Working with Severe and Enduring Mental Health Problems Essay

Working with Severe and Enduring Mental Health Problems - Essay Example He grew up seeing his parents drink and often they would allow him have a taste of the drink at the tender age of 10. Jacob grew up in the city, in a poor neighborhood. His friends in school were mostly people who took alcohol or smoked cigarettes. As a result of interacting mainly with drunkards and smokers, he became very addicted to alcohol. Another factor that contributed to his addiction was that he felt that he was being discriminated against in school and in the neighborhood like his fellow African Americans. He could not perform well in class due to several social problems including poverty and racial discrimination prompting him to seek something that he could take to get relaxed, less nervous, to cheer up, and as a pass time activity. Jack admits to taking, on average, 500mls of spirit every day. Due to his drinking habit, he dropped out of college. He opted to get money to drink by doing odd jobs. Whenever he gets a job, usually casual, he starts well and shows a lot of de dication. However, every time he is paid, he loses focus taking time to drink and absenting himself from work. In the end, he has nothing to survive on leading to his stress and depression. Jack’s story is quite similar to that of many other alcohol addicts struggling with their addiction. He has relapsed countless times in his attempt to overcome addiction. In his current state, Jack is suffering from depression. He is often bored, tired, anxious, and feels sad. His concentration is low and his social life pathetic. Whenever he does not take a drink, Jack gets extremely nervous and experiences headache, his body shaking. Even without taking a drink, he hallucinates and walks as though he will drop with the very next step. People tend to avoid Jack and treat him harshly for being an addict, leading to his stigmatization. For him, getting a job is a nightmare; he seems weak with blood shot eyes that make others feel others a little uncomfortable in his presence. Coupled with h is racial background Jack feels greatly marginalized and disfavored. The community in which Jack lives is predominantly white. Although people sympathize with Jack’s situation, many feel that they can do very little, almost nothing to help him. Some people ask him to quit drinking at once, others ask him to reduce his consumption gradually. A few people have taken time to counsel him advising him to take responsibility and decide his destiny. Others, however, opt to buy him more alcohol especially when they need him to perform an odd job. While many people treat him with contempt and disrespect, a few consider him and treat him with dignity. In an attempt to help Jack overcome his addiction, I have encouraged him to do some physical exercises and to ensure that his mind is always occupied as suggested by Nash (2010). By exercising, his body will experience improved blood flow making him more relaxed and receptive to positive thoughts. I have encouraged him to pursue his desir e for a changed life, free of alcohol-related bondage. I have also encouraged jack to join an online support network so as to build his social life. I have also asked him to develop an interest for various activities of his choice so as to keep himself occupied. So as to avoid temptation, I have asked jack to avoid keeping alcohol at home. Instead, he should program himself to drink on plan, not as often as he feels like. In addition, I have introduced Jack to a self help group that caters for the needs of alcoholics and drug addicts. The potential barriers to Jack’s recovery include the attitude of the society regarding alcoholics and drug addicts. This goes hand in hand with discrimination, and stigma connected to mental sickness, which is certainly a value judgment as noted by Weinstein (2010). In some

