Statue of Liberty Ribbon Essays -- Architecture History

Statue of Liberty Ribbon The Statue of Liberty has served as the single most important symbol of the friendship between the two countries and the ideal of democracy since its unveiling on October 28, 1886. At the time it was the tallest structure in America. The statue was originally a gift to the United States. The relationship between the two countries dates back before the United States was an independent country (Kotler p7). The French were one of the first to explore and settle in North America. Louis Jolliet and Jaques Marquette traveled the Mississippi. Renà © Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle explored the Great Lakes and established Louisiana. Frenchmen built outposts on the Gulf of Mexico, founded New Orleans, and colonized New France from Louisiana to northeast Canada. In the War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette fought with General George Washington. In its final battle at Yorktown, General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau led the French navy and a land crew. Without French support a victory may have been impossible. The United States returned these favors during t...

Environmental Impacts of a Cement Plant Unit

Decision The building activities will ensue in minimal loss of flora and surface soil in the works country. Maximum possible extent tree cutting would be avoided. No important inauspicious impact on the dirt in the encompassing country is anticipated. During building stage, dust will be the chief pollutant, which would be generated from the site development activities and vehicular motion on the route. The impact of such activities would be confined within the undertaking boundary and restricted to the building stage. To extenuate these impacts regular scattering of H2O will be done at the building site. The attack roads will be black carpeted and vehicles will be kept in good order to minimise car fumes. The coevals of domestic sewerage discharge from labour settlements and lavation of building stuffs stockpiled and concrete batching works will hold some impact on surface H2O and to a smaller grade on groundwater. To turn to possible impacts on H2O quality, disinfected latrines ( with regular liming ) will be used as chief constituent of the sanitation system.Construction procedure would include fiction of steel constructions, concrete and related H2O use. The possible impact is considered minor as it will be largely happening during building period and will hold no long term impact with position to relentless pollution. The overall impact on H2O environment during building stage due to the cement works would be of short term continuance and insignificant. The major beginnings of noise during the building stage are vehicular traffic, building equipment like dozers, scrapers, concrete misers, Cranes generators, pumps, compressors, stone drills, pneumatic tools, proverbs, vibrators etc.the operation of these equipment will bring forth noise runing between 70-85 dubnium ( A ) . The noise produced during the building will hold important impact on the bing ambient noise degrees. The major work will be carried out during the daylight. Most of the land identified for the bing undertaking contains bare land with limited figure of trees. Trees will be cut merely if required and as per functional demand. The remotion of flora from the dirt and relaxation of the surface soil by and large causes dirt eroding. However such impacts will be confined to the works site and will be minimized through pavement and H2O scattering. Therefore no major loss of biomass is envisaged during building stage. The non workers in the constitute more than 60 % of the entire population in 10 kilometers radius survey area.This indicates the handiness of ample work force required for the building activity in the vicinity. The works will supply either direct or indirect occupation chances to the local population every bit far as possible. There will be some migration of labour force from outside the survey country during building stage, which may set some force per unit area on the local colonies and resources. So the demographic impact is envisaged to be fringy and impermanent in nature. However, the flow of work forces, money and stuff will impact the socio-economic position of the people in the country. The positive impact may be the addition of employment chances for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Ancillary development such as stores, hotels and other allied services will besides open up avenues for employment. The subsequent betterment in the position of the people will besides assist in increasing the wellness and instruction position of the people. Diseases matching to labour influex and their impact on local community will be regulary monitored. Health position monitoring of labors and its environing population shall be carried out with the nomadic wellness attention installations. During building of any big undertaking, there is ever opportunity of traffic congestion on nearby roads due to heavy vehicular motion. However it was observed that the route web next to the cement works has medium traffic and have a mix of fast moving and decelerate traveling traffic. Thus add-on of the awaited vehicles during building stage will non hold much impact on the traffic scenario. Literand demand for the cement works is 120.626 hour angle, which is already in ownership of the company. With execution of the works, the land usage at the site will be for good changed to industrial class. Impacts on dirts will be restricted during building stage, which will acquire stabilized during operational stage. The impact on the top dirt will be confined to the chief works country. The air borne fleeting dust from the works is likely to be deposited on the surface soil in immediate locality of the works boundary. However, the fleeting emanation are likely to be controlled to a great extent through control steps such as H2O sprinkler systems and dust extraction and dust suppression systems shall be installed. All the solid waste generated will be to the full re-used either in the procedure or in accessory activities ; therefore no impact of solid waste is envisaged on dirt quality of the country. Adequate stack highs have been provided to scatter gaseous emanations over a broad country. In order to command emanations of particulates adequate control equipment are installed.Prediction of impacts on air environment has been carried out by utilizing land degree concentration at a distance of 1.0 kilometers on southeast way. The impact on air quality is assessed based on emanation of the cement works. Particulate affair will be the of import pollutant breathing from the cement works, the maximal attendant land degree concentration that the maximal short term 24 hourly land degree concentrations for PM, SO2and NOx during normal operations of the works composite are likely to be 2.48 & A ; micro ; g/m3, 12.85 & A ; micro ; g/m3and 9.75 & A ; micro ; g/m3 severally occuruing at a distance of 1.0 to 1.5 kilometers during station monsoon season. Fleeting dust emanations from the bing works would be important as there will be air pollution due to activities like conveyance of limestone, coal handling, cinder handling, and oppressing unit and by and large due to the motion of vehicles on the roads. The limestone conveyance is being carried out by covered conveyer system from the limestone crusher unit to the works, therefore fleeting dust in non envisaged. Number of smaller sized bag dust collectors/bagfilters for de-dusting at tasfer points and other fleeting dust emanation countries are installed. Hence the impact due to fleeting emissuions would be undistinguished. All the internal roads within the works premises will be metalled ; hence dust originating from the internal roads will be in important. The greenway and regular H2O sprinking will foster aid decrease in fleeting emanations. The bing cement works contains figure of points of heavy equipment such as fans, engines, generators and cement grinding works. There will be associated route or rail traffic including truck motion and loading equipment. Consequently cement fabrication is likely to bring forth noise and quiver. Noise and quiver is greater from heavy truck traffic associated with quarry operations and conveyance of natural stuffs and finished merchandise. The chief noise bring forthing beginnings from the cement works will be crushers, ball Millss, ice chest fans, pumps, compressors, turbines along with chilling tower and boilers. The noise degrees at the beginning for these units will be maintasined below 85 dubnium ( A ) . Hazardous waste in the signifier of used and godforsaken oil is generated from autoworkshop, different subdivision of cement works. No risky waste will be generated either in the procedure or pollution control equipment installations. There is no solid waste generated from the cement works. All the dust collected in air pollution control equipment ( APCEs ) will automatically be recycled into the procedure. Flyash use will be as per MoEF flyash use presentment. Flyash will be 100 % for production of pozzolona cement devising by the cement works. Solid waste in the signifier of sludge is generated from the sewerage intervention works. The waste will be used for maintain the assorted lequire suspended solids ( MLSS ) in the activated sludge procedure of STP and the balance waste is used as manure for greenway development. Since the unit will be runing on zero discharge procedure, no inauspicious impact on surface H2O organic structures is envisaged. The works drainage system will be ap propriately designed such that the storm H2O does non transport any pollutants. The impact from the air emanation is non expected to be important since the stack tallness design and the atmosphereic conditions are such that the ambient air quality at present every bit good as in hereafter after the present installation will be within the prescribed ambient air quality bounds set Forth by CPCB. Comprehensive control steps have been incorporated as elaborated under Environment direction program ( EMP ) . The discharge of waste stuffs ( stack emanation, waste H2O and solid wastes ) from works operations potentially could hold impact on public safety ad wellness if proper extenuation steps are non taken. The impact from the discharge of waste merchandises is non expected to be important since, the inauspicious impacts on ambient air, H2O and dirt quality are predicted to be low. It is predicted that the impacts on public safety will be really low, due to the effectuive safety system and safety direction available in the works. Overall, the impact on public safety and wellness from the cement works activities are likely to be undistinguished. Govindgarh modesty wood is 0.2 km north-northeast waies 10 kilometers radius survey country. But there are no ecologically sensitive countries like wildlife sanctuaries within 10 kilometers radius from the works and besides no migration path to avi zoology is observed or recorded in the survey country. Son gharihal sanctuary is located at a distance of 9.0 kilometer towards south east direction.similarlly as per the wood section, no endangered or rare species of vegetations and zoologies are reported or observed in the survey country. Development of a thick greenway and besides application of limestone injection in AFBC ( Atmosphric fluidized bed burning ) boilers, transit of stuff through closed conveyer system still further cut down of pollution tonss in the environing countries and contain the negative impact on wood and tellurian ecology. Hence the impacts on the tellurian ecology will be undistinguished. The wastewaters are non envisaged to be discharged into any watercourses. Hence no impact is envisaged from the bing works on aquatic organic structures. The impacts on the ecology will be due to the incremental gaseous concentrations and noise generated during operation of the bing power works. The demand of unskilled work force will be met from nearby small towns during building and operation stage. The works will besides assist in coevals of indirect employment apart from direct employment. This will be a positive socio-economic development for the part. There will be a general upliftment of criterion of life in the part. The discharge