Public vs. Private Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public vs. Private - Essay Example P 1992) It covers a great range of ideas and policies varying from the eminently reasonable to the wildly impractical.’ The debate the paper delves on is what are the programs or sectors that are currently under the governmental supervision that can be privatized and what are the pros and cons of such privatization. Let us first look at some positive and negative facts and opinions from two sources in order to gauge the depth of the subject. Michael Williams in his article on Public Vs private pay, states the flaws in the current pay structure of an employee working for the US Postal service. Pointing out this difference in California where the average salary of a CalPers employee in 2004 for was about $46000 and the average of salary of all average per capita income of all Californians was $35000. Since then he says,’ the gap has only expanded. He has proved this by stating the case of Postmaster General E Potter. â€Å"Congress will hold a hearing next month into why Postmaster General John E. Potter has gotten a nearly 40 percent pay raise since 2006 and was awarded a six-figure incentive bonus last year, even as the U.S. Postal Service faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatens a day of mail delivery. ALLISON SHELLEY/THE WASHINGTON TIMES REWARDED: Postmaster General John E. Potter received a compensation package totalling more than $800,000 for fiscal 2008.†(Williams. M 2009) While the above information gives us a strong reason for privatization of the US postal service, the following facts will educate us on the public opinion of privatization. When privatization was at its full length and breadth under the Bush administration Congressman Jim Mc Dermott stated the following in one of the discussions â€Å"It has become increasingly clear that the Bush Administration cares more about big business than about the average citizen. If this trend toward privatization continues, I worry that the privacy and

Consumer Questionnaire for Soft Drinks Essay Example for Free

Consumer Questionnaire for Soft Drinks Essay 1.What is your monthly budget for consumption of drinks? Ans- Around Rs 300. 2 .Are you satisfied with the drinks available to you in the market? Ans- Yes, although different flavours would be appreciated, along with aerated fruit drinks. 3.Do you find the price range of these drinks to be appropriate?what is yan approximation of an ideal prioce? Ans- Not really. As it exceeds the budget if you generally eat out more than twice a week as is the case with most people. Rs 15 for 200 ml. 4.Are you willing to make changes to your existing choice of product?what would u like to see in a drink? Ans- Yes, if a new product with my requirements is available. Less sugar , less preservatives natural, no preservatives colour calories etc. 5.What more do you expect from your drink manufacturer that can help you to derive maximum satisfaction? Ans-Healthier drinks are more appreciated as opposed to sugar filled carbonated drinks. Also the pricing can be changed to make it better for consumers to buy on a regular basis. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RETAILERS- MORE MANAGER, SADAKAT PEERZADE 1.What is your approximate profits from the sale of Soft drinks per month? Ans- turnover Around 1-2 lakhs, about 2-3 % . 2.Are you willing to take up promotional activities for a new range of products in this line? What kind? Ans- yes if the product is up to the standards we require and we get some incentives. 3.What is the feedback received from the consumers regarding the available products? Ans- Customers wanted more healthy options, drinks with less sugar, the most popular being Real fruit juices. 4.Do the existing manufacturer provide you assistance for the marketing of their products? Ans-Yes such as discounts on products and special offers offering extra quantity at the same price. Coupon booklets are also used along with leaflets. 5.Do you suggest any changes in the Marketing/Distribution system which can help to save cost? Ans- Providing more coolers and other storage facilities for stock to ensure better distribution. Also better packaging, quick deliveries so extra stock need not be kept. Free samples.

