of consciousness. DASEIN: Ready-to-Hand & Present-at-Hand Being and Time is supportive of Husserlian phenomenology, and Heidegger has tried to explore the different modes of the existence of the beings, and the experience of its encounter. He analyzed the concept of being in a detailed manner, and referred to the daily life as utensils, or in particular mood of anxiety, and has further revealed the identity of Dasein, and terms it to be particular kind of being. Heidegger has denied the concept with reference to the constitution of the original on the basis of pure consciousness, rather is of the opinion that Dasein in its being is the core of philosophy. Heidegger has forwarded many thoughts which need to be answered. In his letter to Husserl he asked, "What is the mode of being of that being in which the world constitutes itself'" he has stressed over the need to evaluate the constitution supportive of the existence of Dasein, and if certain mysteries with reference to Dasein are unanswered, it will have an impact on the being in general. He wrote to Husserl that, "universal problem of being refers to that which constitutes and to that

The Importance of Accountability Paper Essay Example for Free

The Importance of Accountability Paper Essay The profound style of experienced training provided for health care workers require an important set of distinguished guidelines of accountability and prepare administrators to handle diversified patients that could be highly affected by common human errors, misconduct or neglect. Health care industries are the primary financial asset throughout the nation, thus obtaining funds from private administrative sectors can be highly expensive compared to other organizations. With proper practice of health care laws and experienced health services provided, physicians can adjust unethical behavior in a positive way. This paper will discuss the importance of accountability in health care organizations and the employees as well as how it applies to ethical considerations in management. Also discussed is how a checks and balance process reflects on a successful organization. The paper will also address if accountability affects the organization’s working culture as well as how to remain a positive outlook or avoid blame in the working culture. Measuring Employee’s Accountability Health care organizations uphold high accountability guidelines from all aspects such as controlling, coordinating and creating special regulations in order to ensure the best healthcare for patients, success for healthcare providers, and efficiency within the healthcare system. Accountability is necessary within healthcare settings not only for patients, but also for the community as a whole. Reliance and trust weigh heavy for healthcare providers as it serves as a leader in community resources. As a vital source within the community, the hospital for example is held to the highest standards in accountability for the community. It is viewed as the center of medical ethics, quality, and ultimately essential to the public. Requiring employees to be accountable for his or her actions can be a major challenge (Lion, 2012). According to Lion, physicians often look the other way when  they need to enforce accountability to their staff and tend to think it will go away on its own (Lion, 2012). The group of managers will be the ones to specify what control screening will be done in between performance reviews to determine excellence of care and to make certain all aspects of the job are completed. It is also important to detect any irregularities that may be problematic within the organization. This actually means that authorized and disciplinary actions will be irrefutable based on internal standards as imposed by the organization. Additionally, the external sources include localized health care information picked by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that has experts to implement health care laws as well as making sure that organizations are abiding by these laws (Martin Frahm, 2010). They have assigned departments that are dedicated to complete the work for a specific time zone and they are the legitimate source to provide supervision in health care organizations. However, if any misconduct occurs then the legal department will take disciplinary actions and will have a legal battle with the Supreme Court. Ethical Considerations in Leadership and Management Ethics is a sensible perspective to various health care managers and leaders that aids to implement regulatory practices within an organization by improving the decision-making mechanisms. Ethics is most certainly an important terminology for all health care industries because it provides them with everyday determination and provides them with mutual accountability (DeCamp, 2013). Ethics also has an essential effect and role due to its influential subject matter. There are segments of ethics like clinical and management ethics that are based on the perception of accountability in health care industries because they regulate trustees that are critical building trust with patients. As a result, health care organization leaders have to implement a culture that would encourage and conserve the health related concerns of patients by way of motivation. Additionally, health leaders and managers should work together with the organization’s stakeholders such as local, state and government agencies as well as other physicians and payers (DeCamp, 2013). Managers and leaders should also make sure that the organization’s culture emulates the ethical quality that highlighted towards the needs of patients. The culture achieves  the benchmark the organization needs for practice and regulation measures needed to share the resources and expectations of the organization. Checks and Balances Process The checks and balance was created as a system to control the organization or an individual person as well as for the foundation of an amicable interconnection with everyone from each department