Not sure yet Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Not sure yet - Research Paper Example We suspect tat Jesus, Nancy’s husband, is waiting for her at night nearby the cabin or he is just close by and that he will definitely kill Nancy anytime. Therefore the night fall is feared by Nancy and the singer of the song alike since it means being near the imminent danger. Nancy, black American, works at the Compson family, whites. She had been impregnated by a white although she was married to Jesus. Her husband had left her for being promiscuous leading to her illicit pregnancy with a white man. The story is narrated by Quentin, who is twenty four years old is bringing it from a nine year old point of view when he was young. As a child, Quentin and his siblings, Caddy, his sister; and Jason, younger brother; do not comprehend the implications of the actions that are happening around them that had caused Nancy’ weird behaviors that were manifested with fear. Nancy had herself locked up in a prison although she was the one ho had been assaulted by Mr. Stovall, a Ba ptist deacon, who Nancy claimed to be the one responsible her pregnancy. She was a shamed of facing her husband because of that. Mr. Stovall knocked her to an extent of removing some of her teeth instantly and later taken as the culprit in the whole encounter. The fact that Nancy was a black American worsened her situation since she could not get fair treatment; racialism caused most of the suffering experienced in the story by Nancy. 1.2 Setting The setting of the story is at the Southern states where racial segregation had taken root with the inclusion of Jim Crow rules that discriminated the black Americans as inferior and majorly owned as slaves to work in the plantations. The constant repletion by Nancy that I am a nigger showed her resentment for being a black in a society that discriminated against the blacks. The use of orders by Mr. and Mrs. Compson when referring to Nancy shows the level at which they had assumed her to be as per the order of that time. In one instance Que ntin is asked to head to the kitchen and order Nancy that she can go home now; this is a clear indication that the physical possibility to leave is only granted by Mr. Compson without it she can not leave; she obviously did not have the right to leave before being ordered to do so. This displays the relation between Nancy and Mr. Compson as one of a slave and a master respectively (Fitzgerald and Harris, 1987). 1.3.1 Segregation The unequal relationship between the whites and the Black Americans is broadly exhibited in Nancy’s reproaching of Mr. Stovall, the deacon, specifically for not paying her the service rendered three times, for getting intimate with her. He reacts through a thorough beating he gave her that led to her loosing a number of her teeth. The town marshal did nothing about simply because she was a black. Mr. Compson refers to her as a culprit in the whole incident since she should have let the white man alone. Mrs. Compson feels being looked upon when Compson decides to escort Nancy to ensure her security. She wonders why his husband is concerned about a nigger’s safety instead of taking care of her. This resenting of Mrs. Compson shows her feeling of superiority in relation to Nancy who is a black American. She at first questions whether Nancy has seen Jesus, her husband, to claim that she is afraid that he will attack her; in this case she is implying that Nancy is cheating, a clear indication

Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Deliberate and Emergent Strategies - Essay Example he business, emergent strategies are formed with the inherent belief that things will change in an unexpected manner and therefore, any strategy formed is destined to fail. Comparing the two, emergent strategy is more realistic and conservative compared to the deliberate strategy, which is more optimistic and long-sighted. The fact that emergent strategy provides a relatively pessimistic view of realization of the plans does not mean that planning is inherently purposeless. Instead, emergent strategy encourages the parties involved in strategic planning to prioritize their efforts and focus upon achievement of the short-term goals rather than the long-term goals as the future is uncertain. Emergent strategies might help with a future planning process by identifying milestones in the near future, and working out ways to achieve them. The potential consequences of ignoring emergent strategies would be misuse and wastage of time, efforts, and resources. The strategic plans that took so much time and effort making might never realize and even worse, the short-term plans or intermediate milestones would not be

Agricultural pricing policies and distributional issues Essay Example for Free

