Ethical Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Ethical Dilemma - Essay Example As a result of such actions, I am forced to deal with the outcomes of someone else’s decision leading to a threat of a damaged reputation of a plant or even a criminal responsibility. Having found myself in such a situation, I would definitely inform management regarding the issue. I would do this for two reasons. First of all, because making a decision to bury the information once again would mean supporting a tendency of lying at a workplace. Second of all, because not revealing the truth might negatively affect my own career and put in danger employees working under inappropriate conditions, which might negatively affect their health. Thus, I would inform the management team about my finding, and negotiate with them the best possible way out of the situation. Thus, I would inform the remaining employees about the problem and then set an obligatory rule to wear hearing protection at work. Apart from it, I will gather all six workers and Frank and ask them to write an officia l explanation of the situation. As a result, the gap in an operating charter will be filled in order to avoid similar situations in the future. Although such a decision might negativly affect the reputation of Frank, the truth needs to be revealed for a sake of employee's well-being and enterprise's security not even mentioning that such a decision is the only possible one I can make if I want to be honest and dedicated to my work. Frank has made a mistake that affected other people as well, and it is fair to call him to account.

Why STIs are called silent infections

Why STIs are called silent infections In the following paragraphs I will be discussing why sexually transmitted diseases are called silent infections. I will also be discussing the topic of urinalysis and its components and how these components may reveal if the body is functioning normally or abnormally. . The information pertaining to these subjects relates to the knowledge I have gained through my readings of The Human Body in Health Disease, as well as personal knowledge and opinion. Explain why sexually transmitted diseases are often called silent infections, and discuss why this is especially true for women. The reason sexually transmitted diseases are called silent infections is that many of them are asymptomatic infections which produce no visible or immediate physical symptoms, thus an individual may be infected with an STD and not know it for days or weeks, even up to years because there are no symptoms present. The bacterium called Chlamydia trachoma, which produces the disease Chlamydia, can be asymptomatic for months and up to years. When symptoms occur they may be very minor at first in women, such as: vaginal discharge, frequent urination that may be painful, pain during sex, vaginal itching and burning. Since a yeast infection (candida albicans) can produce these same symptoms in a woman they may just treat it as a yeast infection and not see a doctor till the symptoms progress or are not relieved by current treatment for some time. This may not be the case with men, since the most common symptoms of a yeast infection in men are extreme itching of the penis glands and red sores on the penis, but they may also experience burning while urinating and uncommonly have discharge from the penis. With Chlamydia, a man that shows symptoms will most likely also have burning while urinating and penis discharge. Yeast infections in men are not as common and these kinds of symptoms usually causes a man to go straight to the doctor instead of the drug store. The disease Chlamydia is very common, and if diagnosed early it can be treated very effectively, but left untreated it can cause a number of health issues such as: conjunctivitis, which is an eye infection or pinkeye; urogenital infections such as yeast infections; systematic infections which are infections that are spread throughout the body, and also progress to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which causes infertility and sterility, and if untreated may cause death through septic shock. The bacterium syphilis (treponema pallidum) is another good example of a STD that takes a number of months to cause any visib le or physical symptoms and has three stages that it may progress through if left undiagnosed and untreated. The first stage, primary syphilis is highly contagious and produces chancre sores on the outside and inside of the vagina, the penis and scrotum and also the mouth. This stage can be treated with antibiotics, and if left untreated it may resolve itself within a month or so, but if this disease is not treated in the first stage it is possible that it will recur later as the second stage. The second stage, is secondary syphilis, is also highly contagious and at this point the disease has spread throughout the body and its organ systems. In this stage the symptoms may include sore throat, fever, headaches and a skin rash on the hands and feet. Also, the individual may develop wart-like sores on the penis or vagina areas. Besides the wart-like sores, all other symptoms may not be recognized as caused by a possible STD since these symptoms are similar to the common cold and allerg ic rash. So once again, the disease may be silent in it diagnosis and goes untreated so it can progress to the next stage, as well as most likely infecting others. The third stage is called tertiary syphilis and the disease is still affecting the body and its organ systems (systematic stage) throughout. By now many of the organ systems may be showing signs of the disease, and may be developing problems which can cause many serious health issues and possible death. The STD HIV and trichomoniasis are also asymptomatic in most individuals for some time. These are just a few of many STDs an individual may contract that may show no immediate symptoms and can go untreated, and can continue to spread from individual to individual. The reason STDs are especially silent diseases for women is that they may move to other parts of the body and cause damage of secondary infections/diseases without producing any symptoms. If some symptoms do develop they may present themselves as a common infection, such as, yeast infection or urinary tract infection. STDs that go undiagnosed in women can spread through the reproductive system (cervix, uterus and uterine/fallopian tubes) as well as the blood and other organ systems. The two STDs I discussed above, syphilis (treponema pallidum) and Chlamydia trachoma, are good examples of silent STDS, and both can produce few or no symptoms and are very commonly undiagnosed or untreated, thus causing secondary diseases like pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can cause infertility, chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy and increase the risk of contracting HIV if exposed to the virus; This why I believe that STDs are especially silent diseases for women. Describe the different components of a urinalysis and discuss what each may reveal about the normal or abnormal functioning of the body. Give specific examples Urinalysis is the process of examining urine through three specific methods. The three methods used are microscopic, physical and chemical examination. Through the use of these methods, a lot can be determined about how the body is functioning and be a very helpful tool in discovering problems or diseases that may be occurring within the body and its organ systems. The physical characteristics of urine that are examined are; color, odor and specific gravity. The color of urine is normally straw-colored, transparent yellow or amber. This is mainly caused by pigment (urochrome), as well as substances we regularly ingest. There are many things that can change the color of urine or cause it to be cloudy, such as certain food, vitamins, dehydration, bile, blood, bacteria and certain drugs. Thus when urine is an abnormal color it may just be from types of foods the individual is eating or vitamins or drugs, but it could also indicate developing problems such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, kidney stones, urinary tract infection and acute glomerulonephritis. Therefore, when urine appears an abnormal color during an examination, it would be further tested chemically and microscopically to confirm the findings of the physical examination. The odor of urine is normally very minor, and when this is not the case it may indicate such diseases as diabetes mellitus or a bacterial infection of the kidney or bladder. The presences of a strong odor may also just be from B vitamins or food like asparagus, garlic, and curry, so abnormal strong smelling urine would also be confirmed in the same manner as color. The urine specific gravity is the level of chemicals/substances in the urine, as well as water content. If the urine specific gravity is above or below the normal range (1.001-1.035 g/ml) it indicates that there is some type of disease or disorder present. When the specific gravity is increased it may indicate that the individual is dehydrated or has developed kidney stone. Also, d iseases such as renal arterial stenosis, congestive heart failure and glycosuria can cause an increase in specific gravity. If the specific gravity is low it may be a sign of such diseases as pyelonophritis (kidney infection), renal failure and diabetes insipius-nephrogenic. It can also be caused by an individual ingesting an excessive amount of fluid. As with the other physical examination processes any abnormal findings would be confirmed through further testing before treatment was performed. The chemical and microscopic processes are used to look for normal and abnormal substances and the concentration of these substances in the urine such as the pH level and normal and abnormal compounds. The normal compounds that will be found in urine are such things as; mineral ions (chloride, potassium and sodium), urine pigments, nitrogenous wastes (ammonia, creatinine, urea and uric acid) and suspended solids or sediment (bacteria, blood cells and casts). All these substance are normal characteristics of urine that are unneeded waste products that the kidneys have excreted during the reabsorption process. The mineral ions levels of chloride, potassium and sodium in the urine will be influenced by the individual intake of these minerals and the bodyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s need for them at the specific time they are consumed. The nitrogenous wastes ammonia, creatinine, uric acid and urea are also normal at certain levels. These substances are a byproduct of protein being broken down. If the kidneys do not excrete these nitrogenous waste products they will build up to a toxic level within the body at a very fast rate. If there are low levels of these substances in the urine it may be an indicator that there is a problem with renal function, such as acute or chronic renal failure. This would cause these substances to stay in the blood, instead of being cleansed out by the kidneys and excreted out in the urine. The presence of bacteria, blood cells and casts in urine is normal in some aspects. There are certain levels of hyaline cast that are normal for urine to contain; these are produced by deposits of cells and minerals that have broken free from the walls of the renal tubes into the urine. There are usually very few, if any, red blood cells in urine. The presence of very low quantities of red blood cells is possible in a perfectly healthy individual and especially in women because of menstruation. Urine will most likely contain some bacteria becau se of contamination during the process of giving the sample, but normally there should be no bacteria present if the sample is not contaminated by bacteria from the vagina or penis. I will be discussing the process used to examine casts, bacteria and blood cells in urine, as well as what abnormal levels of these substances may indicate later in the following paragraph. Abnormal compounds that may be found are: acetone, albumin, bile and glucose. The presence of these compounds can reveal a problem or disease in the body. For example, the presence of glucose in the urine (glycosuria) is a good indicator that the individual has diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus causes the blood glucose concentration to increase beyond the renal threshold and the kidneys cannot reabsorb the excess glucose, so the excess glucose stays in the urine. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder of the pancreas islet cells that produce insulin to regulate blood glucose levels. When bile is present in the urine it may indicate the common bile duct is blocked, which may be caused by gallstones. It may also indicate other liver disorders such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. The substance albumin (protein) may normally be found in urine at low levels between 0 to 8 mg/dl. If the albumin levels exceed this level it may indicate there is a problem occurring in the kidneys, such as the glomer uli of the kidney may be damaged, causing it to allow protein to leak into the urine during the filtration process of the blood. This could be caused by kidney diseases and other contributing factors, such as diabetes or hypertension. The presence of high levels of the substance acetone in the urine can be produced by factors that involve diabetes mellitus that is not properly controlled. This may be caused by a lack of insulin secretion, which increases glucose supplies in the blood, but less entering the cells to use for fuel. Thus in the bodyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s attempt to create homeostasis it breaks down fat for energy, and as a result of using fat for energy it produces acetone that ends up in the urine as waste. The pH level can be an indicator of a number of problems that are occurring within the body. The normal pH level should be between 4.6 and 8.0 in urine. When pH level is low, or has increased acidity, it may indicate the individual is dehydrated or has diabetic acidosis, which is caused by uncontrolled diabetes mellitus or respiratory acidosis, which is caused by the retention of excess carbon dioxide in the body. When an individual has a high pH level, or increased alkaline, it may be an indicator of a urinary tract obstruction, which is an obstruction within the urinary tract that may be caused by kidney stone (calculi) or a tumor. Also, it may be caused by chronic renal failure, which is when the kidney starts to fail and does not properly process blood and create urine. These are just a few of the things high or low pH levels may indicate. Some compounds such as suspended solids or sediment (bacteria, blood cells and casts) are examined through the microscopic process after being spun in a centrifuge to push these substances to the bottom of the test tube. These substances at the bottom are then examined for the presence of abnormal cells, as well as high levels of blood cells, which may indicate things, such as bladder infect ion, kidney infection, bleeding within the urinary tract, and also prostatitis which is inflammation of the prostate gland, as well as other symptoms depending on the type of prostatitis. This process is also used to examine the urine for casts. Casts are tube-shaped particles that are composed of ether minerals, kidney cells, or red or white blood cells that have formed in the renal tubules of the kidneys. Then as the urine passes through these tubules they dislodge from the walls of the renal tubules and flow out of the body in the urine. There are many different types of casts and by examining which type that is in an individualà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s urine, it may indicate if there are health issues developing such as chronic renal failure, renal tubular necrosis, bleeding within the kidney, interstitial inflammation and dehydration. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is normal to have some hyaline casts in the urine, but such types as fatty casts, white bl ood cell casts, granular casts and waxy casts are indicators of problems occurring within the renal system or diseases in other parts of the body. In conclusion, there are many types of STDs that show no immediate symptoms, and that if left untreated can cause a number of serious health issues and even death. However, many of these STDs are completely treatable with no lasting effects or damage if diagnosed before they progress and affect other organs system of the body. For any individual, regardless of gender, regular check-ups and screening for STDS is necessary; even if safe sex is practiced, it is very possible to contract an STD from another person just through physical contact, such as kissing or just touching their hands when certain diseases are present. It is important for every individual, no matter what age or gender, to have regular physicals to not only be screened for STDs, but also for other diseases that may be developing within the body, and a number of diseases can be diagnosed through the process of urinalysis.