within an organization. The checks and balance within a profitable organization authorizes the appropriate, competent employee to be in charge of overseeing governing and supportive concepts or developments. A fundamental perspective to consider in health care is that there will always be room for an employee to abuse his or her power in order to gain unauthorized access to company funds (Feigenbaum, 2015). This is why it is important for organizations to invest in proper security measures to ensure the assets of the company are safe from outside theft as well as internal misconduct (Feigenbaum, 2015. Accountability’s Affect on Working Culture and Avoiding Blame Accountability has an affect on the working culture because it operates like an external tool to help control and monitor the organization. Accountability has demonstrated that health care organizations have improved its level of effectiveness. It also helps to strongly monitor employees who blame others for mistakes rather than accept responsibility. This makes it easier for the organization to organize special activities or training for the improvement of services provided from the staff to the patient. In every health care organization patient safety is the primary concern and it is an aspect to consider when dealing with joined work efforts, human experiences and the value of accuracy. In order to manage a suitable working culture it is important to recognize how and why the breakdown occurred and what can be done to improve the complex issues of a health care organization. Every stakeholder involved along with the organization’s employees should put their issues aside and prosper to obtain the improvement of the organization as a common objective. It is also important for staff to explore new methods to achieve accountability at the highest level and to be open minded for new innovative ideas as well as sharing them with fellow employees. A poor quality accountability process will lead to the deterioration of the organization’s decision-making process and safety policies. Conclusion Accountability in any organization is important because it can make all the difference on the success or failure for a company. Every employee regardless of level or position should be held accountable for his or her actions or mistakes and be ready to face the consequences that come after. Above all, the best methods or actions need to be placed on ensuring patient safety and providing the best form of health services in the organization. Accountability is essential to an organization in order to avoid problems if they are handle responsibly and effectively. References DeCamp, M. (2013, February). Ethics in Accountable Care Organizations. AMA Journal Ethics: Illuminating the Art of Ethics, 15(2), 156-161. Retrieved from http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2013/02/pfor1-1302.html Feigenbaum, E. (2015). Chron: The Meaning of Checks and Balances. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-checks-balances-4095.html Lion, M. H. (2012, July). Physicians Money Digest: Establishing Staff Accountability. Retrieved from http://www.hcplive.com/physicians-money-digest/practice-management/Establishing-Staff-Accountability Martin, L., Frahm, K. (2010, March). The Nature of Accountability in Administrative Practice. Journal of Sociology Social Welfare, 37(1), 137-148. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=730f0180-5b7b-4797-8409-a9828c7e92b0%40sessionmgr4004vid=1hid=4106

music and its effects on life :: essays research papers

The effects that music has on life are unimagineable. Music has been widely recommended as a technique to enhance the psychophysical state of participants in sport and exercise. However, there is scant scientific evidence to clarify its proposed benefits The purpose of this paper was to present the conceptual framework underlying the psychophysical effects of music, to discuss published findings since the review of Lucaccini and Kreit (1972), and to consider limitations in previous research. Certain generalizations about the effects of music emerge. First, it appears that synchronization of submaximal exercise with musical accompanimentresults in increased work output. Second, music apparently reduces the rate of perceived exertion during submaximal exercise. Third, music tends to enhance affective states at both medium and high levels of work intensity. However, the effect of asynchronous music in contributing to optimal arousal is unclear. Based on a review ofrelated literature, it was concluded that appropriately selected music can enhance enjoyment levels and adherence to physical activity.The psychophysical effects of music has become an area of increased interest amongst sports researchers during the last decade. Selected research has demonstrated that music has significant psychophysical benefits during physical activity (e.g., Boutcher & Trenske, 1990; Copeland & Franks, 1991; Lee, 1989). These studies have shown that li stening to music can produce ergogenic effects in terms of improved motor performance and increased aerobic endurance, and can also enhance the exercise experience. The proposed mechanisms through which music produces psychophysical benefits include lowered perceived effort, arousal control, improved affective states, and a synchronization effect. By contrast, however, other studies have shown that music has no psychophysical benefits (Patton, 1991; Schwartz, Fernhall, & Plowman, 1990). Studies which have examined the synchronization of movement with music have consistently shown an ergogenic effect (Anshel & Marisi, 1978; Michel & Wanner, 1973; Uppal & Datta, 1990). However, a greater number of studies which have examined the effects of asynchronous (background) music have produced equivocal findings in that some studies identified psychophysical effects (e.g., Boutcher & Trenske, 1990; Copeland & Franks, 1991), whereas other studies (e.g., Patton, 1991; Schwartz, Fernhall, & Plowman, 1990) showed no effects.

