Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Alcohol Is A Dangerous Drug - 1411 Words

In our modern society the constant abuse of drugs and alcohol has become a major issue. Dependence on substances such as alcohol is a common phenomenon in our world. Many individuals who constantly drink changing their ways are the hardest and biggest obstacles. Often these individuals are looking to feel the positive effects that alcohol provides for them. Such as gaining more confidence and forgetting about any problems they may have in their life, past present or future. Alcohol is a drug that slows down an individual’s brain, providing the drinker with a feeling of relaxation. According to the Centre for Mental Health â€Å"about 6,700 Canadians die each year as a result of drinking alcohol—due to car crashes, other accidents, suicides and murders, and health problems related to alcohol use†(http://www.camh.ca). Most people don’t even recognize alcohol as a drug but the reality is alcohol is a very dangerous drug and is the most abused substance in Ca nada. The act off drinking has become a social norm within our culture and access to it is a lot simpler than any other substance. The issues that emerge when a person is dependent on alcohol may not become evident right away but eventually overtime the individual builds up a reliance on the substance as a form of relief or emotional release. This dependence will lead to the individual believing that they cannot function without a drink. Much like a drug user breaking the habit is one of the most difficult barriers that anShow MoreRelatedAlcohol Tobacco vs. Illegal Drugs765 Words   |  4 PagesIn the article â€Å"Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Illegal Drugs† a new British study found that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal narcotics such as marijuana or Ecstasy. Professor David Nutt of Britain’s Bristol University and some colleagues proposed the study and found a new structure for the â€Å"classification of harmful substances based on the actu al risk posed to society† (Conroy, 2007). The researchers used three factors to determine how harmful any drug is : â€Å"the physical harmRead MoreAlcohol the Most Lethal Drug Essay1426 Words   |  6 PagesAlcohol is the most lethal drug causing injuries, health problems and even deaths to people worldwide. Most people think that because cocaine, heroine and bang are not legalized then they are the most dangerous drugs but this is untrue. Alcohol is the only drug which can cause sudden death to the user in relation to its effects. Taking an example, people drinking in a bar are more likely to engage in a fight and eventually harm one another while somebody using cocaine will be at lower risk of engagingRead MoreMarijuana Is The Safest Of All Recreational Drugs1600 Words   |  7 Pagesillegal recreational drug. Recreational drugs are used to alter states of consciousness and heighten mood. Out of all recreational drugs, marijuana use ranks among alcohol, tobacco, and ca ffeine use. Marijuana refers to dried leaves and flowers from the Cannabis sativa plant. When smoked or ingested, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is absorbed through the bloodstream and carried to the brain and other organs. THC is a mind-altering chemical that attracts most to the drug because of the â€Å"high†Read MoreMarijuana Should Not Be Considered as a Lethal Drug973 Words   |  4 PagesMarijuana Should Not be Considered As a Lethal Drug In out society drugs are considered to be addictive and lethal. People tend to abuse drugs regardless of their side effects. In many cases government agencies regulate their use. Also there are drugs that are illegal to use, produce and sale. One of those illegal drugs is marijuana. For thousands of years, marijuana has been used to treat a wide variety of sickness. It became illegal in 1937 under The Marijuana Stamp Tax Act. This act prohibitsRead MoreThe Legalization Of Recreational Marijuana1645 Words   |  7 Pagesthat cannabis is a Class I drug that has both negative health effects and behavior effects. However, there is minimal evidence to support these claims, and none of the benefits of marijuana are taken into consideration when the arguments are made. The possession and use of recreational marijuana should be legalized in the United States because it would provide a steady source of income for the government in the form of taxation, it would reduce the sale of more danger ous drugs since they would not beRead MoreArgument in Favor of Legalizing Marijuana1277 Words   |  6 PagesWhen comparing alcohol and marijuana which drug is more dangerous? According to statistics over 75,000 deaths in America are linked to alcohol. More than half these deaths are caused by alcohol poisoning. On the other hand marijuana cannot cause death from overdose due to being nontoxic. So why should marijuana remain illegal? Many think marijuana should remain illegal, but legalization would have much more advantages if it were legalized already. Legalization has plenty of benefits, but most ideasRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1342 Words   |  6 Pagesexperiments involving marijuana approved. Despite this roadblock for the research of marijuana, surveys and observations of the medical use of marijuana show that the plant may have legitimate medical uses. The lack of evidence showing that weed is a dangerous drug also pushes for its legalization for recreational us e. Based on all of the evidence about marijuana for recreational and medical use, marijuana should be legalized by issue 3. Many people have heard the stories of how marijuana has saved livesRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?812 Words   |  4 Pagesmarijuana is known by many names. Americans perceive marijuana as an awful drug. But have americans discovered that marijuana has be known to contribute good and bad qualities for the human body. Americans should legalize marijuana because there has been no evidence that anyone has ever died of marijuana overdose, Marijuana is a safer drug than others, and Marijuana has a lower risk of addiction than most legalized drugs. To begin with, Marijuana was first known to be discovered in China aroundRead MoreBad Habits and How to Break Them Essay959 Words   |  4 Pagespractice, especially one that is hard to give up. Every person has a habit. From small, non dangerous, habits like biting nails or high pitched laughing, to dangerous ones such as smoking, drinking, and reckless behavior. Habits can go un-noticed by people because they vary in seriousness. Breaking habits varies greatly. It can be as simple as not doing something in the morning, to stopping drugs and alcohol. People often pick up bad habits in their younger years. Some habits people cannot controlRead MoreThe Use Of Drugs And Alcohol On College Campuses873 Words   |  4 Pages The use of drugs and alcohol on college campuses has always been a problem but the drastic increase in the amount of college students binge drinking and abusing prescription and illegal drugs from the early 90’s till now is becoming more alarming and has to be acted upon. American colleges have had a problem with alcohol abuse since the first colleges were created, but until recently college drinking has been ignored, and tolerated, although it is proven to have negative effects not only on the

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

A Brave New World By Aldous Huxley - 929 Words

A Brave New World published in 1932 by Aldous Huxley was about a utopian society in which people were placed in castes because of how their embryos were modified. Little did the author know less than a century later the idea of â€Å"designer babies† might be a reality. Designer babies are very similar to Huxley’s idea; a person could be genetically altered before they were born. Unlike Huxley’s book, in which embryos were genetically modified due to government industrial control, designer babies’ destinies are determined by parental control. Although, gene alteration can prevent genetic diseases, predetermining genetic outcomes should be illegal because of its negative effects on society; the effect genes have on each other, and the underwhelming success rate. One reason designer babies should be illegal is because of its negative effects on society. Many believe designer babies â€Å" [will cause] a greater gap in society between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’ or rather the ‘ideal’ and ‘non-ideal’ humans† (Catalano). Those who want their unborn child to be genetically adjusted would have to have enough money to have this procedure done. This could result in more drastic differences in wealth and socio-economic standing. Another gap in society that would come from designer babies is the unfair advantage someone with modified genetics could have. One person would have to work on a certain skill to get very good at it, whereas a genetically modified person would be programmed to be goodShow MoreRelatedA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley668 Words   |  3 PagesIn Brave New World, there are similarities that have a deeper meaning that we can understand. There are perso nal effects in Aldous Huxley life that contribute to what he has written in the book. Aldous Huxley throughout his life have seen, done, and events have happened to him, just like all of us, but he has expressed it in his book. So when Aldous wrote the he had so many ideas. I have read the book; it’s notRead MoreBrave New World by Aldous Huxley811 Words   |  3 Pages Brave New World is based around characters who gave up the right of freedom for happiness; characters who ignored the truth so that they could live in a utopian civilization. The deceiving happiness was a constant reminder throughout the book. Almost every character in Brave New World did whatever they could to avoid facing the truth about their own situations. In this society, happiness is not compatible with the truth because the World State believes that happiness was at the expense of theRead MoreBrave New World By Aldous Huxley1525 Words   |  7 PagesA Brave New Feminist The novel Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley in 1932 is known for its social satire, utopian values, and unusual standpoints on stereotypical gender roles. In this time where futuristic technology has completely taken over, and men and women are given the same opportunities for everything, â€Å"the genders appear equal within the social order; both men and women work at the same jobs, have equal choice in sexual partners, and participate in the same leisure pursuits† (MarchRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley664 Words   |  3 Pagesfor the fact being in the future and in the past time has changed and many differences were made. In his Dystopian Society Huxley portrays masses of niches where the government produces clones for specific reasons. Huxley decides throughout Brave New World that cloning humans is unethical. He then becomes in contact with the society’s most powerful Alphas and Betas clones. Huxley suggest in BNW that lower class groups in clo ning humans to act like servants to terrorize them into working hard conditionsRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley1189 Words   |  5 Pages In the world of sex, drugs, and baby cloning you are going to be in many situations where you feel like the world we live in should be different. In the story Brave New World, they had sex with multiple partners along with a very bad use of drugs. It is weird that Aldous Huxley wrote this book in 1931 about the world he was living in during that time and how it is similar to the world we live in today. Nowadays, drugs are still being used and people are still engaging in sexual encounters withRead MoreBrave New World By Aldous Huxley968 Words   |  4 PagesAldous Huxley’s utopia in Brave New World foreshadowed and illuminated the complications within modern day society. Upon its release, the narrative became widely banned all over the United States due to the unorthodox thoughts and actions of multiple characters in it. Early readers, as well as modern day audiences, feared and rejected the ideals that Huxley incorporated into his perfect society; however, our society today is heading towards the dark paths the older generations desired to avoid. Read MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley895 Words   |  4 Pagesthe novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley tells of a society where everyone is the same but, compared to t oday’s society, everything is different. Huxley tells of a world where everything that happens or takes place is because of one’s own desire and nothing more. The hero in the novel, a â€Å"savage† named John, is Huxley’s main focal point. It is through his eyes and mind that the reader sees what’s going on. Now when I read this novel, I began to think, â€Å"Could this perfect, conformed world actuallyRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley1684 Words   |  7 Pagesimperfect world and is usually only a hopeful dream. These types of worlds can greatly be described in detail through the world of science fiction. Aldous Huxley was an English writer who lived during a time when war and chaos were engulfing the world. His works reflect his view and thoughts on a dystopia, which is a false utopia, and describes what could occur in possible governments of the world. The ability to understand and dive into the thoughts of the author is what make s world literatureRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley614 Words   |  2 Pagesthem truly happy. What if someone were to tell you that what you thought was true happiness was all an illusion. In a Brave New World by Aldous Huxley people in the world state are conditioned and drugged up by soma to not experience true happiness. In a world that is perfect, human beings do not have to depend on drugs to keep our world in balance. In a Brave New World by Aldous Huxley there is always a perfect drug called soma that keeps everyone happy, which they have based their society on. ThisRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley948 Words   |  4 PagesWelcome to a world were â€Å"Brave† is not just a word; It has a true meaning. This is a story were everything as you know it, doesn’t seem to be right and will completely change your way of thinking. When this story was written, life was very harsh for many people†¦.Mostly for the author who wrote â€Å"Brave New World† During this time (1930s) they didn’t have much sexual content Living The Future Of The Past In The Present†¦.. In the air; But Aldous made a future full of sex for them and we are the

