Evaluation of CRM Contribution Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 20250 words

Evaluation of CRM Contribution - Dissertation Example Like for every other industry, CRM can prove to be an effective strategy for UK banks which will not only help them build and survive in tough competition and harsh economic scenarios but will also help them grow and enjoy customer life time value only if implemented carefully and properly. Evaluation of CRM contribution in order to gain customer retention in the UK banking industry – A case study of Barclays Bank Richmond branch 1 INTRODUCTION Approaching customers and selling company’s offerings is not a new concept; what is new is the change in focus. Previously, companies tend to focus on selling their products and services to the customers irrespective of the fact that whether the solutions offered are required or not and honestly there was no need either because there were quite a few alternatives available which makes the sales of any product easier. However, with the change in time where markets became tight and competition became tough there comes the need to r emodel selling techniques. Now the modern marketing concept, as stated by Jobber & Fahy (2009, p. 3), suggests â€Å"achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition†. Another necessity which aroused with time is the need to retain existing customers than to attract new ones. Research shows that attracting new customers is more expensive than retaining old ones (Jobber & Fahy 2009) and this changed the focus even further. Among several strategies adopted by companies, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become a focal point. According to Nili & Keramati (2011, p. 527) CRM â€Å"is a business philosophy that provides the organization a vision to deal with customers better†. It helps enhance customer’s experience by offering them real business benefits which not only enhance customer loyalty but also promise increased revenues and profitability for the businesses (Russ 2006). CRM has become an important strategy for all industries and financial markets are no exception. According to Russ (2006) â€Å"Retail banks are facing greater challenges than ever before in executing their customer management strategies. Intensifying competition, proliferating customer contact channels, escalating attacks on customer information, rising customer expectations and capitalizing on new market opportunities are at the top of every bank executive’s agenda.† Given the importance of Customer Relationship Management in financial markets, this research aims to critically evaluate the contribution of CRM towards customer retention in the UK Banking industry. Barclays Bank Richmond branch has been selected as a case to fulfill the purpose of this study. 1.1 Background and Context Customer satisfaction is the main aim of every business as the businessmen know that it is easy to do business with a satisfied customer because it requires fewer resources and less time. The success of a business relies mainly on one factor â€Å"customer retention† and to retain customers it is very important to make sure they are satisfied. Customer retention can increase profits and productivity and forms long term relationships which are beneficial to both parties. Customer Relationship Management is found to be one of the key factors in retaining customers which further ensures company maintains a strong and loyal customer base. With the help of CRM, the customer service personnel can create, allocate and manage any request for service made by the

Influence of Baroque Music to Classical Music Essay Example for Free

Influence of Baroque Music to Classical Music Essay Music of any period reflects, in its own way, some of the same influences, tendencies, and generative impulses that are found in the other arts of that time (Donna, 2005). Thus the word baroque, usually used despairingly by eighteenth-century art critics to describe the art and architecture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, came to be applied also to the music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. After some years after the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, the ornate, formal and strict form of the High Baroque became â€Å"old-fashion† and lost its favor. Music slowly began to change form the style and forms of the High Baroque to a simpler yet tuneful form around 1750. The period following the Baroque is called the Classical period. The transition to the new styles and forms of Classical music was, like all transitions, rather complicated. The use of the baroque bass figure lost its taste and became obsolete. The preference of a simple structure rather than polyphonic constructions became dominant most especially in secular music. There was also a preference for one clear melodic line without melting with many others. Although baroque music differs greatly from classical music, they have striking similarities as evident in specific styles and forms. Though Classical composers tend to avoid the antiquated Baroque, one cannot fully abandon the styles and forms of the immediate predecessors. Instead, these styles were further developed to form a new meaning and use on the new musical structure. Forms like the opera and orchestra revolutionized—the former branching out from serious to variety, and the latter have a complete upheaval. Moreover, on the late Classical period, great composers such as Beethoven and Mozart studied the works of Baroque composers Bach and Handel. The later works of the classical composers were characterized of having innovative yet powerful polyphony inspired by Bach’s masterpieces, and contrapuntal melodic lines imbued with the oratorios and suites of Handel. General characteristics of baroque music Baroque composers were united in a common goal: to express or represent a wide range of feelings vividly and vigorously. They sought musical means to express or arouse the affections.  Rather than they express their personal feelings, composers wanted to represent human emotions in a generic sense (Norton, 2010). The music is regarded for its distinct, formal compositional styles and forms. Style Various styles laid the foundation of baroque music. Expressive and expansive in melody yet deeply rooted in chordal harmonies, baroque music is typically highly rhythmical and quite easy to listen to. The comfortable regularity and lively rhythmic qualities of much of baroque music have made it appealing to many modern listeners. For more detailed listeners, one can interpret the music having poignant and stirring melodies, engaging conversation-like dialogues in sound, and rich harmonies and textures (Daniels Wagner, 1975). Modality was replaced by tonality which gave a strong feeling of joy or lament. In 2008, Ferris explains that composers developed and theoreticians articulated the tonal system, in which every note of the major or minor scale bears a specific relationship to every other note, and all of the pitches are more or less similar to the tonic. Composers at that time recognized and utilized triad chords as an entity, which resulted to meaningful and consonant units of sound. The use of triads most especially the three principle chords (tonic, dominant, and subdominant) paved a stable and harmonic direction to tonal music (The Baroque Period). Thus, the tonal system of harmony was wholly adopted during the seventeenth century. In addition, the continuous use of the polyphonic texture during the Early Baroque was revolutionized to form a new texture—the homophony. Imitative polyphony (more than one melodic line) was an extremely important factor in writing and playing music (The Baroque Era, Kamien, 2008). New forms of polyphonic music were developing because baroque composers felt that the art of counterpoint was essential to their artistry. On the other hand, the homophonic method (a musical technique that displays a vast separation amongst the melody line and the accompaniment) was gaining acceptance and use quite rapidly (The Baroque Era). The homophonic musical style played a significant role in opera and solo vocal music because it ocused the listener’s concentration in the poetic melody of the singer. Most pieces in baroque music have the basso continuo which gave way to uniformity and unity. Basso continuo, or figured bass, is an accompaniment which consists of a bass part with numbers which specify the chords to be played above it. Musical works containing a continuo part helped to convey harmonic support of chords under the melodic line (The Baroque Era). Kamien (2008) states that basso continuo is usually played by at least two instruments: an organ or harpsichord and low melodic instrument like the cello or bassoon. Kamien (2008) also adds that â€Å"the organist of harpsichordist plays the bass part with the left hand which is also played by the cellist or bassoonist. With the right hand, the keyboard player improvises chords or melodic line by following the numbers. Because the numbers only indicate a basic chord, the performer has a wide field of freedom. † With continuity of rhythm and melody, baroque music also features continuity of dynamic level. This means that the volume stays the same for a period of time, and then there is a sudden shift to a different dynamic level. There are no gradual changes in dynamics (such as a crescendo or decrescendo). Terraced dynamics were used as the main keyboard instrument was the harpsichord, which could only be played in two modes, either forte (loud) or piano (soft), precluding the ability to accomplish crescendos or decrescendos (Kamien, 2008). Moreover, baroque composers fashion their work with different kinds of ornamentation. For Baroque musicians, ornamentation is not merely decoration that has no intrinsic value but rather the chief way of moving affections. One should, therefore, try in his ornamentation, as in all other aspects of his interpretation, to effectively communicate the sense of the music. In a lyrical movement, baroque performers intensify the expressiveness through the use of smooth melodic ornaments and appoggiaturas, in a brilliant movement, incorporate virtuosic ornaments, and in a movement that seems complete, add almost nothing besides essential cadential trills (www. musebaroque. fr). Eventually, both vocalists and instrumentalists recognized the principal ways of ornamenting a melodic line. First, brief formulas called ornaments—such as trills, turns, appoggiaturas, and mordents—were added to certain notes to emphasize accents, cadences, and other significant points in the melody (Norton, 2010). Second, more extended embellishments—such as scale and arpeggio passages, and other types of flourishes—were added to create a free and elaborate paraphrase of the written line (Norton, 2010). Forms In 1573, a group of musicians and intellectuals came together to discuss various subjects, especially the desire to revive Greek drama. This group of individuals is known as the Florentine Camerata, they wanted lines to be sung instead of simply being spoken (Styles of the Baroque Period). The group developed a new vocal style based on the music of the ancient Greek tragedy. This new style followed the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech. It was sung by a soloist with only a simple chordal accompaniment and was, thus, homophonic; the Camerata rejected polyphony because it would obscure the all-important text (Kamien, 2008). Together with the opera, the oratorio stands as a major development in baroque vocal music. Like opera, the oratorio is a