Oncolytic Virus Therapy for Cancer

Oncolytic Virus Therapy for Cancer Abstract Interest of oncolytic virotherapy is mounting from over the past few decades for treating many kinds of malignancies. Despite oncolytic viruses attain many successes in cancer therapeutic era; they all have still challenges in their developments. The interaction between virulence factors of viruses, hosts immune defense system, microenvironments and tumour factors are the hazardous influences in their achievements of novelties. Currently, with the thanks of modern recombinant biotechnology, most of the oncolytic viruses are increasing their tumour selectivity and specificity. On the other hand, they reduce their efficacies on physiologically functioning cells. Furthermore, combinational therapies with traditional anti-cancer treatment regimes have also promising and relevance outcomes. In 2004, Chinese food and drug administration (FDA) approved first oncolytic virus in treatment of head and neck tumours. However, they have some still unsolved obstacles in proper cancer therapy. In m y paper, the current issues and future prospects of the oncolytic viruses are highlighted how to use as therapeutic weapons. Keywords: Oncolytic viruses; Oncolytic virotherapy; Cancer gene therapies; recombinant 1. Introduction Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally comprising 13% of all deaths (7.6 million deaths) in 2008. Although well established conventional therapies including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are existed, we still need new therapies and strategic plans. Local therapies such as surgery and radiotherapy have been limited in disseminated tumours. Likewise, chemotherapy has some intolerable adverse effects and sometimes, pre-existing chemo-sensitive tumours are resistance to chemotherapy after prolonged used. Thus, we really need certain promising therapies to handle these problems. Recent years, oncolytic virotherapy is uprising and promising for the various types of cancers. Ideology of virotherapy treating the malignancy has been introduced since early 20th century. However, since early oncolytic viruses were targeted not only tumour cells but also the normal cells, interest in the virotherapy was declined. Therefore, many trials related with such therapy were termi nated during the following decades. Late 1990s, interest of virotherapy was re-active with the advance of modern biotechnology. Today, concern of the virotherapy is high and it has the potential promises as a reasonable cancer treatment by itself or conjunction with other conventional therapies such as surgery, radio and/ or chemotherapy (synergic effect). Advance technology allows the development of oncolytic viruses which only effective on dividing cancer cells but not attack the normal dividing cells. There are generally two types of oncolytic viruses namely non-engineered (naturally occouring) and engineered agents. Both types may destroy the malignant cells without harming the normal cells. Generally, oncolytic viruses only infect and preferentially replicate within the cancer cells followed by lyses these cells. In recent years, many therapeutic virus candidates are emerging and testing their oncolytic prosperities with preclinical and clinical trials. Among them, adenovirus H101 was the first virus approved by C hinese food and drug administration (FDA) in 2004 as the adjuvant oncolytic virotherapy combined with pre-existing conventional chemo- and radiotherapy in the head and neck cancers. 2. Type of oncolytic viruses Oncolytic viruses are principally divided into 4 types according to their mechanisms of action. There are intrinsically tumour selective viruses, virulent gene deleted viruses, promoter inserted viruses and pseudotyped viruses. Genetic modified oncolytic viruses are manipulated whether insertion of the transgenes or deletion of the virulence genes. Naturally occouring tumour selective viruses are the viruses that are not genetically modified, direct targeting on the malignant cells. For instance, New castle disease virus, Vesicular stomatitis virus, Poliovirus and Reovirus are intrinsically tumour selective. However, affectivity is less due to depend on the natural strength of their lytic properties. Virulent gene deleted oncolytic viruses are more popular because their selectivity on target tumours are more specific without infectivity to normal ones. For example, herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, measles virus and vaccinia virus can be modified by deletion of their virulence protein coding genes. In addition, inserting of foreign genetic elements such as promoter region boost tumor specificity and selectivity of oncolytic viruses. Thus, tumour cells allow the replication of these viruses because only tumour cells can activate the promoter region of them. For example, prostate specific antigen (PSA) promoter inserted adenovirus CG7870 applies in prostate cancer and promising results were came out. Pesudotyped oncolytic viruses are modified with ligands which target tumour selective cell surface receptors. Therefore, they solely have their infectivity on malignant cells. (E.g. adenovirus delta 24RGD). Moreover, these viruses may reduce toxicity and dose requirement. 3. Characteristic features of standard oncolytic virus Since viruses can infect not only the malignant cells but also the functioning cells, oncolytic virotherapy is the critical therapy. Hence, safety and efficacy of the virotherapy are considerable issue and still challenging for further improvement. Potential oncolytic viruses are needed to confirm or compare whether they have real ideal characters of oncolytic virus or not. Standard characters of the oncolytic virus stated that (1) they only replicate within tumour with high multiplication rate, not on normal cells (2) less or no infectivity and virulence than their wild types (3) genetically stable so that mutations and recombination with other viruses are minimized for manufacturing and safety issues. DNA virus is more stable than RNA virus (4) can inactivated anytime with antiviral drugs or other mechanisms (5) considerable mass production (commercially available) can be possible with good manufacturing practices. Therefore, for development of virotherapy, all oncolytic viruses sh ould be fulfilled above criteria. Adenovirus and Herpes simplex virus (HSV) have high selectivity and specificity on tumour cells with massive replication rate of 1000 folds in 1st cycle. Besides, they are considerably stable whereas terminate anytime with their respective antiviral therapy (e.g. adenovirus is self-limiting and HSV is treated by acyclovir). 4. Tumour selective mechanism With the knowledge of the malignant cells molecular biology, oncolytic virotherapy can be created to attack the tumour cells selectively. Cancer cells undergo changes ranging from subtle point mutation to chromosomal instability. Inherent tumour selective viruses specifically attack the tumour cells by targeting the specific tumour promoting pathway of the malignant cells such as activated Ras and AKT pathway, defective interferon (IFN) pathway etc. RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) pathway is a natural process that inhibits viral protein synthesis. Physiologically, interferon (IFN) secreted from infected cells phosphorylates the PKR which subsequent phosphorylates eIF-2ÃŽ ±. Then, phosphorylated eIF-2ÃŽ ± interfere the oncolytic viral protein synthesis that require for their virulence. In contrast, Ras mutation and defective IFN in malignant cells disturbs the PKR pathway and favours the oncolytic virus activity. For instance, herpes simplex virus (HSV) containing neurovirulence gene ÃŽ ³34.5 that binds with intracellular phosphatase and dephosphorylates eIF-2ÃŽ ± allowing replication of HSV in both normal and tumour cells. However, deletion of this gene permits to replicate only in Ras mutated or interferon (IFN) defective cells. Controversially, recent finding suggested that ÃŽ ³34.5 deleted HSV can also replicate in PKR functional malignant cells. It is seen to be defects in PI-3 kinase pathway which favours translation of ÃŽ ³34.5 mutant HSV. Moreover, genetically modified adenovirus (dl331), VAI mutant strain, prefers to replicate only in tumour cells with Ras activation. Similarly, dl331 is also effective in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) associated tumours such as nasopharyngeal malignancy because Epstein-Barr virus expresses viral associated RNAs (VA RNAs) that defect PKR pathway. Many cancer cells over-express receptors for virus in high level. Thus, exploiting this mechanism, many oncolytic viruses are selectively homed in their specific malignant cells. For example, over-expression of intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and decay acceleration factor (DAF) in tumour favours to infect Coxsackie virus A21. Besides, Newcastle disease virus (NDV) binds sialic acid receptors. Alpha virus similarly uses heparin sulphate or ICAM-1 as its receptors. Both of them are highly express in tumor population. Therefore, these viruses are highly concentrated in tumour cells. 5. Immunogenicity of virotherapy Likewise as many other viruses, oncolytic viruses also stimulate and activate the body defense mechanisms including innate as well as adopted immunity. These viruses produce the viral proteins required for their replication within tumour cells. These proteins also stimulate the MHC class I gene to present it on the cellular surface of tumour cells as well as on the normal cells. MHC class I antigen was recognized by cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) or CD8+ cells which may destroy any cells representing MHC I antigens. Therefore, nature immunity allows eliminating both tumour and normal non-dividing cells. So, oncolytic viruses may also destroy normal cells apart from abnormal ones. An immune mechanism on the oncolytic viruses is one of the major constraints for developing modern virotherapy. However, to date, genetically modified viruses can only replicate and lyses p53 mutant cells. They cannot inactivate p53 gene of the normal host cells. p53 is functional and prevent replication of these viruses in the normal host cells. So, they are allowed their functions only in mutant tumour cells. 6. Conversion of oncogenic to oncolytic Many oncogenic viruses are potential to use as oncolytic therapy nowadays after genetically manipulation. Generally, 15-20% of the carcinogenesis is contributed by various kinds of oncogenic viruses such as herpes papilloma virus (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus etc. Reversely, these viruses can be changed to treat the malignancies by exploiting their lytic effects on the dividing cells. One of the classical examples is herpes simplex virus type 2 which is ongoing trials in many tumour cell lines by deleting its oncogenic genes coding thymidilase kinase or ribonucleotide reductase. Therefore, even tumourogenic agents can be used as oncolytic therapy by engineering their oncogenic gene components. 7. Novel oncolytic viruses 7.1. Adenovirus Adenovirus is interested in treatment of brain tumour especially in glioma multiforme. This tumour is never metastasized and contributed as single lesion. Moreover, it is almost resistance to systemic therapy because of blood-brain barrier and lack of cell mediated antigen drainage. However, fortunately, oncolytic viruses can replicate and spread within the tumour population since blood brain barrier create immune privileged site. In glioma cells, tumour suppressor gene (Rb) is inactivated and lack of expression. Taking this advantage, genetically modified adenoviruses are constructed by deletion of eight amino acids in Rb binding region of E1A protein. Therefore, they are unable to replicate in the normal cells because viruses cannot inactivate Rb gene of the functioning cells. But they can easily divide within the malignant cells owing to the lack of Rb protein. Additionally, adenoviruses induce autophagy in infected cells (malignant cells) through down-regulation of AKT/TOR pathwa y. Many genetically engineered adenoviruses are still on trials including in vitro and in vivo tests. ONYX-015 (dl1520) is a simple adenovirus lack of E1B 55K protein which do not replicate in the normal cells. So, they only express their functions in p53 mutant cells. In other word, their function does not work in p53 competent cells. Onyx-015 is a first oncolytic virus that has been approved by china FDA to treat the head and neck cancers especially refractory nasopharyngeal cancer combining with standard cisplatin based chemotherapy. Onyx-015 should be given intratumoural or peritumoural injection because of their side effects (e.g. flu-like syndrome). In addition, it showed 50% response rate observed in phase I and II clinical trials of pancreatic cancer. Recent studies found that Onyx-015 replication is not solely dependent on p53 function. Onyx-015 can replicate within some p53 competent cells whereas sometimes, cannot replicate even in mutant p53 cells. It may think to be reliable on E1B 55K independent nuclear late mRNA export of the tumour cells but not in functionally norma l cells. Besides, other co-founding effects should be considered. For example, increasing the temperature (fever, hyperthermia or drugs) promotes replication of E1B deficient adenovirus in the malignant cells rather than normal ones. dl250 mutant strain is engineered by deletion of E1B 19K which is homologue of Bcl-2 and also inhibits pro-apoptotic protein Bax. Functionally, Bcl-2 is the anti-apoptosis protein. Hence, deletion of E1B 19K leads to permit cell death in Bcl-2 over-expressed tumour cells. It may also reduce expression of anti-apoptosis proteins and various growth factors. This type of virus is more potent in anti-tumour activity than dl1520. Delta 24 (dl922-947) adenoviruses are genetically modifying agents which are deleted the gene related with virulence factors and upregulate the transcription elements sensitive to the transcription factors of tumour cells. E.g. Delta-24 is modified by deleting of 24 nucleotides (pRb binding region) in E1A gene so that it is unable to inactivate Rb gene in the normal cells. So, it can only effective in the malignant cells. Now, many studies promise that it has potent anti-tumor effect in glioma. E1A mutants are more superior in oncolysis than E1B strains in vivo and vitro. Besides, Delta-24 RGD is more efficient in treating the low CAR (coxsackie-adenovirus receptor) expression malignant cells such as glioma and bronchogenic carcinoma cells. 7.2. Herpes Simplex virus First herpes simplex virus (dlsptk) as an oncolytic agent is developed in 1991 that is deleted in thymine kinase (TK) genes required for nucleic acid metabolism. Lacking of this gene, Herpes Simplex virus (HSV) lose its ability of replication in the normal cells. Hence, HSV only prefer to infect the tumour cells. HSV is a primarily potential treatment in several paediatric cancers including brain tumours. So far, ÃŽ ³34.5 deleted HSV are tracking on the clinical trials. These all vectors directly target to the tumour cells by deletion of neurovirulant gene ÃŽ ³34.5 (30kb) which is not essential for replication of the malignant cells. G47Δ HSV virus is derived from G207 parent virus. They are constructed by deletion of both copies of ÃŽ ³34.5 gene (1kb) and deletion of 312bp in ICP47 gene increasing oncolyitc efficacy. Also, they promote MHC class I expression in the tumour cells enhancing the immunogenicity of these cells. G207 variant was completed phase I study in glioblastoma multiforme resulting with no serious side-effects. Similarly, HSV 1716 is a genetically engineered variant by manipulating HSV1 stain 17 and deleting both copies of neurovirulent gene, ÃŽ ³34.5. Pilot study has already completed in Metastatic melanoma. NV 1020 (R7020) stain is the chimeric recombinant of HSV 1 and 2 with deleting one copy of ÃŽ ³34.5 gene, UL24 and 56 genes. Originally, it is developed as HSV vaccination. However, recently, it is still ongoing phase II trial on hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer by direct infusion into the hepatic artery. OncoVEXTM is recombinant vector with deletion of ÃŽ ³34.5 gene as well as ICP47. Deletion of ÃŽ ³34.5 reduces intrinsic neuro-pathogenecity of HSV whereas ICP47 deletion restores MHC class I presentation. Additionally, insertion of GM-CSF gene stimulates immune response of the host to the tumour cells. Releasing of GM-CSF promotes recruitment of dendritic cells for tumour specific response. It promotes tumour specific antigen (TSA) expression as well. Thus, OncoVEXTM affects not only on local tumour but on metastases or distant tumours. Currently, OncoVEXTM improved loco-regional control of head and neck cancers combining with chemo-radiotherapy. Intralesional injection of OncoVEX GM-CSF is ongoing phase I trials on cutaneous metastases and melanomas although it has dose related limitation such as injection site inflammation. Another advantage is that it is able to carry large transgenes up to 150kb. It is the main advantage of these viruses using for oncolytic agent although they ma y produce neurotoxity at high doses, difficult cloning and reactivate latent herpes infection which are hidden in the nervous systems (Ganglions). 7.3. Newcastle disease virus Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is paramyxovirus containing single stranded RNA which causes Newcastle disease in avian (birds). Earliest NDV (73-T strain) has been started to use as a clinical trial oncolytic virus for cervical cancer in 1965. Based on their oncolytic properties, NDV is divided into lytic and non-lytic stains. Lytic strains direct lyses the targeted cells. Currently, 2 lytic strains of NDV are ongoing trials which are NDV-HUJ and PV701. Both are naturally occouring live attenuated viruses. As NDV-HUJ strain is a neurotropic virus, it applies in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Likewise, NDV-PV701 strain has effect on many types of tumours. Results of their trials have potential promising. One of the advantages of NDV is that it selectively replicates in the tumour cells, not on normal ones. When NDV has also studied in breast cancer patients neoadjuvant with chemotherapy, outcome was desirable with minimal adverse effects including fever, flu-like syndrome, hypotension etc. Occourance and severity of side effects is reduced in subsequent therapy due to development of NDV antibodies in patients serum. On the other hand, non-lytic strains disturb the malignant cell metabolisms leading to allow regression of the tumours. Common non-lytic strains include Ulster stain. NDV damages the malignant cells by either direct lysis of the cells, induction of cytokine production (Interferon, Tumour necrotic factor) or enhance apoptosis including both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. 72-T stain induces cytokine release while Ulster stain over-expresses the TRAIL receptors on tumour cells surface which may lead to apoptosis. 7.4. Mump virus and Simian virus Mump virus is the first paramyxovirus trying to treat in variety of human malignant cells. Vaccine strain 79 (S79) has potential promising oncolytic virus because S79 can only be infected to the cancer cells but not in normal ones. Studying in nude mice, mump virus demonstrated its tumour inhibition effect significantly. Simian virus is also a rubulavirus and among them, strain 5 can be genetically engineered as an oncolytic virus. This modified strain is able to attack several different cancer cell types significantly. 7.5. Vesicular stomatitis virus Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is only rhabdovirus potentially using in cancer therapy. VSV is a single stranded RNA virus considering for oncolytic therapy. Developing of the recombinant VSV virus in 1995, the role of VSV is amounting in virotherapy. In recent studies, genetically modified replication competent VSV prolonged survival of hapatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer and malignant melanoma. Oncolytic properties of VSV is more effective in type I interferon (IFN) resistance malignant cells. Tumour cells are defect in interferon (IFN) signaling pathways but activated in Ras -ERK pathway. However, VSV can also impact on the normal cells especially in high doses. Thus, early (prophylactic) interferon therapy is required concomitant with VSV virotherapy because interferon appears to prevent the viral replication within the normal cells. Using the advantage of replication within the interferon defect cells, recombinant VSV deltaM51 which is defective in M (matrix) protein (poin t mutation) was constructed. Matrix protein is the regulator protein that increases replication and transcription of the virus but blocks the host cells anti-viral mechanism. Studies showed that VSV deltaM51 strain has beneficial role in glioma cells xenografted nude mice. Furthermore, VSV shutdown the blood supply to the tumour leading to deprivation of oxygen and nutrients which may require for tumour growth. 7.6. Measles Measles as oncolytic therapy is more interesting since there was significant regression of Hodgkins lymphoma after infecting with measles virus. Resent study suggested that recombinant measles virus (Edmonston B strain) showed significant inhibition on xenograft SCID mice with human lymphoma cells. Next, Edmonston B stain specifically attracts CD 46 cell surface receptors that are highly expressed in human mesothelioma cells. Thus, this strain has highly attractive role in treatment of mesothelioma. In addition, engineered measles virus with interferon (IFN) ÃŽ ² gene inhibits tumour angiogenesis rather than parental strain. Despite most of the people previously encountered with measles infection or vaccination in their early life which may cause therapeutic failure, the evidence highlighted that replication of measles virus was taken place even in the immune individuals. It seems to be immunosuppression due to cancer itself or concurrent use of other anti-cancer therapies such as ra diotherapy, and (or) chemotherapy. 7.7. Poxvirus Vaccinia virus (VV) is the most potential candidate poxvirus utilized as virotherapy recently. This virus is genetically engineered by deletion of thymidine kinase genes like herpes simplex virus (HSV). For instance, JX-594 strain which is transfected with GM-CSF gene, displayed oncolytic activity in animal models. However, it may rarely affective in the normal cells. Most Vaccinia viruses kill the targeted malignant cells by apoptosis as well as traditional mechanisms. Myxoma virus, another poxvirus, is significantly effective on human glioma cancer cell lines. In addition, rapamycin (immunosuppressant) reinforced its oncolytic efficacy when using combination. 7.8. Togaviruses Togaviruses (Sindbis and Semliki Forest Virus) also show their potential roles in the oncolytic therapy. Sindbis virus (SIN) is an RNA virus that naturally infects human by mosquito bites. This virus binds with its receptors of 65kD (Laminin receptors) which are highly express on the tumor cells (tumour homing property). To take the advantage, Sindbis virus promotes considerably regression of the several tumor cell lines in vitro testing and xenograft SCID mice. In human study, it has promising effect on cervical and ovarian malignancies with minimal or no remarkable adverse effect on normal cells. Next, Semliki Forest Virus (SFV) may inoculate repeatedly without prominent immune response. Togaviruses favour as the oncolytic virotherapy agents due to their high replication rate, broad spectrum of host ranges, increase transgene expression and stable in blood stream. Apart from these viruses, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) is also a replication competent virus which is int eresting in certain circumstance of oncolytic therapy. 7.9. Retrovirus Gamma retrovirus (moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV)) may have effect on the tumour cells not in the non-dividing cells. So, it may safe as oncolysis. For instance, when U87 glioma xenografted nude mice were administrated with MoMLV, significant oncolytic result has been reported. These viruses are less effect on normal cells due to lack of nuclear transport of viral genome. Certainly, they cannot replicate well within non-dividing cells. In addition, modified MoMLV viruses expressing HSV thymidine kinase (TK) have synergistic effect on glioblastoma cells combining with ganciclovir (anti-viral agent for HSV). Another retrovirus such as fomy virus has also intrinsic oncolytic property. It is researched recently on glioma implanted nude mice. However, the result is still controversial.

Big Five Factor Model :: Psychology, Human Personality, Extraversion

Big Five Factor Model A model developed for using factor analysis to try to determine the key traits in human personality. Although trait theories were well established by the 1960s, there was no consensus concerning the number or nature of the traits that make up personality. Since then, further research has confirmed a basic five factor model of personality or ‘Big Five’ (Tomas 2007). This five factor structure has been replicated by Norma (1963), Borgatta (1964) and Digman and Takemoto-Chock (1981) in list derived from Cattle’s 35 variables (Lawrence &Oliver 2000). These scales are commonly alternatively represented by the OCEAN acronym Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion/Introversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. The Big Five structure captures, at a broad level of abstraction, commonalities among most of the existing systems of personality description, and provides an integrative descriptive model for personality research. (Oliver& Sanjay 1999) Economists are not alone in their interest in the description, prediction, and explanation of human behavior. Psychologists, too, have approached these challenges. Economists can profitably leverage research from psychology on the measurement, prediction, and malleability of personality traits organized in the widely accepted Big Five taxonomy. (Lex, Angela, James & Bas 2008) Extraversion Extraversion is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy eing with people, are full of energy, and often experience positive emotions. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented, individuals who are likely to say "Yes!" or "Let's go!" to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves. (Beaumont 2003) Openness to experience Openness to experience is a measure of depth, breadth and variability in a person's imagination And urge for experiences. The factor relates to intellect, openness to new ideas, cultural interests, educational aptitude and creativity as well as an interest in varied sensory and cognitive experiences. People with a high openness to experience have broad interests, are liberal and like novelty. The preservers with low openness to experience are conventional, conservative and prefer familiarity (Howard & Howard, 1995). Agreeableness The agreeableness linked to altruism, nurturance, caring and emotional support versus competitiveness, hostility, indifference, self-centeredness, spitefulness and jealousy (Howard & Howard, 1995). Conscientiousness Conscientiousness is a measure of goal-directed behavior and amount of control over impulses. Conscientiousness has been linked to educational achievement and particularly to the will to achieve. The focused person concentrates on a limited number of goals but strives hard to reach them, while the flexible person is more impulsive and easier to persuade from one task to another Heinstrà ¶m (2003).

