Marketing Principle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Principle - Essay Example The company has established bottling partners in more than 200 countries. To ensure that all its target customers are satisfied with its brands, the company has more than 500 brands in the international market. One of the major aspects that have made the company to attain a large market segment is the increased investment in the marketing activities of its products. Coca-Cola Company market share is approximately 75%. Despite stiff competition from its competitors such as Pepsi , McDonald and Cadburys among others, the company has emerged as a leader based on the extensive use of modern as well as traditional methods of promotion and advertising. One of the major objectives of the company is to raise market share by effectively penetrating Asia Pacific and Asia markets. Secondly, the company is focused at expanding its corporate social responsibilities in order to address social problems faced by children in Africa and Latin America markets. This paper covers major strategies that Co ca-Cola adopts in its market segmentation, product positioning, and process of marketing as well marketing mix. Task 1 Marketing entails the process of communication the benefits of a product to the potential or existing customers. Being a vital way of attracting new customers, marketing takes a significant portion of company resources especially for the firms that are focused at going global. Marketing can also be defined as a management strategy of ensuring that products are moved from the concept to the final consumer. This entails the coordination of the 4Ps of marketing that included product, price, promotion and place. Marketing process entails identification of marketing opportunities and providing quality products that meet the needs of the target markets. Four major steps that are covered by marketing process are analyses of marketing opportunities, selection of target markets, development of marketing mix and management of the marketing efforts. In order to identify opport unities in the market, Coca-Cola undertakes extensive market research through the use of its marketing team. Coca-Cola Company has a number of opportunities. First, it can acquire more companies as a way of reducing competition in the soft drink industry. Secondly, the increased Hispanic population and their improved economic power will lead to high demand for its product in the local and international markets. Thirdly, due to the increasing demand for Dasani water in the world market, the company can expand its marketing activities especially in Asia, Africa and Asia pacific regions. In this way, it will capture the unexploited market thus increasing the total revenue. Coca-Cola targets all individuals regardless of their ages. Through effective market segmentation and targeting, the company is in a position to evaluate each of its segment thus providing quality brands that meet the needs of its customers. The company emulates Geographic segmentation, Demographic segmentation, Beha vioral segmentation and Psychographic segmentation. Being a third step in the marketing process, developing an appropriate marketing mix is an aspect that Coca-Cola Company has not overlooked. For instance, the company has established wide range of quality brands such as Coke, Fanta, Sprite and Minute Maid among others. The company prices are affordable thus ensuring that its customers are in a position to purchase their favorite brands. In terms of place, the company has

The Connotation Of Marketing Marketing Essay

The Connotation Of Marketing Marketing Essay Introduction Nowadays, marketing activities influence people in both the roles as suppliers of products and services and as customers. Marketing plays a great part for companies in knowing their clients, the products and services to offer, the advertising means and so forth. As for individuals, marketing is important for them to choose a particular brand of fashionable dresses and even toothpaste. But marketing is much more than selling or advertising activities. In this essay, the concept of marketing will be introduced in the beginning, and then the essay places an emphasis on the full range of connotation for marketing including marketing strategies, the consumer behavior, environmental analysis, and marketing ethics. Finally, it is concluded that marketing is a comprehensive process that involves all of the activities of managing and satisfying demand through the exchange process. Marketing is a Comprehensive Process As to the definition of marketing, most people, even some entrepreneurs, would hold that marketing mean selling or advertising, however, marketing is an activity more complex than selling or advertising. A proper definition of marketing should not only consider economy, but also includes institutions, people, and new ideas. Marketing is a process of offering products and services, pricing, promotion and distribution to meet the individual and organizational demand through exchanges (AMA, 1985). A company achieves its goals by satisfying both the domestic and foreign customers, and marketing is concerned with the activities to enlarge the market share of the company by matching the demand. This definition indicates that marketing includes not only the enterprises and individuals, but also the activities of non-profitable institutions or the marketing of a great idea or a service as well as a product. All in all, marketing involves products, services, organizations, people and ideas. Marketing Strategies According to McCarthy (1960), marketing strategies include products, pricing, promotion and place. Products or services are the basic content in the marketing process, which can be classified as goods or services and as customer or industrial. Classification is significant because it concentrates on the disparities in the characteristics of products and the different marketing implications. A reasonable pricing also counts in the process of marketing which should be profitable to the company and beneficial to the consumers. In the process of marketing, promotion is necessary to make the products, services or ideas known to the consumers. Means of promotion includes personal selling, advertising and public relations, price discounts and so forth. Distribution planning exerts a significant impact on the marketing program used by a firm, because middlemen can play a wide variety of marketing roles, the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s marketing plan will be different if it sells its products dir ect rather than through intermediaries. Environmental Analysis Environmental influences consist of sociocultural and technological, economic and competitive as well as political and legal influences (Kotler, 2006). Individuals are easily influenced both by the trends of the whole society and by a need to comply with the rules of the different social groups to which they belong, and to improve their status in those groups. With the development of technology, consumers can receive more individually-oriented offerings, and thus their expectations are raised about the quality of the product and service. The flourish of products and services lead to brand changing or offer the consumers with the information to make more meticulous decisions. And regulation and legislation, whether they relate to the product introductions, customer rights or advertising means, also decrease the risk of decision-making. This reduces some pressure of the customer, leading to discerning and easier decisions and less risk of post-purchase disturbance. Marketing Ethics Marketing ethics are the marketerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s standards of behavior and moral values, as Homburg (2001) maintains. They are related to the decision to do what is morally right or what is morally wrong. Traditionally, the concept of business responsibility has cared about the relationship between the enterprise and consumers, the work staff, and the stockholders. The enterprise is responsible for providing the customers with high-quality product at a rational price, decent salaries and a comfortable working environment for the staff and an adequate profit level for stockholders. Contemporary marketing decisions must regularly consider the external social environment. Decisions must also account for eventual, long-run effects. Socially responsible decisions must consider future generations as well as existing society. Conclusion In conclusion, in the process of marketing, selling or advertising is essential if a company want to attain its objectives, but more emphasis must be placed on the marketing strategies, and it is also of great importance to take environmental influences into consideration, which can exert impact on consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s decision-making. With people concern more about the ecology and healthy ways of consumption, marketers must care about environmentally-friendly marketing despite the high-quality products and services.

The Devastating Effects of Intolerance :: essays research papers

The Devastating Effects of Intolerance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intolerance is something that everyone has to deal with; It is a nation-wide problem. There are many forms of intolerance and all of them lead to devastation. This is shown throughout history, literature and in personal events. We are the only ones who can stop it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One form of intolerance is religious bigotry. This is clearly illustrated in Elie Wiesel's book called Night. In this novel Elie and his family are put into a Nazi death camp in 1944. The experience was a life changing event for the young Elie. He tragically witnessed the death of his family and loss everything he knew. Elie and his family were only one of the millions affected by the hate of the Germans as it states in the book Night: 'I witnessed other hangings'; (page 60). Millions of peope died because of the hate in some people. Hate can be shown in many other forms too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One form is clearly shown in Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel's short story entitled 'Who Said We all had to Talk Alike?' A woman from the Ozarks named Neffie, applies for a job in California. Neffie is sent back after just one month because she 'added an 'r'; to many words that did not contain that letter.'; This incident was devastating to the children she was caring for because they really liked Neffie and the way that she cooked and told stories. This also made Neffie feel like there was something wrong with her. The children probably lost one of the best baby-sitters. This is just a small example of an act of intolerance that can even have unintended consequences that hurt many people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Devastating intolerance can also be seen in the short story 'Address Unknown'; by Kressman Taylor. An act of religious bigotry and someone's beliefs can become a part of someone else's way of thinking or internalizing one's ideas. The 'Address Unknown'; is about two friends, Max and Martin. Martin is a German in Germany and Max is a Jew in America. Martin is galvanized by Hitler's ways. In short, the two friends become enemies turning against each other. Max's sister,also a Jew, dies because Martin wouldn't help her. Max seeks revenge by sending damaging letters to Martin. The outcome of Martin's family is not stated but it is not very good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Helen Bansley was faced with religious intolerance when she wanted to get married in 1949. The Devastating Effects of Intolerance :: essays research papers The Devastating Effects of Intolerance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intolerance is something that everyone has to deal with; It is a nation-wide problem. There are many forms of intolerance and all of them lead to devastation. This is shown throughout history, literature and in personal events. We are the only ones who can stop it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One form of intolerance is religious bigotry. This is clearly illustrated in Elie Wiesel's book called Night. In this novel Elie and his family are put into a Nazi death camp in 1944. The experience was a life changing event for the young Elie. He tragically witnessed the death of his family and loss everything he knew. Elie and his family were only one of the millions affected by the hate of the Germans as it states in the book Night: 'I witnessed other hangings'; (page 60). Millions of peope died because of the hate in some people. Hate can be shown in many other forms too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One form is clearly shown in Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel's short story entitled 'Who Said We all had to Talk Alike?' A woman from the Ozarks named Neffie, applies for a job in California. Neffie is sent back after just one month because she 'added an 'r'; to many words that did not contain that letter.'; This incident was devastating to the children she was caring for because they really liked Neffie and the way that she cooked and told stories. This also made Neffie feel like there was something wrong with her. The children probably lost one of the best baby-sitters. This is just a small example of an act of intolerance that can even have unintended consequences that hurt many people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Devastating intolerance can also be seen in the short story 'Address Unknown'; by Kressman Taylor. An act of religious bigotry and someone's beliefs can become a part of someone else's way of thinking or internalizing one's ideas. The 'Address Unknown'; is about two friends, Max and Martin. Martin is a German in Germany and Max is a Jew in America. Martin is galvanized by Hitler's ways. In short, the two friends become enemies turning against each other. Max's sister,also a Jew, dies because Martin wouldn't help her. Max seeks revenge by sending damaging letters to Martin. The outcome of Martin's family is not stated but it is not very good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Helen Bansley was faced with religious intolerance when she wanted to get married in 1949.

