Addiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Addiction - Essay Example Supporters of this model feel that drug abuse is a crime which should be heavily punishable as the individual who chooses to do drugs, does so by his own free will (Rose, 2010). According to the disease model of addiction, drug addiction can be seen as a progressive disease which is irreversible and unique in nature. The supporters of this model can be seem to be of the view that addiction and alcoholism is some thing that cannot be cured. However, they do argue that a limit can be placed onto such activities by making the addict stay away from the drug or substance that he is addicted to. The psychological model of addiction on the other hand argues that being dependent on drugs and other substances comes from having abnormalities or certain negative characteristics in the nature of the addict himself. Supporters of this view argue that such druggies are owners of what is referred to as an â€Å"addictive personality†, having no control over their own wishes and their personality, having extremely low self esteem and being unable to cope up with tension and stress (Society for the Study of Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs,

HOUSING SYSTEMS (urban planning) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 7

HOUSING SYSTEMS (urban planning) - Essay Example McClure (2008) has conducted this research to design out the various planners in order to facilitate the de-concentration of poverty. The methods which McClure (2008) has utilized include the administrative data which had been conducted from Urban Development and Department of Housing. This data had been taken to assess the extent to which federal housing program assist low income groups like renters and homebuyers to identify locations where at least 10% of the population dwells upon below the poverty line. The results and findings of McClure (2008) suggests that providing subsidies to housing programs can help way better than providing subsidies to the low income areas. Moreover, societies will keep on relying on the designs and strategies for resolving the problems of affordable housing systems. Many new goals as mentioned in the paper of McClure (2008) can be employed to make it easier to address the poverty issues related to housing systems. However, both political and economical expertises are required to negotiate with the builders and developers about the housing systems. If planners, builders, market condition and developers are promising, then this method can serve the aim of diluting the concentration of poverty and further development of housing conditions of community. The development of neighborhood life and housing market across Washington D.C and other related communities have always experienced the influences of the matters pertaining to racism and racial discrimination practices. In fact, there are roles played by various social and economic factors but still the role of racial discrimination in shaping up the neighborhood life has remained predominant. However, there is a need to evaluate those contextual grounds in the basis of which self-segregation concepts and circumstances have been developed. (Schwartz, 2006) The find it quite hard to unscramble the choices that they make and the circumstance with which they are linked as they have

Genre Study: The Romance Comedy

Genre Study: The Romance Comedy The thesis introduces some basic conceptions of genre and then generally analyzes the features of the US and UK film genre especially in terms of romance comedy of US and UK film. The author uses Love Actually and Pretty Woman as two examples to represent UK and US romance comedy respectively. Love Actually was acted by many outstanding actors and actresses like Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson), Alan Rickman, etc, which makes the movie an all-star lineup. However, pretty Woman doesnt fall behind. It was acted by Hollywood movie star Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. By comparing the two representatives, it is not difficult to arrive at the conclusion that UK romance comedy is more realism while the other is more idealism. I believe it more or less has something related to their different cultures and national characters. British people are more conservative than Americans so their romance is closer to life, its better for audience to find the real love in reality be cause some plot of the movie just like a familiar one happened in neighborhood. It reflects some true situation in real life. Pretty Woman is a bit like the realization of American Dream to American people; the movie makes the fairy tale dream become true. Thats why these two movies are excellent learning materials for romance genre study. When talking about film genre, there is no reason not to mention the etymology of genre, which comes from French (originally Latin) word meaning type or kind. With the word genre coming into use of English, it is not hard to come across literacy genre, genres in painting etc, however, this paper mainly emphasizes on film genre. How we define genre is depending on our purposes. Film genre is closely connected with the aspect of audiences common knowledge and their expectations, that is, how audience recognizes and understands movie. As Alastair Fowler said that readers learn genres gradually, usually through unconscious familiarization, I put forward the idea that audience use genre to distinguish a particular