Poverty in India Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Poverty in India - Research Paper Example About 29% of the population lives below the national poverty line; other estimates2 that are the indication of the current situation of India which will be used for further analysis of the situation include the infant mortality rate is 62 per 1000 births; child malnutrition for under 5 years old is 47%; around 86% people have access to an improved water source, and literacy is supposed to be around 61%. India was basically an agriculture based economy, in the year 2005, agriculture's proportion to GDP has been declining as the economy is progressing and agriculture was 18.3% of GDP and showed a growth was 6% year on year basis, industries' contribution was 27.3% and it posted a growth of 9.4% in which manufacturing grew at a rate of 9.1% whereas services now comprises more than half of GDP by contributing 54.4% to GDP and growing by 9.9%. Today, India faces problems such as escalating population and growing income inequalities; thus poverty remains quite a serious problem; although some social and demographic factors might seem to show some positives when compared over the years since India's independence in 1947 from the British rule. India: Poverty Retreats with Globalization's Advance (Nayar)3 suggests that with globalization of the world and the opening doors of the economy, India has shown a considerable growth has improved its own economic position. The reason for this is attributed to the deregulated policies that have now welcomed the multinationals to the country which has spurred the growth, employment, foreign direct investment into the boundaries of the country. But, the author still argues that with all the changes or step towards improvement is not quite visible in the masses of the country; that is the effect is not quite trickled down to the lower economic classes and only the top 20% have been benefiting from it. Though much of deregulation and liberalization have occurs but measures that are most reflective of poverty reduced situation has not shown quite remarkable improvements as reflected by calorie intake etc. Strategies for Combating Poverty in India, as mentioned earlier that the biggest challenge countries like India are facing today are to combat poverty; this article also highlights the same issue and discusses some of the ways poverty can be tackled in India. The article pinpoints that it is the policies of the government, and its priorities that are irrational and misplaced respectively; therefore, government over these last many years has failed to get rid of such a menace from the country. According to the author is important that the government should channel national resources in the right manner and to the desired objectives; first recommendation relates to unemployment, and suggestion is made regarding the law which should guarantee employment to be enacted, and if the state fails to provide employment then minimum wages in lieu should be paid to the unemployed too. Next, it suggests that for people it is necessary to develop skills, increase their productivity in areas inclu ding, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, technology etc. because according to the author poor are poor because they lack such skills and there is no focus on their skill development. Poverty in India (Jaya)4 states the measures of poverty in India. The article points out that the most popular estimate of poverty measure is by making use of household consumer

“SALVATION” by Langston Hughes Essay Example for Free

â€Å"SALVATION† by Langston Hughes Essay â€Å"Salvation† is an account of a young boy of twelve of his experience with his faith. It tells the story of a Langston who at this impressionable young age, became confused by the accounts of the other members of this congregation and his own personal experience with salvation. The setting of this story is in a healing mass, in a gathering of the faithful, headed by the priests to celebrate salvation. It depicts a set of frenzy to the point of fanaticism. The concept of faith, whispered into the open and impressionable minds of the youth, who honestly did not have any concept of their own at that time. Langston was not yet jaded, nor cynical. He was but 12. He really did want to be saved. He really did want to experience seeing the light. (Hughes,1940) However, his experience inside the church exacted the opposite of the fervor in faith that his elders expected. He gave the appearance to be no different from the others who claimed to have seen the light. Yet, in him, the darkness seemed to grow because he knew for himself that it was a lie- to escape the pressure and apparent humiliation he was receiving from steadfastly waiting on the bench, to honestly see Jesus, in the light. After the event, it appears that his innocence was shattered, his eagerness for salvation turned into disappointment and his faith shaken into unbelief. In his innocent young mind, he must have felt disappointed that he was abandoned by the savior everybody claimed to have seen. In his young mind he felt ashamed that he lied to everybody in order to spare himself and his kin the shame of being one who was different, one who was not able to see â€Å"the light†. Most importantly, he felt hurt that the â€Å"Jesus did not come to help him. †(Hughes,1940). He must have felt rejected-a devastating blow to an adolescent who, at that stage in life, seek the guidance of and acceptance into society. Since the society he lived with was centered on their faith, he as a young person, must have felt that he could only be part of that society if he claimed to see what the rest of them saw. His deception must have ate at him from inside because though he wanted to be genuinely part of the society, he knew he could not claim to be in his heart, because he had lied. It may have seemed to him that a welcome into a society based on a perceived lie was no good at all; more importantly, a welcome into the Faith was worthless if it was founded on a falsehood-a falsehood he was forced to tell because of the undue pressure that was seemed to have been placed on a young person as himself. Based on this narrative, there are a lot of assumptions one may make as to the resulting religiosity, or lack of, of Langston Hughes. His encounter with disappointment in his faith may have led him to be a skeptic all throughout his life. It might have made him question all the doctrines of the Church preached to the faithful that required them to believe in the unseen. However, he might have been forced to appear adherent to the practices and outward manifestations of being a member of the church. He might have been forced to go on living the lie he started with, yet inwardly being unconvinced. However, an opposite scenario might also be speculated upon. Adolescence is a trying time for a person and whatever experience one might have had may lead to different realizations later in life. With Langston experience, it might also be that he eventually sought to discover for himself the true meaning of â€Å"salvation†. It might be that, his experience with his family and with the society he belonged to, eventually led him to be resolute in his own beliefs and stand by his own principles, in order to make up for that one big lie he had to tell when he was 12. Whatever path Langston Hughes chose to follow in terms of his religious faith, it was greatly influenced by that time in his life when he was â€Å"saved. † That point in his life would obviously be pivotal, in terms of his faith and of his ability to stand up to pressure. It might even have become a starting point for him to be a man, in charge of his thoughts, words, actions, and convictions. With regard to the lie he had told and the reasons why he kept it, one could only speculate. Yet, based on the author’s account, it must have been an act of self-preservation. Adolescents give such a high regard to acceptance. He might have stood by the lie to avoid reproach or castigation from his peers, from his superiors, from all the people who witnessed his â€Å"salvation. † He might have kept the lie to himself to avoid more pain from rejection, as he already felt rejected by Jesus Himself, when young Langston failed to see him as the others claimed to. (Hughes,1940) Another possibility was that he did not want to bring shame to his aunt, who most fervently played for his salvation. He knew that he would not be the only one who would be humiliated when he reveals that he did not see Jesus at all. His young heart aimed to please, and being the only child to be unsaved would cause a great disappointment to his devout aunt. Having to tell her that he lied about his â€Å"salvation† would cause her greater dejection, as she was the one who so zealously urged him to see the light. Whatever his reasons were for keeping the lie to himself, it may be attributed to his confusion with the concept of faith. His expectations and that of the other church-goers seemed to be complex and varied, Langston seemed to expect to wait until he saw the light and be saved before he could actually stand up and approach the priest and the rest of the young ones. The others seemed to expect him to see it at once. Failure to do so seemed to indicate a lack and what a horrible state that seemed to be, as depicted by the crowd’s passionate praying in order that the boy be â€Å"saved†. In the end, it appeared as if the lie was his real â€Å"salvation† at that moment. It was what saved him from the emotional persecution brought down by his peers. Furthermore, it seemed his innocence only made the matter more grave for the idea that he could only be saved by a lie appeared to be what was really tearing him up inside. In this same light, the poem â€Å"Unsaid is analyzed† as a parallel to this â€Å"Salvation. † It is a poem of six lines. It pertains to emotions and words that have no outlet, internal struggles that stay within a person. It speaks of the turmoil most people have inside themselves, trying to hide the most important things for unknown reasons. â€Å"Unsaid† is a simple, yet artistic way of conveying that all individuals feel more than what they reveal. Concealing emotions seem to be a necessity in society, suggests the poem. It supports that the things which are not expressed in words are also as real as the ones that can be heard by others. It also states that it seems to be a way of life, for everyone has something to hide inside himself. This poem supports, and is supported by the story â€Å"Salvation†, for both of these allude to a bottling of emotions, a concealment of true self. In â€Å"Salvation†, the author is â€Å"saved† by a lie which he had chosen to keep unto himself as to escape shame. However, it led him to a struggle with in himself. Inside, he is torn knowing it was wrong to tell a lie yet also understanding that he seemed to have no other choice if he wanted to be accepted. His thoughts and the resulting doubt in his faith are the â€Å"unsaid†. As the poem talks of keeping so many emotions locked up within, the story depicts how such â€Å"unsaid† sentiments affect individuals, especially as one as young as the author. On the other hand, the poem artfully describes the accompanying complex sensations to a thought left unuttered. In simple verse, it suggests images of strong moving emotions such as grief and love. It dares to suggests that most of human lives are lived within. It also defends that what people keep from others are as real as what they choose to reveal. All of this pertain to varying degrees of emotionality, in relation to those that are â€Å"unsaid†. Meanwhile, the story presents an example in the person of Langston. In the same way that the boy in the story had his own compelling reasons to lie, so do other individuals. There are countless explanations as to why people lie or people leave things unsaid. In any case, it seems to be either the basic instinct of self preservation or a noble intention to spare others of pain, that motivates such actions. The poem suggests its readers to validate the writer’s statements by recalling â€Å"letters that we write our dead†(Gioia, 1950). This last line enjoins readers to share in such sentiments by revisiting forgotten or buried feelings for people long gone, urging them to reminisce their own personal struggles with their emotions of having been unable to convey all their thoughts to their dead loved one. In relation to the essay of Langston Hughes, as a boy, he found himself confronting his own emotions as he cried when he went home after the mass. So as other people find themselves examining their own feelings, the boy Langston also found himself looking for the real reason for his tears. â€Å"Salvation† and â€Å"Unsaid† are both works that delve into the intricacies of human emotions. These give readers a feel of what internal struggle feels like. These present the resulting predicament of individuals who chose concealment as a means to cope with pressure exerted upon them by external factors. These works grab hold of readers by presenting an introspective mood. Ironically, as both works speak of concealment of thoughts, the essay by Langston Hughes is a move towards revelation, as he recounted his boyhood encounter with faith and narrated it in the eyes of a 12-yer old. The poem also attempts revelation by actually acknowledging that humans have hidden thoughts and sentiments they’d rather left unsaid. In this light, one can surmise that the parallelism in these two works not only lay in their allusion to hidden emotions. The manner by which the authors of these works eventually revealed their thoughts on this matter also follows a similar pattern. Ultimately, it appears that these two works are about human struggles inside and outside the self. These are about the experiences humans go through to find what they are looking for-be it themselves, their faith or other matters this world holds. REFERENCES: Gioia, Dana. †Unsaid† (details of your BOOK SOURCE for this poem) Hughes,Langston. â€Å"Salvation†. (details of your BOOK SOURCE for this essay)

