Do the UK opt-out from the Euro and EU enlargement make Britain less Essay

Do the UK opt-out from the Euro and EU enlargement make Britain less attractive for foreign investors - Essay Example Most importantly, the single currency i.e. the Euro is managed by the European Central Bank and is so far adopted by 12 of the 25 member states (Wikipedia, 2006). Initially, the primary purpose of liaison between the European countries was to avoid catastrophes such as the world wars which started in Europe and engulfed the world with time. However, the economic benefits also have to be considered because the European Economic Council and then the European Union have emerged as the world’s single largest developed market with a total population that is over 450 million. It also has the highest GDP i.e. more than six trillion British pounds (Wikipedia, 2006). The EU is certainly not resting on its laurels and is in the process of expanding its member base (27 countries by 2007). This expansion process makes the group more attractive to foreign investors since membership of the group signifies common laws, the advantages of uniform policies in a single market, the relatively free movement of goods and services, unhindered movement of skilled labour with similar employment and social policy between countries. For the financial and industrial sectors, the EU brings free movement of capital, uniform industrial and intellectual property rights, a liberalized energy market and uniform consumer protection policies. As a final step towards the union, European countries are adopting the single currency, Euro. There are numerous benefits of joining the Eurozone as discussed by Huhne (2004), adopting the single currency provides a better deal for consumers owing to competition and would also help in pension income, especially when the risk would be spread around the wider euro maket. UK will be able to focus on real monetary and economic environment instead of using interest rates to maintain over valuation of Pound Sterling. Alignment of interest rates will also lead to

Interpersonal Communication Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Interpersonal Communication - Term Paper Example Therefore, we can say that interpersonal communication is influenced by the nature of relationships that exists between individuals. Interpersonal communication has some distinguishing characteristics. Some of the main characteristics of interpersonal communication include convenience, commitment, and freedom. Let us describe all of these characteristics in some detail. Convenience or accessibility refers to the concept of availability. From organizational perspective, interpersonal communication needs all employees expressing willingness to communicate with each other. It never happens in interpersonal communication that one employee is talking and the other employee keeps quiet during the whole conversation. Interpersonal communication needs both persons to communicate with each other. Commitment is another characteristic of interpersonal communication, which means to express dedication and assurance to take part in the communication. Interpersonal communication is worthless without commitment of all employees involved in the communication. Expression of freedom is one of the most admirable characteristic of interpersonal communication. Freedom refers to the elimination of harsh attitudes or pressurized situations during interpersonal communication. All persons involved in the communications must have the freedom to raise their viewpoints in front of each other. While talking about interpersonal communication, let us talk about some of its main elements in order to get a detailed understanding of the principles of effective interpersonal communication. Kern (2010) asserts, â€Å"Effective communication helps in that the message is enable to achieve its goals and helps in receiving the desired response from the reader of the message†. Interpersonal communication is of many types, which include one-to-one conversation, small group conversation, social communication, business communication,

Prius Essay Example for Free

Prius Essay Analysis of 4P’s – Product, Place, Price, Promotion f. SWOT Analysis of Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Prius g. Competitors Against Toyota Prius h. Target Market of Toyota Prius 3. Objectives a. Corporate Objectives b. IMC Objectives 4. Time Frame 5. Promotion Strategies a. Print Advertising b. Internet Advertising c. Sponsorship Activity d. Exhibition 6. Promotion Budget 7. Appendix 8. References 1. EXECUTION SUMMARY This Integrated Marketing Communications Proposal is a one-year communications plan, which is to be launched in Hong Kong, for the Toyota Prius. It aims to further raise the awareness of the Prius and in turn increase the market share and sale. Market analysis identified the target market, which consists of two groups: private and corporate buyers. Consequently a communications strategy that makes use of various media has been created. Newspaper and car magazines as the print advertisements, the Internet, sponsorship activity and exhibition will be the main media. The Creative strategy is designed to emphasize the unique selling points of the Prius and weaken the target markets objections. The budget (HK$1,000,000) has been allocated for the events and advertisements this year. The majority of the budget will be spent on the 2 two-day exhibition, followed by the print advertising. 