Malaria - Research Paper Essays - Plasmodium, Malaria, Apicomplexa

Malaria - Research Paper Research Paper- Malaria Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite that lives both in mosquitoes and humans (9). Malaria lives in tropical and sub-tropical areas such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Haiti, India, The Dominican Republic, Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Central and South America (3). Malaria is one of the largest diseases around the world. About one out of every 20 people on earth, almost 300 million people, suffer from malaria yearly. Almost 2 million of those 300 million people die each year. Many new drugs are being tested to prevent malaria but no sure vaccine has been discovered (1). Malaria has terrorized this earth since the mid-Pleistocene age. No one knows just when malaria showed up in the Western Hemisphere however. Many say that malaria roamed the New World before the Europeans came over. Yet others will tell you that the Western Hemisphere had no contact with malaria until the end of the fifteenth century. Many other diseases similar in destruction as malaria were brought over from the old world from Europe and Africa (5). Malaria limited colonization all over the world. West Africa and Northern Australia were major hot spot for malaria attacks during the colonization of those areas. Malaria also resulted in many casualties in wars form Ancient Greece to Vietnam and present (2). The Old World supposedly gave malaria to the New World. However, the New World found the first effective treatment for the disease. In 1632, a piece of bark form a Peruvian Tree was taken to Europe by a Spanish priest. The bark was soon found to be a remedy to the constant fevers. Malaria was extremely active in Ancient Rome and Europe. However, it is proven that the malaria back then was much less destructive than it has been in recent centuries. This is because P. falciparum, the most deadly type of malaria, was not present back in Ancient Europe. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the History of malaria is unknown for quite some time in Ancient Europe. It was not until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that malaria became a problem again in Europe. The Netherlands, southern Scandinavia, Poland and Russia all experienced malaria terror. Ronald Ross was the first man to reveal the development of the malarial parasite in the mosquito (5). The new era of malariology came in the last two decades of the nineteenth century (5). Earlier theories on malaria included an idea by Alphonse Laveran in 1880, who claimed that malaria came form the mud. Malaria was often thought of as coming form bad air as well. No one knew what it cam from, they just new it was present in swamps were there was mud and bad air. However, this new era included the idea that parasites were the root to malaria. This idea is what Ronald Ross had explained. (2). This new era led to the new ideas for malaria control, which took place in the first couple of decades of the twentieth century. Malaria control was strengthened in the 1930's when synthetic antimalarials. They were very useful in the treatment of malaria. In the 1940's DDT was introduced. This was the first pesticide to be used in order to kill mosquitoes (5). This new pesticide led people to believe that with the right malaria control they could wipe out malaria. DDT was extremely successful e specially in India where a DDT spraying program brought malaria cases down by thousands in 1950. Then the mosquitoes became immune to DDT, DDT became expensive, and India had a great big problem all over again. From 1920 to 1950 antibiotics were the most widely used and best treatment for malaria. Since then, no new history has been made. The US Government continues to spend very low income on malaria research and we still have a malaria problem today (2). There are four kinds of malaria that infect humans. P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae are the four diseases humans are endanger of getting. The most severe of them all is P. falciparum. P. falciparum has horrible effects. The effects include fever and chills occurring at irregular intervals. P. vivax is the most common

All Viruses and Bacteria are Pathogens essays

All Viruses and Bacteria are Pathogens essays Viruses and Bacteria are Both Pathogenic to Humans This statement is almost true. All viruses are pathogenic but not necessarily to humans, and not all bacteria are pathogenic. All viruses are pathogenic. They may not all be pathogenic to humans, they may infect plants or other organisms. They take control of the host organisms metabolism and force it to multiply the virus. Examples of viruses that infect humans are rabies, mumps, measles, herpes, glandular fever and the infamous AIDS. They can be dispersed in many ways such as; sewage, food, contact, vectors, bodily fluids and sexual activity. We have no cure for viruses. They are very difficult to control, as they are so small and hide inside the cells of the host organism. They also mutate regularly thus stunting our efforts to find a cure. Our only chance against these obligate parasites is our bodys immune response. Viruses produce antigens which lymphocytes recognize. The lymphocytes create antibodies, which lock onto the antigens, allowing a phagocyte to engulf and digest the virus. Once the virus is severely threatened it retreats into the cells of the spinal chord. The antibodies remain within the organism, ready to strike when the virus begins its next attack. We can therefore introduce a small amount of the virus into people, thus creating antibodies and therefore immunizing them. We can immunize people against Influenza but due to the fact that it mutates regularly and new strains are constantly forming we cannot guaranty success and boosters should be kept up to date. We have not yet managed to immunize people against and HIV. The virus disguises itself and so the immune system doesnt recognize the virus until it is too late. Not all bacteria a pathogenic to humans. Some examples of pathogenic bacteria are tuberculosis, cholera and diphtheria. An example of good bacteria is E. Coli. These are the bacteria that produce vitamin K a ...

