Alexander Pope’s the Rape of the Lock Essay

The Rape of the Lock begins with a passage outlining the subject of the poem and invoking the aid of the muse. Then the sun (â€Å"Sol†) appears to initiate the leisurely morning routines of a wealthy household. Lapdogs shake themselves awake, bells begin to ring, and although it is already noon, Belinda still sleeps. She has been dreaming, and we learn that â€Å"her guardian Sylph,† Ariel, has sent the dream. The dream is of a handsome youth who tells her that she is protected by â€Å"unnumbered Spirits†Ã¢â‚¬â€an army of supernatural beings who once lived on earth as human women. The youth explains that they are the invisible guardians of women’s chastity, although the credit is usually mistakenly given to â€Å"Honor† rather than to their divine stewardship. Of these Spirits, one particular group—the Sylphs, who dwell in the air—serve as Belinda’s personal guardians; they are devoted, lover-like, to any woman that â€Å"re jects mankind,† and they understand and reward the vanities of an elegant and frivolous lady like Belinda. Ariel, the chief of all Belinda’s puckish protectors, warns her in the dream that â€Å"some dread event† is going to befall her that day, though he can tell her nothing more specific than that she should â€Å"beware of Man!† Then Belinda awakes, to the licking tongue of her lapdog, Shock. Upon the delivery of a billet-doux, or love-letter, she forgets all about the dream. She then proceeds to her dressing table and goes through an elaborate ritual of dressing, in which her own image in the mirror is described as a â€Å"heavenly image,† a â€Å"goddess.† The Sylphs, unseen, assist their charge as she prepares herself for the day’s activities. Commentary The opening of the poem establishes its mock-heroic style. Pope introduces the conventional epic subjects of love and war and includes an invocation to the muse and a dedication to the man (the historical John Caryll) who commissioned the poem. Yet the tone already indicates that the high seriousness of these traditional topics has suffered a diminishment. The second line confirms in explicit terms what the first line already suggests: the â€Å"am’rous causes† the poem describes are not comparable to the grand love  of Greek heroes but rather represent a trivialized version of that emotion. The â€Å"contests† Pope alludes to will prove to be â€Å"mighty† only in an ironic sense. They are card-games and flirtatious tussles, not the great battles of epic tradition. Belinda is not, like Helen of Troy, â€Å"the face that launched a thousand ships† (see the SparkNote on The Iliad), but rather a face that—although also beautiful—prompt s a lot of foppish nonsense. The first two verse-paragraphs emphasize the comic inappropriateness of the epic style (and corresponding mind-set) to the subject at hand. Pope achieves this discrepancy at the level of the line and half-line; the reader is meant to dwell on the incompatibility between the two sides of his parallel formulations. Thus, in this world, it is â€Å"little men† who in â€Å"tasks so bold†¦ engage†; and â€Å"soft bosoms† are the dwelling-place for â€Å"mighty rage.† In this startling juxtaposition of the petty and the grand, the former is real while the latter is ironic. In mock epic, the high heroic style works not to dignify the subject but rather to expose and ridicule it. Therefore, the basic irony of the style supports the substance of the poem’s satire, which attacks the misguided values of a society that takes small matters for serious ones while failing to attend to issues of genuine importance. With Belinda’s dream, Pope introduces the â€Å"machinery† of the poem—the supernatural powers that influence the action from behind the scenes. Here, the sprites that watch over Belinda are meant to mimic the gods of the Greek and Roman traditions, who are sometimes benevolent and sometimes malicious, but always intimately involved in earthly events. The scheme also makes use of other ancient hierarchies and systems of order. Ariel explains that women’s spirits, when they die, return â€Å"to their first Elements.† Each female personality type (these types correspond to the four humours) is converted into a particular kind of sprite. These gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and nymphs, in turn, are associated with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The airy sylphs are those who in their lifetimes were â€Å"light Coquettes†; they have a particular concern for Belinda because she is of this type, and this will be the aspect of feminine nature with which the poem is most concerned. Indeed, Pope already begins to sketch this character of the â€Å"coquette† in this initial canto. He draws th e portrait indirectly, through characteristics of the Sylphs rather than of Belinda herself. Their priorities reveal that the central concerns of  womanhood, at least for women of Belinda’s class, are social ones. Woman’s â€Å"joy in gilded Chariots† indicates an obsession with pomp and superficial splendor, while â€Å"love of Ombre,† a fashionable card game, suggests frivolity. The erotic charge of this social world in turn prompts another central concern: the protection of chastity. These are women who value above all the prospect marrying to advantage, and they have learned at an early age how to promote themselves and manipulate their suitors without compromising themselves. The Sylphs become an allegory for the mannered conventions that govern female social behavior. Principles like honor and chastity have become no more than another part of conventional interaction. Pope makes it clear that these women are not conducting themselves on the basis of abstract moral principles, but are governed by an elaborate social mechanism—of which the Sylphs cut a fitting caricature. And while Pope’s technique of employing supernatural machinery allows him to critique this situation, it also helps to keep the satire light and to exonerate individual women from too severe a judgment. If Belinda has all the typical female foibles, Pope wants us to recognize that it is partly because she has been educated and trained to act in this way. The society as a whole is as much to blame as she is. Nor are men exempt from this judgment. The competition among the young lords for the attention of beautiful ladies is depicted as a battle of vanity, as â€Å"wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive.† Pope’s phrases here expose an absurd attention to exhibitions of pride and ostentation. He emphasizes the inanity of discriminating so closely between things and people that are essentially the same in all important (and even most unimportant) respects. Pope’s portrayal of Belinda at her dressing table introduces mock-heroic motifs that will run through the poem. The scene of her toilette is rendered first as a religious sacrament, in which Belinda herself is the priestess and her image in the looking glass is the Goddess she serves. This parody of the religious rites before a battle gives way, then, to another kind of mock-epic scene, that of the ritualized arming of the hero. Combs, pins, and cosmetics take the place of weapons as â€Å"awful Beauty puts on all its arms.† Canto 2 Summary Belinda, rivaling the sun in her radiance, sets out by boat on the river Thames for Hampton Court Palace. She is accompanied by a party of glitzy ladies (â€Å"Nymphs†) and gentlemen, but is far and away the most striking member of the group. Pope’s description of her charms includes â€Å"the sparkling Cross she wore† on her â€Å"white breast,† her â€Å"quick† eyes and â€Å"lively looks,† and the easy grace with which she bestows her smiles and attentions evenly among all the adoring guests. Her crowning glories, though, are the two ringlets that dangle on her â€Å"iv’ry neck.† These curls are described as love’s labyrinths, specifically designed to ensnare any poor heart who might get entangled in them. One of the young gentlemen on the boat, the Baron, particularly admires Belinda’s locks, and has determined to steal them for himself. We read that he rose early that morning to build an altar to love and pray for success in this project. He sacrificed several tokens of his former affections, including garters, gloves, and billet-doux (love-letters). He then prostrated himself before a pyre built with â€Å"all the trophies of his former loves,† fanning its flames with his â€Å"am’rous sighs.† The gods listened to his prayer but decided to grant only half of it. As the pleasure-boat continues on its way, everyone is carefree except Ariel, who remembers that some bad event has been foretold for the day. He summons an army of sylphs, who assemble around him in their iridescent beauty. He reminds them with great ceremony that one of their duties, after regulating celestial bodies and the weather and guarding the British monarch, is â€Å"to tend the Fair†: to keep watch over ladies’ powders, perfumes, curls, and clothing, and to â€Å"assist their blushes, and inspire their airs.† Therefore, since â€Å"some dire disaster† threatens Belinda, Ariel assigns her an extensive troop of bodyguards. Brillante is to guard her earrings, Momentilla her watch, and Crispissa her locks. Ariel himself will protect Shock, the lapdog. A band of fifty Sylphs will guard the all-important petticoat. Ariel pronounces that any sylph who neglects his assigned duty will be severely punished. They disperse to their posts and wait for fate to unfold. Commentary From the first, Pope describes Belinda’s beauty as something divine, an assessment which she herself corroborates in the first canto when she  creates, at least metaphorically, an altar to her own image. This praise is certainly in some sense ironical, reflecting negatively on a system of public values in which external characteristics rank higher than moral or intellectual ones. But Pope also shows a real reverence for his heroine’s physical and social charms, claiming in lines 17–18 that these are compelling enough to cause one to forget her â€Å"female errors.† Certainly he has some interest in flattering Arabella Fermor, the real-life woman on whom Belinda is based; in order for his poem to achieve the desired reconciliation, it must not offend (see â€Å"Context†. Pope also exhibits his appreciation for the ways in which physical beauty is an art form: he recognizes, with a mixture of censure and awe, the fact that Belinda’s legendary locks of hair, which appear so natural and spontaneous, are actually a carefully contrived effect. In this, the mysteries of the lady’s dressing table are akin, perhaps, to Pope’s own literary art, which he describes elsewhere as â€Å"nature to advantage dress’d.† If the secret mechanisms and techniques of female beauty get at least a passing nod of appreciation from the author, he nevertheless suggests that the general human readiness to worship beauty amounts to a kind of sacrilege. The cross that Belinda wears around her neck serves a more ornamental than symbolic or religious function. Because of this, he says, it can be adored by â€Å"Jews† and â€Å"Infidels† as readily as by Christians. And there is some ambiguity about whether any of the admirers are really valuing the cross itself, or the â€Å"white breast† on which it lies—or the felicitous effect of the whole. The Baron, of course, is the most significant of those who worship at the altar of Belinda’s beauty. The ritual sacrifices he performs in the pre-d awn hours are another mock-heroic element of the poem, mimicking the epic tradition of sacrificing to the gods before an important battle or journey, and drapes his project with an absurdly grand import that actually only exposes its triviality. The fact that he discards all his other love tokens in these preparations reveals his capriciousness as a lover. Earnest prayer, in this parodic scene, is replaced by the self-indulgent sighs of the lover. By having the gods grant only half of what the Baron asks, Pope alludes to the epic convention by which the favor of the gods is only a mixed blessing: in epic poems, to win the sponsorship of one god is to incur the wrath of another; divine gifts, such as immortality, can seem a blessing but become a  curse. Yet in this poem, the ramifications of a prayer â€Å"half† granted are negligible rather than tragic; it merely means that he will manage to steal just one lock rather than both of them. In the first canto, the religious imagery surrounding Belinda’s grooming rituals gave way to a militaristic conceit. Here, the same pattern holds. Her curls are compared to a trap perfectly calibrated to ensnare the enemy. Yet the character of female coyness is such that it se eks simultaneously to attract and repel, so that the counterpart to the enticing ringlets is the formidable petticoat. This undergarment is described as a defensive armament comparable to the Shield of Achilles (see Scroll XVIII of The Iliad), and supported in its function of protecting the maiden’s chastity by the invisible might of fifty Sylphs. The Sylphs, who are Belinda’s protectors, are essentially charged to protect her not from failure but from too great a success in attracting men. This paradoxical situation dramatizes the contradictory values and motives implied in the era’s sexual conventions. In this canto, the sexual allegory of the poem begins to come into fuller view. The title of the poem already associates the cutting of Belinda’s hair with a more explicit sexual conquest, and here Pope cultivates that suggestion. He multiplies his sexually metaphorical language for the incident, adding words like â€Å"ravish† and â€Å"betray† to the â€Å"rape† of the title. He also slips in some commentary on the implications of his society’s sexual mores, as when he remarks that â€Å"when success a Lover’s toil attends, / few ask, if fraud or force attain’d his ends.