2. SITUATION ANALYSIS a. Background Information of Toyota Motor Corporation Toyota is a Japanese car manufacturing company founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1937. They have four key strategies which aim at customer satisfaction, quality assurance, continuous improvement and reduction of waste. Toyota has manufactured various types of cars such as Corolla and Carmy. After continuous improvement, Toyota is likely to be the best seller in the world this year in terms of sales. . Communication History of Toyota Motor Corporation Crown Motors, the local agency of Toyota, has published various advertisements for its vehicles through newspapers, magazines, TV commercials, exhibitions and sponsorships, etc. However, there are merely few local sponsor activities and exhibitions for Prius and thus it is still new to local drivers. c. Background Information of Toyota Prius Toyota Prius is one of the worlds first commercially mass-produced and marketed hybrid automobiles. It released in Japan in 1997 and then worldwide in 2000. By the end of 2003, nearly 160,000 units had been produced for sale in Japan, Europe and North America. In Latin, â€Å"Prius† means before or first. Technologies applied in the Prius are brand new and advanced ideas so that the Prius suits the name for the series. The Prius has won a number of awards, which are shown below. d. Awards Attained by Toyota Prius †¢ 1997–98  ¦ Car of the Year Japan †¢ 2003  ¦ Scientific American names Toyota Motor Corporation as Business Leader of the Year (Scientific American 50; December, 2003) for its singular accomplishment in the commercialization of affordable hybrid cars. 2004  ¦ Motor Trend Car of the Year  ¦ Car and Driver Magazines Ten Best List  ¦ North American Car of the Year Award †¢ 2005  ¦ European Car of the Year e. Analysis of 4P’s – Product, Place, Price, Promotion The Prius was released locally in 1999. Apart from the large comfortable driving environment, it was the first vehicle that introduced the â€Å"Hybrid Synergy Drive†, which helps the car become exceptionally fuel economical. The distribution of the Prius is mainly located at the six local Crown showrooms. The price of the Prius is around HK$230,000 which is a bit higher than the ther series or Japanese cars because Toyota positioned it as advanced technology vehicle with the features of environmental friendly and fuel-saving technologies. The major promotion channels used were exhibitions, car magazines and sponsorships of environmental protection events. According to the previous brand promotion of Toyota, newspapers, television commercials and the Internet were also used. f. SWOT Analysis of Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Prius i. Strength Toyota is Japan’s largest and the world’s third largest car manufacturer with assurance of reliability and high quality image. Toyota was one of the first manufacturers to introduce the concept of â€Å"Just in Time† production that allows to reduce operating cost and overheads and to respond to customer demand quicker. The yearly budget for RD is set at the highest amongst car manufacturers for various research centres around the world. This willingness to invest has brought Toyota an innovative image and created products such as the Prius. The Prius has advanced technologies which aim at environmental protection. It lets drivers save fuel and thus needs low maintenance cost in the long run at affordable price. i. Weakness Reputation of Toyota is not enough to convince buyers who like to express themselves with their choice of car, thus prefer cars with higher prestige from manufacturers such as Mercedes. Appearance of the Prius may relatively not as outstanding and attractive to potential buyers. According to Wikipedia, the Prius has been criticized for its aesthetics and handling characteristics. T oyotas life cycle assessment shows that the amount of energy required to manufacture a Prius is higher than that of a similar gasoline powered vehicle. iii. Opportunities Toyota’s new hybrid technology has proven very successful worldwide and already created several brand extensions and derived models. Toyota could obtain the benefits of being the first in the market, currently 90% market share in hybrid vehicles. The introduction of new models in growing segments offers opportunities. The Internet also helps the marketing of cars, thus improve communications and reduce operating cost by offering online showroom, online booking of test drives, nearest dealer locator, online purchasing and e-brochures, etc. Increase in fuel prices can also be treated as one of our opportunities as the Prius is fuel-conservative vehicle. iv. Threats Major threat comes from rich and big competitors. Indirect competition comes from alternative methods of transport. Other government incentives are also aimed at reducing the usage of cars, such as the increase in tax. These actions can reduce the number of car purchases and reduce eventual profits. g. Competitors Against Toyota Prius Toyota Prius being an environmental-friendly and energy-efficient vehicle, competitors will be defined as those which have similar technologies in the manufacture of fuel-saving engines. Honda Civic GX and Insight are energy-efficient vehicles but not for sale in Hong Kong. Also, General Motors FlexFuel series and Hybrids series are powerful competitors in the same situation. Hence, Toyota is the local pioneer in this product line. h. Target Market of Toyota Prius The target market can be split into two major categories: B2B customers and private consumers. B2B customers are fleet and corporate buyers, who buy cars either for hire or rental or for company fleets. The environmental features make the Prius particularly interesting for business buyers because of his low operating cost. Private consumer is either male or female and between the age group targeted at 25 and 39 years old. Some of them are likely to be married and with family responsibilities. They are affluent, well-informed and educated adults. They may be of upper middle class. They pursue environmentally-friendly lifestyle. 3. OBJECTIVES Objectives exist on three levels, corporate, marketing and communication, in which marketing and communication are regarded as the integrated marketing communications (IMC) objectives. a. Corporate Objective It can be summarized as shareholder wealth maximization and is ultimately achieved through higher profits and increased sales. b. Integrated Marketing Communications Objectives Toyota Prius is at the growth stage of product life cycle. As the environmental friendly technology of the Prius still being the pioneer in the industry, the objective is defined to be long term. It is important to further raise the awareness of this feature to the public by 30% at the end of this year, which in turn increase the market share aimed at 25% and increase the sales by 25%. It is hoped that by the proposed promotion strategies, it can fully reach the target market and make the potential buyers aware of the Prius. Then, during the events and in the advertisements, we can educate them and explain the