Australia s Economic Success And Growth Rates - 1699 Words

Economic Background: In the past two decades, the Australian economy has been, and continues to be a very strong and steady economy because of steady GDP growth rates, with an average around 3.5% annually (Heritage.org). Australia has also benefitted from considerably low inflation and unemployment rates. Because of these macroeconomic values, Australia is ranked third in the ranking of regional economies (Heritage.org). The reasons for Australia’s ongoing success is mainly because of the boom in foreign demand of importing the plethora of natural resources and minerals the country contains, combined with the structural economic policies enacted in the 1980’s (The Economist - Australia’s Economy). Australia is also one of the few countries†¦show more content†¦The largest slice of Australia’s exports go to China, exporting around 31.6% of its total exports, making China Australia’s biggest benefactor to its economy (DFAT). Although the exports mainly consist of the titanic amount of minerals that Australia mines, China also imports large quantities of wool, another heavily traded commodity of Australia. One of the leading wool industries, the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) has said â€Å"it is easier to sell fine wool for clothes to China than to traditional recession-hit markets in Europe† (The Economist - Hitched to the China Wagon). The exportation of wool in conjunction with the exportation of minerals and ore to China makes China a strong partner with Australia when it comes to resource trading. China obviously is dependent on Australia’s exportations, making Australia’s relations with China a strength of the overall Australian economy. The Australian economy however, is clearly just as dependent on China’s demand for such commodities. Although Australia greatly benefits from China’s demand in its exports, Australia needs to make sure the trade relations between them don’t act as a crutch for the Australian economy. Recent studies and articles predict China’s demand for Australian goods will be shifting leftward in the near future, possibly impacting Australia’s economy, and putting it into a recession. Weaknesses of Economy: When it comes to economic weaknesses, Australia is fairly unique in comparison to otherShow MoreRelatedEconomic Factors That Influence Our Quality Of Life1379 Words   |  6 PagesEconomic factors that influence our quality of life in Australia An economy refers to the way in which a society is systematized to solve the economic problem of the insufficiency of resources relative to the society s needs and wants involving the countries production, distribution and exchange. There are many factors or the economy that influence the standard of living in Australia. 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One of the most successful and well known play by William Shakespeare Free Essays

One of the most successful and well known plays William Shakespeare wrote was Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy play; two young people fall in the love but their families have a bitter grudge with one another, â€Å"and the continuance of their parents’ rage which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,† (prologue lines 10-11). This quote explains to us how the grudge between the two families could only be removed by the death of these two ‘star crossed lovers’. We will write a custom essay sample on One of the most successful and well known play by William Shakespeare or any similar topic only for you Order Now The theme of the play is love and hate; there are many examples of love and hate occurring especially with the party scene. In William Shakespeare’s time status was a very important thing when it comes to everyday lifestyle. Status was also determined by gender, men were able to do more things that woman, such as, work and have more of a social life. When there were plays in the theatre people would stand or sit depending on status. If you were standing you would be of the lower class, if you were higher up in the stands the wealthier you were, for example the Queen would sit at the top. The theatre was very important in that time because it was the main source of entertainment. The relationships between the parents and the teenagers are found in the scenes of Juliet getting an arranged marriage, the scene illustrates how rich parents would communicate and feel about their children and visa versa for the children. Relationships between Juliet and Capulet Capulet has deep feelings for Juliet, he still see Juliet as his little girl and does not want to let her go into marriage. ‘And too soon marred are those so early made’, Capulet talking to Paris about his daughter being too young. This quote gives an understanding of how Capulet feels with Juliet getting married. Even though Juliet is the lady of my earth to Capulet, he says to Paris win her heart, if she is happy then you may marry her, â€Å"she is the hopeful lady of my earth. But woo her gentle Paris, get her heart, my will to her consent is but part†. Capulet is explaining to Paris that if you win her heart then I will be happy to give you my daughter. After the death of Tybalt, Capulet decides to marry Juliet with Paris to get rid of all the grief. Because of the death of Tybalt Capulet has not had time to persuade Juliet to marry Paris but he says to Paris she will obey his wishes. When Capulet enters Juliet’s room in the morning, he sees her crying â€Å"How now, a conduit, girl? What, still in tears†, Capulet thinks that these tears are for Tybalt but in reality they are for Romeo being banished. When Capulet finds out that Juliet refuses to marry Paris he loses his temper. â€Å"Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what, get thee to church a Thursday, or never after look me in the face.† Capulet makes it clear and simple on what he expects Juliet to do and what the consequences are if she doesn’t; from being Capulet’s lady on his earth she has become the last lady he wants to see. Relationship between Juliet and Lady Capulet Lady Capulet and Juliet have a formal relationship. Juliet talks to her mother as is she is a teacher â€Å"Madam, I am here, what is you will?† this quote shows us how Juliet confronts her mother; it also shows us that she is respectful of her mothers status; shown by the formal ‘Madam’. Lady Capulet views marriage as a business arrangement and she is keen to get Juliet married well to a wealthy man like Paris. A good marriage would make the Capulet’s a more commanding and highly regarded family. When Lady Capulet enters the room she sees Juliet crying. She sympathizes with Juliet’s grief at the death of Tybalt. Lady Capulet lets Juliet know how she feels about Romeo and how she plans on him being dead. â€Å"We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not. Then weep no more. Ill send to one Mantua, where that same banished runagate doth live, shall give him such an unaccustomed dram, that shall soon keep Tybalt company.† Lady Capulet does not know about Juliet’s feelings about Romeo and Juliet wasn’t planning on letting her know, â€Å"indeed I never shall be satisfied with Romeo, till I behold him dead is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed†. What Juliet actually means in that text is that ‘I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him. My poor heart is so vexed for a kinsman (Romeo) that is dead’. What Juliet’s mother takes her to mean is the complete opposite. Juliet appears to agree with her mother when she i s talking about how Romeo is a villain, but she twists her words so that they mean she also loves Romeo. Relationship between Juliet and the Nurse Juliet and the nurse have a more comfortable relationship when it comes to communicating. The Nurse is like a mother figure to Juliet after bringing her up from childhood. â€Å"Go girl, seek happy nights’ this quote gives an example of how the relationship is very comfortable between the two. It shows that the nurse is encouraging Juliet to enjoy herself and seek out a husband to spend ‘happy nights’ with. Shakespeare’s audience would see in this scene that the Nurse cares for Juliet and wants her to be happy instead of status and money like Lady Capulet thinks. In Act 3 scene 5 when Juliet refuses to marry Paris the Nurse tries to defend Juliet but she only gets spoken over by Capulet, â€Å"may one not speak† she is trying to defend for Juliet but Capulet reply’s back † peace you mumbling fool†. When Capulet and Lady Capulet leave the Nurse advises Juliet to forget about Romeo. â€Å"Romeo is banished, and all the world to nothing†. Juliet asks the nurse if that is what she really means and the Nurse says that is. The Nurse then goes off and goes to tell Capulet and Lady Capulet that Juliet is sorry for upsetting her father. Juliet does not believe the deceitfulness of the Nurse. Stage Craft and Language A very important stagecraft action that takes place in Romeo and Juliet is soliloquies, a soliloquy is an actor playing a character revealing to the audience about their own private thoughts (the character has the stage to them self). Juliet uses a soliloquy at the end of Act 3 scene 5 when the Nurse leaves the room. â€Å"Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! It is more sin to wish me thus forsworn, Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue so many thousand times? Go counselor; thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. I’ll to the friar to know his remedy. If all else fail, myself have power to die†. Juliet expresses her feelings to the audience. Soliloquies are still used in this time and day in the theatre. An example of an implicit direction would be in Act 1 scene 3, â€Å"this is the matter nurse, give leave awhile, we must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again!† the audience can see that Lady Capulet does not trust the Nurse, but she does depend on the Nurse to speak about Juliet about early marriage. The implicit direction is used like a command, when Lady Capulet tell the Nurse to come back. Lady Capulet also uses imperatives, â€Å"Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me† the word call in this quote is the imperative, an imperative is an order, and Shakespeare used imperatives in his text because it helped the actors to remember their lines. How to cite One of the most successful and well known play by William Shakespeare, Papers