† When Ariel speculates about the possible forms the â€Å"dire disaster† might take, he includes a breach of chastity (â€Å"Diana’s law†), the breaking of china (another allusion to the loss of virginity), and the staining of honor or a gown (the two incommensurate events could happen equally easily and accidentally). He also mentions some pettier social â€Å"disasters† against which the Sylphs are equally prepared to fight, like missing a ball (here, as grave as missing prayers) or losing the lapdog. In the Sylphs’ defensive efforts, Belinda’s petticoat is the battlefield that requires the most extensive fortifications. This fact furthers the idea that the rape of the lock stands in for a literal rape, or at least re presents a threat to her chastity more serious than just the mere theft of a curl. Summary The boat arrives at Hampton Court Palace, and the ladies and gentlemen disembark to their courtly amusements. After a pleasant round of chatting and gossip, Belinda sits down with two of the men to a game of cards. They play ombre, a three-handed game of tricks and trumps, somewhat like bridge, and it is described in terms of a heroic battle: the cards are troops combating on the â€Å"velvet plain† of the card-table. Belinda, under the watchful care of the Sylphs, begins favorably. She declares spades as trumps and leads with her highest cards, sure of success. Soon, however, the hand takes a turn for the worse when â€Å"to the Baron fate inclines the field†: he catches her king of clubs with his queen and then leads back with his high diamonds. Belinda is in danger of being beaten, but recovers in the last trick so as to just barely win back the amount she bid. The next ritual amusement is the serving of coffee. The curling vapors of the steaming coffee remind the Baron of his intention to attempt Belinda’s lock. Clarissa draws out her scissors for his use, as a lady would arm a knight in a romance. Taking up the scissors, he tries three times to clip the lock from behind without Belinda seeing. The Sylphs endeavor furiously to intervene, blowing the hair out of harm’s way and tweaking her diamond earring to make her turn around. Ariel, in a last-minute effort, gains access to her brain, where he is surprised to find â€Å"an earthly lover lurking at her heart.† He gives up protecting her then; the implication is that she secretly wants to be violated. Finally, the shears close on the curl. A daring sylph jumps in between the blades and is cut in two; but being a supernatural creature, he is quickly restored. The deed is done, and the Baron exults while Belinda’s screams fill the air. Commentary This canto is full of classic examples of Pope’s masterful use of the heroic couplet. In introducing Hampton Court Palace, he describes it as the place where Queen Anne â€Å"dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.† This line employs a zeugma, a rhetorical device in which a word or phrase modifies two other words or phrases in a parallel construction, but modifies each in a different way or according to a different sense. Here, the modifying word is â€Å"take†; it applies to the paralleled terms â€Å"counsel† and â€Å"tea.† But one does  not â€Å"take† tea in the same way one takes counsel, and the effect of the zeugma is to show the royal residence as a place that houses both serious matters of state and frivolous social occasions. The reader is asked to contemplate that paradox and to reflect on the relative value and importance of these two different registers of activity. (For another example of this rhetorical techniq ue, see lines 157–8: â€Å"Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, / when husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last.†) A similar point is made, in a less compact phrasing, in the second and third verse-paragraphs of this canto. Here, against the gossip and chatter of the young lords and ladies, Pope opens a window onto more serious matters that are occurring â€Å"meanwhile† and elsewhere, including criminal trials and executions, and economic exchange. The rendering of the card game as a battle constitutes an amusing and deft narrative feat. By parodying the battle scenes of the great epic poems, Pope is suggesting that the energy and passion once applied to brave and serious purposes is now expended on such insignificant trials as games and gambling, which often become a mere front for flirtation. The structure of â€Å"the three attempts† by which the lock is cut is a convention of heroic challenges, particularly in the romance genre. The romance is further invoked in the image of Clarissa arming the Baron—not with a real weapon, however, but with a pair of sewing scissors. Belinda is not a real adversary, or course, and Pope makes it plain that her resistance—and, by implication, her subsequent distress—is to some degree an affectation. The melodrama of her screams is complemented by the ironic comparison of the Baron’s feat to the conquest of nations. Belinda’s â€Å"anxious cares† and â€Å"secret passions† after the loss of her lock are equal to the emotions of all who have ever known â€Å"rage, resentment and despair.† After the disappointed Sylphs withdraw, an earthy gnome called Umbriel flies down to the â€Å"Cave of Spleen.† (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with the passions, particularly malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper.†) In his descent he passes through Belinda’s bedroom, where she lies prostrate with discomfiture and the headache. She is attended by  Ã¢â‚¬Å"two handmaidens,† Ill-Nature and Affectation. Umbriel passes safely through this melancholy chamber, holding a sprig of â€Å"spleenwort† before him as a charm. He addresses the â€Å"Goddess of Spleen,† and returns with a bag of â€Å"sighs, sobs, and passions† and a vial of sorrow, grief, and tears. He unleashes the first bag on Belinda, fueling her ire and despair. There to commiserate with Belinda is her friend Thalestris. (In Greek mythology, Thalestris is the name of one of the Amazons, a race of warrior women who excluded men from their society.) Thalestris delivers a speech calculated to further foment Belinda’s indignation and urge her to avenge herself. She then goes to Sir Plume, â€Å"her beau,† to ask him to demand that the Baron return the hair. Sir Plume makes a weak and slang-filled speech, to which the Baron disdainfully refuses to acquiesce. At this, Umbriel releases the contents of the remaining vial, throwing Belinda into a fit of sorrow and self-pity. With â€Å"beauteous grief† she bemoans her fate, regrets not having heeded the dream-warning, and laments the lonely, pitiful state of her sole remaining curl. Commentary The canto opens with a list of examples of â€Å"rage, resentment, and despair,† comparing on an equal footing the pathos of kings imprisoned in battle, of women who become old maids, of evil-doers who die without being saved, and of a woman whose dress is disheveled. By placing such disparate sorts of aggravation in parallel, Pope accentuates the absolute necessity of assigning them to some rank of moral import. The effect is to chastise a social world that fails to make these distinctions. Umbriel’s journey to the Cave of Spleen mimics the journeys to the underworld made by both Odysseus and Aeneas. Pope uses psychological allegory (for the spleen was the seat of malaise or melancholy), as a way of exploring the sources and nature of Belinda’s feelings. The presence of Ill-nature and Affectation as handmaidens serves to indicate that her grief is less than pure (â€Å"affected† or put-on), and that her display of temper has hidden motives. We learn that her sorrow is decorative in much the same way the curl was; it gives her the occasion, for example, to wear a new nightdress. The speech of Thalestris invokes a courtly ethic. She encourages Belinda to think about the Baron’s misdeed as an affront to her honor, and draws on ideals of chivalry in  demanding that Sir Plume challenge the Baron in defense of Belinda’s honor. He makes a muddle of the task, showing how far from courtly behavior this generation of gentlemen has fallen. Sir Plume’s speech is riddled with foppish slang and has none of the logical, moral, or oratorical power that a knight should properly wield. This attention to questions of honor returns us to the sexual allegory of the poem. The real danger, Thalestris suggests, is that â€Å"the ravisher† might display the lock and make it a source of public humiliation to Belinda and, by association, to her friends. Thus the real question is a superficial one—public reputation—rather than the moral imperative to chastity. Belinda’s own words at the close of the canto corroborate this suggestion; she exclaims, â€Å"Oh, hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize / Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!† (The â€Å"hairs less in sight† suggest her pubic hair). Pope is pointing out the degree to which she values outward appearance (whether beauty or reputation) above all else; she would rather suffer a breach to her integrity than a breach to her appearance. The Baron remains impassive against all the ladies’ tears and reproaches. Clarissa delivers a speech in which she questions why a society that so adores beauty in women does not also place a value on â€Å"good sense† and â€Å"good humour.† Women are frequently called angels, she argues, but without reference to the moral qualities of these creatures. Especially since beauty is necessarily so short-lived, we must have something more substantial and permanent to fall back on. This sensible, moralizing speech falls on deaf ears, however, and Belinda, Thalestris and the rest ignore her and proceed to launch an all-out attack on the offending Baron. A chaotic tussle ensues, with the gnome Umbriel presiding in a posture of self- congratulation. The gentlemen are slain or revived according to the smiles and frowns of the fair ladies. Belinda and the Baron meet in combat and she emerges victorious by peppering him with snuff and drawing her bodkin. Having achieved a position of advantage, she again demands that he return the lock. But the ringlet has been lost in the chaos, and cannot be found. The poet avers that the lock has risen to the heavenly spheres to become a star; stargazers may admire it now for all eternity. In this way, the poet reasons, it will attract more envy than it ever could on earth. Commentary Readers have often interpreted Clarissa’s speech as the voice of the poet  expressing the moral of the story. Certainly, her oration’s thesis aligns with Pope’s professed task of putting the dispute between the two families into a more reasonable perspective. But Pope’s position achieves more complexity than Clarissa’s speech, since he has used the occasion of the poem as a vehicle to critically address a number of broader societal issues as well. And Clarissa’s righteous stance loses authority in light of the fact that it was she who originally gave the Baron the scissors. Clarissa’s failure to inspire a reconciliation proves that the quarrel is itself a kind of flirtatious game that all parties are enjoying. The description of the â€Å"battle† has a markedly erotic quality, as ladies and lords wallow in their mock-agonies. Sir Plume â€Å"draw[s] Clarissa down† in a sexual way, and Belinda â€Å"flies† on her foe with flashing eyes and an erotic ardor. When Pope informs us that the Baron fights on unafraid because he â€Å"sought no more than on his foe to die,† the expression means that his goal all along was sexual consummation. This final battle is the culmination of the long sequence of mock-heroic military actions. Pope invokes by name the Roman gods who were most active in warfare, and he alludes as well to the Aeneid , comparing the stoic Baron to Aeneas (â€Å"the Trojan†), who had to leave his love to become the founder of Rome. Belinda’s tossing of the snuff makes a perfect turning point, ideally suited to the scale of this trivial battle. The snuff causes the Baron to sneeze, a comic and decidedly unheroic thing for a hero to do. The bodkin, too, serves nicely: here a bodkin is a decorative hairpin, not the weapon of ancient days (or even of Hamlet’s time). Still, Pope gives the pin an elaborate history in accordance with the conventions of true epic. The mock-heroic conclusion of the poem is designed to compliment the lady it alludes to (Arabella Fermor), while also giving the poet himself due credit for being the instrument of her immortality. This ending effectively indulges the heroine’s vanity, even though the poem has functioned throughout as a critique of that vanity. And no real moral development has taken place: Belinda is asked to come to terms with her loss through a kind of bribe or distraction that reinforces her basically frivolous outlook. But even in its most mocking moments, this poem is a gentle one, in which Pope shows a basic sympathy with the social world in spite of its folly and foibles. The searing critiques of his later satires would be much more stringent and less forgiving.