Fast food and health promotion Essay

Abstract Healthy eating is a major concern of the public and has been under-researched for decades. A successful healthy eating campaign can help to raise awareness and in the long run, prevent and minimize long-term diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. This can also reduce the burden on the National Health Service. For all of these reasons, this dissertation aims to determine what people eat, why they choose to eat the way they do and whether they feel the Government has done enough to promote healthy eating. Initially, this study examines the trends of contemporary food culture by sociologists and the marketing powers of promotion to increase student awareness on healthy eating. A discussion on Government policies indicates the efficacy of the Government to reach students with their healthy eating promotion in this country. This study uses qualitative research methods to determine the awareness of the students, on healthy eating and their opinions on the Government’s attempt to promote a healthy nation. Based on the data gathered in this research, an evaluation was made on whether healthy eating promotion is effective in today’s student society. In this study, student choices of food were shown to be primarily affected by price, taste and peer pressure. This is in contrast with the available literature which suggests that social class, culture, the food industries and Government campaigns are the main influences on people’s eating habits. Introduction This dissertation aims to understand how food is promoted and consumed by the public. Our choices of food are affected by many factors such as our social class, our culture, and the media and Government campaigns. Over the past thirty years a surge of interest has arisen and an increase in the consumption of fast food. However, more recently health concerns regarding fast food consumption has surfaced. Sociologists often seek explanations for human behavior and try to link this with the environment in which they live in. Similarly, sociologists such as Alan Warde have examined contemporary food culture and suggested reasons that influence people’s choice. Initially, changes in food consumption patterns and healthy eating promotions from different dimensions were examined. The  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 1 dissertation then describes the interviews that were conducted with regards to healthy eating. Some key findings were revealed to support the sociological theories. Finally, the discussion sums up and reflects the findings in relation to these theories and see if there is any correlation between the two. This research was undertaken at a University and based on ten one-to-one interviews. It is important to examine whether we are eating healthily. Food is the basic necessity in life humans consume daily. In this dissertation I want to explore student’s knowledge on healthy eating and whether the Government is doing enough to promote a healthier nation. Sociological Promotion. Perspectives on Food Consumption and Healthy Eating Current Trends in Food Consumption Food consumption relates to the substances that are taken in to produce energy, stimulate growth and maintain life. It consists of essential body nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins or minerals. Healthy food is considered to be highly beneficial to health, especially a food grown organically or free of additives. Food consumption has tilted towards fast food culture over the past few decades due to its price, convenience and the shortage of eating time. In this section, general consumption trends will be studied and the change of consumer culture over time will be discussed. Sociologists like Bourdieu and Bauman have written literature and devised their own theories on the consumption of food. Many of them believe that this is a structureagency debate. In other words, how social structure shapes our actions and how we, in turn, shape the social structure (Germov, 1999:302). One of the examples given by Pierre Bourdieu is that the way we consume food reflected our social class and background (Warde, 1997:9). He argued that consumption is based upon cultural upbringing and is therefore socially embedded. Bauman, on the other hand, saw consumption as â€Å"less restricted† rather than another part of life (Warde, 1997:10). In reality, Bauman claimed that there is a small role for choices, for example, we cannot choose to be born into which family, but within consumption, we have more power to alter our choices. Bauman believed that individuals are thought to gradually detach themselves from the social regulations and create their own personal identity by making their own choices. These two theories differ in relation to social environment and habits, to freedom of choice on the consumption of food. Bourdieu’s theory is more commonly practiced in modern society as different social classes dominate our choice of food. The working class tends to eat food which has a â€Å"high amount of animal fat†, compared with the middle and upper classes (Mennell, 1992:54). Besides, people from poorer backgrounds may understand that fresh food is healthier; however, they could not afford to travel further to purchase fresh food (Whelan, 2002: 2083). Therefore they tended to purchase cheap quality food with a high fat content, from nearby shops.  