Ethics and Reality TV

Ethics and Reality TV Abstract Reality TV, like many other postmodern spectacles, operates on a deeply tenuous and ambiguous ethical grounding. On the one hand, the audience / creator model of exploitation can be seen as providing the viewer with entertainment and escapism. On the other it can be said to create a system of dependency and artificial need. The ethics of participation in game show style reality offers a similar contradiction which is dependent upon whether participants are free to choose, or whether they are in fact coerced by elements beyond their control. This dissertation will look at the various factors and paradigms (psychoanalytical, Marxist, poststructuralist) that constitute this model of reality. This requires a certain concretisation of terms such as ethics, and of what constitutes â€Å"reality† itself. The dissertation will also look at the politics of reality TV itself – namely, does Reality TV constitute a unique event in the development of television, or does it merely re flect a continuation for television producers to create ever more innovative methods of keeping our interests satiated? Is Reality TV itself the origin of the moral crimes, or is Reality TV merely a reflection of the ethical climate of capitalism in which we live? Finally, the dissertation will look at the possible futures for â€Å"reality† TV. Methodology As this dissertation is largely discursive in nature, and involves a widespread discussion of general philosophical and ethical themes, I will purely refer to secondary material. This will be assisted by the large and abundant materials that exist on the matter of â€Å"Reality† TV, ethics, and the conjoining of the two. I will use library materials, newspaper and magazine materials, as well as the raw footage of the Reality TV itself to generate an opinion and an overall discussion about the general impacts, considerations and ethical standards of reality TV, and whether constructive change is a) desirable and b) possible. What are Ethics? Ethics have proven to be a central part of philosophical enquiry for thousands of years. As such, it would be useful to summarize what and how this theory has developed over the years, and what tends to form the debate around â€Å"ethics† now. This is essential in order to gauge the relationship between â€Å"good† ethical conduct and the recent phenomenon of reality TV. Ethics was originally conceived as a way to engage with morals – literally, it can be seen as an attempt to establish a â€Å"moral philosophy† for living, and is concerned about notions such as what is right and what is wrong. It exposes the various difficulties between making certain decisions or of living life in a particular way. Understandably, the concept and the notion of good moral behaviour and bad moral behaviour have changed radically since the initial formulation of Western ethics in Ancient Greece over 2000 years ago. While modern moral reasoning bases its understandings upon the writings of Plato and Aristotle, it has mutated radically as regards to who the subject of the writing actually is concerned with. Whereas Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Greeks were concerned more about the self – e.g. how to morally explain the individual – whereas the modern ethical practice is more concerned about how to treat others in the first instance. Annette Hill comments that â€Å"Modern moral philosophy is therefore primarily about public good, and the development of moral values within particular social, political and cultural groups, and also within particular secular societies.† (2005, p. 110). Rather than acting, then justifying behaviour, modern ethics are primarily concerned about what exactly one should do in the first place, and is about the relationship between the self and society, the promotion of the notion of the â€Å"public good†, and of partaking in particular acts, often against the self or the will that would otherwise have a harmful effect on society. Major paradigmatic models incorporate this model of public good into their progressive ideologies. Central to the Marxist model (which I will be later applying to the phenomenon of reality TV), is the relationship between the working classes and the ruling classes. This is argued in Marx as being ethically dubious, because while the proletariat are enslaved by the capitalist system by their work, the ruling classes benefit from this relationship infinitely. Therefore, from a Marxist context, capitalism and the ways in which this model distributes wealth can be seen as the primary mechanism from which morality is corrupted. Similarly, religion and faith is often touted as â€Å"scapegoats† for unethical behaviour. The existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche formulated his own quasi-religion / moral philosophy based on the concepts of the Ubermensch and the theories of eternal recurrence. His position is existential, and forms a central part of what constitutes ethical matters today. Existentialism is, put simply, a belief that man creates his own belief systems. The existence of something precedes its essence; namely, the process of doing something is more important than the assignation of certain methods of thinking or reasoning behind it. A person is not innately good, but instead he acts good. Robert Anton Wilson (1990) comments that â€Å"Nietszsche’s existentialism (1) attacked the floating abstractions of traditional philosophy and a great deal of what passes as ‘common sense’ (e.g. he rejected the terms ‘good’, ‘evil’, ‘the real world’, and even the ego.) (2) also preferred concrete analysis of real life situations [†¦] and (3) attacked Christianity, rather than defending it† (14-15). As such, an existential critique of reality TV would tend to eschew concrete moral conclusion based on the grounding that reality TV exploits people, and therefore it is bad – moreover, the pheno menon of reality TV is based upon a number of larger social trends and mechanisms; a whole system of belief that doesn’t necessarily taint reality, but actually comprises of reality. Therefore, the existentialist may attack Reality TV, but Nietzsche would presumably argue that it is an expression of human will, Marx would argue that it represents merely an extension of the capitalism that seeks to exploit the workers and Kierkegaard would argue that his role is to determine that people have the choice to make their own decisions. Both Nietzsche and Kierkegaard were not concerned about notions of abstract truth – they were existential insofar as their concern was about day to day existence. In the absence of the notion of truth, over Nietzsche’s â€Å"will to power† and Kierkegaard’s system of choice and personal autonomy, the system of modern moral philosophy was overturned by the new ethical paradigm. Nietszche argued that the ubermensch would not do bad things because it would be detrimental to his own will to power; a moral system of good and bad is, ultimately, irrelevant to the ubermensch, because the parameters of decision-making have been changed. This ethical reasoning in many ways bled into the individualism of psychoanalysis, which is a factor that comes into play in a great many of the reality TV programmes: as I will argue later, the obsession in reality TV with rendering perverse the Freudian neuroses (described by him as anal, oral and genital fixations), combined with the capitalist, consumerist desire to pacify the â€Å"slaves† within the semiotic network that constitutes television, creates a scenario whereby the human self is rendered obscene. A psychoanalytical analysis of Reality TV creates many discrepancies; moreover, it is the combination of pacifying the autonomous will of the individual, combined with the exposition of Freudian unconscious â€Å"discoveries† that makes reality TV objectionable to mainstream technical issues. However, before I try to extrapolate the various issues at stake in the arguments for and against reality TV, the concept of reality TV, in particular what the term â€Å" reality† means in this context, has to be explored. What is the â€Å"reality† in Reality TV? Jean Baudrillard and other philosophers coined â€Å"poststructuralist† by Western scholars would undoubtedly be impressed by the ironical use of the term â€Å"reality† in reality TV. One of Jean Baudrillard’s key issues is the argument for â€Å"hyperreality†. He suggests in Simulacra and Simulation (1994) that the hyperreal is â€Å"real without origin or reality† (1). Indeed, the concept of â€Å"reality† TV where participants are asked to stay in an enclosed space for weeks on end and told to do surrealistic things (Big Brother), or to stay on a desert island (Temptation Island, Survivor) is unreal in itself, but the term â€Å"reality† instead applies to the logic that contestants exist rather than actors or performers. It is a â€Å"genre† of TV in which the controlled amateurish quality of the programme is exaggerated into a package of neuroses that have usurped and transcended reality itself. Secondly, TV is edited, dis seminated and packaged in a particular way that, according to Baudrillard, substitutes itself for reality; in one judgement of hyperreality, Baudrillard suggests that it represents â€Å"more real than real†, and eventually usurps reality. The concept of â€Å"reality† in reality TV destroys the â€Å"sovereign difference† between the map and the territory (1994, 2). As such, reality TV exists as an exemplar of this particular moment in late capitalism where the simulation of reality has evaded and transcended the real itself. To stress this theory further, I will look more generally at what Baudrillard means by hyperreality, and cite some further examples of how this theory can be established. Like Nietzsche, Baudrillard begins with an interrogation of the â€Å"real world†, arguing that because our perceptions of reality are rooted in semiotic languages and discursive structures, that the concept of an external, objective reality outside of the self can not be established, and merely bases itself upon a chimera or a lie. Instead, Baudrillard argues that reality is merely a system of communication, in which reality has become a commodified, capitalistic device. In The System of Objects, Baudrillard offers a critique of the advertising industry. While many of the images used by, say, the automobile industry are deliberately faked or exaggerated, the nature of this exaggeration, and the extent to which these images are promoted over and above the actual reality of what the car is (ultimately, a device for getting from one place to another), the specific, advertised car itself becomes an impossible object – a representation of reality that lies beyond reality itself. For instance, recent advertising that features a car that transforms into a dolphin does not have any prescience in reality, nor does it even attempt to establish itself as real. Instead, it embodies in the vehicle certain images or â€Å"realities† that, acc ording to Baudrillard, become reality and, as such, substitute reality for a marketed, plasticised illusion that â€Å"represents† reality to a greater degree. This theory can be extended to encompass many other factors that seem based upon manufacturing and colonising the real. Pornography represents a reality of sex that transcends and usurps sex itself; a soft drink with a non-existent flavour, such as â€Å"wild ice zest berry† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality) creates a â€Å"reality† in linguistic terms that has no relationship to â€Å"modern† as opposed to â€Å"postmodern† reality. Again, advertising generates a reality that exaggerates and simulates the real in totality; there is no attempt made to reproduce reality, but instead signs and signification operate within themselves, applying to only their own logic. This reality can be seen in terms of reality TV as well. Programmes such as Survivor, Big Brother and other reality TV programmes that synthesise the game show format tend to exaggerate the realities of the participants. The world in which these â€Å"real† people interact is one which is completely fabricated, usually to exaggerate some narrative or mythological scenario which the viewer is undoubtedly familiar with. Big Brother, for instance, plays with the familiar Orwellian notion of total surveillance and dystopia – Survivor plays on the themes of the desert island, featured in many historical and literary myths that date back to the Bible. As such, depending on what opinions we have about what reality constitutes, these types of program are undoubtedly far off the mark. Post-production techniques are used to exaggerate the dramatic tensions between people; often people who would ordinarily have no contact are forced into relationships with one another, and it has been insinuated that certain parts of reality TV are scripted beforehand, in order to prevent the programme from becoming tedious or formulaic. What does this development in the notion of â€Å"reality† do to a discussion of the ethics of reality TV? Firstly, the production processes of reality TV are heavily reliant upon advertisers and private corporations concerned about making money. Such companies do not generally have too scrupulous a reputation for ethical marketing or behaviour. Product placement is a regular feature in reality TV, which, if looked at from a Marxist point of view, leads to the synthesis of what is seen as common sense â€Å"reality† and of corporate desire. The existential view of reality, while in a kind of agreement with the ambiguity of reality TV, would argue that reality as it is presented here merely represents a faith or a religion that substitutes the pure will (choice or autonomy) of the individual into a scenario where all things are scripted, edited and controlled by forces that depend upon the viewer becoming pacified and infantilized. I argue that the reality in reality TV merely represents a particular version of reality. As post-structuralist philosophy would suggest, the notion of objective reality in the postmodern age is simply a psychologically, sociologically and metaphysically attuned network that serves to create a religion or a mythical structure of â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality†. While Nietzsche would argue that Reality TV subdues the personal will, and of human folly and weakness, reducing the viewer to the level of passive consumer, he would also argue that it is not the ethical place of people to assume that this dynamic of â€Å"exploitation† (as Marxists would posit) is necessarily wrong. Indeed, criticisms of Nietzsche’s critiques of Christianity, while vitriolic and hateful in tone, overlook the simple premise that Nietzsche’s intention himself was not to create a system of objective truth himself. Because, as he postulates in Beyond Good and Evil: â€Å"In the womb of being, rather, in the intran sitory, in the hidden god, in the ‘thing in itself’ – that is where their cause must lie and nowhere else! – This mode of judgement constitutes the typical prejudice by which metaphysicians of all ages can be recognized; this mode of evaluation stands in the background of all their logical procedures; it is on account of this their ‘faith’ that they concern themselves with their ‘knowledge’, with something that is at last solemnly baptized ‘the truth’† (1973, 34). As such, the creation of truth, upon which grounds Nietzsche was sorely condemned for throughout the 20th century, was not Nietzsche’s central desire – indeed, the establishment of a particular truth ignores Nietzsche’s attempts to negate the this preoccupation with â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality† present in the mind of the â€Å"metaphysician† and the abstract philosopher. The existentialist is not concerned a bout abstractions, but instead he is concerned about the establishment of productive myths. In this respect, the â€Å"reality† of reality TV (at least where participants and audience are volunteers) is real and, dependent upon how greatly you herald such issues as personal autonomy cannot be anything but a moral, voluntary exchange. Marxism and the streams of thinkers that have come to be associated with Marxism tend to think very differently about the self. Socialist philosophy suggests that the human freedoms posited by the American and British administrations during their â€Å"free† market experiments are merely a chimera designed to obfuscate and paper over the exploitative system of exchange that operates between rich and poor. Contrary to existentialism, Marxists suggest that voluntary participants (in such things as reality TV) have to adhere to some greater moral code, because the dynamic of exchange exposes basic human vulnerabilities that exist in everybody. Their concept of reality is based upon a politics of exploitation, or a dialectical exchange between two opposing factions, one of which is exploited, and the other is dominant. Such Marxist theory can be used to explore this notion of â€Å"reality† in reality TV further: the dynamic between rich and poor (used in â€Å"crude† or traditional Marxism) creates a system of exploitation between the working class and the ruling class. This can be extended into linguistics and semantic theory, and forms the central tenet of deconstructionist theory posited by Jacques Derrida. Derrida argues firstly that the structuralist theories of Ferdinand de Saussure depended upon a relationship between the signifier and the signified – namely, what is being represented and what it represents. While Saussure argued that this framework was stable, and that the signifier and the signified never changed, Derrida and the deconstructionist theorists argued that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was always subject to â€Å"play† and fluctuated constantly. Moreover, the limitations of human communication meant that our perception of the world was limited. Derrida argues that the world is conveyed in language and discourse. Derrida takes this further, arguing that Western language has always based its functionality upon what he calls â€Å"binary oppositions†, in which one is seen as inferior, while the other is seen as superior. These oppositions run the gamut of human thinking and is what abstract philosophy tends to ignore: for instance, the dichotomy between man and woman is the subject of many feminist writers: while man can give women the same material rights, linguistically, woman still represents the absence of masculinity. Similarly, reality is seen as superior to the simulacrum, as explored by Plato’s myth of the cave, in which he argues that one pure object exists, and that everything else is a copy, and therefore inferior to the real thing. Derrida argues that deconstruction provides a solution to this problem, and by exposing and making conscious these oppositions, and deliberately working against them creates a system of simultaneous difference and equality through semantic â€Å"play†. As such, the ethical concept or exchange between the directors of reality TV, the participants and the audience create an interesting dynamic of exploitation that tends to eschew simple ethical thinking. To say that these reality programmes are bad ethically (a string of reasons have been posited, from the sensory deprivation of participants, to the unsavoury and voyeuristic nature of the program, to the use of the grotesque, to the implementation of torture techniques) avoids the overall issue that participation is â€Å"voluntary†. However, the previous arguments (deconstructive, Marxist, feminist, existential) all have radically different arguments as to what exactly constitutes â€Å"voluntary†; the notion of voluntary participation is a key issue in philosophical debate, and can be seen to surface in the ethics of advertising, fast food consumption and the selling of junk to young people. The question revolves around the concept of â€Å"reality†; namely, wh ether we are in control or whether our choices are determined by mechanisms and structures of power, addiction, and deep psychological needs. Reality TV argues that it exists as a form of entertainment. In the following section I will look at the dynamic of exploitation; particularly upon how reality TV exploits certain human qualities or â€Å"realities†, and renders them perverse. Reality TV: a psychoanalytical approach Reality TV, especially the phenomenon of the game show Reality TV programme, namely such programmes as Big Brother, Survivor, Big Diet, Celebrity Fat Club, Temptation Island, Bachelorette and Boot Camp exploit numerous psychoanalytical desires in order to â€Å"hystericise† reality and to render ordinary impulses and desires perverse. This exploitation, which I will argue is central to the strategy of corporatism and central to the postmodern malaise raises a number of ethical questions concerning the position of Reality TV in contemporary society, is endemic in the phenomenon of reality TV, and appears concerned primarily as either a reflection of, or a creation of, many issues that plague Western consciousness. Reality TV attacks certain concepts and, via gossip columns and TV journalism in other media, makes these things hysterical. One such topic is that of the â€Å"normal† relationship. While Big Brother tends to vet the participants based upon their position as s exually â€Å"perverse† (the last series of Big Brother featured a transsexual and several homosexuals) eccentric or colourful in order to engender conflict within the house and to maximize the entertainment value that can be derived from this â€Å"reality† that is constructed, the vision of the ordinary relationship, which occurs with relative frequency in the Big Brother house, is one that is treated with extreme shock by both participants, media, the programme makers, and eventually, the audience themselves. Jan Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"each reality game ‘hot-houses’ and hystericizes ‘normal relationships’, engendering paranoid perception where no one is to be trusted† (323). Of course, ethically this hystericisation serves the purpose many mass-mediated and televised spectacles seek to achieve. In a Marxist, postmodernist context, the media (especially the ‘modern’ mediums of television and brand advertis ing) wishes to engender a consumer whose only relationship to the outside world is through the corporatist-owned signification of signs. We are marketed towards in order to create an atomised, pseudo-individual whose only relationship to him / her self is through signification and engagement with the hyperreal. As such, consumer need is created, manufactured in the dream factory of advertising, and disseminated through mass media to create demand for a product that was, prior to the embellishment of reality through hyperrealistic signification, useless and unnecessary. Reality TV simply contributes to this feeling of post-human disgust with the mechanisms of the body and the unconscious mind. For instance, the drives expounded by Freud (labelled by him as genital, oral and anal), are attacked with frequency in a number of these TV reality shows: In Big Brother, participants are deprived of food, and are occasionally â€Å"treated† to products from the outside world when they participate in a particular task (the oral, anal dichotomy). The lack of privacy in toilets suggest the programmes obsession with these excretive functions; also, the relationships that occur among these â€Å"ordinary† people are exaggerated with an unparalleled degree of disgust and hysteria both within the programme and external to it in other â€Å"gossip† columns and TV magazines. This suggests an obsession with the genital drives that are echoed in other reality TV programmes. The hystericisation of normality â€Å"are the very symptoms that plague the American landscape, namely the preoccupation with the excesses of the drives – anal and oral (food / dieting) [†¦], genital (seduction) [†¦] trust, [†¦] extreme physical exertion [†¦] authority† (Jagodozinki 2003, 323). These drives are isolated and compounded in a manner that many would figure as unethical; the audiences watch the TV – voyeurs in their living rooms – rendering all these desires perverse and alien. The anal / oral functioning can be seen in all manner of these game show / reality TV hybrids. In Survivor, participants experience food deprivation, then are force-fed the junk food of capitalism. Reality TV provides us with either a perverse kind of promotion of these desires, or else exaggerates and satirizes these principles that already play a huge part in the advertising, producer / consumer relationship of (most of) Western society. For instance, many of these reality TV programmes are obsessed with food and excrement, the balance between which is, of course, expressed in terms of physical weight: Game show reality programmes such as Fat Club, Big Diet, Survivor and Big Brother, as well as innumerable documentaries, talk shows (Gerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Oprah Winfrey all tend to devote a disproportionate amount of time to â€Å"exposing† obesity in ways that carefully tread the dual lines of exploitation and grotesquer y, and non-pervasive exploration or passive â€Å"documentary†, often with a focus on the former) all focus on weight, eating and consumption as a mainstay of their challenges. In one edition of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, pop-mystic and spoon bender Uri Geller was forced to eat live slugs while some other minor celebrity spent most of the programme complaining about his constipation. As such, natural processes such as eating, drinking and excreting matter becomes exaggerated to such an extent that these very bodily processes become shameful. Jagodozinki comments that â€Å"Survivor players are foced to follow exactly the same starve and binge mentality of bulemics† (2003, 321). The Freudian drives and impulses are concentrated upon by programme makers in order to engender an interest in the programme that, if it were a representation of ordinary, mundane â€Å"reality†, would presumably be too scant to provoke widespread interest. Similarly, other drives are obsessed over. The genital desires, marked by an obsession with sex, lust and seduction are exploited through programmes such as Big Brother, Temptation Island and Bachelorette, where sexual, relationship related trysts are exploited by the programme makers in order to maximise audience ratings and profits from their programme. For instance, whenever a relationship threatens to bubble over in Big Brother, the programme makers, along with the media vehicles that feature Big Brother (showbiz magazines and tabloid newspapers, for instance) tend to simultaneously glorify and pervert the developing relationship into a grotesque and abominable spectacle. Trust and paranoiac fantasies are also played with in the post-production of Big Brother. The format is automatically designed to expose hypocrisy: while participants are forced to work together and live together, participants also have to periodically vote each other out of the house. As such, issues of trust and paranoiac functions are exploited, in a microcosm, of the contemporary world that constitutes â€Å"reality† TV. As such, the difficulty with exposing the ethical indiscretion of reality TV is simply that it can either be seen as a hyperbolic reflection or satire of current prevalent trends in Western society, or that it can be seen as contributing to the effects of â€Å"consumerisation†, and can therefore be seen in the light of Marxists who approach the exploitative mechanisms of mass media with grave suspicion. Louis Althusser’s system of â€Å"interpolation† which in his words, is described as having the following relationship with ideology: â€Å"ideology interpolates the individual as subject, [†¦] this interpolation is realized in institutions, in their rituals and practices† (2001). As such, the ideology of guilt, of loathing for the body and of the consumerisation of the general public through the exploitation of these particular vulnerabilities is, according to Althusser, interpolated and disseminated through mass media, or, as he calls it, the  "ideological state apparatus†. And any form of mass media that adheres to these capitalist desires against the individual and for the â€Å"subject† is also catering to systematic oppression to the masses and is therefore morally reprehensible. So, what is the argument in favour of reality TV? Namely, that it bypasses these ideologies and instead presents us with a â€Å"reality† of ordinary people, unencumbered by the traffic of biased representation one tends to get in drama and fiction. The function of reality TV, according to this argument, is to present to people life as it really is. I would argue, however, that this is not the case for a number of reasons. The psychological stresses that subjects are put under are, in themselves, unique in these game show / reality TV programmes. It would be extraordinary to presume that everyday people would be forced to endure these psychological strains. Moreover, the dissemination and the editing of these pieces together serves a dual function: firstly, it imposes a strict narrative upon the happenings based upon a desire to entertain. Entertainment can be achieved through the exploitation and exaggerations of these specific, Freudian functions. In order to condense 24 hou rs of time into half an hour, programme makers have to edit the raw material of â€Å"reality† in a way that generates interest in the overall product. The effect of this is to highlight these desires and dramas and to generate a narrative of disgust from the raw material. As such, events are scandalised, hystericised, and processed through the â€Å"state apparatus† of Freudian drama. This is satirised in the film The Truman Show. Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"The banality of his everyday life with its mundane repetitions is the very opposite of media hype which happens off camera or is worked in ‘live’† (328). The function of this segment is to highlight the principle that these dramas are not reality; simply because the subject is â€Å"real† and falls into the pigeonhole of â€Å"non-fiction† by programmers, the ways in which these â€Å"documentaries† are assembled tend to fall into dramatic stereotypes associated with the exploitation of Freudian impulses, checked with a Marxian system of exploitation. The World Is Flat: â€Å"Infotainment† and relativism Modern news programming tends to cut and splice events of widely different qualities – from serious news items about plagues, famines, death and suffering to items about cuddly toys and cats getting stranded in trees. Also, programming on commercial channels are cut every fifteen minutes with a barrage of advertising, with the effect of sharply combining the â€Å"reality† of news footage and reality TV with the â€Å"non-reality† of advertising. Ethically, this places TV in general under the accusation of numbing the viewer and transforming him or her into the amoral, relativistic, emotionally numb and philosophically nihilistic consumer infant that sociopaths and corporations tend to prefer. As such, arguments about the â€Å"reality† of reality TV being less produced than fiction tends to falter instead, the handle of â€Å"reality† has the effect of simply lowering the viewer’s (or consumer’s) guard. The juxtaposition of mundane e vents in a fast barrage of creative editing sensationalises the mundane. In a triumph of style over content, some reality TV shows and news features use music and montage to create the illusion of event, when there is no event to speak of. â€Å"Real life† documentaries and long-running reality TV programmes, such as Changing Rooms and DIY SOS utilise quirky (and somewhat insipid) montage sequences with humorous music in order to generate a homely, friendly appeal. However, almost all reality TV programmes appeal to consumerist desires (an endless procession of programmes about house hunting, gardening, buying), or exploitative voyeurism (house cleaning programmes about â€Å"dirty† people, unsympathetic obesity programmes, a fixation upon sexual or cosmetic acts). Ethically, reality TV however, only ser