B2B to C2B Electronic Commerce

Electronic gives companies improved efficiency and reliability of business processes through transactions automation. The two major types of e-commerce these are Business to business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C). In B2C consumer purchase products and services from industry while B2B deals with business dealing with another business. Many businesses today utilize these types of model. Some of the businesses that utilize B2B model includes: operating inputs markets-These deal with unfinished goods such as office supplies, spare parts and airline tickets.There good are referred to as maintenance repair and operating goods. Another type of market that utilizes B2B is manufacturing input businesses; these are raw materials which go directly into the product or processes. In B2C model, it deals with business such as Auction stores which offers electronic implementation of bidding mechanism (Paul Timer1998) and the other example is online stores. B2C has advantages and also disadvan tages. Some of these advantages can be divided into two forms those that benefits the company and customers’ benefit.Those that benefit the company include; Increased demand, due to the convenient way of serving the customers like in online the demand increases which consequently raise the company’s income. Also low cost is encountered because they use online shops which ensure low cost in transportation of good is encountered. Customers can also view the type of goods they need from internet and this enables reduction in the cost of promotion and sales. Generally the company enjoys reduced cost since their advertisement and delivery of their goods are always at least expenditure as possible. Benefits that the customers enjoy in B2C include;Low prices since the company have encountered minimum cost in production and delivery of goods. These low prices encourage the customer to continue using this model. Also customers experience a wider choice of what they want to purc hase, since he/she can be able to view these products before ordering them which enables him or her or make better choice. Better information in regard to product can be obtained from online shopping by going through the information provided by the company. Its also convenient for buyers who are B2C model since the products are delivered by just ordering for them online.Customers also experience flexibility in ordering their products through internet auction. Some of disadvantages experienced in B2C models are things like inspection of goods. This is a great challenge to buyer since its not possible to physically inspect the goods you want to purchase. Bidders always have to rely on information provided or electronic images of goods or auction. Also there is potential for fraud since internet bidder has to actually trust that the buyer will send goods he/she has paid for. B2B model also has advantages and disadvantages which adversely affect purchasing company or company.Some of the advantages include: Hosting of critical supply chain which is available to buyer to help them choose on which chain to use in ordering for their supplies. It also provide market to close enterprise collaboration- This results in synchronized industry coordination which enables the company to synchronize activities like product design, procurement, planning and so on (Peter Dicken,2003. ) It also provides participate with flexible, open, reliable, highly available and scalable environment. Some of disadvantages of using B2B model are based on challenges that are faced by the business.For example, at time buyer, sell and channel partners feel that the market is working against them which eventually result to loss of those companies purchasing their products. Buyers can also result the procedures to be followed when purchasing the products which makes the company to incur extra cost for procedures desired by the other company. Insecurity by the company purchasing the product since the y just trust that the products will be sent to them, once they are paid for. Suppliers of major consumer’s product should consider a number of factors when they decide to shift from B2B to B2C.First they should determine whether supplier has customization by offering capacity to offer goods and services in real time and ability to customize goods to the needs is higher. This is because the suppliers have been dealing with company or businesses and now they want to deal with individual customers. Suppliers should be aware of organizational changes in changing from B2B to B2C this enables successful transformation to a B2C e-business company. There should be a radical organization al change. This is difficult to implement as a result of strong resistance by employees. Also supply should be aware of redesigning business processes.The B2B processes should be redesigned and streamlined in order to suit the new B2C form of business. The system is also integrated because the real po wer of e-business comes up when the systems are integrated. Products that can lead to change from B2B to B2C are finished products which are readily usable by customers. Therefore the company prefers to deal with individual customers for large sales than dealing with company. Also when the industry start manufacturing finished products it can shift its model from B2B to B2C since its selling then to consumers who needs already finished products.Finished products lead to change of marketing model from B2B to B2C since the consumer can not purchase an assembled product unlike other business/industries who can purchase them so that they can assemble them and sell as a finished product. Products that have lead to this change include electronic and local phones and also services such as long distance and wireless telephones, cable television, internet service provider and so on are some of products and services that can be sold directly to consumer instead of selling to industry or other business because consumer can enjoy the benefit of avoiding middle man in the distribution chain.(Gopal Screeraman ,2002. ) Consumer demand can have great effect on suppliers. For example, some things like prompt delivery of goods desired by consumer at time is not met by supplier and this makes supply to deliver products that are not well finished to avoid delay. Consumer demand also enables the supplier to find ways to gain competitive advantages in factors other than just price. Some factors can increase demand of certain products by consumers which the supplier has to meet in order to gain marketability. Consumer demands also leads to expansion of larger services.This is evidenced in demand supply curve whereby the higher the demand the lower the supply and therefore through expansion of services the demand can be met. It also helps to find cost effectiveness ways to increase customer base and generate higher revenues. Therefore these types of electronic commerce have different impacts and while ordering for products one should consider which model suits best. Reference. Paul Timer, (1998), Business model for Electronic market London. Peter Dicken, (2003), Political Science, United Nations. Gopal Screeraman, (2002), Commerce server 2000, New York.

Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John: The New Testament

1Introduction The four New Testament (NT) gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John present four accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. Bible scholars and historians assigned the gospel names and their authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John respectively. [1] The three gospels, of Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the Synoptic gospels. [2] The aim of this paper is to discuss the main themes and focuses of each of canonical gospels and show how they relate to reveal a complete picture of Jesus' life and work. 2The Gospels a) Matthew Matthew was one of the first twelve disciples. It would appear that his intended audience were Jews, and he presented Jesus mainly as the King, the Son of David and the promised Messiah-King. He records Jesus’ genealogy showing Jesus is descendant from the royal line of David. In (1:1), he also introduces Jesus as the Son of David. Matthew records more teaching concerning God’s kingdom, for example the entire Sermon on the Mount. The term â€Å"Kingdom of Heaven† appears 33 times and â€Å"Kingdom of God† 4 times. [3] Matthew’s gospel is listed first in the NT because it seems that it is bridging the OT and NT, ushering the Jewish reader from the familiar OT story to Jesus in the NT[4]. Matthew narrates the gospel to convince the Jewish audience of Jesus’ link with the Jewish history and Jesus’ fulfilment of OT prophesies. The gospel is recognised as the â€Å"Teaching Gospel†. [5] When Jesus teaches, he demonstrates His authority as King over physical, psychological, spiritual diseases and even over elements created by God. (5:17, 4:24, 8:1-17, 23-27) Jesus’ authority is recorded, (28:18-20) ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth†¦. ‘ b) Mark Mark is the shortest of the gospels, the probable intended audience were gentiles specifically in Rome and he presents Jesus mainly as the Servant. The gospel commences with Jesus as a grown up and does not record the birth and childhood and omits Jesus’ genealogy. He translates the Aramaic phrases for his audience and uses more Latin and less OT quotations suggesting that he wrote for non-Jewish who did not understand the Jewish language. [6] Mark concentrated on Jesus' miraculous works and the gospel is also known as an â€Å"action† gospel because the language he uses is action packed. He uses phrases and words such as â€Å"immediately†, â€Å"at once†, â€Å"as soon as†, â€Å"quickly† stressing his focus on action. 7] He writes with the aim of converting his audience by proving that Jesus is the Son of God, a Jesus of power and action. Marks’ audience faced persecution and martyrdom and so he also writes to strengthen them. He needed to tell them that Jesus had also suffered, and had triumphed over suffering and death. [8] c) Luke Luke was a doctor who got his information fr om many eye-witnesses. The book may have been commissioned by a non-Christian Roman official called Theophilus (1:3,4). Luke’s gospel also is a sequel to the book of Acts. This gospel is the longest of all NT books. It bridges the events between Christ and the establishment of the church. [9] His genealogy traces Jesus' roots back to Adam versus genealogy tracing back to the Jewish Abraham. [10] There appears to be evidence in Colossians 4:10-14 that Luke was a gentile, therefore suggesting his audience may have been gentiles and the only gentile to have his writings canonised. He portrays Jesus as saviour by including more distinct healing miracles and parables than the other gospels. [11] Luke records more narrative of the events, and he alone records John the Baptist’s parentage and records the longest period. Luke emphasises that salvation is for all and more of Jesus at prayer. [12] He may have wanted the gentiles to know that they had the same access to God and presents God’s grace as available to all. e) John Reading the NT gospels shows that the content and style between John and the Synoptic gospels is different. John lived to be older than any of the gospel writers, therefore it is possible he was aware of the Synoptic gospels and thus wanted to compliment rather than produce a similar account. John brings out the spiritual significance more than the other gospels. 13] ‘There are more extended discourses in John and Jesus employs more rabbinical methods. ‘[14] John’s purpose of writing is found in John 20:31, ‘but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. ‘ He wrote to show that God was for the whole world, (3:16) and had worked through His chosen people, no w was working by Word become man. The few miracles that he describes can only be attributed to God Himself. He stresses Jesus’ deity, (1:1) Jesus is the Word, that is God who became man. Jesus confirms this verse by many â€Å"I am statements† for example: the bread of life, the light of the world. [15] These â€Å"I am† statements had an important meaning as they were the words God used when He spoke to Moses from the burning bush showing and proving His divinity. (Exodus 3:6). Throughout the gospel, he records the relationship of Father and Son. For example, those who hate the Son hate the Father, making it impossible to accept the Father if one is not a Christian (8:28) and (15:23). Some of these recordings may lead others to believe that the gospel was intended for the Jews. ) Common Ground All four gospels have recorded the witness of John the Baptist, the call and the instruction of the disciples, the feeding of the 5000, Peter’s confession of faith, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his trial, condemnation and crucifixion, his resurrection from the dead on the third day, his resurrection appearances and his commissioning of his disciples among many others. [16] In addition there are numerous specific sayings which are common or appear in parallel form in all four gospels. There is also material only found in either one or two or three of the Synoptic gospels. There is material that is unique to Matthew, to Mark, to Luke and to John. Most Bible scholars agree that Mark is the earliest gospel and that it was used as a source by Matthew and Luke,[17] Matthew and Luke also used another hypothetical source called â€Å"Q†. [18] This priority of Mark would explain why the Synoptic gospels seem to share mostly the same view of their recorded events. g) Different Ground Some of the major differences in John is that he did not record Jesus' birth, wilderness test, transfiguration, parables as in the Synoptic gospels, the Lord’s supper and the agony in Gethsemane and he has more extended discourses. It could be that John used different sources or his knowledge and facts from his times as Jesus’ disciple. Some of the differences are caused by John concentrating on Jesus’ later ministry around Jerusalem during the temple feasts and the Synoptic gospels concentrate mainly on the earlier ministry in the north and around Galilee. 19] 3. Conclusion All four canonical gospels compliment one another, and present one and the same Person, Jesus the humanity’s redeemer. A Jewish audience in Matthew’s church would need to hear about how Jesus related to Judaism and a gentile in Mark or Luke’s church would want to hear the gospel presented in a way that addressed their lives and situations. When the writers were writing th ey had no idea their material would be used, included or arranged in the Bible as we know it. Therefore we can conclude that the purpose of the gospels, their unique styles and their relationship was to give a complete picture of who Jesus is and to relay the message of redemption. The differences have probably since been instrumental in attracting a diverse group of Christians to the church and in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Bible in its entirety is God-inspired and God-breathed. The triune God was actively involved in the revelation of His truth to the apostles and prophets who wrote it down. (2Timothy 3:16) Bibliography Bruce, F. F. , The New Testament Documents – Are they reliable? Grand rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 6th. edn. 1981). Drane, John, Inroducing the New Testament (Oxford, UK: Lion,1999). Garrard, David J. , New Testament Survey (Garrard and Mattersey Hall, 2006). House, Wayne H. , Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,1981). McClaflin, Mike, Life of Christ (Springfield, Missouri: Global University , 3rd. edn. 2000). Milne, Bruce, The Message of John (London, UK: Inter-Varsity_press, 1993). Radmarcher, Earl D. , Allen, Ronald B. & House, Wayne H. , (eds. ),Nelson's NKJV Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles, 1997). Youngblood, Ronald F. , Bruce, F. F. & Harrison, R. K. , (eds. ), Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Nelson, 1995). By Sally Masamha 11 December 2009 ———————– [1] John, Drane, Introducing the New Testament (Oxford, UK: Lion,1999), 170 [2] Mike McClaflin, Life of Christ (Springfield, Missouri: Global University, 3rd. edn. 2000), 16 [3] Earl D. Radmarcher, Ronald B. Allen & Wayne H. House (eds. ),Nelson's NKJV Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles, 1997), 1573 [4] McClaflin, Life of Christ, 18 [5] McClaflin, Life of Christ, 36 [6] Drane, 197 7] David Garrard, New Testament Survey (Garrard and Mattersey Hall: Mattersey, UK, 2006), 28 [8] Radmarcher, Allen & House (Nelson's NKJV Study Bible, 1997), 1637 [9] McClaflin, 41 [10] Wayne H. House, Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,1981), 96 [11] House, 92 [12] Radmarcher, Allen & House, 1683 [13] John, Drane, 2 08 [14] Bruce Milne, 21 [15] Radmarcher, Allen & House, 1754-1755 [16] Bruce Milne, 19-20 [17] F F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents – Are they reliable? (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 6th. edn. 1981), 27 [18] Mike McClaflin, 18 [19] Bruce Milne, 21

