Chose one of the topics from the attachments Essay

Chose one of the topics from the attachments - Essay Example Of course, one needs to be apprised of any eminent negative effects that these social networking sites present to current and potential users. In this regard, the essay hereby aims to persuade the readers that using a social networking Web site has both positive and negative effects on relationships that should be evaluated to increase awareness on the most appropriate course of action regarding its continued use. Solis (2011) has recognized the significant and crucial impact that social media has impacted on today’s generation. As emphasized, â€Å"social media is pervasive and it is transforming how people find and share information and how they connect and collaborate with one another† (Solis, 2011, par. 1). The article written by Horn (2011) revealed that â€Å"social media is one of the most popular and fastest growing mobile activities, reaching nearly one third of all U.S. mobile users† (Horn, 2011, par. 4). The Technolog article, on the other hand, entitled â€Å"Older adults are flocking to social networks† has disclosed that â€Å"social networking use by Internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled in the past year, going from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010† (Technolog, 2010, par. 1). These statistics prove that social networking in an increasingly popular trend that has enticed various users from a wide range of age groups. The reasons why social networks have been seen as beneficial to users are as follows: (1) easy access to information on general issues, social relationships and other current events; (2) cheap and convenient as current and updated information are readily available 24/7; (3) â€Å"social media makes you travel the world without even leaving your chair†¦indicating that no matter what kind of business it is, the use of social media is essential in order to gravitate products to the

This Is England Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

This Is England - Essay Example The segment of the film was between 1:31:10 and 1:34:09 in the film "This is England". We chose to analyze the segment because it builds a good platform for the art. The segment also gives the spectator of what happened in England in 1980's, as the segment shows images of various iconic signs like the rubies cube, the segment also shows the gritty elements of war people faced in Falklands and England. The violence images and anarchy combined with the archive footage of the harmless periods of the 1980's. This creates a concrete contrast and creates the feeling of viewers to continue watching to find out what happened. The segment shows images of people and event that have effects on the actors, which are revealed in the segment, and the footage reminds us the aspects: give viewers knowledge about the environment and offers the anarchic setting that is present throughout the film. The shots of the film principle character occur immediately after the titles. The connections show the re lationship between Shaun and rebellious archive footage previously in the film. The segment shows the soldier's picture by Shaun's bed and this shows enigma codes as the viewers need to know the connections. Margaret Thatcher voice is heard on the radio, which Shaun immediately turn it off: it gives the viewers the knowledge of attitudes on the prime minister at that time. Camera work. The segment has various ways of presenting "This is England", similar to what has been used in the entire film. The segment shows how the natural lighting is employed to show the realism effect. That is the way the producers used to produce "This is England". The segment is portrayed as a documentary, and the style presents things as they occur daily. Such realities are crowds, classes, and marriage. The segment does no different as documentary in concentrating on the principle character. The segment shows natural lighting consisting of light and dark. The segment shows the film at day and during the night, which makes it easy to film; because extra lighting is not required. The segment is presented in such a way that it shows the British at war and ways in which the society is united. The segment shows a hand held camera which confirms that this is a social realist art: they are low budget arts, so everything uses fewer tools and materials. Handheld camera helps the spectator to gain an insight and it involve the spectator to watch the film. At this segment, there are a variety of shots used: this makes the segment effective as the viewer is able to see all the various angles and ways of seeing something. Sounds. The soundtrack used in this segment is a diegetic sound. This type of soundtrack shows that the art is real because the spectator is able to hear the natural sounds. The sound is also used in the entire film. The producer analyzed the sound because viewers do not normally notice these sounds every day. Diegetic sound tells the visual story. Diegetic sound is another in strument to tell the story of the author. In "This is England" segment, the producer draws the viewer by shifting from the diegetic to non-diegetic. The segment changes the role of the music in the piece, he engages the viewer in the action. Also, the segment pulls off the viewer from the scene to separate the spectators from the story. The segment also uses traditional effects of sound and Foley to leverage the sounds of diegetic. The segment uses digenetic to toy with the spectators: mislead the viewers. The

The Knot Essay Example for Free