Microsoft Windows Issues - Post Software Install Coursework

Microsoft Windows Issues - Post Software Install - Coursework Example In case of conflicts with other problems, uninstall the program that may be causing conflicts and then install the intended program. After restarting the computer, install the program and see if the problem persists There are chances that the application or new software being installed overwrites the current operating system’s dynamic link libraries (DLL) files with an older version. This will therefore cause problems in the working of the installed application. Therefore, uninstalling the program will help remove this absolute file systems since they render the computer unusable and may cause conflicts to other programs as well. Lastly, the program may be conflicting with the Windows driver responsible with its functioning. Therefore, a solution is to update the Windows driver responsible for the running of the program and also installation Windows updates to restore the operating system’s dynamic link libraries (DLL)

Criminological Theories Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminological Theories - Case Study Example Society reacts by punishment, treatment, or prevention. These sequences of events come together to comprise the object matter of criminology (Sutherland, 1947). Theories are logical constructions that explain natural phenomena. They are not in themselves always directly observable, but can be supported or refuted by empirical findings. Theory and empirical research are connected by means of hypotheses, which are testable propositions that are logically derived from theories. The testable part is very important because scientific hypotheses must be capable of being accepted or rejected. Theories can be simple or complex, it depends on how relationships are made in formulating them. Human behavior tends to be very complex, almost abstract. Theories on crime causation are complex, too. Theories not only provide a framework for us to interpret the meanings of observed patterns but they help us to determine when these patterns are meaningful and when they are not (Sutherland, 1947). The case under analysis here is Cecilia's inclination to embezzle funds from her employer. Her behavior can be best explained using two sociological theories of criminology namely, Social Disorganization and Institutional Anomie. The Institutional Anomie is sometimes also called the 'American Dream' theory. This theory comes under the more widely known 'Strain theory'. Strain refers generally to the processes by which inadequate regulation at the societal level filters down to how the individual perceives his or her needs. Strain also refers to the frictions and pains experienced by the individual as they look for ways to meet their needs (the motivational mechanism that causes crime) (Messner & Rosenfeld, 1994). This theory talks of a state in which sometimes material success is evaluated as success in life. Achieving such a success might mean relieving the strain the person is under. When a person is in this state, economic success takes a very high priority in life. Contentment a nd satisfaction in life are rated only based on how much money they make or how well placed they are in society. As in the case of Cecilia, as long as she was economically stable, for example during the initial period of working, she did not resort to any type of deviant behavior. Social Disorganization theory basically refers to the failure of social institutions or social organizations (e.g., schools, family, group networking) in certain communities and/or neighborhoods. Organization can be defined as definite and enduring patterns of complementary relations and social disorganization as the weakening or destruction of the relationships which hold together a social organization such as a family (Sutherland, 1947). The lack of a proper childhood leads to a feeling of imbalance which in turn leads to the need to procure this balance. In Cecilia's case, the death of her father at an early stage and the lack of a close personal bond with her mother caused in her a feeling of detachmen t and desolation. Since she also did not have close friends, social networking was totally lacking leading to a very strong need to feel attached to something or someone. This craving leads to a depression which if not identified leads to deviant behavior which could lead to the individual developing into a

The Smell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Smell - Essay Example " "Yeah." his friend agreed, "He was really good looking and smart. But his personality doesn't really match his intelligence and appearance." I believe that this is the typical way we assess someone. We might look at their appearance and their behavior. We might listen to them while they're talking and sometimes hear about their reputation from other people. These are the basic interactions we encounter and do everyday. The senses used to assess an individual are not without restrictions. We cannot simply judge the person based on just seeing, hearing, tasting or feeling them. And we cannot simply just touch a person without reason; the same goes with taste. However there is one among the five senses that is oftentimes undervalued as a basis for judging a person's character. Nobody evaluates someone by starting with, "That guy smells." in a normal conversations. They can be read in some forms of literature like romantic novels or poetic impressions. But the writers had these words thought of prior to producing their literary works. In other words, they were planned. These things do not really happen instantly. Now that we look at it, does it mean that the sense of smell as a judge for a person's character is not worthy of merit Is the sense of smell being overlooked Probably some people think of smell as simply saying, "I have a great fragrance." or "I do not stink!" There is, however, another defi nition. When writers or chatters mention "the smell" in their writing or in conversations to describe someone, the role of smell doesn't end in the statement, "I do not stink!" Smell is further defined as the faint aroma coming from the body. I want to say that this is a more sophisticated way of judging a person, when we merge each part into one big package. I have had a very inspirational and sensational impression from one book called Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind. The main character, Grenouille, was extremely gifted in the fleeting realm of scent. Unfortunately he went through a difficult childhood and had only hatred in him. The combination of the two-his gift and his hate-drove him to his erroneous cling to "the perfume." His obsession led him to murder a woman so that he can use every part of her body, including her hair, to make the greatest scent that is the only one in existence in the entire world. The scent he created was not artificial, but rather it contained the natural essence of the woman while she was still alive. What Grenouille did was to preserve her every waking moment as fresh as possible. The people who experienced to get a whiff of the perfume felt as if they reached the goal of desire, as if the snow melts in the radiance of the morning sun and collapses down on the ground. Grenouille was not only an expert in c ompounding but he also had an amazing skill of pulling out what's real from the public. That skill was his unique sense of smell which distinguished the real meaning of other peoples scent. Today, people are still conscious about how they smell. To illustrate, what is normally our task after rising from our beds What is our top priority; the first thing in our minds that we should do We could have a coffee with toast, or if we had more time, we could read the newspaper. Normally after finishing our morning routines, we would then go to work or school. Sometimes though, when we are really in a hurry, we tend to skip or forget to eat our bountiful

