Kudler Fine Food's Marketing Strategy and Tactics Essay

Kudler Fine Food's Marketing Strategy and Tactics - Essay Example With all these aims in mind the company presently aims at using market research. This paper aims at discussing the importance of marketing research for the company and also to identify the areas where additional market research is needed. The paper will also focus on the competitive intelligence which will assist in development of marketing strategy and tactics for the company. Changes in any organization are one of the most difficult things to accomplish and marketing research in any company tends to always bring about changes (McNamara, 2006). Market research plays a very important role in businesses and assists businesses study the changes in the markets to effectively be able to accomplish the changes being intended in the company. It is essential to note that the marketing research is very beneficial in assisting the companies develop the marketing strategies and tactics. The benefits of the marketing research are as discussed below: a) Detailing the Constraints: Kudler fine Foods will gain a strong guidance from the marketing research and will be able to focus on the constraints which are an imperative part of all decision making. b) Marketing Action: The market researches provide the company with the required data for the development of the strategies and tactics (Kotler, 1999). This information proves to be invaluable for the accuracy of the tactics and development of the strategies. c) Customer’s views: Marketing research provides the company with a chance to identify the customer’s responses and views. This allows the company to make more informed decisions in terms of the marketing and also in regards to the development of new products (Aksel, 2007). Evaluating the customer needs constantly allows the company to develop products and services to accurately meet the needs of the customer and to successful cater to the target customers. d) Estimation

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In Texas politics, one of the most important things to understand is the iron triangle. The iron triangle figuratively symbolizes the relationship between interest groups, the bureaucracy, and legislative committees. Each of the three entities is at a corner of the triangle. It is regarded as an accurate representation of the way in which many routine policy decisions are made. The interest group is at the top, the bureaucracy is at the bottom left, and the legislative committee is at the bottom right. Starting at the interest group and going clockwise, the interest group provides the bureaucracy with information and support for agency budget. The bureaucracy provides the legislative committee with information. The legislative committee provides the interest group with legislation. Going counter-clockwise, the interest group provides the legislative committee with campaign contributions and information. The legislative committee provides the bureaucracy with legislation and budget s upport. The bureaucracy provides the interest group with rules and regulations. An example is the interest group being from the oil and gas industry, the bureaucracy is the railroad commission, and any committee. The lobbyists from the oil and gas industry send campaign contributions and information to the committee. Information could be about anything from supply and demand to turnover rates. The committee sends legislation and budget support to the commission, which are money and rules on how to regulate the oil and gas industry. The rules and regulations are then sent up to the interest group from the industry. The other way, the industry lobbyists send information and support to the commission, which sends the information to the committee, which then sends legislation to the industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The process of co-optation is closely related to this iron triangle. Co-optation is defined as the transition from guardian of the public interest to defenders of private interests. This happens for three reasons. First, once a regulatory agency is established, the public tends to lose interest. Second, the regulators tend to come from the industry being regulated, bringing with them the industry’s perspective and bias as opposed to the public interest. Third, regulators have personal relationships with representatives from the industry who are generous to members of the agency. Basically, the regulatory agencies come to represent the interest of the industry they were created to control as opposed to the public interest. The part of the iron triangle where this occurs is where the interest group sends the agency information and support.

International Relations-Somalia

Somalia 1993 Cause and Effect, U. S. Involvement, & Scale of the Conflict The Somali conflict was created by a succession of events. Back in 1991, President of Somalia, Mohammed Siad Barre, was overthrown by a coalition of opposing clans called the United Somali Congress. Four main groups turned the country into a battlefield trying to gain control over the country. In the meantime a 5th group seceded from the northwest portion of Somalia calling it the Somaliland Republic, with its leader Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Ali as president.All the fighting in Somalia destroyed most of their crops creating mass starvation. The international community began to send food supplies to halt the starvation, but vast amounts of food were hijacked and brought to local clan leaders, who routinely exchanged it with other countries for weapons. This just led to more starvation and the international communities’ efforts seemed ineffective. In March of 1993 the UN’s mission shifted and tried to hel p UNOSOM II gain power. UNOSOM II tried to reconcile the country and build a democratic state creating a secure environment.This organization was met with heavy opposition led by Mohammed Farrah Aidid and his faction. Several bombing occurred and soon war was inevitable. On October 3, 1993 the US led an operation intending to capture Aidid's foreign minister Omar Salad Elmi and his top political advisor, Mohamed Hassan Awale. This battle is commonly known as Black Hawk Down where two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and many US lives were lost. That day was a true battle; 1500 somalian militia men were estimated to have been killed.On October 6, 1993 President Bill Clinton directed the Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral David E. Jeremiah, to stop all actions by U. S. forces against Aidid except those required in self-defense. The White House stated that all U. S. troops would be completely out of Somalia by March 31, 1994. Impact of the Soviet Union Collapse During the Cold War, Somalia was used as a pawn by world superpowers, since whoever had control of Somalia had access to oil due to its location in Western Africa.After the Soviet Union collapsed, the U. S. had no interest in Somalia, resulting in U. S. support and foreign aid leaving the country. Somalia was left in a vulnerable state and was unable to create a stable political system. Somalia eventually collapsed due to a lack of infrastructure. Works Sited â€Å"Battle of Mogadishu (1993). †Ã‚  Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Sept. 2012. ;http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993);.

Arguments Against Mandatory Voting Essay

Popular participation is often cited as one of the fundamental principles of democracy. The right to vote being a freedom that has, and continues to be, sought after by people all over the world. Despite the value of many political systems’ movement toward universal suffrage, the few countries that have confused the right to vote, with a requirement to, have arguably deteriorated the significance of this achievement. Australia is part of a considerable minority that implement obligatory voting laws, and of an even smaller subset that enforce them. Although the proponents of mandatory voting will be considered, the incompatibility of compulsory voting with implied freedoms, with broad theories of democracy and the overall inefficacy of producing a more engaged public, serve as perspectives that substantiate the notion that voting should no longer be compulsory in Australia. The Australian Constitution raises a number of questions about the constitutional validity of mandatory voting. Given this evaluation of an issue so pertinent to political rights, the implications of these challenges coming from a source as authoritative as this cannot be understated. The existence of a legal responsibility to vote can be perceived as incongruous with the implied freedom of political communication that was proved in Australian Capital TV v Commonwealth 1992 and recognised ever since. This inconsistency extends to the right to vote being proved as an implicit right in s7 and s24 of the Constitution, which, as reported by Dr. Anthony Gray, is an entitlement to vote that includes the freedom not to. Whilst advocates for the current system of compulsion may contend that voting is a civic duty, such reasoning can be seen as unconvincing as it fails to acknowledge that abstention is a perfectly valid form of political expression. Through an analysis of mandatory voting from a wider democratic perspective, the idea that compulsion is an infringement of free will becomes increasingly apparent. In addition to the obvious paradox that a democratic country forces its constituents to vote, a truly free nation should allow for the demonstration of dissatisfaction and make provisions for a refusal  to identify political beliefs. Although commentators in favour of compulsion may assert that the ability to provide an informal or ‘donkey’ vote facilitates this, the inefficiencies these contribute to as well as its inherent irrationality, given they are discounted, are persuasive arguments against such an opinion. Moreover, although there is a certain degree of legitimacy in the claim that obligatory voting serves to augment the democratic ideals of equality and participation, compelling a person to vote is ultimately, according to academic Katherine Swenson, antithetical to the concept of individual freedom. A common belief maintained by supporters of compulsory voting is that it creates a more politically active electorate. Whilst in theory this is conceivable, its practical limitations make the alleviation of indifference a distant reality. In support of this, a 2007 experiment conducted by Peter Loewen et al. in a Quebec election found that required voting had â€Å"little or no effect† on the knowledge and engagement of its participants. In the Australian context, despite the assumption that the problem of participation is solved by mandatory laws, in the last election around one-fifth of eligible Australians failed to cast a usable vote. It is argued that candidates and parties rely on these laws to get voters to the ballot. If this is the case, perhaps the solution is to abandon compulsory voting and thus force parties to organically incite a politically active populace through enticing and innovative policies. The dichotomy of democracy is that it demands both individual freedoms and equality. A great difficulty of modern politics has been the ability to strike a balance between these paradigms, and to determine at what point one must be truncated to enhance the other. Through an analysis of compulsory voting through a constitutional, democratic and practical context, it has become clear that such a regime has no place in a society that strives to exist as an epitome of democracy. The time has now come for Australia to abandon its paternalistic voting laws and entrust its political future with the voluntary voice of the Australian public, and not in a piece of legislation that commands it to speak. REFERENCE LIST/ BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Chong, D, Davidson, S & Fry, T 2005, ‘It’s an Evil Thing to Oblige People to Vote’, Policy (St Leonard’s NSW), vol. 21 no. 4, pp. 10-16. 2.Gray, A 2012, ‘The Constitutionality of Australia’s Compulsory Voting System’, Australian Journal of Politics & History, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 591-608. 3.Hoffman, R & Lazaridis, D 2013, ‘The Limits of Compulsion: Demographic Influences on Voter Turnout in Australian State Elections’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 28-43. 4.Krishna, V & Morgan, J 2012, ‘Voluntary voting: Costs and benefits’, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 147, no. 6, pp. 2083-2123. 5.Lever, A 2010, ‘Compulsory Voting: A Critical Perspective’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 897-915. 6.Loewen, PJ, Milner, H & Hicks, BM 2008, ‘Does Compulsory Voting Lead to More Informed and Engaged Citizens? An Experimental Test’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 655-672. 7.Singh, S 2011, ‘How Compelling is Compulsory Voting? A Multilevel Analysis of Turnout’, Political Behaviour, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 95-111. 8.Swenson, KM 2007, ‘Sticks, carrots, donkey votes, and true choice: a rationale for abolishing compulsory voting in Australia’, Minnesota Journal of International Law, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 525-552. Gordon, SB & Gary MS 1997, ‘Cross-National Variation in the Political Sophistication of Individuals: Capability or Choice?’, Journal of Politics, vol. 59, no. ?, pp. 126-147. Hooghe, M & Koen,P 1998, ‘Compulsory Voting in Belgium: an Application of the Lijphart Thesis’, Electoral Studies vol. 17?, no. ?, pp.419-424.

