Patterns of Behaviour Essay

To form a reaction the particles must collide in high speed. The faster the particles collide the more kinetic energy is produced. This produces a bigger reaction. There are five key variables that affect the rate of a reaction (in this case with a solid and a solution): Change in temperature An increase in heat energy within the particles leads to more kinetic energy. Therefore there is more collision of particles and it increases the rate of the reaction. When we decrease the amount of heat energy, this will evidently slow down the reaction. For example we slow down the process of our food rotting by placing it in a fridge or a freezer. Change in concentration The concentrations of acids are classed in molars, so 2m would quite a strong concentrated acid, 0. 5m would be a very dilute weak acid and 1m would be in between the two. Also, the more concentrated the acid, the more particles it contains, so there is more of a chance for collisions.   Change of particle size Increasing the surface area of the particles would lead to more collision. We do this by making the particles smaller. For instance peeling a large potato would not take as long as peeling four small potatoes; this is because the smaller potatoes have a larger surface area for you to peel. Pressure (for gases only) Increasing the pressure would bring particles closer together so there would be more of a chance for collision.   Catalyst A catalyst lowers the activation of energy required, consequently there being a faster reaction. The three variables we are choosing to show which effect the rate of reaction in our experiments are: Particle size Concentration   Temperature Pressure was inappropriate to use as a variable, because we were not using two gases and a catalyst was unsuitable to use for small tests like these. I think that the tests in changing the temperature will have the fastest times, as the hotter a solution is the more the particles will move and collide, thus the rate of carbon dioxide being produce will be faster. I also think that the large particles test will take the slowest amount of time because of the lack of surface area and the reverse will occur with the test with powered calcium carbonate. Plan We will be running a various number of experiments to prove what effects the rate of reaction with calcium carbonate (marble chips) and hydrochloric acid. The balanced equation for these reactants along with the products: Calcium carbonate + hydrochloric acid calcium chloride + carbon dioxide + water Ca Co + 2 HCl Ca Cl + Co + H O When experimenting with the effects of the particle size we will use three sizes: large marble chips, small marble chips and powered calcium carbonate. For the tests in concentration of acid we will use 2m, 1m and 0. 5m. We will use 50cc of hydrochloric acid in each test to guarantee precise results. Finally for the experiments with the changes of temperature we will be heating the acid using a bunsen burner for two temperatures: 30i and 40i , then leaving the acid at room temperature (around 22i ). We will measure the temperature accurately using a thermometer. These will be the only three things that we are going to vary, to explain what affects the rate of reaction. We will also only be testing one variable at a time. For example, in the test for concentration we will obviously be varying the concentration of the acid (0. 5, 1 and 2m) but we will be keeping the temperature and the particle size the same (room temp. and small marble chips). To tell us what actually affects the rate of reaction we will monitoring how fast carbon dioxide is given off. To find this out we will have a plastic basin containing water. A test tube measuring 10cc filled with water will be held upside down in the basin of water and a delivery tube will be attached to the beaker holding the acid and calcium carbonate and the other end will be positioned in the test tube in the water. We will use all the same apparatus to ensure everything is fairly tested and is accurate to the equipment we are using. As the acid reacts with the calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide is released. This will travel through the delivery tube and into the test tube. The test tube will fill up with carbon dioxides and the water will pushed out. We will be timing this with a stop clock. As the water descends to 1cc we will record the time, then at 2cc, again at 3cc and so forth. At the end of each experiment we should have 10 times recorded. For each factor, instead of just performing the experiment once, we will repeat it three times to provide us with a more accurate end result. In total we will be doing 27 tests to show what effects the rate of reaction. Diagram To make certain that this method is good enough and to certify that it worked properly we will carried out a trail experiment. We used all the average variables for fair testing. So the temperature was at room (22i ) the concentration not to strong or weak (1m) and the small marble chips. Trial experiment results 1 molar room temperature small marble chips Min/sec 1cc 1:41 2cc 3:15 3cc 4:46 4cc 6:13 5cc 7:35 6cc 9:03 7cc 10:34 8cc 11:56 9cc 13:27 10cc 14:33 The carbon dioxide was released very slowly in this test. It took over fourteen and a half minutes for it to finish and this would not be practical because of the limited time been given to conduct all our experiments. It took so long, because we had only put one small marble chip in. There were no more calcium carbonate particles to react with the acid particles, so this had a dramatic effect on the time. On In each test we do we will always place more particles than the amount we need, so there is excess calcium carbonate at the end to make sure it does not run out during the test. Because this was the first time we were trying the tests out we were a bit slow placing the bung on and maybe some of the carbon dioxide had escaped. To improve our main experiments to achieve accurate results we had to place the bung on as soon as we dropped in the calcium carbonate to make sure no carbon dioxide escaped. Results Concentration 0. 5 molar room temperature small marble chips 1st 2nd 3rd Average Temperature Room temperature 1molar small marble chips 1st 2nd 3rd AverageAnalysis On the concentration graph the average of the 0. 5m results was looked very different compared to the 1m and 2m averages. Because it took the longest time to reach 10cc of carbon dioxide, the gradient of the line of best fit sloped very gently. The release of carbon dioxide started off very slow at the being. It took 1:30 minutes to reach 1cc, then the rate quickened and in 2 minutes 5cc of carbon dioxide had been given off. On the graph the gradient in those two minutes steepened. The rate slowed down after that and the release of carbon dioxide was gradual and steady.

John adams

John Adams had more positive characteristics than negative. John Adams of Brainteaser Massachusetts was a lawyer, farmer, Harvard graduate, husband of Abigail Smith Adams, father of four children, and a revolutionary. By the look of things, he seemed Like a pretty lovable man considering he was his wife's tenderness of husbands and her good man. He had many great qualities that everyone around him would appreciate his presence. As for the negative traits, he was fiercely stubborn and quick to anger. 2)John Adams thought his biggest flaw was his tendency to talk too much.When he was twenty years old, he worried over never having any bright ideas, or being too bright for his own good and show off to others who would befriend him. He hated that he was overly proud and conceited and wanted to change that about himself. 3) Abigail Adams had views on nearly everything and people. She was always quick to express what she was thinking. She was an independent woman who took responsibility of all her duties as a wife and a mother. She had the positive quality of being such a loving and caring wife, and made John Adams' life Infinitely fuller. It's almost as If she was the missing piece to his puzzle.His marriage to Abigail was the most Important decision of his life. 4) John Adams was asked to defend the soldiers and their captain when they came to trial. He was informed that no one else would take the case, but he accepted regardless what judgment he would soon be getting. He said that no man in a free country should be denied the right to counsel and a fair trial, and convinced, on principle, that the case was of utmost importance. He put law above his personal beliefs and knew it was his duty to accept the case. Eventually, his fellow patriots came to respect him for what he had done. John Adams said, â€Å"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. â €  He said this during his successful defense of the British soldiers who fired upon the crowd during the Boston Massacre. His actions to represent the British soldiers proved that despite all differences, men of principle can act Justly under the rule of law. This statement about facts, like many truths, Is universal and teaches that we must face truths, even when we don't Like them. 6) Briefly describe each of the followingGeorge Washington: Commander of Virginia militia, Continental arrant commander in chief during Revolutionary War, first president James Otis: Also a leader with John Adams of a new generation of political activist, a group called Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty united otherwise adversary groups taking opposition to the Stamp Act to the streets, organizing riots and intimidating tax collectors. Sam Adams: Ben Franklin: Philadelphia first citizen, the most famous American alive, printer, establishing the American philosophical Society resulting in Philadel phia becoming he recognized center of American thought and ideas.Thomas Jefferson: Be]main Rush: John Dickinson: 7) Describe the role Adams played in each of the following: Boston Massacre: March 5th. Stamp Act: Last week of May 1765, Starting in November, nearly everything written or printed on paper other than private correspondence and books were required to carry revenue stamps. This helped pay for the cost of the French and Indian war and to meet the expense of maintaining a colonial military force to prevent Indian wars. Adams remained cautious with his involvement in political activities involving the Stamp Act.He was worried that this might hurt his reputation. This Act marks the beginning of the struggle for freedom and independence. His involvement started in August 1765 when he published an essay in the Boston Gazette entitled â€Å"A Dissertation on Canon and Feudal LaW'. The Stamp Act was hardly mentioned, however it discussed British Law and how certain liberties and freedom Americans enjoyed was earned by many generations of Americans.

Identify and illustrate some of the dominant cultural values of modern Essay

Identify and illustrate some of the dominant cultural values of modern consumer societies - Essay Example Moreover, it is still a debatable issue whether modern consumerism has espoused globalised or localised philosophies (Merz et al. 2008: 166-182). Yet, literature on this topic has focused on finding the disparities between theoretical knowledge and its practical implementations. The main difficulty in arriving any conclusive model of consumer culture in modern societies is that social values and systems are too generic to hint at any distinctive features of consumerism. On one hand, the 21st century is market-centric. The pervasive market trends have engulfed everything material or immaterial. Theories of branding, especially those involving adolescent psychologies, clearly show how cultural propensities are directly regulated by the market economy (Naim et al. 2008: 627-640). On the other hand, this market driven economy fails to justify behaviours such as religious preferences or jingoism (Slater 1997: 24). This essay strives to discuss the key factors that can be held as probable identifiers of the dominant cultural values that underpin modern consumer societies. Culture is an abstract term for a number of social, economic and behaviorist aspects. The process of locating cultural attributes in any given society is extremely complex, for the notion of culture is highly de-territorialised due to regular intermingling of a diverse array of cultures across domestic as well as international borders. Hence, there is a pluralistic dimension to the study of ethnology in the context of consumerism (Craig and Douglas 2006: 322-342). The counter-culture movements in the 1960s may be examined in order to explore the subtleties of social hegemony and its impact on human culture. Market oriented economic practices in the modern era have not diffused into the realm of mass consumerism. Such practices are cultural properties of the elites who rule the economy of any given society. The mass, on the contrary, are compelled to using what is

