Monday, December 30, 2019

How Long Does a Queen Bee Live

Social bees live in colonies, with individual bees filling different roles to benefit the community. The most important role is that of the queen bee because she is solely responsible for keeping the colony going by producing new bees.  How long a queen bee lives and what happens when she dies are two issues that greatly affect the colony she rules, but a queen bees lifespan varies depending on the type of bee. Honey Bees Honey bees are probably the best known social bees. Workers live only about six weeks on average, and drones die immediately after mating. Queen bees, however, are quite long-lived compared to other insects or even other bees. A queen bee has an average productive lifespan of two to three years, during which she may lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Over her lifetime, she can easily produce over 1 million offspring. Though her productivity will decline as she ages, the queen honey bee can live up to five years. As the queen ages and her productivity declines, worker bees will prepare to replace her by feeding royal jelly to several young larvae.  When a new queen is ready to take her place, the workers usually kill their old queen by smothering and stinging her. Although this sounds rather callous and gruesome, its necessary to the survival of the colony. Splitting the Colony Aging queens arent always killed, however. Sometimes, when a colony becomes overcrowded, the workers will split the colony by swarming. Half the worker bees fly from the hive with their old queen and establish a new, smaller colony. The other half of the colony stays in place, raising a new queen that will mate and lay eggs to replenish their population. The Bumblebee Queen: One Year and Done Bumblebees are also social bees. Unlike with honey bees, where the entire colony lives through the winter, in bumblebees colonies, only the queen bee survives the winter. The bumblebee queen lives for one year. New queens mate in the fall, then hunker down in a sheltered location for the cold winter months. In the spring, each bumblebee queen establishes a nest and starts a new colony. In the fall, she produces a few male drones and allows several of her female offspring to become new queens. The old queen dies and her offspring continue the lifecycle. Stingless Bees Stingless bees, also called meliponine bees, live in social colonies as well. There are at least 500 species of stingless bees known, so the lifespans of stingless bee queens vary. One species, Melipona favosa, is reported to have queens that remain productive for three years or longer.   Sources â€Å"The Colony and Its Organization.†Ã‚  MAAREC.â€Å"INFORMATION SHEET 27.†Ã‚  The Life of the Bee. University of Arizona, Africanized Honey Bee Education Project.ï » ¿Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Queen Bee.†Ã‚  ANR Blogs.â€Å"Bee Lab.†Ã‚  University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Entomology.â€Å"Life Cycles of Honeybee Queens and Their Colonies.†Ã‚  Scientificamerican.com.Sommeijer, Marinus J., et al. â€Å"Reproductive Behaviour of Stingless Bees: Solitary Gynes of Melipona Favosa (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponini) Can Penetrate Existing Nests.†Ã‚  Department of Social Insects Utrecht University, pdf.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Modern Technology And Its Effect On Our National Security

America is a place where people enjoy many freedoms, one of these age old freedoms and traditions is gun ownership. This is a topic that thousands of Americans are very passionate about; but there is a change on the horizon, modern technology has made it possible to create almost entirely untraceable firearms. Technology such as 3d printing has changed the game of how we can create working firearms, and this has the ability to have a tremendous effect on our national security. Background If you ve seen the news recently then you know that there have been several instances of a fully functional 3D printed gun. This whole controversy took off in 2012, when a Texas startup called Defense Distributed successfully designed, constructed and test, fired a fully 3D printed handgun called The Liberator. After the successful test fire the video went viral on YouTube, soon after the 3d files to construct the liberator were released over the Internet so that anyone who owned a 3d printer and had enough skill could construct the device. Even though the guns in these videos may seem borderline useless, it has been stated many times it only takes one shot to kill, (said the Washington post.) In order to understand how a 3D printer actually makes things, it helps to â€Å"think of a real-life topographical map: the 3D printer lays down incremental layers—one on top of another to build a 3D model. A 3D printer works in a similar fashion to a typical2D printer. The 3D printer extrudes,Show MoreRelatedNational Security Effects On The American People956 Words   |  4 PagesNational Security Effects on the American People When it comes to the United States as a nation it is built to follow the Constitution. This document was created to form rules and laws for the formation of its government. 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ThisRead MoreWi Fi Is One Of The Greatest Features1235 Words   |  5 PagesWi-Fi is one of the greatest connective technologies available to us today. Wi-Fi uses radio waves - just like cellular phones, TV and radio - to create reliable high-speed connections between computers, printers, gaming devices, cameras phones and home entertainment systems. It is not a secret that wireless technology has become the model for entertainment, communication and education all over the world today. Now wireless technologies are very important for us so that we use them in an immenseRead MoreThe World Of The Global Community1438 Words   |  6 PagesAs technology, makes our world a much smaller, much more diverse place, the role of nation states is bring reduced. Global organisations are taking on a more expansive role in the governing of the world. 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The way we communicate with each other has been reshaped and redefined by some of the developments of science. For example Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Cell phones, Laptops, Tablets, Hangout and many more networking devices and tools replacing traditional ways of socialization. Can you think about living without a cell phone in your pocket or a laptop/tablet in the study room? We extensively use Facebook for sharing our feelings, discussing

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Ambition in Macbeth Free Essays

Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It can have an extremely dominant impact on not only yourself, but also many people in your surroundings. You have the ability to control if the outcomes either have a lasting negative or positive effect. We will write a custom essay sample on Ambition in Macbeth or any similar topic only for you Order Now When a goal requires determination and hard work to complete, personal morals often take a back seat to the aspiration of accomplishing the goal. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear that like many other great leaders, Macbeth exemplifies the necessary leadership virtue of ambition. Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him. The playwright explores the idea of how an individual’s ambition can cause them to deceive others, make irrational decisions, and cause internal turmoil. Ambition, along with the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth, causes Macbeth to deceive his peers in order to attain position as king. The first time the reader sees Macbeth’s ambition causing him to be deceitful, is when him and his wife invite the current King of Scotland into their home for a dinner, with the soul intent of killing him. After receiving news of Macbeth’s new honor, she holds greater ambitions for Macbeth and pushes him to the edge to achieve the personal goals that she has set for him. To achieve the main goal of becoming king, Macbeth must deceive Duncan in way that will allow him to take over the throne. He must do this by taking action when â€Å"The bell invites [him]. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell. That summons thee to heaven or to hell. † (Act II, scene i) This visibly demonstrates how Macbeth deceived his friend into trusting him, when clearly his wife and he had different intentions all along. This proves how an individual’s ambition has the capability to consume ones personal morals and values for the worse. The impacting role of ambition in Macbeth’s life also causes him to make quick, remorseful, irrational decisions. One of these decisions that he made was hiring murderers to execute Banquo. Macbeth believes in the witches prophesy that Banquo will be the father of a king, making Fleance, Banquo’s son, a definite threat to Macbeth’s current position as king. He wants to carry on his legacy as ruler of Scotland, so it appears to him that he has no other options but to eliminate his opposition. Caught up in the moment and his recently developed ambition drove him to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Macbeth realizes that â€Å"It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood† (Act III, scene iv), but what he is unaware of is his guilty conscience that is slowly beginning to creep over himself. Due to his thrill to kill and illogical decision making, Macbeth begins to have second thoughts about his actions. These decisions cause a great disturbance and uncertainty for Macbeth, soon c    Macbeth’s ambitious drive to become king causes him to have internal conflicts. These issues have been forced upon him by his wife, and have fully consumed his mind and led him to hallucinate. Internal turmoil-ghost, dagger. A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Desire and determination to achieve success Desire, aspiration, ambition In Macbeth, ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It causes the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths in Macbeth. Ambition is therefore the driving force of the play. Macbeth’s ambition is driven by a number of factors including: Prophesy: The Macbeth witches prophesize that Macbeth will become King. Macbeth believes them and the various prophesies are realized throughout the play. However, it is unclear whether these prophesies are preordained or self fulfilling. Lady Macbeth: his wife is the driving force that encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophesies. Macbeth’s ambition soon spirals out of control and forces him to murder again and again to cover up his previous wrongdoings. Macbeth’s first victims are the Chamberlains who are blamed and killed by Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan. Banquo’s murder soon follows once Macbeth fears that the truth could be exposed. Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It is supposed to be the motivating factor that drives one towards success. Society also deems ambition a necessary quality of their leader. It can be said that Macbeth exhibits this quality of ambition. He is the strong, valiant warrior who has won in battle and brought victory to Scotland. However, Macbeth’s quest to acquire more power-his ambition-ultimately leads to his tragic demise. How can one allow himself to be destroyed by such a thing? Before Duncan’s murder, Macbeth questions and second guesses his ambitious tendencies and actions. Despite his anxiety, he succumbs to these tendencies and finds himself in an increasingly precarious situation, with his back against the wall and growing ever closer to his almost inevitable end. It is obvious that Macbeth has ambition, as most people who are in power do. In fact, ambition is often a necessary quality of people in such high standing as Macbeth is. However, Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him Through all these things, one can clearly see that Macbeth is headed on a path for disaster; a path started, and forcefully driven, by his ambition. His ambition drove him to kill Duncan so he could acquire the throne. His ambition then drove him to order the murders of Banquo and Fleance. Through that process alone, one could say that Macbeth’s ambition did lead to his downfall. However, even more disastrous than the external consequences of his ambition were his internal consequences. Macbeth’s ambition was constantly putting him in a struggle between right and wrong. Macbeth finally lost this battle, and succumbed to the evil side of his ambition. Being the successful, proud, and noble warrior that he was, maybe this loss of what was good inside of him was the root of Macbeth’s insanity. One will never know, but it can be said that Macbeth’s ambition, whether through his actions or through his own internal degradation, did ultimately lead to his demise. How to cite Ambition in Macbeth, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Commercial Banking Real Interest Rates