Relationships :: Definition Defining Relations Essays

Part 1:Relationships What is a relationship? And just what kind of relationship are you talking about? Relationship: (ri là ¡ shen ship ´) n. 1. The quantity or status of being related; connection. 2. Connection by blood, marriage..etc; kinship 3. A particular instance of being related. (As stated in the Third Collegiate Edition of Webster?s Dictionary) In most cases that definition does not clear anything but I put it there anyway that way you can have the real definition versus mine. The relationship I?m going to be talking about is the one that can exist between heterogeneous humans both male and female. I?m, not talking about a connection by blood but rather a connection by a commonality. A link between two people, so to speak. And how 2 people bond together to stride towards a common goal. That common goal achieving a friendship, girlfriend/boyfriend, husband/wife..etc. First off, just how is a relationship formed? Well I have come up with a set of stages explaining how two people co-exist together. There are 5 basic stages. The first stage of a relationship is basically acknowledging a person. Knowing that their a living, breathing mammal like yourself and they too have a purpose in this world. Now you acknowledge them pretty much by finding out basic information. This basic information being simple things like their name, gender, sharing a common place with them (school, work for example) and their description (red hair, blue eyes, tall, skinny..etc.). The second stage is beginning socialization but in a casual sense. Talking to that person only about things you 2 might share at a certain obstacle. Such as asking a person for the homework you missed (?Study buddy?) or what did you miss at the meeting for word last Friday. These brief conversations never exceed anything out of bounds. You would never ask your ?study buddy? what their plans are for the weekend or anything to that degree. Following these brief conversations you have, you start offering gestures. You may notice yourself saying ?hi? to that person when you see them, a possible handshake and saying ?bye.? In today?s society you might say the more common phrase ?what?s up (which basically means what?s new?, how are things?, what have you been upto..etc.) and you?ll get the most likely response of ?nothing much? and you?ll be on your merry way again. The 3rd stage is actually becoming friends with that person. This means being an active part in that person?s personal life. More socially. You start to learn their personal side. This means learning things about them that you wouldn?t normally know from

San Francisco: The City that Never Sleeps

Everybody knows the old saying that ‘you never really know a person until you live with them'. Well, this also applies to visiting other countries, because I have always had an idea in my head about what kind of city San Francisco would be. I have seen various pictures in holiday brochures of the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and of course, the famous Powell and Mason line Cable Cars. Not only is the city about the famous landmarks and sites everybody has heard of, to me it was about a whole lot more and I do not think that anybody truly knows a place until they have lived in the heart of it for more than two weeks. Regretfully, I only spent two weeks in the city, and I felt as though there was still plenty I had to learn about it. People always seem to associate the state of California with plenty of sunshine, hardly any rain and generally being a warm if not hot climate. I was no different. Therefore, when I stepped off of the aeroplane and felt a cold blast of wind as I walked through the courtesy tunnel, I was fairly shocked. I did not expect to feel the cold whilst I was in California, but that was just the beginning of unexpected things to come. In all honesty I should have begun my travels with an open mind, but I thought I knew what San Francisco would be like and through fault of my own I did not expect anything else. I had visited the United States on three separate occasions before I decided to embark on San Francisco and I had never actually travelled to the western coast of America so this was new territory for me. There is supposed to be a clear divide between the East and West coasts of America and thus knowing this, it was up to me to distinguish what these factors were. The fact that I had been to the country before certainly helped me a lot, especially at the airport. Many visitors from Europe who have not visited the United States before, would be alarmed at the amount of questions security ask whilst getting their passport stamped. This just goes to show that the American's do not just let anybody into their country and they have got to be certain that everybody who has not got a visa to live and work in the country has visited for recreational purposes only. I know that security has been stepped up since the attacks on September 11th, but when the passport control officer asked me, ‘Why are you visiting the USA? , ‘How long will you be staying? ‘, and ‘Have you visited before? ‘, it made me feel like a criminal for being in their country. At the time I felt like I had been interrogated for no reason, but looking back on it, I see that it was only for my increased safety whilst I was visiting that they had to ask those questions and they did ask everybody. Ever since I can remember, I have always thought it was only the English that constantly talked about the weather. I was not expecting to hear about it non-stop whilst I was in San Francisco. However, I soon found out the reason behind it; I was actually visiting the city in the hottest weeks it had ever seen, I could not believe my luck. The cold blast of air I had felt whilst stepping off of the plane must have been the air conditioning, I breathed a big sigh of relief as I realised that the California I had been dreaming of might actually become a reality. I had booked into a youth hostel for the first three nights of my stay and having never stayed in one before I really had no idea what it would be like. As soon as I realised the taxi had pulled up outside the hostel, I began to worry. It looked nothing like the pictures I had seen on the internet, it was situated in a desolate street and a man was sitting on the steps outside with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I honestly would have used all my spending money to stay in a respectable hotel for the rest of the trip if it had meant that I did not have to stay in the hostel. However, I was persuaded to give it a try for one night and I was given the chance to decide what to do after that. Keen to get out of the hostel I went for a walk on that first night to get an idea of how far we were from all the places I wanted to visit. To my horror, it seemed that nobody went for walks in the city, especially not at night anyhow. We were not staying far from Market Street, which is the main street in the city and it literally spans from one end of the city to the other and eventually ends at the Ferry Building next to the Bay Bridge. Having read about Market Street whilst doing my research, I was glad I was staying within walking distance, because that is the street where you can catch the streetcars and the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport), which is the equivalent to the London Underground. Knowing that I was within walking distance of all the major transport links made me feel better and I decided that the next day I would take the Cable Car to Fisherman's Wharf and see what that had to offer. The Cable Cars are the only vehicles of their kind still in operation and are considered to be National Landmarks. Travelling on a Cable Car was at the top of my list of things to see and do whilst I was visiting San Francisco, therefore it had to be one of the first things I did. Seeing the city the next day, when the sun was beaming and more people were walking the streets made all the difference. I just could not believe how many homeless people there were on the streets though, with all of their worldly possessions packed into a shopping trolley they wandered up and down market street begging for money. Compared to London and New York, it seemed to me that San Francisco had a serious problem with the amount of homeless people living on the city's streets. It was not until the end of my trip that I found out, that the council of San Francisco actually gives each and every registered homeless person four hundred dollars a month, so that they can afford shelter and food. Although, hardly any of the money the city gives them is actually spent of shelter and food, it goes on alcohol and drugs, which is not helping anybody. There has been uproar from the public about the situation and there have been many petitions to stop the council from giving the homeless any more money. I soon began to realise that even though I was in California, I was still in a city and all city's have their good parts and their bad parts, even more so the tourist attractions and the lived in areas. At that point I was ready to be a tourist with the rest of them, so I headed to Powell Street for a ride on one of the famous Cable Cars. It was a beautiful day so I sat on an outside seat and I did not have to fight for it and I soon realised why. I could not believe how steep the hills actually were, at one point we were so high up that I could see Alcatraz Island all the way at the bottom and the red cables of the Golden Gate Bridge just rising above the buildings in the distance. As the Cable Car descended down the hill, it went at a fairly high speed and I certainly felt the wind as it blew against us. The driver pointed out famous sites along the way, such as Chinatown on the right hand side, the famous Lombard Street as featured in many movies and then finally we came to our destination that was Fisherman's Wharf. Built in 1900, Fisherman's Wharf is the most popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. I was not disappointed in the least when I finally arrived. I think the smell of crab and other seafood delights probably hit me before I had actually reached the Wharf, but that was just part of the experience at being there. Fisherman's Wharf was heaving with tourists, it was an unusually hot day and it seemed as though everybody had had the same idea. I had not expected the place to be so big; there were so many different piers I was not quite sure which one to visit first. However, it was soon decided that we should visit the San Francisco museum at Pier 45, which was also home to the US submarine USS Pampanito. The museum was no ordinary museum, since it was made out to look like an old Victorian arcade. It was crammed full of old wooden machines that worked if a quarter was dropped in and once the money had been collected the machines would come to life, considering the age of the contraptions it was quite amazing that they still worked. Unfortunately the trip around the USS Pampanito was not scheduled for that particular day so we then headed on to Pier 39. This was a thoroughly modern area of Fisherman's Wharf and to me it seemed as if it had only been designed with tourists in mind. According to the guidebook, Pier 39 is San Francisco's number one attraction and I can actually see why the book would say this, since it certainly does have a lot to offer to keep both adults and children entertained. There were the usual boutiques and memorabilia stores and of course no American city would be complete without a famous Hard Rock Cafi, but the one thing that could have kept me entertained for hours was just around the corner. I could not believe my eyes when all I could see there in the water right in front of me was more than one hundred sea lions sunbathing on floating rafts. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, not even Sea World could compete with the sea lions at Pier 39. It seemed unimaginable that just a few hours previous and not even 5 miles away I had been alarmed by the amount of homeless people and street beggars, yet there I was staring at over one hundred sea lions housed within a small dock and I was not sure what surprised me the most. Being Saint Patrick' day the very next day, I prepared myself for a long day. I had heard on the grapevine that the American's love to celebrate on Saint Patrick's Day and I was certain that this one would not be any different. I think that the American people are very open-minded when it comes to culture, race and sexuality, but I found even more so in San Francisco. There are so many different cultures within the city and they even have designated areas of the city in which they live. The obvious one being Chinatown, but the North Beach area is home to many Italian-American's, the Castro area is renowned for its Gay and Lesbian scene, Ocean Beach is known for its Japanese culture and the Irish fit in anywhere in between. That is why it did not surprise me that on Saint Patrick's Day, a day that the Irish would be doing the most celebrating it would seem, the American's were doing their best to outdo them. After talking to many people who actually work in San Francisco, the current trend is to live elsewhere and travel into work each day. The most popular areas to live are either Oakland, which is over the eight and a half mile long Bay Bridge, or Sausalito that is in the other direction and across the Golden Gate Bridge. Having taken a trip over the Golden Gate Bridge and seeing the city from a different angle, I could certainly see why it might be tempting to live in the quieter towns and enjoy the hustle and bustle of going to work each morning. It was like entering a different country as soon as we had crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and drove through Marin County. Even the weather had changed so drastically in that short distance; the temperature must have risen by twenty degrees Fahrenheit at least. We were heading towards the town of Sonoma and Napa Valley for some wine tasting, a far cry from the busy city that was San Francisco. Sonoma is regarded as the birthplace of California viticulture and the wine industry there is closely tied to the Spanish Missionaries that found San Francisco in 1823 and in fact it used to be the state capital for a while. The town itself was built around a square and it looked so clean and pristine, it was hard to comprehend that the city that never stands still was only forty miles away. Back on the road again and heading towards Napa Valley, I just sat there taking in the beautiful scenery, I really could not believe that a place could be so different. The divide between city and country really stood out in California and it was hard for me to decide which I liked the most. Just one main road went from Sonoma to Napa, with huge vineyards either side of the road it was easy to see why it was called ‘Wine Country'. The size of the vineyards amazed me; the plots of land and the size of their houses were huge. It really was something I had never seen before, well the English are not really well known wine makers so I suppose there has never been a chance for me to see it. A trip to Napa would not have been complete without a touch of wine tasting so our first stop was at the Sequoia Grove Ranch, a huge working ranch where you can pay five dollars for four tastes; two whites and two reds. The price of wine by the bottle anywhere in California is so expensive compared to England, even the Californian wine; therefore I did not make a purchase. The next visit was to the film director Francis Ford Coppola's ranch, named Niebaum-Coppola. The sheer size of this vineyard was one to blow you away, the elegance and style which pour out of the buildings is remarkable. It was clear that somebody extremely rich owned this vineyard and it was also a small museum in honour of the film director since there were a lot of exhibits in the hallway. Lots of memorabilia from his films were hung in cabinets around the galleries and this to me made the experience of wine tasting more exciting, just knowing I was visiting in Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard. It seems that the man has a lot to do with the state of California, obviously he has done a lot of work in Hollywood, but with his ranch in Napa and he has also shot one of his films in a downtown San Francisco diner which I visited later on in my trip. The film was called, ‘American Graffiti', and was about teenagers growing up in the rock and roll era, but some of the scenes were set in Mel's Diner on Mission Street, San Francisco. After leaving Napa we headed for the outlet stores. If there were something the American's know how to do properly, it would be shopping. Because, there in the middle of the countryside was a huge outlet shopping mall, with every brand name you could ever imagine at extremely good prices. I thought it was just San Francisco that was built around shopping malls and boutiques, but I was wrong, since even in the country they still have time to build a huge mall. That is what I found whilst being in San Francisco for two weeks, most American's do not like to stay at home, and they tend to go out more. Even after a day at work, it seems that they would rather go out for a meal than cook it at home and this was just the way of life for people in the city. Although according to some locals, American's do not walk anywhere they drive to their destination or they travel on the local transport system. Not me though, I walked everywhere and I did not see the problem with it, I thought at first it may be because of the people on the streets, but they were no problem to me. I decided that it must be because American's have got used to being lazy and taking the easy option, which in my view was probably more accurate. One thing was for sure; they certainly know good food when they taste it. That same night I headed into Chinatown for something to eat and I seriously could have been in China for all I knew, even the street signs were in Chinese. It was a very lively place, lights and noise wherever you turned. We were going to a restaurant called the ‘House of Nung Ho' and the food was supposed to be out of this world. Whenever I have been to a Chinese restaurant in the past, there has always been a candle of the table, knives and forks wrapped up in a napkin, but when I arrived at the ‘House of Nung Ho', I was not expecting it to be a cafi lit up with strip flourecsent lights. There was even a queue outside for this tiny back street cafi, a good sign I thought, but I was still a bit concerned that this was not the type of restaurant I had been expecting it to be. Once inside however, we had ordered our food and they cooked it right in front of me, with a bottle of ‘Tsingtao' Chinese beer in my hand, I was looking forward to the food. After talking with the owner, he pointed out a framed picture on the wall of Jamie Oliver, the English chef. He had visited the ‘House of Nung Ho' and had written a glorious review of the place in the local good food guide, and he was right, the food was delicious and it made me see that first appearances are not always what they seem. I am glad I decided to queue to get into the restaurant; it was well worth the wait. Unfortunately the good weather looked as though it had passed by the second week and it was clear that I was going to have to find something to do which meant that I would not be caught out in the rain. It had been suggested to me that I make a visit to the ‘Metreon', which is a Sony Entertainment Centre. Home to a twelve screen cinema, an IMAX theatre and several gadget shops and restaurants, it did not even seem possible that I had walked past the building many time not realising what it was. Set within the financial district of San Francisco, the building is fairly inconspicuous surrounded by huge skyscrapers. Yet, once inside the building it is not easy imagining how I missed it. Hundreds of people crowding around games consoles waiting to try out a brand new game, a mile long queue for the cinema and the IMAX theatre, the place was heaving. I had never seen a place so busy, yet from the outside the building did not look like anything special. Those that wanted to escape the hubbub that was going on inside the ‘Metreon', were sat quietly in the gardens that surrounded it. The Yerba Buena gardens provide tranquillity for the people who want to escape the noise of the city and just relax for an hour on their dinner break. I was beginning to see a likeness to New York within San Francisco, since the intercultural relations were more or less the same and Central Park offers New York the same sort of tranquillity that the Yerba Buena Gardens do to San Francisco. Yet, all the while that I was making these comparisons and finding similarities between the two, I found that San Francisco is far more relaxed and laid back than New York or any other city that I have visited. I do not know whether it is the people that live there or the way the city is governed, but for some reason laid back nature works for the city. Even the homeless make ends meet, they have their own community and get on with the life they lead, that is the one thing I wish had not bothered me if the first few days in the city. In the end I learnt not to expect anything during my trip, because it always turned out to surprise me and mainly in a good way. Previous visits to America had led me to believe that the American's were extremely fake and narrow minded, yet whilst visiting San Francisco I saw no evidence of that. Maybe that is where the east and west coast divide tends to lie, since many holidaymakers from Europe mainly visit the eastern coast of America because it is closer. Tourism brings in a lot of money to the United States from Europe and maybe that is why they try so hard in places like Florida and New York to make you feel welcome; but it just comes across as being too pushy and fake. However, a city like San Francisco with its open-mindedness to sexuality, race and religion was going to be entirely different from the beginning and it certainly was. The whole temperament of the city flows like the water around it, calm and gentle yet perhaps a little rough around the edges. Overall, If I could have changed my trip for the better, I would have become a commuter for two weeks and stayed across from the city and travelled in if and when I wanted to. However, I am glad that I stayed right within the heart of the city and witnessed the good things and the bad, yet most of the time there was hardly any bad. From what I saw of California, I liked very much and would not hesitate to go back at any given chance. I think it is important to see more than one aspect of a country and given the chance I would like to explore the state much more thoroughly, perhaps visiting Steinbeck Country and Yosemite Valley. With enough time and money I think if you really want to explore California it can be done, but finding the above is not easy unfortunately. I recommend that San Francisco should be on everybody's list of places to see before they die, it truly is a remarkable city and if its variety that you want, this place has it.