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 2 There have been rapid changes in food consumption over the past few decades. Alan Warde, in his book, Consumption, Food & Taste suggested four theses for the changes in eating habits. Firstly, people have more freedom on the choice of food, but are uncertain of what to eat. In modern society, we have a wider range of food available to us. As technology is constantly improving, we are no longer restricted by the seasons and harvests, which had affected people previously (Beardworth, 2000:33). However, Claude Fischler saw this as an â€Å"omnivore’s paradox† (Warde, 1997:30). Human beings want a variety to choose from; however, they feel anxious and unsure about trying new foodstuffs. This can be further explained by the changing concept of food poverty. In the past, food poverty was referred to as â€Å"lack of food, under- nutrition† (Adams, 2000:48). In the contemporary society, food poverty means â€Å"overabundance of processed foods, lack of balance diet† (Adams, 2000:48). Before, we experienced under nutrition, and now, we suffer from an unbalanced diet. Although we may have more food than before, we do not know what to choose. This reflects the lack of education in healthy eating. The second thesis suggested that in a mass producing society, people would consume similar products and gradually lose their identities. Individual producers tend to dominate particular industrial markets, for example big brands like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola target customers en mass. Mass food production can be explained by ‘McDonaldisation’, where customers experience the â€Å"same look, same service, same products and same taste† (Germov, 1999:12). This thesis is supported by a report by the Financial Times Exporter in 1995 (Adams, 2002:47). In the report, sixty-five percent of people in China recognized the brand name Coca Cola and nearly half of the people knew big brands like Pepsi. This concluded that large corporations ‘mould’ our taste and have great control over our choice of food. One may argue that supermarkets bring a wider selection to people. In fact, some of the varieties are created by developing alternative forms of packaging and storing methods, such as canned fish, frozen fish and fresh fish (Warde, 1997:167). Therefore, we will enjoy many versions of the same products. In a broader view of the food industry, the five largest supermarkets in the UK, dominates seventy percent of the grocery market. (Adams, 2002:47) This large market share led to the closure of many local stores. Single mothers or elderly people who live in rural areas will suffer a further limitation of food due to the restriction on mobility and financial support (Whelan, 2002:2083). Since mass production has moulded our tastes and choices, consumers start losing their personal taste and identities. To react against this passive consuming pattern, people are driven towards the post-Fordist view on consumption, which is the main focus of the third thesis. In the post-Fordist world, all commodities are expected to be more consumer-orientated. As the consumer’s expenditure increases, they expect the quality of food to be higher. People require greater differentiation of the commodities in different markets. For example, McDonalds serves a different menu across the world to accommodate differing cultures with distinct tastes. This is illustrated by McDonald franchises in Germany, whom also serve beer as refreshment. Customers hope to buy food that serves their interests and their local traditions. Businesses increase their profits and the consuming power; by produce the right products for the targeted consumers. A more suitable product for the customers, equates to more purchases which in turn equates to more income.  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 3. The final thesis describes the persistence of social differentiation. Warde uses Bourdieu’s theory to prove that food consumption is a â€Å"means of expressing ‘distinction’† and has social meanings behind it. For example, class differences play a role in dictating eating habits. In this way, food consumption has more social meanings than a consume-to-survive model. In comparing the eating behaviour of manual workers and white collar workers, Bourdieu observed that clerical staff paid more attention to body maintenance and slimness whilst manual workers, paid limited attention to their waistline. This observation is seen in France. In Britain, Warde suggested that class distinction in relation to food has been more obvious in recent decades. Finkelstein supports this idea by saying that â€Å"dinning out is an expression of individuality, choice, spontaneity and that we select restaurants for food and price in ways which demonstrate our discrimination and what we value and desire† (Beardsworth, 1997:119). The interest of the media, increasing eating-out habits and foreign cuisines are becoming more common, food consumption has made a significant distinction between classes. There is a clear line between the richer and the poorer, and who can afford to taste different types of food. These theses have helped us to understand the reasons behind changes in food consumption. Fast food outlets are one of the popular choices for dinning out and have had a big impact on our food consumption. In the following paragraph, the significant effects that fast food has on our choices of diet will be examined. A Fast Food Nation? Fast food culture has penetrated into our lives and influenced our eating habits. The fast food industry grew fast in the 1990s. In 1991, fast food had reached nineteen percent of the global consumer catering market (Tansey, 1995: 133). From 1992 to 2003, expenditure spent on eating and drinking outside home has increased by 89. 