Computer Crime Theft of Unprotected Data

Question: Discuss about theComputer Crime for Theft of Unprotected Data. Answer: Introduction: The essay depicts the importance of data security in Information System (IS) in terms of ethical dilemma. Nowadays, the rate of computer crime is increasing at a rapid manner (Cameron 2013). In order to reduce the rate of crime certain sophisticated methodologies are needed to be adopted. Generally, unauthorized and unauthenticated users steal the unprotected data without the permission of the owner of the data. The aim of the essay is to frame different ethical issues that might occur in cyber crime and their mitigation techniques. The objective is to set an ethical as well as moral circumstance in computing technology. In other words, each and everything that opposed to public policy against the public welfare may disturb the public tranquility will be mentioned in this essay. From the above discussion two major hypotheses can be stated Hypothesis 1: Cyber attack is an offensive approach and Hypothesis 2: Active and defensive tools are needed to be acquired to remove the security oriented issues. Immediate access of protected data can be done with the help of encryption key (Campbell, Nelson and Simek 2015). However, if the data are not protected then those data can be easily theft by the hackers. Nowadays, this is termed as major issue in the field of computer study (Shimonski 2014). If a data owner does not protect its data then it does not mean that, the data can be theft by any unauthorized person. If the data steals by someone then, that will be an issue from the ethical perspective. Additionally, from the security aspect it can be said that the owner of the data should make keep his data protected with certain encryption key. The key must not be shared or public key all the time rather they should use private key for their data security. Computer Crime: Theft of Unprotected Data The first hypothesis states that, cyber attack is an offensive approach that means stealing someones data without permission is not correct from the ethical perspective (Brumen et al. 2013). There are many reasons behind this statement. In case of cyber attacks, it generally targets big organizations and sometimes, someones personal data such as banking details and personal details (Slusky and Goodrich 2016). Not only this but also infrastructures, computer networking system, and personal data can also get theft by the virus attacks or worm attacks. In viral attacks, personal device can also get corrupted. The cyber attack can be ranges from the installation of spyware on the personal computer to spoil the complete infrastructure of the device. From the demonstration of worm recently cyber attack has become too sophisticated and dangerous (Tajpour, Ibrahim and Zamani 2013). There are basically, three factors such as fear factor, vulnerability factor and spectacular factor that contri bute in cyber attacks. While analysing the reasons behind cyber attack it can be stated that, it causes fear factors within groups and organizations. Attackers create frequent interruption in personal data of the users. It causes deliberate exploitation of computer information system. In technology department and enterprises cyber attacks uses malicious code to alter computer code, logic and data to disrupt the consequences of the system (Muthama 2013). Cyber attacks influences many consequences such as theft of identity, fraud and exploitation, snooping and spoofing. Denial of service is another form of cyber attack that socially and politically motivates attackers to carry out the fears. Cyber attacks generally targets the common public, national and corporate organizations. The main reason of cyber attack is to steal ones data, for personal uses or sometimes for different misuse. The personal or banking details of the users are getting theft by the attackers and they misuse it. From recent news, that to ok place in the year of 2013 in New York, is named as crypto wall 2.0 (Rose 2014). In that case, an attacker attacks a particular website with certain virus attacks and the users personal files and images get corrupted for that virus (Schia 2016). Not only this but also, those files get corrupted by the attackers private key. The encryption key used by the attackers is not a shared one and therefore, in order to retrieve the data that particular key cannot be used by the victim at the same time. Additionally, it came to focus that the victim cannot fetch the corrupted files without any payment of bit coins. A similar case was found on the same year in Germany also (Choi, Scott and LeClair 2016). Where, the victim had to pay bit coins to decrypt the data encrypted by the hackers. The victim of the attack denied to pay the coins and the amount became doubled after a week. These situations are completely unethical as a hacker do not have the permission to steal someones personal data w ithout his or her permission. The second hypothesis states that active and defensive tools are needed to be acquired to reduce the security and ethical issues. Several tools are utilized by technology users and organizations to remove the ethical issues. Top 10 tools are used to reduce the rate of computer crime and ethical issues. According to Slusky and Goodrich (2016) information is a power which is certainly true when it comes to cyber crime. Unauthorized access to personal information gives a power to the hackers to tap into the personal account of the user. Additionally, through personal computer information hacking one can steal the banking details and accordingly can transact money without the permission of the users (Pfleeger and Pfleeger 2012). These issues can be resolved by adopting some tools. Hackers are not the only one who gains power from the information, whereas, prevention of hacking is another part of education that helps the victims to keep their data secured from the attackers. Another tool that can be used by the victims is known as firewall. Firewall is capable to monitor the traffic between devices and the network systems. Firewall keeps a system defensive more than a common one (Reyns and Henson 2015). If over any instant messenger a user is chatting or sending electronic mail to someone then that time, password and user identity keep the system secured from unauthorized users. The users should use strong passwords so that the data cannot get decrypt easily by the hackers. Again, comprehensive security software, updated operating system, safe network and secured control panel should be incorporated by the users devices. The study of technology and computer systems hackers expands their mind in a broad range (Eck and Weisburd 2015). There is always a contradiction on the term hacking as it is glorified and at the same time it is undetermined by the common medium. In some cases it has been found that hackers help to detect the location of the criminals with the help of their hacking technology and software. Many ethical dilemma related to cyberage are evolving nowadays at a huge rate (Brumen et al. 2013). The right of the society to the security and the exploitation of personal information is another ethical issue. Hacking is termed as a brand of disobedience that expresses dissatisfaction within the system. Hacking helps to monitor illegal attacks also. Apart from this, the wide range of growth of the internet services computer security has become a major concern from the government and business perspectives (Masum, Ullah and Azad 2015). It has come to focus that professional ethical hackers possess variety of skills to complete the trustworthiness and security within the organizations. Schia (2016) stated that, the need for information security practices is enhancing with each security breach. In order to reduce the rate of cyber attack hacking can be reversibly used by the organizations and computer users. The major challenges for the businesses are a complexity of security requirement due to the rapid changes of hacking technologies. The code of the ethics generated by Australian Computer Society are- the primacy of public interest, professionalism, enhancement of quality of life, competencies, honesty and professional development (Shevchuk and Voronyak 2014). Conclusion From the overall discussion it can be concluded that, computer crime and theft of unprotected date is a major ethical issues nowadays growing in a rapid manner throughout the world. In order to reduce the rate of this problem several tools are adopting by different organizations and users. In this essay the hypothesis stated above mentioned that one of the most recent basis offensive approaches is cyber attack. Another hypothesis states that, active and defensive tools are required to be adopted by the organizations and other computer users to protect different crucial data. The essay also elaborated the clear explanation of the issues and one objection to computer crime that is theft of unprotected data. How ethical hacking helps to determine track criminals are also mentioned here. Apart from this, code of conducts generated by Australian Computer Society is also mentioned in this essay including the beneficial perspectives of Ethical hacking. The essay depicted that, in computer c rime theft of unprotected data is one of the major issues References Brumen, B., HeriÄ ko, M., SevÄ nikar, A., Zavrnik, J. and Hlbl, M., 2013. Outsourcing medical data analyses: can technology overcome legal, privacy, and confidentiality issues?.Journal of medical Internet research,15(12). Cameron, P., 2013. Cyberlaw Linguistics-Referents to Techniques, Places, and Identity of Cybercrimes and Cyberattacks Under International Law. InProceedings of The 2 nd International Conference on Law, Language and Discourse: Multiculturalism, Multimodality and Multidimensionality(p. 217). Campbell, R., Nelson, S.D. and Simek, J.W., 2015. A Primer on Cyber Dangers and How to Avoid Them. Choi, K.S., Scott, T.M. and LeClair, D.P., 2016. Ransomware against Police: Diagnosis of Risk Factors via Application of Cyber-Routine Activities Theory.International Journal of Forensic Science Pathology. Eck, J.E. and Weisburd, D.L., 2015. Crime places in crime theory.Crime and place: Crime prevention studies,4. Masum, A.K.M., Ullah, M.C. and Azad, M.A.K., 2015. Information Technology (IT) Ethics in the Light of Islam.IIUC Studies,9, pp.243-260. Muthama, M.N., 2013. Regulation on access to Internet: Problems and solutions.Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology,54(3), pp.453-459. Pfleeger, C.P. and Pfleeger, S.L., 2012.Analyzing computer security: A threat/vulnerability/countermeasure approach. Prentice Hall Professional. Reyns, B.W. and Henson, B., 2015. The Thief With a Thousand Faces and the Victim With None Identifying Determinants for Online Identity Theft Victimization With Routine Activity Theory.International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, p.0306624X15572861. Rose, R., 2014. IA2Private Sector- Public SectorCybersecurity: Privacy and Regulation. Schia, N.N., 2016. Teach a person how to surf: Cyber security as development assistance. Shevchuk, I.S. and Voronyak, L.Y., 2014. Problems of Computer-Based Crimes.à Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã… ¡Ãƒ Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ Ã‚ £Ãƒ Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   à Ã… ¸Ãƒ Ã‚  Ãƒ Ã… ¾Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ Ã…“à Ã‹Å" à Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬â€Ãƒ Ã‹Å"à Ã… ¡Ãƒ Ã‹Å", à Ã…“à Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ Ã…“à Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ Ã‹Å"à Ã… ¡Ãƒ Ã‹Å" à Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ Ã‚  à Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ Ã… ¾Ãƒ Ã‚  Ãƒ Ã…“à Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ Ã‹Å"à Ã… ¡Ãƒ Ã‹Å", p.46. Shimonski, R., 2014.Cyber Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Defense. Syngress. Slusky, L. and Goodrich, J.A., 2016, June. Human Factors of Cybersecurity Awareness. InEdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology(Vol. 2016, No. 1, pp. 430-438). Tajpour, A., Ibrahim, S. and Zamani, M., 2013. Identity Theft Methods and Fraud Types.IJIPM: International Journal of Information Processing and Management.

