Evaluating The Carbon Footprints And Water Footprints Of...

Evaluating the Carbon Footprints and Water Footprints of Common Foods First Up: Food Footprint Investigation What is Carbon FootPrint? The aggregate sum of greenhouse gasses delivered to straightforwardly and indirectly support human exercises, generally expressed proportional huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide What is Water FootPrint? The water footprint measures the sum water used to deliver each of the goods and services we utilize. It can be measured for a solitary procedure, for example, developing rice, for an item, for example, a pair of pants, for the fuel we put in our car, or for a whole multi-national organization. The water footprint can likewise disclose to us how much water is being consumed by a specific nation or†¦show more content†¦On Earth the majority of the spots have industries. How can you reduce your carbon footprint? Numerous organizations are leading the pack through ecological arrangements and activities. We can help our organization formulate a carbon management technique and plan, set practical carbon decrease targets and meet them. Water Use†¦ What percent of water is used domestically (in houses)? What percent is used in animal agriculture? Does this surprise you? Explain. We utilize twenty-eight percent is utilized for toilet. Twenty-two percent is utilized for washing machine to wash clothes. Nineteen percent is utilized for shower and bath. Sixteen percent is squandered in sinks. Fourteen percent is squandered in family spills and leaks.. Seventy percent is utilized as a part of animal agriculture. Yes, because I thought individuals or ranchers adores animals to be with them. In India I had a giant aquarium and in that we have a lot of fishes and a few turtles. The main point people grows vegetables all over the world. I was surprised how much people vegetable does people wastes. The main point people develops vegetables everywhere throughout the world. I was astounded how much individuals vegetable peoples squanders. What fraction of the Earth’s freshwater is used for agriculture? Does this concern you? Explain Sixty-nine percent of freshwater is utilized for agriculture. Yes, I am vegetarian and I gets food which is developed in fields. China and IndiaShow MoreRelatedEnvironmental Impacts on UNICEF1581 Words   |  6 Pageswith g children and works for the protection, children development and protection in the world. It works in more than 155 countries and to improve vital elements such as, emergency relief, education HIV treatment, nutrition, immunization, and clean water and health systems. The main objective of UNICEF is to work together with communities to enhance children well being. 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Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 26 Free Essays

New Year’s Eve. Warren, Emerald City’s owner, had thrown a swank party at his house and invited the whole staff, along with about fifty others. His house was enormous, and he’d spared no expense. We will write a custom essay sample on Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 26 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Waiters worked the crowd. A bartender made drinks with great flourish. A DJ spun music in the corner. It was probably the most elaborate party I’d been to all year. Everyone was having a great time. Well, except me, naturally. Maddie and Seth were there. Together. It was strange to see them out as a couple so openly, after all the time he and I had spent hiding our relationship. But when she’d arrived back in Seattle a few days ago, she’d made no attempts at secrecy. Everyone at the store had known within twenty-four hours, and it was still a source of much buzzing and speculation. The general consensus was that they were cute. And, watching them, I supposed that if I weren’t so intimately involved, I’d think they were cute too. Mostly they made me want to go throw up the caviar I’d just eaten. They stood together with a few other staff across the room, holding hands. Maddie glowed like a succubus, talking animatedly to Beth about something. Seth, dressed up for a change and looking gorgeous, listened with a small smile – though there was something solemn in his eyes. He looked uncomfortable, and I strongly suspected he’d been brought here at Maddie’s urging. I didn’t think he was the type who’d come and rub their relationship in my face, but then, I’d never thought he’d break up with me either. Just then, he glanced up to scan the room and met my gaze. By accident or on purpose, I couldn’t say. We held each other’s eyes for a moment. His expression grew troubled, wistful. I don’t know what mine looked like. A moment later, he turned his attention back to the others. But the small smile was gone. â€Å"Makes you want to brush your teeth, doesn’t it?† Doug approached me, holding what I believed to be his fifth rum and coke. I pointed to it. â€Å"What, all that sugar you’re drinking?† He grinned. â€Å"I mean my sister and Mortensen, as well you know.† I gave them one more glance, then turned back to him. â€Å"Everyone thinks they’re cute.† â€Å"I guess. I can’t decide how to feel.† He knocked back his drink. â€Å"I mean, he’s sleeping with my sister, right? I’m supposed to be, like, outraged and want to defend her honor. Or something. But part of me’s thinking maybe they’ll hit it off so well that she’ll move in with him. And that kind of makes me†¦happy.† Ugh. Bad enough they were dating at all. Moving in together? I couldn’t even think that far ahead. They’d only been an item for a week. I silently counted to five and tried not to say something I’d regret. â€Å"Who can say?† I murmured vaguely. Doug tilted his head as he regarded me. â€Å"Always figured you’d be the one going after him, what with your hero worship and his erotic stories about you.† He was referring to a short story of Seth’s that had appeared in a magazine not too long ago. The kinky heroine bore an uncanny – and completely coincidental – resemblance to me. I could tell by his voice and face that Doug was joking. He’d never believed there had been anything between Seth and me. Little did he know how close to home his joke hit. â€Å"Well,† I told him. â€Å"Looks like your sister’s going to be the one in the erotic stories now.† Doug paled. â€Å"Oh my God. I never thought of that.† He glanced at his empty glass. â€Å"I gotta get another one.† I watched him go and felt a smile tug at my lips, despite my resolution to be miserable. And I was definitely doing a good job at the miserable part. I didn’t approach anyone at the party and only spoke a few words to those who tried to engage me in conversation. I’d already turned down several men who’d tried to fetch me a drink or get me to dance. I just wanted to be alone. Really, I shouldn’t have come. â€Å"Never thought I’d see you alone at an event like this.† I’d felt his presence behind me before I heard him. â€Å"Carter, you party crasher. I know you didn’t get an invitation.† â€Å"Hey, I heard this was the place to be.† â€Å"Isn’t crashing one of the seven deadly – holy shit.† The angel had stepped in front of me. His chin-length blond hair was washed and brushed, and he wore khakis and a blue polo shirt. The ensemble was utterly casual and also the nicest thing I’d ever seen him in. He laughed, knowing what had surprised me. â€Å"I couldn’t show up like I usually do. I’m still underdressed compared to you.