9 per cent. (Website 1) These food shops provide roast chicken, pizza, etc. However, there is a limited choice of food and most of them have a high fat content (Millstein, 1993: 220). Excessive consumption predisposes individuals to a great deal of health problems in later life. Foods high in fats can cause high blood pressures, cancer, atherosclerosis and heart disease. In recent years, the increase in consciousness of healthy eating has forced the fast food chains to change their menu in order to survive. For example, McDonalds now offers a new menu which includes green salad, carrot sticks and a fresh fruit pack. This was done in response to public concern about the nutritional values of its food, following the film â€Å"Supersize Me†. This programme follows Morgan Spurlock who lived on nothing but McDonalds for an entire month. Spurlock risked his health the sake of this project and it resulted in numerous visits to the doctor. (Website 2) Increasingly, fast food chains have started to advertise with the concept of â€Å"light or low fat† meals. As a customer, we are often misled by these statements and believe that the â€Å"low fat† meal is a healthier option. The Times Newspaper compared the fat content and the price of a standard burger with a chicken caesar salad. (Website 3) With regards to the price, the salad costs twenty nine pence more than a Big Mac. Data shows that a chicken salad with dressing and croutons contains 21. 4g of fat, whereas a standard burger only contains 7. 7g of fat. Even adding a portion of chips to the burger will result in a smaller amount of fat (16. 7g) than the salad. (Website 3) One may think that the salad dressing causes the high fat content of the salad; however, this is not true.  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 4 From the McDonalds website, a chicken caesar salad without a dressing still contains more fat than a burger. (Website 4) Another shocking data is the salt content of the crispy chicken ranch salad is more than half of the Government’s recommended daily allowance of 6g. (Website 4) Therefore, the salad which seems like a healthier option to the consumer is in fact more expensive and less healthy than a burger. Other than fast food chains, consumers can purchase fast food from the supermarkets. Ready meals, frozen or canned food can be categorized as fast food (Millstone, 2003: 94). With the invention of the microwave, ready meal culture has been further developed. There was a rapid increase in the sale of microwaves from five million in 1981 to seventy million in 2000 (Milldstone, 2003: 94). Microwaves enable food to be ready within minutes whereas it may take at least half an hour to cook a meal using the oven. In 1997, an Australian newspaper demonstrated how different social classes chose different fast foods (Germov, 1999: 137). Wealthier and well educated people believed that choosing takeaway foods such as Thai and Japanese are higher in nutrition (Germov, 1999: 137). On the other hand, people in the lower socioeconomic state tended to consume food with a high fat and salt content, for example, pizzas and burgers. Therefore, we could find â€Å"nutritional underclass† with distinct eating patterns (Germov, 1999: 137). Nutritional underclass refers to the difficulty of lower socioeconomic groups in making choices about food and diet. This is turn leads to a poor nutritional intake. By comparing different consumption patterns of takeaway food between people in different classes, two features have been developed. Firstly, fast food is consumed and well developed in all classes but wealthier people tend to have more choices available to them. Besides, most fast food does not provide the consumer with balanced nutritional values that we need from a meal. That is a reason why the public label fast food as unhealthy food. Our food consumption patterns are affected by different media in our society. These are a powerful way of educating the public with the knowledge of what is healthy to eat and how to eat healthy. The following paragraphs examine the effectiveness of the healthy eating promotions. Health Promotion (By Government, Media, Food Industries). Different groups have tried to promote healthy eating in their own distinct ways. Several groups take control over our choices of food and actively promote healthy eating. These include: the Government departments, the food industries and the media. The progress and the effectiveness of the healthy eating promotion campaigns within these sectors will now be examined. The Governments the dominant enforcement body has introduced many healthy eating promotion initiatives to push the nation to eat more healthily. Its aim is to enforce regulations on food production in a bid to prevent illness (Mennell, 1992:40), so as to reduce the costs and burden on National Health Service. The Government has come a long way on the healthy eating campaign. The emergence that some of  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 5 our diets are responsible