Peter Weir witness Essay Example for Free

Peter Weir witness Essay Peter Weir uses contrast to interrogate the concerns of contemporary society. Discuss with close reference to the film Witness. The film witness directed by peter weir raises questions about the concerns of contemporary society. These issues are exposed through the use of film techniques which convey contrast as two cultures clash. The audience is challenged to question these ideas: the opposing concept of individualism versus a sense of community; the use and abuse of power along with honesty and loyalty as opposed to dishonesty and disloyalty; forbidden love and the obstacle of two varying cultures co-existing. The substance of the film highlights the concern of individualism contrasted to a sense of community. An example of individual greed is encapsulated in the â€Å"identification scene† where Samuel recognizes the killer’s image (McFee) within the trophy cabinet where he is displayed as a hero. Amidst the diegetic sound of the police station the camera pans to the cabinet. An extreme close up of Samuel’s eyes along with thought provoking music suggests his realization that McFee is the murderer. The point of view shots; the zooming in on McFee’s face and the non-diegetic sound forces the viewer to query his honour. The audience has viewed McFee as a killer who appeared in the bathroom washing his hands in a relaxed manner and saying casually â€Å"I’m just washing my hands man† suggests that his malicious nature is a part if his everyday life. This individual sense of greed and self-interest in contemporary society is compared throughout the film with the sense of community and generosity of the more traditional Amish culture. The barn raising scene captures this idea effectively as it portrays the community working together for a common cause. The harmonious music; the wide angle shots; the cheerful facial expressions and body language and â€Å"uniform† costumes highlight their equality and sense of belonging to one group. The vertical panning shot of Daniel sharing a drink with Book demonstrates the farmer’s selflessness although he is in â€Å"competition† with Book for Rachel’s affection. This contrast interrogates concerns of self-interest with contemporary society challenging the viewers’ perception of these cultures. There is also a contrast between how power is used within the cultures. Abuse of power is clearly evident with Schaeffer as he is always shown as a loyal husband and family man which challenges the audience to question what is actually an illusion to this representation of character. This characterisation is overturned when Book phones Schaeffer and says â€Å"lost the meaning did you Paul? Remember what you used to say, about dirty cops, somewhere along the way they lost the meaning†. This forces the audience to interrogate the power of an individual such as Schaeffer. There is an illusion created within the film that the English society has power over the Amish society. This is evident in the penultimate scene â€Å"final conflict† when Schaeffer and McFee go into the Amish society to arrest/kill Book. Schaeffer and McFee bring along weapons as they believe that is enough to take down Book and the Amish community. A mis-en-scene with a low angle shot, dark colours and suspenseful music of Schaeffer and McFee walking on the road positions the audience to believe that the English have power and that they are going to take down the Amish community. But this is contradicted when Samuel rings the bell and a long shot is used to show the Amish people stop, put down everything and run over to help. Schaeffer is defeated by the amount of people working together; this allows the audience to question how power is used in contemporary society. Although the Amish society appears to lead a passive lifestyle and â€Å"weak† as they are without weapons they are still shown to have power. This is evident when they are travelling in the horse buggy as they are always shown in a low angle shot portraying that they have power and aren’t below contemporary society. This highlights the contrast that Peter Weir used to question the concern of power in contemporary society. Weir again uses contrast to interrogate the concern of forbidden love within contemporary society. The ‘Dancing in the barn scene’ conveys this idea. The music playing is ironic as it says â€Å"I don’t know much about†¦Ã¢â‚¬  because Book doesn’t know much about Rachel and the Amish community. Rachel’s hat is missing which indicates she is moving away from the Amish culture. Book dances with Rachel and this creates sexual tension but avoids eye contact as he respects her culture and doesn’t want to disrupt it which creates awkwardness. The Rachel washing scene also expresses this idea as Book avoid eye contact again and rejects making love with Rachel. The next day Book goes up to the hen house that Rachel is in. In front of Book there is a screen door which is symbolic of a  barrier of their forbidden love says to Rachel â€Å"If we made love last night I would have to say or you would have to leave† this again shows that Book respects Rachel’s culture. The two world’s truly merge when book prepares to leave. There is a close up of bonnet as it is placed on the table by Rachel symbolising again that she is letting go and wants to be with Book. But this inability for the two communities to co-exist is symbolised also through contrasting scenes of the bird house. Early in the film and on Book’s leaving as Book is first impeding on the Amish community – breaking of the bird house, then Book rebuilds the damage that he has cause – fixing of the bird house, then restores everything back to normality – puts bird house back in place. This forces the audience to interrogate whether these two societies will ever be able to merge together. In conclusion though the film witness Peter Weir is able to interrogate the audience by contrasting the concerns of individualism versus community, the use and abuse of power and forbidden love in contemporary society.

Investment analysis: AirAsia Berhad

Investment analysis: AirAsia Berhad 1.0 Market analysis Before we can proceed further in deciding whether investing in AiraAsia is a good choice or not, we have to do a market analysis on the market condition of the airline industry. Our market industry is based on five main elements which are: 1. Legal Like all industries in the market, the airline industry is also tied to certain legal policy of the government so as to ensure the safety and the consumers rights. For the airline industry worldwide, the rules and regulation are set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and is revised from time to time. The rules and regulations are mostly about flights safety measurements and also the management of safety during flight such as making the providence of first-aid kit compulsory on every aircraft in case anything happen during flight. Not only that, the air stewardess and air steward must have basic knowledge of first aid. 2. Politics Politics play a major role in the performance of the airline company as well. Any political policy that is to the airline companys disadvantage will affect the performance and annual profit of the airline. When the very first airline company was established in Germany, which is Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft(DELAG), on 16 November 1909, it was under Germanys government service. But as the 20th century approaches, airline companies are ‘deregulated. Airline deregulation according to the Wikipedia encyclopedia is the process of removing entry and price restrictions on airlines affecting the carriers permitted to serve specific routes. Airline deregulation began in the United States of America in 1978 and from there exist the Airline Deregulation Act 1978 whereas for Europe, deregulation only began in the 1990s. Before deregulation happened, the airline company has to abide by the instructions of the government concerning the routes and the choice of which airports to land on and depart from. Whereas after deregulation, the airline company has the freedom to choose any routes that they want and whichever airports that they want to stopover at. There are pros and cons to the deregulation of the airline company. The pro is the airline company has the freedom to decide on the operation of the airline whereas the con is that the entry barriers for new airline entrants are lower. Thus, creating a more competitive market for established airlines. This is when the low cost carrier airline starts to appear in the market, such as Tiger Airway (Singapore), Jetstar Airways (Australia) and Pacific Blue Airlines (New Zealand). The appearance of these airways will lower the profit margin of the existing airways as Low Cost Carrier (LCC) airlines tend to price their airfare at the very minimum price as possible. Another political aspect is the existence of bilateral agreements between two or more countries regarding the authority of stopovers at different airports. Bilateral agreement is normally based on the concept of ‘freedom of thee air where it gives the airline the freedom or rights to fly in the air space of another country and also be permitted to stop at the airports of their choice. And sometimes, some country may even allow foreign airline to operate on their domestic routes, but this is very rarely to be found. This move by the government will remove many of the barriers to competition and allowing their own airlines to have foreign partners or code sharing partners. This will further increase the airline access to more international routes and also further exposed the airline to foreign countries. Both the airline deregulation policy and the bilateral agreements play a major role in determining the successfulness of an airline company. A policy set by the government may in hibit or aid in the success of an airline company. 