Sexual Literacy Research (Sexual Orientation) Paper

Sexual Literacy (Sexual Orientation) - Research Paper Example Although, social factors like parenting styles and childhood experiences are maximally focused by various sections including social scientists, media, and common people, the role of biological or physiological factors assumes prominence based on number of researches. The article titled Prenatal Endocrine influences on Sexual Orientation and on Sexually Differentiated Childhood Behavior, written by Melissa Hines, and a book titled Gay, Straight and the Reason Why, written by Simon LeVay, focuses on this role of biological factors. So, this report analyses the above mentioned article and the book about sexual orientation to develop a plausible biological-based scientific explanation for the development of diverse sexual orientations in humans. LeVay in his book extensively covers topics regarding the factors responsible for sexual orientation. It includes prenatal neuro-hormonal effects, gender related brain organization in humans, cultural, psychological, and genetic influences (LeVay, 2011). Prenatal neuro-hormonal effects focus on how fetus can be exposed to hormones during pregnancy thereby influencing their sexual orientation (McCarthy, De Vries & Forger, 2009). According to researches, organization of the brain in males and females can also sway sexual orientation (Manning, 2002). When individuals face or exposed to certain cultural aspects, they are shown to exhibit homosexual or heterosexual behavior (Zucker, 2002). If certain experiences from childhood have a psychological impact, individuals’ sexual orientation can be influenced (Bem, 1996). Apart from these causes, LeVay (2011) focuses on how genetics can also influence the sexual orientation. He claims prenatal and hormonal factors as the most important determinants for one’s sexual orientation (LeVay, 2011). Similarly, the article claims evidences for

Women's Suffrage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Women's Suffrage - Research Paper Example It was also considered inappropriate if women spoke in public or traveled alone. Women were trained to restrain themselves from pursuing any kind of education as it was believed that strong intellectual or physical activity would harm the reproductive system and the biology of the delicate body of a woman. Women were considered to be physically and intellectually inferior to men in the nineteenth century. "Women's interests were deemed to be subsumed in those of men" (Crawford 9). They were believed to be mere objects of beauty and desire and were supposed to be silent spectators of what was happening in their surrounding. Organized religion also added force to this belief of women being inferior to men as it preached stern and distinct sex roles. This inferior treatment of women gave birth to a political and economical reform movement hose motive was to extend the right to vote or suffrage to women. This movement was called the Women's Suffrage movement. "The suffrage movement was a major social movement, which at its peak absorbed the energies of hundreds of thousands and represented a vital extension of the democratic principle" (Scott 9). The movement first originated in the Eighteenth Century in France. New Zealand, which was a self governing colony of Britain, was the first country in 1893, to grant women the right to vote. ... However, some of these were not independent while the others had brief periods of independence. Though the right to vote did not apply to all women, Sweden is believed to be the first independent country to grant women the right to vote, where some women were actually allowed to vote during the age of liberty which was between 1718 and 1771. In Australia some women were given the right to vote in 1901, however this right was given to all non-native women in 1902. International law introduced voting rights to women in 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was accepted by the United Nations. "Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives" (Donnelly 167). The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations, also clearly mentioned women's suffrage or the right to vote for women. Throughout the world in various countries at different times suffrage was granted to women. Women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage in many countries, and women from a few social classes and races were unable to vote. Voting for towns and city assemblies and meetings was open to the heads of the families in medieval France and several other European countries, regardless of their sex. The Corsican Republic of 1755 had granted women's suffrage. The Constitution of the Corsican Republic stipulated a national representative assembly, both men and women over the age of 25 elected it. When France occupied the island in 1769, women's suffrage came to an end. In 1780s and 1790s the movements for women's suffrage is found in the writings of Antoine Condorcet and Olympe de Gouges, in France, who promoted this right

Longing for Freedom Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Longing for Freedom - Coursework Example Once in the small and the forgotten places he finds on the map (the book is named for the blue highways that are the small state and county roads on his map) it may be an out of the way diner or caf, a little college community, even a monastery, he retells histories and tales that make these places significant in their own way. He found out much that was new and strange to him: one thing that struck him and made him think was repeatedly finding one shoe as he made his way across the country. Where was the other shoe Why would someone throw one shoe out the car window What good was the other one, alone He finally concluded, without much conviction, that all those solitary shoes were the result of people dangling their feet out the window, with one shoe accidentally flying off and out onto the roadside. "On the old highway maps of America, the main routes were red and the back roads blue. Now even the colors are changing. But in those brevities just before dawn and a little after dusk - times neither day nor night - the old roads return to the sky some of its color. Then, in truth, they carry a mysterious cast of blue, and it's that time when the pull of the blue highways is strongest ..." Blue Highways is more than just an autobiographical road novel - it contains innumerable aspects of the 'American road culture', ranging from ethnical problems and the undeniable importance of diners to the true significance of road literature. In other words, W. Least Heat Moon somehow assists in determining the myth of the road and he invites the reader to join him on a more abstract kind of road, namely that from the past to the present. Having Native American ancestors himself, Least Heat Moon also lays enormous emphasis on the aspect of race and ethnicity on the road. Why do people leave home to go on such an extended road trip What is the myth of the road that fascinates so many And above all, what do such road protagonists expect to find or discover on the road For William Least heat Moon the journey is on the one hand a sort of escape from home and on the other hand it obviously represents an attempt to forget or even heal. "Etymology: 'curious', related to 'cure', once meant 'carefully observant'. Maybe a tonic of curiosity would counter my numbing sense that life inevitably creeps toward the absurd. 'Absurd', by the way, derives from a Latin word meaning 'deaf, dulled'. Maybe the road could provide a therapy through observation of the ordinary and obvious, a means whereby the outer eye opens an inner one." (Blue Highways, p.17) As the name 'Least Heat Moon' already indicates, his ancestors were Native Americans and thus his journey is as well an occasion to search for his origins, to somehow trace his ancestral roots. Most road protagonists set out alone with the simple reason to find their true self. For William Least Heat Moon this search for himself requires the loneliness of the back roads and this purity of experience. However, although the loneliness of the back roads is quite an important aspect, Least Heat Moon knows that it is exactly his traveling alone that also brings him into contact with people that makes him

Introduction to Geography - Food and Climate Assignment

Introduction to Geography - Food and Climate - Assignment Example According to Moneo & Iglesias (2004, par. 2), â€Å"climate is one of the main factors which controls what natural resources we have and is an important element of sustainable development. Agriculture and water resources are intrinsically linked with climate†. In Asia for example, known for countries enjoying a tropical climate, the staple food is rice. This applies to countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, among others. Rice has been known to grow in tropical countries with lots of high temperatures the whole year round concurrent with a well defined rainy season, conducive to planting rice. Aside from rice, tropical countries are conducive to producing fruits such as pineapple, mango, banana; legumes; root crops like potatoes, cassava and yams, among a host of other foods. These crops like warm weather with intermittent rain. In the United States, where geography and climate differ across various regions, food production likewise varies depending on climatic conditions. The CIA World Factbook (2010) described the climate in the USA as â€Å"mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains†. As such, the major crops produced are corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, and sorghum (EPA, 2009). Foods in midlatitude climates such as those coming from Colombia are mostly coffee, banana, sugarcane, and other staple crops like â€Å"rice, beans, cassava, potatoes, barley, corn, and wheat† (US Library of Congress, n.d., para. 10). Corn is also considered a staple crop together with wheat and barley which is adaptable to a climate in higher grounds. The moist continental climate in regions such as Japan have foods such as â€Å"rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit.  Ã‚  

Barclaycard's Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Barclaycard's Marketing - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that Barclaycard has been a success story of a creative media campaign sustained by a system of persistent value creation. Branding is a strategic approach adopted by organizations to create favorable perceptions about products among consumers. Barclaycard too adopted such an approach with a series of products including its debit card and the credit card. However, its subsequent success with the credit card came with the innovative brand value-creating efforts of t of brand value management. Some hitherto unheard of concepts were adopted by its management in order to innovate, reorient, strategically position and redefine its then existing strategic branding techniques. An articulate strategy of brand value creation along with a customer loyalty management approach was adopted in response to competitors’ threat to its core business. It was around this time that the management of the company realized the relative significance of a str ategic shift in its brand management and value creation approaches. Coupled with a mammoth advertising campaign, the company sought convincingly to introduce innovation, value for money and an individual value parameter as the new dynamic concepts in a customer-oriented promotion campaign. This strategic shift in company’s brand equity policy approach worked to such an extent that soon its rivals began to copy some of its fundamental principles... However its strategic environment as divided in to product and marketing strategy, competition strategy, growth strategy and financial strategy indicates that the organization has been faced with many constraints. Despite these constraints in its organizational environment, Barclaycard has successfully initiated some far reaching policy related outcomes. For instance Barclaycard related product and marketing strategy have been oriented towards achieving a series of positive mergers & acquisitions (M&A) related synergies including growth and competitive capabilities (Gaughan, 2007). This outcome is qualitativley and qunatitatively influenced by Barclay's M&A activity. IntroductionBarclaycard has been a success story of a creative media campaign saustained by a system of persistent vaslue creation. Branding is a strategic approach adopted by organizations to create favorable perceptions about products among consumers. Barclaycard too adopted such an approach with a series of products including its debit card and the credit card. However its subsequent success with the credit card came with the innovative brand value creating efforts of t of brand value management. Some hitherto unheard of concepts were adopted by its management in order to innovate, reorient, strategically position and redefine its then existing strategic branding techniques. An articulate strategy of brand value creation along with a customer loyalty management approach was adopted in response to competitors' threat to its core business. It was around this time that the management of the company realized the relative significance of a strategic shift in its brand management and value creation approaches.