Ancient Greek Eroticism - An Introduction

Ancient Greek Eroticism - An Introduction Our knowledge about ancient Greek eroticism changes constantly, as more literary and artistic evidence is found and analyzed and as contemporary scholarship puts a new spin on old data. The Concept of Eros in Greece Ancient Greek society had different words for different kinds of love. Eros, for the most part, denoted love that had a sexual component. It could refer to the ideal marital affection between men and women, but also encompassed homosexual relationships. The concept of pederasty, which involved an older man who was both lover and mentor to a young man, also was connected to the idea of eros. This was not uncommon across all the varied Greek city-states. Sparta had homosexual relationships built into the structure of the training all young Spartan men received, although there is some disagreement among historians about whether the relationships were more paternalistic mentorships or primarily sexual. In other Dorian areas also homosexuality was widely accepted. Thebes saw in the 4th century the creation of a battalion of homosexual lovers- the Sacred Band. In Crete, there is evidence of ritualized abduction of younger men by older men. Contrary to popular belief, eros was not solely a sexual institution. In the case of pederastic eros, the relationships were considered educational above all else. Plato also theorized that eros could be directed towards mathematics and philosophy, rather than sexuality, in order to harness that driving energy towards improving ones mental and spiritual state. Sexuality, Myth, and History By the end of the 5th century BC, the concept of erotic and/or romantic homosexual love was enshrined in myth and art. Poets told stories in which male gods had relationships with young, beautiful human men, while myths also depicted similar relationships between human men or tweaked existing myths to fit this dichotomy of lover and beloved. One of the better-known myths of this sort is that of Achilles and Patroclus. According to the myths, Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, had an older and wiser companion named Patroclus. When Patroclus was killed in battle, Achilles completely broke down. The original Homeric texts did not specify a sexual relationship between the men, but later authors firmly interpreted their bond as romantic and sexual. The myth of Achilles and Patroclus was said to have inspired Alexander the Great in his relationship with his closest companion, Hephaestion. Again, however, the true nature of that relationship is unknown: whether they were lovers or had a non-sexual close companionship. In general, homosexual relationships between men were predominantly between an older and a younger partner. The idea of an adult male being the beloved of another man would have been frowned upon or outright stigmatized, since adult men were supposed to become dominant and not passive. Restrictions on Greek Women Women were considered the guardians of Athenian citizenship, but that didnt confer any rights. A citizen of Athens had to make sure all his wifes children were his. To keep her away from temptation, she was locked away in the womens quarters and accompanied by a male whenever she went outside. If she were caught with another man, the man could be killed or brought to court. When a woman married, she was a piece of property transferred from her father (or other male guardian) to her husband. In Sparta, the need for Spartan citizens was strong, so women were encouraged to bear children to a citizen who would sire well if her own husband proved inadequate. There she wasnt so much her spouses property as the states- as were her children and her husband. Because of this emphasis on the need for citizens, however, Spartan women had higher social standing, and the city-state honored the institution of marriage and the marital bond. Same-sex love between women was less recorded due to the role of women in society as a whole, but did exist. The most famous evidence of this is the poetry of Sappho, who wrote romantic poetry directed at women and girls. However, love between two women did not have the same usefulness as the educational/military bond of male-male relationships, and was therefore not supported socially. Plato and Current Theories of Greek Sexualities In Platos Symposium (a treatise on Athenian eroticism) the playwright Aristophanes offers a colorful explanation for why all these sexual options existed. In the beginning, there were three types of double-headed humans, he said, varying according to sex: male/male, female/female, and male/female. Zeus, angered at the humans, punished them by splitting them in half. From then on, each half has forever sought out his other half. Plato himself had a very wide range of views on homosexuality: early texts show him praising such relationships as preferable to heterosexual ones, but he also wrote later texts denouncing them. Scholars also continue to debate whether or not erotic love and sexual preferences were considered defining personality categories in ancient Greece. Current scholarship, including feminist and Foucauldian, applies a variety of theoretical models to the literary and artistic evidence we have about ancient sexuality. To some, sexuality is culturally defined, to others, there are universal constants. Application of Athenian literary evidence from the fifth and fourth centuries to preceding or succeeding generations is problematic, but not nearly so hard as trying to extend it to all of Greece. The resources below reflect a variety of approaches. Sources and Further Reading Cullhed, A, Franzen C, and Hallengren A. (editors). Pangs of Love and Longing: Configurations of Desire in Premodern Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.Dover, KJ. Greek Homosexuality. 3rd editon. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2016.Ferrari, Gloria.  Figures of Speech: Men and Maidens in Ancient Greece. University of Chicago Press, 2002.Foucault M. The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction. Vintage Press, 1986.Foucault M. The History of Sexuality. Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure. Vintage Press, 1988.Hubbard, Thomas K. A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.Skinner, MB. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture, 2nd edition: Wiley Blackwell, 2013.

Are you stuck in a rut Choose your adventure!

Are you stuck in a rut Choose your adventure! Do you ever feel like life is an incredible adventure and absolutely anything is possible? I had a week like that. I noticed it particularly on Friday when I went for my normal swim and had so much energy I swam an extra quarter mile past my regular routine, then chased the swim with 30 push-ups. The entire time I felt energized and capable of accomplishing anything I set my mind to. Mental attitude is the biggest factor in producing results. I was reminded of this truth last Thursday night, when, at the Wild Scenic Film Festival, I watched a video about three climbers who scaled Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan. What made this climb particularly impressive is that all of the climbers were disabled. One had been born with just one arm (a â€Å"minor inconvenience† according to him); the two others had lost a leg each, one due to a climbing fall and the third from bone cancer. Said one of the men: â€Å"The right attitude and one arm will beat the wrong attitude and two arms, every time.† If you have any doubts, watch this inspiring film: Mind you, I am not planning on scaling any peaks even with all my limbs- not in this lifetime. But the sense of excitement that spurs these climbers is accessible to all of us at every moment. For me, it started with an assignment I was given during a workshop with the Wright Institute in Chicago. Prior to the workshop, I was in a rut. Daily tasks were feeling like a grind and I thought that maybe I needed to travel out of the country for a while to break my routine. Then came the homework for the first night of the workshop: to create an adventure! The adventure begins†¦ It was already midnight and class was starting up again at 8am the next morning. What adventure exactly was possible in that short a time frame? I found out the next morning. I woke up before my alarm sounded with cramps, in an empty house that belongs to my cousin Zack. I thought to myself, â€Å"I could lie here trying to sleep or I could get up and have an adventure!† I decided to get out of bed. As soon as I entered the shower I remembered that Zack had mentioned a big bathtub with whirlpool jets somewhere in his house. I don’t normally take baths, but this time I decided to interrupt my regular pattern. I got out of the shower and began searching for the whirlpool, towel wrapped around me, leaving a trail of wet footprints. In the basement, I found a bathtub †¦ full of cleaning supplies. The search continued, and I finally found the whirlpool, which I filled up †¦ but I couldnt figure out how to turn on these fabled jets. I got into the tub anyway, but thought, â€Å"Hey Im on an adventure! This won’t do!† So I got out of the tub, looked at all the switches on the walls, and finally figured it out. Back in the tub, I noticed a line of tea light candles along the side of the bath. But no matches. My refrain: â€Å"Im on an adventure!† So I got out of the tub, looking everywhere until I found matches. I was going to do this thing the right way! After a few minutes the jets turned off and suddenly I was relaxed and floating in a self-made paradise, being held gently by warm water, surrounded by glowing candlelight. I was so glad I had chosen this adventure, rather than sleeping another hour or going to my default of â€Å"I don’t take baths.† Unexpected treasures, unprecedented energy†¦ When I went to hang up my towel, for some reason I decided to look behind the door rather than hang the towel where I had put it before. I found two beautiful dragonfly hooks which I hadn’t noticed before. Who knows what can show up out of a sense of adventure? Who knows what else I had been missing? My adventures continued in the days following the workshop. Out of a conversation with a friend that felt a bit scary at first, I unexpectedly drove to Minneapolis and stayed two days, all because I decided to take some risks and not let anything stop me. Today, a week after the conclusion of that workshop, my energy is still high and I can’t wait to discover what’s next. So how about you? Are you living an adventure at every moment or are you stuck in a rut? Are you letting anything stop you from creating an exciting and energized life? Whether your challenge is staying upbeat while facing unemployment, creating joy within your current circumstances, or scaling a rock face- it’s all in your frame of mind. The right attitude, moment by moment, means you can have the adventure of a lifetime right in your own backyard.