Fra Lippo Lippi: Argument About Art

Then, you'll take Your hand away that's fiddling on my throat†¦ † (12-13). Why then Is the monologue delivered? It might be regarded as a sort of apologia , as his captors are not a little surprised by discovering their prisoners membership of a monastic order: â€Å"Though your eye twinkles still, you shake your head – Mine's shaved -? a monk. You say -? the sting's in that! If Master Cosmic announced himself, Mum's the word naturally; but a monk! † (76-79). However, beginning as such, Far Lollipop Lippies speech turns Into an emotional outpouring of his ideas regarding art and Its nature.He seems to find It easier to share his independent opinions with the guards, who are socially closer to him than either his Prior or his influential patron. It is a monologue of an artist hindered in his work by his customers, as he has to adapt his paintings to their tastes, however distasteful he finds it. By and by he expresses his views on the nature of art, it connect ion with religion and Its mission. His views defer significantly from the Church's doctrine that the truthful depiction of human body Is unnecessary and harmful, as art is to elevate human soul. Ding it to forget the earthly. For Prior the artist's truthful depiction of human body is â€Å"devil's game† (172). His main objection is that Lollipop's paintings â€Å"do to so instigate to prayer† (316), which should be the chief objective of art. The art should deal with the spiritual world, using material things as far as they reflect the spiritual categories: his demand to the artist can be reduced to â€Å"Give us no more of body than shows the soul† (188). Lollipop successfully builds his own philosophy of art, refuting the Prior's arguments.While the Prior Is hypocritical In his despise of body, Lollipop's art Is sincere In Its praise of God's creation. He supposes that there is nothing sinful in representing things as they are, eliciting in his viewers a thril l of recognition in something that is to be called realism centuries later. â€Å"The shapes of things, their colors, lights and shades, Changes, surprises, -? and God made it all! † (284-285) Thus it is no pointless imitation of nature, it helps viewers to see nature as created by God anew. Furthermore, it revives the soul and calls It towards God, helping to see HIS work In everyday things.The artist works ad ma]room del Gloria and tries to use his talent to help people in their search of God. Far Lollipop Lippies conception of art differs widely from that which is expressed by the Church in the person of the Prior. He insists that his art does serve God – better than it would if he conformed to the Prior's demands. Firstly, he feels that art, as the Prior sees it, is hypocritical. As it is, You tell too many lies and hurt yourself: You don't Like what you only Like too much, You ah Like want, IT glen you at your word, You find abundantly detestable. 261-264) But is does not he lead a hypocritical life either? Remember, he is a monk – and he is caught â€Å"at an alley's end Where sportive ladies leave their doors ajar? † (5-6) Even rough watchmen look disapproving and shocked. Lollipop Justifies himself. He points UT that he was an eight-year-old child when he was forced to take monastic vows by extreme hunger. He had to renounce either the world with its temptations or a piece of bread, and certainly he chose the former. I'm grown a man no doubt, I've broken bounds: You should not take a fellow eight years old And make him swear to never kiss the girls. 223-225) Secondly, Lollipop insists that his art does serve the Church. His opponents would like his paintings to set the objectives rather than reflect the current state of things, but the artist answers: †¦ Don't you mark? We're made so that we love hen we see them painted, things we have passed Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; And so they are better, painted -? b etter to us, Which is the same thing. Art was given for that; God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out. (300-306) First He points out that his works are not a mere meaningless imitation of life.They help people to understand, evaluate and appreciate things around them anew, to see them with other eyes, or Just to see what they have been blind to. As he sees it, such use of art comes directly from God, and he obeys Him and serves Him with his gift as well as he is able to. Next, he presents an apologia of the body. It cannot be detached from soul, as it is also a part of a human being. The world as a whole unites both the spiritual and the material, the heavenly and the earthly – it was so created by God.For me, I think I speak as I was taught; I always see the garden and God there A-making man's wife: and, my lesson learned, The value and significance of flesh, I can't unlearn ten minutes afterwards (265-269) The flesh is an integral part of a human being, it cannot and must not be ignored as God's creation. Thus Lollipop and the Prior's argument extends beyond the subject of art into a potentially dangerous area, broaching the subject of mandatory celibacy for clergymen. Lollipop doubts its Justice and expresses ideas which are to appear a few centuries later.He supposes that God's gifts should inspire Joy and gratitude rather than be rejected – and he expresses this in his paintings: Do you feel thankful, ay or For this fair town's face, yonder river's line, The mountain round it and the sky above, Much more the figures of man, woman, child, These are the frame to? What's it all about? Dwelt upon, To be passed over, despised? Or Wondered at? Oh, this last of course! -? you say. (286-292) He highlights the great alee AT a person, an Uninominal, as a material Ana spiritual wangle. Nature Is only a frame for a human being.Human body is made by God, and as such it is worth admiring and painting in all its perfection. It is Prior's d isdainful and pejorative attitude towards it that is sinful, as it is disdain towards God's own creation. Once again, Browning puts into Lipids mind the ideas of the following generations. Lastly, according to the artist, beauty itself does not wake only worldly feelings – it inspires people and awakens the soul: If you get simple beauty and naught else, You get about the best thing God invents: That's somewhat: and you'll find the soul you have missed, Within yourself, when you return him thanks. 217-220) Thus it serves both God and people. Thus it provides the victory of the spiritual over the material – the Church teaches us to aspire to. This conception is akin to Dostoevsky â€Å"Beauty will save the world†. Beauty is endowed by the artist with a power to revive the human soul – and what higher mission could art have? Here is its ultimate aim. It appears symbolic that Lollipop is caught at the alleys end. His own life look a blind alley: both in his life and in his art he is cannot follow his liberal ideas. In life, he is forced to do it secretly.In art, being extremely sensitive to criticism, he frequently has to conform, to adapt, to paint what is expected of him: So, I swallow my rage, Clench my teeth, suck my lips in tight, and paint To please them -? sometimes do and sometimes don't†¦ (242-244) But his masterpieces live and, having inspired Robert Browning to write the poem, continue to be wondered at and admired, which speaks for itself. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume E: The Victorian Age. 8th De. W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. Print.