of waste stuffs ( stack emanation, effluent and solid wastes ) from procedure operations is expected to be undistinguished and may non hold possible impact on public safety and wellness. The inauspicious impacts on ambient air and dirt quality are predicted to be undistinguished. Primary wellness study was carried out to measure the wellness position of the people in the survey country in the small towns of Majhigawan, Sarda, Jurmani, Hinauti and Gorhatola small towns which are autumn in 2 kilometers radius from mines lease boundary. The survey reveals that in general the country is prone to malaria in monsoon season and icterus before and after monsoon season. Therefore is no disease form which can be attributable to any industrial pollution. The incidence of any lungs related wellness upset are chiefly due to the wonts such as smoke. The cement works unit together with confined power works will ensue in betterment of substructure every bit good as upliftment of societal construction in the surrounding small towns. The people shacking in the nearby countries will be benefited indirectly. The major benefit due to the cement works will be in the domain of bring forthing impermanent employment for significant figure of forces. During the enlargement of building stage about 1000 people on an norm will be employed. The work force during operational period is estimated to be about 350 individuals. Employment will be provided to eligible undertaking affected individuals both during building and operational stage. Impermanent employment for people from the adjacent small towns during building stage. The instruction and substructure installations such as development of ply land for childrens, noon repasts, computing machine preparation for the children/youth of weaker subdivision, scholarship for pupils of college/ITI, upg radation/renovation of bing schools, H2O supply, furniture, computing machines, library, books, school bags, athleticss kits, healthful installations etc. will be provided. Supplying primary wellness centres and ambulance installation. Conduction of vaccination/immunization programmes including infantile paralysis cantonments, oculus cantonments and medical assistance, reding and rehabilitation installations for drug addicts.Assistance/encouragement to self aid groups and income coevals strategies. Community development activies such as building of new community/panchayat halls. Provision of solar energy to community/panchyat edifice. Rennovation and modernisation of bing community/panchyat halls. The budget estimated under CSR activies is about Rs. 55 crores as on one clip capital outgo and Rs. 11 crores as repeating outgo per annum for 10 old ages.

Session Long Affirmative Action

Gender discrimination has for long been the topic of hot ethical debate. Despite the growing awareness about the social implications and the consequences of discrimination, as well as financial and human costs of discriminative attitudes at workplace, numerous firms and businesses appear unable to change the traditional structure of their business relationships. Even the best and the most ethical organizations are not always willing to eliminate the barriers women face on their way to professional excellence. In case of KBR, diversity and female participation in labor seem to be the two critical elements of organizational culture.Yet, KBR, Inc. has not done everything possible to involve women into all areas of its organizational and business performance. In reality, even at KBR, Inc. – the company well known for its ethical practices – gender remains an issue. Moreover, the majority of the present day American companies are either unwilling or unprepared to tackle gend er discrimination challenges. â€Å"For instance, for every dollar earned by white men in 1998, white women earn 78 cents, African-American women earn 67 cents, and Hispanic women earn 56 cents, according to Catalyst.More than 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies lack even one woman among their five highest earning officers† (Social Funds, 2000). Objectively, KBR, Inc. is not an exception for even despite its growing commitment to diversity at workplace and its desire to eliminate the barriers which women face when trying to become a part of the company staff, the current Board of Directors at KBR does not have a single woman, comprising seven highly professional men (KBR, 2009).Moreover, given the nature and specificity of work at KBR, women find it even more difficult to prove that they possess sufficient engineering and construction skills and are able to successfully fulfill their workplace obligations and tasks. Finally, when it comes to working in hotspots, women face ev en more opposition on the side of their potential employers, who view it as unacceptable for a woman to work in conditions of wartime. From the deontological perspective, gender equality should become a rule KBR will follow at all levels of its organizational performance.Certainly, affirmative action can potentially become a good solution for the majority of gender discrimination problems, but affirmative action is just another form of discrimination aimed at establishing the new quality of gender relationships at workplace. Not gender discrimination, not affirmative action, but professionalism, education, and skills should serve the primary criteria the company will use when considering potential job candidates. Not gender, but individual preparedness to work in dangerous conditions and realization of the tasks and obligations should govern KBR in its job decisions.From the viewpoint of utilitarianism, providing women with equal access to jobs will help resolve several essential is sues. First, the company will improve its social corporate image. Second, it will bring in innovative looks and will substantially improve and speed up its decision-making processes. Third, it will provide women with a chance to realize themselves in professional fields, and finally, the company will avoid and secure itself from financial losses that result of continuous discrimination lawsuits.Discrimination is an increasingly negative social and workplace phenomenon. Moreover, the more â€Å"male† the