Question: Discuss about theCommercial Bankingfor Real Interest Rates. Answer: Evaluating the Interest Sensitivity Report and Depicting its Shortcomings: The evaluation of interest rate sensitivity report of Keystone National bank mainly states the difference in interest change of the assets and liabilities conducted by the company. In addition, the duration of interest rate gap mainly analyses the difference in asset and liabilities for different time group. In this context, Moessner, de Jansen (2014) mentioned that interest sensitivity report is mainly helpful in detecting the overall change in gap between assets and liabilities accumulated by the company. In addition, Keystone National Bank for has effectively depicted their sensitivity report regarding the excess accumulation of liabilities that is been conducted from the duration of 8 to 365 days. However, the bank has accumulated higher assets in the end. Choi, Richardson Whitelaw (2016) stated that change in interest rate accumulation could effectively help the investors in determining the authenticity of the banks profitability and market value equity. In addition, the evaluation of interest rate sensitivity report mainly depicted that the objectivity of maximising the interest income is not achieved by the bank. Furthermore, the cumulative GAP as percent of assets is relatively negative, which is in turn decrease the overall asset accumulation of the company. In addition, the time bucket depicted in exhibit report mainly portrays that 7-18 as period has positive gap. However, the other time series have a negative interest rate sensitivity gap, which indicates that a fall in interest rates could help the company to achieve higher profits. In this context, Janssen Morhs (2015) mentioned that most of the gap analyst fails to detect the variability in interest and non-interest revenue or expenses, which reduce the valuation of interest sensitivity risk. However, Swanson Williams (2014) argued that the gap analysis mainly omits the spreads that could come from market interest rate changes. Providing Effective Recommendations to Keystone National Bank for Improving their Earnings Performance and Financial Strength: The overall satiation that is been depicted in the exhibit 6 mainly indicates the rinsing loan demand is currently possible and a decrees in interest rate could be considered. This rising demand in loans and decrease in short-term interest rate payment might mainly have a positive effect for Keystone National Bank. Trujillo (2013) stated that banks with the help of declining short-term interest rates are able to generate higher income from long-term loan. On the contrary, Dell?Ariccia, Laeven Marquez (2014) criticises that during an economic crises the overall demand for loans decreases, which in turn hamper the revenue generation capacity of the company. Improvement in Income: The rising demand from loans among potential business could be accumulated by Keystone National Bank, which in turn might help in improving the overall revenue. In addition, the long-term loans that have high interest rates could be provided to electronics, automotive, accessories manufacturing and building material companies. In addition, the recession that might incur in short term could help in reducing the funding cost of the company. Increased Accumulation of Loans: Furthermore, the increased demand of loans, which might be generated from business, could help the company to gather high interest yielding loans. In addition, during the recession period the company might gather short-term loans at low interest rate and provide long-term loans to business are higher long-term interest rate. The accumulation of loan based on this strategy could help Keystone national bank to improve their overall financial position and in generate higher revenue. In addition, the competitive deposit rate, which could also help in high cash accumulation that might be conducted by the company. Furthermore, the accusation that is been done in the recession period will only be conducted on low deposit rate, which might help the company to reduce its overall cost of financing and improve its expense structure. Moreover, the fall in 200 basis point of short-term interest rate and an increase in only 100 or 50 basis points could help the company in gathering capital in short term interest rates. However, the main operations of the bank are to borrow capital in short term basis and lend it on long-term basis. Thus, the rising loans demand and recession augmentations could help the company in borrowing the required capital in short-term low interest rate. Moreover, the gathered capital might effectively be lent to the business, which require fund on long-term high interest rate basis. This structure might mainly help the company to improve the financial position and in turn reduce its overall expenditure on capital accumulation. Reference: Choi, J., Richardson, M. P., Whitelaw, R. (2016). On the Interest Rate Sensitivity of Corporate Securities: Implications at the Firm and Index Level. Dell?Ariccia, G., Laeven, L., Marquez, R. (2014). Real interest rates, leverage, and bank risk-taking.Journal of Economic Theory,149, 65-99. Janssen, R., Morhs, R. (2015).The interest rate sensitivity of Luxembourg bond funds: results from a time-varying model(No. 98). Central Bank of Luxembourg. Moessner, R., de Haan, J., Jansen, D. J. (2014). The effect of the zero lower bound, forward guidance and unconventional monetary policy on interest rate sensitivity to economic news in Sweden. Swanson, E. T., Williams, J. C. (2014). Measuring the effect of the zero lower bound on medium-and longer-term interest rates.The American Economic Review,104(10), 3154-3185. Trujillo-Ponce, A. (2013). What determines the profitability of banks? Evidence from Spain.Accounting Finance,53(2), 561-586.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Mixed Blood essays

Mixed Blood essays The question of race has been a long debated topic that still has not been answered. Jeffrey Fish embraces this issue in his writing entitled, "Mixed Blood." The document opens by proposing the question of "What is race?", then breaking it down into smaller factions. The two lesser questions that are formed instead are: "How can we understand the variation in physical appearance among human beings? How can we understand the kinds of racial classifications applied to differences in physical appearance among human beings?" The preliminary hypothesis determined is that race is a myth and does not really exist. Yet, Fish chooses to expand on various possibilities that may lead to other conclusions. Over the millenniums, evolution of man has been slow, but very significant. Through different means of mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift, the human species has come to numerous modifications. Although, the concept of genetic drift is what intrigues the minds of most individuals. The concept of adaptive value seems to appear as a major role in physical differences. For instance, the first settlers of the New World all had different characteristics depending on the environment they lived in. Those that stayed further North, such as the Eskimos, usually had short, rounded bodies with light faces. These features were developed due to the weather. The rounded figures were to help insulate their bodies and as a result of little or no sunlight the skin color of these people were often very light. In contrast to this are the settlements of cultures South near the Equator. Indians from Central America to South America held dark complexions and thin frames as a result from the exposure to intense heat. For these reasons a consistent biological approach can not be assessed on terms of skin color or body size. Rather now we have simply broken the human species into three distinctions of Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negr...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

What Makes Advertising Effective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

What Makes Advertising Effective - Essay Example To make the mind of the customer orient towards the product and importantly entice, push them or even ‘seduce’ them to make the buying decision, advertising plays a key role. To achieve that for an organization, the entire marketing department in association with other departments will initiate various marketing strategies. Among the many marketing strategies, advertising occupies a prominent role. â€Å"Advertising plays a very important role in the marketing process. It increases the consumption of a particular product or service and reinforces the image of the brands, by continuously raising awareness† (Blurt It). For a successful marketing strategies and importantly to come up with effective advertising campaigns, it is of great importance to first find out and focus on the mental state and the resultant behaviors that will be shown by the prospective customers before they makes the crucial buying decision. So, one of the key aspects of coming up with an effec tive advertising campaign is understanding these mindsets of the customers. Then, the other key aspects will be the creativity, shock factors and other enticing factors featured in the advertisements. Among these factors, one of the key factors that make advertising not only a roaring success and also makes an in-depth impact on the customers is the emotion aspects featured in the advertisements. So, this paper will discuss the aspects that makes advertising an effective at the same time a successful one, particularly how the incorporation of emotional elements can make the advertisements optimally effective. Advertising is a way of attempting to persuade the audience in order to purchase a certain product or service. It is a way of communicating in order to encourage the audience to continue using or buy a new product or service. It can be a way of informing or reassuring the employees or shareholders of a certain company that it is still feasible and thriving. Advertisers use the mass media including newspapers, television, radio, magazines, or posters in order to reach the intended audience. New ways of advertising include the use of mails, websites, and text messages. â€Å"Advertisements appear in many various forms and across all media (new and traditional). They are, basically, short messages inserted into the flow of a broadcast programme, or in a magazine or newspaper.† (MacRury 2009). The pattern of the advertisements will differ according to the purposes and the product or service, which has to be advertised. However, there is a common pattern. This was also pointed out by MacRury (2009) who state Advertisements â€Å"invite the audience to consider the advertising proposition (for 30 seconds during the 'break', or as their eyes drift over a story feature towards a half-page photograph) — a commercial 'interlude' to the main media communication — and against the flow of other advertising communications†. One of the basic aspects which will make the advertisements effective is, understanding the targeted customers’ background, particularly the cultural aspects and come up with in ad campaign. Studies â€Å"have prioritised the psychological, social and cultural contexts within which consumers relate to commercial information and the roles that marketing media play in their lives† (Aitken, Gray and Lawson 2008). As per these studies, people get influenced by marketing strategies based on their cultural background and hence the consumer is actually the focal point of an advertisement and not the advertisement itself per se. Effective advertisi

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management - Assignment Example Especially employees’ developments and training along with management of the culture become important in the conditions of Bonduelle’s transformation from vertical structure of power to a matrix type of organizational structure, which supposes decentralized decision-making process and delegation of crucial responsibilities. Development of people and management of the culture help employees improve own professional skills, raise productivity and job effectiveness, gain promotions and self-realization, increase motivation and benefit business in general. It is essential for Bonduelle to follow the formula of successful HR management, which states that a mix of knowledge creation and innovations encourage competitive advantage. It is recommended to provide trainings, round tables, support network and available reading materials so that each employee may improve own knowledge and skills to contribute the entire organization.Question 10Rapidly developing globalization, incre ase of demographics, emancipation and widening of women's role in professional sphere, appreciation of ethnicity, culture and traditions, liberalization of society and legally democratic treatment to employees have given birth to such notion as "diversity", which is still a great challenge in Bonduelle's organizational structure. Despite the fact that one fourth part of entire managerial staff consists of foreigners, the executive board still stays homogenous being represented mostly by French males.

