Bill Clinton and leadership Essay

For the purpose of this paper, I have chosen the political leader and the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton as the subject of my essay. This paper is based on two of his autobiographical books which were based on his early childhood as well as his life before, during and after his presidency. The book My Life is an autobiographical account by Bill Clinton himself. He is the sole author of the book which was published in the year 2004. The book clearly outlines the various events of his life. These events pertained to the inauguration of Clinton as the 42nd president of the United States of America. This second volume, the first being a biography by Adam by the name of Bill Clinton, puts Clintons term in the office as the epic fall and the term of redemption. This was mostly indicated like such I the book due to the disastrous failure which came bout due to the actions of Mack McLarty, the white house chief of staff, as well as the promiscuous behavior of Clinton and the relationship with Hilary Clinton which was more emphatically and influential than his specific term. The years of 1993-1994 are depicted as the time where things were falling apart for both America as well as the Clintons. However the period following that pertaining to 1995-1996 the book depicts Clinton as In terms of the leadership and presidency Bill Clinton was much favored as being the revolutionary and sensible politician who with the support of his first lady was able to make America as the greatest nation of power in the world. The book also made use of many military metaphors to describe the situation the context of the book. It was highly apparent by reading the book that it was mostly about the evolution and change in the personality of Bill Clinton following his inauguration as the President of the United States. The change in him depicted him as being an arch baby boomer to the undisputed leader of his country. The accounts covered by Clinton were very much expected as he takes into account the bogus scandal of Whitewater, the unethical dalliance with Monica Lewinsky as well as his attempts at managing and balancing the budget for the United Stated of America. Other topics covered in the book also pertain to the Middle Eastern crisis and the peace plan proposed by him. However the more illuminating topics those were discusses in the book related to his personality and his life on a much personal note. This depicted the strength he showed as a person and how ,much the person as developed, and matured over the years in terms of his decision making him an ideal president for the United States during his time at the white house. The book itself however is ill organized and quite chaotic. The reason for this which can be ascertained for the events following and surrounding the launch of the book as well as the statement given by Bill Clinton himself was that the book is basically the picture into his life and the various significant events that took place in it. It is very much like the efforts of a small school boy however the content varies in terms of several topics and themes. The period of the presidency is treated like a rush period where the events merge into each other and the timeline is haphazard skipping large time variables in some instances. However despite the lack of maturity in the book, and the ill organization of the content the book did become a best seller, its sales even surpassing the sales of the memoirs of Hilary Clinton. The book My Life by Bill Clinton suffered criticism for the former advisor of Clinton’s Dick Morris who wrote a rebuttal by the name of Because HE Could. Through this book, Dick Morris set right and pointed pout the various inaccuracies which were present in the autobiographical account by Bill Clinton. The authors view on leadership however pertains to a more peaceful and negotiation based method of employing power and making use of it. Bill Clinton is of the opinion that in order to be able to run the country, a dictatorship is not the answer, instead innovative and democratic methods pertaining to dissemination of ideas across the board is a much better way of conducting managerial tasks. The author has stated through his autobiographies as well that the bet for of leadership is when the leader takes into account the point of view of those around him, gathering the specialized intellect available and then unanimously voting on the most beneficial and cost effective solution/ decision for the specific issue or case. This is a very democratic approach to decision making. However in the form of leadership described by Bill Clinton, it is essential to have a formal figurehead as this has the effect of providing the followers and the general population with one pint of view as well as a unified direction. The decision itself may be a democratic one however the proceedings to be carried out have to be collaborative in nature dictates from one source. The aspect of democratic leadership can be applied to the leadership for schools. The reason for this is that the political landscape pertaining to the role of leadership is much institutionalized. This is the same case with schools and colleges which are institutionalized as well with a formal set of rules and ethical code of conduct. However the differences settle in relative to the size of the operation. The operations conducted by Clinton were extensive, even global in nature. The scope for the school is restricted somewhat limited inn terms of the resources available, the staff participation and the relevance and long term effect of the decision making. However the same principle of school leadership as a form of democratic leadership can be employed. School leadership can be employed using democratic leadership styles characteristic of Bill Clinton by giving autonomy as well as decision making power to the lower staff and managers for their operations as well. This is an important component of the democratic leadership as the management and staff is usually the closest entity to the students and can understand their issues and problems much better. Moreover by being close to the students in terms of proximity the staff is also able to observe them and make them provide inputs for the prospective solution to the problem and the long term strategic goals of the institution. This information can be gathered form the expert and specialized managers and staff in the school and then relayed on to the appointed leader. The chairman for the board of directors of the school can then take this information in to account as well as any other information that would be reported by the management and the staff. After performing a cost benefit analysis and the long term strategy and profitability analysis the board of directors would be able to ascertain upon the main strategy for the school and how the issues need to be addressed. The above mentioned format for leadership enables almost all the members of the organization to participle and conduct a two way communication with the leader or the leaders of the organization. The solutions and strategies formed through this method are more accepted by all those concerned an in the long run are mostly effective as well. In terms of applying the leadership techniques and theories mentioned in the book and practiced by Bill Clinton clearly depict that the leader has to be an enigmatic person who has charisma and charm to carry out the role of being a figurehead and a liaison to the elements in the external environment. These views would enable me to hold a position of leadership in the school by making the fellow students aware of the characteristics that I have for being a potential leader as well as the communication and negotiation skills that would enable me to conduct discussions with them pertaining to the solution of the issues and the problems that hand. Aside from this the enigmatic personality is good for public relations as well as gaining the confidence and support of those around me. References 1. Clinton, B. , (2004), My Life, Publisher: Knopf, ISBN-10: 0375414576