10 Blog Post Templates For Marketers to Create the Best Content

10 Blog Post Templates For Marketers to Create the Best Content As a marketer, you have a lot to do. Promotions to manage. Campaigns to plan. In other words, you have no time to write fantastic blog posts. Sure, you do your best to â€Å"create great content† (because that’s what you been told to do). But, you’re not happy with the results. Meanwhile, your competition’s blog is crushing it. â€Å"How can I be like them,† you ask. Reading this post is a good start. We’ve put together ten different blog post templates that cover every step in the content creation process. Plus, we’ll walk through how to use each one. By the time you’re done, you’ll know exactly how to write effective blog posts, without spending nearly as much time. The days of staring at a blank cursor are over. DID YOU KNOW: You can plan, publish, and promote all your WordPress blog posts on one marketing calendar with ? See how it works. Get 10 Free Blog Post Templates and Create Great Content Now This awesome bundle includes all ten templates well show you in this post. From developing personas, to craftingf outlines, to actually writing the posts themselves, youll get everything you need to succeed. Grab ‘em now. Then, read the post to learn how to use them. Jump to Template: Blog Audience Persona Template Blog Keyword Research Template Blog Title Template Blog Post Outline Template Blog Post Template Blog Call-to-Action Template Content Editing Checklist Blog Post SEO Checklist Blog Post Promotion Template Blog Post Analysis Template10 Simple Blog Post Templates to Create the Best Content Step One: Use Your Blog Audience Persona Template  To Identify Your Target Audience First, determine who your audience is. By knowing exactly who you are writing for you can tailor your content to fit their needs. How do you build an audience persona for your brand's blog? First, read this post on finding your target audience. Then, pull out your blog post audience persona template and outline the biography of your blog reader. This should include where they work and what types of companies they work for. Include details like, what their title is (manager, strategist, etc.) and specific company types like (Fortune 500, startup, etc.)   In the end, it should look something like: The next part of your template is filling in the demographic information for your audience persona including age, gender, income, level of education and location type. Next, you’ll focus on their hobbies and interests as well as the challenges and goals they face. Hobbies and interests will play an essential role in identifying who reads your blog as it can help you relate your content back to them. Challenges that your target audience faces can help you identify what sorts of topics to cover. Defining the goals of your audience can help you create content that shows your readers how to reach them. The next part of your persona template is writing a personal summary of how your target audience would describe themselves. You should also add what your audience expects from reading your blog as well as concerns that may prevent your target audience from reading your blog posts. The last part of your template should include other blogs and news sources that your target audience reads. You can also include customer quotes to finish off your persona. Build an audience persona with this free template (plus get nine more templates for creating... Step Two: Use Your Keyword Research Template to Organize Blog Post Keywords If you’ve written blog posts before you know how important it is to have a keyword that has a high search volume and low competition. Not only that you need to make sure that the keywords you use are terms that your target audience is searching for. Keywords are broken into two sections for every blog post that you write. One is your main keyword. Your entire blog post is centered around this keyword. The second set of keywords are LSI or latent semantic indexing terms. These keywords relate back to or are variations on your main keyword. To find keywords around the subjects, you want to write about turn to a tool like Moz  or Ahrefs. Type in the subject you may want your blog post to cover: This example shows Moz's Keyword Explorer tool. Ahrefs (another popular option, and one of our favorites at ), features a similar tool. Record the main keyword in your template: The next part you need to record is search volume. This tells you how often your keyword is searched per month. For the keyword social media calendar it’s searched about 201-500 times per month: Difficulty refers to how hard it will be for your blog post to rank for a specific keyword. For our example, the difficulty score for ranking on this particular topic is 65: Include an arrow that points to difficulty and says score out of 100. The next part of your keyword research involves finding your additional LSI terms or other keywords that you would want your blog post to rank for: Include an arrow that points to monthly volume that has text that says: Add in LSI terms that have a high search volume like your parent keyword. Record any additional LSI keywords in your template: The next part of your keyword research is going to be reading the top ten posts that are currently ranking on the keyword topic that you are going to write about. Look for what your audience wants to learn. What is their intent behind a search for that particular keyword? For the social media calendar example, the search intent behind that post is to build out a social media calendar to help marketers stay organized. Templates, as you can see, are a plus: Record the intent in your spreadsheet: The last part of your template will involve identifying if the content is new if you are optimizing a post you have already written and what type of content it is: Repeat this process for every blog post you intend to publish. Keep these tips in mind for every keyword you look for: Make keyword research easy with this free template (plus get nine more templates for creating... Step Three: Record Your Headlines In Your Blog Title Performance Tracking Template Now you have your keywords and your audience in mind. The next step is creating a remarkable headline that grabs the attention of your audience. Headlines are what attract your audience and encourage them to click. They are your opening act. Without a strong opening, your audience won’t continue to read. According to our research,   we have found that headlines do well if they: Incorporate keywords. Use â€Å"How to† formatting. Use numbers or statistics. They are about 55 characters long. Have a strong positive sentiment. Use our  Headline Analyzer  to create better headlines instead of guessing at what might work: In your Blog Title Performance Tracking template, write two different headlines and record the scores, sentiment, headline type, and length in words and characters. Aim for a headline score of at least 70 for each headline you write. After you’ve composed two, choose which one fits your blog post best. Step Four: Use Your Blog Post Outline Template To Format Your Thoughts I can speak from personal experience when I say the best bet you have to create a great blog post quickly is to write an outline. Outlines allow you to format your thoughts and give you (or your writers) a concise direction to take the post in. We’ve made it even easier to format your outline with our blog post outline template. To start, identify what's in it for your audience. We call this the WIIFM (or What's In It For Me section, which is exactly what your audience will be asking themselves before they read your post). This should identify the exact benefit your audience will take away from reading your content: Next, decide what format your blog post will take. Some common options are: List posts. How-to posts. Infographic posts. Story posts. Example posts. Once you choose a post format, identify why your post should be in a particular format: Next, you’ll tackle your introduction. This should be formatted into three different parts: The problem your audience is experiencing. The three things that your reader will learn when they read your post. How what they will learn will help solve their problem. Your introduction acts as your opening argument. There’s a ton of content out there on the web; you need to convince your target audience that your blog post is the one to read. Then comes your body copy outline. These should be overhead thoughts, not necessarily entirely fleshed out paragraphs of text. Just write down the idea you want to bring across. This can be done through something as simple as writing your H2 and H3 headers: Once you have the body of your post figured out you can move on to creating the Call-to-Action text that will be in your blog post. First, determine what you want your CTA to say. It should be between eight to ten words like your headlines. This should give your audience explicit direction for the action you want them to take after they read your post. There’s also space in your outline to add in any sources, data or research that you need to back up the advice in your post: The last part of your outline is your conclusion. Here is where you’ll summarize the main points of your post and add in your CTA: Craft better blog post outlines with this free template (and nine more to create awesome content). Step Five: Use Your Blog Post Template To Write Your Content The next part of your blog writing process is going to be crafting your post. This is usually the most time-consuming process, but now that you have your outline and your angle it will be much faster. Your blog post content template will be able to help you as well. Did you know? You can write your entire blog post in using our built-in text editor. First, add your headline: Then add your title tag. Title tags should be under 70 characters to properly show up in a Google search. Next is your meta description. Meta descriptions are the short descriptive text that appears under your title in a google search. Your description should be under 156 characters to display correctly. Now you can start writing the meat of your blog post content. First up is your introduction. Remember to keep it short, cover all the points that are in your outline and don’t bury the lead for your audience. Next is body content of your blog post. This section needs a separate subheader. If you need additional sub-points underneath, label them with an additional subhead. Each section of the body of your blog post should be between three and five paragraphs long, with no more than three sentences to a paragraph. This helps keep your blog post easy to skim. Repeat this process for each section of your post. After you’ve crafted the body of your blog post, add in your conclusion and CTA. Your conclusion should wrap up the main takeaways from your post while your CTA should entice your reader to take action.

The Sermon of the Mount Magna Carta of Christian Ethics Essay

The Sermon of the Mount Magna Carta of Christian Ethics - Essay Example There are two major interpretative approaches towards analyzing the 'Sermon of the Mount'. There is the structuralist approach that dissociates the work from the immediate socio-economic realities that produced it or to the problems of its application to the socio-economic realities of a different milieu.A problem with an interpretation of the Sermon of the Mount is that the ethical and the structural cannot be always clearly and simplistically isolated. Particularly because the Sermon of the Mount, as delivered in Matthew, is not an isolated and stand-alone set of ethical tenets with no parallel elsewhere, either within the Prophetic Laws or the Gospels, or the dominant Pagan philosophical trains of thought that were popular at that time. It does not, in essence, lie in isolation. Jesus, while delivering the Sermon, speaks very much from within an ethical and juridical tradition, and addresses these traditions with an acute consciousness of his own political and social reality. Even if we leave the immediate social and political implications that are expressed within the Sermon of the Mount, and close read it in a more strictly Formalist way, we still find that it operates from within a clear Prophetic and legal tradition, which is very clear from the beginning of the narrative itself. Meier states that ‘Matthew recast and combined two major liturgical and catechetical documents of his church: the gospel of Mark and a collection of Jesus’ sayings which scholars call â€Å"Q†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢.... This study will, therefore, start with a structuralist approach and then try and present an overview of the practical applicability of the Sermon as appropriated and adapted by the various interpretative schools of Jesusianity over the ages. Sermon of the Mount: Inter-text A problem with an interpretation of the Sermon of the Mount is that the ethical and the structural cannot be always clearly and simplistically isolated. Particularly because the Sermon of the Mount, as delivered in Matthew, is not an isolated and stand alone set of ethical tenets with no parallel elsewhere, either within the Prophetic Laws or the Gospels, or the dominant Pagan philosophical trains of thought that were popular at that time. It does not, in essence, lie in isolation. Jesus, while delivering the Sermon, speaks very much from within an ethical and juridical tradition, and addresses these traditions with an acute consciousness of his own political and social reality. Even if we leave the immediate social and political implications that are expressed within the Sermon of the Mount, and close read it in a more strictly Formalist way, we still find that it operates from within a clear Prophetic and legal tradition, which is very clear from the beginning of the narrative itse lf. Meier states that 'Matthew recast and combined two major liturgical and catechetical documents of his church: the gospel of Mark and a collection of Jesus' sayings which scholars call "Q"'. 1 B.W. Bacon undertakes a detailed discussion of Matthew's position within the structure of the Synoptic Bible, and talks about the commonalities between Mark and Matthew, as well as the Q Source, on which Matthew probably relied a lot. However, even