technical knowledge and advantages of the Prius, so that they are excited about the Prius and develop the word-of-mouth. It is hoped to motivate buyers to find out more about the Prius by visiting our website to order brochures or a test drive. Visits to exhibitions and showrooms may lead to the act of purchase which is our ultimate goal. 4. TIME FRAME 5. PROMOTION STRATEGIES To promote the Prius, we have considered several means including the use of newspaper and car magazine as print advertising, Internet advertising, sponsoring activities and exhibition. a. Print Advertising i. Newspaper The main objective of newspaper advertisement is to perform the function of teaching consumers in the learning process. The next step is to attract the readers to the exhibitions and showrooms to do the feeling process. In the newspaper advertisement, we use the theme that the Prius only emits leaves but not pollution. It is a fresh car. We have two sets of advertisements. The first one is for advertising the Prius during the exhibition period. Another one is during the period without exhibition. The slogan â€Å"Prius, it’s fresh† is still used in these advertisements to make the whole campaign consistent. Here explains the two designs. The first one is used during exhibition period. It is published in a coloured full page. As the main theme of this set of advertisement is to connect the Prius with a fresh sensation, the main color of the page will be green. A white Prius runs down a green road. At the back of the car is a cluster of leaves. It shows the idea that the Prius would make the place it runs green. At the top left corner we can see the awards that the Prius got in the last few years. They tell customers that even professionals appreciate the Prius much. At the same time, three icons are used to conclude the main features of the Prius: low emission, high energy efficiency and the auto-charge function. The bottom of the page includes information about the exhibition, the venue and the time. At the bottom right corner there is a coupon. People can bring the coupon to the exhibition and get a model of the Prius. The plan is to attract more readers to come to our exhibition and feel the Prius. Another advertisement will be published during non-exhibition period. It will be published in a coloured quarter page. The design of this advertisement will also be used to relate the Prius to a fresh atmosphere. The background of the page is a large piece of grasslands. The back of the Prius is coloured with a pattern of cluster of green leaves. The slogan and three icons are also put in the page to recall readers’ memory that it used to be the Prius’ advertisement. At the bottom of the page is a list of showrooms demonstrating the Prius. We hope that readers who are interested in will go to the showrooms directly to feel how fresh the Prius is. ii. Car Magazine Besides newspaper, car magazine will also be used as one of the printed advertisements. According to the result of our questionnaire, most of the interviewees obtain the car information by the car magazine. It shows that car magazine is the main channel to promote. We have chosen CarPlus ( ) to promote because it is one of the members of South China Media Limited. Car Plus is positioned as the middle-class car magazine and it is suitable for our target group. Also, CarPlus is top three car magazine in Hong Kong. It is believed that after we have post the printed advertisement on CarPlus, it can increase the awareness of the Prius among potential car buyers. The theme is â€Å"Prius integrates with the nature†. The design of the print advertisement divides into two pages. The first page creates a natural environment so grassland is used as the background. Then, the grassland has a blank car shape and there is only a slogan â€Å"Today, Tomorrow†. The print advertisement is made simple and being curious so that it can create stopping power and let the reader to feel interested in the advertisement first. The second page is different from the previous one. The background is green and the car place at the middle. It is to create a fresh look of the advertisement and provide more details. There are several logos describing the feature of the Prius. b. Internet Advertising Internet is one of the most important media channels of automobile products. Based on the questionnaire’s result, Yahoo! is the main search engine of our target group. Therefore, a floating advertisement is used in order to bring awareness of the Prius. When the Internet users open the Yahoo! ebsite, the image of the Prius will appear in the screen, followed by a sound effect which is the sound of car engine. If the user is interested, he/she can click it and it will link to Toyota website. The Internet floating advertisement aims to raise the awareness of the customers and give them a fresh impression about the Prius. c. Sponsorship Activity For sponsorship activity, HK$50000 is spent on the World Widelife Fund (WWF) to promote environment protection. We will sign contract with WWF to makethe Prius the appointed car of the organization. As WWF focuses on nvironmental-friendly events, using the Prius will not only increase the reputation of the organization, but also increase the awareness of the Prius. We will give WWF a special price, near the wholesale price. The objective of this campaign is to connect the Prius to environmental-friendly business. Every time when people see the Prius, they will be able to think of fresh environment. d. Exhibition According to the findings of the survey, it shows that (% of interviewees ) usually visit car exhibition before purchasing cars. In order to raise the awareness of the Prius among our target audience, two exhibitions will be held this year. . Time Two exhibitions which will last for 2 days are scheduled to be held on 29th and 30th July, and 24th and 25th November this year. In order to better allocate the available resources, Flighting schedul ing method will be used. The exhibitions are arranged to be held at these two periods since it is expected that people’s purchasing desire are higher before the summer vacation and Christmas. ii. Venue Shatin New Town Plaza is chosen since it is one of the largest exhibition venues in the New Territories. In addition, the rent ($80,000/day) and space provided (3,600sq. ft) are suitable to carry out the exhibition. As Shatin is a well developed town, many people, especially middle classes, settle there. Holding the exhibitions in Shatin would probably increase the chance of reaching our target audience. The circulation of Shatin New Town Plaza per day ranges from 250,000 to 300,000, estimating 15. 