The Social Issues Of Homelessness - 1133 Words

Over half of a million people within the United States are homeless, the largest part of that group belonging to the famed and familiar city: Los Angeles. But why is it that the majority of Americans seem so unaffected by the penniless, impoverished souls harboring the areas they often visit? It was once delivered by the famed businessman and religious leader, Joseph B. Wirthlin, in an address named Live in Thanksgiving Daily that The more often we the see things around us -- even the beautiful and wonderful -- the more they become invisible to us (Wirthlin 11). The essence of Wirthlin’s wise words is that because we see certain things so often, we become desensitized and accustomed to them, leading us to acknowledge them less and less. This however, serves as a poor excuse when explaining our lack of effort in attacking and solving the social issues present in homelessness. In today’s day and age, individuals often adapt the mindset of: â€Å"Your problem, you de al with it.† But how are these human beings, who have aspirations and dreams just like you and me (that are now crushed), are supposed to just â€Å"deal† with living without a penny to their names with no possibility of finding any source of income? How are these people supposed to just â€Å"deal† with the paralyzing fear and helplessness they experience every night before they lie down on the cold, hard concrete floor of a dingy alley that they’re forced to call home for the night? Of course, they don’t. Well, moreShow MoreRelatedThe Social Issue Of Homelessness1138 Words   |  5 Pages Homelessness Catherine Vivi ABS 497 Applied Behavioral Sciences Capstone Instructor Theresa Cruz June 29, 2015 Ashford University â€Æ' â€Æ' Homelessness Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located between the two larger cities in central Florida those being Tampa to the west and Orlando to the east. While interventions to interrupt and end homelessness may vary across groups, ending homelessness permanently requires housing combined with the types of services supported by programsRead MoreThe Social Issue Of Homelessness1055 Words   |  5 PagesHomelessness is a social issue which extends beyond a lack of housing and includes the complexities of social and economic concerns such as domestic violence, child abuse, trauma and addictions, mental health, insufficient income, health complications, involvement with the justice system, and poverty. Homelessness is a difficult phenomenon to define as it is dependent upon societal constructs, mainly revolving around the concept of ‘home’ and how it is largely influenced by family structures moreRead MoreSocial Issues In Homelessness855 Words   |  4 Pa gesTransient! We have all overheard these terms which reference those who are homeless. Homelessness is not a crisis or an endemic that transpired overnight, but has been steadily escalating for decades. This endemic impact more individuals than anyone can conceptualize. It triggers a variety of problems not just for the homeless, but society. Homelessness is a multifaceted social problem with an array of underlying social and economic factors. People find themselves without permanent housing for severalRead MoreHomelessness : A Social Issue2081 Words   |  9 Pagesessay on a Social Issue. I have chosen Homelessness. I chose this because it is a very serious issue not only here in Australia but all over the world. In Australia there are is about 105,000 Australians that are homeless on any given night, all of which are either living in a makeshift home or sleeping on the streets. In my essay I am going to look at whom homelessness affects the reasons why, and what is being done to help and raise awareness 1.0 What is homelessness? 1.1 Homelessness the socialRead MoreHomelessness : The Current Social Welfare Issue1339 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Welfare Issue: Homelessness Written by: Laura Westra The current social welfare issue that I chose to explore is homelessness within Canada. First, this essay will give a brief description of homelessness. Secondly, it will describe how homelessness relates to some concepts and theories that we learned in this course Introduction to Social Welfare, it will also look at what may have happened to people facing homelessness one hundred years ago, next we will explore a possible solution to thisRead MoreThe Social Issues of Homelessness Essay examples1432 Words   |  6 PagesSociology 2, Social Issues Problems Section 80528 November 24, 2008 The Social Issue of Homelessness Homelessness has always been a major social issue for cities across the nation but in recent years it is reached astonishing proportions. In this essay I will try to summarize ten recently published articles and each of the authors view of homelessness. First I will discuss some of their opinions of the causes of the recent increase of homelessness and who or what is to blame. Next we willRead MoreThe Issue Of Homelessness And School Social Work1554 Words   |  7 PagesJournal Articles Review SWK 190 Introduction to Social Work Section 01 Lauren Cartwright 2/18/16 Introduction Social work continues to be a necessary and important profession because there are such a wide variety and abundance of social issues that exist in the world today. Among these issues, one of great prevalence is homelessness. Homelessness is an important problem that needs to be directly addressed because it can lead to many other problems as well. Problems such as poor academicRead MoreEssay about The social issue of homelessness in NC1229 Words   |  5 PagesThe Social Issue of Homelessness in North Carolina People drive or walk past a homeless person almost every day without thinking twice about the plight of that person or they may even unconsciously turn their heads the other way in disgust. Homelessness simply put, means without a home - therefore homelessness is an equal opportunity state that can happen to anyone. Even though we have seen some economic prosperity over the years, statistics show that the number of homeless remains very high.Read MoreSocial Problems Within The Australian Society1215 Words   |  5 PagesA Social Analysis – Homelessness There are a growing number of social problems existing within the Australian society and unfortunately, research does not need to prove this. All it takes is a stroll down the main street of some suburbs to realise the extent of social problems within society. Homelessness is a rising trend that is affecting people of all demographics. Homelessness is more than just a simple disadvantage; with usually many underpinning factors which contribute to it, such as domesticRead MoreHomelessness And The Tampa Bay Area1234 Words   |  5 PagesHomelessness is a prevalent social issue that many countries are trying to resolve. One area that has a high rate of homelessness is the Tampa Bay Area in Florida. According to a homeless count carried out by the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative (THHI) in 2016, in Hillsborough County alone, there are, â€Å"at least 1,817 homeless men, women, and children† who have to resort to unorthodox housing, such as spaces behind buildings, encampmen ts, sidewalks, and cars (â€Å"About Homelessness†). Moreover

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 594 Words

In â€Å"Jane Eyre† by Charlotte Bronte, Jane finds herself loved by two different men, with two different intentions, and two different personalities. On one hand is Edward Rochester, who inherited a large fortune from his father. He was burned by past relationships before he met Jane. St. John Rivers, a minister from Morton, is cold and reserved. In many ways he serves as a FOIL character to Rochester. The latter part of the novel deals with Jane’s struggle to choose between the two men, where she ultimately chooses Rochester. With feminism being a strong theme of â€Å"Jane Eyre†, Bronte gave Jane a powerful voice, and a sensible thought process. The decision to marry Rochester was based on her independent views and obstinate personality. Raised in the Victorian era, the concept of â€Å"love† had barely been introduced into Jane’s life. She was harshly abused by her Aunt Reed as a child, dealt with the loss of a friend (Helen Burns), and was taught to think less of herself by Mr. Brocklehurst of Lowood. All things considered, Jane developed trust issues and was resistant to both men initially. Though she learns to love both men, it is Rochester who eventually steals her heart. The reasons may not be clear at first, but upon further analysis, her reasons become very clear. Rochester, though a wealthy Englishman in the Victorian Era still had the utmost respect for classes beneath him. Having a history of poor relationships, Rochester has developed a impetuous personality. UponShow MoreRelatedJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1601 Words   |  7 Pagesfeminist, one must see it through the lens of the time and place Brontà « wrote it. Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre was a feminist work in that Bronte expressed disdain for oppressive gender structures through the voice of Jane Eyre, and the actions of Bertha Mason. Jane Eyre was a steamy novel for its time, with imagery as blatantly concealed as Jane’s description of Rochester’s hand as being â€Å"rounded, muscular; and vigorous†¦long, strong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Brontà « 312) A modern reader might blush at the description and itsRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1437 Words   |  6 Pagestools that depict history. One great work of art that portrays these constant struggles is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontà «. While addressing social issues of a governess, Brontà « also tackles Victorian society’s corrupt and unjust ideals by using different settings and characters such as Mr. Rochester and Gateshead Manor. In Jane Eyre, the depiction of a rigid social class restricts the protagonist, Jane Eyre, from marrying her love, Mr. Rochester. Sadly, Jane’s relationship is also jeopardized by passionRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1374 Words   |  6 PagesJane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Within the specter of the Gothic fictions arises the atmosphere of gloom, terror, and mystery with some elements of uncanny challenging reality. One major characteristic function of the Gothic fictions is to open the fiction to the realm of the irrational and perverse narratives, obsessions, and nightmarish terrors that hide beneath the literally civilized mindset in order to demonstrate the presence of the uncanny existing in the world known rationally through experienceRead MoreJane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte781 Words   |  3 PagesThrough her trials and tribulations, Charlotte Bronte has kept her passion for poetry alive and remains as one of the most influential British poets of all times. Even though she is one of the most famous female writers of all times, she is mostly famous for her most popular novel Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte has experienced more tragedy in her life than happiness by losing her mother and all five of her siblings. But, in her moments of tragedy, she expre ssed her feelings through poetry. As a resultRead MoreJane Eyre, By Charlotte Bronte949 Words   |  4 PagesSurrounded by witnesses, Jane stands in front of the minister, poised to take her marital vows as the mystery of Thornfield unravels. Unbeknownst to her, Rochester’s actual wife, Bertha Mason, is within close proximity.The knowledge of Bertha, and the mystery, will pose as a test to Jane s morals and her character. Through Jane Eyre, a powerful Victorian-era novel, Charlotte Bronte portrays the role of women in Victorian society while masterfully solidifying Jane’s role as its polar opposite: anRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1714 Words   |  7 Pages Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brà ¶nte voiced the radical opinions of Brà ¶nte on religion, gender, and social class. Jane Eyre, a young orphan who lived with her vituperative aunt and cousins, strayed away from the Victorian ideals of a woman and established a new status for herself. Jane Eyre was originally written in 1827 and was heavily influenced by the late gothic literature of the 19th century. Gothic literary aspects such as supernatural occurrences, mysteries and dark secrets, madness and dangerRead MoreJane Eyre, By Charlotte Bronte1620 Words   |  7 PagesIt is often said that it is the role of literature to challenge and confront the conventional values of a society. In the novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte the idea of challenging and confronting conventional values is stressed often. Perhaps it is in relation to the author herself, as seen in the autobiographical elements recognizable throughout the novel. Some of these autobiographical elements include the form of which the novel is written in, called Bildungsroman where the story is focusedRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1203 Words   |  5 PagesThe nineteenth-century Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is considered to be a gothic novel. Gothic literature took place mostly in England from 1790 to 1830, falling in to the category of Romantic literature. The Gothic takes its roots from previous horrifying writing that extends back to the Middle Ages and can still be found in writings today by many authors including Charlotte Bronte. The strong description of horror, abuse, and gruesomeness in Gothic novels reveals truths to readers through realisticRead MoreJane Eyre, By Charlotte Bronte929 Words   |  4 PagesIn Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontà « explores how Jane wants to find love--not just romantic love but to value and sense of belonging. The book challenges how the language of middle-class love affects the way a character’s self-identity can alter the action, how Jane sees herself later when she found love and sense of belonging as independent women. When Jane was a child she struggles to find her own identity Jane begins to change through her journey once she realizes her own identity and this helpsRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1359 Words   |  6 PagesFollowing the ex periences of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, expresses many elements of gothic literature throughout her novel Jane Eyre. In her perfect understanding of gothic literature, she expresses the three types of evil commonly found in gothic literature, including the evil of the supernatural, the evil within or the instinctual evil motives of humans, and lastly, the evil because of societal influence. Jane Eyre experiences all of these three evils with her aunt and three cousins with her residency