Environmental Ethics and Eco-Tourism

IntroductionIn the last few decennaries, bookmans have begun to develop the subject of planetary environmental moralss. In making so, they have encountered two obstructions. First, much environmentalism cloaks itself in the discourse of prudence and security, and therefore, ethical concerns are hard to place. Second, when bookmans do acknowledge ethical issues, they explain them in footings of how people treat the nonhuman universe and progress a bio-centric or eco-centric moral esthesia. This is a job to the grade that it neglects infinite cases of environmental unfairness that involve the manner humans treat each other, utilizing nature as a medium ( Wapner & A ; Matthew, 2009, p. 203 ) . A new field of environmental consciousness has progressively as a chief attending in doctrine, the possible rational involvement particularly for geographers. Since so the environmental moralss began with a few influential articles and monographs published in the early 1970s. In 1979, so took off near the bend of the decennary with a new diary, environmental moralss launched, and increased in the eightiess with a aggregation of literatures increasing by the latter portion of the decennary. As we concerned, environmental moralss is potentially be fluent in some of the most profound inquiries that confront late modern societies, whose widespread degree of concern over environmental crises across local to planetary proportions. Environmental moralss, which has come into its ain by siting the crest of a moving ridge of popular concern over human impacts on the environment, therefore finds itself in a really hard place to present any conceptually satisfactory manner out of this tangled we b. Geographers are showing an increasing involvement in environmental moralss ( Proctor, 1998 ) . Nowadays, we seen many environmental issues caused by assorted factors which are really familiar to us and it happens every twenty-four hours in our life universe. As we already cognizant of, three chief facet of environment is land, H2O and air. These constituents are interrelated to each other in fulfilment of human basic demands. The importance of natural environment to the human existences became less precedence because of the humans’ wants is transcending their demands in these modern yearss. This survey will light the significance of environmental moralss, environmental current issues and its impact. The treatment will be on the non-prudential dimensions of planetary environmental personal businesss and explains how a focal point on the manner humans mistreat each other can function as a cardinal ethical focal point for apprehension and turn toing environmental unfairness. Overall, it aims to supply a vocabulary for progressing an anthropocentricity [ 1 ] esthesia toward planetary environmental ethical concern.AimThe aims of this survey are to accomplish understanding on:The significance of environmental moralss.The currents issues related to environmental moralss.Eco-tourism and environmental impacts issues.ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICSEnvironmentcan be defined as â€Å"theamountsum of all milieus of a life being, includingnatural forcesand other life things, whichprovide conditionsfordevelopmentand growing every bit good as ofdangerandharm † andmoralsscan be defined as â€Å"the basicconstructsandcardinal rulesof nice homobehavior. It includessurveyof cosmopolitanvaluessuch as the indispensable equality of allwork forcesand adult females, human ornatural rights, obeisance to thejurisprudenceofland,concernforwellnessandsafetyand, progressively, besides for thenatural environment † ( â€Å" BusinessDictionary.com – Online Business Dictionary, † 2015 ) . Environmental moralss is concept and exercising about proper apprehensiveness aimed at, rules in, and duties refering the natural universe. By traditional accounts, moralss is people associating to people in justness and love. Environmental moralss starts with human concerns for a quality environment, and some think this shapes the ethic from start to complete. Others hold that, beyond inter-human concerns, values are at interest when worlds relate to animate beings, workss, species and ecosystems. Harmonizing to their vision, worlds ought to happen nature sometimes morally considerable in itself, and this turns moralss in new waies. ( Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James, 2003, p. 517 ) . In the other point of position, Brennan ( 2011 ) enlightened the environmental moralss as the subject in doctrine that surveies the moral relationship of human existences to, and besides the value and moral position of, the environment and its nonhuman contents. Equally far as I concerned, there were many inquiries can be discussed on environmental issues raised by Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James ( 2003, p. 529 ) . In order to reply those inquiries, assorted surveies could been conducted to seek findings on environmental moralss affairs sing relation on worlds, moral and responsibilities, civilization and nature, natural and societal contract, animate being public assistance. In other words, is the relation between homo and natural environment. As mentioned, planetary environmental moralss is still in its beginning. Much of the work that does be, unsurprisingly, extends the critical statements about anthropocentricity to the international sphere. Anthropocentricism abounds the universe over and, to the grade that it is responsible for harmful environmental patterns, it deserves unfavorable judgment. Wapner and Matthew ( 2009, p. 205 ) besides mentioned that the environmental moralss as a subject has focused on the manner humans treat the natural universe. It is by and large acknowledged that people care less about animate beings, rivers, workss, and mountains than they do about themselves and each other, and therefore it is no surprise that they exploit or otherwise abuse nature. Much environmental moralss attempts to calculate out why this is the instance and what can be done about it.Environmental ETHICS ISSUESThere are many environmental moralss issues occurred all over the universe. However, this survey will merely conc entrate on three sets of chief issues. The designated sets are as follows:First is the issue of natural resources.The 2nd issue will be discussed with sinks.The 3rd set of issue is the transmutation of landscapes and ecosystems.Issues of Natural ResourcesWorlds desire a quality environment, basking the comfortss of nature ; wildlife and wild flowers, scenic positions, topographic points of purdah every bit good as the trade goods such as lumber, H2O, dirt, natural resources. Supporting environmental wellness and a quality environment can surely be counted as responsibilities within a societal contract ( Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James, 2003 ) . Resource usage can easy overshoot the earth’s regenerative capacity. Since environmentalism’s early yearss, people have worried that we will run out of things we depend on, such as oil, fresh H2O, and minerals ( Ehrlich, 1975 ) . All natural resources are present infinite measures, and this includes the renewable ( organic ) every bit good as non-renewable. The difference is that while the non-renewable resources are finite in an absolute sense, the measure of organic resources is finite comparative to the population dependant upon it ( Antonsen, 1974, p. 180 ) .Energy.Energy became a universe issue and since future development. The chances of the supply and monetary value of natural energy particularly oil ignite the mentality for other types of primary energy every bit good in hereafter. Harmonizing to recent surveies, it is estimated yet proven universe militias of rough oil Ate sufficient to fulfill world’s demand to around twelvemonth 2020. In the other manus, natural gas besides had a great demand and became every bit of import as oil. The future monetary value of uranium supplies depends on the development of atomic power in general ( Ray, 1986, p. 56 ) . Food.Hunger is a deterioration job. Every state tries to cut down hungriness and poorness of their people therefore taking towards economic system prosperity. Shepherd ( 2012, p. 197 ) arose on the issue lies with the institutional agreements that dictate who gets what. As we are all concerned, nutrient is a trade good that is produced and sold for net income. Notwithstanding smallholder husbandmans, the huge bulk of planetary nutrient trade is controlled by corporations ( 3rd party ) whose primary aim is the coevals of net income.