6% of the people shopping there are our target customers, aged from 25 to 39 years old, according to the data from statistics of the Shatin New Town Plaza and Census. iii. Settings of Exhibition For the first exhibition on 29th and 30th July, a press conference will be held together with the exhibition. Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Hong Kong will introduce the main features of the Prius and answer the queries from the mass media and the public. Hence, the press conference allows people to get more information about the Prius. At the same time, overhead projection of the Prius video will be shown on the screen during the press conference and throughout the exhibition to create the feel of high technology. On the second day of the exhibition, there will be a cheque giving ceremony for sponsoring WWF to enhance the image of environmental protection of the Prius. For the second exhibition on 24th and 25th November, a famous artist who loves driving cars and is the representative of â€Å"Environmental Friendly Star† ( ) of Shatin Junior Chamber ( ), Miriam Yeung ( ), will be invited to share the feeling of using the Prius. With the famous artist giving professional opinions, the environmental friendly image of the Prius can be strongly established and strengthened. Background music, like birds singing, will be played throughout the exhibition, so as to create the feel of being in the nature, making people feel refreshing and environmental conscious. In addition to auditory stimulation, visual effect will also be emphasized. Flowers and plants will be used in the exhibition. They are used to enhance the environmental friendly image of the Prius. To strengthen the image, the Prius will be displayed on an artificial meadow with the shape of a leaf. All the above use the idea of classical conditioning since they serve as an unconditional stimulus and gives rise to an unconditional response, refreshing and environmental conscious. Through contiguity and repetition, this unconditioned stimulus will develop an association with the conditioned stimulus, appearance of the Prius, and thus gives rise to the conditioned response, the Prius is refreshing and environmental conscious. The floor plan of the event is shown as below. [pic] It is important to ensure the target audience can experience the full car visually so as to understand more about the Prius. One of the Prius is specially processed to be a partially transparent car, thus people are able to see the internal structure, like the hybrid engine of the Prius. Two normal Prius will be exhibited. People can experience the comfort of the car and professional opinions are given by salesmen at the same time. According to Foote, Cone ; Belding Grid, cars should use the model of Informative (The thinker) since the involvement of the target audience is high and it requires more thinking processes. Therefore, learn- feel- do model is used. Through the exhibition, target audience are able to learn more about the car from the transparent car model and the professional opinions from the salesmen, also, customers can feel and experience the comfort of the car. These settings are used to increase the chance of purchase. Board and decoration will be placed in the exhibition hall. Besides, decoration of trees and leaves will be placed so as to stress the feature of â€Å"environmental-friendly† of the car. The boards will show the features of the Prius and with the emotional appealing graphics. The customers could learn more about the product through the statistics and comparison. iv. Use of Manpower Personal selling in exhibition is very important since cars are high involvement product and more convictions are needed for purchase. Personal selling will be carried by salesmen who are trained to be familiar with the Prius in advance. Salesmen should be able to tell the advantages and features of the Prius and to answer queries from customers. The Prius will be promoted by sex appeal. Three beautifully dressed ladies will stand in front of three Prius respectively. It is used to increase the awareness of potential customers and photographers to take photos for them. Moreover, nine salesmen will be distributed around three Prius, promoting and answering queries raised by people. v. Exhibition Rundown On 29th July, 2006 |11:30-12:30 |Opening ceremony + Press conference | |12:30-15:00 |Exhibition | |15:00-17:00 |Racing queen for photo taking | |17:00-21:00 |Exhibition | |21:00-22:00 |Clearing | On 30th July, 2006 11:00-13:00 |Exhibition | |13:00-14:00 |Cheque giving ceremony of sponsoring World Wildlife | |14:00-15:00 |Exhibition | |15:00-17:00 |Racing queen for photo taking | |17:00-21:00 |Exhibition | |21:00-22:00 |Clearing | On 24th November, 2006 |11:00-13:00 |Exhibition | |13:00-14:00 |Sharing from artist— | |14:00-15:00 |Exhibition | |15:00-17:00 |Racing queen for photo taking | |17:00-21:00 |Exhibition | |21:00-22:00 |Clearing | On 25th November, 2006 |11:30-15:00 |Exhibition | |15:00-17:00 |Racing queen for photo taking | |17:00-21:00 |Exhibition | |21:00-22:00 |Clearing | 6. PROMOTION BUDGET 7. APPENDIX 8. REFERENCES

Types of Modified Starch