Importance of Mobile Government Systems

Importance of Mobile Government Systems Introduction Civilization can only be consisted of civilized people, with an organization governing it with all the public services. This organization is known as government. Government in modern days has to face more challenge than any other organization to perform its tasks and meet the goals. The more technologies are being discovered, the more citizen needs are created. ICT provides the governments with the ways of meeting the ever growing needs of the citizens. In developed countries, Internet Technologies have already become an easily available service to the citizens while the rest of the world still keeps on hoping for it. The developing and under-developed countries, as an example Bangladesh is legging well behind to catch the pace of the ever developing technologies and the benefits which the citizens of developed countries are enjoying. Basically when government activities take place by digital processes over a computer network, usually the internet between government and the members of public and regulated entities of private sector, then it is called e-government. And m-government would be an extension of e-government to mobile platforms, as well as the strategic use of government services and applications which are possible using the mobile phones, laptops, PDAs and other wireless technologies. M-government concept normally helps make public information and government services available anytime, anywhere (Emmanuel Lallana, 2008) and that the ubiquity of these devices mandates their employment in government functions, simply as an example of the usage of mobile wireless technologies could be the sending of mass alerts to registered citizens via short messaging services (SMS) in case of a national emergency. Though m-government is at its early age, it seems to have a substantial influence on the generation of a set of complex strategies and tools for e-government efforts and on their roles and functions. It is quite clear after the studies that the number of people having access to mobile phones, PDA and wireless internet connections is increasing rapidly. M-government is already a manifold concept as being mobile or simply being capable of having the mobility options is generally associated with a positive, dynamic and seemingly indispensable form of lifestyle and a productive behaviour. The main advantage of m-government as an extension of the platform of e-government, would be this drastic change in our dynamic societies as well as peoples mind which is always influenced by new technologies and their affect, which also in a sense announced being mobile all the time as a great feature. In this context, the study of the various categories of contribution of m-government in developing co untries provides a great deal of insight into how the ICT can improve their governments yield a good service to the public. Statement of the problem Developing countries, such as Bangladesh, are always struggling towards developing the infrastructure of its communication and technology sector. E-government has been implemented in developed countries and is in all sense easily available to their citizens. It needs a lot of power consumption and proper fibre optic connection to ensure full deployment of the system. On the contrary, in Bangladesh the need of electricity of 40% more than the total national production, with nearly 70% of the rural population have not yet have an electricity connection at their homes. Compared to that, nearly one third of the population occupies a mobile phone and this number is increasing every month by an average of 1.5 million mobile phone users. Hence the current study intends to analyze the pros and cons in implementing m-government options in Bangladesh with a feasibility study done after a complete research. Purpose of the Study Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be considered as the backbone of modern day civilization. And m-government is one of the brightest assets of wireless ICT, feasible contributions of which could be inevitably numerous. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. People of that country suffer from a good number of troubles all year round. And the private sector of Bangladesh is not as strong as that of the western world. So in case of any national or social trouble, the public have to rely almost solely to government arrangements. The dependency on the government is too high among the people of Bangladesh. As the author is from Bangladesh himself, there has been an honest purpose of finding a possibility of deploying an m-government system which might come out as truly beneficial for the common public of the country. Importance of the Study The study analyzes the importance of m-government in todays world and also scrutinizes through the technical implementation of the various aspects f establishing a beneficial m-government system in Bangladesh. It has also worked on three case studies and made an attempt to find out about the results. The whole overview of the m-government framework has come out of this study which might benefit any one who wants to know about the implementation of m-government and its various aspects and impacts. Rationale of the Study There is a vast amount of literature available on the fields of m-government and e-government though there are only a few noticeable studies on the feasibility of deploying ICT in all sectors of Bangladesh government. The study proves its rationale by making it an honest and logical approach to find out the positive impacts and benefits of deploying m-government in Bangladesh. Also by analyzing the case studies taken from the practical fields of Bangladesh, the research identifies that m-government would be a lot more efficient than e-government and has a strong likelihood of becoming a success on taking the country a huge step further ahead from the other developing countries. In this study, it has also been tried to hold a simple overview of various m-government applications which might easily be possible to implement in developing countries. Definition of Terms M-government stands for Mobile E-government, which are an extension of e-government and a matter of getting public sector IT systems geared to interoperability with the citizens mobile devices. Mobile devices are the devices using wireless ICT such as mobile phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDA) and wireless internet infrastructures. ICT stands for information and communication technologies, which can be considered as the backbone of modern world information flow. Decentralization is allocating the tasks of a central government to local authorities to govern a particular area in all aspects. Overview of the Study The current research paper intends to observe the emerging trends and the technologies establishing the trends in the field of m-government. The study also collects data on the benefits and challenges involved in the implementation of a full-functioning m-government in Bangladesh. The paper examines various scopes of m-government to become economically and democratically beneficial for Bangladesh as well as the developing countries basing on the data collected for this purpose. In this way, the paper finally analyzes the real impact of m-government on the public sector processes in Bangladesh and an attempt of proving this system being a better option rather than e-government has also been made. Literature Review Introduction In this study, there would be attempt to see through the potential of various fields of the implementations of m-government. And this research is going to ride a number of steps of deeper insight of the most promising sector of public administration for a smart 21st century country. M-government is a very much practiced and discussed issue in running local administration and the focus of connecting regular public with the administration has never seen such an easier option in order to establish proper democracy as well. The review in this section would first try to understand the different functions of government and the long hand of administration to run a country. Thus, the possible integration of ICT in the facilitation of these functions would also be studied thoroughly with a view of finding the dignified contribution of the system where e-government and m-government are playing a vital role. The comparisons and reasoning would always be focused on our main topic, which is the implementation potential of m-government in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country representing the third world, with poor infrastructure and low communication facilities. The study intends to face the challenges in such present condition of the country and studies the possible issues of meeting them. Government Functions Mobile-government is basically the system of running government actions by using the utmost facility of mobile technologies. For this purpose it is not unreasonable to find out what actually are the basic functions of a government. Mobile technology might be sought into the stream of the various actions of a government. Let us see how below. In a democratic country, the government is the core wheel-power of the system on which the country runs. The main functions of a democratic government could be listed as: Providing protection of the citizens and their property Ensure the enforcement of law at all parts around the country Keeping in order with the rights and contributions of each and every citizen Connecting with people, as the people is the maker and decider of the government Create and maintain good foreign relationship focusing the welfare of the country, etc. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, we are now looking forward to the acceptance of democracy in almost every country in this world. Though the list of the duties of a democratic country in not exhaustive, the above are quite the same for all the independent territories and countries. The facts that we are in the 21st century now; upon the boom in the technological sector at the end of the last century the contribution of new and innovative technologies in modern government system is inevitable. In this study, it tries to see how various government functions can get facilitated by fitting in the new technologies that can be offered. As it has been experienced in Bangladesh that mobile technology and at a wider prospect, we can e-technology has spread to be in use at a broader scale in the commercial sector already; yet the government of Bangladesh has not adopted the technology that way. Especially when speaking for Bangladesh, connection with the public as being a Peoples Republic has not yet considered as the most important factor so far or the steps to be taken to strengthen this connection. But it is not expected for establishing proper democracy at all. ICT Support Associating Government Functions First to say, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is without a doubt the driving factor of the wheel of modern economy, financial, commercial and even administration systems. A system which has not yet adopted this technology lagged a lot behind than its competitors. It is not untrue to say that the invention and innovation of electronic technology has made the world faster and easier as well. There was an age say about a hundred years ago, when the only medium of communication was by sending letters or telegrams. For this one had to go to the telegram office or a post office for trying to contact others. Although the postal systems or telegram were quite fast at those days, but after the invention of wired land-phone or wireless mobile phone or even the Internet, who would have thought that the communication system would grow this faster. The flow of information got so much easier and faster that it has become a matter of seconds now, not days compared to those posting-le tter-days. A government is the centre organization of a country. It has the empowerment to rule the country and the power is been given by the citizens of a country. So needless to say that, the government functions are always about the welfare of the public. In order to strengthen this relation between the public and the government, we could not think anything else other than ICT for its contribution. Towards a process of evolving e-government system for the lift-up in the performance of government systems, ICT plays the core role in its own innovative quality. One of major positive impacts that ICT brings into a government system is transparency in government actions. ICT can reduce corruption of government officials as well, which is a necessary issue in improving the government system in Bangladesh, as it has become the top most corrupted country quite a number of times. Technology can automate some processes which could have bared possibility of officials to involve in corruptions. Even the information access becomes possible easily to public. Government projects can also be planned properly and realistically by the use of ICT. The expenses for a development projects can be monitored continuously so that there might not be any gaps or illicit misuse which is a major problem currently residing in Bangladesh government projects. Roads, bridges or any other infrastructure projects are often stopped halfway through because of the shortage of fund which was initially passed to be underway with full funding. These sorts of corruptions are a r egular incident in Bangladesh, which could see a light on resolving these problems by the innovative use of ICT. And mobile-government system here re-enforces e-government benefits of making the public administration system more transparent, open, accessible and better connected to the public, being supported by ICT. Being Mobile, Being Smarter The most notable advantage of being â€Å"Mobile is that it is being mobile. Mobile technologies enable the improvement of communication without a lot of infrastructural development, which might become a pretty much expensive project for most of the countries. This study will discuss the various projects of m-government taken throughout the world and tries to pay a deep thought about the prospect of those projects if being taken in Bangladesh. So what is m-government and how can it become the new revolution towards a 21st century smart government? This study found after a lot of research that it is not a very difficult question to answer, as the contributions of m-government are pretty much crystal clear all around the world. M-government has often considered for developing e-democracy. E-democracy can be defined by keeping the connection of the government with the public at the first line of consideration. Especially in developing countries where internet facilities are not available enough to really plan for public connection though web technology on its own. Without using mobile technology, the expectation for this would clearly see a failure. It has been a glowing fact that mobile phone users are running a pretty high number in developing countries. So the government could always think about mobile technology as a channel towards the citizens. With enhanced security and transparency, mobile systems may see a huge success in this context. M-services under screening Let us start with various pilot projects and existing systems using the service of mobile technology in different countries. The study would go on with the feasibility of the systems if to be implemented in Bangladesh. This part of the study starts by stepping into China which is one of the most prominent countries in the world. China has seen some projects in order to improve the interaction between the government and the public. Such as, in China people can send text messages to the local member of their respective legislature. The local representatives can then be aware of