Charles Dickens Hard Times English Literature Essay

Charles Dickens Hard Times English Literature Essay The research paper explores the basic ideas related to Psychoanalysis in the context of Charles Dickens Hard Times. Sigmund Freud laid the foundation of ‘Psychoanalysis’. The research paper is based on Freudian Psychoanalysis as it attempts to study the characters in this novel in its light. The psychoanalytic theory refers to the concept of the development of personality and its changing dynamics. It studies the influence of childhood impressions on the personality development of the adults and on their mental functioning. It focusses on the ideas based on personality which include the division of psyche into the id, the ego and the superego, repression, transference and fantasy. The research paper studies and analyses these ideas in relation to the characters in this novel. It also explores the ideas in the mind of the author in the light of this novel. Keywords: Psychoanalysis, personality development, id, ego, superego, repression, transference, parentification, fan tasy Psychoanalysis is a psychological and psychotherapeutic theory because it deals with the scientific study of mental functions and behaviours and it is also used for therapeutic interaction or treatment of a patient by a psychologist or a psychiatrist. It is devised by an Austrian neurologist called Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. This field has evolved over a period of time but has also been the target of scathing criticism. Charles Dickens’ (1812-1870) Hard Times (1854) is a study in psychoanalysis because the characters in this novel depict the mental functions and behaviours of individuals in real life. In this novel, Louisa Gradgrind, the daughter of Thomas Gradgrind and wife of Josiah Bounderby, experiences a nervous breakdown as she realizes that she despises her husband Josiah Bounderby but may be romantically inclined towards James Harthouse. She is not sure of her feelings towards James Harthouse as she is unable to experience any emotion whatsoever. She feels miserable and is unable to rectify the situation. She finally makes a candid confession in front of her father. She tells her father: â€Å"And I so young. In this condition, father – for I show you now, without fear or favour, the ordinary deadened state of my mind as I know it – you proposed my husband to me. I took him. I never made a pretence to him or you that I loved him. I knew, and, father, you knew, and he knew, that I never didà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hard Times 212) â€Å"I am coming to it. Father, chance then threw into my way a new acquaintance, a man such as I had no experience of; used to the world; light, polished, easy; making no pretences; avowing the low estimate of everything, that I was half afraid to form in secret; conveying to what degrees, that he understood me, and read my thought. I could not find that he was worse than I. There seemed to be a near affinity between us. I only wondered it shoul d be worth his while, who cared for nothing else, to care so much for me.† (Hard Times 213)

Foods in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Foods in America - Essay Example Although these dried foods are used to give flavor to dishes, I still eat them raw and at times I fry them as snacks. One of my favorite dishes made from dried foods is Pemmican. This dish is made up of dried berries, nuts, and meat. What I like about this food is the fact that it is very handy and convenient because you could eat it without cooking it first. You can eat it anytime you want. Yet, there are some American Indian foods that I do not like that much. One of those I like the least is their smoked foods. Although I like dried foods, I still find the taste of smoked foods quite unpleasant, especially the smoked salmon. I find it too salty and fatty. I think smoking foods is best for preparing and preserving food, but not as an actual dish. Even so, I really like most of American Indian foods. They are natural, healthy, and savory. Madison, Deborah & Gary Paul Nabhan. Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008.

Renewable Energy- Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Renewable Energy- - Research Paper Example A non-renewable energy source is a natural energy source in limited supply. The major renewable source, on the other hand, is the geothermal energy, which is power that is extracted from heat that is stored under the crust of the earth. In the 21st century, there has been an increasing concern to have energy sources increased to match the ever increasing energy demands. This has necessitated the implementation of mechanisms that see to it that more renewable energy sources are explored. This way, more research has been done with various measured put in place to ensure the available few sources of energy are conserved for purposes of achieving stability in energy. This paper explores renewable energy development and progression in China, India, and Nigeria Research indicates that renewable energy production is relatively expensive and requires skilled force for purposes of running the machinery. However, one thing to content with is that recently, emphasis has been on how best to make use of the renewable energy. According to Nnadi (2011), there is an increasing need to adapt renewable energy instead of overreliance on the none-renewable energy sources. Failure to work towards generating more renewed energy sources leads to an energy crisis. One country that has had to content with this hard reality is Nigeria (Nnadiet al, 2011). On the contrary, in an effort to replenish the diminishing energy sources, China reportedly been making use of its renewable energy resources. Facing similar situation, India has been working around the clock to make sure it fully makes use of its renewable energy sources. Sources of energy that have notably been explored include solar, biomass and geo-thermal energy. Certainly, employing such strategy has seen India realizing increased sustainable energy, which ultimately has helped reduce on the greenhouse gas emissions. Historically, Oil, coal, water, as well as wood have widely been used to produce energy. However, with advancement in technology, new methods of producing energy have been embraced. Basing on research, a major energy crisis is beckoning if it happens that there is lucidity in implementing programs that see to it that there is increased production of renewable energy sources. It is undisputable that energy production requires a highly trained workforce. In this respect, a work force that is focused and well trained ensures that there is efficient utilization of energy. Fundamentally, individuals are tasked with the responsibility of increasing energy conservation measures that are geared towards realizing reduced energy crisis. There is need to encourage scientific studies to be conducted in the energy sector to ensure the processes are carried out in the proper ways (Ravikrishna, 2011). With a focus on Nigeria, it is worth noting that it is one of the countries known for its rich natural resources. Such natural resources that are heavily depended upon include water, minerals and fertile land whi ch can be used to achieve economic goals. However, failure to fully explore their natural resources is an issue subject to debate. The effective use of electricity would boost their goals of achieving economic recovery. However, this is not the case following the lacking will to impress technological advancement research would have it Nigeria has for years, failed obtain renewable energy.

The Impact of Mediation in Business Decisions Research Proposal

The Impact of Mediation in Business Decisions - Research Proposal Example Disputes may arise among employees, or labor union disputes against the company due to issues such as retrenchment, promotions, rewards, pay rise among a host of other problems. In these cases, conflict resolution is sought to settle the problems. There are several channels followed by different companies in making compromises in decision making including litigation, negotiation, mediation and arbitration. It is clear that more and more businesses are finding litigation a less popular option, and are seeking to adopt other channels. While mediation is quite efficient in making sound business decisions, few businesses make the decision to take it. It is thus imperative that considerable wealth of information needs to be generated on mediation, based on case studies. This will involve studying the mediation decision in terms of evidential reasoning, risk analysis, knowledge of what the decision entails and finally the impact of the decision on the business. Did mediation solve the prob lem or deadlock in decision making to the company’s satisfaction? This research will analyze mediation in all these areas with a bid to conclude on whether the decision to undertake it is satisfying in comparison to other methods. Thus, this research is particularly synchronous with Manchester Business School’s focus on addressing the issues affecting business leaders across the world. Under MBS, this research falls in the division for Decision analysis, support and risk management. Specifically, it will harmoniously integrate within the Decision and Cognitive Sciences Research Centre (DCS), where the decision to undertake mediation by businesses will be studied in terms of evidential reasoning, risk analysis, and impacts. LITERATURE REVIEW Business disputes are usually settled through several ways which can be broadly categorized into two; litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Litigation involves visiting law courts to have the dispute settled by a judge whil e alternative methods include negotiation, arbitration, mediation and arbitration. There is compelling evidence that the decision to take alternative dispute resolution methods over litigation is a wise one especially in terms of two very important things; time and cost savings (Paul 1). Other benefits include the fact that both parties conscript the services of neutral expertise (National Arbitration Forum 4). Alternative dispute resolutions also bring about flexibility which is absent in litigation. This is through innovation and ingenuity in the processes involved in a fashion that a court may not undertake (5). Amicability, confidentiality and party representation are also other benefits over litigation (6). One of the main setbacks to these methods of resolution is the compromise involved, which may be counteractive. The other disadvantage is that the lack of public scrutiny (Spangler, 2003). To disambiguate among the various strategies used in alternative dispute resolution is important since several business leaders are largely ignorant on the different concepts. First, mediation differs from arbitration in terms of the fact that arbitration is an adjudicative process that involves hiring an adjudicator to hear out the dispute and make a decision that is usually enforceable in court. In mediation however, the mediator does not make a decision for the parties, while another difference is that mediation is a voluntary process with nonbinding agreements (Shakman et al, 2001). Among the methods involved in alternative dispute resolution, it has been found that most businesses decide to use arbitration and negotiation over mediation, despite of much