Agricultural pricing policies and distributional issues Essay The actual cause of food insecurity across the globe has been a longstanding debate among the social, economic, political, and scientific fronts of the society. It is a common assertion that the cause of food insecurity revolves in ineffective agricultural pricing policies and distribution issues (Case, etl, 2008). On the contrary, some individuals have blamed the problem to natural causes such as drought which are beyond our control ability (Kracht Schulz, 1999). Nevertheless, given available scientific evidence that the world has enough resources to sustain its population, the problem of food insecurity is no doubt a question of poor agricultural policies. This paper seeks to refute the claim that â€Å"famines are acts of God resulting from bad weather or other natural disasters. Therefore, there is nothing we can do about them except to send food relief after they occur†. The actual causes of famines   Effective agricultural practices are instrumental in ensuring sustainable food security in the world. On the other hand, resources such as land, rains, and farming capital remain a major challenge to the realization of large scale agricultural production (Babu, etl, 2009). Famine is defined as a period of food scarcity for sustaining a given population. True to the letter, famines are cause by a combination of natural and mankind factors. Drought and crop disease outbreaks have been blamed for compromising the yielding capacity of crops (Babu, etl, 2009). This is because they negate the projected production provisions made by farmers. In addition, disasters like floods and strong winds potentially damages plants. Poor agricultural practices are one of the commonly asserted mankind contributions to famine in the global community. Just like other investments, the level of agricultural outputs is dependent on the farming techniques employed by the farmer. The problem of global warming has also been blamed for causing weather prediction uncertainties (Babu, etl, 2009). This has prompted the development of adaptive agricultural strategies to enhance production security under such situations. Nevertheless, most farmers, particularly in developing nation are still engaged in traditional farming practices which are no doubt a source of production risk in the event of weather failure. Moreover, failure by government to give farming incentives and subsidies (Babu, etl, 2009) serves to lower agricultural production. Another artificial cause of famine is lack of effective food preservation and weather prediction strategies. Food security should be a matter of priority in any sober government. This means that the government should have a reliable strategy for monitoring its food reserves (Kracht Schulz, 1999). Failure in food production due to natural causes does not always lead to famine as can be evident from the 1989-1992 droughts that were witnessed in southern Africa region. Though agriculture production was low during this time the strategic approach employed by Southern African Development Community (SADC) played a crucial role in evading a famine crisis in the region (Babu, etl, 2009). Therefore, poor food conservation and weather forecasting strategies are major cause of famine. The impact of agricultural pricing policies on famines Consideration of agricultural pricing policies is quite important in understanding the problem of famine in a given community. Agriculture as a business serves as a source of livelihood for many individuals in the community. This is particularly true in developing nations where their economy is heavily dependent on agriculture (Case, etl, 2008). On the other side, in a free market economy, the price of products is determined by the factors of demand and supply. This has the implication that overproduction of agricultural products calls for decreased prices in the market. However, the government as having the responsibility of protecting its economy has been engaged in regulating product prices. This is evident from government policies such as purchasing agricultural products from farmers into its food reserves at competitive prices (Kracht Schulz, 1999). Such are instrumental in ensuring farmers of competitive market availability for their products. Nevertheless, government agricultural pricing policies have been blamed for inhibiting production (Case, etl, 2008). According to available information, seasonal overproduction in the agricultural sector has witnessed low prices for such products as well as damage of products due to lack of markets and effective preservation practices. Through this, the community suffers the consequences of food insecurity, an element that might lead to famine if poor persistent poor weather conditions occur. In addition, motivation of farmers through effective pricing policies is found to promote innovative agricultural practices (Kracht Schulz, 1999). This is because it serves to guarantee farmers sustainable returns for their investments. Available literature has it that the globe is witnessing a gradual shift from agricultural economy to better paying jobs in the formal job market. This is in part a consequence of poor pricing policies in the agricultural sector which threatens sustainable economic independence of farmers (Case, etl, 2008). Indeed, lowered agricultural production in developing nations has been blamed on poor product prices. This trend is of major concern to the realization of food security in the world, a factor which contributes much to the problem of famine. On the other hand, most developed nations have limited commercial agricultural production to big farms whose production can be efficiently monitored by the government (Clapp, etl, 2009). This gives the government an added advantage of closely considering its moderation of product prices to protect this major source of food supply to the nation’s population. On the contrary, most developing nations engage in small scale, typically subsistence farming (Clapp, etl, 2009). Such compromises the development of effective government product pricing policies.