Types of Modified Starch Native starches are structurally too weak and limited functions for application in pharmaceutical, food and non-food technologies due to its inherent weakness of hydration, swelling and structural organization. Unprocessed starches produce weak-bodied, cohesive rubbery pastes when cooked and undesirable gels when the pastes are cooled. To enhance viscosity, texture, stability among many desired functional properties desired, starch and their derivatives are modified by chemical, physical, and enzymatic methods. Modifications are necessary to create a range of functionality. Starch modification can be introduced by altering the structure and affecting the structure including the hydrogen bonding in a controlled manner to enhance and extend their application in industrial prospective. This modification includes esterification, etherification, cross linking, acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis heat treatment and grafting of starch. Modified starches can be found applicable practices in food industry and non-food industry. Various types of modified starches for wide applications in many industries Pregelatinized starch It is the simplest starch modification, prepared by cooking. It maintains starch integrity while providing cold water thickening which   is a process that breaks down the intermolecular bonds of  starch  molecules in the presence of  water  and heat, allowing the  hydrogen bonding  sites (the hydroxyl hydrogen and oxygen) to engage more water. Cross-linked starch Cross linking is the most important modified form that used in the food industry. It involves replacement of hydrogen bond present between starch chains by stronger, permanent covalent bonds. Distarch phosphate or, adipate are commonly used in cross-linked starch. Cross-linked starches offer acid, heat and shear stability over the native starch. Food with this type of starch processing tends to have longer shelf life. Oxidized starch The processing includes reaction with oxidizing agent such as sodium hypochlorite or peroxide. This type of starch is mainly used as surface sizing agent or coating binder and available in different viscosity grade. Oxidized starches have shorter chain lengths than native starches. It improves whiteness and reduces microbiological content. Oxidized starches are the best thickener for applications requiring gels of low rigidity. This improves adhesion in batters and breading. Cationic starch Cationic starches are produced by reacting native starches with tertiary  or, quaternary amines, using wet or dry production processes. They are mainly used in  paper forming process. Cationic starch represents high performance starch derivatives widely used by paper manufactures to increase strength and retention. Cationic starches carry a formal positive charge over the entire pH range creating their affinity towards negatively charged substrates, such as cellulose, pulp and some synthetic fibres, aqueous suspensions of minerals and slimes and biologically active macromolecules. Cationic starch is also added at the beater to improve drainage on the wire, better sheet formation, and enhancement of the sizing efficiency of an alum-rosin size. Anionic starch Anionic starches are prepared by reaction with phosphoric acid and  alkali metal phosphates or by making derivative with carboxymethyl group. Thinned starch These are produced through depolymerisation reaction by hydrochloric acid or other acids. Unmodified starches are treated with a mineral acid at temperature lower than gelatinization and results in partially hydrolyzed starch molecules. This cleaves the chain length and lower viscosity. It increases the tendency to retro gradation. The lower viscosity permits higher concentrations to be used forming rigid gels in gums pastilles and jellies. In these applications, increased set-back leading to the formation of strong gels gives these starches significant advantages over native starches. Extended applications in food industry are found by acid-thinned starch in conjunction with esterification and etherification reaction. Acetylated starch Acetylated starch (E1420)  esterification  with  acetic anhydride Starch after treatment with acetic anhydride produces starch esters which are useful in biodegradable applications. In particular, high starch acetates provide thermo plasticity, hydrophobicity and compatibility with other additives. The result of this treatment is a stability starch which will produce pastes that will withstand several freeze-thaw cycles and prevent syneresis (weeping) occurs. Wide applications are in foods as texturing agent and provide good freeze-thaw stability. Extended applications in food industry are found by acetylated starch in conjunction with cross-linked starch. Dextrin Dextrin  (E1400) is formed by  roasting the starch with  hydrochloric acid. Dextrination is the heating of powdered starch, mostly in the presence of small amounts of acids, at different temperatures and with different reaction times. Dextrin is used as adhesives in paper and textile based industry. Grafted starch Grafted starches are produced by free radical copolymerization with ethylenically unsaturated monomers. Starch grafted with synthetic polymers is most utilized   tarches from different botanical origins were grafted with 1, 3 butadiene, styrene, acrylamide, acrylonitrile and Meth acrylic acid using free redox reaction. Starch ethers Starch ethers are produced by a nucleophilic substitution reaction with an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, followed by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis for viscosity adjustment. Physically modified starch Native starch can be modified with mechanical treatment, using spray drying technique, annealing technique Enzyme modified starch Enzyme-treated starch which includes maltodextrin,  cyclodextrin Starch modified with amylase enzyme produces derivative with good adhesion property and mainly used in coating the food with colorant. APPLICATION IN FOOD INDUSTRY Frozen Food To stabilize the food products starches are used in frozen bottle foods to provide freeze-thaw stability and retrogradation. Flavor Encapsulation Modified starches are used to encapsulate or, preserve the flavour of the food products. Octenylsuccinylated derivatives and other starch hydrolyzates are used as flavour encapsulation. Dairy Products Modified starches are used in a wider way to the dairy products; it provides variety of effects, including enhanced viscosity, cut ability, mouth feel and stability. In puddings, starch is used to enhance viscosity and smoothness. Starches are used in yogurts and sour cream to control syneresis and enhance thickness. Canned Food Canning process preserves food for up to several years by achieving a temperature sufficient to destroy or inactivate food poisoning or spoilage microbes. Starch is most commonly used to thicken, stabilize and enhance the mouth feel of canned foods such as puddings, pie- fillings, soups, sauces and gravies. Highly cross-linked starches are used for this purpose.