3. Economics When we look at the economic side of the market, we will first look at the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. GDP is the value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. GDP is the best tool to use when accessing the performance of a country as it takes all the industries and products into consideration. A few of countrys GDP and the contribution of agriculture, industry and services to the total of GDP are listed in the table below. Country Growth rate (%) Agriculture (%) Industry (%) Services (%) China 8.7 10.9 48.6 40.5 Egypt 4.5 13.1 37.7 49.2 India 4.4 15.8 25.8 58.4 Nigeria 3.8 33.4 34.1 32.5 Thailand -3.5 12.3 44 43.7 Venezuela -1.5 4.0 34.6 61.4 America -2.4 1.2 21.9 76.9 Singapore -2.6 0.0 26.8 73.2 Malaysia -2.8 10.1 42.3 47.6 Source: CIA The World Factbook and Wikipedia Encyclopedia All the countries have different GDP, some countries may have negative growth and some countries have positive growth. This is normal as during 2008 is when the financial crisis happened. But not all countries did not benefit from the global economy downturn as some countries have positive growth rate for their GDP. This may be due to the fact that the countries benefited from industries that bring losses to another country which results in a tradeoff between the benefits between countries. The services industry contributes to most of the total of the GDP of the countries listed above except for china, Nigeria and Thailand. All three of these countries are more focused on industrial industry which may be due to the fact that these countries have more labored intensive industries. Thus, this shows that service industry plays an important role in the performance of a country and service industry includes airline industry. From the GDP of a country; we can look at the purchasing power parity (PPP) of the consumers. If the GDP of the country is low or is a negative value, this means that the PPP of the citizen is low and vice versa. The PPP of consumers can also be linked directly to the inflation rate of a country. As the inflation rate increase, the PPP of consumer will drop. Inflation rate will increase the price of goods in general as the demand exceeded the supply of the goods. Thus, decreasing the amount of extra money allocated for luxurious goods which also include travelling and entertainments. So the changes in the GDP of a country will affect all the industries, including the airline industry. There are times when not only the GDP will affect the performance of an airline; it may be due to natural disasters which include earthquake, tsunami and flash flood which have been happening quite frequently nowadays. All of these can disrupt the operation of the airline companies as facilities and airports maybe destroyed in the process. Thus, causing an airline company to face loss in the event of natural disasters. Another event that might affect the economic performance of an airline company is terrorism such as the event of the ill-fated day of September 11, 2001where American Airlines and United Airlines was hijacked. This had caused both airways to face huge losses due to the decline in value of the airways stocks. This can reflect the confidence of the customers towards both the airlines had declined extremely as an aftermath of the hijacking event. Below is the graph depicting the change in stock price for both companies. 4. Social As the years goes by, consumer demands are evolving gradually. The consumers nowadays want anything that is their convenience, cheap and can be done instantly without going through painstaking procedures. So as to accommodate the change in the demands of the customers, the airline company has to improvise themselves from time to time. Most of the airline companies nowadays have their own websites. This is to make it easier for the consumers to check the availability of tickets, the schedule of the airline and also enabling the consumers to purchase their ticket through e-ticketing. All of these are to the customers convenience. So as to attract more customers, some airlines are now practicing online check-in of luggage where luggage can be checked-in within 24 hours of the scheduled flight. Social and economic factors are closely related to each other as any changes in the market economy will directly affect the consumer behavior. As stated above under the economic factors, the event of financial crisis will affect the PPP of the customers as prices of goods have been increased due to inflation. In order to save more money, consumers will opt for cheaper goods. The same goes to the purchase of airfares. The lower the airfare is, the better it is and this even applies to business travelers travelling on premium class. This can be proven by a study done by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) where it shows that the consumers choice of seats have changed as the number of premium class travelers have decreased. This can be seen clearly from the graph below. The graph shows that the number of premium passengers had started to fall since july 2008 and keeps dropping until sometime in may 2009 before it the number of passengers travelling on premium class starts to increase gradually. Even though there is an increase of passengers travelling on premium class, it still takes time for the airline company to rebound back from the huge amount of losses that they have incurred. 5. Technology With the advancement of the technological changes in the world, the technology used by the airline company also improvised with time. In the past, whenever the customers wanted to buy air tickets, they will have to go to either the airlines office or any travel agency to purchase their tickets. But now, customers can just purchase their ticket with a click of the mouse. They do not even need to step out of the house, as long there is internet available. Advanced check-in can also be done through the internet 24 hours prior to the flight departure. All of these technologies are to the consumers convenience. Advancement in the technology of the airline industry can also be seen on the safety and the comfort of the aircraft. Aircrafts nowadays are more comfortable, safer and in-flight entertainment is also provided for long haul flights. This is very different from the olden aircraft where the main purpose of the aircraft is just to transport passengers from one point to another. Both the Airbus and Boeing Company are improvising their aircraft from time to time in so as to ensure that their aircraft is the best in terms of safety and also the comfort level. Airline companies in the market are also using the advancement in technology to implement risk management by providing good and reliable databases for risk analysis and targeting, providing faster and more effective business processes, more efficient recordkeeping and providing better services to the customers. 2.0 Airline Industry Analysis The airline industry had always been a highly regulated industry from the beginning of its establishment. The deregulation or liberalization movement initially started in the US in 1978. Governments usually treat the airline industry differently compared to some other industries due to the sensitivity of the aviation business, which involve some national security and sovereignty issues. In this report, Porters Five Forces Model is being used to analysis the aviation industry structure to provide an overall view of the industry. This is a well-established model, in which the industry can be simulated as a model influenced by five different factors called ‘forces as shown in Figure 1.1. A suitable dynamic interaction of these five forces shapes the basic structure to determine the profitability and attractiveness of the industry. 2.1 Industry Competitor The degree of rivalry is one of the most important factors that determining profitability of the industry. The market growth and number of competitors are some of the causes that will affect the industry rivalry. For the airline industry where its fixed cost is usually very high and the variable cost is low, competition is fierce as airlines are trying to generate revenue to reach break-even level in order to survive. Competition in the airline industry can be divided into competition between low cost carriers (LCCs) and full service carriers (FSCs) in both regional and domestic markets. There are 6 budget airlines in Malaysia which are Air Asia, Firefly, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific, Jetstar, and Lion Air. The competition among low cost carriers is usually fiercer as offering the cheaper airfare is utmost important for them. One of the main reasons that passengers choose to use a LCC is â€Å"cheaper airfares†. Since most of the low cost carriers do not have frequent flyer program to impose switching cost on customers, it is rather difficult for them to build up customer loyalty except constantly offering a cheaper airfare to retain their customers. On the other hand, there are a lots of full service airline in Malaysia such as MAS, Cathay Pacific Airway, China Airlines, Eva Airways Corporation, and so on. Thus, the competition between full service carriers is more complicated. This is because FSCs are competing in many aspects of their services, such as network coverage, flight frequency, and service quality and ticket prices. While the competition between FSCs and LCCs are mainly focused on attracting each others market as they usually have different customer groups. Customer base of LCCs are largely made up of leisure traveler while FSCs appear to be more attractive for business traveler. 