Creating an Interactive Web Site with CGI Essay -- HTML Web Page Creat

Creating an Interactive Web Site with CGI Introduction The Internet explosion of the 1990’s has been one of the most revolutionizing business factors of the decade. The Internet allows individuals and businesses to reach each other more effectively at an increasingly lower cost. However, the most effective method of interaction is two-way interaction. This applies whether the interaction is between two people, a person and a business or two businesses. Basic HTML web pages allow for easy one way interaction. It also allows people to send e-mail back and forth. More effective web pages allow for immediate two-way interaction. These pages can gather survey data, create shopping carts, check credit ratings or even simply have visitors sign a guest book. Interactive web sites definitely have advantages over their less advanced cousins. Common Gateway Interface (CGI) provides one of the more common formats for designing an interactive site. This paper will address some of the concepts behind creating an interactive web site with CGI. It will proceed by considering the following points: 1. Background 2. Creating forms Background Before explaining how CGI works, it is helpful to gain an overall perspective of how the internet itself functions in connection with the end user. Bruce Gronich of BigNoseBird.com provides a good analogy that will be used throughout this paper. He compares the end user’s browser to a rat searching for food. The garbage can doles out the food when the rat requests it. The garbage can is the server. So, the browser requests information from the server, and the server in return doles out the information that is requested. The server uses differe... ...lt;INPUT TYPE="reset" value=" Clear-Form"> <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="FORM_NAME" VALUE="THE TEST FORM"> <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="MAIL_TO" VALUE="person@to-get.mail.com"> </PRE> </FORM> Conclusion This paper has been primarily about some of the HTML codes required to put together an interactive web site. It has reviewed how the internet works and how to assemble a form on a browser. The paper has also addressed how the information needs to be formatted so that it can be successfully passed to a cgi script for further processing. Acknowledgements The primary source used in this paper was the web site www.bignosebird.com The web site www.icthus.net/CGI-city/ was also helpful. Finally, the textbook Frontiers of Electronic Commerce provided some information as well.