Business Research Proposal Indian Consumers

Question: Describe about the Business Research Proposal for Indian Consumers. Answer: Introduction: India is changing its traditional behavior rapidly. Those days are now history when people of India used to wait for Sundays to shop. Everything that India does today have changed for the good, be it in the education sector or in the buying behavior of consumers. Technology has played a major part along with the media to change the way the world shops today. There has been past reports which suggest that Indian consumers were not that much educated in the sense that they did not enquire much about a particular product before buying it, but that is not the case anymore (Babbie 2015). They have become product literate. This younger generation is shopping more these days and they are brand conscious, not anymore of those types who for the sake of buying collected anything and everything. The Indian retail sector is a booming industry, an industry that sees itself placed among the top five retail markets of the world based on growth and economic value (Barnes and Hunt 2013). The retail s ector is not constrained to the major cities and metros, but has also made its presence felt in the smaller cities of the country. Hyderabad is a major hub of India. It is the place where India has got some of the biggest universities that attracts a large number of students from all over the country. Students have so much to buy, and so little time to shop because of their other commitments. According to Chatterjee and Ghosal (2014), online shopping has been a major boost for them, where they can shop anytime and every time according to their needs and wants. It is that section of our society that has taken a liking to this e-commerce concept. They find it convenient and time saving than the traditional one. The Online marketers have done well in bridging the gap between the demand and supply that exists in the market due to lack of physical stores or unavailability of certain brands (Mukherjee and Michal 2016). This study will look to focus on the factors that affect the buying be havior of e-commerce customers in Hyderabad. Literature Review: In this study the focus will be on the students of Hyderabad and their buying behavior affecting the e-commerce industries, so the students will be stated as consumers from here on. Consumers purchase or buy a thing in order to satisfy their needs and wants. A particular consumers need and want can depend on a lot of factors based on the age, attitude, fashion style and psychology (Kalia, Kaur and Singh 2015). These are internal in nature; certain external factors too, decide the way and what a consumer purchases, though they are beyond his control (Singh 2016). It is definitely not the first time that a research is been done on the given topic, there has been many in the past and there will be many too in the coming years. Researchers have tried analyzing in different ways on how and what affects the consumers buying behavior and the implications it have on the industry. These factors can be psychological, social or personal. According to Kaur (2014) the factors can be internal or e xternal too. Marketers need to understand the consumers behavior which is generally complex in nature. Many of such factors are beyond the hands of marketers but still they need to take all those parameters into consideration. Consumer behavior is an integral part of marketing, a part which has got tons of importance for the companies engaged in this field (Iyer et al. 2013). Consumer behavior portrays on how an individual or an organization buy or choose goods and dispose them off too based on certain aspects like branding, taste an price. Internet has taken the world by storm and it has provided people with platform that makes shopping easier and smoother like never before. It is fast, it is reliable and the experience it provides is unique. The internet has brought the suppliers and buyers to the same platform where they can interact with each other and sort out on issues which concern any of the parties (Chatterjee 2015). This 21st century has witnessed the uprising of internet commercial business. The world has become a smaller place in real sense with people of one corner of the world getting access to a product lying in another corner of the world (Niranjanamurthy et al. 2013). The global market is going mad over this concept of e-commerce. India is not far behind too, but still needs to cover a lot of distance before it actually declare itself as an e-commerce based country (Waghmare 2012). The e-commerce concept has done one favor to the global consumers. It has reduced the cost of products to a certain level a nd makes it easier for consumers to experience products they never thought they would even a few years back (Kumar 2015). E-commerce is such a concept that has made buying and selling of goods a fun affair. Marketers as well as the consumers need to follow certain easy steps for experiencing e-commerce business on a daily basis (Khan and Uzma 2013). This paper investigates the relationship between the shopping intent of college students in Hyderabad and their perceived expediency. The present focus will be on some of the factors that might influence the students to go for online shopping: - There are certain ways the companies follow in showcasing their products to the consumers through online. They make use of search engine marketing (SEM) for the purpose of web advertising in making their goods and services available on the search engine result pages (SERPs) of top websites like google and bing (Thamizhvanan and Xavier 2013). The whole idea of SEM is to efficiently utilize the search engine advertisements that emerge on SERP. The strategy of targeting the potential consumers through SEM has proved to be successful in recent times. Companies through SEM bring in the desired traffic to their sites which in turn improves their return on investment (ROI) (PT JOSEPH 2015). -there is presence of lots of online shopping malls in the area. This has opened up a window of opportunity for e-retailers to connect not only locally but also internationally. Online Shopping malls generally attract a lot of consumers which is the sole reason why e-retailers join them to bring in more traffic to their websites (Kumar and Dange 2014). The e-retailers are able to produce a lot of information so as to discover marketing opportunities. -Online shopping does save a lot of time and as students are consumers in this study, it is imperative that students do have a lot of other important things to do other than online shopping (Saini 2014). The measure is convenient too as shoppers can find relevant information in the websites regarding the products they want to buy. It helps in enhancing their purchase decision. -there is a possibility of a refund if the online shopper is not satisfied with a particular product after receiving it. E-commerce has given this opportunity to e-retailers where they can have these refund policies for consumer to return back products either for refunds or for exchanges (Mohapatra 2013). -there is this concept of auction websites where consumers can get hold of a lot of products and services with lots on offer. The online shoppers can recommend for this product with the help of compared and evaluated value with auctioneers selling the products to bidders who propose the highest possible price. Hypothesis: The usage of e-commerce is vast globally, but not that much in India and as mentioned, in Hyderabad too. H0: Scope of e-commerce business in India is huge keeping in mind the population at large still not under the influence of internet H1: Scope of e-commerce business in India is not that much keeping in mind the population at large still not under the influence of internet Objectives of the Study: -Identifying the popularity of e-commerce as used by different student groups -To identify the purposes of e-commerce in Hyderabad -Listing out the most favorable products suitable for e-commerce in India Research Design and Methodology: This research paper will make use of the descriptive mix method and based on this the research paper will be designed. The main idea is to do a survey and identify the exact buying behavior of students. The researcher has taken into account three ways through which he would investigate and analyze the collected data in order to come to a conclusion and accomplishment of this project. The first of the three is to make a survey on the currents student of Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology College in Hyderabad. Next in line would be to observe and investigate the buying behavior persisting with the students in their daily lives. For better understanding of the research paper, the researcher has thought of putting in a case study related to the matter. The primary objective of this research study is to recognize the extent to which e-commerce has an effect in the Indian markets and the impact the students in Hyderabad on this sector. As stated earlier, research method is descriptive in nature taking into account both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The survey questions that were provided to students consisted of some quantitative data related to age numbers, income figures and sex to have a broader view on the research study. Variables: All the variables selected for the research study are both objective and subjective. The whole idea is to have a clear view on the purchasing decisions or buying behavior of the students with the help of internet through highlighting the facts about their gender and age groups. There are presences of some other variables like the income level associated with each of them which can in turn give a clear picture the level of participation among the higher and lower income groups. Gnatt Chart A gnat chart is being provided for the whole schedule Research Process: The research process has been carried out by the researcher by visiting the Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology College in Hyderabad and the questionnaires were then handed out to the 100 students who can comprehensively finish it manually. A general overview has been provided for the students to understand what exactly is going on and what the researcher is looking for. Until and unless the students get a clear image of what exactly this is all about, their answers could come from all directions and the whole idea of this research would get subdued. Data Collection and Analysis Techniques: The research papers idea is to come across the different behaviors as shown by students while purchasing or buying products online. For the same, primary data is being given the prime importance where survey is being done on the 100 students from a Hyderabad college. Apart from this questionnaire the students were asked to attend group interviews, as well as in individual level to understand their buying behavior and the knowledge they possess about the purchase decision factors both in offline and online shopping. The correlation technique has been taken into consideration for evaluating the independent data and subjective technique for the dependent ones. The data interpretation is done through qualitative and statistical measures. The researcher made use of the Statistical Package for social science or the SPSS program to interpret the surveyed data along with the usage of Excel. The tabulated data form then is properly analyzed and compared with the help of the any of the above programs. Mean, medians and standard deviations along with the frequencies is put in use to calculate and analyze the descriptive part of the research study. It has been seen over the years that the buying behavior of male students varies from that of the female students which needs to be depicted in this research study in order to have a clearer picture. This comparison between the two genders and their buying behavior both offline and online can be portrayed through scatter plot diagram through the help of SPSS pro gram. Regression analysis could also have been implemented to conclude the exact relation between independent and dependent variables given in the survey questions. Expected Research outcome: To get the perfect results the preparation should be perfect too. A right questionnaire has the ability in finding out the right results associated with a study. In this case, a proper questionnaire can bring about the proper results related to the buying behavior of students. There are certain products which are commonly purchased online by the students like that of train and flight tickets, gadgets, apparels and other accessories. However, there are certain products that do need a touch or a feel before a consumer decides to buy that product, a valid reason for why students might still opt for offline sales in some cases like that of clothes, shoes and certain other things. It is quite imperative that some of the students may not have e-banking services which might affect the students going for online purchase. A thing which has some advantages is bound to have certain issues related with it too. Students not having some of the facilities to go for online purchase is a major issue which can affect the e-commerce industry, plus students also have this notion that it is not viable to share personal details related to debit and credit cards over the internet. Out of the 100 students 40 did mention that to save time they go for online shopping, with the next 25 stating that online shopping offers them with wide range of products than the physical stores apart from being less costly. 20 said that they still do not like the idea of online shopping because they either had bad experiences with it previously or is scared that things might not be easy going online. 10 of the students didnt find it necessary to answer questions properly while the other 5 stating that they are yet to try the online buying experience. The e-commerce industry is definitely growing in India and so in Hyderabad with a lot more people showing interest in it. Around 65% of the students out of 100 had valid reasons on why they go online for shopping. Table 1.Frequency Distribution of the respondents with respect to occupation: Male Students Female Students Percentage working Total Student and part time working 25 15 40 40 Student not working 35 25 60 60 60 40 Male % of students working = 25*100/60 = 41.7% Not working = 35*100/60 = 58.4% Female % of students working = 15*100/40 = 37.5% Not working = 25*100/40 = 62.5% It can be seen from the above data that 41.7% of the male students work part-time along with 37.5% of their females counterparts too which means they have the capacity to go online and shop as they have the money to do it. Out of 100 students, 40% of the total students have the capacity to buy online as they earn money on their own. At the student level, money is a factor for students who rely on their families to provide financial help. Table 2.Frequency distribution of the respondents with respect to their monthly income: Monthly Income 4000-6000 (INR) 6000-8000 (INR) 8000-10000 (INR) Total Male Students working 8 12 5 25 Female students working 10 5 0 15 40 Table 3.Frequency Distribution for Students: Income level Male Female 4000-6000 32% 66.67% 6000-8000 48% 33.33% 8000-10000 20% 0 This table depicts the percentage of students having the highest power to buy online and the group that has the lowest power to shop online in both the male and female category. Income does reflect the power of the group to purchase on a regular basis or once in a while. Table 4.Most bought products and services over the internet: Products and Services Frequency Percent Clothing, Accessories 35 35 Food, Drink 23 23 Electronic goods 14 14 Travel Tickets 25 25 Sporting goods 8 8 Household goods and grocery 5 5 Perfume, cosmetics 25 25 CD, DVD, Computer Games 10 10 The table portrays that student purchases clothing and accessories most through online which is showing as high as 35%. The next item that is being bought the most is the travel tickets, as many of the students from the mentioned university does come from different states and need to travel at times. The funny side of the story is that household goods and grocery items are the least bought items over the internet. The sole reason being in this kind of things it is better to examine the things and then buy rather than blindly purchasing it through online. One needs to nudge the quality of such products before buying. One cannot compromise with the quality factor associated with it. Table 5.Finding or knowing shopping websites: Male Female From Search Engines 33 19 Percentage (%) 55% 47.5% From Advertisements in media 22 24 Percentage (%) 36.67% 60% Recommendation from a friend 18 29 Percentage (%) 30% 72.5 From links (e-mails) 15 21 Percentage (%) 25% 52.5% The above table shows the gender classification and their ways of finding or reaching shopping websites. For male students it is search engines (55%) that yield the highest percentage whereas for females it is the recommendation from a friend (72.5%) that makes the difference. Conclusion: Standing in this 21st century, one can say that e-commerce has taken the world by storm. It has gained a lot of popularity at the global stage, though reports suggest India is still at the growth level when it comes to e-commerce business. But it is fast gaining its pace, and Hyderabad is no different. The 5 factors as stated above concludes the consumer behavior of students while going online through factors like auction websites, price, search engines and refund related matters. The e-retailers need to keep track of the ongoing changes in the e-commerce industry and the pattern of consumer behavior. The e-retailers should examine the consumer behavior on a regular basis and become accustomed to the goods and services to serve as per the needs of the consumers. Reference: Afshar Jahanshahi, A., X. Zhang, S. and Brem, A., 2013. E-commerce for SMEs: empirical insights from three countries.Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,20(4), pp.849-865. Babbie, E.R., 2015.The practice of social research. Nelson Education. Barnes, S. and Hunt, B. eds., 2013.E-commerce and v-business. Routledge. Chatterjee, D. and Ghosal, I., 2014. E-Commerce In India Future And Its Perspective: A Study.International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES),1(4), pp.25-31. Chatterjee, S., 2015, October. E-Commerce in India: A review on culture and challenges. InSoft Computing Techniques and Implementations (ICSCTI), 2015 International Conference on(pp. 105-109). IEEE. Iyer, E.K., Sehgal, S., Raj, D., Saxena, K. and Panda, T., 2013. Analysis of the Convergence of Buyer and Seller Interests in e-Commerce Space. InProceedings of International Conference on Business Management IS(Vol. 2, No. 1). Kalia, P., Kaur, N. and Singh, T., 2015. E-Commerce in India: Evolution and Revolution of Online Retail.Kalia, P., Kaur, N. and Singh, pp.99-120. Kaur, J., 2014. E-Commerce: The Services on Internet in India Now.International Journal on Arts, Management and Humanities,3(1), p.30. Khan, M.R. and Uzma, K., 2013. The management of knowledge by e-commerce sites: a survey of leading portals in India.International Journal of Management,30(4), p.387. Kumar, K., 2015. Indian Online Start-ups: Can They Stand up Against the World.International Journal,3(4). Kumar, V. and Dange, U., 2014. E-retailing in India-A study of consumers Internet usage pattern, their profile and their shopping pattern.Available at SSRN 2518295. Mohapatra, S., 2013. E-commerce Strategy. InE-Commerce Strategy(pp. 155-171). Springer US. Mukherjee, S. and Michal, H., 2016. Modern Trends, Challenges and Opportunity of E-Commerce in IndiaAn Overview.Challenges and Opportunity of E-Commerce in IndiaAn Overview (June 29, 2016). Niranjanamurthy, M., Kavyashree, N., Jagannath, S. and Chahar, D., 2013. Analysis of e-commerce and m-commerce: advantages, limitations and security issues.International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering,2(6). PT JOSEPH, S.J., 2015.E-commerce: An Indian perspective. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. Punekar, S., 2016. A Study on Customer Awareness on Return Policy Initiatives in Select E-Commerce Websites with Special Reference To Apparel Sector, in Suburbs of Mumbai, India.Suburbs of Mumbai, India (June 30, 2016). International Journal of Business Management Research (IJBMR) ISSN (P), pp.2249-6920. Saini, B., 2014. E-Commerce in India.The International Journal of Business Management,2(2), p.1. Singh, N., 2016. Electronic Commerce Industry and Industrial Economy of India.Journal for Studies in Management and Planning,2(2), pp.219-222. Thamizhvanan, A. and Xavier, M.J., 2013. Determinants of customers' online purchase intention: an empirical study in India.Journal of Indian Business Research,5(1), pp.17-32. Waghmare, G.T., 2012. E-commerce; A Business Review and Future Prospects in Indian Business.Internet Marketing in India: Indian Streams Research Journal,2, pp.1-4.