Sandburgs Chicago Essays - Carl Sandburg, House Of Vasa, Poetry

Sandburg's "Chicago" Poetry is the time old form of expression that allows one to explicate him or herself using very little words. A single poetic line can provoke a variety of emotions and send the reader to another place. Many scholars and English professors will tell you poetry consists of rhyme and meter, form and rhythm. They would be accurate in doing so. However, poetry can also be described as condensed prose that has the ability to induce a plethora of images, emotions, and thoughts into one's mind, as does the poem Chicago by Carl Sandburg. The poem Chicago by Carl Sandburg offers a great example of how poetry is in fact condensed prose. The poem, published in 1914, tells about the wicked, bareheaded, and husky city of Chicago, Illinois. Rather than sticking to the traditional closed form of poetry, Sandburg's Chicago departs to a more open form that includes some traditional uses of capitalization as well as lines that go along with the natural divisions of phrases and sentences. Instead of using any sort of metrical pattern, Chicago repeats words and phrases, such as "They tell me" in lines 6-10, to create its form. This poem can be considered condensed prose because it is telling a story of Chicago. One could get just as much, if not more, out of this poem as one would by reading prose about the city. A major reasons the reader is able to extract so much from poetry is the strong use of imagery, or language that evokes a physical sensation produced by one of the five senses-sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell (Literature pg. 629). The poem Chicago again provides a great example of this. The mere word "Chicago" triggers an image in most of our minds. We picture industries and machines because most of us know that Chicago is a large industrial center. The first five lines of Chicago are describing the city. The images that we conjure up in our mind when we hear the phrases, "Hog Butcher for the World" or "Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat" are what we are going to associate with the city of Chicago. Sandburg continues to provoke the readers sense of sight as he writes, "On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger" and "Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness". One immediately visualizes hungry women and children as well as a ferocious dog about to attack. The best use of imagery in Chicago begins on line 25. Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth, Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs, Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle, Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing! A vivid picture of a man appears in the readers' mind. He's a young man, filthy from his daily work. The reader can actually hear the young man laughing, not caring that he is dirty. This sort of imagery is what poets use to say very much with very few words. It is not deniable that poetry has the ability to evoke images and sounds into one's mind. However, different people may conjure up different images upon reading a statement in a poem. As I read the poem Chicago, I drew images in my mind of giant smokestacks and men with sledgehammers. Though I was able to come up with these images, the fact that I have never been to Chicago hampered my ability to accurately portray the city in my mind. Residents of the city would come up with different images than me due to the fact that they have seen the city and probably have specific buildings and people in there mind already that the poem reminds them of. Also, if you were to mention the word "Chicago" to a sports fan then he or she would automatically think of the Cubs, Whitesox, Bears, Blackhawks, or Bulls (each of the cities major sports teams). A picture of Wrigley Field or the sound of Mike Ditka could enter ones mind. A music lover may automatically begin to hear his or her favorite Smashing Pumpkins song (a native band of Chicago) upon mention of the word Chicago. Obviously it is a persons background that will determine what images he or she draw from a poem. Poetry has the

Dead Souls essays

Dead Souls essays Dead Souls by Nickolai Gogol, was released March 25, 1997. This novel was first published in 1842. Dead Souls is many things. Not only is it a fictional novel of Russian life but an epic, a series of charachter portrayals of the various good and bad members of Russian society. The main characters in this novel include Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a dismissed civil servant and the protagonist of the novel,Nozdrev the gambler, drunk and compulsive liar, the overly affectionate Manolive, and the miserly and paranoid Plewskin. Dead Souls takes place in Russia in the late 1800s, where, unlike in America, one must be born into a prosperous family in order to have opportunities. The main character, Chichikov, is clever enough to develop a scheme in which he can rise from being a petty clerk to a respected landowner. In order to do this, Chichikov moves into crime." In the end of Dead Souls, Chichikov is stabbed in the back by the people he does business with, and does not get away with his i ngenious plan. Nickolai Gogol effectively utilizes the components of his work. This novel includes a series of character portrayals of the various good and bad members of the Russian society. Gogol tackles his themes with wit and humor. His writing intersperses the narrative with social reflection and thoughts on human nature, never boring or pretentious, but always funny and satirical. In fact, Gogol's irony, and cynicism are probably the most valuable assets of this particular novel. Nickolai Gogol shines in satirical characters. Each landholder Chichikov visits is a miniature masterpiece of eccentricities reflecting aspects of Russian character. The suspicious old woman, the unrealistically stubborn bargainer, and the bluff calling drunkard. Chichikov cunningly adapts to each, concincing all sorts to sell him dead serfs. Those familiar with Gogol's short work will already relish his incisive wit. He uses the plot of the novel to paint an exhilarating p...

Business Models Strategy and Innovation

The concept of the business model is basically a structure that supports business viability that includes its goals, purpose and other ongoing plans to achieve them. In simple words, it specifies the description to fulfill an organization's purpose. The business plan is all about elements that are required for demonstrating a prospective business's feasibility, whereas a business model is about demonstrating elements for making the existing business to work successfully. The definition of the business model is described differently by various authors but its common meaning can be defined by two elements – a business system, that can be defined as work systems in form of delivery or production system that are designed by a firm, within its boundaries and beyond for product delivery to target customers. And the next element is profit model, which is a pattern to describe firm’s intention of making profits in existing business. It can include plans to sales increase or/and reducing costs.   It also helps the business to distinguish from other competitors by means of product or price (Verstraete, & Jouison-Laffitte, 2011). Out of the two elements of the business model, the business system is less visible and profit model is more visible. The profit model is observed by outsiders and due to direct linkage to the bottom line of any firm, it is much more glamorous than the business system. However, a business system can be considered as the most significant element in a business model, since it plays two roles – as a system that realizes a firm's differentiation strategic intent which is the real work, and secondly, it accelerates towards future learning processes. During business system design the following things are determined by the firm –the labor division amongst the firm and its partners for trading, internally organizing firm’s in-house system of working and controlling trading activities of partners externally (Weill, Malone, D’Urso, Herman, & Woerner, 2005). The business model as a system works to satisfy needs of customers and tries to do a better job than other competitors. It also enables people working in an organization to explore more about technologies and observe customer's reaction. The business model as a system functions in accordance with learning system while doing the work that involves learning first. It also leaves footprints of the doers while working on any system. It determines two important factors that include maintaining the workflow of in-house and outsourced operations and controlling final delivery options to customers. These factors help the firm to determine ways to learn about market and technology and search for possible partners that are aligned with the firm's goals (Lindgren, 2012). When actual work is done, the flow of various kinds of information takes place and it creates an overall exchange of information from firms to its business partners. As humans are blessed with high thinking and observational po wers, it can directly stimulate by work or action that can be done. This action further provides triggering events and enhances the capacity to form proper strategies for the business system. Also, the business system helps with accumulating information. It is not just dealing with mundane operations to determine operations cost and various products to act as a learning system. It also enables these firms to keep close watch over outside parties like partners and customers and then gains business system's byproducts activity that can quite quickly accommodate and provides growth for improving long-term benefits. Thus, eliminating static problems of any kind. The profit models, on the other hand, has multiple attractions that enable the firming contract to offer lower cost operations that can reduce its operating costs and no longer needs to invest in such work sector (Osterwalder, & Pigneur, 2009). It overall leads to the reduction in capital costs in the firm. If the business model is considered as a system, the doers are accumulators of work related information and approach contract firm that is still learning. The costs can be controlled unless external work can become extra burdens to the firm's business. It integrates together the unbundled and bundled work for carrying out overall operation smoothly, then delivers its final product to customers. This will not become a serious problem if both these bundled, as well as unbundled works, are integrated without creating the transaction costs too expensive. It also means that less learning about work never erodes future growth that has the potential of unbundling firm. The profit model c an override risks that are imposed on the business system due to dynamic problems in firm. There are unexpected environmental conditions that exist in the supplier firms that can change in dramatic ways, and hence threatens the supply lines for destabilizing integration in smooth ways. This significant learning process can produce certain in-house components in a business model that creates a huge innovation towards progressing future market, where a central role is occupied by components to produce new products successfully (Kim, & Min, 2015).   As per the article on the design of business model with a perspective of an activity system, by Raphael Amit and Christoph Zott, it gives a whole new idea about the business model and its various parameters to design its activity systems. The design elements include structure, content, and governance. The element structure describes activities that are linked or in other words have sequences between them that capture their actual importance for a business model. If IBM is considered, during the 90's when a huge financial crisis occurred, the firm was triggered and it forced to switch its peripheral and core activities. Thus shifting the firm's focus from hardware supplier and to become new software service provider. It enabled the firm to rebuild its structure from old known body or core and it helped in becoming one of the greatest service providers in the world. It took those decades but it enhanced its reach and helped them to launch a new range of activities related to IT, consulting, networking and many other services (Dermine, 2013). By the end of the year 2006, almost over half of the revenues generated by IBM amount to ninety billion dollars and it was possible due to investing new technologies or activities that are totally new. The element content is referred to activities selection by the firm that is actually ready to be performed. If an example of retail bank named as Bancolombia is considered, it adopted activities that were designed for offering microcredit to above sixty percent of Colombian citizens who didn't have banking service accesses. The bank adopted training methodologies for top management people to hire new staff and train them. Thus creating and developing new ways to link and expand the existing banking system that includes channels, applications, and platforms (Honohan, 2002). The element governance is referred to people those performing activities. If any franchise is considered, it is relevant to one approach that can work as a key element in value determination in any firm. It's about an adaptation of new business ideas through exploring professional management for creating values that can be added to performance in any business model. The NICE themes for business model design deal with novelty, lock-in activities, complementarities services and efficiency in a model. Novelties are new ways of governance activities, lock-in refers to retaining power by the activity system, and complementarities are the inclusion of value adding services that lead to innovation in a firm and create demand in an actual market (Teece, 2010). The efficiency refers to use of activity system to achieve more output and reducing transaction costs. The essay covers the overall idea regarding the adaptation of business models to run and operate any business firm successfully. Its idea is to understand the concept of business model and its work functioning as an activity system. The elements of business models are discussed in brief along with its focus on handling problems that can arise during business model implementation. The essay also enlightens on partnership and innovation processes along with significant design elements that are necessary for future growths of existing business models. Dermine, J. (2013). Bank Regulations after the Global Financial Crisis: Good Intentions and Unintended Evil.  European Financial Management,  19(4), 658-674. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-036x.2013.12017.x Honohan, P. (2002). Comment on â€Å"Costs of banking system instability: Some empirical evidence†.  Journal Of Banking & Finance,  26(5), 857-860. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-4266(01)00271-0 Kim, S., & Min, S. (2015). Business Model Innovation Performance: When does Adding a New Business Model Benefit an Incumbent?.  Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,  9(1), 34-57. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sej.1193 Lindgren, P. (2012). Business Model Innovation Leadership: How Do SME’s Strategically Lead Business Model Innovation?.  International Journal Of Business And Management,  7(14). https://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v7n14p53 Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2009). Business Model Generation. Retrieved from https://www.businessmodelsinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Business-Model-Generation-preview-of-the-book.pdf Teece, D. (2010). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation.  Long Range Planning,  43. Retrieved from https://www.businessmodelcommunity.com/fs/root/8jig8-businessmodelsbusinessstrategy.pdf Verstraete, T., & Jouison-Laffitte, E. (2011).  A business model for entrepreneurship  (1st ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Weill, P., Malone, T., D’Urso, V., Herman, G., & Woerner, S. (2005). Do Some Business Models Perform Better than Others?.  Sloan School Of Management Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. Retrieved from https://ccs.mit.edu/papers/pdf/wp226.pdf