large-scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra usually performed during the Lenten season in the oratory, from which its name was derived; it is usually set to a narrative text. Oratorio differs from opera in that it has no acting, scenery, or costumes. Most oratorios are based on biblical stories, but usually they are not intended for religious services (Tovey, 1956) The genre reached its heights in the late baroque period in the works of George Frederic Handel such as the Messiah with its well-known chorus of continuous praise of Hallelujah. Likewise, the baroque mass is an instrumentally accompanied vocal music tended to be a conservative musical form. As the seventeenth century progressed, masses began to incorporate concertato style and to have instrumental accompaniments. These developments led to the five masses of J. S. Bach, whose B Minor Mass is one of the towering monuments of Western music (Daniels Wagner, 1975). One of the most significant aspects of the Baroque period was the emergence of independent instrumental music. Its development was not entirely what the Florentine composers had intended; â€Å"the new forms†, Kitson (1966) stated, â€Å"were by-products of reform†. The use of the modal system was broken down, and establishment of the major-minor tonality were considered. But, the old contrapuntal style was not abolished entirely. The known form of during the Baroque is the fugue. According to Kamien (2008), a fugue, written for a group of instruments or voices, or for a single instrument, is a polyphonic composition which is based on one theme called subject. Composers wrote fugues both as independent pieces and as sections within preludes or toccatas (Norton 2010). Throughout a fugue, different melodic lines, or â€Å"voices†, imitate the subject. Fugue subjects usually have a clearly defined character and a lively rhythm. Music that had become associated with various social dances began to separate itself and became a type of independent instrumental music. The baroque suite is a set of dance-inspired movements, all in the same key but different in tempo, meter and character. It is performed by a solo instrument, a small group of instruments, or an orchestra (Wright, 2008). The movements of a suite are usually in AABB form. The section A, which starts from the tonic key then shifts to the dominant, is balanced by the section B, which starts from dominant then shifts to the tonic (Kamien, 2008, p. 103). Moreover, the orchestra during the baroque period was a performing group on instruments of the violin family. The baroque orchestra was consisted of ten to thirty or forty players. At its core were the basso continuo and upper strings. The use of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments are variable depending on the demand of the piece to be played. An aria (in English works sometimes called an â€Å"air†) signifies a melody apart from the harmony, but especially a musical composition for single voice or instrument, with an accompaniment of other voices or instruments. The aria in Bach’s suites is a short binary movement in a flowing rhythm in not very slow common or duple meter (Tovey, 1956). Influence of baroque music to classical music In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and the arts, generally known as Classicism, which sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity and especially those of Classical Greece. Changes in musical perception on style and form are likely caused by a sum of economic, religious, sociological and political factors. It is interesting to examine the music created within the hazy boundaries between the periods. Style Norton (2010) believes that â€Å"at its best, Classical music reached a consistently high standard and possessed the qualities of a noble simplicity, balance, perfection of form, diversity within unity, seriousness of purpose, and use of ornamentation. † The transition to the new style was rather complicated. There was a general relaxation of formality, and for a while nothing much to take its place (Daniels Wagner, 1975). The relaxation in the court life favored the Rococo (derived from the French word rocaille referring to the artificial rockwork), a reaction to the formalism, rigidity, and seriousness that had become characteristics of the Baroque, and a decorative style that was lighter, smaller in scale, and wittier than the Baroque (Daniels Wagner, 1975, Kitson, 1966). The melody most typically consisted of a series of a series of short motives, repeated several times and cast in four or eight measure phrases. The melody is also generously supplied with a variety of trills, mordents, and the like. Classical music is basically homophonic. It seemed a proper alternative to the heavy polyphonic textures of the High Baroque. However, texture is treated as flexibly as rhythm. Pieces shift smoothly or suddenly from one texture to another. A work may begin homophonically with a melody and simple accompaniment but then change to a more complex polyphonic texture that features two simultaneous melodies or melodic fragments imitated among the various instruments. In addition, polyphony was piously maintained when it came to church music. It was used for intensification, contrast, and development in the late works of Haydn and Beethoven The most far-reaching event of Rococo music was the development of the simple two-part dance form of the Baroque, through a gradual enlargement and refinement, to the sonata-form of the Classical period. The end result was a form that remained in a dominant position in the field of instrumental music for almost two hundred years (Kitson, 1966). Indeed, it is a marvel of structural flexibility, capable of the greatest conceivable variety of expressive content. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was generally cast in a form consisting of three movements arranged in fast-slow-fast sequence. In sonatas and other pieces for violin, gradual increases and decreases of dynamics had long been employed; a theorist addressed the problem of crescendo and decrescendo receiving considerable attention. The Italian opera orchestra, too, had been familiar with swelling of tone. The solution is the borrowing a baroque style. Terraced dynamics had provided composers with one means of achieving contrast. Operas employing this device were widely performed throughout Europe. Form The practice of the baroque era was the standard against which new forms was measured, and there came to be a division between sacred works, which held more closely to the Baroque style from secular works, which were in the new style. A new orchestra developed during the classical period. It was a standard group of four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion unlike the baroque which could vary from piece to piece. The number of musicians in a classical orchestra was greater than in a baroque group. Classical composers exploited timbres of each instruments. Unlike baroque composers, they did not treat instruments interchangeably. The Classical composers were the first to orchestrate for instruments like clarinet, trombone, and piccolo (Daniels, Wagner, et al, 1975). According to Kamien (2008), â€Å"the classical orchestra had developed into a flexible and colorful instrument to which composers could entrust their most powerful and dramatic musical conceptions. The mass continued to be an important form for Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. During the Classical period, masses involved orchestra, soloists, and choir in a fully integrated work, using organizational principles derived from instrumental forms (The Classical Period). The majority of Mozart’s masses were in Missa brevis type, the simultaneous setting of several lines of text, or the omission of certain sections of the mass, becau se the Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg had no patience with long Masses. Effects of the influences of baroque music Long after the Baroque era ended, and their music was all but forgotten, both Handel and Bach were rediscovered in the Classical era. All great Classical composers like Mozart and Beethoven, after Bach and Handel, studied their works and learned from them in grasping and further developing Bachs and Handel’s science of baroque composition in such a way, that something entirely new emerged, pointing into the future. Proficient Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The works of Bach, such as the B-minor Mass and the six motets, and Handel, for example, the Messiah had deeply influenced the works of Mozart in his last years of writing music. Mozart was thoroughly familiar with the music of Handel. During his childhood trip to England, he became well acquainted with Handels music and he never lost his taste for it. One can hear Handels influence in some of Mozarts early works, such as The Solemn Vespers, and in later works such as the Great Mass and the Requiem Mass in D minor. In fact, the opening page of Mozarts Requiem, beautiful as it is, is merely a reworking of the opening choral movement of Handels funeral music for Queen Caroline (Langlois, 2008). At the age of thirty, Mozart, visiting the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, upon hearing a Bach motet for the first time, exclaimed â€Å"Now there is music from which a man can learn something. † Then, the choirmaster at Leipzig gave Mozart a copy of the score to all six of the Bach motets. They were a profound influence on his late style. In the last two years of his life, Mozarts counterpoint became even more exquisite and complex than before (Langlois, 2008). Moreover, Mozart was attracted to the main genres in which Bach excelled—keyboard sonatas, keyboard concertos, symphonies and operas. Bach’s singing-style themes, tasteful use of expressive motives, suspenseful harmonic ambiguities, and consistent thematic contrasts became permanent features of Mozart’s writing (Portowitz). Ludwig van Beethoven Having Mozart as his model for his compositional styles, Beethoven had been familiar to the styles of the works of Bach and Handel. He continuously borrowed ideas, techniques and texture of the music of the baroque in his latter musical career. In his later years, wanting to compose certain pieces in a more contrapuntal style, Beethoven worked hard at mastering counterpoint. He studied the music of Bach, Handel, and even of Palestrina. In his late music, he developed a style of counterpoint that is more reminiscent of Handel than Bach. His fugues in his late period are very rhythmic in nature and quite unique in the history of music (Langlois, 2008). Beethoven showed his constant concern with the work of J. S. Bach. He constantly requested copies of newly published editions, for example, a copy of the B-minor Mass, from the well-known publishers in Leipzig and Zuurich. In Beethovens sketchbooks, interspersed among work on his own compositions, there are numerous entries of short or long passages from Bachs works, among them, the Chromatic Fantasy, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier and The Art of the Fugue (Cramer, 2001). For Beethoven, the sense and aim of the study of his predecessors, was indeed his own further development, toward new ideas. Beethoven described this very clearly in a letter to the Archbishop Rudolph, in which he clearly names Bach and Handel as the only true geniuses, among his predecessors: The aim of the world of art, as indeed in the whole creation, is freedom, progress; if we moderns have not the same firmness as our ancestors, yet the refinement of our manners has in many ways enlarged our sphere of action.