Monday, November 18, 2019

A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Essay

A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance - Essay Example It launched its slogan in the year 2010; â€Å"Tiles for Everyone.† Topps Tiles PLC have 25 percent share in the ceramic tile industry (Topps Tiles, 2012, p. 3). The annual report of the company revealed that in 2010, Topps Tiles PLC has gained 2 percent more marker share that the last year. This company has three segments: a) Topps Tiles PLC retail operations in UK, b) Tile Clearing House (TCH), and c) Topps Tiles floor store business in Holland. So Topps Tiles PLC has 37 TCH and 275 outlets now. Topps Tiles Holdings is a subsidiary of Topps Tiles PLC, UK, which deals in ceramic tiles and wooden floorings. The company has about 1660 employees. Topps Tiles PLC claims to be the number one ceramic tile supplier or retailer. The mission of the company is to offer value and excellent quality products to its customers. The revenue generated in 2011 was ?175.5 million (MarketLine, 2012b, p. 3-4; The Financial Times Ltd, 2012). Products Topps Tiles PLC offers a wide range of flooring options to its customers. Apart from flooring, products for outdoor paving, tools and accessories for setting the tiles or other flooring options are also sold. They also offer online advice services for assisting customers in a better way. Tiles such as ceramic, porcelain, prestige stone, mosaic, etc are sold for not only floors but also for walls, especially in the bathrooms and kitchens. Specific range of kitchen tiles are there to give an energetic feel to the kitchen, so that cooking no more remains a boring job. Apart from the polished tiles, natural stones are also available for flooring to give an old and rustic look to the house. Special styling products like splash backs are also available. Services like designing, styling, and advice for cleaning and maintaining these floorings are also given by special advisors. Geographical Scopes Topps Tiles stores are located mainly in London and the other cities of UK. Though the company is listed and is counted among the top tile b rands, but geography wise Topps Tiles PLC is confined to UK and its neighbouring areas only. Business Model Topps Tiles PLC follows a hybrid business model as it follows both business to business and business to customer form of dealing. Flooring tiles and stones are sold to real estate and construction companies and also to end users or customers who buy for their homes. It is also sold to very small retail companies who conduct business on a small scale basis. Topps Tiles PLC is a company which follows the sole objective of offering the best quality flooring tiles whether the customer is a business house or an individual, who is purchasing small quantity of products. The motto is to offer value for money. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS The functional analytical tools that are utilized to make strategic judgment in order to estimate the attractiveness of the market are: a) PESTLE Analysis, b) Porter’s Five Force Model, c) SWOT Analysis, d) Strategic Group Mapping, d) Stakeholders Analys is, and e) Risk Analysis. Each of these strategic tools or theories has been discussed and their implications with respect to Topps Tiles Plc are explained below: PESTLE Analysis PESTLE ANALYSIS Factors Analysis Political UK being one of the most powerful and flourishing country in the world has a significant role to play in the international business

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Listed Building Consent Application Example