Article Title Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article Title - Essay Example The article reveals three separate research studies conducted to track the origins of cancer cells in the brain, gut and skin using genetic markers as labels. The studies conducted by Luis Parada and Hans Clevers on brain and gut cancers respectively used genetic labels to mark healthy adult stem cells which had the potential to develop into tumors and analyzed whether the newly formed cancer cells contained the same labels as their predecessors. In the experiment conducted by Parada on glioblastoma, the tumors also contained some unlabelled cells which had also originated from the labeled cells which relapsed following chemotherapy. However, when the labeled cells were targeted using chemotherapy the glioblastoma underwent significant shrinkage. Clevers and his team used drug-inducible genetic markers which when activated caused the cells carrying the marker to fluoresce in one of the four colors. When a second dose of the drug was injected the initially fluorescing cells gave rise to a new set of cells that fluoresced with a different color thus supporting the hypothesis that cancer stem cells give rise to new tumor cells. In the experiment involving the skin tumor conducted by Cedric Blanpain, individual tumor cells were labeled and when tracked these either gave rise to a small cell lineage before diminishing or continued to produce more cells. Thus the study provided a strong experimental evidence for the existence of cancer stem cells and further research involved relating these tracked cells with those of the putative cells which have been found from transplantation studies. The photosynthetic ability of aphids using the carotenoid pigment which they synthesize is explored in the Nature article, â€Å"Photosynthesis-like process found in insects†. Aphids and another possible creature namely the two-spotted

Conferences and conventions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Conferences and conventions - Essay Example Recently conferences and conventions have started extended facilities to delegate families and there is not a single economy which would say that it did not get benefited by conferences. "THE economic contribution of conferences to the Welsh economy is underscored in the financial results of the Cardiff Conference Bureau. This council initiative has won business for the city worth 1.7m during 2006" http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/tm_headline=conference-business-boosts-cardiff-by--pound-1-7m&method=full&objectid=18363801&siteid=50082-name_page.html Another face of conferences is the advantage being gained by tourism industry. By placing conferences in far away venues of cultural, naturalistic and historical backdrops, many countries and business have given enormous facelift to the tourism industry. This has given way to business tourism, considered today as a major branch of tourism. Britain is an important country that has been benefited by business tourism, mainly because it is reachable from all directions and has well developed, affordable venues. are rumoured to be affordable. One of the UK advertisements says: "Vibrant, dynamic cities, elegant spa towns combining tradition with state-of-the-art facilities and cosmopolitan seaside resorts... Britain has it all" http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-nb-NO/businesstourism/conferencesconventions/conferences_conventions.aspx Indian cities with luxurious five star hotels and much cheaper economy have provided some more major business tourism destinations, where many international conferences and conventions are held today. The wildlife sanctuaries, historical monuments, natural wonders, religious temples have all... Conferences and conventions have created a global industry of their own. The origins of the conference industry are quite recent and it has been connected with business tourism and leisure tourism throughout. New trend of winning through partnerships has started in the business world. Business touring workshops are setting the trend. There are many direct expenditure benefits of conferences to the local area. In United Kingdom, conferences, meetings, conventions have created tourism benefit. Many conference venues and their neighbouring towns and cities usually become tourist centres for the convention representatives. According to a study conducted by UK National Tourist Board, with detailed figures of conference spending in the year 2001, total cost direct expenditure of one conference was  £1,092,960/-. Conferences and conventions also bring benefits to human resources, and employees. â€Å"Conferences are about communication†¦.An industry has developed to facilitate the satisfaction of the objectives of face to face communication: the conference industry. Suppliers to the industry are as diverse as their clients: Conference centres, hotels, specialist intermediaries, convention bureaux, caterers, production companies, and many others – all cooperate to create the right atmosphere and infrastructure, conducive to communication†