The Central Role of Marketing in an Organization

Marketing is very important to any business. For one to sell, people must have seen as the product and or service. For them to repeat the process, the previous purchase must have satisfied their need.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Central Role of Marketing in an Organization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Marketing is a process that the management initiates. The main purpose is to identify, anticipate, and satisfy the customer at a profit. There has to be potential for the business to make a profit. Therefore, the main role of marketing is to ensure that the customer is happy and that the happiness transforms to the business success through profit and continued trade. The organization needs to come up with a marketing team and formulate the market strategy and tactics. A good marketing plan puts into consideration the means and ways of how to tackle the industry and competitors. It also illustrates how to embrace the customer, partners, and the company. The organization needs to carry out a marketing audit. It includes a complete analysis of the market, the external and industry analysis. It has carried out the competitor analysis and customer analysis. The internal Strengths and Weaknesses and the external Opportunities and Threats make up the SWOT analysis. The internal strength is one of the qualities that enable a business to be better than others. The internal analysis would include the operating results, marketing capabilities, marketing intelligence, and the effectiveness of the marketing mix. It must also consider its weaknesses and find the best way to improve on them. There are many opportunities outside the company that it has to tap into to gain, expand and maintain its market. A business can use opportunities to gain acceptance in the market. The threats in the industry like competition are important because they make the management work hard to turn them into opportuni ties. Threats are fundamentals in the industry that are a disadvantage for the business. During the market auditing, the organization can make good use of the Product Life Cycle tools. It involves the life of a new product from the time of introduction through growth stages until it reaches its maturity and decline stage. Today the cycle is becoming shorter because of competition. Therefore, companies have to start differentiating and do market segmentation immediately.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Portfolio analysis and Porter’s five forces are also market auditing tools. Michael Porter’s Five Forces helps the business to understand the bargaining power. It helps to determine the competitiveness and the potential for profit based on the interaction of the five forces. The bargaining power of the organization as the seller to the market and as a buyer fr om its suppliers enables it to keep the market. The bargaining power also covers the buyers of the company’s products. Substitute products are products that the competitors sell that serve the same purpose as the organization’s products. Some organizations have already established themselves in the market and would do anything possible to prevent new entrants. The organization has to observe the threat of new entrants force and plan the mechanisms to employ. There could be the rivalry between the existing competitors. Some markets are less competitive than others. Markets with low demand are more competitive than markets with high demand. The market auditing involves the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal Regulatory and Environmental (PESTLE) aspects. The legal requirements depend on the locality of the business and the place of marketing. Despite the fact that there is a general view of globalization, the regulatory requirements for individual countries remain different in various aspects. There are countries that have developed technologically, and modern businesses find it easier to drive their marketing skills. The political aspect of this auditing would only be beneficial to an organization if there is political goodwill. Michael Porter’s Five Forces apply to the business environment. It is how the auditing and marketing processes correlate with each other. The marketing plan can also include some assumptions that would guide the management. The marketing objectives need to be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART). The organization needs to establish specific objectives for the purpose of attaining its vision. An example of a SMART objective would be to increase the market share in New York city from 10 percent to 20 percent in six months. The organization also needs to develop market strategies. Ansoff’s Product/Market Grid is a tool that helps to determine business growth opportuni ties. The dimensions that include the products and the markets provide four growth strategies. The market penetration involves selling more of the same products and or services in the current markets. The company may give bonuses, discounts and builds strong customer relationships. The Market Development grid involves the continued selling of the similar products and or services in new markets. The marketing principle is to entice clients from competitors. It can also be the introduction of the existing product in new markets. It is also introducing new brands in a market. Product Development is the marketing of new products or services in the already established markets. The business uses the existing communication channels to market.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Central Role of Marketing in an Organization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Diversification enables a company to sell new products and servic es in new markets. It enables the organization to spread its risks. Other market strategy tools would be Segmentation Analysis, Market Positioning Analysis, Innovation New Product Development process, and Relationship Marketing. The objective of the marketing strategies is for product growth, the sales increase, and market share expansion. Another important objective is to increase the profit margin of the products and services, and the sales as a whole. Lastly, the organization must seek to increase its cash flow by increasing its profitability. For-profit to increase, the company can work on two main areas internally. They include the increase in the unit sales volume and the increased productivity. The business-to-business (B2B) marketing allows businesses to sell products or services to other companies or organizations. For such markets, the marketing objective would be to increase awareness and sales volumes. Media and official company websites would be essential in reaching th e businesses. The marketing plan would use discounted prices because of the large volumes and after sales services to attract and retain customers. The business-to-consumer (B2C) would employ the merchandising activities and special offers to attract the target market. The main focus for B2C is on transactions. Consumers would get discounts for both online and point of sale shopping. Both the non-profit and for-profit organizations would benefit because of the attractive prices and offers. The global marketing techniques vary from business to business. The business needs to understand globally diverse cultures. For instance, a pork company may not find it reasonable to market its products in a purely Islamic market. As businesses try to become global entities, there is increased market competition due to similarities in products from local and other globally recognized firms. But for entirely new products in the market, the business would gain the market quickly. The product has to be acceptable in the market. This essay on The Central Role of Marketing in an Organization was written and submitted by user Logan Chan to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Summery of Anarchist of Darwin Essay Example

Summery of Anarchist of Darwin Essay In a village; which is deserted far away from the main city, had a tragic news which buzzed around the village. The village was well known for its big ball of string made by a woman. It was heartbreaking for everyone to lose one of the famous artifact. This tragic was no ordinary accident, it was all set up. A non compose mentis lit the ball with gasoline in a silenced star night. The day broke out and a young man was standing near the unfortunate tragic. His name is Chris. Chris was an only child who lost his parents at early age. The village wasnt very favorable to Chris nor did he favor the neighbors. To consult about the further deed, all the people in the town were invited in a school gym. Different opinions struck through the gym about the ball but no one had agreed on the ideas so the meeting was postponed till the inspectors found some evidence. Chris silence broke when his childhood friend (Tank) dashed in with his wife (Meal). Tank was very disturbed about the event. Suddenly another person came to the conversation between Chris, Tank, and Meal. It was Buddy. Chris and Buddy never got along from grade school. Chris was a loner in a simple term. We will write a custom essay sample on Summery of Anarchist of Darwin specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Summery of Anarchist of Darwin specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Summery of Anarchist of Darwin specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He never liked anyone from the village besides a young girl named Claire. Chris had affection about Claire which he cannot express. Every night Chris would wonder off to the park which was located very close to Claimers house. He would stare right through her window from a distinctive space and watch her change and or her working out. The only problem about Claim was that most of the night Chris would see a man walk out of her house, even Tank. This gave Chris a hypothesis that Claire Is a prostitute. Although Tank Is married, he Is like the person who would have sex with anyone besides man. After a week the police found some clues and called all the citizens to the same gym again. The police started talking about how the ball was set on fire and he referred the man who was up to this a loner, unhappy, perhaps a serious associative disorder. Perhaps a delusion? A man In the crowd broke the silence by saying Someone like our Chris then the gym echoed In laughter and suddenly It all became quiet. Another person In the crowd asked Yeah Chris where were you at that night? Chris became red hot and Claire tried to calm him down. Then he stood up and darted to giggle. He told everyone that he was the person who destroyed the ball because he hated It. HIS mother made the ball and the chemicals used to make the ball were very toxic which had killed her mother right at the finishing. Due to his mothers death, Chris old man started taking booze and found dead for over does of alcohol consumption. And he was very proud about how he made all the people come together about some bullish stuff. At the end of Chris speech, all the audience stared at him Like he was mentally challenged which Chris didnt believe. At that point Chris gave up on the whole damn world. Summery of Anarchist of Darwin By Naif-Naifs Chris a hypothesis that Claire is a prostitute. Although Tank is married, he is like the disorder. Perhaps a delusion? A man in the crowd broke the silence by saying Someone like our Chris then the gym echoed in laughter and suddenly it all became quiet. Another person in the crowd asked anemia Chris where were you at that night? because he hated it. His mother made the ball and the chemicals used to make the At the end of Chris speech, all the audience stared at him like he was mentally.

How did U.S. mobilization for essays

How did U.S. mobilization for essays The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7th 1941 brought the U.S. into WWII in a military sense. All of a sudden it seemed that the economy took off and the depression was a thing of the past. The massive war industry brought sweeping changes to the areas of Government, Business and Labor. Labor is probably the area that got the biggest lift from U.S. mobilization. The massive unemployment rate from a few years before vanished. This was due to a need for workers in war factories and many were drafted into the military. In order to meet wartime production needs and to oversee the massive workforce, Roosevelt created the War Manpower Board. Using the WMB, Roosevelt lengthened the workweek to 48 hours while the war lasted. Afraid of crippling labor strikes due to the change, he also founded the War Labor Board. The WLB help secure labor rights by managing wages, securing the right of workers to bargain and saw to the safety of work conditions. Since the WLB protected the right of workers to join a union, union membership rapidly increased during the war years. The greatest benefit from the WLB came in 1943 when they decided that pay would increase to be in scale with the cost of living. Steel workers were the first to benefit when their pay received a 15% increase, which was determined to be the amount at which the cost of living had increased. Women also made giant leaps forward during this time. With a large number of men being drafted for military service, women filled jobs in factories that had been traditionally filled by men. Rosie the Riveter became a popular symbol of womens involvement in the war effort. In later years, feminist regret the fact that the opportunity to move the cause of womens rights further during this time was not acted upon. A general strike or organized organization could have really made a big impact, since women workers were so important to the war effort. ...