The Knot Essay According to Sahlman, the success of entrepreneurial ventures, such as The Knot, is dependent on four critical success factors, namely the people, the opportunity, the deal and the context. Each of these factors is dynamic and the entrepreneur must constantly reevaluate and adjust the four factors to create value. People The category people include the key players of the entrepreneurial venture. Within this category, the strengths and weaknesses and the experience of the people involved is critical. The entrepreneur has to determine if something is missing in the team, thus if people should be added or replaced. The Knot’s management team consists of four ex New York University’s Film School students. All of them are experienced entrepreneurs. First, Liu and Roney are co-founders of the CD-ROM development company RunTime Inc. Pervious, Liu was an experienced manager and Roney spent six years as creative director and editor. Second, Wolfson and Fassino are founders of the Digital Media Division for Margeotes Fertitta + Partners. Before, Wolfson was founder of a creative production company and Fassino has experience in the advertising industry. The two different companies successfully collaborated at the Sotheby’s project. The four partners emphasize the potential of their collective experience and know-how, including management, advertising, the creative industry and production. They found Element Studios in 1995 to capitalize their abilities. After the acquisition of Bridal Search, Russ and Becky Casenhiser were added to the management team. Both of them were successful entrepreneurs as well. Russ developed the industry’s largest, searchable database and Becky procured and maintained relationships with all the manufacturers. Especially their experience in retail was valuable when the business model developed further. After all, the team of The Knot consists of capable people with experience in multiple disciplines who complement each other. However, when entering the gift registry business, in which inventory management and delivery arrangements would be crucial, there is a need for people with experience in logistics. Experienced people could be recruited as employees or entrepreneurs in this industry could be added to the management team. The opportunity The characteristics of the opportunity are critical for the success of the venture as well as for the way the entrepreneur should respond to a certain opportunity. Characteristics of the opportunity include the nature and the possibility to replicate by competitors. The task of the entrepreneur is to determine if the opportunity should be exploited immediately and to set eventually milestones to assess the success of the project. Element was founded with the aim to realize a successful media business, however, there was no focus on a certain opportunity before the company was founded. The management team started looking for an opportunity and was attracted by the high advertising revenue in the wedding industry. They found an opportunity in the lack of a fresh competitor and the possibility to differentiate by building an online business foundation. Besides the possibility to differentiate, the online business foundation required a lower investment. Thus, the initial business model consisted of creating an online medium that attracts visitors and generates advertising revenue. The Knot’s team formulated their initial goals as ‘becoming a full-service online wedding resource and a recognizable brand in the industry’. The initial investment is relatively low compared to the potential revenue with an advertising market of $168 million and a limited number of competitors. Since the idea is easy to copy by potential competitors, it was important to exploit the idea immediately to gain first mover advantage. The initial business model was complemented in stages. With the launch of The Knot’s own web site in May 1997, they entered the retail market via The Knot Gift Shop. Their first venture in retail started with the sale of cameras, but other products were quickly added. In June 2007, after the acquisition of Bridal Search, The Knot could offer the only comprehensive online database of wedding dresses to its customers. As a result, advertising revenue increased. After successful development of The Knot’s current business activities, Liu focused on the bridal registry business. This business has enormous potential since it represents half of all wedding-related revenue. The process of the development of a comprehensive list of gifts by soon-to-be-weds that had to be purchased by wedding guests was ready for an online solution. Moreover, characteristics of the registry business encompassed the opportunity to efficiently organize delivery arrangements with manufacturers. In turn, this would allow The Knot to maintain more control over its brand, pricing and merchandising. Since the listing of products and services did not require inventory to be held, this would enable effective management of The Knot’s balance sheet. Although the model for gift registry is already in a later stage of development, it is important to exploit immediately since competitors have had capital investments already. Deals The opportunity has to be structured by different deals. These deals include considerations such as incentives and contingencies and the choice between financing instruments and financers. The entrepreneur should aim to motivate all players according to their input and create stakeholders that increase the probability of success. By joining the Greenhouse program of American Online (AOL), The Knot aimed to garner a substantial proportion of the online wedding consumer market. Besides initial investments, AOL could be seen as a strategic partner with a developing online consumer base. AOL invested in return for warrants up to 45% of The Knot’s equity, 20% of the revenue from advertising on the AOL property and a percentage of advertising revenue from The Knot’s own web site. In addition, Bridal Search was acquired for 10. 