Obesity and Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Obesity and Fast Food Essay January 2009 Abstract. We investigate the health consequences of changes in the supply of fast food using the exact geographical location of fast food restaurants. Specifically, we ask how the supply of fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5. 2 percent increase in obesity rates. There is no discernable effect at . 25 miles and at . 5 miles. Among pregnant women, models with mother fixed effects indicate that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of her residence results in a 2. 5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger, but less precisely estimated at . 1 miles. In contrast, the presence of non-fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with obesity and weight gain. Moreover, proximity to future fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with current obesity and weight gain, conditional on current proximity to fast food. The implied effects of fast-food on caloric intake are at least one order of magnitude smaller for mothers, which suggests that they are less constrained by travel costs than school children. Our results imply that policies restricting access to fast food near schools could have significant effects on obesity among school children, but similar policies restricting the availability of fast food in residential areas are unlikely to have large effects on adults. The authors thank John Cawley and participants in seminars at the NBER Summer Institute, the 2009 AEA Meetings, the ASSA 2009 Meetings, the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Chicago, The New School, the Tinbergen Institute, the Rady School at UCSD, and Williams College for helpful comments. We thank Cecilia Machado, Emilia Simeonova, Johannes Schmeider, and Joshua Goodman for excellent research assistance. We thank Glenn Copeland of the Michigan Dept. of Community Health, Katherine Hempstead and Matthew Weinberg of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Craig Edelman of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health, Rachelle Moore of the Texas Dept. of State Health Services, and Gary Sammet and Joseph Shiveley of the Florida Department of Health for their help in accessing the data. The authors are solely responsible for the use that has been made of the data and for the contents of this article. 1 1. Introduction The prevalence of obesity and obesity related diseases has increased rapidly in the U. S. since the mid 1970s. At the same time, the number of fast food restaurants more than doubled over the same time period, while the number of other restaurants grew at a much slower pace according to the Census of Retail Trade (Chou, Grossman, and Saffer, 2004). In the public debate over obesity it is often assumed that the widespread availability of fast food restaurants is an important determinant of the dramatic increases in obesity rates. Policy makers in several cities have responded by restricting the availability or content of fast food, or by requiring posting of the caloric content of the meals (Mcbride, 2008; Mair et al. 2005). But the evidence linking fast food and obesity is not strong. Much of it is based on correlational studies in small data sets. In this paper we seek to identify the causal effect of increases in the supply of fast food restaurants on obesity rates. Specifically, using a detailed dataset on the exact geographical location restaurant establishments, we ask how proximity to fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. For school children, we observe obesity rates for 9th graders in California over several years, and we are therefore able to estimate cross-sectional as well fixed effects models that control for characteristics of schools and neighborhoods. For mothers, we employ the information on weight gain during pregnancy reported in the Vital Statistics data for Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas covering fifteen years. 1 We focus on women who have at least two children so that we can follow a given woman across two pregnancies and estimate models that include mother fixed effects. The design employed in this study allows for a more precise identification of the effect of fast-food on obesity compared to the previous literature (summarized in Section 2). First, we observe information on weight for millions of individuals compared to at most tens of thousand in the standard data sets with weight information such as the NHANES and the BRFSS. This substantially increases the power of our estimates. Second, we exploit very detailed geographical location information, including distances The Vital Statistics data reports only the weight gain and not the weight at the beginning (or end) of the pregnancy. One advantage of focusing on a longitudinal measure of weight gain instead of a measure of weight in levels is that only the recent exposure to fast-food should matter. 1 2 of only one tenth of a mile. By comparing groups of individuals who are at only slightly different distances to a restaurant, we can arguably diminish the impact of unobservable differences in characteristics between the two groups. Third, we have a more precise idea of the timing of exposure than many previous studies: The 9th graders are exposed to fast food near their new school from September until the time of a spring fitness test, while weight gain during pregnancy pertains to the 9 months of pregnancy. While it is clear that fast food is generally unhealthy, it is not obvious a priori that changes in the availability of fast food should be expected to have an impact on health. On the one hand, it is possible that proximity to a fast food restaurant simply leads local consumers to substitute away from unhealthy food prepared at home or consumed in existing restaurants, without significant changes in the overall amount of unhealthy food consumed. On the other hand, proximity to a fast food restaurant could lower the monetary and non-monetary costs of accessing unhealthy food. In addition, proximity to fast food may increase consumption of unhealthy food even in the absence of any decrease in cost if individuals have self-control problems. Ultimately, the effect of changes in the supply of fast food on obesity is an empirical question. We find that among 9th grade children, the presence of a fast-food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with an increase of about 1. 7 percentage points in the fraction of students in a class who are obese relative to the presence at. 25 miles. This effect amounts to a 5. 2 percent increase in the incidence of obesity. Since grade 9 is the first year of high school and the fitness tests take place in the Spring, the period of fast-food exposure is approximately 30 weeks, implying an increased caloric intake of 30 to 100 calories per school-day. The effect is larger in models that include school fixed effects. Consistent with highly non–linear transportation costs, we find no discernable effect at . 25 miles and at . 5 miles. The effect is largest for Hispanic students and female students. Among pregnant women, we find that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of a residence results in 0. 19 percentage points higher probability of gaining over 20kg. This amounts to a 2. 5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger at . 1 miles, but in contrast to the results for 9th graders, it is still discernable at . 25 miles and at . 5 miles. The increase in weight implies an increased caloric intake of 1 to 4 3 calories per day in the pregnancy period. The effect varies across races and educational levels. It is largest for African American mothers and for mothers with a high school education or less. It is zero for mothers with a college degree or an associate’s degree. Overall, our findings suggest that increases in the supply of fast food restaurants have a significant effect on obesity, at least in some groups. However, it is in principle possible that our estimates reflect unmeasured shifts in the demand for fast food. Fast food chains are likely to open new restaurants where they expect demand to be strong, and higher demand for unhealthy food is almost certainly correlated with higher risk of obesity. The presence of unobserved determinants of obesity that may be correlated with increases in the number of fast food restaurants would lead us to overestimate the role of fast food restaurants. We can not entirely rule out this possibility. However, three pieces of evidence lend some credibility to our interpretation. First, we find that observable characteristics of the schools are not associated with changes in the availability of a fast food in the immediate vicinity of a school. Furthermore, we show that within the geographical area under consideration, fast food restaurants are uniformly distributed over space. Specifically, fast food restaurants are equally likely to be located within . 1, . 25, and . 5 miles of a school. We also find that after conditioning on mother fixed effects, the observable characteristics of mothers that predict high weight gain are negatively (not positively) related to the presence of a fast-food chain, suggesting that any bias in our estimates may be downward, not upward. While these findings do not necessarily imply that changes in the supply of fast food restaurants are orthogonal to unobserved determinants of obesity, they are at least consistent with our identifying assumption. Second, while we find that proximity to a fast food restaurant is associated with increases in obesity rates and weight gains, proximity to non fast food restaurants has no discernible effect on obesity rates or weight gains. This suggests that our estimates are not just capturing increases in the local demand for restaurant establishments. Third, we find that while current proximity to a fast food restaurant affects current obesity rates, proximity to future fast food restaurants, controlling for current proximity, has no effect on current obesity rates and weight gains. Taken together, the weight of the 4 evidence is consistent with a causal effect of fast food restaurants on obesity rates among 9th graders and on weight gains among pregnant women. The results on the impact of fast-food on obesity are consistent with a model in which access to fast-foods increases obesity by lowering food prices or by tempting consumers with self-control problems. 2 Differences in travel costs between students and mothers could explain the different effects of proximity. Ninth graders have higher travel costs in the sense that they are constrained to stay near the school during the school day, and hence are more affected by fast-food restaurants that are very close to the school. For this group, proximity to fast-food has a quite sizeable effect on obesity. In contrast, for pregnant women, proximity to fast-food has a quantitatively small (albeit statistically significant) impact on weight gain. Our results suggest that a ban on fast-foods in the immediate proximity of schools could have a sizeable effect on obesity rates among affected students. However, a similar attempt to reduce access to fast food in residential neighborhoods would be unlikely to have much effect on adult consumers. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we review the existing literature. In Section 3 we describe our data sources. In Section 4, we present our econometric models and our empirical findings. Section 5 concludes. 2. Background While the main motivation for focusing on school children and pregnant women is the availability of geographically detailed data on weight measures for a very large sample, they are important groups to study in their own right. Among school aged children 6-19 rates of overweight have soared from about 5% in the early 1970s to 16% in 1999-2002 (Hedley et al. 2004). These rates are of particular concern given that children who are overweight are more likely to be overweight as adults, and are increasingly suffering from diseases associated with obesity while still in childhood (Krebs and Jacobson, 2003). At the same time, the fraction of women gaining over 60 2 Consumers with self-control problems are not as tempted by fatty foods if they first have to incur the transportation cost of walking to a fast-food restaurant. Only when a fast-food is right near the school, the temptation of the fast-food looms large. For an overview of the role of self-control in economic applications, see DellaVigna (2009). A model of cues in consumption (Laibson, 2001) has similar implications: a fast-food that is in immediate proximity from the school is more likely to trigger a cue that leads to over-consumption. 5 pounds during pregnancy doubled between 1989 and 2000 (Lin, forthcoming). Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is often associated with higher rates of hypertension, C-section, and large-for-gestational age infants, as well as with a higher incidence of later maternal obesity (Gunderson and Abrams, 2000; Rooney and Schauberger, 2002; Thorsdottir et al. , 2002; Wanjiku and Raynor, 2004). 3 Moreover, Figure 1 shows that the incidence of low APGAR scores (APGAR scores less than 8), an indicator of poor fetal health, increases sharply with weight gain above about 20 kilograms. Critics of the fast food industry point to several features that may make fast food less healthy than other types of restaurant food (Spurlock, 2004; Schlosser, 2002). These include low monetary and time costs, large portions, and high calorie density of signature menu items. Indeed, energy densities for individual food items are often so high that it would be difficult for individuals consuming them not to exceed their average recommended dietary intakes (Prentice and Jebb, 2003). Some consumers may be particularly vulnerable. In two randomized experimental trials involving 26 obese and 28 lean adolescents, Ebbeling et al. (2004) compared caloric intakes on â€Å"unlimited fast food days† and â€Å"no fast food days†. They found that obese adolescents had higher caloric intakes on the fast food days, but not on the no fast food days. The largest fast food chains are also characterized by aggressive marketing to children. One experimental study of young children 3 to 5 offered them identical pairs of foods and beverages, the only difference being that some of the foods were in McDonald’s packaging. Children were significantly more likely to choose items perceived to be from McDonald’s (Robinson et al.2007). Chou, Grossman, and Rashad (forthcoming) use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) 1979 and 1997 cohorts to examine the effect of exposure to fast food advertising on overweight among children and adolescents. In ordinary least squares (OLS) models, they find significant effects in most specifications. 4 3 According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity and excessive weight gain are independently associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. Recommended weight gain is lower for obese women than in others. (http://www. cdc.gov/pednss/how_to/read_a_data_table/prevalence_tables/birth_outcome. htm) 4 They also estimate instrumental variables (IV) models using the price of advertising as an instrument. However, while they find a significant â€Å"first stage†, they do not report the IV estimates because tests 6 Still, a recent review of the considerable epidemiological literature about the relationship between fast food and obesity (Rosenheck, 2008) concluded that â€Å"Findings from observational studies as yet are unable to demonstrate a causal link between fast food consumption and weight gain or obesity†. Most epidemiological studies have longitudinal designs in which large groups of participants are tracked over a period of time and changes in their body mass index (BMI) are correlated with baseline measures of fast food consumption. These studies typically find a positive link between obesity and fast food consumption. However, existing observational studies cannot rule out potential confounders such as lack of physical activity, consumption of sugary beverages, and so on. food. 5 There is also a rapidly growing economics literature on obesity, reviewed in Philipson and Posner (2008). Economic studies place varying amounts of emphasis on increased caloric consumption as a primary determinant of obesity (a trend that is consistent with the increased availability of fast food). Using data from the NLSY, Lakdawalla and Philipson (2002) conclude that about 40% of the increase in obesity from 1976 to 1994 is attributable to lower food prices (and increased consumption) while the remainder is due to reduced physical activity in market and home production. Bleich et al. (2007) examine data from several developed countries and conclude that increased caloric intake is the main contributor to obesity. Cutler et al. (2003) examine food diaries as well as time use data from the last few decades and conclude that rising obesity is linked to increased caloric intake and not to reduced energy expenditure. 