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder - Essay Example ated with the disorder are often fixated on such effects as inflicting harm upon another person or creature, dealing with failures in one’s personal life, or sexuality. Very often those who must deal with obsessions and compulsions over which they have no control begin to feel as they might be slipping into insanity. The compulsions can be wide-ranging, but almost all are typically situated within the psyche as a means to relieve anxiety. OCD is often described as an exaggeration of the quite common ability of the human mind to force one to obsess upon a single idea. For instance, who hasn’t found themselves absently humming the same tune over and again in an almost compulsive manner? The difference between the normality of obsessive and compulsive desires like these is that when the average person become aware of the act they are capable of stopping themselves. The sufferers of OCD, by contrast, cannot. Though designated as a mental disorder, current research indicates that the cause of OCD is neurobiological. Neurons in the brain of those who suffer from OCD have been discovered to have a high sensitivity to serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical that assists in the transmission of signals to the brain. Further research indicates that the trigger of OCD may be the onset of puberty, the effect of mental stress, and possibly even a genetic predisposition toward the development of the diseases (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Part I). Successful treatment of OCD in the past few years has been accomplished through the use of medication, specifically that family of antidepressant drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The most popular drugs for treating OCD have been clomipramine (Anafranil), fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (Luvox), and sertraline (Zoloft) (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Part I). These medications treatment the symptoms of OCD through altering the level of serotonin utilized in the transmission of signals to

Task 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Task 2 - Essay Example Decision making is often seen as the central job of the managers who decides what is to be done, who has to do it, where, when and how it is to be done. Decision making is regarded to the first step in the planning even when it is done quickly by taking a little time to decide and also influences an action just for a minute (Koontz and Weihrich, 2006). There are various theories related to philosophical, mathematical and economic sources. This study highlights on the various theories of decision making. The Classical Model The classical decision theory is straightforward. It assumes that there is only one best solution to the problem; the decision maker needs to identify it, select it and then finally implement it. According the following sequential steps has been designed. Step 1: Identification of the problem The actual and the desired outcome should be determined and then any type of disparity existing between the two should be identified. Step 2: Diagnose the problem The informat ion should be collected and should be analysed properly in order to gain a clear explanation of the nature of the problem. Step 3: Define the alternatives After understanding the nature of the problem the potential options to the solution of the problems must be developed. Step 4: Examine the consequences The probable consequences of all the potential alternatives should be examined rigorously. Step 5: Make the decision The best amongst the potential alternatives must be chosen. While choosing the best alternative one should see that the objective and the goals are maximised. Step 6: Do it The decision must be implemented. The classical model leads to the optimization of strategy. This approach stands on the classical economic theory that is based on the assumptions of apparent goal, full information and cognitive ability to deeply analyse the problem. However practical problems exists that follows this perspective. Decision makers are human beings who have emotions, feelings and a variety of interests. Compromise and diversity are the stuffs that are their everyday requirement. One objective may be favoured over the other but no one allows one single goal that is an unrealistic one dimensionality to dominate in the working life (Hoy and Miskel, 1991). The notion that the organizational goals are simple and clear is oversimplification. Goals of the organization are often conflicting and complex. The problem of improbability is essential for the organization. Dealing with the problem of improbability has now become a common agenda in the organization share (Mintzberg, 1983). However there is no such common criterion for dealing with the improbability in the decision making (Thompson, 1967). It is virtually not possible to select the best alternative when the consequences are not known. Improbability makes optimizing an impractical choice. The unnecessary demand for human cognition that cannot be met is another problem with the optimizing strategy. Neither any o rganization nor any person is capable and smart such that they can conduct maximum utilization of anything. Even the modern computers are incapable to achieve this feat. For instance the computers are incapable of handling the huge quantity of information that is required to choose the simplified move in the game of chess (Feldman and Kanter, 1965; Hoy and Miskel, 19

Strategic Management Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Management Planning - Essay Example Their number of customers is accruing on a steady basis. Despite of all this there are certain serious issues which need to be taken into consideration for the company to achieve success in all the areas. After reviewing the whole company through the process of Porter's analysis, SWOT analysis, financial analysis and Mckinsey analysis I have gathered certain issues, which if handled the company can do hundred times better then their current output. Those customers who could not pay for their repaired motors used to leave their motors with the company. The company can facilitate them in the form of paying their amounts through installments. Here the company would not have to worry about the untaken cars but just would have to keep track of the installment payments. This would leave extra space within the workshop. No doubts that the company has UL certification, but the awareness of ISO certification is making the customers more conscious as to where to buy the service. Having the ISO certification would help us also cater those customers who are ISO conscious for the quality provided. The company is not giving any salary appraisal automatically. In order to motivate their staff and maximize the output, the company should pay its employees in the form of piece rate. Here the staff would be paid some base pay as well as extra pay on each motor that they have helped in repairing. 7. Finance The company is in dire need of accountants. A lot of stuff is being done on the basis of historical data, which would be unhealthy in the long run. 8. Research and Development Do research on electric motors to be used in water industry as the analysis shows that there would soon be changes being made in the water industry. 9. Innovation Be innovative and creative in manufacturing sophisticated devices. 10. Research There have been unknown reasons for winding failures. Why not hire some skilled workers to research on this problem. A solution to it would be a lottery for the company. 11. Customized Control Panels Brithinee has a competitive advantage over making customized control panels. Why not advertise our capabilities to let the untapped market know of our skills. 12. Research The company is losing quite amount of money due to its gas emissions. There is always a solution to cut down costs. Find out ways as to how to reduce these harmful emissions. Look for what other repair shops are using. 13. Customer Site Find solutions for catering the customers at their own site. The more we expand our services the more

Environmental Toxicology and Human Health

Environmental Toxicology and Human Health Environmental Toxicology and Human Health Environmental Toxicology is a field of science with various disciplines involved in the study of the adverse effects of various physical, chemical and biological agents on living organisms particularly animals, birds and fishes (Philp, 2001, pp. 10-11). Physical agents. They are sources of energy that may have negative effects on human health and that of biological organisms such as fish, birds and animals (Philp, 2001, pp. 20-25). One such agent is noise which can be defined as unwanted sound. Noise has both permanent and temporary damage to the ears rendering one incapable of hearing or resulting to tinnitus both of which are irreparable (McCally, 2002, pp. 58-67). Noise in the workplace also poses a threat to the workers in that they may fail to hear sounds indicating threats. Vibration, also a physical agent is categorized into two: hand-arm vibration (HAV) and whole body vibration (WBV). Continuous exposure to HAV has been proven to lead to hand-arm vibration syndrome a permanent and incapacitating health effect such as musculoskeletal disorders of the hand (McCally, 2002). On the other hand, continued exposure to WBV is associated with severe pain on the lower posterior. Optical radiation also has some grim effects on the health of people. Ult raviolet radiation emanated by the sun presents the utmost danger to our health. When exposed to the eyes it may lead to spoiled cornea and severe pain while exposure on the skin may vary from burning, redness and hastened ageing through skin cancer of different types. Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated due to electrical energy used may also be detrimental (Philp, 2001). Though they seldom occur, constant exposure to the EMFs can result to severe effects depending on the frequency of the radiation. Electricity can also be viewed as a threat since it may lead to death or severe injuries such as electric burns, thermal burns and electric burns to people. Last but not least we have ionizing radiation. Contact with low-level ionizing radiations may lead to cancer and DNA mutations while high-level exposures cause radiation sicknesses and burns (Philp, 2001). Biological agents. These include bacteria, viruses, fungi, other microorganisms and toxins associated with them. While some of these agents have no harmful implication on the human health, others have the potential to affect the human health in various ways ranging from moderately mild, allergic reactions to serious medical illnesses even demise. These agents occur widely in the environment (Environmental Toxicology And Human Health, n.d.). Biological agents have the capacity to reproduce rapidly, require little resources to live and can poison at very small doses thus they are a probable danger in a widely in our environment. Biological agents can be categorized into four sets according to their severity of infection and likelihood of prevention and treatment (McCally, 2002, pp. 150-200). Group 1 agents are those with low chances of causing ill effects to the organisms. Group two consists those toxicities that are unsafe for the workers but chances of spreading to the community are very minimal. Group 3 agents are those that can cause severe human disease, pose a serious threat to the workers and are likely to spread to the community. However, these toxicities can be treated. Group 4 agents are similar to group 3 agents except for the fact that there is no effective management for them. These are some of the most contagious and extensive biological agents: anthrax, botulism, avian flu, and Ebola (Environmental Toxicology And Human Health, n.d.). Chemical agents. These are as a result of the products we use in our day to day doings. Pesticides are a perfect instance of chemical toxins (Lakind). Pesticides persist in the environment long after their use which can result in bioaccumulation of chemicals in various organisms along with biomagnification within a group of organisms that depend on each other for food. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is another agent that was banned due to its negative effects on living organisms (Lakind). The reactions chemical toxicities is dependent on several factors that I will briefly discuss. Age is a significant aspect in establishing the response to a toxic chemical (Lakind). For example, parathion is more lethal to young animals. Although very rare, sex can determine the response to a toxicant. For instance, when exposed to parathion the female rat is twice as affected as the male rat. The responses to a toxic chemical also depends on the species (Safe). For example, insecticides are lethal to insects but relatively non-toxic to animals. Toxicity of a chemical is determined by factors such as: the dosage-it is the most critical factor if a substance will be acute or a chronic toxicant (Lakind). The form that a chemical agent is in also defines its toxicity. For instance, the poisonousness of mercury in gas form is very different from methyl mercury. The entry point of a toxin is also a measure of its toxicity. One other factor is the rate of removal from an organism’s system. According to Paracelsus all substances are poisons only the dose differentiates whether it is a poison or a remedy (Safe). Exposure assessment is the process of establishing the regularity, period and expansiveness of exposure to toxicities together with the traits and number of the population exposed. Methods of exposure assessment include direct and indirect approach (Philp, 2001, pp. 100-108). In direct approach exposure to the agents is determined by monitoring the pollutant concentrations reaching the person while in indirect approach the toxicant concentration is measured during specific human activities to predict the exposure distributions within a population (McCally, 2002). Epidemiology is important to research studies of environmental health since many environmental exposures can be addressed only by comparing populations instead of individuals and the interruption of both local and universal environments require us to come up with new methods of study design that is epidemiology. The epidemiologic approach to studying environmental health problems has its limitations. One of such constraint i s the quick changes in the health and nutritional status of many populations that have been affected majorly which may lead to inconclusive results (Safe). Another limitation is the fact that data collected through epidemiology is often ignored and limited by factors such as limited resources, personal priorities, political concerns and public relations (Philp, 2001). Since epidemiology depends on valid data, restriction on the gathering of data can be considered a constraint. This may be due to insecurity or lack of resources preventing the researchers from submitting surveillance data (Safe). References. Environmental Toxicology And Human Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://docsfiles.com/pdf_environmental_toxicology_and_human_health.html Lakind, J. S. (n.d.). Workshop on Human Milk Surveillance and Research on Environmental Chemicals in the United States. journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A. McCally, M. (2002). Life support the environment and human health. MIT Press. Philp, R. B. (2001). Ecosystems and human health: toxicology and environmental hazards. Lewis Publishers. Safe, S. (n.d.). Toxicology, Structure-Function Relationship, and Human and Environmental Health Impacts of Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Progress and Problems. Environmental Health Perspectives.