† I had on a form-fitting satin dress with a collar that went all the way up to my neck. Black. Like my mood. â€Å"Yeah,† I said, â€Å"but if we’re measuring comparison to our normal ware, you’re the best-dressed person in here.† â€Å"This is a great party,† he said, eyeing the room. He had a drink in his hand that I swore he hadn’t had a moment ago. â€Å"You don’t look like you’re having a very good time.† I wasn’t ready to talk about that yet, not to him. Averting my eyes, I stared absentmindedly to where Doug was hitting on some woman about twenty years older than he was. The DJ’s current song ended, and the guitar notes of a new one kicked up. â€Å"Sweet Home Alabama.† â€Å"Oh, fuck,† I said. â€Å"What?† asked Carter. â€Å"I hate this song.† â€Å"Really? I’ve always liked it.† I sighed. â€Å"What happened to Yasmine?† His mocking humor faded. â€Å"You know what happened to her. She belongs to Hell now. I’m sure they’ll make good use of her.† â€Å"But will she do it?† I asked. â€Å"Will she really turn her back on Heaven and fight?† â€Å"They always do.† It was exactly what Vincent had said. â€Å"Once she’s spent enough time shunned by other angels and denied the face of the divine†¦well, she’ll want to fight against Heaven.† â€Å"That’s stupid. It’s like she’s†¦I don’t know. Like she’s being forced to go bad.† â€Å"She made the decision to fall.† â€Å"She did it out of love! You’re always telling me that love is the most wonderful thing in the universe.† â€Å"It is. But an angel’s love must be given to the power above first, then to humanity as a whole second. It can’t be bestowed on just one person – human or nephilim.† â€Å"That’s stupid. I think the nephilim have it right thinking all of us are messed up.† I handed my glass to a passing waitress. It had been empty for a while. Hesitantly, I brought up something that was still troubling me, something this song wouldn’t let me forget. â€Å"Carter†¦about Nyx. Her visions†¦are they always true?† â€Å"As far as I know. They don’t always play out like people think, though. Why do you ask?† â€Å"No reason. Well, I mean, just curious about what she showed me.† â€Å"Ah. Yeah, that’s tricky.† He frowned. â€Å"Since she was actually manipulating you, it’s hard to say†¦I don’t know everything about her. What’d she show you?† â€Å"It’s not impor – â€Å" The music abruptly stopped, and from across the room, I heard someone shouting numbers. â€Å"Ten†¦nine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I looked at a nearby clock. Nearly midnight. â€Å"Eight†¦seven†¦Ã¢â‚¬  People were getting out noise makers and drinks. Couples were getting close. â€Å"Six†¦five†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Maddie drew close to Seth. He leaned down toward her, looking nervous. â€Å"Four†¦three†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I clutched Carter’s arm. I couldn’t watch this. I couldn’t watch Seth and Maddie kiss. â€Å"Get me out of here,† I gasped, suddenly having trouble breathing. â€Å"Two†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Carter! Get me – â€Å" The world exploded in color around me. Cold night air blasted my face. Disoriented, I staggered and felt Carter catch my arm to steady me. We stood on top of a roof, directly facing the Space Needle. Fireworks burst around it in showers of rainbow sparks. The accompanying noise startled me, and I gasped. Farther away, other fireworks sparkled on the horizon. â€Å"Best view in the city,† joked Carter. I stared around, still confused, until I was finally able to triangulate our position. â€Å"We’re on top of the bookstore.† He released my arm, and we stood there watching the fireworks for several minutes. We were so close to the Space Needle that I could soon smell the smoke as the wind blew over us. I started to rub my arms, then remembered to shape-shift on a coat. â€Å"A new year has all sorts of possibilities, Georgina,† Carter finally said, eyes still on the show. â€Å"Not for me. I’ve lost all mine. I’ve lost Seth. I screwed up.† â€Å"It’s not all your fault. Relationships are symbiotic. Takes two to make them work, two to make them fall apart. Seth’s got plenty of blame in this.† I shook my head. â€Å"No†¦the things he did. It was my fault.† â€Å"You’re missing the big picture, Daughter of Lilith. You’re forgetting Niphon’s role. What was he trying to do?† â€Å"Ruin my life,† I said bitterly. â€Å"He had a part, yeah, but he complicated what I’d already messed up.† â€Å"Why? Why’d he do it?† â€Å"Because he hates me.† Carter sighed. â€Å"You’re not getting it.† I turned toward him. â€Å"What do you mean? What more is there to get?† â€Å"Only so much I can tell you. Only so much I can interfere.† He fell silent as a particularly showy burst of silver sparkles lit the night sky. The deli conversation with Hugh came back to me. â€Å"Did†¦did he really mess something up with my contract? Is it flawed?† â€Å"That’s your side’s business. I can’t tell you anything about that.† He sighed once more. â€Å"I can tell you that eternity is an awfully long time to keep accruing and carrying around guilt.† â€Å"Why do you care so much?† I demanded. â€Å"Why do you care so much about what happens to me and Seth?† He looked back down at me. â€Å"I like happy endings. I like helping make them happen.† â€Å"Yeah, well. You kind of fucked this one up.† His old, cynical smile returned. â€Å"You want to go home?† I turned toward the Space Needle. â€Å"I want to finish the show.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Oh, hey. Wait.† I reached into my purse and pulled out a cashmere knit hat. I handed it to him. â€Å"Merry Christmas. Sorry I didn’t wrap it.† Carter examined his Secret Santa present, then put it on. â€Å"Neat.† When he did finally take me home, he used the same angelic teleportation that always made me slightly nauseous. Aubrey greeted my entrance, rubbing against my legs as I fumbled for the lights. Beneath the floor, it sounded like my neighbors were having a party. I kicked my heels off in the middle of the living room floor and walked toward my bedroom, unbuttoning my dress as I went. I let it fall to the floor, happy to be free of the tight fabric. Opening my closet door, I knelt down and began rummaging through it until I unearthed the old shoe box again. Reaching up to the spot just above my breastbone, I found Seth’s ring on its chain. I unfastened it and held the ring in one hand for a long time, staring at its smooth, shining surface and winking sapphires. I took out the old worn ring from the box and held it in my other hand. For a while, I just sat there, looking back and forth between the two. They were different†¦and yet so alike. You were destined for heartache. And are going to repeat that forever. You aren’t learning. You aren’t changing. With a sigh, I placed both rings into the box, next to a heavy gold cross. I closed the lid and shoved it all back into the closet. It was over. It was all over. Still half-naked, I walked back to where I’d dropped my purse and found my cell phone. I dialed a number and waited. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Dante? This is Georgina.† â€Å"Who?† With a start, I realized I’d never actually told him my name. â€Å"The succubus.† â€Å"Oh.† I had a feeling he’d already recognized my voice. â€Å"Happy New Year.† I took a deep breath. â€Å"Are you free tonight?† There was a long, pregnant pause. â€Å"What about the man in the dream?† he finally asked. â€Å"There is no man in the dream.† How to cite Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 26, Essay examples