2.2 Suppliers Suppliers are those who provide necessary raw material, equipment and labor for an airline to perform their daily operation. Suppliers strength can greatly affect the industrys profitability, if there is a high concentration in the supplier power, they can exert influence on airlines thus increasing their bargaining power. Major inputs for airline to provide their services to passengers are aircraft, labor, fuel and landing slots. The fleet is the most important assets for airlines to generate revenue. However, there are only two major aircraft manufacturers in the West, Boeing and Airbus, which almost monopolizing the wide-body civil transport aircraft market worldwide. Hence, the bargain power of aircraft manufacturers against airlines remains very strong, as the concentration of aircraft supplier market is very high. Some airline employees are considered as highly specialized and professionals, such as pilots and aircraft technicians. Due to their specializations, it is almost impossible for an airline to find replacements for pilots or maintenance workers in short time, which may cause an increase in the bargaining power of their employees over the airlines. In this regard, the labor cost is one of the biggest operating costs of most airlines. However, cutting cost is the main agenda of airline nowadays, and the labor cost is always the first to be the victim. 2.3 The Buyers Power The buyers power is defined as the influence that customers can have on the airlines revenue affecting ticket prices and service charges. If the buyers power is strong enough, customers can set the ticket price, and vice verse. Strong buyer power can bargain away potential airline profit and extract other benefits from airlines such as quality-improved services. Some of the favorable factors to strong buyers power in the airline industry are relatively low customer switching cost, low product differentiation, and freely available information on Internet. Nevertheless, the buyers power may be weaken by low buyer concentration or small purchase volume. Although fierce pricing war dispute among the airlines, it is notably that buyers do not play proactive roles in the pricing war. Current price impacts in the market is aimed to keeping the airlines competitors out of the market rather than providing the low pricing power of the airlines to their customers. Besides, travel agents, who us ually buy air tickets in large volume, yield greater power but they use this concept to strengthen their position in the market rather than transferring the cost benefit to costumers. 2.4 New Entrant â€Å"New entrant† refers to any new player in the aviation market which will compete with the incumbents. A key criterion to analyze the threat of new entrant in the industry is to analyze the level of entry barriers. Entry barriers are obstacles that may discourage others from entering the market hence affect the competition of the industry. New entrants will also lower the potential profits of the industry as a whole. Most common entry barriers in airline industry are regulation restrictions, labor, access to distribution channels and high capital requirement. However, the entry barriers to the airline industry had generally been lowered recently, especially on the regulation restrictions and distribution channels. The example of new entrant to Low Cost Carrier s is Firefly airline, which was growth recently and become a strong competitor to Air Asia airline. 2.5 Substitutes â€Å"Substitution† represents the threat that other industries or transportation may offer a product, which can replace air transport. The threat of substitution depends on the type of flight, namely long haul or short haul, and travel purpose such as business or leisure. For short haul and leisure travel, the main substitution threat in the Asia Pacific comes from surface transport such as road and sea transport. Even though some of the airfares from LCCs are lower than bus fare, but after paying for the airport charges and insurances, customers will find that generally the total cost of air travel is still higher than that of road transport. Although surface transport is cheaper in term of money, it still costs the passenger more in terms of time and efficiency. Furthermore, road transport generally will not compete with long haul travel, especially for cross nation traveling. On the other side, latest technology inventions such as videoconference pose a bigger threat for business travel. In the aftermath of 911, many worries that the airline industry will be substituted by video conferencing companies as they assumed that people will be less willingly to travel since then. However, the speedy traffic recovery proved them wrong. Although the international passenger flow havent returned to the pre-crisis level, but it seems the recovery is on the right path. 2.6 Low Cost and Budget Airline Air Asia Berhad Air Asia is one of the largest low fare and no frills airline. in Low Cost Carriers (LCC) industry which providing guests with the choice of customizing services without compromising on quality and services . It operates scheduled domestic and international flights and it is also the first airline in the region to implement fully ticketless travel and unassigned seats. On 12 November 2008, Air Asia abolished fuel surcharges. In doing so, it claimed to be the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges. From this statement, we can conclude that Air Asia is successful to expand their market as well as they airline had flown 55 million cumulative passengers by 2009. In 2010, it has the worlds lowest costs for an Airline, at $3.21 per seat-kilometer. Air Asia is able to attract more customers in future since they can offer lower price tickets to flight around the world. Last but not least, Air Asia is a corporate that potential to growth among the LCC industry due to its competence strategy holding. This corporate was emphasize on leanest cost structure; transparency in decision making and information sharing; safety; invest and enhance the Air Asia brand to maximize shareholder`s value; human capital development; and passion for guest satisfaction. Hence, investor can be confidence with their performance as well. 3.0 Company Analysis AirAsia is one of the award winning and largest low fare airlines in the Asia expanding rapidly since 2001. With a fleet of 72 aircrafts, AirAsia flies to over 61 domestic and international destinations with 108 routes, and operates over 400 flights daily from hubs located in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Today, AirAsia has flown over 55 million guests across the region and continues to create more extensive route network through its associate companies. AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business concept and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every part of the business. Through the corporate philosophy of â€Å"Now Everyone Can Fly†, AirAsia has sparked a revolution in air travel with more and more people around the region choosing AirAsia as their preferred choice of transport. AirAsia creates values through the following vision and mission. (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irorganizationalstructure.html?) 3.1 Mission †¢ To be the best company to work for whereby employees are treated as part of a big family †¢ Create a globally recognized ASEAN brand †¢ To attain the lowest cost so that everyone can fly with AirAsia †¢ Maintain the highest quality product, embracing technology to reduce cost and enhance service levels 3.2 Vision To continue to be the lowest cost short-haul airline in every market we serve, delivering strong organic growth through offering the lowest airfares at a profit. Leanest Cost Structure †¢ Efficient and simple point to point operations †¢ Attracting and retaining hardworking and smart people †¢ Passion for continuous cost reduction Maximise Shareholders Value †¢ Resilient profit growth through our lower cost base †¢ Expansion of the AirAsia network in a prudent and disciplined manner †¢ Invest and enhance the AirAsia brand to increase investors returns Safety †¢ Comply with the highest International Aviation Safety Standards and practices †¢ Keep operations simple and transparent †¢ Ensure the security of our People and Guests Passion for Guests Satisfaction †¢ Maintain simplicity in every application †¢ Practice the unique and friendly AirAsia experience at every opportunity †¢ Recognise the linkage between guests satisfaction and long-term success Transparency †¢ Transparency in decision-making and information sharing †¢ Optimum disclosure higher than industry norms †¢ Timeliness in disclosing information Human Capital Development †¢ Invest in both hard and soft skills †¢ Recognize all our People as contributors to our success †¢ Reward excellence and individual contributions †¢ Maintaining one brand across the Group (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?) 3.3 Strategy (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?) 3.4 Values 1.Safety Adopting a zero tolerance to unsafe practices and strive for zero accidents through proper training,work practices, risk management and adherence to safety regulations at all times. 2. Valuing Our People Committing to our peoples development and well-being and treating them with respect, dignity and fairness. 3.Customer Focused We care and treat everyone in the same manner that we want to be treated. 4.Integrity Practicing highest standards of ethical behaviour and demonstrate honesty in all our lines of work in order to command trust and mutual respect. 