How to Address Conflicts or Dilemmas Essay

1.1Describe potential conflicts or dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual`s rights. In our care work we mostly work with children and young people who may not have the ability to judge what is good for them and what is not. In those cases it is our responsibility and job as individuals and as a team to provide them what we judge is best for them. In some other cases they have the skills to get involved in the decisions and this can lead to conflicts and dilemmas. Potential conflicts between the service user and the care worker in our job role can arise from disagreeing in certain questions e.g. what is healthy to eat, what is not, what is more important when having a meal: quality or quantity, what activities or forms of entertainment (films, songs, etc.) are age-appropriate and/or mentally and emotionally adequate and so on. 1.2Describe how to manage risks associated with conflicts or dilemmas between an individual`s rights and the duty of care. If a conflict arises, I can never force a learner to do or not to do things unless the law or the School Policy allows me to (for example if they want to watch an age-inappropriate film, but in these cases I always have to refer to my line manager). What I can do if a conflict in these questions arises between me and the learner is to provide all the information about the risk carried by their decisions in a supportive, encouraging way, and then let them make their own choices. Every time when a conflict arises I should record what actions were taken to provide every source for the learner to make their own decision and what choice they made. I always should seek for advice at my line manager.

The Road

Why do you think McCarthy has chosen not to give his characters names? How do the generic labels of â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† affect the way you /readers relate to them? While reading The Road, a novel written by Cormac McCarthy, I was jerked from the warmth, comfort, and safety of my home and thrown into a cold, dark, and desolate world, walking alongside â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy†. McCarthy composes his work so graphically that readers are drawn right into the story.I believe Cormac McCarthy wanted the figures in this book to be universal, so that the reader could imagine him/her self as â€Å"the boy† or â€Å"the man† at any given moment, and to be able to feel as they do. To do this McCarthy did not designate the characters in his book with names, and because of this, I was able to connect with â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† on a personal level and envision myself uniting with them in their chilling journe y. As the reader, I was deeply overwhelmed with many mixed emotions such as compassion, sadness, happiness, disgust, remorse, and fear.I have pity for the characters in the book The Road, because â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† have to pass day to day struggling to survive in a frigid bleak world where food is scarce â€Å"They squatted in the road and ate rice and cold beans they’d cooked days ago. † â€Å"Already beginning to ferment. †(McCarthy 29). The landscape is blackened, and mankind is almost extinct â€Å"The mummied dead everywhere. †(McCarthy 24). As I read on I noticed myself connecting more deeply with the characters.When the boy’s mother takes her own life, I was deeply saddened and my heart broke for â€Å"the boy† simply because his mom, someone he cherished and loved so much, had given up on hope and faith and deserted him. I just wanted to take hold of the child and comfort him even though at this moment he has no clue his mother has left. I also felt sorry for â€Å"the man†, one, because he has to tell his child where his mother is â€Å"For the love of God woman. What am I to tell him? † (McCarthy 58), and two, because his love and best friend was in such despair and there was nothing he could do to impel her to stay.As a mother, in some ways, I also felt sorry for the mother in this book, because most women dream of the day she will have a child of her own to love, care for, and teach, but this mother had to give birth to her son after the great catastrophe, and instead of bringing her tears of happiness, it brought tears of sorrow. She now knows that she has to raise her son in this dark and barley habitable world and that it will be a constant struggle to survive. â€Å"My heart was ripped out of me the night he was born†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (McCarthy 57).On the other hand though, I am also disgusted with the mother for the one reason that she gave up, and now her family , especially her child, has to suffer the consequences due to her actions, but again, given that I put myself in her situation, would I do the same thing? While reading I also felt deep sadness in many parts, for one instance, when â€Å"the man† dies, at this point in the book I had tears streaming down my face. â€Å"He slept close to his father that night and held him but when he woke in the morning his father was cold and stiff. † â€Å"He sat there a long time weeping†¦ (McCarthy 281). â€Å"He knelt beside his father held his cold hand and said his name over and over again. †(McCarthy 281). At one part in the book, remorse, disgust, sadness, and compassion were the stirred emotions that hit me all t once. It was the time when a thief robs â€Å"the boy† while he is asleep on the beach. When â€Å"the boy† was first robbed I was angry and disgusted with the thief who had robbed a sleeping innocent child, I could never see myself doing th is especially in a situation where food is hard to come by and staying warm is almost impossible!When they finally catch up with the thief â€Å"the man† points the gun at him and threatens to shoot him. â€Å"The boy† is pleading with his father not to kill the thief. â€Å"The man† says to the thief â€Å"Take your clothes off. †(McCarthy 256). â€Å"Take them off every goddamn stitch. † (McCarthy 256). Eventually the thief is completely naked, â€Å"the boy† and the thief are begging â€Å"the man† not to do this, but the man looks at the thief and says â€Å"You didn’t mind doing it to us. †(McCarthy 257). Now I feel that the thief is getting what he deserves.When they leave the thief standing in the road â€Å"the boy† becomes extremely upset, â€Å"And They set out along south with the boy crying and looking back at the nude and saltlike creature standing there in the road shivering and hugging himself. â⠂¬  â€Å"Oh Papa, he sobbed. †(McCarthy 258). I am now starting to feel the compassion the boy has towards the thief â€Å"He was hungry, Papa. † â€Å"He’s going to die. †(McCarthy 259). They finally take the thief’s clothes back and pile them in the middle of the road and I am glad of this.Later as they were lying down at camp I believe the man was starting to feel guilty, and he spoke â€Å"I wasnt going to kill him, he said. † â€Å"But the boy didnt answer. † â€Å"They rolled themselves in the blankets and lay there in the dark. † â€Å"He could tell the boy was awake and after a while the boy said: but we did kill him. †(McCarthy 260). When â€Å"the boy† made this comment I felt deep remorse and disgust in myself for having felt so harshly toward the thief in the beginning.I also felt happiness and relief in this story when â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† found the underground shelter beh ind the house in the field, I felt as if I was there with them discovering the grand riches this den held! â€Å"Oh my God, he whispered. † â€Å"Oh my God. † â€Å"What is it Papa? † â€Å"Come down. † â€Å"Oh my God. † â€Å"Come down. † (McCarthy138). â€Å"Crate upon crate of canned goods. † â€Å"Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. † â€Å"Canned hams. † â€Å"Corned beef. † â€Å"Hundreds of gallons of water in ten gallon plastic jerry jugs. †(McCarthy 138).In this underground hideaway was everything they needed to survive. I was so overwhelmed with joy and comfort that I forgot for a moment about the cruel cold world above. During many portions of this novel I experienced also many sensations of fear. The most prominent passage is where â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† come across a house and both are vulnerable due to fatigue and starvation. â€Å"They’d had no food and littl e sleep in five days and in this condition on the outskirts of a small town they came upon a once grand house sited on a rise above the road†(McCarthy 105).As they start toward the house â€Å"the boy† becomes frightened and â€Å"the man† or father tries to reassure him that everything is okay and that they have to go inside. At this point I am feeling a little uneasy about the two entering the house. As they cross the porch â€Å"the boy† is trying to convince his father not to go inside, agreeing with the boy I imagine myself in his shoes and I am pleading for â€Å"the man† not to enter. â€Å"The man† is determined and tells the boy â€Å"We’ve got to find something to eat. † â€Å"We have no choice. †(McCarthy 106).When inside the home â€Å"the boy hung on to his hand. † â€Å"He was terrified. † (McCarthy 107). While investigating the house they come across a door in a room next to the kitchen that m ight have been considered a pantry at one time. â€Å"In the floor of this room was a door or hatch and it was locked with a large padlock made of stacked steel plates. †(McCarthy 108). â€Å"The boy† again tries to plead with his father to leave, and I again right along with him, but now my tension and curiosity is starting to rise a bit, wondering what is underneath this door. The man† believes there is a significant reason for this door being locked, so he makes his way to the tool shed â€Å"half dragging the child and went sorting through tools† (McCarthy 109). He retrieves a shovel, heads back into the house, and pry’s the door open. Now I am holding my breath just waiting for the outcome, good or bad, I do not know, but I am very anxious. â€Å"He started down he rough wooden steps. He ducked his head and then flicked the lighter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (McCarthy 110).â€Å"Coldness and Damp. † â€Å"An ungodly stench. † (McCarthy 110). What came next caught me completely off guard! Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. † â€Å"On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. † â€Å"The smell was hideous. † â€Å"Jesus, he whispered. †(McCarthy 110). Now I am in a complete state of shock, fear, and disgust. Unbelievable! All at once I am feeling the fear and shock of â€Å"the man†, â€Å"the boy†, and the mangled victims that have been terrorized, probably raped, eaten or at least half dismembered and eaten by the wicked and ruthless barbarians! Then one by one they turned and blinked in the pitiful light. † â€Å"Help us, they whispered. † â€Å"Please help us. †(McCarthy 110). My heart is now beginning to race. When they finally reach the top of this grave, â€Å"He shoved the boy through the hatch and sent him sp rawling. † â€Å"He stood and got hold of the door and swung it over and let it slam down and he turned to grab the boy but the boy had gotten up and was doing his little dance of terror. †(McCarthy 111).As if this horrific and vivid image engraved in my head was not enough, McCarthy immediately throws me into a sheer state of terror and panic. â€Å"†¦ the boy was pointing out the window and when he looked he went cold all over. † â€Å"Coming across the field toward the house were four bearded men and two women. † â€Å"He grabbed the boy by the hand. † â€Å"Christ, he said. † â€Å"Run. † â€Å"Run. † I had to literally set the book aside, go outdoors, calm down, and smoke a cigarette to calm my nerves. Finally my heart rate returned to normal and I picked up the book and continued to read.After I completed this part in the story and discovered that â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† had escaped I got up ch ecked on my children to reassure myself that they were asleep safe and warm in their bed, I quickly ran back through the house like a child with a sense of fear that something was going to jump out and grab me at any moment, I jumped in the bed got as close to my husband as possible and eventually drifted off to sleep. When I finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I was astonished at how deep I was able to connect with the characters and the fact that this book touched me as deeply as it did.It also made me think what if†¦? In reality if this were to happen would I have the courage and strength of â€Å"the man† and â€Å"the boy† or would I be like the mother as McCarthy states it â€Å" †¦a faithless slut†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (57), who has taken death as a new lover. Over all I personally believe that this novel was absolutely fantastic, even though I had nightmares for a few nights after I had completed the book. This just goes to show what a great writer McCarthy is, he touches his readers so deeply they even dream about his work. I would defiantly pick up this book and read it again just for fun. The Road The post-apocalyptic novel â€Å"The Road†, written by Cormac McCarthy was published in 2006. [1] It deals with the journey of a father together with his son, who try to reach the coast after America, its nature and civilisation has been destroyed by some catastrophe. Therefore some important issues are implied: travelling, fear of death, nuclear war, goodness, religion, cannibalism and of course the relationship between father and son. Maybe that is the reason why McCarthy dedicated the novel to his son: John Francis McCarthy. In 2007 McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this novel. 2] In 2009 the Novel was made into a film, also called â€Å"The Road† and directed by John Hillcoat. [3] There are some interesting aspects, regarding the similarities and differences between the novel and its cinematic adaptation. The Novel Cormac McCarthy tells the story of a journey, made by father and son. They survived a nuclear catastrophe, which is not described in detail and want to go south in order to reach the coast. They have a card in order to carry their habits. They hope for a humanitarian climate, nourishments and other peaceful survivors. Due to the apocalypse, they have to deal with a lot of trouble during their trip. In order to survive despite the lack of food, a lot of people became cannibals. Cannibalism is no option for the man and his son, because they belong to the good ones. Therefore they have to be carful who they trust and their search for food is more difficult. In addition they have to take care for their clothing, especially for their shoes because it is very cold since the catastrophe. [4] â€Å"Mostly he worried about their shoes. That and food. Always food. † (McCarthy, 2006: 17) [5] The most problematic aspect is the fathers task to raise his son under such circumstances without neglecting the sense of humanness. The world he knows was completely destroyed and there is no common childhood. The son has to cope with aspects like cannibalism and suicide very early. He also has to accept the circumstance, that his father is going to die sooner or later and that he needs to be able to live on his own when the time comes. His father tries to prepare him as good as he can. McCarthy tells the story among 287 pages. He uses 3rd person narration, where the narrator is omniscient, because he knows about thoughts, dreams and fears of the father and his son. His style of writing without chapters stresses the travel motive. It highlights the fact that the protagonists have to go on and on until they reach the coast and that there are no other important stages in between. Another important technique is the avoidance of names which means that both protagonists remain anonym. This technique highlights the aspect, that in case of a nuclear catastrophe, this scenario could happen to anyone. The father and his son serve as representatives for humankind. In addition there are no concrete names of places which indicates, that this scenario could not just happen to anyone, it could also happen anywhere in the world. There are two more aspects, which remain unclear. The first one is the fate of the mother. The book does not make clear what happened to her because for them, it does not matter. She is gone and that is all they need to know. Secondly there are no details mentioned when it comes to the catastrophe which also indicates that it is not important what happened. The man and his son are alive and so they have to challenge the circumstances, indifferent what caused them. â€Å"The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions. (†¦) A dull rose glow in the windowglas. (McCarthy, 2006: 52) McCarthy creates a very desperate imagery. His preferred chosen words are dark and sad. He uses short sentences, which guarantees that the novel is written in a minimal, but tough very closely style. [6] â€Å"No list of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one’s heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. † (McCarthy, 2006: 54) Even the dialogues between father and son or between them and strangers they met are very short. In addition there are a lot of details described, no matter if they are tolerable or hardly shocking. â€Å"They could smell something cooking. Let’s circle around, the man said. (†¦) They left their food cooking. (†¦) What is it? He said. What is it? The boy shook his head. Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the bay had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. † (McCarthy, 2006: 198) The two unnamed Protagonists The son is about 10 years old and was born after the catastrophe. That is why he does not know the world as it was before. He has although no childhood like one would think of. He has to grow up without his mom, knowing that his father will also fade away one day. Therefore he has to learn very much important skills in a short amount of time. He has no real toys and no other kids around him. In contrast he knows how to kill himself and feels responsible for his father, who became ill. It is important to say, that the son serves as a symbol for hope. â€Å"He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke. † (McCarthy, 2006: 5) Not only for his father, also for other people they met. For example Ely, the second stranger they met thought that he was an angel. Within the story the young boy grows from a child with a lot of questions and fears to a boy with a big sense of humanity, who knows a lot about the world he lives in and feels responsible for other people. â€Å"The man squatted and looked at him. I’m scared, he said. Do you understand? I’m scared. (†¦) You’re not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldn’t understand him. What? he aid. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one. † (McCarthy, 2006: 259) The father can be characterized as a reactor. Whenever it comes to violent actions he is just acting in self-defence. He knows the world as it has been before the catastrophe, and feels sorry for his son but he also knows that he can not hold the horror away from him. He faces the fact that his son h as to live on his own one day and that it is his job to make sure that he will be able to do so. Therefore he is distrustful when it comes to strangers. He always reminds his son to be less helpful and a bit more wary but often he does not succeed. In addition he is very ill and weak. The only reason why he is able to go on without committing suicide is his son. Everything he does is for him. â€Å"He held the boy close to him. So thin. My heart, he said. My heart. But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death. † (McCarthy, 2006: 29) Ending The ending of the novel is a happy one. They manage to reach the coast and the father dies in peace. After some days other survivors appear. There is another man, a woman and two other children, a boy and a girl. The boy talks to the man and makes clear that they belong to the good guys who â€Å"carry the fire†, which means that they do not kill and eat other people. After he made that clear, it is okay for him to go with them. Therefore the ending implies a new beginning, because it could be possible that the boy and the girl create descendants one day, which would be a first step to get a new population. â€Å"The woman when he saw him put her arms around him and held him. (†¦) I am so glad to see you. She would talk to him sometimes about God. He tried to talk to God but the best thing was to talk to his father and he did talk to him and he didn’t forget. † (McCarthy, 2006: 286) The Movie The movie â€Å"The Road† was published in 2009. John Hillcoat (Director) and Joe Penhall (Screenplay) produced a cinematic adaptation of the novel with the same title and story which takes 111 minutes. The role of the father is played by Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee plays the role of the son. [7] As already said, the story is almost the same. There are just a few changes within it. For example there are some flashbacks to the time before the catastrophe and shortly after it, when the mother was still alive. In addition there are some omissions because of details which would have been too shocking, like the passage with the infant corpse. [8] Despite those supplements and omissions Hillcoat and Penhall did a really good job. They managed it to copy the imagery of McCarthy’s special style of writing into the atmosphere of the film. Therefore they used a number of techniques. [9] The depressive and sad atmosphere is easily created by mostly grey and brown colours. Furthermore the film was produced in wintertime, when there automatically lies snow and the trees are without leaves. The film implies no ordinary scenery, because it is not a complex story. The contrast comes when the flashbacks to the time before the catastrophe are shown. The colours change into very intensive ones, it is summer and you always hear nice piano music. One could also argue that the piano serves as a symbol for the presence of the mother and for civilisation because it represents culture. When the father remembers his wife there is always piano music which accentuates the scenes. Later in the film he has to cut an old piano into pieces in order to get wood for a fire. This is a clear indication that he is angry with his wife because of her decision to commit suicide. Those scenes are different to the few passages about the mother in the book. She is not a big issue in the novel. Within the book the story is told by an omniscient 3rd person narrator. In the cinematic adaptation the man tells the story. This is a contrast to the book, where the actions, feelings and thoughts of the man are part of the narration. On the one hand one could argue that this contrast is problematic because in the end the father is going to die and the way of narration could be too personal. But on the other hand Hillcoat and Penhall had to choose someone who tells the story and they had no other opportunity if they want to have the option of flashbacks and omniscience. According to the protagonists there is one other existing difference. In the book the boy seems to accept his fate and tries to make the best out of it. He grows up very fast and is rather adulty than childish. In the film he collects some artefacts like a broken comb of his mother, wears her clothes and also has a few toys. He is often scared and cries when he is. All in all, the boy is played like a child and not as grown up as he is described in the book. The overlapping aspect is the importance of â€Å"to carry the fire†. He is always asking if someone carries the fire, which means not to kill other people and disregard morality and values. The biggest difference between the novel and its cinematic adaptation is the ending. In the book it is described as a happy end. The father dies, the son meets another family who also carries the fire and can go with them. In addition the family has a daughter, which means that there is a new beginning for civilisation implied. This procedure is the same at the end of the film but there are some details which change the situation. Firstly the thumbs of the veteran are missing or garbled. That was also the case when they met the thief who has stolen their cart with all their goods. Those missing fingers can lead to the suggestion that he had been a member of a cannibalism commune. This would also fit to the question why a family should voluntary incorporate another hungry child. In fact there is no food left and every additional person is a risk at the same time. One also has to remember that they have a dog in the movie, which is pure luxury according to the circumstances they live in. According to those details there are two possibilities: either they are just as friendly and careful as the boy and it is an act of charity, or they see their chance in getting extra food without killing someone of their family or group. Novel or Movie? In my opinion both works are really great. I like the novel of McCarthy very much because of his style of writing and the atmosphere within the story. The dialogues are short, concise and therefore fit totally in. In addition the characters with their actions, thoughts, feelings and dreams as well as the ending of the story are simply realistic. There are some differences when it comes to the cinematic adaptation but those are no reasons for regarding the film as inferior. As already said, I think that Hillcoat and Penhall did a great job because it must have been very hard to transport McCarthy’s style of writing into a movie. What I like most is the ending of the film. It is less clear than in the book and every viewer can decide which option seems to be more realistic. I think the interpretation of the ending refers to ones personal character traits. If the viewer is as prudent, distrusting and sometimes hopeless like the father he will maybe be more likely to see it critical. In contrast a viewer who is as optimistic as the son will probably see the details as unimportant and therefore recognize the ending as a happy end, like the one of the book. This opportunity of individual interpretation is a great aspect of the movie.Bibliography McCarthy, Comac. The Road. New York: Vintage Books, 2006 http://www.buecher.de/shop/krimi–thriller/the-road/mccarthy-cormac/products_products/detail/prod_id/22749892/session/0c16e28341622398e76f09549b0dc89c/ (23.02.2012) http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/works/theroad.htm (23.02.2012) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/ (23.02.2012) http://sweetcheese.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/41jilx9r0rl_ss500_.jpg (23.02.2012) http://quaterlyconversation.com/the-road-by-cormac-mccarthy-review (23.02.2012) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/ (25.02.2012) Movie: â€Å"The Road†, Universum Film GmbH: 2009 http://www.beyondhollywood.com/the-road-2008-movie-images-gallery/the-road-movie/ (25.02.2012)