Listed Building Consent Application Example Christina Kleanthous Papademetriou   Keepers Lodge Canterbury Road, Denton with Wootton, Kent, CT4 6QZ Contents Introduction Information and Background Purpose of the study Listed Buildings Legislative Background Significant Findings Significant Issues Historical Background and Heritage 2.0 Historical Context, Aesthetic Context, Communal Context Description of Buildings Important Figures and Decorative Interior Description and Characteristics Exterior Description and Characteristics The Proposal Implications and The Justifications Description of the Proposal Implication of the Proposal Justification of the Proposal Methodology for Grand Application Details for achieving the project architecturally Design Details and Planning 5.0 Conclusion 6.0 Appendix, Drawings and Illustrations 7.0 Bibliography Introduction 1.1 Information and Background Keepers Lodge, Denton with Wootton Description: Keepers Lodge for Denton Court Listed Grade: II* First Listed on: 28th of May in 1987 English Heritage Building ID: 178568 OS Grid Reference: TR2155546979 OS Grid Coordinates: 621555, 146979 Location Coordinates: 51.1791, 1.1685 Located in: A260, Wootton, Kent CT4 6QZ Area / Zone: Denton with Wootton Responsible Authority: Dover District Council Region: Kent, England Postcode: CT4 6QZ List entry Number: 1070010 The building is a Mid-19th (1842) Century Building, combining characteristics from three different architectural styles, mainly a Victorian designed building (1837-1901) with decorative characteristics from the Gothic Revival (1840-1880) and the Italianate Style (1840-1885). It is used as the Keepers Lodge, originally property of Denton Court and its gardens. The Jettying design is what is mostly seen in its exterior and interior with a painted cement rendering with an applied frame and tiled roof. It has an identical for the time T-shaped plan in a characteristic Old English style Decoration of the time. It is an one story building with an extended attic as well. It is built on a plinth supporting base with central stack and 2 gabled dormers. Decorative three light oriels are located to the left side of the buildings interior and trilateral oriels located to the right side on the ground floor. The main door is a half- glazed arched door and its surrounded by a gabled porch. [1] Keepers Lodge is located halfway among Canterbury and Folkestone, lies in a valley surrounded by the Denton Woods Park that runs from North to South and the hills that rise to both East and West, on the rear right side of A260 road exposed to the extremely busy main road which connects Canterbury to Folkestone, which runs through the Denton Woods and the Centre of the villages Wootton, Denton and Selstead and the fast traffic makes a dangerous environment for the property, especially with no fence or any other kind of protection available. The property is located in between the three villages, just 2km outside Selstead, 3km outside Wootton and 5km outside Denton, where horses and sheep can be seen feeding on the slopes of the village park and woods. It is an Outstanding Natural Beauty Listed Area and any property or figure in the whole village is closely controlled. It is yet unknown of who designed the building originally, and further down to its existence. The legal owners of the building are the owners of Denton Court. The present owner of the Court is George and Francisca Gosling. Although owning the Keepers lodge as well, it has been out for sale since 1995, without managing to sell the property just yet. Currently the building is still used as a residence, but without a permanent tenant, which puts the property at risk, as its structure and skin (window frames, paint, roofing), started collapsing and showing a significant damage that needs taking care off. Unfortunately, there is no pending application or interest in preserving the property at the moment, neither for specific elements of it nor the whole property in general. 1.2 Purpose of the study Listed Buildings This Listed Building Consent Report is a heritage and design statement, which has been prepared in regards with the stage of the property currently with no intention of preserve or restore the property, and the fact that a further damage will affect its character and appearance as a building of special architectural and historic interest. In addition, this report also mentions the concern in regards with the conservation and restoration of important figures of the building, which are in a risk stage, such us the roof, the windows and the significantly important satyr-corbels. Both its interior and exterior are prime example of early Victorian Architecture, and to refurbish elements of the entire building, is of high importance. The property is a Grade II* listed building, located towards Denton Historic Village, a village listed as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and any building is tightly controlled and listed as a historic building of important heritage characteristics. As a Grade II* Listed building, makes the property a particularly important building of more than just special interest, only 5.5% of listed buildings are Grade II*, but also, and more important, is that it is among the small percentage of 0.2% of the listed buildings listed although built after 1842. This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest and categorized as a National Park Property and Entity as well. The nature of the property, its style and its decorative detailing, which incorporates a number of distinct elements with different features, and the extent of the proposed works have driven the purpose of this document. A full list, illustrations and drawings of each figure and decorative to follow in the next chapters. 1.3 Legislative Background In the first years of peace after 1825 something like a cultural revolution happened, which changed the form and content of cultural production in England. This social and economic change, trigged by the French Revolution, released the Picturesque and Romanticism as a status in the design field and of course in the way the world perceived communities and how they wanted them to look like. The Victorian Idea was the one who rejected the cold and proud neo-medievalism of the early Gothic Revival, and instead, it was the one promoting heritage consciousness and the notion of providing and building houses with a national identity and characteristics that will last in time and are derived from national perceptions and alikes, hence Henry III preferences in design as a reference. [2] All Districts in England take the above very seriously and try to protect as much as possible any heritage of importance, especially if they are an outstanding architectural or historic building of national interest, or if they have an important material in use. The legislation laws in Dover District states that a delicate amendment or extension to allow the continued use or new use of a listed building is acceptable and allowed, in order to safeguard the special character of a listed building, but after of course the appropriate building consent application is issued and approved for any interior, exterior changes, or demolition of any part of it. For Keepers Lodge of Denton Court, until today, the only previous applications for alterations submitted was one, requesting: A) A proposal for the construction of 2 dormers and structural repairs incorporating wall buttresses and wall ties. The application was submitted by Mr. G Gostling on the 26th of August 1988, and permission was granted by the case officer Tim Flisher on the 19th of October 1988. B) Two further Proposal Appeals were made requesting Tidying of Roadside Fencing and to reduce and clean one Lime Tree in a Conservation Area, but the only information available state that the appeals are on a Decided2 State without any further information available for the public. 1.4 Significant Findings Anyone who would like to know and get a first insight of how the original Victorian Jettying Style Buildings look like in Englands Architectural Heritage, could look in examples such as the Keepers Lodge of Denton Court and the whole Denton Historic Village as well, and perceive the details and characteristics relatively easily. [3] Jettying as a distinguishing characteristic of many historic buildings is mostly seen in buildings build between 15th 16th century and 18th-19th century, for timber framed buildings. The distinguishing heavy appearance had an impressive influence in the appearance of the historic centers of England, in places such as Kent, Chester, York and Shrewsbury. [4] Although a house of small dimensions, and not expected to last until today, its original design and method of construction remains visible today, making it a prime example of reference for its purpose. [5] This specific style used in Keepers Lodge in Denton, and seen in several buildings of its time, is the identical box-framed type house, an innovative high quality method of its construction, building type. Its characteristics include a hall running, from ground to roof, through the center of the house. The house is jettyed all round with huge wooden supports reinforced in the attic over the central hall. This strong late medieval and early Tudor home is shielded by a hipped, tiled roof, and was built by yeomen, matching the plan of the main Denton Court house. Buildings located in the south-east of England and Kent more specifically, even relatively small housing and farms, carry upon them, the idea to build houses of comfort, security and craftsmanship. [6] This box-frame style, allowed the house to be up to three full height floors and to provide an easy construction of wings. Its name -box-frame- was derived from the fact that the core vertical supports are detained in place by it s horizontal beams.[7] 1.5 Significant Issues The property is currently not occupied by any tenant, which puts the property at risk, as it has no one to preserve the propertys significant characteristics and take care of any damages cause by time or weather, cause to the property. Because of this issue, the Dover District has no intention of preserving Keepers lodge, or take care of the damages caused on the roof, window frames and on the port decorative figures, because there are no applications submitted, or anyone showing interest of care for the Lodges stage. 2.0 Historical Background and Heritage Historical Context The beautiful Victorian Structure lies to the South of the Denton village and cannot be seen from the village itself, but rather from the road towards the village. The Denton Court and its Keepers Lodge are a very antique-decorated style buildings and were a significant of importance and style properties since 1086 for the Denton Court, and since the start of its construction for the Keepers lodge. The owners and tenants of the properties were important figures of history since the start of its construction such us, Odo, Bishop of Baieux, King Edward as tenant and Ralph de Curbespin as sub-tenant. When the Bishop fell into degradation, all his properties and belongings were taken away by the crown, and thats when the Denton Court and the entire land was given to Gilbert Magimot but with all lands been under the Kings ownership. Throughout the following years between 1087 to 1792, the land and any building currently build in it, changed several hands, until it ended up in 1792 to Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges who refurbished, repaired and added additions to the mansion of Denton Court, such us for example new gardens around the house. As the first private owner of both the Denton Court, Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges introduced the idea of building the keepers lodge for the Denton Court in 1792, but came into existence much later on, in 1842 by other members of the family, who wished to complete the plans Sir. Brydges had for the property. As the most important owner of the property, Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, an English author and genealogist, member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1812 to 1818. He was a founding member of the Roxburghe Club, a publishing club of well-off bibliophiles. He was announced as a Knight Grand Commander of the Equestrian, Secular, and Chapterial Order of St. Joachim in 1807 and was mad e a baronet on 27 December 1814, few years before dying in 1839. [8] After 1810, the whole property carried on being under the Brydges family but it had different families as temporary tenants. William Willats bought both properties and its gardens in 1867 and retouched and rebuild anything that needed restoration in both properties, without modifying the original architecture in which they were build. The gables located on the west side were restored and new structure was added. The central faà §ade though, was changed to face south as an alternative to the west that used to face, so that when passing in front of it from the highway you only see the west side of the building. When William Willats passed away, he left his property to his son, and it was since then passed from to the next generations of the family, until todays owners the brother and sister George and Francisca Gosling. [9] There are several stories said for the small Lodge house, such us that there is blood marked on the stairs, and its still visible, where previous owners during WW1, two brothers, one killed the other on the stairs. A story that was never confirmed, but always draws the curiosity of several visitors of the area. Also, another interesting fact for the property is that one of the visiting residences was the poet Gray, were he restored the lodge to an exceptional state when he was living there with additions such us new adjoining grounds. Lastly, a more recent representation of the building, at its current stage, was featured in TV in Treasure Hunt where there was a clue buried within the lodge. A further search of 500m around the property was done by using the Heritage Gateway Website and no further information about the property or the listing was found when it comes to its historic background. [10] Aesthetic Context The visible South facade, the entrance and the gardens of the property form a significant part of the street scene. As the first property to be seen before entering the historic village of Denton, it provides us with a first insight of the architecture and the characteristics of every building, located in the village, beforehand. The common features of the buildings design, offered in advance by the street, in terms of construction method, material, style, roofing, windows and framing. Away from the property, as soon as you enter Denton, the picture is more varied. Although all buildings are derived from the same architectural era, you see a variety of different roofing materials, wood colors, window styles, some buildings are well preserved and some others not, which makes the village an interesting case study. Nevertheless, is still a beautiful combination of Victorian architecture, old and more recent build. Communal Context Dover District Council focuses on the appearance and preservation of the properties within its Conservation and Heritage Area, as its ethics believe in contributing to the sense of treating a city / town / village as a historic monument and keeping it attractive for locals and tourists as well. The Council issued a Historic Map covering Denton, with Denton Court and Keepers Lodge visible, hand-drawn, in 1896 by the cartographers of the Ordnance Survey. Description of Buildings Important Figures and Decorative 3.1 Interior Description and Characteristics The Interior of the lodge can be described as extremely traditional for its style with significant characteristics; with a skirting board half-way up on the walls and a picture frame around the ceiling, featuring engraved animal, bird or floral prints on the wooden frame. The floor is a mid-toned polished floorboard with a large patterned carpet in the middle of the floor leaving the polished floorboard t be seen only as a border and only. In general, the colors within the rooms are soft, subdued tones, nothing too bright or intense. Delicate gray, lavender and light natural teal color, which give a warmer feeling inside. The pro-hall, living room and the kitchen are full with accessories, soft furnishings and decorations such as framed photographs and pictures, floral vases and souvenirs, carved mahogany, walnut and oak furniture, quite significant for Victorian architecture. Last but not least, the big fireplace in the living room attracts every visitors eye when walking inside, es pecially because of his outstating engraved from nature scenes wooden frame of the fireplace. 3.2 Exterior Description and Characteristics The exterior design links the building with the rest of the village, although distant, as during Victorian period homes typically looked very similar because they were designed to be linked together. An outstanding, well-known for its architectural style period, jettied gable, and the frame covering the whole structure of the building, is decorated with satyr-corbels, along with perforated barge-board and patterned frame. Lastly, a decorative outstanding detail of the building, is the embellished canted bay located on the ground floor, the sash windows, the slate roof and its white colored brick which adds to its exterior a more interesting aesthetic to visitors. The Proposal Implications and The Justifications 4.1 Description of the Proposal It is hard not to love Victorian buildings because of their characteristic ornate architecture, their elegant proportions and sophisticated detailing. It is well known that they were built to be admired, and theyve rise the test of time, too. Having all these in mind, firstly the lodge needs a proper re-touch. A proper care needs to be taken into consideration for the special Victorian roofing of the property and its engraved ending detailing, its beautiful port decorative characteristics, stair, windows and wall engravings and also a proper preservation of the outstanding for its time-and age satyr-corbels. Preserving a home that is 175 years old entails substantial work, and working with the best contractors and products specialized on this manner. [11] As the property is not owned or occupied by any tenant, a public use is what I believe will give to the property the appropriate value and use, and most importantly represent the important heritage and architectural style it represents. The Lodge, as mentioned before, is located in the middle of a National Park, near two historic villages, commonly visited by tourists interested in English heritage, professional historians or even cyclists passing by the park, my suggested use of the building would be a small Tea-Library Room. 4.2 Justification of the Proposal Tearooms in England are usually small restaurants where non-alcoholic drinks and light meals are served, usually in buildings where they have a specific character, internally and externally, and with significant aesthetics and dignified atmosphere. Tea is a significant feature of the British culture and it has been for centuries one of the worlds utmost tea consumers and flavor inventors. Thinking of the buildings location, neither a pub or a different type of shop would the users of the area or people passing by would use or need. The suggestion of combining the Tea Room with walls full of books to give it the use of a library as well, derived from the buildings past, as a dedication to its first owner, Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, who was an author and a bibliophile. This combination describes perfectly the English Culture; enjoying a cup of tea, in a Victorian Architecture building, in the middle of a national park, while reading a book. Although the external style of a building may be its most attractive and noticeable aspect and its public face, its interior is even more vital in the buildings history and heritage identity. Exactly because of its interior, this property would be ideal for this use and to be a prime example of its use and its architectural style. [12] 4.3 Implication of the Proposal The current stage of the property does not support the proposal of being turned into tea-room library which needs an approved kitchen supported-facility, a second fire exit, and an additional support structure to be added on the walls, in order to support the extra weight of the books that will be placed on the walls. From the Heritage Lottery Fund website, we found out that Eating and drinking businesses are between 71% to 79% more likely to be found in a listed building than in a non-listed, in towns, mainly due to the fact that an attractive interior and an important heritage identity aesthetically environment, brings more customers and visitors to the building, especially if its a non-museum or retail shop one. Which means that those difficulties and implications are not hard to overcome, as long as the appropriate measures and consideration is taken. [13] 4.4 Methodology for Grants and Funds Application Rather than leave such a beautiful piece of architecture to collapse, this proposal would be highly beneficial to the community of Denton due to rising the use of the area and provide a development to the area, which is expected to increase the visitor numbers. Because this project is a small-scale one, finding the appropriate funding organisation to support the proposed project, will not be difficult to find, and a trust that can afford it. In this specific case, funding becomes a matter of public fundraising from locals, donations from book and writers associations, private financing or small grants. One of the most obvious additional funding source for this is the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The HLF is the public organisation responsible for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who are responsible for monuments and listed buildings conservation. From an appropriate study of the HLF and whom they fund, it appears that the above proposal fits their conditions for funding: According to the HLF there are a few grants that Keepers Lodge Tea and Library House could apply for, but because the application process is quite complex, the decision on funds is not an easy one to get or granted. But because of being an important source of funding for heritage projects, the budget available according to the HLF per year for these projects is  £375million. Surely the lodge can be considered at-risk and under used, and bec ause of Denton being a Historic village and an area of economic deprivation, is an advantage for the application process for funding this project. The application process has two rounds: On Round one the application is submitted were it has to clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the scheme suggested and also to demonstrate how the redevelopment of the building will contribute to the development of both, the area and to the heritage of England. Round two consists of the development of the project and the period were the project is supposed to and follow the proposed and agreed plan. There is also another more specific option to for collecting funds for the regeneration of such a project by committees such us; The Educational Grants Directory, The Grants Register, A Guide to Grants for Individuals in Need, The Youth Funding Guide and the Directory of Grant Making Trusts; All the above are Private Library and Community Trusts which fund projects that provide or improve community spaces, cultural facilities and places for outdoor recreation, or grants of between  £300 and  £10,000 for community running projects in the UK that allows people to take part in arts, sports, heritage or literature, or promote education, the environment or health in the local community. Although the proposed redevelopment of the Keepers lodge will more certainly cost more than  £10,000, a request and application to more than one of the above Trusts will be necessary. The most important key feature in grants and funds applications to any organisation is a strong management of the application plan. Although big organisations such as HLF, offer advisory and mentoring services, in smaller ones, this might not be an option and the decision on wherever the application will be approved or not would be relied to the applicants clear illustration of everything important and necessary into its application. Financial data need to be provided, new architectural plans need to be comprehensively discussed with clear drawings in place for the organisation and obtaining of the works, and also a full detailing of all expenditure planned to be spend on the whole project as well. 4.5 Details for achieving the project architecturally Design Details and Planning Exterior Design Outdoor Dining and associated outdoor waiting area Main entry and fire exit Services, utility infrastructure and storage area Pedestrian-vehicular circulation system and parking Exterior Retouch Because the setback from the street is evident, and the Lodge is surrounded by a very big open space the addition/creation of a backyard outdoor dining space is suggested, along with a small bar on the backyard as well, which can be used as reception as well for summer use of the outdoor area. A Shading for the outdoor dining should be integrated with the main structure. A small reception area will be added by the main entrance within the pro-hall for greeting the guests and visitors, and also, as the kitchen has two windows, one of them till be turned into a fire exit for safety purposes and also straight access to the outdoor backyard as well. Service area and storage area should be added as part of the design requirements, and it is suggested that an extension is added at the back of the kitchen, hidden from public eye, in order not to interfere with the beauty of the structure itself. The introduction of an appropriate parking is required for a logical and safe vehicular and pedestrian circulation pattern throughout the site that minimizes conflicts. The external walls roof and windows needs replacing, because of their age they started falling down and their damages is visible and dangerous for public use. Interior Design Modification of the single used kitchen to an equipped integrated kitchen Architectural cladding treatment and ventilation system Bathroom alterations requirements Transformation of living room walls to bookshelves from floor to ceiling for library purposes New refrigerator space and introduction will be needed because of the change to the use of the kitchen to cooking for a lot of people, along with keeping inside drinks etc. The working tops should be increased from 25cm that are currently to 50cm as stated by law, and replaced to stainless-steel material for health and safety requirements. As the building is under danger because of not been treated properly, before opening the building to the public, a proper treatment to its cladding and also windows should be replaced for better ventilation and safety purposes. No need of introduction of new ones is needed. The bathroom is located next to a medium size storage area, which both can be merged in order to create a bigger in size bathroom. Although requirements state that two bathrooms are required, because of the buildings size and use it is not necessary as long as the current one is upon the standards for male, female and disable access. The interior design of the building is beautiful as it stands so its dominant existing character will be kept and preserved. The introduction of the bookshelves will be done with the appropriate material which is oak wood to match the rest of the building and give the feeling of an old library and the aesthetics will be perfectly represented. [1] Historic England Website Listing of Keepers Lodge, Denton KEEPERS LODGE, Denton with Wootton 1070010| Historic England, accessed December 18, 2016 [2] Mandler. P., The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home, (New Haven and London, 1997) [3] Brittain-Catlin, T., The English Parsonage in the Early Nineteenth Century, (In Association with English Heritage Reading 2008) [4] Mandler. P., The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home, (New Haven and London, 1997)