3 Questions to case with EPA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3 Questions to case with EPA - Essay Example EPA had imposed a ban on any manufacture of coffee tables with a glass-top. The news on the ban of the coffee tables posed a threat to the business of Skywalker, a California resident whose main source of income came from the manufacture of coffee tables. Skywalker business was growing fast, but the news on the ban by EPA posed a threat to the booming business. The EPA regulations reached the target group through a short warning statement to the media houses and a comment on EPA website (Jennings 25). After the effective date for implementation of the new regulation regarding the ban, Skywalker could face an arrest and possible prosecution by EPA. After the regulation’s effective date, it is evident that Skywalker had already sold five such coffee tables already banned by EPA. According to the news received by the table mania business owner, Mr. Skywasker, the law took effect from 10 July. Therefore, it is with no reasonable doubts that his store contained the banned items. EPA could either charge, jail or impose sanctions to the violators of the law from its effective date (Jennings 31). Skywalker could face the law since the EPA had a mandate to propose and implement a law after approval by the Congress. According to the US federal government, any proposed regulation by a state agency, becomes law after the congress approves it. However, the complainant can challenge the regulation and avoid the punishment. EPA could face a challenge depending on the administrative authority of the state agencies. The acts by the state agencies have two categories, which are rulemaking depending on the nature of the rules, and adjudicative referring to the right of the accused to hearing (Jennings 240). Skywalker could challenge the EPA regulation on the ban of glass-coffee table in the US appeal court (Jennings 245). In this court, the complainant has a right to have his case listened to giving the facts as to why he thinks the regulation is

State-Building and theOperation of the Market Essay

State-Building and theOperation of the Market - Essay Example Since then, international state-building has become acceptable because the condition had called for it. Today international state-building has seemed to change the understanding on the operations of the market; yet a deeper analysis on its arguments essentially reveals how capitalism manoeuvres to get over with its present crisis. In short, international state-building is a framework that further strengthens the relationship of the state and capital to ensure the pre-eminence of free-market economy in which the US remains unchallenged. International State-building State-building, a concept in state theory first used at the end of Cold-War, pertains to deliberate interventions by national or international forces meant to capacitate and strengthen weak/fragile states and state institutions thereby making them functional (Jones & Chandran 2008, cited in Menocal 2009, p. 2; Caplan 2004, p. 53; Lotz 2010, p. 219). Current world events – e.g. ... 16). In his book, International state-building: The rise of post-liberal governance, Chandler (2010) noted, how the world today has grown more acceptable of international state-building not only as a reactive response to reconstruct war-torn or conflict-ridden states but more as a preventive mechanism to save states from possible economic and political collapse (p. 1). What made this so, Woodward (2011) traced back to the end of Cold-War and the collapse of the USSR, which had resulted to violent break-up of socialist states, beginning with Yugoslavia in 1991. These chaotic disintegration of the USSR simultaneous with the humanitarian crises in Sudan and Somalia had reversed the view toward the state of major world powers and their international machineries for security (UN, NATO, EU) and finance (IMF-WB) – The strong and totalitarian states are no longer viewed as the primary threat to international peace and prosperity; today the considered problem states are the weak/fragil e ones, because as they fail to secure the needs of their people; they cause so much human suffering and chaos, resultantly preventing the smooth operations of the market, thus threatening international peace and prosperity. Within this premise, international state-building – through which international aids were diverted to conflict transformation by building-up government capacities and institutions – was then made acceptable and until lately was seen necessary. (p. 316) This changed perception of the state, Chandler (2009) explained, had redefined sovereignty as no longer pertaining to a nation’s political independence, but to state capacity. Thus sovereignty is perceived no longer as a ban but

Innovation & Enterprise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Innovation & Enterprise - Essay Example Idea Development In every human being, there is a need to communicate. Communication is a necessity in the social life of the human race. Communication, in its many forms can be considered educational, informative as well as entertaining. Communication is facilitated by numerous media, but there is none that has enlisted interest from the world such as the internet. The internet facilitated communication of data in the form of sound, images and motion and live pictures making it an extremely high potential specialization area. Being a student under the computing field, I have realized the need for a means by which persons can communicate and exchange ideas freely with little or no limitation. I intend to start a photo sharing and interactive website that shall be used to facilitate communication and sharing of experience via sharing of photos. This choice of a business idea comes from the current trends in the social networking sector, with new and more advanced technologies coming u p every now and then. By market segmentation, I am able to focus on a particular group of young and energetic social networkers to whom the website is of great interest as well as advantage. The current trend in the social networking field is advantageous for other sectors such as the marketing sector in business. The aim of marketing is reaching as many people as possible within a given time limit. By using social media as a platform to communicate to possible customers in an interpersonal level, businesses are saving on both costs and materials, while getting a much higher efficiency from the exercise. Motivated by this idea, I intend to include advertisements in the site where, interested parties shall be given the opportunity to advertise their wares over a given period of time as agreed upon by the advertiser and the site administrator. It is necessary that adequate research into this field is conducted for it encapsulates several challenges that might be the downfall to the si te. There are a number of challenges that face the choice of business such as high competition from the existing industries as well as the initial starting capital. Research into this subject shall involve questions such as the affinity in the market for a site that facilitates the postage of pictures over the internet. The young adults and the youth are the main target market for the site, when it comes to its success, for it is by the numbers interested shall investors get the audacity to make investments using my site. The marketing that is to be done shall show that there is a need for the youth to get involved in the photo sharing site, through referrals or associated links so as to facilitate the sites growth. I estimate that the returns from the site shall at first be meagre, but with time and popularity, they shall increase. One of the advantages that are behind the idea is the fact that the site is presented in a global platform. The challenge of working within boundaries h as always been a huge challenge for many businesses, but with the site, the work shall be conducted on a global scale, which means that it shall be easy to reach almost every community in the world. Popularising the website may be a huge challenge for the business, but with support from my colleagues and the locals, the site is expected to be a huge employer in the near future. The idea of the photo-sharing site is supported by an ethical necessity for the community to control the content of sites. As