their actions and continuously getting the feedback. This is a great opportunity for the citizens to keep in touch with the person they have elected themselves to play on behalf of their local area. Mobile technology here holds a vital role by providing the SMS technology available. If we go for a cross-section of this service, say for example upon being elected as a representative of an area, the elected person has been given one or more mobile phone number which might be available for keeping communication from the citizens. Whenever there are problems arising or people are suffering in the remote rural areas, they can send their plea in a short informative form to the representative via SMS to take urgent steps about the matter. The representative could then be aware fully of this matter and take relevant actions as necessary. There might be a lot of communicational and/or technical gaps or complications needed to be solved, but we could just take this as simple awareness information. At least the representative would know what is g oing on with the people within the constituency. In Bangladesh, issues related to the matter of clear and firm communication between the local parliament or union members and the public is not always dealt with adequate importance. The lack of this attitude is not acceptable in a country which has been struggling for over 30 years to establish democracy. It is not going to be babbling about if we say we could establish strong relationship between the public and their representative and reduce the distance between them. Grameen phone is the leading mobile phone company in Bangladesh. Whenever the talk about the mobile phone technology in Bangladesh arises, Grameen phone would definitely appear with its solid base built upon its contribution towards setting up such a wonderful mobile network base in Bangladesh. Right now, about 98% of the population of Bangladesh are under the coverage area of Grameen phone. There has been already over $1.6 billion investment just to build and improve the network infrastructure with 10000 base-stations over 5600 locations in the country. And there is still, according to the last estimate in 2001, 79% of the population live in rural areas. Also as of September 2006, from an estimate only 38% of the population in Bangladesh have access to electricity. This means that even if the people from a remote rural part of Bangladesh do not have electricity, without which running a computer or a laptop is quite impossible; people would still be under the coverage of Grameen mobi le network. The introduction of Grameen phone here at this part of the study has a significant meaning. Considering the amount this company has invested developing the mobile telephony network infrastructure and the huge popularity it gained with over 20 million subscribers, this study keeps a preferable position for this company in mind while discussing about the feasibility of implementing m-government systems and its various applications. Going back to the topic of building and strengthening the communication between the public and their political or social representative, having a strong mobile telephony network like Grameen phone has established in Bangladesh would come really handy for the case of remote rural areas. Even the people from far deep inside the hills and jungles could also be able to not be â€Å"lost at least by their local representative to the government. Now lets spot a light on what the experts in m-government systems are saying about the various features of this system. There were several seminars during the years of 2002 and 2003 on m-government and expert talks about this system came widely out at light. The experts defined m-government as a combination of two sets of features. There was the creation of the famous 24/24, 7/7 concept by Zalesack (2002) which gives importance on building the freedom of mobile access and services that can be delivered from anywhere at any time. It holds the core meaning of being actually â€Å"mobile. Roggenkamp (2004) also emphasized mobility; device mobility, service mobility and user mobility. All these opinions of the experts support the idea here which is the distinguished advantage of the technology on the move. It is not irrational to mention that with a mobile phone in a persons pocket means a communication with that person is almost always possible as long as the mobile phone is in the persons pocket. No other device has made it possible and it holds a lot of significance while considering m-governance system. Any citizen could be connected to government services 24/7 if appropriate systems are there. The government outreach can be expanded unimaginably based upon this fact of mobile telephony system. In between 2002 and 2003, as a part of a Swiss national research project within the framework of COST A14, MIR-CdM-EPFL carried out an evaluation and comparison of e-government projects in six European contexts (Rossel, P Finger, M and Misuraca, G, 2006). Some of them were regional or national, others municipal, especially the cases of Bologna (Italy), Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Tampere (Finland), Estonia, Ireland and France (Buser, Cotti, Rossel and Finger, 2003). The services which have been implemented were: In lssy-les-Moulineaux (France), the possibility to pay parking or reserving a parking slot using a mobile phone, to make a reservation for a local hotel room, to make a reservation for a local hotel room, to make a reservation for books, records, DVD at the media library or a game in the game library. In Tampere (Finland), the possibility to check availability and make reservations at the local library, to have access to bus schedules and to map service for addresses, road work or any zoning issue, as well to social service information, medical services. In Estonia, the facilitation of payment by internet and SMS. In Estonia and In Ireland, administrative data access, for the citizen, on a 24/24 and 7/7 basis and national database access, for businesses. These above implementations were not as fruitful as expected after a revisit of the programs. According to the situation in Bangladesh, the possible impact that may be brought by these services being implemented would also come with a few question marks. Especially speaking of the information being sought after by mobile phones would require a strong and secure database at the service end which is not on its best condition in Bangladesh at the moment. But about the context of paying by SMS from a mobile phone is already been implemented in a number of notable projects: Grameen phone has started a service of â€Å"bill-payment which enables subscribers to pay the utility bills via SMS. The bill amount will be simply deducted from the users mobile phone account and going to post-offices or bill payment centres are not necessary now-a-days as it can be done from home simply by a text message. Cell-bazar is another innovative shopping idea that been introduced also by Grameen Phone. A customer can ask for a list of products in the area of interest by sending a text message. Upon receiving the list, the subscribers can then bid for the product by sending SMS and the bidding system is not a lot different than that of eBay instead the bidding is coming via a text message from a mobile phone. A subscriber can also sell by sending short description within the limited space of an SMS by sending a text message. When someone wins the bid, gets a text message containing the winning notification and even the customer then pay for the item via SMS as well. The product is then shipped by traditional portage though. But a lot of work here has been done simply by using a mobile phone from the rest of the customers phone. Most recently there has been an inauguration by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh of a new university admission project where m-technology has also been implemented. Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) have announced that student can now book for admission tests simply via sending SMS. Students will have to send their Higher Secondary Certificate exam results via SMS to the university. The university database will justify the students ability to sit for the exam and will send them their roll-number and the date f the exam, even with a short form of seat-plan. All the students have to do is paying the fees for the exam via SMS which will be deducted from the students mobile phone account and then appear at the exam bringing an attested copy of their photograph along with them. The complicated admission process is been simplified this way only by using m-technology even by sending the student results for their exams via SMS. The hassle of travelling to university to co llect the admission forms and then going to the bank to pay the fees and come again to sit for the exams used to take half of the students stamina even before the exams. Now hopefully a student from a rural area wishing to attend the admission test at SUST will not have to sweat to even get a final registration number for the test by coming to the city. Thus we could see that mobile-payment systems can be utilized at more widespread areas upon seeing these projects which are coming out to be pretty handy. So on considering the six European contexts, mobile payment method could be a feed for the thought of implementing m-government system in Bangladesh. Another feature of m-governance that can be put into consideration is getting the public opinion in an easy way. It has been quite a regular practice at the newspapers in Europe. In the UK, popular newspapers regularly put up a poll about several government decisions and actions. People can easily express their clear opinions by sending SMS to the newspapers and they are getting published like broad daylight. Opinions of the citizens are not suppressed yet the government could easily get into peoples minds and be cautious on taking any steps against the will of majority. Sometimes it has not been proved handy though. Just to mention the huge protest in British newspapers along with a huge number of citizens opinion against the singing of British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary for the re-introduction of European Union Constitution which could not be stopped eventually. But the opinions of general British public were being brought out into lights by the newspapers which gave the readers an option to send opinions via SMS. Surprisingly true that the newspapers in Bangladesh has not yet adopted this method of receiving public opinions on various issues and matters related to the country or even their society. They still rely on letters being sent by the readers. Some of the newspapers do accept emails but they are very few in number. Keeping the huge number of mobile phone subscribers in consideration, it could become a widely accepted form of expressing citizens thoughts via national newspapers and could have a positive impact on even changing the society a lot more constructively. Mobile technology can also be used innovatively in voting campaigns (Emmanuel C. Lallana, 2008). Mobile-voting has been a regular practice in television programs and new product feedbacks to the releasing companies for quite a long time. By connecting a database, SMS votes sent by mobile phones could possibly turn around the current scene voting reality. In a national election, it can encourage better voter registration and voter turn-out at the poll at the election days. There is a case of this in Spain 2004 election where voter turnout was at the highest rate.1 Even in Macedonia, mobile phones been used as election campaign tools when an organization sent two SMS to encourage women to vote for women in the 2006 national elections. And the result came out as an increased 29% of representatives at the parliament of Macedonia are women.2 1. http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/03/23/a11_16.php 2. http://www.newtactics.org/en/node/1685 These above facts are a clear indication of the ability of mobile technology of increasing public involvement in government elections. Bangladesh can obviously see the benefits from these projects and the outcomes of them as it is a democratic country that sees a national election in every five years. A country consisting of population over 100 million and having a voter number of almost 60 million voters, it experiences one of the biggest democratic elections in the world. Following the success of the use of mobile phones in the two countries mentioned above, Bangladesh can also use the same technology for the purposes. Although by taking a huge and almost incredible project for voter registration by providing the voters a National Identity Document (NID) in the year of 2008, Bangladesh showed its positive struggle towards becoming a successful democratic country. The project has gone for almost 18 months with tens of thousands of computer trained personals working hard to complete working for it, which is the first biometric voter registration process in South Asia. The voters data have been stored in a national database and each voter has been given a national ID number. This successful project can help in a lot of ways in the implementation of m-governance and e-governance. Since there is a secure national database now setup already, it should not be a problem to have a citizens mobile phone number added into the database along with the ID number as well. It is a matter of governments duty to aware the citizens about the importance of it. Even the Non-government Organizations can also play a big part in helping the government in this matter. The outreach of the government would then be increased at a level when any useful information could easily be sent to the citizens via SMS technology. Moreover, women in Bangladesh have also been experiencing a second class citizens respect still. Because of the conservative nature in the society, most women would not s tep out of their homes to the polls for casting their votes. They are not even familiar with a widely accepted nature of women in power though Bangladesh herself has had two female Prime Ministers in the past and the current Prime Minister is also a female. Steps can be taken following those in Macedonia by sending awareness text messages to women to involve in the democratic process of electing a government with the same rights as men and even empower women of their choice with dignity as a democratic citizen. Potential Problems on the way Problems that may rise during the implementation of m-government system in Bangladesh are identified below: Infrastructure: The government of Bangladesh have to be aware of proper infrastructural development of ICT all around the country. Though mobile phone networks has 98% coverage of the country population, still the service-end infrastructure such as the PC which would send out information to mobile phones and to which the mobile phones will get connected to, should be set up with a secure database protected by a secure server. Right software should be installed and a trained manpower is needed. Secure Payment System: When considering m-payment as a future most widely accepted version of payment, the government should come up with a series of serious security regulations for online and mobile payment transactions and should put all attempts to enforce these regulations strictly to gain public confidence in freely use this convenient system without any mental stress or hassle. No Spam: There could be a new law about mobile phone numbers as there is now about email addresses. That is, the government should ensure that citizens mobile phone number or any information will be kept safe and secure and will not even face risks to go in the hands of third parties. User-friendliness: As long as the government keeps the services provided through m-government easily acces