Henrik Ibsen :: essays papers

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was born at Skien in Norway on March 20, 1828. When he was eight, his father went bankrupt. This event made a deep impression upon him. After they went bankrupt, his family moved to a small farm north of the town where they lived in poverty. Henrik was forced to attend a small local school. He received a substandard education. In 1843, the family returned to town. Unfortunately they were still poor. Ibsen came from a very dysfunctional family. His domineering father was an alcoholic who found solace in alcohol. His quiet mother found comfort in religion. He used them as a model for his plays. The blend of an overbearing husband and a submissive wife made appearances in his plays Brand, A Doll's House, and Ghosts. The bitter character of Hjalmar Ekdal in The Wild Duck was based on Ibsen's father. When he was sixteen, he moved to Grimstad to work for a druggist. He had wanted to become a doctor, but game up on the idea after he failed Greek and Math on his! University entrance exams. Medicine was not his only ambition. He also wanted to be a painter. In 1850, Ibsen entered the first of his three writing periods. His romantic period went from 1850 to 1873. The greatest works from this period are the Brandand Peer Gynt Most of the plays that he wrote during these years are romantic historical dramas. Lady Inger of Ostraat was a romantic drama with intrigue. The Vikings of Helgeland was a simple and sad tragedy. The last play of the Romantic period was Emperor and Galilean. It is similar to Ibsen's other play Catiline because it showed his impatience with traditional attitudes and values. In both plays he showed sympathy for historical characters who were famous for being rebellious. Ibsen became the stage manager and playwright of the National Stage in Bergen in 1851. He worked there for six years. In 1857, he moved to Christiania (Oslo), where he became director of the Norwegian Theatre. He neglected both writing and the theatre. He plunged into social life with his literary friends and drank heavily. In 1858, Ibsen married Suzannah Thoresen, with whom he had one child, Sigurd Ibsen. This was a marriage that was often as misunderstood as the marriages of Ibsen's dramas. At the age of thirty, Ibsen saw his first performances of Shakespeare in Copenhagen and Dresden. Shakespeare's work convinced Ibsen that serious drama must strive toward a psychological truth and form its basis on the characters and conflicts of mankind. Ibsen and

How Education Shapes Life Chances Essay

Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. In sociology we have various schools of thoughts or theories and each of these have their own view on the impact of sociology on â€Å"life chances† Functionalist one of the â€Å"theories† of sociology are mainly concerned with the function of education to society and to seek solution to the following questions, â€Å"what is the relevance of education to the social system and â€Å"what are the relationship between education and economic system†. The functionalist believe strongly in value consensus, value consensus is a social contract entered into by members of the society on how best they can leave together. They believe education is aimed to produce social stability, to keep society smooth and to resolve conflict. In the words of a functionalist the individual has to submit to this higher order, which exist outside them and which was there before they were born and will continue after their deaths. That goes to say that the functionalist believes that every human being should succumb to this great order since the society is greater than any individual. Moore and Davis (2006) claimed that education carry’s out three major far-reaching functions which are firstly, socialization, where youths per take in key cultural values such as achievement, individualism, competition, equality of opportunity, social solidarity, democracy and religious morality. â€Å"Emile Durkheim† on the other hand argues that increase in individuality has an optimistic relationship to deviancy and could threaten social solidarity among members of the society and especially the youth who are more prone to these circumstances. But â€Å"Talcott Parsons† an American sociologist believes that the main social significance of education is its capacity to channel a viaduct between the family and broader society by aiding children to drop the particularistic standard of the family and adapt to the universalistic values of the wider society, which is solely grounded on achievement and not attribution, since all students are provided with equal chances. Functionalist Davies and Moore argued further as their second point that â€Å"meritocracy† influences success and failure and this would show the position of all individual level. Highly endowed and skilled persons would take up the most tasking challenges and would be sufficiently compensated. Making some people above or placed high on the social ladder, as every student is handed the same equivalent opportunity to prove their talent they won’t have the feel swindled for any social inequality that would be produced. So no matter your class or gender, race so far you are possess any skill and you are willing and able to strive hard you would succeed in life. Talcott Parsons also believed that education is an instrument for the assigning of roles in the society. Examinations and qualifications are created to show, establish and to make known of students talents to skill and capacities to the career which is best well-matched for them. The school is therefore a tool to assign these positions hence the school is a â€Å"microcosm of macrocosm†. In reference to the functionalist education teaches skill need for industrial society, it might be general skill that everyone requires such as numeracy and literacy or the specific