Problems With Hmos Essay Example For Students

Problems With Hmos Essay Problems With HmosMany employees must designate a health plan through their employer. These days, as HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and managed care plans continue to proliferate, that means a choice between bad and worse. As employees line up in the lunch-room for a process called open enrollment, they may be surprised to learn that managed care rates have gone up ? again. The mirage that managed care is cheaper care is finally fading. And, for the first time in years, employees may also have the promise of free choice in medicine in the form of a new method of financing health care. Consumers are already aware of horror stories involving HMOs, but cheap rates persuaded many that managed care is less expensive. Recent rate hikes are proving otherwise. Many patients must go out of network for crucial care. Co-payments are rising. Its little wonder why. As HMO executive Randall Crenshaw, chief medical officer for Cariten Healthcare of Tennessee, recently told the Wall Street Journal, more managed care patients are becoming frequent fliers; they over utilize health care and drive costs up. The deterioration of managed care stems from a basic economic principle: health care subsidized by government and rationed by bureaucrats is doomed to failure. Canadas socialized medical system, which designates knee replacement an elective, is sending patients scurrying across the border and national health care in the United Kingdom restricts heart transplants to anyone under age 55. Managed care in America is no exception. Congress made health insurance premiums fully tax deductible to employers covering employees health care in 1942. This discouraged individuals from buying insurance for themselves and encouraged employers to offer benefits. Eventually, employees came to regard health care as an entitlement provided by the employer. In 1965, Congress created Medicare. Seniors were forced into the free-for-all of Medicare, personal responsibility was replaced by pat ernalism, and, predictably, unrestricted health care for older Americans lead to frenzy of spending by patients and doctors. Those who had clamored for Medicare argued that, since the state subsidizes seniors medical care, the state ought to pay for everyones health care. In an act of pragmatism, President Nixon proposed the HMO Act, which Congress passed in 1973. The law gave millions of dollars to HMOs, which, until then, had constituted a small portion of the market. HMOs multiplied rapidly with the new federal giveaways. Managed care, now including PPOs, mushroomed. Employers initially perceived managed care plans as cheaper than traditional fee-for-service insurance. Gradually, they stopped offering a choice of health plans, making individual policies more expensive. HMOs penetration of the industry had been subsidized into existence. Government had instituted managed care. Today, while overall quality of patient care remains the best in the world, doctors practice medicine in an increasingly intricate web of rationing and regulations: Physicians are stripped of professional autonomy. As patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality deteriorates. Every American dependent on a third party for health coverage is a potential victim of managed care. And state sponsored management of medicine is growing. Last year, Congress and the President increased regulations on the medical profession with the Kennedy Kassebaum legislat ion. This year, Congress approved the Presidents $24 billion in kiddie care state subsidies. A few politicians (Senotors Kennedy and Wellstone), demand national health care on the grounds that health care is a right. Is health care a right? The Declaration of Independence protects the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; it does not guarantee happiness or health care. The right to act in your self-interest and provide necessities for yourself means you have the right to choose. A proper solution adopts and protects this right. Fortunately, Congress has the power to preserve the freedom of choice in medicine: they can vote to expand medical savings accounts (MSAs). Approved for a limited test last year, MSAs are used in conjunction with high deductible insurance. Contributions are tax-deductible and money earns interest; funds may be used to cover medical expenses ? including mental health, vision and dental care ? tax-free. MSAs, offered by Merrill Lynch, Time Insurance and Wells Fargo, among others, allow employees to boost savings. MSAs offer patients an escape from managed care and put the patient in charge. Currently, the MSA option is restricted to a small group o f self-employed, uninsured and small business people and a paltry 390,000 Medicare recipients. Expanding eligibility for MSAs to all Americans will protect what is left of the right to choose. A choice between trying to manage managed care with a plethora of new regulations and government run health care is not a choice, its a death sentence. Congress ought to face the truth about managed care, back off trying to regulate HMOs and give unrestricted free choice in medicine a chance. .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .postImageUrl , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:hover , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:visited , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:active { border:0!important; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:active , .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5 .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u0f5a985b0a76cf6c14633488dc40f5a5:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Salem Witch Trials EssayFour years ago, fears of faceless federal bureaucrats making important medical decisions sunk the Clinton administrations national health insurance initiative. Today, many Americans find their medical decisions are being made by faceless bureaucrats of a different sort. These bureaucrats represent managed care health plans instead of the government. Once celebrated as forward-thinking, super-efficient organizations that would put a needed squeeze on doctor and hospital bills, HMOs and other managed-care plans are enduring a wicked backlash, frequently accused of irresponsible and potentially dangerous penny-pinching at the expense of patients stripp ed of medical options they once took for granted. In 1996, about 60 percent of Americans were enrolled in some sort of managed care health plan (the most common of which are health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, and preferred provider organizations, or PPOs). Thats up from 36 percent in 1992. The increase is due in large part to employers shifting their workers away from the traditional ? an considerably more expensive ? fee-for-service health insurance plans. (About 16 percent of Americans have no health insurance at all.) Candidates in 1998 responded to public furor against managed care with proposals establishing certain patients rights. Both parties are promising action on the issue, but Republicans and Democrats are offering different prescriptions. LegislationBoth parties claim they support the idea of codifying what people should get from their health plans, and polls show that no other action by Congress would be as welcomed by the American people. Driving the debate on the issue is a Democratic proposal that would establish patients rights to: Appeal denials of services and benefits by a health plan to an outside body; Access a specialist when needed; Use doctors outside the plan (for a larger fee); Use emergency services if the symptoms justify alarm, even if the problem proves not to be a genuine emergency; Get an understandable explanation of coverage rules; Sue an employer-sponsored health plan for damages. Senate Republicans killed this plan in October, saying that while they too favor patients rights, the emocratic bill called for too much regulation and would have made HMOs too vulnerable to lawsuits. Democrats vowed to fight for the bill again in 1999. The IndustryAll this comes when the managed care industry is struggling. Many health care plans held their rates at unprofitable levels during a long industry price war in an attempt to grab market share. Now they want to increase their profitability, analysts say. However, they have already reaped the easy savings by squeezing payments to doctors and hospitals. Other ways of saving money ? further reducing hospital stays, restricting patients access to specialists and expensive medical tests, limiting patients choice of physicians ? are ones patients are coming to hate. The Change in Patient CareMost Americans used to have fee-for-service health insurance, where patients can choose their medical service provider and the insurance company pays a percentage of the fees, after a deductible. This creates various financial incentives: for patients, to see a doctor only when absolutely necessary; for doctors, to provide more tests and treatments rather than less. In managed care, patients pay vastly reduced fees to see their primary physician ? but they cant see specialists or other medical service providers without their primary physicians approval. For patients, the financial incentive encourages casual doctor visits for such things as preventive care, but makes it almost impossible to choose medical options not approved by the primary physician. And for doctors, watched over by plan accountants, the incentive encourages minimum tests, referrals and hospitalizations. Both systems have their advantages, and no consensus exists amongmedical researchers ab out whether consumers are being served better or worse in the managed care environment than they were in fee-for-service. .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .postImageUrl , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:hover , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:visited , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:active { border:0!important; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:active , .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub8817c0f0400808fa9363f5542504c8e:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Child Abuse: Saddest And Most Tragic Problem Today EssayMedicine Essays

Yoga Meditation Experience free essay sample

At the beginning of the semester I did not really know what I potentially could take away from this class, or, in particular, the meditation I was assigned to do at home. My mother does Yoga as well and she always keeps telling me how beneficial it is for both your body and your soul; personally, I am not really the type of individual that believes in the vital effects religious philosophies can have on one’s life. However, I am always willing to experience something new and so I decided to engage myself in the practice of Yoga. I chose to do the Concentration Kriya; this mediation technique mostly focuses on empowering mind and body through the practice of controlled breathing. A controlled breath can be extremely beneficial to overcome various obstacles in one’s daily life; this is the reason why I chose the Concentration Kriya as my meditation technique since I usually have struggles developing a calm, constant, and controlled breath. We will write a custom essay sample on Yoga Meditation Experience or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I sacrificed 5 minutes of my time in the morning to go through the cycle; my intent was to do it before the â€Å"real† day had begun since I hoped to go more relaxed and focused into classes and practice. Within the first two weeks, I did not really notice any change after I had meditated; I actually felt pretty awkward sitting on the floor of my room all by myself doing those awkward breathing techniques. However, this feeling went away after some time; I think you have to get used to it before you get more comfortable in its practice. Further, during the third week, I could definitely feel some changes coming up; I did not only breathe more concentrated but I also felt more loosened up and relaxed. I started to manage the imbalances of my daily life better; in relation to that, I also started to notice a more vital and well-being daily experience. Eventually, I think it also affected my performance in soccer practices and games since my mind was more focused and, on a physical level, the increased oxygen supported the complying parts of the body. Eventually, there were mornings when I was not really motivated; though, I reminded myself of the benefits I had experienced through meditation and found myself again. I think one has to come out his comfort zone to do it since one just has to invest 5 minutes of his or her day. However, I do not really know if I will continue meditating every morning; I am usually not a person that is that disciplined to follow a certain routine. Yet, I can still see myself meditating in the future to overcome difficult challenges or parts of my life. Looking back on the five weeks I spent meditating I can fairly say that it is totally worth it to spend that little time and effort in terms of the possible ways it can affect one’s lifestyle. I still think that some religious philosophies and practices are sort of questionable, but Yoga and its meditation techniques can definitely have a positive effect on one’s life. Hence, I would not only recommend it to friends and individuals that are striving for a transformation in their body, mind and inmost consciousness, but also to individuals who want to experience something new as I did.

Puzzled how to write a character sketch Ask us!