000 shares of common stock, while they had the opportunity to earn up to an additional 32. 857 shares. This potential bonus could be referred to as an extra motivation to perform. The context Contextual issues can change the nature of the opportunity. Issues include current and potential competitors, the government and economic conditions and trends. The entrepreneur should attempt to forecast contextual movements and benefit from these changes. The competitive context of The Knot before the exploitation of the opportunity was characterized by three magazines, with an average of 40 years of experience in the industry and strong relationships with advertiser. There was a change that the deeply entrenched magazines would renounce moving to the internet since they feared cannibalization of their existing businesses. This changed the nature of the opportunity in a way that it was an extra motivation to launch an online business. The Knot’s performance To reach their goals, The Knot put effort to optimize their services and build brand awareness. First, the provision of value-added services to users, such as information about travelling, wedding planning and fashion, resulted in development of a strong user community. Further, from the early beginning, The Knot targeted potential partners to build awareness of the brand, resulting in The Knot’s Registry Partner Program with nationwide key players. The first offline brand building effort was implemented in August 2007 by signing a three-book deal with Bantam Doubleday. In addition, they agreed to co-produce a television program entitled Wedding for the Real World to promote online services and books. The usefulness of performance metrics significantly differs for startups in comparison with established companies. Although startups are diverse, they share some common characteristics that affect the use of financial metrics. To illustrate, revenues are small or non-existing and the establishment of a business generally result in significant operating losses. Therefore, financial metrics such as the income statement, balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows provide little usable information. However, the information in these financial metrics regarding predicted years could be used to calculated performance measures, such as return on investment (ROI) and return on assets (ROA). Instead, to gauge the performance of a startup company like The Knot’s, other financial and non-financial metrics are used. First, it is important to measure the ability of the company to generate revenue at an early stage. The Knot managed to generate significant revenue at an early stage. After their initial appearance on AOL, The Knot generated over $ 25. 000 of advertising revenue. Later, after the acquisition of Bridal Search, three deals representing $ 750. 000 in advertising revenue were signed. Second, the period that a company can survive without raising additional capital is an useful measure for startups. The ‘burn rate’ is referred to as the money spend by a company each month. The number of months that a company has to raise additional capital is calculated by dividing the amount of cash reserves by the burn rate. Since The Knot only has enough money to coffer its operation for three months by November 1997, the need to raise capital is very urgent. This can be explained by their initial focus on gaining market share instead of becoming profitable. This strategy is particularly common for ‘dot-com’ companies. Besides financial metrics, non-financial metrics are important to measure the performance of startups. Non-financial metrics for e-commerce companies include for instance retained customers. However, for the wedding industry, this metrics are not applicable since customers are not expected to return after their first number of product and service purchases. Other measures that are applicable to The Knot are web metrics such as total page views and total unique visitors. Concerning this measures, The Knot performed above expectance with an increase in unique visitors of their AOL page from 65. 000 to 260. 000 in seven months. In addition, after launching their own Web site, they realized 2. 7 million page views. To conclude, The Knot has managed to gain attention at an early stage from potential customers, this resulted in advertising income. The company has a relatively high burn rate as compared with their current liabilities; this leads to an urgent need for additional capital investors since they can coffer their operating expenses for just three months. The need for additional funding As predicted by the life-cycle of a VC fund, which predicts focus on investment in the first four to five years, The Knot needs further funding in their current phase. First, there is a need for cash to invest in the development of The Knot brand and build out the technological infrastructure to capitalize Knot’s current momentum in the race for scale economies. On a more practical level, capital is needed to fund the payroll and pay for day-to-day operating expenses. Second, The Knot needs funding to develop the gift registry business. The need for quick funding rose due to developments on the competitive front. The Knot’s current business activities were targeted by competition form online businesses that had recently launched web sites. Furthermore, Internet Gift Registries, which would be a competitor of The Knot after entering the gift registry business, had recently received funding from a private investor. Financial advisors agreed that The Knot is an attractive investment and recommended The Knot’s management team to raise as much capital as possible. After all, the management team and its financial advisors agreed that The Knot would seek $10 million in exchange for Series B Convertible Preferred Stock. This proceeds will be used