U.S. Economic Crisis 2008 essayEssay Writing Service

U.S. Economic Crisis 2008 essayEssay Writing Service U.S. Economic Crisis 2008 essay U.S. Economic Crisis 2008 essayThe global financial crisis, which started from the problems in the US mortgage market in 2007, consequently gradually spread throughout the world. Sale of assets and withdrawal of funds from other countries by large US corporations led first to a lack of liquidity and credit resources in the financial markets, and then to the problems in the real economy. Many of EU states that pursued an active policy of integration into the world economy have become no exception.Thus, for the first two weeks of January 2008 the European DJ Euro Stoxx Banks stock index fell by about 10% (Agarwal Samanta, 2014). According to Eurostat published in February 2009, industrial production in the EU in 2008 decreased by 11.5%, which is an absolute record: this was the biggest fall since 1986 (Stiglitz, 2010). Despite the fact that the official end of the global economic crisis is considered the second quarter of 2009, the average economic activity in the euro zonerecovered b y about 2/3 compared with losses of 2008-2009 (Choi, 2013). Indeed, the constant growth of the fiscal deficit and public debt in the US, accompanying government measures to rescue the national economy, marked the beginning of a prolonged global debt crisis with the cumulative effects and, according to Agarwal and Samanta (2014), the second recession began in 2011 and continues to this day.In general, most recently in the markets the concerns have increased about prospects for the world economy in the face of growing interdependence in the global market.Especially in light of the persistence of debt problems in the euro zone and the lack of specific solutions, as well as a marked slowdown of the US economy, which fuels the rumors that the Federal Reserve will have to take new measures to stimulate it (Stiglitz, 2010; Choi, 2013). However, the massive printing of money to save the demand, to support the economy and reduce unemployment postpones the problem, but no longer removes it: l iquidity ceased to transform into economic growth. Moreover, today experts (Agarwal Samanta, 2014) consider obvious that the economic measures of international monetary and financial regulation are almost completely exhausted, while the West has not developed any political agenda to prevent the global crisis. In particular, the failure of regulatory role of institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank causes great concerns, as well as the dependence of markets on the actions of the US Federal Reserve, which back in the 1990’s, in fact, turned intothe institute of influence on the global economy having no authority from the other actors in the world politics.In addition, the global crisis has moved from financial to social and political phase. The American version of the socio-political and economic protest had milder forms and expressed mainly in the electoral behavior, unlike the EU countries, where dissatisfaction resulted in street demonstrat ions. Thus, in November 2010 by-election to the US Congress brought success to Republicans striking the positions of the Democratic Party and the Obama administration. Democrats are did not lose the Senate, but kept minimal advantage over Republicans in it. The president had less room for maneuvering. In the meantime, social protest and indignation surge swept Germany, France, Italy and Greece; in the latter, for example, the main â€Å"sore spot† of Europe, the country’s GDP has not grownsince the first quarter of 2010 (Choi, 2013). Because of the crisis, in October 2009, Greece held early parliamentary elections thatbrought the Socialists to power. Political changes also occurred the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and a number of other states.Against this background, a kind of pause occurred in international relations. Its main features were the refusal of the US, the EU and Russia from the activity in the field of international political relations. However, judgi ng by the events in the Arab world, there are signs that the economic and socio-political manifestations of the crisis are accompanied bycertain features of the international political destruction in the form of growing threats of new interventionism. However, the changes initiated by the crisis impact on the quality and content of modern democracy, revealing its limitations and lack of flexibility of the dominant political institutions. In addition, the crisis distinctly demonstrates the gap between elite groups from the general population.Thus, in the current phase of the cycle, on the one hand, the methods of state regulation are being modified and enhanced, on the other hand, the transformation of neo-liberalism. At the same time, processes of degradation of political institutions are now mostly noticeable, as the new model of global development and democracy has not yet emerged.