6 7 Moreover, all of these studies rely on self-reported consumption of fast suggest that advertising exposure is not endogenous. They also estimate, but do not report individual fixed effects models, because these models have much larger standard errors than the ones reported. 5 A typical question is of the form â€Å"How often do you eat food from a place like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Burger King or some other fast food restaurant? † 6 They suggest that the increased caloric intake is from greater frequency of snacking, and not from increased portion sizes at restaurants or fattening meals at fast food restaurants. They further suggest that technological change has lowered the time cost of food preparation which in turn has lead to more frequent consumption of food. Finally, they speculate that people with self control problems are over-consuming in response to the fall in the time cost of food preparation. Cawley (1999) discusses a similar behavioral theory of obesity as a consequence of addiction. 7 Courtemanche and Carden examine the impact on obesity of Wal-Mart and warehouse club retailers such as Sam’s club, Costco and BJ’s wholesale club which compete on price. They link store location data to individual data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS. ) They find that non-grocery selling Wal-Mart stores reduce weight while non-grocery selling stores and warehouse clubs either reduce weight or have no effect. Their explanation is that reduced prices for everyday purchases expand real 7 A series of recent papers explicitly focus on fast food restaurants as potential contributors to obesity. Chou et al. (2004) estimate models combining state-level price data with individual demographic and weight data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance surveys and find a positive association between obesity and the per capita number of restaurants (fast food and others) in the state. Rashad, Grossman, and Chou (2005) present similar findings using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Anderson and Butcher (2005) investigate the effect of school food policies on the BMI of adolescent students using data from the NLSY97. They assume that variation in financial pressure on schools across counties provides exogenous variation in availability of junk food in the schools. They find that a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of access to junk food at school can lead to about 1 percent increase in students BMI. Anderson, Butcher and Schanzenbach (2007) examine the elasticity of children’s BMI with respect to mother’s BMI and find that it has increased over time, suggesting an increased role for environmental factors in child obesity. Anderson, Butcher, and Levine (2003) find that maternal employment is related to childhood obesity, and speculate that employed mothers might spend more on fast food. Cawley and Liu (2007) use time use data and find that employed women spend less time cooking and are more likely to purchase prepared foods. The paper that is closest to ours is a recent study by Anderson and Matsa (2009) that focuses on the link between eating out and obesity using the presence of Interstate highways in rural areas as an instrument for restaurant density. Interstate highways increase restaurant density for communities adjacent to highways, reducing the travel costs of eating out for people in these communities. They find no evidence of a causal link between restaurants and obesity. Using data from the USDA, they argue that the lack of an effect is due to the presence of selection bias in restaurant patrons –people who eat out also consume more calories when they eat at homeand the fact that large portions at restaurants are offset by lower caloric intake at other times of the day. Our paper differs from Anderson and Matsa (2009) in four important dimensions, and these four differences are likely to explain the difference in our findings. incomes, enabling households to substitute away from cheap unhealthy foods to more expensive but healthier alternatives. 8 (i) First, our data allow us to distinguish between fast food restaurants and other restaurants. We can therefore estimate separately the impact of fast-foods and of other restaurants on obesity. In contrast, Anderson and Matsa do not have data on fast food restaurants and therefore focus on the effect of any restaurant on obesity. This difference turns out to be crucial, because when we estimate the effect of any restaurant on obesity using our data we also find no discernible effect on obesity. (ii) Second, we have a very large sample that allows us to identify even small effects, such as mean increases of 50 grams in the weight gain of mothers during pregnancy. Our estimates of weight gain for mothers are within the confidence interval of Anderson and Matsa’s two stage least squares estimates. Put differently, based on their sample size, our statistically significant estimates would have been considered statistically insignificant. (iii) Third, our data give us the exact location of each restaurant, school and mother. The spatial richness of our data allows us to examine the effect of fast food restaurants on obesity at a very detailed geographical level. For example, we can distinguish the effect at . 1 miles from the effect at . 25 miles. As it turns out, this feature is quite important, because the effects that we find are geographically extremely localized. For example, we find that fast food restaurant have an effect on 9th graders only for distances of . 1 miles or less. By contrast, Anderson and Matsa use a city as the level of geographical analysis. It is not surprising that at this level of aggregation the estimated effect is zero. (iv) Fourth, Anderson and Matsa’s identification strategy differs from ours, since we do not use an instrument for fast-food availability and focus instead on changes in the availability of fast-foods at very close distances. The populations under consideration are also different, and may react differently to proximity to a fast food restaurant. Anderson and Matsa focus on predominantly white rural communities, while we focus on primarily urban 9th graders and urban mothers. We document that the effects vary considerable depending on race, with blacks and Hispanics having the largest effect. Indeed, when Dunn (2008) uses an instrumental variables approach similar to the one used Anderson and Matsa based on proximity to freeways, he finds no effect for rural areas and for 9 whites in suburban areas, but strong effect for blacks and Hispanics. As we show below, we also find stronger effects for minorities. Taken together, these four differences lead us to conclude that the evidence in Anderson and Matsa is consistent with our evidence. 8 In summary, there is strong evidence of correlations between fast food consumption and obesity. It has been more difficult to demonstrate a causal role for fast food. In this paper we tap new data in an attempt to test the causal connection between fast food and obesity. 3. Data Sources and Summary Statistics Data for this project comes from three sources. (a) School Data. Data on children comes from the California public schools for the years 1999 and 2001 to 2007. The observations for 9th graders, which we focus on in this paper, represent 3. 06 million student-year observations. In the spring, California 9th graders are given a fitness assessment, the FITNESSGRAM ®. Data is reported at the class level in the form of the percentage of students who are obese, and who have acceptable levels of abdominal strength, aerobic capacity, flexibility, trunk strength, and upper body strength. Obesity is measured using actual body fat measures, which are considerably more accurate than the usual BMI measure (Cawley and Burkhauser, 2006). Data is also reported for sub-groups within the school (e. g. by race and gender) provided the cells have at least 10 students. Since grade 9 is the first year of high school and the fitness tests take place in the Spring, this impact corresponds to approximately 30 weeks of fast-food exposure. 9 This administrative data set is merged to information about schools (including the percent black, white, Hispanic, and Asian, percent immigrant, pupil/teacher ratios, fraction eligible for free lunch etc. ) from the National Center for Education Statistic’s Common Core of Data, as well as to the Start test scores for the 9th grade. The location of the school was also geocoded using ArcView. Finally, we merged in information. 8 9 See also Brennan and carpenter (2009). In very few cases, a high school is in the same location as a middle school, in which case the estimates reflect a longer-term impact of fast-food. 10 about the nearest Census block group of the school from the 2000 Census including the median earnings, percent high-school degree, percent unemployed, and percent urban. (b) Mothers Data. Data on mothers come from Vital Statistics Natality data from Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas. These data are from birth certificates, and cover all births in these states from 1989 to 2003 (from 1990 in Michigan). For these three states, we were able to gain access to confidential data including mothers names, birth dates, and addresses, which enabled us both to construct a panel data set linking births to the same mother over time, and to geocode her location (again using ArcView). The Natality data are very rich, and include information about the mother’s age, education, race and ethnicity; whether she smoked during pregnancy; the child’s gender, birth order, and gestation; whether it was a multiple birth; and maternal weight gain. We restrict the sample to singleton births and to mothers with at least two births in the sample, for a total of over 3. 5 million births. (c) Restaurant Data. Restaurant data with geo-coding information come from the National Establishment Time Series Database (Dun and Bradstreet). These data are used by all major banks, lending institutions, insurance and finance companies as the primary system for creditworthiness assessment of firms. As such, it is arguably more precise and comprehensive than yellow pages and business directories. 10 We obtained a panel of virtually all firms in Standard Industrial Classification 58 from 1990 to 2006, with names and addresses. Using this data, we constructed several different measures of â€Å"fast food† and â€Å"other restaurants,† as discussed further in Appendix 1. In this paper, the benchmark definition of fast-food restaurants includes only the top-10 fast-food chains, namely, Mc Donalds, Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, KFC, Wendy’s, Dominos Pizza, and Jack In The Box. We also show estimates using a broader definition that includes both chain restaurants and independent burger and pizza restaurants. Finally, we also measure the supply of non-fast food restaurants. The definition of â€Å"other restaurants† changes with the definition of fast food. Appendix Table 1 lists the top 10 fast food chains as well as examples of restaurants that we did not classify as fast food. The yellow pages are not intended to be a comprehensive listing of businesses they are a paid advertisement. Companies that do not pay are not listed. 10 11 Matching. Matching was performed using information on latitude and longitude of restaurant location. Specifically, we match the schools and mother’s residence to the closest restaurants using ArcView software. For the school data, we match the results on testing for the spring of year t with restaurant availability in year t-1. For the mother data, we match the data on weight gain during pregnancy with restaurant availability in the year that overlaps the most with the pregnancy. Summary Statistics. Using the data on restaurant, school, and mother’s locations, we constructed indicators for whether there are fast food or other restaurants within . 1, . 25, and . 5 miles of either the school or the mother’s residence. Table 1a shows summary characteristics of the schools data set by distance to a fast food restaurant. Here, as in most of the paper, we use the narrow definition of fast-food, including the top-10 fast-food chains. Relatively few schools are within . 1 miles of a fast food restaurant, and the characteristics of these schools are somewhat different than those of the average California school. Only 7% of schools have a fast food restaurant within . 1 miles, while 65% of all schools have a fast food restaurant within 1/2 of a mile. 11 Schools within . 1 miles of a fast food restaurant have more Hispanic students, a slightly higher fraction of students eligible for free lunch, and lower test scores. They are also located in poorer and more urban areas. The last row indicates that schools near a fast food restaurant have a higher incidence of obese students than the average California school. Table 1b shows a similar summary of the mother data. Again, mothers who live near fast food restaurants have different characteristics than the average mother. They are younger, less educated, more likely to be black or Hispanic, and less likely to be married. 4. Empirical Analysis We begin in Section 4. 1 by describing our econometric models and our identifying assumptions. In Section 4. 2 we show the correlation between restaurant location and student characteristics for the school sample, and the correlation between The average school in our sample had 4 fast foods within 1 mile and 24 other restaurants within the same radius. 11 12 restaurant location and mother characteristics for the mother sample. Our empirical estimates for students and mothers are in Section 4. 3 and 4. 4, respectively. 13 4. 1 Econometric Specifications Our empirical specification for schools is (1) Yst = ? F1st + ? F25st + ? F50st + ? ’ N1st + ? ’ N25st + ? ’ N50st + ? Xst + ? Zst + ds + est where Yst is the fraction of students in school s in a given grade who are obese in year t; F1st is an indicator equal to 1 if there is a fast food restaurant within . 1 mile from the school in year t; F25st is an indicator equal to 1 if there is a fast food restaurant within . 25 miles from the school in year t; F50st is an indicator equal to 1 if there is a fast food restaurant within . 5 mile from the school in year t; N1st, N25st and N50st are similar indicators for the presence of non-fast food restaurants within . 1, . 25 and . 5 miles from the school; ds is a fixed effect for the school. The vectors Xst and Zst include school and neighborhood time-varying characteristics that can potentially affect obesity rates. Specifically, Xst is a vector of school-grade specific characteristics including fraction blacks, fraction native Americans, fraction Hispanic, fraction immigrants, fraction female, fraction eligible for free lunch, whether the school is qualified for Title I funding, pupil/teacher ratio, and 9th grade tests scores, as well as school-district characteristics such as fraction immigrants, fraction of non-English speaking students (LEP/ELL), share of IEP students. Zst is a vector of characteristics of the Census block closest to the school including median income, median earnings, average household size, median rent, median housing value, percent white, percent black, percent Asian, percent.