5.Excellence in Performance Setting goals beyond the best and reinforcing high quality performance standards and achieving excellence through implementing best practices. (Resources : Air Asia Annual Report 2008) 3.5 Logo 3.6 Motto â€Å"NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY† 3.7 Directors Biography Dato Abdel Aziz @ Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar(Non-Executive Chairman) Dato Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes (commonly known as Dato Sri Tony Fernandes) Dato Kamarudin bin Meranun (Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer) Conor Mc Carthy (Non-Executive Director) 3.8 Independent Directors Dato Leong Sonny @ Leong Khee Seong (Independent Non-Executive Director) Fam Lee Ee (Independent Non-Executive Director) Dato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican (Independent Non-Executive Director) Datuk Alias bin Ali (Independent Non-Executive Director) (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irdirectorsbiography.html?) Share Registrar Symphony Share Registrars Sdn Bhd Level 26, Menara Multi-Purpose, Capital Square 8 Jalan Munshi Abdullah 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: 603-2721 2222 Fax: 603-2721 2530/1 Corporate Broker ECM Libra Berhad Stock Exchange Listing Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Listed since 22 November 2004) (Stock code: 5099) Auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers Level 10, 1 Sentral, Jalan Travers, Kuala Lumpur Sentral 50706 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 603-2173 1188 Fax: 603-2173 1288 Audit Committee Dato Leong Sonny @ Leong Khee Seong Fam Lee Ee Datuk Alias bin Ali Dato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican (Resources : Air Asia Annual Report 2008) 3.9 Major Shareholders As of 12 November 2009, about 26% of the total share capital was owned by TuneAir Sdn Bhd. AirAsia is a substantially owner managed company, the cumulative ownership by the board of directors constitutes approximately 28% of the share capital. Shareholder name No. of shares owne What Is Atherosclerosis Disease? What Is Atherosclerosis Disease? Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory condition affecting mainly the medium sized and large muscular arteries in the vasculature. Research suggests that the role of statins as a cholesterol lowering agent is only one of their many pharmacological purposes, and that they can also be used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions such as atherosclerosis. A lot of funding has gone into this area of research as its predicted that in the next 15 years, it is expected that cardiovascular related events are going to be the main cause of death worldwide. Thus there is a greater need to consider novel strategies in management of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. In the course of this essay I will attempt to describe how and why atherosclerosis is an inflammatory condition and how statins can be exploited as anti inflammatory agents in reducing the overall cardiovascular risk associated with the disease. There is a lot of laminar blood flow through the medium sized and large arteries in the vasculature which are the prime positions for atherosclerotic plaques to grow, making the blood flow more turbulent. This leads to the build up of ischemic tissue in organs where blood flow becomes limited leading to major vascular events as a consequence. The composition of this atheroma is the first indication that the disease is of an inflammatory origin as it matches that expected at the intermediate phase of injury. Also, as seen in other inflammatory states, monocytes are attracted to the site of inflamed tissue and differentiate into macrophages. This leads to an increase in production of inflammatory cytokines and an upregulation in toll like receptors. The plaque is largely made up of macrophages, mast cells, T cells, fibrin, collagen and platelets aggregates which indicate that the immune system has been activated to produce an inflammatory response to the insult. It is now also evident that the actual stenosis is less of a contributing factor to ischemia and that it is more of a result of the activation of plaque content, eg, macrophage and mast cells, which elicits the prothrombotic and procoagulant factors involved in thrombus formation. The role of cholesterol in plaque formation is considerable as macrophages found in the plaque composition are heavily saturated with cholesterol ester giving them their name, foam cells. Additionally, there is a lot more LDL in the circulation which has been proven to be pro inflammatory and is raised in atherosclerosis. Raised LDL in it self is a big contributing factor to the formation of foam cells as the LDL becomes oxidised and reduces de-novo synthesis of LDL receptors on endothelial cells and macrophages. Running parallel to this, CD34 scavenger receptors on these cells become unregulated so macrophages and endothelial cells engulf cholesterol and cholesterol esters in an uncontrolled manner leading to the formation of foam cells. These then set off a series of events leading to more foam cell production and plaque formation. This illustrates the important role cholesterol has in worsening the inflammatory processes involved in atherosclerosis thus foregrounding the need of s tatins to utilise their lipid and non lipid pharmacological mechanisms involved in cholesterol lowering as well as controlling the inflammation. There is a lot of evidence from experiments which link the involvement of cholesterol and inflammation in atherosclerosis. There is evidence which suggests that the presence of cholesterol results in an over expression of cell adhesion molecules, eg VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin. Also, increased release of cytokines such as MCP-1 within the plaque as well as macrophages TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-1 which is all consistent with the inflammatory process. Additionally, mast cells are attracted and degranulated at the site of plaque formation. Other experimental evidence also shows that when cholesterol fed rats are treated with immunosuppressants; there is a reduction in the atherosclerosis. There is research into the possibility of there being some angiogenesis in the area which is consistent with the proliferative phase of repair involving the immune system. All of the above illustrates, with evidence, the inflammatory origins of atherosclerosis. Infectious agents are also associated with activating the immune system to produce a pro inflammatory response to a foreign organism. There is further evidence which illustrates that this is also true for atherosclerosis. There have been suggestions which say that infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae damage the endothelial cells in the same way as cholesterol. Infection with this organism can cause increased cell activation and expression of adhesion molecules as well as programmed cell death at site of damage. Also, there is increased cytokine expression in smooth muscle cells and the increased size of cells correlates to the neointimal thickening (plaque) associated with the disease. Overall, this leads to the recruitment and activation of immune cells such as leucocytes which are a major contributor to the inflammatory process. It was also shown through experimental models, that this infection causing the plaque formation can be treated by azithromycin which is a well es tablished immunosuppressant. All this evidence again foregrounds the strong correlation of inflammation in atherosclerosis. Now that we have established that atherosclerosis is indeed an inflammatory condition which can be exacerbated by high cholesterol and infection, the treatment strategy should therefore involve the use of statins for their cholesterol lowering and non lipid properties allowing them to be effective in resolving the inflammation. The conventional role of statins is the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase enzyme which intern stops all the enzymatic steps occurring downstream of this enzyme to ultimately reducing hepatic cholesterol production. This leads to the inhibitory effect cholesterol has on LDL receptor synthesis being lifted so more receptors are synthesised leading to a greater uptake of cholesterol from the circulation thus lowering overall blood cholesterol levels. There is a lot of novel evidence suggesting the benefits of statins occurring before blood cholesterol reduction which illustrates that some other process must be involved. Apart from the conventional HMG-CoA reduction, statins also have non lipid related activity. They inhibit the production of mevalonic acid and isoprenoid metabolites which accounts for the apparent immunosuppressant activity of statins in atherosclerosis. In the case of inflammatory diseases, statins can also reduce smooth muscle proliferation, reduce over expression of ce ll adhesion molecules, reduce infiltration of macrophage and T cells to site of damage, inhibit antigen dependant T cell activation and reduce other inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, TNF alpha, C reactive protein and INF-gamma. Some studies have also shown the action of statins in vivo when an small experimental amount of 2ng/kg of LPS from E coli was injected into volunteers taking simvastatin or a placebo. The results of this study illustrated the non lipid effects of statins in response to insult as there was no change in blood TNFalpha in the group taking the statin which shows that statins have a role in affecting the bodys immune response to external insult. This clearly foregrounds the roles of lipid and non lipid mechanisms of action of statins in reducing serious outcomes related to the occurrences of cardiovascular events. In conclusion, it is clear from experimental evidence that atherosclerosis has been identified as an inflammatory disease. There is significant information to support the notion of using statins in a clinical setting for their lipid and non lipid effects to aid the over all reduction in the atherosclerosis and the role it has in activating an immune response. Therefore, statins can be used for their pleiotropic effects in inflammatory disease such as atherosclerosis to help alleviate the body of the inflammatory response related to the condition.