nature of business seems to be, the less likely women are to become a part of such companies’ staff. That is why for the company to remain competitive, glass ceiling should be eliminated, to give women just another professional and individual try. Conclusion Even the most ethical companies face serious gender discrimination challenges and are not always able to eliminate the so-called â€Å"glass ceiling†.KBR, Inc. is not an exception. From deontological perspect ive, gender equality should become one of the primary company rules; from the utilitarian perspective, giving women a chance for professional self-realization will improve the quality of all decision-making processes and will protect the company from numerous discrimination lawsuits. Whether KBR, Inc. is able to preserve its positive corporate image depends on how well it copes with the challenges of gender discrimination at workplace. References KBR, Inc. (2009). Board of directors. KBR, Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from http://www.kbr.com/corporate/corporate_governance/board_of_directors/index.aspx Social Funds. (2000). Glass ceiling still unshattered. Social Funds. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/345.html

The Battle for the Campaign Agenda in Britain

The 1997 election was a struggle, not just for votes, but also to control the campaign agenda. Significant, but contradictory, challenges faced the media, parties and the public. For journalists, the problem was how to engender any zip into the campaign. Ever since Black Wednesday, in September 1992, Labour had seemed assured of victory while Conservative support floundered in the doldrums. For five years, perhaps it just seemed like longer, pundits had been writing of the end of the Conservative era, bolstered by all the accumulated evidence from opinion polls, by-elections and local elections. By the start of the six-week official campaign, the horse-race story was almost lifeless. Moreover, to the dismay of leader-writers, commentators and columnists, Blair's strategic shift towards the centre-left had removed much of the drama of serious policy conflicts between the major parties. Few issues remained where one could discern clear blue water between Labour and the Conservatives – devolution and constitutional reform, perhaps the faint ghost of trade union rights and spending priorities – but on so much the contest was a classic case of an echo not a choice. Lastly, at the outset the campaign promised tight party control, in as gaffe-free an environment as could be humanly managed. At the start the Labour party seemed insecure and sweaty despite its enormous lead in the polls, and the professional andelson machine at Millbank Tower left almost nothing to chance, as though the souffle of support might suddenly collapse. Based on their formidable track-record during the 1980s, the Conservatives had a reputation for running highly professional campaigns. Given the palpable sense of public boredom and impatience, a feeling of oh-do-lets-get-on-with-it, the challenge for journalists was to find something fresh and interesting to hold the attention of their readers and viewers. During the six week campaign there was, on average, about ten hours of regular BBC and ITN television news and current affairs programmes every weekday1, not including election specials, nor Sky News, CNN, Radio 4, Five Live, newspapers and magazines, the internet election web pages, and all the other plethora of media outlets. Something had to fill the ravenous news hole. For the public, the primary urge seemed to be to get it all over with. But voters also needed to make sense of the choice before them, when policy differences between the parties had shaded from the red-and-blue days of Thatcher v. Foot to a middle of the road wishy-washy mauve. Many issues confronting voters were complex, technical and subtle, with no easy answers: what will happen to the economy if Britain enters, or stays out, of the ERM? How can the peace process move ahead in Northern Ireland, given the intractability of all sides? Can Britain afford an effective and comprehensive health service, given ever-increasing demands on the system and spending limits accepted by all parties? These, and related, issues facing Britain have critical consequences for the lives of citizens, but they admit of no simple sound-bite panaceas. The needs of the news media and the public were at odds with those of the parties. Given their lead, the primary challenge for Labour was to manage their media environment against unexpected crises, in play-safe reactive mode. The watchword was control. Memories of the polling fiasco in 1992, and Neil Kinnock's false expectation of victory in that campaign (â€Å"We're allright! â€Å"), dominated strategy in 1997. The challenge for the Conservatives was to staunch grassroots morale, and even build momentum, by emphasising the positive economic performance of the government, by reassuring voters to trust Prime Minister John Major against the inexperienced and unknown Tony Blair, and by attacking Labour on the old bugaboos of taxes and trade unions. To gain traction the Conservatives had to take more risks than Labour. The challenge facing all the minor parties, but particularly the Liberal Democrats, was to avoid being squeezed by Labour's smothering slither centre-left. Who won? The aim of this chapter is to examine this battle and evaluate the outcome. The first section sets out the long-term context by considering how campaigning has been transformed in the post-war era. The 1997 election represented another critical step, it can be argued, in the transition to the post-modern campaign in Britain, — characterised by partisan dealignment in the press, growing fragmentation in the electronic media, and strategic communications in parties. The second section goes on to analyse what was covered in the national press and television during the campaign, and whether this suggests Labour won the battle of the campaign agenda, as well as the election. Lastly, we consider how the public reacted to the coverage, whether they felt that journalists generated interesting, fair and informative coverage, and the implications