Qingdao- Report on our school trip Essay

The trip to Qingdao was perhaps the most successful I had been to and one the students all expressed satisfaction with, despite the numerous problems given the rushed nature of the trip and the disastrous first day spent at the airport. I felt that this was more due to the fact that we only had to spend three days. and anything more in such a small coastal resort would have stretched students’ patience to breaking point. Over 80% of the students were of the opinion that this trip â€Å"- was more organised† which, given the fact it had been completely unplanned and students had been unprepared (wearing clothes suited for the beach in Hainan and not for three days of heavy rain), is remarkable. One student did later email me to offer his opinion that â€Å"the last minute change to Qing Dao made the trip much less pleasant† although of those asked, nearly all agreed that there had been â€Å"good last minute planning.† Many expressed amazement that there had been no contingency plan given the fact most knew of the threat of a hurricane the week before. It was also a matter of concern that whereas we were told not to make such a trip due to the danger, the Chinese section by 17.00 were still waiting for an aeroplane to that very location. Students also felt that the â€Å"hotels were better than last year†, although at the same time expressed dissatisfaction with them and the first hotel in particular. Personally I felt the hotels were satisfactory, although the first one provided food that was universally disliked, with students using adjectives â€Å"bad† and â€Å"horrible† to describe it. The breakfast we had on that first morning certainly did not help to motivate the students. As a result of the singular nature of this trip, many recommendations and comments simply would not valid for the next such trip. For example, the lack of preparedness both in the itinerary and provisions for students (food and clothing) was simply due to the timing. I do wish to offer a recommendation that was made last year and judiciously ignored; that of tour guides. I was shocked to see that the tour group responsible for our disastrous trip to Chengdu last year (reminder: forcing students to endure 28 hours on a train, and an entire day on a bus to have less than an hour to visit a museum) was AGAIN put in charge of this one. I can only conclude that this was due to economic considerations, this group no doubt being the  cheapest. However, again I wish to ask the school to reconsider using such groups which to my mind are only motivated by money, have no concern about engaging students, and offer more obstacles than solutions in the obscene belief that they, and not the people paying them, are in charge. To be told they we are not welcome to change our itinerary without their agreement is deeply offensive to me. As one student informed me, ISB has done away with such groups, suggesting Never, EVER use a Chinese tour guide. They cut deals with restaurants and tourist traps and take you places that seem like huge Chinese amusement parks. You can’t get a decent tour there because the Chinese don’t really value what we value or think things are cool that we think are cool. For example, no one in China thought that the pictures I took were of any value. Their take is, â€Å"why would he want to take a picture of that alley or that market or that man; why doesn’t he take a picture of the Pearl Tower?† Tours these groups ‘organise’ are done so without any apparent thought given to the participants, in our case 15-16 year old teenagers most of whom are laowei. An incompetent guide with poor language abilities and an inability to engage the attention of teenagers all too often sacrifices what could be a golden opportunity for real bonding between students and staff. Indeed, these tours are run to make money, not to educate and encourage the development of students. Hence time is spent travelling to factories and markets to gain money for the guide, breeding resentment between students who are forced to waste their time travelling to and staying in such areas. Another student told me that tour group leaders are somehow required to take their tour groups to at least one market a day, even for Chinese tour groups that she had been on. She said the tour group leaders get a percentage from the merchants on what was spent by the group. Our students are a cynical, world-weary bunch for the most part and see this for the exploitation that it is. Specific problems were encountered at the airport, where two students had managed to organise a 14.00 flight to Qingdao only to have the tour organisers (neither of whom seem to be in charge) tell us to wait until  after lunch, only after which an attempt was made to arrange a flight four hours later. Upon arrival and for the duration of the trip, both tour organiser and the local guide argued between themselves in front of us which did nothing for morale or to reassure us. The most striking example during this trip that illustrates the problems of relying on tour guides was when we had visited the Taiqing Temple in southeast of Laoshan Mountain. Like so many other ‘historical’ sights in China, such places we are taken to are new, tour-group friendly replicas and frankly uninteresting. It is the largest and the oldest Taoist temple in China but, instead of discussing the historical significance of the site, the guide spoke only of simplistic ideas in Daoism and repeated the usual mantra â€Å"this stone looks like this and therefore is called the†¦.† As a result students paid no attention and began wondering off. Students were left without any appreciation or insight into what they had seen, and Paul was left with little time for his planned lesson with his students on Laoshan Mountain that had been completely overrun by tours so as to have been useless. What had been most important to me to visit was the German legation area as I actually teach this part of history to my class. Instead of seeing such architecture, we went only to the German governor’s house where no attempt was made by the guide to explain anything apart from dwelling on the fact that Mao had spent a month there as a guest in the 1950s. As one student remarked upon arriving back in Beijing, â€Å"the tour guides were annoying and knew little.† Of course we visited the Tsingtao Beer Museum, China’s first such facility. So quickly and dispassionately did the guide lead us through that I myself missed most of what was said and understood nothing about the history and process involved. I ended up feeling sorry for the chemistry teacher for whom this tour was especially important. The guides encouraged students to drink at the end of this tour, actually arguing with me in front of them to  let them drink pitchers of beer after I had limited each student to a glass. This I found unacceptable behaviour and unforgivable as it was I, not them, who would be left responsible and put under account once we returned. The last place we visited was the Chinese Naval Museum, which is apparently China’s largest. The main exhibits are souvenirs of Chinese navy history and de-commissioned Chinese navy weapons, warships and submarines including the destroyers used in the Second World War. I was especially bitter as an history teacher not having a guide to walk us through these remarkable exhibits but left students on their own to wander ignorantly. Some of us did venture onto a destroyer (by now it was raining heavily and we were wearing clothes for Hainan) but again, it was not until after the trip I discovered the importance of such a Soviet-built ship, which had actually shot down an American plane. As I am currently teaching this stage in history to this very class of IB1 students, I consider it to have been a tremendously wasted opportunity. Qingdao is famous for its rich historical and cultural resources and yet we saw little. I would recommend the next trip to Qingdao having students visit The Catholic church which is the largest of its kind in Qingdao. It is a Gothic style church designed by German architect Alfred Frederic Pohl and completed in 1934. This would help students gain greater cultural awareness as is the IB’s mission. Another church would have been the Lutheran, a Byzantium-style church completed in 1910, which was the first facility constructed by German settlers in Qingdao. I doubt the majority of our students have ever seen a Lutheran church before. Students next time could also visit the television tower on Mt. Xinhaoshan Park with its revolving top floor where they could view the coastal scenery and visit the exhibition of human communication history. This would have been far more useful to our students than simply depositing them on a forlorn beach for two hours. Also on this site is a park where two pavilions has been constructed overlooking the beaches. Besides the German legacy, Qingdao is useful for other cultural sites from Russian to Japanese buildings. Next time I would recommend students go past the Huashi Building, which was designed by a Russian architect and completed in 1932.The building incorporates Greek and Roman as well as Gothic architectural styles and is believed to be a typical castle construction combing Western architectural arts. Such a building cannot be seen in Beijing. I had wanted to take students to Xiaoqingdao lsle because in 1890German colonists erected a beacon to assist navigation before he Sino-Japanese war, but was not allowed by the tour guide due to fears about making the short journey by boat. Instead we spent another day on the shore. We had never been taken to Zhanqiao Pier, which is the symbol of Qingdao (as I know from the Tsingtao beer logo) and which had originally been completed in 1891 to be used as a dock and expanded by German colonists in 1897.At the end of there is a traditional two-story Chinese style pavilion, Huilan’ge with overhanging eaves and an octagon roof. Finally I think that students should also be taken to Qingdao Underwater World with its three sections of an intertidal zone, an underwater tunnel and a 4-story underground aquarium displaying marine species and marine science, if only for something to break the monotony. Perhaps the best way to end this necessarily brief report would be to allow the students themselves express their views. When asked at the end of the trip what the students felt, they all agreed that the likes: -â€Å"freedom to do what we wanted.† Admittedly this had been limited given the weather; such freedom too did not mean that they had not been under supervision throughout. -â€Å"coolness of the teachers.† I feel we all worked together very well as a  group. -â€Å"the fact that the opinions of students mattered.† Again, in my experience this has always been the case in the trips I had been to, although perhaps students were encouraged to help organise everything from alternative flights to beach activities and therefore felt particularly valued. -† was more organised.† â€Å"enjoyed being able to â€Å"hang out† with friends† -â€Å"enjoyed the sea/beach.† † the beach, teachers, seafood was good.† â€Å"got to know classmates much better.† They disliked: -â€Å"the curfew.† This is a strange point to me as it was only truly enforced the first night; on other nights teachers stayed up with them and played cards or Playstation. -â€Å"the food.† As always, we had to endure the same monotonous hotel food. Again, when breakfast is poor as was the case on the first day, it makes a difference to the morale of the students for the rest of the day). One Muslim student suffered the first dinner despite the guides knowing her restrictions. -â€Å"the tour guides.† I suggest we do as ISB does and plan such trips 5-6 months in advance, and have students come up with their own itinerary. Guides should be there to book hotels and buses and provide knowledgeable advice (not propaganda); they serve to assist teachers, not override and replace them. -† Lao Shan and the first hotel were horrible.† â€Å"12 hours at the airport was not fun at all.† Nevertheless, they were informed and asked for their opinions and advice throughout, so it was manageable. -† Wanted more beach activities and more fun activities†. This was a problem simply given the weather. â€Å"Hotels could have been better.† For this main point I perhaps should add that many felt embittered that they had replaced 4 star hotels in Hainan with swimming pools and the like for cheaper 3 star hotels in Qingdao with absolutely no facilities at all; not even a ping pong table. Nevertheless, the cost throughout was the same as it would have been for a week in Hainan.