Diary of Wimpy Kid Evaluative Essay Essay

Abstract The Diary of a Wimpy kid is a book about adolescence who have dealt with emotional struggles and social acceptance in middle school. The book highlighted areas of struggle which included: bullies, emotional responses in both positive and negative ways, friendship, and family dynamics. The book was intended was readers of age seven and older but could be used a discussion book with children and dealing with social issues. The book genre is comedy and humor and is full of illustration to help the reader understand the concepts and lessons of the book. It is written in simple words and would be a good read for children and early adolescence. The book, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, written by Jeff Kinney discussed many literary elements while its ultimate theme was humor. The book included topics about friendship, family, middle school, peer pressure, social acceptance and faux pas, and morality issues. The book had been written in the genre of comedy and was intended for readers between the ages of seven and older. The book approached adolescence from a relatable standpoint with kids who attempted to gain a sense of value and self worth through social acceptance. The book was written very well and taught several valuable moral lessons that could be used for children to gain understanding about peer issues and consequence of actions. The book had several strong characters that influenced the main character’s life. The first main character was Greg Heffley and the second was his best friend Rowley. The story began with a diary that Greg had received from his Mother. Although he had been embarrassed by the gift, he decided to write down the stories of his daily life so that he could share it with people once he became rich and famous. Greg was portrayed as an extremely insecure kid who was desperate to be recognized and gain popularity. His insecurity manifested into his closest friendship and relationships through arrogance,  criticism, lying, jealousy and pride. An example of this was when Greg befriended Rowley. He reached out to him under the pretense that Rowley would be so blessed to be friends with him and befriended him out of a place of pity. Greg treated Rowley as a lesser and often times would do things to put him down just like his older brother would do to him. Rowley was completely the opposite. He happened to be very naive and childlike in many ways. He was a kid that was very secure in who he was and was not concerned with fitting into anything. He was genuinely loving and humorous, and because of that it attracted friendships and sometimes the occasional uninvited ridicule.The boys lives intertwined and eventually their friendship was tested. Greg lied to Rowley which had been motivated by jealousy because Rowley had become popular while Greg continued to go unnoticed. The author included the real emotional high’s and low’s of adolescent friendship through the two main characters. The author wrote the book in a way that expressed the dynamics of friendship and social acceptance through comedy. Kinney made the characters very relatable and expressed the problems with adolescence trying to make sense of their emotions and solving their own problems (Kinney, 2010). In the story, Greg wanted to become popular and was doing everything he could to make that happen. With many failed attempts, constant bullying, and social ridicule he eventually joined the safety team with Rowley. Once they were on the team together they had been given the responsibility to to walk children home from school. The boys took ownership in there jobs but circumstances had interrupted Rowley’s service to the team. Rowley was not able to walk the kids home that afternoon but lent his jacket to Greg and insisted that he do it. Later a kindergartener had been chased down while on Greg’s shift, but because he had worn Rowley’s jacket, it had been reported back to the school that Rowley was the problem. Later, Rowley received punishment and was no longer allowed to be a safety patrol kid. Greg was blinded by jealousy and so desperate for acceptance he figured he would do the â€Å"right thing† by covering his mistake and allowing his friend to take the fall (Kinney, 2010). His need to be accepted resulted in him betraying Rowley to maintain his small portion of position in the social scene. Later he  confessed to Rowley that he had been the one to blame and did not apologize for what he had done but justified it. Greg felt entitled to his position and because they were friends he felt he could use Rowley and that would be accepted (Kinney, 2010). The safety story did an excellent job of portraying how emotions can rule a person in a negative manner. It also demonstrated the desire for social acceptance and how people are willing to sacrifice the most valuable relationships to to gain popularity. The particular story was written in a way that really gave an accurate portrayal on the depth of the heart of adolescence when they are not properly guided and taught by the parents to help them understand the emotional issues of the heart (Park, 2009). The author used the portion of the story to help the reader discern good friendships from bad friendships and what character attributes friends should look for in one another. Once Rowley was informed of the truth he discovered that Greg was not a good friend. He recognized that Greg was selfish, jealous, prideful, and a person that would betray him. The revelation resulted in Rowley walking away from their friendship. The unveiled truth about friendship left the reader to ponder the questions about their friendships and also the question of what kind of friend they are to other people. As the story continued the author showed the power of standing up for your friends and the power of forgiveness. The story picked up where Rowley and Greg were about to fight but were cornered by bullies that were going to force the boys to eat the slimed cheese from the basketball court. To touch the cheese would be social suicide to any student, but to eat it meant far worse. The bullies forced Rowley to eat the cheese but were chased off from a teacher before Greg had too (Wimpy greg, 2004). Once the students on the campus saw the cheese they began to crowd around Rowley to judge him and make fun of him. At that moment, Greg stepped up and took the fall for Rowley by telling the classmates that he had been the one that had touched the cheese. The kids fled from Greg but his relationship with Rowley was restored. Once Greg was free from trying to fit in was when he became a real friend  and a person of good character. The final portion of the story brought redemption to Greg’s character and demonstrated to the reader that it is never to late to do the right thing. As a result of making the right choice, Rowley forgave Greg, and Greg received the lesson that one good friend is more important that crowds of superficial people (Family, 2010). The portion of the story left the reader with the moral lesson that it is better to be yourself than trying to fit into a crowd and be someone you are not. The book would be very appropriate for middle school kids because it discussed relatable issues and conflicts that could arise from trying to fit in or become popular. It gave several moral lessons to help the reader understand the dynamics to friendship and insecurities with school and growing up. The author did a great job of keeping the reader engaged by the comical illustrations and dialogue that happened between characters. He also portrayed the reality of common struggles in middle school and how critical it was to be true to oneself. The author summarized the book by having the two main characters resolve their conflict and accept who they were. This book is a perfect example of societies condition. The story line may have been intended for middle school children, but society is the same way as adults. There is a need to be accepted, powerful, recognized, feeling entitled to things, people have used others as scapegoats, betrayal, jealousy, strife, revenge, and many other negative things. However, there was also the reality of forgiveness. Even today, when people forgive others, defend them, take accountability and ownership for mistakes, gain the wisdom that what they chase is not as important as money or fame, there is a place of resolution and resolve in peoples lives. While trying to chase after fame and sacrificing what is important there is a misery that follows, but the contentment comes after forgiveness and the understanding of what it important. I think this book is a good read for kids. There are character issues and sin issues that I did not like, but it is a book that kids could read and grasp the moral roots of it. I think it would be beneficial for a parent to discuss the moral failures of the main character and give insight into what  they should do to handle situations with similar circumstances. With older children, this would be a great book to read as a family and have a book study that would help kids recognize their own areas of weaknesses and temptations. I think the author did an excellent job adapting himself into the adolescent world while bringing humor and practical ways to make right decisions. Bibliography: Kinney, J. (2010). Diary of a wimpy kid: a novel in cartoon. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/diary-wimpy-kid Family, F. (2010). Focus on the family: thriving family. Retrieved from http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Family/Media/book-reviews/d/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid.aspx Park, A. (2009). Diary of a wimpy kid: concept analysis. Retrieved from http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/DiaryOfAWimpyKid/Concept Analysis.pdf Wimpy greg. (2004). Retrieved from http://wimpygreg.weebly.com/index.html

Computer Mediated Learning Education

For busy adults with conflicting schedules facing a multitude of family and work demands, who still wish to add to their academic credentials or vocational qualifications, computer mediated learning may seem like an ideal way for such adults to satisfy their educational needs. For an elementary school instructor, however, computer mediated learning lacks the supervisory, mentoring, and hands-on capacity that is usually deemed necessary for imparting basic skills. An â€Å"on-line, collaborative learning approach using the Internet offers solutions to many of the problems plaguing university education,† such as oversubscribed classes and the difficulty for university students to gain access to the required classes that they need to graduate on time. (Jones, 2004) At a higher education level, computer mediated learning allows for students to be enrolled in more sections on a year 'round basis in a university environment-but this is not an advantage enjoyed by elementary school students. At best, in terms of dealing with high enrollment, the computer-mediated classroom is an asset, not a supplement to face-to-face learning on the lower levels of education. Even advocates of distance or computer mediated learning on the university level have stressed that such an educational format works best when students are mature, preferably adult learners, â€Å"comfortable with independent learning and computers,† who have a clear intention of why they wish to obtain their degree. Jones, 2004) Such a description could not be more antithetical to elementary school children. Moreover â€Å"to be successful, the implementation of such a learning approach requires significant technical and educational skills and experience,† as well as motivation on the part of the learners. (Jones, 2004) Does this mean that computer based learning has no place in an elementary school curriculum? Not necessarily. Foreign language instruction that would not otherwise be available to elementary school children is possible through the use of computer based learning, as children can hear and interact with native speakers, and even communicate with classes their own age, across the world. (Perez, 1996) When teaching a foreign language, one teacher found that the new technology encouraged students to think critically, encouraged self-directed learning, and provided a library on-screen of different texts in the language the students was learning. But because the computer medium can allow for passivity on the part of the student, Lucia Perez stresses that a teacher must take an intensively constructivist or hands on approach, to motivate the students to be proactive in their learning, such as assigning independent research topics, rather than permitting students to ‘veg out' in front of a screen, as might be their custom at home when using the computer for pleasure. Likewise, when using computer based learning to teach, for example â€Å"the teaching dilemma was how to simultaneously motivate the students by applying mathematics learning to real life problems of concern to them, and help them to gain quickly the basic skills to do the necessary mathematics manipulations almost automatically,† and once this motivation was integrated into the computer based learning, the program appeared to work well. (Shaw, 1996) Thus, computer based learning can and must be more than simply an effort to transfer face to face classroom instructional practices into a different or virtual medium, for the learning does not take place face to face, but is primarily student-directed. Also, there is more responsibility upon the head of an average Elementary teacher to create assignments that motivate and engage student's imagination when making use of computer based learning for specific, targeted purposes, but when done so effectively, the rewards are great for both teachers and students.