of this analysis for the struggle over campaign communications. The Evolution of the Post-Modern Campaign Modernisation theory suggests that during the post-war era the political communication process has been transformed by the decline of direct linkages between citizens and parties, and the rise of mediated relationships. Swanson and Mancini argue that similar, although not identical, developments are recognisable across industrialised democracies2. In the earliest stage, the premodern campaign in Britain was characterised by the predominance of the partisan press; a loose organizational network of grassroots party volunteers in local constituencies; and a short, ad-hoc national campaign run by the party leader with a few close advisers. This period of campaigning gradually evolved in the mid-nineteenth century following the development of mass party organizations registering and mobilising the newly enfranchised electorate. Despite the introduction of wireless broadcasting in 1922, this pattern was maintained in largely identifiable form until the late fifties3. The critical watershed came in 1959, with the first television coverage of a British general election, symbolising the transition to the next stage. The evolution of the modern campaign was marked by a shift in the central location of election communications, from newspapers towards television, from the constituency grassroots to the party leadership, and from amateurs towards professionals. The press entered an era of long-term decline: circulation of national newspapers peaked in the late fifties and sales have subsequently dropped by one-third (see Figure 1). The fall was sharpest among tabloids, pushing these further downmarket in the search for readers4. This fierce competition transformed the nature of the British press, producing growing sensationalism, and more journalism with attitude, while changes in ownership ratcheted the partisan balance further in the Conservative direction. One major factor contributing towards declining circulation was the rise of television. The political effects of this new technology were strongly mediated by the regulations governing broadcasting in each country. In Britain the legal framework for the BBC/ITV duopoly was suffused by a strong public service ethos which required broadcasters to maintain ‘party balance' and impartiality in news coverage, to ‘inform, educate and entertain' according to high standards, and to provide an agreed allocation of unpaid airtime to arty political broadcasts5. Within this familiar context, television centralised the campaign, and thereby increased the influence of the party leaders: what appeared on BBC1's flagship 9 O'clock News and ITN's News at Ten, and related news and current affairs studios, was the principle means by which politicians reached the vast majority of voters. To work effectively within this environment parties developed a coordinated national campaign with professional communications by specialists skilled in advertising, marketing, and polling. The ‘long campaign' in the year or so before polling day became as important strategically as the short ‘official' campaign. These changes did not occur overnight, nor did they displace grassroots constituency activity, as the timeless ritual of canvassing and leafletting continued. A few trusted experts in polling and political marketing became influential during the campaign in each party, such as Maurice Saatchi, Tim Bell and Gordon Reece in Conservative Central Office, but this role remained as part-time outside advisors, not integral to the process of government, nor even to campaigning which was still run by politicians. Unlike in the United States, no political marketing industry developed, in large part because the only major clients were the Labour and Conservative party leaderships: the minor parties had limited resources, while parliamentary candidates ran retail campaigns based on shoe-leather and grassroots helpers. But the net effect of television during the era of modernisation was to shift the primary focus of the campaign from the ad-hoccery of unpaid volunteers and local candidates towards the central party leadership flanked by paid, although not necessarily full-time, professionals6. Lastly in the late twentieth century Britain seems to have been experiencing the rise of the post-modern campaign, although there remains room for dispute in the interpretation of the central features of this development and its consequences. The most identifiable characteristics, evident in the 1997 campaign, include the emergence of a more autonomous, and less partisan, press following its own ‘media logic'; the growing fragmentation and diversification of electronic media outlets, programmes and audiences; and, in reaction to these developments, the attempt by parties to reassert control through strategic communications and media management during the permanent campaign. Partisan Dealignment in the Press In the post-war period parties have had long-standing and stable links with the press. In 1945 there was a rough partisan balance with about 6. 7 million readers of pro-Conservative papers and 4. 4 million readers of pro-Labour papers. This balance shifted decisively in the early 1970s, with the transformation of the left-leaning Daily Herald into the pro-Conservative Sun, and the more aggressively right-wing tone of The Times, both under Rupert Murdoch's ownership. By 1992 the cards had become overwhelmingly stacked against the left, since the circulation of the Conservative-leaning press had risen to about 8. 