In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The hospitality industry is one of the main industries in this world and this is the relationship between guest and host. Hospitality also involves showing respect for their guest, treat them equal and providing what they need when they are in the hotel or requesting on a thing such as need a tourist to bring go around the town, need transportation and other. The hospitality industry basically provides lodging or accommodation to people who travel and needs shelter for the day. Today, the hospitality industry is providing more choices for its consumers all around the world from hotels, resorts, inns, hostels and many more. Hospitality industry is one of the industries that provide service so it is basically focused on customer satisfaction because customer who is the main major to pay us. In different kind of hotel will get a different type of service because it is depend on how the hotel functioning. If the hotel has a good experience to the customer this will affect customer loyalt y and customer will come again. In addition to that, it also will increase the successful of the company in hospitality industry. Other that this, hotel industry also will provide facility for customer. Most of the business customers are need a bed and food, this are enough for them but some of the customer are request for using our facility. We can introduce our facility to the customer or maybe we can discount for them to encourage them have a try. Therefore, hotel will have a good experience for the customer and also can gain more profit. 2.0 Answer Question 2 In hospitality industry, there have 5 type of service characteristic. There are intangible, perishable, inseparable, simultaneous and variable. Without this 5 type of service characteristic, hotel might not be able to function well. 2.1 Intangible service Intangible which means is cannot be seen or touched but we can feel it. Communication is the thing that we can feel. We can feel the employee either welcoming us or not by communicate with us. The communication between the employees and guest is important it is because the guest can feel the employees are helping by willing or just simply answer the question. Some of the employees are not using a friendly communication and communicate with us while we asking question or request a thing from them. Not only for customer but for employees also, we need to friendly to communication with them and can cooperate well to process the hotel. Other than communication, smile also is a thing that we can feel by giving of them. For example, like in a restaurant the politeness of an employees giving a smile to the guest is means welcoming and willing to serve them, by this way the guest can feel satisfied but this cant be see and touched. 2.1 Perishable service Perishable which means is wont be last longer and wont experience the same experience. In many things, we will have the first try and if the thing is not good we wont try anymore. Same as we in the hotel, if the hotels we stay are not satisfaction we just will try once and next time we will know which type hotel we should choose and will do a proper research about hotel that we stay to made sure it wont be same as last time. Other than this, if we late to check in and without paying deposit or have any inform to the hotel they have right to cancel reserved the room for guest and the guest need to re-book the room if the hotel have room still available. Moreover, for transportation they also will have the same experience. For bus or airplane, they wont wait for late passenger. If they are late they need to buy or book a ticket for next time and journey of them also will be delay. For next time, they will know be punctual and reach the bus stop or airport in time to avoid they missed a gain. 2.2 Inseparable service Inseparable which means service and customer and service provider cant be separated. Guest is the main major no matter in which area. It sure will have its own supplier to provide the thing. Supplier is important to hospitality because of they need a big amount of quantity of food and drink. They sure will have different type of supplier to supply the food and drink to make sure they have enough supply for guest because hotel is the places that always have many guest and employees walk in and out. Other than need to supply food for hotel, they also need other supplier to supply their basic needed such as toothpaste, shampoo and other. Furthermore, service provider is indispensable for service delivery as he must promptly generate and render the service to the requesting service consumer because customer pay and get a service from them. In addition, the service consumer is inseparable from service delivery because he is involved in it from requesting it up to consuming the rendered be nefits. 2.3 Simultaneous service Simultaneous which means service have to be delivered at the same time as the customer consumed. It is not goods which may be the manufactured, wholesaler, or kept to distributions. For example in a restaurant, the service provider which means the waiter or waitress are doing the service at the same time when the customer request (delivery) something or ordering food then the service provider delivered the service immediately at the same time. For instance, if the customer wants to bil, the service provider have to bring the bill for the customer. 2.4 Variable service Variable of service offered and can be in many forms during the interaction or the process. Services are highly variable, as they depend on the service provider, and where and when they are provided. Service marketers face a problem in standardizing their service, as it varies with experienced hand, customer, time and firm. Service buyers are aware of this variability. So, the service firms should make an effort to deliver high and consistent quality in their service. For example, if one day eating in a restaurant, the food and service was very good but the next day the services become bad. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, Those 5 characteristics cannot separate with guest and also supplier. Because they are the main major for us and they also needed the basic thing in daily life. Especially is intangible because it was included communication between employee and guest. Communication is important because in hospitality industry, we will always faced customer to talk and explain the thing that they asking. In addition to that, this also is the first impression to guest when guest entering hotel. Besides that, perishable service and simultaneity service in hospitality industry, if the lodging property we stay first time and the service is good but the next time the service has becomes bad which means the first experience we cannot experience again. Therefore, in hospitality industry the service has to be constant and maintain. Not only that, inseparable service and variability service in hospitality industry is that the services provided cannot be separated. Lastly, the variability service is to standardize and to constant the service that in a lodging property. Therefore, this five characteristic have to be concerned and followed in any service line industry especially hospitality industry. 1.0 Introduction Question 2 In hospitality industry, there are many types of lodging in this industry such as hotel, resorts, inn and others. Hotels are divided to two types one is leisure hotel and one is commercial. For resort and inn are mostly are by the seaside but resort have more facilities and amenities while inn dont have so much service. To manage this kind of lodging property is not an easy task as you may seem, it has a lot of hard work to be done and skills to be experience. An hotelier should have full of hotel operation skills so they are able to manage the hotel no matter small hotel or large hotel. The responsible of an hotelier, should be take over and manager the hotel well. Hotelier also should always prepare be settle the problem that emergency that happen inside the hotel and also have the knowledge to settle the problem even also is customer problem. Besides that, internal of an organization, hoteliers also have to be able to manage the internal problem such as the employees issues. If th e hotelier dont not able to handle well the issues between employees but also with the person in charge of the team there will be a lot of problem and they cannot to be co-operate well and the hotel also cannot be process well. Other than that, in a hotel should have a system so that hotelier can do their job more easily such as planning the work. They can know each department how they processing their job and wont have argument when have problem happened. 2.0 Answer Question 2 To be prepared be an hotelier, there have many thing hotelier need to know and handle. Such as the hotel will need how many employees to work, how the hotel system going on, is the hotel gain profit and so on. Other than this, in hospitality service employees is important for the hotel because without them hotel might cannot run smoothly. Therefore, an hotelier should have some skills to handle the problem that relation with hotel such as patience, management experience, responsibility, communication skills and knowledge of other than hotel management. Below have the explanation of the skills that I have mentioned. 2.1 Patience As an hotelier, patience is very important. It is because as an hotelier will faced a lot of different type of guest. Some of the guest will keep asking many questions about the hotel and they must answer the question. Every day have different guest asking the questions about the hotel but is the same people to answer the guest. After day by day, some of them might feel impatience and boring to answer the question. Other than this, some of the guest will make a complaint about the room, not satisfied with the service, and other as an hotelier they need to have a lot of patience explain with their guest to let them feel satisfied especially the VIP of the hotel. Sometime, they also need patience to introduce and explain the food and facility that hotel have been provided. Patience is important because it will let guest feel welcome and friendly. In addition to that, when have some difficult issues happened the hotelier must have patience to overcome the issues because solving a proble m or issues have to take some time overcome the issues. 2.2 Management Experience In hospitality, management experience is important. It is because in every department there will have different way to process their job and doing their job. Other than this, they also need to follow the step and rules to do it. Every hotel will have different management to run the process of the hotel smoothly. To make sure the internal management runs smoothly the hotelier should have a system to follow. Furthermore, these kinds of experience gain from bottom of the department to top of the department. So that, the hotelier has to walk every step to have the experience run the hotel. It is because every department has different system and hotelier must clearly know how the departments run and wont be confused with their job. Other than that, if the hotelier has this kind of experience they can no need waste time on training and they also can save up the time to learn more new thing. Moreover, if the hotel has any emergency problem happened, an hotelier can handle the situation well because they handle the problem before on the previous time. Hotelier has experience they can manage their staff well and wouldnt boycott by other employees so that they can be cooperating well to operate the hotel run smoothly. 