Evaluate technical security or privacy products for selection Essay

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Financial Aspects of Recreation and Sport Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Review of the US Autism Websites Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Review of the US Autism Websites - Research Paper Example â€Å"The Autism Society of America is the nation’s premier autism resource† (Rudy, 2007). This organization is a chapter and member-based organization, which provides us with an opportunity to join it and help people deal with the problem of Autism. The website provides us with an unbiased introduction and explanation of autism. It also includes useful information regarding diagnosis, causes, and treatment of autism. Autism is a genetic problem. â€Å"Autism is influenced by complex, yet strong genetic factors† (Cook, 1998). Some knowledge, which I gained from this website, is that it appears in the first 3 years of a child’s life. It also made me aware of some signs of autism, which included, delay in speaking, lack of peer relationships, and repetitive use of language. It also made me know that almost 1.5 Americans have the problem of autism and only 50 to 55 percent of autistic children become able to finish high school level studies. The third website, which I reviewed, was firstsigns.org. This website is dedicated to creating awareness and educating parents about autistic disorders. It not only creates awareness about the diagnosis and treatment of autism but also makes parents aware of the use of different types of screening tools. Autism appears in the first three years of a child’s life. â€Å"The average age of diagnosis is still around 6 years† (Howlin & Moorf, 1997). I found this website very useful because it provided me with a good amount of knowledge regarding screening tools. I became aware of how to use screening tools. It also made me know that the best screening tools are those, which are accurate, flexible, and affordable. The fourth website, which I reviewed, was autismresearchnetwork.org. â€Å"The National Institutes of Health Autism Resource Network is a terrific resource for medical information and links to the latest research and findings† (Rudy, 2007). This website is based on the current research related to the problem of autism. As all other websites, this website also provided me with a good amount of knowledge regarding causes, symptoms, and treatment of autism.

International Finance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

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Leadership Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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The New Intelligence Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The New Intelligence Community - Essay Example Critics of the new intelligence community set up maintained that the system is so complex that it became hard to manage; hence doubts on its effectiveness continue to spread. According to an article by Priest and Arkin (2010) in the Washington Post, the intelligence community is enormous, with redundant agencies and tons of reports generated every day that many end up being ignored, resulting to waste of resources and effort. Consequently, the complexity of the intelligence community only causes the ODNI to lack focus on it various agencies. In addition, the President’s Intelligence Advisory Boards stressed that the ODNI must be â€Å"downsized but strengthen by transferring certain functions to other agencies† (Best, 2010, p. 6) because it cannot supervise and assume responsibility to the massive department on its own. The support of the Congress to the development of ODNI is also essential in strengthening the role of the latter, its functions and extent of authority in order to effectively lead the different intelligence agencies under its wing. Nevertheless, the new role of the ODNI is still being developed. With just a few years of operation, the new intelligence system continues to face challenges in cooperating among agencies while sorting out critical reports on terrorism. It is too early to claim that the ODNI is a failure. Given the support of the Congress in defining its role, power and responsibilities, the ODNI can eventually learn how to manage its agencies more successfully. It should also consider reviewing the agencies doing the same work and identify critical reports to efficiently use its resources and

Turning around fortunes at Procter & Gamble Essay

Turning around fortunes at Procter & Gamble - Essay Example In P&G company, much attention is paid to the social dimension. The main responsibility of the leaders of the company is to build the working environment to welcome and inspire diversity. P&G company is driven by the idea of creating the favorable surroundings where all the employees would feel comfortable being themselves. The major aspects under focus are the equality in terms of access to information, and the equality on opportunities in terms of learning, developing and growing both – professionally and personally. Numerous training, learning and coaching programs are provided systematically and are aimed at enhancing work/life integration, personal productivity and maintaining of the corporate culture. All the employees are monitored through surveys and culture sensing in order to determine the level of competence and commitment (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2014). Technological environment:P&G’s Global Medical organization advises and assists management and employees to a ssure a safe, healthy work environment. Global medical delivers preventive health services to all employees, at all sites. It manages health issues that may affect employees, technologies, and brands (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2014).For all the companies worldwide there are a lot of safety, health, and environmental regulations to be followed. Factories and plants are required to limit their emissions and fulfill all the regulations within a production process, discussed in law, permits and statutes

Critically discuss the extent to which HPWPs may be successfully Research Paper

Critically discuss the extent to which HPWPs may be successfully implemented - Research Paper Example Basically, it can be noted that there is no universally agreed definition of HPWP but there are three key characteristics that are shared by many advocates of this model. The key attributes of this model are as follows: HPWP seeks to generate performance through the utilisation of practices which secure mutual gains for both the employees and employers, employees are treated as valuable assets and this model involves bundling of practices which yield combined benefits that are greater than the sum of their individual parts (McDuffie 1995). In order to effectively implement HPWP in the workplace, Huselid (1995) identifies three practices that are key attributes and these include the following: comprehensive recruitment and selection procedures, incentive compensation as well as extensive employee involvement and training. Employees form the back bone of every organisation hence effective recruitment as well as improving their performance are the major factors that determine success of business during the contemporary period. In most cases, employee recruitment mainly depends on the available human resources tools and their ability to cope with the environment they will be operating in. Thus, recruitment of skilled and qualified employees is a vital strategy for an organisation to function successfully with regards to high performance work practices. For any organisation to run viably, there is need to recruit the best talent in the first place as these people would be capable of being developed to become valuable assets to the organisation. The success of an organisation operating in a competitive market is mainly determined by its ability to recruit skilled people and this is a process which requires careful consideration. Recruitment involves searching for and obtaining qualified job candidates and it gives the organisation the opportunity to select the most appropriate persons to fill its job needs (Carrell, R. et al 1995). Effective recruitment often attract s individuals to the organisation and also increases the chances of retaining the individuals once they have been hired. Recruitment efforts seek to satisfy the needs of job applicants as well as the needs of managers. Recruiting the right staff is key to implementing a performance related strategy which encompasses retention of those skilled employees. In most cases, such specialist and skilled workers may be in short supply and a company may find it difficult to replace the experienced workers and training of individual employees with more skills in particular jobs. As far as these measures are put in place, the performance of the employees is likely to improve greatly given that there will be more incentives to create a sense of belongingness to the organisation by the employees. In most cases, it can be noted that organisations are run on the basis of various decisions that are made within any particular organisation. In practice, decision