7 million compared with only 3. million for Labour-leaning papers (see Figure 1). Throughout the 1980s Mrs Thatcher could campaign assured of a largely sympathetic press, which provided a loyal platform to get her message across7. One of the most striking developments of recent years has been the crumbling of these traditional press-party loyalties. The evidence comes partly from editorial policy. The Conservative press had started to turn against Mrs Thatcher in 1989-90, when the economy was in recession and her leadership became deeply unpopular, and this constant barrage of criticism probably contributed towards her eventual demise8. During the 1992 election, while the Sun and the Daily Express continued to beat the Tory drum, comment from some of the other pro-Conservative press like the Mail and The Sunday Times was more muted, and four out of eleven daily papers failed to endorse a single party9. The new government enjoyed a brief respite on returning to office but press criticism of John Major's leadership deepened following the ERM debacle on 16th September 1992, with only the Daily Express staying loyal. Journalists continued to highlight the government's difficulties over Europe, and internal splits over the debate on the Maastricht Treaty. By the winter of 1993, a succession of scandals involving Conservative politicians created headline news while editorials regularly denunciated the government, and particularly the Prime Minister. By the time of the July 1995 leadership challenge only the Daily Express backed John Major solidly, while the Sun, the Mail, The Times and the Telegraph all argued that it was time for him to be replaced10, an embarrassment for their leader writers given the outcome. The question, in the long run-up to the election, was whether the Tory press would return home, once the future of the Conservative government was under real threat. In the event, the 1997 election represents a historic watershed. In a major break with tradition, six out of ten national dailies, and five out of nine Sundays, endorsed the Labour party in their final editorials (see Table 1). This was twice the highest number previously, and it reversed the long-standing pro-Conservative leanings in the national press. With impeccable timing, the Sun led the way on the first day of the campaign, (THE SUN BACKS BLAIR), with a frontpage claiming Blair is a â€Å"breath of fresh air† while the Conservatives were â€Å"tired, divided and rudderless†, and its defection stole the headlines and damaged Tory morale. This change of heart came after assiduous efforts by Labour to court press support, including meetings between Blair and Rupert Murdoch, especially Blair's visit to Australia in 1995. roughout the campaign the Sun, with ten million readers a day, provided largely unswerving support for Blair, although opposing Labour policy on Europe and the unions, and many commentators predicted that the switch, based on Murdoch's commercial considerations rather than political affinities, would not last long11. Labour's traditional tabloid, the Daily Mirror, with six million readers, continued its brand of centre-left journalism (â€Å"the paper for Labour's TRUE supporters†). On the las t Sunday of the campaign, influenced by Murdoch, The News of the World decided to follow the lead of its sister paper, the Sun, and backed Labour. Among the broadsheets The Guardian called for tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats in seats where it made sense, but broadly endorsed Labour. The Independent was more restrained in its backing, casting its editorial vote for Labour â€Å"with a degree of optimism that is not entirely justified by the evidence†. The paper was clearly more anti-Tory than pro-anything. The Times advised their readers to back Eurosceptic candidates from whatever party, although, in practice, nearly all were Conservatives. Only leads in the Daily Telegraph, and the Daily Mail (â€Å"Labour bully boys are back† â€Å"Labour's broken promises†) remained strongly in the Tory camp. Even the Daily Express was more neutral than in the past: a double-page spread was divided between Lord Hollick, its chief executive, arguing for Labour and its chairman, Lord Stevens, arguing for the Conservatives. The front-page of the election-eve Mail carried a colourful Union Jack border and the apocalyptic warning that a Labour victory could â€Å"undo 1,000 years of our nation's history†. Yet any comparison of editorial policy probably under-estimates the balance of partisanship in news coverage during the overall campaign. For example, the Mail ostensibly endorsed the Conservatives during the campaign, but in practice it probably deeply damaged the government by headlining sexual scandals in the party, and reinforcing images of disunity with leading articles highlighting the number of Tory Eurosceptics. With friends like this, the Conservatives did not need opponents. To understand this we need to go beyond the leaders, which are rarely read, and even less heeded, to examine the broader pattern of front-page stories. The most plausible evidence for dealignment is that certain papers like the Sun, traditionally pro-Conservative, switched camps, but also that front-page stories were often so similar across all the press, driven by news values irrespective of the paper's ostensible partisanship. Since the early 1970s fierce competition for readers has encouraged far more sensational coverage in the popular press, fuelling an endless diet of stories about ‘scandals', (mostly sexual but also financial), infotainment, and the Royals, preferably all three. This process started when Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1968, and the Sun a year later. It accelerated in the cut-throat competition produced by the launch of the Daily Star in 1978, which sought to out-do the Sun in its relentless search for sex, investigative ‘exclusives' about celebrities, violent crime, and graphic coverage of the bizzare. Those who thought British newspapers had reached their nadir at this point had under-estimated the soft-porn Sunday Sport, launched in 198612. The tackiness of the popular press, such as their exhaustive gossip about the goings-on of the younger Royals, gradually infected and corroded the news culture of the broadsheets as well. By the mid-1990s, the journalism of scandal trumped party loyalties, hands down. This fuelled the series of sleaze stories about senior Conservative politicians hroughout John Major's years in government, and there was no let-up during the campaign. As documented in detail later, the first two weeks of the election were dominated by a succession of stories about corruption in public life and sexual ‘scandals', providing a steady diet of negative news for the government which swamped their message about the economy.