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Analysis of Gross Domestic Product - Free sample Assignment

Questions: (1). Table 1: GDP Data for Countries A and B Country A Country B $billions $billions Household Consumption 150 150 Government Purchases 250 250 Transfer payments 50 60 Total Gross Fixed Capital Expenditures 50 150 Change in Inventories 50 -50 Exports 40 40 Imports 20 20 Consider the data in table 1 for two countries: A and B. a. Calculate the GDP for both countries. b. Discuss the usefulness of these data in deciding which, if any, of these two countries is likely to be experiencing an economic recession. (2). Obtain Australia's real GDP and CPI data from 1980 to 2015. Calculate the annual growth rates of real GDP and inflation and graph both series together. Is/are there some interesting or salient relationship(s) between those two series? Provide and discuss plausible economic explanation(s), including change in economic events and change in government policy, for the relationship(s) you identified. (3).Obtain Australia's real GDP and unemployment data from 1980 to 2015. Calculate the growth rates of real GDP and unemployment and graph both series together. Is/are there some interesting or salient relationship(s) between those two series? Provide and discuss plausible economic explanation(s), including change in economic events and change in government policy, for the relationship(s) you identified. Answers: Introduction Gross domestic product is the investment that is incurred on the final products and services produced by the economy and the imports are excluded. The formula for GDP is expenditures plus the gross capital formation plus the exports and subtracting imports. The term Gross implies that no subtraction has been done on the basis of depreciation of machines, buildings and different capital goods used during the process of production. The word domestic refers to the production undertaken by the resident of the country. And the term product signifies the end services and products (Kubiszewski et al. 2013). (1). a. Given the following data: GDP data for country A and B: Country A $billions Country B $billions Household consumption 150 150 Government purchase 250 250 Transfer payments 50 60 Total gross fixed capital expenditure 50 150 Change in inventories 50 -50 Exports 40 40 Imports 20 20 Now we will calculate the GDP for both the countries: GDP of country A= (Household consumption + government purchase + total gross fixed capital expenditure + change in inventories + exports imports) ("Domestic product - Gross domestic product (GDP) - OECD Data", 2016). = (150+250+50+50+40-20) billion dollars = 520 billion dollars. So, the GDP of the country is 520 billion dollars. GDP of country B= (Household consumption + government purchase + total gross fixed capital expenditure + change in inventories + exports imports) = (150+250+150-50+40-20) = 520 billion dollars. So, the GDP for country B is also 250 billion dollars. b. The above-provided data plays an important role in deciding, which country may probably face recession. Because the above-provided data helps in calculating the GDP of a country and as discussed in the introduction Gross domestic product is the investment that is incurred on the final products and services produced by the economy and the imports are excluded. The formula for GDP is expenditures plus the gross capital formation plus the exports and subtracting imports. Household consumption is the expenditure incurred by the household for durable and non-durable goods. Household consumption is used in calculating the GDP of a country. We also include government expenditure in calculating GDP and exports of a country is also an important component in calculation GDP using the expenditure method. Gross fixed capital formation is originally the total investment. It is also an important component in calculating the GDP using expenditure method. It includes expenditure on the improvement of land, machinery, plant, equipment etc. the decrease in the Gross fixed capital formation was significant factor that fosters the recession in the United Kingdom and the financial depression of 1991 and 2008 witnessed a steep fall in the gross fixed capital formation (Egerer et al, 2016). Inventories are also included in the calculation of GDP. If there is fall in the inventories in a particular year than the difference between the previous year and the recent year is subtracted from the investment. However, the level of inventory is not a component of GDP but it affects the GDP by affecting the investment. Inventories increased when the firm produces more than the amount they sell (Egerer et al, 2016). From the above data the GDP of both the countries are same but country A may face recession because the Total Gross Fixed Capital expenditures for country A is less than country B. And the inventories of country A are more than country B, the inventories for country B is in negative (Egerer et al, 2016). (2). Table 1 includes the real GDP, the CPI, the GDP growth rate and inflation rate of Australia for a period 1980-2015. The data for the GDP and CPI was obtained from Quandl. After obtaining the data, the GDP growth rate and the inflation rate of Australia were calculated for a period 1980-2015. GDP growth rate is an indicator to highlight how fast an economy is flourishing. This is done by comparing the GDP of one-quarter with the previous quarter of the country. The growth rate of the GDP is directed by four important ingredients of the GDP, of which personal consumption is the most vital director of the GDP. Retail Sales are included in personal consumption. Business investment, government spending, and imports are also the important driver of the GDP growth rate (Amadeo Amadeo, 2016). The GDP growth rate in table 1, is calculated using the formula: GDP growth rate= (GDP2 GDP1 /GDP1) * 100 Where GDP1 is the GDP for the current year and GDP2 is the GDP of the preceding year. The inflation rate is an instrument that measures the rate at which a currency is losing its value. Inflation rate also measures the rate at which the prices of products and services are increasing over a period, or how less a currency's one unit can buy at the present time, in compared to the past. One reason that may foster a rise in the inflation rate is excessive printing of money, which result in excessive supply of money and reduction in demand for money. Inflation may also occur when a certain commodity becomes scared and become costlier. Central banks increase and decrease the supply of money in the economy to control inflation. It is important for the inflation rate to fix the income securities, because the returns that are obtained from those securities may not comply with the rate of inflation, resulting in a loss for the investors (Jayaraman et al, 2013). The inflation rate in table 1 is calculated using the formula: Inflation rate = {(CPI1 /CPI0) 1} * 100 Where, CPI1 IS the consumer price index for the current year and CPI0 is the consumer price index of the previous year. Table 1: Date CPI GDP in billions of current dollars GDP growth rate inflation rate 1980-12-31 26.35 2862.5 12.17467249 1981-12-31 28.85 3211 4.17315478 9.487666034 1982-12-31 32.125 3345 8.762331839 11.35181976 1983-12-31 35.35 3638.1 11.06621588 10.03891051 1984-12-31 36.75 4040.7 7.572945282 3.96039604 1985-12-31 39.225 4346.7 5.601950905 6.734693878 1986-12-31 42.775 4590.2 6.099952072 9.050350542 1987-12-31 46.425 4870.2 7.8518336 8.533021625 1988-12-31 49.8 5252.6 7.712371016 7.269789984 1989-12-31 53.575 5657.7 5.689591177 7.580321285 1990-12-31 57.45 5979.6 3.251053582 7.232851143 1991-12-31 59.35 6174 5.916747651 3.307223673 1992-12-31 59.925 6539.3 5.190157968 0.968828981 1993-12-31 60.975 6878.7 6.252634946 1.752190238 1994-12-31 62.15 7308.8 4.861263135 1.92701927 1995-12-31 65.025 7664.1 5.690165838 4.625905068 1996-12-31 66.75 8100.2 6.2751537 2.652825836 1997-12-31 66.9 8608.5 5.584015798 0.224719101 1998-12-31 67.475 9089.2 6.286581877 0.859491779 1999-12-31 68.425 9660.6 6.4612964 1.407928863 2000-12-31 71.475 10284.8 3.276680149 4.457435148 2001-12-31 74.625 10621.8 3.348773278 4.407135362 2002-12-31 76.9 10977.5 4.857207925 3.048576214 2003-12-31 79.025 11510.7 6.639040197 2.763328999 2004-12-31 80.85 12274.9 6.670522774 2.309395761 2005-12-31 83 13093.7 5.821120081 2.659245516 2006-12-31 85.95 13855.9 4.486897278 3.554216867 2007-12-31 87.975 14477.6 1.664640548 2.356020942 2008-12-31 91.8 14718.6 -2.03755792 4.347826087 2009-12-31 93.425 14418.7 3.784668521 1.770152505 2010-12-31 96.1 14964.4 3.698778434 2.863259299 2011-12-31 99.3 15517.9 4.107514548 3.329864724 2012-12-31 101 16155.3 3.14385991 1.711983887 2013-12-31 103.5 16663.2 4.110254933 2.475247525 2014-12-31 106.05 17348.1 3.452251255 2.463768116 2015-12-31 107.675 17947 -100 1.532296087 Next, we have plotted the graph of the inflation rate and the growth rate of the GDP, in excel. Graph 1: In the above graph, the blue line highlights the GDP growth rate and the orange line highlights the rate of inflation. The time period is highlighted on the X-axis and the GDP growth rate and the rate of inflation are highlighted on the Y-axis. From the graph, it is evident that the GDP growth rate started increasing from the year 1982 and it continued increasing till the year 1984 and the inflation rate also increased in the year 1982. In fact, both the components were displaying similar trend till 1985. Again in the year 1984 there was a fall in the GDP growth rate. If the economy of a country is growing due to rising Aggregate Demand and if the AD is increasing faster than the production capacity, then such economic growth can give rise to inflation because due to the increasing demand the price of the products will also increase resulting inflation. Also in the period of rapid growth, the