Competition Between The Three Major Supermarkets Economics Essay

Competition Between The Three Major Supermarkets Economics Essay For my Extended Essay, I decided to investigate the competition between the three major supermarkets in my local area, and whether they collude or not, prompting my research question: To what extent do the larger supermarkets in my local area collude with each other? By analysing data collected on pricing from the three supermarkets, it was found that two of the three supermarkets at hand colluded tacitly with each other, under and oligopoly market structure. The prices of fifteen identical prices were recorded across a time span of three weeks. The analyses of these prices lead to two conclusions. Firstly, it was found that two supermarkets colluded with each other, but still had non-price competition between them. This was mainly due to the advantage of the two stores acting as a monopoly by charging the same price. This allowed the two supermarkets to make abnormal profit, which in turn they used to create a stronger brand loyalty, and thus, a more inelastic demand curve. Secondly , it was found one of the supermarkets was undercutting the other two supermarkets prices. The main reason for this was that the supermarket could gain greater revenue at the time by undercutting rivals, due to having more customers. These findings show that there was collusion between larger supermarkets in my area, but not between all supermarkets. Finally, the essay could be improved if I included more products in my data collection, as well as collecting the data over a longer time period. 1. INTRODUCTION Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys are the three main supermarkets that constitute weekly shopping for the public in my local area, west Charlton. These three supermarkets are recognised for their vast range in goods and at affordable prices. It is no surprise then that in terms of market share, they each comprise the top three places for having the most market share in the U.K.1 During the last couple of years, though, I have noticed that many of the smaller supermarkets in the same area have begun to close down. Since enrolling in the IB Higher Economics course and studying market structures in particular, Ive developed an interest into how supermarkets compete with each other, or even, how they collude together. Maybe, given their large hold of the market share, the benefits from collusion would be unmatchable compared to other smaller supermarkets, in terms of increased sales revenue. Also, formal collusion, one of two forms of collusion, is illegal as it goes against the Competition Act 1998 (the Act) Chapter 12. Therefore, the research question I have formulated is To what extent do the larger supermarkets in my local area collude with each other? To be able to explore this research question, I will first present a summary of the supermarkets, where the characteristics of them will be described. This will lead on to my next section where I will discuss relevant theoretical market structures and relate economic theories to them. After I have presented these theories, I will hypothesise which market structure is adequate for the supermarkets present, thus creating a sufficient research design where the prices of similar products will be compared. Finally, I will analyse the collected data and prove or disprove my research question, leading to a conclusion of my essay and exploring possible limitations. 2. MARKET SUMMARY In the area I am studying there are three main supermarkets; Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys, situated in West Charlton (appendix 1.1). Each supermarket is similar in size, satisfying the vast needs of the inhabitants in the area. It is worth mentioning that due to the supermarkets being of a substantial size structurally, there must have been large start up costs. Each of the three engages in non-price competition. This includes things such as advertising on T.V, having parking areas and the use of brand names. The offerings of these services are in the attempt to attract more customers. Take for example, Asda, which has parking as well as various sectors to its stores such as electrical and clothing sections as well as groceries. The aim of this is that customers can visit only this store by satisfying all their needs from the vast offers of goods. Furthermore, each supermarket advertises their brand names to gain more customers due to the brand loyalty it has established. This could ma ke their demand curve more inelastic, meaning that an increase in the price of a good would result in the increased revenue exceeding the reduction of quantity sold (appendix 1.2). These three supermarkets also dictate the majority of market share, as I have mentioned. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and Asda are open for 24 hours from Tuesday to Friday, otherwise it is from 7 in the morning to 11 in the evening. Tesco are open from 7 to 11 everyday, apart from Sunday when they open an hour later and close an hour earlier. I don ¿Ã‚ ½t think that the slightly lesser hours that Tesco is opened during the week will affect my research much, or at all. This is due to the fact that I don ¿Ã‚ ½t believe Tesco make much of their sales between midnight and 7 in the morning. 