Reproductive Technology essays

Reproductive Technology essays The natural method of reproduction has become only one of many new techniques used today. There are millions of couples that do not have the ability to reproduce on their own because of infertility and therefore, must resort to these new techniques. The main causes of infertility are that of hormonal malfunctions and anatomical abnormalities. There are many ethical debates on whether artificial means of reproduction should be used, and this will be discussed throughout the paper. There are a number of reproduction-aiding technologies, which are widely used all over the world, and one being artificial insemination. This is a relatively simple and old method, where semen is mechanically introduced into the vagina near the cervix. There are two types of artificial insemination: AIH (sperm actually belongs to the husband), and AID (sperm belongs to a sperm donor). AID has a 60% success rate, which is very good. Another reproduction-aiding technology is, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), whereby so-called test-tube babies are conceived. The egg and sperm are collected from the male and female of a couple, and are then mixed outside the body, usually in a glass dish. If all goes well, fertilization will occur within 24 hours after the sperm and egg are mixed. Two days after fertilization, the fertilized egg develops into an embryo, and is then inserted into the womens uterus. This is a very complex procedure, because care must be taken to make sure the egg and spe rm survive in the outside environment. The success rates for IVF range from 15-20%, and the cost for each attempt is $10,000. Another technique, which is also widely used, is surrogate motherhood. This technique is used when the female of the married couple is either unable to produce eggs or unable to carry a pregnancy. The surrogate mother has the sperm of the male in the married couple artificially inseminated, or the married couple will go through IVF, and the fertili...

The Bakufu Ruled Japan for Nearly 700 Years

The Bakufu Ruled Japan for Nearly 700 Years The bakufu was  the military government of Japan between 1192 and 1868, headed by the shogun. Prior to 1192,  the bakufu- also known as shogonate- was responsible only for warfare and policing and was firmly subordinate to the imperial court. Over the centuries, however, the bakufus powers expanded, and it became, effectively, the ruler of Japan for nearly 700 years. Kamakura Period Saurai protecting royal carriage durring the Burning of the Sanjo Palace. Corbis / VCG  / Getty Images Beginning with the Kamakura bakufu in 1192, shoguns ruled Japan while emperors  were mere figureheads.The key figure in the period, which lasted until 1333, was  Minamoto Yoritomo, who ruled from 1192 to 1199 from his family seat at Kamakura, about 30 miles south of Tokyo. During this time, Japanese warlords claimed power from the hereditary monarchy and their scholar-courtiers, giving the samurai warriors- and their lords- ultimate control of the country. Society, too, changed radically, and a new  feudal system  emerged. The Ashikaga Shogonate After years of civil strife, precipitated by the invasion of the Mongols in the late 1200s,  Ashikaga Takauji  overthrew the Kamakura bakufu and  established his own shogunate in Kyoto in 1336.  The Ashikaga bakufu-   or shogonate- ruled  Japan until 1573. Ahsikaga Takauji. æâ€" ¥Ã¦Å" ¬Ã¨ ªÅ¾: ä ¸ Ã¦ËœÅ½ / Public domain /   Wikimedia Commons   However, it was not a strong central governing force, and in fact, the Ashikaga bakufu witnessed the rise of powerful daimyo  all around the country. These regional lords reigned over their domains with very little interference from the  bakufu in Kyoto. Tokugawa Shoguns Toward the end of the Ashikaga bakufu,  and for years thereafter, Japan suffered through nearly 100 years of civil war, fueled mainly by the increasing power of the daimyo. Indeed, the civil war was sparked by the ruling bakufus struggle to bring the warring  daimyo back under central control. Tokugawa Ieyasu. KanÃ…  TanyÃ… « / Public domain / Wikimedia Common In 1603, however, Tokugawa Ieyasu completed this task and established the Tokugawa shogunate- or bakufu- which would rule in the emperors name for 265 years. Life in Tokugawa Japan was peaceful but heavily controlled by the shogunal government, but after a century of chaotic warfare, the peace was a much-needed respite. Fall of the Bakufu When U.S.Commodore Matthew Perry  steamed into Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in 1853 and demanded that  Tokugawa Japan  allow foreign powers access to trade, he unwittingly sparked a chain of events that led to Japans rise as a modern imperial power and the fall of the bakufu. Japans political elites realized that the U.S. and other countries were ahead of Japan in terms of military technology and felt threatened by western imperialism. After all, powerful  Qing China  had been brought to its knees by Britain just 14 years earlier in the  First Opium War  and would soon lose the Second Opium War as well. Meiji Restoration Rather than suffer a similar fate, some of Japans elites sought to close the doors even tighter against foreign influence, but the more foresighted began to plan a modernization drive. They felt that it was important to have a strong emperor at the center of Japans political organization to project Japanese power and fend off Western imperialism. As a result, in 1868, the Meiji Restoration extinguished the bakufus authority and returned political power to the emperor. And, nearly 700 years of Japanese rule by the bakufu  came to a sudden end.

The impact of Lean and Six Sigma management in the departments of Dissertation

The impact of Lean and Six Sigma management in the departments of Radiology of NHS Hospital - Dissertation Example ther Research 30 Bibliography 31 Appendix 34 Information and Consent form 34 Page Is Intentionally Left Blank Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction This chapter focuses on acquainting the reader with relevant information related to the study. The chapter ensures that the reader is able to identify the study topic and gets background information on the same. The content of the chapter includes research area, research aim, justification for research, research objectives, research questions, and the structure of the dissertation. The chapter also introduces the reader to Lean and Six Sigma management and its benefits in NHS hospitals. 1.2 Research Area The impact of Lean and Six Sigma within the departments of Radiology in NHS Hospitals. 1.3 Research Aim The main aim of this research was to assess how radiology departments of Queens Medical Centre (QMC) and Nottingham City hospitals have adopted and implemented Lean and Six Sigma management in their operations. The research also focu sed on evaluating the impact of Lean and Six Sigma management style in the radiology department. When evaluating the impact of Lean and Six Sigma management on QMC and City Hospitals, the research considered factors such as waiting times and financial impacts. This is because these factors are critical towards attainment of quality and efficiency in performance of various functions in the hospitals. Moreover, financial impact determines the ability of the hospitals to adopt Lean and Six Sigma management style. 1.4 Justification of Research QMC and City Hospitals have been at the forefront in the provision of health services and information to British citizens. Since the initiation of these hospitals, they have had several drastic changes. Some of these changes include adoption and... The paper focuses on identifying theory and concepts, which exists in the field of Lean and Six Sigma management within the healthcare industry. This chapter also focuses on identifying the origin, the tools and techniques, and the current level of Six Sigma implementation within NHS hospitals and healthcare industry at large. The information gathered from the literature review will contribute significantly towards making of effective conclusions on Lean and Six Sigma management in NHS Hospitals. The healthcare industry is a vast web of contradiction and complexity. It has focused on the provision of astounding advances in treatment and technology. However, this industry is a victim of resource constraints, errors, inefficiencies and several other issues, which are a threat to safety and accessibility of patient care safety. The Institute of Medicine, in 2008, released a report, which indicated that over 98,000 people die annually due to medical errors. This report highlighted a need for effective, quality improvement within the healthcare industry. Financial concern has become a factor, which influence the efficiency of operation of healthcare institutions. This is because the cost of supplies and labour has constantly increased in healthcare organisations while the reimbursements have declined effectively. Therefore, two areas are necessary in order to increase savings for healthcare organisations. These areas are reduction of supplies and labour costs. On the other hand, healthcare organisations are facing a shortage of qualified professionals, registered radiologic technologists, and registered nurses.

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Literature Review - Essay Example Every year, companies incur a lot of undue cost just because of the slackness of employees despite the thoughtfully constructed performance appraisal systems in place. This paper explores reasons why performance appraisal systems may not be the best way to judge an employee’s abilities by conducting a thorough analysis of the workers’ needs and the various factors that influence their competence in the workplace. A lot of studies have conventionally been done to identify the factors affecting workers’ performance. However, this review will be limited to the discussion about the validity of performance appraisal systems. A lot of factors influence a worker’s performance that include but are not limited to job satisfaction, job security, allowances offered at the job, time of work, duration of work, relationship with peers, organizational structure, organizational culture, social interaction, accommodation, association with family and distance from the famil y. These and many other factors like them have a great impact on the motivation of a worker. The performance of a worker is fundamentally governed by his/her competence. Therefore, in order to study the impact of appraisal on the performance of an individual, it is customary to study the factors that influence the individual’s competence. According to Stern and Kemp (2004), competency is the product of an individual’s skill, motivation and personality traits. Various theories have been proposed at different points in time to identify the factors that play a decisive role in motivating an individual in the workplace. One of such theories that is discussed most frequently is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, as the name implies, consists of a set of needs that are staged in order of priority. The following diagram depicts all stages that accommodate the hierarchical order of needs identified by Maslow: Maslowâ⠂¬â„¢s Hierarchy of Needs (Chapman, 2010). There are basically five stages of needs. The biological and physiological needs which include such things as air, water and food form the most basic needs. Life is not possible without the fulfillment of these needs. Next come the safety needs. All humans need safety and protection. Unless their safety is ensured, workers can not put in their best effort because of the resulting psychological upsets. In the present age, job security has become a big problem all over the world. Because of the economic recession, employees are being fired in large numbers and the companies are being down sized. This is a potential threat to the safety of workers, so performance appraisals can not be considered valid system for the assessment of the workers’ capabilities with such job insecurity. After getting secure, a worker wants his love and belongingness needs fulfilled. Quite often, people have to live away from their home because of work, and he nce, do not get a chance to meet the family quite often. Many employees try to fulfill their love and belongingness needs by interacting with the colleagues. However, not many are successful because all employees share common interests in the context of an organization, and hence, many develop grudges particularly as one of the employees gains more status and reward as

Strategic Marketing Product Mix and New Product Development Strategies Essay

Strategic Marketing Product Mix and New Product Development Strategies - Essay Example The Pepsi Company already has a lot of products including business ties with Lipton Iced Tea, but that doesn't stop them from creating more new products. After the production of more than four hundred products you can't say that The Pepsi Company will stop creating new products or new drinks, that's not going to happen, not if they want to maintain to be the number one non-alcoholic beverage company in the world, not if their top competitors such as Coca Cola and Cadbury Schweppes are still around. (Hoover's.com) So, the idea of developing of another product is very much possible. And a creation of a new product, coffee for example, The Pepsi Company would like to create a new product line like coffee. This new product would require new machineries for the coffee beans and the skilled people in the coffee industry. With the development of a coffee brand of in the Pepsi Company, the organizational structure of the production division would be changed. For example the employees from ot her department that has the "know how" to operate the coffee machines would be "repositioned" into the coffee department. Therefore, this would create a great deal of transferees of department within the organizational structure. ... tion objectives of marketers to market the new Pepsi products, the use of internet, advertising campaign, sales promotion and sponsorship must be implemented as the IMC tools. The use of these IMC tools may help Pepsi Cola to communicate with the other target segment. For example, with the popularity of the Internet ever increasing, it has now become one of the most common ways of doing business: e-commerce. Through the Internet the Pepsi product will emerge quickly because Internet acts a shop window for many businesses today, this will also allow consumers to view the different features Pepsi products, its contents in terms of minerals and vitamins or purchase the product features and unique benefits online. In addition, the Internet can also be used as a marketing tool, in meaning on a purely promoting the products, which will aim to result in a more sales from other distribution channels. The rationale for choosing this channel is that Internet can help target consumers worldwide not only on the market and this could be a great opportunity to be develop and in order for consumer quickly recognized the product. Herein, the entire campaign element must be integrated in order to achieve the desirable marketing communication objectives. Consumer does not separate or divide advertising, sales promotion, sponsorship and internet as marketing communications techniques. They tend to receive the messages from various sources and buildup either favourable or unfavourable image of Pepsi products. As far as they are concerned, the source of the message is unimportant. What they will be concerned with is the content of the message and to what degree the brand promise is actually delivered (Fill & Yeshin, 2001). Basically, all campaign activities lead down to marketing