The role of Tropomyosin in Zebrafish development Dissertation

The role of Tropomyosin in Zebrafish development - Dissertation Example Tropomyosin is a long protein strand composed of two fully alpha helical chains in a coiled-coil dimmer, and binds along the length of the actin filament. It is also bound to bead-like protein complex, troponin, in which, together, they regulate the actin-myosin interactions in muscle contraction† (Biology Online). They are the one moving the actin filament through generating force by elongating one end of the filament coupled with shrinkage of the other, causing net movement of the intervening strand. And as actin filaments are moved, they act like a molecular switch for the movement of myosin molecules that are attach to the actin filaments and walks along them. Then cell division and morphing follows. Thus, Tropomyosin plays a significant role in cell morphology, as well as cell division, size and shape. Zebrafish is mostly used as model for researches. They have a number of unique characteristics that makes it a fantastic species for investigating vertebrate development and for modelling human disease, genetics and biology. However, they also have disadvantages. Advantages:1.Inexpensive.2.The embryos are transparent.3The embryos develop quickly; they go from a single cell to something that is recognisable as a tiny fish for within 24 hours. A mouse takes 21 days.4.The embryos can be physically manipulated genetically. You can transplant a single cell or group of cells into host embryos.5. The eggs are externally fertilised; embryos develop outside the mother’s body... The government is willing to fund zebrafish researchers and provide screening tools which will dramatically advance the ability to detect and characterise genes, pathways and phenotypes of interest for aging, development, organ formation, sensory processes, disease processes, and other areas. For they believe that results could be studied for the cure of some human diseases could also be made. It is likely that blood function and heart development in zebrafish are similar to humans. Some mutations on zebrafish embryos might mimic human syndromes, understanding them will provide us valuable insight as to the underlying problem. Such an understanding may lead to new treatments. That is why the government encourages and is willing to fund investigator-initiated applications designed to exploit the power of the zebrafish as a vertebrate model for biomedical and behavioral research. Reseach Methods. Tropomyosin (Tpm) proteins, encoded by four Tpm genes (Tpm1–4), are associated with the stabilization of the F-actin filaments and play important roles in modulating muscle contraction. So far, little is known about Tpm4 function in embryonic heart development and its involvement in the cardiovascular diseases. Study the functions of different isoforms of tpm4 in embryonic heartbeat in zebrafish. Generate a transgenic zebrafish line by insertion of a Tol2 transposon gene trap vector. Observe by transmission electron microscopy to reveal the ventricular myocytes of mutant fish contained. Study if Tpm1-4 would be stable for a zebrafish. 1. Fish and gene trapping. 2. TAIL-PCR, RT-PCR, and tpm4 cDNA cloning. 3. Whole-mount in situ hybridisation, mopholinos, microinjection and genotyping. 4. Transmission electron microscopy. Cited Works: Zhao, Long, et. Al. Heart

Descartes and hinduism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Descartes and hinduism - Essay Example Descartes illustrates the understanding that one thesis is core to the entire tradition that is everything behaved for the sake of certain goal. Descartes mechanistic view of the universe shows that events result from prior events as indicated in scientific theories of past events that are capable predicting future events. Moreover, he manages to show that there is dualism in interactions because mental states like beliefs and desires interact with physical states (Wall 215). In Hinduism, Self does not denote the personal self or rather the soul, which embodies and reincarnates but rather the spirit referred to as Atman. According to Wall (30) â€Å"Atman, the spirit of vision is never born and never dies†¦ never-born and eternal†¦. He does not die when the body dies†. Therefore, Atman is never a personal possession for anyone because it remains the one universal Self for all. Therefore, Atman is one often referred to as Brahman and entails the one endless consciousn ess in everything. Hindu scriptures continually show that Atman is Brahman and that a person’s Spirit is the Supreme Spirit; as well, the Self is the Supreme self. Atman illustrates that the manifested universe and everything material is an ultimate illusion when viewed from the high perspective and that Self remains a reality. Western: Descartes Descartes believes that he has to find some motive for doubting his prevailing views in order to search for strong basics for his understanding. Everything the meditator accepts as true he came to learn them from or through his senses and acknowledges that senses can deceive although with respect to small objects small or those far away because the sensory knowledge is quite sturdy. Meditation in Descartes is considered as setting the foundation where doubt is used as an influential tool and a foundation of modern skepticism. Reading the first meditation presents skeptical doubts as subject of study on their own and the idea remains that the uncertainties are not probable but a likelihood that is hard to rule out (Wall 215). Skepticism cuts through the core of the western approach and tries to offer certain groundwork of understanding and comprehending the world. On further consideration, the mediator is able to realize that even simple things can be doubted and finds it hard to keep habitual opinions and assumptions of the head. However, by doubting everything, Descartes believed he would at least be certain not to be deceived to untruth by demon (Wall 217). Considering the omnipotent God has the ability of making the conception of mathematics false. Descartes realizes that he is convinced that when dreaming he senses real objects and although present sensations may be images, he manages to indicate that even dream images result from waking experience similar to painting (Wall 215). Even when painters create imaginary creatures, the composite parts are drawn from real things and in case painters create an enti rely new thing, at least the colour within the painting is attached to real experience. Therefore, Descartes observes that even though it is possible for him to doubt combined things; he hardly doubts simple and common components from which compounds were constructed. Descartes also points out individuals can doubt studies based on composite things such as medicine, physics or even astronomy; however, Descartes

Harvard referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Harvard referencing - Essay Example Available from: http://www.unn.ac.uk/central/isd/cite/index.htm (Accessed: 21 May 2004). University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education (2007) Lecture notes from Managing People Module Seminar 4 [Online]. Available from: University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education VLE (Accessed: 28 February 2007). Fedchak, E. & Duvall, L. (1996) An engineering approach to electronic publishing, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Multimedia Software Development, 25-26 March, Berlin. Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society Press, pp.80-88. Al-Madhoun, M. & Analoui, F. (2004) Developing SME managers under fire: negotiating obstacles and weaknesses in Palestine, Journal of Management Development, 23 (5), pp.479-495, IngentaConnect [Online]. Available from: http://www.ingentaconnect.com (Accessed: 9 June 2005). 5. Podcast University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education (2007) Lecture notes from Managing People Module Seminar 4 [Online]. Available from: University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education VLE (Accessed: 28 February 2007). Pears, R. & Shields, G. (1995) Cite them right: referencing made easy [Online] Northumbria: Northumbria University. Available from: http://www.unn.ac.uk/central/isd/cite/index.htm (Accessed: 21 May 2004). University of Liverpool (n.d) Referencing and Developing a Bibliography using the Harvard Method. Available from: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/ohecampus/referencing/referencing.htm. (Accessed: 8 July

Main activities of commercial and investment banks in the capital Essay

Main activities of commercial and investment banks in the capital markets - Essay Example Commercial banks provide capital market related services, depository services, advises on portfolio management or investment counseling, etc. Many banks have now started offering investment services to the retail customer, which is essentially advice and execution of mutual fund investments and redemptions.The Commercial Banks can be referred to as institutions that are involved in credit activities. Credit activities can be classified into deposit acceptance and borrowing funds from other banking institutions. Other activities are credit extension, risk management and risk advice.The classification of the types of services that are offered by a commercial bank is as follows:†¢ Discretionary Services – Decisions are taken on behalf of the clients/customers by a portfolio manager keeping in view the different parameters of asset allocation. †¢ Non-discretionary Services – In this kind of services, portfolio managers do not have the right to take decisions on behalf of clients/customers. The client or the customer is needed to authorize all the transactions happening with respect to their account.Advisory services – Flexible, unbiased investment advice customized to meet the client’s needs.Transaction support – All transactions, both in the primary and secondary markets facilitated through a panel of brokers.Custodial services – Important from the point of view of removal of settlement hassles and efficient follow-up of all corporate actions.Commercial banks approach the brokers for information about the quotes of other commercial banks. The broker serves three important purposes in the foreign exchange markets. First, instead of hunting around in the market for quotes, one can approach a broker and find out these prices. Second, brokers help the prospective buyer or seller keep his identity secret till the deal is struck. This prevents the quote being affected by the inquirer's position, i.e. whether he needs to buy or to sell. Lastly, even when there is no buying or selling requirement, commercial banks can keep their quotes from going too far away from the quotes being given by other banks, by inquiring about the market quotes from the brokers. Investment banks help both the government and corporate in raising money by trading in the securities markets. Large investment banks deal in the market both to execute their clients', (both corporate and individuals) orders and on their own account. They act as market makers in the foreign exchange markets, i.e. they stand ready to buy or sell various currencies at specific prices at all points of time. The commercial banks give, on demand, a quote for a particular currency against another currency, i.e., the rate at which they are ready to buy or sell the former against the latter. At these rates they stand ready to take any side of the transaction (buy or sell) that the customer chooses. The maximum and the minimum amount of the currencies acceptable to the bank at these rates, though not specified at the time of making the quote, are generally understood according to the conventions of the market. These rates may not necessarily be applicable to amounts smaller or larger than th ose acceptable according to the going conventions. In the foreign exchange markets there are numerous market makers, and all of them would be giving different quotes for the same pair of currencies simultaneously, at any point of time. It would be very difficult for a player to keep track of all the quotes available in the market, and hence choose one which is considered the most favorable. As a result, a number of trades may be taking place simultaneously at different exchange rates. The market making activity of the commercial banks, along with speculation, makes markets extremely liquid, especially for the major currencies of the world