Despite the overwhelming evidence against his own misperceptions, :: English Literature

Despite the overwhelming evidence against his own misperceptions, Stevens emerges as a somewhat compassionate character.[Wong, 2000] Do you agree with this assessment of Ishiguro's representation of Stevens? Stevens is riddled with misperceptions about his work, his relationship with Miss Kenton and Lord Darlington. During the course of the novel, the reader is shown - not through what he tells us, but by what he doesn't - the truth behind them, and just how wrong he is. Stevens also realises the reality of his beliefs and his situation, but long after the reader. Despite his mistakes, as he begins to come to terms with the events of the past, there is a glimmer of hope that he will change and become a better person. However, he is still detached and at the end appears to return to his old, self-deceiving ways, escaping the responsibility of his mistakes. One of Steven's misperceptions is the importance of his work. For example, at the beginning of the novel, he is obsessed with the trivial matter of "what is a great butler?" [pg 32]. For Stevens, this is a matter of some importance, and shows he considers butlering to be more than just a job. This point of view is reinforced by the statement: The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmostà ¢ they wear their professionalism as a decent gentleman will wear his suit [pg 43] His job is a way of life, not simply a means of employment, and he has an utter devotion to duty, to the extent that he will only discard his 'suit' when he is completely alone. It is this necessity to keep a public face that ruins his chance of happiness. He perceives his role to be more important than it is, believing that he has "been given a part to play, however small, on the world's stage" [pg 198] and he is also convinced that: it is not simply my fantasy that the state of the silver had made a small, but significant contribution towards the easing of relations between Lord Halifax and Herr Ribbentrop that evening. [pg 144] Stevens believes his job to be much more important than it is, and because of this he neglects his relationships with other people. His relationship with his father suffers because both are devoted to their jobs. He admires his father's abilities as a butler, but as father and son they have no relationship at all: for some years my father and I had tended to converse less and less even brief exchanges took place in an atmosphere of mutual

Jackie Brown: One Worth Betting on

Isaac Rexford ENG 1102M Spenser Simrill Jackie Brown: One Worth Betting On The film Jackie Brown begins with a predominant focus on Jackie herself, one of the film's main characters by a panning shot following Jackie in the first scene. Jackie's initial focus is very much related to the film's plot. As the plot develops, Jackie finds herself in the center of a situation where a guns sells man (Ordell) refuses to let Jackie run her mouth to the authorities, while the authorities already know all about Ordell's business and simply want a name from Jackie due to the fact they have been unable to arrest Ordell due to his unknown identity.But getting just a name is not that simple; and, Jackie's no fool. She hatches an intricate plot of her own not only to protect herself from the authorities and prevent future incarceration, but in order to steal Ordell's $500 thousand fortune. In a surprising turn of events, Jackie's ability to negotiate and get what is in her favor really demonstrates the power Jackie has invested in herself to get what she wants. Jackie's Trouble From The Start From the start the audience is made aware that Jackie had it in with Ordell the first time she is confronted by two detectives, Nicolet and Dargus.They take her in for questioning like normal, already having some knowledge of Ordell, but all they want from Jackie is a name. The camera itself emphasizes the scene with an array of close-ups of Jackie and the two detectives as they carry on this conversation in this first scene. The two parties, Jackie and the detectives, are battling back and forth; Jackie resisting their every attempt to seize information from her. This unfortunate meeting leads Jackie to meet a fellow named Max, who assists her in her real goal: getting Ordell's fortune.But for now she is happy to get the detectives off her back and on to her next problem: Ordell. The time finally arrives and one evening after a meeting with Max Jackie comes into a confrontation with Orde ll. Like stated earlier, Jackie is no fool and picked up a pistol from Max, if my suspicion’s correct, in case the conversation between her and Ordell became a little heated. In the confrontation the lights are off and the audience is not able to see a single thing; but the conversation between the two continues loud and clear. Jackie's Power Jackie's first show of power is shown in the scene where Ordell comes to â€Å"visit. Jackie had caught on that Ordell was the one who murdered Beaumont so she steals a pistol from Max. Above, a closeup is shown of Max just realizing his pistol had been taken. It is confirmed he knew it was Jackie at the time as he shows up knocking on her door the next day. This screen shot shows the true power of Jackie, that she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. In the split image, Jackie is seen in the darkness with Ordell's hand around her throat. At that moment she presses a gun steadily against Ordell's penis, as he says â€Å"It feels like a gun pressed against my dick. Later in the scene Jackie essentially interrogates Ordell, with a gun pointed to his face the entire time. The image above displays the transition of power between Jackie and Ordell, in this case Jackie stripping Ordell of his. Jackie continues to keep the gun pointed to Ordell as she, by change of plan, questions him instead. As it plays out, Ordell is now the one with a gun pointed to his dome and his hands up high in defense. Jackie astonishingly creates a turn of events from this scene alone; she essentially takes the authority from Ordell and places it in her own hands to aid in her own plot: getting Ordell's money.Jackie's methods of achieving this, however were the most cunning and sneaky among the best. Jackie really lures Ordell into a trap and uses the element of surprise to sneak the gun on him; at the time speaking with a soft voice, alleviating Ordell of all his suspicion so that he would come close to Jackie thinking she wasn't a threat; as it is shown he was terribly mistaken! As shown in the image above, Jackie sits with her feet facing away from Ordell and closed, with the gun in her hand, resting on her knees and the gun pointed straight ahead at Ordell.In conclusion, Jackie's persona is demonstrated very well in the character. Jackie really does serve as an example of a hard working black woman who's just trying to live comfortably in society. Furthermore, the film itself really helps the audience notice these facts, with its use of closeups and panning during eventful scenes in the film. Regarding this one select scene as the most important, the movie itself shows a transition of power and authority from the main characters who first held the authority like Ordell and Lewis for example, to characters like Jackie who hold the power up towards the end.