Planing and Forcasting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Planing and Forcasting - Research Paper Example Key words: Forecast, management, planning, analysis, tools and techniques. Quality and performance. Introduction and scope of implementation: The two tools of planning and forecasting are not limited to any specific field or circumstances; rather they find their application in small scaled organization, and small scale projects, to large scale. Apart from the scale parameter, they find their application in different forms of organizations namely private, public, governmental, nonprofit, services industry, educational, planning commissions, human resource management nay they are broad in their scope and application and are equally effective regardless of the size or nature of organization. The need and realization for these two modes of operations grew further in the post world war two scenario when scientific management and other advanced methods of operations and businesses were introduced. Generic interpretation of the two terms: Apart from their technical details, specifications a nd usage in technical jargon, each of these have generic interpretation to their usage. Planning in any circumstances within the organizational ambit pertains to the organizing of activities or personnel. It is to plan and administer the scheme of actions, evaluating the availability of resources and man power (Caruth,et.al, 2008, 117), limitations of the organization and based on that make decisions that would allow for better outcomes with regard to the planned actions. Forecasting in the same parameter pertains to the foreseeing and assessing the situation and variables in accordance with the future prospect. It is the scientific and rational assessment of the upcoming events, activities, and resources. Forecasting allows for keeping the financial factor in check and preventing any increased spendings or prolonged activity time span which would go against the preplanned program. Modes of Planning and Forecasting: Both these functions may be performed in a formal manner or a regul ar in parallel on job activity. Informal planning of forecasting may not be as effective as the formally conducted processes in each category (Boyle, 2006, 8). Informal operations in these categories may result in extra resources inclusion and extra activities performance. Under the formally undertaken measures, the two work on separate lines, in a specific measure and allow better outcomes extraction. Forecasting: Within a managerial process and business, forecasting can be implemented in different categories. It may be implemented in the marketing sector, finance department, control processes, manufacturing and production activities (Stair et.al, 2010, 375). In the category of marketing, it allows for interpreting the future trends in the market and based on that the formalizing of strategy with regard to resources and expertise allocation. In the category of Finance management, handling of assets, determination of profit rates, interest rates evaluation and overall stocks values handling is enabled through the techniques of forecasting (Keown et.al, 2005). Similarly in the production processes, it allows giving an insight of the number of items to be produced, the need that would arise in long term, the costs that would be incurred in future against the present value of costs for a given process. Forecasting may be done in number of ways.

The role of ghrelins Essay Example for Free

The role of ghrelins Essay Ghrelin is a general name for a class of hormones found in the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrates. It is a preprohormone containing a chain of 28 amino acid peptides. During synthesis, a modification arises whereas n-octanoic acid is bound to one of its amino acids. This makes it capable of playing its biological role. Ghrelins are synthesized at the fundus lining the stomach. It is primarily produced by epithelial cells lining the fundus. However, smaller amounts have also been detected in the kidneys, placenta, hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. (Brown, 2006) The ghrelin receptor was known before the discovery of ghrelin. It is located in the anterior pituitary and stimulates secretion of growth hormone when activated. It was named GHS-R or growth hormone secretagoue receptor. In 1999, Kojima et al. announced that they have discovered the natural ligand for GHS-R.   They named it ghrelin, deriving it form the word â€Å"ghre† which means grow in Proto-Indo-European languages. They obtained it from rat stomach and investigated its role in pituitary growth hormone and energy homeostasis functions. (Kojima Kangawa, 2004) Roles of ghrelin Ghrelin is the ligand of GHS-r. Its signal together with that of semostatin and other growth hormone inducers control the timing as well as the magnitude of growth hormone excretion. It is suggested that the stomach releases ghrelin into the bloodstream, where it is conveyed to the potiuitary gland, triggering the release of growth hormone. Kanagawa et al. found significant amounts of ghrelin in healthy people.(Kojima et al., 1999) In 2000, Ezio Ghigo et al. discovered that ghrelin injections led to prolonged increase of growth hormone concentrations in the blood. (Dickson, 1999)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ghrelin   also seems to stimulate appetite. Lab tests in rats show ann increase in body weight after ghrelin injections. This effect is independent of ghrelin’s role in GH stimulation. In people, a popular side effect of taking ghrelin containing drugs was the sensation of intense hunger. About 80% of test participants in a study to test ghrelins growth hormone functions also suffered an increase of appetite. It was found that ghrelin concentration in the blood increases as a person grows hungry and decreases as that person’s hunger is sated.   Another study showed that people injected with ghrelin before meals increased their food intake by 30%. (Cummings et al., 2002) Another study also showed that resting   ghrelin levels rise as net body weight decreases and returns once a set point is reached. This means that the body regulates ghrelin levels based on a specific body weight attainment, making you hungrier as you lose more weight. Persons with anorexia nervosa, a disorder in which people starve themselves show extremely high amounts of ghrelin. But it seems in their cases, their body does not listen. (Travis, 2002)The increase of ghrelins is also related to time as discovered by Yildiz et al. An increase in ghrelin was noted between midnight to dawn, mhowever, hunger is suppressed by other hormones, making it easier to fall asleep and eat in the morning after.(Yildiz, Suchard, Wong, McCann, Licinio, 2004)Alos, lack of sleep particularly in obese persons lead to production of ghrelin and less production of leptin, the hormone which suppresses appetite. Ghrelin levels also decrease dramatically with the conduction of gastric bypass surgery. Animal research has also discovered that ghrelin may enhance memory and learning as it enters the hippocampus via the bloodstream. High ghrelin levels, particularly before meals when the stomach is empty may be the time most conducive to learning. (Philips, 2006) REFERENCES Brown, R. (2006). Ghrelin.  Ã‚   Retrieved March 11, 2007, from http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/gi/ghrelin.html Cummings, D., Weigle, D., Frayo, R., Breen, P., Ma, M., Dellinger, E., et al. (2002). Plasma Ghrelin Levels after Diet-Induced Weight Loss or Gastric Bypass Surgery. New England Journal of Medicine(346), 1623-1630. Dickson, S. L. (1999). Ghrelin: A newly discovered hormone  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   [Electronic Version]. British Society for Neuroenterology from http://neuroendo.org.uk/index.php/content/view/26/11/. Kojima, M., Hosoda, H., Date, Y., Nakazato, M., Matsuo, H., Kangawa, K. (1999). Ghrelin is a growth-hormone-releasing acylated peptide from stomach. Nature 402, 656-660 (402), 656-660. Kojima, M., Kangawa, K. (2004). Ghrelin: Structure and Function   [Electronic Version]. Physiological Review, 85, 495-522. Retrieved March 11 2007. Philips, M. L. (2006). Hunger hormone tied to learning [Electronic Version]. The Scientist. Retrieved March 11 2007 from http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23132/. Travis, J. (2002). The Hunger Hormone? [Electronic Version]. Science News Online, 161, 107. Retrieved March 11 2007 from http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020216/bob10.asp. Yildiz, B. O., Suchard, M. A., Wong, M.-L., McCann, S. M., Licinio, J. (2004). Alterations in the dynamics of circulating ghrelin, adiponectin, and leptin in human obesity [Electronic Version]. Medical Sciences. Retrieved March 11 2007 from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=478601.