The Worship Of Goddesses And The Place Of Women In Hinduism Essay

The Worship Of Goddesses And The Place Of Women In Hinduism - Essay Example It is worth to note that unlike other religious faiths like Islam, Christianity among others, Hinduism attach a lot of significances to the female . Their inherent belief in the goddess puts them at a relatively better position when it comes to gender parity in religious activities participation. It would be strange to note that in most religious groups give women less important roles as they are considered lesser beings. This is contrary to the Hinduism that has a long standing history of a strong belief in the goddess. Critical analysis of the Hinduism faith gives an insight into the significance of religion in the overall cultural organization of any society . It is notable that the better part of the lifestyle and way of doing things among the members of this faith is derived from their deep rooted religious doctrines . Within the tenets of their tradition is involvement of women in the worship process and continued belief in existence of supreme God and goddess. Several scholarly works indicates that in the Hindu mythology there are both gods and goddesses. The divine, Ardhanarishvara, is drawn as half man and half woman. The right side is Shiva and the left side is Pavarati. The purpose of the drawing is to show that the divine consist of both a male and a female side and that these two are equally important. This can be seen as a starting point for equality between men and women which at least recognize the place of women in this society as compared to other faiths3. In ancient India, women oc cupied a very important position, in fact a superior position to, men. It is a culture whose only words for strength and power are feminine -"Shakti'' means "power'' and "strength.'' All male power comes from the feminine. Literary evidence suggests that kings and towns were destroyed because a single woman was wronged by the state. For example, Valmiki's Ramayana teaches us that Ravana and his entire clan was wiped out because he abducted Sita4. Veda Vyasa's Mahabharatha teaches us that all the Kauravas were killed because they humiliated Draupadi in public. Elango Adigal's Sillapathigaram teaches us Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas was burnt because Pandyan Nedunchezhiyan mistakenly killed her husband on theft charges. It can therefore be seen that the female occupy a recognizable position in the family and the community at large. In Vedic times women and men were equal as far as education and religion was concerned. Women participated in the public sacrifices alongside men. On e text mentions a female rishi Visvara. Some Vedic hymns, are attributed to women such as Apala, the daughter of Atri, Ghosa, the daughter of Kaksivant or Indrani, the wife of Indra. Apparently in early Vedic times women also received the sacred thread and could study the Vedas 5. The Haritasmrti mentions a class of women called brahmavadinis who remained unmarried and spent their lives in study and ritual. Panini's distinction between arcarya (a lady teacher) and acaryani (a teacher's wife), and upadhyaya (a woman preceptor) and upadhyayani ( a preceptor's wife) indicates that women at that time could not only be students but also teachers of sacred lore. He mentions the names of several noteworthy women scholars of the past such as Kathi, Kalapi, and Bahvici. The Upanishads refer to several women philosophers, who disputed with their male colleagues such as Vacaknavi, who challenged Yajnavalkya 6. The Rig Veda also refers to women engaged in warfare. One queen Bispala is mentioned , and even as late a witness as Megasthenes (fifth century B.C. E.) mentions

Criminal Rehabilitation Risk Assessment Instruments Essay

Criminal Rehabilitation Risk Assessment Instruments - Essay Example The process can be understood as the continuous process to ensure the evaluation of risk in the fast changing environment in different situations like operations, so that appropriate control measures could be implemented in way that it ensures the acceptable level for safety. The following report is based on enhancements that have taken place in such models, how these instruments work, what is required, what is the current level, and the different instruments are discussed. Risk Assessment Tools: The risk is basically calculated and measured before the dynamic situation, and after and during the process of the operations. The critical aspect is measured in order to weigh the benefits that are to be achieved with the risk that are being associated with the different stages of the activity. The entire process is based on the saying â€Å"think before you act rather than act before you think.† There are several factors which distinguish the dynamic risk assessment from other risk assessment processes; such factors are (Tullett, 2010): Unpredictable and unseen risks The risk environment changes on the rapid pace Enables the individual to judge the risk The approach is also varied, it provides with the persistent and personal approach towards the evaluation of risk There are several different tools that are being used in order to assess the risks that are being associated with those who conduct criminal activities called offenders. These tools are basically used in order to measure the probability of persons getting back into the society. By using these tools we can identify which offender is vulnerable to which extent of risk and is in need of intervention. The assessment tools that are used for this purpose also specify the service that is needed in order to organize the evaluation. The different tools that are being used these days are (Landers, 2011): Screening: The tool used for supervising the community screening is normally called the CSST, and it is b eing used many states. The core reason to use this tool is to focus on the low risk offenders, and using this tool helps the agencies to spend lesser amounts of money on the low risk offenders, so that their focus and attention do not get diverted and they can work on major projects. Using this tool, the agencies are able to handle the low risk offenders. This tool works on the four basic principles by providing the agencies better way to handle such situations. These principle categories are the number of criminal acts, current employment, drug access, and relationships with criminal associates. This screening tool is being used for both genders who are involved in low risk offenses (Bateman, 2006). Psychological: There are many institutes who are using this practice in order to conduct the evaluation of the offenders by psychological testing done through interviews. After treatment, the psychologist may recommend the offender continuethe treatment or may also plan a new schedule f or such offenders. In some cases the treatment is started from the very beginning, at the intake of such persons who are involved in crime. Intake is itself a process to make the criminal individual ready for the treatment program after the arrival at the facility. This tool helps the institute to realize the intensity and the magnitude of the offender to be treated and also enables the creation of the appropriate

Norwalk Agreement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Norwalk Agreement - Essay Example The FASB sets the accounting standards in the US, while the IASB performs a parallel function on an international level. Subsequently, the FASB and the IASB met on several occasions to reaffirm their commitment to the earlier agreement. This they did so in April and October of 2005 and on February 27, 2006 reconvened for the purpose of drafting a blueprint of convergence between the FASB’s GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and the IASB’s IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), to be implemented between 2006 and 2008 (Gibson 65). Short-term topics were laid out on the table subject to examination by both or individually by either of the parties as well as major topics. In July 2007, performance reporting was tackled where a proposal to change the layout of the face of financial statements was made. Recent events, such SEC’s announcement of acceptance of IFRS in lieu of GAAP and an agreement signed by Bush allowing use of IFRS instead of G AAP, show a likelihood of adoption of a substantially modified IFRS and the elimination of the US GAAP (Gibson 65; Fletcher 1-4). References: (2002) The Norwalk Agreement. Fletcher, Leslie. Update on the Norwalk Agreement: Progress Towards IFRS?GAAP Harmonization. 29 October 2009.

Criminal Rehabilitation Risk Assessment Instruments Essay

Criminal Rehabilitation Risk Assessment Instruments - Essay Example The process can be understood as the continuous process to ensure the evaluation of risk in the fast changing environment in different situations like operations, so that appropriate control measures could be implemented in way that it ensures the acceptable level for safety. The following report is based on enhancements that have taken place in such models, how these instruments work, what is required, what is the current level, and the different instruments are discussed. Risk Assessment Tools: The risk is basically calculated and measured before the dynamic situation, and after and during the process of the operations. The critical aspect is measured in order to weigh the benefits that are to be achieved with the risk that are being associated with the different stages of the activity. The entire process is based on the saying â€Å"think before you act rather than act before you think.† There are several factors which distinguish the dynamic risk assessment from other risk assessment processes; such factors are (Tullett, 2010): Unpredictable and unseen risks The risk environment changes on the rapid pace Enables the individual to judge the risk The approach is also varied, it provides with the persistent and personal approach towards the evaluation of risk There are several different tools that are being used in order to assess the risks that are being associated with those who conduct criminal activities called offenders. These tools are basically used in order to measure the probability of persons getting back into the society. By using these tools we can identify which offender is vulnerable to which extent of risk and is in need of intervention. The assessment tools that are used for this purpose also specify the service that is needed in order to organize the evaluation. The different tools that are being used these days are (Landers, 2011): Screening: The tool used for supervising the community screening is normally called the CSST, and it is b eing used many states. The core reason to use this tool is to focus on the low risk offenders, and using this tool helps the agencies to spend lesser amounts of money on the low risk offenders, so that their focus and attention do not get diverted and they can work on major projects. Using this tool, the agencies are able to handle the low risk offenders. This tool works on the four basic principles by providing the agencies better way to handle such situations. These principle categories are the number of criminal acts, current employment, drug access, and relationships with criminal associates. This screening tool is being used for both genders who are involved in low risk offenses (Bateman, 2006). Psychological: There are many institutes who are using this practice in order to conduct the evaluation of the offenders by psychological testing done through interviews. After treatment, the psychologist may recommend the offender continuethe treatment or may also plan a new schedule f or such offenders. In some cases the treatment is started from the very beginning, at the intake of such persons who are involved in crime. Intake is itself a process to make the criminal individual ready for the treatment program after the arrival at the facility. This tool helps the institute to realize the intensity and the magnitude of the offender to be treated and also enables the creation of the appropriate

Business Research and Analysis- design an experiment on starbucks Paper

Business and Analysis- design an experiment on starbucks - Research Paper Example Company managers with this orientation strive to make their products the best and for continuous improvement. An experiment, specifically a blind two-group experimental taste test, will be conducted to find out whose latte has superior taste. The research questions are: 1. Does a Starbucks latte taste better than a McDonald latte? 2. Does a Starbucks latte taste better than a Dunkin Donuts latte? The taste test is an example of a sensory test, in which the instruments for investigation are the senses themselves (Liedtke, et al., 2005). Many such tests have been conducted. Some examples are: 1. Gunnarsdottir and Thorsdittor’s (2010) study on the effect of food packaging on the perceived taste of healthy food by children; 2. Urdan and Urdan’s (2001) experimental analysis on the effect of brand name and taste on consumers’ buying intentions; 3. Studies that assess the taste and off-taste in drinking water by using quantitative taste and odor measurements compared wi th threshold numbers to evaluate compliance with government regulations (DWI, 2002); and 4. A comparison of taste test ratings after repeated consumption of different strengths of iced tea (Vickers and Holton, 1998). The experiment will involve a blind two-group experimental design, like those used for clinical drug trials. ... Ha: A Starbucks latte tastes better than a Dunkin Donuts latte. Method Participants Though Starbucks has long insisted that it does not market to children, the young population is often seen drinking their beverages (Linn, 2007). Stratified, quota sampling will be employed. There will be six sets of sixty participants each, totaling 360 participants, stratified by age (11-19; 20-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50-59; 60 and up), where each set will have 30 males and 30 females, to control for age and sex, factors for which taste norms have not been determined (Moretz, 2006). Participants will be randomly assigned to a control group or intervention group by computer-generated randomization schedule, where each group will equal thirty participants, with equal numbers of male and female participants and stratified by age. This process is blinded, so that participants will not know their group assignment. Participants will be recruited through advertisements in the newspapers. They will be informed of their full rights and compensation and will be asked to sign consent forms. Research ethics shall be strictly followed. Interventions The control group will be given three cups (fifteen ounces each) of Starbucks latte. The intervention group will be given one cup (fifteen ounces) each of a Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts latte. Administration of cups will be rotated. Both groups will be asked to rate each cup on a five-point scale (very good, good, neutral, bad, very bad). Both descriptive and inferential statistics will be employed upon analysis of results. Variables and Controls The dependent variable is the perception/measurement of taste of the lattes. The independent variable is the brand of latte, i.e. Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Dunkin