skill needed for particular work. For Marxists the education system is seen as an important part of the superstructure in society. This is along with other institutions such as the media, religion and the family. They also argue that education does not give everybody a fair chance and that it uses the â€Å"alienation of schoolwork†, (the idea that children will do the work if they are rewarding for doing so), to socially control people until they are ready for â€Å"exploitation† in the world of work. Schools are considered to be unfair on working-class children because they are generally middle-class institutions and so middle-class children will generally do better. Marxists also strongly believe that â€Å"the hidden curriculum† is being used too strongly by schools. By teaching pupils to follow instructions (e. g. â€Å"sir† and â€Å"miss† and folding their arms) they are preparing them for the â€Å"exploitation† during work of when being asked to do something and then automatically doing it. This means that workers could be â€Å"used† in the process and then fined out about the capitalist system that we live in the hard way. While Marxists do share many ideas of functionalists e. g.the fact that education prepares us for out acceptance of the values of society they also see how the education system is alienating children. Functionalists, on the other hand, seem unable to see this and believe that the education system can only do well to children by teaching them norms and values. The interactionist theory believes that the teacher is the most significant tool to pupil’s educational achievement. It implies that teaches assess pupils not by ability or intelligence, but by traits that relates to class, gender and ethnicity, such as attitude, appearance and behavior. According to an internationalist the way pupils are influenced by teachers include: labeling-involves two people in an interaction with one have the power to label stick on the other. For example when teacher tag students as â€Å"smart and bright† or as â€Å"troublemakers and lazy† this forms a mirror through which the students skills and performance is viewed, when there is an occurrence of any mishap in the school those labeled as trouble makers would be called first also when the teachers when marking the works of those label bright tend to have pity for them. A This can cause what is known as self-fulfilling prophecy; this signifies a situation whereby an individual student will behave in the way that he or she has been labeled. For instance the bright labeled children would have a high esteem while others would be discouraged and may not prepare properly for school work and some may resolve into cheating and this would result into trouble. Also students might have different teachers and therefore each teacher might have a different labeling for the same child . Peer groups label might have a different label from that of the teachers, for example the teacher label some students as smart and bright but in peer group label they can be labeled as nerd or dweebs and lose respect from peers. Students also label teachers normally in accordance to their strictness or openness, rule enforcement, punishments given and the amount of worked handed to the students by the teachers this would determine which category either good or bad is the label for the teacher. These labels can be negotiated, that is the ‘bright’ child might start misbehaving or the ‘trouble-maker’ might turn , Life chances refer to the opportunities open to individuals to better the quality of life of themselves and their families. Therefore this definition suggest that there are opportunities available for individuals and families to improve their lifestyles, and suggests that this is possible if there is no poverty, and for people to be socially inclusive. The concept was introduced by German sociologist Max Weber. These opportunities refer to length to which an individual gain’s access to resources, such as food, clothing, shelter, health care and our main area of study education. How does education (shape) people’s life chances? The question appears to be seeking an investigation into the relationship between the education a person receives and the opportunities which it provides. The (key) words seem to be education, shape and life chances. shape strikes me as a very definite word, defined in the (merriam-webster dictionary as meaning, form,create, especially. to give a particular form or shape to). For the purposes of this essay I am going to look at education in the sense of learning opportunities provided by the state and concentrate on issues of social class, race and gender. Life chances is a very vague phrase which could be construed as having a variety of different meanings, but in this case I would interpret it to mean opportunities of economic and social (That goes to say that education is an opportunity given to an inidivial to improve his or her life quality). Aside the fact that education might be considered boring, expensive, stressful and time consuming. From a personal view I (believe) that education surely does improve or aids to better one’s life chance, education Serve the ruling class to shape people’s thinking, also to improve the level of people so that from a natural person into a social person, education brought (rise of r technological advancements) , education brings about understanding and this has helped in settlements of many disputes also wars amongst countries, education helps to improve the welfare of the individual and the society, It promotes civilized, progressive, competent and efficient development of the individual and the society and lastly Dissemination of culture, transforming culture, and create a culture, to intellectuals to raise people’s literacy. These and many more is how education has helped. Education also (comes) in, in its relation to the economy.