Puzzled how to write a character sketch Ask us! Complete Guide on Writing a Character Sketch We all want our written works to be not only engaging but also full of life and vivid. It is a great intention, but not every student knows how to achieve such an important goal. Most of them are not aware that a wrong approach may only harm the story, especially if you don’t know your characters well enough. In most of the cases, outstanding stories are character-oriented and experienced writers know it very well. If the characters are boring or even absent, the story will not be interesting at all. So if you want to succeed, your characters should have the leading role, showing the story what direction to go. To achieve this, you must know your character from A to Z. And the best way to know the character is to start with writing a character sketch. Character Sketch Definition A character sketch is a brief and comprehensive description of a person that aims to introduce the reader to certain attributes of a character: whether it is physical appearance, behavior under different circumstances, thoughts and experiences that impact actions in future. In other words, it is a description of a character, which is needed for the success of the story. Your main goal is to provide the audience with a clear image of the character, which is necessary for your story. Description of the chosen character should answer all of the questions that the audience may have. Including: What are the physical features of the characters? What is the story behind the characters? In what psychological state the characters are? What are their goals, emotions, and fears? How do they communicate? What are their main life aspirations? How can the story benefit from such information? These questions are not compulsory but yet very advisable if you want to understand your characters. There is no single and accepted pattern of writing a character sketch because everything depends on the goals you are pursuing and the format of the story. However, below we will explain what to include to your sketch and what things to avoid. Just answer a series of questions about the character, and you will get all the data you may need! What Are the Physical Features of the Character? When you think of your character, physical appearance may not be the first thing that comes to your mind although you need to have a clear image of how your character looks like. Any time you make a new acquaintance you notice a few details (if the stranger is not wearing a mask): face, height, hair, body type and attire. Imagine that you need to tell your friends or relatives about a special meeting. How would you start? For example: Hello Anna, today I met a man at the gas station. He looked so handsome in plain jeans and a t-shirt with a superhero logo. He is very tall and has curly brown hair just like Uncle Sam! I guess he is a doctor because there was a big folder with medical histories in his hands.   Probably he was leaving the hospital. In the example above you have told Anna (your friend or sister) about man’s age, his body type, possible occupation and also noticed a resemblance with your Uncle Sam. You may have talked to him, but you will most likely remember the physical appearance and details of clothes, and not his name or the way he talked. If you meet that man at the hospital or any other place, you can just start the conversation: Hello, I guess I saw you two days ago at the gas station. You were wearing a funny t-shirt and held a pile of medical histories. As you see, physical appearance and attributes can create a broader picture of the first impression. So if you want to skip this important stage to dive into the character’s psychological world at once, you risk of losing a big part of the story. Appearance and emotions are inseparable, and you need to give readers a chance to imagine how the character looks like in order to understand the story better. Describing appearance is one of the first steps in creating a character sketch. What’s Your Character Busy with? Your readers will always be interested in what your character is up to (unless he dies in the first chapter). This aspect is as important as describing physical appearance. The audience should know what the character is busy with when you introduce him for the first time. Providing such details helps readers to evaluate other important aspects of the story: time and setting, location and much more. Let’s imagine that your character is a medical intern and he sleeps on a shift. The reason may be that he had a rough night, arguing with his girlfriend or he is simply lazy. Of course, you will want to tell the reader why your intern is asleep in the workplace. Will he be fired? What will the consequences be? As you see, such details may give your story further direction. Your character’s sketch should also reflect the actions or inactions of the person and how they impact the plot. A sleepy intern will surely be a bad example for others. You can draw a picture of how his alarm clock wakes him up, and he rushes to admission’s desk. Remember, your sketch should contain a detailed description of the character’s actions. That is exactly how the plot evolves. Why is your character sitting over textbooks late after midnight? Why is he constantly distracted by smartphone notifications during a date? Your description needs to explain the actions of the character. In such a way you will help the audience to understand what part the character will occupy in a bigger story. What Are His/Her Emotions? Every character has a certain emotional state. Of course, emotions may vary, and every person may go from positive to very angry in a matter of seconds. However, such a switch is usually caused by different experiences. You may stick to several dominant emotions that determine your character’s outlook on life. Are they positive? What things make them happy? Do they often experience anxiety? Do they feel themselves a part of the community? What fears do they have? Are they playing by the common rules? When you need to describe the emotions and behavior of the character further in the story, you can refer to your sketch and person’s dominant emotions. Now, when you add emotional state to your character’s sketch, you should be sure that these details are relevant to your story. Make sure that you are not simply stating emotions that people feel but also showing the reader by inserting dialogs, actions, and thoughts of the character. For example, if your character is happy and positive, he won’t be angry with a broken tire. He will just come up with a solution and will go on through the day. Referring to dominant emotions is a great way to develop the plot and to make your story interesting and engaging. Does Your Character Need a Name? Even if the character appears only episodically, he will need a name. If you decide to write a sketch, it means that the character is important and you definitely need to give him a name. In addition, your readers may need to refer him further in the story. Don’t worry, you may change that name in the future, so there is no need to spend days on choosing a proper one. However, there are multiple online catalogs, which may greatly simplify the process of choosing a name. Some websites offer users to choose a name depending on gender, ethnicity or even time period. You can also choose a meaningful name that will contribute to the story. In addition, you can always give your character a nickname that will explain the background of the person or some of the hobbies he has. The Story Behind the Character As you remember, character sketch aims to guide the reader through a bigger story. That is why you need to create details that will give your readers background information. At a certain point, your plot may require such information: character’s birthplace, childhood experiences and how they influenced adult personality. You may not need such information more than once, but it will surely help you to create a true story. If your goal is not to generate tens of unanswered questions, it is better to be ready and give all the answers that readers may need. If you find it challenging to create a background story of the character, you can think of a person you know that is similar to the character you are describing. It may be a friend or a family member that will inspire you and will help to create a true story of the past. Your main goal is to make such a story believable. For example, if the character doesn’t like people, he was probably hurt in the past and now is trying to distance from others not to experience that pain again. The audience is always willing to know what experience and situations made characters to get where they are now. At first, it may be quite challenging to write a character’s sketch, but it will become much easier if you practice. In case you don’t have time, don’t worry! There are professional writing companies that are ready to help. Important Details Even if you think that your character sketch is ready, there may still be pieces of important information that can occur when working on a bigger story. When they appear, don’t forget to write them down and add to your character sketch. In most of the cases, stories write themselves, so you won’t simply be able to work on all of the details before writing the story itself. The next time an interesting detail or fact comes up you only need to write it down. You can easily forget them, and it will only harm the story, so don’t trust your memory and keep all the thoughts on paper. What may these details include? For example, things that distinguish your character from others and how these differences lead to an argument. The same applies to similarities of the person to others and how these similarities contributed to creating better communication with other characters of the story. Remember, you should always include maximum details, because they will enrich the story and explain readers the motives of various characters and their impact on the plot. Things to Keep in Mind A character sketch is a sort of a guideline of the story. Its main goal is to help the author to understand the character in order to introduce them to the audience. Not all of the elements of the sketch will be included to the story, but you still need to make sure that it contains all of the necessary details, like gender, age, body type, height, birth country, dominant emotions and so on. You should also keep in mind that some of the elements of your sketch may be transmitted through the actions.   You may not simply declare that your character loves reading but tell how he postponed a date to finish reading an interesting novel. Or how he spent two days of vacation in a local library instead of sunbathing on the beach. As a result, you will create a character that will develop the story and will help it to evolve. You will understand the character, his actions and what consequences those actions may have. Remember, the main purpose of a character sketch is to create a comprehensive, character-based and reliable story that the audience will admire.

Morin Surname Meaning and Family History

Morin Surname Meaning and Family History The Morin surname derives from the Old French morin, a diminutive of the name More, meaning dark and swarthy [as a moor]. It may also have originated as a topographical surname for one who lived on or near a moor. The Morin surname could also possibly originate as an adaptation of Irish surnames such as OMorahan and OMoran, or as a patronymic surname meaning the son of Maurice. Surname Origin: French Alternate Surname Spellings:  MOREN, MORRIN, MORREN, MORINI, MORAN, OMORAN, MURRAN, MORO Famous People with the Morin Surname Jean-Baptiste Morin  -  French  mathematician,  astrologer, and  astronomer.Jean-Baptiste Morin - French composerArthur Morin  -  French physicistJames C. Morin  -  American Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonistRenà © Morin  - head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during World War IIJean Morin - French Baroque artistLee Morin - American astronaut Where is the Mori Surname Most Common? The Morin surname, according to surname distribution information from Forebears, is the 3,333rd most common surname in the world. It is most commonly found today in Canada, where it ranks as the 24th most common surname in the country. It is also very prevalent in France (ranked 47th) and the Seychelles (97th). WorldNames PublicProfiler indicates the Morin surname is most common in France- particularly in the regions of Poitou-Charentes, Basse-Normandie, Bretagne, Haute-Normandie, Centre, Pays-de-la-Loire, and Bourgogne. It is also fairly prevalent in Canada, particularly in the Northwest Territories, as well as Maine and New Hampshire in the United States. Genealogy Resources for the Surname Morin Morin Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Morin family crest or coat of arms for the Morin surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. MORIN Family Genealogy ForumThis free message board is focused on descendants of Morin ancestors around the world. Search the forum for posts about your Morin ancestors, or join the forum and post your own queries.   FamilySearch - MORIN GenealogyExplore over 2.4 million  results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Morin surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. MORIN Surname Mailing ListFree mailing list for researchers of the Morin surname and its variations includes subscription details and a searchable archives of past messages. GeneaNet - Morin RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Morin surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. The Morin Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Morin surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Genealogy of Canada: Morin Family TreeA collection of links and information for Morin ancestors shared by researchers. Ancestry.com: Morin SurnameExplore over 1.2 million digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Morin surname on the subscription-based website, Ancestry.com 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.