Fiction †literature Essay

Hemingway’s modernist style of storytelling requires an impersonal narrator. The narrator describes the scene, and interjects small actions into the dialogue, but remains a facilitator for the reader to concentrate on the dialogue and the action of the story. The narrator in this story seems to tell the story as if it were a video clip, a nameless railway station somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid, ghostly white hills, a faceless waitress and an anonymous couple. The use of this narrator makes the reader look much deeper into the dialogue of the couple, because without the narrator spelling out the action for the reader, one is forced to interpret much more from the character’s words. This modernist device tends to separate the reader momentarily from the text, so that the full impact of the story is not truly felt until one is finished reading. However, this device serves to make the story connect on a deeper level, and to have more impact as it hits one suddenly, instead of being built into a slow climax. From almost the beginning of his writing career, Hemingway employed a distinctive style which drew comment from many critics. Hemingway does not give way to lengthy geographical and psychological description. His style has been said to lack substance because he avoids direct statements and descriptions of emotion. Basically his style is simple, direct and somewhat plain. He developed a forceful prose style characterized by simple sentences and few adverbs or adjectives. He wrote concise, vivid dialogue and exact description of places and things. Critic Harry Levin pointed out the weakness of syntax and diction in Hemingway’s writing, but was quick to praise his ability to convey action The majority of his early novels were narrated in the first person and enclosed within a single point of view, however, when Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, he used several different narrative techniques. He employed the use of internal monologues (where the reader is in the â€Å"mind† of a particular character), objective descriptions, rapid shifts of point of view, and in general a looser structure than in his earlier works. Hemingway believed that â€Å"a writer’s style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous. The greatest writers have the gift of brevity, are hard workers, diligent scholars and competent stylistsÃ'Ž To explain Hemingway’s style in a few paragraphs in such a manner as to satisfy those who have read his articles and books is almost impossible. It is a simple style, straight forward and modest. Hemingway’s prose is unadorned as a result of his abstaining from using adjectives as much as possible. He relates a story in the form of straight journalism, but because he is a master of transmitting emotion with out embelli