APC Hypermethylation as a Prostate Cancer Indicator

APC Hypermethylation as a Prostate Cancer Indicator Evaluation of APC Hypermethylation From Serum Samples as an Indicator for Presence of Prostate Cancer and Higher Gleason Score Abstract Purpose In this prospective study it is aimed to identify role of hypermethlation analysis of APC gene from serum samples on detection of prostate cancer in patients with PSA level 2,5-10 ng/ml and its correlation with GS of the patients Materials and Methods Data from 142 patients underwent prostate biopsy with PSA level of 2,5-10 ng/ml was analyzed. Hypermethlation analysis of promoter region of APC gene from serum samples was done via methlation specific PCR. Patients were grouped as positive or negative depending on results of methylation analysis and compared for presence of prostate cancer and GS distrubution. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of methylation analysis were calculated. P value of 0.05 is used for statistical significance. Results There were 48 patients (33.8%) in methylation (+) group and 94 patients (66,2%) in methylation (-) group. Prostate cancer was detected in 43 of 142 (30,2%) patients after the first biopsy and 32 of these patients were in methylation (+) group. sensitivity and specificity of methylation analysis were 74,4% and 83,8%. PPV and NPV were 66.6% and 88.30 %. When GS distrubutions of the two groups analyzed patients in methylation (+) group were more likely to have higher GS compared to methylation (-) group(p=0,03). Conclusions Hypermethlation analysis APC gene from serum samples have shown promising results with its correlation with prostate cancer and higher GS. Further studies on prediciton of survival with long term follow up are needed to verify its value on prediction of survival Introduction Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the most important medical problems of the male population as it is the most common solid neoplasm in Europe having the highest incidence of 202,100 cases in 2004 (1). It is not only common but also a dangerous disease that it is the second most common cause of cancer death in men (2). These findings prove the importance of detection of PCa. However identifiying patients with clinically significant disease is an important issue, that is to treat patients that really need treatment while sparing ones that have silent disease. The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) trial concluded that 1,410 men would need to be screened and 48 additional cases of PCa would need to be treated to prevent one death from PCa (ERSPC-3). These findings point out that current diagnostic tools are inadequate for screening and detection of clinically significant PCa (3). Epigenetic studies evolved in the era of urooncology in the last decade and DNA methylation is widely studied for certain urological malignancies especialy for PCa (4). Hypermethylation of promoter regions of tumor supresor genes results in gene silencing. This epigenetic change in APC gene promoter regions has been shown in cancerous and precancerous prostate tissues,serum, and urine of PCa patients and sensitivity and specificity rates of 27-100% and 50-100% have been reported (5,6). However the current literature lacks studies that investigate corrolation of results of methylation analysis from serum samples and clinicopathologic properties (grade and stage of disease) of patients. This point should be verified to identify applicability of this method in clinical practice. In this prospective study it is aimed to identify role of hypermethlation analysis of promoter region of APC gene from serum samples on detection of prostate cancer in a population of patients with PSA level 2,5-10 ng/ml and its correlation with Gleason score (GS) of the patients. Patients and Methods. This study was approved by ethical committe of Turkish Ministry of Health. All patients signed informed consent. The patients admitted to urology outpatient clinics of Ankara University Schol of Medicine with PSA level of 2,5-10 ng/ml and who were decided to undergo prostate biopsy were involved in the study. Serum samples were obtained from all patients prior to biopsy and 12 cores transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy was performed by a single radiologist. Age, serum PSA level, prostate biopsy results were recorded and patients were followed regardless of the results of methylation analysis. Rebiopsy was suggested to patients with benign histology and persistant elevated PSA levels 6 months after the first biopsy. Patients with biopsy results of PCa were evaluted for staging and treated based on their stage. GS of the patients were evaluated in 3 groups GS:6 , GS: 7 and GS:8-10. The patients were grouped as positive (methylation +) and negative (methylation -) based on methylation analysis results and compared with results of prostate biopsy. The primary outcome measures were sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of methylation analysis. As a secondary outcome measure the results were also compared with the GS groups. Genetic analysis DNA extraction Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples using a PureLink â„ ¢ Genomic DNA Mini Kit (Invitrogen â„ ¢, catalog No. K1820-02) according to the manufacturer’s instructions and were stored at -20 °C until modification and MSPCR amplification. DNA integrity and quantity was assessed with agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry, respectively. For this purpose, 1% agarose gel was used and 260 nm and 280 nm optical density ratio values (OD260/OD280) were determined. Bisulfite Modification and Methylation-Specific PCR of APC and GSTPI promoters The genomic DNA was modified by sodium bisulfite treatment using the CpGenomeTM DNA Modification Kit (S7820, Chemicon, Temecula, CA). The DNA promoter methylation status of APC and GSTPI genes were investigated by MSPCR using the specific primers to methylated and unmethylated promoters. The methylated and unmethylated control DNA were also subjected to bisulfite DNA modification and PCR analysis, and serves as positive controls for methylated and unmethylated DNA respectively. H2O was used as negative control for the PCR reaction. The PCR reaction was started with denaturation at 95 °C for 13 min, followed by 40 cycles at 95 °C for 30 s, 56 °C for 30 s, 72 °C for 30 s; and 72 °C for 5 min. Statistical analysis Continuous variables were compared using the t –test. Categorical variables were compared by the chi-square test..Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were calculated. Results Prostate biopsy was performed in 142 patients. The mean age of the patients were 68,3  ± 8,2 and mean ages of the methylated and unmethylated groups were not significantly different (67,8 vs 68,6 , p=0,47). There were 48 patients (33.8%) in group 1 and 94 patients (66,2%) in group 2. Prostate cancer was detected in 43 of 142 (30,2%) patients after the first biopsy and 32 of these patients were in methylation (+) group and 11 of them were in methylation (-) group. Based on these results, sensitivity and specificity of methylation analysis were 74,4% (95% CI: 58.83 % 86.46 %) and 83,8% (95% CI: 75.08 % to 90.47 %). PPV and NPV were 66.6% (95% CI: 51.59 % to 79.59 %) and 88.30 % (95% CI: 80.02 % to 94.00 %). When GS distrubutions of the two groups analyzed patients in methylation (+) group were more likely to have higher GS compared to methylation (-) group (p=0,041) and results are summarized in table 1. Second biopsy was performed in 12 (6 patients in each group) patients totally. At these second biopsies, PCa was observed in 4 patients, and all of them were in methylation (+) group. Based on the total results of first and second biopsies, sensitivity and specificity , PPV and NPV were reevaluated. Sensitivity and specificity of methylation analysis were 76.6 % (95% CI: 61.97 % to 87.68 %) and 87.3 % (95% CI: 78.97 % to 93.29 %). PPV and NPV were 75.0 % (95% CI: 60.4 % to 86.3 %) and 88.30 % (95% CI: 80.02 % to 94.00 %). Discussion Epigenetic alterations, such as hypermethylation of prompter regions of tumor supressor genes are associated with many human tumor types and this type of alteration have also emerged as markers for cancer risk assessment, cancer diagnosis, and therapy monitoring in several different types of cancer (7-10). APC is a well-characterized tumor suppressor gene and it downregulates Wnt signaling by targeting the transcriptional coactivator beta-catenin for proteasomal degradation and this prevents its association with the nuclear transcription factor Tcell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor (11). The activation of Wnt pathway leads to deregulation of cell proliferation and differentiation and is a common feature of many human cancers including prostate cancer (12-14). Detection of clinically significant PCa at an early stage is still a great challenge and current imaging modalities are often not able to detect a tumor and biopsies may miss the tumor focus. Role of gene promoter hypermethylation in prostate carcinogenesis, has been studied recently and promising results to improve PCa diagnosis has been established (5-7). In this study methylation analysis of promoter region of APC gene is performed prior to prostate biopsy in serum samples in order to evaluate the the role of this analysis on prostate cancer detection. Serum samples were obtained from all patients prior to biopsy and PCa was detected in siginificantly higher rates in patients with positive methylation analysis. In their study Yoon et al. showed that APC methylation levels were significantly higher in PCa patients than in benign prostate hyperplasia patients. Moreover, APC hypermethylation was not only associated with the increased incidence of PCa but was also positively correlated with increased GS (15). This has also been shown in other studies indicating APC hypermethylation as a reliable predictor of PCa and of its aggressive feature (12,13). Similarly, in our study, methylation positive patients were found to have higher GS and GS>7 was not observed in any patient with negative methylation analysis. Sensitivity and specificity of APC hypermethylation has been studied on prostate tissue samples and high sensitivity (89.3%) and specificity (98.1%) rates have been reported (15). In our study, sensitivity of 74,4% and specificity of 83,8% was found. These results are slightly lower compared to results of Yoon et al. and this may be due to source of DNA, that is higher rates might be reached when analysis is made through prostate tissue samples compared to serum samples. Additionally the results may be effected from the detection method, including the primer design, reagents, detectors, equipment, and protocols, all of which potentially influence the sensitivity and specificity. The important point of our study is making the analysis from serum samples to evaluate its role in clinical practice. The lack of such studies has been emphasized in previous trials conducted on tissue samples (15). Repat biopsies is an important issue in PCa diagnosis in the study of Trock et al. (16) APC methylation provided a very high NPV with a low percentage of false negatives, in a clinical cohort of men undergoing repeat biopsy.In our study, repeat biopsy was performed in 12 patients (6 patients in each group) and all of the 4 patients with PCa detected in second biopsy were in the methylation positive group. Our study involves low number of repeat biopsies therefore further studies with higher number of patients evaluating role of hypermethylation analysis from body fluids should be conducted on the topic of repeat biopsies. Conclusion Prediction of clinical significance of PCa is of clinicial importance and hypermethlation analysis of promoter region of APC gene from serum samples have shown promising results with its correlation with prostate cancer and higher GS. Further studies on prediciton of survival with long term follow up are needed to verify its value on prediction of survival. Conflict of interest: None of the authors have any conflict of interest Ethical standarts: The study was approwed by ethical committe of Turkish Ministry of Health. References 1. Boyle P, Ferlay J. Cancer incidence and mortality in Europe 2004. Ann Oncol 2005 Mar;16(3):481-8. 2. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, et al. Cancer statistics, 2008. CA Cancer J Clin 2008 Mar-Apr;58(2):71-96. 3. Schrà ¶der FH, Hugosson J, Roobol MJ, et al.Screening and prostate-cancer mortality in a randomized European study. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26;360(13):1320-8. 4. Veeck J, Esteller M J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. Breast cancer epigenetics: from DNA methylation to microRNAs. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2010 Mar;15(1):5-17. 5. Kang GH, Lee S, Lee HJ, et al. Aberrant CpG island hypermethylation of multiple genes in prostate cancer and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. J Pathol 2004; 202: 233–40 6. Yegnasubramanian S, Kowalski J, Gonzalgo ML et al. Hypermethylation of CpG islands in primary and metastatic human prostate cancer. Cancer Res 2004; 64: 1975–86 7. Moritz R, Ellinger J, Nuhn P, Haese A, Muller SC, Graefen M, Schlomm T, Bastian PJ. DNA hypermethylation as a predictor of PSA recurrence in patients with low- and intermediate-grade prostate cancer. Anticancer Res 2013 Dec;33(12):5249-54. 8. Kim WJ, Kim YJ. Epigenetic biomarkers in urothelial bladder cancer. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2009;9:259-69. 9. Hoque MO. DNA methylation changes in prostate cancer: current developments and future clinical implementation. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2009;9:243-57. 10. Ushijima T. Detection and interpretation of altered methylation patterns in cancer cells. Nat Rev Cancer 2005;5:223-31. 11. Rai K, Sarkar S, Broadbent TJ, et al. DNA demethylase activity maintains intestinal cells in an undifferentiated state following loss of APC. Cell 2010;142: 930-42. 12. Jeronimo C, Henrique R, Hoque MO, et al. A quantitative promoter methylation profile of prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2004;10:8472-8. 13. Bastian PJ, Ellinger J, Wellmann A, et al. Diagnostic and prognostic information in prostate cancer with the help of a small set of hypermethylated gene loci. Clin Cancer Res 2005;11:4097-106. 14. Gavert N, Ben-Zeev A. beta-Catenin signaling in biological control and cancer. J Cell Biochem 2007;102:820-8. 15. Hyung-Yoon Yoon, Young-Won Kim, Ho Won Kang, et al. Pyrosequencing Analysis of APC Methylation Level in Human Prostate Tissues: A Molecular Marker for Prostate Cancer. Korean J Urol. 2013 Mar;54(3):194-198. 16. Trock BJ, Brotzman MJ, Mangold LA, et al. Evaluation of GSTP1 and APC methylation as indicators for repeat biopsy in a high-risk cohort of men with negative initial prostate biopsies. BJU Int. 2012 Jul;110(1):56-62 Table 1. GS distrubutions of the two groups

Modernist Style in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

Modernist's Experiments in Heart of Darkness In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a chaotic form of writing takes place which is characteristic of the Modernist's experiments in their style of literature of stream-of-consciousness. Written before WWI took place, he spoke of a different type of chaos and uncertainty present in the world at this time; the issue of slavery. Heart of Darkness describes a voyage to Africa, common for the British still, despite the horrific treatment which was apparent of colonization. The chaotic, stream-of-consciousness style Conrad took on helped to display the confusion, and made the reader have to interpret for themselves what they thought the writer meant. Conrad experiments with this style, leaving some sentences without ending: "not a sentimental pretense but an idea;†¦something you can set up†¦and offer a sacrifice to†¦." (Conrad, Longman p. 2195), a very choppy form of literature and causes the reader to fill in the holes and interpret themselves, alone. Conrad skips about from talking of the "two women knitted black wool feverishly" at the gate of the city (of hell), to his aunt which he feels women are "out of touch with truth," to how the British are as "weak-eyed devil(s) of a rapacious and pitiless folly" (Conrad, Longman pp. 2198, 2199, & 2202). Conrad's mind moves about as ours d o along a large duration of literary monologue to convey to the reader the author's ideas, as interpreted by the reader. Conrad's narrative frame also continues his experimentation with literary form in Modernist style. Two separate monologues are present throughout Heart of Darkness. The first part starts out with an unnamed narrator aboard the ship Nelly, describing to himself, as well as to the reader, those aboard the ship, particularly Marlow. At first, the narrator is not known for sure to be a character aboard the ship until a few paragraphs later identify him as a person observing the others-"Between us there was, as I have already said," (Conrad, Longman p.