Business plan of restaurant

Business plan of restaurant Introduction The business plan focuses on the establishment of a Middle-Eastern restaurant and hookah bar known as Karam. It will stand out from the competition because of its uniqueness and strong identity amongst the immigrant Arabic population. The restaurant will also offer flawless service and excellent cuisine in order to increase its market base (Covello Hazelgren, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Business plan of restaurant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Business type This will be a restaurant that serves Middle–eastern food and will also have a hookah bar. It should be noted that hookah is a pipe, which people use to smoke flavored tobacco. The habit is common in Middle – Eastern communities and is a conventional way of relaxing. Clients will visit the restaurant in order to enjoy its tranquil atmosphere, Arabic menu, hookah sessions, and to socialize with other Middle Easterners. The business owner will employ chefs with Arabic origin and experience in busy Middle-Eastern restaurants. Furthermore, employees will have incentive programs. The business will be open from 8am to 11pm with two shifts. Location Karam restaurant will be at 451 Prince Street Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. The place is ideal for this business because not only is it easily accessible to city residents, but there is a high traffic flow of people who will see the restaurant and thus purchase its services. One of the major ingredients to success in the food industry is visibility. The chosen location will ascertain this. It is right at the centre of an enormous Arab-immigrant population so it would be ideal. Sources of revenue The restaurant will draw its revenue from the sale of food and drinks as well as hookah. All meals will be available, including breakfast, lunch and supper. Food items will include mazza or appetizers, Khouka, Couscous in red peppers and spices, samsa, lamb, and Salata Mi shwiyya. Customers will also pay for drinks that accompany their meals. In the hookah bar, buyers will pay per session as this will ensure maximization of time spent.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Target demographic The main client base will consist of Middle Eastern immigrants in the Sydney area. Many of them long for food items that remind them of home, so it will be a superb service offering. These individuals will mostly be young as the Arabic population in Canada is relatively young (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2013). Curious foodies who want to sample Arabic meals are also likely to frequent the restaurant. Potential marketing strategies The first mode of marketing will be signage on the building. The name Karam restaurant will be prominent on the external wall. The logo will depict an element of Arab tradition and pictures of Arabic food will also be shown. Word of mouth marketing will also be a crucial strategy, as well. Effective customer service will ensure repeat business as well as recommendations from those who enjoyed the food. Besides this, brochures and pamphlets in Sydney will advertise the restaurant. It will also have an intense advertising company on local radio stations as well as dailies where it will talk about its launch and menu items (Gilligan, 2003). Potential research sources The company will obtain information for research purposes through the use of research professionals. They will interview members of the target demographic and find out what they want. Employees and managers will also get feedback from clients in their service levels. Additionally, information about marketing and promotion will stem from books written on the subject matter (Brags, 2005). References Brags, A. (2005). Developing new business ideas. NY: Financial times Covello, J. Hazelgren, B. (2005). Your first business plan. Chicago: Source b ooks. Gilligan, C. (2003). Strategic marketing planning. NY: Butterworth-Heinemann.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Business plan of restaurant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Canadian Encyclopedia (2013). Arabs. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en