Continuing My Education

Running Head: Continuing My Education1 Why Continuing My Education Is Important To Me Carla Conley English Composition I Professor Victoria Stamm October 29, 2010 Continuing My Education2 Returning to school for me at this point of time in my life is very important. I have quite of few things I want to accomplish in life, and one definite thing is receiving my degree. I now work for a large health insurance company, which has many good paying jobs, but unfortunately, I do not have the education or qualifications for these positions.Therefore, my first reason to receiving my degree is to get a promotion. I do not want to be stuck in the same position that I am in now even though it is kind of challenging. I would like to be promoted to something more that I will enjoy doing. Please understand I am glad to have a job, but I would like to earn more money. I think by receiving my degree I can make much more money. In addition, this will help me to gain additional training to help me in m y position that I am in now. Taking a couple of classes at Ashford University has made more alert and organized.Therefore, gaining more education is a plus for me, because I will be more knowledgeable, and be able to get the career I want. In addition, it will make me more self-assured, and keep me ahead of the game for when my daughter starts grade school. These days’ children are being taught college courses, and I have to be smart enough to help her. I think it is wonderful to get all the education I can to help to help me to proceed better on my job. I am going to school for Health and Human Services, so that that will definitely be a career change for me.This is something that I have been interested in for a while. I am extremely excited that I am able to take two courses in one. Many schools do not offer both Health and Human Services for one major. As a result, I feel that I am accomplishing two goals at once. Continuing My Education3 Even though I want to accomplish r eceiving my degree for professional reasons, I do have personal reasons too. One is self-improvement. This will make me feel that I can do anything in life once I receive my degree. See I have a best friend from school; I still stay in touch with, and her name is Tia.She is another reason I am going back to school. After graduating from college, she was able to find a good career, and buy a beautiful house. She was a single mother with two children doing all of this. In addition, I see people who are older than I am going back to college. That is a motivator for me. Especially since, I have put it off for so long. Although, I am excited about starting school again, it still has not been a joy ride for me. I have to admit that I am really struggling doing my assignments.I find myself procrastinating quite a bit. I tell myself that I am going to stop doing this, but I seem to be stuck on these assignments. I am really struggling with these writing assignments. I would not mind writing if there were not so many guidelines to follow. I just hope that I am able to continue my education and do not get frustrated with these assignments coming up. Unfortunately, I know this is not going to get easier. As a result, I have to stop putting things off, have better time management, organization, and better studying skills.Again, I cannot express how important it is for me to enhance my education. I am not a dumb person, but I think I can be even smarter by going back to school. I have great common sense. Therefore, with gaining more education I think I will be a genius in my own world. Another reason for furthering my education is to be the first to receive my degree in my family. Continuing My Education4 Quite of few of us have been going to school for a while, but we quit. Consequently, I hope by receiving my degree this will make some of my family embers want to go ahead and get their degree. In addition, I want to be an inspiration for my daughter. I know many of times I hear parents tell their children that furthering their education is important, but they do not have a degree their-selves. When a child sees that, he or she is not inspired as much to further their education. I was determined not to let that stop me though from going back to school, because no one else has any degree in my family. Thus, I think it is important to have that degree under my belt.I have to remember whatever is going on in my life I have to accomplish this goal this time around. I cannot keep coming up with excuses. If I do not finish this time I will never finish. In addition, you are never too old to accomplish anything in life. Life is short, so I have made the best of it and try to accomplish as many goals as I can. I hope that when I graduate and receive my degree I can write a complete paper about fulfilling my goal. Continuing My Education5References Sole, K. (2010). Essentials of College Writing. Retrieved from https://content. ashford. edu/AUENG121. 10. 1

World Wrestling Federation Essay Example

World Wrestling Federation Essay Example World Wrestling Federation Paper World Wrestling Federation Paper The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) become the worlds dominant international entertainment business by the creative management of Vince McMahon. Wrestling used to be restricted to perform only in its territory and respect other domain, but McMahon neglected the rules and started to monopolise the business. McMahon was a brilliant promoter who innovate the WWF as varities wrestling show. The WWF joined with music, movie and television business. Many merchandises were produced under the WWF brand. After several years of the WWF domination, the WCW were established and started to be a big threat for McMahon.Many of his wrestlers were recruited to the WCW under new management of Eric Bischoff. The competition was getting worse for the WWF when Bret Harts contact was about to expire. However, retaining Hart in the WWF couldnt change the situation. Finally, Hart was released to the WCW. Strategy alalyse. 1. Medias such as television and cable networks were effective in order to expose a new product (the WWF) to aware American consumers. Providing varieties of the WWFs wrestlers distinguish this crowd from others. 2. McMahon put a lot of effort to create characteristic for his wrestlers. These produced charmful wrestlers for the fans.In the other word, they are qualities product from the WWF. Scripts and costumes were neatly selected for each character, emphasizing attractive persona. 3. Leaving the Georgia territory was the biggest mistake of McMahon. To monopolise the business, it is very important to make sure that the business is difficult for anyone to enter. But the WWF abondoned the territory leaving a chance for Ted Turner to enter the business. 1. Introduction 1. 1 Background of Wrestling World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is one of the most well known association in the world, especially, among men and boys.Many people may misunderstand that it is a gentlemen fighting club as well as other ones such as WBA, WBF or K-1. However, according to its owner, Vince McMahon Jr. , WWF is in an entertainment business, not wrestling one. The wrestling, originally showed in circus, has long history in American entertainment business. There are several regional wrestlers and promoters. Their domains are clearly divided and the gentlemens agreement to respect their domain and others had ruled for two decades, until Vince McMahon Jr. entered into the business.About Vince McMahon Vince McMahon Jr. followed his father footsteps became a wrestling promoter after he had struggled in bitter life with his stepfathers. Despite his father firstly discourage him to join the business, McMahon Jr. was fulled with inspiration and ambition to succeed in this business. Being trained by his father provided him valueable experiences which cannot be acquired through other promoters espectially the McMahons domain covered big cities like Washington, D. C. , Boston and New York City.Operating wresting matches in Madison Square Garden would be a great classroom for young McMahon, and also had a chance to study the television side of the operation. One fortunate day, he had a chance to try ring announcer because an absence of his fathers ringside announcers and his talent was recognised. By taking up this position full time, McMahon started to understand viewers wants. When McMahon Sr. was retiring as a result of cancer, McMahon Jr. had to buy the WWF outright instead of take it over from his father.The first move of McMahon was harsh and beyond the line of wrestling promoters that borders are no longer respected. 1. 3 Rising of the WWF In the first year of taking control the WWF, McMahon started to create next generation fans focusing on kids in town and tried to eliminate the border idea which had ruled wrestling for years. Television is the strongest and most effective influnce in such big country like the U. S. Soon, half of the country on the eastern coast could see the WWF at home. Certainly, McMahons breach of borders caused conflicts with other promoters.However, to win the competition was not as tough as it seemed. McMahon accurately estimated his competitors were lack of business experience. Most of them were former wrestlers and overestimated McMahon by the tremendous presence of the WWF in TV. As a result, these rivals gave up their territories and the WWF now broadcast across the country. After TV media achieved the WWF to counquer national territory, McMahon then move forward to cable network with a vision that this can increase revenues by pay-per-view, at the same time, it extends fan-club base.Merchandises and licensing revenues such as action figures, foam fingers, cereals and many other toys generated enomous amount of money from the popularity of the WWF. The WWF was not about only wrestling things anymore, opening the matches with rock concerts, explosions and excitement of speculators fascinate speculators and attracted millions of viewers at home. Growing together with the cable, the WWF became world-wide wrestling team. Japanese, Mexican and Canadian wrestlers were imported to the WWF and these contenders dared to do more dare-devil actions for fames and fortune.WCW: A New Challenger Ted Turner owned a cable television empire and broadcasted the WWF programme in his TBS station. Turner wanted to join the business with McMahon but the agreement could not happen, followed by the move away of the WWF from TBS and McMahon sold a territory out. Ted Turner then bought the territory and established the World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The WCW was an out-of-leage competitor at the first, but with capital reserve, cable networks and patience, he turned up to be a dangerous competitor McMahon ever faced.Eric Bischoff was a hero brought the WCW to superior the WWF. Bischoff attcked the weak point of the WWF which, at that time, struggled with the governments investigation of a steroid drug distribution scandal. As a result, many of WWF wrestlers were recruited to the WCW camp, started from former WWF superstars like Hogan and Savage, then stars on the stage like Lex Luger. The competition was getting intense for the WWF when a contract of its greatest wrestler, Bret Hart, was about to expire. McMahon offered an undenieable contract to Bret Hart to keep majority of the WWFs fans.Unfortunately, the outcome of the contract did not pay out. Fans strangely started to like a vilainous wrestler and Harts popularity was declining. Bret Hart turned not to be as worth as his paid. Hart could be neither a perfect hero nor a horrible villain. McMahon decided to cut the losses by shifting Hart to the WCW. Worse than that, conflicts between Hart and Shawn Michaels got too far to be just scripted. The competition between the WWF and the WCW had points to analyse and learn from it. 2. Case Analyses 2. 1 How did vince McMahon Build the WWF?Wrestling used to be stricted by a gentlemens agreement that not to invade other promoters domain. But Vince McMahon was a liberated promoter who started to break the agreement. McMahon took advantages of medias, his weak opponents and his territory was likely giving him better oppotunity. 1. Medias Firstly, he convinced a regional television station to broadcast his shows. The taped programme is possibly more attractive than live program because the shows is more intense, scenes are selected and exciting point can be replayed, zoom up or even re-filmed to make it better.In addition, almost everyhouse in the U. S. has television. Wrestling can be seen in by every one in the area, as easy as push a remote-control button. McMahon had a vision to use cable network to broadcast the WWFs shows. Cable was not only to extend the WWFs domain to oversea, but also unexpectedly bring back dare-devil wrestler from oversea. In addition, television was common way all over America to enter the others domain. Regardless of differences in states, American people are likely addicted to television. RAW, a Monday Night programme, was the extended programme from McMahon to tide fans with the WWF.Weak Opponents McMahon analysed his opponents correctly. Because he had been trained with his father before, this provided him deep understanding of other promotors background. In every competition, well understanding of opponent are crucial in order to defeat rivals. Most of promotors were former wrestler, lack of business experience. Moreover, at that time, wrestling was not the business generate revenues for the promotors so much thus low capital reserve was the other factor reduced endurance to compete in the business.McMahons opponents might think that it was not worth to compete with big promoter like McMahon for a low-income business, plus, they might not have knowledge to compete. 3. His territory McMahon had such a resourceful territory where cover major metropolitan on the eastern coast. Firstly, McMahons income would be relatively higher than other promoters due to a great number of population in the area. Dealing events with large corporates in New York City would give him incredibly greater experience than other promoters to organise business in environment that competition is cruelly intense.McMahon learned to use medias to manipulate market trend as same as other companies in New York do. McMahon had opportunities to learn, try and develop his business strategy. So, with his vision to dominate the business, his position provided him abundant resources to do so. Innovatively, the WWF presented viewers more than typical wrestling like others. McMahon carefully created fascinasting characters for his wrestlers. Each character has its own distinctive charisma. Wrestlers are clearly seperated into two groups: babyface (good guy) and chief heel (bad guy).Matches were about competing between good and evil, full of enthusiasm spectators cheered their wrestler. Regardless of the fact that the result of the fight were decided by McMahon, viewers were still keen to watch it because of charmful characters. Costumes also accent the characters personality. And the WWF was not only about wrestlers on the ring any more, but also the WWF wrestlers lifestyle were broadcasted, showing ordinary people participated in their life to show on TV, helping fans keeptrack of the alliances.This strategy wisely increased enthusiasm in the WWF fans, and create brand loyalty. McMahon expose wrestlers in his camp variously in other entermaint business such as movies and music. On the other hands, celebrities in these business were brought to present in the WWFs matches opening. The WWF matches provided more exciting shows than others: started with the rock concert, explosions, elevated platforms and breathtaking matches that everyone waiting for.Many wrestlers in the WWF becomes rock stars or movie stars. Hulk Hogan was a famous one and the recent one is the Rock who has several movies in Hollywood. Sometimes, the wrestlers were invited to present in talk shows, telling fans about their private life. This marketing strategy is to repeatedly shows the product (the WWF wrestlers) to consumers, generating familarity and increase visibility of product which increase purchasing possibility, in the other words, viewers become the WWF fans.