Video Games and Gender

Video Games and Gender The origin of video games is very different from their use today. The earliest innovation in video games is the invention of the idea itself. The idea of having an fast changing or moving objects on a display that a person could interact with. This idea resulted in the game OXO or Naught and Crosses made by Alexander S. Douglas in 1949 for his Ph.D. thesis on human and computer interaction in the University of Cambridge. The machine utilized a cathode ray tube as its display unit. (Winter, 1998) OXO however did not have moving images or video rather it was a set series of tubes that lit up in accordance to the rest of the machine and programming. (Winter, 1998) The idea of using a computer and a display device was again visited upon in 1958 by William Higinbotham using an oscilloscope and an analog computer, thus Tennis for Two was born. The game was simple, the 5 inch oscilloscope displayed a game of tennis which was controlled two players, each with their own controllers and the objective was to keep the relay going as long as possible. The aim of this invention was to liven up the Brookhaven Nuclear Research Laboratory exhibit and nothing more. The device was dismantled in 1959. (Nowak, 2008) Early video games were developed for the sake of innovation. The inventors who made them did not market them as consumer products; rather they were showcases on what the current technology at the time could do. It was in 1971 when Nolan Bushnell made the arcade game called Computer Space where the video game as an industry started. What made this arcade game different was it included a coin slot which meant it was a pay to play machine. It was, however released to a very limited audience because the machine was only available to universities and corporations which had the necessary hardware to run the arcade machine. It was not until 1972 that video games became widespread among the population with PONG. Research Questions and Objectives The aim of this research is to find out the affect of video games on the gender gap or to be more precise: how video games increase the gender gap. What are the factors that help increase this perceived division among the sexes? Do males and females truly have different interests in video games? Significance of the Study Video games are one of the most prolific forms of media today; therefore, just like any other form of media, it ought to be studied. This has a particular relevance to the youth who on average play video games the most. Gamers or those who consider themselves hardcore video game players will find that their favorite pastimes are more complex that they thought and will expand their perspective. Parents who buy games for their children will also find studies on video games to be helpful as it will help them gain a better idea on the said topic. Perhaps the one are most likely to take notice of this are the video game developers who have to power to incorporate the content of such studies in their development of future games. Scope and Limitations This research will be limited to the topic under study that is, video games and the perceived widening of the gender gap that they cause. For this study, young adults of any gender in the age range of 20 to 30 years old as it is believed that this is a stage where many are likely to play video games and be aware of what they think. As for the video games, there will minimal emphasis on the genres and name of the games. Although they have significance, the content and target audience of the video games will be the priority. Because this is a quantitative study of the topic, in-depth interviews and experiments are not going to be tackled. Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature As Bryce and Rutter note, the most frequently advanced argument concerning the gendered nature of computer gaming relates to the representation and consumption of game content. In this study, boys as well as girls in the school students group were confident and experienced users of the Sims, with its emphasis on the traditionally feminine sphere of domestic space, although they used that space differently, in ways reflective of Jenkins distinction between risk taking and care taking (Beavis, 2005). It suggested that while there were clearly practices that good gamers utilized to develop expertise, specifically gendered practices could not so easily be identified. Rather, players investment in specific games, and their attitudes to themselves as successful or disinterested games players, shaped the ways in which they approached the games and used them in broader contexts of identity construction and display. In seeking to understand more about the ways in which young peoples out of school learnings and experiences around computer games might be utilized in the curriculum using ICTs in ways hospitable to both boys and girls, it is important to attend not just to the practices on display, but to issues of identity, purpose and social context in order to promote interest, flexibility and expertise. The study of young male and female gamers across these two very specific sites underlines the socially situated nature of play, in relation to both classroom and games activity. where relationships, contexts and purposes flowing across both on and offline play shape the practices entailed in the students discussion and activities, and the ways they engage with each other and the games. Understandings drawn from the observation of successful girl gamers suggest expertise is not just a matter of specific skills, strategies and familiarity, but is more broadly located within the complex dynamics of in- and out-of-school discourses and contexts that need to be factored in to the construction of gender-equitable pedagogy and curriculum (Beavis, 2005) In relation to future English curriculum and technology, the study suggested ways forward in implementing the study and utilization of technology. It lends support to the need to focus not just on texts and technology per se, but also on the ways in which these are used and aligned with the major adolescent project of identity. This study suggests the need to attend more broadly to such matters in considering how we might plan curriculum across the school that most usefully supports all students to become critical and effective users of technology. In playing computer games, young people are making use of ICTs for their own purposes, in complex and pleasurable ways. Computer games are an important aspect of what Sefton-Green describes as a wider ecology of education where schools, home, playtime, the library and museum all play a part . As such, they are a valuable site for exploring the ways in which new and older forms of literacy and multimodality combine, changing understandings of what constitutes text and engagement and providing insights into the highly effective learning principles incorporated into games as an essential precondition of commercial success and play. However, as Facer and others point out, much games research, while identifying the power of games and play to generate motivation or hard fun fails to recognize the social contexts in which games, fun and learning take place. They focus on the characteristics of the activity itself, on design issues, rather than on the players experience, attitudes and interests. As social geographers Soja, Skelton and Valentine Holloway and Valentine suggest, context and location play an important role both in the construction of meaning and the formation of identity and community, for young people as for others. It is not helpful to over generalize about games and gender regardless of the widespread temptation to do so. Citing Haraway on the need for a politics of location, Ang argues for a particularistic perspective for research into gender and media consumption. She asserts the fundamental instability of the role of gender in media consumption practice and the impossibility of assuming pre-articulated gender identities. Gendered practices, she argues, are shaped at the site of interaction with media technologies, with both gender and media consumption both needing to be problematized. As Charles have argued elsewhere, Angs observations suggest that gendered identities do not simply pre-exist the act and location of game play. Rather, they are actively formed and constituted through particular instances of game play in particular contexts. These two sites then, provided very different but particular instances in which to explore the ways in which the boys, girls and young women in our study engaged with computer games, and the meanings both the games and their involvement with them had for them. With the school students, we were very aware of the heightened artificiality of the research site. Even for those students who played computer games at home, the presence of games in the classroom, hitched to curricular activities and purposes, was likely to change important aspects of their reading and play. We were conscious of the ways in which texts and purposes often change when appropriated for institutional purposes, and the powerful effects of location on both reading and identity, consistent with the socially situated nature of literacy practices. During interviews and observations of the students, we found both continuities and contradictions between the ways they played and presented themselves during the classroom lessons and what they told us of their game playing and leisure preferences and activities at their friends places and at home. In the case of the young women in the Counterstrike clan at the internet cafà © there was less dissonance between the research site and the interviews, and a closer approximation to a more natural ethnographic study was possible. An argument often made is computer culture (and by extension, computer software) could be positively transformed through the integration of girls and womens insights (AAUW, 2000,). Our research seeks to test this assumption. If the assumption is true, then the gender of a software designer in a setting where she can express her true perspectives and preferences would be expected to have a measurable impact on her design process and/or her design outcome. The proposition should be tested. If we document that gender of the designer does influence the software design outcome, this compelling result could help motivate the computer industry to integrate girls and women onto their teams. It would also advance our understanding of the impact of gender on design. The often proposed solution of involving more women and girls in game design assumes that game designers create games which are appealing to themselves. The expectation that girl-designed games will appeal more to girls than boy-designed games presumes that by growing up girl, or growing up boy, a designer embodies some kind of implicit understanding of what appeals not just to themselves, but to their gender and this will naturally be reflected in the designs they create (Heeter,2004). . Considerable research has been conducted on girls and games, including amount of game play by gender, genre and play style preferences, spatial orientation gender differences, and a variety of recommendations of what girl-friendly games should be like. These studies often conclude with a call to involve more women in game design. But the presumption that doing so will result in games which appeal to girls has not been tested. Issues of girls and their gaming preferences are explored through observations of computer games sessions at an all-girl state school. What emerged is that preferences are alterable, and site specific. Gaming selections relate to the attributes of particular games but they also depend on a players recognition of these attributes and the pleasures they entail. Players accumulate these competencies and they are an assemblage, made up of past experiences, and subject to situation and context (Carr,2005). So, what computer games do girls like? The answer is that it depends. Socialization may well play its part, yet our gaming preferences will also depend on where we are, what we know, who we know, what weve tried, and what weve grown tired of. Distinctions in taste between male and female players reflect patterns in games access and consumption that spring from (very) gendered cultural and social practices. As this suggests, accounts of gaming preference need to be situated within a framework that incorporates reference to players previous access to games and existing gaming knowledge. Gaming preferences need to be conceptualized within a paradigm that can accommodate mobility, increment, learning and alteration. Different people will accumulate particular gaming skills, knowledge and frames of reference, according to the patterns of access and peer culture they encounter and these accumulations will pool as predispositions, and manifest as preferences. Familiarity and competence feed into a players experiences of gaming, partly determining the pleasures that he or she will expect, recognize and access, and thereby impacting on preferences that might be expressed as a result. Preferences are an assemblage, made up of past access and positive experiences, and subject to situation and context. The constituents of preference (such as access) are shaped by gender and, as a result, gaming preferences manifest along gendered lines. It is not difficult to generate data that will indicate that gendered tastes exist, but it is short sighted to divorce such preferences from the various practices that form them. To attribute gaming tastes directly, solely or primarily to an individual subjects gender, is to risk underestimating the complexities of both subjectivity and preference. The constituents of preference, such as access, are certainly shaped by gender. As a result, gaming preferences may manifest along gendered lines. It is not difficult to generate data indicating that gendered tastes exist, but it is short sighted to divorce these outcomes from the various practices that contribute to their formation. So, what computer games do girls like? The answer is that it depends. Socialization may well play its part, yet our gaming preferences will also depend on where we are, what we know, who we know, what weve tried, and what weve grown tired of. Distinctions in taste between male and female players reflect patterns in games access and consumption that spring from (very) gendered cultural and social practices. As this suggests, accounts of gaming preference need to be situated within a framework that incorporates reference to players previous access to games and existing gaming knowledge. Gaming preferences need to be conceptualized within a paradigm that can accommodate mobility, increment, learning and alteration. Different people will accumulate particular gaming skills, knowledge and frames of reference, according to the patterns of access and peer culture they encounter and these accumulations will pool as predispositions, and manifest as preferences. Familiarity and competence feed into a players experiences of gaming, partly determining the pleasures that he or she will expect, recognize and access, and thereby impacting on preferences that might be expressed as a result. Preferences are an assemblage, made up of past access and positive experiences, and subject to situation and context. The constituents of preference (such as access) are shaped by gender and, as a result, gaming preferences manifest along gendered lines. It is not difficult to generate data that will indicate that gendered tastes exist, but it is short sighted to divorce such preferences from the various practices that form them. To attribute gaming tastes directly, solely or primarily to an individual subjects gender, is to risk underestimating the complexities of both subjectivity and preference. Given that computer gaming is routinely claimed to be more popular and more frequently engaged in by males, it is seems a reasonable extrapolation that the activities and practices which constitute computer gaming are also gendered. Indeed, these are the activities which define computer gaming as a social practice. It is the negotiated experiences of everyday gaming which give a reality to game texts and realise the socially situated nature of gaming activities. The gendering of gaming experiences is, in part, related to perceptions of gendered game content and notions of gender roles and appropriate leisure activities. It has been suggested that females are more affiliative and nurturing, preferring leisure activities which have a stronger social aspect. This, when linked to a general (but largely empirically unsupported) perception that gaming is not a social activity, but a solitary activity for male nerds or geeks, seems to quite neatly offer a model for understanding gendered gaming. However, such an argument is essentialist and circular in nature, ignoring the actual negotiation and resistance which occurs within gaming strategies. This raises two issues which relate to the gendering of computer gaming: firstly access and participation in gaming activity is restricted and exclusion is experienced at a local level. Secondly, that exclusion creates expectations of rejection which, together with the identification of gaming as a male activity, discourages women from attempting to enter into gaming practices or associating themselves with being a gamer. Indeed comparative studies of the frequency of gaming in males and females may also reflect a lack of self-identification as a gamer by females who may perceive themselves as casual or infrequent gamers who have a more casual commitment to the activity. While neither of the propositions outlined are inaccurate, the circular relationship argued to exist between them does not offer a position for gamers and researchers to examine the origins of, or a means to break out of the cycle. Indeed, as was previously argued, when we look at gaming developments there is little doubt that computer gaming is an increasingly social and public leisure activity and one that is cross-gender. This is highlighted by the development of gaming communities and networks. It is apparent that gaming practices are undergoing rapid social and technical changes and at the same time it is noticeable that gendered perceptions of gaming are changing. This is demonstrated by groups such as grrl gamers, female online gaming clans and web communities, all of which have been successfully discussed elsewhere. This is not a phenomenon unique to gaming and is consistent with the increased participation of females in other leisure activities which have been previously perceived to be male (e.g., football, rugby and extreme sports). In such activities female players and gamers are not only seeking parity with male counterparts, but are adopting and enacting oppositional stances to categoriZations of gender appropriateness, access to leisure activities and consumption. Although we do not wish to argue in a Fiskean sense that all gaming is an act of political challenge, it is possible to understand female gaming within a context of resistance to the constraints placed on female leisure in contemporary society. This is most clear in areas where visible female participation in masculine leisure activities challenges dominant gender stereotypes Crucially however, it is not necessary to look towards spectacular acts of opposition or web-based presentations of the self to see evidence of the gendering of gaming activities and the routine exclusion of female gamers. Schott Horrell successfully begin to unravel the routine and everyday manner in which gaming is negotiated in domestic settings. They demonstrate how even in homes in which the gaming machine belongs to a female member of the family it is fathers, brothers or cousins who take control of the technology as part of what they claim to be support or collaborative play Access to the technology and the gaming is controlled by the male player who assumes the role of expert by interpolating