What Is a Double Major Is a Double Major Right for You

What Is a Double Major Is a Double Major Right for You SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Going to college can sometimes feel like a series of tough decisions. Not only do you have to take standardized tests like the ACT or SAT, you also have to decide which colleges to apply to and write (practically) a million applications! After all of that, picking your major sometimes feels like the easy part. But not so fast! Many schools offer a variety of majoring opportunities, including a degree path referred to as a double major where you concentrate in not one, but two different subjects. This guide will take the mystery out of what it means to double major! We’ll explore the ins and outs of the degree path, including: Defining what a double major is...and what it isn’t, Discussing the pros and cons of double majoring, and finally, Helping you figure out whether a double major is the right choice for you. So without further ado...let’s dive in! Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash What Is a Double Major? A Brief Introduction Simply put: a double major is one bachelor’s degree with two concentrations, which are more commonly known as majors. But what does that mean, exactly? First, you need to understand the differences between a degree and a major. The Bachelor’s Degree Universities offer a number of degree programs at three different levels: the bachelor’s degree, the master’s degree, and the doctoral degree. The first degree you earn is a bachelor’s degree, which takes approximately four years to complete. There are different types of bachelor’s degrees awarded depending on your major. The two most common bachelor’s degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) A Bachelor of Arts is earned in any liberal arts related field. These include studies like history, philosophy, English, and foreign language. A Bachelor of Science is earned in science-related fields of study, like biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Some universities offer additional bachelor’s degrees, like Princeton’s Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E) or the University of Pennsylvania’s Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.S). Regardless of what the degree is called, the most important thing to remember is that a bachelor’s degree is what you earn for completing all of your university’s requirements for a four-year undergraduate degree. The Major A major is a distinct area of concentrated study within your degree field. (Now that you know what a degree is, we bet this makes more sense!) So you can think of a major as an area of study within the scope of a degree! Here’s an example to make this even more clear: let’s say you go to Harvard because you want to be an engineer. But wait! There are multiple types of engineering, all of which require different knowledge and skills. That’s why Harvard offers seven different engineering majors: applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering sciences, environmental science engineering, and mechanical engineering. Since you want to work in cloud computing, you’ll probably choose to major in computer science...and once you meet all the program’s requirements, you’ll graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree! The Double Major When you double major, you will be getting a single degree/diploma that lists concentrations in two majors. In other words, as a double major you will complete the graduation requirements for two separate majors, both of which are in a single degree field. Here’s what we mean: let’s say you want to go into politics, and you hope to work abroad as part of the U.S. Embassy in France. To do this, you know that you need a political science degree and you need to be bilingual in French. Luckily for you, your university offers a B.A. in French and a B.A. in Political Science. This could be a tricky situation if you had to choose between one major and another- it would be hard to determine which course of study is most important! That’s why most universities offer a double major: it lets you fulfill the requirements for both fields of study, both of which will appear on your diploma. So someone who only majors in political science will earn a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, whereas your double major will result in a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French! But what does that look like from a practical perspective? Let’s take a look! Meet Sophia, who has just been admitted to Cornell University. She’s decided that she wants to double major in history and philosophy (which are both part of the Bachelor of Arts degree). As part of The College of Arts Sciences, Sophia’s first job will be to complete all of the college’s core requirements for graduation. After looking at the list, Sophia knows she will have to take at least sixteen classes as part of her core. After that, Sophia takes a look at what classes she needs to take to major in history and philosophy. The history department will require her to take nine history courses to earn a major, and a philosophy major requires a minimum of eight philosophy courses. In order to earn a double major, Sophia will have to meet all the criteria for each major as well as finish her core studies. While earning a double major might seem daunting, it’s definitely an achievable goal. In fact, 12.5% of college students graduated with a double major in 2015. We’ll talk a little more about how to decide if a double major is right for you in just a second, but first, let’s look at what a double major isn’t. sboneham/Flickr What a Double Major Isn’t A double major isn’t the only alternative to a â€Å"typical† four-year degree offered by most universities. (Yep, that’s right- there are even more choices!) While we’re only focusing on double majoring in this article, it’s important to have a brief understanding of the alternatives to avoid confusion! A Double Major Isn’t a Dual Degree A dual degree is exactly what it sounds like: instead of earning one degree with multiple concentrations, you will earn two separate degrees in two separate fields! This happens when a student completes the requirements for majors that confer separate degrees. For example, let’s say a student wants to study art history and biology. Because art history is a Bachelor of Arts and biology is a Bachelor of Science, this person will earn two separate diplomas (a B.A. and a B.S)! Dual degrees are considerably more rare than double majors because a student has to earn two separate degrees that often require different core courses. If students are interested in another area that falls outside of their degree field, many choose to earn a minor rather than a dual degree. A Double Major Isn’t a Minor The best way to think about a minor is as a â€Å"mini major† in another area of study that interests you! Minors usually require four to six additional courses, and they are specifically designed to help students develop a little more knowledge in another area of interest. That’s why minors are sometimes called â€Å"secondary† emphases! For many students, a minor lets them dig into a field that complements their major field of study. For example, someone studying American history might minor in African-American studies, especially if they’re interested in the Civil Rights movement. The important thing to remember is that a minor is like dipping your toe into a subject, while a major involves gaining in-depth knowledge. That difference is reflected in your degree. While a double major lists both areas of study equally, a minor is noted as such- if it appears on your degree at all. That means a double major carries more weight, which can be very important depending on your future career! A Double Major Isn’t an Emphasis Some majors require a student to pick an emphasis within the major itself. Unlike a minor, which is usually earned as part of a different program, an emphasis is a concentration on a specific subject area within a single major. For instance, many English majors are required to pick an emphasis because the field is so broad. These can be a certain time period, a certain genre, or even a specific skill (like grammar)! The goal of an emphasis is to offer more tailored study within a major without requiring additional coursework. Unlike a minor, which is totally optional, emphases are often required to earn certain degrees. For example, if you’re majoring in education, your department might require you to choose an emphasis like elementary education, secondary education, or even special education. Areas of emphasis vary between departments and universities, but keep in mind that an emphasis is the least intensive addition to a â€Å"typical† four-year degree. In terms of order of importance, a major carries more weight than a minor, which carries more weight than an emphasis! Put another way, a second major gives you much more in-depth knowledge about a subject than either a minor or an emphasis. Max Pixel/Max Pixel 5 Pros to Double Majoring Now that you know exactly what a double major is (and isn’t!), let’s talk about the perks of double majoring. #1: You’ll Develop Unique Critical Thinking Skills One of the cool things about being a double major is that you get to learn a lot about two subjects that really interest you. But that also means that you’ll have to learn to think in many different ways since the problem-solving strategies you’ll need to succeed in your first major are probably a little different than the ones you’ll develop for your second major. For example, let’s say you’re majoring in biology and chemistry. While many of the fundamental scientific concepts are the same, you’ll definitely have to use different skills to learn human anatomy than you’ll use when balancing equations! This helps you stretch your brain in new ways, which will make you a better critical thinker, strategist, and problem solver. #2: A Little Extra Work Can Reap Big Rewards This is especially true if you’re double majoring in related fields. Most schools allow you to count a certain number of classes toward two requirements. For example, if you take a sophomore-level chemistry course as part of your chemistry major, it might also count toward a molecular biology major, too! Because you can sometimes double-dip to fulfill certain major requirements, the difference between a single and a double major can sometimes be reduced to just a few courses. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead no matter what major you choose- you definitely don’t want such a prime opportunity to pass you by because you found out about it too late! #3: Double Majors Make You Stand Out in the Job Market It’s no secret that today’s job market is tough, especially for new graduates. A double major can definitely help you stand out from the crowd. Not only does it offer a business a second area of expertise, it demonstrates your ability to plan ahead, work hard, and overcome challenges. Additionally, your second major will allow you to bring unique and valuable skills to the table that your peers don’t have. All of this combines to make you a more competitive candidate for better jobs! Double majors can also give you a leg up if you’re applying to graduate school. Not only does it show that you can manage an intense workload- and make no mistake, graduate school is much harder than earning an undergraduate degree- it also shows admissions committees that you’ll bring new ideas to their department. This is especially true if you have a unique double major combination! For instance, a competitive Master’s of Business Administration program will likely find someone who double majored in advertising and psychology a more compelling candidate than someone with just a single business-related major. Nick Youngson/PicPedia.org #4: You’ll Have More Career Opportunities When you have to majors, you effectively open up a second career path. Your second major opens up more opportunities, which can be incredibly useful if you’re dream job is in a competitive industry. Here’s an instance of how this can work. Steven majored in geology and statistics. He had hoped to work as a petroleum geologist, but new laws and trade agreements have made those jobs pretty scare. Instead, Steven applies for (and land!) a role as a risk analyst for a major oil company. Now that he’s gaining experience in the oil and gas industry, Steven will be an excellent candidate for any geologist position that becomes available in the future. Additionally, a second major can help you secure more unique career opportunities. For example, someone who majors in Spanish and marketing has put themselves in a fantastic position to enter the growing Spanish-language advertising industry. Your second major will make you a much better candidate for a position like this than if you’d majored in Spanish or marketing alone. #5: You’ll Develop a New Perspective One of the amazing things that happens when you study new ideas is that it gives you a new, innovative perspective on existing problems. For instance, did you know that Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, studied English and history at Harvard? Or that Rashida Jones- also a Harvard alum- graduated with a degree in religion and philosophy? Double majoring gives you a robust knowledge base lets you see things from fresh angles, which leads to unique ideas, concepts, and solutions that other people would have missed! That’s not only important for a successful career...it can help you change the world, too. 5 Cons to Double Majoring Now that we’ve discussed the pretty awesome perks of a double major, let’s take a closer look at some of the drawbacks of double majoring. #1: You Have to Plan Ahead We mentioned this already, but it bears repeating: if you want to double major, you absolutely must plan ahead. That means more than just looking at class offerings before you can register. We’re talking sitting down with your advisor the first weeks of your freshman year and mapping out your course of study for the next four years. Furthermore, you need to understand the requirements of each major from the get-go so that you can figure out how to maximize your courses. For instance, how many can count toward both majors? Are there summer courses you can take to help speed things along? These are just some of the questions you need to think about to make sure you’re making the most of your time and money. #2: It Can Take Longer to Graduate Is it possible to graduate with a double major in four years? Absolutely! But it takes careful planning, like using your elective credits toward your major. The four-year degree plan also gets more complicated if your majors are extremely different. For example, if you’re majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and sociology, you probably won’t have many classes that can count toward both programs. That can add eight (or more!) courses to your schedule, which might require an additional semester or two to complete. #3: Double Majoring Can Make College More Expensive Speaking of money...double majoring can be more expensive than earning a traditional degree because you’ll have to take additional courses. This means more than just a hike in tuition: you also need to consider the cost of books, supplies, and even gas if you’re traveling to campus more than usual. (This is especially important since many scholarships and grants only cover tuition!) Also, keep in mind that the total cost of college increases with each additional year it takes to finish school. While one year might not seem like a long time, it’s another year of rent, utilities, and food. This can add thousands of dollars to the total cost of your degree, so make sure you’re planning both your course load and your budget carefully. #4: You’ll Have Less Time to Explore Other Interests Many students opt to use their elective credits to help knock out some of the requirements for their second major. This is a great plan, but it also means that you won’t have the opportunity to take classes that interest you just for the sake of learning more about the topic. (Electives credits exist to serve this very purpose!) So if there’s a geology course on dinosaurs or an astrology class on sunspots that you’d love to take, you might have to pass so you can put that time and money toward your second major instead. #5: It Can Be Hard to Participate in Activities Outside the Classroom For many students, one of the most exciting parts of college are the things that happen outside of the classroom. Whether that’s cheering on your football team or joining an all-campus choir, universities provide students tons of extracurricular opportunities to learn, play, and grow. But when you’re double majoring, your time is precious; it can be hard to find enough time to join extracurricular activities and make good grades in your courses. If having a complete â€Å"college experience† is important to you, you might reconsider whether a double major is the right fit for you. Esther Tuttle/Unsplash How to Determine If You Should Double Major Perhaps you’re still on the fence about whether you should double major. Never fear: we’ve created a quiz to help you gain some clarity about whether a double major is right for you! Take a few minutes and answer each of the following questions. Make sure you’re being honest with yourself, especially since there are no right or wrong answers. When you open my school planner, you see: Detailed notes everywhere. My planner runs my life! I write down the major stuff. I carry it around with good intentions, but it’s pretty empty. When it comes to projects, I: Start a month ahead of time. Start thinking about it when it’s assigned, but I won’t start working on it until a week before it’s due. Pull a few all-nighters to get it in before deadline. Picking a major is overwhelming because: I have too many interests! It’s too hard to narrow down what I want to do. I want to have a chance to take classes in a few subjects before I make such an important decision. I’m pretty sure I’ll change my mind five times before classes start. I’d rather: Be early than late. Be right on time. Arrive once the party has started. How did you feel about meeting with your guidance counselor? I met with her a few more times than I needed to because I wanted to make sure I was on track. The meetings we had were helpful and brief. I thought they were a waste of my time. If I graduated in more than four years, I would: Not be super happy about it, but as long as I was setting myself up for success, I’d manage. I would do it if I had to, but graduating on time is pretty important to me.I want to get in and out of college in four years. I have big plans for my career, and I want to get started as soon as possible. Would you consider doing summer school? Sure! I took classes at the local community college in high school. Yes, but only if I had to in order to graduate on time or raise my GPA. It’s not an option for me. Okay, now it’s time to score your quiz! If Your Answers Are Mostly 1's You’re a great fit for a double major. You have a strong vision for what you want to achieve during college and after graduating. You’re also a very organized person who appreciates a good plan, which is critical when you’re double majoring since half the battle is sticking to your educational road map! It also sounds like you’re no stranger to hard work, which is important since double majoring means you’ll be taking harder classes more often. If Your Answers Are Mostly 2's A double major is still a good fit, but you might have to work on your study and/or organizational habits. If you answered mostly twos, you have all the fundamental skills it takes to be a double major! You’re a good student, take an active role in your education, and know what it means to work hard. But the increased workload of a double major means you’ll have to plan farther ahead than your used to. For example, starting projects a week in advance only works if you have one project due, but most college courses require either a final exam or a final project as a major part of the course grade. You’ll have to learn to be a little more proactive about both your study habits and your schedule if you decide to double major. If Your Answers Were Mostly 3's Think about minoring instead. It sounds like you’re not 100% sure about what you want to major in, much less what you’d like your future career to be. And you know what? That’s totally fine! Many people use their first year in college to explore their options before settling on a major or a career path. But because double majoring requires a lot of forethought and planning, it might make more sense to think about a minor instead. That way you can use your electives to follow your passions before deciding what you’d like to study! Anika Huizinga/Unsplash The Bottom Line: Is a Double Major Right for You? Even though double majoring is hard work, it’s far from impossible! But it is definitely a big commitment that requires planning, preparedness, and persistence. But earning a double major can definitely pay off, especially once you enter the job market. Right now, take some time to think about what you want your life to look like in ten years. Is a double major a critical step in achieving your dreams? As you consider your decision, don’t be afraid to talk to your parents, teachers, and counselors. They know you best and can give you valuable advice about whether a double major is right for you. Next Steps If you’re still not sure about what to major in, check out this handy guide that helps you determine what majors might be right for you as well as our list of relatively low-key college majors. Regardless of where you go to college, the goal of a university degree is to train you for your career. But not all job prospects are created equal. This list walks you through 26 majors with low employment rates and salaries. Trust us: your future self will thank you for reading this post. Like we mentioned earlier, a dual degree is another alternative to a double major that lets you earn separate degrees from different colleges at your university. Learn more about dual degree programs, and compare them with double majors to determine which path is right for you. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

Wilson Surname Meaning

Wilson Surname Meaning Wilson is a patronymic surname meaning son of Will, a popular name during medieval times. The given name Will may have derived from any of several names containing the Germanic element wil, meaning desire. The most common was as a short form of William. Wilson is the fifth most common surname in Australia, the eighth most common surname in England, and the tenth most common surname in the United States. Surname Origin:  English, ScottishAlternate Surname Spellings:  WILLSON, WILSONE, WILLS, WILLESON, WULSON Fun Facts About the Wilson Surname Wilson Sporting Goods, known well for its golf and tennis equipment, began life as the Ashland Manufacturing Company in Chicago in 1913, was later renamed the Thomas E. Wilson Company in 1916 for its president, Thomas E. Wilson Co. In 1931 the company became the Wilson Sporting Goods Company. Famous People with the Surname Wilson Woodrow Wilson - Twenty-eighth president of the United StatesBertha Wilson - first woman Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada ...Thomas E. Wilson - Wilson Sporting Goods was named for himAugust Wilson - American playwright Genealogy Resources for the Surname WILSON 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their Meanings: Smith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census?Common Australian Surnames: Wilson is the 5th most common surname in Australia.Wilson Surname DNA Project: Join other Wilson males in sorting out the various Wilson ancestral lines around the world through Y Chromosome DNA testing.How to Research English Ancestors: Trace your British roots back to England and beyond with the steps outlined in this English genealogy guide. Learn how to locate your ancestors county and/or parish in England, plus how to access vital records, census records and parish records.Wilson Family Crest - Its Not What You Think: Contrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Wilson family crest or coat of arms for the Wilson surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line d escendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. FamilySearch - WILSON Genealogy: Explore over 15 million historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Wilson surname and its variations on the free FamilySearch website, hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.WILSON Surname Family Mailing Lists: RootsWeb hosts a free mailing lists for researchers of the Wilson surname.DistantCousin.com - WILSON Genealogy Family History: Explore free databases and genealogy links for the last name WILSON.The Wilson Genealogy and Family Tree Page: Browse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the popular last name Hunt from the website of Genealogy Today. References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Review of the Effects of the Internet on Students Annotated Bibliography

Review of the Effects of the Internet on Students - Annotated Bibliography Example The authors of this article look for the psychological aspects as to why college students are becoming addicted to the internet. They relate internet addiction to a high level of loneliness, in some cases, correlate directly. Much as other authors have stated there is more promoting the internet’s effect on students. The author explains that students who are lonely will seek out connection with strangers without actual physical interaction. However, many of these same students are, also, tremendously depressed. This article approaches the issues associated with college students pertaining to their communication skills and what promotes their internet use. Are college students more dependent on the Internet for academic or social purposes? The author found in the course of the study detailed that more students use the internet for personal or entertainment purposes that for academic or information purposes. In fact, there are a disturbing number of college students who use the internet out of loneliness, seeking attention from strangers in cyberspace. This can be a serious problem, and, potentially, in this day and age, a dangerous one. This article is pointing out that one of the major side-effects of the internet on college students includes its ability to distract students and misguide them on social levels. This source is allows a nice foundation for the history and overall understanding of the topic. This is a prime example of some ways that the internet directly has upon the students in higher education settings. Eldakak, S. (2010). Does Applying Ethics in Education Have an Effective Impact in the Classroom?. Online Submission, The author is interested in determining if the easy access to information that the internet allows has negatively impacted the ethics that once existed in the classroom. With education sometimes now entirely available online, that isolation and lack of supervision could be negatively affecting students ability to resist cheat ing or plagiarism. How can anyone be certain that the person that is supposed to taking a test is actually taking that test? In truth, at the moment, you cannot. Also, there is he consideration of what technological devices that the students may bring with them allowing them to cheat, like a cell phone and the like, which can sometimes be unfamiliar with the student’s cheating. This source is helpful in reviewing this topic because it verifies that there is a lapse of ethics that are being nudged, if not crossed, because of the freedom of information that the internet provides. The fact that the internet and our attitude towards it can become irresistible as a tool to cheat or plagiarize definitely indentifies itself as a large affect that it is having on college students. Englander, F., Terregrossa, R. A., & Wang, Z. (2010). Internet use among college students: tool or toy?. Educational Review, 62(1), 85-96. doi:10.1080/00131910903519793 This article explores how students pe rceive the internet. Is it a tool? Is it a toy? Unfortunately, it