The Downfall of a Dictator Essay Example for Free

The Downfall of a Dictator Essay Ferdinand Marcos, the man who would be President: his was a story of success. It was a long, arduous climb to the highest office in land. He worked hard to achieve it. It was not an easy road – there were frustrations, obstacles, and public scandals along the way. But he made it. Despite seemingly irreversible defeats, he fulfilled what he promised his mother: â€Å"For every tear you shed now, there will be victory.† (People Power: The Philippine Revolution of 1986) Ferdinand Marcos: The unforgettable among the Presidents of the Philippines, even over the world, then and now. When we here this name the first thing that always come to our mind is Marshall Law or the dictator. In Marcos time corruption reached its apex. The Marcos government was labeled a kleptocracy, literally meaning that it was a government ruled by thieves. A kleptocracy can be defined as a dishonest form of governmental corruption where the government exists solely to increase the personal wealth and power of its officials and the ruling class without regard for the wider population. On September 21, 1972, Marcos declared Martial Law. This marked the beginning of the Marcos dictatorship. Proclamation 1081 placed the entire country under the military. It was signed on September 21, 1972 and announced to the nation in the evening of September 23, 1972. His main reason for declaring Martial Law as to save the Republic and to reform society. He explained that the growing violence in the nation, caused by the leftists and the rightist’s elements had come to certain magnitude that required martial law. During this time, violation of human rights of the people in the rural areas was rampant. Upon his orders, the military picked up and detained thousands of Filipinos suspected of rebellion. Hundreds of detainees were tortured by their captors. Some disappeared and were never found again. Many were held in military detention camps for years without trial. As a result of the foregoing measured, the crime rate in the country was reduced significantly. People became law-abiding. But these good gains did not last long. After a year of martial law, crime rates started to soar. By the time Marcos was removed from power, the peace and order situation in the country had become worse. The rampant violation of human rights of the people in the rural areas suspected of being NPA sympathizers, the injustices committed by some government officials and powerful and influential persons, and the continuing poverty of the people were used as propaganda of the NPA in attracting idealistic young people. Even priests and nuns who were witnesses to the oppression of the Marcos dictatorship join the NPAs. The assassination of Aquino was reported to have awakened the Filipinos to the evils of Marcos as a dictator. Millions of Filipinos who sympathized with Ninoy’s bereaved family, joined the funeral march to mourn for the death of an intelligent leader and to express their feelings against Marcos. August 13, 1985 was the beginning of the end for Marcos. Fifty-six members of Parliament called for his impeachment for graft, corruption, and other high crimes. Marcos called a new election for 1986. His opponent was Corazon Aquino, the widow of Benigno. Marcos claimed a 1.6 million vote victory, but observers found a 800,000 win by Aquino. A People Power movement quickly developed, driving the Marcoses into exile in Hawaii, and affirming Aquinos election. Ninoy Aquino was a great lost to the Philippines. I think that he could have been a great president. Even though some say that he was a â€Å"fake hero† because he really didn’t accomplish anything and that he was â€Å"fighting for himself only† which is according to some comments that I read in some sites, for me he’s really a hero and these things that they said is absurd in my opinion.

Araby by James Joyce Essay Example for Free

Araby by James Joyce Essay What impression of Dublin and its people does James Joyce give in his story Araby? James Augustine Alrysius Joyce, an Irish writer, was born in Dublin 2nd February 1882 and died in Zurich, Switzerland 13th January 1941. He was born into a well-off Catholic family and was the eldest surviving child; two of his siblings died of typhoid. Joyce was originally educated at Clongowes Wood College, a boarding school in County Kildare, which he left at the age of 6 because his father could no longer pay the fees. James Joyce studied at home for a brief period of time before being offered a place in the Jesuits Dublin School. At the age of 16 he rejected Catholicism which changed his life completely. At the age of 20, after graduating from the UDC (University College Dublin) he left for Paris and tried studying different occupations like teaching, journalism and even a doctor. At the age of 21 he returned to Ireland after receiving news that his mother was diagnosed with cancer. After she had died James Joyce became a heavy drinker but gradually stopped as he got over her death. He then stayed in Dublin for a period of time from 1904-1907 writing the Dubliners and also started many other books. The book Dubliners is a collection of short stories and Araby, like all of them, have paralysis meaning that they cant leave Dublin. For example in the short story Clay Maria has the chance to make a new life and leave Dublin but turns it down because she is too scared. This also occurs in A Painful Case and Eveline, as they dont have to courage to leave Dublin. In the short story The Boarding House, Bob Doran wishes to leave Dublin but cant because he is trapped inside marriage. Most of the short stories, unlike Araby, go in circles, for instance, Two Gallants when Lenehan just wanders around Dublin. This also occurs in The Dead because a horse just goes around and around in circles, and also in An Encounter when a pervert tries to stop but end back in the same perverted world. At the end of the short stories James Joyce always write an epiphany, which is a revelation, but in all but one story the revelation is only noticed by the reader but in Araby both the reader and the protagonist the protagonist is the main character have an epiphany an epiphany is a moment of revelation, usually at the end of the story. In the streets of Dublin James Joyce writes them as being blind, meaning that its a dead end and there is nothingness, it also means that you cant escape and there is nowhere to go (there is no way of getting out of Dublin). The main reason is that there is no vision, meaning that you cant see how terrible and run down Ireland really is. He describes all things by the colours brown and yellow that symbolises human excrements. He writes the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns, the word feeble shows that the light is not even strong enough to even penetrate the darkness. Jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, the word bargaining in this case can mean two things. The first meaning of it is that they are just selling items and changing the prices of them, and the second meaning is that the women are bargaining for their bodies, they are prostitutes. There are street singers who sing about the problems in Ireland. Also that weather is always extremely violent, and this is shown by the words cold air stung us, rain impinge upon the earth and the air was pitilessly raw. Religion in Dublin is exceedingly poor. In the second paragraph it says a priest, had died showing that the faith in Dublin has disappeared off the face of the earth. Inside the house of the dead priest there were books that were curled and damp meaning that the interest in them was lost. The books were The Abbot which is a religious story, The Devout Communicant which is a book on how to receive Holy Communion well and the last one The Memoirs of Vidocq which is about a thief. The books are muddled up indicating that religion in Ireland is a sham. When it talks about the priest again it first says very charitable priest making you think that the priest was a good man, and suddenly says in his will he had left all his money to institutions and the furniture of his house to his sister presenting the complete opposite. This means that the priest was only charitable went he knew he was dieing and he wasnt a nice man. In the dead priests wild garden there is an apple tree in the centre signifying the Garden of Eden which is a source of evil. In a bush in the garden, there is a rusty bicycle-pump, this can denote three things. The first description of the bicycle-pump is that there is no escape because, if you cant pump up your tires, then you cant go anywhere. The second explanation represents the snake, or Satan, in the Garden of Eden because the pump is approximately the same size a snake. The last reason, symbolizes a heart, meaning that, because the heart is not pumping, there is no love or life in Dublin, symbolizing that everything is hopeless. A good part in the story when you know that religion is just a phoney in Dublin is when the boys Aunt says Im afraid you may have to put off your bazaar for this night of Our Lord actually saying that he should just forget about it in a nasty way. Although she I using religious word she is using them without kindness, meaning that she is not caring about him. The family life in Dublin isnt very pleasant either. In the beginning of the book, the boy says if my Uncle was seen turning the corner, we hid in the shadow indicating that he doesnt live with his parents, and also that hes scared of him. On the night of the bazaar his Uncle came home late, I heard him talking to himself meaning he was obviously drunk and had forgotten all about Araby. The love in Dublin is bland. For the boy he loves and stalks Mangans sister. She is called thins because he doesnt actually know her name so he names her Mangans sister. He defines her as light because he thinks of Dublin as the dark and Mangans sister as a light to brighten up Dublin. When he looks at her her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side, she is describes as lively and everyone else is not. Followed her, or stalking her is the meaning, I kept her brown figure always in my eye, brown indicating that she is actually just an ordinary person with nothing special about her. Within one paragraph there are five words chalice, prayers, praises, tears and adoration, he describes her with religious word, and because he left Catholicism she is now his secular religion (one without God). She is also like music to his ears because it says my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires. Also showing that he uses her in a secular religion is a sentence saying I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: O love! O love! many times showing that he worships her a lot. At last she spoke to me, this is the moment he was waiting for the whole time. She then talks about Araby and says she cant go. While she was talking to him she turned a sliver bracelet, silver indicating bright. In two sentences he uses six words to describe how radiant and bright she is and how drawn he is to her, they are light, lamp, white, lit, lit and white, repeating white and lit. Waking and sleep thoughts and chafed against the work of school imply that he cant do anything besides thinking about Araby and Mangans sister, and it also says I strove to read hinting the same thing. Lie at the window signals that he stalks and spies on Mangans sister, and he is singing because he is happy about getting Mangans sister a present. Lastly he has a sexual desire for Mangans sister because it says border below the dress suggesting that he is growing quite fast and is into the puberty stage of life. Araby is a fair or, a bazaar which is a foreign word from the east. In the boys eyes, Araby is an exotic place that gets away from all the darkness of Dublin. Also Araby is close to the word Arabia which is in the east signifying that its exotic, rich. And because it is in the east it signifies that the sunrise comes from the east, representing a new day, a new hope, a new light. Also Jesus resurrected in the east, epitomizing a new beginning or day. When he eventually arrives to Araby, he goes around the stalls and finds that most of them are closed. There is one that is open but when he sees the people at the stall he discovers they all speak in English accents indicating that the bazaar is not exotic at all. A young lady, who is probably a prostitute, because she is seen flirting with two men at the same time, asks the boy if he wants to buy anything but he says no, thank you. And from this, all of his dreams end because, the items are too expensive and mundane. At the end of the story there is an epiphany, which is the moment of revelation, to both the reader and the protagonist, because usually the epiphany is only recognisable to the reader. On the second from last paragraph at the end it says complete darkness signifying that all hope is gone. The whole of the last paragraph says gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger, this is the exact moment when he realises that all Dublin was in vain and all he did was in vain. He figures out from this that there actually is no love, no romance and no chivalry.