the female gamer into a subordinate role. The technology and its use creates an environment in which girl gamers are reproduced as not being skilled or technological competent enough to compete with the boys. Such behaviour reproduces the perception of computer gaming as a masculine activity and its relationship to its technological nature. Indeed it has been effectively argued that technology incorporates masculine culture and as such excludes females through the promotion of the idea of female technological inferiority and the gendering of technological artIfacts Given that such technologies are central to computer gaming practices and activities, their perception as masculine is a vital, but often ignored, aspect of the gendering of gaming. Like the experience of gendered spaces it is a form of gendered exclusion which is experienced, negotiated and reproduced at a routine and everyday level and further contributes to the lack of visibility of the female gamer. This critical evaluation of the gendering of computer gaming suggests that despite evidence of the gendering of activities and spaces associated with computer gaming, there is growing evidence that females do play computer games and this may be altering the perception of this activity as masculine. This may also provide a means of challenging the dominant view of female technological inferiority by changing gendered perceptions of technological abilities. This places emphasis on the ability to use technological skills and knowledge whilst emphasising competition in a variety of leisure spaces. The negotiation and reconstruction of gender identities through computer gaming is consistent with the notion of leisure spaces and activities as sites of resistance to dominant concepts of masculinity and femininity. Chapter 3 Conceptual Framework In the toy industry, manufacturers maintain that, once sexual difference kicks in after three years old, they are only responding to what the child market wants they are not creating a gendered demand, it is simply out there. All the many efforts that the toy industry has made to sell cross-gender toys and so find new markets have failed. Most do not even get to market. Cars as people who speak have held no appeal to girls, even if dolls in the sense of action figures have always appealed to boys. Electronic toys have little appeal to girls. Girls prefer pink and purple, boys prefer black orange, red and silver. We might wish otherwise, but these are the facts. Yet in recent years, the rise of feminine values has, still more than the rise in female employment, brought about a modest convergence between male and female roles in UK society. Aleks Krotoski is not alone in recognising that the same computer games can now appeal to both sexes even if Sheri Rainer Greys capture of the term gender inclusive for the computer games industry leaves a little to be desired (if gender inclusive, then why not our old friend, Unisex?). Nevertheless, the differences between games for women and games for men appear enduring ones. Computer games figure hardly, if at all, in the work of prominent feminists such as the late Andrea Dworkin, or Catherine MacKinnon. Yet in putting forward the view that pornography is the same thing as male violence, these authors have probably had a subtle influence on feminist thinking about computer games. No matter how great the take-up of games among girls and women, the continuing tastelessness of many masculine games is seen misanthropically as an enduring sign that mens horrid, aggressive lust for power, and indeed mens lust, will always be with us. People see human nature as the one exception to todays endlessly alleged world of accelerating change. Yet today human nature is more protean than it ever has been. Some sex differences will always endure, being biologically founded; but many will not, having social roots. Much that might endure turns out not to. Computer games dont transform teenagers into monsters. Yet they do involve, and will involve, a modest augmentation of our faculties. With his usual hyperbole, Sunday Times philosopher Brian Apple yard says that games are ontological prosthetics, artificial extensions into alternate conditions of being, independent of our rotting carcasses. 215 Still, games are indeed a small part of the extended human mind today. They do contribute to transformations in what it means to be human. Neither nurture in the sense of the parenting and schooling of children, nor nature as explained by the new disciplines of neurology and evolutionary psychology, can fully account for those transformations. In this sense, the answer to Q1 are the differences between men and women around the making and use of computer games to do with culture or biology? is simple enough. The differences that exist are not set in stone. References to culture and biology as direct and proximate causes of these differences fail to grasp this. They have more in common with description than explanation. Chapter 4 Method This is a qualitative/quantitative study. The descriptive research method was used for this thesis. The descriptive research design studies what is. It is a plan, structure and strategy so conceived in order to get answers to research questions or problems. It is a write-up of existing events, situation or phenomenon. It also involves description of classification and enumeration of collated data (Rebustes and Salvador, 2006). The descriptive research design also seeks to determine relationships between variables, explores causes of phenomena, tests hypotheses, and develops generalizations, principles or theories on the basis of its findings. While its primary concern are conditions and things which exist at the time of the study, it also considers past events and influences which are deemed related to what is studied in the present (Ardales, 2008). For this research, a survey will distributed via questionnaires to a population of about fifty persons. Alongside this survey, an online survey will also be done; a population of at least twenty is expected. The Instrument and the Data Gathering Procedure The researcher used primary sources in gathering the data. This was undertaken by preparing a survey questionnaire. To assist the researcher in validating the sources, information were sourced from newspapers, journals, digests, books, and the Internet. The researcher used a self-made but literature-based survey questionnaire to gather primary data. The questionnaire includes items that apply a 5-point Likert scale to gather the numerical equivalent of the responses. . Statistical Treatment of Data The data were counted, tabulated and analyzed. The statistical treatment of data were frequency, percentage and mean. Frequency Percentage % = n / N x 100 where: % = percentage n = number of classification n = total number of respondent Mean à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ f x s TM = N where: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ = Summation f = frequency in each scale s = scale of response N = total number of respondent Video Games and Gender Video Games and Gender Playing online game help reinforce gendered identities A case studies in women playing Audition Online game in Vietnam Introduction The apparent of â€Å"gendered space† in video gaming give the attention to both researcher and game makers, creating considerable and conflicting perspectives on its cause and strategies to address it. Before that, the gamer developers just concentrate to create the games for men and forgot that we have a big market segment is women. In many games, we can see most of characters are men and woman have unimportant role in these games. Despite game online began in Vietnam in 2000s, with growing numbers of games for both men and women, gaming continues to be a very â€Å"gendered practice†. Women play more online â€Å"casual† games such as The Sims. The same product like The Sims launched in 2006 created a big â€Å"echo† and has remained a position until now. The development of woman game is an indispensable rule when male market was not a fertile land. In this essay, the researcher will chose Audition Online to be a genre, and this research aim is analyzin g internet users to finding how they (game players) reinforce their identities in the online world. The game is Audition Online 2 Rhythm of life (Vietnamese: Nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹p Ä ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡u Cuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢c Sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng), is a downloadable  multiplayer online casualrhythm game (MMORGs), This game is the first online music in Vietnam with a play based on the control characters represent hip hop dance music on the popular music of Vietnam and the world is remade style dance music. Gender and gendered space It is the fact that the terminology within gender theory literature varies, it is important to define the terms used. It is first vital to establish the difference between gender and sex. According to Renzetti Curran (2003), â€Å"a biological given, sex (i.e., maleness or femaleness) is used as the basis for constructing a social category that we call gender (i.e., man or woman).†; Gender socially generated attributes and behaviors, usually organized in a binary, dichotomously as masculinity and femininity (follow, Behrmann, 2011). Genderrefers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. To put it another way: Male and female are sex categories, while masculine and feminine are gender categories (WHO, 2014). In the Anthropology of Apace and Place, Low and Lawrence-Zuniga (2003) offer us the following definition of gendered spaces – â€Å"particular locales that cultures invest with gendered meanings, sites in which sex-differentiated practices occur, or settings that are used strategically to inform identity and produce and reproduce asymmetrical gender relation of power and authority† (flow Adelman Moraes, 2008, p. 107). Gendered space separate women from knowledge used by men to produce and reproduce and privilege. (Spain, 1992, p. 3) Method This essay use documentary analysis method. The data is secondary data come from many resources, such as: books, book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising, theater, informal conversation, or really any occurrence of communicative language (Bowen, 2009). Robson (2002) pointed out the advantage is that documents are unobtrusive and can be used without imposing on participants; they can be checked and re-checked for reliability. Audition is distinctive in its open-endless, offering players a majority variety of potential gaming character styles, Audition offered a particularly useful for exploring how gender how gender might have influenced the women’s orientations and practices within the games (information about the game, see http://au.vtc.vn) The Figured World of Audition – Small society of Audition Audition online allow players create and develop character by selecting attributes at beginning and throughout the game marking choices the dance style and fashion. The game officially begins with four locations: Discotheque (Broadcasting Station) where you compete with other players via the vibrant dance. Shop Shopping (Shopping Mall) where you buy music or, or choose costumes and other accessories idiosyncratic. Cafe (Cafe) where you meet and get acquainted with the other partner through the chat system. Home (My Home) where you practice, hone the spectacular dance moves, personalized avatars and the stage itself. In certain respects, it is similar to Audition popular simulation game The Sims. The girl will certainly enjoyed his return home (My Home) after each show to open separate room or decorate the house according to your individual interests, and personalization stage and avatar. If you do not want to dance anymore, you can visit cafes to communicate, make friends with other members. When you have found the dancer having the same level, you will have more confidence to back new Discotheque where you can performances in double dance or dance group. Store (Shopping Mall) is not only a place for the girl love to shop but also a place for the boy proved dating level with the partner. There are two fields to choose from Music and Fashion. Music is the place where you can listen to and buy music for their own collections, while fashion is where the purchase of costumes for the characters. In addition to the usual items bought by Den (online money), you can buy some goods especially in Cash. Yo u can rent (1 week, 1 month) or permanent purchase items with Cash. In addition, you can also gift (with the purchase of this item) to another player mode Gift box. Players can choose the gender of the character, the physical elements like height, size breakdown, hair color, face, eye color. Players also choose outfits and design their own home. Players can shape their own kind of dance they participate by choosing halls and rooms of different competitions. Join in the dance room, depending on the type of dance class and you will receive experience points and Den (game currency), respectively.Experience point helps you level up to gain access to the level is higher, the higher challenges as well as adding new songs.Den help players improve accessories for character, create a difficult style of character. Building new identity as newbie player Some researchers have focused on the opportunities that video gaming provides for experimenting with new identities, identities that might challenge dominant conceptions of gender roles. The way that each woman oriented toward Audition as a gamer were clearly influenced by the ways that she had come to understand herself clearly and her identity in the past. In this section, I will discuss several aspects of their game experience: their initial creation of physical appearance, how the game seemed to encourage exploration of new identities within the games. Graner (2004, follow Hayes, 2007) suggested three main factors about gender differences in gaming of women include: (1) woman want to achieve something socially significant and beneficial, (2) women want errors delete and to continue in the game, (3) women prefer observe model game play. Firstly, newbies showed quite different orientations to learning how to play the game, providing good examples of the diverse ways that new gamers might orient to game play (Hayes, 2007). While Audition is open-ended, it does have a series of quests that move the player central storyline, that of developing player identity as icon fashion and dancer. For some players, the success in the game will open a chance to famous in the real world. Many player joined Miss Audition competition, and become a â€Å"hot-girl†, famous singers, dancers, and actors. Some player learned the fashion trend and knowledge by seeing the new style in the online store, and adapting to building their real style in the real world. The women were more motivated by the significance of their own personal goals rather than by any particular goals offered by the game itself (Hayes, 2007). For example, Bao Thy is one of the most teenager singer develop her career from Audition. In 2006, Thy participated Miss Audition, the girl have nickname â€Å"Lona† to performed 2 song and dance copy from game, and won the crown. Secondly, Audition is a relatively forgiving game; the players can save at any point and never death. For example, After many hours of game play with hip-hop style dance, the players can choose other dance room, and chose other avatar, other appearance when players did not like current status. Players may see this as a test, and can completely change his style, which creates a new identity for their characters. This test is the same as a process of learning and perfecting their style of play and his style. Players can spend so many times to experiment with different styles to choose a style that you really want. Thirdly, it is very difficult to predict the preferences of new gamers. How a new gamer will approach learning to play a game will be reflective of her goals and self-confidence (Hayes, 2007). Of course, showed a variety of learning model, and not all games are as flexible. In addition, each player struggled with learning to navigate the game space, and their personal goals combined with the pressure of a course requirement contributed to their persistence. Playing like a girl? The meanings of gendered practices Women have different interpretations of and responses to overtly gendered practices within video games, just as they do in the â€Å"real world.† Take as one example the assertion that women prefer games that allow them to develop cooperative social relationships, rather than games that feature violence as the main form of social ‘interaction’ (Goodale, 2004). Audition offers somewhat unlimited opportunities for cooperative social relationships, concentrating in talking and sharing. In Audition Online game, the players were able to take very different approaches to developing their characters’ abilities, which also meant that they acquired quite different sorts of knowledge, skills and even real money related to the game. Players contact together and build social relationship within the game, which developed their character’s personality skills. Players share the experience and skills to be able to earn points through which virtual money to buy clothes, houses. From here, creating a rivalry between the players, people have to spend money to buy things other people to assert their position in the game. However, there are still players only buy fashionable clothes based on the score they actually earn. Audition allows players to increase the persuasiveness of their character by outfitting them with attractive clothing. Player changed their clothes often, in response to different situations in the game. In addition, Audition has done a good job of connecting players through the model of little family. In particular, the function of Marriage and Childbirth in game helped improve friendship, love blossomed from the virtual world into the real world steps. Enjoying â€Å"feminine† combat Combat is typically used as an example of masculine practice commonly found in video games that women do not find appealing. In Audition, the â€Å"no blood† combat is equally fierce, women often expressed an initial desire to avoid fighting, woman players combat differently, in relation to their own past experience and goals. When it became apparent that fighting was unavoidable, at least for self-defense, they both improvised identities and practices that allowed them to engage in combat in ways that they found comfortable and rewarding (Hayes, 2007). Some player want to become famous fashion icon in games lead them to join in the race of buying fashion. They enjoyed competition, particularly to obtain leader role in dance room. References Adelman, M. and Moraes, F. A (2008). Breaking their way in: Women jockeys at the racetrack in Brazil. Advancing Gender Research from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries. Advances in Gender Research, Volume 12, p. 99-123. Behrmann, Erika M., Investigating Trait Attribution through Gendered Avatar Play: An Analysis of The Sims 3 (2011). Master s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. Paper 372. Debitage (2014). Gender and Sexuality. Debitage.net. Available from: http://debitage.net/humangeography/gender.html. [Accessed: 15th Nov 2014]. Goodale, G. (2004). Games women play. Christian Science Monitor. 2004, June 11, 2004. Available from: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0611/p13s01-stin.h. [Accessed: 15th Nov 2014]. Hayes, E (2007). Gendered Identities at play: Case studies of two women playing Morrowind. Games and Culture Volume 2 Number 1, p. 1-26, 2007. Spain, D. (1992). Gendered Space. The University of North Carolina Press. 1992. WHO (2014). What do we mean by sex and gender? WHO 2014. Available from: http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/. [Accessed: 15th Nov 2014].