2.3 Responsibility Other than the two skills, responsibility also is an important thing in hospitality industry. It is because in the service line, the main major is our guest and is the one who paying us to get a satisfied service. If the hotelier doesnt responsible on what their in charge it may causes many complaints from guest and also can causes low profit. Because of the hotelier irresponsible, they may ignore the complaint from guest and wont take action to those employees who are irresponsible to the guest. Besides that, when hotel hiring an employees to work the first thing they will curious about responsible of the people. In addition, in the hotel there have many departments. In every department, there have different position, responsibility and duties. Every hotelier should clearly know what the responsibility of their duties because they able to cope with others employees. Furthermore, besides giving a responsibility in internal management, hotel surrounding also have to be care and respon sible such as the workplace and the guest place. Inside the hotel, not only have adult walking around but also have eldest people and children. We must be responsible on their safety because they are in our hotel area compound. 2.4 Knowledgeable Without knowledgeable there will be a difficult task to the hotelier. It is because of many things the hoteliers are not understood and they cannot answer and overcome the problem well of the customer but also the problem of the hotel. Knowledge is one of the important skills that you have learn, gain and experience in every perceptions such as while you studying, working in an organizations, or working in a service line industry like hotel. Knowledge allows us to be better, and to be more understanding on a general thing. Keep open mind and accept what people say to you, then you will realize the answer that you have never realize before and also will know where the problem is. To be an hotelier, knowledge is what should not left because, working in a hotel line every perceptions are gain from experience which means the daily work you doing in the hotel such as serving customer there would be a knowledge that how to serve the customer right or some tourist will also get some informa tion about the place you work or what is the special food in the town. The more knowledge we have the more advance we can become. In the past, a lot of people say that education is the most important thing in life because when you have graduate you may get a better job but nowadays the reality needs is knowledge to discover new things or have know about some general thing but not only the subject you study. 2.5 Communication skills In hospitality industry, communication skills are the most important. It is because hotelier needs to communicate with guest. All of the guest in the hotel sure will communicate with hotelier because they need get an assist from them. No matter how high level you study, have a good communication skills it will help you explore clearly the answer that you means to the listener. As an hotelier, they need to communicate with other employees and have a good communication skill employees can more easily to understand and wont mix up the meaning. Other than this, have a good communication skills will made sure us have a good relationship with other employees and also guest. In addition to that, hotelier will win more cooperation with other employees and also will increase successful in the hospitality industry. If they are not understood the message that the hotelier pass to they might mistaken and misunderstanding and will do wrong thing in the processing. This may causes them cannot have teamwork to work together because of argument of the problem. Have a good communication they will have good self-esteem. It is because of the hotelier are always confident on what they say and what they say is always the thing that needed by the people. Furthermore, as an hotelier they also need to promote the package, facility and other to the guest for gain profit. Hotelier will use the good communication skills to attract the guest to have a try in the hotel. If the hotelier keep promote the thing to them, guest will have a good impression with the thing that the hotelier has promoted and maybe the guest will have a try. Other than that, guest also can clearly know what the service the hotel has provided. Hotelier has good communication skills they can have a peaceful environment working places. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, to be an hotelier they should always well prepared. They should have patience, management experience, responsibility, knowledge of hotel management and communication skills. Other than this, they need to well prepare themselves and patience to overcome the customer problem and internal management issues. Hotelier should use themselves management experience or other employees opinion to process the hotel well. In addition, hotelier also should be responsible on their guest safety because they are inside the area of the hotel. Knowledge is one of the important things to gain and learn when they first work in hotel. Knowledge is what allows hotelier to advance themselves and to operate in a hotel. The communication skill is useful for hotelier. It is because they can use the skills to handle the internal issues well and have a peaceful environment.

A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer :: Free Essay Writer

A Child Called â€Å"It† By:David Pelzer I chose the book, The Child Called â€Å"It† because one of my friends told me about the book. The whole story line caught my attention. I was amazed at what was going on in this boy’s life. This book, a true story, is very emotional. The title relates to the book because his mother calls the boy, David Pelzer, â€Å"It†. She does not call him by his real name. His mother treats him like he is nothing but an object. Also, I think the title fits well because it catches people’s attention and gives a clue what the book is about.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author is attempting to teach the readers that no one should treat people this badly. David is an innocent child and does not deserve his bad childhood. David does not even do anything wrong, and his mother continued to treat him like an object. Pelzer succeeded in telling how cruel the mother is. He also teaches that people can be cruel to each other, and that it is important to teach people that kindness can go a long way. The whole book discusses his childhood. Pelzer wrote some sequels to tell the rest of his child life for the interested readers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story begins when he was first treated badly, in the 1960’s. His mother was a good mother until David’s father and mother started drinking. Its mother changed drastically from the alcohol drinking. The story begins in the kitchen of his house when he is doing his chores. His mother has a time limit on how fast he should do the dishes. If he does not accomplish the dishes in that amount of time, he does not get supper. In addition to the hunger, he receives a beating. The setting is very effective because the reader gets into the story. The setting also prepares you for what the mother does in the future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main characters are David, his mother, and father. David, the abused child, cannot escape his mother’s punishments. David’s mother is a drunken, abusive mother that refers to her child as â€Å"It†. David’s father is caring and understanding, but cannot help David escape. The mother and father drastically change after the alcohol abuse. David also changes in his attitude towards his parents. At first, David cares that his mother treats him badly. After awhile, he doesn’t care and becomes apathetic.

Essay --

Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Ozzie Smith, and Tony Gwynn; What do they all have in common? They are all some of the most famous African-American baseball players to ever play in the Major Leagues. One man, though, made it possible for all of them to play in the Major Leagues. That man’s name is Jackie Robinson. Although Jackie Robinson faced many adversities throughout his lifetime, he persevered and became the first African-American in Major League Baseball, breaking the color barrier and changing the world of baseball forever. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, to Jerry and Mallie Robinson. President Theodore Roosevelt, who died twenty-five days before Robinson was born, was the inspiration for his middle name (42 Facts). Robinson’s first stint with adversity came just six months after he was born when his father abandoned the family and ran off to Texas with the neighbor’s wife. Robinson and his four older siblings were raised single-handedly by their mother. After his dad deserted the family, Robinson’s mother decided to sell what little they had and move herself and her children in with her brother in Pasadena, California (Robinson, Jackie). While his mother was at work, Robinson would go to school with his older sister, Willa Mae, but since he was not old enough to be enrolled, he would often times have to sit in the sandbox outside of the school all day. Robinson’s first encounter with racial scrutiny came when he was about eight year s old. He was sweeping the sidewalk when a little white neighbor girl shouted â€Å"Nigger, nigger, nigger!† at him. He was old enough to know how to respond and did so by calling the little girl â€Å"cracker.† Her father stormed out of the house to confront Rob... ...ican TV sports analyst. He broadcasted for ABC’s MLB Game of the Week in 1965 (42 Facts). On October 24, 1972, Robinson died from complications of diabetes in Stamford, Connecticut, at the age of 53. Many people say the diabetes worsened because of the stress he was under throughout his life. In June of that year, the Dodgers retired Robinson’s uniform number of 42 and all the teams in the league began to follow and also retire the number 42. Baseball would be extremely different than it is now if it was not for Jackie Robinson. He did not just break the color barrier, he showed this country that if you never give up, great things can happen. He brought whites and blacks together in a time where it was hard to do such a thing. Jackie Robinson will always be one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game. After all, he was pushed to be the greatest.