Paradigm Analysis: Animal Lover (And Animal Rights) Essay

The word paradigm originates from the Greek word paradeigma, which simply means an example serving as a pattern or model. Paradigm reflects some concepts, values, or some ways of doing something commonly or habitually. It is also a way of viewing (Webster’s 1998) reality for the community. Human species is endowed with emotions that make it easier for him to express bonding with some non-human kind. This binding seems to be spontaneous or natural. Children display this act more deeply than many intellectually and emotionally mature people do. These people are called animal lovers. In the absence of human affection, animal lovers show more love for their animals or pets. Their love for animals intensifies due to some ethical paradigm they uphold or embrace in connection with their respect for natural creations like nature and environment. Alternatively, one’s love for animal obligates him to become a vegetarian. This attitude is more than rewarding as many pets or animals return a great deal of affection to them. Due to this love for animals, either domestic or wild, some political, social, or scientific movements have sprung up. Animal lovers, breaking new grounds as advocates, want to protect the natural resources of both plants and animals including their habitats. The task seems to be gigantic as it covers a wider expanse of the earth, namely, water, soil, forestry, fisheries, wilderness, to name just a few spots. The aim of nature conservation movement, however, is expressly for continued sustainability for human use. Child-like fetish This love for animal exists because of the existence of a child-like faith among animal lovers. â€Å"Animals never commit sins,† and â€Å"All animals are bound to heaven† are just a few child-like beliefs that exist among adults. Such beliefs and the likes, though seemingly simple move people towards living compassionately. Therefore, just as my 10-year old daughter puts it, â€Å"Animals are never sinners, so they are freed from sins already. † As an animal lover or human being, we only â€Å"see† the attributes of animals through the interpretation of our mind, our understanding. Animal lovers say that their companion animals have intelligence, better skills, and even have better moral than most humans have. This is so because animals express strongly the attributes of love and loyalty. There is an organization (PAL 2008) that really brings people and animals together with the hope of brightening the lives of the sick, the lonely, and some at-risk youths. Other animal attributes like unselfishness, friendship, foresight, emotions, body language are likewise exhibited by animals especially the domesticated ones. Animal lovers even believe that animals have spirit since physical matter is immobile without the benefit of the unseen spirit. Human-animal interaction Undeniably, a special pattern of mutual interaction exists between human and animals, which is treated as special symbiosis. This human-animal interaction happens where animals are there: pet stores, circus, stables, and the likes. The assumption that creation is purely good has a contradiction that sometimes surfaces regarding animal roles in society. As society creates the images of having â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad† animals, it polarizes animals accordingly into bad or good ranking. Bad animals have been associated with demons, freaks, worms, and the likes. The good ones, on the other hand, are sided with pets and instruments and sometimes patronized like children. With the role of animals in society as subordinate, one author of human-animal relationship has inferred some conclusions that license society to dehumanize some minor members including children, women, blacks, and the elderly among others. Not all animal lovers are vegetarians, which becomes an issue when it comes to the ethics of meat eating. An invisible, sometimes inviolable â€Å"rules† exist on which animal are ideal to eat and which are forbidden by society. In fact, eating animal flesh is surrounded by confusing inconsistencies affecting people individually or globally. Hypocrisy and flesh eating In reality, people have to eat meat while they keep saying that they are not willing to face the fact that their meats come from four-legged creatures that had to be killed to satisfy their appetite. This shows hypocrisy and expresses disregard to animals. In fact, nobody wants to see the slaughtered animals reduced in sizes before finally wrapped in food-grade plastic bound for grocery chains. As more and more consumer meats are produced, more and more animals suffer unduly, even dying before reaching the slaughterhouses. This is so because meat or egg animals are similarly treated as objects or commercial commodities that do not suffer. When someone is strongly attached to their pets like cats or dogs, it is disgusting to think that other people with different cultural backgrounds eat these sorts of animals they adore. Let alone touring cats-dogs-rats eateries in foreign countries. One’s reaction would be violent repulsion, even considering them as cannibals. Because dogs and cats are considered attractive or cute, people in general do not kill or eat them. Not only cats and dogs, people also want to spare other similarly cute or attractive animals such as rabbits, deer, and horses among others. Although rabbits are considered as pet, others raise them on farms as food. Horses in the stable, on the table And how about eating horses? Americans as well as people from various backgrounds become completely emotional if not confused or nervously excited when it comes to this subject. The fact that thousands of unwanted horses are channeled to slaughterhouses yearly as export meat alerts concerned Americans to stop the practice and make it illicit. Animal lovers have long noticed the inhumane treatment that horses undergo on way to or at the slaughterhouse. Moreover, this bothers Americans so much since horses have molded significantly the history as well as the paradigmatic culture of the United States. Besides, horses in the US are regarded as non-food and sports entity and therefore need some sorts of protection. One sensible reaction of people who love animal to the above-mentioned plight is for them to become vegetarians. On the other hand, they may seek alternative means by their own design without resorting to having vegan diet. The fact is that, just what I mentioned before, the multitude keep silent in every suffering of meat animals reared in compact farms since they are tasty and good for the appetite. The point that I am driving here is that we should not make mentally an artificial boundary regarding our choices on which animals should be spared and which ones should be eaten based only on shallow emotional confidence. Nevertheless, out of respect, we recognize that every one of us has varying food eating beliefs that one is powerless to change. Equal rights for animals? Many Americans think that animals should be protected; even some think that they should be given equal rights as humans. Two animal moral theorists, namely Peter Singer and Tom Regan defend the rights of animal with their formed concepts. Singer sets his defense basing on the concept of utilitarian moral model and on equality. Singer, however, is more concerned with the proper treatment of animals than assigning rights to them. As an advocate of animal rights, Singer forwarded some ethical rights recommendations that mark or fix the limits of legal protection of both man and animal. Basing animal rights on the so-called marginal factors cannot serve as the only basis for having rights. Given that the normal paradigmatic men possess the capabilities of, or have human-like reasoning and emotional features, humans falling out of this paradigm dubbed as marginal men lack these attributes. Such marginality includes babies, young children, and the senile among others. If the normal paradigmatic men are endowed with certain rights due to their being rational, it follows then that the marginal men mentioned above cannot have rights basing on the rationality factor. Since the marginal theory fails to establish rights for all humans including the marginal cases, Singer and Regan have introduced further new moral theories that include rights and protection for some animals. Changing old concepts With such limitation and incompleteness of Singer’s traditional theories as bases for animal rights, Regan, on the other hand, introduced a complementary concept called â€Å"inherent† or natural value as a basis of rights. This natural value is not of rationality or of some other forms of quality since it is not earned and therefore, it cannot be lost or gained. This value is equal to all says Regan, whether one is considered as holy or criminal. Inherent value would give the best position to give reasons for one’s belief like human slavery is despised and eating new born is not right. Consequently, Regan’s moral theory gives both the normal paradigmatic men and the marginal men the same natural or inherent value. This value extends to animals, which gives them rights. Regan’s inherent theory has been confronted when asked on how to determine who has this value. He says that organisms with inherent value are those that posses the condition of being a subject of life. This means one has the ability to act, has a memory, has foresight, has goals, etc. Even those that are not a subject of life could also have inherent value like the comatose. It is surprising, however, on the point that irrational thing as plants could have inherent value though not a subject of life. Regan’s concept is an incomplete one and I feel likely that it is invalid since it cannot blend with reality, which makes the theory inconsistent vis-a-vis the true meaning of value. In a society, rights are vital and necessary for orderly survival. Based on social meaning, an animal having rights and protection is not justified as some people think. In the legal context, however, a legal sanction could be given to individuals who maltreat their own animals. In the proper perspective, moral co-existence with animal and legal relationship must be properly defined and established, since the two concepts could give some confusing variances. In an assessment of public opinion, some 71% of sampled representatives believe that animals need some form of legal protection, About 25 % of them, on the other hand, expressed that animals should be given the same rights enjoyed by humans. The remaining 3% think otherwise (Klein 2004). The theory of rights that concerns animals, however, is with confusion torn between animal welfare and the ideal basis of rights. Paradigm shift and spirituality What needed perhaps is a paradigm shift towards spirituality. We should not only show mercy to our kind but also kindness to al living creature. Both man and animal exhibit physical sensibilities and instinct. Nevertheless, man forgets this and he becomes cruel to animals. Sensibility in animals is the same as sensibility in men. Personally, I have the opinion that cruelty to animals inflicts more pain than cruelty to man. Animals cannot speak, nor show their suffering, not even representing themselves to government authorities. Animals harmed many times cannot seek justice or retaliate. It is my pleasure that the Office of the National Institute of Health (NIH 2008) is against the use of nonhumans for biomedical research regardless of the resulting benefits to man. With this view, I feel that we should demonstrate a high degree of consideration and kindness towards these creatures, perhaps more than that of man. Thousands of them need good home and giving just one pet a chance is a kind act (Animal Lovers Assistance League 2008). Teaching our children from infancy to be exceedingly kind to animals is a good sign of having spiritual value. As man commits more sins, animals remain innocent, which reminds us that one must give more kindness to the innocent. An exception, however, exists. One should not show mercy or kindness to ferocious animals since giving a mad animal an opportunity is tantamount to the destruction of thousand humans and animals. Simply said, sympathy to the beast renders cruelty or injustice to peaceful, blessed animals. Works Cited Animal Lovers Assistance League. 2008.