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Biography of Guy de Maupassant :: essays research papers

Biography on Guy de Maupassant   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at Chateau de Miromesnil in France. He was a descendent of a very old French family. As a boy, Maupassant went to school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lycee at Rouen. During his childhood and youth in Normandy, he picked up a great deal of experiences that he later put to use in many of his writings. When Maupassant was eleven years old, his parents got separated. This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his mother retained custody of him. His mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous nineteenth- century writers. She turned to Flaubert for advice on him. Flaubert began tutoring him on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant's association with Flaubert brought him into the French literary circles. Even though Maupassant was often a member of gatherings which included such famous writers such as Flaubert, Turgenev, Zola, and Daudet, he had little interest at the time for a career of writing for himself. As an adolescent he was much more interested in sports than writing, especially rowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maupassants education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the French civil service. He first served with the Ministry of Navy and later with the Ministry of Public Institution. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert. At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction. Maupassant wrote a collection of short stories that were published with a writers such as Bola, and Huysmans. Maupassant work outshone all the others by far. This is Maupassant became recognized as a writer. He became one of the most famous and well paid French Biography of Guy de Maupassant :: essays research papers Biography on Guy de Maupassant   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at Chateau de Miromesnil in France. He was a descendent of a very old French family. As a boy, Maupassant went to school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lycee at Rouen. During his childhood and youth in Normandy, he picked up a great deal of experiences that he later put to use in many of his writings. When Maupassant was eleven years old, his parents got separated. This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his mother retained custody of him. His mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous nineteenth- century writers. She turned to Flaubert for advice on him. Flaubert began tutoring him on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant's association with Flaubert brought him into the French literary circles. Even though Maupassant was often a member of gatherings which included such famous writers such as Flaubert, Turgenev, Zola, and Daudet, he had little interest at the time for a career of writing for himself. As an adolescent he was much more interested in sports than writing, especially rowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maupassants education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the French civil service. He first served with the Ministry of Navy and later with the Ministry of Public Institution. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert. At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction. Maupassant wrote a collection of short stories that were published with a writers such as Bola, and Huysmans. Maupassant work outshone all the others by far. This is Maupassant became recognized as a writer. He became one of the most famous and well paid French