3. MARKET STRUCTURE THEORIES I will now present the four types of market structure theories and their assumptions. I will not going into great detail on the structure of a monopoly as this is not a possible market structure for the supermarkets, given the fact that there is evidently more than one firm in the area. This is the same for perfect competition, as the goods produced by supermarkets are not identical. Firstly, I will present the market structure of a monopolistic competition. The assumptions of this market structure are3: * The industry is made up by a large number of firms * The firms each act independently of each other, due to each firm being small, relative to the size of the industry * The firms produce differentiated products; consumers can tell one product from another * Firms are free to enter and exit the industry, due to lack of barriers to entry and exit * Firms are able to make abnormal profits in the short run, however due to lack of barriers to entry; this attracts other firms into the industry. This means that in the long run, only normal profits are able to be made Due to the fact that the supermarkets in question are of a substantial size, I believe that the start up cost in itself will be of a great barrier to entry. Also, I don ¿Ã‚ ½t believe the industry I am examining is made up of a large number of firms, as there are only three supermarkets of their type in the local area. Another market structure that the supermarkets could come under is an oligopoly. These are the basic assumption of an Oligopoly:4 * A few firms dominate the industry * There are barriers to entry and/or exit for the industry * The firms are price makers as they have a downward sloping demand curve * The firms are interdependent; the action of one firm can have an effect on another * Abnormal profits can be made both in the short run and long run In addition to these assumptions, firms in an Oligopoly can be either collusive or non-collusive. Non collusive oligopolies face price stability due to the kinked demand curve. This is shown in figure 1. Figure 15 Due to the kinked demand curve, price will be stabilized at price  ¿Ã‚ ½P ¿Ã‚ ½. This happens as the Price elasticity of Demand (PED: The responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good or service to a change in its price)6 above price  ¿Ã‚ ½P ¿Ã‚ ½ is greater than 1. This means that an increase in price above point  ¿Ã‚ ½P ¿Ã‚ ½ will result in a loss of revenue. Likewise, the PED below price  ¿Ã‚ ½P ¿Ã‚ ½ is less than one, meaning a reduction in price to this level will result in a loss of revenue again. Due to these factors, it is logical that firms do not favour either move, so they are said to be stable at point P. This also results in the output being stable at point  ¿Ã‚ ½Q ¿Ã‚ ½ as a change in marginal cost from MC1 to MC2 would still mean output would stay at  ¿Ã‚ ½Q ¿Ã‚ ½. This is due to firms in this market structure producing at the profit maximising point, where MC=MR.7 Firms in this market structure may also be collusive. This exists when the firms collude to charge the same prices for their products, in effect acting as a monopoly. There are two types of collusion, formal and tacit. Formal collusion exits when firms openly agree on the prices they will charge. In the case of supermarkets in the U.K, it is illegal for this to occur as it is deemed to be going against the interest of the consumer due to it resulting in less output and higher prices. Tacit collusion, however, exists when firms charge the same prices without any formal collusion. The three supermarkets in question may have decided to charge the same prices and not compete with each other, in order to increase revenue. This is represented in figure 2. Figure 28 As shown in figure 2, firms can make abnormal profits between their price and cost, due to the price exceeding the cost to the firm. This form of collusion is very possible as each supermarket is very similar to each other and all produce similar type goods. Firms in an Oligopoly can experience economies of scale. Economies of scale are any decreases in the long-run average costs that occur when a firm changes all of its factors of production, in order to increase its scale of output. There are a number of different economies of scale that can benefit a firm as it increases its scale of output. These can be: 9 * Specialisation- Firms can be more efficient when they specialize in different areas of expertise * Division of labour- This is the breaking down of a longer production process into many smaller activities, making production more efficient by reducing unit costs * Bulk buying- As firms increase in scale they are often able to negotiate discounts with their suppliers, as they are buying more altogether. This reduces the firm ¿Ã‚ ½s cost of input, and thus their unit costs of production * Financial economies- Larger firms are able to get loans at lower interest rates, as they are seen as a lesser risk to lend money to than smaller firms, by the bank The assumptions of a monopoly are as followed:10 * Only one firm producing the product at hand, so the firm is the industry * High barriers to entry and/or exit * Abnormal profits can be made in the long run, due to barriers to entry This market structure is unlikely to be present in my research area as there are clearly more than firm in the same industry. Finally, the basic assumptions of perfect competition are: * The industry is made up by many firms, so total output cannot be affected by one firm * The firms all produce homogeneous (exactly identical) products * No barriers to entry and/or exit * Producers and consumers all have perfect knowledge of the market Again, this market structure is unlikely to feature in my study, mainly due to the fact that there is product differentiation, as well as evident start up costs. 