Teenage Pregnancy in Philippines

Teen pregnancies in the Philippines By Rebecca B. Singson Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 00:55:00 06/14/2008 Filed Under: Health, Lifestyle & Leisure, Gender Issues (First in a series) MANILA, Philippines? The sexual revolution has ushered in a period in which the average adolescent experiences tremendous pressures to have sexual experiences of all kinds. Filipino teens get a higher exposure to sex from the Internet, magazines, TV shows, movies and other media than decades ago, yet without any corresponding increase in information on how to handle the input. So kids are pretty much left to other kids for opinions and value formation when it comes to sex. Sexual misinformation is therefore equally shared in the group. Parents at home and teachers in school feel equally inadequate or uneasy to discuss the topic of sex with youngsters. The problem mounts because the barkada (gang) has a more profound influence than parents do and they exert pressure and expect the adolescent to conform to the rest of them. In fact, female adolescents whose friends engage in sexual behavior were found to be more likely to do the same compared to those who do not associate with such peers. If the teen perceives her peers to look negatively at premarital sex, she was more likely to start sex at a later age. Numbers Statistics in the United States show that each year, almost 1 million teenage women? 10 percent of all women aged 15-19 and 19 percent of those who have had sexual intercourse? become pregnant and one-fourth of teenage mothers have a second child within two years of their first. In the Philippines, according to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (Uppi) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, 26 percent of our Filipino youth nationwide from ages 15 to 25 admitted to having a premarital sex experience. What? s worse is that 38 percent of our youth are already in a live-in arrangement. The 1998 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) reveals that 3. 6 million of our teenagers (that? s a whopping 5. 2 percent of our population! got pregnant. In 92 percent of these teens, the pregnancy was unplanned, and the majority, 78 percent, did not even use contraceptives the first time they had sex. Many of the youth are clueless that even on a single intercourse, they could wind up pregnant. Risks There are many reasons teen pregnancies should be avoided. Here? s a low down on the facts: ? Risk for malnutrition Teenage mothers tend to have poor eating habits and are less likel y to take recommended daily multivitamins to maintain adequate nutrition during pregnancy. They are also more likely to smoke, drink or take drugs during pregnancy, which can cause health problems for the baby. ? Risk for inadequate prenatal care Teenage mothers are less likely to seek regular prenatal care which is essential for monitoring the growth of the fetus; keeping the mother? s weight in check; and advising the mother on nutrition and how she should take care of herself to ensure a healthy pregnancy. According to the American Medical Association, babies born to women who do not have regular prenatal care are 4 times more likely to die before the age of 1 year. Risk for abortion Unplanned pregnancies lead to a higher rate of abortions. In the United States, nearly 4 in 10 teen pregnancies (excluding those ending in miscarriages) are terminated by abortion. There were about 274,000 abortions among teens in 1996. In the Philippines, although abortion is illegal, it would shock you to know that we even have a higher abortion rate (25/1,000 women) compared to the Unite d States where abortion is legal (23/1,000 women). For sure, there are more abortions that happen in our country that are not even reported. Backdoor abortions are resorted to with untrained ? hilots? with questionable sterility procedures, increasing the possibility for tetanus poisoning and other complications. ? Risk for fetal deaths Statistics of the Department of Health show that fetal deaths are more likely to happen to young mothers, and that babies born by them are likely to have low birth weight. ? Risk for acquiring cervical cancer The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually-transmitted, wart-forming virus that has been implicated in causing cancer of the cervix. This is the most common cancer in women secondary to breast cancer. Women who are at increased risk for acquiring this are those who engage in sex before 18, have a pregnancy at or younger than 18, or have had at least 5 sexual partners, or have had a partner with at least 5 sexual partners. If you start sex at an early age, you have a higher likelihood of going through several sexual partners before you settle down, thus increasing your exposure to acquiring the virus and acquiring cervical cancer. The men can get genital warts from this virus and can certainly pass it on to their partners, thus increasing her risk for cervical cancer. Is that something you would want to gift to your wife with on your honeymoon? There is a way to test women (HPV Digene test) but no test for the man so you can? t know if you have it. Using the condom does not confer protection against acquiring this virus since the condom cannot cover the testes where the warts can grow and proliferate