Price Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Price Discrimination Essay A seller charging competing buyers different prices for the same commodity or discriminating in the provision of allowances — compensation for advertising and other services — may be violating the Robinson-Patman Act. This kind of price discrimination may give favored customers an edge in the market that has nothing to do with their superior efficiency. Price discriminations are generally lawful, particularly if they reflect the different costs of dealing with different buyers or are the result of a sellers attempts to meet a competitors offering. The Supreme Court has ruled that price discrimination claims under the Robinson-Patman Act should be evaluated consistent with broader antitrust policies. In practice, Robinson-Patman claims must meet several specific legal tests: 1.The Act applies to commodities, but not to services, and to purchases, but not to leases. 2.The goods must be of like grade and quality. 3.There must be likely injury to competition (that is, a private plaintiff must also show actual harm to his or her business). 4.Normally, the sales must be in interstate commerce (that is, the sale must be across a state line). Competitive injury may occur in one of two ways. Primary line injury occurs when one manufacturer reduces its prices in a specific geographic market and causes injury to its competitors in the same market. For example, it may be illegal for a manufacturer to sell below cost in a local market over a sustained period. Businesses may also be concerned about secondary line violations, which occur when favored customers of a supplier are given a price advantage over competing customers. Here, the injury is at the buyers level. The necessary harm to competition at the buyer level can be inferred from the existence of significant price discrimination over time. Courts may be starting to limit this inference to situations in which either the buyer or the seller has m arket power, on the theory that, for example, lasting competitive harm is unlikely if alternative sources of supply are available. There are two legal defenses to these types of alleged Robinson-Patman violations: (1) the price difference is justified by different costs in manufacture, sale, or delivery (e.g., volume discounts), or (2) the price concession was given in good faith to meet a competitors price. The Robinson-Patman Act also forbids certain discriminatory allowances or services furnished or paid to customers. In  general, it requires that a seller treat all competing customers in a proportionately equal manner. Services or facilities covered include payment for or furnishing advertising or promotional allowances, handbills, catalogues, signs, demonstrations, display and storage cabinets, special packaging, warehousing facilities, credit returns, and prizes or free merchandise for promotional contests. The cost justification does not apply if the discrimination is in allowances or services furnished. The seller must inform all of its competing customers if any services or allowances are available. The seller must allow all types of competing customers to receive the services and allowances involved in a particular plan or provide some other reasonable means of participation for those who cannot use the basic plan. A more detailed discussion of these promotional issues can be found in the FTCs Fred Meyer Guides. Under certain circumstances, a buyer who benefits from the discrimination may also be found to have violated the Act, along with the seller who grants the discrimination, if the buyer forced, or induced, the seller to grant a discriminatory price. Although proof of a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act often involves complex legal questions, businesses should keep in mind some of the basic practices that may be illegal under the Act. These include: †¢below-cost sales by a firm that charges higher prices in different localities, and that has a plan of recoupment; †¢price differences in the sale of identical goods that cannot be justified on the basis of cost s avings or meeting a competitors prices; or †¢promotional allowances or services that are not practically available to all customers on proportionately equal terms. Under the Nonprofit Institutions Act, eligible nonprofit entities may purchase — and vendors may sell to them — supplies at reduced prices for the nonprofits own use, without violating the Robinson-Patman Act. The Health Care Services Products Division issued a recent advisory opinion discussing the application of this exemption to pharmaceutical purchases by a nonprofit health maintenance organization. Q: I operate two stores that sell compact discs. My business is being ruined by giant discount chains that sell their products for less than my wholesale cost. What can I do? A: Discount chains may be able to buy compact discs at a lower wholesale price because it costs the manufacturer less, on a per-unit basis, to deal with large-volume customers. If so, the manufacturer may have a cost justification defense  to the differential pricing and the policy would not violate the Robinson-Patman Act. Q: One of my suppliers is selling parts at its company-owned store at retail prices that are below the wholesale price that it charges me for the parts. Isnt this illegal? A: The transfer of parts from a parent to its subsidiary generally is not considered a sale under the Robinson-Patman Act. Thus, this situation would not have the required element of sales to two or more purchasers at different prices. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Definition of Price Discrimination A pricing strategy that charges customers different prices for the same product or service. In pure price discrimination, the seller will charge each customer the maximum price that he or she is willing to pay. In more common forms of price discrimination, the seller places customers in groups based on certain attributes and charges each group a different price. Investopedia explains Price Discrimination Price discrimination allows a company to earn higher profits than standard pricing because it allows firms to capture every last dollar of revenue available from each of its customers. While perfect price discrimination is illegal, when the optimal price is set for every customer, imperfect price discrimination exists. For example, movie theaters usually charge three different prices for a show. The prices target various age groups, including youth, adults and seniors. The prices fluctuate with the expected income of each age bracket, with the highest charge going to the adult population. Price Discrimination When you were young, did you ever order from the childrens menu in a restaurant? When a family with small children goes to a restaurant, they are often given a childrens menu in addition to the regular menu. If they order two similar items, one from each menu, they will find that the item ordered from the childrens menu will be a bit smaller, but its price will be much smaller. In fact, it would often be worthwhile for the entire family to order from the childrens menu, but they cannot. Restaurants usually only allow children to order from it.1 Why do restaurants use childrens menus?  Economists doubt that restaurant owners have a special love for children; they suspect that the owners find offering childrens menus to be profitable. It can be profitable if adults who come to restaurants with children are, on the average, more sensitive to prices on menus than adults who come to restaurants without children. Children often do not appreciate restaurant food and service, and often waste a large part of their food. Parents know this and do not want to pay a lot for their childs meal. If restaurants treat children like adults, the restaurants may lose customers as families switch to fast-food restaurants. If this explanation is correct, then restaurants price discriminate.2 A seller price discriminates when it charges different prices to different buyers. The ideal form of price discrimination, from the sellers point of view, is to charge each buyer the maximum that the buyer is willing to pay. If the seller in our monopoly example could do this, it could charge the first buyer $7.01, the second buyer $6.51, etc. In this case the marginal revenue curve becomes identical with the demand curve. The seller will sell the economically efficient amount, it would capture the entire consumers surplus, and it would substantially increase profits. The Simple Analytics of Monopoly-Repeated OutputMarginal CostMarginal Benefit Every seller would price discriminate if there were not two major obstacles standing in the way. First, the seller must be able to distinguish between those buyers who are willing to pay a high price from those who are not. Second, there must be substantial difficulty for a low-price buyer to resell to those willing to buy at a high price.3 Because price discrimination is potentially profitable, businesses have found many ways to do it. Theaters often charge younger customers less than adults. Doctors sometimes charge  the rich or insured patient more for services than they charge the poor or uninsured. Grocery stores have a lower price for people who bother to check the newspaper and clip coupons. Some companies, such as firms selling alcoholic beverages, produce similar products but try to promote one as a prestige brand with a much higher price. Electric utilities usually charge lower rates to people who use a lot of electricity (and thus probably have electric stoves and water heaters) than they do to those who use only a little electricity (and who probably have gas stoves and water heaters). Banks offer special interest rates on Certificates of Deposit (CDs) that will not be obtained when one lets a CD roll over. People who are more sensitive to interest rates will take the time and effort to personally renew each maturing CD. To the extent that businesses find ways to price discriminate, they eliminate the triangle of welfare loss and approach the economically efficient amount of production. Thus, the mere existence of monopoly does not prove there is economic inefficiency.

Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients with Radiotherapy

Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients with Radiotherapy Introduction and background Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and leading cause of cancer related deaths of this gender (World Health Organization, 2014). Previously it was most common in developed countries but now it became commonest cancer both in developed and developing regions (Ferlay et al., 2010). Moreover, in USA, breast cancer has the highest incidence rate among all types of cancers involving one in every ten women (Njeh, Saunders, Langton, 2012). However, in Pakistan the incidence is more alarming as 1 in every 9 women is at the risk of developing breast cancer (Siddiqui, n.d.).This data indicates that Pakistan has highest incidence rates of breast cancer in Asian countries (Aziz, Sana, Akram, Saeed, 2004; Bhurgri, et al., 2000; Naeem, 2008). Furthermore, Hussain, Ahmad, Muhammad, Kakakhail and Matiullah (2008) identified the incidence of breast cancer 96.49 % among women registered in Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine, Peshawar, which are more frightening figures. There are certain treatment modalities for breast cancer among them radiation therapy (RT) is an important treatment choice, performed before and after the surgery which also have various side effects. During the course of treatment, about two-thirds of patients undergo radiation therapy, before and after surgery (Guo et al., 2013). In addition, more than 90% of the all breast cancer patients receive adjuvant radiotherapy to prevent the recurrence of the disease (Potthoff et al., 2013). Despite its wide use and significant role in cancer treatment, few studies addressed the experiences of its recipients. According to Welle (1998) radiotherapy patients are perceived as self-caring and their needs are not taken care of. The international literature indicates that breast cancer patient receiving RT not only suffers from disease process but also from the side effect of this treatment. The nature of disease, its prognosis and treatment related problems have devastating effects on physical , psychological and socio-economic wellbeing of the patient (Farooqi Chaudhry, 2012; Kirchheiner et al, 2013). However, these studies have been conducted in western context on different population which has stark difference in our culture. In addition, within the Pakistani context, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa is considered more conservative province. Therefore, it is important to explore experiences and problems of the local population to remedy their problems. Furthermore, data from Pakistan revealed that breast cancer was found mostly in younger age group ranging from 30-50 years as compare to west where it tend to occur in women above 60 years of age (Aziz, Sana, Akram, Saeed, 2004; Mamoon, Sharif, Mushtaq, Khadim, Jamal, 2009; Naeem, et al., 2008; Tfayli, Temraz, Abou Mrad, Shamseddine, 2010). Importantly, this age group is more productive and may have different responsibilities pertinent to their age group towards their family and society which may vary from western population in t erm of their concerns, needs and issues. However, in Pakistan, research in this area is not conducted to explore the experiences of breast cancer patient receiving radiotherapy therefore; research is a required to address the issues of this population. In addition, this is the first study of its nature in Pakistani context especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the field of nursing which will increase the awareness regarding radiotherapy related problems of patients among nurses and other health care providers. Significance This study is significant to generate information for nurses to care for patient undergoing RT in Pakistani context. It will help nurses to understand the feelings and experiences of the patients undergoing RT to design nursing care plan by addressing their needs. Moreover, findings of this study can help to identify recommendation for health care staff working in the radiotherapy units to facilitate their patients undergoing radiotherapy in a better way. It will also help health care professionals maintain a sense of the importance of the experience of the RT patient who are coming to them for treatment and want their care pertinent to their needs. Purpose The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of the female breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Study Questions What are the experiences of the of breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan? Data sources The review of literature was conducted through data bases CINAHL PubMed, Mosbys Nursing Consult, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. Search for published research articles relevant to this paper was done. The combination of the following key terms was used to retrieve relevant literature â€Å"physical/psychological problems, breast cancer, problems with radiation therapy, quality of life, experiences of breast cancer patients. Search generated 283articles, 52 duplicate results excluded. Through a selection process title and abstract screened, among those 30 were found to be relevant to the topic. Literature review Radiotherapy is one of the essential components of the cancer treatment. It minimizes risk of recurrence, improve survival rate (Bese, et al., 2006). This is done by using high-energy x-rays or gamma rays targeted at the tumor to shrink the tumors or kill cancer cells (Radvansky, Pace, Siddiqui, 2013). During the course of treatment, about two-thirds of patients will undergo radiation therapy, before and after surgery (Guo et al., 2013). Beside this adjuvant radiotherapy is advised after breast conserving surgery as well as after mastectomy to minimize the chances of reoccurrence of the disease. As Darby et al. (2011) found in their meta-analysis study that RT reduced 15-years of risk of breast cancer related death rate after breast conserving surgery. Beside its effectiveness, it exerts multiple physical, psychological and socio-economical problems on patients. Physical problems related to RT Radiation therapy affects cancer as well as normal body cells within the treated area, result in injury of the cells which lead to many side effects. The RT induced side effects include skin and mucous membrane toxicities, sleeplessness, pain, swelling, dyspnea, cough and nausea. (Adams, 2009; Currie Wheat 2006; Darby et al, 201; Gordils-Perez, Duell, 2003; Rose, 2011). In addition, skin problems are the most frequent side effect of RT which affects nearly 85% to 95% of patients and also cause skin damage (Bergstrom, 2011). Additionally, there are many long term side effects of breast irradiation like cosmetic changes hyperpigmentation, fibrosis, lymphedema, and damage to underlying normal structures (Gordils-Perez, Duell, 2003). Moreover, fatigue, soreness and dryness of throat, headache, and desquamation were also common symptom reported by patients receiving RT (Sherminie Cottrel, 2014). Among them fatigue is reported by 80% of the patients receiving RT which affects the role functioning of breast cancer female in their daily life (Poirier, 2011; Potthoff et al., 2013). The RT patent also endure sleep disturbance as Dhruva et al. (2012) reported that approximately 50% breast cancer patients have sleep disturbance at the initiation of radiation therapy. In this connection, a study conducted by Graydon (1994) highlighted that sleep disturbance and fatigues were the main areas of the life of women affected by RT. It influence the physical, cognitive and emotional aspects of the 80% of breast cancer patients underwent RT (Alcantara-Silva, Freitas-Junior, Freitas, Machado, 2013; Stone, Richards, Hern Hardy, 2001). As Currie and Wheat (2006) suggested that it is very important to address and remedy the evident side effect of RT because these are capable of limiting the patient’s ability to tolerate the planned treatment. Psychological problems Breast cancer remarkably affects women’s psychological well-being. One out of two patients with cancer experience psychological disorder (Reyes-Gibby, Anderson, Morrow, Shete Hassan, 2012; Spoletini, et al., 2008). Beside the disease process its treatment modalities also contribute in the psychological problems of the patient. As, Reyes-Gibby et al. (2012) proved that depression among women have positive associated with symptoms of disease and treatment of the breast cancer. In addition, RT is usually prescribed before and after surgery which tend to have its psychological effects on patient. A qualitative study conducted in Sri Lanka to explore the experiences of breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, concluded that women feel fear of treatment, machines used in treatment and blackening of the skin. The study also reported patients feel uncomfortable and stressed in the presence of male staff members and waiting for long time in RT department (Sherminie Cottrel , 2014). In addition, Halkett, Kristjanson, and Lobb (2008) highlighted in their qualitative study, that the patients with breast cancer receiving radiotherapy, experience many kinds of fears like getting burnt, damage to internal body parts, and anticipating tiredness. These kinds of fears may have negative impact on compliance with the treatment regimen. Rose (2011) highlighted that patient feel high level of stress at the start RT because of unfamiliar technology, fear of potential side effects and being in an environment with other cancer patients. A literature review carried out by Lim, Devi, and Ang (2011) concluded that anxiety is predominant psychological issue of the all treatment modalities of the breast cancer across the globe and continue beyond the acute stage of treatment. In relevance to RT it is experienced by10 to 20% of the patients (Stielgelis et al., 2004). Moreover, the fatigue and pain related to RT may affect the sexuality of the patient by decreasing the desi re and arousal and skin changes result in burns affecting body image and self-esteem (Mercadante, Vitrano Catania, 2010). Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment can have a profound influence on a woman’s overall psychological well-being thus compromising the quality of life of the patient. Socio-economical Problems Breast cancer patients face multiple socio-economical problems because the cancer treatment is very expensive which may not be affordable for many of the patients particularly who belong to low income families. A well-established literature signifies that breast cancer patient treated with surgery also receives RT which may be additional financial burden for them especially in the limited resourced countries like Pakistan. Most of the developed countries of the world, large part of expenditure of the cancer treatment are paid by the government, but in Pakistan, the costs of the therapy are borne by the patient and their families (Zaidi, Ansari, Khan, 2012). Many breast cancer patients in Pakistan experience finical difficulties and use their savings to pay for treatment (Banning, Hassan, Faisal, Hafeez, 2010). Moreover, statistics also highlights that the incidence of breast cancer is increasing in countries with inadequate resources thus limiting the access to radiotherapy (Bese, 2006). Due to finical barriers, Pakistani female breast cancer patients face different challenges throughout the course of the disease (Ahmed, Shaikh, Hasan, 1997). Apart from economical issue woman with breast cancer faces many social and cultural problems in Pakistan. A qualitative study by Banning, Hassan, Faisal, and Hafeez (2010) reported that in Pakistani culture breast is considered a hidden organ that should not be exposed, discussed or touched by others. They also highlighted that most of their participants reported stigma attached to a diagnosis and likelihood surgery therefore they hide their diagnosis from family and local community. Furthermore, in conservative culture of developing countries female are less empowered and given low priority and their health issues are least bothered by the society (Tfayli, Temraz, AbouMrad, Shamseddine, 2010). In this regard, female with breast cancer may experience unbearable problems which may not be experienced by women of differen t cultural and social class (Aziz, Sana, Akram, Saeed, 2004). Knowledge of Treatment The above mentioned literature suggests that patients receiving RT face significant challenges and require appropriate information regarding their treatments, side effects of treatment and coping strategies allows them to feel more control over disease and its related problems. Such as, Halkett et al. (2012) emphasized that undergoing RT is difficult experience for patients which needs appropriate and specific information to have the better outcomes of the therapy. Though, the RT is an important treatment but their patients are found to be poorly informed (Halkett, Kristjanson, Lobb, 2008; Sherminie Cottrell, 2014). This may contribute in their fear, anxiety, stress, and compliance with treatment. Thus the appropriate information and guidance help the patient to make better choices of treatment modalities (Barnett et al., 2004). In addition, findings of a quantitative study by Zeguers et al. (2012) showed that RT patients want comprehensive information about their disease, treatmen t, and procedures, side effects, and prognosis with the mean scores between 4.1 and 4.4 on a scale from 1 to 5. In contrast, Barnett et al. (2004) emphasized that information needs vary among different individual therefore, a patient-centered approach must involve according to the tolerance and need of the patient. A randomized trial study conducted by Christman and Cain (2004) also concluded that patients receiving concrete objective information reported maintaining higher levels of usual function than those not receiving. Furthermore, giving information about symptom experiences helped them to mentally tackle uncertainty about their symptom experiences. Gap analysis The incidence of the breast cancer continues to rise worldwide. Multiple treatment modalities have positive impacts on prognosis of the cancer. Radiotherapy is one of the commonly used treatment modalities having its side effect as well. Moreover, available literature suggest that a series of problems faced by patients receiving RT. But, there is a profound need to develop clear understanding of the phenomenon that what patients experience when they undergo RT. Moreover, nursing literature needs to address the needs of these patients and recommend evidence based interventions to help them. Furthermore, in the context of Pakistani conservative culture women with breast cancer may be experiencing different problems than western women. Therefore, this study question needs a qualitative study to arrive at the desired outcome of better understanding of the situation.