to develop its registry service and to accelerate marketing and promotion of its online services. Valuation of the company In order to give a fair estimate of the value of The Knot, a combination of both the NPV method and the Market approach method is used. The use of the NPV method is possible because this is not a completely new company and it has a track record to evaluate. Also, in the business plan The Knot presented, they give extensive predictions for future performance and cash flows. The NPV method alone would not be enough since these numbers are still only a prediction. Even though these predictions were made by an external company, helping to make them more reliable and independent than when The Knot had made them, they are still not hard numbers. Combining the results of the NPV with a comprehensive Market analysis, in which both market potential will be measured and comparable companies, the multiples, will be analyzed, will give an accurate estimate of the value of The Knot. Using only the market approach would also not suffice since the relatively new nature of the business (registry online) makes it hard to find other companies to effectively compare with The Knot. The asset valuation approach is not used because, given the nature of internet companies, there would be little tangible assets to value. Since intangible assets are a lot harder to value this would not give an accurate value for The Knot (2). The multiplication method is not used because The Knot is currently still not at break-even, which makes it near impossible to calculate. Also, since the prediction show a very sharp estimated increase in revenues after the capital injection, the multiplication method could be very far off the true value of the firm and ergo not be a reliable method to determine the value (2). To conclude, the average between the NPV method and the market approach will give the most reliable value estimate for The Knot. Potential investors The Knot is looking for an investment of $10 million to develop brand image and develop their registry business. However, the urgent need for investment due to the forecasted ‘fume’ in January 1998 needs to be taken into account. This leads to disqualification of the strategic partnership option because The Knot would be in a very week place at the negotiation table because of time pressure. Besides this, a partner for a new business venture would probably not be hard to find, but finding a partner who is willing to pay for the operational cost for the other activities of The Knot as well, would seem much more unlikely. Finally, forming partnership takes time and time is something The Knot does not have. Choosing between angel investors and VC’s comes down to the nature of these investment entities. Angel investors are usually less risk averse but they tend to focus on invest in new start-ups and their investments are relatively lower compared to a VC (1). A VC usually invests in a later point of the start up and invests larger sums of money (1). Looking at these characteristics of both these entities, it seems clear that going for a VC would be the best option. If the valuation of The Knot comes out favorably, it would cover the more risk averse nature of the VC and justify a sizable investment of 10 million. There are drawbacks of using a VC, namely they most likely will want to exercise a lot of control over The Knot’s business, more so than angel investors. However, engagement of the VC can have a positive affect on the development of capabilities as well. Looking at the time constraints and the amount of needed cash this seems unavoidable. Therefore, capital investment by a VC would be the best option to meet the needs on The Knot.

Themes Of Bob Dylans Music Essay -- essays research papers

Bob Dylan was recognized by his poetry and song writing. He usually wrote songs about protesting and religious themes. Although the theme of Bob Dylan’s work is depressing, it is necessary to consider how the events in his life affected his music. Also Bob Dylan had other musicians that influenced him in his early years.Bob Dylan was born in Duluth Minnesota on the date of May 24th 1941. By the time he was ten years old he was writing poems and had taught himself to play guitar. He later changed his name from Robert Allen Zimmerman to the famous name Bob Dylan. In 1962 Bob visited his big early influence Woodie Guthrie in the hospital. Finally Bob Dylan got to meet him and become friends with his lost idol who was slowly dying of Huntington’s disease in Morristown, New Jersey, Dylan had written him a song called song to Woody. A famous quote from this song is â€Å"Bout a funny old world that’s coming along. Seems sick and it’s hungry, it’s tired and it’s torn, it looks like it’s dying and it’s hardly been born.†After he graduated high school in the early 1959 Dylan found himself playing folk music. This is also the time he began to write his legendary folk songs. In the 1960s Bob Dylan had turned the themes of his music to protest what many people consider the wrongs of society. In his songs he writes about the â€Å"luckless, the abandoned and’ forsaken,† as he put it in â€Å"chimes of Freedom.† He condemned the Ku Klux Klan in â€Å"The Death of Emmett Till† and the John Birchites in â€Å"Talking’ John Birch Paranoid Blues.† In Masters of War†he damned the war makers. And in Blowing’ in the wind, â€Å"he created probably his most famous song, though Dylan once stated that he wrote that song just for his friends. In fact, this anti racist, antiwar anthem is, in its deepest sense, a subtitle plea for awareness. (â€Å"How many times must a man look up/ Before he can see the sky? / Yes ‘n’ how many ears must one man have/ before he can hear people cry?