for certain diseases such as cancer, new food policies were created to improve and promote healthy eating (Baggott 2000,168). From the early 1970s onwards, the Government became more aware of the public’s diet and set up several organizations such as the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Policy (COMA), the National Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education (NACNE) and the Joint Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education. (Baggott, 2000:136) Their mission was to provide nutritional advice to the public and promote healthy eating. (Beardsworth, 2000:136) However, the Government departments’ interference with the work of these organisations resulted in little success being achieved (Baggott 2000:170). With the increasing public interest in health and food safety in the 1990s, the Labour Government introduced tougher policies on food and health when they came to power in 1997 (Baggott, 2000:175). The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been authorized a new set of powers to give nutrition guidelines and labelling advice. The FSA recommended six grams of salt per day and wanted to introduce the â€Å"colourcoded system† on ready-made foods, so customers could identify the fat, salt and sugar content of the food by the labels. The FSA believes that specific seasoning contained within the food, will determine whether it is healthy or not. Food with a low salt, fat and sugar content is considered to be healthy by the FSA. (Website 5) The colour-coded system will show consistency for all food packaging; therefore, it is easier for everyone, including children, to recognize the foods which are considered to be healthy and also reduces any confusion. In February 2004, the National Health Service (NHS) published a free booklet called â€Å"Five a Day Made Easy† to promote a healthier lifestyle. (Website 1) It believes that eating five portions of fruit or vegetable per day, is eating healthily. Therefore, the Government considers fruit and vegetables as the key element of healthy food. In November 2004, the FSA put forward the ‘traffic light labels’ to the Public Health White Paper. (Website 7) However, there are a lot of pressures around this recommendation. The food and farming industries were worried that full labelling indicating the fat, sugar and salt content will increase their cost and cause restriction on their marketing strategies. (Baggott 2000:171) Moreover, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) who is the largest representative of the food and drink manufacturing companies pointed out that the ‘traffic light labels’ are too â€Å"simplistic, subjective and potentially misleading†. (Website 8) Rather than help consumers fit the labelled food into a balanced diet, it is likely that they will simply view the food as good or dismiss it as bad. There are pressures that prohibit the Government from implying more regulation on food labels. Since the closure of food industries do not simply lead to less food choices, but also a great deal of job losses and plunging of the economy, the Government is required to think carefully about the implications of new regulations and whether the new comprehensive food label would working on not. The media also plays an important role in promoting healthy eating concepts. The term media refers to television, radio, poster advertisements, and newspaper and magazine articles. With the media’s wide spread of power, the issues they brought up helped to give information on diets quickly. However, it is debatable whether all the media are impartial and helpful in improving our diets. Since most of the media  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 6 relied on the advertising revenues to survive, concerns are made to the effect of their advertisers (Tansey, 1995:183). In the advertising aspect, American children watch 20,000 commercials a year where at least 10,000 of them are food products. (Millstein 1993:219) In Britain, food industries have spent forty billion every year on advertising (Millstone, 2003: 98). Food advertisements are wide spread on television, magazines, radio, internet and posters on the street. Most of the advertised products are branded and processed. More importantly, compared with the perishable food, they are high in sugars, refined starches, fats and added salt (Millstone, 2003:98). These advertisements persuade consumers to buy more. Food products such as chocolates and crisps are promoted to the teenage market (Conner, 2002:120). Children consume the confectionaries between meal times which lead them to miss out their meals, consequently, not acquiring enough nutrition (Dobson, 1994:19). The effects of advertisements are powerful, but not always helping to promote healthy eating ideas. Media can be a direct tool to help the public understand the scientific reports and learn about food safety and what is healthy to eat. However, sometimes the headlines of the news reports are misleading and exaggerated. One of examples is the headline from New York Times â€Å"Low fat diet does not cut health risks†, where that heading is referring to a study of women aged fifty to seventy-nine years old with respect to breast cancer research (Newsweek, March 2006). People who do not read the details will presume that low fat diet is useless in maintaining health, whereas if you read the whole article one will find out