Fire Ants essays

Fire Ants essays In the sunny state of Florida, you cant go anywhere without finding fire ants. They pop up inside as well as out, forming giant mounds, invading homes and even cars. Every Floridian knows what they look like; the full grown adults are reddish to dark brown. The male of the species can be either a minor worker (about 1/8 inch long), a major worker (about 1/4 inch long), or a winged ant. The females are each about 1/3 of an inch long, except the queen who can grow much larger. Fire ant mounds vary in size, usually in proportion to the size of the colony. For example, a mound that is 2 feet in diameter and 18 inches high may contain about 100,000 workers, several hundred winged adults, and one queen. When the mound of an active colony is broken open, you can see whitish rice grain-like larvae and pupae as well as the hundreds of displaced workers scurrying around. These immature ants will eventually develop into workers or winged adults. Mounds constructed in clay soils are usually symm etrical and dome-shaped; mounds built in sandy soils tend to be irregularly shaped. Now, one would think that, given the plethora fire ants in Florida, that they were a native creature. However, Solenopsis Invicta (as they are scientifically named) is actually an exotic species that have their origins in Brazil. They are expected to have traveled to the US in ship ballast water (as are many exotic species), and were first spotted in Mobile, Alabama in the mid-1930s. By the end of 1939, it had infested 9 counties in Alabama and 3 in Mississippi. Over the last 76 years, fire ants (which thrive on sunshine and dug-up soil) are now found in every Florida county, have spread to over nine southern states, and over 275 million acres within the United States. Man-assisted movement is probably responsible for large-scale "jumps" in ant infestations. Fire ants also travel by means of swarming, walking or floating, though this occurs in small increments ...

The History of Skin Art Essays

The History of Skin Art Essays The History of Skin Art Paper The History of Skin Art Paper Tattoos or skin art as it is commonly called, seems to be the latest fashion trend today. Everywhere you look someone else is getting inked, be it could be the college student, the young mom next door, or the executive in his business suit. The history, selection, safety , and care along with some removal methods are not always obvious nor is a non-permanent alternative. All these things and more will be revealed in a few short moments. The history of skin arts beginnings are some what unclear. Some people like tattoo artist Erik Reime think that it goes back to biblical times, in fact it could be conceived that GOD created the first tattoo when he put the mark upon Cain (3). For others it originated n Egypt or as V. Wageman reviews in Victoria Lautmans book The New Tattoo the first tattoo may have come about when some stone age klutz fell down near a hearth[and] found charcoal embedded in his flesh(8). Through out history we can see that tattoos have served a variety of purposes. They have been the distinguishing mark of a slave or a ruler, they were and still are used in prisons and more recently have become a means of personal expression. In the eighteenth century Capt. James Cook brought back to England some tattooed South Sea islanders. Cooks seamen were among the first westerners to have full body tattoos. From there tattoos progressed to the US where slaves were branded with their owners name or some other distinguishing mark. In a web page written and maintained by Robert Birkins we can see how skin art was also used in the prison camps of the former soviet union where a complex language was developed using tattoos as symbols. Such languages have been studied by specialists in hopes of cutting crime rates in the USSR. Some examples of prison tattoos are: Insert From there we progress to modern day, where skin art has become an avenue of self expression. In our generation the tattoo is seen more as who you are than as a political statement or brand. Tattoos today are about experiences, feelings, and a permanent sense of self-worth and pride. The selection of your skin art is as important as the selection of the artist that applies it and of the care that will later be needed to keep it beautiful. One should always be sure that the design is something that you have a love or passion for, whether you decide on flash (ready made artwork that is usually found on the salon walls or in their portfolios) or have an original design, the art you have applied will be with you always and like it or not the artwork you pick will determine the way some people view you. The traditional way to have a tattoo is of course with needles and ink. There is nothing like the pure and natural adrenaline rush that occurs when you sit in the tattoo artists chair and listen while the high pitched hum of some 1,800 pricks per minute machine makes its mark upon your body. One of the most commonly asked questions is does it hurt? This question has been answered by tattoo artist and salon owner Eric Reine, when he replied yes of course it hurts; however please remember that there are several deciding factors on exactly how much pain youll be in. Among these factors are, where the artwork is located, how big the design is, and how high your tolerance for pain is. All of these are determining factors of how bad the pain will be. Large pieces on your back will hurt a lot more than Insert a quarter size tattoo on your arm. Generally speaking any piece done on the ankle Insert , wrist or fingers will hurt more than one done on a fleshy part of the body simply because of the lack of padding, but please dont let this be the deciding factor in where should I put my tattoo if your ankle is where you want your dolphins or band, then grit your teeth and go for it otherwise you will never be happy with your choice, and removal is both costly and painful. The choices for your skin art are limited only by your imagination, available skin, and your wallet, so think long and hard before jumping in. Recently another method of skin art has made its way the Atlantic and is becoming popular. It is Mehndi:, the ancient art of henna tattooing. In her article Body of Art Maya Brown reports that according to Rabi R. Dabit, founder of the first henna salon in the US. Mehndi is believed to have originated in Egypt more than 7,000 years ago. In fact in a recent article answers published in Essence magazine the writer explains the process is more detail. They report that the tattoo like designs are achieved by painting the skin with a henna paste. Traditionally the designs are placed on the hands, wrists, arms. It is also popular on brides to be, and on other religious and/or special ceremonies(38). One of the primary reasons Mehndi is becoming more popular in the US is because the designs will last one to six weeks depending on the location , size, and the type of henna used, for example the designs put on the arms or stomachs will last longer than the ones on the hands simply because hands are washed more often. The cost depends on the area in which you live, and the different salon owners. If you choose to go the traditional route and get a needle and ink tattoo in addition to design and location, you have to find an artist and shop. There are shops opening up almost everywhere it seems and while most are careful about using disposable needles, sterilizing equipment, and handling the ink properly not all are, so be informed ask a lot of questions before sitting in the chair. A reputable artist will always use disposable latex gloves, normally he will not stop a design once he has started, unless it is a large design or unless you ask him to. In her article So you are thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing Barbara Freyenberger a RN and MSN student also suggest t visit several shops and artist, check out the lighting, if they are clean, do they require consent forms to be filled out, etc. Most important is do you feel comfortable? If not walk out and try somewhere else, usually your first reaction to a place is the best judgment you can have. One of the reasons for doing your homework when checking out a tattoo artist and/or shop is so important is because there is little or no government regulation or requirements. In fact with the exception of a business license, most states or cities do not require an artist to even have a license. Recently however there have been several bills passed in the senate that will change this. One such bill was passed back in 1996 when the Michigan State Senate voted 37-1 that customers under the age of 18 have a parent or guardian along to sign a consent form before getting a tattoo. If they didnt comply then salon owners would face a stiff fine and possible jail time for violations(Detroit News). Other states have passed bills like Dingells Law, under this bill salon owners would be fined a maximum of $1,000.00 and parents could sue for damages if parental consent was not issued(Tattoo1) More recently Assemblywoman Marion Crecco has introduced two new bills to legislature aimed at regulating the tattoo business. Both are long overdue and for the most part reputable salon owners agree with and welcome the change. The first bill will force the salon owners to obtain a license, the second will require the shop personnel to check Ids and if the client is under 18 he/she will need written parental consent.(Needleman 1). Many shop owners such as Butch Coner agree with the work that the legislation is doing. He believes you cant be too educated in this field that includes the safest, most sterile equipment and procedures in addition to checking identification and having parental consent. What would the results be if the licensing legislation is enacted? Sara Needleman reports that a five member Tattooing and Body Piercing Advisory Committee would be established in the Division of consumer affairs in the department of Public Law and Safety. The committee would be under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Medical Examiners. Applicant for licenses would have to be 18 years of age, of good moral character, and have obtained a high school diploma, Plus, each applicant would have to complete a tattoo or body-piercing education program and pass an examination administered or approved by the board of medical examiners. The licensing bill has been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, while the bill requiring underage children to have parental consent has passed the Consumer Affairs and Regulated Committee and is awaiting a vote in full assembly. Congress, parents, and shop owners want the proposed regulations not just to control underage tattooing but also because tattooing can cause serious health risks if proper precautions are not taken. Some problems include infections, hepatitis and more recently a burning sensation during an MRI. Pam Moore reports in a recent healthbeat show entitled MRIs Tattoos that very rarely patients complain of a burning sensation the area of the tattoo. DR Jermon Barkas who heads the California Pacific Medical Centers MRI imaging center explains that the problem is caused by the metal that is contained is some red tattoo dyes, so that Theoretically there is a risk that the metal in the tattoo could heat up in the MRI machine. However he further explains that it is very rare for a patient to have a problem like this and there is no reason to avoid having an MRI if it is needed. Okay, you have picked out the tattoo design, figured out an artist and shop to make your dream come trueNow how do you care for it? Most shops will give you an oral directions and a card something like the one here. Insert But if not , an internet source Tattoo Revolution suggests: Of all these directions Do not pick scabs is the most important because when you pick the scab off it results in scarring, loss of color and it increases the risk of infection. Another FAQ is What if I change my mind, and I dont like my tattoo? For this problem there are only three solutions. The first is the easiest and cheapest: Swallow hard and live with it. The second solution is a cover-up. This will require a talented artist, a little pain, and some imagination, and a fair amount of expense. This method works best for small pieces and is best left between the artist and yourself. Finally there is tattoo removal. This is without a doubt the most expensive way to have a tattoo removed. One internet source finds that since there are several methods to remove a tattoo today, you physician will choose one depending on several factors, such as the size of the tattoo, location, and the amount of time you had your artwork. It continues with the following explanations and graphics. The most popular way of removing a small tattoo is by Excision, this procedure involves numbing the area and surgically removing the tattoo, the edges are stitched back together and off you go with minimal bleeding and discomfort. Insert Dermabrasion is another method. This requires the physician to spray the tattoo with a solution that will freeze the area. Then the physician causes the skin to peel by rubbing it with a sandpaper-like material. A dressing is then applied. Insert Perhaps the oldest method available is Salabrasion. This century old procedure is similar to dermabrasion in that the sandpaper-like material is used however in this method after the area is numbed a salt water solution is applied before the sanding occurs. With new technological breakthroughs happening almost daily, Lasers have quickly become the newest and easiest form of tattoo removable available. Insert Three such techniques have been introduced recently, while not cheap they will erase that tattoo and with minimal scarring. Selective Phototherolysis is recommended for small easy to remove tattoos. This method uses lasers to destroy only the inked skin cells so it has little scarring. This process has been further improved with the introduction of High Lesion according to the director of The Laser and Skin Surgery of New York, New York Citys Roy Geronemus, MD in an article written by Linda Benson for Dermatology Times. The Vetrapulse CO2 laser is designed to remove the super thin layers of skin (again with little scarring) this method may need to be combined with selective lasers to remove all of the inked cells. Another laser used for tattoo removal is the Pohotoderm PL Laser while this method will get all the pigment out at once the results are not as consistent according to dermatologist Steven B. Snyder, MD (Geracil). A tattoo is a very personal thing. One that for most requires a lot of thought and planning. This combined with the proper artist, care, and legislation will make you vision come true. If not there is always the alternative of removal so, Tattoo or Not to Tattoo the decision is yours.