Chaucer The Father Of English Poetry English Literature Essay

Chaucer The Father Of English Poetry English Literature Essay Chaucer is generally considered as the father of English poetry; looking specifically at The Canterbury Tales we can see that Chaucer attempted to portray a depiction of society as he knew it. It is also evident that he attempted to provide his own commentary on his society. Chaucer distances himself from the comments made in The Canterbury Tales as he tells his audience Blameth nat me (Chaucer, 2006, line 73) if they are to take offense from what the Miller says as it is not Chaucer, himself, saying it, he simply has too repeat what was said. This is a very clever technique that Chaucer uses so that he cant be faced with controversy or come under attack from any one as he has only repeated this tale. Chaucer would have had to ensure that his work did not offend those in the church, seeing as the church was the only place where literature was preserved. However Chaucer still attacks society, and the greed of the church amongst other social issues, by not personally saying it, he skilfully distances himself from the issues he highlights in this tales. Chaucer also manages to tactfully deal with these issues, resulting in highly enjoyable tale, which offers a social commentary on a society faced with corruption and hypocrisy. The Canterbury Tales was written in a time where an audible, social reading of literature (Ford, 1976, p86) was preferred, this is possibly because of the influence that the church had on Medieval Literature. One of the main reasons for this may be due to the church, as they supplied the only form of education, everyone at church would have been listened to preachers, and as preaching itself had throughout the Middle Ages a great influence on other literature of all sorts (Ford, 1976, p85) it is not unreasonable to assume that this is why oral forms of literature were preferred in the medieval period. The Canterbury Tales were written as thought hey were being spoken aloud, so they fit in well with this medieval trend. The language and diction used in both The Millers Tale and The Wife of Bath conforms to a plain, low style (King, 2000, p47). Chaucers dominant sentence structure is paratactic (King, 2000, p47); with a rhyme scheme consisting of couplets of iambic pentameters (King, 2 000, p47). The purpose of Chaucers use of language, allows both tales to be easily read aloud for a group of people, rather than just read alone. Aware of his language choices, Chaucer will have also been attempting to make the background story to The Canterbury Tales seem authentic. The narrator is telling these stories on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, so as we read the tales to ourselves we can get a sense of the pilgrimage, and the way these tales would have been told. Chaucer uses The Canterbury Tales as a social commentary. Through the general prologue we can see how he feels about whole sections of society by making individuals represent whole groups of medieval life (Bunting, 2003, p6). These representations slowly begin to build up an entire view of Chaucers life in the medieval period. The Canterbury Tales is famous for upsetting the social hierarchy. Despite the conventions, after the Knights tale is told at the very beginning the rest of the tales are not told in order of those with the higher social standing, as would be conventionally expected. Certain characters interrupt, pushing their tales over others, making The Canterbury Tale humorous as it does not follow the conventional order as som bettre man shal telle us first another (Chaucer, 2006, Line 21). Chaucer also satirises the medieval idea of romance, through the tales, he satirises courtly love, and how it is portrayed as being the ideal way to create a romance. The Millers Tale, in particular, satirises this concept as it is a parody romance (King, 2000, p73). This medieval concept is often found ridiculed in these tales. In the Wife of Bath she admits that I have wedded five! (Chaucer, 1995, line 44), if this had been a courtly love, surely it would have lasted and the Wife of Bath would not have been able to marry again, out of love for her previous husband. Absolon in the Millers Tale attempts to woo Alison using techniques expected of a courtly lover, however he fails to impress Alison and his efforts go unrecognised. Chaucer uses Absolon to demonstrate just how ridiculous the efforts of the courtly lover can be. Chaucer is viewed as inheritor of a great tradition as well as the inventor of a new one (Saunders, 2001, p5) he stuck to particular conventions of the medieval p eriod, and is work is characteristically medieval, however as he does question some of the medieval literary ideas, and many issues in society he can be enjoyed by a contemporary audience who can read the subtleties of his satirical prose narrative, without him alienating either his own audience or a more contemporary one. The main social issue that Chaucer is seen to satirise in both these tales is the idea that women are repressed. Chaucer seemed able to perceive the genius and subtlety of the female mind in making the best of their situation in life, while still allowing the men to think they were in control (Bunting, 2003, p5). This is perhaps best envisioned in The Wife of Baths Prologue. She mentions her having had wedded five! (Chaucer, 1995, line 44). However she is able to defend this position that she is in as God says that to be wedded is no sinne (Chaucer, 1995, line 51), she also asks when God commanded he virgintee? (Chaucer, 1995, line 62). She speaks out against the church and what they are saying in the medieval period, where women were given two stereotypes, either compared to the treacherous Eve, or had to live up to the standards of the Virgin Mary with her being both a virgin and a mother this was an impossible role model for women to achieve. The Wife of Bath is unashamedly a larger than life character designed to squash the constraints that medieval Christianity have placed upon women.

Sport And Aggressive Behavior Essay -- essays research papers fc

Sports and Aggressive Behavior Sport and aggressive behavior, Do sports create aggressive behavior, or simply attract people who are already aggressive? Aggression and sport have gone together as long as sports have been around, be it the players themselves, to the parents, coaches, or spectators, they just seem to be an inseparable part of each other. The term violence is defined as physical assault based on total disregard for the well being of self and others, or the intent to injure another person (2. Coakley). Intimidation usually does not cause physical harm, but often is designed to produce psychological consequences, enabling one person to physically over power or dominate another. These statements as defined by the author, Jay J. Coakley, is what people today have made a must part on sport. Pleasure and participation sports absolutely cannot be grouped with power and performance sports when in relation to aggression. Pleasure sports are simply played for pleasure. Score is usually not kept. The athletes p articipating are usually on occasion doing it for fun and exercise. A majority of athletes who have been playing sports since they were little, have probably been pounded into their heads that to be successful in sport, you need to be aggressive, and at some times, unnecessary. Also that to get what you want, you have to go at it with all force. Not that this is wrong but, this attitude in today's society has been a major problem factor to the athletes when they get older, to get into trouble with the law. Those long-term effects of so-called discipline, patterns develop these destructive behaviors. (9. Montague) Although some people are still in belief that aggressive behaviors in all forms are grounded into instincts, but they also relate these actions to sports. Their parents played, who were known for their aggressive behavior, so the child feels that they have to live up to that expectation.( 6. Storr) Athletes do have to be aggressive to a point, so that the team can form a st rategy to win. There is also a limit to aggression when it turns into violence. People might say that it's not aggression or violence, its just adrenaline pumping. Adrenaline isn't even similar to violence. Aggression, maybe, but nothing that would be harmful to anyone else. This might be a factor to why contact sports are so popular. For example, football, hockey, rugb... ...o suffer by an outcome that nobody wants to see, doing away with sports in general. Bibliography 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aggression and Violence, social interactionists perspectives. , Richard B. Felson and James T. Tedeschi 1993 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sport in Society, Issues and Controversies 6th edition, Jay J. Coakley 1998 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anger, Madness, and the Daimaonic; the pyschologists genesis of Violence, evil and creativitiy. Stephen A. Diamond 1996 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A History of Aggression Freud, Paul E. Stepansky 1977 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Violent Men; an inquiry into the pychology of violence, Hans Toch 1969 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human Aggression, Anthony Storr 1968 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Creation of Deviance, Interpersonal and organized determinants, Richard Hawkins, Gary Fredman, 1975 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Power and Innocence, Rollo May 1972 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Man and Aggression, Ashley Montague 1968 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adolescents and their Families, Paths of Ego Development, Stuart T. Hauser, Sally I. Powers, Gil G. Noam 1991