A short response on my remembrance of how i began how to read.

A short response on my remembrance of how i began how to read. 30 November 2004Short Response#2 Draft 3Bildbeschreibung: VHS Videorecorder Quelle: selbst...Learning how to write has got to be one of my worse fears while growing up. Though my slightly older uncle had tried to show me how to read and write, I was not the greatest writer, many of my characters such as r and y were written in the opposite directions. Before I could read words on a page my aunt would interact with the stories through pictures. When reading books the story goes far beyond the words on the page. She would use interpretation and thought that give meaning to the words on the page and I later realized that this was an important part of the reading and writing process. I can remember the stress that I had given to my uncle as he repeatedly tried to show me how to write my name, as we used the common big brown recycled paper to practice my writing on, along with the standard number 2 pencil. This took much time and effort as I was taken lessons from my uncle at the age of 4 years old, it wasn't until I was the age of 7 that my writing became a little more ledge able.In Kindergarten and first grade we had sang songs to the VCR television that had the words on the bottom of the screen, at this age this helped many of us students memorize words and how they were spelt. Which is a useful tool for children at that age while they are still sponges in the memory cells, but we also learned how to sound out words as well. Consistently I when I wrote my characters were put in bold capital letters. As my memory skills had grown to excel my writing did as well...

A Cheerful Christmas Memory

Recalling this moment, I remember all the soft noise. And together we make screams of colorful clouds of different shades on the children's body and trembling on different flat boxes. In the summer of mid July, the warmth of many letters is comparable to the warmth of the sun. I am very acquainted with these situations. Music is exciting. I think we are a group, but they are very personal. My intense heart knows that this will be another nervous moment again. I love children, but I do not usually feel that it is warm and ambiguous until Christmas, Let's have memories. However, in October every year, mothers support Christmas and are preparing for vacation. I like Christmas bringing out tradition and many love in many ways. When the Christmas tree is near, the world seems not to be such a bad place. Let's decorate your child every year! Then, as they left the house, they had decorations to carry with them. We let the children choose to decorate them rather than to decorate them. In or der to find out when to select, write the year at the bottom. Ideally, I will choose the accessory which is hard to break. Your favorite Christmas memories may be different from us. Everyone may have different Christmas memories. As an example, my wife 's favorite Christmas memories is the first time for us to hang the picture of the youngest child on a tree. My mother-in-law made Christmas decorations with the pictures of our youngest children. When they got big enough to make their own accessories, they started adding their own unique Christmas accessories with their own hands. These are our valuable souvenirs. Over time, these decorations become increasingly special as children grow. Today we have only 1 child left, and she is at home a year and a half before she can attend college.

Walmart VS. Target Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Walmart VS. Target - Research Paper Example An ancient business analyst, Fernandez, in his publication once depicted that business and humankind are inseparable (98). This shows that the success of business entities and that of humankind are dependant of each other. With the increasing need to sustain human need, numerous business entities have been put in place. The quality and manner of delivery of the products determine the success the organizations realize. It is arguable that human needs are better satisfied when there is free entry and exit into the market. This increases competition, lowering the product’s prices and ensuring better services and service delivery (Chapman 15). In the competition of big box retailers, it is hard for two different firms such as Wal-Mart and Target to achieve the same kind of success in their operation. The first factor that makes Wal Mart to be rated above target is that Wal-Mart provides locally grown products, products that provide energy efficiently, and policies of innovative internal recycling (Kipple, et. al. 174). This has made the company dominate in the market. However, it does not have fair policies for its workers and the wage rate hourly of $10.76 is arguably not impressive. The number of employees at Wal-Mart is around 2.1 million. This proves that the progress of the company is very evident (Murphy 57). Further, the company has expanded to 15 countries with 8,100 retail units. This means that the firm has won a bigger market share than Target. The average revenue recorded by the firm totals $405.6 billion annually. The annual revenue is the commonly used determinant of the company’s success. This means that the firm is successful. From Schwartz Ariel’s article, Sustainability Faceoff: Walmart vs. Target, the number of employees in Target is approximatel y 351,000, which is relatively lower than Wal-Mart. In the entire United States, the firm has initiated stores in 48 states, bringing the retail units to 1,684 stores. This

Marketing email assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing email assignment - Essay Example The preliminary market research performed determined that espn.com, Gatorade.com and spalding.com are 3 potential website candidates in order to launch a more aggressive online marketing campaign with website that can customer with similar profiles are the clients the company is targeting. Each website chosen in the proposal has attributes that allows a diversified marketing strategy in which key variables are considered such as: youth market, high medial exposure, product quality attributes. All the websites selected have clients in the sporting market and neither represents a direct competitor for the company. The youth category is a primary target of the company since these segment of the market can provide lifetime customers if the company is able to achieve customer retention by advertising its product offering and creating a brand image that is seen where generation I and generation Y spend most of their time which are services related to the convergence age. The customer profile of the company is active outdoor types who enjoy doing exercise multiple times a week and who enjoy playing and watching sports regularly. The company targets both genders as well as the youth which is one of the main focuses of the internet exposure advertising strategy. This purpose of the online strategy is to increase the amount of direct sales of the company in order to improve its 1:10 direct sales ratio to at least a 2:10 ratio in order to increase profitability. The three website targeted by the company are described below.\ Espn is the most recognized and largest sports network in the world which provides sports news and other related services. The exposure and magnitude of the client base of this website implies that advertisers who purchase marketing packages from espn.go.com will likely have a high conversion of from traffic hits from