A Reflective Account On The Decision Making Process

A Reflective Account On The Decision Making Process For this assignment, I have used Gibbs reflective cycle to reflect on the impact of psychosocial and cultural issues on decision making in dietetic practice. In this reflective piece, I have focused on how these factors contribute to malnutrition in the elderly. My patient was a 79 year old Caucasian lady, referred for nutrition support. She had experienced an unintentional weight loss of 10 kilograms (kg) over two years, since losing her husband. Her weight loss had become a serious concern for her, which led to her referral by her general practitioner (GP). During the consultation, she explained that she had lost 3kg in one month, which is when she started worrying as she noticed her clothes were loose. I examined her food diary and asked further questions to get an overall picture of how she was managing and if other factors were affecting her. She seemed to have an adequate diet, although at her last visit to her GP eight months prior, she was informed that she had impaired fasting glucose (IFG). She therefore decreased her intake of sugary foods for fear of becoming diabetic. When she mentioned she had lost her husband of 55 years, I immediately thought this was the reason for her weight loss. She admitted having battled with loneliness and depression for a while and that support from her son and family was helping her through this difficult time. However, although they visited at weekends, she had no other social support. She spent her time at home except for when she was out doing her weekly shopping. Several psychosocial factors emerged from this part of the consultation including bereavement and the state of depression, which she endured following this traumatic event . A significant attribute of bereavement and depression is appetite loss. She no longer had anyone to appreciate her cooking efforts and the deprivation of companionship at mealtimes became a reminder of her loss. A time of communication, joy and bonding had become a painful experience, leading to lack of interest in any activity related to food or eating, making it more of a chore . Eating is a social variable and part of our self and social identity, which also makes it a cultural variable. It is a structured part of ones everyday life and a valued social activity for most married people. Food habits developed throughout life are an important component of culture and strongly influence food decisions. The stress of bereavement can alter the social, psychological and cultural significance of food during this time . Other psychosocial determinants include access to food, and ability to cook and share meals with others . The patient was shopping for herself and consuming ready meals as she still struggled cooking just for one. It is common for elderly people to consume ready meals as it is convenient since they can buy and freeze them, and they are single portions . She only cooked when her son came to visit. I suggested joining a social club in the area, which could help improve her morale . Meal ambiance has been shown to improve levels of ingestion and is an important stimulus modulated to help increase appetite in places such as nursing homes . Unfortunately, she suffered from urinary incontinence (UI) and found it embarrassing to urinate so frequently when around people, so she declined. I decided it was best to encourage her in relation to her diet so that she felt she was already doing something to help herself and that her coming to see the dietitian would add to her efforts in trying to gain weight . Relocation and change of environment can also yield negative outcomes in terms of psychosocial disturbances such as, anxiety, depression and loneliness, associated with transferring from one place to another . She had recently moved to a smaller house, which was a stressful time for her. She had settled in but had had a hard time adjusting. This is an area I should have explored further. For example, had she made friends in the area; had she changed her eating habits due to limited access to foods she was used to having and so forth. These issues would have impacted on her intake and weight if they were causing her anxiety or depression . Financial constraint is another psychosocial factor to consider when giving dietary advice, as unaffordability affects intake . Cognitive decline is also associated with reduced intake in the elderly as they may not have the desire to eat or may forget to do so . According to her food diary and where she mentioned she was shopping from, she was not restricting herself. She was consuming three meals a day with snacks. However, as research suggests, misreporting of food diaries is common where patients try to present themselves more favourably . Alternatively, keeping the food diary may have acted as a reminder for her to eat. However, this issue was not explored on this occasion. Another psychosocial issue I considered was the food anxiety which had been created following the IFG test. Her GP had told her she was in the pre-diabetic stage and so she had eliminated most fruit and all high sugar foods from her diet as she was worried about becoming diabetic. Food habits are a set of culturally standardised set of behaviours which have been reared in individuals from childhood. Therefore, every person has a culture which dictates their eating behaviour . The burden of disease caused her to change her eating habits . She was anxious about eating foods with sugar, which formerly was a safe component of her diet. I explained that she did not have to exclude sugar from her diet completely. This created confusion as my advice was conflicting with that of her GPs. I clarified that she could still have small amounts of sugar in her but that she was wise to reduce on pure forms of sugar e.g. sweets. She was relieved to discover this and seemed happier that she could relax her diet. When negotiating her goals, I explored the cultural aspect of her diet as her compliance would be affected if I did not consider her current dietary habits. I looked at her meal pattern and food items. When discussing the food fortification process, I was able to relate this directly to specific foods in her diet. Using the appropriate wording is also important as for some, dinner may be evening meal, and tea may be a tea break mid-afternoon . By the end of the consultation, the patient said she felt better following our conversation as she had a clear idea of what she had to do. I wrote down her plan and she said she would buy herself some nice treats on her way home. I hoped that giving her tips on food fortification would give her more of an incentive to eat . Having explored this case in depth, I feel I could have been more thorough about her social life. I could have found out if she had close friends whom she could catch up with over cake and tea. Also, I could have suggested she see her GP about the UI as research shows that behavioural treatment, drugs, exercise or a combination of these can help better control UI. In turn, solving or reducing this problem could restore her confidence in leaving the house more often and lead to her increasing her social network . I could also have asked about her hobbies as this may have helped generate ideas to help improve her morale aswell . If I were to deal with such a situation again, in addition to what I did in this consultation, I would explore more of her cognitive function to see if this was having an impact on her intake. Decline in sensory function can also cause reduced intake as foods no longer taste or smell the same. Forgetting to eat is also common and may require distinct measures such as using an alarm clock as a reminder. I assumed that she was eating well from what she showed me in her food diary but I could have been more flexible in my questioning which may have helped to determine whether she was forgetting to have her meals .

Legal issues :: essays research papers

ESSAY. The Constitutional system in Australia determines how the law is made. Some issues addressed by this are; The Federal government, division of powers, the separation of powers, amending the constitution, the high court and the constitution and transfer of powers. The federal System of government has one central government deal with matters involving the whole nation. This system was adopted in Australia on 1 January 1901.In a federal system of Government there must be a division of powers. Powers are divided between the states and federal government. The powers divided are legislative, executive and judicial powers. These are divided by the Australian constitution. The constitution provides for four types of legislative powers; Specific powers: areas of law making specifically mentioned in the constitution as belonging to the Federal government, Residual powers: powers that the states retained after federation, these are not mentioned in the constitution but became the states powers. Concurrent powers: areas over which the states and commonwealth have legislative power. Exclusive powers: areas over which the federal government has exclusive power.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Separation of powers means that power is distributed between three arms of government. The three arms are; legislature, executive and judiciary. The judiciary is separated from the legislature and the executive, because of this it is independent and can examine their actions without bias. The legislature is separated from the judiciary and executive powers, because of this it is independent, providing for some rights which cannot be taken away by legislation and this allows provides for regular elections. The executive powers, there is no true separation between these two arm, because the British require that members form the executive arm be chosen from the legislature. However the power of the executive is subject to checks and balances in other ways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Amending the constitution. Section 128 of the constitution provides the procedure by which the constitution may be changed. The constitution can only be changed if a bill stating the question is passed by both houses of parliament and the change is approved by referendum by the majority of people in a majority of states. It is difficult to amend the constitution because it cannot be amended like any other law; if it were then the federal government could make laws on any area it chose by amending the constitution. For example the 6 November 1999 referendum asked the Australian public ‘do you support an act to alter the constitution to establish the commonwealth of Australia as a republic, with the queen and governor general being replaced by a president appointed by two thirds majority of the members of the commonwealth parliament’.

Cheating and Plagiarism - It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s Recycling :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s Recycling What does plagiarism have to do with Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Titus Andronicus, Revenge Tragedies, Adam, Eve and the apple, and The Tempest? All these and many more are the result of plagiarism. There seems to be a great discussion on whether or not Shakespeare is the true author of the plays associated with his name. The internet seems to be full of essays, discussion boards and book reviews all dealing with this particular topic and most of the people submitting them are very forceful and definitive about their positions. In just a few hours of searching I found well over a thousand pages dealing with the original source of the works of art assigned to Shakespeare's name. The most disappointing part was that none of the essays I read even suggested the possibility of Shakespeare just "borrowing" information and topics from other playwrights and authors. They were all mainly interested in the man who actually put the words on paper. Not only did this decrease their usefulness for this particular paper but also they made it seem like the person who wrote the plays down on paper had some particular lawful ownership over them. This was not true though. During the time that Shakespeare was writing plays in England, there were no such laws deeming a play protected by copyright laws. Today, plays are usually published and distributed but in the Elizabethan era, plays were only written enough for the actors to learn their lines. When plays were put on there was usually a large audience. This audience could have included other playwrights and actors who would then remember pieces of what they saw and use them later in their own productions. How could this be copyrighted? Back then, actors were lucky if they did not get stopped by the police while performing a play why would the ideas of a playwright be protected by law? I do not think anyone even cared if the plays were used as resources for other plays. If Shakespeare used a part from one of Marlowe's plays, then Marlowe could take some ideas from Shakespeare. Since most of the ideas for plays came from famous works anyway, who's to say that Shakespeare's idea was even his own? Ovid's Metamorphosis is one of the most referenced works in the plays we have read already in class. Cheating and Plagiarism - It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s Recycling :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s Recycling What does plagiarism have to do with Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Titus Andronicus, Revenge Tragedies, Adam, Eve and the apple, and The Tempest? All these and many more are the result of plagiarism. There seems to be a great discussion on whether or not Shakespeare is the true author of the plays associated with his name. The internet seems to be full of essays, discussion boards and book reviews all dealing with this particular topic and most of the people submitting them are very forceful and definitive about their positions. In just a few hours of searching I found well over a thousand pages dealing with the original source of the works of art assigned to Shakespeare's name. The most disappointing part was that none of the essays I read even suggested the possibility of Shakespeare just "borrowing" information and topics from other playwrights and authors. They were all mainly interested in the man who actually put the words on paper. Not only did this decrease their usefulness for this particular paper but also they made it seem like the person who wrote the plays down on paper had some particular lawful ownership over them. This was not true though. During the time that Shakespeare was writing plays in England, there were no such laws deeming a play protected by copyright laws. Today, plays are usually published and distributed but in the Elizabethan era, plays were only written enough for the actors to learn their lines. When plays were put on there was usually a large audience. This audience could have included other playwrights and actors who would then remember pieces of what they saw and use them later in their own productions. How could this be copyrighted? Back then, actors were lucky if they did not get stopped by the police while performing a play why would the ideas of a playwright be protected by law? I do not think anyone even cared if the plays were used as resources for other plays. If Shakespeare used a part from one of Marlowe's plays, then Marlowe could take some ideas from Shakespeare. Since most of the ideas for plays came from famous works anyway, who's to say that Shakespeare's idea was even his own? Ovid's Metamorphosis is one of the most referenced works in the plays we have read already in class.