4. HYPOTHESIS After reviewing and comparing the discussed market summary and theories, I have hypothesised that the market structure the supermarkets are in are oligopoly. I have reached this hypothesis for the main reasons that: * There are evident barriers to entry such as strong branding of products and start up costs * There are only three supermarkets in the local area, between them sharing almost 64% of the market share.11 In addition to these points, I believe tacit collusion between the three supermarkets would greatly benefit their competition with other smaller supermarkets in the area. It would also avoid unnecessary competition between each other, and perhaps result in gaining more customers. After hypothesising that the three supermarkets are in an oligopoly, and thus capable of collusion, I will now be able to test my research question  ¿Ã‚ ½To what extent do the larger supermarkets in my local area collude with each other? ¿Ã‚ ½ 5. RESEARCH DESIGN For me to test my formulated research question, I will create a methodology. I will compare the prices of 15 different products across the three supermarkets. I will check the prices once every week for three weeks, so I can get a mean price at the end, making the result more reliable. I will make sure the prices of the same products are taken in the same time period, and where possible, use products produced in the U.K. This would avoid export costs affected and invalidating results. If not enough U.K based products can be found, I will make sure that any exported product used will have been exported from all supermarkets. This will maintain a degree of validity in the research. I will also avoid products produced by the supermarkets themselves. This would be because the cost of production may be very different from one supermarket compared to another, thus having a large impact on the final pricing. I will compare independent brands that feature across all three stores. Each superm arket in the area of West Charlton is located within one mile of each other.12 In terms of the data collection, I will go to each supermarket and compare similar, or when possible, identical products and their prices. I will note down their current price at which they sell at. Also, I will go to each supermarket close to their opening times on Saturday, as on this day the stores all open at the same time. The reason for not going later on in the day is because of price reduction on non-durable goods that are set to expire. If I include goods which prices have just been reduced temporarily to get rid of lasting stock, it would not represent the overall pricing of the good in regular situations. Lastly, I will compare the prices using adequate means of analysis; thus deducing whether or not there is enough similar pricing evident to suggest collusion of some sort. 6. DATA COLLECTION ANALYSIS Firstly, I will present my data collected for the prices of 15 products from all three supermarkets, across a span of three weeks, once a week. Table 1 shows my findings of the prices. Table 1 Source: Prices collected by me for all supermarkets To analyse the spread of the data, I will work out the standard deviation for each product, which will indicate the spread of the data. A lower standard deviation would indicate a set of closer, similar prices, likewise a higher standard deviation would imply less chance of collusion evident.13 The standard deviation for each product is represented in Table 2, along with the mean prices for each product over the three weeks. From the standard deviation, we can see they are all overall quite small, indicating the prices are all close to the mean price. This seems to indicate some form of collusion occurring between the supermarkets. However, there are some exceptions. For some goods the standard deviation is relatively high to the other products. Also, in most of these goods, such as soft drinks, crisp packs, pizza, ice cream and cooked chicken, it is Asda who feature the lowest price out of the three, while Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s have similar prices to each other. This seems to show that there is possible collusion between Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s, while Asda undercuts their prices. The similar pricing between Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and Tesco suggests a form of collusion, tacit or formal. I inquired to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about my findings. The OFT are a government based organisation that ensure businesses are  ¿Ã‚ ½fair and competitive. ¿Ã‚ ½14 In a reply they stated:  ¿Ã‚ ½Although similar prices might seem to suggest that companies are getting together to agree them, this is not necessarily the case. For example, one company might have independently decided to price at a level similar to another or both may have independently decided to behave in the same way ¿Ã‚ ½.15 As similar pricing does not necessarily mean formal collusion is taking place, I will assume that the two supermarkets are tacitly colluding, although this area may be needed to be researched into further for a definite result. As well as colluding, I have also noticed that there is evidence of non-price competition between Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s. This included things such as the use of advertising, free delivery and other services situated in the store themselves. This has lead to each supermarket gaining brand loyalty, and as a result, creating a more inelastic demand curve for their products. This is possibly another explanation of why these two supermarkets in particular