A Sample of Expository Essay Free Help from Top Writers

A Sample of Expository Essay Free Help from Top Writers Here is a good expository essay sample to help you understand the rules of expository writing. An expository essay is meant to describe, explain and inform the reader. The sample expository essay below explains the correlation between the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and gas prices in the USA. While this essay by far exceeds the five paragraph standard,  this essay  was written to conduct a  deep analysis of the situation with gas  prices  within the USA after the 9/11 attacks. Please note the structure of the essay despite exceeding the five paragraph format, it still consists of the introduction, body, and conclusion. If you are looking for a top quality, a  custom-written expository  essay with a proper language and formatting, feel free to visit our order page.  Our experienced writers will come up with a tailor-made solution  that fully matches your requirements and will help you to master expository writing. Gas Prices pre and post 9/11/2001 and Its Effect on U.S. Economy Petrol, or commonly known as gasoline in North America, is a liquid mixture that is obtained from petroleum or can be considered as one of the main products obtained from refining crude oil. Gasoline is mainly made up of aliphatic hydrocarbons and is usually improved through the addition of aromatic hydrocarbons toluene, isooctane or even benzene to further raise its octane ratings. Primarily, gasoline is used as a fuel in internal combustion engines such as in automobiles and light trucks and accounts for almost 17 percent of United States’ energy consumption. Gasoline, or â€Å"gas† as its colloquial term, is also used to fuel recreational vehicles, boats and most of the  equipment  that is used  on  farms and in construction. Though the production of gasoline occurs year-round, there are still extra volumes of gasoline that are made to meet the gasoline requirements during the summer driving seasons. Gasoline has three main grades and these are premium, regul ar, and mid-grade, which is all derived from oil refineries. Several pipelines that are linked to a massive distribution chain are used to serve 168, 987 retail gasoline stations. The three main grades have different octane level, and their prices also vary according to the grade of the gasoline. Though usually, the price differential that is present between the grades is constant. Generally, gas prices have been increasing before the 9/11 incident, and it affects the economy of US and other countries either directly or indirectly through the consumers, especially their buying power. The cost that is included in the production and the transportation of gasoline from the source to the consumers is the cost of crude oil to refiners. Furthermore, the marketing and distribution costs, the refinery processing costs and the retail station costs along with the imposed taxes of that state on gasoline  are also included in the costs of production and manufacture of gasoline. All of these costs are mainly reflected in  the amount that the consumers pay in the gasoline stations. A large component that is included in the retail price of gasoline is the taxes imposed in it, either it may be Federal, State or local. The taxes account for more or less 19 percent of what the consumers pay for  every gallon of gasoline. Almost 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline is from the Federal tax and more or less 21 cents per gallon of gasoline is due to the State tax. Furthermore, the implementation of eleven States levy added State sales and other taxes and the additional local county and city taxes that is applied on gasoline, imposes a significant effect or impact on the price of gasoline. The difference in the price of gasoline that is observed from one state or town to the other is due to the varying taxes imposed and due to the varied formulations implemented in the different parts of the state, county or region. Only 19 percent of the amount paid by consumers is due to refining costs and profits while only 9 percent of the retail cost paid by consumers per gallon of gasoline is due to marketing, distribution, and retail dealer costs. Gasoline prices normally increase or decrease even if the price of crude oil that is used in the production of gasoline is stable, generally because of factors such as changes in crude oil prices, seasonality in the gasoline supply and demand balance, and unusual events or trends affecting the supply and demand balance. Also, local retail station competition could affect the prices of gasoline. Domestic problems that could disrupt the crude oil supply may include refinery outages and pipeline outages or demand, which includes differences in the specifications set by a particular region, area or season on the product. The effect of unusual events or trends had always influenced the price of gasoline and these includes a weakening economy, an increase  in the production of gasoline from refineries but a decrease in the demand for gasoline for jet fuels and automobiles and the September 11,  2001, terrorist attacks. These factors account for almost, but not greater than, 30 cents pe r gallon of gasoline. September 9, 2001, commonly known as 9/11, includes a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by a nineteen terrorists who were said to be affiliated with the Al-Qaeda, whose also hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and committed suicide attacks, crashing the each of the planes into four different targets. The World Trade Center in New York City is one of the terrorists’ targets, resulting  in  the collapse of the two buildings. Due to the 9/11 incident, rumors on the increase of the gasoline price had spread onto consumers like a forest fire. Panic buying had occurred, and the demand for gasoline increased. The 9/11 incident does not have any impact on the gas supply, therefore, should not have any impact on the gasoline price and their effects on the economy are not directly connected. Crude oil and gasoline prices constantly increase  before the September 9, 2001  terrorist attacks.  Ã‚  On January 1, 1999, the average retail regular price for crude oil and gasoline was almost 39 dollars per barrel. This price increased up to 40 dollars per barrel then decreased to 36 dollars per barrel in March 1999. But this decrease in the crude oil and gasoline price was not continuous. In May 1999, the crude oil and gasoline prices increased tremendously to 48 dollars per barrel. Since then on, the prices kept increasing and decreasing, then again increasing at a higher price (dollars per barrel) every month in the year 1999 up to July in the year 2000 almost equal to 70 dollars per barrel. By August and September 2000, the prices of crude oil and gasoline decreased greatly up to almost 59 dollars per barrel and increased slightly in October 2000 to 65 dollars per barrel. The prices of crude oil and gasoline no longer increased any higher than this but decreased up to 58.80 dollars per barrel in January and April 2001. The prices of crude oil and gasoline started to increase rapidly by the second week of May 2001. The average retail regular price of crude oil and gasoline was at its peak in the second week of May 2001, with almost 72 dollars per barrel. The price ranged from 70 to 72 dollars per barrel from May up to the end of July 2001. Then it had rapidly decreased up to almost 57 dollars per barrel in August 2001. The decreased in the price of crude oil and gasoline was not continuous. Due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the prices increased due to panic buying from the consumers. Rumors of a tremendous increase in the crude oil and gasoline prices struck fear among the consumers. The scarcity of gasoline and crude oil supply also added to the consumers’ fear of having to avail gas at an unimaginable price. Lines to gasoline stations in the days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were really long, where customers had to wait hours just to get gasoline. The sudden increase in the demand for gasoline made gasoline stations and dealers hungry for more profit, led to an increase in the price of gasoline, higher than the price in August 2001. From almost 57 dollars per barrel in August 2001, prices increased to almost 66 dollars per barrel in the second week of September 2001. The prices of gasoline and crude oil continued to be sold at a range of 64 to 66 dollars per barrel up to October 2001 (Burdette, 2001). The prices of crude oil and gasoline because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were alarming, especially to the regulatory board on the prices of crude oil and gasoline. The government started to place penalties and fines to gasoline stations, dealers, and suppliers who would impose gasoline prices that are above or higher than 2 dollars per gallon. Information dissemination was also done by the government to inform consumers of the actual price of crude oil and gasoline. The supply of crude oil and gasoline was also shown to the consumers in order to avoid further panic buying. The action of stabilizing the price of crude oil and gasoline made by the government resulted in a decrease in the gasoline price back to 58.80 dollars per barrel in October 2001. According to Michael Burdette, a consultant to the Energy Information Administration, â€Å"as of October 29, 2001, the national average retail price of regular gasoline was 1.235 dollars per gallon, its lowest level sinc e November 8, 1999† (2001). Since September 17, the average price of gasoline had already fallen up to 29 cents in just six weeks. In Midwest,   the average retail price of regular gasoline had reached a very sharp decline of 33-cents drop. This drop occurred in the national average in of 10 weeks during the Memorial Day up to the first week of August and it was only interrupted by a brief 17-cent rise in the second week of August. All in all, a decrease of almost 48 cents of the national average retail price of the gasoline was achieved from its peak in May and it is considered to be the widest one-year range in retail prices since 1990, especially considering the time frame of just five months. Economically, the sudden increase in the demand for gasoline had boosted the amount or barrels of gasoline sold in the market within a short period of time. The prices at first seemed to be a burden for consumers, but due to government regulations on the price of gasoline, the burden was lifted. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks had a large impact, not only in the prices of gasoline but in the economy (especially in the world markets) as a whole. A temporary reduction or decrease in the contract with banks was done by the Federal Reserve whereas, by September 11, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ were all closed and remain as it is until September 17. When the stock market re-opened, the U.S. stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week. The 9/11 incident also has extended effects to other states. Supply of gas fuels ran out in other states the next morning after the terrorist attack. In Iowa, prices were said to reach 4.65 dollars per gallon, in Michigan, it is almost over 5 dollars a gallon. A convenient store under the Casey’s Inc. in Illinois was investigated and would be penalized $50,000 if found guilty of price gouging. The company initiated customer refunds immediately. Another effect of increasing fuel prices is th e reduced productivity growth in the general economy (National Research Council (U.S.), 1988, p.124) The gasoline prices before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have been observed generally to increase, with some small decrease in gasoline price on months between intervals of an increase. The gasoline price had reached its peak of 72 dollars per barrel in May 2001. The price increase at its highest has been attained even before the 9/11 incident. Before the terrorist attack, the gasoline price had already decreased largely and the price gouging and consumer panics on September 11 and the day after that had increased the gasoline price, but not to a level that is greater than the price of gasoline in May 2001. It can also be noted that after a week or month after the 9/11 incident, gasoline price reached its lowest price of 1.235 dollars per gallon, its lowest price since November 8, 1999. This is due to the strict implementation and immediate action done by the government and regulatory boards on the price of gasoline. The gasoline prices had affected consumers greatly for they are the ones who suffer any price gouging done by dealers or retailers. Economically, gasoline price, after its regulations and stabilization, had increased the buying power of the consumers specifically on gasoline since no additional or reduced prices on other commodities were reported. The huge decrease in the world markets and stocks can be greatly attributed to the 9/11 terrorist attack, but not on the gasoline price. Therefore, any increase or decrease in the price of commodities is not due to gasoline prices but due to the incident. Furthermore, the 9/11 incident should not have had any impact on the gasoline supply.