Reference Works Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reference Works Report - Assignment Example I therefore read all the encyclopedia’s relating to the kind of search entry that I had entered during the search. During this process I read the overview of the respective books from the library that conforms to the search entries. At this point I noticed and felt that the kind of the information that is provided in the overview was helpful in a given way though should have been a little more inclusive and detailed in their unique way. There were also used as key words, however some of these key words poses difficulty in terms of finding the search results. The most difficult key word I used is eating canned food. This is because it did not give much expected results. The results were limited to certain areas of the research. However, the results gotten on it were mainly relating to and animal feeds. Fishes mongering was the interesting source as it contained in-depth and informed expression of knowledge. It brought into perspective how fishing is done by fishermen and consumed by people world over. I therefore find such an article very much important in doing my research work on canned

International Investing Project Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Investing Project - Term Paper Example The stability of the market as a whole but that also means extremely low growth potential if ever there is any worth considering at all. The performance of Siemens AG also takes a positive trend as their USA stocks but had higher returns than other stocks under consideration due other factors than the market. This means that the stocks’ performance. The stock prices for both are also in the on the side. CHL is at least in the decent deviation of -0.252%. The stock prices alone are already telling the investor which one is a better pick. It does not mean however, that CHL is a good investment or bad because the change is negligible. This means that the stock was not influence by market changes. The main reason may because of majority of the business is also ultimately dependent on the oil industry. Which is being an affected changes being in Middle East. The implications of portfolio return and risk in connection with market points out the degree of volatility in the changes of the portfolio return. In this case, a positive portfolio return with a positive return of the market both generates positive returns. The major defect of this analysis in the first place is the computation of returns within two day only. The extreme swings of the market are simply too unpredictable to make a safe investment (Graham 2004). To start with, it is not a profitable investment already. The picture we have painted above will change drastically should we look at this situation using 5 or 10 yrs as range when computing for stock returns. Obviously, the short term investing style is not as easy or profitable as when you are investing for the long term and evaluating major trends on the stock, not just the daily fluctuations on the stock market. In terms of predictability, we will find it extremely hard to judge the profitability of the stock alone just by using beta since it is also a relative value computed within a chosen time

Why is it beneficial to have both IT & Management skills together Essay

Why is it beneficial to have both IT & Management skills together - Essay Example Technology is evolving constantly with new applications to simplify how business is done. Management skills on the other hand enable a high level trend of correspondence in business impact. With the revolution of web 2.0, management training becomes a useful tool in doing online business through blogs, RSS feed as well as in the internet and communication with the proper and serious clients. Technology skills have significant impact on business in the coming years in that business strategies are easily achieved. Post & Anderson, (2006) asserts that, managers with technology skills are able to determine new technological impacts and how they can be adopted in the progress of business. It is upon the managers to become more proactive by keeping a breast of emerging trends and understanding the evasion of web 2.0 changes in the world of business models and their applications in business perspectives. Management skills combined with information technology skills enables these managerial groups to focus on what ways promising technologies impinge on business at the high level. The knowledge makes business conscious and informed in decision making on what aspects of new technologies will influence the organization in the coming year of business growth and hence provides a healthier transition of thought into strategic action to be taken and how they can be implemented within the organization or business world. According to Cather, Morris,& Wilkinson, (2001), combining the IT skills with management skills, therefore have enormous gait that help an organization or business to improve its strategies and also gives the management higher level of information to bring effectiveness of the services and products of the organization. This will also reduce time taken to adopt new business strategies based on emerging trends of technologies due to the organizational or business disinterest and lag that keeps on changing the

What is 'Queer Thoery' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

What is 'Queer Thoery' - Essay Example In the stream of interest to set up new scholarly and popular frontiers, the orientation of this theory has been heavily directed at demonstrating how and why long-standing disciplinary accounts have fallen short to defend and do justice to queer groups. However, quite a handful of thorough analyses have investigated the implications and effects of these queer perspectives on current academic disciplines, or possibly will more significantly, in the framework of contemporary social life. The concept of ‘queer,’ in that case, is the deconstruction of common ideas regarding gender and sexuality, from their embodiment in literature, movies and music to their assignment to the social as well as in the physical sciences. The movement of ‘queer’ is in fact the ‘queering’ of traditions, spanning from the rereading of characters in literatures and movies to the reviewing of historical analyses. As a movement, we have witnessed the declaration of identity of queers, particularly labelled as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual, as human behaviour variations that possess their individual rights. As a theory, the origin of queer from post structuralism and postmodernism results into the elimination of all classifications as restricting and branded by prevailing power structures. Before the concept of ‘queer’ was, in its best notion, jargon for homosexual, in its worst, a notion of homophobic ill-treatment. In current years ‘queer’ has been used diversely, at times an umbrella concept for an association of culturally minor sexual self-identities and sometimes to illustrate an emerging theoretical framework which has emerged out of more long-established gay and lesbian studies. The abrupt development and reinforcement of gay and lesbian studies in universities almost two decades ago is matched by an increasing use of the concept of ‘queer’

Services Marketing (encounter experiences) Essay

Services Marketing (encounter experiences) - Essay Example The aspect of degree of satisfaction as well as dissatisfaction is yet another problem that crops us in this regard. However, the measurement scales provided in the Annexure that details the experiences gives us a relatively better view into how satisfactory or for that matter dissatisfactory these experiences have been. In this regard, it should be mentioned at the very outset that service encounters refer to the customer’s most vivid impression of the service (Ziathaml, Bitner, Gremler & Pandit, 2011). Thus the report starts analyzing these experiences or to be more specific the service encounters from various managerial frameworks available to us as well as make comments on the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction it caused to the customers availing the service. Satisfactory Satisfactory experiences in terms of service encounters refer to those encounters of availing services that result in meeting the moot objective of the demand. However, nowadays, more and more serv ice sector firms are tending towards providing a more wholesome service experience to their clients and customers. In this regard, Clow and Kurtz (2003) have been of the opinion that satisfaction or dissatisfaction is known to be an episodic measure in that it normally relates to the last service experience. Thus, service quality becomes increasingly important an aspect from the point of view of services marketing as well as management of services as a whole. So far as the satisfactory service experiences are concerned, the present report presents six favorable or for that matter satisfactory service experiences are concerned, these focus on the aspects of favorable experiences that lead to repeat purchases or to be more specific result in customer loyalty. The first satisfactory service experience has been experienced has been in a cirque named Cirque de Soleil in London in the Royal Albert Hall. In spite of much hype as well as a long queue in front of the ticket counter along wit h the other encumbrances that any hyped show comes with, the cirque lived up to its expectations and thus customers left the hall satisfied. Of course, in terms of analysis, satisfaction in this case is due to the level of perfection that the show had attained given that the organizers had kept note of every minute detail thereby bringing parity as well as that they had taken care of the details of the service thereby referring to the impeccable service blueprint that they had put in action. Also, though the food has not been as exemplary as the other aspects have been, everything else has been just perfect thereby leading to an overall satisfactory service experience for the audience or for that matter, customers in this case. In this regard, a service blueprint refers to a graphic representation of the essential components of the service both front stage as well back stage (Fisk, Grove & John, 2008). In terms of the quality of food not being up to the mark, the concept of zone of tolerance comes into the picture. The food not being of the highest quality seemed to be well within the zone of tolerance and thus the customers were still happy with the overall

What is 'Queer Thoery' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

What is 'Queer Thoery' - Essay Example In the stream of interest to set up new scholarly and popular frontiers, the orientation of this theory has been heavily directed at demonstrating how and why long-standing disciplinary accounts have fallen short to defend and do justice to queer groups. However, quite a handful of thorough analyses have investigated the implications and effects of these queer perspectives on current academic disciplines, or possibly will more significantly, in the framework of contemporary social life. The concept of ‘queer,’ in that case, is the deconstruction of common ideas regarding gender and sexuality, from their embodiment in literature, movies and music to their assignment to the social as well as in the physical sciences. The movement of ‘queer’ is in fact the ‘queering’ of traditions, spanning from the rereading of characters in literatures and movies to the reviewing of historical analyses. As a movement, we have witnessed the declaration of identity of queers, particularly labelled as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual, as human behaviour variations that possess their individual rights. As a theory, the origin of queer from post structuralism and postmodernism results into the elimination of all classifications as restricting and branded by prevailing power structures. Before the concept of ‘queer’ was, in its best notion, jargon for homosexual, in its worst, a notion of homophobic ill-treatment. In current years ‘queer’ has been used diversely, at times an umbrella concept for an association of culturally minor sexual self-identities and sometimes to illustrate an emerging theoretical framework which has emerged out of more long-established gay and lesbian studies. The abrupt development and reinforcement of gay and lesbian studies in universities almost two decades ago is matched by an increasing use of the concept of ‘queer’

A law presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A law presentation - Essay Example High Court can be traced back to 1980 in the Capital of Australia, Canberra, where most sittings held there. High court exercises original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction. The court interprets common law for the entire Australia. Its broad jurisdiction corresponds to Supreme Court of Canada. This makes it develop the common law consistently across all territories and states, which is the most significant role of the Court. The broad jurisdiction array allows the high court take the lead in Australian laws, and this contributes to uniformity and consistency in laws for different states.2 In this case, the plaintiff, TCL, manufactures air conditioners in China, and it entered into distributorship agreement with the Castel Co. that is registered in Australia. Dispute arose when Castel alleged of the agreement breach by TCL. As a result, Castel started arbitration in 2008 in pursuant of clause 12(1) of their agreement. The TCL opposed the claims and counter-claimed against Castel. When the two claims were presented in High Court, the arbitral tribunal came up with two awards.3 In December 2010, Castel was awarded $2.8M, and in January 2011, Castel was awarded $732,500, and it thereafter proceeded to federal court to enforce arbitral awards based on International Arbitration Act of 1974.2 On January 2012, justice Murphy held that Federal Court was jurisdicted to determine the application of Castel. This pursued the article 35 and 36 of the trade law of the United Nations Commission. The case proceeded to the final hearing, where Justice Murphy in April 2012 reserved the judgment. In July 2012, TCL filed a Show Cause Application. This sought for restraining the defendant from enforcing arbitral awards. In August 2012, Justice Gummow refereed the case in Full Court for the final hearing. Some of the considerations in the high count were the empowerment of an examiner to conduct