Business Strategy Essay

For better understanding, this assignment has been organised in four sub- headings, they are as follows: the general overview of Porter’s Five Forces model; the importance or usefulness of Five Forces model; the criticisms and evaluation of Porter’s model; the recommendation and finally the conclusion. Overview of Porter’s model Johnson et al (2011) described Porter Five Forces as a strategic tool that helps identify the attractiveness of an industry in terms of five competitive forces: the threat of new entry, the threat of substitutes, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers and the extent of rivalry between competitors. Porter (1980) argues that this model is based on the insight that a good business strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organizations external environment. Particularly, competitive strategy should be based on an understanding of industry structures and the way they change. From the above explanation we can see that Porter’s Five Forces is a simple tool that supports strategic management in decision making through understanding where strength and weaknesses lie. Importance of Porter’s Five Forces The Porter’s Five Forces is a simple but powerful tool that supports strategic understanding where power lies in a business situation. It also helps to understand both the strength of the firm’s current competitive position, and strength of a position a company is looking to move to. †¢This model also emphasizes extended competition for value rather than just competition among existing rivals, and the simplicity of its application inspired numerous companies as well as business schools to adopt its uses as suggested by Wheelen and Hunger (1998). With clear understanding of where power lies, it will enable a company to take fair advantage of its strengths and improve on its weaknesses and off cause avoid taking wrong steps. Therefore to apply this planning tool efficiently, it is important to understand the situation and look at each of the forces individually. Criticisms and Evaluation of Five Forces Porters Five Forces is no doubt a powerful framework in determining the competitive nature of an industry. However it has been criticised by various commentators regarding its usefulness in today’s dynamic business environment. Although, Wheelen & Hunger (2002) recognised the five force they both thought that Stakeholders influence should have been included as the sixth force. This is because interest groups like the government, local communities, creditors, trade associations, special interest groups, unions and shareholders all have big influence on how the organisation operate. For instance, financial policies such as interest rates are being regulated by the government and may have a negative or positive effect on the organisation. Also as part of the stakeholders if creditors refuse to provide credit facilities for some firms could force them into liquidation. Porter’s model assumed that all businesses are competing against each other while in the actual sense some complement each to provide a better product, which are known as complementors. Complementors in this sense are businesses that provide complementary services to each other. These companies form strategic alliance to enhance the services that they provide either for the purpose of efficiency or cutting of cost. Example of this situation can be seen on iPods and headphones. Apple produced the iPod while Sony produces the headphone which Apple uses and same time Apple is competing with Sony on its brand of MP3 music player, in other words, each of these firm benefits from each other’s presence. Downes (1997) in his article â€Å"Beyond Porter† in the Context Magazine, suggested three new forces which he called; Digitalisation, Globalisation and Deregulation. Digitalization: He claims that organisations are now highly influenced by technological advancement, especially in information technology as well as retail organisations. Most firms no longer depend on high street sales rather online to boost their revenue. Some high street store also trying to play catch up with organisations like eBay and Amazon who have dominated the online. The introduction of credit cards by credit card organisations, loyalty cards by retail stores, all these new digital technologies allows companies to chase competitive advantage on a different level thereby creating new strategy to outweigh its competitors. Globalization: According to Downes (1997) days are gone when firms were only competing with their local rivals. Most organisations are now competing on international level by way of improved distribution channels, businesses can now buy and sell and on a global level. Customers, through the internet have the chance to shop around and compare prices globally. Even most medium size companies find themselves in an international market, even if they do not have branches overseas. Based on these facts it is not enough anymore for any business to position itself as a price-leader. Instead competitive advantages emerge now from the ability to develop long-term relationships to more mobile costumers and to manage extensive networks of customers and associates for mutual benefit. Deregulation: Industries like Communication, Railways, Airlines, now have different ways of competing against each other since firms are now in the hands of entrepreneurs’ unlike in the 1970 when most firms were in the hands of government. Deregulation creates more intense atmosphere for competition because every player in the industry wants to dominate the market. When compared to Porter’s Five Forces model, digitalization, globalization and deregulation have become more powerful forces in the last few decades, which Porter barely takes into consideration in his work. Today’s companies are highly influenced by technological progress, especially in information technology. Therefore, it is not advisable for any business to develop a strategy solely on the basis of Porters model. Shapiro and Varian (1998) claimed that economic laws do not change while technology do then went further to argue that Porter’s models are economic laws and rules that has been around for ages before his study but technology and information has moved and still moving and will continue to be a major force in competitive strategy. Presently, the level of information made available to businesses has intensified competition. For instance, firms can now gather so much information about their customers and how much they are willing to pay for the product. With customer’s shopping available to them they may choose to â€Å"lock them in† which would not have been possible many years ago when five forces was propounded. Despite the huge success of five forces in strategic management, this model did not give exact percentage of these forces to signal when the company is at risk, therefore the model on its own lacks enough information to actually guide decision makers. Although, still applicable in today’s dynamic business environment, it was advocated many years back when the business environment were not that competitive, for instant, when it was proposed it could be that a firm has only one supplier for its material which eliminated the possibility of strong competition among suppliers. This model from all indication assumed identifiable competitors, business partners, and customers who engage in more or less predictable ways. Kippenberger (1998), Haberberg & Rieple (2001) all suggested that it is not advisable to develop a strategy based on Five Forces model alone, it should be used in addition to other frameworks, thus SWOT and PESTEL analysis. This does not mean that Five Forces is invalid, but it is good to adopt a model knowing its merits and demerits. Rather than jump into a framework thinking it has solution to every situation. Recommendations Managers and decision makers in conducting analysis on Porter’s Five Forces should brainstorm on all relevant factors for the firm’s market situations and then check against the factors presented for each force. It will also be relevant to use positive sign to indicate forces that are in favour of the organisation and negative sign for forces strongly against the organisation in question. After identifying the favourable and unfavourable forces of the company’s performance and industry’s attractiveness, the manager should analyse the situation and examine the impact of these forces. Conclusion This assay has given a thorough account of Porter’s Five Forces by drawing attention to some of the criticisms of this model, which includes neglecting the all-powerful forces of Stakeholders, the emergent effects of digitalisation, globalisation and deregulation. Complementors and Collaborators as well as easy access to information were all overlooked by this framework. Through evaluation of this model, we also found that most organisations have managed to avoid the bargaining powers from either the supplier or distributors by way of backward or forward integration. This assignment acknowledged the usefulness of Porter’s model in strategic analyses even in today’s dynamic business environment but must not be used in isolation without considering other forces mentioned above. And finally organisations and decision makers should not assume that all their competitors and business partners are identifiable as suggested by this model.

Free Essays on The Alcoholic Empire

The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia Patricia Herlihy begins her book with an attention grabbing quote from a Russian temperance priest stating that â€Å"There is nothing in the world worse than drunkenness.† (1) This blunt phrase sets the tone of the book and prepares the reader for an up close and frankly detailed look at the role of alcohol in Russian history in all areas, including the economic, religious, social and political realms. Herlihy explains how all social problems and â€Å"bad things† in general were attributed to alcohol and expounds upon this by looking at how the state, military, church, doctors and the czar all tried to deal with the problem of excessive alcohol consumption. Of those who fought for prohibition and strict limits on alcohol consumption, many believed that the only way for this was through extreme change. Consequently, as vodka was one of the biggest forms of revenue for the Russian government, it was inevitable that this change would be in the form of governmental revol ution. Throughout the book, Herlihy did a good job of showing a wide variety of different viewpoints and stances on alcohol from different social classes, areas and groups of people. This broad overview lent to a better understanding and feeling of the times and a window into the daily lives of the people of Russia. This book also fit nicely into the class’s recent discussions about Nicholas II, and provides some background for events to come, most notably the outbreak of war beginning in 1914. (2) In August 1914, Nicholas II limited the sale of vodka to â€Å"first-class restaurants and clubs† and later extended the ban. (3) This one simple act helped lead to his own political downfall, as well as â€Å"increased deaths from alcohol poisoning, and, most critically, a shortage of grain for foodstuffs.† (4) Although Nicholas II had a significant role in the alcohol disturbance of society, he was not the mai... Free Essays on The Alcoholic Empire Free Essays on The Alcoholic Empire The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia Patricia Herlihy begins her book with an attention grabbing quote from a Russian temperance priest stating that â€Å"There is nothing in the world worse than drunkenness.† (1) This blunt phrase sets the tone of the book and prepares the reader for an up close and frankly detailed look at the role of alcohol in Russian history in all areas, including the economic, religious, social and political realms. Herlihy explains how all social problems and â€Å"bad things† in general were attributed to alcohol and expounds upon this by looking at how the state, military, church, doctors and the czar all tried to deal with the problem of excessive alcohol consumption. Of those who fought for prohibition and strict limits on alcohol consumption, many believed that the only way for this was through extreme change. Consequently, as vodka was one of the biggest forms of revenue for the Russian government, it was inevitable that this change would be in the form of governmental revol ution. Throughout the book, Herlihy did a good job of showing a wide variety of different viewpoints and stances on alcohol from different social classes, areas and groups of people. This broad overview lent to a better understanding and feeling of the times and a window into the daily lives of the people of Russia. This book also fit nicely into the class’s recent discussions about Nicholas II, and provides some background for events to come, most notably the outbreak of war beginning in 1914. (2) In August 1914, Nicholas II limited the sale of vodka to â€Å"first-class restaurants and clubs† and later extended the ban. (3) This one simple act helped lead to his own political downfall, as well as â€Å"increased deaths from alcohol poisoning, and, most critically, a shortage of grain for foodstuffs.† (4) Although Nicholas II had a significant role in the alcohol disturbance of society, he was not the mai... Free Essays on The Alcoholic Empire In her book, â€Å"The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia† Patricia Herlihy offers an in-depth and comprehensive view into the debilitating effects of Russia’s massive problem with alcoholism. The consequences of alcohol being such an integral part of Russian life are described in detail. Herlihy’s main focus is on the struggle that the Russians faced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the eventual rise and fall of the prohibition act. The source of this struggle was one key impasse: Russian society suffered greatly from alcohol, but the Russian economy depended on it. This book examines the battle between these two forces as well as the reasons that alcohol will never lose. In her examination of the history of alcohol in the Russian empire, Herlihy gives special attention to the period of the â€Å"Vodka Monopoly.† During this period, the state was the only supplier of vodka. This created a major conflict of interest. Vodka consumption rose after the vodka monopoly was implemented. This makes sense since the state stood to gain more funds from more vodka. This is where the hypocrisy of the empire begins: a bureaucratic organization called the Guardianship of Public Sobriety was created to warn people against the evils and dangers of alcohol. Thus, the country’s lone provider of alcohol was the leader in opposing its consumption. Despite the irony, many in the country saw the formation of the Guardianship as an example and formed their own temperance societies. Herlihy spends the majority of her book discussing the efforts of these societies to combat alcohol in the various institutions of Russia. This issue of alcohol is cited a s a cause for numerous social ills by many of the figures in Herlihy’s book. Poverty, crime, illiteracy, and general inferiority are all attached to the Russian’s addiction to alcohol. The military was scrutinized very closely for its alcoholic repu...

Galapagos essays

Galapagos essays A. After I read Galapagos, I thought it was a good story. It was a little different from other novels I have read in that the author, Kurt Vonnegut, had a different style than most other authors. I liked how he made comments about humans big brains that always gave them foolish or reckless ideas that almost always had negative results. The way he showed how a world changed because people no longer thought that paper money was valuable provoked many thoughts about how something like that could actually happen. B. I saw myself a few times throughout the book. For example, I saw myself in Mandarax; always a source of some information, none of which is of use to most people. Mandarax would always have something to say under any circumstance, but usually what it said had nothing to do with what was going on. Much like an internet search engine, you give it a bit of information and in return you get a whole lot of nothing. I also saw myself in Leon Trout. When the blue tunnel into the afterlife came for him, he didnt want to go until he found out what happened to the people on the ship. Once I start reading something and it gets to a situation where someone is in trouble; I dont like to stop until I know they are safe. From this story I learned a lesson. Dont always trust your big brain?! Though it may tell the rest of your body to do the things that make you live and breathe, it will sometimes tell you to something that might endanger or kill you. For instance, Mary Hepburns brain told her to put a plastic dress bag over her head to kill herself. I also learned to not judge someone by first sight or based on little knowledge. When Mary Hepburn first met James Wait, he was feeding some starving children. Sh...