Sainsbury Marketing Mix

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY J Sainsbury’s is the third largest grocery retailer in the UK. The company was leading grocery retailer in UK from the late 1980 to 1995. The company opened their first store in 1869. Sainsbury’s has 504 supermarkets and 319 convenience stores in UK. Company’s turnover is over ? 17. 4 billion and profit of ? 289 million. Asda and Tesco has overtaken Sainsbury’s recently. Sainsbury’s market share gradually decreased to just over 16%. Sainsbury’s growth has suddenly fallen down. In terms of local sourcing, Sainsbury’s is higher than other competitors. Sainsbury’s provides products like milk, pre-packed cheese, fresh lamb etc to the customer. Sainsbury’s is only food retailer to enter in global 100 index. Sainsbury’s sell over 4000 products. Company has been positioned under FTSE4 and Dow Jones Index. Sainsbury’s main responsibility is to provide best food and health, make relationship with community, to provide good place of work and save environment. The main objective of Sainsbury’s is to make growth in both sales and customers. Sainsbury’s continuously growing like-for-like sales by 3. %, increase the product range, improving services and operational saving. Sainsbury’s brand represents quality and value for money and customer service. Company’s brand name is ‘so organic’ related to food. The company objective is to provide high product in low fair price and provide good service to people like give information to choose product. The subsidiaries of Sainsburyâ €™s are Sainsbury’s Bank Ltd; Sainsbury’s Supermarket Ltd and Sainsbury’s Convenience Stores Ltd. (Source: www. sainsburys. co. uk) The supermarket chain operates three main store formats; regular Sainsbury's stores (‘Main Mission'), Sainsbury's Local and Sainsbury's Central (convenience stores and smaller supermarkets in urban locations – ‘Mixed Mission') and Sainsbury's ‘Main Plus' (hypermarket) stores. Unlike Tesco (Tesco Extra) and Asda (Asda Wal-Mart Supercentre), Sainsbury's does not employ a separate brand for its hypermarkets, having phased out the ‘Savacentre' fascia several years ago. At the end of its 2008/09 financial year Sainsbury's store portfolio was as follows. |Format |Number |Area (ft? |Area (m? ) |Percentage of space | |Supermarkets |502 |15,974,000 |1,484,000 |95. 6% | |Convenience stores |290 |729,000 |67,700 |4. 4% | |Total |792 |16,703,000 |1,551,700 |100. 0% | TOTAL MARKET SHARE: The total market share of Sainsbury’s is 16. 5%. Their market share has grown over last year and in current period they are serving over 18. 5 million customers each week. TRENDS AND ISSUES PREVALENT IN RETAIL INDUSTRY: The recent trends that are prevalent in Retail industry are as under: i. Fashion of creating one’s own brand: These days it has become a fashion to use own brand name by retail companies on packing of products. The companies are doing so because on order to increase consumer loyalty. Major retail giants Tesco, Sainsbury’s use their brand name on the products in order to promote their brand name and gain consumer loyalty as well. Eg: Sainsbury’s is selling organic food under the name of ‘Sainsbury’s So Fresh’. The trends of own brand name is increasing. i. Availability of all continental and regional type of food at any period of time: Earlier the foods of winter were not available in summer. But now due to improved storage systems and new trends of eating off seasonal foods as well, the consumers can have grapes in winter as well. Now any body can eat off seasonal food at any point of time. iii. Demand for convenience food: The increased competitive world has made both males and females to work in order to earn their livings. Nobody has any time to cook food. As both partners are busy in their jobs, so they don’t get much time to cook food. But the recent retail trend is of eating cereals and cooked food. The consumers can eat the ready mix food at any point of time without even cooking it. iv. More attraction towards discounted items: The consumers, these days prefer the discounted products. Discounted products are in trend nowadays. The recent trend is that more the discount, the more the customers. The sales also get increased by providing more discounts. v. Direct marketing: It is a type of retailing in which consumers are exposed to goods & services through a non-personal medium. They can order & purchase the products by mail or telephone. vi. Online technology: The technology has made it easier for retailers to sell products online. The consumers can order and purchase the products online. The company can deliver products to consumers on a single click. Online sales are a great source of income to retailers as well. Issues in Retail industry: Following are the main issues that are prevalent in retail industry: i. Rising health awareness amongst public. The UK government is spreading awareness about healthier and fresh food in UK. The customers are told to not to eat sweeteners. The government is making people aware about use of organic food and low fat food. Thus the consumers have started shifting towards fresh and healthier food. ii. Low disposable income: Due to recession, the disposable income of people have fall. This has effected the spending capacity of people. Now people have decreased their buying ability. iii. Recession gave rise to unemployment and inflation which affect the market directly or indirectly. iv. Consumers have perception that recession is long term so they are spending less and saving more. The consumers believe that due to recession they are unable to save more and are having only expenses. COMPETITORS: †¢ In the supermarket business Sainsbury's main competitors are Tesco, Asda and Safeway. †¢ In retail banking the main competition comes from Tesco Financial Services, M & S Financial Services, the traditional high street banks, Egg, Halifax and Abbey National mortgages. PRODUCTS: The major products of Sainsbury’s are as follows: †¢ Supermarket/Grocery goods; †¢ Retail banking services; †¢ Retail property development services In Sainsbury’s, a large store typically stocks around 50,000 lines of which round 20% are â€Å"own-label† goods. These own-brand lines include: †¢ Basics: mainly food, toiletries and stationery. †¢ Taste the Difference (TTD): around 1100 premium food lines i. e. processed foods such as ready made meals and premium bakery lines. †¢ Freefrom: It was launched in February 2010, it has over 7 5 product lines. These products are suitable for those allergic to dairy products. †¢ Sainsbury's Organic (SO Organic): Around 500 lines of food / drink which is not derived from food stuffs treated with fertilizer or pesticides. †¢ Different by Design: a smaller range of premium non-food lines, including flowers. Kids: these lines are for children. †¢ Be Good To Yourself (BGTY): products with reduced calorific and/or fat content. All BGTY packaging was relaunched in January 2010. †¢ Fair Trade: Over 100 fair trade products. All bananas sold at Sainsbury's are now fair trade. †¢ Super Naturals: A range of ready meals with healthy ingredients. †¢ TU – own brand clothing range. †¢ TU Home – a range of home products, such as lighting, rugs, and kitchen products. PORTER'S FIVE FORCE ANALYSIS 1. Competitive rivalry †¢ The retail market is extremely competitive with a very crowded market. More companies are trying to get into non food sectors which leads to increase in competition. 2. Barriers for entry in food category Firstly, organised retail is amongst the most sophisticated sectors within the UK and needs a lot of investment. Secondly, retail is also at an advanced stage within the UK and most of the western world. 3. Threats of Substitutes †¢ The threat of substitutes in the food category is a low one because consumers view it as a necessity, especially in the developed world and increasingly in the emerging markets. The only major threat of substitute is an internal industry threat whereby one supermarket can lap up the business of other supermarkets. 4. Buyer power †¢ Buyer power is high due to the presence of so many competitors selling the same products. †¢ As the economy goes further towards recession, consumers' needs are likely to be given more weight, increasing their power considerably. 5. Supplier power †¢ Supplier power is usually more complicated as it is difficult to categorise it. Supplier power of smaller suppliers will not be considerable because of their sales volumes on dependence on these supermarkets. PEST ANALYSIS Political factors †¢Increasing globalization, presents a challenge as well as an opportunity to Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's can enter the markets of emerging companies through joint ventures or partnerships to explore these new markets, although it does not have any plans on the horizon to do so. †¢ The ongoing investigation of price fixing amongst the big four retailers within the UK can have some negative impact to the industry in general and Sainsbury's in particular. In the UK, the Government is to decrease the rate of corporation tax from 30% to 28%, which will save big companies like Sainsbury's significant sums of money (HM Treasury 2008). Economic factors †¢ The rapidly increasing global food crisis has increased food prices all over the world, which will result in risi ng purchasing costs for Sainsbury's. †¢ The credit crunch might decrease the purchasing power of consumers and though they will still buy the essentials they may be more cautious. Social factors: Nowadays there seems to be more emphasis on fresh, easy style cooking. This serves an opportunity for Sainsbury's to encourage new recipes and unfussy eating. †¢ There has been a huge emphasis by the government to promote healthy eating, primarily due to the increasing level of obesity within the UK. This has lead to many consumers to shift towards healthier food. This presents an opportunity to Sainsbury's to stock up with more healthy food or create healthier foods at a cheaper price than other manufacturers so as to benefit from this new trend. Technological †¢ The Internet phenomenon seems to be ever growing within western countries. †¢ One of the downsides of supermarket shopping is the queuing system customers often find themselves in at the checkout. †¢ RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) technology can be used for significant benefits to the supply chain of Sainsbury's. If adopted, this technology will lead to less inventory for the supermarket firms leading to a leaner, more profitable organisation. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Weakness some implications as people are gravitating towards British companies and the prospect of Sainsbury's being governed by a foreign firm can lead to consumers switching loyalties. †¢ Alternative business presents a great opportunity to Sainsbury for future growth. †¢ Online sales are a great opportunity as well, since online margins are higher and investments are not huge. Threats †¢ There needs to be continuous heavy investment in environmental and green issues without immediate benefits. Sainsbury's operations are subject to a broad spectrum of regulatory requirements particularly in relation to planning, competition and environmental issues, employment, pensions and tax laws and in terms of regulations over the group's products and services WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE? Ansoff Matrix To portray alternative corporate growth strategies, Igor Ansoff presented a matrix that focused on the firm's present and potential products and markets (customers). By considering way s to grow via existing products and new products, and in existing markets and new markets, there are four possible product-market combinations. Ansoff's matrix is shown below: Ansoff Matrix |   |Existing Products |New Products | |Existing | | | |Markets | | | | |Market Penetration |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Product Development  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |New | | |Markets | | | | |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Market Development  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |Diversification | Ansoff's matrix provides four different growth strategies: †¢ Market Penetration – the firm seeks to achieve growth with existing products in their current market segments, aiming to increase its market share. †¢ Market Development – the firm seeks growth by targeting its existing products to new market segments. †¢ Product Development – the firms develops new products targeted to its existing market segments. Diversification – the firm grows by diversifying into new businesses by developing new products for new markets. Selecting a Product-Market Growth Strategy The market penetration strategy is the least risky since it leverages many of the firm's e xisting resources and capabilities. In a growing market, simply maintaining market share will result in growth, and there may exist opportunities to increase market share if competitors reach capacity limits. However, market penetration has limits, and once the market approaches saturation another strategy must be pursued if the firm is to continue to grow. Market development: The development of new markets for the product may be a good strategy if the firm's core competencies are related more to the specific product than to its experience with a specific market segment. Because the firm is expanding into a new market, a market development strategy typically has more risk than a market penetration strategy. A product development strategy may be appropriate if the firm's strengths are related to its