Communication situation i been to Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Communication situation i been to - Essay Example One thing that differentiated Dr. Smith from other teachers was that he was very difficult to talk to. In the start, I thought it was the huge difference of our ages that made it difficult for me to develop a comfort level with him. But later, I realized he was determined not to be satisfied, though with a positive intention, so that I would work even harder to get him satisfied. â€Å"Yes Jonathan, show me what have you done,† he started the investigation. I handed over the questionnaire to him. After having a bird’s eye-view on the paper, he pursed his lips and gave me a stern look. Without sufficiently understanding the statements, he asked me why I had included certain questions in the questionnaire. Before I would answer him, he questioned about the link of another question in the questionnaire to the thesis. I realized I would have to make my point in order to let him understand why the questions were there. Although it was too difficult to interrupt him in the mi ddle of his endless taunt, I mustered up all my courage and said to him, â€Å"Sir, sorry to interrupt you, but here I want to clarify the validity of these questions.† He stopped, â€Å"Ok, what do you want to say?† While saying this to him, I looked him straight in the eyes, though with due respect. In all of my meetings with him, I was tentative to confront him or constantly look him straight in the eyes while talking to him. But this time, I did do it because I had recently learnt that eyes play a fundamental role in making the communication meaningful. Once we make eye contact with the other person while talking to him/her, we convey the feeling that we are mean what we say. This casts a good impression on the other person and he/she takes our point seriously. Eye contact is indeed, the most important of all facial expressions because it conveys an individual’s sincerity and credibility to the other (E. C. G., 2003). Making a constant eye-contact

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Entrepreneur and New Product Development - Case Study Analysis - Essay Example Many entrepreneurs have benefited from exceptional product design and expert financial and legal advice, built a stable and profitable business that can succeed in any business environment but have failed due to wrong planning of the time to may be launching the new product in the market. Many spend much time and emphasis in the plan on the strength of the management team they have recruited, the attractive financials and how wonderful the product or service is, than on how to use the strategy to enter the market and continue to penetrate the market over time. Most find themselves trapped in financial, personal and social tensions. With the advent of technology, the world has turned more global and is fast becoming a global village. Entrepreneurs too are not left out as most Australian companies are increasingly investing abroad. Their faith abroad is often very uncertain as they do not know the exact conditions and competitors they will meet, what patterns are customer demands and many issues. Normally, investing abroad has constrains due to the uncertain market. These problems are usually at different levels such as political environment, socio-economic environment, demographic environment, legal environment, and economic environment. 2.1. Political environment: Investing in a politically unstable environment is often hard to determine what may happen to the business. May be the image of the leader in power may be a stumbling block to your business as the image of the goods and services you produce may be looked at differently. Even on the domestic market of the country may be a particular problem. Take the simple case of Santa Teresa investing in Venezuela. Going by the words of the writer, supporters of Chavez should have thought that Mr. Vollmers was just the kind of person they see in their president. This situation may lead to tensions between customers and even lost of market position to competitors. Like

I hop you can do that for me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

I hop you can do that for me - Essay Example It serves as a guide to improve service delivery during field operations near and within the communities researched. The Aboriginal people are the indigenous people of Australia who have remained in the same place since the time of creation. Just like many other religions, the Aboriginal religion is signified by having one or multiple gods believed to be the creator of the people and the surround the environment. The Aboriginal people are highly religious and spiritual with everyone within the community subscribed to the religion. The distinguishing factor of the aboriginal people is that the groups within the society pray to different deities usually depicted in tangible or recognizable images forms. These images may take the form of a rock art shelter, a plant, an animal or a landscape feature (The Four Directions Teachings). The deity could embody a landscape feature such as a particular rock which represents a specific figure or could be a result of something that occurred during the creation of the deity. An example of such is a symbol of a river which was formed when the rainbow serpent crossed the area during the creation period or a rock that has a depression which represents either a footprint or a sitting location of an ancestral being. Animism (the belief that natural objects have a soul) is unheard of within the Aboriginal people. A rock, for instance doesn’t possess a soul but it may represent a deity back from when the universe was being created. Reincarnation is also another major belief where animals and plants interchange with human life and that at one point in time, plants were people. As earlier mentioned, the religion of these people is varied amongst the different groups within the larger society. The deities according to the Four Directions Teachings of the Aboriginal people have different responsibilities which are almost impossible to describe with words but

Special Events Proposal-MARKETING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Special Events Proposal-MARKETING - Essay Example It would be not possible for the majority of the wine drinkers to buy all the varieties of wine on their own and taste them. So, the Wine Tasting event like the one, that can be organized by Kudler Fine Foods will give them the opportunity to taste different wines. Also, there will be group of wine drinkers who want to enjoy drinking wine, in-group and not in isolation. These wine drinkers can also be enticed to try the new offerings from Kudler Fine Foods through the Wine Tasting event in a group mode with their friend and relatives. Through out the world, Wine Tasting events were considered an ideal opportunity for the friends and family members to get together. So, if the Kudler Fine Foods organizes this special promotion for its wines, it will bring out the wine drinkers, who drink alone, into the open and provide entertainment and enjoyment for them in the company of their friends and family members. The enjoyable atmosphere in the Wine Tasting events will make the drinkers or participants emotionally associate with the Kudler’s brand of wines even more. Also, if something good happens to the customer, while using the brand, the attachment to the brand will grow even more. So, in the Kudler organized Wine Tasting events, these two criteria can be fulfilled, making the promotions work very positively. That is, as mentioned above, the wine drinkers in the Wine Tasting events will have a very good time, enjoying different wines and spending quality time with their family and friends. So, in this setup, t he Kudler’s wine used by the prospective customers will strike a cord with the customers. The customer will start to buy and use the wines, whenever the same kind of enjoyable atmosphere is replicated in different surroundings as well. At the same time, the new types of wines offered in the Wine Tasting event will work in another positive way,

Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Conrad's Heart of Darkness - Essay Example Conrad wrote this book while he was adventuring Congo, which was a Belgian Colony. Conrad novel allude that there are flaws in the European imperialism because riots, abandonment of trade enterprises, and wars in their territories. The story in this novella focuses on Charlie Marlow who is one the main characters. Charlie Marlow is also the narrator of the story. This is despite the fact that anonymous storyteller appears on the onset of the novel. Charlie Marlow is an Englishman who has always had a passion to travel at different parts of the globe. Since he was young, Marlow used to look keenly at places in world map to adventure. These areas included even the weird ones such as North poles (Conrad 16). The author of this novel, Conrad Joseph has negative attitude towards imperialism. The mood of the novella is sympathetic and Conrad identifies with African natives. The main characters in this novel are Marlow, Kurtz, General Manager, Brickmaker, Chief accountant, and Pilgrims. Oth er characters in the novella comprise Cannibals, Russian trader, Helmsman, Kurtz’s African mistress, Aunt, Men abroad the Nellie, and Fresleven. Conrad uses these characters to expose the dark side of European colonization. Heart of Darkness looks at darkness at three levels namely, wilderness in Congo, European treatment of Africans, and darkness in human beings to commit atrocious acts of evil. Conrad uses a big river, which is an important tool for colonies to exert their power in different parts of the world. The picture that Marlow gives when he enters employment offices to sign contract in order to replace Fresleven is a depiction of how Europeans have scrambled to access varied areas. The map in the office in question containing different coloring such as green, yellow, blue, and other colors is a clear impression areas that Europeans have colonized (Conrad 25). Marlow secured a job with a Company as a captain to fill the space that Fresleven left after chief’s son stubbed while in Congo. Charlie Marlow’s journey is full of many encounters of brutality and inefficiency, which his new Company perpetrates. The natives of this region suffer under the ill treatment of agents of the company. The inhabitants have to overwork terribly despite the nastiness and cruelty of imperial companies. This is in regardless of the fact that number of Europeans is very small compared to that of inhabitants. Enigma and mystery give the novel its glamour and aura command. Joseph Conrad employs effectively unpredictability and situations that are very difficult for one to explain. The first pages of Conrad’s work opens with a character Charlie Marlow. Marlow gives a clear picture of England and explains to his colleagues in the ship that it was dull. Marlow continues to ponder on how the Romans got into Thames and how they faced the darkness. Marlow wondered how the Romans survived the life of wilderness, the forest, in the midst of cruel men (Conr ad 8). Conrad provides readers with a picture to follow of civilization. The author draws the attention of the audience on what will happen, when the characters such as Marlow comes across wild world. Conrad refers men in the ship as waiting for tide that has bones and resembles dominoes. This is prelude to the bones, which Kurtz and Marlow encounters later in the novel. For instance, Charlie Marlow found the remains of Fresleven who inhabitants killed after a quarrel ensued over hens. Conrad suggests that society must be very cautious on the

The Rise of Modern America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Rise of Modern America - Essay Example Owing to these circumstances, the Caucasian populace was in a higher economical placement. However, they put effort, remain critical about their business approaches, and prompt their development. In a contrary analysis, the poor are depicted firstly, as simple-minded. This is because they derive satisfaction from small wages almost as though they are unaware of the exploitative mechanisms through which they earned said wages. Notably, the on the majority of the poor were black people because of the fact that they were on the receiving end of slavery. Riis illustrates them as being unaffiliated with religion. He insinuates that with the conditions under which they lived, no bearing within which to place faith in a higher power. He further on asserts that the poor were intelligent but had no opportunities accorded to them to prove their intellectual capacity. The authors’ perspectives are contradictory. The assessment of the poor man as per each author somewhat contradicts the n ext. Riss terms the poor man intelligent but devoid of opportunities whilst Harpers Monthly portrays them as being satisfied with small wages. In the latter, the insinuation is that the poor remain poor because they do not focus on the bigger picture. This is not a depiction of intelligence and hence contradicts Riis’s point. The democracy and new civilization that had come to America still bore no good for the poor man. This is because they were not entirely compensated for the injustice that put them in that position in the first place.

Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Conrad's Heart of Darkness - Essay Example Conrad wrote this book while he was adventuring Congo, which was a Belgian Colony. Conrad novel allude that there are flaws in the European imperialism because riots, abandonment of trade enterprises, and wars in their territories. The story in this novella focuses on Charlie Marlow who is one the main characters. Charlie Marlow is also the narrator of the story. This is despite the fact that anonymous storyteller appears on the onset of the novel. Charlie Marlow is an Englishman who has always had a passion to travel at different parts of the globe. Since he was young, Marlow used to look keenly at places in world map to adventure. These areas included even the weird ones such as North poles (Conrad 16). The author of this novel, Conrad Joseph has negative attitude towards imperialism. The mood of the novella is sympathetic and Conrad identifies with African natives. The main characters in this novel are Marlow, Kurtz, General Manager, Brickmaker, Chief accountant, and Pilgrims. Oth er characters in the novella comprise Cannibals, Russian trader, Helmsman, Kurtz’s African mistress, Aunt, Men abroad the Nellie, and Fresleven. Conrad uses these characters to expose the dark side of European colonization. Heart of Darkness looks at darkness at three levels namely, wilderness in Congo, European treatment of Africans, and darkness in human beings to commit atrocious acts of evil. Conrad uses a big river, which is an important tool for colonies to exert their power in different parts of the world. The picture that Marlow gives when he enters employment offices to sign contract in order to replace Fresleven is a depiction of how Europeans have scrambled to access varied areas. The map in the office in question containing different coloring such as green, yellow, blue, and other colors is a clear impression areas that Europeans have colonized (Conrad 25). Marlow secured a job with a Company as a captain to fill the space that Fresleven left after chief’s son stubbed while in Congo. Charlie Marlow’s journey is full of many encounters of brutality and inefficiency, which his new Company perpetrates. The natives of this region suffer under the ill treatment of agents of the company. The inhabitants have to overwork terribly despite the nastiness and cruelty of imperial companies. This is in regardless of the fact that number of Europeans is very small compared to that of inhabitants. Enigma and mystery give the novel its glamour and aura command. Joseph Conrad employs effectively unpredictability and situations that are very difficult for one to explain. The first pages of Conrad’s work opens with a character Charlie Marlow. Marlow gives a clear picture of England and explains to his colleagues in the ship that it was dull. Marlow continues to ponder on how the Romans got into Thames and how they faced the darkness. Marlow wondered how the Romans survived the life of wilderness, the forest, in the midst of cruel men (Conr ad 8). Conrad provides readers with a picture to follow of civilization. The author draws the attention of the audience on what will happen, when the characters such as Marlow comes across wild world. Conrad refers men in the ship as waiting for tide that has bones and resembles dominoes. This is prelude to the bones, which Kurtz and Marlow encounters later in the novel. For instance, Charlie Marlow found the remains of Fresleven who inhabitants killed after a quarrel ensued over hens. Conrad suggests that society must be very cautious on the

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United States Deficit - Essay Example of the Federal Reserve, 6 % of State and Local Government, domestic and private investors 32% and the major portion of was the international investor who offered 46 %. These are the four most important places where U.S was able to borrow money from. The international investors like BP, DaimlerChrysler, ING group which are located in different countries like U.K and Netherlands provided the U.S with a major portion of the credit. Once this money is borrowed, both parties have to come into an agreement on how the interest will be paid. Once the U.S has borrowed money, they will pay the interest rates depending on each countries agreement with the U.S government. They can also exchange privileges. This means that that the U.S government can give an investor the opportunity to be able to switch from one mutual fund to another with the family without paying sales charges. Credit rating is a method used to evaluate the credit worthiness if a debtor and this can be a business or a government. This is done by a credit rating agency like Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor. . The credit rating of a government like U.S is a financial indicator to potential investors of securities like bonds. The Credit rating agency Standard and Poor (S&P) downgraded its credit rating of the U.S federal government from AAA (outstanding) to AA+( excellent) by the third quarter of the year 2011. This seems not to be good news to the U.S as international implication of public deficit will lead to higher current accounts deficit, it will also increase the risk of capital flight this affecting the image of the country. This will make international investors to shy away from investing in this country. The current account is a component of the balance of payment while the other being capital account. The current account balance measures the nature of a country’s foreign trade. The capital account determines how international capital flows and investment are recorded in the capital

Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) System

Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) System Chapter 1. Introduction Nowadays, in the most of areas it is necessary to work with large amounts of growing visual and multimedia data, at the same time, the number of image and video files on the web is quite big and is still rising very rapidly. Searching through this data is absolutely vital. So, there is a high demand on the tools for image retrieving, which are based on visual information, rather than simple text-based queries. Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) consists of retrieving the most visually similar images to a given query image from a database or group of image files. It is a quite useful thing in a lot of areas such as Photography which may involve image search from the large digital photo galleries; Medicine it is used to assist in diagnosis. In most of diseases, their visual characteristics carry diagnostic information and visually similar images correspond to the same disease category. The output of a CBIR system can help to make a decision (Tahmoush, 2007); Military detection of e nemy soldiers or vehicles from screen photographs; Crime prevention it helps police in suspicious peoples identification from large image databases and in image retrieval of crime scene photos (Wen, 2005); Geography frequently used in Geographical information systems (GIS) (Hafiane, 2006) and many others. CBIR has been a subject of intense research over the last 15 years. It is one of the most difficult research areas in multimedia computing and information retrieval. During the research history many different image matching, indexing and retrieval algorithms have been tried. Practice shows that user queries described by visual information are more effective and more precisely meet user needs, than standard text search queries. It is because visual information is closer to the humans perception of the world. 1.1 CBIR Systems Many CBIR systems and tools have been developed to make queries based on visual content. During the 90-ies several notable commercial systems were introduced. IBM developed Query By Image Content (QBIC) system, which lets user to make queries of large image databases based on visual image content properties such as Example images; User-constructed sketches and drawings; Selected color and texture patterns. (Flickner, 1995) Soon after that â€Å"Virage Image Search Engine† of Virage Inc. was developed, which provides an open framework for building systems that explicitly manages image assets by directly representing their visual attributes. (Bach, 1996) Several online content-based web search engines can also be mentioned. â€Å"WebSEEk† developed by Image and Advanced Television Lab, Columbia University. It allows making queries by example and by desired color composition. â€Å"Chabot†, Developed by Department of Computer Science, University of California, which allows to search by colors, but offers limited options such as choosing one dominant color. (Veltkamp, 2002) Global Memory Net (GMNet) was launched for public access in late June 2006. It is a digital library of cultural, historical, and heritage image collections. Among other text-based searching types this web library has a possibility to search by image content. It has two basic options for content based searching. Search by example image, based on its color and shape and by user drawing. For CBIR, GMNet uses SIMPLIcity developed by Prof. James Z. Wang of Penn State University. (Chen 2006) Different CBIR systems use different types of user queries. Typically tools for the content-based image retrieval consist of query statement and a result presentation; this query can be done by providing an example image a sketch, or by choosing desired colors for the image. Results are presented by the top several similar images based on the similarity measure. 1.2 Research Questions Despite the large number of CBIR systems developed, there are still a lot of challenging problems in this area. The important sides that still need to be improved are speed of retrieving, when working with the large databases, accuracy and effectiveness of the retrieved results. So the researchers from multiple disciplines are deeply concerned with these aspects. Comparisons by image content are much more complicated task than by textual data. Generally, content-based image retrievals are based on comparison of image content descriptors that represent visual features of the image. Different features can be used to obtain the image descriptor. To meet specific user needs and in various cases some of them are more effective than others. Sometimes the implementation simplicity is as important as retrieval accuracy and effectiveness. Based on the previous discussion, research questions are the following: What are the basic retrieval techniques? What kind of features are usually used? How the features are obtained from the image? How these features are matched? How the retrieval results are presented to the user? How accurate can be the algorithms, which are relatively easy to implement? 1.3 Objectives The CBIR research often involves two areas computer vision and database systems. The database systems part studies database indexing, searching and retrieval techniques and computer vision part is about image processing, obtaining the image descriptors and image matching. In order to answer the research questions this dissertation focuses on a computer vision part. Image processing and image transformations are used by CBIR systems in order to extract image descriptors. CBIR systems are based on different image features descriptors matching. Some of these systems perform image comparison by multiple features at the same time and some of them use only one feature. In this dissertation we are going to investigate what are the basic techniques used in CBIR systems, which are based on different feature descriptors. We will make a detailed overview of these basic methods. We are also going to implement one of the most effective algorithms in the CBIR field. This is Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm (Lowe, 2004) and see how effective and accurate it can be. Chapter 2. Literature Survey 2.1 CBIR systems typical architecture Typical CBIR system has two main functionalities. This is Data insertion and query processing. Data insertion procedures are performed independent of user interaction.   They are applied to all the data. The purpose of this process is to extract visual features from the images in the database. These features are obviously smaller than the actual image and they are then stored for easy comparison reasons, as a characterizers of each image. Query processing starts with user specific request. Request can be done in several ways: By an example image, by giving desired pattern or object, color distribution and etc. Query processing module obtains the visual features from the given request, metric is defined. Then similarity is measured based on the chosen metric and some set of the most similar images are . Features extraction itself involves, selecting the features that have to be extracted, it depends on the type of user query. The feature extracting algorithm is chosen to create the feature vector from the selected features. Eventually, image descriptor is formed which are then used to compare the images. (Torres, 2006) 2.2 Semantic Gap Basically, similarity searching between the images is based on low-level and higher-levels of queries. (Eakins, 1996) Low-Level Similarity in this case visual features to describe the image are primitives such as color, texture and shape. Higher-Levels, Semantic Similarity at higher levels, similarity searching is not based on a simple features. In this case images are described by higher level of semantic attributes. This involves identification of the object types depicted in the image. These two levels of queries form the problem called semantic gap. Semantic gap can be defined in the following way: â€Å"The semantic gap is the lack of coincidence between the information that one can extract from the visual data and the interpretation that the same data has for a user in a given situation.† (Datta, 2008) In another words, images with high low-level feature similarities may still be different in terms of user perception. So similarity by low-level features, not always mean semantic similarity of these images. 2.3 Content Comparison Techniques This dissertation is concerned with low-level similarity features extraction .CBIR for low-level similarity queries needs techniques which can be used to obtain the image content descriptors to compare images based on their color, texture and shape. Color Image content comparison by color is based on matching images by their color distribution. In this case image feature identifies the proportion of pixels of specific color or colors within an image. So one can make color searches by indicating desired concentration of colors or by an example image with desired color distribution and get similar images. Color histograms are widely used to extract the color distribution descriptors from the image. It is a statistic of the color of pixels in the image. First color distribution is represented by appropriate color histogram, and then color vector is formed from that histogram. Lets discuss several color feature extraction histograms. Conventional Color Histogram (CCH) This histogram consists of occurrences of each color in the image. Each pixel is associated to only one its own histogram bin only on the basis of its own color. This color histogram uses the probability mass function of the image pixel intensities. (Suhasini, 2009) Fuzzy Color Histogram (FCH) as an opposite to CCH, in FCH each pixel is associated to all bins of histogram with different degrees of membership depending on color similarity of the pixel. This is done by fuzzy-set membership function. (ferone, 2008) Color Correlogram (CC) color correlogram of an image is a table which is indexed by color pairs, where the d-th entry of (i,j) cell shows the probability of finding the color j at a distance of d from a pixel of color i in the image extracting. Such a feature from the image is tolerant to the changes in appearance of the same scene which can be caused by changing the viewing positions, but color correlogram is more difficult to compute than color histograms. (Huang, 1997) Texture Retrieval by image texture in a similar to color-based feature extraction, but it looks for visual patterns in images rather than colors. So it looks at homogeneity that is not a result of a single color presence or intensity of a pixel value. Sometimes it also provides more spatial information. The most basic method used to extract the texture descriptor from the image is based on Fourier Transform. The initial image is transformed by the Fourier function. As the method works on digital images, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is used. DFT converts images from the spatial domain into the frequency domain, where all the spatial frequencies of the original image are represented. In another words this transformed image shows intensity variations over a number of pixels. Transformed data is grouped to obtain several measures from it. Then descriptor is formed of these measures and is used for comparison. (Nixon, 2007) Shape Shape-based image retrieval comparison looks at shapes of regions within an image and searches for the shapes similar to given as in a query image. Edge and blob detections are important parts for the shape feature extraction. These edges and blobs are points or regions in the image that are either brighter or darker than the surrounding. Several methods are used for shape-based image retrieval, which involve different kind of image filtering and image transformations. One of the most effective algorithms for shape-based image retrieval is Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm, which was first developed by David Lowe in 1999, at the University of British Colombia. It takes a single image as an input and returns a set of detected image features. In SIFT algorithm image filtering is based on Gaussian function. After image filtering SIFT uses Difference of Gaussian (DoG) pyramid for blob (keypoint) detection. The image feature descriptor, which is called keypoint descriptor is 128 element feature vector and formed of gradient magnitudes and orientations computed for the area around the identified keypoints. (Lowe, 2004) Chapter 3. Research Method 3.1 Research approach Mathematical methods play key role in the most of CBIR algorithms. Often mathematical solution of the problem is difficult or impossible to implement practically, therefore it is important to assess the method in practice. Thats why Experimental approach will be used in this dissertation. This method of primary research forces to experience and overcome all the difficulties that can appear during the practical implementation of theory. It requires focusing on the details of algorithm and clearly shows advantages and disadvantages of the particular algorithm. It also gives possibility to assess the instruments used in experiment, which are not less important than algorithm itself. In this dissertation, one of the CBIR algorithms for shape-based image retrieval will be implemented for a number of images and the results will be assessed 3.2 Tools and Technologies used This study focuses on the algorithm which involves image processing. It will be implemented under the Microsoft .net framework platform and using GDI+ and C# programming language. .Net framework provides managed interface for GDI+; therefore its relatively easy to process images using this platform. Microsoft Visual Studio .Net will be used as an IDE. This experiment will also show how useful can be .net framework library and C# language for image processing purpose. References: Bach J., Fuler C., Gupta A., Hampapur A., Horowitz B., Humphrey R., Jain R., Shu C., (1996) The virage image search engine: An open framework for image management SPIE Conference on Storage and Retrieval for Image and Video Databases; Chen Ch. Ch. (2006),Using Tomorrows Retrieval Technology to Explore the Heritage: Bonding Past and Future in the Case of Global Memory Net; available at: http://ifla.queenslibrary.org/IV/ifla72/papers/097-Chen-en.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009 Datta R., Joshi D., Li J. and Wang J. Z. (2008) Image Retrieval: Ideas, Influences, and Trends of the New Age. Eakins J.P. (1996) Automatic image content retrieval are we getting anywhere?Department of Computing, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, available at: http://www.cs.uu.nl/docs/vakken/mir/materials/literature/eakins.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009 Ferone A., Maddalena L., Petrosino A., (2008) The Enhanced Color Histogram: a way for dealing with uncertainty in CBIR systems, University of Naples Parthenope, Department of Applied Science; Flickner M., Sawhney H., Niblack W., Ashley J., Huang Q., Dom B., Gorkani M., Hafher J., Lee D., Petkovie D., Steele D. and Yanker P.(1995) Query by Image and Video Content: The QBIC System, IBM Almaden Research Center; available at: http://www2.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~nicolast/courses/cs422/ReadingProjects/qbic.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Hafiane A., Chaudhuri S., Seetharaman G., Zavidovique B. (2006) Region-based CBIR in GIS with local space filling curves to spatial representation Huang J., Kumar S. R., Mitra M., Zhu W. J., Zabih R. (1997) Image Indexing Using Color Correlograms, Cornell University; Lowe D. G. (2004), Distinctive Image Features from Scale-Invariant Keypoints, Computer Science Department University of British Columbia; available at: http://people.cs.ubc.ca/~lowe/papers/ijcv04.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009 Nixon M. S., Aguado A. S. (2007) Feature Extraction and Image Processing, Academic Press; Suhasini P.S., Dr. K. Sri Rama Krishna, Dr. I. V. Murali Krishna (2009) CBIR Using Color Histogram Processing; VR Siddhartha Engineering College; available at: http://www.jatit.org/volumes/research-papers/Vol6No1/13Vol6No1.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Tahmoush D.   Hanan S. (2007)A Web Collaboration System for Content-Based Image Retrieval of Medical imag;available at:http://www.cs.umd.edu/~hjs/pubs/medicalimagepapers/TahmoushSPIE07a.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Torres R. S., Falcà £o A. X. (2006)Content-Based Image Retrieval: Theory and Applications; available at: http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~rtorres/artigos/journal/torres06rita.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Veltkamp R. C., Tanase M. (2002) Content-Based Image Retrieval Systems: A Survey; Department of Computing Science, Utrecht University; available at: http://give-lab.cs.uu.nl/cbirsurvey/cbir-survey.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Wang J. Z. (2001) SIMPLIcity: Semantics-Sensitive Integrated Matching for Picture Libraries; available at: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~wangz/project/imsearch/SIMPLIcity/TPAMI/wang2.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009; Wen Ch. Y, Yu Ch. Y., (2005) Image Retrieval of Digital Crime Scene Images, Forensic Science Journal; available at: http://fsjournal.cpu.edu.tw/content/vol4.no.1/06-95-04.pdf last accessed on 24th September 2009.