DNA synthesis and repair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

DNA synthesis and repair - Essay Example contains over 3 billion bases that are similar in all people but the order of their arrangement determines the uniqueness of one individual and can be used to determine if there is any relationship between individuals. The DNA bases combine with each other to form a base pair for example when A combines with T, C and G they form a pair that is unique for each human being (Adams and OIRL Press, 1991, p.17). Each base is combined with a sugar molecule and a phosphate molecule and the combination is called a nucleotide which is arranged in two long strands forming a double helix. The spiral nucleotide forms its self like a ladder with the DNA pairs as the ladder rungs while the sugar ad phosphate molecules act like the sidepieces of a ladder (Kornberg and Baker, 2005, p.7). DNA serves the purpose of storing biological information since it is resistant to cleavage and both strands store the same biological information (Adams and OIRL Press, 1991, p.44). In the human body cells, there are normally 46 strands of DNA that are called chromosomes and they are coded in a sequence of heterocyclic amines (Adams and OIRL Press, 1991, p.47). The chromosomes contain genes that contain hereditary information used to distinguish an individual from another or establish their biological information. The human body cells are in a continuous process of multiplication due to cell damage and body growth. Prior to cell division the DNA material that was previously in the cell must be duplicated so that the cell to come after cell division will have a full amount of DNA material. The semi-conservertive process by which the dna material is duplicated is called DNA replication. The process is termed as semi conservertive since the DNA in the new cell contains one strand from the previous cell and a newly synthesized strand and DNA Replication take place by breaking the hydrogen bonds between bases of the two antiparallel strands (Adams and OIRL Press, 19 91, p.50). The unwinding of the two

Opinionated final paper- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Opinionated final paper- - Essay Example ten read the poem as a representative of the carpe diem theme, the speaker seems to step beyond the seize-the-day theme of â€Å"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May† into darker territory. The speaker of â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† imbues the poem with sexual imagery, tone, and wording that is of a serious nature and that would put any female reader on guard against his advances. The very title and opening of the poem are aggressive in their tone. The speaker refers to the â€Å"coyness† of the Mistress (Marvell 1). Most women are naturally shy and reserved in terms of sexual relationships and pursuit of such relationships. Society places a stigma on those women who are too forward or who pursue sex too much. Because society does this, many women become offended if their suitors do not perceive them as reserved in regards to sex. The speaker of the poem tells the Mistress that the â€Å"coyness . . . were no crime† only â€Å"Had we but world enough and time† (2 and 1). This approach is the equivalent of the modern pick-up artist’s technique of complimenting a woman but combining an insult into the compliment. The speaker compliments his mistress for her shyness but then insults her for putting off his advances for too long. Most women would recognize the insult hidden within the compliment and take offense to the tactics of the s peaker. The speaker continues insulting the Mistress’ shyness and coyness and aggressively attacks another of most women’s insecurities, their beauty. After informing his mistress that he would wait hundreds of years for her to give in to his advances, he revokes that statement by insulting his mistress’ beauty. He builds himself up by detailing how he would wait for her love â€Å"Till the conversion of the Jews† (Marvell 10). But, he informs her that should she wait that long her â€Å"beauty shall no more be found† (25). This fear is one of many women. They fear that time will rob them of their beauty and of the ability to

Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephants Essay

Ernest Hemingway Hills Like White Elephants - Essay Example As soon as the girl is pregnant, the American presses for an abortion saying that it will be a simple operation because he doesn’t want to settle down like the ‘white hills’ and still wants to enjoy life like the ‘elephant’. The emotional substance behind their togetherness is negated by the American’s attitude and Jig ultimately realizes this. While the American has choices, Jig is left with none. She has to either lose the baby or the man. She has to choose between her love and her responsibility. While she chooses to listen to the American because she loves him, she ultimately realizes that the element of love itself is lost, for, he doesn’t love her. Else, he wouldn’t have worn that facade of love only for pleasure and just to run away like a coward as soon as the trouble comes. The way they react to the problem in hand is also different. Jig is asking different questions and is genuinely interested in solving the problem. On the other hand, the American’s goal is to get rid of the problem instead of facing or solving it.

Dosing of cephalosporines in renal failure pateints Research Proposal

Dosing of cephalosporines in renal failure pateints - Research Proposal Example Aim- To understand the dosing of Cephalosporin in Renal failure patients. Method and Design Physical examination- should be performed for edema, ascites, dehydration. Measurement of body weight and height is performed. In obese patients the ideal body weight should be calculated and dose of drug should be planned consequently. Renal function- Estimation of creatine clearance (the volume of blood plasma that is cleared of creatinine in a unit time). Elimination of drugs is directly proportional to GFR (drugs excreted by kidneys). The Cockroft- Gault equation to estimate Clcr for age between 40- 80 years. Clcr (mL/min) = (140-age)x weight in kgs / 72 x serum creatinine (in mg/ dL) x (0.85 for women). Assessment of GFR from serum creatinine level presumes the stability of renal function and also formulate that serum creatinine measurement is constant. If there is alteration in renal function, the creatinine level does not indicate the true clearance. In case of oliguria, Clcr is approxi mated as 10mL/min. In cases with acute renal failure, the non-renal clearance of medicines diminishes by means of time window of renal failure. In the initial course of the therapy, personalized pharmacokinetic dose for patients with severe renal impairment is vital.

Criticisms of the Federal Reserve System Assignment

Criticisms of the Federal Reserve System - Assignment Example M1 is a category of supply of money that includes all the physical money; that is, currency and coins. It also includes negotiable order of withdrawal accounts and checking accounts. M2 is a category of money supply which includes M1 and saving deposits, market funds, and time related deposits. When M1/M2 is defined commercial institutions such as banks create money in the society. Fiscal policy is the way the government influences its economy through controlling its revenue or taxation and its expenditure. The federal reserve alone controls fiscal policy. If any other governmental entity was involved in this, Fed would have been scraped due to the criticism towards it. it is important to have three different governmental entities so that each one of them serves specific purposes for the public. This ensures that the public receives better services since they are handled efficiently. Fed is there in order to take care of a sensitive issue of money. It has a major influence on the economy of a country and therefore should be handled separately. In monetary policy there is an authority to control money supply to promote economic growth (Paul,

The Pareto welfare criterion requires that welfare improvements for Essay

The Pareto welfare criterion requires that welfare improvements for some are not achieved at the expense of damages to others. As it is impossible to imagine a - Essay Example As a decision-making tool, the Pareto chart provides facts and insights necessary for setting priorities. Pareto set up a welfare criterion known as the Pareto optimum which turned out to be an introductory perception in the theory of welfare. This Pareto optimum introduced by Vilfredo is a situation of dealing in which no individual can be improved through welfare while making the other individual worse off. If a change in the economy is in the positive and no individual is worsened off on the cost of one individuals betterment then it is known as Pareto improvement. It can also be said that the situation is Pareto superior. Pareto efficiency is a state resulting in an improvement in welfare of one or more individuals without adversely affecting the welfare of others. Pareto's theory was based upon the equal distribution of resources so that the well being of one person would not affect the well being of the other. This is not being achieved in the now world but in the recent years governments are taking steps to influence proper resource allocation. These steps include the introduction of public goods and services which are an exception and face no rival ness. The governments are increasingly getting involved in the field of semi public goods which are neither owned by the private or public sector companies. The governments provide subsidies which help in lowering the goods prices; lower the cost prices, impose tax penalties to limit the consumption or production of a good and mandate the goods or services like education on the public. This helps the government to properly allocate all the resources available. Tax penalties or legal punishments are enforced on the manufacturers by the government in order to limit the production or consumption of a good for e.g. pollution. They would impose excise taxes on products so that the production of harmful goods is dispirited for e.g. alcohol. The government also has an important role to play in the public Economic En terprises. They could invest more in their public sector and improve the goods in the market provided by them to the public at a much lowered price then available in the market. They could even privatize the companies so that natural monopolies are avoided in the market which exhibit increasing returns to scale. Such types of monopolies are taken over by the government on the basis of efficiency. The government would charge a price for the products less than the average cost and this shortage would be balanced by the tax revenues. And lastly the government could put on economic regulations so that the market works on a safety standard for e.g. providing licenses or patents, setting general anti-trust regulations and etc. This would help the government to change the pattern of resource allocation and thus attain the level of Pareto efficient allocation. Pareto efficiency has proved tremendously helpful for economists; The First Welfare Theorem affirms that when manufacturers and customers both are price takers, the equilibrium allocation is always Pareto efficient. For this reason, a competitive financial system fundamentally will distribute resources proficiently as customers can make the most of their utilities. The Second Welfare Theorem states that any market that is Pareto efficient will include a set of given costs that forms a competitive equilibrium in the economy. Many economists may and

Dosing of cephalosporines in renal failure pateints Research Proposal

Dosing of cephalosporines in renal failure pateints - Research Proposal Example Aim- To understand the dosing of Cephalosporin in Renal failure patients. Method and Design Physical examination- should be performed for edema, ascites, dehydration. Measurement of body weight and height is performed. In obese patients the ideal body weight should be calculated and dose of drug should be planned consequently. Renal function- Estimation of creatine clearance (the volume of blood plasma that is cleared of creatinine in a unit time). Elimination of drugs is directly proportional to GFR (drugs excreted by kidneys). The Cockroft- Gault equation to estimate Clcr for age between 40- 80 years. Clcr (mL/min) = (140-age)x weight in kgs / 72 x serum creatinine (in mg/ dL) x (0.85 for women). Assessment of GFR from serum creatinine level presumes the stability of renal function and also formulate that serum creatinine measurement is constant. If there is alteration in renal function, the creatinine level does not indicate the true clearance. In case of oliguria, Clcr is approxi mated as 10mL/min. In cases with acute renal failure, the non-renal clearance of medicines diminishes by means of time window of renal failure. In the initial course of the therapy, personalized pharmacokinetic dose for patients with severe renal impairment is vital.

The Pareto welfare criterion requires that welfare improvements for Essay

The Pareto welfare criterion requires that welfare improvements for some are not achieved at the expense of damages to others. As it is impossible to imagine a - Essay Example As a decision-making tool, the Pareto chart provides facts and insights necessary for setting priorities. Pareto set up a welfare criterion known as the Pareto optimum which turned out to be an introductory perception in the theory of welfare. This Pareto optimum introduced by Vilfredo is a situation of dealing in which no individual can be improved through welfare while making the other individual worse off. If a change in the economy is in the positive and no individual is worsened off on the cost of one individuals betterment then it is known as Pareto improvement. It can also be said that the situation is Pareto superior. Pareto efficiency is a state resulting in an improvement in welfare of one or more individuals without adversely affecting the welfare of others. Pareto's theory was based upon the equal distribution of resources so that the well being of one person would not affect the well being of the other. This is not being achieved in the now world but in the recent years governments are taking steps to influence proper resource allocation. These steps include the introduction of public goods and services which are an exception and face no rival ness. The governments are increasingly getting involved in the field of semi public goods which are neither owned by the private or public sector companies. The governments provide subsidies which help in lowering the goods prices; lower the cost prices, impose tax penalties to limit the consumption or production of a good and mandate the goods or services like education on the public. This helps the government to properly allocate all the resources available. Tax penalties or legal punishments are enforced on the manufacturers by the government in order to limit the production or consumption of a good for e.g. pollution. They would impose excise taxes on products so that the production of harmful goods is dispirited for e.g. alcohol. The government also has an important role to play in the public Economic En terprises. They could invest more in their public sector and improve the goods in the market provided by them to the public at a much lowered price then available in the market. They could even privatize the companies so that natural monopolies are avoided in the market which exhibit increasing returns to scale. Such types of monopolies are taken over by the government on the basis of efficiency. The government would charge a price for the products less than the average cost and this shortage would be balanced by the tax revenues. And lastly the government could put on economic regulations so that the market works on a safety standard for e.g. providing licenses or patents, setting general anti-trust regulations and etc. This would help the government to change the pattern of resource allocation and thus attain the level of Pareto efficient allocation. Pareto efficiency has proved tremendously helpful for economists; The First Welfare Theorem affirms that when manufacturers and customers both are price takers, the equilibrium allocation is always Pareto efficient. For this reason, a competitive financial system fundamentally will distribute resources proficiently as customers can make the most of their utilities. The Second Welfare Theorem states that any market that is Pareto efficient will include a set of given costs that forms a competitive equilibrium in the economy. Many economists may and