The Mixing of Cultures Essay Example for Free

The Mixing of Cultures Essay Pepee,Joseph, The White Women of Genesee. The World Turned Upside Down. Boston: Bedford, 1994. Occum,Sampson, A Short Narrative of My Life. The World Turned Upside Down. Boston: Bedford, 1994 The World Turned Upside Down Chapt. 2. Boston: Bedford, 1994. In early America as the Europeans began to colonize the land, most Europeans did not think too kindly of these very different brown people that already inhabited this space. The European thought leaned greatly towards the idea of the Native Indians being of a barbaric and heathenness culture that must be changed (converted and educated) or eliminated, however, the exchange of culture frequently went both ways and sometimes those very differences in culture proved to be a great seduction to the non-Indian people. Some European immigrants found a great appeal to the Indian way of life by embracing the Native American way of; speaking, eating, dressing, hunting, farming etc. Others went on their own free will to go live with the Indians. Marrying and adopting outsiders was customary to some Indian traditions and with the rise of neighbors that were not Indian, the natives sought to intermarry due to population losses. Children from these marriages often became mediators in dealings between the European and Indian cultures. The story of Mary Jemison reflects that mixing of cultures and the affinity that can develop to the Native way of life. She was taken captive by the Indians at fifteen years old then adopted into a loving Indian family. As the years went by she adapted and grew to love her Indian family and friends. She married an Indian and considered herself one of them. Mary Jemison was one of many captives who eventually refused the opportunity to come home, finding life in Indian society more rewarding. Many people- then and today- have an attraction to the Indian culture for the very differences that the Europeans sought to destroy them. Those differences seemingly so unique and different from our culture; and though the European culture from a distance won the battle of incorporating their way of life into a new nation and an eventual political superpower, the native culture did leave a humble cogitation on America as it emerged.