History of Social Psychology Essay

As a scientific discipline, social psychology is only a bit older than one hundred years, with most of the growth occurring during the past five decades (McGarty & Haslam, 1997). By most standards, social psychology is a relatively young science. In discussing the discipline’s history, it should be noted that there are two social psychologies, one in psychology and the other in sociology, with the larger of the two being the psychological branch (Jones, 1998). The central focus of psychological social psychology is how the individual responds to social stimuli, whereas sociological social psychology focuses on larger group or societal variables, such as people’s socioeconomic status, their social roles, and cultural norms (Stryker, 1997). Although there have been calls to merge the two social psychologies into a single field (Backman, 1983)-—and even a joint psychology-sociology doctoral program at the University of Michigan from 1946 to 1967–their different orientations make it doubtful that this will transpire in the foreseeable future. In this historical overview, the psychological branch of the discipline will be highlighted. Wundt and The Dawning of a Scientific Discipline: 1862-1894 German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1921), who is widely regarded as the founder of psychology, had a hand in the early development of what would become social psychology. In 1862, Wundt proposed that there should be two branches of psychology: physiological psychology and social or folk psychology (Và ¶lkerpsychologie). Largely due to his influential writings, by 1900 Germany’s annual bibliography of the psychological literature listed over 200 articles per year under the heading â€Å"social psychology.† Despite his influence in shaping social psychology in Europe, Wundt’s ideas had little impact on American social scientists because his writings were not translated into English and his conception of psychology as the â€Å"science of the mind† was incompatible with the new behaviorist perspective in the United States that emerged during the early years of the 20th century. Underlying behaviorism was a philosophy known as logical positivism, which contended that knowledge should be expressed in terms that could be verified empirically or through direct observation. This new â€Å"science of behavior† had little use for Wundt’s conception of social psychology. This was especially true for the social psychology developing in psychology in America, but less so for sociological social psychology. Thus, psychological social psychology in America, which would become the intellectual core of the discipline, developed largely outside the realm of Wundtian influence. The Early Years: 1895–1935 An American psychologist at Indiana University, Norman Triplett, is generally credited with having conducted the first empirical social psychological study. In 1895 Triplett asked the following question: â€Å"How does a person’s performance of a task change when other people are present?† The question was prompted by Triplett noticing that a bicycle racer’s speed was faster when he was paced by other cyclists than when he raced alone. Being a racing enthusiast and desiring to learn what caused these different race times, he devised the first social scientific experiment. In this study, he asked children to quickly wind line on a fishing reel either alone or in the presence of other children performing the same task. As he had predicted, the children wound the line faster when in the presence of other children. Published in 1897, this study is credited with introducing the experimental method into the social sciences. Despite the significance of this study, it took a full generation for researchers to understand the social psychological dynamics underlying Triplett’s findings (see the chapter 10 discussion of social facilitation). Despite this accomplishment, Triplett did nothing to establish social psychology as a distinct subfield of psychology. Credit for this achievement goes to the first authors of textbooks bearing that title, namely, English psychologist William McDougall and American sociologist Edward Ross, who each published separate texts in 1908. Consistent with the contemporary perspective in psychological social  psychology, McDougall considered the individual to be the principal unit of analysis in this new science, while Ross, true to the contemporary sociological social psychology perspective, highlighted groups. Despite the inauguration of this new subfield within psychology and sociology, social psychology still lacked a distinct identity. How was it different from the other subdisciplines within the two larger disciplines? What were its methods of inquiry? In 1924 a third social psychology text, published by Floyd Allport (older brother of Gordon Allport), went a long way in answering these questions for psychological social psychology. Reading his words today, you can see the emerging perspective that would one day permeate the psychological branch of the field: I believe that only within the individual can we find the behavior mechanisms and consciousness which are fundamental in the interactions between individuals†¦. There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially and entirely a psychology of individuals†¦. Psychology in all its branches is a science of the individual. (Allport, 1924, p. 4) Allport’s conception of social psychology was proposed eleven years after John Watson ushered in the behaviorist era in American psychology. Allport’s brand of social psychology emphasized how the person responds to stimuli in the social environment, with the group merely being one of many such stimuli. Beyond this emerging individualist and behaviorist stamp, Allport further shaped the identity of American social psychology by extolling the virtues of the experimental method in studying such topics as conformity, nonverbal communication, and social facilitation. The pursuit of social psychological knowledge through carefully controlled experimental procedures would increasingly characterize the field in the coming years. As Allport’s conception of social psychology gained American adherents, German social psychology was being shaped by the Gestalt perspective, which rejected both the existing European-inspired notion of a group mind and the American individualist stand that groups were not real in themselves. Instead, Gestalt social psychologists contended that the social environment  is made up not only of individuals, but of relations between individuals, and these relationships have important psychological implications. Thus, Gestalt social psychologists promoted an understanding of groups as real social entities, which directly led to the tradition of group processes and group dynamics that still exists today. These two schools of thought within psychological social psychology, one in America and the other in Germany, which were developing independent of one another, would soon be thrust together due to events on the world scene. The Coming of Age: 1936–1945 During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Allport’s conception of social psychology emphasized basic research, with little consideration given to addressing specific social problems or broader issues bearing on reform. However, by the mid-1930s, the discipline was poised for further growth and expansion. The events that had the greatest impact on social psychology at this critical juncture in its history were the Great Depression in the United States and the social and political upheavals in Europe generated by the First and Second World Wars. Following the stock market crash of 1929, many young psychologists were unable to find or hold jobs. Experiencing firsthand the impact of societal forces, many of them adopted the liberal ideals of the Roosevelt â€Å"New Dealers† or the more radical left-wing political views of the socialist and communist parties. In 1936 these social scientists formed an organization dedicated to the scientific study of important social issues and the support for progressive social action (Stagner, 1986). This organization, known as the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), contained many social psychologists who were interested in applying their newly developed theories and political activism to real-world problems. One of the important contributions of SPSSI to social psychology was, and continues to be, the infusion of ethics and values into the discussion of social life. Its immediate impact on social psychology in the 1930s was to infuse a more applied character to research. New areas of research spawned during this decade were intergroup relations, leadership, propaganda, organizational  behavior, voting behavior, and consumer behavior. In other countries, world events triggered changes that further distinguished American social psychology from its scientific cousins abroad. For example, the communist revolution in Russia at the end of the First World War led to a purging of individualist-oriented research and theorizing, a development that stood in stark contrast to the increasing focus on the individual within American social psychology. In 1936, the Soviet Union’s Communist Party forbids the use of psychological tests in various applied settings, which effectively prohibited the study of individual differences. At the same time, the rise of fascism in Germany, Spain, and Italy created a strong anti-intellectual and anti-Semitic atmosphere in these countries. To escape this persecution, a number of Europe’s leading social scientists, such as Fritz Heider, Gustav Ichheiser, Kurt Lewin, and Theodor Adorno, immigrated to America. When the United States entered the war, many social psychologists—both American and European— applied their knowledge of human behavior in a wide variety of wartime programs, including the selection of officers for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) and the undermining of enemy morale (Hoffman, 1992). The constructive work resulting from this collaboration demonstrated the practical usefulness of social psychology. During this time of global strife, one of the most influential social psychologists was Kurt Lewin, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. Lewin was instrumental in founding SPSSI and served as its president in 1941. He firmly believed that social psychology did not have to make a choice between being either a pure science or an applied science. His oft-repeated maxim, â€Å"No research without action, and no action without research† continues to influence social psychologists interested in applying their knowledge to current social problems (Ash, 1992). By the time of his death in 1947 at the age of 57, Lewin had provided many of social psychology’s defining characteristics (Lewin, 1936; Lewin et al., 1939). With the end of the war, prospects were bright for social psychology in  North America. Based on their heightened stature in the scientific community, social psychologists established new research facilities, secured government grants, and, most important, trained graduate students. These future social psychologists were predominantly white, male, and middle class. Many of their mentors were the European scholars who had fled their native countries and then remained in America following the war. Yet, while social psychology was flourishing in this country, the devastating effects of the world war virtually destroyed the discipline overseas. In this postwar period, the United States emerged as the unchallenged world power, and just as it exported its material goods to other countries, it exported its social psychology as well. This brand of social psychology reflected the political ideology of American society and the social problems encountered within its boundaries (Farr, 1996). Rapid Expansion: 1946–1969 With its infusion of European intellectuals and the recently trained young American social psychologists, the maturing science of social psychology expanded its theoretical and research base. To understand how a civilized society like Germany could fall under the influence of a ruthless demagogue like Adolf Hitler, Theodor Adorno and his colleagues (Adorno et al., 1950) studied the psychological parameters of the authoritarian personality. Some years later, Stanley Milgram (1963) extended this line of research in his now famous obedience experiments, which examined the conditions that make people more likely to obey destructive authority figures. Social psychologists also focused their attention on the influence that the group had on the individual (Asch, 1956) and of the power of persuasive communication (Hovland et al., 1949). Arguably the most significant line of research and theorizing during this period was Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). This theory asserted that people’s thoughts and actions were motivated by a desire to maintain cognitive consistency. The simplicity of the theory and its often surprising findings generated interest and enthusiasm both inside and outside of social psychology for many years. Social psychology’s concern with societal prejudice continued to assert itself during the 1950s. For example, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision to end the practice of racially segregated education was partly based on Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark’s research indicating that segregation negatively affected the self-concept of Black children. In that same year, Gordon Allport (brother of Floyd Allport) provided a theoretical outline for how desegregation might reduce racial prejudice. What came to be known as the contact hypothesis was a social psychological blueprint for reducing hostility between groups by manipulating situational variables. This perspective toward understanding and â€Å"fixing† prejudice better fit the behaviorist social psychology practiced in America than the earlier developed authoritarian personality approach. The decade of the 1960s was a time of turmoil in the United States, with the country caught in the grip of political assassinations, urban violence, social protests, and the Vietnam War. People were searching for constructive ways to change society for the better. Following this