Quality of Consumers Goods

Quality of Consumers Goods In recent years, consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about the quality, safety, suitability and environmental impacts of the goods that they demand. However, in many cases, consumers would not aware of the quality of a goods or products even after consumptions. These products are known as the credence goods. It is difficult to distinguish between two qualities of the same good, even after consumption. In such case, consumers are willing to pay a premium for the hidden attributes of the goods that they cannot observe. Such goods include ‘natural versus genetically modified (GM) food, ‘organic versus non-organic products, ‘fair-trade products, ‘suitable for vegetarians goods, ‘Kosher, and more generally ‘high-quality versus low-quality products. However, this paper is interested to study a special type of credence goods, that is ‘Halal versus non-Halal products or goods. Halal is an Arabic word which means lawful or permissible. It follows the Islamic ruling known as the Syariah law. Halal covers every aspect of Muslims life especially dietary. Halal food simply means that the food products are free from any elements which Muslims prohibited from consuming. Extended discussion on Halal is presented in Chapter 2. With Islam as the second largest religion in the world and the fastest growing, the world Halal food trade is estimated to be around US$ 150 billion to US$ 500 billion in 2007 on which US$ 80 billion alone is generated from agri-food products (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007; Brunei Halal, 2007). These factors hasten the investment in Halal products, and in some cases, producers cheat for easy access to the market. Analysis of Halal in this paper, distinguishes itself from other studies on credence goods, as it involves different levels of consumers interactions. Any credence goods, including Halal products, comprise a special attribute or characteristic. This characteristic is not verifiable and revealed unless by experts or other professional services. Hahn (2004) suggested that real or complete credence goods would be difficult to find as consumers would have some judgement on products or services after the consumption. This is not entirely true as in case of Halal food product, especially Halal meat. It is very difficult to check if the meat is entirely Halal as claimed, as there is no existing way to check after consumption whether say the meat purchased is really slaughtered in Syariah methods, even though there is non-existence of other non-Halal ingredients. Therefore, in this sense, Halal meat is an example of a real credence good. In many cases, consumers concern for the special or credence attribute (eg. environmental, fair-trade, organic, Halal, etc.) is evidenced by their willingness to pay a premium for the high-quality products. The willingness to pay opens up an opportunity for low-quality producers (those which lack the special attribute) to take advantage by pretending to be that of high-quality, especially when only the producers know whether the desirable attribute exist in their products or not. Moreover, it is too expensive for individual consumer to directly monitor or verify these attributes. Therefore, consumers could only decide their purchasing choice on subjective belief regarding the products quality, which are based on all available information such as press report, word-of-mouth and labels when such adverse selection in credence goods market exist. Hence, producers cannot build reputation when production of low-quality imitating goods could not be detected and punished. Delayed detection of low-quality products allows its producers to imitate the strategy of their high-quality rivals, which hampered signalling use. Like other credence goods, Halal food products, through certified Halal brand/logo would improve the information asymmetry, but may carry the similar issues. These issues are discussed in Chapter 2. It is common for credence goods to feature a communication scheme such as labels or brands to help consumers in making purchasing decisions. Moreover, these labels or brands often require authentication by legislator or a third-party organisations that have the proficiency in each field of specific credence quality attributes, thus involving additional costs. In the Halal market, there also exist regulations by the government (eg. in Brunei, under the authority of Brunei Islamic Religious Council, Ministry of Religious Affairs) or third party organisation (eg. in United Kingdom, by Halal Monitoring Committee and Halal Food Authority, to name some). In which they certify a product through monitoring and indicating some guidelines for producers before granting a recognisable label on the products. Hence, this label helps consumers to make better decision choice. Moreover, a quality label that improves pre-purchasing information would increase welfare, and high-quality producers would always be willing to go through the necessary inspection as to reveal the products quality to the consumers, unless the cost for verification is extremely high. The welfare affect of introducing Halal labelling is briefly discussed in the analysis, especially where Halal labelling opens up an opportunity to access additional consumers, ie. Muslims, also referre d to the primary consumers. The analysis of Halal in this paper is aimed to study the interactions of the market forces or what commonly referred to in economics as ‘invisible hand of the demand and supply in Halal market. At the same time, considering the effects on introduction of labelling upon the level of equilibrium, in addition to other factors such as the additional demand by Muslims of primary market. This is a unique or special aspect which might not be available in previous studies on credence goods. The following chapters are organised as follows. Halal concept is further discussed in the next Chapter 2. This chapter is intended as an expansion to the introduction (Chapter 1) in order to provide a deeper understanding on the concept of Halal, and to provide information regarding the current market for Halal food products and the issues pertaining in the Halal market on the use of Halal logo. The relevant literature reviews are discussed in Chapter 3, discussing the works by other authors on the area of credence goods which can be linked to Halal. Chapter 4 presents the economic analysis and application of Halal products as credence goods. Chapter 5 concludes this paper and provide a discussion on the policy implications generated by the study. CHAPTER 2 2.0. A Brief Concept of Halal Religion involves beliefs and the way of life, where group of individuals interprets and respond to what they feel is supernatural and holy (Johnstones, 1975, in Shafie and Othman, n.d.). Shafie and Othman underline that most religion prescribes or prohibits certain behaviour including that of consumption (n.d.). The concept of Halal is not new in the Islamic world, but only in recent years that its potentials have been realised by corporations and organisations around the world, which normally perform under the conventional economics. The word Halal comes from Arabic which means permissible or lawful. It is ruled by the Islamic law known as Syariah law which is based on the Quran and Hadith (records of the life, actions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad). By not fully understanding the concept of Halal, one (non-Muslim especially in Muslim-minority country such as United Kingdom) may think that Halal only refers to meat or something to do with ‘kebabs. Halal actually governs every aspect of life of Muslims, however, this paper only view Halal perspective on consumption of food. What is not Halal is called Haram or non-permissible. Any product which comes from swine and/or dog is strictly Haram. A special cleansing ritual must be done if a Muslim directly touched (although accidentally) these animals and/or the sources (eg. skin). Such products that contain strictly Haram ingredients or derivatives are termed as ‘non-transformable in the analysis in Chapter 4. Amongst other strictly Haram animal products include blood, birds of prey, and/or carrion (dead animals without slaughtering). Alcohol is also Haram, but in some strict case it could become or change into Halal, this is discussed later on in Section 2.3 of this paper. Un-slaughtered animals such as beef and chicken are also become non-Halal, unless slaughtered by a Muslim according to Syariah practice. Such products are termed as ‘transformable in the analysis of this paper. What lies between Halal and Haram is called Mashbooh meaning that the goods appear to be suspicious, questionable and According to Bonne and Verbeke (2007), as product attribute, Halal refers to the nature, origin and the processing methods of the food products, which entails similarity with organic foods and those taking animal welfare or sustainability into account. Strict procedure must be followed to obtain highest standard of Halal, and that Halal products must not contact with non-Halal products; as similar to vegetarian food should not be in contact with any meat. Halal concept covers both food and non-food product category, but as mentioned earlier, this paper would only focus on the first one. Studies show that about 70 to 75 percent of Muslim strictly follows the Halal standard for their dietary (Hussaini 1993a in Bonne and Verbeke, 2007; Minkus-McKenna, 2007). The next section provides an overview of Halal food market. 2.1. Halal Food Market The Halal market is considered as the fastest growing market globally as reported by the Borneo Bulletin (2008). The world Halal industry is estimated to worth between US$ 500 million to around US$ 2 trillion (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007; Borneo Bulletin, 2008; Brunei Halal, 2007). The market is growing around US$ 500 billion annually due to the rising Muslim population worldwide (Borneo Bulletin, 2008; Brunei Halal, 2007). It is reported that the Muslim population is known to be the fastest growing religion in the world (Bonne and Verbeke, 2007) and in Europe (BBC News, 2005). The global Halal food trade itself in 2007 is estimated to be between US$ 150 billion (Brunei Halal, 2007) and US$500 billion with 12 percent of this or US$ 80 billion generated from agri-food products (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007). In addition, Islam is the second largest religion in the world (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004) with nearly 1.5 billion people (ibid.; Bonne and Verbeke, 2007; Din, 2006). The National Statistics Census carried out by the British Government, shows that Islam is also the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, approximately 1.6 million Muslims (2001). The statistics also revealed that Muslims are the largest household in the United Kingdom. These factors would justify that the demand for Halal food products in the United Kingdom is expanding. The market for Halal can be divided into two namely, primary and secondary. Primary market arises from the demand by Muslims, whereas, secondary market refers to the demand by non-Muslims. These terms are used in the analysis of this paper. Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (2007) suggested that Halal is often referred to safety and of high quality by both markets. Besides these, factors for increasing Halal demand includes: increasing incomes in primary market, rising population of Muslim, and rising demand for variety in primary market (ibid.). For Muslims, consuming Halal food products are their religious obligation, however it is known that Halal food are also consumed by non-Muslims. The later often perceived as specially selected and processed to achieve highest standards of quality (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004, p. 14). Manufacturers or producers that sells Halal products would create significant advantage compared to those that do not (Shafie and Othman, n.d.). Riaz and Chaudry (2004, p. 16) suggested that the increasing demand for Halal products as well as expanding number of Muslim population can be an inducement for producers to provide Halal products. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that these views mostly look at Muslim-majority economies such as those in Asian region. Hence, this paper provides a study in relation to Muslim-minority economy such as the United Kingdom. However, like any other food labels, Halal labelling also have some issues. 2.2. Halal Logo and Its Issues The use of Halal logo in food products indicates that the products are Islamic or Syariah compliant. Similar to other food related logos such as ‘suitable for vegetarian V-logo, Halal logo intends to communicate with the consumers of this product that it is fit for their consumption. Initial finding shows that some companies may use this logo even though its products might violate some rules of the Syariah law. Such situation was reported in which, some meat and other processed products from Brazil imported into the country, were being inspected by Halal Monitoring Committee, to be found a violation (2007). Another comparable situation is reported by The Tribune (2008) that the biggest meat producer in Scotland is under investigation over the supply of so-called ‘fake Halal meat in the country. There are some issues to which cause the problem arises. Fischer claims that the lack of a state body that is capable of inspecting the unregulated market [in the United Kingdom] has left this market open to fraud, corruption and without any kind of standards, uniform certification and standard (n.d.). Study by Fischer also shows that many British Muslims and organisations call upon the state to help recognise and standardised Halal. However for the ease of this papers analysis, this situation is relaxed, meaning producers behave honestly when claiming their products as Halal. Having Halal logo does not mean the products automatically accepted to be purchased by consumers especially that of primary market. Research undertaken by a university in the United Kingdom, shows that consumers prefer small shops when buying Halal meat, rather than buying from supermarkets, due to factors mentioned earlier and others including lack of marketing of Halal food (Anonymous, 2006). Like any other goods, the credence of Halal food products has to be clearly communicated such as indication on pack or on-label (Bonne and Verbeke, 2007), in addition to conventional marketing strategies, for example advertising. Moreover, this would add some utility value to the consumer and useful in the purchasing decision (ibid.). Nonetheless, to make the analysis of this paper simple, having Halal labelling is enough to induce greater demand and consumptions. 2.3. Issues of Alcohol Alcohol is clearly not permissible, however it is essential for certain industry processes and religious scholars are aware of this — some of them suggested that some use of alcohol may be acceptable as long as it is evaporated and not exist in the final products (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004). However, if there is an alternative to alcohol for such process, it would be preferred, as majority of Muslims would avoid products that use alcohol at any stage. It is generally known by Muslims that wine (a Haram state product) which turns ‘naturally into vinegar thus the vinegar is considered as Halal. This situation is called Istihala or ‘change of state or properties. A reverse situation as such that, if wine is added to Halal food, as in common cooking practise in the Western, hence the food becomes Haram. However, this issue is not represented in the analysis, for simplicity argument. It is clear that Halal can be perceived as a credence attribute, although there are numero us literatures on credence goods, only few actually discussed in relation to Halal products. Next chapter will discuss the literatures on credence products. CHAPTER 3 3.0. Literature Review This chapter is divided into five interrelated parts or sections. The first section provides a (general) glance on the studies or literatures on credence goods, which is applicable in the study of the market for Halal products. This is followed by the second section, of discussions on the demand for such goods. Market failure arises due to the nature of credence goods, which is discussed in the third section of this chapter. In the fourth section, a review on the solution of the market failure problem is examined. The final section deals with the issue pertaining to some of these solutions. 