Essay --

Nathan Vail November 8, 2013 Dr. Reeve Meaning and Language: Plato’s Cratylus Plato was a pioneer in nearly all the topics philosophers have dealt with ever since the 4th century BCE. Language is no exception. Plato was perhaps the first person to tackle the philosophy of language in the Cratylus, a subject that, since the German philosopher and logician Gottlob Frege, analytic philosophers have been extremely interested in language. The dialogue doesn’t tackle all of the problems of language, but it directs its attention toward the questions: How to words get meaning? Do they exist a priori in nature or do we agree on the basis of convention? To answer this question is to show how words (or symbols) get their power to communicate and to establish something fundamental about what language is. The obvious starting point is that someone has to say that a sound represents a particular item. If I say, â€Å"Guhgaska,† that means nothing, it is gibberish. But if I say the name â€Å"Plato,† then that has meaning, especially if the listener know s what that sound/symbol is a reference to. In this paper I plan on showing that Socrates encourages Cratylus to adopt some of Hermogenes’ views, and vice versa, through a conversational dialectic that adopts both points for consideration (which are unmistakably sophist). What Socrates concludes the dialogue with is a mixture of naturalist and conventional claims, and nominalist and realist philosophies. Cratylus was a devout follower of Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher who said that you can’t step into the same river once, and you can’t talk about things because they keep changing—you can only point at them with your finger. As we are introduced to Cratylus, we discover that he thinks a name is ... ...(making them concede to certain points to the other’s argument), language is then naturalistic and conventional, and this, it turns out, is the most logical and pragmatic approach. There may be an arbiter of words and grammar, but not even she or he can stop words that spring naturally into existence. For example, every language has some form of onomatopoeia, but in different languages the sounds they are trying to imitate vary wildly. In one way, Cratylus is correct in assuming that words and symbols have a nature and attempt to represent objects in the external world. Yet imitation cannot match the original â€Å"form† of the object—so there is a degree of failure. The rest of the language is dictated by convention (numbers, grammar, etc.) and through the dialectic between Cratylus and Hermogenes, Socrates creates a marriage between nominalist and realist philosophy.