where of a higher price overall, compared to the other supermarket, Asda. For the case of Asda, they have engaged in price war tactics, rather than forming a collusion. In this case, undercutting rivals may be beneficial to them by increasing their sales revenue. This can be represented by  ¿Ã‚ ½game theory ¿Ã‚ ½. Supermarket The table shows that if both supermarkets lower price, they will make less revenue than if they had colluded. However, it is still tempting to undercut the other store as then that would lead to greater revenue. The highlighted box shows the possible situation at the moment, with Asda undercutting the other supermarkets thus increasing revenue. This choice making situation is known as  ¿Ã‚ ½the prisoner ¿Ã‚ ½s dilemma ¿Ã‚ ½. 16 Another explanation for the lower price offered by Asda for goods could be down to lower unit costs caused by a greater storage capacity. The supermarket ¿Ã‚ ½s cost of storage mainly depends on the material used to build them, which is the surface area of the building. The level of output for the supermarket will depend on its storage capacity, so its volume area. As the size of a supermarket increases, the volume to surface area ratio increases. Therefore, the cost per unit overall will be much less than a smaller supermarket, such as Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and Tesco. Lastly, from analysing my collected data, I have reached the conclusions: * Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s collude by charging very similar prices, but still have non-price competition between them. * Asda competes with a price-war tactic, by undercutting the other two supermarkets. 7. CONCLUSION The aim of my research was to investigate the type of competition, if any, between the three major supermarkets in my area, West Charlton. The question  ¿Ã‚ ½To what extent do the larger supermarkets in my local area collude with each other? ¿Ã‚ ½ prompted me to gather the pricing of 15 identical products across the three stores. The prices were taken every Saturday morning one a week for three weeks. I found that two of the three supermarkets had signs of collusion, while the third supermarket engaged in a price-war by undercutting the other two supermarkets. Firstly, Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s have similar prices to each other, while having higher prices than Asda. This was mainly due to the two stores acting as a monopoly by colluding and charging similar prices. This meant that each firm could make abnormal profit, which they used to create greater brand loyalty, thus making the demand for their products more inelastic. Lastly, the final supermarket, Asda, engaged in price-war tactics. The main reason for this was due to the idea of gaining more revenue as indicated by  ¿Ã‚ ½the prisoner ¿Ã‚ ½s dilemma ¿Ã‚ ½. In addition to this, Asda had a greater storage capacity, meaning an overall lower cost per unit. Therefore, after collecting data and analysing them, it is found that there was evidence of collusion, but only between two of the supermarkets, not all three studied. There are, though, apparent limitations in my study. Firstly, my area of research was only in one town. If there is found to be some form of collusion between supermarkets here, it doesn ¿Ã‚ ½t necessarily mean it is occurring all over the country with those same supermarkets. Also, the time span of my investigation was three weeks. This may not have been enough time to gather an appropriate amount of results to come to a reliable decision. This could be said the same for the amount of products used in my investigation; 15 products may not have been enough to come to an appropriate result. As well as this, I could not make a judgment whether the collusion between Tesco and Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s was either tacit or collusion. This would have to be investigated further. All of these limitations overlook the aim of my study and thus should be inspected further. 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY/ACKNOWLEDGMENT Anderton, A. (2006). Economics: Fourth Edition. In A. Anderton, Economics: Fourth Edition (pp. 63-64). Causeway Press. Dorton, I. (2007). Economics. In I. Dorton, Economics (pp. 119-123). Oxford University Press. Dorton, I. (2007). Economics. In I. Dorton, Economics (pp. 114-118). Oxford University Press. Dorton, I. (2007). Economics. In I. Dorton, Economics (p. 115). Oxford University Press. Dorton, I. (2007). Economics. In I. Dorton, Economics (pp. 81-82). Oxford University Press. Dorton, I. (2007). Economics. In I. Dorton, Economics (pp. 105-111). Oxford University Press. Garner, E. (2010, June 1). TNS Global. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from TNS Global Website: http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-56F59E8A99C8428989E9BE66187D5792.aspx Measure of Spreads. (2007). Retrieved June 3, 2010, from Stats4students: http://www.stats4students.com/Essentials/Measures-Of-Spread/Overview_3.php Office of Fair Trading. (n.d.). Office of Fair Trading. Retrieved June 3, 2010, from http://www.oft.gov.uk/: http://www.oft.gov.uk/ Office of Fair Trading. (2010, May 25). Office of Fair Trading Reply Letter. London, U.K. Prisoners Dilemma. (1997, September 4). Retrieved June 3, 2010, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/prisoner-dilemma/