†) Dylan had the characteristics of a biblical prophet, but also he had a sense of humor and irony (â€Å"Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues†). One soon started to notice that he was a beginning to write songs that saw the world as consisting not just of heroes and villains but mostly cowardly people caught up in all-to-human situations. In the song â€Å"Who killed Davey Moore?† Dave Moore was a boxer who got killed by another boxer in... ...ngled Up in Blue,† â€Å"Idiot Wind,† â€Å"Simple Twist of Fate† and â€Å"Shelter From the Storm.† Dylan’s greatest album to date.In 1977 Dylan and Sara divorced and in 1978 he acted in the movie â€Å"Renaldo & Clara† and that same year converted to Christianity. In 1985 he performed at â€Å"Live Aid† and â€Å"Farm Aid† and contributed to â€Å"We Are the World.† In 1970 Dylan received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Princeton University. In 1988 Dylan was introduced to the R&R Hall of Fame. In 1991 Dylan received a Grammy Award for â€Å"Lifetime Achievement.† In 1997 Kennedy Center Honors Dylan for achievement in the arts. President Clinton stated, â€Å"He probably had more impact on people of my generation than any other creative artist.† In 1998 he was the winner of three Grammy awards in major categories for â€Å"Time Out of Mind†: The album of the Year, Best Male Contemporary Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2000 Dylan is awarded â€Å"The Polar Music Prize† by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music for his â€Å"indisputable influence on the development of 20th century popular music as a singer-songwriter. They also nominated Dylan for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Describe key aspects of public health strategies Essay

In this section of coursework I am going to produce a three-part report for a nursing student newspaper detailing key aspects of public health strategies. In the first part of this assignment I am going to describe the reasons behind public health strategies and their implementation. In the second section I am going to provide a description of the statistical and epidemiological sources of information which could be used by three organisations to determine patterns of ill health. Lastly for the third section of this coursework I am going to provide a brief description of the government, a national organisation and an international organisation reasonable for setting and influencing public health policy. Part one- Public Health Strategies Identifying the health needs of the populations This is where trends and patterns are identified through statistics; they can be collected directly from doctors or from other secondary statistical evidence. One specific example of identifying the health needs of the populations could be looking at obesity, this means assessing the likely increase in diabetes due to obesity. They would look at the mortality and the morbidity rates which would allow them to identify what causes the problems and put something in place to prevent it from occurring. Furthermore some organisations may collect data on communicable and non-communicable diseases, for example they may focus on a main non-communicable disease such as heart disease because there are many things which can be put in place to prevent it which would be the organisations responsibility. The world Health Organisation (WHO) would be one of the main organisations that would collect this statistical data and would make comparisons to other countries which would help them identify the problem. Once they had identified the problem, they would put strategies in place, for example: if they were looking at heart disease they would think about campaigns which are related to lifestyle factors. Monitoring the health status of the community. Read Also:  Good Descriptive Essay Topics This is where organisations track the changes in health of the population and alert people to potential problems. After they have identified the changes they have made they will then be able to have a clear insight if there were  any problems caused by the changes they made and how they could determine these problems. From statistics they will also be able to recognise any new patterns in health for example if a disease is increasing or decreasing. If a disease is increasing such as cancer they would put strategies in place such as screening which will identify the disease at an early stage which will decrease mortality rates on that specific disease. An organisation who would be informed on the problems would be public health agencies, personal health care organisations. Developing programmes to reduce risk and screen for early disease This helps to reduce levels of ill health by introducing new programmes that classify people as being at risk of a disease. For example, screenin g is put into place for cancer, especially breast cancer as it is very common and is available for most adults and is also available for men that are obese because they also have chances of getting it. Being able to identify cancer at an early stage will reduce the mortality rate because less people will be dying because the conditions won’t be as bad. It is also easier to treat at an earlier stage. Programmes are put into place to try and reduce the levels of ill health for example, health campaigns such as change smoke free which promotes a healthier lifestyle which is benefitting the individual and preventing them for certain diseases such as lung cancer. The Department of Health is the organisation who puts screening into place to try and reduce diseases being unnoticed and making sure that they catch them early. Controlling communicable disease Communicable diseases are diseases that can be spread from one person to another usually through viruses, bacteria, blood or other bodily fluid. The common known communicable diseases are, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio, Influenza