Is Cultural Pluralism a Viable and Valid Way to Deal with Diversity in Research Paper

Is Cultural Pluralism a Viable and Valid Way to Deal with Diversity in the United States - Research Paper Example The present research has identified that the colonists were unified in their opposition to taxation without representation and other impositions that they felt membership in the British Empire was imposing on them. However, beyond that shared belief there was already a great deal of diversity in the United States. First, there were the indigenous peoples and the African-American population. Both of these groups were excluded from participating in the governance of the new nation (as were women). This alone is evidence of diversity. On another level, even the European immigrants newly arrived in North America brought with them diverse cultures. Many were religious dissenters such as William Penn and the Quakers that founded Pennsylvania and the Puritans that had founded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Manhattan had been founded by the Dutch and there was still a large number of people of Dutch heritage who spoke Dutch in the area at the time of the Revolution. The Constitution itse lf also speaks to the diversity within the United States over 200 hundred years ago. In light of the diversity of the newly formed United States, the Constitution specifically ruled out the establishment of a state, official religion and guaranteed freedom of religion. The first phrase in the First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.† Religious diversity was an aspect of American national identity from the birth of the United States. The Constitution also recognizes that the former colonies, now states, are each unique.

Explanatory Response of The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi Essay

Explanatory Response of The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi - Essay Example She thought of her as the only thing that keeps her happy and the one who motivates her that things are going to change for the better. - Tomo, in the midst of her mission to find her husband Yukitomo Shirakawa another concubine. She had been a martyr wife for the insensitive and lustful Yukitomo Shirakawa, enduring all the pain her self-denial, of his infidelities, incestuous lust, forbidden passion and insults on her womanhood. - Yukitomo despised the fact that Tomo's parents and brothers are going to know his misdoings and the emotional tortures that he has inflicted on his wife's feelings. He belongs to an aristocratic family and such knowledge would reap him disgrace and shame. - Yukitomo, because of his affairs and relations with many women, treated Tomo as if she does not exist, treated her as a ghost, not minding her all throughout the day. Seeing her but not thinking that she is his adoring wife, willing to do anything for him even at her own expense. - This figurative passage referring obviously to Yukitomo, his being narrow-minded and lack of sensitivity, sympathy and the adequate understanding of how a man should treat his wife and how to maintain his dignity and not tarnish it with his sinful and incestuous doings, for example, he married his daughter-in-law after the

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media Essay

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media - Essay Example ployer from jeopardizing the employees right to engage in union activities or other protected activities seeking to attain mutual aid or protection within and outside the company (National Labor Relations Board Web). However, under the recent technological advancements, privacy issues have increased with the new technological generating new privacy concerns for both the employees and the employer. Ideally, the new technological advancements allow the employer to gain access to employee’s information around his scope of work. Through the new technology, the employers can initiate telephone monitoring, social media monitoring, electronic mail and voice mail, video monitoring, computer monitoring, and other workplace privacy protections. Where E-mail/Internet is concerned, the employer can access all the emails and online conversation of an employee. Indeed, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, stipulates that an employer has can monitor electronic communications, e-mail and Internet surfing, and instant messaging of an employee where employee is using the employer-provided computer system (US Department of Justice Web). As such, it is the duty of the management to brief the employees on the application of this rule upon employment to avoid privacy issues. On the other hand, computer monitoring comes in handy where employers use computer software to access the screen or stored in the employees computer terminals and hard disks.  They can additionally invoke keystroke monitoring and count time spent away from the computer. Since the employer own s the computer and the terminals, he therefore has a right to monitor an employee’s computer usage. However, certain federal offer minimal rights against computer monitoring like the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution that restricts unreasonable search and seizure (Privacy Rights Clearing House Web). Employers can also initiate social media monitoring of the employees by accessing their Facebook and twitter

Is Cultural Pluralism a Viable and Valid Way to Deal with Diversity in Research Paper

Is Cultural Pluralism a Viable and Valid Way to Deal with Diversity in the United States - Research Paper Example The present research has identified that the colonists were unified in their opposition to taxation without representation and other impositions that they felt membership in the British Empire was imposing on them. However, beyond that shared belief there was already a great deal of diversity in the United States. First, there were the indigenous peoples and the African-American population. Both of these groups were excluded from participating in the governance of the new nation (as were women). This alone is evidence of diversity. On another level, even the European immigrants newly arrived in North America brought with them diverse cultures. Many were religious dissenters such as William Penn and the Quakers that founded Pennsylvania and the Puritans that had founded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Manhattan had been founded by the Dutch and there was still a large number of people of Dutch heritage who spoke Dutch in the area at the time of the Revolution. The Constitution itse lf also speaks to the diversity within the United States over 200 hundred years ago. In light of the diversity of the newly formed United States, the Constitution specifically ruled out the establishment of a state, official religion and guaranteed freedom of religion. The first phrase in the First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.† Religious diversity was an aspect of American national identity from the birth of the United States. The Constitution also recognizes that the former colonies, now states, are each unique.

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media Essay

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media - Essay Example ployer from jeopardizing the employees right to engage in union activities or other protected activities seeking to attain mutual aid or protection within and outside the company (National Labor Relations Board Web). However, under the recent technological advancements, privacy issues have increased with the new technological generating new privacy concerns for both the employees and the employer. Ideally, the new technological advancements allow the employer to gain access to employee’s information around his scope of work. Through the new technology, the employers can initiate telephone monitoring, social media monitoring, electronic mail and voice mail, video monitoring, computer monitoring, and other workplace privacy protections. Where E-mail/Internet is concerned, the employer can access all the emails and online conversation of an employee. Indeed, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, stipulates that an employer has can monitor electronic communications, e-mail and Internet surfing, and instant messaging of an employee where employee is using the employer-provided computer system (US Department of Justice Web). As such, it is the duty of the management to brief the employees on the application of this rule upon employment to avoid privacy issues. On the other hand, computer monitoring comes in handy where employers use computer software to access the screen or stored in the employees computer terminals and hard disks.  They can additionally invoke keystroke monitoring and count time spent away from the computer. Since the employer own s the computer and the terminals, he therefore has a right to monitor an employee’s computer usage. However, certain federal offer minimal rights against computer monitoring like the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution that restricts unreasonable search and seizure (Privacy Rights Clearing House Web). Employers can also initiate social media monitoring of the employees by accessing their Facebook and twitter