firms employ more numbers of labors, which will increase the job opportunities and the unemployment will fall. As a result, it will become tough for the company to fill up their vacancies thus increasing the wages. And when there is an increase in the wage rate then the company try to dodge the cost by passing it to the consumers ("Conflict between economic growth and inflation | Economics Help", 2015). It is also possible to achieve economic growth without creating inflation. If the economic growth is due to increase investment and productivity, then it will result in increasing the productivity of the economy at the same pace as Aggregate demand. This helps in achieving economic growth without inflation ("Conflict between economic growth and inflation | Economics Help", 2015). It is highlighted in the graph that during the period of global meltdown, that is the period after 2008 that the inflation rate went up sharply and the growth rate of the GDP shifted downward, in fact, it was in negative. During this period, both the inflation rate and the GDP growth rate displayed negative relationship. Then during 2009 when the GDP growth rate started shifting up, then the inflation rate started shifting downward. From 2010 both the inflation rate and the GDP growth rate started showing the same trend, till 2012 both the components were rising upward. Which means both the GDP growth rate and the inflation rate was increasing, indicating that there is growth in the economy. And this economic growth is due to the increasing aggregate demand, and the increasing demand is more than the capacity of the economy to produce. Due to which the goods and services become rare and result in increasing the price, thus giving rise inflation (Graph 1). Even during the period 2000 to 2008 both the components were showing a negative relationship. During this period, the GDP growth rate was increasing and the rate of inflation was declining. During this period, the growth in the economy is due to the increasing productivity and investment, so there is no rise in the inflation rate and there is an increase in the growth rate of GDP (Graph 1). (3). Table 2 includes the unemployment, the real GDP, GDP growth rate and the rate of unemployment in Australia for a period 1980-2015. The data for unemployment was collected from the online site Quandl. And the value of the GDP growth rate and the unemployment rate was calculated. GDP growth rate is an indicator to highlight how fast an economy is flourishing. This is done by comparing the GDP of one-quarter with the previous quarter of the country. The growth rate of the GDP is directed by four important ingredients of the GDP, of which personal consumption is the most vital director of the GDP. Retail Sales are included in personal consumption. Business investment, government spending, and imports are also important drivers of the GDP growth rate. The GDP growth rate in table 1, is calculated using the formula: GDP growth rate= (GDP2 GDP1 /GDP1) * 100 Where GDP1 is the GDP for the current year and GDP2 is the GDP of the preceding year. Unemployment is a situation when an individual belonging to the working population do not have a job but are willing to work and are desperately searching for a job. For example, if an employee leaves her job to bring her child up or if an individual leaves a job for higher studies than such situations are not considered as unemployment because in this situation they are no searching for a job ("Definition of Unemployment | Economics Help", 2010). There are different types of unemployment: Unemployment due to deficient demand: such unemployment occurs when there is a lack of aggregate demand in the society. Structural unemployment: such unemployment occurs when the present workforce lacks the required skills and knowledge. Unemployment due to real wage: such unemployment occurs when the wages are above the equilibrium level. Frictional unemployment: such unemployment occurs when there are workers in between jobs. For example, it takes time for a school leaver to find a job. There always prevails frictional unemployment in an economy because every individual take sometimes finds a job that complements him. Voluntary unemployment: and such unemployment occurs when an individual is willing unemployed or they are not ready to work at the prevailing wage rate. Unemployment rate is an important tool that measures the occurrence of unemployment and is calculated using the formula: Unemployment rate= unemployment / total labour force * 100 Table 2: Date unemployment GDP in billions of current dollars GDP growth rate unemployment rate 1980-12-31 408.6106 2862.5 12.17467249 6.040514173 1981-12-31 393.8846 3211 4.17315478 5.722572011 1982-12-31 494.925 3345 8.762331839 7.087485274 1983-12-31 697.0384 3638.1 11.06621588 9.866659848 1984-12-31 641.2146 4040.7 7.572945282 8.900710573 1985-12-31 602.8681 4346.7 5.601950905 8.179751468 1986-12-31 613.1224 4590.2 6.099952072 8.006934771 1987-12-31 628.8614 4870.2 7.8518336 8.033761197 1988-12-31 576.2193 5252.6 7.712371016 7.162711935 1989-12-31 508.068 5657.7 5.689591177 6.122776171 1990-12-31 584.802 5979.6 3.251053582 6.870526237 1991-12-31 812.6211 6174 5.916747651 9.515920284 1992-12-31 917.517 6539.3 5.190157968 10.7209192 1993-12-31 933.7462 6878.7 6.252634946 10.81752748 1994-12-31 850.3487 7308.8 4.861263135 9.682852987 1995-12-31 757.7033 7664.1 5.690165838 8.438762705 1996-12-31 771.5511 8100.2 6.2751537 8.48667283 1997-12-31 763.4834 8608.5 5.584015798 8.385908788 1998-12-31 708.1152 9089.2 6.286581877 7.668925424 1999-12-31 639.9935 9660.6 6.4612964 6.888375373 2000-12-31 596.7537 10284.8 3.276680149 6.237930504 2001-12-31 651.7646 10621.8 3.348773278 6.714997589 2002-12-31 624.9985 10977.5 4.857207925 6.325681024 2003-12-31 592.2021 11510.7 6.639040197 5.909836792 2004-12-31 545.0514 12274.9 6.670522774 5.366156367 2005-12-31 523.5905 13093.7 5.821120081 5.017153014 2006-12-31 508.4875 13855.9 4.486897278 4.763715322 2007-12-31 477.6078 14477.6 1.664640548 4.356801924 2008-12-31 474.4643 14718.6 -2.03755792 4.227501217 2009-12-31 636.2413 14418.7 3.784668521 5.56440853 2010-12-31 605.9849 14964.4 3.698778434 5.205221283 2011-12-31 600.3173 15517.9 4.107514548 5.074995466 2012-12-31 625.0701 16155.3 3.14385991 5.37519481 2013-12-31 686.455 16663.2 4.110254933 5.721716226 2014-12-31 745.5787 17348.1 3.452251255 2015-12-31 17947 Graph 2: After calculating the real GDP growth rate and the unemployment, the graph of the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate was plotted using excel. In the above graph, the blue line highlights the GDP growth rate and the orange line indicates the unemployment rate. In short-run it is very difficult to highlight the relation between the economic growth and the unemployment rate. It is not uncommon for the unemployment rate to show a declining rate if the other important measures of economic are showing positive growth. The unemployment rate does start falling as soon as the economy of a country start growing after a period of recession because many companies have employees that are underutilized according to the salary they are offered and more over laying off employees during the period of recession or falling aggregate demand and again hiring new employees after the period of recession of when the aggregate demand increases (Graph 2). As visible from the graph during the period between 1982 and 1983 both the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate was increasing and during the period 1983 to 1985 both the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate were declining (Graph 2). Even during the period of great depression both the components were displaying similar trend, GDP growth rate, and unemployment rate both started falling but the GDP growth rate was falling at a higher rate, which shows that even during the period of recession the employment rate was increasing in Australia (Graph 2). References Amadeo, K. Amadeo, K. (2016). How to Calculate the GDP Growth Rate. About.com Money. Retrieved 24 May 2016 Christiano, L. J., Eichenbaum, M. S., Trabandt, M. (2013). Unemployment and business cycles (No. w19265). National Bureau of Economic Research. Conflict between economic growth and inflation | Economics Help. (2015). Economicshelp.org. Retrieved 24 May 2016, Coyle, D. (2015). GDP: A brief but affectionate history. Princeton University Press. Definition of Unemployment | Economics Help. (2010). Economicshelp.org. Retrieved 24 May 2016, Domestic product - Gross domestic product (GDP) - OECD Data. (2016). Data.oecd.org. Retrieved 24 May 2016, Egerer, M., Langmantel, E., Zimmer, M. (2016). Gross Domestic Product. In Regional Assessment of Global Change Impacts (pp. 147-152). Springer International Publishing. Gregg, P., Machin, S., Fernndez Salgado, M. (2014). Real wages and unemployment in the big squeeze. The Economic Journal, 124(576), 408-432. Hobson, J. A. (2013). The Economics of Unemployment (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. Jayaraman, T. K., Chen, H., Bhatt, M. (2013). Inflation and Growth in Fiji: A Study on Threshold Inflation Rate. The Empirical Economics Letters, 2(12), 163-171. Kendrick, J. W. (Ed.). (2012). The new system of national accounts (Vol. 47). Springer Science Business Media. Konchitchki, Y., Patatoukas, P. N. (2014). Accounting earnings and gross domestic product. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 57(1), 76-88. Kubiszewski, I., Costanza, R., Franco, C., Lawn, P., Talberth, J., Jackson, T., Aylmer, C. (2013). Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress. Ecological Economics, 93, 57-68. MWORTH | Australia the real GDP. (2016). Quandl.com. Retrieved 24 May 2016.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

WP Event Manager Plugin Review (Create and Manage WordPress Event Listings)