Monday, November 11, 2019

Impact of Texting On Society Essay

A majority of 57 % of teenagers said they view their cell phones as the key to their social life. 47 % of teens say their social lives would end or worsen if texting was no longer an option. The impact of texting even expands in the classroom as numerous amount of teachers nationwide are noticing texting lingo in papers that are handed into them. 64 % of students nationwide say they text in class at least once a week. 54 % of teens prefer texting instead of talking face-to-face or talking on the phone. Texting has become the biggest phenomena in the past decade. One-third of American teens today text over 100 times a day. Texting has even expanded to adults. But in contrast to its original purpose, texting has become a curse, hindering communication, attentiveness, social lives, and even academics. Due to this, texting has become a phenomena that has changed or hindered development and abilities of society negatively. Furthermore, with the increasing numbers of texting, the use of texting messaging has hampered people’s abilities to communicate effectively. LOL, OMG, and BTW are examples of the new texting â€Å"lingo†. Text messaging started its own â€Å"language† in which words and sentences are shortened to what they sound like instead of how they are really spelled. When 293 of teachers where surveyed, 193 of them said that students are carrying text message lingo in their class assignments ( Negative Aspects of Text Messaging 1). This means that many students are shortening their words and using ineffective grammar not only while they text but also when they do school assignments. Even though many teachers have found texting habits in papers being handed into them, some say that the main problem is the lack of depth the students work. Texting is very simple and with the rapid growth of texting student’s sentence are starting to become simpler and less descriptive. Likewise, texting has caused a lack of verbal communication skills on people. Studies have shown that text messaging is the number one form of communication the people prefer, including face-to face or verbal communication. Text messaging is simpler than verbal communication because there is no real depth in the conversation and the people that are communicating don’t have to be engage in the conversation. College engineering major Darko Marquez agrees with this by saying â€Å"The thing I love most about texting is that unlike the phone where you have to sit and concentrate into a long, boring conversation, you can multi-task and talk to as much people as you want†(Cesar Marquez 1). Darko is an example of people in society today lacking the ability to get emotionally attached in a verbal conversation. Psychologist Cecilia Holguin has studied effect of texting on communication skills and her studies have shown that texting does not have any emotional connection compared to verbal conversations, which attracts many young people to texting(Cesar Marquez 1). This means that texting is making society simpler and less emotionally attached while communicating. Furthermore, effective communication and grammar is vital for society to improve intellectually. But unfortunately, texting messaging is playing a key role in hampering society’s improvement in communication and grammar. Likewise, texting has not just affected communication but is also has changed the development of adolescence. Texting has been profoundly used by teenagers in America. Almost, if not all, teens in society text to one another. Teenager’s text everywhere and anytime they can. Teens text in class, at the dinner table, at parties, even if they are in the same room they text to one another. Texting has been hurting many teenagers grades because they text instead of studying or doing homework. A 13 year-old teen named Reina grades plummeted because she texts about 14,528 messages a month(Katie Hafner 1). Reina was so focused on texting that she would push her schoolwork to the side. But grades is not the only thing affecting teens. Sleep deprivation has been a problem because many teens stay up later to text friends. About 80% of teens that text late at night have problems with maintaining good sleeping habits. Sleep deprivation itself has negative side effects on adolescent’s health such as unintentional injuries, poor school performance, low grades, and an increase in mood disturbances(Teen Texting Taking a Toll: Lack of Sleep May Impact School Performance and Mood 1). Furthermore, if texting is causing sleep deprivation, than the health of adolescent’s and their performance academically is at stake. Likewise, the emotional development of adolescents is taking a toll due to the rapid growth of texting. Many teens keep in touch with their parents throughout the day due to instant contact of texting. Due to this many teens have an attachment problem. Sherry Turkle studies have shown that with the constant contact of student’s parents teens lack independence and the ability to make decisions of their own (Texting is not talking 1). This means that instead of teens maturing on their own, they are becoming more dependent. Teens are very important in society because they are our future. If texting is negatively affecting teen’s developments, than there is no future. Texting needs to be limited in order for adolescences to mature into independent, intellectual adults. In continuation, different types of relationships have also been affected by the rapid growth of text messaging. Family structure is important in society because how kids are taught at home resemble their actions in public. Families are important to give advice, love, and support. But texting has played a key role in decreasing the amount of time families spend together. Teens are always texting to their peers, which normally isolates themselves from the rest of their family. Even at dinner time, numerous amounts of parents have said they have caught their child texting while at the dinner table. But it is not just teens, parents do it as well. Some parents usually text excessively for work, making it hard to spend time with their children. A parent-child relationship cannot be strengthen when a child or a parent is texting excessively which makes it harder for children to lose crucial life skills(Michele Borba 1). In romantic relationships, texting is a key attribute in many relationships. April Jones says that texting is major in her relationship and that she texts her boyfriend 20 times a day at least(Jefferson Graham 1). This means that April and her boyfriend have instant contact with each other which means less space and privacy. In continuation, some couples even call it quits through texting instead of face-to-face or a phone call. In a survey, 30% of the people surveyed said they have been dumped through texting and another 24% say it is acceptable to dump someone via text( Jefferson Graham 1). This means that text has decreased the emotional aspect of relationships and breaking up. Peter Tollner had experienced a break up via text and that most of the communication had been through texting even though they work in the same office( Jefferson Graham 1.) This means that romantic relationships have shifted to texting instead of affectionate time spent together. Bonds and relationships are important and in order to maintain these bonds time must be spent with one another. But with the increase of texting, family relationships and romantic relationships have changed for the worst. Furthermore, texting has ultimately became a distraction for many people of all ages. In the classroom, many teachers have caught their students texting. Schools across the nation have banned the use of cell phones in the classroom. But students continue to use their cell phones to check up on their peers or even text someone in their classroom. According to studies by Professors Deborah Tindell and Robert Bohlander, 95% of students bring their cell phone to class and 91% text while in class(Audrey Watters College Students Admit To â€Å"Shocking† Text Messaging Habits in Class 1). Of course it varies from school to school and class to class, but the number of students using cell phones in class is steadily increasing. This increase in cell phone use in class distracts students from the lesson and contributes to poor performances academically. Furthermore, what is worst than distractions in the classroom is distraction on the road due to texting. The numbers of people that are dying due to texting while has increased over the years. People who text while driving put themselves and others lives in danger. Even thought many states have banned DWT or driving while texting, but a new survey shows that 26% stiil do it and 60% of the 24% are from ages 16-19(Robert Roy Britt 1). This means that lives, especially youth lives, are in danger. According to studies, 16,000 deaths have been caused from texting while driving in a course of six years, 2002-2007,(Stephanie Hanes 1). The addictive aspects of texting have affected people so much they do it everywhere and anywhere they can. People do it in classrooms, in restaurants, and even while driving. Texting has become a major distraction in the classroom and even on the road. In continuation, texting has become people, especially adolescence’s, social lives and without texting many people would not know what to do. 57 % of students feel that their cell phones are a key to their social lives and 47% of that 57% feel that their social lives will get worse if their cell phones were taking from them. To maintain a healthy social life people must gather and enjoy an activity or spend time with each other. But now some people feel as if their the main part of a social life is communicating by texting instead of gathering together. Dr. Martin Joffe surveyed teens and found out that many students text about a hundred times a day(Katie Hafner 1). This means that most of time that teens spend together is not actually with each other but texting one another. With the rapid increase of texting, a new form of harassment is being displayed through texting. 39% of high school students said that they have been bullied through text messaging(Text-message bullying b ecoming more common 1). This means that rumors and nasty things are being said about teenagers through texting. This can ruin someone’s social life and even crush someone’s self-esteem. Bullying has been around for years, but with instant communication of texting more things can be spread to more people faster than ever. Social life is key for adolescence development. Texting has changed social life by communicating in person to texting being a number one form of communication. Texting has become a curse that has hindered many aspects of society such as communication, attentiveness, teenagers, social lives, and relationships. Texting has become a huge phenomena that is changing how adolescence develop mature. With the increase of texting, people no longer have to put forth the effort to do things that are normally done in person. Texting has made people more dependent and it has worsen critical thinking. Therefore, texting has become a problem that has negatively affected the skills and abilit ies of society.

Friday, November 8, 2019

A focus on one organ is made to discuss Essays

A focus on one organ is made to discuss Essays A focus on one organ is made to discuss Paper A focus on one organ is made to discuss Paper This paper discusses the digestive system, its general function in the body and how it interacts with the other body systems. Different organs belonging to this system and their main job in the digestive system will also be discussed. A focus on one organ is made to discuss its structure and inform you about a common ailment associated to this organ and how this disease generally affects the human body. Food is our body’s main source of energy. But have you ever thought how this food becomes energy available for our body? That is the main function of the digestive system. The digestive system is responsible for breaking down of food into smaller particles so that our body can absorb the nutrients and store energy available. The energy, nutrients and vitamins are then absorbed by the blood, part of the circulatory system, to deliver the energy and nutrients to the different parts of our body. The waste or particles that could not be absorbed by the body after the digestion of food is excreted by the excretory system. The operation of the digestive system is closely monitored by the nervous system, so if anything goes wrong or when you are feeling hungry, the digestive system reports this to the nervous system and gives you information that you have to do something about it. The digestive system therefore contributes to the physiological homeostasis of the body because without it, there would be no regular delivery of nutrients and energy needed by the other parts of the body to perform their bodily functions. Now let’s have a look at the different organs of the digestive system by following the journey of a food inside the digestive tract. First, the food enters our body thru the mouth. The mouth breaks down the food into smaller and softer crumbs so that it can easily pass down thru the digestive tract. Inside the mouth, we have the salivary glands that produce saliva which aids in the initial breaking down of food. The food is then swallowed and enters the esophagus that connects the mouth to the stomach. The esophagus produces a muscle movement known as peristalsis that pushes the food into the stomach. After traveling thru the esophagus, the swallowed food then lands on the stomach. The stomach is an organ where the food is broken down into liquid form. It also stores the food while it is being broken down for a matter of hours. Gastric enzymes are produced in the stomach that aid in the process of breaking down of food. After being stored for several hours, the liquidized food then enters the small intestine. Inside the small intestine, the final part breakdown of the food takes place. The pancreas produces pancreatic juices that aid the small intestine in final breaking down of food (mainly the fats and the proteins). The liver produces bile that aids in absorption of fats from the food that our body could utilize. The gallbladder stores the bile with the digested fats. As we can see, the small intestine is place where most of the important activities of the digestive system take place. It is also the place where the nutrients from the food are absorbed through the intestinal wall. After the journey inside the small intestine, the excess from the food that was not absorb by the body then travels thru the large intestine. The large intestine is the site where the food waste is produced. This is also the last place where our body could extract final nutrients available in the food, particularly the water content of the food. After absorbing the water content of the excess food, it becomes solid waste. The last part of the digestive tract is the rectum where the solid waste is stored until the body gets rid of the waste.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Setting a Multi-Line Caption for a TLabel in Delphi

Setting a Multi-Line Caption for a TLabel in Delphi A TLabel Delphi component has a WordWrap property you can set to true in order for the text in the Caption property appear wrapped (multi-lined) when it is too long for the width of the label. Whats more, at run-time, you can use the next assignment to specify multiple lines of text for a Label: Label1.Caption : First line #13#10 SecondLine; However, you *cannot* specify multi-line text for a TLabel at design-time, using Object Inspector. Instructions One trick to add more lines of text for a Caption property of a TLabel, at design time, is to edit the Forms .DFM file directly. Heres how: Drop a TLabel on a FormRight click the Form to activate the popup menuSelect View As TextLocate the object Label1:TLabel sectionChange the line Caption Label1 to:Caption Label1 #13#10 Second lineRight click the code to activate the popup, againSelect View As FormJob done! TLabel with multiple lines of text, at design-time!

Monday, November 4, 2019

Marketing cases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing cases - Essay Example Moreover, by establishing a headquarters that specializes in seeking to gauge consumer demand and key market trends and shifts, the ability of the franchises to anticipate and response to key market forces is exponentially greater than that of its closest competitors. With regards to whether Darden has differentiated and positioned its brands effectively, this is something of a two part response. Firstly, the level of overall success that the firm has experienced since it has transitioned Olive Garden, Long Horn Steakhouse, and Red Lobster from the prior ineffective models to what is seen today, the reader can rapidly see that the firm has expertly positioned these components to reap a vastly increased size of revenue. However, to say that these efforts have perfectly positioned the brands effectively would be to state that no further work is necessary. As a basic unit of understanding, although the firm has experienced a high level of success, there always remains a certain level of improvements that can further integrate the chains with the needs exhibited by a rapidly shifting climate of needs and desires among the consumer. Standardization is a powerful tool whereby a firm can seek to provide a level of expected service or goods to its customer across the range of its many market representations. However, although such a practice helps to simplify the consumer choices that might be acted upon, it portends the necessary danger of providing too high a level of standardization so much so that little if any differential is realized by the consumer with regards to whether one alternative is necessarily better than another. In this way, such a level of standardization can ultimately hurt the firm. With regards to whether or not the success of the Darden firm will continue to be realized, this is a question that a firm understanding cannot be integrated with unless the researcher knows key information concerning the way

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Universal Pocket Prescription Card, Behavioral Economics Paper Essay