Harvard referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Harvard referencing - Essay Example Available from: http://www.unn.ac.uk/central/isd/cite/index.htm (Accessed: 21 May 2004). University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education (2007) Lecture notes from Managing People Module Seminar 4 [Online]. Available from: University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education VLE (Accessed: 28 February 2007). Fedchak, E. & Duvall, L. (1996) An engineering approach to electronic publishing, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Multimedia Software Development, 25-26 March, Berlin. Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society Press, pp.80-88. Al-Madhoun, M. & Analoui, F. (2004) Developing SME managers under fire: negotiating obstacles and weaknesses in Palestine, Journal of Management Development, 23 (5), pp.479-495, IngentaConnect [Online]. Available from: http://www.ingentaconnect.com (Accessed: 9 June 2005). 5. Podcast University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education (2007) Lecture notes from Managing People Module Seminar 4 [Online]. Available from: University of Liverpool/Laureate Online Education VLE (Accessed: 28 February 2007). Pears, R. & Shields, G. (1995) Cite them right: referencing made easy [Online] Northumbria: Northumbria University. Available from: http://www.unn.ac.uk/central/isd/cite/index.htm (Accessed: 21 May 2004). University of Liverpool (n.d) Referencing and Developing a Bibliography using the Harvard Method. Available from: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/ohecampus/referencing/referencing.htm. (Accessed: 8 July

Major reasons for losing clients at work and steps to be taken in Research Paper

Major reasons for losing clients at work and steps to be taken in eradicating these problems - Research Paper Example The project also strives to propose possible measures of addressing these problems. The research questions that will guide the survey include: What are the causes of customer complaints, which are the most important in terms of frequency, and which resolutions are feasible to management. Data collection will be conducted through online focus groups while content tracking and run charts will be applied for data analysis. Table of Contents 1.Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 2.Framing the Research 5 2.1Reviewing My Professional Context 5 2.2 Review of External Knowledge 6 2.3 Training 7 2.4 Motivation 8 2.5 Communication with Staff 8 2.6 Equipments 8 2.7 Customer Complaint Analysis 9 2.7.1. Error or Unreasonable Expectations 9 2.7.2. Reasonable Mistakes 10 2.8 The Iceberg Theory 10 2.9 Fishbone Theory 12 Fishbone Diagram 13 2.9.1 Economic Theory 14 3.Research Purpose & Research Questions 15 4.1 Research approach 15 4.2 Methods of Data Collection and Research 16 4.2.1 Stage 1: Alternative Method of Data Collection (RQs A & B) 16 4.2.1 Stage 2: Alternative Method of Data Analysis (RQ C) 18 6.Conclusion 21 7. ... I am delegated to deal with complaints and recommendations that are received to a dedicated email address on a daily basis from the clients. My position in the organization gives me an opportunity to oversee the day-to-day activities of the organization. This is because I have to authorize all the paperwork before it is entered onto the company’s database. My position empowers me with vast knowledge that enables me access adequate data and information vital for this research. However, although I have access to this information, I have not systematically identified what are the causes of the growing number of complaints. The purpose of the project is to identify the main causes of complaints within the company. The organization is having difficulties with complaints i.e. 20 complaints per month within the last 3 months. This is making the company experience financial losses as considerable resources are being channeled to improvement strategies aimed at curtailing these complai nts (Young, 2008). However, these strategies are proving inefficient. The company image is also being soiled by increased complaints; lowering its competitiveness. Complaints are also wasting precious time that could otherwise be utilized by employees in improving productivity within the company. The complaints come in a repetitive pattern signaling that their causes could be interrelated, or recur even after the staff have addressed them and confirmed that everything is in order. This act of irresponsibility on behalf of the temporary staff can be mainly due to lack of training provided to them. This is because they are on temporary contract and lack job

Utilatarian, Deontology and Virtue Ethics Essay Example for Free

Utilatarian, Deontology and Virtue Ethics Essay Utilitarianism is defined as ethic based on consequences. An act, either it is morally wrong or good is acceptable as long as the end outcome is greater. In this essay on utilitarianism, I would argue Peter Singer’s calculus preferences, equality is for all living being but sacrificing one for greater good is plausible. Counter argument of Immanuel Kant’s moral deontology claim, it is immoral to consider a human being as a means to an end. John Mills’ actions are right as long they promote happiness, wrong if they produce the opposite of happiness as the reply for the counter argument. In conclusion, I would ethically rectify my claim in supporting utilitarian argument. Singer claimed that it is wrong to choose animals as research subjects in order to benefit human beings. Both humans and animals should be considered equally in the moral calculus, if it is morally permitted to use human being in research, then only, would it be permitted to use animal. And, if we were to consider the use of humans as well as animals and the research was considered to have great overall benefit for all, then the animals might be used since the general good is the most important thing. â€Å"Moral law should be universalized†. Kant stated that concept of a good will from morally proper motive is the base for considering any action. If it is the act from some hidden motive or for personal gain it is label immoral duty even if it is otherwise appears morally good. Cruelty to animals reduces the feeling of compassion in man, an immoral duty. Therefore, researching animal to gain cure for diseases is wrong, because it is immoral action to sacrifice another living being for the personal gain of humans, although the end results appear morally good. Kant’s theory is a strict morality. Universalize moral duty is good but some situations are exceptional. The outcome of the act is the reason the act was perform and if the outcome is general happiness then it is a morally right thing to do. Mill supported this as he stated actions are right as long they promote happiness, gaining a cure for incurable disease promotes happiness overall to general public. Therefore, researching on animals for cure will provide a plausible outcome which in this case a general happiness for the entire society. According to Mill, general happiness is the foundation of standard moral deed, overruling Kant’s concept of good will. In conclusion, I have to agree on utilitarian concept on judging the consequences than the action. Although it is immoral act to achieve the morally good, the final outcome is the most important objective in life. Deontology is defined as ethics based on duty or act. Moral value lies in the action, not in the consequences of the action. In this essay on non-consequentialism, I would argue Immanuel Kant’s deontology based on categorical imperative. Counter argument from Mill, general happiness is the foundation of standard moral deed. Replies based on Kantian views and conclusion on disagreeing non-consequentialism concept. â€Å"There is no if in moral action†. An action is considered moral only if one acts out of a sense of duty alone, without bearing in mind the consequences or self-interest. To understand Kant’s imperative, we need to know his description of inclinations and duty. Inclinations are based on desires, passions and emotions, whereas duties consist of reason alone. People are different, emotionally and rationally from animals as they make decisions based upon an inclination, a duty or a combination of the two. According to Kant, the source of moral justification is the categorical imperative and it must be based on reason or duty alone. In order for an act to be categorically imperative, it must be thought to be good in itself. As a categorical imperative, it asks us whether can we universalize our actions, that is, whether it would be the case that others would act in accordance with the same rule in a similar circumstance. If categorical imperative becomes the guiding principle of morality, therefore it becomes the judge for determining an act is moral or not. Mill criticises categorical imperative, stating that it is basically the same as utilitarianism, since it involves calculating the good or bad consequences of an action to determine the morality of that action. Mill argues that we should always aim at ensuring the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people and that, for instance, telling a lie in particular situation is good if telling that lie produces good consequences. As an example, lying to a rapist or a killer the location of the victim, an immoral action but for happier consequences for all. However, a Kantian would argue against this view, pointing out that we have full control only over our motives, not the consequences of our actions, so our autonomous will can only approve or disapprove of motives. An ethics that focuses on consequences, then, is not based in the autonomy of the will. In conclusion, although Kant shaped modern thought on moral decision-making, I’ve to disagree with his deontological system. Some circumstances are different as for my opinion consequence plays a major role in evaluating moral thoughts. A duty is not being ignored but, rather, outdone by the greater need. Virtue is ethics based on character. Theory in which depends solely on the individuals themselves. In this essay on virtue ethics, I would argue Macintyre’s individuals character as the key element of ethical thinking. The two counter arguments will be cultural relativism and self-centred theory. A reply for both counter argument and a conclusion supporting virtue ethics is the best way to go. Virtue ethics identifies the central question of morality in relation with the habits and knowledge about how to live a good life. Macintyre claims that good judgment comes from good character. Being a good person is not about following formal rules. For example, a virtuous person is someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is his/her character and not because he/she wants to simply perform he/her duty. Unlike deontological and utilitarian theories, virtue ethics do not aim to identify universal principles that can be applied in any moral situation. The first counter argument of the theory is the difficulty of establishing the nature of the virtues, especially as different people, cultures and societies often have very different opinions on what creates a virtue. Second, virtue ethics is self-centred because it’s mainly concern with the individuals own character, whereas morality is supposed to be about other people, and how our actions affect other people. Theory of ethics should require us to consider others for their own sake, and not because particular actions may benefit us. A reply for first counter argument is that any character quality defined as a virtue must be universally regarded as a virtue for all people in all times, so that such cultural relativism is not relevant. Replies on self-centred, virtues in themselves are concerned with how we respond to the needs of others, and that the good of the individual and the good of others are not two separate aims, but both result from the exercise of virtue. In conclusion, virtue ethics is the way to go and is more acceptable in our current society. The decision for each action lies within the individual, and the characteristic of the individual plays a major part in it. This is because certain action may be morally good for one but not for other, and certain consequence may be morally good for one but not another. The term virtue is meant strength or power. The idea of The Golden Mean is that in our actions we must seek the right measure and proportion. Excess or defect is a departure from virtue. For these reasons, the Four Cardinal Virtues exist. The four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are interconnected. This means that if you do not possess one of them, all the others are spoiled, and so you do not possess virtue at all. Prudence is the most important of the four cardinal virtues with knowledge being the importance of prudence. Thomas Aquinas lists many different components of prudence, but three main ideas exist. Memory is the order to know the meaning of the present. Docility states the willingness to remain open to reality and to learn as situations change. Lastly, prudence does not mean simply knowing what to do. Justice, we give to each person what is due to him, and we do this consistently, promptly and pleasurably. It concerns right relations with others in society. Divisions of justice can be broken down into legal justice, commutative justice, and distributive justice. Fortitude synonym with courage and bravery but must be based on justice. The purpose of fortitude is to remove obstacles to justice. In its extreme form, it is the willingness and readiness to risk ones life for the sake of that which is just. Aquinas stated that perseverance is undermined by a soft life. The person who pampers in pleasure and always avoids discomfort will be unwilling to put up with the sadness he must experience if he is to stand firm in difficulty. The virtue of temperance rules our appetites for pleasure. By nature we desire the pleasure that is suitable to us. Temperance does not restrain us from the pleasures that are reasonable, but from those that are opposing to our reason. Temperance does not act against our natural human feelings, but works with them. In conclusion, Aquinas thinks the cardinal virtues provide general templates for the most outstanding forms of moral activity.