lead, social psychologists devoted more research time to such topics as aggression, helping, attraction, and love. The groundbreaking research of Elaine Hatfield and Ellen Berscheid (Berscheid & Hatfield, 1969; Hatfield et al., 1966) on interpersonal and romantic attraction, for example, was not only important in widening the scope of social psychological inquiry, but it also generated considerable controversy outside the field. A number of public officials and ordinary citizens thought social scientists should not try to understand the mysteries of romance. Less controversial was the bystander intervention research conducted by Bibb Latanà © and John Darley (1968), which was inspired by the 1984 murder of K itty Genovese in New York City. Despite the wariness of some, during the 1960s the federal government expanded its attempts to cure societal ills with the guidance of social scientists. Within this cultural context, the number of social psychologists rose dramatically. Among these new social scientists were an increasing number of women and, to a lesser degree, minority members. Whole new lines of inquiry into social behavior commenced, with an increasing interest in  the interaction of the social situation with personality factors. The multitude and diversity of these lines of research would continue into the following decades (Pion et al., 1996). Crisis and Reassesesment: 1970–1984 When social psychology first emerged from World War II and embarked on its rapid expansion, one of the pioneers in the field, Theodore Newcomb (1951), expressed concern that expectations were greater than anything that could be delivered in the near future. By the 1970s, when solutions to societal problems were no closer to being solved, and as the usefulness and ethics of experimental research came under increased scrutiny, a â€Å"crisis of confidence† emerged (Elms, 1975). When this disappointment and criticism was followed by accusations from women and minorities that past research and theory reflected the biases of a white, male-dominated view of reality, many began to reassess the field’s basic premises. Fortunately, out of this crisis emerged a more vital and inclusive field of social psychology. More rigorous ethical standards were established, and although experiments remained the method of choice, researchers began conducting more correlational studies, as well as employing other methods. Regarding accusations of racial and gender bias, social psychology began moving toward more responsible positions, but such biases have yet to be eliminated from the discipline (Graham, 1992; Tesser & Bau, 2002). Another important development during this time period was the importing of ideas from cognitive psychology in explaining social behavior. This â€Å"cognitive revolution† (see p. 00) greatly enhanced theory and research in all areas of social psychology, and its impact persists today. Accompanying the social cognitive emphasis was renewed interest in the concept of the self, which previously had been the focus of only sociological social psychologists. However, with the waning influence of behaviorism, psychological social psychologists rediscovered the insights of founding social scientists such as William James, John Dewey, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead. Soon the self became a central concept within psychological social psychology. An Expanding Global and Interdisciplinary View of Social Psychology: 1985–present By the 1970s, both European and Latin American social psychological associations had been founded, and in 1995, the Asian Association of Social Psychology was formed. The social psychology that developed overseas placed more emphasis on intergroup and societal variables in explaining social behavior than did its American cousin. In the mid-1980s, this overseas influence began to reshape the discipline, as social psychologists throughout the world actively exchanged ideas and collaborated on multinational studies (Fiske et al., 1998; Vala et al., 1996). Many of the new ideas about social behavior were generated by scholars from collectivist cultures who were raised within societies that have a very different perspective on the relationship between the individual and the group than that within the societies of traditional social psychologists. Subsequent cross-cultural research found that certain social beliefs and behaviors that were previously considered universal were in actuality specific to the socialization practices of individualist cultures. Based on these findings, considerable research attention was devoted to determining which aspects of human behavior are culture specific–due to conditions existing within a particular culture–and which ones are due to human’s shared evolutionary heritage. Although social psychology’s â€Å"professional center of gravity† still resides in the United States, European and Third World social psychology offers the entire field opportunities to escape what some consider the limitations of this â€Å"gravitational pull† to perceive new worlds of social reality (Shinha, 2003; Tam et al., 2003). This multicultural perspective will continue to guide research in the coming years. Contemporary social psychologists have also continued the legacy of Kurt Lewin and SPSSI by applying their knowledge to a wide arena of everyday life, such as law, health, education, politics, sports, and business (Ellsworth & Mauro, 1998; Kinder, 1998; Salovey et al., 1998). This interest in applying the principles and findings of social psychology is a natural outgrowth of the search for understanding. Despite the dominance of social cognition in the 1980s, some social psychologists raised concerns about the relative lack of focus on emotions and motives in explaining social thinking. These critics of existing social cognitive theories argued that to think of motives and affect as merely end products in a central processing system was to dehumanize social psychology. In the early 1990s, a number of social psychologists sought to establish a more balanced view by blending the traditional hot and cold perspectives into what some have termed the Warm Look. These revised social-cognitive theories proposed that people employ multiple cognitive strategies based on their current goals, motives, and needs. Theorists typically developed dual-process models, meaning that social thinking and behavior is determined by two different ways of understanding and responding to social stimuli. One mode of information processing—related to the cold perspective legacy–is based on effortful, reflective thinking, in which no action is taken until its potential consequences are properly weighed and evaluated. The alternative mode of processing information–related to the hot perspective legacy—is based on minimal cognitive effort, in which behavior is impulsively and unintentionally activated by emotions, habits, or biological drives, often below the â€Å"radar† of consciousness. Which of the two avenues of information processing people take at any given time is the subject of ongoing research. This attention to both explicit and implicit cognition has recently prompted social psychologists to explore how neural activity in the brain is associated with various social psychological processes, including self-awareness, self-regulation, attitude formation and change, group interaction, and prejudice. Although the numbers of social psychologists who pursue such research is still relatively small, the knowledge they acquire concerning the biology of social behavior will undoubtedly play a role in reshaping existing theories. Indeed, the U.S. federal government’s National Institute of Mental Health—which has an annual budget of 1.3 billion dollars–has recently given priority to research grants that combine social psychology and neuroscience. In concluding this historical overview, if the life of a scientific discipline is analogous to a person’s life, then contemporary social psychology is best thought of as a â€Å"young adult† in the social sciences. Compared with some of the more established sciences, social psychology is â€Å"barely dry behind the ears† and still subject to growing pains (Abrams & Hogg, 2004; Brewer, 2004; Rozin, 2001). Yet it is a discipline where new and innovative ideas are unusually welcome, where new theoretical approaches and scientific methods from other scientific disciplines are regularly incorporated into the study of social thinking and behavior, and where members of the discipline regularly question the social significance of their findings. In this ongoing critical self-assessment, most social psychologists are confident that their still-young science will continue revealing important insights into how we function as social creatures. Some of the milestones of the f ield are listed in table 1. Table 1 Some Milestones in the Field of Social Psychology The Dawning of a New Discipline and Early Years 1862: Wilhelm Wundt proposes that psychology establish human or social sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) to study the higher mental processes involving language, social practices and customs, religion, and art. 1897: Norman Triplett publishes the first scientific study of social behavior, on a topic that was later called social facilitation. 1900: Wundt publishes the first volume of what would become a classic 10-volume set of Và ¶lkerpsychologie (folk or social psychology) which analyzed a wide variety of social thought and behavior. 1908: Psychologist William McDougall and sociologist Edward Ross separately publish social psychology textbooks. 1920: Willy Hellpach founds the first Institute for Social Psychology in Germany. Hitler’s rise to power leads to the institute’s demise in 1933. 1924: Floyd Allport publishes the third social psychology text, clearly identifying the focus for the psychological branch of the discipline and covering many topics that are still studied today. 1925: Edward Bogardus develops the social distance scale to measure attitudes toward ethnic groups. Shortly, Louis Thurstone (1928) and Rensis Likert (1932) further advance attitude scale development. 1934: George Herbert Mead’s book Mind, Self, and Society is published, stressing the interaction between the self and others. The Coming-of-Age Years 1936: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues is founded. Muzafir Sherif publishes The Psychology of Social Norms, describing research on norm formation. 1939: John Dollard and his colleagues introduce the frustration-aggression hypothesis. 1941–1945: Social psychologists are recruited by the U.S. government for the war effort. Rapid Expansion Years 1949: Carl Hovland and his colleagues publish their first experiments on attitude change and persuasion. 1950: Theodor Adorno and his colleagues publish The Authoritarian Personality, which examines how extreme prejudice can be shaped by personality conflicts in childhood. 1951: Solomon Asch demonstrates conformity to false majority judgments. 1954: Gordon Allport publishes The Nature of Prejudice, which provides the framework for much of the future research on prejudice. Social psychologists provide key testimony in the U.S. Supreme Court desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. 1957: Leon Festinger publishes A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, emphasizing the need for consistency between cognition and behavior. 1958: Fritz Heider publishes The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, laying the groundwork for attribution theory. 1963: Stanley Milgram publishes his obedience research, demonstrating under what conditions people are likely to obey destructive authority figures. 1965: The Society of Experimental Social Psychology is founded. Edward Jones and Kenneth Davis publish their ideas on social perception, stimulating attribution and social cognition research. Rapid Expansion Years 1966: The European Association of Experimental Social Psychology is founded. Elaine (Walster) Hatfield and her colleagues publish the first studies of romantic attraction. 1968: John Darley and Bibb Latanà © present the bystander intervention model, explaining why people often do not help in emergencies. Crisis and Reassessment Years 1972: Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior, written by six influential attribution theorists, is published. Robert Wicklund and Shelley Duval publish Objective Self-Awareness Theory, describing how self-awareness influences cognition and behavior. 1974: The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) is founded. Sandra Bem develops the Bem Sex Role Inventory and Janet Spence and Robert Helmreich develop the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, both of which measure gender roles. 1981: Alice Eagly and her colleagues begin conducting meta-analyses of gender comparisons in social behavior, reopening the debate on gender differences. 1984: Susan Fiske and Shelly Taylor publish Social Cognition, summarizing theory and research on the social cognitive perspective in social psychology. The Expanding Global and Interdisciplinary View Years 1986: Richard Petty and John Cacioppo publish Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes, describing a dual-process model of persuasion. 1989: Jennifer Crocker and Brenda Major publish their Psychological Review article on â€Å"Social Stigma and Self-Esteem,† examining how people respond to being the targets of discrimination. 1991: Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama publish their Psychological Review article on how culture shapes the self. 1995: Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson publish â€Å"Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans† in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, presenting their research on how negative stereotypes can shape intellectual identity and performance. 1996: David Buss and Neal Malamuth publish Sex, Power, Conflict, an edited text offering evolutionary and feminist perspectives on sex and gender interactions. A growing number of social psychologists attempt to integrate these previously divergent perspectives. (Because the passage of time ultimately determines what events significantly shape a field, I will wait a few years before adding any more milestones to this list.)