movie and it makes a genre a code between producers and viewers in the text of a specific movie. When I start to analyze US film genre, I cant ignore the impact of Hollywood, which produces a large amount of blockbuster through the whole world, to name but a few, Gone With the Wind, The Sound of Music, Titanic, The Lord of the King, Avatar In Hollywood movie, the leading genres are action-adventure, comedy, science fiction, teenpics, war films, westerns, melodrama and so on. It is universally acknowledged that love is indispensable in humans lifeà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’so its always the source material for literature and art creation. There is no doubt that love is always the eternal theme of movie, thats why the box of romance story is on the glory trail for long years. In some other film genre, romance is supposed to be the sub-genre, which makes romantic thriller, romantic drama, action romance and romantic comedy. And even in Titanic this kind of disaster film, romance is an important element which runs through the whole movie. At different time peoples outlook of love reflect their mo ral value at that time. The production of movie is usually based on the characteristic temper of an age to highlight the theme of the time. During the Second World War period, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls are popular films because they shoot at the real background of the society, which reveals the changing life brought by the war. While in the period of 90th century, Youve Got a Mail, Message in a Bottle, A Walk in the clouds these new time romance come into the big screen. Especially in Youve Got a Mail internet has become a bridge between the hero and heroine, besides that the film also reflects cyber romance in real life. As it goes to nowadays romance, it becomes much more incredible and extraordinary just like Across the Universe, Sliding Doors, twilight. When I continue to analyze the UK film genre, there are three main characteristics going as follows. First of all it inherits and develops the realistic tradition of English drama. For instance, Gandhi, A Passage to India, Gosford Park represent the introspection of the history and culture of colonial domination; the Bridge on the River Kwai, the Private Life of Henry VIII, the Queen criticize the corrupt customs of old value and national characters; the Land Girls, Love Actually promote the standard civilization of mainstream society; Four weddings and a Funeral, Mr. Bean advocate the optimistic attitude towards life. Secondly, UK movie is keen on the artistic characteristics of English drama, leading to the high artistic value in either shooting or performance, especially the gentleman style in acting. It also explains why many English films win the Academy Award such as The English patient, Shakespeare in Love. The last but not least, it adapts some literary masterpiece and many o f them stay famous with the original work. Tess is revised from Hardy; Oliver Twist is revised from Charles Dickens; Sense and Sensibility is converted from Jane Austin. When all the above-mentioned factors are taken into consideration, a conclusion could be drawn that UK films are more traditional and retain some features of English drama. Hereinafter I will illustrate Love Actually and Pretty Woman to analysis the features of UK and US romance comedy respectively and compare their similarities and distinctions. Love actually is one of the most successful English romance comedies which breaks the record of Bridget Joness Diary and wins the top-grossing movie release in ever. It is made up of ten separate stories but also there are small connections among those stories at the background of traditional festival-Christmas. In fact the name of the movie love actually means Love is actually around, so the whole melody of the movie is immersed in warm and love. The beginning and ending part take place at Heathrow Airport where passengers part or reunite with their family or friends. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husband and wife, boyfriends, girlfriends and old friends, they smile, embrace or kiss each other, making the airport cozy beautiful place. Love is found everywhere. Our eyes do not show a lack of sense of love, but lack of observation. This film reflects different kind of outlook of love in UK society. Love is around no matter who you are and what social class you come from. Even you are the prime minister of the United Kingdom; you may fall in love with your assistant. The director just suggests that there is no hierarchy, no stratum in love, everyone is equal at the front of love; love makes people closer to each other and makes them come together no matter what their identities are. Love is around no matter which country you are from and what language you are speaking. Love has no boundaries. The little boy confesses his feelings to the African-American girl at the encouragement of his stepfather. Love is brave, there are neither skin colors nor races in love, and we all cheer for the little boy because of his braveness. Totally there are ten stories and everyone can find some touching details in some stories because they are closely related to our life and I believe thats why it s not the same as Hollywood romance comedy, its special gentleman style humor and lightly moving plot are not like a raging flame but can still give us warm and power. It makes audience feel comfortable and full of confidence that love is everywhere. Be generous and gratitude to life because love is always around us. It is a movie but it is also like what happened in our own life. Apart from the romance story in the film, we can find the epitome of British politics and the relationship between British and American. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. Bring out their opinion that they dont want to be an attendant of America. We can still catch the satire that Englishman used to show disagreement with American and their pop culture. They laugh at Americans arbitrariness and their open culture. Satire is one way of English humor. As is known to us, comedy is very influential in English film industry because the nation feels proud of their sense of humor. Mr. Bean has become the stereotype of comedy and Rowan Atkinsons face represent funny and humor. When he showed up in a movie we can predict that something interesting will happen. So even he shows up several minutes in Love Actually, he still creates happiness to the audience. On the other hand, Pretty Woman is a typical Cinderella Hollywood style romance comedy. Hao Jian claims Pretty Woman is a romantic film and studies how this movie leads the audience to enjoy the visual and ideological pleasure through inserting typical movie language. He argues the directors use of movie language and the like zero cut is a strategy to remove barriers between the characters and the audience. (Hao Jian,2002) Since there is no denying that characters are the souls of movie, this paper mainly focuses on characters personalities to conclude the genre features instead of the angle from shooting methods like montage etc. Edward represents prototype of the upper class while Vivian represents the working class in US. From my point of view, American romance comedy is more idealized just like a fairy tale and a wonderful dream because girls are eager to encounter her prince of charming like Edward and boys want to be successful and have the social status as Edward. That is to s ay, American romance story is more idealism so that the heroes and heroine are so glorious that audience wish they could become them. Vivian, the pretty woman in the movie, though she doesnt have a decent occupation, she still has her own qualities, which attract the perfect hero and win his love. I analyzed the heroine and find she has four qualities that makes she become the princess. To start with, she is frank and honest, so that she always expresses her feelings directly and doesnt hide her opinions. Next, although she is a prostitute, she still has self-respect. When she lives a comfortable life provided by Edward she still prepares to leave because all she wants is not just material things. Thirdly, she is a lovely woman, which can be drawn from her cute actions and innocent dialogue. At last, she creates her own idealism when she is a street girl and luckily her dreams come true. In real life its hard to imagine a millionaire falls in love with a prostitute, but just because of the mode of Cinderella and the prince of modern time makes audiences wish come true, the film becomes a very popular one even until today. Pretty Woman still makes sense in our society; the vision of love differs in our time. Now it seems that status, fortune and appearance have become some necessaries in matching love. Love is no longer pure love; people become together with clear intensions, for instance, the insurance of life, the standard of consumptionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It seems that people now regard marriage as a relationship instead of an institution. In the movie it tells us that family background, job, features are not so important, the most important thing is ones inner world, pure soul and warm heart. Pretty Woman inherits the traditional mode of US romance comedy, which contains handsome man, hot figure woman and happy ending story. However, this movie also praises female while some other US film would show sympathy of female like Thelma and Louise, the Color Purple and so on. All in all, Pretty Woman is a very classic Hollywood movie which is beneficial for us to study film genre of romance comedy of American. Conclusion Through the further discovery of genre study, it helps us obtain some fundamental conception of film genre in terms of romance comedy. Film genre is a long journey that in this paper I only underline a small aspect of film genre. As far as I am concerned, romance comedy is so popular that this film genre can always attract audiences attention and sit in the cinema to enjoy the movie. However, Love actually and Pretty Woman are just two stereotypes of romance comedy. There are numerous films of this type, if we want to draw more conclusions we always have many options since If Only, Five first dates, Sleepless in Seattle,etc, are classic romance story worth watching. Bibiliography: UK Film Council. http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/Default.asp An introduction to genre theory. Daniel Chandler. American Film Genres: Approach to a critical theory of Popular Film. Kaminsky, Stuart M. Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Bignell, Jonathan. Manchester University Press. 1997 Film Genre Study. HaoJian. Beijing University Press. 2002 The Film Genre Book. John Sanders. Auteur Publishing. 2009 Film Genre 2000:New Critical Essays. Wheeler Winston Dixon. State University of New York Press.2000 Film Genre:Hollywood and Beyond. Barry Langford. Edinburgh University Press. 2005 Romance Fiction: A guide to the genre. Kristin Ramsdell. Englewood,Colo. 1999