Monster Mash Essay Example for Free

Monster Mash Essay Everyone loves a good scare. The rush we feel when our worst nightmares are realized, and yet that small inkling in our minds reminds us, this isn’t real. It’s fun. First we clench and scream and our hearts pop out of our chests. Then, we smile, laugh, and say â€Å"wow, that scared me† escape our lips, and we again move on with the rest of our average everyday lives. It’s exciting, and to some, arousing. But the concept of horror raises an all too common inquiry. What if you could become one of those famous monsters of the silver screen? Would you choose to be the seductive vampire, the gnarly werewolf, the ghastly ghost, or the ravenous Frankenstien? Now I know what you’re thinking. What about Jason Vorhees, or Freddy Kruger? What about Leatherface, or the Pinhead? Those are all excellent horror film identities. They are however, latter day principals that have all been crafted from the inspiration of the age old favorites. We couldn’t possibly begin to appreciate Jason Vorhees or Leatherface without first acknowledging the colossal juggernaut that was Frankenstien. So for this paper, I’ll only be focusing on the primary figures of horror. Let’s kick this off with an all-time classic. This horror figure amassed not only one of the largest fan bases in film, but directly influenced its own underground culture. Bela Lugosi donned the crimson cape in 1927 as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, where he was talent-spotted as a character actor for the new Hollywood talkies, appearing in the first Dracula film with sound. It would be four years later, with the movie adaptation of that play that vampires would become a public icon. Here we are almost ninety years later, vampire lore has erupted into many renditions, many new ideals. There has been games, and music inspired by their sultry image. These being thrive on the lust and temptation of man, the sexiness of evil. They indulge in blood, and ritual. Only ever able to enjoy their immortality at night, as sunlight invariably reduces them to dust and ash. They are dexterous, equally cunning, using sleight of hand and a quick tongue t o gain your every allegiance. They are connected into every faà §ade of regular, and have either allies, or brethren in powerful social circles. The older the vampire, the more attuned to the gift. On the darker side of this coin lies the cold hard fact that you are completely vulnerable to fire, sunlight, and according to EVERY SINGLE vampire movie, the inevitable betrayal of those closest to you. Which for me begs the ultimate question, â€Å"what good is immortality, if you have no one to share it with†. One a cold dark night, when the moon is full, can you hear the howling of their kind. They are excellent hunters, and even better combatants. They are supernaturally strong, fast, and almost impossible to fend off. All it takes is a simple scratch and your fate is sealed. The werewolf is a tragic Monster. There is nothing sexy or fun about this curse. Every four weeks, when the moon is full, your body reconstructs itself. Breaking bones, and rearranging them. Stretching muscle mass, and skin. I don’t recommend watching someone turn if you are squeamish or faint of heart. The mind goes into an instinctive mode, where you can only process hunger, and anger. You’re compelled not by your humanity, but by the beast within. No matter how you shake it, or which rendition of this monster you look at, werewolves are awesome and sad. Immense power, and raw animal agility, but without a single ounce of control. The concept of man becoming beast has been around for a long time. Ancient Celtics used to believe the spirit of the earth created them to protect her forests from all dangers. It wasn’t until 1941 that the â€Å"wolf man† would see the silver screen, and forever change the way we looked at secluded romantic ventures in the wood. Speaking of silver, nothing but, can truly bring this monster to peace. Ghosts are a funny ideal. They scare the daylights out of us, yet never even threaten us with imminent danger. Most of the time, they are the remnants of someone looking to warn us or tell us something they didn’t get a chance to while they were alive. Yet, like the others, they manage to drive us crazy, and inspire multimedia frenzies. Personally, I hate all these darned ghost hunting shows on TV nowadays. They never seem to really grasp the concept. Its like I’m watching the ghost of Seinfeld, trying one last time to do a horrible stand up monologue. Still the imagery of being there, but not there, and subsequently affecting your surroundings with how you feel, sounds like horror gold. For as much literature is out there on these monsters, very little is actually known. There are a lot of myths about spirits, so it’s hard to decipher what is truth from what is fiction. Some sources say they cannot cross running water, others say that salt naturally repels them. Most say that wrought iron, or cold iron will disperse them quickly. Last but not least, the awesome Frankenstein monster. The twisted dream of an eccentric medical school dropout. A being brought to life with the grotesque remain of the dead. The feeble attempts of a mad man to play god. This monster is as powerful as he is awe-inspiring. Unnaturally super strong, and equally impatient, he towers over the other monsters. He is remarkably resilient, and can repair himself but using new parts. A horrific machine of flesh and bone. Having to accept the weight of being the only of his kind, is the only solace he will ever hope to achieve. At least not until bride of Frankenstein, and we all know how that ends. Mary Shelly gave birth to this horrific story in 1818, originally adapted to be a drama that focused on Dr. Frankenstein as tortured soul, looking for repentance from his monolithic creation. This would fade in 1931, when Boris Karloff donned the neck bolts and platform boots. Becoming an instant classic on the silver screen, Frankenstein would later be seen taking care of Dracula’s coffin in the daytime and feeding the wolf man on the full moon. Never saying much, as to forego the myth that reanimated brain tissue results in a zombie state of mind, Frankenstein does most of his communication in gestures. I would like to believe that the incredible HULK is somehow inspired by him. Choosing an archetype of horror can be taxing. But knowing not only what you stand to gain, but what you stand to lose is paramount. Everyone focuses so on the merit of being a monster. As much as they are powerful, they are weak. To truly choose means to condemn yourself to a live of horror. Would you sacrifice the sun for immortality? Or are you more privy toward the animalistic freedom in exchange for your sanity. Or maybe you’d remain human, and use this hypothetical as tactical advantage. Knowing is half the battle, right? References: IMDB.com Copyright  © 1990-2013 IMDb.com, Inc. Bela Lugosi http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000509/bio The Wolf Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034398/?ref_=sr_3 Frankenstein- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021884/?ref_=sr_6 Monsters An Investigators Guide to Magical Beings Creators: John Michael Greer Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD. Sept. 2001