Do you host/organize events  and need a nice way to display them  on your website? This is where WordPress event listings come into play. Lets have a look at how you can create them with the tool were reviewing today.WP Event Manager  is a free WordPress plugin that  makes any event look appealing on your site. With it, you can create events yourself and/or give a free hand to other people too.In this post, youll find out more about how this plugin works and what makes it so cool. Heres our hands-on review.What is WP  Event ManagerWP  Event Manager is a plugin that lets you create WordPress event listings, which you can then display on the front-end of your site, so people can view and register for them. Additionally, your users can add their own events as well (everything under your control, of course).The plugin  is very easy to use and provides a simple interface. It was built so that you can quickly set the details of  an event. You can choose to display the event s on the page thats automatically created by the plugin (simply named Events) or place them anywhere else on the site via shortcodes that WP  Event Manager  comes with.Apart from  the front-end listing, the admins will have an event dashboard, from where they can manage all the entries effectively:  filter them and keep an overall evidence of what the most important events are (those you can mark as pinned or featured), the canceled ones, the expired ones etc. All those events are marked distinctively with a different color so you can notice them easily at a glance.Key Features of WP Event ManagerWhat makes  WP Event Manager stand out? Heres  the shortlist of the main features:Fully responsive.Translation ready.Built on Ajax for smooth browsing.Adds, manages and filters WordPress event listings by keyword, location, date, and event type (also, theres an unfiltered list of all recent events).Adds Ajax-powered WordPress event listings to your pages via shortcodes.Lets the guests and registered users submit and manage WordPress event listings from the front-end.Compatible with SEO plugins.Lets you easily create custom event fields.Customer support included.Or simply check the 2-minute video for a more interactive presentation: How to create WordPress event listings  with WP  Event ManagerFirst, you need to install and activate the plugin, as usual.After that, the setup is very straightforward because it provides a wizard that guides you through the whole process in a simple way:The plugin automatically creates three different pages to help you manage and showcase your events. You can always customize those pages later on by manually adding the shortcode wherever you want, but its nice that the plugin does this work for you right from the start.Next, you can adjust the plugins settings if you wish to. There are three main tabs in the settings panel:In the Event Listings tab, you can handle all the basic settings of your event listings, including th ings like the number of listings per page, how to handle canceled or expired events, as well as set up categories, event types, and ticket prices.In the Event Submission tab, you can choose whether or not to allow anonymous visitors to create events, as well as how the account creation process works. Personally, Id recommend against allowing anonymous submissions, but its nice to have the option there anyway. You can also approve whether or not moderation is required before events are displayed.Again, its probably a good idea to always have moderation to ensure your listings stay high quality.The third tab is about the pages where youll be listing the events. In other words, if you want to use any of the shortcodes delivered with the plugin, this is the tab where you can set everything up.After all these preferences are set, its time to get to work and create some WordPress event listings. Click on Event Listings in the admin menu, then All Events - Add New. A simple page will appea r, giving you all the fields that usually show up with an event. Fill them out with your information.The plugin lets you add a lot of details about your events, such as title, venue, banner, organization logo, tickets, dates, expiration day, social media profiles, location, and more. Apart from that, you can also add custom fields like geolocation by city, country, latitude, longitude, etc.The event type can also be set pretty easily. For instance, you can create your event to represent a concert or performance, convention, conference, party, competition, seminar, etc.After you have the event details all ready, click Publish, and your event is now live. An event form will be added to a page created automatically by the plugin, but if you want to put it somewhere else on the  site, again, you can do so via a shortcode.Now, after publication, when you go back to All Events, your most recent item will be there on the list. You can always go back and edit it anytime you want. You can also mark an event as canceled or featured (if you want it to be always shown on top of the list).And this is what the event looks like on the front-end:If your visitors are allowed to post events then they can do so through the event submission form field. The event organizers who need promotion can just go to the special page automatically created by the plugin (Post an Event) and complete the fields with the details about the event. The events wont go live automatically if you chose to moderate them first.Your visitors can also view, edit, cancel, or delete their own events by entering the Event Dashboard page.Add-onsWP  Event Manager is already cool enough for a free plugin. But, if you need something advanced, you have the possibility of choosing from lots of premium add-ons. Prices vary depending on your needs (developer and normal licenses available; $0-$99).For example, there are add-ons for:Searching for events based on location and proximity.Selling tickets on your WordP ress events website.Displaying a calendar that lists upcoming events on your site.Alerting your registered users of any future events.Carousels and other types of sliders to display the listings.Allowing your visitors to register for an event.Using Google ReCaptcha to protect your listings from spam.Who should use this pluginFirst of all, if you need it for personal purposes, this plugin is just perfect. It can also be similarly useful if you run a small business and host various events from time to time.Secondly, WP  Event Manager should also be good for third-party sites that focus on listing/presenting various events from diverse fields/categories or businesses.Why use this plugin? I would personally use it  because:Its extremely easy to create and customize events. You just need a few  clicks and your event is  live.I think that the plugin already offers enough features for a free tool, but those add-ons are really awesome too, even though they can get a bit costly if yo ure buying many (yet it depends on what license variant  you pick).If you need a simple, not necessarily very detailed event page, WP Event Manager has it all.The plugin is lightweight and its compatible with every theme which means that no matter where you want to install it, it will fit pretty well.How to get WP  Event Manager?Theres nothing simpler than getting this plugin. Its available 100% free in two places:(1) Like any other plugin, you can get it via WordPress.org: WP Event Manager Author(s): WP Event ManagerCurrent Version: 3.1.9Last Updated: September 7, 2019wp-event-manager.zip 94%Ratings 70,935Downloads WP 4.1+Requires (2) You can go to the developers official website and get it from there. Theres a big download button in the center.If you need any of the premium add-ons, the price tags on those are between $19 and $99. There are free add-ons available as well. You can see all of them here.What do you think? Have you tested WP  Event Manager yet?* This is a sponsored post. As always, whether sponsored or not, the opinions presented are still our own and 100% honest.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Black Boy Essay essays

Black Boy Essay essays The external and internal conflicts are very evident in Wrights story Black boy. When the boys father left, his internal problem of hunger became closely associated with his father. After the boy started doing household chores such as cleaning and shopping, that gave way to another internal problem, responsibility. The boy was not yet ready for such a responsibility; he had to grow up fast in too short a period. On the boys first trip to the supermarket, he came across an angry mob of boys. The boys beat him and stole his money. They did this a second time, and each time the boys fear of the gang became increasingly evident. His external conflict with this gang became more and more of a problem. When finally the boy stood up for himself, he solved several problems, his hunger, and the fear of the boys. The external problem of his father leaving and the fear of the gang, closely coexist with the internal problem of the boys hunger. The gang is in the way of the boy getting the groceries, and boy would have never had the problem of being hungry had his father not left. Overall, the boys conflicts revolve around his father. Even though the father is not there, the boy grows stronger in the end because of it. For when he stood up for himself, that day, he learned a valuable lesson. ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

What to Wear to a Job Interview

What to Wear to a Job Interview When you head off to a job interview, in whatever guise, what you wear is just as important as what you say. Look at it this way – your clothes and the way you present yourself are a reflection of who you are, your personality, how seriously you take yourself and life, and in the end, how seriously you would take the job you’re being interviewed for. It’s for this reason that you need to pay serious attention to what you wear to your upcoming interview. We know that interviews themselves are scary things, but you can put yourself ahead of the competition if you present yourself in the right way. Of course, you could be attending an interview in a variety of different circumstances, be it for a part time job on top of your studies, in order to earn a little extra cash, or it could be that you’re looking to start your career on a full-time basis, and you’re being interviewed for your first job. Whichever of these you fall into, or somewhere in the middle, check out these suggestions for what to wear to power you to success. Research the company It’s not just about what to say or write in cover letter when you are interviewed in terms of the company and its ethos, but also about what their dress code is. You need to fit in with this as soon as possible, and that starts at the interview. Google is your friend here, so do a little investigating and put yourself ahead of the game. This shows initiative and will stand you in good stead. Some companies have a more relaxed dress code for work, but that doesn’t mean you should adopt this for your interview, simply try and incorporate it, whilst still being smart and well turned out. Which leads us onto †¦. being smart and well turned out Clothes should be in good condition, no rips or tears, and they should be ironed to get rid of any creases. If ripped jeans are in, don’t wear them – think smart and you won’t go far wrong. Basically, your appearance has to reflect your work ethic, but also hint at your own personality too, in a subtle but clear way. It’s a fine line, but one which when done correctly, works very well indeed. For instance, if you’re going for a part time job on top of your studies in a coffee house and you’re being interviewed for a barista job, power dressing won’t be the way forward; instead, you need to think about being smart, but also showing that you are an individual yourself and you can connect with the people you will be working with. It’s hard to give suggestions, because everyone’s personality is different, but a pair of black trousers with a brightly coloured shirt could show personality, however don’t go for neon because that doesn’t look good on anyone! Laid back but smart would be the way forward here, perhaps a patterned scarf would hint at your quirky nature. Don’t be inappropriate Flashing the flesh will not win you any fans, and it will probably turn your interviewers right off. Whilst you might be under the (rather false) impression that a cleavage on show might get you remembered, bear in mind that you will be remembered for the wrong reasons. Think classy and sophisticated, rather than trashy. As we hinted at before, you can express your personality, but tone it down! Nobody said you had to totally avoid showing your personality in your dress, but don’t be too ‘out there’ because it may not translate the same meaning as you intend. Clothing needs to be age appropriate, as well as appropriate for the situation. For instance, if you’re going for an interview for a law internship, you need to stick to the very professional and smart rules, such as a suit, tie, and dress shoes for the men, and a trouser suit, skirt, or dress to the knee or below for the girls. On the other hand, if you’re heading off for an interview in a funky art gallery, being too smart might not win you the right look. Grooming is just as important What you wear is imperative, but your general upkeep is too! Of course, we are talking about personal hygiene, having clean, tidy hair, having a shave for the boys amongst you, and generally smelling fresh and flowery, rather than as though you have just pulled a study all-nighter. Don’t forget this important step! Dressing for your interview is about knowing what kind of job you’re going for and tailoring what you wear accordingly. Do your research, show your personality a little, but always be smart. Good luck!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Rising Cost of Health Care, and the Uninsured Essay