specific customers rather than to the specific product itself. New product development carries more risk than simply attempting to increase market share. Diversification is the most risky of the four growth strategies since it requires both product and market development and may be outside the core competencies of the firm. Diversification may be a reasonable choice if the high risk is compensated by the chance of a high rate of return. Sainsbury’s has also diversified into banking, financial services, petrol pumps etc. HOW DO WE GET THERE? MARKETING OBJECTIVES: To be consumer’s first choice for food delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost through working faster, simpler and together. Positioning: This means process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Sainsbury’s has increased its private brand product portfolio. Under food category, company offers organic food under name ‘Sainsbury’s SO organic’ range and it comprises of 450 products. (www. sainsburys. co. uk) Competitive advantage: According to its chief executive Justin King Fairtrade gives Sainsbury’s the edge over its competitors, as well as being an ethical way to trade. MARKETING MIX: It is referred to as the set of controllable tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market, so it consists of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its product (Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). The major function of marketing mix strategy of any company is the strategic communication of the organization with its customers (Proctor, 2000). Marketing Mix is also referred to as â€Å"4 Ps of Marketing†. The classification of four Ps of marketing was first introduced and suggested by McCarthy (1960), and includes marketing strategies of product, price, placement and promotion. According to Borden (1964), the elements of the marketing mix includes product planning; pricing; branding; distribution channels; promotions; product packaging; advertisements; services; packaging handling; and re-order, etc. The purpose of using a marketing mix is to target the market in order to increase sales and profits. [pic] (Source: www. marketingteacher. com) The 4 Ps of Marketing Mix can be explained as below: 1. Product: A product includes all features and combination of goods and related services that a company offers to its customers. The product or service offer needs to be able to meet a specific, existing market demand. The companies that are operating in service sector and provide intangible products are very much criticized by the customers. The companies can use the terminology of â€Å"service products† under marketing mix strategy making (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004). Sainsbury’s is applying this strategy according to consumer preferences and changes in the market. i. Positioning: This means process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Sainsbury’s has increased its private brand product portfolio. Under food category, company offers organic food under name ‘Sainsbury’s SO organic’ range and it comprises of 450 products. (www. sainsburys. co. uk) ii. Quality: The products offered by Sainsbury’s are quality products. There is a wide range of great quality products at fair prices. The main emphasis of quality is on fresh food, organic food and private label brands. The company’s commitment of offering quality products has increased the brand image of the company. iii. Product Packaging: Sainsbury’s has improved its packaging. The company offers the products in self branded packages. The various discounts and slogans are mentioned on the packaging. The company is using eco-friendly bags for packaging and carrier bags called ‘Bags for life’. (Source: www. sainsburys. co. uk). iv. Branding : Sainsbury’s uses self labelled branded products. The company offers nearly 20% out of its 50,000 product range, which uses self label brands. v. Varieties. vi. Taste the different: Also known as ‘Ttd’, it is the company’s biggest sub brand which comprises of 1300 products. It was Sainsbury’s first own brand range to be free of artificial colors, flavors and hydrogenated fats. 2. Pricing: It is setting up a price for a product or service offered. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2004) price is the amount of money that customers have to pay to obtain the product. It is not simple to set a price. The customers not only view the lower price of product, but they respond to value so a lower price does not necessarily mean expanded sales if the product is not fulfilling the expectation of the customers (Lazer, 1971). Pricing strategy is divided into two parts: price determination and price administration. The different types of price are Market led pricing (Competitive pricing), Cost based pricing, penetration pricing, destruction pricing, price wards, EDLP (Every day low price). The pricing strategy of Sainsbury’s is that it should be able to provide profits. The pricing strategy of Sainsbury’s is as follows: a. Lower pricing strategy: Sainsbury’s use lower price or economy pricing strategy at the time of launching or selling a new product. The marketing and manufacturing costs are kept at minimum. Sainsbury’s offer economy prices for its products like soups, beans, tomato puree, etc. which can be compared very easily with its competitor TESCO (Source: http://www. sainsburys. co. uk & http://www. tesco. com). b. Discount price: Sainsbury’s offer discounts to the consumers. This is done in order to increase the bucket size. The discount offered by Sainsbury’s has resulted in increase in sales volume. c. Meal Deals: Sainsbury’s offer meal deals for families. It offers a meal, a soft drink in just ? 5 to family of 3 members. This kind of meal deals are making it popular among the food sections in retail market. . Credit terms. 3. Place: It involves all activities used by company in order to make the product available to the targeted customer (Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). It refers to different ways by which a customer can obtain a product or receive a service. A product or a service can be received through a number of distribution channels, such as in a retail store, through the mail, via downloadable files, on a cruise ship, in a hair salon, etc. The products can be made available to customers depending upon different factors like sales, communications and contractual considerations (Lazer, 1971). The ease with which the products or services are made available to customers has a significant effect on sales volume. Sainsbury’s has been using the perfect blend of the time, quantity and place concept in order to serve its customers. a. Website: Sainsbury’s has its corporate website i. e. www. sainsburys. co. uk. The company has made quite a good use of technology and the customers can purchase the products and services at just one go through internet or online. Sainsbury’s has its online section showing groceries online at internet. The consumers can easily choose among various products available online. This saves a lot much time of the customer and also home delivery by Sainsbury’s made it more convenient for the consumers to buy a product. b. Convenience Stores: These are the stores which are opened upon locally in smaller area. The consumers can have fresh food and other quality products close to their home. Sainsbury’s has also introduced a series of operational changes to improve cost efficiency, such as night-shift improvements and introducing further shelf-ready packaging. . Supermarkets: Sainsbury’s has increased its no. of stores to 792 out of which 164 stores are more than 4000 square ft. area. The supermarkets are large and big stores that are open for 24 hours a day and offer full range of products and services to the customers. d. Banks: Sainsbury’s Bank provides insurance, credit cards, loans and travel money. The consumers can access it online as well on its corporate website www. sainsburysbank. co. uk. It can also be accessed in convenience stores. e. Home Delivery: The Company is also having 169 stores that provide home delivery service to customers. f. Filling Stations. g. Cafe. 4. Promotion: Promotional strategies means the different means through which a company communicates the benefits and values of its products and encourages customers to buy them (Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). It is the process by which the businesses informs the customers about their products and encourage them to buy their products. The best way to understand promotion is through the concept of the marketing communication process. Promotion is the company strategy to cater for the marketing communication process that requires interaction between two or more people or groups, encompassing senders, messages, media and receivers (Lazer, 1971). For example, if Nokia wants to promote its product then, Nokia is sender and an advertising agency as well; the media used in the process can be salesmen, newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards, television etc and the message will be the advertisement or sales presentation and the final destination is the potential consumer or customer which will be mobile phone users. . Nectar Card: offers customers to gain points through shopping. They can earn money to exchange point. The company offer loyalty cards to its customers which has points based system. It can be collected on every purchase made in Sainsbury’s. (Source: http://www. nectar. com) b. Active Kids: promises to donate sporting equipment and coaching to primary and secondary schools in exchange for vouchers c ollected by customers. c. TV Ads: Jamie Oliver is the representative of Sainsbury’s. d. Advertising: Sainsbury’s uses media as an effective tool for promoting the products. The company is making use of television and radio for promoting its brand. e. Sales promotion: The company also offer schemes like buy 1 get 1 free. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGES IN THE MARKETING MIX STRATEGY: In today’s competitive world consumer’s shopping behaviour changes significantly with fluctuations in the macroeconomic environment. Retailers can maximize the returns by effectively altering the marketing mix strategies. Consumer goods manufacturers and retailers have to make regular critical decisions around the pricing, product, distribution, and promotion that best communicates their firm’s value to consumers. Thus Sainsbury’s in order to be at a top position in the food retailer’s market needs to apply some changes to its marketing mix strategy. Product: †¢ Sainsbury’s should diversify its product line to even more variety of products like petrol. †¢ It should concentrate more on its own-brand products as now the customers are getting more attracted towards own-label products of the retailers as they offer quality products at cheap prices. †¢ Sainsbury’s should also try to products in smaller quantities or in small packets. That will bring an edge to Sainsbury’s. Price: †¢ Sainsbury’s should try to increase production of their own brand products can help them reduce cost and offer better prices. †¢ Sainsbury’s should keep its price in competition to its competitors like Tesco. †¢ It should use the penetrating pricing strategy for its new products along with the on going economy pricing strategy which will reduce the profit margin of the company a bit but will give them opportunity to gain economies of scale. Place: Sainsbury’s should concentrate more on internet sales by offering its customers schemes like vouchers when they spend online. †¢ Instead of opening up new stores, Sainsbury’s should concentrate on its existing stores. It should try to bring all its stores in profit. †¢ The Internet is a new marketing tool which means that the aim should be innovation, developing new programs and features that will attract the clientele so as to capit alize on this tool and stand out among the rest. Promotion: †¢ New schemes for collective buying and online buying, online vouchers should be introduced. As today is the price war but due to its brand image it can also advertising which not just concentrates on the price but on the main aim of the company like healthy food and life style to attract the customers or with the emotional connection of the particular brand with the consumers. Internet malls i. e. e-malls can be created to increase the sales and to reach more customers than by personal selling. CONCLUSION The retailer industry is very competitive. Although SAINSBURY’S retailing position is still very strong, TESCO and ASDA are strong competitors. Sainsbury’s strategic marketing mix needs to be improved. It needs carefully designed. Hence, more market researches are needed to develop an effective strategic marketing mix. To answer the research question, Sainsbury’s needs to implement an appropriate marketing mix to become a more successful company REFERENCES Blattberg R C and Hoch S J (1990). `Database models and export intuition: 50% model . 50% manager', Management Science, vol. 36, p. 887-889. D’Esopo M and Almquist E (2007). â€Å"An approach to mastering the marketing†, mix, Business Strategy Series, vol. , no. 2, p. 122-131 Kotler, P (1988). Marketing Management Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Marketing Analytics Inc. (2010). â€Å"Marketing Modeling Mix†, http://www. marketinganalytics. com/Solutions/MarketingMixModeling. aspx. Retrieved on 20th April 2010 Verdict (2007) â€Å"UK Grocery Retailers, 2007, http://www. verdict. co. uk/ Marke ting/dmvt0365m. pdf. Retrieved on 20th April 2010 http://www. j-sainsbury. co. uk/ar07/businessreview/corporateobjectives. shtml[pic]