Job Satisfaction Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Job Satisfaction - Research Paper Example In job satisfaction research, there are several variables (both quantitative and qualitative) that are vital while undertaking the research. Among the variables are gender (qualitative) and intrinsic (quantitative) components. Several studies suggest that demographic characteristics may be linked to a person’s satisfaction with their work. If gender relates to job satisfaction, this relation might be partly examined and explained by a mediating effect of another set of variables. However, the fact is there is no defined relationship between gender and job satisfaction. Inconsistencies in findings concerning the relationship between job satisfaction and gender may be because of various factors. Not only might females and males in the same firm differ in the job level, pay, promotion prospects and many more, but they may differ in the extent to which the same job satisfies their needs. Intrinsic rewards such as task significance, task autonomy, opportunities to learn new things, task involvement and recognition are vital antecedence to job satisfaction to employees in the organizations. The qualitative variable is a descriptive variable. They have a greater bearing on the result due to their manipulation of other parameters. Quantitative variables are variables that can be measured. They are purely mathematical in nature. In this study, gender is one of the qualitative variables it is descriptive in nature while intrinsic, benefits, departments and age can be measured hence they comprise the quantitative variables. The mean is 1.777778 while the standard deviation and sample variance are 0.423659 and 0.179487 respectively. At 95% confidence level, the SD is the deviation from the central mean. The skewness in -1.41623, therefore, job satisfaction tends to be skewed towards the men gender. The graphs explain that job satisfaction is fairly divided between males and females.

ICT Policy Evaluation and Compliance Research Paper

ICT Policy Evaluation and Compliance - Research Paper Example The other challenges are that ICT is a fast growing sector and this provides many challenges with regard to policy development and implementation. These two factors, combined with the volatility of ICT create issues with policy development thus leading to a point where the policies developed may not be useful in advancing technology (Pilat, 2003). Policies, which hinder the development and growth of ICT can be very detrimental, and it is necessary for stakeholders to understand this and try to come up with new ways to streamline ICT processes. This is very important for Qatar especially with regard to its vibrant and fast-growing economy, which requires ICT backing in order to be sustained. It is in this regard that the policy evaluation process should be able to identify how ICT policies in Qatar are affecting the growth and uptake of the sector. Impact on ICT policies on ICT uptake ICT policy can be very useful in making sure that ICT is being utilised properly. On the other hand, one of the main challenges, which can be faced with regard to developing ICT policies, is that they can hinder the uptake of ICT (Roy, 2005). Different policies meant to help in improving the ICT sector can lead to it being harder for the ICT to develop. For instance, those policies which are geared towards control are more likely to have a negative impact if they are unchecked. This is why it is absolutely to have a mechanism through which ICT policies are supposed to be evaluated in terms of how they achieve what they are meant for and also in terms of how they are likely to be generate other negative impacts in the industry (Roy, 2005). For instance, with regard to ICT products, it is necessary to have those policies which support the capabilities of the consumers to uptake or to start using various ICT products. One of the areas where this should be regarded with care and diligence in the communication networks. According to Metcalfe (1979), networks increase their utility to th e users as the number of users increase. In this regard, those policies which are geared towards control must be looked at and evaluated in terms of how they are affecting the growth of ICT. Failing to do this may end up meaning that there will be issues with the growth and development of the ICT sector. In this regard, there are a number of issues which must be looked at in order to make sure that the policies are not being detrimental to the growth of ICT. Compliance with international standards The world has become a global village, and this has made it necessary for all countries and territories in the world to be able to look at the ways in which they can align themselves in the global village (Roy, 2005). Compliance with international standards is not just an issue affecting only ICT, but it affects all sectors on a country’s economy. In this regard, there is a need to identify ways in which the ICT policies in Qatar are affecting the ability to comply with internationa l standards. There is a need to guarantee compliance with international requirements as well as the standards which are being implemented internationally (Khosrowpour, 2000). Failing to evaluate the ICT policies would bring in the risk of not complying with international standards and this would lead to Qatar being isolated from the rest of the world. With regard to ICT, compliance with international standards can never be stressed enough. In this regard, t

Oscar Wilde Constanly Mocks Victorian Society Essay Example for Free

Oscar Wilde Constanly Mocks Victorian Society Essay Act III offers happy resolution to the problems of identity and marriage that drive much of the humor in the previous acts. Wilde continues to mock the social customs and attitudes of the aristocratic class. He relentlessly attacks their values, views on marriage and respectability, sexual attitudes, and concern for stability in the social structure. Wilde attacks social behavior with the continuation of speeches by his characters that are the opposite of their actions. While Cecily and Gwendolen agree to keep a dignified silence, Gwendolen actually states that they will not be the first ones to speak to the men. In the very next line she says, Mr. Worthing, I have something very particular to ask you. Wilde seems to be saying that people speak as if they have strong opinions, but their actions do not support their words. If actions truly do speak louder than words, Wilde has made his point: Society, literally, speaks volumes, but the words are meaningless. Wilde continues his criticism of societys valuing style over substance when Gwendolen says, In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing. Lady Bracknell discusses Algernons marriage assets in the same light. She says, Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire? Indeed, in a society where looks are everything and substance is discounted, Algernon is the perfect husband. What else do aristocrats value? They seem to esteem the appearance of respectability. Respectability means children are born within the context of marriage. Wilde once again mocks the hypocrisy of the aristocrats who appear to value monogamy but pretend not to notice affairs. Jacks speech to Miss Prism, whom he believes to be his mother, is humorous in both its indignant defense of marriage and also its mocking of the loudly touted religious reformers virtues of repentance and forgiveness. He says to Miss Prism, Unmarried! I do not deny that is a serious blow†¦. Mother, I forgive you. His words are all the more humorous when Miss Prism indignantly denies being his mother. It was not at all unusual for aristocrats to have children born out of wedlock, but society turned its head, pretended not to know about those children, and did not condemn their fathers. The gulf between the upper class and its servants is explored in the scenes with Merriman and Prism. When Lady Bracknell unexpectedly shows up at Jacks, Merriman coughs discretely to warn the couples of her arrival. One can only imagine his humorous thoughts as he watches the wealthy tiptoe around each other and argue about what should be important. When Lady Bracknell hears the description of Prism and recognizes her as their former nanny, she calls for Miss Prism by shouting Prism! without using a title in front of her name. Imperiously, Lady Bracknell divides the servant from the lady of the manor. Wildes audience would recognize this behavior on the part of the servants and the upper class. The stuffy class distinctions defined the society in which they lived. In an age of social registers, Lady Bracknell laments that even the Court Guides have errors. In the next breath, she discusses bribing Gwendolens maid to find out what is happening in her daughters life. In Act III she also reveals that her aristocratic brothers family entrusted their most precious possession — Jack — to a woman who is more interested in her handbag and manuscript than in what happens to the baby in her charge. Wilde seems to be questioning the values of a society that believes in social registers, hires other people to neglectfully watch its children, and uses bribery to keep track of the children who are not missing. The death of Bunbury gives Wilde the opportunity to speak of aristocratic fears and have some continued fun with the upper classs lack of compassion about death. The 1885 Trafalgar Square riots brought on ruling-class fears of insurrection, anarchism and socialism. Wilde humorously touches on these fears when he allows Algernon to explain the explosion of Bunbury. Lady Bracknell, fearing the worst, exclaims, Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity. Evidently, to Lady Bracknells acquaintances, laws that protect the welfare of those less fortunate are strictly morbid subjects. In fact, this attitude seems to contradict the upper-class concern for reform. However, in reality, Wilde is confirming the upper-class definition of social reform: conforming to the status quo. In Act III Wilde makes a comment on the value of being homosexual with a veiled reference to Lady Lancing. When Lady Bracknell asserts that Cecily needs to have a more sophisticated hairstyle, she recommends a thoroughly experienced French maid who can make a great deal of change in a very short time. She explains that such a change happened to an acquaintance of hers, Lady Lancing, and that after three months her own husband did not know her. Jack uses the opportunity to make a pun on the word know, using it in an aside — a comment only the audience can hear. Jack interprets know to mean they no longer had sex, insinuating Lady Lancings preference for the French maid. He says, And after six months nobody knew her, indicating that the homosexual experience made a new woman of her. Although homosexuality would have been seen as immoral to Wildes audience, Jack indicates that being homosexual might be a good thing — almost as a social commentary — directly to the audience. It seems a double life is necessary after one is married, whether it be bunburying or the homosexual life Wilde was experiencing in an increasingly public way. Wilde continues his assault on family life in Act III by mentioning its strange qualities in several conversations. It appears rather strange, for example, that Lady Bracknell cannot even recall the Christian name of her brother-in-law, Algys father. Algernons father died before Algernon was one, so stranger yet is Algernons comment, We were never even on speaking terms. He gives that as the reason he cannot remember his fathers name. Further assaulting family life, Wilde has Lady Bracknell describe Lord Moncrieff as eccentric but excuses his behavior because it was the result of the Indian climate, and marriage, and indigestions, and other things of that kind. Marriage is lumped together with things such as indigestion. In explaining Lord Moncrieffs marriage, Lady Bracknell says that he was essentially a man of peace, except in his domestic life. Her description invites suspicion that the local constabulary might have visited because of domestic disturbances. Family life and domestic bliss do not get high marks in Wildes estimation. When Miss Prism humorously resolves the problem of Jacks lineage, Wilde takes his hero of unknown origins and paints him as the aristocrat who will now be assimilated into his rightful place in the social structure. Through the sad melodrama of Jacks handbag parentage, Wilde exaggerates the Victorian clichà © of the poor foundling who makes good. As soon as Jack is known to be a member of the established aristocracy, a Moncrieff in fact, he is seen as an appropriate person for Gwendolen to marry. They will, according to Wilde, live happily ever after in wedded bliss and continue the aristocratic blindness to anything that truly matters. The tag line of the play, spoken by Jack, is a familiar convention in Victorian farces. In discovering that he has been telling the truth all along — his name is Ernest, and he has a brother — Jack makes fun of the Victorian virtues of sincerity and honesty and asks Gwendolen to forgive him for speaking nothing but the truth. He now realizes the importance of being the person he is supposed to be. Wilde is saying perhaps that a new kind of earnestness exists, one that is different from the virtues extolled by the Victorians. Maybe it is possible to be honest and understand what should be taken seriously in life rather than being deceptive, hypocritical, and superficial. Some readers believe, however, that the ending shows Jack mockingly redefining Victorian earnestness as just the opposite: a life of lies, pleasure and beauty. Critics debate the interpretation of the last line. A curious stage direction occurs in Act III, revealing the concern Wilde had for the staging of his play to compliment his ideas. As his couples come together and move apart, he emphasizes the choreography of the pairs. He has them speak in unison, both the women together and the men together. It matters not who they are; they are interchangeable. Marriage is simply an institution that is a gesture, like a christening. The unison speaking is very stylistic, not meant to be realistic at all. It reveals Wildes attitude that what is important in Victorian marriage — names — really should not be as important as other considerations. In the end, Wilde leaves his audience thinking about the trivial social conventions they deem important. Their Victorian virtues perhaps need redefining. Institutions such as marriage, religion, family values and money should perhaps have new interpretations. The character of people, rather than their names and family fortunes, should weigh most heavily when considering their worth. Wilde was able to use humor to skewer these attitudes and convince his audience about the importance of being earnest.