Ideas And Themes In Writings English Literature Essay

Ideas And Themes In Writings English Literature Essay Writers use lots of literary techniques and features to support their ideas and themes in their writings.All those tehniques are design to manipulate and shape the readers perceptions.They position readers to respond to the writing in certain ways,either agreeing with or disputing those themes.Themes of allienation,nostalgia to love and loss are very often repeated in Literature.We can see this very clear in three short stories which I would like to write about , Erneast Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants,John Cheevers The Enormous Radio and Doriss Lessing To Room Nineteen.In first story Hemingway tells us about inabillity to communicate effectively in a relationhip.Main characters got a huge difficulty in articulating their feelings which makes them frustrated with each other.In The Enormous Radio we see themes such as addiction and loss of control,hidden secrets ans scandals and communication issues but they all lead to the main theme of this story which is loss of love.Last Dor is Lessing story themes are theme of allienation,identity issue and loss of sense of being.Main character of this story,Susan is portrayed as a prisoner of ideology driven by sociaty that women are expected to be gladly and willingly acepting their repression and bondage. Narrative point of viewe is one of the first techniques which has huge influence on meaning and tone of the story.All stories are written in the same a third person point of viewe but with a little difference between them.Erneast Hemingway wrote Hills Like White Elephants in third person point of view and objective which is limited to what characters say and do.He doesnt reveal their thoughts ang feelings,as a readers we need to guess that by interpreting the text.In Enormous Radio we see that narrator use the same third person point of viewe but its omniscient.He is able to describe not only each characterà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s actions but also their inside emotions,motives, and feelings.Sometimes narrator even takes subjective approach by describing one of the characters Irene as a self-centered women which is only concerned about how people viewe her and by describing Jim as a loyal and hard working man who tries very hard to give her and their children a comfortable life.In Doriss Lessings To Room Nineteen story starts from the third person narrative point of viewe only to shift later in a story to first person point of viewe.Lessing uses stream of concioussness techinque and interior monologue which creates the impression for the reader that he is almost eavesdropping on the flow of concious experience in characters mind.This give a reader an acces to thoughts,emotions and sensations experienced by a character. Varied details of setting and character has got a huge contributon to the maning of these short stories.Setting plays the biggest role in Hemingways story where even the title refers to symbolical importance of it.Jig,one of the characters of a story,by describing the hills that they look like white elephants refers to her pregnancy and the main issue of this story which is abortion.She describes the hills in the distance that they look like white elephants because American which she travells with,views the baby as an aproaching obstacle to their careless life.The rest of a setting also provides symbolism which express the tension and conflict between the couple.The train tracks going into two different directions,in between which couple sits at the train station might refer to couple being in the middle of making drastic decision. A couple is just like those tracks which run side by side but will never have a chance to meet. Different kind of land on both sides,on one green and fert ile and on the other dry and without trees also describes their different viewe and interpretation of the dilemma of pregnancy.In The Enormous Radio,the arrival of the new radio which changes its setting,going deeper in the house,moving from the door to the middle of the living room behind the couch because of its physical ugnliness it seems to be like agressive intruder,intruding Irenes life.By listening to the radio which picks up noises and conversations from the whole building she also starts intruding on other people lifes.This is how we start to see huge change in Irene and her relationship with Jim.She gets involved in people lives heard on the radio so much she soon became depressed and changes from a pleasant, rather plain woman to a woman who doubts who she is and doubts in her relationship with her husband.They both start to realise there is a tension in their marriage,that Irene has many dark,deep secrets which she has hidden very well all these years and which she feels guilty about.Setting its not so important in this story.Narrator is trying to concentrate only on the radio,voices and music coming out of it which plays huge role in a story by shaping atmosphere of a story and also changing mood of a main characters.The same we will see in Doris Lessings story where there is less description on setting but this minimalism have huge importance for the meaning.This minimalism gives the reader a sense of unfulfilled emptiness of a relationshp between Susan and Matthew and emptiness in Susans life which is described as a desert which shows her hopelessness and depressesion.Also the empty room nineteen which in she spends most of a time describes Susans need of allienation. Use of techniques such as irony,symbolism an understatement by wrtiers in those short stories has got a huge impact on themes.The most important in those stories is symbolism which is a use of symbols to represent or suggest other things or ideas.As said before in Hills Like White Elephants we can already see symbolism in the title of a story.Jig refers to the hills that they look like white elephants to talk about abortion which is the main theme of this story.A white elephant is a largely useless object that is expenssive to own and maitain which symbolise a unborn baby.The whole symbolism of a setting is important in many ways which I already had a chance to analyse earlier.The rail tracks could symbolise Jigs and Americans relationship and being in the middle of making an important decision.Two sides of a station described in a story has its own meaning,green can by a symbol of life, baby, a new beggining and dry side can represent death and abortion.Irony in this story mainly sh ows Jigs frustration towards the American and this is its main purpose.In conversation between them about licuorice and its familiar taste we can clearly see Jig is not only refering to a drink but also to their lifestyle which she is able to abandon at any point to settle down.I believe huge impact on the story has the last sentence spoken by Jig,when she tells the American she is fine.We can understand this sentence as an irony and that Jig will go through with the abortion because of her inability to communicate her feelings to the American wich leaves her frustrated and not being able to fight anymore.Also conversation between them,about such an important subject which is abortion,seems to be very simple,trivial and even pointless.The talk about good drinks and lovely hills is only a cover for a deadly argument.This tehnique used by Hemingway is called understatement.Again symbolism is used in Johns Cheever The Enormous Radio.It is mainly used to describe the hidden meaning of t he radio from the title.It symbolise an addiction and loss of control.Irene gets so obssesed with listening to her friends and neighbours on the radio that she is not even interested anymore in her relationships with other people in real life.She prefers to go home and eavsdropp on them through the radio.Radio also symbolise a hidden secret and scandal.When Irene start to doubts happiness of her marriege,all secrets are being revealed like theft and abortion, which she was hiding all these years.Radio is also used as an irony.It was purchased to bring joy and happiness to Irenes and Jims life but it only caused trouble between them revealing deep and dark secrets.In To the room nineteen again we can find symbolism in the title of a story.We see Susan as a woman who has been caught up in the web of the social roles in a community and she is trying to step out of this world into a world of her own making which is room nineteen.She is no longer a wife and mother in this room,she escape s her social role and she finally finds peace and freedom.We can see an irony in words describing Susan and Matthew as intelligent which is the very characteristic that is their downfall.Although they do everything sensibly in their minds, their repression of her as a woman is anything but intelligent.Also Lessing use repetition technique, using word intelligence fiftee times to make an irony even stronger. Dialogues,conversations between characters have also big impact on the meaning of those stories.Hemingway story is told in third person point of viewe and it doesnt tell us any facts about characters.This is why dialogue is important and we need to interpretate it to find out about attitudes oh the main characters towards each other.Their are able in this way to speak for themselve and we can also see through the tone and pattern of the dialogue,exsistence of a deep problem in their relationship.In The Enormous Radio dialog has the same purpose.We are able through dialogue to find out more about characters thoughts and feelings.We also in a dialogue see a tension between main characters,which bilds up towards the end of the story.In the To Room Nineteen Doris Lessing we can see through dialogues between Susan and Matthew the lack of communication in their married life.Lessing also use interior monologue to stress the meaning of the story.Through Susans interior monologue we can see h er helplensness and emptiness of her marriage life. All those strories got their own specific structure which has an impact on the mood and atmosphere of these stories.In Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants setting frames the story,it plays a crucial role in determining the atmosphere in his work. The choice of a setting and objects supports the sytuation and develops the story conflict.Also dialogues are holding the story together,they tell us about the main theme of a story.In The Enormous Radio music frames the story, creates the mood and reveals the emotional transition of the characters.In To Room Nineteen Doris Lessing is using more literary techniques in her writing to support the meaning. Narrator by changing the tone of language creates a mood.At the beggining of a writing words are longer which makes reading slower and creates very peacfull effect.But than towards the end of a story narrator is trying to create tension in a story and starts using shorter words which makes our reading much quicker.Also stream of conciousnes s technique adds dramatic effect to the story and without it writing would be very bland. I have really enjoyed reading short stories,especially those three which I have chosen for this evaluation and analysis.Mainly I believe so because of female issues in sociaty presented in those stories.Earnest Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants is deffinitelly my favourite.It is very interesting that narrator doesnt reveal any informations about characters,what they think and feel.To find out we need to interpretate the text,in this case dialogue between them.Through reading the story I felt like sitting next to the couple,eavsdropping on their conversation.Because there is a huge communication issue between them and they are unable to reveal their true feelings again it is left to the reader to analyse what characters are really thinking.It also intrigued me how story shows a contrast between male and female viewe on relationsips.When abortion for Jig,killing their unborn baby is a huge decision for her,for American is only a simple operation letting the air in.He doesnt identif y himself with the baby which is an obstacle for him and his careless lifestale. I also found The Enormous Radio very interesting to read.I think John Cheever through this story again proved the fact how communicating issues between people might affect their relationship.Irenes secrets and scandals creates tension between their marriage and they lead to loss of trust and love between them.The structure of a story has also catched my attention.I found it very interesting that music was creating the mood in the story and that music was revealing the emotional transition of the characters.In To Room Nineteen I was hugle intrested in Lessings attitude towards female repression, alienation and escape which is all exposed in this story.She tries to explain how social, cultural, and ethic diversions,how they all limit women perspectives and experiences and their intellectual, spiritual, and emotional freedom.By indroducing us to the main character Susan,which entire exsistence was like pri son,she tells us that this allienation might even result in mental breakdown.Short stories are very quick and enjoyable reading but still they have a huge depth and important message hidden in them.I would deffinitely recomend to others short stories which I had a chance to read and I will also continue to expand my experience as a reader.