Normative ethics Essay

Metaethics talks about the nature of ethics and moral reasoning. Discussions about whether ethics is relative and whether we always act from self-interest are examples of meta-ethical discussions. In fact, drawing the conceptual distinction between Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics is itself a â€Å"metaethical analysis. † Normative ethics is interested in determining the content of our moral behavior. Normative ethical theories seek to provide action-guides; procedures for answering the Practical Question (â€Å"What ought I to do? â€Å"). The moral theories of Kant and Bentham are examples of normative theories that seek to provide guidelines for determining a specific course of moral action. Think of the Categorical Imperative in the case of the former and the Principle of Utility in the case of the latter. Applied Ethics attempts to deal with specific realms of human action and to craft criteria for discussing issues that might arise within those realms. The contemporary field of Applied Ethics arouse in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, it is a thriving part of the field of ethics. Numerous books and web-sites are devoted to topics such as Business Ethics, Computer Ethics, and Engineering Ethics. Ethical Relativism Distinctions within Relativism There is a distinction between â€Å"morals† and â€Å"mores†. The latter can be defined as â€Å"harmless customs† (e. g. , â€Å"tea at 4†); the former as â€Å"treatment of others† (e. g. , â€Å"the practice of Apartheid†). In discussing Relativism, we are concerned only with â€Å"moral practices. † The Problem of Relativism: What one society considers Right, another Society considers Wrong. Therefore, RIGHT AND WRONG are RELATIVE to a PARTICULAR SOCIETY. Here we need to be aware of two things: (1) Confusing â€Å"harmless conventions† (The British drive on the left side of the road) with â€Å"harmful practices† (Clitorectomy is customary among the Somali). (2) Even if â€Å"moralities† may differ from society to society, it need not follow that Morality Itself is relative — for there is a further distinction between CULTURAL (â€Å"descriptive†) RELATIVISM and NORMATIVE (â€Å"Ethical†) RELATIVISM. Cultural (â€Å"descriptive†) Relativism: The descriptive relativist simply notes certain sociological FACTS: (a) Factual Claims: â€Å"x is considered right in Society y at time t† and â€Å"x is considered wrong in Society z at time t. † (b) Empirical Conclusion: Moralities are relative [Note that the claims of Cultural Relativism are either true or false. ] Normative (ethical) Relativism The normative relativist goes BEYOND any sociological facts. (a) Normative Claim: â€Å"What is considered right in Society x at time t IS right for that Society. † (b) Theoretical (metaethical) Claim: Morality Itself is Relative. Note that ethical relativism does not logically follow from any truths uncovered by descriptive relativism. Note also that the ethical relativist has a hard time explaining how radical moral change can occur within a certain society (as with slavery or women’s suffrage in the United States). Ethical Egoism Psychological and Ethical Egoism. As a metaethical theory of motivation, psychological egoism asserts the descriptive claim that all of our actions can be reduced to self-interest: â€Å"Whenever people do something, it is only because they think something desirable for themselves will result from it. † The claim is descriptive and thus open to counterexamples, and it is broad, stating a reductionistic thesis regarding all of our actions. (Contrast psychological egoism with the psychological state of sympathy, where ‘the weal and woe of the other becomes the motive for our action’.) Ethical egoism is a normative theory that states that our actions ought to be done from the perspective of self-interest. One of the problems with this position is that it might not be in one’s self-interest to have eveyone act from the perspective of self-interest. This ‘state of nature’ would not be desirable (in Hobbes’ terms, life would be â€Å"beastly, brutal, and short†) and so it might ultimately be in one’s self-interest to enter into a contract with others that would place restraints upon self-interested actions. Utilitarian Theories Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies. As such, it moves beyond the scope of one’s own interests and takes into account the interests of others. Bentham’s Utility Principle: (1) Recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in human life, (2) approves or disapproves of an action on the basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought about i.e, consequences, (3) equates good with pleasure and evil with pain, and (4) asserts that pleasure and pain are capable of quantification (and hence ‘measure’). In measuring pleasure and pain, Bentham introduces the following criteria: INTENSITY, DURATION, CERTAINTY (or UNCERTAINTY), and its NEARNESS (or FARNESS). He also includes its â€Å"fecundity† (will more of the same follow? ) and its â€Å"purity† (its pleasure won’t be followed by pain & vice versa). In considering actions that affect numbers of people, we must also account for its EXTENT. John Stuart Mill adjusted the more hedonistic tendencies in Bentham’s philosophy by emphasizing (1) It is not the quantity of pleasure, but the quality of happiness that is central to utilitarianism, (2) the calculus is unreasonable — qualities cannot be quantified (there is a distinction between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pleasures), and (3) utilitarianism refers to â€Å"the Greatest Happiness Principle† — it seeks to promote the capability of achieving happiness (higher pleasures) for the most amount of people (this is its â€Å"extent†). Act and Rule Utilitarianism. We can apply the principle of utility to either PARTICULAR ACTIONS or GENERAL RULES. The former is called â€Å"act-utilitarianism† and the latter is called â€Å"rule-utilitarianism. † Act-utilitarianism — The principle of utility is applied directly to each alternative act in a situation of choice. The right act is then defined as the one which brings about the best results (or the least amount of bad results). * Criticisms of this view point to the difficulty of attaining a full knowledge and certainly of the consequences of our actions. * It is possible to justify immoral acts using AU: Suppose you could end a regional war by torturing children whose fathers are enemy soliders, thus revealing the hide outs of the fathers. Rule-utilitarianism — The principle of utility is used to determine the validity of rules of conduct (moral principles). A rule like promise-keeping is established by looking at the consequences of a world in which people broke promises at will and a world in which promises were binding. Right and wrong are then defined as following or breaking those rules. * Some criticisms of this position point out that if the Rules take into account more and more exceptions, RU collapses into AU. * More genearl criticisms of this view argue that it is possible to generate â€Å"unjust rules† according to the principle of utility. For example, slavery in Greece might be right if it led to an overall achievement of cultivated happiness at the expense of some mistreated individuals. Deontological Theories Acting from Duty Deontological normative ethical theories place the locus of right and wrong in autonomous adherence to moral laws or duties. Monistic deontology — Kant’s Categorical Imperative (â€Å"Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law†) provides the source of right action. Its first formulation states â€Å"Act as if the maxim of your action were to secure through your will a universal law of nature;† its second formulation states â€Å"Always act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, as an end in itself, never as a means only. â€Å" Actions that conform to these imperatives (i. e., right actions) and are, furthermore, done from a sense of duty, are the epitome of morally praiseworthy actions. Critics of Kant’s approach claim that his Categorical Imperative does not contain within it a way to resolve conflicts of duties. â€Å"Lying is wrong† can be interpreted as â€Å"Never lie† and thus Universal Principles can ‘harden’ into Absolute Principles. Pluralistic deontology — For the 20th Century philosopher W. D. Ross, there are a number of duties that reflection reveals — and these form a group of prima facie obligations. The phrase â€Å"prima facie† (‘all things being equal’) refers to the fact that these duties do not bind us absolutely, but rather that they generally hold — absent any further considerations. Two key duties are nonmaleficence (don’t harm others) and beneficence (help others). Other prima facie duties include ‘don’t lie,’ ‘don’t kill,’ keep promises,’ etc. When conflicts occur between duties, our actual duty becomes that which â€Å"intuitive judgment† discerns as the right thing to do (e. g. , lying to save the life of an innocent person). Critics are cautious about referring to ‘intuition’ as the criterion for determining our actual course of action. Stephen Toulmin suggested that we â€Å"weigh up, as well as we can, the risks involved in ignoring either, and choose ‘the lesser of two evils’. † Thus, while the principles may be deontic in nature, a resolution of conflicts of principles could appeal to probable consequences. Virtue Ethics Historical Perspective There is a long tradition in ethics that places great importance on the â€Å"kind of person one is. † We not only want those around us to â€Å"tell the truth† (for example, according to the Categorical Imperative), but also to be honest. Both Aristotle (arete) and Aquinas (virtu) emphasized this aspect of ethics by highlighting the role of what we would today call character in their discussions of ethics (and the classic virtues of courage, justice, and moderation). David Hume also gave virtue and personal merit a key role in his ethical theory. The recent revival of interest in virtue ethics can be traced back to Philippa Foot. She writes that a person’s â€Å"virtue may be judged by his innermost desires as well as by his intentions; and this fits with our idea that a virtue such as generosity lies as much in someone’s attitudes as in his actions† . The Moral Concept of Virtue We should distinguish the virtues found in a particular society or culture (e. g. , chastity) from those virtues that can be supported by moral reasoning (e. g. , honesty). â€Å"A virtue is a trait of character that is socially valued, and a moral virtue is a trait that is morally valued†¦Moral reasons must support a claim†¦of moral virtue† . By emphasizing the priority of character in discussions of ethics, virtue theorists can say: â€Å"†¦rather than using rules and government regulations to protect subjects in research, some claim that the most reliable protection is the presence of an ‘informed, conscientious, compassionate, responsible researcher’†. The underlying view here is that â€Å"character is more important than conformity to rules and that virtues should be inculcated and cultivated over time through educational interactions, role models,† etc. A practical consequence of this view is that the education of, for example medical doctors, should include the cultivation of virtues such as compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, integrity, conscientiousness as well as benevolence (desire to help) and nonmalevolence (desire to avoid harm). Critical Evaluation of â€Å"Virtue Ethics† Often times we encounter â€Å"morality between strangers† (as when one enters an Emergency Room after a car accident). At these times, it’s not the person’s character, but his/her need to follow rules and procedures that seem to come to the forefront (â€Å"Virtue is not enough†). Furthermore, persons of ‘good character’ can certainly formulate ‘bad policy’ or make a ‘poor choice’ — and we need to evaluate those policies and choices according to moral principles. Constructive Evaluation of â€Å"Virtue Ethics† Yet â€Å"†¦ethical theory is more complete if the virtues are included†¦motives deserve to be at center stage in a way that some leading traditional theories have inadequately appreciated† †¦ â€Å"To look at acts without also looking at the moral appropriateness and desirability of feelings, attitudes, forms of sympathy, and the like is to miss a large area of the moral picture† (B&C, 4th Ed., 69) Liberal Rights and Communitarian Theories Today we often find moral problems framed by perspectives derived from political philosophy. Issues like euthanasia, stem cell research and