Robert Frosts The Oven Bird Essay example -- Robert Frost

Robert Frost's The Oven Bird In his 1916 poem "The Oven Bird" (Baym, Vol. D 1188), Robert Frost chooses a title that presents a single, natural image of a particular species of bird. The title not only identifies this "mid-summer and...mid-wood" bird as the "singer everyone has heard" in the first line, it also establishes the "nature image" as a main theme in the poem. The bird's song presents images of "solid tree trunks," "flowers," and "pear and cherry bloom," while imposing its individual voice on the landscape. This motif is a defining characteristic of many romantic writers, including the transcendental writers of the nineteenth century American Romantic period. In his little book Nature, Emerson writes, "I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty....In the tranquil landscape...man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature....Nature always wears the colors of the spirit" (Baym, Vol. B 1108, 1109). Emerson endows nature with everlasting life, beauty, and passion. Therefore, he feels that he (a nd everyone else) can realize and experience the beauty of human existence by immersing himself in the landscape. And, like the oven bird, he imposes himself on the landscape through his individual essence (in Emerson's case his spirit). Despite the initial parallels with the Emersonian persona, the bird's song takes life and beauty away from the natural images that it describes, denying the immortal quality of nature. In "The Oven Bird," several natural images, traditionally symbolizing strength and beauty, construct a romantic landscape. But, these images are individually deconstructed, leaving the natural scene as a whole barren and hollow. Frost crafts a poem that is dependant on nature for both its subject and it... ... he holds on to the romantic notion that nature reflects the human experience. Where Emerson says, "I am nothing. I see all" (1109), Frost would say, "I am nothing. I see nothing." Therefore, in "The Oven Bird," Frost reconstructs the romantic perspective of the nature image by removing the romantic ideals of immortal beauty and spirituality that are associated with the perspective, and imposing the modernist zeitgeist upon this traditionally romantic subject. Works Cited Frost, Robert. "The Oven Bird." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume D. Ed. Nina Baym. New York, London: Norton, 2003. 1188. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume B. Ed. Nina Baym. New York, London: Norton, 2003. 1106-1134. "Oven-Bird." Birds of Eastern North America. 17 November 2003. http://www.aboutbirds.org.html.