Hide and Seek by Vernon Scannell and Half Past Two by U.A. Fanthorpe Es

"Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell and "Half Past Two" by U.A. Fanthorpe Task: Compare two poems of the same theme in detail. In this essay I will be looking at two poems, which are similar in theme and discussing their similarities. I will be using the poems "Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell and "Half Past Two" by U A Fanthorpe. These poems are similar to each other because their main theme is growing up, as the poems are set in the mind of a child. The first poem called "Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell is an unusual poem as it takes a lot of imagination to fully understand the poem. The title of the poem suggests that the story is about a childish game but this is from an adult's point of view as this poem is set in a child's mind and so this simple game is a terrifying experience to the child. The opening to the poem starts with the frantic, short words "Call out. Call loud: 'I am ready! Come and find me!'" This sentence is short and sharp to show the tension and excitement of the hide and seek game, as there are three sentences (although not full sentences) to one line. This technique is used to build tension within the poem as making the sentences short and sharp increases the pace of the poem to make the reader more excited and anxious as to what is going to happen. The poet uses this to build an atmosphere of anxiety at the beginning of the poem so that the poem is rushed straight to an exciting sentence without the build up. This alerts the readers and makes them want to read on. The next sentence uses a lot of alliteration within the sentence. The sentence states "The sacks in the tool shed smell like the seaside". This sentence, when said aloud, gives a lot of sounds which sound lik... ...ader imagine this weird place which the poet is trying to describe and makes the reader imagine that he or she is in this place. In comparison of the two poems, I can clearly say that both poems are very alike. They are both targeted to an older audience so that they can be the modern child as most people of an older age are curious as to what it is like and would like to step in the child's shoes. Both the poems are also told from the child's view so that the reader gets to know more about the child. The poems also both use personification because at such a young age many simple objects can come alive really easily as the modern child has a wide imagination and can, if he or she wants to, make simple things come alive. Therefore, in conclusion, I can say that these poems both have the same theme, which is growing up and coping with growing up. Hide and Seek by Vernon Scannell and Half Past Two by U.A. Fanthorpe Es "Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell and "Half Past Two" by U.A. Fanthorpe Task: Compare two poems of the same theme in detail. In this essay I will be looking at two poems, which are similar in theme and discussing their similarities. I will be using the poems "Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell and "Half Past Two" by U A Fanthorpe. These poems are similar to each other because their main theme is growing up, as the poems are set in the mind of a child. The first poem called "Hide and Seek" by Vernon Scannell is an unusual poem as it takes a lot of imagination to fully understand the poem. The title of the poem suggests that the story is about a childish game but this is from an adult's point of view as this poem is set in a child's mind and so this simple game is a terrifying experience to the child. The opening to the poem starts with the frantic, short words "Call out. Call loud: 'I am ready! Come and find me!'" This sentence is short and sharp to show the tension and excitement of the hide and seek game, as there are three sentences (although not full sentences) to one line. This technique is used to build tension within the poem as making the sentences short and sharp increases the pace of the poem to make the reader more excited and anxious as to what is going to happen. The poet uses this to build an atmosphere of anxiety at the beginning of the poem so that the poem is rushed straight to an exciting sentence without the build up. This alerts the readers and makes them want to read on. The next sentence uses a lot of alliteration within the sentence. The sentence states "The sacks in the tool shed smell like the seaside". This sentence, when said aloud, gives a lot of sounds which sound lik... ...ader imagine this weird place which the poet is trying to describe and makes the reader imagine that he or she is in this place. In comparison of the two poems, I can clearly say that both poems are very alike. They are both targeted to an older audience so that they can be the modern child as most people of an older age are curious as to what it is like and would like to step in the child's shoes. Both the poems are also told from the child's view so that the reader gets to know more about the child. The poems also both use personification because at such a young age many simple objects can come alive really easily as the modern child has a wide imagination and can, if he or she wants to, make simple things come alive. Therefore, in conclusion, I can say that these poems both have the same theme, which is growing up and coping with growing up.

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun Essay -- Hansberry Raisin Su

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, one of the most important themes is the American Dream. Many of the characters in this play have hopes and aspirations; they all strive towards their goals throughout the play. However, many of the characters in the play have different dreams that clash with each other. Problems seem to arise when different people’s dreams conflict with one another; such as Walter’s versus Bennie’s, George’s versus Asagai’s, and the Clybourne Park versus the Younger’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walter and Bennie both have very different mindsets and they constantly are fighting, therefor they both have very different dreams that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Walter's dream is to be his own boss in a liquor store. All he dreams about is the liquor business that he will have, it is his life. When he finds he lost the money later in the novel, he says "...Man, I put my life in your hands..." ( ) All he ever dreamed of was the liquor business, when he lets out this statement of desperation, the reader really realizes how much all of it meant to him. Bennie's dreams are very different, she wants to be a female doctor. This dream was very unusual for a "colored" girl in the 50's. Her dream requires money from Mama, but so does Walter’s; it is ironic when both of them lose their dreams when the money is gone. When the money is lost, the reader also realizes how large of a role it played in Bennie’s dreams ...

The Themes of Euripides Medea :: Euripides Medea Essays

The Themes of Medea    Medea, a play by the Greek playwright Euripides, explores the Greek-barbarian dichotomy through the character of Medea, a princess from the "barbarian", or non-Greek, land of Colchis.   Throughout the play, it becomes evident to the reader that Medea is no ordinary woman by Greek standards.   Central to the whole plot is Medea's barbarian origins and how they are related to her actions.   In this paper, I am attempting to answer questions such as how Medea behaves like a female, how she acts heroically from a male point of view, why she killed her children, if she could have achieved her goal without killing them, if the murder was motivated by her barbarian origins, and how she deals with the pain of killing her children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As an introduction to the play, the status of women in Greek society should be briefly discussed.   In general, women had very few rights.   In the eyes of men, the main purposes of women in Greek society were to do housework such as cooking and cleaning, and bear children.   They could not vote, own property, or choose a husband, and had to be represented by men in all legal proceedings.   In some ways, these Greek women were almost like slaves.   There is a definite relationship between this subordination of women and what transpires in the play.   Jason decides that he wants to divorce Medea and marry the princess of Corinth, casting Medea aside as if they had never been married.   This sort of activity was acceptable by Greek standards, and shows the subordinate status of the woman, who had no say in any matter like this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though some of Medea's actions were not typical of the average Greek woman, she still had attitudes and emotions common among women. For instance, Medea speaks out against women's status in society, proclaiming that they have no choice of whom to marry, and that a man can rid themselves of a woman to get another whenever he wants, but a woman always has to "keep [her] eyes on one alone." (231-247)   Though it is improbable that women went around openly saying things of this nature, it is likely that this attitude was shared by most or all Greek women.   Later in the play, Medea debates with herself over whether or not to kill her children: "Poor heart, let them go, have pity upon the

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.