Communicating the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

Communicating the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change Marie Claire Attard Bason For many centuries, Climate change has been one of the most complicated problems around the world. It is a very difficult phenomenon to avoid, yet it can be manageable with the help of proper initiatives. All aspects of community life, including; Agriculture, economy, transportation, energy, culture and also construction are impacted by such climatic changes. (Schneider, 2009; Bode, Monroe Megalos, 2014). As members of society, with our daily lifestyle choices and motivation by a sequence of values, beliefs, norms and interpretation of the world, make us key players of climate change. Unfortunately, all of these are now challenged by global warming, and it is not surprising to see that people around the world are forming different trends in opinion sand different perceptions about anthropogenic climate change (Nature Climate Change, 2013). The 2013 IPCC report on climate change stated that there is a 95 % assurance that climate change is happening because it is caused by humans (IPCC 2013), moreover, this is not the only report that came to this conclusion. In fact, there are recent reviews done on different scientific abstracts with regards to this subject and have found out that most of these papers have accepted the scientific consensus on humans causing global warming (Cook et al. 2013) (Van der Linden et. al, 2014). Furthermore, there are scientists, some of which are considered to be of a high-profile that still put forward other possible reasons for observed changes of climate around the world (Abraham et. al, 2014). Understanding the Scientific Consensus: The development of a scientific understanding is often distinguished by a number of studies that suggest new and alternative reasons of why certain behaviors exist in the natural world. These, then, may or may not be acknowledged by other scientists; however, one could possibly consider investigating and testing furthermore the suggested ideas. More than 100 years ago, the first studies on greenhouse gases and their effect on the Earth’s climate were published (Fourier, 1824; Tyndall 1861; Arrhenius, 1896). Moreover, during the next following years, ways to improve the concept of AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) were suggested, yet the basic standards of it were already set. Unfortunately, the general public has continued to be hesitant on whether or not to dismiss the idea of Anthropogenic Global Warming in general or dismiss the concept of the scientific consensus (Zimmerman, 2008; Doran and Zimmerman, 2009; Leiserowitz et al., 2011; Leiserowitz et al., 2012; Pew, 2012). I n order to establish the degree of both of these ideas, a number of different approaches have been followed (Abraham et. al, 2014). Political scientists, sociologists and psychologists, have concentrated their studies on distinctive aspects that can influence the views of the public on global warming, yet they still argue the role of the scientific information and the idea of scientific consensus on climate change (Nature Climate Change, 2013). Now in the case of climate change, as mentioned in the previous text, multiple data show that greenhouse gases, produced by humans, are being captured inside the atmospheric zone, causing the surrounding area to warm. In his Skeptical Science paper, John Cook suggests that people are accepting more the fact that climate change is induced by humans, therefore a number of initiatives are being taken into consideration in order to tackle this phenomenon.Even though studies have shown that most scientists agree on the causes of climate change, people are still not sure what to believe. Why? In the past, scholars have claimed that scientists disagree amongst themselves on the c auses of climate change. Other studies have also suggested that there is a false balance in the media, where journalists introduce a point in question (in this case; Climate change) as being more about how people feel and think than the actual evidence provided (Donald Pidcock, 2013). The current Situation: There is the need to correct such misunderstandings about the scientific consensus. Public engagement with climate change has been taken for granted due to the fact that there is a huge gap in knowledge or public understanding. The â€Å"knowledge-deficit model†; coined by social scientists studying the public communication of science in the 1980s, has unfortunately been put into question (Moser and Dilling 2011; Sturgis and Allum 2004). In 2012, Kahan et al. have argued that conflicts over climate change have little to do with the public’s understanding of the scientific evidence. Yet, other recent research has repeatedly shown that the perceived level of scientific agreement on human-caused climate change actually functions as a critical â€Å"gateway belief† (Ding et al. 2011; Lewandowsky et al. 2013; McCright et al. 2013) (Van der Linden et. al, 2014) The public’s view of the scientific consensus is important on several aspects, especially when creating views and opinions on complicated scientific topics. The public depends on available sources of information to form their opinion, and trust that these sources are reliable. Their perception of scientific consensus also complements with a number of important beliefs and approaches towards serious interests on climate change and support ideas of mitigation (Ding et al., 2011; McCright et al., 2013). As found by Malka et al. (2009), the perception of scientific consensus brings about an agreement between the connection on climate concern and climate knowledge. This means that when one learns more about climate change and how it is produced, it automatically increases the attention and concern. These findings give boost to others by increasing people’s perceptive that climate change is happening, through the communication of the scientific consensus (Lewandowsky et al., 2012; Bolsen et al., 2014). If people keep on thinking that there is a disagreement amongst scientists, especially about Anthropogenic Global Warming, then it will definitely take longer to find action support. This controversy between the perception of the public and the overwhelming agreements amongst scientists, especially when there is a particular scientific topic being discussed, is defined by the â€Å"consensus gap†. This gap is causing strong effects on our society (Abraham et. al, 2014). The effect of the media: Given that most people get their awareness from mass media, one has to make sure that such information is given at best quality, so as to be more affective. Two main sources of mass media that impose great limitations when it comes to the scientific communication are the newspapers and television. The main reasons are that television news stories, often have less than a minute of air time, therefore these can’t be very detailed and informative, whilst newspaper articles are longer, but then again, they are not explained in scientific terms, so people still won’t truly understand the true meaning of climate change and what contributes to it. Scientists also need to understand more the journalistic norms and how journalisms work, whilst on the other hand, communicators should make an effort in increasing the scientific literacy of their mass audience in their articles/ segments and also explain how scientists have become more confident on different knowledge claims, espec ially when it comes to using probability statements. Furthermore, communicators should also make it more clearly to the public that just because there are different conclusions on specific scientific data/ findings, which may or may not be questionable to some groups in society, it might not mean that the real scientific methods, theories and bodies of evidence are at issue within the scientific community (Schneider, 2009) How to improve the public’s perception on climate change: Media communicators should continually promote and reveal the numerous ambitions, goals and strategies of climate change to those people who have an opposing view on this topic and who believe or claims that it is falsely presented by the scientific community. Right or wrong, such people do not follow a valid scientific method, therefore they lack of evidence and scientific support, and they cannot be reliable- their beliefs lacks of scientific status (Moser Dilling, 2011). In addition to communicating the scientific consensus, experts have agreed that certain messages would definitely make a difference. Climate change is real and that people are the main reason of its cause. Climate change is harmful to people, and people need to find ways to reduce it (Maibach et. al., 2014). Oversimplifying such messages can definitely lead to misunderstanding. Moreover, it is not that difficult to reduce the scientific consensus down to a few key sentences. In fact these might encourage people to search and point out reliable sources (Bode, Monroe Megalos, 2014) Communicators have concluded that the reason for lack of public engagement is due to the fact that there has been lack of information and understanding, therefore this issue needs to improve in order to encourage more people to be inspired and take action. They also concluded that if people have fear on potential disasters because no action has been taken yet, than it would motivate them to take action. Mass communication is by far the best way to reach the public with regards to this issue (Moser Dilling, 2011). Communicators have the possibility to use different ways, represent different values, and promote political, cultural, social, and economic frameworks of climate change, through a national discussion (Schneider, 2009) An experiment conducted by Sander van der Linden, Anthony Leiserowitz, Geoffrey Feinberg and Edward W. in 2014, tested three popular ways to communicating the scientific consensus. In the first try, a simple message was shown to a number of participants stating that: â€Å"97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening†. In the second try, the same participants were shown a pie chart describing the scientific consensus in a more visual way. For the third attempt, different metaphors where used to describe the consensus. At the end of this experiment, the participants were asked to express what they thought about the scientific consensus before and after participating in this experiment. This concluded that all of the three approaches; the descriptive text, the pie chart and the metaphors, made the public understand more on what the scientific consensus is about. Both the pie chart and the descriptive text were the most effective on the p articipants than the metaphors. The pie chart was then more efficient with people that had political backgrounds. To conclude results show that in order to improve the public’s knowledge on the scientific consensus on climate change; one has to find a way to ensure that the individual is not defined by political persuasion. Scientists, policy makers and even NGO’s have shown to respond more to using short, simple declarative sentences or simple pie charts to communicate the scientific consensus to the public. Since, metaphors were proven less effective; however they still can be very beneficial in explaining difficult scientific concepts. At the end of the day, in order to help improve the state of communication on the issue of climate change, every possible approach is better than nothing. It is important to help people gain knowledge, shape their way of thinking and help them understand more the purpose of a scientific consensus (Van der Linden et. al, 2014) Improving from climate change It will take a huge global effort to create and implement new ways to reduce climate change instances. There is the need to design and embrace new technologies that are aimed to reduce emissions caused by green-house gases so that damaging consequences to human health may be avoided. Moreover, the ability to adjust to such changes depends extensively across different nations. (Schneider, 2009) Poor nations are more exposed to the effects of global warming because they cannot cope with the social and economic situations that are likely to arise due to sea levels changes and severe weather changes (Tierney, 2009). Reducing green-house gas emissions is possible with the help of different types of practices and technologies that can be supplied by the industrial sectors, especially by the waste and land management sectors. Other sectors, including the economy sector needs to be also involved in improving climate change mitigations since green-house gas emissions are commonly present during economic activities. It is also quite important for countries to find ways to increase funding for research and development (Schneider, 2009). To conclude After many years of practice but without any solid basis of research, communicating climate change is now an intense interest to those who wants to increasing public participation. As mentioned before, there have been many different studies that have measured public opinions, attitudes and level of understanding with regards to scientific topics. Moreover, most of the studies have tested different approaches to identify the most effective ways to communicate the scientific consensus. Much of what is known or assume about climate change communication is influenced by studies in other fields such as; Advertising, social marketing and mass media communication. One has to keep in mind the following aims for future research and practice:- Create communication models and technologies, find more effective ways to communicate mitigations, identify ways to adapt to new strategies. Last but not least, one had to make sure to encourage deeper engagement and promote the importance of mass mobili zation (Moser, 2011) References Abraham, J., Cook, J., Fasullo, J., Jacobs, P., Mandia, S., Nuccitelli, D. (2014). Review of the consensus and asymmetric quality of research on human-induced climate change.Cosmopolis,2014(1), 3-18. Arrhenius,S; â€Å"On the Influence of carbonic acid in the air upon temperature of the ground†, The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Series 5, 1896, vol. 41, pp. 237-276 Bode, C., Monroe, M., Megalos, M. (2014).  Strategies for communicating climate change to extension audiences: Fact sheet.Unpublished manuscript. Bolsen, T., Leeper, T. J., Shapiro, M. A. (2014). Doing what others do norms, science, and collective action on global warming.American Politics Research,42(1), 65-89. Cook, J., Nuccitelli, D., Green, S. A., Richardson, M., Winkler, B., Painting, R., . . . Skuce, A. (2013). Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature.Environmental Research Letters,8(2), 024024. Ding, D., Maibach, E. W., Zhao, X., Roser-Renouf, C., Leiserowitz, A. (2011). Support for climate policy and societal action are linked to perceptions about scientific agreement.Nature Climate Change,1(9), 462-466. Donald, R., Pidcock, R. (2013).  We all agree about communicating climate consensus, don’t we?. Retrieved fromhttp://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2013/05/we-all-agree-about-communicating-climate-consensus,-dont-we Doran, P and Zimmerman, M; â€Å"Examining the scientific consensus on climate change†, Eos, 2009, vol. 90, 22-23. Fourier, J. (1827). On the temperature of the terrestrial sphere and interplanetary space.  Mà ©moires De l’Acadà ©mie Royale Des Sciences,7, 569-604. IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), â€Å"Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013†, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, USA Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., Mandel, G. (2012). The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks.Nature Climate Change,2(10), 732-735. Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Smith, N. (2011). Climate change in the american mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in may 2011.Yale University, New Haven, Leiserowitz, A, et al., â€Å"Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in September, 2012†, Yale University and George Mason University, New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, 2012. Lewandowsky, S., Gignac, G. E., Vaughan, S. (2013). The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensus in acceptance of science.Nature Climate Change,3(4), 399-404. Maibach, E., Myers, T., Leiserowitz, A. (2014). Climate scientists need to set the record straight: There is a scientific consensus that humanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ caused climate change is happening.Earths Future, Malka, A., Krosnick, J. A., Langer, G. (2009). The association of knowledge with concern about global warming: Trusted information sources shape public thinking.Risk Analysis,29(5), 633-647. McCright, A. M., Dunlap, R. E., Xiao, C. (2013). Perceived scientific agreement and support for government action on climate change in the USA.Climatic Change,119(2), 511-518. Moser, S. C. (2010). Communicating climate change: History, challenges, process and future directions.Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change,1(1), 31-53. Moser, S. C., Dilling, L. (2011). Communicating climate change: Closing the science-action gap.The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society.Oxford University Press, Oxford,, 161-176. Nature Climate Change. (2013).  Climate consensus.3, 303. doi:10.1038/nclimate1875 Schneider, S. H. (2009).  Climate change science and policyIsland Press. Sturgis, P., Allum, N. (2004). Science in society: Re-evaluating the deficit model of public attitudes.Public Understanding of Science,13(1), 55-74. Tierney, L. (2009). The politics of climate change: who suffers most?. Retrieved fromhttps://www.mtholyoke.edu/~tiern20l/classweb/climatechange/suffer.html Tyndall, J. (1861). The bakerian lecture: On the absorption and radiation of heat by gases and vapours, and on the physical connexion of radiation, absorption, and conduction.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,151, 1-36. van der Linden, Sander L, Leiserowitz, A. A., Feinberg, G. D., Maibach, E. W. (2014). How to communicate the scientific consensus on climate change: Plain facts, pie charts or metaphors?Climatic Change,126(1-2), 255-262. Zimmerman, M. R. (2008).  The Consensus on the Consensus: An Opinion Survey of Earth Scientists on Global Climate Change