Kinetics Lab Essay Example for Free

Kinetics Lab Essay How does the molar concentration of hydrochloric acid affect the rate of pressure in a gas releasing reaction? The aim of this experiment is to record how the change in molar concentration of hydrochloric acid affects the rate of the reaction. The following reaction will be tested: Na2CO3 10H2O + 2HCl 2NaCl + CO2 + 11H2O To measure the rate of the reaction an Explorer GLX with a pressure sensor will be used. The pressure will be measured every second for 90 seconds. Hypothesis: I believe that if the molar concentration of the hydrochloric acid is increased, than the rate of the pressure will also increase. This is due to the fact that first of all, the reaction is a gas releasing reaction, and therefore more pressure will be built up in the flask. Also the more concentrated one of the reactants is the more particles there will be, resulting in more collisions between the particles. Variables: Type of Variable Variable Range of Values/Method of Control Independent Variable Concentration of Hydrochloric Acid 0.50 molar, 0.75 molar, 1.0 molar Dependent Variable Rate of kPa Explorer GLX records every second Controlled Mass of Sodium Carbonate-Deca-Hydrate 0.50 grams Temperature of Reaction All reactions occur at 22à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C (room temperature) Total Time of Reaction 90 seconds in all trials Volume of Hydrochloric Acid 15cm3 in all trials Materials: * 250ml flask * 1-hole stopper with gas collection tube * 4.5 grams of sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate 0.5 for each trial (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.005g) * Explorer GLX with pressure sensor (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1.75kPa) * Laptop with Data Studio * Stop watch (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.005s) * 135ml of hydrochloric acid 45ml of each concentration (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1ml) * Balance Picture: Method: There will be three trials for each of the three different concentrations of hydrochloric acid. Using 9 weighing boats and the balance split the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate into 9 sets of 0.50g. 1) First, set up the data studio and GLX explorer on the laptop. Once the pressure sensor is plugged in the GLX a blank graph should show up. Under setup in data studio, change the rate of measurement to every 1 second. 2) Pour 15ml of 0.5molar hydrochloric acid into the 250ml flask. 3) Click the play button on the GLX explorer to start the measurements, and immediately drop the 0.50 grams of sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate into the hydrochloric acid; right after cover the flask with the one hole stopper. 4) There should be a stop watch on the data studio software, and after 90 seconds stop the measurements by pressing play on the GLX explorer. 5) Save the file as 0.5molar trial 1. 6) Clean out the flask and repeat steps 1 through 5 two more times, for trials 2 and 3. 7) After three trials are recorded and saved for 0.5molar hydrochloric acid. Repeat these steps for 0.75molar and 1molar hydrochloric acid. Overall, you will have a total of 9 different graphs on data studio. These graphs will later be interpreted by applying a tangent line to the beginning of each graph. This tangent line will show the rate of the reaction (sufficient relevant data). Results: The graphs from the GLX explorer are shown in the appendix at the end of the lab roport. A tangent line (slope line) was used on the beginning of the graphs to get the rate of the reaction. The slope of the tangent line would be the rate of the reaction at the point where the tangent line meets the curve. Table 1: The Rate of the Reaction Concerning the Concentration of the Hydrochloric Acid Concentration (moles) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.01m Qualitative Results: * The reaction released a lot of gas. I noticed this because at first the reaction was being done in a test tube and then the one-hole stopper popped off in the middle of the reaction, resulting in a switch to use a flask. * When the molarity of the hydrochloric acid was higher, there was a much louder fizzing noise, indicating a faster reaction. * For some cases no all the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate reacted fully. * Not all the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate which was added to the hydrochloric acid was crushed to powder. Graph: Calculations: Percentage Uncertainty: Concentration: (0.01/0.50) x 100% = 2.0% (0.01/0.75) x 100% = 1.3% (0.01/1.00) x 100% = 1.0% Average Rate of Reaction: (0.05/1.00) x 100% = 5.0% (0.05/1.30) x 100% = 3.8% (0.05/2.30) x 100% = 2.2% Total Percentage Uncertainty: 15.3% Percentage Error: Using sodium carbonate deca hydrate was a limitation to this experiment beacsue this made it extreamly hard to calculate the theoretical value of the reaction. Therefore, one cannot tell weather the lab had a systematic error and a random error. Conclusion: Overall, the hypothesis held correct. Clearly shown from the results, the rate of the reaction was much faster when the molar concentration of the reaction was greater. The rate of the reaction was measured using a pressure sensor, and as the rate of the pressure would indicate the rate of the reaction. For the one molar concentration of hydrochloric acid the rate of the reaction was about twice as fast as the half molar concentration. This can clearly be explained through kinetics. The more concentrated one of the reactants is the more particles there will be. Therefore, when there are more particles more collisions will occur and with more collisions the chances of the collisions being greater than the activation energy will also increase. Overall this increases the rate of the reaction. Evaluation: Overall, this experiment went very well; however, there were numerous limitations which affected the results. One very clear and important limitation is the fact that not all the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate was powder. During the experiment, 0.50 grams of sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate was collected for each trial of the experiment. However, not all the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate was powder, as there were some larger pieces. This changes the surface area of the reactant and that would have a greater affect on the results. For example, if one of the trials had 0.50 grams of sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate and there was a big piece of that substance, than the surface area of those 0.50 grams would be less than the surface area of the trial that had all powder substance. With a larger surface area there would be fewer collisions which would make the rate of the reaction slower. Directly affecting the results, this limitation would need to be improved. A realistic improvement to this experiment would be to simply use a bowl and crush all the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate to powder. Therefore, there would be no big pieces and the surface area would be relatively the same in each trial. Another limitation to this experiment would be the fact that the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate was poured into the test tube right before the one hole stopper was placed on the test tube. Therefore, there was a small time frame where gas was lost. This would affect the pressure in the test tube. One simple way to improve this limitation would be to use a special test tube. with this special test tube there should be a small hole on the side where another tube comes out and that is where the sodium carbonate-deca-hydrate would be placed in. Therefore, there would be minimal or no gas escaping and the results would not be affected by a drop in pressure.

Analysis: Poem About My Rights, June Jordan

Analysis: Poem About My Rights, June Jordan Poem about My Rights This form of struggle and protest poetry, written by June Jordan (Poem about My Rights, 2015) truly captures and speaks for the voice of the oppressed and silent women in South Africa. When reading this poem, I was inspired and shaken by how powerful and moving it was, and how Jordan managed to get such a graphic and empowering message across through the reading of her poem. Her use of diction greatly emphasizes the harsh circumstances faced by woman, as well as Jordan’s anger towards the little political action and support against such abuse and neglect. The poem vulgarly refers to sexual violence experienced by woman and how they are victimized, harassed and abused by men who are physically and ‘socially’ stronger. Jordan speaks about rape, and how excuses are provided to the law, by the offender, which makes the rape seem okay and reasonable. This results in no justice taking place and the victim being left alone, feeling unsafe, with bursting anger and frustration – making them feel even more unwanted and like an outcast. This reveals the poor justice system; corrupt police work and fraudulent government systems – an entirely different theme in the poem. Clear evidence of racism is shown when Jordan says â€Å"We are the wrong people of the wrong skin on the wrong continent† (line 45 and 46). This expresses her view of how African Americans are made to feel like outcasts because of their skin colour and culture. Power, status, wealth and authority were determined by the colour of your skin, and many stereotypical views regarding racism are still present in the world. We can see through the line ‘I should have been lighter skinned’ (line 60) that being ‘white’ was the preferred skin colour, because it determined a family’s wealth and social status. The ‘wrong continent’ (line 46) in my view is referring to refugees that have moved and travelled across the world seeking job opportunities, better living conditions and housing because of the minimal resources and opportunities available in their own country because of their race. However this could make them seem like outcasts in the c ountry that they are not locally from, despite having as much of a right to belong there as another. Perhaps Jordan is looking at herself from a local Europeans perspective when she says â€Å"wrong people of the wrong skin on the wrong continent† (line 45 and 46) – as if to say these judgments and thoughts are going through their heads when they see a foreigner on their land. This clearly adds to the judgment and dis-belonging felt by Native Americans when moving countries, and how they themselves could start to see themselves this way and begin to blame themselves, causing self hate and pain. This occurs during the poem when Jordan blames herself for all the wrongs things that she is, and how she is a disappointment to her family and society. She speaks about how her parents are both disappointed with her and the way she is (line 58-67). However the poem does have an optimistic and unexpected ending when Jordan says that she will now defend herself, leaving the listeners/readers with a hopeful and encouraging ending. An important theme in this poem is gender inequality. In the past and still today, men are dominant to woman in many aspects including financial capability, decision-making, household-roles and various occupations. Men are generally earning more than women, and in many families and traditions, women stay at home for family duties, while men are the breadwinners. In the line ‘I should have been a boy because he wanted one/a boy’ (line 59) reveals two important aspects. One referring to ‘he’ – signifying the father of the child who is now a girl. Secondly referring to the stereotype and generalization which states that giving birth to a boy often promises the family more wealth and financial security in comparison to having a girl, and therefore boys were preferred and wanted. Stereotypically speaking, men have more authority and control in their families and generally make all the decisions regarding their child’s education and freedom – and we can see Jordan has personal experiences with this, through the harsh and cruel way she refers to it in her poem, and how there is no love, genuine care or concern that she expresses when referring to her parents. In the poem, the â€Å"wrong† elements and characteristics of June Jordan are constantly repeated. This is to emphasize the poet’s anger about her lack of acceptance that she feels not only by society but by her family. When listening to the poem we witness the harsh and judgmental comments and remarks made, for example â€Å"I am the history of the rejection of who I am† (line 78). Another example of where Jordan feels judged and unaccepted is when she says â€Å"it was my mother pleading plastic surgery for my nose and braces for my teeth† (line 6) a mother is supposed to be a woman who supports and loves their child for who they are, and not try to change them into what they aren’t. By Jordan using very visual and graphics words, it allows us to sympathize and even empathize for the way she has been treated and feels, making the audience connect with the poem on an even more personal and emotional level. From reading the entire poem several times and listening to Jordan’s reading of it, I get a sense of anger that Jordan expresses towards the people who â€Å"set things up like this† (line 21) – referring to the independence and self-restriction that Jordan feels. I believe that the people who set these things up would be society itself. Society set up racial prejudice, gender inequality, violence and abuse. Without the abuse of power of the people who have the control and the ability to make a true difference and positive change in this world, the world would be more controlled and at peace. Less crime, poverty, unemployment, violence and under-development would take place, resulting in a safer, happier place. When listening to the poem, I found that Jordan speaks clearly and uses pauses, creating a steady pace. Her tone in the beginning is not particularly aggressive or angry, however she does raise her voice to emphasize that she is upset and that the issues that she is talking about are personal. However as the poem progresses, so her voice becomes louder and more dominating, emphasizing particular words and phrases. This is particularly effective because the listeners now get a sense of how the poet feels about her own poem, adding a more personal and emotional touch. Her last few closing lines show her desperate cry out for independence and freedom. From my perspective I see it as Jordan’s determination to speak up for herself and finally take the will-power to stand up and defend herself against the negligence and abuse of others. I found this poem to be incredibly motivating and inspiring in terms of taking a stand against gender inequality and violence, and I believe Jordan should be remembered for her passion, bravery and courage for speaking out for the silenced and oppressed. Reference List: June Jordan Poem About My Rights, 13 November 2011 (video file). [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUSTxhYu7-4 [2015, April 20]. Poem about My Rights. 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178526. [2015, April 20].