Hedwig Glass Beaker Essays

Hedwig Glass Beaker Essays Hedwig Glass Beaker Paper Hedwig Glass Beaker Paper or memorable religious objects. During Medieval Europe, people believed the at relics were important because they were connected to miracles. Since Heeding beaker s miraculously turned Water into wine, her beakers Were carefully cherished and preserved I n church treasuries and princely collections in castles(MacGregor, A World in a 100 Objects). He twig glass beakers were also used as chalices, or precious glassware, to use for import ant ceremonies in churches and royal chapels(MacGregor, A world in a 100 Objects). Now we have a better understanding on how the Heeding Glass beakers were made and used in the context of trade, war, and faith. The Heeding Glass beakers were made and used during the crusades, a war where the Christians launched an armed expedition n to recapture Jerusalem from Muslim control. Despite war and conflict, trade flourished du ring the war where both Christians and Muslims benefited from each other. The Heeding Glass be Akers was traded by the Muslims and commissioned by the King of Hungary since glassware since it was one of the many items that was hard to make in Europe and also an item that was in high h demand. The Heeding Glass Beakers were finally made in the context of faith.

7 Top Tips on Writing the Time

7 Top Tips on Writing the Time 7 Top Tips on Writing the Time As anyone who has turned up for a midday meeting at midnight will tell you, clarity is vital when writing the time of day. But there are many ways to write the time, and the best approach isn’t always obvious. So to help out, we’ve prepared this guide to putting the time down on paper. 1. Words or Numerals? You can write the time of day using either words or numerals. If you are using numerals, you would usually include both hours and minutes, although you can omit the minutes in less formal writing. For instance, all the following would be acceptable: She gets up at six in the morning every day. She gets up at 6:00 in the morning every day. She gets up at 6 o’clock in the morning every day. As a rule, though, you would only write out the time as words when: It is part of a full sentence, particularly in descriptive or literary writing. Using a 12-hour clock (never with a 24-hour clock). Youre referring to an approximate or round time (e.g., saying â€Å"ten thirty† is fine, but you would not usually write â€Å"twenty-four minutes after eight†). In most other cases, numerals are the clearer option for writing the time, especially in scientific and technical writing, where precision is vital. 2. AM and PM The abbreviations AM and PM can be used when writing the time as numerals. Each applies to a different time of day: AM is short for ante meridiem, meaning â€Å"before noon.† PM is short for post meridiem, meaning â€Å"after noon.† As such, we use AM and PM to indicate the time of day when we are using a 12-hour clock. We can see how this works more clearly if we write out various times of day in both 12-hour and 24-hour formats: Time 12-Hour Clock 24-Hour Clock Midnight 12:00 AM 00:00 Three in the morning 03:00 AM 03:00 Half past eight in the morning 08:30 AM 08:30 Midday 12:00 PM 12:00 Three in the afternoon 03:00 PM 15:00 Half past eight in the evening 08:30 PM 20:30 You can see here that we need AM and PM with the twelve-hour clock for clarity. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between, e.g., midday and midnight. Likewise, though, you do not need to include AM or PM with a 24-hour time because it is already clear. There are also several ways to write AM and PM, including: ALL CAPS, small caps, or lower case (e.g., 12 AM, 12 AM, or 12 am) With or without periods between the letters (e.g., 8 PM or 8 P.M.) With or without a space after the number (e.g., 1 AM or 1AM) Consistency is key here, so make sure to apply one style throughout your document. You may also want to check your style guide if you have one, as some organizations will have their own rules for how to write AM and PM. 3. When to Use O’clock You’ll have noticed we use â€Å"o’clock† in one of the examples above. This term means â€Å"of the clock,† so we can use it to show that a number refers to a time. However, you should only use â€Å"o’clock† with exact hours: It is precisely 5 o’clock. âÅ"” I’m leaving at seven o’clock. âÅ"” It arrived at 7:34 o’clock. âÅ"Ëœ The gig starts at half past seven o’clock. âÅ"Ëœ We’ll save a discussion of when wine o’clock is for another blog post. 4. Past, After, Till, and To When writing the time as words, use â€Å"after,† â€Å"past,† and â€Å"to† for intervals between hours. You can combine these terms with either numbers or the words â€Å"half† and â€Å"quarter† depending on the time in question: Use after or past for intervals up to half an hour past the hour. Use to for any interval after the half hour up to the hour. Use half past to indicate 30 minutes past the hour. Use quarter past  or  quarter after for 15 minutes after the hour. Use quarter to for 15 minutes up to the hour. For example, we would use the above accordingly in the following times: 7:05 → Five after seven 7:15 → Quarter past seven 7:30 → Half past seven 7:45 → Quarter to eight 7:55 → Five to eight Keep in mind that using after for times is only standard in American English. In other English dialects, past is far more common. 5. Punctuating the Time When writing the time as numerals, you can use either a colon or a full stop between the hour and the minutes. In some cases, such as in the military, you can even write out a 24-hour time without any punctuation. For instance, the following are all acceptable ways of punctuating a time: We need to leave by 6:45 pm at the latest. âÅ"” We need to leave by 6.45 pm at the latest. âÅ"” We need to leave by 1845 at the latest. âÅ"” The colon is the most common option here, but it is a matter of preference. Unless you’re in the military, in which case we suggest sticking to protocol. 6. Time Zones For the contiguous states in the USA, we have four standard time zones: Pacific Time (PT) [UTC-08:00] Mountain Time (MT) [UTC-07:00] Central Time (CT) [UTC-06:00] Eastern Time (ET) [UTC-5:00] We also have regional time zones for Alaska, Hawaii, and 5 US dependencies, plus daylight saving time in some places during the warmer months of the year. And people in other countries use different time zones entirely! Basically, we’re saying geography can make time complicated. This is why we sometimes include a time zone when writing the time. The initials UTC in the examples above, for instance, stand for Universal Time Coordinated. We can use this to compare times in different places. So, â€Å"UTC-8:00† means that Pacific Time is 8 hours behind UTC. And since we know that Pacific Time is 8 hours behind UTC and Eastern Time is 5 hours behind UTC, we can work out that ET is 3 hours ahead of PT. In other words, by including a time zone when we write a time, we can help people in other places â€Å"translate† it into their own time zone. This is especially important if you are writing for an international audience, since not everyone will be in the same time zone. You therefore need to include a set of time zone initials so your reader can calculate the equivalent time wherever they are. For example, if we were making an announcement for an international audience, we might say: The live broadcast will begin at 9:00 pm UTC. Someone in Bolivia could then look up the difference between UTC and BOT (Bolivia Time) and know the broadcast begins at 5:00 pm where they are. 7. Avoiding Redundancy when Writing the Time In writing, redundancy means using a word unnecessarily. We mentioned above, for example, that you do not need to use AM or PM with 24-hour times because we already know whether a time is the morning or afternoon/evening when using a 24-hour clock. Other cases of temporal redundancy you may want to avoid include: Using â€Å"in the morning,† â€Å"in the afternoon,† etc., alongside AM/PM. Combining â€Å"in the morning,† â€Å"in the afternoon,† etc., with a 24-hour time. Using â€Å"midday,† â€Å"noon,† or â€Å"midnight† alongside a time in numbers. We’ll end this post with a few examples of redundancies so you know what to watch out for. Check out the table below, good luck writing the time, and let us know if you need any help proofreading your work. Redundancy Correction The event ends at 17:00 PM. The event ends at 17:00. The event ends at 5:00 PM. We leave at 6AM in the morning. We leave at 6AM. We leave at 6:00 in the morning. He went to bed at 23:00 at night. He went to bed at 23:00. He went to bed at 11:00 at night. I’ll see you at twelve noon. I’ll see you at twelve. I’ll see you at noon. (N.B. ‘Noon’ is the better correction here, since ‘twelve’ by itself could be either midday or midnight.)

Four Skinny Trees Essays - Botany, Biology, Forest Ecology

Four Skinny Trees Essays - Botany, Biology, Forest Ecology Four Skinny Trees Esperanza feels lost, alone, and confused. She believes that the only ones who can understand her feelings are trees. The trees are skinny and pointy. The city had planted them in concrete, which naturally is not the best nor the healthiest place for trees to grow. Esperanza sees the trees as a reflection of herself [skinny and angular]. In spite of their location, the trees seem to survive in a way. This idea of persevering parallels back to Esperanza. She struggles to be successful even though she is in a harsh environment. Her description of the setting leads me to think that she is poor. Therefore, she has limitations due to class. Is this why she feels that she can only confide in trees? For Esperanza, the trees seem to be like a support network for her. She would talk to them when she felt lonely. It was almost as if the trees were her family members. The trees were not only a support network and a reflection of Esperanza. They inspired Esperanza. When Esperanza was ready to give up, she looked at the trees, and they told her to keep, keep, keep, keep. The trees taught Esperanza perseverance, which would definitely help her achieve success. Bibliography Four Skinny Trees

Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Econ - Essay Example ics.This approach assumes that when businesses fluctuate, then this is a clear interpretation of the fluctuation in the output’s growth rate instead of a change in the level of output. This statement implies that economics is a misery in that there is a very peculiar of interconnection of markets and they respond in a very surprising manner to the changes in preferences and resources. For example, if a reduction of a product occurs, the price of the commodity goes up and the consumers get an incentive to consume less of the commodity while the suppliers get an incentive to discover more. It is very surprising that increase in the price of one commodity can be the reason of another commodity’s price going up. Therefore, this approach in economics tends to let people understand the invisible side in economics in order to understand the economics world. Keynes a very popular economist stated that he would like to steer the economy while Hayek articulates that he would like to set the economy free. Keynes, had a very strong believe and supported that during the periods of depression or during recession in an economy, the government should spend during the depression period as a way to increase the aggregate demand and to lower the levels of unemployment. He believed that during the period of recession, the government should buy security bonds in order to reduce aggregate demand since this reduces the flow of money amongst the citizens. By doing this, Keynes felt that government spending is a good way of controlling the markets. Hayek, a fellow economist, criticized what Keynes argued that government spending should regulate the demand in the market by arguing that he preferred to set the market in the economy to operate freely. Hayek argued that the market should operate freely without any intervention and correct itself without intervention too. His argument was that intervention by either the government spending or the policies of the central bank in effort to