and all of those diseases need to be controlled to prevent outbreaks which is known as ‘herd immunity’ this is why measures are put into place such as immunisations which reduces the impact of communicable diseases. The best advice if you have a communicable disease is to stay in to avoid spreading it. If you catch any of the diseases they have to be reported to the local GP so they can notify the public health director so they can put in other plans to control the disease such as food hygiene measures in restaurants and take-away’s to control the spread of food poisoning. Promoting the health of the population The government promote health of the population by introducing campaigns to educate people and raise awareness. This is done by educating them what health implications there are and what diseases they could get if they have a bad die,t such as diabetes or obesity, campaigns such as ‘change 4 life’ or ‘5 a day’ promote a healthier lifestyle and have the support and resources to help individuals and their specific goals and needs. They also have health campaigns to try and improve the health of the community overall and focus at deaths due to a specific illness. The main reason as to why these campaigns are put into place is to reduce the number of health problems due to obesity, drug and alcohol and smoking within communities, the government collect statistical data of how many people use these campaigns and receive the help they need to be successful and reach their goals and they look at whether this has resulted in the health of the community improving. For example, the campaign Stoptober is run every year over October and the numbers of smokers has decreased which shows that the campaign is being successful and working effectively which has a positive outcome because these lifestyle factors reduce chances of people getting diseases such as obesity and lung cancer so therefore this comes as a benefit to the NHS because they will be spending less money. Planning and evaluating the national provision of health and social care target setting The organisations that present health and social care services will plan and evaluate what sort of health care the population needs and then they plan what provisions and care services they need to put into place and whether they need to introduce new health and social care services for people to gain access to. Usually more services are due to rising numbers, a prime example of this would be that because there is currently an increase in the elderly population, which means that there will need t o be enough care homes to assist the elderly so organisations such as Health Protection Agency which aims to protect the public and they will see the increase and act on it. By making an evaluation it allows them to come up with an overall conclusion on what chances are needed and they will also look at what they are doing correctly. Part 2- Sources of information World Health Organisation WHO collects their data from multiple sources using a variety of data collection methods such as household surveys and routine reporting by health services and from other sources. WHO also collects information about national and international health and can make comparisons between countries. WHO works with other countries to improve health information. They collect statistical data on infectious diseases such as Cholera, Influenza, Meningitis, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Child health and HIV/AIDS. This then allows them to see clear comparisons between countries on specific diseases and can then plan ways in which to control the disease. Department of Health The Department of Health aims to help people live a better and longer life they ensure that people have the support, care and treatment they need which is done by gathering statistics. They gather statistics on everything but one example they gathered statistics on surveys designed to assess the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population aged 1.5 years and older living in private households in the UK. This then allows the government to compare diets and see if people are living a healthy lifestyle or not and help those who have not by providing resources. PHE main objective is to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities. PHE works with local and national government, NHS and industry, to protect and improve the nation’s health and support healthier choices. The PHE look for the problems in ill health and make those changes. They make the public healthier by encouraging discussions, supporting action by local government and advising government, the NHS and others. Furthermore they support the public so they can improve and protect their own health. Mainly they help local authorities and NHS to develop the public health systems and its specialist workforce. The PHE have 36 written statistics about the health of the public, these statistics collect evidence and are then compared against each other and they can be accessed GOV.UK. Part 3- Key groups Government and government agencies- Department of Heath The Department of Health helps people to live better for longer. They lead, shape and fund the health care in England and have many roles and responsibilities. They lead across health and care creating national legislation and policies, giving long-term determination to meet future and current challenges, by putting health and care at the heart of the government. They support the truth of the system from funding assuring everything is paid correctly â€Å"Department of Health encourages staff in every health and care organisation to learn from other people’s experience of health and care and apply this to what we do.