Direct and Online Marketing †the New Marketing Model Essay

I. INTRODUCTION With the growth of the Internet community and the limitless possibilities the Internet gives to the single user, it didn’t take long before someone realized that the World Wide Web is a really good place for the commercial entrepreneur. So, very quickly the online market was born, offering almost all kinds of goods to be purchased and delivered to your door. This new online sensation was called electronic commerce, or ecommerce. E-commerce is a complex term referring to the process of selling and buying products and services over the Internet or other electronic systems. Considered as the sales aspect of the e-business, the electronic commerce has revolutionized trade as a routine activity for the contemporary man by bringing the marketplace to your home or the office, thus saving you time and efforts. The development of e-commerce has given birth to new terms such as electronic funds transfer, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), Internet marketing, automated data collection systems, etc. They all designate certain key components of the sophisticated e-commerce system. The majority of processes running within the e-commerce system are carried out on the World Wide Web. It is on the web where goods and services are presented through variously designed e-commerce websites to match the taste of a particular target audience. From there customers can order the desired items and pay for them in a variety of supported e-payment options such as credit cards, PayPal, etc. Certain e-commerce operations are executed via email as well. These may include sending order placement confirmations or electronic invoice notifications to the buyer’s personal mailbox after a particular purchase. Depending on the nature of the offered products and services, ecommerce operations may involve virtual and physical items. Due to the increasing use of the Internet in our daily lives, the percentage of the virtual items distributed through ecommerce is rapidly growing. These include services like buying admission to limited access websites or electronic versions of newspapers and magazines, online gaming, etc. Nevertheless, the majority of e-commerce transactions are still related to the purchase and transportation of physical items. As far as the parties involved in the online transaction process are concerned, ecommerce can be thought of as being business-to-consumer, more popular as B2C, and business-to-business, also known as B2B. The B2C ecommerce, conducted between business entities and consumers, includes all online stores (e-shops) offering retail products and services to end customers such as flower stores, shoe stores, furniture stores, etc. The B2B commerce, on the other hand, takes place between business entities only, such as wholesalers and retailers, on not that widely popular web stores. The rapid expansion of ecommerce has made it possible for almost all big retail companies to set up their own online stores with regularly updated content. Thus, it is now easier than ever to obtain an item from the latest collection of your favorite clothes brand, or be among the first to take advantage of a starting clearance campaign. Moreover, the ecommerce fashion is gradually ‘infecting’ smaller retail companies, which find it as a good chance to expand their reach to potential customers and increase the selling volumes. This trend is stimulated by the attractive low-cost ecommerce hosting services offered by different hosts on the web. II. ONLINE MARKETING Online marketing, also known as online advertisement, internet marketing, online marketing or e-marketing, is the marketing and promotion of products or services over the Internet. Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. TYPES OF ONLINE MARKETING * Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s â€Å"natural† or un-paid (â€Å"organic†) search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic. The plural of the abbreviation SEO can refer to â€Å"search engine optimizers,† those who provide SEO service. * Pay-Per-Click Advertising (also called cost per click) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner) when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. PPC â€Å"display† advertisements, also known as â€Å"banner† ads, are shown on web sites or search engine results with related content that have agreed to show ads. In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, PPC implements the so-called affiliate model that provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model: If an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. Variations include banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs. Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser’s keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to, above, or beneath organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site. Among PPC providers, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter used to be the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. In 2010, Yahoo and Microsoft launched their combined effort against Google and Microsoft’s Bing began to be the search engine that Yahoo used to provide its search results. Since they joined forces, their PPC platform was renamed AdCenter. Their combined network of third party sites that allow AdCenter ads to populate banner and text ads on their site is called BingAds. The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers. * Email Marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send ads, request business, or solicit sales or donations, and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. Email marketing can be done to either cold lists or current customer database. Broadly, the term is usually used to refer to: * Sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers, to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business, * Sending email messages with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, * Adding advertisements to email messages sent by other companies to their customers Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US $1.51 billion on email marketing in 2011 and will grow to $2.468 billion by 2016. * Affiliate Marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as ‘the affiliate’), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to warrant a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors. Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing (PPC – Pay Per Click), e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner. Affiliate marketing is commonly confused with referral marketing, as both forms of marketing use third parties to drive sales to the retailer. However, both are distinct forms of marketing and the main difference between them is that affiliate marketing relies purely on financial motivations to drive sales while referral marketing relies on trust and personal relationships to drive sales. Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers’ marketing strategies. * Display Advertising is a type of advertising that typically contains text (i.e., copy), logos, photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising can appear on the same page as, or on the page adjacent to, general editorial content. In contrast, classified advertising generally appears in a distinct section, was traditionally text-only, and was available in a limited selection of typefaces. Display advertisements are not required to contain images, audio, or video: Textual advertisements are also used where text may be more appropriate or more effective. An example of textual advertisements is commercial messages sent to mobile device users, or email. One common form of display advertising involves billboards. Posters, fliers, transit cards, tents, scale models are examples of display advertising.. Display advertising appears on web pages in many forms, including web banners. Banner ad standards continue to evolve. * Blogging. A weblog, also called a blog, is a journal that is maintained by a blogger and contains information that is instantly published to their blog website. Blogging is a very popular activity. The number of online users creating and maintaining blogs has increased dramatically over the past year. The number Internet users who read these blogs has also shot up, with some blogs boasting thousands, even millions of daily dedicated readers. Blog marketing is any process that publicizes or advertises a website, business, brand or service via the medium of blogs. This includes, but is not limited to marketing via ads placed on blogs, recommendations and reviews by the blogger, promotion via entries on third party blogs and cross-syndication of information across multiple blogs. * Community Building. An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted number of people can initiate posts, such as Weblogs. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. Significant socio-technical change may have resulted from the proliferation of such Internet-based social networks. * Social Media Marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media. Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Increased communication for organizations fosters brand awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. Social media marketing involves the use of social networks, COBRAs and eWOM to successfully advertise online. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide advertisers with information about the likes and dislikes of their consumers. This technique is crucial, as it provides the businesses with a â€Å"target audience†. With social networks, information relevant to the user’s likes is available to businesses; who then advertise accordingly. Consumer’s online brand related activities (COBRAs) is another method used by advertisers to promote their products. An activity such as uploading a picture of your â€Å"new Converse sneakers to Facebook† is an example of a COBRA. Another technique for social media marketing is electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Electronic recommendations and appraisals are a convenient manner to have a product promoted via â€Å"consumer-to-consumer interactions†. An example of eWOM would be an online hotel review; the hotel company can have two possible outcomes based on their service. A good service would result in a positive review which gets the hotel free advertisement via social media; however a poor service will result in a negative consumer review which can potentially ruin the company’s reputation. ADVANTAGE OF ONLINE MARKETING These are some of the many advantages that online marketing offers over traditional media outlets: 1. Reduced Cost The starting cost of online marketing is only a fraction of the thousands of dollars that Yellow Pages, television and radio ads cost. For example, you can get a free listing on Google Local that will be just as effective as a costly online Yellow Pages ad. In addition, while traditional ads may only run for a short time, a search engine optimization campaign can deliver long-term results. You can also save money with online Pay-Per-Click advertising where it is easy to experiment with small ad volumes until you perfect your strategy and then expand your marketing budget when you are assured of a positive sales return. 2. Everything Is Measurable When you place an ad in the newspaper or a magazine, it can be difficult to assess the direct sales impact for your business. With online marketing, everything can be tracked and illustrated in detailed graphs that illustrate traffic growth, leads and sales conversions from your specific search marketing campaigns. Using a free traffic analysis tool like Google Analytics, it is easy to calculate your return on investment (ROI) so you can appreciate the excellent value generated from your online marketing budget. 3. Brand Engagement In the crowded market, you need to establish and maintain positive brand awareness and client loyalty. Apart from word-of-mouth and leveraging your personal relationships with your established clients, a website is the most important marketing tool a business can have. A regularly updated website with well-written content that maintains people’s interest is essential to showing people exactly how your business is distinctive – and how you offer the best value to your clients. 4. Demographic Targeting The degree to which an online marketing campaign can target and measure the response from specific demographics and regions is often astonishing to business owners who normally use traditional media. New demographic prediction and online advertising platforms allow you to specifically target the specific consumer demographics most likely to buy your products. In particular, if you want to target young people between the ages of 16-30, you’ll need an online marketing strategy to reach them where they spend the bulk of their time: On the Internet and on social media sites. 5. Real-Time Results With online marketing you don’t have to wait weeks to see a significant boost in your business. With a paid search marketing campaign you can experience real-time results that enable you to fine-tune your marketing message to achieve your desired effect. If your marketing strategy isn’t working effectively, real-time monitoring tools allow you to easily pin-point exactly where you are going wrong. 6. Easily Refine Your Strategy Using online marketing analytics and tracking tools you can test conversion rates at a fraction of the cost of a traditional media campaign. Online marketing levels the playing field and allows savvy small businesses to compete in competitive niches that previously would only be open to large corporations and their massive marketing budgets. If your marketing strategy is not bringing in the return on investment (ROI) that you desire, you can work to perfect it without having to launch an expensive new campaign as would be required with most traditional media outlets. 7. Long-Term Exposure The benefit of an organic search marketing campaign that optimizes a website for specific keywords is that you will achieve a long-term return on your investment. Once your website’s visibility is well-established with search engines, it is easy to do regular low-cost maintenance of your strategy. The early adopters of new online marketing platforms like social media marketing will have a significant head start over their competition. 8. Product Information Today’s savvy consumers want to compare reviews and opinions of friends, trusted bloggers and industry experts before they make a decision. If you can provide quality, linkable information that is what people are looking for, then the next step of converting users into paying clients can be very easy. With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter re-enforcing the value of positive word-of-mouth exposure, trust is more important than ever in the marketing field. 9. Less Intrusive Most savvy consumers dislike intrusive traditional marketing methods like direct mailing, print ads and television advertisements. When someone buys a newspaper or magazine, they want to read interesting articles not be bombarded with irrelevant ads. While mediums like television can still be useful for maintaining awareness of large corporate brands, it is not an effective medium for most small and medium-size businesses. With online marketing, you can target consumers precisely when they are searching for products and services that your business can provide. 10. Holds Their Attention When people read the newspaper or a magazine they may scan over the advertisements beside the article but there is no way to engage their attention. With online marketing you can encourage them to take action, visit your website and read about your products and services which results in vastly increased â€Å"stickiness† of your marketing message.