Longevity research Essay

Today, a great amount of people have learned to enjoy life once again as a senior in the community. This would speak of those in the 70’s and beyond. Life expectancy for Americans, which was a mere 49 years in 1900, has now increased to around 76 years. This we can say is due to improvements in health care, nutrition, and the overall standard of living. Not only are people living longer, but they are becoming more active in their older age, relative to elderly of the past. More older Americans are able carry out their own â€Å"instrumental activities of daily living† (Hodes 2003) As such, the desire for life has grown and billions have been poured into longevity research, an undertaking meant to discover ways and means to extend life. A vast motivation in science has been well-funded to discover how to keep man alive longer, with its aim toward more and more years. (Douglas 2006) There are concerns however one must view in light of this, namely, will a society with many living over a hundred years be actually as beautiful as it seems to present? The first concern would be the quality of life given that although the body may be kept health, the brain will be aging. Surely, the mind at the age of 110 is not as lucid as that of one at the age of 60. There are many diseases that correlate with the aging brain, but let us use the more common Alzheimer’s disease as an example. This is a devastating condition that has been seen to have a profound impact on individuals, families, the health care system, and society as a whole. Demographic studies suggest that if the current trends maintain themselves, the annual number of incident cases of this disease will begin a sharp increase in the year 2030 thereabouts. (Alzheimer’s association 2009) This will be a time that people born between 1946 and 1964 will all be over 65 years. Studies further show that by the year 2050, the number of Americans with the disease could double. Imagine these implications. It’s true that people live longer, but then what quality of life can one have if he lives 20 years more but has lost memory of his family and friends. This disease accounts for around 50-50% of cases of dementia. With increase longevity, there will be a large increase in the prevalence of the disease as people will be living to be older. It can be such difficulty to the individual to live in a condition where for years he is grasping at memories that he cannot recall. It’s an incredible burden to the family as well, as they will now be responsible for more elderly, living longer lives, incapable of self care, and maybe even incapable of recognizing kin. Imagine a scenario where a parent is 110 years old, their child being 85 and their grandchild at 60, how would it be feasible for the turn of care to pass from parent to child in such a scenario where all are classifiable as aged. A second concern is that apart from the aging mind, there is also the aging body. It is true that the individual will be living long, but then there are multitudes of risks that will accompany this. The wear and tear from all the years will now set in as he will now be more prone to multitudes of disease as years go by. Sicknesses like arthritis of the joints, a heart attack, stokes, cataracts, diabetes and many more will all now be factors that come into play. Even worse, should the person gain a long-playing debilitating condition, one with no cure such as the case of Alzheimer’s previously mentioned, then again what kind of quality of life can he sustain? Let’s take a stroke for example. Currently, a stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Statistics show that over 143,579 people die each year in the United States from this condition. Now in terms of long term disability, stroke is the leading cause as people may live on with their life span after a completed stroke. Furthermore, having a stroke does not mean that a person cannot have another one to further cause disability. Now, it is seen that nearly three-quarters of all strokes occur in people over the age of 65. It is also noted that the risk of having a stroke more than doubles each decade after the age of 55. (Internet Stroke Center 2009) This is not even accounting for those who go through strokes at a young age. Now, given this data, imagine the risk for one who is to live until 120 years old. Imagine if a large bulk of population were to live this long, then the worldwide prevalence of stroke survivors would be high. After a stroke, it is very possible for one to lose control of speech, of movement in half a body, of mobility, and sometimes even requiring full time nursing care. The implications on a person and a family would be immense. Given that strokes occur generally in people over 65, imagine having one at 70 and then living for 40 more years. How would one survive that lone without the capacity to communicate. It’s true that one can live with the heart beating, but the question is in terms of quality of life. Another concern that also affects health will be the incidence of depression. A longer life for one spouse would mean having to live through the death of loved ones. Longevity increases the number of years one would live past the death of a spouse and family. Studies can increase life but imagine a scenario where a parent has to live past his spouse children and grandchildren. Again, the concern regarding quality of life comes in play is emotional makeup is indeed a very important aspect of human life. Rebecca Utz, a sociologist at ISR stated: â€Å"While only about 6 percent of widowed persons had serious financial problems since their spouse died, 63 percent reported less income and 34 percent said their financial strain increased significantly after they were widowed. The negative economic consequences are even more pronounced for women than they are for men, and the declines are lasting, not a temporary drop associated with funeral expenses or estate planning. † (About. com 2009) This itself is proof of how one’s death can affect an individual, not only in terms of health and emotion, but in terms of capability to function as well. Increasing longevity means increasing the chances that people will outlive one, or even more spouses, and have to deal with many deaths for many years. Depression rates will increase as a consequence of spouses living well past their mates, their children and maybe even their grandchildren. A study conducted showed that eighty-four (24%) of 350 widows and widowers met criteria for depressive episodes at 2 months, 72 (23%) of 308 did so at 7 months, and 46 (16%) of 286 did so at 13 months, further supporting this claim that depression and emotional consequences of too much longevity should be of concern. (Zisook, S & Shuchter, S. 1991) A fourth point that should raise concern for biologic implications for longevity revolve around care for the elderly. Today, families turn to nursing homes and assisted living to give the elderly the care and attention they need. The alarming factor now revolves around what actual care they are receiving in these places, as a congressional report made by CBS news correspondent Bill Whitaker previously stated that around 1,600 U. S. nursing homes, nearly one-third of all in total, have been cited for abuse. These reported abuses were of various types, spanning from physical, sexual and verbal. All abuse in all these forms is on the rise. The report further noted that that more than twice as many nursing homes were cited for abuse in 2000 than in 1996. It was further seen that in 1,601 nursing homes , around 1 in 10 abuse citations were made in serious incidents. By serious, it was meant that they either put residents at great risk of harm, injured them or killed them. (CBS news 2001) Imagine how greatly the health of these poor elderly could be affected by increased longevity. Already at this current time with our elderly, society is unable to provide adequate care for them, and resorting to nursing homes and various assisted living environments that have led to elderly abuse. What more an increase can be expected if people were to live into the hundreds. The population would have a drastic increase in the aged, thus increasing the burden on society to care for them. If at this current day and age, society already is unable to manage the abuse problem, then the health implications of longevity are grave in that they will aggravate the abuse by increasing the number of elderly left alone. Investigators have further said that many violations are neither detected nor reported, which leads officials to conclude that the problem is even underestimated. Surely, if society cannot currently manage the elderly and provide a good, healthy and safe environment for them, then there is no way that society can do so after a further increase in the aged that longevity research will bring. My fifth and final