Effects of Taiping rebellion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Effects of Taiping rebellion - Research Paper Example In addition to actual deaths, the rebellion disrupted the lives of many Chinese people, especially the peasants. In the heightened euphoria of the war, they abandoned their farms and joined in the campaign against the ruling dynasty. Some got displaced from their farms as the revolt intensified. The Taipings also wreaked havoc wherever they went, destroying infrastructure and especially irrigation canals that were vital in sustaining agricultural production. As a result, famine struck the nation since neither labor nor agricultural infrastructure could sustain food production. Poverty, which had already affected the Chinese due to opium consumption and the Opium War some years, was accentuated by these conditions since the peasants had nothing to sell to earn income. Another immediate effect of the Taiping uprising was the fundamental change in the Chinese people’s way of thinking. This is because the Taipings adopted beliefs derived from a version of Christianity. The people were swept by the widespread propaganda of a heavenly kingdom. The Taipings made the Chinese people to discard their past beliefs in Confucianism and instead adopt beliefs from a derivative of Christianity. The Taiping rebellion also raised a nationalist force among large factions of China’s society. It fuelled the bitterness and animosity that many people had towards Manchu’s rule and the entire Qing dynasty. Therefore, the insurgence was instrumental in promoting nationalist spirit amongst Chinese people. Lastly, perpetrators and supporters of the Taiping uprising had political objectives that they intended to execute once they had established their utopian society. For instance, they aspired to bring exploitative practices characteristic of the Qing Dynasty to an end, by implementing military, political, social and economic reforms. They achieved this, albeit to a limited extent. The Taipings also altered the content of the exam that qualified candidates for the Mandarin gentry. The exam that was previously based on Confucian principles was changed to one founded in the Bible.6 The Taiping administration abolished the right to ownership of private property, declaring that all land would be allocated to the public by the government. The Taipings even replaced the lunar calendar with a solar one and granted women equal rights, making it possible for them to even take exams for admission to the gentry. The Taipings banned the Chinese custom of foot binding, in addition to gambling, opiu m, tobacco, prostitution, polygamy, alcohol consumption

Automatic transmition vs manual transmition Essay

Automatic transmition vs manual transmition - Essay Example There are two main types of transmission systems in use today: manual transmission systems and automatic transmission systems. This paper shall analyse them using a literature review with the objective of establishing their operation, as well as the merits and demerits of each system. The first vehicular transmission system is the manual transmission system. One major characteristic of this transmission system is the driver’s ability to change the gear ratio using a gear lever as deemed necessary due to engine load changes or terrain differences (Denton, 2012). The driver achieves this degree of control over the power output fed to the vehicle’s wheels through a clutch system that disengages the engine from the drive shaft leading to the wheels. Manuals transmission systems mainly fall into two distinct groups: trans-axle transmission systems and in-line transmissions systems (Heisler, 2002). The former finds application in front-wheel vehicles such as normal family sedans, while the later is applied in four-wheel and rear-wheel drive vehicles. Automatic transmission systems distinguish themselves from manual transmission systems by virtue of the driver’s limitation in changing the vehicle’s gear ratios as this happens in an automated manner. These vehicles achieve this level of transmission automation through a torque converter powered by hydraulic fluid driven by the engine itself (Duan, 2014). Therefore, using a system of planetary gears and clutch packs, the engine’s own load and speed engages the required gear ratio using a set of blades in the converter system called the impeller and turbine (Erjavec, 2010). It is important to note that the workings of an automatic transmission unit are far more complicated that this report’s simplified outline, due to the existence of other complex components such as governors and modulators as well as numerous

Identify and Critically examine PERSONALISATION Essay

Identify and Critically examine PERSONALISATION - Essay Example This paper analyses one of the most questionable components of personalisation: the process of commissioning. This paper argues that the contemporary techniques of commissioning do not constantly result in favourable outcomes for service users, in particular, for the mentally ill and disabled. Commissioners, quite frequently, evaluate good outcomes against service practices and results rather than in relation to what has been accomplished and enhanced outcomes for service users (Seden, Matthews, McCormick & Morgan, 2010). A more holistic commissioning process for social care is the biggest challenge of personalisation. This paper discusses the definition, importance, and implication of personalisation to social work and community care. It primarily examines the extent of the progress of the personalisation initiative, emphasising and comparing the experiences with and perceptions of the mentally ill and the disabled of the effectiveness of personalisation agenda, specifically with re gard to the issue of commissioning. Second, the paper analyses the concerns raised by the execution of personalised social work and community care, with an emphasis on commissioning as a potential basis of reform. A great deal of the discussion here puts emphasis on individual budgets as the most beneficial case of current commissioning procedures, even though with some consideration of the significance of other components of personalisation, such as building social capital. Because personalisation has been recognised as a new and revolutionary model of public service reform, it has drawn much attention, as well as criticism. This paper discusses personalisation in England since this is where personalisation has progressed significantly. This paper examines the problems confronting commissioners with regard to personalisation, reflecting on the divergence between policy and practice. This discussion is of great importance to scholars, managers, policymakers, and people engaged in de veloping quality social care, building the benefits and privileges, and challenges and risks confronting those responsible for improving personalised social care. Personalisation: Definition, Importance, and Implication to Social Care Personalisation implies perceiving social care services in a completely distinct way. This implies beginning with the individual as a person with a purpose, inclinations, and strengths, and placing emphasis on them in the course of recognising their needs and preferences on the way they are supported and assisted to live fully (Carr, 2010). It demands a major change in the way social care is perceived and planned so that all services, personnel, procedures, and systems are equipped to prioritise people (Needham, 2010). The usual service-oriented model has generally implied that individuals have not been given the appropriate assistance at the appropriate time and have been incapable of developing the type of assistance they require (Carr, 2010). Basica lly, personalisation concerns granting individuals much more control over the way they live their lives and does not merely concern

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Economics - Essay Example The short-run or long-run of one industry is often different from another. (Moffatt, 2011) A given firm’s costs may be reliant upon the time or period under consideration. Most of the decisions are fixed when a short-run time frame is taken into account and thus the long-run and short-run cost curves are different. Short-run costs and costs in the long-run are, however, related. For instance, a long-run average cost curve is more flat in comparison to a ‘U’ shaped short-run average cost curve. Short-run cost curves usually lie upon the long-run cost curves. Figure1. A graphical illustration of a short-run cost and a long-run cost curves Average costs LATC SATC1 SATC2 SATC3 Quantity Note: SATC stands for Short-run Average Total Costs while LATC stands for Long-run Average Total Costs. Short-run Average Total Costs of a firm differ from the Long-run Average Total Costs since the fixed costs in the short-run can be varied over the long-run. (Mankiw, 2008 p256) In the case of an operator of a port, cost efficiency occurs efficiency occurs where the throughput is made available at the lowest cost possible with resource-prices paid by the operator put into consideration. The economic cost of a port is represented by the relationship depicted by minimum costs of handling any given throughput levels. Over the short-run time period, there must be at least one of the port resources that should be fixed with regards to amount. For example, the buildings or the wharf of a port are some of the resources that cannot be varied in the short-run period. Unit costs in relation to a port’s costs are usually compared by dividing them with their throughput amounts. Figure 2: A graphical presentation of Short-run Total Costs, Short-run Variable Costs and Short-run Fixed Costs. That is; STC, SVC and SFC. Cost STC SVC SFC Port throughput Figure 3: Average costs in the short-run Cost per unit SATC SAVC SAFC Port throughput Note that SATC stands for Short-run Average Total Costs, SAVC for Short-run Average Variable Costs and SAFC for Short-run Fixed Costs. Short-run average total cost is gotten by dividing short-run total cost with throughput. On the other hand short-run average fixed cost is the short-run fixed costs divided by the throughput and short-run average variable cost is short-run variable cost divided by throughput. Average fixed cost reduces in a continuous manner as the level of throughput rises; that is, since a fixed cost continues to be divided by bigger and bigger amounts of throughput of the port. As the amount of throughput rises, average variable cost as well as short-run average cost reduce initially, get to a minimum and afterwards rise. In the port’s long-run, the costs in whole are variable. Therefore, long-run total costs that are incurred by the operator of the port of the port for the given throughput amounts are a total of variable costs. Long-run average total costs are equal to long-run total costs d ivided by total port’s throughput. A long-run average total cost curve has a negative slope for a given range of throughput and then it starts to increase. Figure 4: Long-run Total Cost curve and a Long-run Average Total Cost Curve. cost port throughput cost per unit LATC Port throughput (Talley, 2009 pp98-100) A convenience store is usually a type of retail business. Costs of a convenience store that maybe short-run may include costs of

Visual Arts - Sabotage by Hitchcock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual Arts - Sabotage by Hitchcock - Essay Example Alfred Hitchcock is known throughout the world for his riveting plots and thrilling action movies. The British film director and producer earned so much fame in the action and suspense genre that even after several decades have passed since his death, his name is still alive. He has been called as the most influential film maker of all time. He had a distinctive and detectable directorial style which was prominent in all his directorial works. His character depiction, innovative film editing, and mind boggling mysteries are some of the qualities which set him apart from other directors of his time. He earned the name ‘Master of Macabre’ because of his psychological thrillers and themes depicting violence, murder and crime.    The film â€Å"Sabotage† directed by Alfred Hitchcock was released in 1936. It is based on the book "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad. It is counted as one of Hitchcock's major films of the 1930s. It follows his signature style throughout the movie. The film is categorized in the action and suspense genre. It is a black and white film with 76 minutes of running time. The production studio of the film was Gaumont British Picture Cooperation Limited. Sabotage was released under other alternative titles as well. They are: The Hidden Power I Married a Murderer A woman alone Agent Secret List of cast and characters: Starring: Sylvia Sydney - Mrs Verloc Oskar Homolka - Karl Anton Verloc, Owner of Bijou Cinema John Loder - Detective Sergeant Ted Spencer, Scotland Yard Desmond Tester - Steve Verloc, Mrs Verloc's brother The scene which is being reviewed in this paper begins at 01:02 minutes. When the scene begins Steve, the teenage brother of the main character, Mrs. Verloc, is waiting to cross the road. He has been given a package by Mr. Verloc which he has to take to a certain place before 1:30. But it seems like however hard he may try to get to his destination on time, he keep getting hindered somehow. The Queen's congr egation is passing and so the soldiers have blocked the road. He tries to cross it by making a run for it but it is of no use. With nothing left to do and the clock needles moving away from 1 o’ clock, Steve, stands there waiting for the congregation to pass. The road is crowded with people who are excited by the presence of all the carriages and the horses. The horsemen and their horses are receiving tremendous attention by the simple local people, for whom this is a form of entertainment. Every eye is upon them and the crowd is watching every move with wonder and delight. But it is the look on Steve's face and his expressions of sheer delight are what that grab the most attention. One moment he is worried that he has to get the parcel to the given place on time and the other second he becomes so captivated by the activities around him. The horses and their carriages march forward and Steve is looking at them with awestruck eyes. He looks so young and innocent at that moment and his face is aglow with pure happiness. This shows that even in times of great terror and difficulties, happiness still survives only if we let it in. Hope never abandons us unless we let it go. The look on Steve's face is that of pure joy and contentment, he is amazed by the horses,