Flaws in Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Essay

Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is by any means a classic. However, there are several flaws. First of all the coincidence that everything happens with in my mind detracts some from the story. The other major problem is that the book seems to drag on and on the closer you get to the end, as if Twain had a page quota to fill and was not worried about the story. The other problem brought up on our hand-out was Huck’s lack of seriousness in what was a very serious situation for Jim. As for the coincidence part, it appears most obviously as you read towards the end. For example Huck ends up at Aunt Polly’s, and I was thinking, yeah†¦ right those chances are about one in a million. And then after Huck tells Aunt Polly that he is Tom, Tom shows up†¦ uh-huh, I bet. It is things such as those I just mentioned that make it very difficult for me to read a book without becoming frustrated. It is probably because I am used to real life and like it or not real life is just not that perfect. My other gripe was that Twain seems to ramble on and on and on an†¦.. To me it seems as if the story that he was writing became faint shortly after the time when Huck says, â€Å"It’s me. George Jackson, sir†(pg. 95). I do have to give him that the feud was interesting filler, but you can only take so much filler. Then when John Wayne (The Duke) and Elvis (The King) come along there seem to be four or five stops along the river that except for one little detail, are the same. Please excuse the jump back, but how coincidental is it that you have a Duke and a King on the same raft in the middle of the Mississippi river (yes I do know they are not really royalty but that does not matter)? Even during all of this complaining I have done I did find humor in such things as when Huck was observing some local â€Å"loafers† and their discussions about borrowing and lending chewing tobacco. â€Å"Here, gimme back the chaw and you take the plug. † (pg. 138). I can just picture four or five guys laying around chewing tobacco with spit/tobacco juice running down their chins, probably in dirty overalls with no shirts on underneath and boots, to complete the look, three or four days of beard waiting to be shaved, and oh yeah, a nice old straw hat. The picture of this I have in my head is just so vivid that it disgusts me now. I think that is one of the reasons this is such a great book, the imagery. The final thing mentioned was Huck’s lack of seriousness or that he was too humorous or too wrapped up in fantasy for the situation both he and Jim were in. Here as opposed to the things I attacked above I will have to be on the side of the defense. My foremost reason is that I do not think Huck realizes the seriousness of the predicament. Huck is a boy that lives in Hannibal, MO during the times of the Civil War, he probably does not know any other ways to deal with anyone who is a slave or is trying to escape. Put yourself in his shoes once and think of the trouble you might have. Then think how you would deal with these problems. Would it be in the way many kids do, with a bit of fun to try to alleviate some of the tension? Take the time when Jim thinks Huck is dead and he shows up scaring Jim to the point of carrying out a conversation with a â€Å"ghost†. Jim says † I alwuz liked dead people, en done all I could for ? em†¦ â€Å"(pg. 40). Read that section over and see if it does not seem to be in good taste, if you can call anything done by Huck â€Å"tasteful†. I think it does. My final task is to come up with a new ending. I think my ending goes like this: Huck and Jim find the mouth of the Ohio river as planned and venture upstream by any means available. As they continue up the river the bond between the two runaways becomes ever stronger. When they reach the free states and Jim is officially free. After waiting around a while the two begin to get money in any way they can. When it is enough Jim buys his wife and children out of slavery, and Huck takes a cut (not too much, just enough to get home). Once home Huck starts all over with his ever interesting plots (not without the help of Tom Sawyer). Time passes and over the years Huck misses Jim and eventually embarks on a quest. The quest to find Jim. This journey would be much like the journey he and Jim took just a few years ago. This time though, there is no John Wayne and Elvis to make the story drawn out and boring towards the end. Then Huck finds Jim, meets the wife and kids, and goes back home to lead a normal (or as normal as can be) life working as little as possible and living off his $6000.

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN A. ADVERTISING Advertising refers to the paid promotion of goods and services through a sponsoring organization or company. While marketing has the objective to choose markets that have the capacity to purchase a product, Â  advertising, on the other hand, is the paid communication through which relevant information about the product is conveyed to potential consumers (2001). In a general sense, the author plans to use advertising in order to be able to impart to interested Christian women aged 13-45 the availability of slots in the Virtuous Woman Pageant.In a way, advertising will also be able to provide critical information regarding the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The author believes that when the advertising campaign for the Virtuous Woman Pageant is achieved effectively, this can lead to an increased interest for Christian women to join the pageant. There are commonly three main objectives of advertisements: (1) conveying relevant informatio n regarding a particular product or service; (2) persuading consumers to purchase the advertised product; and, (3) keep the company under the watchful eyes of the public (2002).But in this particular case, the author plans to mix the elements of all three objectives. Since the Virtuous Woman Pageant is a relatively new event, then it must be supported with informative and persuasive ads. Evaluation of Advertising 1) Advantages The existence of Internet and the continued revolution in the world of Information Technology are certainly positive signs for the successful advertising campaign for the Virtuous Woman Pageant. For instance, the author plans to use Popup ads and email ads as a form of online advertisement. ) Disadvantages In recent years, the public opinion regarding advertising has become very negative. They view it as a medium that only promotes lies. This is of course contrary to the purpose of advertisements to encourage the target market to patronize a particular product or service. Nowadays, most advertisements are either perceived as merely stating opinions or portraying a product or service in a totally distorted idea away from reality. It is his alarming situation regarding the true objectives of advertising that could lead to an increase in the responsibilities that the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant would face. B. PUBLICITY Publicity is a term that is closely related to public relations. While public relations refers to the proper management of all means of communication among the companies and the people involved, publicity, on the other hand, is the careful management of a product or service’s means of communication