The Rising Cost of Health Care, and the Uninsured - Essay Example In the face of rising health care costs, fewer employers are able to provide their workers with health insurance; the percentage of employers offering health insurance dropped from 69% in 2000 to 60% in 2005. Even if employers are able to provide health insurance benefits, the trend is towards providing high-deductible insurance that covers an ever-shrinking percentage of health care costs. The net result is that more and more employed middle-class Americans find themselves with low-quality or no access to health care. The erosion of employer-based coverage has been partially offset by increased enrollment in Medicaid, which is designed to provide a safety-net for the lowest income Americans. However, Medicaid has recently been the subject of relentless funding cuts by cash-strapped states and Congressional representatives who are ideologically opposed to welfare programs. As the program continues to be slashed, it is certain that Medicaid will not be able to offset the losses in employer-based insurance, resulting in more and more uninsured individuals. Health insecurity is at an all-time high. In a time when thousands of people lose their health insurance every day, when health care is becoming elusive to even well-to-do Americans, and when any person is just one pink slip away from becoming uninsured, it becomes clear that health care for all is not just important to achieve, but imperative. (http://66.249.93.104/searchq=cache:MjuwB2oUF14J:www.amsa.org/uhc/CaseForUHC.pdf+%22Health+insecurity+is+at+an+all-time+high.+In+a+time+when+thousands%22&hl=en&gl=pk&ct=clnk&cd=1) Most people have health insurance through their employers or jobs. But, employment is no longer a guarantee of health insurance coverage. As companies change from manufacturing-based economy to a service economy, the working patterns revolve and health insurance coverage has become less stable. Due to rising health insurance, many employers cannot afford to offer health benefits. Companies that do offer health insurance, often require employees to contribute a larger share toward their coverage. As a result, a lot of people have made a decision not to take advantage of job-based health insurance because they cannot afford it. Because of this healthcare spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in history. For example in 2004, according to the National Coalition of Healthcare (NCHC) the total national health expenditures rose 7.9 percent -- over three times the rate of inflation (1). Total spending was $1.9 TRILLION in 2004, or $6,280 per person (1). Total healthcare spending represented 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Healthcare spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4 TRILLION in 2015, or 20 percent of GDP. In 2005, employer health insurance premiums increased by 9.2 percent - nearly three times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $11,000. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,000. Experts say our healthcare system is filled with inefficiencies, unnecessary administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems drastically

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Discussion paper Statistical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion paper Statistical Analysis - Essay Example (Gibson, W., 1997). There are several data collection techniques, and the most commonly used data collection techniques are use of available information, observation, interviews, use of written questionnaires, and focus group discussions. There is a large amount of useful data that has already been collected by others, and this makes a useful starting point in the collection of data. It requires locating where the data is available, and identifying data that is useful and relevant to the current exercise, and retrieving it. Using such available data is an inexpensive means to collection of data, and still it may be difficult to get access to the relevant record and reports, and there is the added disadvantage that the data may not be accurate, and complete. Observation calls for the systematic selection, watching, and recording of the behavior and characteristics of living beings, objects or phenomena. It is a commonly used data collection technique in the study of human behavior. There are two ways in which observation can be done. In the first called participant observation, the observer is involved in the situation that is being observed. In the second called non-participant observation, the observer watches the situation either in an open manner, or in a concealed manner, and is not a participant in the situation. The advantage with observation is that it provides more accurate and substantial information, especially where studies of human behavior is concerned. This data collection technique makes use of oral interviews either with a target group or individuals. The responses to the questions posed are recorded in writing, or by recording on a machine, or a combination of both methods may be used. Flexibility is a determining factor in interviews. High flexibility is used, when the researcher is unsure of the subject, or if the subject is sensitive. Low flexibility is used, when the researcher is well informed on the subject, or if the sample group is

Sunday, November 17, 2019

A Person You Admire the Most Essay Example for Free

A Person You Admire the Most Essay â€Å"In recent decades some extreme forms of violence against children, including sexual exploitation and trafficking, female genital mutilation (FGM), the worst forms of child labour and the impact of armed conflict, have provoked international outcry and achieved a consensus of condemnation, although no rapid remedy. But in addition to these extreme forms of violence, many children are routinely exposed to physical, sexual and psychological violence in their homes and schools, in care and justice systems, in places of work and in their communities. All of this has devastating consequences for their health and well-being now and in the future.† Read more: Essay people I admire (1) Child Abuse â€Å"Child abuse is not simply any harm that befalls children. Children throughout the world suffer from a multitude of harms- malnutrition, starvation, infectious disease, congenital defects, abandonment, economic exploitation, the violence of warfare, to name a few. Not all harm that befalls children is child abuse.† (2) Child abuse is harm resulting from intentional human action. The most fundamental attribute of child abuse is that it is harmful to the child and detrimental to his/her well-being. There is also an important difference between unintentional and intentional harm. â€Å"It has been observed that what is so destructive about child abuse and neglect (as opposed to other forms of injury) is that the betrayal of the child’s trust leads to defective socialization.†(3) Child abuse is correlated with unemployment and poverty. â€Å"Rates of abuse and neglect can be thought of as indicators of the quality of life for families, and maltreatment can be viewed as a symptom, rather than a cause, of difficulties in family and individual functioning.†(4) Thus, overall rates of child abuse are higher in regions characterized by a higher proportion of low-income families and in regions with unusually high rates of unemployment. There are four main categories of child abuse: physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse.(5) Physical Abuse Studies from countries around the world suggest that up to 80 to 98 % of children suffer physical punishment in their homes,(6) and it is estimated that 57,000 children under the age of 15 die as a result of physical abuse per year.(7) Physical abuse can range from minor bruises to severe  fractures or death as a result of punching, beating, hitting, shaking, or otherwise harming a child. One of the most common types of physical abuse in infants includes Shaken Baby Syndrome. (8)Emotional Abuse and Neglect Emotional abuse is behavior that impairs a child’s emotional development or sense of self-esteem. It may include threats, constant criticism, as well as withholding love, support, or guidance. Neglect is a pattern of failing to provide for a child’s basic physical and emotional needs. Neglect is a very common type of child abuse, and according to Child Welfare Information Gateway, more children suffer from neglect than from physical and sexual abuse combined. (9) Sexual Abuse and Child Prostitution Sexual abuse of a child is any sexual act between an adult and a child which may include sexual intercourse, incest, rape, oral sex, sodomy, inappropriate touching, or kissing. â€Å"An overview of studies in 21 countries (mostly developed) found that 7-36% of women and 3-29% of men reported sexual victimization during childhood, and the majority of studies found girls to be abused at 1.5-3 times the rate for males. Most of the abuse occurred within the family circle.† (10) Child prostitution â€Å"involves offering the sexual services of a child or inducing a child to perform sexual acts for a form of compensation, financial or otherwise.† (11) Worldwide, approximately 1 million children are forced into prostitution every year, and it is estimated that the total number of child prostitutes is as high as 10 million. â€Å"Generally children do not commit child prostitution but the adults who engage in prostitution or offer a child’s sexual services to others for ce them. It is estimated that at least 1 million girls worldwide are lured or forced into this scandalous form of child exploitation. Child prostitution is more frequent in developing countries such as Brazil and Thailand where more than 200,000 children are exploited.† (12) Child prostitution is not only a cause of death and high morbidity for millions of children, but also a gross violation of their rights. Prostitution negatively affects children’s sexual health, causes psychological harm, and puts them at risk for enduring increased violence. Sexual Health: Child prostitutes are at a high risk of contracting HIV. HIV infection rates in prostituted children range from 5% in Vietnam to 17% in  Thailand. One study reports that 50-90% of children rescued from brothels in Southeast Asia are infected with HIV. Prostituted children are also at a high risk of acquiring other STDs. For example, one study found that child prostitutes have STD rates in Cambodia of 36% and in China of 78%, compared to the 5% yearly incidence of STDs in adolescents worldwide. (13) Psychological Harm: Child prostitution also causes serious long-term psychological harm, including anxiety, depression, and behavioral disorders. Prostituted children are at a high risk of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder. A study conducted in the U.S. found that 41% of pregnant prostituted adolescents reported having seriously considered or attempted suicide within the past year.(14) Violence: Prostituted children are at a high risk of enduring injuries and violence. The children may be physically and emotionally abused into submission, while girls may be beaten to induce miscarriages. A study of 475 child prostitutes in five countries found that 73% of participants had been physically assaulted while working as a sex worker, and 62% reported having been raped. (15) Child Labor Child labor is a problem worldwide, but it particularly affects children in developing countries. Child labor is characterized by full-time work at too early of an age, and too many hours spent working. The work often exerts undue physical, social, or psychological stress, hampers access to education, and may be detrimental to social and psychological development. The ILO’s Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor recently estimated that 211 million children, or 18 % of children aged 5-14, are economically active worldwide. 60% of these working children live in Asia, and 23% live in sub-Saharan Africa. Most economically active children are employed in agriculture. For example, in Nepal, 85% of economically active children are in agriculture. In Cambodia, the rate is 73% while in Morocco it is 84%.(16) The type of child labor is the most important determinant of the incidence of work-related injuries. An estimated 6 million work-related injuries occur among children annually, which results in 2.5 million disabilities and 32,000 fatalities every year. In developing countries, children often work under hazardous conditions in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. For these children, crushing accidents, amputations, and fractures account for 10% of all work-related  injuries. Working children are not only at risk of physical injury, but are vulnerable to workplace toxins and chemical hazards as well.(17) Specific hazards vary according to the industry type. Child workers may be exposed to high temperatures, and a high risk of accidents caused by cuts and burns if they work in the brassware and glass-bangle industry. Children who work in matches and firebox shops may be exposed to chemical hazards and a risk of fire and explosion. Children who work in the carpet industry are exposed to repetitive movements, chemical hazards, inhalation of wool dust contaminated with biological agents, and inadequate working postures. Lastly, children who work in the shoe industry are often exposed to glue. (18) â€Å"Using data derived from the Global Burden of Diseases Study (GBDS), estimates of child occupational mortality rates by region were found to be comparable with adult mortality rates, indicating that the conditions in which children work are as dangerous as, or more dangerous then, those in which adults work.†(19) Child labor not only negatively affects a child’s health, but it also negatively impacts his/her ability to receive schooling and perform academically. When children are forced by their families to work, they no longer have the time to attend school. Though there are a significant number of children who go to school and work, the work may negatively impact their studies. Data from 12 Latin American countries find that third and fourth graders who attend school and never conduct market or domestic work perform 28% better on mathematics tests and 19% better on language tests than children who both attend school and work. (20) Child labor is also problematic because it creates a vicious cycle. A study conducted in Egypt found that many fathers couldn’t find work or were unemployed for health reasons that were a result of them having worked too long hours, in conditions that negatively impacted their health as children. For example, one man had worked in pottery factories since childhood and was blinded as a result. Thus, one of his sons was then forced at the age of 8 to provide for the family and engage in full-time work. (21) Low income, poverty, and poor educational institutions are the driving forces behind the prevalence of child labor worldwide. (22) â€Å"Child labor exists because education systems and labor markets do not function properly, because poor households cannot insure themselves against income fluctuations, and because perverse incentives exist that create a demand for child labor.†(23) Thus, many  families, especially those in developing countries, need extra income or can’t afford to send their children to school, so they send them to work. â€Å"Historical growth rates suggest that reducing child labor through improvements in living standards alone will take time. If a more rapid reduction in the general incidence of child labor is a policy goal, improving educational systems and providing financial incentives to poor families to send children to school may be more useful solutions to the child labor problem than punitive measures designed to prevent children from earning income.† (24)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Free Yellow Wallpaper Essays: Womens Subordination :: Yellow Wallpaper essays