that low fat diet does not reduce your risk of breast cancer. The media penetrates every household and although it might not always guide the public on healthy foods, they are definitely helping to shape the future food consumption patterns. Food industries and the retailers produce and sell the food. Food industries promote their products in a healthy manner only because of the market’s need. The major concern of a food business is to make profit. There is a limit on how much a person can eat and consume, therefore the overall demand for food will not increase much. However, the food industries can further expand their market and make more profit by adding value to fresh food and turning them into commodity goods such as canned food, frozen food etc (Warde, 1997:191). Food processors have a set of ingredients to ‘add-value’, they are sugar, starch, fat and flavourings (Tansey, 1995:111). Consequently, processed food is not as healthy as raw food. In order to fulfil the customers’ health desires, supermarkets use healthy eating as one of their promotional strategies. Tesco has improved their company image by initiating healthy eating and has launched food labels on its retail products (Murcott, 1998:119). Although its original aim was to increase profit, it did arouse people’s attentions to eat healthier. On one hand, the supermarkets are promoting healthy eating; on the other hand, they develop all sort of processed food such as chilled and ready meals at the same time to exploit another market. Most supermarkets have developed their own branded products. This is to enlarge their market share rather than providing customers with a wider choice. One of the examples is chilled ready-meals where this kind of product was completely new in 1980s (Murcott, 1998:119). Marks and Spencer, as a pioneer, developed this market. By the 1990s, this market was worth over three hundred million pounds per annum  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 7 (Murcott, 1998:119). These ready-meals are one of the processed foods with added salt and sugar. With confusing food labels on the packaging, consumers can hardly calculate how much salt they consume. Since the central aim of food manufacturers and retailers are to make profit, their intention to promote healthy eating is not convincing enough. There is still a baffling question of what to eat is value for money and good for health (Jenkins, 1991: 54). Do We Have a Choice to Eat Healthy? Although we are responsible for looking after our own health, the public, private and voluntary sectors have directed our choice of food. Our choices of food are affected by social, cultural and political factors rather than individuals’ preference. Social factors included class, age, family backgrounds considerations. The direct social-economical restriction of our choice of food is the amount of money we have available to spend on food. Jenkins supports this idea by noting that â€Å"knowledge is a source of consumer power, but only when you have got money to spend† (Jenkins, 1991:72). Our choices of food are based on the amount of wealth. He pointed out that poorer people tended to pay more for food. This is not only due to the limitation of transport, but due to the amount of product they could afford to buy (Jenkins, 1991: 74). Small purchases are more expensive compare with bulk sales. Poor people suffer from the consequences of supermarket sale strategy. For example, the price for two packs of chicken thighs is 148 pence per pound, whilst the price for eight packs of chicken thighs is 135 pence per pound (Jenkins, 1991:73). Customers will get a better deal if they buy products in bulk. This illustrates that poor people know how to eat healthily, but they cannot afford to do so. Other than getting food that is not value for money, poor people suffer the fact that they know what is good for them but cannot afford to purchase it. For poor people, food expenditure is elastic and paying for other bills to maintain the living is more important (Murcott, 1998:177). Cutting the food budget is the most direct way to save money. Therefore, even though parents know that fresh juice is more nutritional than squash, they can do nothing about it. At the end of the day, even if the government has successfully promoted the healthy eating concept to the public, certain people still do not eat healthily due to the financial constraints. Different age groups have various food consumption patterns. The elderly prefer to stick with the traditional food for instance roast meat, whereas young people adopt new things such as rice or curries easily (Murcott, 1998:175). There is a rapid development of convenience food, but it does not necessarily mean that people in all age groups enjoy more choices to eat healthy. The elderly is an example that demonstrates a negative perception on fast food and ready-meals and they believe that home-cooked food is healthier. Therefore, a larger range of processed products do not mean a greater choice of food for everyone. Our eating habits are also constructed by the environment in which we grow up. Therefore, our families have a direct effect on our diet. A research was carried out in the early 1980s, on all major aspects of family food provision and consumption (Rodmell, 1986:73). This study found that the role of the housewife did not  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 8 automatically