Oh, For the Love of Thought :: Philosophy Plato The Allegory of the Cave Essays

Oh, For the Love of Thought Many thinkers have existed throughout history. These thinkers were called philosophers because they literally loved knowledge. In fact, the root phil means love, and the root soph means knowledge. These lovers of knowledge have always looked for ways to spread both their knowledge and their way of constantly thinking to other people. One of these attempts was Plato's The Allegory of the Cave. Plato's The Allegory of the Cave describes, through a conversation between Socrates and his student Glaucon, cave dwellers who see only shadows of puppets on a wall. Socrates emphasizes to Glaucon: To them, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. Socrates continues his supposition by rhetorically asking: What will follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error?. It turns out, says Socrates, that the experience will be painful at first. Once a liberated cave dweller leaves the cave and goes to see the sun, he will see a greater truth than those in the cave. Socrates and Glaucon continue to discuss the cave and determine a set of possibilities: The cave dweller who does not leave the cave will be ignorant; he will not know nor want to know the truth. The cave dweller who leaves the cave and returns will be considered heretical; while he knows a greater truth, he must suffer for it. The cave dweller who leaves the cave and does not return w ill be cause for the cave dwellers to consider the sun, enlightenment, or the ultimate truth to be dangerous; it will be reason for the cave dweller not to leave the cave. The allegory, continued in a reader's mind to a deeper level at which visible reality is an unraveling ball of infinite size with ultimate truth at its core and layers of illusion surrounding it, shows that there will always be a deeper truth. No one person can be fully enlightened and see ultimate truth just as no one person can see the whole of a sphere. It takes the perspectives of all to even begin to see the ultimate truth. Plato begs man in general not to consider the ideas of other men to be heretical because the ideas force people out of their comfort zone and do not make immediate sense to them. People must be continually open-minded. Man may find a new insight into something shedding a layer from the aforementioned ball of reality, but that just means that there are infinitely more insights to gain before the layers of illusion are shed.

Discuss the Reasons for, and Consequences of Social and Economic Groupings of Nations.