between the company and the general public. Therefore, it is basically an informative process.However, its main objective is the promotion of products and services being offered by a company. Thus, a publicity plan is being made along the process in order to obtain excellent press coverage for the company’s products (2003). The author and the organizers plan to issue a press release regarding the launching of the Virtuous Woman Pageant, but other methods including Internet releases are in the author’s options. However, in order for these tools and techniques to be effectively utilized by the media, they must be able to generate a great interest from the public.For this to happen, the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant plans to manipulate the press release in order to be a perfect match to the Christian women. The author believes that the most successful publicity releases are often related to topics that the general public can easily relate to. Evaluation of Publicity 1) Advantages The advantages of publicity include having low costs, and its credibility. New technologies such as web cameras and convergence are gradually changing the cost-structure. ) Disadvantages The disadvantages include the lack of control over how the releases will be used, and the accumulation of frustration regarding the low percentage of releases that are being accepted by the media. C. PERSONAL SELLING Sales are an important part of any commercial transaction. The most common approach to personal selling pertains to a systematic process of continuous yet measurable methods in which the person selling describes his offered products or services in such a way that the buyer will be able to visualize ow to benefit from the offered products or services in an economic way. Selling is basically a part of the implementation procedures of marketing. It often forms a particular grouping within a corporate structure, employing independent specialist operatives known as salesmen (2003). The continued interrogation in order to understand a consumer’s goal as well as the establishment of a set of feasible solutions by conveying the necessary information that convinces a buyer to achieve his goal at a reasonable cost is the main responsibility of the sales person.On the other hand, the main objective of professional sales is to be able to know the needs and satisfy the wants of consumers effectively, and therefore convert possible customers into actual and reliable ones (2002). Evaluation of Personal Selling 1) Advantages Some of the distinct advantages that the author sees in the use of personal selling as an IMC tool for the Virtuous Woman Pageant include the immediate access to feedback, the persuasive nature of the endeavor, the option of choosing a target audience for the sales person, and its capability to give detailed information. ) Disadvantages Personal selling may have the tendency to become extremely expensive per exposure, and the gathered information may be different among the sales persons involved. It is a well-known fact that the main objective of selling is to help a consumer achieve his / her goals in a reasonable way. However, this is not always the case. For instance, Christian women can easily be persuaded by outside factors to join the Virtuous Woman Pageant that normally does not have any interest to them.Some sales people are being commanded by their mother companies to sell to consumers odd products that they don't necessarily need. This anomalous behavior is being supported by incentives of sales personnel to increase their total number of sales, incentives from the companies of service providers to sales personnel to sell their products where other similar products offered by competitors are offered, and the incentive to sell a consumer a product that is in need of being wiped out.CONCLUSION The results of the analysis carried out on the proposed IMC tools that would be used for the Virtuous Woman Pageant indicated very significant effects, even amidst the threats of unrest. Therefore, we could conclude that the IMC tools could still be expected to contribute to the successful launching of the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The review of the capabilities and resources of the IMC tools revealed very little inconsistencies regarding the overall strategies.This is coherent with the traditional inside-out approach. However, the need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in approaches becomes imperative now for the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The analysis among the environment as well as the capabilities of the IMC tools revealed certain gaps, most of which are biased towards the environment.However, these gaps paved the way towards determining a number of recommended strategic options to secure the competitiveness of the IMC tools. Also, the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant has to find a balance between adherence to internal forces within the management and to the changing forces of the environment in order to implement such strategic options Read more: http://ivythesis. typepad. com/term_paper_topics/2009/11/integrated-marketing-communications-plan. html#ixzz29wJi0bUf

Higher Education Challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Higher Education Challenges - Essay Example long-standing problems such as racial inequity in education, new challenges like economic recession and falling value of dollar have only made the problem worse to such an extent that it is feared that US needs urgently to reform its higher education system or it will lose its unique position of strength and competitiveness.   (Blue Ribbon Commission) The Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher education further observes: â€Å"Out of every ten 9th graders nationally, only three will obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree on time. These results simply are not good enough. We need more people attending and finishing college with a certificate or degree in order to keep up and move up in the global economy.†Ã‚  (Blue Ribbon Commission)    In order to maintain its global competitiveness, the US society should not afford to underestimate the importance of its human resource.   This is even more so important in this new knowledge-based economy where knowledge is its main capital.   Proportion of public funding on higher education has declined over the years in many states.   For example, the state of Connecticut in 1989 received 6.6 percent of the state’s budget.   It declined to 3.9 percent in 1997 and then rose slowly to a peak of 4.5 percent in 2001.   It is again estimated to be 3.9 percent for 2010 budget, matching 1997 low of 3.9 percent.   The trend of reduction in proportional funding within the higher education over the period of 1990s was typical for many states.   This led to the rise in tuition fees for several students.   (Connecticut Public Higher Education)   Such rising costs did not serve the cause of already reeling Blacks and other economically disadvantaged class.   (Johnson)   In the meantime, US has been reduced to only two nations where young population (25-34 years old) is less educated than its older population (35-44 years old)   (Blue Ribbon Commission). This reflects how terrific the situation is, when it comes to higher education.   Over