Objectification in An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard Essay

Objectification in An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard  Ã‚   In "An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard," Gray symbolizes the objectification of the poor as well as the commodification of nature. In doing this, Gray arranges a hierarchy of objectification within the poem. The hierarchical arrangement begins with nature and continues through the poor with the upper class at the apex of the "pyramid." Gray uses the recurring images of nature to illustrate this organization of classes. To accomplish this arrangement, he shifts the focus from nature to the poor through these images. Finally, in "An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard," death of the poor is the only hope for both nature and the peasants to obtain freedom. In other words, by dying, the poor are no longer objectified by the upper class and nature is no longer objectified by the poor. In his "Elegy," Gray symbolizes the objectification of the poor and nature through a hierarchical arrangement and states that death is the only means by which they can both be free. First, Gray uses images of nature to show the pyramid of power and control in society. Through the imagery of the poem, Gray illustrates the ownership of the land and the poor. They are commodities of the wealthy, land owning members of the upper class. Gray writes "Oft did the Harvest to their Sickle Yield/ Their Furrow oft the stubborn Glebe has broke;/How bowed the Woods beneath their sturdy Stroke!"(lines 25-26, 28). These lines not only symbolize the commodification of nature but also of the lower classes. The image of the woods bowing to the poor shows the control the peasants have over nature. The breaking of the land by the sickle also demonstrates the physical might and domination the poor ... ...image of water. Images of the woods "bowing" to the poor workers and of the oceans carrying the sins of the people illustrate the commodification of nature. Images of the poor "wading through Slaughter" and of them harvesting the fields demonstrate the objectification of the lower class in English society. In doing this, Gray establishes a class system with the upper classes controlling the members of the lower classes. After establishing this system of society, Gray then shifts the focus of the poem from the hierarchy to the emancipation of these commodities. Death is the only means for the poor and the land to be freed from society. Works Cited: Gray, Thomas. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." in Damrosch, David. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Volume 1C The Restoration and the 18th Century. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 1999.

Gay Parenting Essay -- Expository Adoption Gay Adopting Essays

Gay Parenting Steve Lofton and his partner, Roger Croteau live in fear each day of having their foster-son, Bert, taken away from them and placed with another family. Steve and Roger can not adopt Bert, who is 10 years old, because a Florida law banning gays from adopting prohibits it. Bert, along with four other children, has been in the care of Steve and Roger since he was an infant. If he is taken away from them, he will lose the only family he has ever known. Since June 1977, Florida has denied gays and lesbians from adopting children on the basis of morality and the supposed danger to the children (â€Å"Suit†). At that time there was press that gays were molesting and corrupting children. People today continue to believe this is true. Many other states ban gay adoptions on similar grounds. Some states, like Florida and Mississippi, have made this a formal law. Many people, especially family-values advocates, have negative and hostile views toward gays and lesbians. We can see that â€Å"homophobia is all around us† (Benkov 187). It is so pervasive that it is even institutionalized and made into laws. Although the gay movement has made some strides in making homosexuality more accepted in this country, there are still laws in the books that promote heterosexism, intolerance and discrimination. Laws that deny gays and lesbians the right to adopt children are unfair because they discriminate against homosexuals and deprive many children of suitable parents and potentially stable homes. Steve Lofton and his partner can not adopt their foster children because although they see themselves as a family, they are not considered one by the State of Florida. Many traditional-family advocates agree that a family cons... ...4-15. â€Å"Focus on the Family Gives Facts on Homosexual Adoptions.† LifeSite Daily News. 11 Nov. 2002 . Gay and Lesbian Family Values. 30 Nov.2002 . Let Him Stay. 23 Nov. 2002 . Ryan, Scott D. â€Å"Examining Social Workers’ Placement Recommendations of Children With Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents.† Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services. 81 (2000): 517-27. Seita, John R. â€Å"In Our Best Interest: Three Necessary Shifts for Child Welfare Workers and Children.† Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice, and Program. LXXIX (2000): 77-91. â€Å"Suit in Florida Challenges Anti-Gay Adoption Ban Run Date: 8/16/01.† 11 Nov. 2002 .

Us History Civil War Dbq

James Richards Harris 3rd The Fatal Flaws of the Constitution (DBQ) During the 1850’s, the supreme and absolute Constitution, which had previously seen no topic it couldn’t resolve or illuminate in the eyes of its interpreters, was faced with its toughest, unrelenting foe; the issue of slavery, and the locations that it existed in or was desired to exist in. Ultimately, this issue led to the demise of the Union that had been created under the watchful and guiding eye of the Constitution. This decade in particular was brimming with the reoccurring argument of whether or not slavery would be allowed to expand into any newly-acquired United States territories. The sectional discord that resulted between the South and the North as a result of this argument ended in secession, disunion, and eventually war. The flaw of the Constitution existed not in its clear and over-comprehensive guidelines for the Union, but rather in its ambiguity over the rarely discussed topic of slavery. In fact, it was so infrequently discussed because in 1839, Congress had passed a â€Å"gag rule† that prohibited any debate about, reading of, printing of, or reference to slavery. There was such a state of ambiguity on the subject that each side, North and South, found the Constitution as both a helpful tool to prove that they were in fact in the right and the other side in the wrong. By 1850 sectional disagreements centering on slavery were straining the bonds of union between the North and South due to the Compromise of 1850 (doc A). These tensions became especially acute when congress began to consider whether western lands acquired after the Mexican War would permit slavery under popular sovereignty. In 1849 California requested to enter the Union as a free state. Adding more Free State senators to Congress would destroy the balance between slave and free states that had existed since the Missouri compromise of 1820. The compromise essentially erased the effects of the compromise by allowing the balance of free and slave state to potentially be broken. The Sectional sentiment that was aroused by the compromise of 1850 is obviously present in a letter from an anonymous Georgian (doc B). In his â€Å"plain words for the north†, the Georgian emphasizes that the constitution â€Å"recognizes slavery where it exists† and that unless the same view was accepted by the North the destruction, â€Å"the destruction of the constitution is inevitable†. However in a document by William Llyod Garrison (doc E), Garrison, an extreme abolitionist whose motto was â€Å"no union with slaveholders†, argued that the constitution â€Å"never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system†. Thus the question of whether or not the constitution protected slavery arose. Since the framers of the did not explicitly condone or embrace slavery, the decision was left to congress, the president, and the courts to decide. Although salvery was not mentioned in the Constitution, the context of it essentially supports slavery- many of the signers were slave owners. However, northerners such as Emerson (Doc D), who addressed the fugitive slave law, argued that slavery was immoral and foresaw the ending of the Union. Southerners on the other hand, saw slavery as their naturall right and regarded the three-fifths clause as evidence that slaves did not hold the rights of citizens. Sountherns were aided in their argument by the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court, which ruled that African Americans had no civil rights, and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Although the decision was made on the basis of the interpretation of the Constitution, it also reflected the susceptiballity of the court to be influenced by personal views and politics due to the fact that several of the judges were slave owners. Even though the court decision settled the question of slavery explansion and strengthened the souths position, it irnonically fueled the republican movement after the defeat of the Lecompton constitution to establish equitable voting methods. After Lincolns election South Carolina, which saw secession as the only alternative left to protect their way of life and liberty, challenged federal authority and attempted to coerce other southern states to join them. On February 7, 1871, seven slave states declared independence, joined the confederate states of America and elected Jefferson Davis as president. In davis’ message to Confederate Congress (Doc H), he expressed his view that the constitution set up a compact between independent states, rather than a national government made up of states. The misconception that the Constitution set up a national government, he said, was the perception of a certain political school in the North. In contrast, Lincolns message (Doc I) questions how the southern states could withdraw from the Union without the consent of the other states. As these two documents have pointed out, the different interpretations by which the Northerners and Southerners interpreted the Constitution was one of the main sources of sectional discord and tension. Despite efforts at preserving the Union, social and economic forces were pulling the North and South apart. Northern society was beign cultured by the industrial revolution, and by educational and humanitarian movements that had little effect in the South. Southern society was dominated by agriculture, and therefore slavery was a necessary institution and way of life. Since the North and South were essentially two different societies united under one common law, it seemed inevitable that the conflict over slavery and states rights would arise. It would have been impossible to accommodate the differences between the North and South under one law that applied to both. So while the constitution was originally framed as an instrument of national unity there was no possible way for it not to divide the nation with two entirely different societies. Therefore the only solution to save the union was not to abolish the constitution, but to either abolish or accept slavery.