The History of Computers in Education :: Technology in Education Computers Essays

The History of Computers in Education Computers were first introduced into schools in the late 1950, however, at that time they were only used by large universities for clerical work such as accounting, payroll, and for storing student records. Computers began to emerge more and more in the 1950, but it was still uncommon to see computers in schools. Today, one will find that quite the opposite exists. Since 1977 there has been a rapid growth in the use of computers throughout schools. Today the average public elementary school has 110 computers and 98% of these schools have access to the Internet. The ratio of students to computers, as of the year 2000 is less than five students per computer (Kafer np). Since their first appearance they have greatly changed education and have proved to be useful, valuable resources both in and out of the classroom. In the mid 1960 through the early 1970 the cost of computers decreased, while the availability of the machines increased. This allowed more schools and colleges to buy and use computers. With this new technology, teachers, administrators, and other school personnel could complete required tasks in less amount of time. One main benefit of computers in schools was that they saved the time and the energy of those who operated them. When computers were first introduced into schools they were largely used for secretarial tasks and administrative purposes. Records of the school students and faculty could all be stored on a computer. Also, inventory control and accounting could be done with a computer now. Computers allowed schools to keep and produce accurate records, which helped avoid financial disputes. Grades and attendance could now be stored on a computer drive, which also prevented disputes over miscalculations that might have occurred if records were kept by hand. Another administrative convenience introduced with computers was the ability to process and print student schedules. School resources, such as library books could now be managed through a computer system, monitoring what books were on loan and what was available. Having computer access in schools was extremely beneficial for administrative purposes.

Cyprus Financial Crisis Essay

I. Introduction With a population of only 1 million and no more than half a percent of Euro zone economy, it is surprising to find out that the financial crisis in a tiny country called â€Å"Cyprus† has enormous global implications (Long 2013). It cannot be also denied that the â€Å"Subprime Mortgage Crisis† of the US in 2008 has its downbeat domino effect to the world including European Union and Cyprus. In this report, not only the most critical reasons but also the aftermath of Cyprus financial crisis and possible alternatives which could have been done to ease such economic downturn will be carefully examined. II. Body 1. Main Reasons The root of the crisis lies when Cyprus experienced a terrible recession in 2009 when the country’s economy was diminished by 1.67% including significant reduction in tourism and shipping which obviously caused high unemployment rate (CIA 2013). Since then, the country’s economy worsen and with the 30% decline of the real estate market has put enormous pressure on a rise in non-performing loans of banking system (The World Bank 2013). Therefore, the banks ended up with Greek Private Sector debt of Euro 22 billion and accumulated $120 billion inclusive of $60 billion from Russia according to Jolly and Castle (2012). Furthermore, it is the direct result of the crisis in Greece known as Greek Debt Crisis where the second biggest retail bank in Cyprus over-invested in Greek Bonds and as a result of this, Cyprus failed on its recapitalisation where the Government is left with limited time and option as mentioned in Aljazeera news podcast (2012). Besides, Hans Humes pointed out during an interview conducted on 21 February 2012 that one of the significant reasons that led to a threat in collapse of the Cyprus Banks is 50% haircut in 2011 during Greek Crisis. Next, Cypriot Banking system is in shortage of at least 10 billion Euros in new capital plus 8 billion to satisfy public debts (Long 2013) and to make matter worse, the government has not got enough money to help out as it is impossible to raise money in bond market due to high level of borrowing rates. The country’s credit rating was rated CCC by Standard & Poor’s in September (Bases 2013) and this left the country with no benefits but high rise in percentage of yields on long term bond. This can be added as a reason to confirm that the country is not in the position to calm down its banking sector. They also made a wrong step in refusing UN’s plan for uniting their island which clearly annoyed their E.U partners and caused weak strategic position (Dixon 2013).The country’s economy could be a lot healthier if it had restructured the banks. 