concern regarding longevity lies in the fact that it will now place a large amount of population that has needs to be fulfilled but cannot fulfill them on its own. Increasing longevity will increase the number of senior citizens and the number of non-working elderly dependent. The health concerns for this are immense, as the question that can now be raised is regarding who in society will provide for the health of these individuals who cannot earn a living for themselves. CDC research concerns states that the increased number of people with ages over 65 will potentially lead to increased health-care costs. The health-care cost per capita for persons from the age group over 65 years in the United States is three to five times greater than the cost for persons below that age. (CDC 2003) Imagine how this will increase if people were to live 20 years longer. Currently, the number of persons aged >65 years is expected to rise from around 35 million in 2000 to an estimated 71 million in 2030. Longevity will even increase this number. Eventually, as resources will decline, then there will not be enough economic support to support the aged, leading to substandard healthcare and health risks. There may not be enough to provide them with medical needs, particularly because the working population may be outnumbered by the dependent elderly non-working populous. As such, in conjunction with many other previously discussed claims, the promise of longevity, although seemingly tempting, may not exactly be as, wonderful as it seems to be. WORKS CITED About. com:Mental health (2009) ‘Losing a Spouse: What Hurts and What Helps [online] Available from [April 6, 2009] Alzheimers association (2009) ‘What is Alzheimer’s’[online] Available from [April 6, 2009] CBS news (2001) ‘Nursing Home Abuse Increasing’ [online] Available from [April 6, 2009] CDC (2003) ‘Public Health and Aging: Trends in Aging — United States and Worldwide’ MMWR weekly[online] Available from [April 6, 2009] Douglas, J. (2006) ‘New longevity research center launched to study supercentenarians’ Natural News [online] Available from < http://www. naturalnews. com/020701. html> [April 6, 2009] Hodes, R. (2003) ‘Human Longevity and Aging Research’. Special Committee on Aging [online] Available from [April 6, 2009] Internet Stroke Center (2009) ‘Stroke Statistics’ [online] Available from [April 6, 2009] Zisook, S & Shuchter, S. (1991) ‘Depression through the first year after the death of a spouse ’ Am J Psychiatry [online] Available from [April 6, 2009]

Jasper Jones Southern Gothic Genre Essay

There are points in a person’s life when they must grow, drop their naà ¯ve illusions about the world and step into the shoes of an adult and accept the harsh reality of life. Jasper Jones is a ‘coming of age’ novel written by Craig Silvey set in small town Corrogan. With the main theme being right of passage or coming of age. Jasper Jones has been compared to a Southern Gothic Genre story. Using the narrative conventions of characterisation, setting and language elements of Jasper Jones will be shown to have a connection to the Southern Gothic Genre. Using the narrative convention of characterisation particularly of the novels protagonist Charlie Bucktin is the perfect example of a coming of age character in which Charlie overcomes the obstacles set before him to emerge as a stronger and well-developed character. A good example is on page 12, Craig Silvey demonstrates how the Southern gothic genre by using this example ‘It is a girl†¦ she is pale. In the silver light I can see she bears scratches down her arms and her calves and her face is smudged and bruised and bloody†¦ she is still. She is limp†¦ her head is to the side, like a piece of biblical art. She looks disappointed and sad. Surrendered†¦ â€Å"Who is it† Jasper Jones takes some time to answer Laura Wishart. Its Laura.’ We can infer the text that despite witnessing what appears to be a brutal murder Charlie still has enough presence of mind to think and plan and not be overwhelmed by the tragic death ha has just witnessed. Throug hout the story of Jasper Jones Charlie sees or reads some of the darker truths if the world beyond the naiveties of a child Charlie experiences: death, torture, racism, hypocrisy, abuse of power, adultery, scapegoat and other traumatic or dark experiences. Due to being subjected to this Charlie is forced to grow and step out of his comfort zone to take on the challenges and obstacles set before him throughout the course of the story. An example of this is Charlies confrontation of his greatest fear, insects. On pages 386-387 Craig Silvey demonstrates how Charlie comes of age by using this example ‘I look down. There’s a lumpy carpet of decaying peaches at my feet. It’s a windfall but  it does very little to dissolve my worry. Because hovering above them are dozens and dozens of insects. Mostly bees, I follow there flight and see a hive under a gutter in the house. There are black ants running trails, slaters and worms burrowing into the soft flesh. March flies, blowflies and houseflies. It’s the stuff of nightmares†¦ I look down my breath is short. There’s a teeming metropolis of insects down there†¦ I feel as though I’m already covered in them. Like they’re crawling all over my body, scratching and slithering. I clasp my hands together and grind my palms†¦ either way I have no choice I have to get brave.’ We can infer form these text extracts that from Charlies original plan to allow him safety, he must truly conquer is biggest fear. Because of the insects inside Jack Lionels background Charlie defeats his greatest fear and shows that he has developed from a boy full of fear into not a boy devoid of fear but one who has nonetheless conquered his fears. Charlie is faced with many obstacles found almost exclusively within Sothern Gothic Genre this link shows that elements of the Southern Gothic Genre are prevalent on Jasper Jones more specifically. Jasper Jones is set in a small town in Western Australia Corrogan, in the mid 1960s. Corrogan during the day is a beautiful town, full of kids playing sports. But at night Corrogan is a desolate place comparable to some settings of Southern Gothic Genre. On page 3 Craig Silvey demonstrates how the Southern Gothic Genre effects settings by using this example ‘After climbing my back fence we head downhill into Corrogan houses huddle and cluster together and then stop abruptly as we reach the middle of the town. This late the architecture is desolate and leeched of colour. It feels like we’re traipsing through a post card. We can infer from this text extract that small mining town Corrogan is a desolate place abstract of positive traits and full of decayed dark, derelict, desolate, disturbed and other characteristics only found exclusively within the Southern Gothic Genre. On page 300 Craig Silvey uses a second example of decayed or settings with this example ‘the yard beyond is scruffy and dilapidated. Along the boarder closest to the river, where the brush meets the property, a thick thatch of blackberries press through the rusted wire fence†¦ crows moan from grey leafless branches. They look like silhouettes. Crow shaped holes. We can infer from this text extract that Jack Lionels front yard during the night  is similar to the decayed, dark ominous and derelict settings often found within the Southern Gothic Genre. In addition each of there scenarios feature Charlie overcoming a fear and growing up or ‘coming of age’. Jasper Jones has been often compared to a Southern Gothic Genre one of the greatest examples of this is the speech used throughout Jasper Jones, particularly racism that is experienced most prominently by Jeffrey Lu and his family Craig Silvey takes advantage of the racism against Vietnamese within the specific time frame within Jasper Jones. Using racist phrases such as ‘fuck of Cong’ and ‘oh me so Solly’ page 78, creates a great example of Southern Gothic Genre using the flawed or deeply disturbed characters as a base. In addition to the racism experienced by Jeffrey there are examples of when his family is subjected to racism in particular Jeffrey’s father An Lu. When An Lu’s garden is affected by citizens of Corrogan the phrase ‘red rat’ is mentioned a racist phrase about Vietnamese. We can infer from this as another example of the flawed or deeply disturbed characters found in Southern Gothic Genre, In addition Jeffrey’ s immunity to the racist taunts shows his ‘unflappable’ will or coming of age outlook. In conclusion Jasper Jones has many likes to Southern Gothic Genre, in addition the main theme being coming of age or right of passage is seen repeatedly throughout Jasper Jones. Jasper Jones is connected to Southern Gothic Genre through the deeply disturbed or flawed characters and the decayed or derelict settings. Jasper Jones is a novel that has elements of Southern Gothic Genre all around it.