Women's Subordination in The Yellow Wallpaper  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   "The Yellow Wallpaper," written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a chilling study of insanity. It is a bitter story of a young woman driven to insanity by a "loving" husband-doctor, who imposes Mitchell's "rest cure."1 This short story vividly reflects a woman in torment. This story starts out with a hysterical woman who is overprotected by her "loving" husband John. She is taken to a summer home to recover from a nervous condition. She is told to rest and sleep; she is not even allowed to write. "I must put this away,--he hates to have me write a word." This shows how controlling John is over her as both husband and doctor. She is "absolutely forbidden to "work" until" she's "well again." Here, John seems to be more of a father than a husband. Like the husband in Ibsen's A Doll House, John is being the dominant person in the marriage: a sign of typical middle-class. Although the narrator feels desperate, John tells her that there is "no reason" for how she feels; she must dismiss those "silly fantasies." In other words, John treats her like a child and gives her reason to doubt herself. "Of course it is only nervousness," she decides. She tries to rest, to do as she is told, like a child, but suffers because John does not believe that she is ill. This makes her feel inadequate and unsure of her own sanity. He "does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him." She feels that she should be "a good girl" and appreciate the protective love John offers to her. "He takes all care from me, and I feel so basely ungrateful not to value it more. . . . He took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose. . . . He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well." In telling her to keep well, John just expresses more doubt about her having any real illness. She tries to discuss her feelings, but this brings only a "stern reproachful look" and she goes back to bed. "Really dear you are better," John says over and over.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Daniel Suelo the Archetypal hero Essay

The book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell proposes that all myths are essentially hero-quest stories, each of which rings a unique change on a universal pattern; a pattern he calls the â€Å"monomyth.† According to Campbell, the hero’s journey consists of three main moves: departure, initiation, and return. Within each of these categories is a number of stages common to the plots of all hero-quest stories, and can be compared to Daniel Suelo’s adventure throughout his life. According to the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the first move of the journey is departure which starts with the call to adventure. The call of adventure is how the journey starts and with Daniel Suelo it starts with him leaving the last of his money in a telephone booth and going for the adventure (accepting the call to adventure), so there is no direct indication of a call of adventure but leaving behind the money is probably the closest. Sometimes the hero does not accept the call to adventure and refuses it which turns the story to the negative, they lose their power and instead of the saving people, they are the one to be saved for refusing. After refusing their life changes from beautiful and colorful to boring dry and empty, and this is not the same as what happens to Daniel Suelo, but his life before was meaningless and he always wanted to take on the adventure (life with no money), so he probably refused the call before and accepted it later on. And for those who did not refuse the call, accepted it and took it on, the first thing the hero meets is a figure that is protective of them, and provides the hero help against whatever comes up on his or her journey. According to Daniel Suelo’s story, he has no supernatural aid, and no one on his side to help him with his journey,but later on in his life he does find a man, and has a relationship, and that relationship is possibly what kept him going, because he was very lonely, and his friend protected him from the feeling of being lonely. According to Joseph Campbell, the hero continues his journey until he comes to a threshold guardian, where he must cross the first threshold. This is where the hero must be brave to step in through the threshold to experience the unknown and compared to Daniel Suelo’s story, he accepted the call to  adventure and gets a supernatural aid, then must go through the threshold which is possibly him leaving his house and leaving his money in the phone booth and taking the world on without any money.The passage of the magical threshold is symbolized in the womb image of the belly of the wale. After the hero taking on the threshold, the hero will easily be sucked into the belly of the wale, and will appear as dead. Daniel Suelo’s adventure starts with him leaving his money, and ending up living in a cave in Utah, and that is where all his adventures start, and the cave is where he sleeps, which makes him appear as dead, then second day he wakes up hes stronger and hes ready t o take on everything. The second big move of the hero is initiation that starts with the road of trials that the hero must go through and experience, to get to the end of his journey. The hero must survive the trials, and this stage in a story in known to be the favorite phase of adventure,  where the hero will meet the unknown and be ready for the unexperienced. The trials in Daniel Suelo’s life is probably everything he has to face everyday to live human beings, to animals.Sometimes Daniel Suelo had to try his best to keep his cave up in Utah from police officers that wouldn’t allow him to live on unused government property. He also how to go through trials asking for food, because Daniel used to only take food from those who offered, or from dumpsters, which is something that some businesses didn’t like. For Daniel Suelo, everyday is a road of trials. After comparing Daniel Suelo to the archetypal hero Campbell refers to, its possible to see similarities him and the hero, but it is also hard to find much concrete similarities between the two. In the end, according to Campbell, I believe that Daniel is actually an archetypal hero that had to go through trails that each other hero went through in movies, old stories, and modern day story telling.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Errors In Solving Equations Reducible To Quadratic Form Education Essay