2. Consequences The consequences of the Cyprus financial crisis has had a surprising impact on the eurozone and raised concerns about the euro currency in the market. The two main financial institutions in Cyprus were both effected by the Greek financial crisis due to their operation heavily in the Greek Government Bond & the Greek Debt. The two largest banks in Cyprus, the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank were both heavily impacted by the Greek financial crisis through exposures to their own operations in Greece and to Greek sovereign debt. According to the latest confirmation of GDP data, Cyprus is gliding deeper into recession and no sign of financial stress in economy is abating (Ernst & Young 2013). The Cyprus financial crisis have had helped driving the value of the euro currency to fall down from $1.36 at Feb to $1.28 at the end of March and lead to rising unemployment caused industrial unrest. Many workers struggle against wage cuts. However, the unemployment rate will likely continue to rise and wages fall, contributing to reduced consumption in the next few years (Ernst & Young 2013). To resolve the nation debt a solution was introduced by the government to force depositors and savers to scarify 10% of their life savings. As part of the Government’s austerity program, the VAT rate was raised from 17% to 18% in January 2013. The Inflation rate under impact of higher VAT was also increased from 1.5% in December to 2% in January (Ernst & Young 2013). That decision let Cypriots themselves furious and they have responded by trying to clear out their accounts and that will negatively impact on the deposit security or stability. Apart from any possible instability in deposit base, Eurozone banks may see their ability to rise unsecured funding deteriorate. Cyprus became the first ever Eurozone country to apply capital controls with limits on credit card transactions, daily cash withdrawals, foreign money transfers and cashing cheques. This is a clear indication of the severity of the situation and, effectively, at least temporarily devalues Euros located in Cyprus as they are now less easy to transfer. More than a thousand bank employees marched in the capital Nicosia on Saturday, angry that their jobs could be lost in the forced restructure of the island’s economy — and that the government had proposed to nationalise pensions in order to fund the bailout. That option was later rejected. Some protests to express Cypriots’ indignation happened on the street, while parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject the tax on bank accounts. Furthermore, Banks have been closed for more than a week, to prevent depositors moving their money off the island, which would have caused the banks to collapse and made the entire situation worse. However, ATMs were still opened, and they were quickly ran out of money as everyone tried to withdraw as much as possible (Ghostagenda 2013). Many businesses are refusing to take credit cards. Retailers have faced cash-on-delivery demands from suppliers, the Cyprus Mail reported, and shelves are emptying. Some are running out of coffee, cigarettes, alcohol and soft drinks. European governments rejected taking money from depositors in order to pay for necessary bailout packages. The fact created a panic, led to emergency negotiations. For example, the discussion happened between the Cypriot government and the troika in an attempt to reach a deal which was successfully achieved that managed to save the country from bankruptcy at the 11th hour (Ghostagenda 2013). Nobody doubts that, after such this financial crisis Cyprus will be pushed into a harsh recession. According to forecast in the troika’s source, GDP will shrink by about 10% before any hope of recovery. 3. Strategies In order to overcome the current financial crisis, focusing on the economic itself is not enough. Policymakers should include the full range of factors which interact the country’s financial situation- such as economic security policies, investment, interest rate, inflation, employment, etc. (The Star, 2009). In general, developed countries need to save their incomes more and consume less; developing countries, in contrast, have to boost their domestic demand as well as export. However, Mohsen, Abdulla & Jalal (2011) states that it is much easier said than done in the real circumstance. Iqbal (2010) suggests some strategies to overcome such difficult situation and avoid this particular issue in the future: †¢ The existing financial structure of related countries is required to modify. †¢ Creating and monitoring an effective exchange rate policy. †¢ The accounting standards need to be customised to fix the global economic situation, for instance: the convergence of United State and international accounting standards in terms of changing from fair value measurement back to historical value measurement. †¢ Globally coordinated and huge fiscal stimulus †¢ More transparency in the operation of financial institutions. Application in real situation of Cyprus: The Cyprus’s banking system has done a huge number of works in order to reduce the impact of financial crisis on its economy. Encouraging international investors to invest in Cyprus is one of its most effective policies which were proved to boost its economy. By providing â€Å"attractive† policies and tax, more and more Chinese investors are interested in putting their money into this market in many different sectors, for example: shipping, construction and energy industry. They also offer the opportunity to become a permanent resident to foreigners who purchase  £300,000+ in value of property. According to the Cypriot embassy in Beijing, more than 500 properties had sold to Chinese investors so far (Shengnan, 2013). Cypriot government is also seeking the financial assistance to solve their current debt crisis, primarily happened as a result of over-invested in Greek banks. European Union (EU) is a main target