Identify and Critically examine PERSONALISATION Essay

Identify and Critically examine PERSONALISATION - Essay Example This paper analyses one of the most questionable components of personalisation: the process of commissioning. This paper argues that the contemporary techniques of commissioning do not constantly result in favourable outcomes for service users, in particular, for the mentally ill and disabled. Commissioners, quite frequently, evaluate good outcomes against service practices and results rather than in relation to what has been accomplished and enhanced outcomes for service users (Seden, Matthews, McCormick & Morgan, 2010). A more holistic commissioning process for social care is the biggest challenge of personalisation. This paper discusses the definition, importance, and implication of personalisation to social work and community care. It primarily examines the extent of the progress of the personalisation initiative, emphasising and comparing the experiences with and perceptions of the mentally ill and the disabled of the effectiveness of personalisation agenda, specifically with re gard to the issue of commissioning. Second, the paper analyses the concerns raised by the execution of personalised social work and community care, with an emphasis on commissioning as a potential basis of reform. A great deal of the discussion here puts emphasis on individual budgets as the most beneficial case of current commissioning procedures, even though with some consideration of the significance of other components of personalisation, such as building social capital. Because personalisation has been recognised as a new and revolutionary model of public service reform, it has drawn much attention, as well as criticism. This paper discusses personalisation in England since this is where personalisation has progressed significantly. This paper examines the problems confronting commissioners with regard to personalisation, reflecting on the divergence between policy and practice. This discussion is of great importance to scholars, managers, policymakers, and people engaged in de veloping quality social care, building the benefits and privileges, and challenges and risks confronting those responsible for improving personalised social care. Personalisation: Definition, Importance, and Implication to Social Care Personalisation implies perceiving social care services in a completely distinct way. This implies beginning with the individual as a person with a purpose, inclinations, and strengths, and placing emphasis on them in the course of recognising their needs and preferences on the way they are supported and assisted to live fully (Carr, 2010). It demands a major change in the way social care is perceived and planned so that all services, personnel, procedures, and systems are equipped to prioritise people (Needham, 2010). The usual service-oriented model has generally implied that individuals have not been given the appropriate assistance at the appropriate time and have been incapable of developing the type of assistance they require (Carr, 2010). Basica lly, personalisation concerns granting individuals much more control over the way they live their lives and does not merely concern

Visual Arts - Sabotage by Hitchcock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual Arts - Sabotage by Hitchcock - Essay Example Alfred Hitchcock is known throughout the world for his riveting plots and thrilling action movies. The British film director and producer earned so much fame in the action and suspense genre that even after several decades have passed since his death, his name is still alive. He has been called as the most influential film maker of all time. He had a distinctive and detectable directorial style which was prominent in all his directorial works. His character depiction, innovative film editing, and mind boggling mysteries are some of the qualities which set him apart from other directors of his time. He earned the name ‘Master of Macabre’ because of his psychological thrillers and themes depicting violence, murder and crime.    The film â€Å"Sabotage† directed by Alfred Hitchcock was released in 1936. It is based on the book "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad. It is counted as one of Hitchcock's major films of the 1930s. It follows his signature style throughout the movie. The film is categorized in the action and suspense genre. It is a black and white film with 76 minutes of running time. The production studio of the film was Gaumont British Picture Cooperation Limited. Sabotage was released under other alternative titles as well. They are: The Hidden Power I Married a Murderer A woman alone Agent Secret List of cast and characters: Starring: Sylvia Sydney - Mrs Verloc Oskar Homolka - Karl Anton Verloc, Owner of Bijou Cinema John Loder - Detective Sergeant Ted Spencer, Scotland Yard Desmond Tester - Steve Verloc, Mrs Verloc's brother The scene which is being reviewed in this paper begins at 01:02 minutes. When the scene begins Steve, the teenage brother of the main character, Mrs. Verloc, is waiting to cross the road. He has been given a package by Mr. Verloc which he has to take to a certain place before 1:30. But it seems like however hard he may try to get to his destination on time, he keep getting hindered somehow. The Queen's congr egation is passing and so the soldiers have blocked the road. He tries to cross it by making a run for it but it is of no use. With nothing left to do and the clock needles moving away from 1 o’ clock, Steve, stands there waiting for the congregation to pass. The road is crowded with people who are excited by the presence of all the carriages and the horses. The horsemen and their horses are receiving tremendous attention by the simple local people, for whom this is a form of entertainment. Every eye is upon them and the crowd is watching every move with wonder and delight. But it is the look on Steve's face and his expressions of sheer delight are what that grab the most attention. One moment he is worried that he has to get the parcel to the given place on time and the other second he becomes so captivated by the activities around him. The horses and their carriages march forward and Steve is looking at them with awestruck eyes. He looks so young and innocent at that moment and his face is aglow with pure happiness. This shows that even in times of great terror and difficulties, happiness still survives only if we let it in. Hope never abandons us unless we let it go. The look on Steve's face is that of pure joy and contentment, he is amazed by the horses,

Cartoon and Japanese Society Essay Example for Free

Cartoon and Japanese Society Essay Japans animation boom began in the summer of l977, when the movie Uchu Senkan Yamato (Space Cruiser Yamato) captivated teenagers and young adults to emerge as a major box-office hit. The success of this sci-fi anime prompted a fundamental shift in the cultural status of animation. Even before Space Cruiser Yamato, Japan had produced a considerable number of animated films, but they were generally regarded as childrens fare or, at best, family entertainment; the few adult-oriented animated movies were not successful commercially. Space Cruiser Yamato was the first anime to demonstrate that the medium need not restrict itself to kiddies fare. Following suit, from the late l970s, Japan put out a steady stream of animated films geared to young adults, including Ginga Tetsudo 999 (Galaxy Express 999) and Kido Senshi Gandamu (Mobile Suit Gundam). Most of these were commercial successes as well, although critics dismissed these as exploitation films pandering to teenage taste. The attitude of film critics changed abruptly, however, with the 1984 release of Kaze no Tani no Naushica (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), a film whose artistic quality was widely regarded as more than sufficient to hold the attention of adults. With this movie, writer-director Miyazaki Hayao overturned the conventional image of the anime director as a versatile hack, and was soon crowned as animes first genuine auteur. Of course, not all anime rose to the level of non-juvenile entertainment or art. In fact, in the late 1980s, with young adult anime showing signs of staleness, the focus began to revert to childrens films. Nevertheless, the genre never relinquished the commercial foothold it had gained during the young adult anime craze; furthermore, Miyazaki began to enjoy a large degree of freedom in his filmmaking, as did several other directors who subsequently achieved the status of anime auteur. The results of those efforts, particularly the anime produced by Miyazakis Studio Ghibli, are not simply movies with high box-office potential; they are in many instances artistically superior to the live-action films made in Japan, and they have won growing legions of fans overseas. During the 1990s, animation, spearheaded by the work of a few anime auteurs, emerged as the face of Japanese film, positioning Japan as the worlds undisputed anime superpower. And in 1997 — a full twenty years since anime took off — animations preeminence over live-action films in Japan was more apparent than ever. In a matter of months after its release, Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke), Miyazakis latest film to date which was then alleged to be his last directorial effort, broke every box-office record to become the biggest domestic movie hit of all time in Japan. In the languishing field of young adult anime, the avant garde sci-fi work Shin Seiki Evangerion (Neon Genesis Evangelion) scored a major box-office hit and won a huge cult following. Moreover, childrens anime are as popular as ever. In all, it appears that anime has taken center stage in the Japanese film industry, pushing live-action movies into the wings. Kenji (2002) opined that Animation became popular in Japan as it provided an alternative format of storytelling compared to the underdeveloped live-action industry in Japan. Unlike America, where live-action shows and movies have generous budgets, the live-action industry in Japan is a small market and suffered from budgeting, location, and casting restrictions. The lack of Western-looking actors, for example, made it next to impossible to shoot films set in Europe, America, or fantasy worlds that do not naturally involve Asians. The varied use of animation allowed artists to create characters and settings that did not look Japanese at all Now a bit about how animation gets to wherever you are today. In the dusty yet not-so-long-ago time, when old cities began to get overweight and thus suburban areas started to be a new synonym for the term eyesore, the post-LSD generation of the Northern hemisphere imported anime from the Land of the Rising Sun at approximately the pace of a snail-mail package sent from Alabama to Tibet. The riotous 1970s has just received enlightenment in this field of concern the quicker-witted Americans in the industry started to stop calling non-human-non-nature-non-animal motion pictures ‘cartoons’ and have used the word ‘animation’. Naturally the content of slim boxes of taped animation movies embarking there was then called ‘Japanese animation, and for the convenience of those who tend to misspell anything more than three-lettered it was promptly squeezed into ‘Japanimation, so no wonder that they still misspell it. Anyway, no derogatory wink was involved in the term Japanimation its just a matter of geoprofile for the product that has come in faster and in bulk during 1980s. The malicious intent is not there, if you really are so paranoid about such things; it is for instance in the term Japornimation, for which the Yoshiwara might have had an influence (i. e. modern sexually explicit and repulsively bloody anime movies). Meanwhile, in 1990s someone (probably the same person who snail-mailed from Alabama to Tibet) informed the Northerners that the Japanese themselves have always called the thing animation. From then on animation often replaces Japanimation in the lexicon, but it didnt blast the old word out of circulation usually attached to the Old School of diehard, seasoned, loyal and zealous anime fans (otaku) among the Americans, it is still valid to use Japanimation today in any case of generally useless elaboration such as this, plus the term anime is seen as too wide to refer to just the characteristic Japanese product anime could mean the entire baggage this planet must carry in the form of every kind of animation, including Beavis Butthead.