Geography of the United Kingdom

Geography of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom (UK) is an island nation located in Western Europe. Its land area is made up of the island of Great Britain, part of the island of Ireland and many smaller nearby islands. The UK has coastlines along the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, and the North Sea. The UK is one of the worlds most developed nations and as such it has a global influence. Formation of the United Kingdom Much of the United Kingdoms history is known for the British Empire, its continuous worldwide trade and expansion that began as early as the end of the 14th century and the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. This article, however, focuses on the formation of the United Kingdom. The UK has a long history that consists of several different invasions, including a brief entry by the Romans in 55 B.C.E. In 1066 the UK area was part of the Norman Conquest, which aided in its cultural and political development. In 1282 the UK took over the independent Kingdom of Wales under Edward I and in 1301, his son, Edward II, was made the Prince of Wales in an effort to appease the Welsh people according to the United States Department of State. The oldest son of the British monarch is still given this title today. In 1536 England and Wales became an official union. In 1603, England and Scotland also came under the same rule when James VI succeeded Elizabeth I, his cousin, to become James I of England. A little over 100 years later in 1707, England and Scotland became unified as Great Britain. In the early 17th century Ireland became increasingly settled by people from Scotland and England and England sought control of the area (as it had for many centuries before). On January 1, 1801, a legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland took place and the region became known as the United Kingdom. However, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Ireland continuously fought for its independence. As a result in 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Irish Free State (which later became an independent republic. Northern Ireland however, remained a part of the UK which is today made up of that region as well as England, Scotland, and Wales. Government of the United Kingdom Today the United Kingdom is considered a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth realm. Its official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Great Britain includes England, Scotland, and Wales). The executive branch of the UKs government consists of a Chief of State (Queen Elizabeth II) and a head of government (a position filled by the Prime Minister). The legislative branch is made up of a bicameral Parliament consisting of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, while the UKs judicial branch includes the Supreme Court of the UK, the Senior Courts of England and Wales, Northern Irelands Court of Judicature and Scotlands Court of Session and High Court of the Justiciary. Economics and Land Use in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom has the third largest economy in Europe (behind Germany and France) and it is one of the worlds largest financial centers. The majority of the UKs economy is within the service and industrial sectors and agriculture jobs represent less than 2% of the workforce. The main industries of the UK are machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper products, food processing, textiles, and clothing. The agricultural products of the UK are cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables cattle, sheep, poultry and fish. Geography and Climate of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom is located in Western Europe to the northwest of France and between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Its capital and largest city is London, but other large cities are Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Edinburgh. The UK has a total area of 94,058 square miles (243,610 sq km). Much of the topography of the UK consists of rugged, undeveloped hills and low mountains but there are flat and gently rolling plains in the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. The highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis at 4,406 feet (1,343 m) and it is located in the northern UK in Scotland. The climate of the UK is considered temperate despite its latitude. Its climate is moderated by its maritime location and the Gulf Stream. However, the UK is known for being very cloudy and rainy throughout much of the year. The western parts of the country are wettest and also windy, while the eastern portions are drier and less windy. London, located in England in the south of the UK, has an average January low temperature of 36ËšF (2.4ËšC) and a July average temperature of 73ËšF (23ËšC). References Central Intelligence Agency. (6 April 2011). CIA - The World Factbook - United Kingdom. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html Infoplease.com. (n.d.). United Kingdom: History, Geography, Government, and Culture- Infoplease.com. Retrieved from: infoplease.com/ipa/A0108078.html United States Department of State. (14 December 2010). United Kingdom. Retrieved from: state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3846.htm Wikipedia.com. (16 April 2011). United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_kingdom