† Pressure groups- Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth is a pressure group who looks at protecting the wellbeing of people and the planet which has been the inspiration for most of their campaigns. By protecting the environment/planet is protecting the health of individuals too. Their first campaign was to dump 1,500 non-returnable bottles outside the Schweppes London headquarters which by recycling is better for our health. Friends of the earth helps people to see things in a different way and tries to get everyone involved by looking for the best solution, backing ideas up with facts and science. National groups- Health Protection Agency The Health Protection Agencies now known as Public Health England’s main role is to prevent and is preparing to meet any threat to the nation’s health. It looks at a specific risk such as radiation, poisons or chemicals and it monitors outbreaks and spread of infection. To fulfil this aim the HPA provided an approach to protect public health in the UK by providing emergency services, support and advice to the NHS and other local authorities. The HPA also had a main role in helping planning for new and  rising health treats, such as bioterrorism or in the event of an emerging dangerous disease. International groups- Who Health Organisation WHO is a co-coordination organisation for health within the United Nations as a whole and has many roles as responsibilities such as it provides leadership on problems critical to health and appealing in partnerships where there needs to be joint action. It also shapes the research programme and stimulates the generation and dissemination of valuable knowledge. Further it puts down standards and monitors implementation. Lastly it â€Å"provides a technical support, catalysing change, and developing sustainable institutional capacity and monitoring† References http://www.who.int/about/en/- 1/10/13 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207707/ndns-y3-executive-summary_final.pdf- 2- 2/10/13 http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/healthregulators/Pages/public-health-england.aspx- 2/10/13 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health- 4/10/13 http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/about_us/friends_earth_works.html- 6/10/13

Abortion Persuasive Essay

Steve Glansburg English 123-33 Professor Orszulak October 18th, 2010 â€Å"To abort or to not abort; That is the question† Abortion is one of the most debated topics in the United States today. Many people form their opinions on their already religious beliefs and morals. Right now in the United States, it is legal everywhere to perform an abortion. Abortion can be done at many different stages of the pregnancy and most people’s opinion on abortion differs with their thoughts of when during the pregnancy should it be ok to abort.I believe that abortion should always be legal because no one person has the right to tell a woman that she must have a child, even if it was a mistake. Accidents happen whether it be the condom tears, the birth control does not work, or even the rare cases where a woman gets pregnant without actually having sex. We are human beings, we are not perfect in anyway shape or form, we are bound to make mistakes and I don’t believe that this ki nd of mistake should automatically change your life without giving you an option if it does.I can see where people could get upset from someone performing an abortion when you can actually see fetus, but I don’t see where they could get upset when the egg is just fertilized or is just a collection of cells. One human being has over 50 trillion cells in their body and you shouldn’t get mad if a woman decides to kill about 100 of them (Human Body). That is my viewpoint; women should be allowed to get an abortion before a certain time in the pregnancy. I don’t view a collection of cells that is not any type of developed organism yet to be a living person.There are also other circumstances that I believe make abortion a valid choice for a woman. Rape is a horrific event that no woman chooses to have done to her and I don’t believe they should also have to be pregnant from it too. If I was a woman and I was raped and became pregnant, but was not allowed to hav e an abortion, I would be furious. â€Å"I would feel that I did not choose for this to happen to me, it was violently forced upon me and I think that should be enough punishment. I also would not want to have a child that has the mixture of DNA from myself and the man who raped me and scared me for life. Also when a woman is not fit to become pregnant I don’t believe that they should be forced into maintaining the pregnancy if they made a mistake. If a woman is too young, is not financially stable, or has a drug problem are all valid reasons to not stay pregnant. Becoming pregnant at a young age can honestly ruin your life and make it so you can never go back to the way things were and fulfill your dreams that you once had.Not being financially stable to support a child is also a big problem because every child deserves to have a safe and healthy childhood. Having a drug addiction really is a problem because addicts will not stop during that nine months that they’re pregnant and that can severely compromise the health and wellbeing of the growing fetus. Abortion is a very debated topic because of all the moral and ethnic ties that come with it. Everyone has different belief systems and family upbringings that make it so their viewpoints are their very own.All I can argue is that not everyone chooses to become pregnant and that is why I don’t believe people should not have the choice to not stay pregnant, because in the end the woman has the right to do what she wants with her own body. Work Cited â€Å"Human Body. † Www. newworldencyclopedia. org. Ed. Frank Kaufmann. New World Encyclopedia, 10 July 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. .