Corruption In Health Care

Corruption In Health Care Our optimism is derived not from theory but from our day-to-day work, which ranges from health policy leadership roles to the management of an academic integrated delivery system to hands-on patient care. From this work, we have a frontline view of the good that an organization can produce, but also the inefficiency, missed opportunities, confusion, and occasional harm that cycles the working of a health care organization [2]. While working for a long year within a government organization in the country of India, I came across many wrongs that I could lay account for, which are quite evidently the root cause for poor healthcare within India. Corruption the taboo that infests Indian mainstream medicine, from the physicians to the lowly staff fall prey to this unethical practice. Her life and death expectancy are not measured through the seriousness of the patients health but the way in which he can satisfy the insatiable corruption around. The biggest killer in India today is not the mosquito, population, poverty, not tobacco, and certainly not the polio bacterium despite the disproportionate effort spent on eradicating it, it is corruption. To make it sound more technical and acceptable to the medical profession perhaps we need to label it. Coruptionoma, which may in the future lead to a global epidemic threat [1]. Today in India where scientist claim to have sent men to the moon polio is still common in existence, somewhere a child dies every minute of every day from diarrhea or due to lack of basic care and every 6 minutes a woman dies from pregnancy related causes (official GoI figures). Infant female feticide is increasingly observed in wealthier districts with high literacy rates. Road traffic accidents in Delhi and Mumbai alone are of epidemic proportions. It is a myth that high technology and costly medicine are the best ways to treat a patient and bring health reforms, it is easily achievable through age old ways readily available then why are the above problems not catered to and still spreading at an alarming rate? It is the disease of corruption that makes managing a health practice impossible. 2. CORRUPTION in Health Care While working as a resident medical officer at a government hospital in India I faced innumerous issues in the management but the issue that was commonly causing chaos is corruption. Corruption comes evident in various forms and puts the whole effort of providing good service or trying to salvage the oath taken in service of our patients. The things I have personally experienced working in an Indian public hospital for over a period of one year is that the life expectancy of a person depends on the financial background of the person. The fact that women in labor die due to late arrival of ambulances and un operational equipments Adulterated drugs proliferate because high level politicians who encourage or protect the people who sell them. Doctors dont attend place of work despite drawing a wage from the Government. Large amount of medicine wasting before reaching the point of use. Unwillingness amongst underpaid staff who either sit on months of strike for their appraisals or either find under table ways of moving their files. Unavailability of clean water and hygienic environments resulting in filthy hospitals due to lack of accountability and supervision. Issuing of licenses to service providers and manufacturers who are incapable but willing to pay high bribes. Negligence in documentations in departments and usage of illegal means to alter information for self benefit. Power breakdowns compromise the safety of hospitals due to surging charges and lack of government help. Officials elected for the purpose of recuperating the health conditions neglect their sole purpose are busy catering to their political scandals and filling their pockets by the power of their seat. Unnecessary drug prescribing by doctors making practice a means of advertisement for scrupulous pharmaceutical companies. Under the desk payments demanded from patients by everyone for the watchman to the doctor. Buildings constructed at inappropriate sites to please politicians and others, discouraging proper use. Staff wanting to make their private practices look more efficient than the public sector caters to theft and sabotage of instruments. Favoritism and relational influences give opportunities to the undeserving candidates for higher post and even educational sponsorships. Loved ones are made to pay bribes to provide loved ones with immediate medical care due to unethical working standards. [[1], edited based on true personal experience] Corruption In Its Various Forms 3. FINANCIAL Management Corruption Corruption is seen in every aspect of healthcare mainly financial management of the organization. In a recent report in an Indian daily Indians pay bribes worth Rs 2,728 cr (equivalent to approximately US$570m annually), the report finds that the public sectors surveyed the health and education sectors were the most corrupt [2]. Factors contributing to financial corruption: Low Wages for Public servants Low Wages, Poor patterns of incentives and bad working environment relates to the capacity of an organization to attract and retain honest, skilled and motivated staff in a long term similarly, low wages in the public sector are likely to attract less qualified, poorly motivated and potentially disloyal staff, resulting in an opaque, inefficient and potentially corrupt staff. Informal fees Of course, like unofficial fees, are not official nevertheless, developed like more of a practice. The underpaid officials and underlying poverty influence the practitioners to fill their pockets by unofficial fees [5]. In my experience Low wages is a greater public tolerance for corrupt practices when the worker incomes are insufficient for living the working environment is intolerable with bleak chances of improvement due to the already existent corruption at the political and higher regions [4]. The existent salaries perceived as unfair in comparison to private sector salaries. Thus subsistence strategy or survival technique that compensate for inequitable working conditions and hardships faced economically make the demanding of under counter money or accepting bribes for poorly paid staff. Illiteracy amongst masses The common story amongst people of developing nations is the lack of knowledge and self righteousness. Though the government acts in favor of free medical camps and health coverage the poor due to their lack of awareness fall prey to corruption where they pay for the rights freely available to them at public hospitals. Free vaccinations for polio, medical camps in rural areas and treatments for HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses, cancer and movements to eradicate malaria have been readily undertaken by the government, but illiteracy amongst the rural and lower sectors (i.e. working class) leads to corruption and future diminishing health conditions. Lack of funds The public hospitals rely on government funds or fund raising events which hardly keep pace with the fast growing health sector. The increase in technology has levied a burden on the feeless hospital where the promised care cannot be delivered due to aging population and increasing diseases. The only way in which the organization avoids complete shutdown is by compromising in the health care by using obsolete technology and unmaintained hospitals with inexperienced staff working in unhygienic conditions. Leading to lesser scope of modernization or remodeling facilities to provide better health care. This situation also provokes the organizations to remove their staff for balancing their financial need causing a setback in the prosperity of the nation. 4. How can the financial management corruption be dealt with? Changes in accounting systems Health systems require clear and simple accounting and procurement standards based on legal framework that encourages transparency participation and due timeliness. An effective supervision and auditing systems is essential in improving the over sightedness that is the root cause to loop holes in an organization and ensure effective enforcement of rules that punish misconduct. Budget transparency Transparency accounts for practices and expenditures to be open to public and legislative involving scrutiny and that civil society at all stages of budget formulation, execution and reporting [8]. Budget transparency requires an information system that produces timely, reliable and accurate information in order to hold public officials accountable for the use of allocated resources. Decentralization Decentralization is a favored strategy with a view to enabling broader public participation and improves technical as well as allocation efficiency, involving public in the decision marketing process and enhancing the responsiveness of the health system. Research indicates that in poorer countries, higher fiscal decentralization is associated with lower mortality rates and improved health outcomes even in high corruption environments [9]. Privatization in health sector The lack of accountability arises when institutions are weak public funds is low, privatization of health services can be seen as an alternative method of improving the quality and effectiveness of health services. Privatization limits the powers of the public officials and thus their opportunities of influencing bribery and corruption. Monitoring the quality, reliability and cost-effectiveness of private care and treatments, ensures access to quality health services to the needy and also prevents abuse of the resources. Managing the rates of medicines in private by the displaced informal payments would make a mere difference in public and private care. Resource management Tracking the supply demand chain and eliminating the middle men who add to the price of medicines and also influence illegal bribery. Encouraging the tracking the level of stock and recording the expiry of medicines which may harm the patients health. Keeping distributions flow constant and eliminating the unused and outdated stock rather than black marketing supplies for personal gain. 5. Drug Management Corruption The corruption in drug management affects the price, availability and quality of drugs, undermining safe and affordable access to essential medicine in many developing countries mainly India. Due to the complexity, in the opaque system of health services influenced by large flows of money involved, forge fraud and corruption at all points of the organizational chain, from the registration at hospitals to the admissions and selection of medical treatment and distribution to the promotion of medicines. This is likely to have a long term impact on health and economic outcomes especially the health census of a developing nation [3]. The factors influencing drug corruption Availability The drug procurement and pharmaceutical expenditure constitute a large part of the health care budget after salary expenditure. More than 20 to 50 % of the funds are promised for making drug available at affordable prices and thus indicating a growth in health care standards. [6] Corruption in procurement and distribution of pharmaceutical and medical supplies reduces access to essential medicines; doctors prescribe medicines on basis of the cut they are offered by the pharmaceuticals. The vulnerable groups thus fall victim to shortage of the facilities and healthcare. Inadequate provision of drug and medical supplies has a direct bearing on the performance of the organization. Registrations and legalities The market approval of the production and distribution sector is highly influenced on the bribes that the companies offer to pay than the adequacy neither capability of the company nor the potency of the drug. It is a regulatory decision of the political bodies concerning the health sector to allow a medicine to be marketed in a given country. Compliance with regulations elongates the period of drug licensing, accreditation and approvals can prove costly for pharmaceutical companies wanting to launch a new product. Some of them may try to bribe or influence the regulator simply to speed up the approval process. The middle chain of distribution elongates and also becomes costlier by the amount of unofficial money associated with the drug release of drug release or distribution this can also affect the setting of user fees for drug registration, which are often set well below true cost [6]. Pharmacies and drug stores also require due registration and licensing. The process of licensing pharmacies for operation is corrupted by bribes, favoring kin or political contacts of government agents, geographic inequities, and facilities that do not follow government regulations. As with the registration process the responsible national experts receive compensation from pharmaceutical companies that influence their statistics and thus influencing wrong judgments. Drug Selection The selection of essential medicines in a given country needs to use defined criteria and consultative and transparent process. The inclusion of any pharmaceutical on the list of nations essential medicines is influenced by means of bribery gain due to the opacity in the selection process [8]. Interested parties may also bribe the committee responsible for deciding which products are reimbursed through government social insurance programs. Procurement and lack of skill Providing health facilities with drug and medical supplies is a very complex process. This involves a large variety of members interacting between the private and public sectors. Governments health officials lack the managerial skills required to specify technical details, supervise bidding and monitoring the already active contracts and trail their legal fulfillment. Corruption can occur at any stage of the process influence decisions on the model of procurement rather than competitive bidding, on the type and volume of procured supplies rather than the demand enlisted, and on specifications and selection criteria hence compromising access to essential medicines and hampering their quality endangering lives of the poor who are the most vulnerable victims to corruption. In a context where quality controls are difficult to exercise, an increasing lack of funds results in corruption where officials sell low quality, expired, counterfeit and harmful drugs at cheaper prices. Corrupt procurement officers also purchase sub-standard drugs in place of quality medicines pocketing the difference. Unmonitored systems and lack of official records Falling short of finance the systems are obsolete and poorly monitored, record-keeping is ineffective hence the accounting mechanisms make it an easy opportunity for the corrupt, theft of large quantities of drugs and medical supplies depositories and medical facilities, sale of samples for personal gain in private practices or on the black market [8]. Puppets or patients A Strategy to supplement their meager salaries doctors working for government has been increasingly allowed to open private practices Resulting to which doctors spend official time in public facilities treating private patients, or merely channeling patients to their private practice.Due to the lack of punishment the doctors are either absent or not concerned with their low salary jobs playing with the lives of their patients. 6. How can the drug management corruption be dealt with? Tracking Registration process Authorities need to ensure transparency and accountability. A formal committee responsible for registration of medicines needs to be established where the basis of selection remain technical and competitive with easily accessible terms and conditions and fixed payable fees. Training should be provided for the officials who are responsible managing records and performing registration activities. Drug selection To limit corruption in the process of drug selection practical involvement and fair practice is a must where adopting lists of essential medicines that are based on standard evidence-based treatment guidelines at national and sub-national levels. Government officials need to ensure that the selection of these essential medicines is based on transparent process with expert committee responsible for this exercise operating according to published terms of reference, whose members will be selected based on expertise, and whose decisions will be influenced by current state of scientific evidence. Improving access to medicine In order to tackle this complex problem the causes and manifestations of corruption and the ongoing in the region are too be evaluated to prevent it. Agreements to establish a working group with the industry and NGOs in order to promote transparency in the health sector based on various health standards. Procurement management The prerequisite for curtailing corruption in the procurement process consists of defining rules and guidelines that reduce discretionary powers where they are likely to be abused and to increase the probability for corrupt practices to be detected and sanctioned. Promoting transparency in the procurement process can be achieved by offering clear documentation and public access to bidding results, if possible using an electronic bidding system where interference is not possible, and involving civil society at all stages of the process. Technical assistance and to manage competitive bidding training for procurement officers can also improve standards of the government [3]. Distribution rights To reduce illegal practices at the distribution stage of medical supplies include establishing controlled inventory systems, improving record keeping providing security against robbery in repositories. Providing tools for improving drug distribution systems, including guidelines for forecasting, supply chain management and managing process flow in the distribution system. Promotion Other possible measures include banning practices of gift and sponsorship, following WHO ethical guidelines on medicines promotion [10], and promoting codes of ethics in marketing through trade and professional organizations. The practitioners should be educated against the promotional propaganda of the pharmaceutical companies. 7. summary Addressing the issue of rising health care costs is critical to the economic health of our country, and the physical health of its residents. In this situation when corruption enters the developing nations mainstream it soils the whole system from the lower working class to the managerial level. They participate in the malpractice of endangering the lives of their patients, rather than making medical supply and health services readily available? National health officials are interested in pocketing the differences they earn by under counter money and unofficial fees for items termed as free. Financial management faces corruption due to its poor accountability and inadequate supervision. The Lack of trained officials leads to unmaintained records, wastage of medical supplies and unavailability of required medicines. As a resident official in one of the busiest hospitals I observed the lack of enthusiasm amongst the working staff and also the practitioners this attitude is mainly influenced by the lack of funds, insufficient salaries and unhygienic working environments. The only alternative to satisfy their mere day to day needs , officials are forced to accept bribes and get involved in illegal activities. The drugs not for sale are robbed and distributed at private institutes or also black marketed during times of high demand. The supply is irrespective of demand. Competition in the pharmaceuticals has lead to influencing of doctors in prescribing high cost medicines for their personal benefits and gifts. The respect of human life and the oath of serving our nation with honesty has long been forgotten especially in the Indian sub continent. Lots of ways have been prescribed in books of many volumes but corruption as a disease may blame politicians, poverty and many other uncontrollable traits but the only virus for this disease is human nature and the lack of self control and honesty. The selections of political power is always in the hands of the masses then blaming our leaders and giving them opportunities is like blaming ourselves for the condition we find ourselves in. As an Indian belonging to the middle class I too have observed the corruption in our country, not done much to prevent or stop it but have done enough to encourage and kindle its existence.