In the General Cambridge Examination Ordinary ( G.C.E. O ) Level Additional Mathematics course of study, work outing equations reducible into quadratic signifier plays an of import function as it affect about all mathematics strands in the course of study: Algebra ; Geometry and Trigonometry ; Calculus. The important Numberss of subjects in Additional Mathematics that requires the construct of placing and work outing equations reducible to quadratic signifier highlights the importance of this survey.Problem StatementStudents in Singapore secondary schools are expected to get and get the hang the accomplishment of algebraic use and work outing equations peculiarly additive equations and quadratic equations by the terminal of Secondary 2 ( Grade 8 ) ( Ministry of Education, 2007 ) . Students who take Extra Mathematicss in their Upper Secondary ( Grade 9 – Grade 11 ) are expected to be able to reassign their algebraic cognition and accomplishments peculiarly in work outing equati ons and use constructs and utilize it to work out more complex equations. Complex equations work outing in Additional Mathematics involves higher-degree algebraic powers, exponential maps, logarithm maps and trigonometry maps. Over the old ages, I have observed many pupils who were unable to work out equations reducible into quadratic signifier when given different maps as mentioned. This present survey is an effort to analyze pupils ‘ mistakes in work outing equations reducible to quadratic signifier through written and verbal signifier every bit good as supply some contemplation on instruction.Purpose of the StudyThis survey attempts to place the types of mistakes that pupils make in work outing equations reducible to quadratic signifier. The equations in this survey refer to equations affecting exponential maps, logarithm maps and trigonometry maps which can be simplified to ax2 + bx + c = 0 ( a, B and degree Celsius are invariables and ten is the maps mentioned ) . This su rvey intends to reply the undermentioned inquiries: What sort of mistakes do pupils hold when work outing equation that is reducible to quadratic signifier? Why do these pupils ‘ make these mistakes? How we can avoid such type of mistakes?Significance of the StudyIn mathematics, equation resolution is an of import accomplishment in progress algebra subjects. The usage of equation as a job work outing tool is applicable to other subjects such as Physicss. The mistake analysis that is being carried out in this survey would lend to an apprehension of the cause of pupils ‘ failure in work outing equations and to better schoolroom direction. Error analysis reveals both common and unexpected mistakes. Acknowledging and understanding the beginning of mistakes made by pupils will assist instructors to be after instructional activities to avoid some of the common mistakes if instructors are cognizant of the nature of their pupils ‘ misinterpretation. An apprehension of pupils ‘ mistakes in equation resolution will supply a better successful redress action by instructors.Conceptual ModelThe followers is the conceptual model of the survey. Beginnings of mistakes can be fou nd at any phase and the mistakes will be analysed. Equation in footings of P, where P are map such as exponential, logarithm or trigonometry Substitution, allow p = ten Identify structural characteristics Quadratic equation signifier: ax2 + bx + c = 0 Interpret solution Solve for P Solve for tenLITERATURE REVIEWIn the literature reappraisal, a general overview of algebra will be discussed, followed by troubles in larning algebra and troubles in work outing equations. Next, research of types of mistakes will be discussed. Last a reappraisal on understanding mathematics constructs is examined.2.1 AlgebraAlgebra involves variables ; whereas algebraic looks contain variables, invariables and operation marks ; whereas algebraic equation contains algebraic looks and equal mark. Students are required to understand the construct of variables, the significance of algebraic term before cut downing algebraic look right ( Filloy & A ; Rojano, 1989 ) . Thereafter, pupils need to cognize that that the construction of an equation is based on equality of algebraic looks ( Kieran, 1981 ; 1989 ) . Variable plays an of import portion in advanced therefore I am utilizing Usiskin ( 1988 ) construct of school algebra into four constructs where he emphasized on the function and signi ficance of variables in each of his construct. One of the of import characteristics of variable in this survey is sing algebra as a survey of construction ( Usiskin, 1998 ) .2.2 Surveies on Troubles in Learning AlgebraMany instructors and pupils will readily hold that algebra is hard to larn. Many surveies have been conducted to place or explicate pupils ‘ troubles in algebra are chiefly from primary or in-between school. The surveies on algebra are chiefly focused on variables, looks and work outing additive equations ( Kuchemann, 1981 ; Rosnick, 1981 ; Sleeman, 1984 ; Booth, 1988 ; Kieran, 1989 ; Wagner and Parker, 1993 ) . There are few surveies on the troubles or misconceptions on work outing quadratic equations ( Vaiyavutjamai & A ; Clements, 2006 ) in assorted National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ) research publications. There is besides fewer surveies conducted on algebra which are focused on high school or university degree ( Wagner & A ; Parker, 1993 ; V aiyavutjamai & A ; Clements, 2006 ; Novotna & A ; Hoch, 2008 ) .2.3 Troubles in Equation SolvingStudents ‘ troubles in understanding the construction of algebraic look will hold an impact on work outing equations ( Kieran, 1981, 1989 ) . Research on equations and work outing equations dealt with pupils ‘ acknowledgment and usage of construction, either implicitly or explicitly ( Kieran, 1989 ) . In acknowledging the construction of different types of equation, work outing it requires different processs. Hence, pupils require the right process before they can successfully work out an equation right. Ekenstam & A ; Nilsson ( 1979 ) survey found that the place the unknown every bit good as the types of solution in the equation affect the public presentation of the pupils. Using concrete theoretical accounts approach to understand the construct of equality to minimise pupils ‘ troubles in work outing equation was successful in Filloy & A ; Rojano ( 1989 ) survey. However, this survey does non back up state of affairs where negative Numberss are used. Lima ( 2007 ) cited Linchevski and Sfard ( 1991 ) research where pupils made errors in work outing equation as they misinterpret the techniques used to work out equation every bit good as deficiency the significance of the mathematical symbols.2.4 Surveies on Error AnalysisMathematical mistakes are a common phenomenon in pupils ‘ acquisition of mathematics and there is a long history for mistake analysis in mathematics instruction ( Peng, 2010 ) . Knowledge of the common mathematical mistakes and misconception of pupils can supply instructors with an penetration into pupil thought and a focal point for learning and larning ( Chua and Wood, 2005 ; Kaur, 1989 ; Ryan and McCrae, 2005 ; Wong, 2000 )2.4.1 Types of MistakesMistakes can be classified as procedural and conceptual mistake Bagni ( 2000 ) concluded in his research that high school pupils improperly extend simple regulations into two types ; misconceptions of additive functions and balance misconception. These misconceptions are operational misconceptions which were caused by an improper over-use of metaphorical projections. Bagni ( 2000 ) classified the undermentioned illustrations as misconception of additive functions, while Wong ( 2000 ) classified it as inappropriate usage of distributive jurisprudence: ; wickedness ; Example of balance misconception is as follows: where Bagni ( 2000 ) suggested that to get the better of these mistakes, the function of counterexamples dramas an of import portion to do pupils cognizant of wrong replies and of their conflicting thoughts. Some of the ill-famed confusion regulations are in work outing of algebraic equations utilizing the â€Å" move-over and change-sign † ( Wong, 2000 ) or â€Å" Switching-Addends † mistake ( Kieran, 1989 ) and â€Å" Redistribution † mistake ( Kieran, 1989 ) . Wong ( 2000 ) accent that is was no surprise that pupils frequently mix up the regulations because they do non hold relational apprehension of what they are making and their long-run memory is jumbled with legion regulations that look similar.2.5 UnderstandingUnderstanding was defined as doing connexion ( Hibert & A ; Carpenter, 1992 ) . Understanding new construct means to construct a relationship between the new construct and the old construct. Hibert and Carpenter ( 1992 ) suggested different ways to ease understanding by traveling through undertakings which requires contemplation, communicating and working on reliable or real-life jobs. This is verified by the survey of Brenner et. Al ( 1997 ) with junio r high school pupils on the construct of maps. Mistakes are the symptoms of misconstruing. If the grounds on why pupils made mistakes can be good understood, it should be easier to better their apprehension.2.5.1 Conceptual and Procedural UnderstandingConceptual and procedural apprehension in mathematics has its topographic point in mathematics. There have been two schools of idea when it comes to learning and acquisition of mathematics ( Long, 2005 ) . Novotna and Hoch ( 2008 ) survey was with high school pupils and university pupils, where they have troubles in developing deeper apprehension of mathematical impressions in their mathematics classs even though, they were high-achieving pupils in middle-school or high-school. These pupils have deficiency of construction sense a term created by Linchevski and Livneh ( 1999 ) , in other words they do non hold conceptual apprehension of construction. Kieran ( 1989, 1992 ) discussed pupils ‘ inability to separate structural charact eristics of equations. Thomas and Tall ( 1991 ) indicated the versatility of idea is necessary to exchange from an analytical attack to a planetary one, giving as an illustration to see 3x + 5 as a common factor in the look ( 3x + 5 ) 2 – 2x ( 3x + 5 ) . These illustrations indicate that pupils are required to hold conceptual apprehension in larning mathematics constructs when it comes to progress mathematics.MethodologyA qualitative attack was chosen for this survey, as I want to happen out about the mathematical thought underlying the mistakes when work outing equations. Experimental attack or quantitative attack will non be suited to seek the information required in the research inquiries. In order to show a wide image of the pupils ‘ mistakes and apprehension, it was necessary to utilize a written trial. Semi-structured interview Sessionss will be conducted after the analysis of the written trial. Interviews session will be the platform where pupils supply penetrati ons into the grounds for mistakes. Beginnings of informations from the written trial, interview Sessionss and past markers ‘ study will be able to triangulate the beginning of mistakes which is required in this survey. The sample of the survey is secondary Five ( Grade 11 ) pupils. They were selected for the survey as these pupils would hold covered most types of equations as compared to secondary Four ( Grade 10 ) pupils. The pupils ‘ cognition in mathematics could be tested in more state of affairss and would pull out greater assortment of mistakes. This survey was planned to: analyze the mistake patterns in phases of work outing equations reducible to quadratic signifier, compare the mistake forms of convergent thinkers of different abilities in work outing equations, place the idea procedure underlying the mistake patterns.WORKPLANAll pupils are given the instrument incorporating 7 inquiries on work outing equations. Duration of the trial is 40 proceedingss. The written solution will be marked and mistakes that are surfaced for each inquiry will be written and categorised. Following, the Markss of the trial will be tabulated and the pupils will be categorized to three sets: high ability ; medium ability ; low ability. The mistakes from each set will be farther analysed. Interview Sessionss with a few pupils from each set will keep to happen out why these mistakes occur. During the interview session, worked out solution of the pupils ‘ ain working and other pupils solutions will be used to analyze how the mistakes occurred. Interview session will be held in the period 7 March – 11 March 2011. In the hebdomads to come, I will finalise my findings from the interview. I will go on to read more literature on symbols, apprehension, mistake s and equation work outing for readying of the concluding study.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Indian Film Industry Essays