Discuss the reasons for, and consequences of social and economic groupings of nations. In this current generation exists a range of major trade blocks, for example: ASEAN – consisting of countries such as Laos, Malaysia and Singapore. However one of the most well known Trade blocs in the world today is the EU, which currently links together 27 countries.The reason as to which countries want to form these alliances with other countries is as they want to stimulate their economic growth via various methods, such as: making trade between the countries easier, thus increasing profits, allowing the free movement of labour and capital, and sharing knowledge thus allowing all members of the group to develop. There are different types of alliances that countries can form, the first of which is free trade areas. These are when countries remove all tariffs and quotas on trade between themselves, but keep the taxes for when countries outside of the trade bloc want to import into the grou p (e. g.NAFTA). The next type of alliance is common markets, which are like custom unions but also, allow the free movement of labour and capital – the EU once existed in this form. The final type are Economic unions in which members do all of the above but they also adopt common policies for the likes of agriculture, transport and pollution. The EU has currently adopted this format. Economic groupings do have a variety of advantages and disadvantages linked to them. Many humanitarians are in favour of social and economic groupings, as they believe due to an increased amount of international understanding, there is a greater chance of peace.Also, as trade barriers are removed, the economy of a country is allowed to develop which ultimately will cause a spiral of growth therefore resulting in better living conditions. In my personal opinion, trade blocs are ideal for people who find it difficult to seek employment in their own country, as they have the legal right to travel in to another member of the group and work there. This may cause conflict however as people in the country which is receiving migrants for work may believe that jobs they’re entitled to are being taken up, and for this reason, people may be against trade blocs.These benefits were apparent after the formation of NAFTA (The North American Trade Agreement) between the USA, Canada and Mexico. The gradual eradication of trade tariffs allowed the amount of trade to triple between 1993 and 2007 ($306 billion to $930 billion), with an increase in employment in the USA’s manufacturing industry due its expansion. As a result of Mexico’s participation in NAFTA, it received an increased amount of foreign investment, and so higher wages were paid to workers and there were increased sales from the agricultural industry.Similar benefits also applied to the European Union (EU). Trade has increased significantly between the European countries, which are part of grouping. In 1970 ju st over 12% of the UK’s GDP came from trade with European countries. After the UK joined the EU in 1973, this percentage rapidly increased: in 2002, around 23% of the UK’s GDP came from trade with EU countries. The EU also supports come industries; for example, it has the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which subsidises for EU farmers and adds import tariffs and quotas on agricultural policies outside the EU.This gives farmers a reasonable standard of living, secures food supplies and ensures a god price for consumers. There are other problems that social and economic groupings cause, and it is these problems that right-wing political parties such as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) will promote. These parties highly criticise groupings, as they believe they create a pressure on countries to adopt central legislation even though the country itself may not want to.Also, they believe that the elite countries of the group will hold a disproportionate amount of power thr ough voting systems and therefore there is a lack of equality. Finally, it is believed that these groupings tend to cause a loss of sovereignty and for this reason; decisions are centralized by what some perceive to be as an undemocratic bureaucracy. Critics of NAFTA pointed out that some Canadian companies had to close down as a result of competition from lower-cost USA firms.Furthermore, jobs were also lost in the USA as firms moved to Mexico – in my opinion, the main reason as to why companies moved to Mexico is because I believe they had the intention of exploiting the country due to its less stringent pollution laws. The EU, just like NAFTA has also had critics as it has had various negative impacts. For example, increased immigration within the EU has resulted in a lack of skilled workers in some eastern European countries because so many have moved to Western Europe to seek better wages.Furthermore, countries that are part of the EU have to share resources with each ot her – for example, countries joining the EU come under the Common Fisheries Policy, which means their fishing grounds become open to fishing by other member states. Overall it is clear to me that social and economic groupings are established in order to promote trade between its members thus allowing the development of the participating countries’ economies, and even though they do have their advantages, the groupings also has skeptics due to the drawbacks they create.

Criminal Recidivism Essay

Prisons today are overcrowded and are a growing problem in today’s society. â€Å"In 2008, the Pew Center on the States reported that incarceration levels had risen to a point where one in 100 American adults was behind bars. A second Pew study, the following year, added another disturbing dimension to the picture, revealing that one in 31 adults in the United States was either incarcerated or on probation or parole† (Pew Center on the States, 2011). It is very costly for the states to maintain the prisoners behind bars. It has been estimated that the cost of state spending on corrections is 52 billion dollars. Recidivism is a term used by law enforcement agencies that describes the tendency to relapse into criminal behavior. It involves a person being re-incarcerated or re-offending. â€Å"Inmates returning to state prisons within three years of release has remained steady for more than a decade; this is a strong indicator that prison systems are failing to deter criminals from re-offending. Using data from 41 states for prisoners released, â€Å"a study done by the Pew Center on the States found that slightly more than 4 in 10 offenders return to prison within three years† (Johnson, 2011). What has caused this rise in recidivism can be due to more studies being done, tracking recidivism more closely, and failure of prison systems/probation programs to rehabilitate inmates. â€Å"Prisons serve multiple purposes, including exacting retribution for breaking the law, separating offenders from society so they cannot commit more crimes, deterring the general population from committing crimes and discouraging incarcerated offenders from committing new crimes once they are released† (Pew Center on the States, 2011). One priority of prisons is to deter criminal activity through incarceration and rehabilitation of its criminals. One way to track rehabilitation of the criminals is by tracking the recidivism rates. This study includes data of prisoners released in 1999 and prisoners released in 2004. Thirty-one states offered data for 1999 and 41 states offered data for 2004. â€Å"The Pew/ASCA survey found the three-year return-to-prison rate for inmates released in 1999 to be 45. 4 percent, and 43. percent for those released in 2004† (2011). This study began its study by sending out surveys to all 50 states. â€Å"A self-selected survey or voluntary response survey is one in which people decide for themselves whether to be included in the survey† (Bennett, Briggs, & Triola, 2009, p. 37). Each prison facility decided whether they would be included in the study and they submitted information to the Pew Center of the States. Qualitative data was used to put values on the measurements. The process of binning was used to categorize the prisoners into three groups, which consisted of first release, all releases, return for new convictions, and return for violation of probation. â€Å"The relative frequency of any category is the proportion or percentage of the data values that fall in that category† (Bennett, et. al. , 2009, p. 94). They set up relative frequency tables to determine how many times the prisoners fell under the categories or bins. They used mean, median, and mode to get averages of prisoners released and re-offending. There were some outliers in the studies. Outliers are defined as â€Å"a value that is much higher or much lower than almost all other values† (Bennett, et. al. , 2009, p. 149). â€Å"State departments of correction reported on people who returned to one of their facilities, which would not count a former offender who was incarcerated in another state or depending on proximity to high-crime areas in neighboring states or major interstate drug corridors† (Johnson, 2011). The Pew Center of the States analyzed the data and concluded that by 2002, more than 45% in the first wave of releases returned to prison and in 2007, about 43% of the second group returned† (Johnson, 2011). They came up with these percentiles by looking at the total number of inmates released from each prison for each state and how many were re-incarcerated for new crimes or violation of probation. â€Å"One can approximate the percentile of any data value with the following formula: percentile of data value =number of values less than this data value/total number of values in data set† (Bennet, t. al. , 2009, p. 170). â€Å"At least 95 percent of inmates in America ultimately will be released and returned to the community. Keeping them crime and drug-free is no easy assignment. Many offenders lacked education, work experience, family support and a stable living situation before they were incarcerated, and many suffer from mental illness or a history of addiction† (The Pews Center of the states, 2011). Many also have the stigma that comes with having a criminal record and are unable to find work, so they resort back to robbery or stealing. Many times the released prisoners go back to hanging out with their old friends and then it is not long before they fall back into their old habits. In addition, the probation/parole divisions that are supposed to supervise the former inmates are overworked, have large caseloads, and limited technology to keep up with the former inmates.

Biography of Jon Corzine

Jonathan Corzine was born on New Year’s Day in 1947 and grew up on his family’s farm in rural Illinois. Having learned the value of hard work from his parents, a farmer and a school teacher, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a Phi Beta Kappa and immediately enlisted in the Marine Reserves. He served for six years as a reservist while beginning his career in finance at the Continental Illinois National Bank. He earned his MBA in 1973 while attending night classes and went to work for Bank Ohio.He moved to New Jersey in 1975 with his wife when he went to work for the New York investment firm of Goldman Sachs where he was named partner in 1980 and CEO in 1984(About the Governor, 2006). The couple had three children, but later divorced (Governor’s Information, 2006). His affair became a public spectacle during his political career with his wife announcing that he may let down the state of New Jersey in the same way he let down the fa mily (Cilliza, 2005).However, this did not deter his political aspirations. Soon, Corzine entered the political spectrum. He made a push for the United States Senate and won the seat in 2000. Five years later, Corzine announced his intention of running for the New Jersey Governor. He focused on using his knowledge and skills in finance to help the economy of the state of New Jersey. As a Democrat, he urged the state to adopt a more progressive economic and social policy (Governor’s Information, 2006).He helped write the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which attempted to crack down on corporate wrongdoing. He also sponsored the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act, which worked to create more health care coverage for children and pregnant women (Jon Corzine, 2008). His career was punctuated by his attempt to apply his business expertise to politics. In 2005, Corzine announced his candidacy for the governorship of New Jersey and vowed to utilize his business acumen which had helped him become a multimillionaire on Wall Street in helping out the state.â€Å"He built his campaign around his comprehensive ethics proposal, revamping the state’s property tax system, building a stronger economy, and improving education and healthcare†(Governor’s Information, 2006) Using 43 million dollars of his own money on the campaign, he narrowly beat his Republican adversary and became the 54th governor of New Jersey in January of 2007 (Cilliza, 2005). Corzine was sworn in as New Jersey’s 54th Governor on January 17, 2006.While in office, he worked hard to raise the sales tax from 6% to 7% even though he had to shut down the nonessential elements of government in order to do it. In addition, he abolished the death penalty in the state of New Jersey, replacing it with life imprisonment. He suffered a critical injury in a car accident in 2007, but has made a recovery and continues to serve his term. About the Governor. (2006). State of New Jersey Office of the Gov ernor. Retrieved 31 March 2008 from http://www. state. nj. us/governor/about/ Cilliza, C. (2005). Corzine Defeats Forrester to Become N.J. Governor. The Washington Post. 8 November 2005: A1u8. Governor’s Information: New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. National Governor’s Association. Retrieved 31 March 2008 from http://www. nga. org/portal/site/nga/ menuitem. 29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/? vgnextoid=9db05 b07f60c8010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD Jon Corzine. Wikipedia. Received 31 March 2008 fromhttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/ Jon_Corzine#Senate_career Corzine, who made a fortune on Wall Street and spent at least $43 million of it on this race, evidently did not win the vote of his ex-wife, Joanne Corzine.Her quote to a newspaper about how Corzine might â€Å"let New Jersey down† the same way he â€Å"let his family down† with an adulterous affair was featured in Forrester's TV ads. With 95 percent of precincts counted, Corzine had 54 percent of the votes (1 ,120,272) to Forrester's 43 percent (908,796). Corzine Defeats Forrester To Become N. J. Governor Bloomberg Wins Easily; Texas Passes Gay-Marriage Ban By Chris Cillizza Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, November 9, 2005; Page A18