which Cyprus considers as its assistance for such an issue. On 25/3/2013, Greek-Cyprus government and EU singed a commitment which stated that EU would provide â‚ ¬ 10 billion bailout fund associated with some conditions: reducing money laundering, increasing the corporate tax and the one-off tax on bank deposits (Burgin, 2013). This was planned to catch â‚ ¬5.8 billion contribution for the bailout packages from internal resources. The Cypriot government has also declaredspecial fiscal measures with the aim of improvement the investment into their main industries such as tourism and construction. However, there is no empirical evidence on how it worked for their own circumstance (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, 2009). In addition, government also boost the guarantee on deposit to â‚ ¬100,000. This action encourages foreign investors to deposit in Cyprus banks as the EU guarantee was only â‚ ¬50,000 (7/10/2008). Furthermore, the It is estimated that Gas revenues will be an important factor in solving Cyprus’s the economic malaise forecast for the next few years. The Government agreed to set up a resource fund to cope with the expenditure from gas exploitation. They hope that Cyprus can start exporting the natural gas in 2019. This should contribute to stronger growth in the medium term (Ernst & Young 2013). III. Conclusion To conclude, this is a difficult stage for Cyprus. There is still some argument on how will affect government debt sustainability when this country borrow under the economic adjustment programme and how the government debt burden can be reduce from the income of natural gas exploration and exploitation. However, the agreement was reached with the troika is a significant step in restoring the country’s economy. Everyone has shown understanding, consensus, readiness and elasticity to adopt a programme of financial reform, fiscal and structural amendment in accordance with the needs of the country. In the future, it is estimate that the Cyprus economy as well as its financial sector will overcome the current crisis and become stronger than before. The economic reform program is seen as an effective way to strengthen and stabilize the macro economy and the domestic financial. It also contributes to the revival of private economic activity, promotes economic growth and creates more jobs for labors. Moreover, in longer term, Cyprus may have good prospects for growth in the shape of its offshore gas reserves, which could help lower the debt burden of future generations (Central bank 2013).

Regions Chart and Written Response Essay

Continued to treat the African Americans poorly. Paid poorly wages just cared about having a name and the money. Social reform movement. Farmers were politically active. Social Growth of industries caused a gap between rich and poor in this region. Political views clashed. Labor union formed first here. Still had race issues. Segregation and discrimination continued. The Chinese immigrants and the white settlers had cultural differences that led to friction. Riots and discrimination laws. Gap between rich and poor. A lot of friction. Active labor unions Economic or Type of Economy Center of the industrialization during the first and second industrial revolution. Producing more than 85% of the United States industrial products. Very low on industrial output. Had textile mills and ironwork industries. Agriculture included timber, coal, iron and steel. Little industrial development. Natural Resources was their main thing such as limber and metals. Agriculture as well. Farming and manufacturing. Steel and automotive. Upper states we center of industry, a hub for shipping and transportation. Population Change  Many immigrants began to come. 1 out of 5 industrial workers was an immigrant. Very high population. African Americans leaving to new factories in the North and Midwest for a better chance at good wages and improve their  economic and social standings. Immigrants from China came to the West looking for jobs on expanding the railroads. Sparse Population. Cities grew rapidly. Large numbers of immigrants. Transportation 200,000 miles of railroads connected cities by the 1900. The necessity of coal led to mining. Great transportation systems. New railroads stretched as far as Florida. Major railroads connected the West to the East.  Railroads and Trains contained livestock and grain. Part 2 – Respond to the prompt in a well- developed paragraph of your own. Be sure to include social, political and economic factors in your response and fully address all parts of the prompt. Explain how the Second Industrial Revolution affected the North, South, West, and Midwest. Which region would you have preferred to live in during this period? Why? The Second Industrial Revolution affected the North, South, West and Midwest mostly by population, economy, and social changes. Many immigrants came to these regions searching for a better life or founding out information on new technology because of this, it led to a lot of social friction between the immigrants and the settlers of the region. Political views clashed, segregation, riots and discrimination laws were happening while immigrants were coming in. These regions had to work with what they had and what they can use, this created the different types of economy such as industrial, manufacturing, farming, agriculture, etc. I would’ve preferred to live in the northern region because it was more developed in industries and technology.