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry Music industry has been most significantly affected by such revolution of technology during the past few decades. The most significant innovation in the music industry has undoubtedly been the digitalization of music. Digital music technology has completely changed the underlying dynamics and economics of the music industry. From time to time, this has been an issue of debate and has seen many legal actions and sanctions (Matsuura, nd). Along with innovations in music technology, the issue of piracy has become the single most challenging and threatening problem in the music industry which has from time to time raised serious concerns and warned of the consequences on the industry. Music piracy can be formally defined as any form of duplication along with distribution of music without the formal permission from the entity holding the copyrights to that particular music. Directly interlinked with music piracy is the role of internet and related phenomenon such as file sharing or peer-to-peer sharing (P2P). Internet growth and innovation are largely to be blamed and held responsible for the crisis in the music industry circles that affects its three major players including recording companies, artists and consumers (Patokos, 2008). Not only the music industry is facing losses but the quality of music is also threatened by piracy. According to Hull (1998), the music industry profits from its three major revenue streams: Purchase of recorded music. Broadcasting recorded music. Industry for attending live performances. Here is the music industry vale chain as described in Meisel and Sullivan. (2002). The Music Industry Value Chain Source: Meisel et al. (2002), p.18. We all know how easy it is to gain access to the authentic and copyrighted music through duplicated CDs and file sharing (without paying any royalty to the owners of music) on internet (Bozina, Dumancic and Knezevic, 2007). Research Purpose The major purpose of carrying out this research is the importance of significant technological developments on the music industry circles and the ways in which issues such as copyright, authenticity, illegal production and distribution of music affect the various participants of the music industry circle. It will bring into focus the particular technological changes over the past two decades and evolution that has come to impact the way music is produced and distributed. It will also help the readers understand the legal implications of the issue. Finally the research will investigate the major problem areas that threaten the music industry, particularly emphasizing on the revolution of MP3 technology and Compact Discs and it will conclude with quantitative and qualitative analysis of the relevant variables that influence the revenues of music industry. Research Questions Is the modern music industry suffering from pervasive effects of internet theft, piracy and flouting of copyright rules? How important it is to critically analyse the legal and technological implications of the MP3 technology on the business of music? Importance of Research The issue of piracy needs the special attention of industry and law experts as we cannot let the phenomenon continue to wreck the music business. The MP3 effect influences the sales of music albums, though the law can spur legal actions in favour of ban the MP3 use but it is not a practical solution. On the one end technology eases and improves the production and distribution of music and on the other it should provide the end listeners easy and cheaper access to high quality authentic music. Brief Literature Review Until the 1990, music business was correctly anticipated but soon after this period, the forces shaping the business began to change. The first ever music cassette was introduced in 1963 by PhilipsÂÂ ©. It became a very popular mode of entertainment exploited by the car makers (Morton, 2004). The year of 1979 revolutionized by SonyÂÂ © which the first hand held music player device. It came to be known as Sony WalkmanÂÂ © (Thomas, 2006). Both Philips and Sony collaboratively brought in the most advanced technology (still remains so with more advanced variants such as DVD and Blu-RayÂÂ © technology) called as Compact Discs (CDs) and the players used to play the media known as CD players. By 1988, the CDs became the most popular technology for distributing music in standardized format which became universally accepted by the music industry and CDs outsold Long Playing record albums (LP) (University of Minnesota, 2008). The technology called Digital Audio Tape (DAT) w as introduced by Sony the next year. It remained the most popular recording technology for professionals during the 1990s (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The other leader in musical innovation PhilipsÂÂ © launched Digital Compact Cassette to counter SonysÂÂ © DAT technology. SonyÂÂ © released the Mini Disk (MD) in response to DCC. MD provided with professional high quality recording to the professionals (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The music was most dramatically distributed on the CDs and hence their use was most widespread. CDs were used by all of the major recording labels due to persistent decrease in the prices of CDs (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The following Table 2.2 presents the change in the prices of CDs in the US music market between 1983 and 2006. Table 2.1. Decline in the prices of CDs from 1983 through 2006. Source: RIAA, 2007 The technology called CD- Recordable (CD-R) was introduced in 1990 and it was the first opportunity for the consumers to successfully duplicate the contents of the music albums without compromising on the quality of music and this allowed for piracy to be practised by consumers and other players such as illegal music uploading sites (OMalley, 1998). In US, 288 million CDs were sold only in one year, 1990 (Amoah, 2005). The role of computing and internet technology proved instrumental in spreading the crisis in the music industry. It was only in 1991 that computers came with the technology that played its users to play and listen to music. This development was attributed to Ad Lib and Creative Labs who introduced the technology of sound cards integrated into personal computers during manufacturing stage (Dixon, 2010). It heightened the interest of consumers to reproduce the authentic contents on CDs, CD-Rs and more advanced recording media such as DVDÂÂ © and Blu-RayÂÂ ©. However the real trouble was the introduction of the technology that made it possible to encode music as digital files on the computers, the most critical one was MPEG3 or MP3 (Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3). MP3 was introduced on 26 November 1996 (Belis, 2010). MP3 became so critical because it allowed users to create copies of music albums to near perfection. The fact that MP3 files could be stored on computers and handled as any other file stored on it, the exchange of such music files was facilitated with an extreme ease. With MP3 came the MP3 players to play them on standalone basis. Elger Labs was the first one to develop and commercially release the MP3 player known as MPman and was priced at whopping $250 only to store some eight songs. The revolution in MP3 players was brought about by Creative Labs in the year 2001 when it released an MP Player with much higher storage capability of 6 Gigabytes in comparison to MPman. But this was just a phase of development and it saw the launch of the worlds most foremost technology in MP3 players, it was the release of the device called IPOD by Apple (Menta, 2004). In todays time most of the youth carry an MP3 player and IPOD remains the most favourite among all the options available. The problem would not get aggravated if mp3 files were restricted in the hands of individual users but the use of internet provided a platform that allowed sharing of music through online modes. The pioneer of music sharing technology was a website known as Napster (Patokos, 2008). This was a platform for various internet users for sharing of music files stored on the computers hard drives between the users. This is known as peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of files. Napster assumed profuse growth in P2P sharing market until it was successfully busted down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2000 with the help of judicial order (Riedel, 2006). The most recent and devastating innovation in the recent years has been the illegal use of a collection of files known as torrents. These torrents are downloadable through applications known as torrent downloader. There are sites such as Pirate Bay and BT Junkie which provide a collection of torrents downloadable by using applications such as Azureus and ÂÂ µtorrent. The torrent era is most destructive because sharing is not confined to sharing of music files. Such sites are now being used for sharing anything from music files, audio books, movies, software and other miscellaneous files. It has almost become a social networking cult among the youth and value of such networks increases as they become larger and more extensive. While the RIAA was successful in cracking down Napsters services, they have been unsuccessful in preventing the expansion of torrent based programs as mentioned ahead in the report. Since the conception of P2P the sale of physical CDs has been steadily declining every year (Powell and Smith-Doerr, 1994). Table 2.3 clearly represents the huge growth in the digital modes of music access and significant declines in the sales of physical music media. The newer and more devastating impact has been inflicted on music industry by applications like torrent downloaders as such networks differ from Napster like technology because they do not rely on a single centralized server but the download is carried out by a user from various servers or seeding points/seeders. Even the law becomes impotent in such situations because no single entity can be blamed for legal action. Manufacturers Unit Shipments and Retail Dollar Value Data Collection The data for the research will be collected from the Consumer Expenditure Survey tables available from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. It is an extensive database which provides minute details about the buying habits of the US consumers, their income and various household characteristics. It also provides survey micro data for individual consumers demographic and expenditure patterns (CES, 2010). I will also consult a range of websites for the purpose of collecting information and statistics related to the music industry. Music industry websites- The Nielsen Company, www.soundscan.com, Recording industry Association of America, http://www.riaa.com, Sony Music, http://www.sonymusic.co.uk, Universal, http://www.universalrecords.com, Warner Brothers Music, http://www.warnerbros.com/music. Audio technology sites- Diamond, http://www.diamonthrun.com, Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com, Music Match, http://www.musicmatch.com, Real Networks, http://www.real.com. Internet industry sites- Amazon, http://www.amazon.com, CD Baby, http://www.cdbaby.com, Emusic, http://www.emusic.com, MPEG, http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/, Napster, http://www.napster.com. Broadcast sites- BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk, Broadcast.com, http://www.broadcast.com, Cyberville Radio, http://www.cyberville.co.uk. Marketing sites- ViralMarketers.com, http://www.viralmarketer.com, Musicpromotion.net, http://www.musicpromotion.net. Another major database that I will gain access to is the comprehensive statistical analysis known as the Shipment Statistics Database available from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). I will need to contact RIAA through email to inform then regarding them my projects vital features and they will decide whether to permit access to the database. In the event of permission not being granted I will subscribe to it by paying a nominal fee (RIAA, 2010) Methodology This particular research work will focus on utilizing a research model that enables to exploit the benefits of methods such as qualitative analysis through behavioural questionnaire and interviews with the industry experts. Since the research fundamentally proposes that MP3 CDs and internet file sharing technologies impact the sales of original works of music. It is important to keep in mind the argument that such facilities decreased the CDs sales. To effectively deal with this question of importance, I will collect micro-level data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) available from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). It will certainly provide the answer to the debatable question whether file sharing has decreased the CDs sales figures. Similar studies have been carried out by experts such as Liebowitz (2004). I will also examine the connection between ownership of computers by households and figures for expenditures on music. It will help me analyse whether increase in computer ownership increases file sharing by consumers and subsequent decreases CD sales. Thus this study will constitute a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the mentioned research questions. Is there a solution? The diagram 5.1 below proposes the possible go-ahead for the music industry to survive profitably in the coming future. The first file sharing site, Napster was legally challenged in the court and was finally forced to shut down its illegitimate activity. Source: Bized, (nd).