abortion as well as distributive justice concerns such as social security and medicare, are likely to be seen along the liberal/conservative divide. Traditional moral theories need to take these frameworks into consideration. Will Kymlicka’s Introduction to Political Philosophy provides analyses of the philosophical ideas behind the â€Å"ideological debates† that now envelop many topics in moral philosophy. Of particular value is his discussion of liberal equality, libertarianism, and communitarianism. Liberal equality is often associated with the work on John Rawls in his Theory of Justice. It argues that we should rationally affirm two fundamental principles of justice designed to protect our political liberties and social opportunities. It can be directly contrasted with the libertarian ideas found in Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Nozick challenges Rawls’s approach to social inequalities and argues for a minimalist state. But both authors (and their followers) conceive of individuals as ‘Socratic’ in nature, capable of reasoning about their life plan and questioning, in principle, the world around them. In this sense, they are both ‘liberals’ in the tradition of John Stuart Mill’s essay, â€Å"On Liberty. † â€Å"For liberals, the question about the good life requires us to make a judgment about what sort of a person we wish to be†. Thus liberals will emphasize the role of choice and freedom from government interference in private matters. For communitarians, on the other hand, individuals are not atomistic, ‘unencumbered selves’ — individuals are situated within a community, embedded in the received wisdom of our human culture. Communal values are ‘authoritative horizons’ wherein we take our orientation toward life . The â€Å"self is not prior to, but rather constituted by, its ends — we cannot distinguish ‘me’ from ‘my ends’ [and] our selves are at least partly constituted by ends that we do not choose, but rather discover by virtue of our being embedded in some shared social context† . Since self-determination does not occur in a vacuum, the government needs to support a social environment that is conducive to the development of what is best in all of us. For those communitarians who are ‘social conservatives,’ this will often take the form of a promotion ‘family values’ that can, for example, discourage changes in the institution of marriage. Broadly speaking, these two positions account for the divide between ‘liberals’ and ‘social conservatives’ in dealing with matters such as abortion and euthanasia. In these situations, liberals tend to become ‘pro-choice’ and social conservatives tend to become ‘pro-life. ‘ ***** As is to be expected in a modern, pluralistic democracy, many of these issues are addressed in the political realm and through the political process (including the courts). But the kinds of ‘cases’ that arise within these areas should also be addressed within the framework of applied ethics as a way to get clearer about the nature of the problem and its potential for resolution. Indeed, we often see analyses found in applied ethics, such as the concept of a ‘person in the morally significant sense’ or the distinction between ‘killing’ and ‘allowing to die,’ embedded in the political debate itself. Ethics of Care In the 1970s and 80s feminist writers began to question the assumptions behind many of the traditional ethical theories. Carol Gilligan’s work in moral psychology challenged â€Å"justice-based† approaches to moral discussion: â€Å"†¦ men tend to embrace an ethic of rights using quasi-legal terminology and impartial principles †¦ women tend to affirm an ethic of care that centers on responsiveness in an interconnected network of needs, care, and prevention of harm. Taking care of others is the core notion. † Annette Baier’s philosophical account of an ethics of care â€Å"does not recommend that we discard categories of obligation, but that we make room for an ethic of love and trust, including an account of human bonding and friendship. † In both of these accounts, there is a specific criticism of â€Å"Traditional Liberal Theory† and its emphasis on impartiality and universality: The impartiality and the ‘standpoint of detached fairness’ advocated by liberal theories of justice, overlook, for example, the moral role of attachment to those close to us. Speaking from the perspective of medical ethics, â€Å"The care perspective is especially meaningful for roles such as parent, friend, physician, and nurse, in which contextual response, attentiveness to subtle clues, and the deepening of special relationships are likely to be more momentous morally than impartial treatment† In articulating the challenge to â€Å"universal principles,† Beauchamp and Childress write: â€Å"We can produce rough generalizations about how caring physicians and nurses respond to patients, for example, but these generalizations will not be subtle enough to give helpful guidance for the next patient. Each situation calls for a set of responses outside any generalization†¦. † Proponents of an Ethics of Care emphasize the roles of Mutual Interdependence and Emotional Response that play an important part in our moral lives: â€Å"†¦many human relationships involve persons who are vulnerable, dependent, ill, and frail †¦ [and] the desirable moral response is attached attentiveness to needs, not detached respect for rights† (B&C, 373) and â€Å"The person who acts from rule-governed obligations without appropriately aligned feelings such as worry when a friend suffers seems to have a moral deficiency. In addition†¦insight into the needs of others and considerate alertness to their circumstances often come from the emotions more than reason. † Thus the emotions seem to have a ‘cognitive role,’ allowing us to grasp a situation that may not be immediately available to one arguing solely from a ‘justice perspective. ’ Critical Evaluation of the Care Ethic The example of a nurse who personally wants to help a patient die, but who will not do so as it violates professional duty, shows that â€Å"†¦the ethics of care must confront situations in which bona fide requirements of impartiality conflict with acting partially from care. † Some feminists actually interpret the ‘care ethic’ as culturally determined by the male hierarchy. For example, a terminally ill grand mother may request to be allowed to die because she doesn’t want to be ‘a bother’ to her family. Here someone like Susan Sherwin â€Å"sees a need to examine the social context of care as well as to establish limits to the ethics of care. Both enterprises would involve appeals to justice†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Constructive Evaluation of the Care Ethic Sensitivity and emotional response to particular situations (like family discussions with physicians) provide important guides to morally acceptable actions. A care ethic also seems to favor adopting procedures from Conflict Resolution and Dispute Mediation as alternative ways to approach an apparent ethical conflict. Hedonism The term â€Å"hedonism,† from the Greek word (hedone) for pleasure, refers to several related theories about what is good for us, how we should behave, and what motivates us to behave in the way that we do. All hedonistic theories identify pleasure and pain as the only important elements of whatever phenomena they are designed to describe. If hedonistic theories identified pleasure and pain as merely two important elements, instead of the only important elements of what they are describing, then they would call it Hedonism uld not be nearly as unpopular as they all are. However, the claim that pleasure and pain are the only things of ultimate importance is what makes hedonism distinctive and philosophically interesting. Philosophical hedonists tend to focus on hedonistic theories of value, and especially of well-being (the good life for the one living it). As a theory of value, hedonism states that all and only pleasure is intrinsically valuable and all and only pain is intrinsically not valuable. Hedonists usually define pleasure and pain broadly, such that both physical and mental phenomena are included. Thus, a gentle massage and recalling a fond memory are both considered to cause pleasure and stubbing a toe and hearing about the death of a loved one are both considered to cause pain. With pleasure and pain so defined, hedonism as a theory about what is valuable for us is intuitively appealing. Indeed, its appeal is evidenced by the fact that nearly all historical and contemporary treatments of well-being allocate at least some space for discussion of hedonism. Unfortunately for hedonism, the discussions rarely endorse it and some even deplore its focus on pleasure. This article begins by clarifying the different types of hedonistic theories and the labels they are often given. Then, hedonism’s ancient origins and its subsequent development are reviewed. The majority of this article is concerned with describing the important theoretical divisions within Prudential Hedonism and discussing the major criticisms of these approaches. The Origins of Hedonism . a. Aristippus and the Cyrenaics The Cyrenaics, founded by Artistippus were also sceptics and Hedonistic Egoists. Although the paucity of original texts makes it difficult to confidently state all of the justifications for the Cyrenaics’ positions, their overall stance is clear enough. The Cyrenaics believed pleasure was the ultimate good and everyone should pursue all immediate pleasures for themselves. They considered bodily pleasures better than mental pleasures, presumably because they were more vivid or trustworthy. The Cyrenaics also recommended pursuing immediate pleasures and avoiding immediate pains with scant or no regard for future consequences. Their reasoning for this is even less clear, but is most plausibly linked to their sceptical views – perhaps that what we can be most sure of in this uncertain existence is our current bodily pleasures. b. Epicurus Epicurus founder of Epicureanism, developed a Normative Hedonism in stark contrast to that of Aristippus. The Epicureanism of Epicurus is also quite the opposite to the common usage of Epicureanism; while we might like to go on a luxurious â€Å"Epicurean† holiday packed with fine dining and moderately excessive wining, Epicurus would warn us that we are only setting ourselves up for future pain. For Epicurus, happiness was the complete absence of bodily and especially mental pains, including fear of the Gods and desires for anything other than the bare necessities of life. Even with only the limited excesses of ancient Greece on offer, Epicurus advised his followers to avoid towns, and especially marketplaces, in order to limit the resulting desires for unnecessary things. Once we experience unnecessary pleasures, such as those from sex and rich food, we will then suffer from painful and hard to satisfy desires for more and better of the same. No matter how wealthy we might be, Epicurus would argue, our desires will eventually outstrip our means and interfere with our ability to live tranquil, happy lives. Epicureanism is generally egoistic, in that it encourages everyone to pursue happiness for themselves. However, Epicureans would be unlikely to commit any of the selfish acts we might expect from other egoists because Epicureans train themselves to desire only the very basics, which gives them very little reason to do anything to interfere with the affairs of others. c. The Oyster Example With the exception of a brief period discussed below, Hedonism has been generally unpopular ever since its ancient beginnings. Although criticisms of the ancient forms of hedonism were many and varied, one in particular was heavily cited. In Philebus, Plato’s Socrates and one of his many foils, Protarchus in this instance, are discussing the role of pleasure in the good life. Socrates asks Protarchus to imagine a life without much pleasure but full of the higher cognitive processes, such as knowledge, forethought and consciousness and to compare it with a life that is the opposite. Socrates describes this opposite life as having perfect pleasure but the mental life of an oyster, pointing out that the subject of such a life would not be able to appreciate any of the pleasure within it. The harrowing thought of living the pleasurable but unthinking life of an oyster causes Protarchus to abandon his hedonistic argument. The oyster example is now easily avoided by clarifying that pleasure is best understood as being a conscious experience, so any sensation that we are not consciously aware of cannot be pleasure.