The Difficulty of Remembering Robert Browning :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Difficulty of Remembering Robert Browning      Ã‚  Ã‚   It is no great revelation that people primarily either want to be remembered or forgotten, they either want to be noticed or they want to disappear. And it's this binary that celebrities seem to struggle with all the time; constantly wanting to be in the spotlight and all the fame and glory that goes along with it. But once their integrity is compromised, they run and hide and declare their lives to be personal, out of view of the public eye. No one seems to contradict this binary of fame / seclusion more than poet Robert Browning. Although he wanted to be known and remembered, every conscious decision he made within his career seems to have prevented this.    Born in 1812, Robert Browning led a shielded suburban life, in the south of France (Damrosch, 1305). Both his parents were supportive and encouraging of his interests especially when, at the age of 14, he expressed an interest in poetry (Damrosch, 1305).   The poet that sparked Browning's interest in poetry was none other than Percy Bysshe Shelley. P.B. Shelley's poetry affected Browning greatly and even though Browning wasn't writing poetry yet at this time, Shelley was influencing him in other ways (Damrosch, 1305). Percy Shelley was a poet widely known for his radical ideas and beliefs; it was this recognition that most attracted Browning. Robert Browning's path to being a poet was not direct. It was because of Shelley that Browning found this path, but it would be years before he would begin writing (Damrosch, 1305). Browning tried many other career paths before publishing his first poem, among them art, music, law and business (Damrosch, 1305). He published his first poem anonymously at the age of 21 (Damrosch, 1305). It was titled Pauline and was poorly received (Damrosch, 1305). Publishing his first poem anonymously goes against Browning's desire to be well known. Over the next ten years, Browning published various plays and poems that were as poorly received as his first poem (Damrosch, 1305). But it was in 1842 that Browning would get much deserved recognition for his work

The Paris Peace Treaties Essay -- History

The Paris Peace Treaties The Paris Peace Treaties (1919-1920) IB History To the subject and passive onlooker, those meticulous organizers of the Paris Peace Treaties allowed for an unfortunate amount of flaws to enter their task of creating a treaty that could satisfy all of the nations of not only Europe but of the world as well equally. Yet one must attempt to put that passiveness behind and admit that those of the time of post World War I had truly no idea what was to come of their decisions. Thus, the decisions of these toilers of the Paris Peace Treaties undoubtedly made a medley of wrong judgments that were virtually unforeseen at the time. The first of these mistakes was that they looked over the problems that the innumerable ethnic groups of Europe would cause. Second to be overlooked was France, still highly intimidated and insecure of a Germany that it wanted to see completely annihilated and rendered powerless. Lastly, was the Central powers, angry and cheated over their extremely harsh punishments. Thus the founders of the Paris Peace Treaties, despite doing their best to form a way to peace and betterment for Europe, managed to make a great deal of unanticipated oversights in their quest for harmony. The continent of Europe was composed of legions of different ethnic groups that at the end of World War I caused many problems for the treaty drawers of Paris. Even Wilson himself confessed that there were far many more ethnic groups in Europe than he at first realized- most of them seeking their own personal independence. Eastern Europe and the Balkans because many historical occurrences (such as invasions and migrations) were made up of â€Å"a bewildering kaleidoscope of races and religions.† There were still hordes of nationalistic minorities in countries with a majorities of ethnic groups not of their own. To make things even more difficult for the writers of the Paris Peace Treaties was that these races did not live in their own separate areas of the countries of Europe. They lived mixed among themselves, dispersed throughout the regions with the race of the majority. In addition to the problems left to those who drew up the peace treaties (in accordance to the â€Å"ethnic problems†) were that there were still populations of a race of people within various nations that belonged ethnically to another nation. For example, within Hungary ... ...ed to create an agreement for the best of the world. Conclusively, the writers and founders of the Paris Peace Treaties, despite their efforts to bring a lasting peace to the world, made a variance of unforeseen mistakes in their toil. For the uncountable amounts of varying ethnic groups could not be easily separated without annoying at least someone- and since the Central powers were the losers, logic suggested that it would be them. Secondly, France’s increasing insecurity towards Germany that dated back decades caused for it to demand Germany to be paralyzed forever. This as well as other forms of Allied punishments caused for increased Central power animosity towards the Allied powers. Therefore, the intent of peace treaties was well intentioned initially, and the criticism of them was undeserved in that there was nothing that anyone could do else without the impossible of power seeing into the future Bibliography 1. (Handout) Lentin, Antony. â€Å"The Consequences of the Versailles Settlement.† 2. (Handout) Sharpe, Alan. â€Å"Part I: The Post War Settlement. 3. Wolfson, Robert. Years of Change: European History 1890-1945. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978, pp.183-192.