Indian Film Industry Essays Indian Film Industry Essay Indian Film Industry Essay The Indian Film Industry has been one of the oldest segments of the Indian entertainment industry. The Lumiere Brothers brought motion pictures to India in 1896, and since then there has been no looking back. Today, India has the worlds biggest movie industry that churns out around one thousand movies each year. The Indian Film Industry is witnessing mark improvements on all spheres from the technology used in making films to the themes of the movies, exhibition, finance and marketing and even in its business environment. There is no doubt that the Indian Film Industry is finally getting corporatized in that sense. 2005 was a watershed year for the industry. Indian Film Producers are also looking overseas for co-production. And the future looks immensely bright with a number of theatres poised to go digital. The Television industry is also witnessing the mushrooming of more niche channels. Here again, emerging technologies such as broadband, Direct-To-Home (DTH), Direct-To-Theatre (DTT), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and digitalization will bring about more growth. The Indian Film Industry is expected to grow by 13% over the next years, i. e. to Rs. 176 billion in 2012. This projection speaks volumes as regards the potential of the Indian Film Industry. The Indian Film Industry is the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and the number of movie goers in a year. Approximately around 1000, as part of the films is produced every year in different languages, out of which 70% are produced in the Hindi language. Ironically, the revenue realized from these films is almost negligible compared to other global markets. The investment level in 2007 was in the order of Rs. 10,000 crores and a 19% p. a. growth is projected during the period 2007-2012. One of the major policy initiatives has been the Government of India granting industry status to the entertainment sector in India including the film sector in 2001. This allows the sector to access institutional finance and clean credit for new projects. Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) was the first to enter with a funding of Rs. 100 million with 16% p. a. interest rate. However, banking and institutional finance has not been forthcoming to the film industry even today. A trend towards increased viewership abroad has been observed in countries like Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Middle East. In the recent past, as part of the cultural diplomacy, growing presence in prestigious film festivals and markets internationally has been encouraged and continued efforts are required in this direction for the film industry to -readily go global. The movement towards corporatization was inter alia the multiplex revolution, organized funding, foray of corporate, international co-productions, new marketing and revenue techniques. The multiplex revolution changed the entire concept of viewing cinema. PVR Limited was one of the pioneers of this revolution in India in 1997, with the launch of the concept multiple choice of movies under one roof. This furthered by interior decor of international standard and state-of-the-art sound and technology witnessed new revenues at the box office. Financing, exhibition and distribution were directly affected. It also led to more organized and transparent box-office reporting. It is pertinent to note that even though the number of multiplexes is on the rise, the average number of screens is abysmally low when compared to other mature markets in the West. This segment has seen an influx of major private players like Adlabs, Inox, E-City Entertainment, Wave Cinemas etc. In 2005-06, Shringar Cinemas, PVR Limited and Inox went public and together, a sum of Rs. 4,144. 45 million was raised during this period. Adlabs foray into the entire value chain of the film industry was a significant development in the Indian entertainment and media industry. The biggest crisis plaguing the industry is the distortionary rate of entertainment tax within states in India. For instance, in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the tax rate is low and hence these states have witnessed huge investments in cinema infrastructure. This has however not been the case with the rest of the states in India. Therefore, to avoid market fragmentation and distortions, a uniform and rational tax structure is required for the growth of the film industry. The funding of films either through non-banking finance companies, venture funds, corporate funds or through corporate finance, was a significant shift from the traditional film- financing model. IDBI was the first to start funding film production, that too, to big banners, big names and established film-personalities. The traditional model used amongst others distributors funds, personal finances of producers, money lenders. Obviously, there were inherent drawbacks attached to these modes of financing. Moreover, even banks are not forthcoming in financing film projects. Therefore, venture capital and private equity investment was clearly seen as a solution based on their appetite for risk and a conducive legal framework. Under the applicable law in India, there is no restriction on private equity investment into film making directly, without routing it, via venture capital regulations as venture capital. However, there are issues involved with such direct (non venture capital regulations routed) investment, which they could avoid by operating via applicable venture capital regulations. Corporatization of the Indian Film Industry has led to increased international collaborations for co-production ventures, multiplexes, film financing etc. Recently there has been interest in industry in India from international film companies and studios. For instance, Warner Bros. Entered into an agreement with Ramesh sippy, film producer, to fund three of his films: Saawaryia was co-produced internationally with SPE Films India Pvt. Ltd. Important co-production ventures include Percept Picture Company and Michael Douglas production company. Further Films and Sahara One tied-up with a Hollywood producer, Donald Rosenfeld. Adlabs tied-up with Hyperion, a Hollywood studio for an Indian film. iDream Productions launched their operations in U. K. ith three films already being made. The year 2008 saw the biggest deal between Bollywood and Hollywood, with Anil Ambani signing the deal with Steven Spielbergs DreamWorks for stabilizing a production studio in Los Angeles. The studio intends to produce six films in a year. India has signed several international co-production treaties with France, Brazil, Italy, Germany and Britain. The Audio-vi sual treaty, signed in 2007 with Brazil and Germany is expected to facilitate collaboration between film producers in each other s country. TAAL was the first film to be insured in India in 1998. Traditionally, film insurance covered only property damage and accidents, but today, the coverage of the package insurance policy has been expanded to include insurance cover for the cast of the film, any physical loss or damage to the negative or videotape, material or facilities insurance, technical equipment insurance, props, sets and wardrobe insurance, production office content insurance, money insurance, travel insurance, public liability insurance. The concept of Completion Bond insurance has also been introduced into the Indian Market. Under this format, any additional cost over and above the budget drawn is funded through this cover. The policy holder is the guarantor in this case. Given the wide-ranging nature of covers available in the insurance industry, today, what forms a critical part is the evaluation of the cover and scrutiny of the present and future liabilities. With the industry riding high on corporatization, insurance is essential for film producers and film financiers. However, the insurance industry for this sector in India is yet to take off in the true sense. Apart from the availability of pirated copies of latest films, the dismal condition of theatres is the main reason for low occupancy levels in theatres in India. Therefore, the mantra adopted by the Indian film industry was going digital. Digital cinema enables delivery of films through hard disks or electronic transmission, i. e. satellite. Further, digital prints apart from being cheaper are also less prone to duplication. Hence, to take advantage of this, it is important to implement the plan of digital cinema across India. Hence, the untapped business opportunity for digital cinema is vast. Traditionally, at the time of release, the film is used to first get released in A class cities and thereafter circulation used to take place in B and C class cities. In this interlude, pirated copies were obtained to cater to audiences in B and C class cities. With wide spread digitalization, a movie can be released simultaneously across all cities; it also helps in limiting piracy. The concept of revenue generation over and above box office collections marked a vital shift in the filmed entertainment business. These emerging avenues for generating revenue helped in two ways, firstly in de-risking the business of films and secondly in attracting Indian and overseas corporate. The convergence of technology has fuelled growth in the Indian film industry as well. Internet and mobile technology are both converging with films. Today, both mobiles and internet technology have greater penetrations when compared to other platforms. Therefore, film producers, realizing the criticality of this partnership, are busy tying up with mobile companies and broadcasters on the internet. Music download, movie download, video-on demand etc are gaining in popularity. Home video rights also emerged as a key revenue stream for producers, coupled with rising disposable incomes, affordable DVD and home theatre systems and a shorter-video-release window. Re-make rights, internet rights, mobile rights emerged as other alternative options, which made films an attractive investment for domestic and overseas corporates. Though the share of box office collections is declining, it still contributes the maximum to the revenues of the film industry. In 2007, a supplementary revenue generating scheme namely, Television Rights surfaced for Indian film producers. The reason for this was the variety of new channels being launched each year, the revenue generated by telecasting a film on television therefore increased in a significant manner. The overseas market is beginning to form a critical fraction of the revenue collections. This market was until recently yet another untapped territory as producers were neither inclined towards investing in more prints nor in adopting effective marketing plans. The collections from overseas are estimated to reach Rs. 0 million in 2012 and on a per film basis; the share is expected to rise to 16% in 2012. Other marketing techniques also surfaced with the maturing of the film industry. These included sale of mobile rights, ringtones, movie wallpapers, movie blogs, websites etc. Marketing spends on films have also seen a clear increase. For instance, in 2005, approximately Rs. 400 million was spent on innovative marketing techniques for the film Mangal Pandey. Piracy is the act of making available counterfeit products of a product in which a persons intellectual property right vests. With the digital revolution, piracy has increased many fold in India, giving pirates access to technologies facilitating mass reproduction at much cheaper costs. The Indian entertainment industry, boosted by a rapid growth in the number of digital consumers, will earn as much as US$28. 9 billion by 2012. Study shows that the Indian entertainment industry grew 17% in 2007 – a slight improvement on the 15% forecast, reaching US$12. 82 billion, up from $10. 95 billion in 2006. Amid the growth phase has been the overriding menace of counterfeiting and piracy, which has engulfed the industry. The optical disc ease of access as a medium to transmit information with a simple computer has become a major source of piracy in India. It has been observed through international practice that the enactment of an optical disc legislation has resulted in considerable reduction of piracy. This is evident from the fact that one of the worlds leading software provider s is feeling the short end of the stick with rising number of piracy against its products in India. In India, counterfeiting and piracy costs the entertainment industry US$4billion and losses of approximately 800,000 jobs annually. What is therefore needed is to put together a holistic program to fight piracy drawing on the power of consumers, the judiciary and policy-makers. A much- needed impetus as regards import of pirated goods in India, the department of customs has notified the Intellectual Property Rights (imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 providing for enforcement of rights intellectual property by giving powers to the custom authority to seize goods and even initiate suo-motu action inn this regard. It is notable that the department has further issued instructions to give effect to the rules in an appropriate manner. This arms the authorities with more teeth than the earlier laws and even provides for the intellectual Property owner to issue a notice to the violating importer. The animation and gaming industry is one of the biggest areas of emerging opportunities in the Indian entertainment industry. The sector is growing fast with around 300 animation companies at present. In the year 2006, exports accounted for more than 70% of the revenues. The Gaming industry in 2007 grew at 32%, a rate higher than the animation industry, which was 24% in the same time period. With the global animation and gaming market projected at US $80 billion and US $42 billion respectively by 2010, and with India expected to account for less than 2% of the global pie in 2010, there is a huge untapped prospect for India in the future. However, the animation industry is plagued with several issues. Indian policy makers could take lessons from other countries. For example, Korea, China and Singapore have strong government support to promote their domestic industry. For instance, in Korea, tax breaks are provided to give an impetus to their domestic industry. Similar approach on the lines of tax holidays, exemption of service tax, sales tax on software, import duty on hardware etc are also sought to foster a robust domestic industry. The highly technology-driven entertainment industry is surely making the task of policy makers difficult and more challenging. With convergence and fast technological innovation, the industry is grappling with regulatory issues across every industry segment. In this scenario, it is central for policy makers to appreciate the need to outline a comprehensive entertainment policy in India. This comprehensive entertainment policy should seek to enable efficient inter-operability between various distribution platforms. In India, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is the apex body, which formulates and administers rules, regulations and law relating to information, broadcasting, the press and films. The Ministry also has the responsibility for international cooperation in mass media, films and broadcasting and interacts with its foreign counterparts on behalf of the Government of India. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the regulatory body with the prime objective of providing fair and transparent policy environment in the telecommunications, broadcasting and cable television services industry. TRAIs policy recommendations should primarily promote level-playing field and promote fair competition. Policy with regards to different sectors in telecom, media and entertainment segment are issued without any common thread leading to convergence in regulations. This leads to a distortionary structure, which does not ensure inter-linkages in todays world. This is an impediment as firstly it does not ensure fair play and hinders competition and overall growth of the industry. Hence, it may be useful to analyze the best practices in mature markets like the United States and European Union while examining the need for an entertainment in India. United States of America – The office of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been entrusted with framing and envisioning the media policy for the United States. The US approach to media policy seems to emanate from the school of thought that deems it appropriate to provide specialist committees to undertake review and scrutiny of the various media factions with a single office entrusted with the responsibility of co-ordinating and synchronizing these policies and future goals. European Union (EU) – EU is the instrumentality that has been entrusted with the responsibility of making regulations and codes for the member states to align their respective domestic legislations and approach distinct issues in a streamlined manner, and provide the way forward as a common think tank. The EU approach to the media and entertainment industry is characterized by providing for oversight and guidance to the regulatory regime in member countries. The Audio Visual and Media Services directive covers all EU audiovisual media services (including on- demand services) in the digital age. It amends and renames the Television without Frontiers Directive, providing less detailed but more flexible regulation. And it modernizes TV advertising rules to better finance audiovisual content. The European policy towards media and entertainment is characterized by ‘light-touch regulatory approach along with sensitization to the increasing convergence across media platforms. On the contrary, to the aforementioned regulatory and industry best practices, in India, despite having identified the interdependency between each platform, each segment ends up competing against the other and this more often than not, results in distortionary market structures. Therefore, the entertainment policy in India following the likes of the United States and EU must move towards convergence both in its regulation as well as in its operations. In the converged world of today, each segment of the industry may be regulated by specialized offices. However, at the same time, an overarching body that ensures the regulatory framework of each segment of the industry does not impede the overall growth of the media and entertainment space must be established. This inclusive approach must be adopted to bring about a standardized policy and regulatory framework so that Indias forecasted opportunities do not remain a mere pipe dream.