3.1. Credence Goods at a Glance There are growing numbers of literatures on credence goods attribute since it was first mentioned by Darby and Karni in 1973. These literatures involve different assumptions which produce diverse outcomes. However, it is difficult to find economic literature that deals directly with Halal subject as a credence good. Nonetheless, studies on some of the credence goods can be applied to Halal concept. Most literatures on credence goods assume that consumers are homogeneous. Hahn (2004) showed the contrast to this, in which the author grouped the consumers into two namely those who have some expertise or informed and those who do not or uninformed; This paper is slightly differs from that of Hahn (2004), where the consumers in this paper are also divided into two, namely Muslims (those who only consume Halal goods, or primary consumers) and non-Muslims. The latter is further grouped into two, ie. conventional consumers—who only consume non-Halal; and secondary consumers—who prefer to consume Halal products. Some economists (such as McCluskey, 2000; Cho and Hooker, 2002) used game theory models on credence attribute to assess the interplays of stakeholders. These include whether producers decide to claim their products as those of high quality, then they have to decide whether to produce according to the claims or not. However, the use of game theory is out of the scope of this papers analysis. Nonetheless, producers are assumed to produce what they intended to, without dishonesty. Economists divide consumers perception of food quality into a three attributes, namely: search, experience (which were pioneered by Nelson in 1970) and credence attribute (in Darby and Karni, 1973; Innes et. al., 2007; Umberger et. al., 2008). Search attributes can be determined from pre-consumption and at point of purchase such as colour, shape, brand and freshness. Experience attributes, arise from taste, juiciness, and food safety which could only be determined during or after consumption. Lastly, credence attributes refer to the process and production aspects, which the author claims that it cannot be determined before, during or after consumption of that particular food product (Umberger et. al., 2008). These food products, especially Halal as credence goods emphasise and maintain a strict quality attributes, and failure to maintain this would result a loss in its credibility, hence would brings disutility to the consumers or reduction of welfare. Some economists such as Caswell and Mojduszka (1996, in Cho and Hooker, 2002) argued that by providing information as policy tool, credence attributes could be transformed into search attributes. However, this would require a strict environment where system of information provided is perfect and fraud could not taken place — these are less likely to be a (current) scenario of the real world. Nonetheless, this concept is used in the analysis of this paper, for simplicity reason. On the other hand, Cho and Hooker (2002) mentioned that credence goods could act like a (lagged) experience goods if they involve time duration for detection of risk (relatively quickly), eg. infected food, vice versa. Like any production or supply of consumer goods, it depends on the demand for such goods, for an equilibrium to exist in the market. The following section discusses the determinants of demand for credence goods. 3.2. Consumer Demand for Credence Attribute Individuals would consume goods or services that yields highest utility or satisfaction level and presumed to make rational choice. However, this is subject to physical (ie. how much they can consume) and economic (ie. budget) constraint that limits the consumers choices (Mas-Colell et. al., 1995). Moreover, the preference-based approach to consumer demand is of critical importance for welfare analysis in which, without it, evaluating the consumers level of well-being would have no meaning (ibid.). Dulleck and Kerschbamer (2001) identified credence characteristics in terms of utility, in which although consumers can observe the utility derived from consumption of such goods ex post, they are not sure if the utility they get is the ex ante needed one. However, in the analysis of this paper, the utility is considered in terms of welfare level obtained from consumers and producers surplus. In addition to the conventional determinants for demand such as income, taste and preference, consumer characteristics and quality attribute become increasingly important factors nowadays. According to Antle (1999, in Senauer, 2001, p. 4), the new economics is more concerned with the markets for ‘quality-differentiated products in which the author presented a stylised demand function which include quality factors (non-price attribute): X = D (P, I, N, C, Q) Where X depends on price and other goods (P), income (I), number of population (N), characteristics of the population/consumer (C), and non-price attribute of the product (Q). It shows that any product attribute which includes nutrition content, safety, production process and even inputs, would creates utility or disutility. The analysis in Chapter 4 directly deals with the two of these factors namely, consumer characteristics (ie. preferences, and religious needs) and product attribute (ie. Halal credence). Hoehn and Deaton (2004) provided a model where consumers choose either purchasing credence (high-quality) good or conventional (low-quality) goods by comparing the consumer surplus differences. If the gain from consumer surplus from credence goods is large, compared to the opportunity cost of surplus given up from not purchasing conventional goods, the former good would be purchased. Their studies are used as a foundation for the analysis in Chapter 4 of this paper. Most literature reflects credence goods as vertically differentiated products due to quality differences. Nonetheless, Bester (n.d., in Roe and Sheldon, 2001) provided a concept of unobserved quality into a horizontal differentiation model and suggested that unobserved vertical quality would reduce producers incentives for horizontal differentiation via relaxing price competition amongst producers, in a way which prices act as a signal and consist of a quality premium. This is related to the second part of this papers analysis (Section 4.2. of Chapter 4) involving a franchise market. Consumers demand and preferences for credence goods often perceived from their willingness to pay. 3.2.1. Willingness to Pay There are other factors why consumers might be willing to pay a premium besides the quality attribute, such that they perceive credence goods as fashionable, trendy, or it could be that the purchase the alternative to credence goods would offend other people (McCluskey, 2000). The later is pertinent to Halal goods, especially in a situation where the consumer lives with Muslims housemates, or in a Muslim-dominated country. Consumers would also prefer for the high-quality products, even not for the sake of quality itself but other factors. For instance, when consumers care about other quality or criterion such as animal welfare, environmental, ethical, and religious reasons, to what Antle (1999, in Carlsson et. al., 2004) referred as extrinsic quality. If the distinctions in quality were signalled efficiently, consumers would be willing to pay a higher price or premium for products of high quality, hence compensating the higher production costs, as suggested by Kola and Latvala (2003). In their research on the effects of information on the demand for beef products credence characteristics in Finland, 59 percent of the respondents showed their willingness to pay a higher price for additional information. Whereas, 41 percent of respondents had zero willingness to pay, in which 35 percent of them are satisfied with the existing information, and 17 percent considered the information is not enough or they did not trust the information. As credence quality of a product cannot be observed directly at a reasonable cost or without invasive testing, consumers would rely heavily on claims or information made by the producers via brands, labels or advertisements (Cho and Hooker, 2002). This papers analysis however, only considers that consumers fully trust producers. The next section provides discussion if the information provided is insufficient or inaccurate, resulting a market failure. 3.3. Market Failure It can be said that the credence market are prone to the problems of market failure. There are different ways for a credence market to result in inefficiency. It is mainly due to information asymmetry between producers and consumers. 3.3.1. Information Asymmetry In credence goods, consumers cannot directly observe the quality of the goods that they consume where only the producers know the exact quality, thus resulting information asymmetry. Common intuition indicates that the solution for an information asymmetry is by providing more information. Information, as conferred by Weiss (1995, in Cho and Hooker, 2002) is the central tenet of food safety economics. Brands, logos and labels most importantly serve as a signal to inform and communicate to the consumers about products attributes, hence alleviating information asymmetry between producers and consumers. According to Verbeke (2005), information is likely to be effective only when it addresses specific information needs of its target audience. It requires identification and detailed understanding of these needs, and proper management on the provision of the information in order to optimally address the needs (ibid.). Information regarding food quality and safety can be categorised as risk information and aims at reducing uncertainty faced by the consumers in making purchasing decisions. Hence, success would come from better understanding regarding consumers attitude, behaviour, motives, and their perceptions (Frewer et. al., 2004, in Verbeke, 2005). There exist welfare effects to consumers for providing (Marette et. al., 1999, in ibid.) or withholding (Mazzocchi et. al., 2004b, in ibid.) food quality information. The work done by Umberger (et. al., 2008), can be used as a foundation on the argument for the importance of Halal logo or labelling on food products in particular. The authors claimed that potential market failure would occur if consumers face limited choice and if the access to ‘innovative products is not available, or information regarding ‘product attributes, for example the production methods, is not transparent (ibid.). With this regards, Halal products would be seen as innovative products and carry some product attributes that must be fulfilled, otherwise there might exist market failure for Halal products. Halal logo especially from organisation for Halal certification, could be used to indicate these attributes. Consequently, lack of information becomes the key factor for the inefficiency of credence market. The followings are resulted from insufficient information. 3.3.1A. Failure due to Fraud In their studies, Dulleck and Kerschbamer (2001) divided credence attribute problems into two fold: inefficiency treatment, and overcharging. The first fold refers to the quality level (or service) of credence goods provided by producers, and inefficiency treatment can be either under- or over-treatment. On the other hand, the second fold refers to the pricing of credence goods, particularly as self-described, overcharging. When the signal is unavailable, especially in the case where labelling is not mandatory, sellers may have the incentive to fraud by supplying products of low-quality but claiming these products as high quality. Akerlof (1970) explains this situation with automobiles market as an example, in which with asymmetric information high-quality goods (‘peach) would be driven out by the low-quality goods (‘lemons) hence resulting market failure. Moreover, as argued by Liebie (2002), when producers of low-quality products claim to be of high-quality, this would raise doubt in consumers mind and would not be willing to pay a premium for the high-quality goods. This in turns, would lower the profits of high-quality producer hence reducing their incentive to invest in high-quality products, in which would create further doubt to consumer. The cycle goes on until only low-quality products would be sold, even though consumers prefer high-quality products, resulting market failure. Darby and Karni (1973) suggested that the amount of fraud depends on reputation, market conditions, and technological factors. Profit-maximising producers would have the incentive to fraud by claiming their products are of high quality if the probability of not being caught is high enough (McCluskey, 2000) or conversely if the probability of being caught is low. Such fraud issues bring uncertainty to consumers. 3.3.1B. Problems of Uncertainty Bonroy and Constantos (2008) concluded that uncertainty by consumers on the identity of producers which produce the high-quality products put the high-quality producers in disadvantage resulting from higher cost. They argued that this disadvantage would remain even when the consumption of high-quality products benefits are well worth the cost difference and all beliefs regarding the high-quality producers are in the right direction (ibid.). Their model explains the difficulty faced by high-quality credence products to acquire the dominant market share they should have obtained from efficiency perspective (ibid.). This is however beyond the concept of this paper, as to avoid complication in the model, it is assumed that producers behave honestly in producing the products and consumers fully aware the qualities. 3.3.1C. Non-Rational Behaviour Unavailability of credible food quality labelling, consumers would face uncertainty and would incur search cost on specific information (Hobbs, 2004, in Verbeke 2005). As a result some consumers would not behave rationally, being ignorant, or make decisions which are not maximising their expected utility. Such behaviour explained as a concept of â€Å"bounded and limited rationality† or â€Å"rationally ignorant consumer hypothesis† (as found in Kahneman and Tversky, 1973; Simon 1979a,b; Camerer and Loewenstein, 2004; in Verbeke 2005), is however beyond the concept of the study in this paper. Verbeke (2005) concluded that without quality verification, traceability was of little value to consumers, whereas quality assurances were much more valuable to them. The solutions to the problems of market failure are presented in the next section. 3.4. Solutions to the Problems This section examines some of the solutions to the problems mentioned previously which are mainly caused by lack of information. The most common solution this, as stated earlier, is providing more information through labelling or signalling. But this must be accompanied with efficient monitoring. 3.4.1. The Use of Labelling as a Signal It is generally known that labelling of credence attribute could be used as a way to certify the provision of valued attributes, hence to avoid market failure. Moreover, Caswell and Padberg (1992) claimed that information in the form of labels, word-of-mouth, advertising, and education would contribute to the co