Universal Pocket Prescription Card, Behavioral Economics Paper - Essay Example Policy-makers and public or nonprofit administrators need to address the problem of failure to use the universal pocket prescription card by medical care consumers. The study also provides an insight into the economic benefits if using the universal pocket prescription card. The card acts as a remedy to various problems associated with escalating costs of medical care. Policymakers should implement the utilization of comprehensive Pocket Prescription Card because it can be in case there have been changes in the economic, medical cost. Policymakers should implement policies that support the utilization of Universal Pocket Prescription Card (Janssen et al., 2014). Universal pocket prescription cards are cards that are designed to fit a pocket of even a wallet of the user. They provide an easy and very effective strategy in the recording of personal information. The information may include names and dosages of prescribed drugs. The drugs may be over the counter, herbal, vitamins, and even supplements. The card also stores other details such as how the medicine should be and at what time it should be made. Universal medical cards are used to give caregivers more information. They help to minimize the economic problems that might be in the giving of health care (Boyer, 2009). There has been a projection by economists that there will increase in the medical cost. A rate of 7 percent is expected, calling on employees to try and control expenses by changing policies that shift costs to the workers. Because of the costs that might be behavioral economic predicts that people are most likely to adopt the use of universal pocket cards. It is because this reduces the chances for inappropriate prescription and increase opportunities for proper diagnosis. In the United States, it has been shown that non-compliance with medical

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Hospitality Operations of Alltalia Airlines Research Paper

Hospitality Operations of Alltalia Airlines - Research Paper Example The management is in disarray since it cannot possibly determine the source of the problem. The company that had a capital base of more than three million dollars and over two hundred employees has now shrunk to about five jumbo jets and other smaller jets with monthly revenue of six million dollars down from the previous eleven million monthly incomes. The current revenue cannot comfortably sustain the operations of the industry a fact that has resulted in the company retrenching some of its employees. The hospitality industry has a number of challenges and requires an extremely vigilant and dynamic management to process and effect policies that counter the challenges. Some of these challenges include understanding the market. Stakeholder analysis According to Slattery (2008), no business exists in a vacuum. Before setting up a business, one must have an effective understanding of the market and the entire community. Operations in the hospitality industry have a number of smaller co mmunities that must integrate for the business to succeed. The management requires a fundamental understanding of all these communities and effective operational policies that incorporates all of them. These communities are the global community, the industry community, business community and the local community. The global community determines the scope of the business, by understanding the global community in the hospitality industry, the Alitalia airlines will determine the global destinations that have a sizable customer base and the new global destinations to introduce to make the business relevant to the market (Painter, 2012). By understanding the industry community, Alitalia airline stays conscious of its competitions. In analyzing the competition, the manager determines the weaknesses of the current existing companies and majors on their weaknesses to introduce unique products that complement the weaknesses thus grabbing the market from the previous owners. The industry also reveals the stratification of the current market. Through this, the management formulates products that target every segment of the market thus maximizing sales through an increased presence. Understanding the business community is one of the most important determiners of the success of the market. This includes having an effective human resource management. Operations in the hospitality industry rely on the human resource, the employees of the companies require effective management to ensure that there is an efficient flow of information and optimum service delivery to the customers resulting in satisfaction. The management must determine cost-effective ways of hiring the human resource and keeping them highly motivated. Alitalia is currently retrenching its employees a clear indication of the human resource management flaws (Lane, 2005).

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Cultural Assimilation Essay Example for Free

Cultural Assimilation Essay America is one of the countries that have rich culture. Being a large country, many people are living in it from different origins. Some migrated to this place for work or for other reasons, to experience green pastures. Since America is also in line with the latest fashion, many investors are placing their businesses in this place just to try if they can be successful with their field in this country. America is said to have all sorts of people from all over the world. Europeans, Asians, Russians and other native people are going to America for different reasons. There is a question that arises with the largeness of population of America and the variety of the people there. Is America more of a melting pot or a salad bowl? Melting point, as defined in the scientific manner is the temperature when a substance melts at a certain period of time. In the question given in this assignment, maybe the question is up to the way cultures are being transformed into something new after their migration to the state of America. And the questioning about the salad bowl might ask for the variety of the culture and kinds of people in America. To make the questions easier or in layman’s term, in what I understood about the statement, it asks if America is a place for the transformation of culture or is it a place that consists of variety of things? The site of America, in the viewpoint of other countries, is grand. Since many famous personalities came from this country, I guess it contributes with the fame of the country plus the famous infrastructures and the countries it has given influences. When people learned that life in America is great, that life here is too independent and fresh, green money could be earned, they emerged into going here for the sake of work. Maybe as time passes by, the country has become populated of people from different countries. In m opinion, America is more of a salad bowl since the culture and ideas of the people going here is not melted that nothing will be left. I guess the variety of the culture contributes in making it a salad bowl. As we all know, salad bowls are composed of different foods, fruits or vegetables, plus emulsifying agents like mayonnaise and some extenders. If people reached America, I think it will change the personalities of the people but not enabling them to lose their identities. The other culture of other people will just make it juicier but not change the composition of the culture or personality. It’s like changing a chocolate in syrup for a chocolate cake. We can see that the chocolate already mixed with the cake and it will be difficult for us to distinguish what or where the chocolate is located. Being a salad bowl, the mixture of the cultures and people in America is heterogeneous by which we can still distinguish one identity from the other, unlike with the mixture of powdered coffee and creamer where we will find difficulty of separating the two substances, a homogeneous mixture. My point here is that America really is a more of a salad bowl than a melting pot. In the set up, I guess nothing is lost. There is gain in the mixing of cultures in America since there are many things learned as cultures are being mixed. This is an advantage of it that people might learn the tastes of others and the crafts they are into. All in all, even if their journey or their stay in America changes the people a little, it is still for their better thus making them moving and motile. The personalities will not become stagnant. They will still develop into something new. White privilege might mean something that concerns the power of the white people since if we can look back in our history, white people have conquered a lot of countries in the world and this makes them as a powerful state. People see Americans or white people of high class compared to those with dark or darker skin tones. According from the article I have read, there could be culture cultivation by the time that people step in the land of America, that they will be able to penetrate, learn and apply the things that they will learn from that country thus growth will be evident. The process of cultivation is also the process of acceptance of the new resident in America. He/she should be able to learn to cope with the changes so as to live happily in America. References Cultural Assimilation And Consumption Behaviors: A Methodological Investigation. 2000. Retrieved 11 December 2007 from http://www. entrepreneur. com/tradejournals/article/68876925_3. html

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Effect of Love Stories on Real Life