give you the power to make a decision of what to prepare for meals. Surprisingly, most housewives claimed that they would cook whatever their husbands liked, in order to please them. Some wives claimed that even though they did not like the unhealthy diets, they would still cook it for their husbands to reward them for a long working day. As a child, there was less choice; they had to eat what was given to them. As a result, our tastes of food are customized by the working men. Recently, with the increasing number of single parent households, where many of them are either unemployed or earn a small amount of money, the choice of food remains to the individuals who purchase food for the rest of the family. Cultural differences affect our choices of food and whether we know how to eat healthily with our ethnicity backgrounds and traditions. There is a diversity of health implications and how people define healthy choices among different cultures. People have their own traditions in choosing and cooking food. ‘One size fits all’ health education programmes do not fit all the ethnics. One of the examples is that in Chinese traditions, food is divided in to ‘yang’ (hot) and ‘yin’ (cold), where eating yang food when our body is in yin’s condition and vice versa (Germov, 1999:150). Therefore, the health professionals have to study the background of minority groups and teach them to eat healthily without spoiling their culture. To familiarise the ethnic minority groups with the nutrient value, specialists about particular cultures are required to educate the minority group with healthy eating knowledge. There have been a few changes in food labelling policy, but these regulations have never requested manufacturers to provide a comprehensive nutrition label. As a customer, we have the right to know what kind of ingredients are in the processed food that we are consuming. However, food industries remain powerful and can keep the customers in ignorance. The Health Education Authority performed a survey with regards to food labels in the early 1990s (Hea, 1996:19). In this survey, twenty five percent of the informants have never read the nutritional information on food packages. This shows that the food label is important in directing food choices, as three quarters of those questioned follow guidance from the nutritional advice. Therefore, providing a comprehensive label on food packaging is essential. In recent years, a great deal of new products has had dishonest slogans on them, such as â€Å"low fat†, â€Å"freshly squeezed†, and â€Å"no artificial additives† (Jenkins, 1991:43). For example, olestra is a type of oil used to produce ‘low fat’ products. However, it brings significant side effects such as abdominal cramps when we consume it in large amounts (Germov, 1999:303). As a customer, reading the food label is not sufficient to conclude whether a particular product is healthy or not, we have to under the meaning behind these â€Å"low fat† products. In a food market where food labels are not universal and some of the packaging is misleading, there is no way to ensure that the product we choose is healthy. Knowing what is healthy is not good enough for the contemporary food market, consumers also have to learn and understanding the meanings behind the food labels. Therefore, understanding how to eat healthily is important, but regulations on food labels are also essential.  © 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 9 Methodology. Research Aim There are a few aims for this research. This study aims to explore perceptions on the healthy eating concept and review the reasons behind people’s choice of food. Furthermore, it seeks to examine awareness of Government policies on healthy eating promotion. It is also important to examine the reliability of food labels and the popularity of fast food culture. Semi-structured Interviews. It is important to see if there is a correlation between the literatures in chapter one and the research I do, therefore, selecting an appropriate way to carry out this research is essential. Semi-structured interviews were held on a one-to-one basis where interviewees were given a few topics to discuss. This interview consisted of three main parts. Part A is concerned about the interviewees’ healthy eating concepts and their view of contemporary eating culture. By understanding how they defined a healthy diet, participants were asked to review their food consumption habits, restrictions on food shopping and their opinion on fast food culture. In the final of the interview, I enquired about their knowledge on Government policies and supermarket promotions on healthy eating. This research aimed to understand people’s view and opinion rather than to test their knowledge and numerical data. Therefore, it is more suitable to use a qualitative approach. Qualitative research helps to develop interviewees’ personal opinions and experiences for this research. The research is based on one-to-one semi structured interviews, which allows me to have more freedom in developing the interview and pursue further questions in response to the replies received (Bryman, 2004:543). Each interview lasted approximately an hour in order to allow interviewees to express themselves fully. In order not to interfere with the interview, I did not express my opinions on the topics. I guided the discussions with the same topic questions for everyone.