Pertussis

Perquisite has made a reemergence In well-vaccinated populations. Pathogenic adaptation and the decrease In strength are most likely the cause of the reemergence of perquisite. There is pressure for vaccine research because of the resurgence of the pathogen. Perquisite remains one of the leading causes of vaccine preventable deaths in infants under 1 year of age. Perquisite is a Gram-negative, bacillus called Bordello perquisite. This bacterium binds to the ciliated epithelial cells in the misanthropy of the upper respiratory tract. Disease presentation depends on age and history of previous Infection or vaccination.Young Infants present apneas and occasions, with or without disease symptoms. Adults and teens usually show mild symptoms, and have a typical prolonged cough. The human Forestalled are classified as anamorphic, but there is evidence of genetic variation in B. perquisite. As far as vaccines, there are two types of licensed perquisite vaccines. The first generation is whole cell vaccines (Wows), which are killed cells. The second generation Is cellular vaccines (Cave), which contain virulence factors. The Wows contain whole dead cells that can cause more adverse effects compared to Cave, which have been gradually replacing Wows.Some of the virulence factors that the CAB uses are pertains, filamentous humiliating, two familiar corpses, and chemically detoxified perquisite toxin. Wows induce type 1 helper T cells, which assist isotonic T cells. Wows also induce a broad antibody response against a range of surface antigens. Oafs induce type 2 helper T cells, which assist B cells. It causes a high antibody response against the vaccine antigens presented. Both of these vaccines give satisfactory long-term protection against perquisite. WAC Is estimated to protect for 4-12 years and the PVC could last 5-7 years.Programs to vaccinate began in the sass with the WAC. This caused a dramatic drop in mortality and morbidity in children. Perquisite disappeared in the industrialized world in the ass and ass. Infants that are too young to be fully vaccinated are at the highest risk for severe disease. Adolescence and adults are prone to mild Illness from perquisite. There has been a steady Increase, since the ass, In cases of perquisite In countries with successful and long lasting vaccination programs. The two key factors responsible for the resurgence in vaccinated are the appearance of new B. Reroutes strain variants, ND the gradual loss of the protective immunity from vaccines. This is all still under investigation and depends on the subpopulation and countries reporting. Antigenic mutations in 8. perquisite have been noted all around the world. The fact that B. perquisite strains are more Isolated in vaccinated populations than In non-vaccinated populations supports the possibility of mutation of the bacteria. Immune pressure on B. perquisite can eventually cause functional inactivation or complete deletion of genes coding for them. B. pe rquisite strains may be able to evade the effectiveness of vaccines being given.Human perquisite specific immune mechanisms protect against disease rather than infection, and are not long lived. Ant-perquisite antibodies can minimize Infection by preventing attachment to respiratory epithelial cells by neutralizing toxins and by removing bacteria through postulation and compliment- Perquisite infection induces Gig antibodies. There is a wide interest in human and Maurine T-cell responses specific for B. perquisite. Humeral and cell-mediated responses readily react to B. perquisite. So far no single specificity, type or level of effectors mechanism has been declared for protection.Re-evaluation of current Reroutes animal models is necessary in perquisite vaccine research and development. Collecting isolates from the population is also extremely important for the treatment of the new strains of B. perquisite. Studying what is happening with the immune system and how the bacteria have mutated will help prevent many cases of perquisite. I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about the resurgence of perquisite in vaccinated populations. The article was well written. What I have learned in microbiology definitely helped me understand exactly what the article was saying. Isolating the specific reasons that B. Artists has reemerged is an ongoing study. It is extremely important to collect the specific strains from the population getting sick. These strains will help scientist develop better protection from perquisite. This article focuses on the fact that we need animal models to understand why this disease is reemerging. In order to develop effective vaccines for perquisite these studies are necessary. â€Å"Resurgence of Perquisite Calls for Re-evaluation of Perquisite Animal Models.