Effect of Love Stories on Real Life Okikioluwa Akinbiyi Akindele How do love stories (in the media) affect our understanding of romance in real life? Romance is something that exists all around us. It can be said that many of us grew up with hearing epic love stories such as Cinderella, Snow White and the likes. Romantic movies have played a significant role in the entertainment industry. According to a recent survey carried out by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, romance is the third highest grossing genre coming behind adventure and action which are 1st and 2nd respectively (USBLS, 2013). However these romantic movies and love stories have played a part in the distortion of the understanding and expectation of love in real life. According to Jake and Melissa Kircher, â€Å"because of media and technology, the ways in which people fall in love, connect within relationship and experience sexuality are different than any other generation before this one.† (Kircher, 2011). They go ahead to point out that the root of any romance is love. This over-emphasis on love in this generation is encouraged by the media that tells s tories, sings songs and writes books about how true love conquers all, is ultimately fulfilling, brings a never-ending wealth of happiness and is rarely marred by significant conflict. As beautiful a picture that is, it does not happen that way in real life. However, the tantalising and intriguing images which are seen by these people give them a certain picture on how romance should be. These people get disappointed when they realise that sometimes romance gets boring. The appeal of fantastic love stories is undeniable. (Galloway, 2011). According to Bachen and Illouz, the contemporary portrayals of romantic love are a â€Å"visual affair†, reiterating the fact that where the written word may fall short, images impressed upon us can elicit strong emotional arousal. They go ahead to explain that mediated images and representations-such as those used on television, in films and adverts- â€Å"evoke strong mechanisms of identification, are intensely realistic and are the privileged discourse of sexual and romantic desire â€Å"giving them an air of credibility.† (Bachen Illouz, 1996). Galican points out that the source of much appeal is the absolution of any real personal responsibility in a romantic relationship. (Galician, 2009). If a relationship fails miserably, then obviously â€Å"this one† was not â€Å"the one† and individuals must continue to wait patiently for their damsel in distress or knight in shining armour as is in the case of stories like Rapunzel, Snow White and so on. As people get attached to these images of romance from the media, they begin to yearn for a romance that is filled with happiness and personal fulfilment. When it does not happen this way, these people believe that love is gone and this has led to the end of beautiful relationships that would have created ultimate happiness for both parties (Kircher, 2011). I will investigate, using relevant literature, and find out to what extent epic love stories affect our understanding of love in real life. I will then outline my proposed methodology which will be used and I will give the potential implications. Literature Review Movies as mass communication Many epic love stories are produced to the public in the form of movies. When one thinks of movies, the cinema immediately springs to mind. Over the years the cinema has been a neutral destination where couples go on dates, single people look for romance, friends go to relax, or to just have good family fun. According to Matzkin (1999) cited in Galloway (2011) movie audiences have become more â€Å"fragmented† and â€Å"homogenous† since the cinema’s inception and are â€Å"largely composed of young movie goers between the ages of 12 and 29† (Galloway, 2011). In the USA and Canada alone, multitudes numbering approximately 1,343,000,000, visit the cinemas each year. (Motion Picture Association of America, 2013). However more and more people are beginning to reduce their movie going because they would rather rent movies ands stay at home for free rather than pay at the cinema. Also staying at home saves time and energy as mobility is reduced. The advancement of technology has made the movie watching experience a lot better and more engaging. With the creation of 3D TV screens and surround sound system, movie viewers are able to have and enjoy the cinema experience in the comfort of their homes. Accordig to Anne Jackel ‘†¦powerful players in the film industry argued that a larger number of screens would provide greater diversity and more choice. (Albertazzi Cobley, 2010). She goes on to point that digital distribution offers a wider choice and has the capability to promote cultural diversity. The use of the internet is another way people are able to access these movies. With the ability to stream videos online, infrequent theater goers are able to watch newly released movies in the comfort of their own homes. With the furtherance of digital technology, viewers are susceptible to watch these movies and allow themselves be fed with different love myths. Love Myths â€Å"A basic function of the media is the creation of representation or simulations- reproduced versions of reality† (Foss, Foss, Trapp, 2002). There are certain themes or rather myths that are usually present in romantic stories which has an effect on the audience. Cassady Green (2013) points out that the audience often leaves the movie theatre yearning for a love similar to the one on the silver screen. She goes ahead to explain the problems involved as women and adolescents begin to expect similar qualities in their own love life, many of which are improbable or even unobtainable in reality. One prevalent myth in love stories is the notion of the soul mate. Two parties being â€Å"destined† or â€Å"made† for one another. These stories or movies leads to both soulmates finding each other. In the movie â€Å"Down To Earth (Weitz Weitz, 2001), Lance played by Chris Rockrides is riding on his bike when he spots Sontee(Regina King). They both share a moment of attraction. Unfortunately he is hit and killed by a truck, prematurely. To fix the mistake he is offered the body of an old grouchy unloving billionaire. When he sees Sontee at the billionaire’s house, he believes that Sontee is his soulmate and hence agres to take the body of Charles Wellington III, just to be with her. In the short while before he is killed, Lance and Sontee fall in love while Lance is still in the body of the old man. Even after he is killed and he comes back as another person, Joe Guy, who is not supposed to remember anybody from Lance’s past, he is still able to make some sort of connection with Sontee and the movie ends with both of them going out for coffee. This reiterates the myth of soulmates: no matter what happens both parties are destined to end up together. Cassady Green (2013) observes that â€Å"soulmates is a notion that can be particularly detrimental to real life relationships. This is because viewers are led to believe that they can have a one of a kind relationship which is special and unlike no one else’s. The likelihood of this happening is very slim and this goes a long way in explaining the impact these stories have on the viewer. Also there are instances where one person has incredibly strong feelings for someone, a â€Å"love epiphany† so to say. These movies give viewers the impression that it is not strange for someone to suddenly getstrong feelings of love for nother person. This has the power to lead to the dissatisfaction of one’s ownlove life due to the high expectations that viewers have for th eir relationships which are demonstrated in popular films. Another love myth is the notion of ‘love at first sight’. According to Gallician (2004) cited by Galloway (2011), â€Å"In the â€Å"reel† world, there is, in fact, â€Å"such a thing as love at first sight†. A fleeting gaze exchanged in a minute’s time registers as a moment of revelation, foreshadowing the fulfillment of an otherworldly bond between two strangers whose fates are inextricably intertwined. Often visual portrayals of these two myths emphasize the loneliness and lack that plagues one’s life prior to finding his or her â€Å"one and only.† (Galloway, 2011). This myth already conditions the mind of the viewer to believe that if in real life, a scenario where they come in contact with other people for the first- if that moment does not contain characteristics of a â€Å"love at first sight† moment, then the relationship is not meant to be. Another myth that we are shown in romantic stories is the idea that ‘all you need is love’. (Galician, 2009) This is when people begin to behave out of reason just because of love. According to Galloway (2011), â€Å"characters in television shows and movies give up or alter their own systems of belief in exchange for affection†. Characters in these stories believe that ‘problems will work themselves out in the name of love’ (Galloway, 2011). An example is The Little Mermaid (Clements Musker, 1989) where the protagonist,Ariel chooses to trade her voice for human parts just because she fell in love with Prince Eric. At the end of the movie, she gets her voice and still stays a human. This gives viewers the idea that because of love, you are able to have your cake and eat it. In the story of Snow White, where she had eaten the fruit and had gone into a deep sleep. It was an act of love, a kiss from a prince that broke the spell and woke her up and the â€Å"lived happily ever after†. The 2013 film â€Å"Frozen† is another example of how love is the ultimate. After plunging the kingdom into a never ending winter, Elsa finally realises that love is the way to end the problem. (Buck Lee, 2013). Another myth that is portrayed in the romantic stories is the idea that â€Å"the love of a good woman can change a man from a â€Å"beast† in to a â€Å"prince† (Galician, 2009). An example is the movie Beauty and The Beast (Trousdale Wise, 1991). Through the ‘power of love’ and the â€Å"goodness of her heart† Belle was able to change the scary, abusive,monstrous Beast into a handsome loving prince. According to Mary-Lou Galician, (2009), â€Å"Belle’s attempts to reform her captor would be most unwise in real life. We cannot change others- especially not abusive â€Å"heroes† who have a good heart inside if only the woman can be â€Å"good enough† to bring it out. This fallacy underlies much domestic violence.† Social Cognitive Theory This is a theory that suggests that individuals commit to memory behaviours they have observed to be later used as models on which to base their own behaviour. (Green, 2013). These behaviours are more likely to be modeled when they have been modeled by accompllished people whom the world agrees with and if the outcome of the behaviour appeals to the audience. When we talk about romantic stories in this case, the theory suggests that the audience may actively observe the behaviour within relationships depicted by the media in order to gain understanding in how they themselves could behave in their own relationships. (Green, 2013). This theory works for fashion trends also. If a celebrity decides to make a fashion choice, chances are that trend will take off and everyone will begin to dress as such. An example is David Beckham. Over theyears, he has managed to set trends for young men, especially in the UK when it comes to hairstyles. According to SS, (SS, 2009)â€Å"Beckhams differen t hairdos are talked about just as much as his soccer skills, and a new season often means a great new style.† Proposed Methodology I plan to organise a focus group comprising of people from different courses at my university. In this focus group, the main theme will be my topic: How love stories affect our understanding of love and romance in real life. We would also be discussing other questions like â€Å"what do you think is the reason why people believe the notions embedded within these stories and also what they feel about the importance of language within stories. I plan to do this because I would like to find oout According to Galloway(2011) content analyses of romantic media are useful. I would implement this methodology because one may find that the nature of modern movies has evolved to represent realistic relationships or regressed, depicting only mythic love storie (Galloway, 2011). Also I am planning to conduct an interview with members of a book club and get their views on romance from romantic books they have all read. In addition to organising the focus group, I plan to make use of questionnaires to carry out a survey. My aim of the questionnaires is to find out which gender is easily persuaded or more prone to believe the romantic myths given to us by media producers. I intend to utilise the questionnaire used by Lauren Galloway (2011) in her article. ‘Does Movie viewing cultivate unrealistic expectations about love and marriage’ as a guideline in building my own survey questionnaires. I would use the results and findings I have gathered to develop a series of recommendations concerning love stories and their ability to deceive us into believing something that we are not supposed to. So these are the three methodologies I intend to use to tacke this research: focus group and interviews, content analysis and discourse analysis. The Association of Qualitative Research (AQR, 2013) defines the Focus group/interviews as a â€Å"term often applied to a group discussion carried out for market research purposes. Participants unknown to each other are brought together, in a particular neutral location, for the specific purpose of discussing an issue, or responding to ideas or materials of interest to the client of the research.† In this case, focus groups are important because they are useful in finding out an audience’s opinion on the representation of romance in movies. Content analysis is another interesting way because it shows how often something is represented. Satu Elo and Helvi Kyngas (2007) define content analysis as a method of analysing documents. Content analysis allows the researcher to test theoretical issues to enhance understanding of the dat a. (Elo Kyngas, 2007) In this case, it is important to know how often romance is represented in the movies and stories. Finally, discourse analysis/semiotics can be defined as explicit, systematic account of structures, strategies or processes of text or talk in terms of theoretical notions developed in any branch of the field. (Dijk, 2013) exists to find out what the representation means. Videography Buck, C., Lee, J. (Directors). (2013). Frozen [Motion Picture]. Clements, R., Musker, J. (Directors). (1989). The Little mermaid [Motion Picture]. Trousdale, G., Wise, K. (Directors). (1991). Beauty and The Beast [Motion Picture]. Weitz, C., Weitz, P. (Directors). (2001). Down To Earth [Motion Picture] Bibliography Albertazzi, D., Cobley, P. (2010). The Media: An Introduction. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. America, M. P. (2013). Theatrical Market Statistics. USA. AQR. (2013). Focus group. Retrieved April 2014, from Association of qualitative research: http://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/?term=focusgroup Bachen, C. M., Illouz, E. (1996). Imagining romance: Young peoples cultural models of romance and love. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, pp. 279-308. Dijk, T. A. (2013, November 1). What do we mean by Discourse Analysis. Retrieved April 2014, from Discourse in Society: http://www.discourses.org/journals/das/whatisdiscourseanalysis/index.html Elo, S., Kyngas, H. (2007). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advance Nursing, 107-115. Foss, S. K., Foss, K. A., Trapp, R. (2002). Contemporary: perspective on rhetoric. Waveland Press Inc. Galician, M.-L. (2009). Sex, Love and Romance in the Mass Meida: Analysis and Criticism of Unrealistic Portrayals and Their influence. New York: Routledge. Galloway, L. F. (2011, August). Does Movie Viewing Cultivate Unrealistic Expectation About Love and Marriage. Nevada, U.S.A. Green, C. (2013). The Effects of Romantic Comedies on Women and Female Adolescents. The National Conference On Undergraduate Research (pp. 400-403). Georgetown: Georgetown College. Kircher, J. K. (2011, April 12). Does Media Distort Love. Retrieved April 2014, from Relevant: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/25275-distorting-love SS. (2009, June 24). David Beckham: Hairstyles of a Celebrity Trendsetter. Retrieved April 2014, from Thehairstyler.com: http://www.thehairstyler.com/features/articles/celebrity/david-beckham-celebrity-trendsetters USBLS. (2013, January 1). Motion Picture Industry Statistics. Retrieved April 2014, from Statistic Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/motion-picture-industry-statistics/