Defining the Concepts of Class, Race, Gender Essay

Every society known to man has used either race, class, ethnicity, gender or all of the above to determine placement in civilization. Sometimes one or more of these categories comingle and we characterize this as: intersectionality. Finding the words, however, to define class, race, gender, or intersectionality is not an easy feat. Throughout the past few weeks we have read many articles that allowed us many clear descriptions. Prior to this course I would have described class as being a way in which society groups individuals based on economic positions or social status. In my opinion, sometimes political beliefs can attribute towards class placement as well. However, since reading the required texts and watching films based on class, we now know that there are other factors associated with class divisions. For example, we read in Brenda J. Allen’s â€Å"Social Class Matters† article that not only are these two viewpoints large contributors (economic & political allian ces) towards classes, but also geographic locations. This can be seen when visiting a typical trailer park, where many of its residents are presumably called â€Å"white trash†, or as depicted with lower income families who live in the projects or ghetto. Their locale most likely reflects their social status or class. Moreover, we have learned that these factors also define what class is to the general public: education, occupational position, and power. â€Å"Women without class† by Julie Bettie examines class theory by understanding the ways in which class identity is constructed. It has many illustrations of social class by way of education and occupational positions. The upper crust students of Waretown were typically children of white collar employees. The preps generally outperformed the las chicas, hard living, and often settled living students of this documentary, as exemplified in the titles placed on the over and under achievers. For example, â€Å"preps† is an abbreviation for â€Å"college preparatoryà ¢â‚¬  which was the type of advanced class the children of white collar workers of Waretown enrolled in to prepare for life after high school. While these courses allowed some students endless opportunities, other students in the exact same school attended seminars with lowered educational expectations. Instead these students were encouraged to attend expensive certification courses that upon graduation held them captive in low paying positions with debt remaining after completion. â€Å"The Death of the Social Class† by Pakulsky and Waters believes social class is no longer relevant in the United States. A principal reason for this message states that because slavery is now obsolete, we have the legal upholding of the United States Constitution, and we expect education to be attained by all races. As a result resources have become more prevalent among all races. Race, in the past, was a word that I identified as being someone’s skin color, however as I matured (both mentally and physically) and met individuals from other cultures I soon realized that race is a culmination of many things. Culture and ethnicity are quite influential in determining a person’s race as well. For example, not everyone with dark skin is African American, just as not ever fair skinned person is Caucasian. As exhibited in Cruz-Janzen’s For example in the article Racial formation in the United States written by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, we learn of the Louisiana law that states that if a person has 1/32nd â€Å"Negro blood, they are automatically considered Black or African American. Although Susie Guillory Phipps tells us she is majority Caucasian this law still classifies her as being Black and she unsuccessfully attempted to sue the state to change her vital records. There are many reasons why the government still requires race on legal paperwork. Some argue that some sort of racial classification system is required. One reason may be the government funded subsidies some companies receive as a result of employing a minimum amount of minorities. From a personal viewpoint, race matters because it is a way that people identify culturally with one another. Another reason may be from a biological perspective some diseases and/or illnesses may be common amongst certain races, therefore it would be beneficial medically to be aware of such traits. Women Without Class (Bettie) also identifies various races for the sake of case studies that were researched by the author. The female students identified culturally with one another but sometimes overlapped identities to interact with one another. As in the example of the student Starr who was from a working class background, however she identified with the cultures of the Mexican American â€Å"cholas† after moving to Waretown. This is an example of an extreme case in which the person felt the need to choose one particular group to socialize with because she did not feel as though she had much in common with the other non-Hispanic working class students she chose to interact with this social hierarchy. She gave in to conformity from her past actions to better fit the desires and social realities of her newly acquired friends. Gender is another social aspect that many people use to classify each other. It has been said that had it not been for ourselves questioning or labeling gender, it would not exist at all. â€Å"The Social Construction of Gender† written by Judith Lorber argues gender construction begins being cataloged after viewing the child’s genitals after delivery. Upon birth babies are treated differently based on sex and/or gender. An unintentional yet major classification occurs as soon as the baby is placed in his or her incubator. Nurses and other medical staff wrap the tiny babies in one of two colors – pink or blue. It has even been researched that our speech and tone changes according to the babies sex as well. If we see a baby boy, for example, we quickly begin to daydream of tossing the old pigskin around in the yard or rough housing the baby. For the baby girl, however, we speak in softer high pitched tones and fantasize about planning make believe tea parties with baby dolls as guests. In essence, Lorber believes that gender behavior is learned and is being taught – not necessarily an expression of how we see ourselves. Another gender specific study was examined in R.W. Connell’s â€Å"Gender Relations†. In this article we learned of 2 separate studies conducted. Barry Thorne’s research in which teaching roles in American elementary schools were mostly comprised of females and playgrounds were divided based on gender. The second study was performed by Dunbar Moodies, who researched South African mines that were, not surprisingly, dominated by the male workforce. Another theory learned in Connell’s article was that of trailblazing British feminist – Juliet Mitchell- who taught that there were four elements of gender that subjugate women. Those four facets were believed to be: production, reproduction, socialization, and sexuality. It is also demonstrated in more current literary findings unrelated to gender. For example, Black Picket Fences addresses racial stereotypes, but it also depicts women’s roles separately from male gender roles. Each story that is told from first person shares a journey that taken either from reformed bad boys or girls that have strayed along the beaten path and hooked up with the guy from the wrong side of the track. The males were sometimes peer pressured into joining gangs from lack of responsible male figures and as a result may have performed illegal acts. This clearly represents gender assignments. Intersectionality involves both social and cultural relationships that overlap between race, class, and gender. Perhaps the most obvious portrayal of this theme is Section 2: Biology and Families In Conley’s article â€Å"The Starting Gate† regarding the correlation between low birth weight babies and race it was determined that social standings in society is not based solely on genetics and biology. Instead we learn that other factors may influence our place in society as well. Things like our educational backgrounds and what occupations we choose to support ourselves combine with aspects that are outside of our control, like birth order and race, to decide the social class we will inherent. Women Without Class discusses the concept of some students becoming â€Å"upwardly mobile†. This concept is important because it shows how race and parental occupations sometimes do not decide what social class a person will be invited into. The â€Å"upwardly mobile† students were not necessarily white, and had parents who were blue collar workers as opposed to being a lawyer, doctor, etc†¦yet despite all of this; they were still able to join the social cliques of the elite. These girls were also able to develop a strong sense of class awareness. In fact, Lareau’s â€Å"Invisible Inequality† even states that race has very little to do with class social standings. The data collected from this investigation examines parenting styles all socioeconomic backgrounds from either Black or White families perspective. The researchers were able to map the connections between parent’s resources and their children’s daily activities. Middle class families, regardless of race, tended to take a more traditional approach to child rearing in comparison with lower class families who relied heavily on outside play and extended families for activities. Middle class parents also stressed language development and use of reasoning skills. These parents enroll their children in various age appropriate organized activities that govern family life and create massive effort for mothers. The parents view these activities as passing on important life skil ls to children. They asked leading open-ended questions that required insight and thought provoking answers. Whereas, working class and poor families believe that if they give a child love, food, and a safe environment they will grow to become responsible adults. They also participate in little organized sports or other activities and have much more free time. Working-class and poor parents issue many more directives to their children and some place a great deal of stress on physical punishment. A great example of this is the research of Harold McAllister, a 10 year old from a lower class black family. Harold’s mother asks very little questions of authority figures (such as the family doctor) and does not encourage Harold to be cognizant of his body and any health related questions he may have. He plays outdoors with his older cousins and occasionally attends church. For the most part â€Å"Invisible Inequality† is full of descriptions of race versus class status. However, with regard to birth order and geographic locations determining social status, it is also briefly mentioned in â€Å"Invisible Inequality†. For instance, when we are introduced to another research subject’s family, upper middle class black family – Alexander Williams, we learn that both of Alex’s parents are from small Southern towns and come from large families. This slight mention is yet another example of intersectionality as well. A more extreme example, genetically speaking Ms Phipps (mentioned previously) was considered legally Black; however her social status did not classify her by her race. Phipps identifies with the White race. The case illustrated the inadequacies that claim that race is merely skin color. We have all witnessed or been aware of racial conditioning at one point or another. We make assumptions based on race and classify a person’s race immediately according to their physical appearance. Biologically speaking, there are many factors that influential in determining a persons birth weight. Low income families have less medical care and are exposed to certain agents that prohibit normal growth of the fetus. Also contact with second hand smoke and lead based paints, etc. have been attributed towards low birth weight. Another factor involving biology is the responsibility many women from different racial backgrounds face. White women, for example, have long been expected to remain wholesome and keep the family bloodlines pure. Pressure to remain a virgin until marriage and pre-marital sex were heavily stressed among white women. This forced racial conformity as a means of biological deterioration for the white race. In conclusion, all of the articles and readings discussed previously support Conley’s summation that both genetic and biological starting points do not fully determine our social standings in class. Rather, they work cohesively with other reasons to establish these relationships. Section 3: Working Class & Middle Class Identities Although class is especially important I would agree that other issues are becoming increasingly just as important if not more. Factors such as race and or gender influence personal outcomes. Both Women Without Class and Black Picket Fences provided various examples to support this theory.

On Being A Real Westerner

The adult individual is oftentimes defined by a childhood image of himself so that even if he tries to move away or change his personality, the old personality still emerges again and again so that ultimately it becomes hard to lie to the self. Furthermore, one cannot regret one’s childhood or past as much as one cannot bring them back and change what happened. The individual is only left to deal with what has become of him because of his experiences during childhood. These truths are what Woolf imparts to the reader in his essay, On Being A Real Westerner.He explicitly states this idea in the final paragraph when he confesses that â€Å"all my images of myself as I wished to be were images of myself armed. Because I did not know who I was, any image of myself, no matter how grotesque had power over me. But the man can give no help to the boy, not in this matter nor in those that follow. † The entire essay focuses on a single experience which the writer believes defined him throughout life. This was the moment when he assumed the image of a rifle-toting Westerner. The introductory paragraph begins the story: the day when the author receives the rifle.The introduction hooks the reader who likes action in his stories because it presents the image of a young boy and a rifle. One would get intrigued as to what a young boy would do with a rifle and sense a foreboding tragedy coming on. Wolff follows through the episode with chronological scenes, as events happened from the time his brother gave him the Winchester rifle to the time he succumbed to the burning desire to pull the trigger and experience both the pleasure and guilt of killing a living thing even if it is only a squirrel.This single experience is narrated through a series of eight separate cut-scenes: Roy gives him the rifle but his mother asks him to give it back; his mother eventually relents after much convincing and cajoling; the author is cleaning the rifle and then marching around the house with it while dressed in Roy’s army uniform; he is crouched by the drawn shades, following the people on the street and pretending to shoot; he takes some real bullets, loads the rifle and practices cocking; he pulls the trigger and kills a squirrel; he tells his mother about the dead squirrel and he helps her bury it; and, lying in bed at night while thinking about what he had done earlier. Presenting these series of images cued by phrases like â€Å"after a few days† or â€Å"for a week† moves the story along and makes the reader understand that the child grows up emotionally through the succession of scenes until the final realization of what that episode in childhood has affected him in life.It is notable to mention one scene that sticks out in the sense that it talks about a different time, that of the author as a grown-up and herding Vietnamese prisoners during the war. This one paragraph introduced halfway through the narrative makes the reader unde rstand that the story being narrated refers to the author’s past. The only other time when this point is reiterated is during the last paragraph. Except for these two instances, the entire essay is a narrative of a single experience in the author’s childhood. The mention of the Vietnam War scene is included for the author to illustrate the feeling of how it is like to hold a rifle but not to use it.According to him, both as a child and as an adult with a rifle aimed at others, the satisfaction is to have these people being aimed at to be aware that they are facing the possibility of death so that they might fear the power of the one holding the rifle. He inserts the image of him as a grown-up while describing the same act being done by himself as a child, for the reader to compare the similarities of both images. Both the child and the man holding a rifle are supposed to evoke the same emotions on the part of the reader, further reiterating the theme of the essay. The concluding paragraph summarizes for the reader the meaning and purpose of the entire narrative. The boy has become a man but somehow, he has not been able to shake off the childhood image of himself as a rifle-toting Westerner.