Food Inflations-the Real Problem of Common Man in India

In simple terms inflation, or price rise is caused by too much money chasing too few goods, or, demand being more than supply. The free play of the twin market forces of demand and supply determine the price of any commodity or service. In a mixed economy like India, Government is also an important player in the market. Hence to search for the causes of inflation, becomes somewhat complex. The last couple of months witnessed a sudden and almost a run-away type of food inflation. The way the price of vegetables and other food items soared, it created doubts in the minds of the common people and the economists alike. Winter is generally the time when fruits & vegetables are at the lowest prices. This was not so this year. The prices were way above the expected normal. This happened in spite of the normal monsoon and average inflation in other sectors. It was the other way round this time. Inflation in the food sector spilled to other sectors causing the rise in overall inflation. The government and RBI are working on the lines of monetary regulations like change in the interest rates, CRR etc. But looking at the way the food prices are stuck at the higher side, don’t these monetary measures appear just temporary remedies? There are certain deeper, grass root causes which have to be actually tackled. India has come a long way in case of food grain productivity. There was a time when our Balance of payments, account was always weighed down by food grain imports and the debts incurred for these essential imports. It is not so anymore. We are self reliant now. In case of sugar, global prices are determined by the amount of India’s sugar production! States like Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat are doing well in the field of agriculture. Production may be slightly short of demand considering the huge population. Such inflation can be checked by importing. But our problem is actually the middlemen. There is a huge difference between the cost of production and the price the final consumer pays. The farmer gets a very small amount of this profit/difference of cost and final price. For example – If we are buying a vegetable for Rs. 40 per kg. , the dealer at the wholesale market gets Rs. 10 per Kg. , and the poor farmer gets a meager Rs. 3. Again this Rs. 40 too will differ depending on the locality it is being sold. Then there is always the problem of black marketing & illegal stocking of goods to get a higher price. So we actually need checks on the middlemen and the retailers. Secondly, the system of direct farm to shops has to be developed, so that the farmers are the real beneficiaries. This will also motivate the farmers to increase production. Wastage is another important avoidable problem, leading to shortage. Production we have raised. But so much is wasted because we still are a laggard when it comes to state of the art storage facilities. Even the government’s huge food buffer stock lies unused till it gets finally rotten. Why doesn’t the government release its buffer stock on time to check shortage and food inflation? Is the buffer stock merely for psychological security? The government has raised the support prices of some food items. This along with the rural employment schemes and high urban salaries has also infused excess money in the market causing the inflation. Lastly, does the government know or sincerely follow, what is happening to the prices which are subsidized or fixed by the government? There are cases where the inflation will not show in the Government statistics, but will certainly affect our household budget. As usual when the Union Budget is presented, all eyes will be on the Finance Minister and his speech will be thoroughly scanned for all the implications on the economy. But this time, there is one particular reason why ordinary citizens will be specially focused on the Budget: the hope that the Government is finally going to act decisively to contain food price inflation. It is not surprising that questions of food security and the right to food have become such urgent political and social issues in India today. Rapid aggregate income growth over the past two decades has not addressed the basic issue of ensuring the food security of the population. Instead, nutrition indicators have stagnated and per capita calorie consumption has actually declined, suggesting that the problem of hunger may have got worse rather than better. So, despite apparent material progress in the last decade, India is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of hunger among the population, and the number of hungry people in India is reported by the UN to have increased between the early 1990s and the mid-2000s. These very depressing indicators were calculated even before the recent rise in food prices in India, which is likely to have made matters much worse. Indeed, the rise in food prices in the past two years has been higher than any period since the mid-1970s, when such inflation sparked widespread social unrest and political instability. What is especially remarkable is that food prices have been rising even when the general price index (for wholesale prices) has been almost flat; thus, when the overall inflation rate was only 1-2 per cent in the past year, food prices increased by nearly 20 per cent. Sharp rise in prices It is evident that the price increase has been so rapid as to be alarming especially over the past two years, with rice prices increasing by nearly half in Northern cities and more than half in Southern cities. Atta prices have on average increased by around one-fifth from their level of two years ago. The most shocking increase has been in sugar prices, which have more than doubled across the country. Other food items, ranging from pulses and dal to milk and vegetables, have also shown dramatic increase especially in the past year. There are many reasons why food prices have risen at such a rapid rate, and all of them point to major failures of state policy. Domestic food production has been adversely affected by neoliberal economic policies that have opened up trade and exposed farmers to volatile international prices even as internal support systems have been dismantled and input prices have been rising continuously. Inadequate agricultural research, poor extension services, overuse of groundwater, and incentives for unsuitable cropping patterns have caused degeneration of soil quality and reduced the productivity of land and other inputs. Women farmers, who constitute a large (and growing) proportion of those tilling the land, have been deprived of many of the rights of cultivators, ranging from land titles to access to institutional credit, knowledge and inputs, and this too has affected the productivity and viability of cultivation. Poor distribution But in addition to production, poor distribution, growing concentration in the market and inadequate public involvement, have all been crucial in allowing food prices to rise in this appalling manner. Successive governments at the Centre have been reducing the scope of the public food distribution system, and even now, in the face of the massive increase in prices, the Central Government is delaying the allocation of food grains for the Above Poverty Line population to the States. This has prevented the public system from becoming a viable alternative for consumers and preventing private speculation and hoarding. In addition, allowing corporates (both domestic and foreign companies) to enter the market for grains and other food items has led to some increase in concentration of distribution. This has not been adequately studied, but it has many adverse implications, including the fact that farmers will benefit less from period of high prices even as consumers suffer, because the benefit will be garnered by middlemen. Sugar is slightly more complicated, as marketing margins appear to show different trends in different regions and also tend to be significantly lower than the other major crops. The dramatic increase in sugar prices is more a reflection of massive policy errors over the past two years, in terms of supply and domestic price management and exports and imports. Marketing margins So what exactly is happening? It appears that there are forces that are allowing marketing margins — at both wholesale and retail levels — to increase. This means that the direct producers, the farmers, do not get the benefit of the rising prices which consumers in both rural and urban areas are forced to pay. The factors behind these increasing retail margins need to be studied in much more detail. In addition to this, there is also initial evidence that there has been a process of concentration of crop distribution, as more and more corporate entities get involved in this activity. Such companies are both national and multinational. On the basis of international experience, their involvement in food distribution initially tends to bring down marketing margins and then leads to their increase as concentration grows. This may have been the case in certain Indian markets, but this is an area that clearly merits further examination. Many people have argued, convincingly, that increased and more stable food production is the key to food security in the country. This is certainly true, and it calls for concerted public action for agriculture, on the basis of many recommendations that have already been made by the Farmers' Commission and others. But another very important element cannot be ignored: food distribution. Here too, the recent trends make it evident that an efficiently functioning and widespread public system for distributing essential food items is important to prevent retail margins from rising. Food security A universal system of public food distribution provides economies of scale; it reduces the transaction costs and administrative hassles involved in ascertaining the target group and making sure it reaches them; it allows for better public provision because even the better-off groups with more political voice have a stake in making sure it works well; it generates greater stability in government plans for ensuring food production and procurement. It is clear that emergency measures are required to strengthen public food distribution, in addition to medium-term policies to improve domestic food supply. A properly funded, efficiently functioning and accountable system of public delivery of food items through a network of fair price shops and co-operatives is the best and most cost-effective way of limiting increases in food prices and ensuring that every citizen has access to enough food. In a context in which the inflation is concentrated on food prices, measures such as raising the interest rate are counterproductive because they affect all producers without striking at the heart of the problem. Instead, if he is serious about curtailing food inflation, the Finance Minister must provide substantially more funds to enable a proper and effect to public food distribution system. Inflation Statistics. Snapping the five week rising trend, food inflation softened to 16. 91 per cent for the week ended January 1, 2011, although vegetables, onions and protein-based items continued to remained costly. Food inflation fell by 1. 41 percentage points from 18. 32 per cent recorded in the previous reporting week. Even as the index of food inflation showed a meagre decline, vegetable prices soared by 70. 3 per cent on an annual basis in the wholesale market, official data showed. Also onions continued to pinch the pocket of the common man as the prices went up by 70. 70 per cent on a year on year basis. Among the individual items in the food inflation index, egg, meat and fish became costly by 16. 70 per cent, milk by 13. 20 per cent and fruits by 17. 71 per cent annually. However, prices of pulses declined by 14. 84 per cent, wheat by 4. 87 per cent, potatoes by 1. 67 per cent and cereals by 0. 12 per cent on an annual basis. Meanwhile, in the non-food category, the prices of fibers and minerals have climbed up by 36. 1 per cent and 16. 70 per cent, respectively. India’s food inflation rose marginally to 15. 57 percent for the week ended January 15 from previous week’s 15. 52 percent. According to official figures from country’s Commerce ministry, the primary articles price index was up 17. 26 per cent in the latest week, compared with an annual rise of 17. 03 per cent a week earlier. India has the highest food inflation of any major Asian economy, but other emerging markets such as China and Brazil are also battling double-digit food price rises.