Emma Watsons Speech on Masculinity

Emma Watson's Speech on Masculinity Emma Watson, British actor and Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, said many smart, important, sociologically informed things during her speech on gender equality  at the UN on September 20, 2014. Surprisingly,  the most important words of Ms. Watson  did not have to do with women and girls, but rather with men and boys. She said: We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive.  If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled. Ms. Watson tips her hat to a multitude of deeply important  social science research in these three short sentences. This research grows  in breadth by the day, and is seen as increasingly important by the sociological community, and by feminist activists,  in  the fight for gender equality. She doesnt use the word herself, but what Ms. Watson refers to here is masculinitythe collection of behaviors, practices, embodiments, ideas, and values that come to be associated with male bodies. Recently, but historically too, social scientists and writers from a range of disciplines are paying critical attention to the way commonly held beliefs about masculinity, and how best to do it or achieve it, result in serious, widespread, violent social problems. The  list of how masculinity and social problems  are connected is a long, diverse, and horrifying one. It includes that which specifically targets women and girls, like sexualized and gendered violence. Many sociologists, like Patricia Hill Collins, C.J. Pascoe, and Lisa Wade, have studied and proven the connection between the masculine ideals of power and control, and widespread physical and sexual violence against women and girls. Sociologists who study these troubling phenomena point out that these are not crimes of passion, but of power. They are meant to elicit submission and subservience from those targeted, even in what some would consider to be their less serious forms, like street harassment and verbal abuse. (For the record, these too  are very serious problems.) In her book, Dude, Youre a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School,  an instant classic among sociologists, C.J. Pascoe showed through over a years worth of research how boys are socialized to adopt and perform a dominant, aggressive, controlling, and sexualized version of masculinity. This kind of masculinity, the idealized norm in our society, requires that boys and men control girls and women. Their status in society, and inclusion in the category men depends upon it. Of course there are other social forces at play as well, but the powerful socializing force of this dominant notion of masculinity is a key contributor to the widespread rates of sexual assault and  violence against women and girls- and against gay, lesbian, queer, and trans people too- that plague our society. That violence, though, is not only targeted at women, girls, and folks who do not fit within the rigid frameworks of heterosexuality and gender norms. It plagues the lives of normal  men and boys too, as they fight and kill  in defense of their masculine honor. Studies have found that the everyday violence within inner-city communities results in rates of PTSD among youth that exceed those among  combat veterans. Recently, Victor Rios, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of California-Santa Barbara, who has researched and written extensively about the connection between idealized masculinity and violence, founded a Facebook page dedicated to raising awareness about this issue. (Check out Boys and Guns: Masculinity in a Culture of Mass Shootings, to learn more about sociological research on this issue.) Looking beyond  our immediate communities, sociologists  make the case that this insidious link between masculinity and violence fuels many of the wars that rage across our world, as bombs, bullets, and chemical warfare batter populations into political submission. So too, many sociologists see ideologies of idealized masculinity present in the economic, environmental, and social violence wrought by global capitalism. Of these issues, celebrated sociologist Patricia Hill Collins would argue that these forms of domination are achieved by a form of power based not just on masculinity and the power structure of patriarchy, but how these intersect and overlap with racism, classism, xenophobia, and homophobia. The ideal of masculinity hurts women economically too, by casting us  as the weaker, less valuable counterparts to men, which serves to justify the gender pay gap. It bars us  from access to higher education and jobs, by framing us  as less worthy of the time and consideration of those in positions of power. It denies us  rights to autonomy in our own healthcare decisions, and prohibits us from having parity in political representation. It casts us as sex objects who exist to give pleasure to men, at the expense of our own pleasure and fulfillment. By sexualizing our bodies, it casts  them as tempting, dangerous, in need of control, and as having asked for it when we are harassed and assaulted. While the litany of social problems that harm women and girls is both infuriating and depressing, what is encouraging is that they are discussed with more frequency and openness by the day. Seeing a problem, naming it, and raising awareness about it are crucial first steps on the road to change. This is why Ms. Watsons words about men and boys are so important. A global public figure with an enormous social media platform and vast media coverage, in her speech she illuminated the historically quiet  ways in which idealized masculinity has harmed boys and men. Importantly,  Ms. Watson tuned into the emotional and psychological consequences of this issue: I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either......Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong......I want men to take up this mantle so that their daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice, but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too, reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned, and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves. Brava, Ms. Watson. You simply, eloquently, and compelling illustrated why gender inequality is a problem for men and boys too, and why the fight for equality is also theirs. You named the problem, and powerfully argued why it must be addressed.  We thank you for it. Click here to learn more about the UNs HeForShe campaign for gender equality, and pledge your support to the cause.