A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay

A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay With the coming of year 2010, the definition of â€Å"media† itself has changed the term of media now applies to many new communication technologies and many traditional media format has applied new technology to meet the needs of audiences. Thus technology and innovation have expanded media options for the public and audience, while the audience itself has changed in this new media age. The calling into question their role in democracy since many of these new media are essentially not â€Å"mass† any more (Sunstein, 2001). In light of this, â€Å"media use† should be re-conceptualized to include active and interactive, and not only passive, behavior on the part of the audience. The aim of this essay is to answer the question â€Å"In what ways do changing media formats and technologies present challenges to how audiences have been traditionally conceptualized?† author will answer the question by investigate the recent literatures and find out what resear chers recently consider the new audience and new media environment. The essay will go through the issues include the new media environment which focus on internet/online media; the notion of new audience whether the notion of audience has been changed, a comparison between historical audience and new audience will be conduct in the article; some audience theories will also be addressed in the essay such as reception theory and audience active theory, to take a look into these theory may be useful to analyse whether this theory still match the todays situation; challenge of new audience research will be the last part of the article, in this part, author will take an analysis based on the research work done by Livingstone (2004). It shows the challenges facing by audience and media research before and in the new age. By analyse those issues related with new media and new audience, there may be an answer to meet the question which be raised in the aim of the essay. Changing media environment We are in the midst of a digital revolution that is giving way to a â€Å"new information environment† (Bimber, 2003). We are facing the world with a moving target as once-new media become familiar and eve-never media emerge. The common feature of those new media is internet based. The internet made everything possible and changed peoples behavior after it emerged. Manuel Castells has argued that the flows dominate contemporary life in his book The Information Age, ‘our society is constructed around flows, flows of capital, flows of information, flows of technology, flows of organizational interaction, flows of images, sounds, and symbols (Castells, 2000: 442) the emerging of new media or the new format of media accelerate the liquidity of the world. For media user, you can whether read news on newspaper on the way to work or open the mobile phone and connect to the internet and read the news you are most interested in and check your email box anytime you want. You can also whether check the program schedule on newspaper and waiting for the program broadcast on television or just open your laptop and go to BBC website and watch the favorite drama anytime and any episode. When your tutor suggest s you to purchase a text book, you can whether go the high street book store or just go to Amazon.co.uk to buy a book in relevant cheap price. Those available choices indicate that the media environment has been changed, Producer like government, business, broadcast institution or press industry are taking advantage of internet and new technologies as it can be more globalised and fast disseminate to audiences in every corner of the world. Its different from traditional mass media but a more interactive media, most importantly, converging with new media to create a complex media-rich and liquid environment. Online media environment With no doubt, we are in the internet age now. Even in the media industry, almost every traditional mass media format has a new internet based version, online broadcast, online journal, online TV, online newspaper, online news, online games, online advertising etc. it shows both producer and audience are highly demand on the new technology based media because of the common features of those newly medium have such as convenient, easy to access and of course interactivity. â€Å"Web 2.0† is one of most important technology in newly internet space or cyberspace. Pew gave a definition of Web 2.0 the ability of people to use a range of information and communication technology as a platform to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace is often heralded as the next phase of the information society. (Pew, 2007: 2) Web 2.0 enhanced the interactivity of audience when they use online media and made them more active when they consumption news or other information. The example of famous media website which takes advantage of web 2.0 is www.youtube.com. People can not only watch video clip on it but also they can rating and leave comments on it. The hot video clips on home page usually depend on the rate of click. Moreover, people can upload their own video to the website and share the video with friends or people all over the world. At this time, audiences convert to producers. The chart below presents the result of a survey conducted in 2004 for investigate whether people prefer online or offline media to obtain information. From the chart we may find out the advantages of online media. Sources: Frank Magid Association, Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† 2004. www.online-publisher.org Although the data are gathered in 5 years ago, it dose shows the advantages of online media, people can find what they want easy and quick on internet rather than search on a news paper or television. However people in 2004 feels that use offline media are more enjoyable and satisfying. It indicates that traditional media cannot be replaced by the online media. One thing need to be mentioned is people consider both online and offline media are the same when they consider which is more reliable and trustworthy. It is different in my country, in China; most people prefer trust online media rather than offline media controlled by government. News media Take news consumption as an example. People traditionally obtain news and information from newspaper and TV News broadcast channel. But nowadays, the internet version of newspaper becomes more and more adoptable for audience. JOEY KA-CHING CHAN and LOUIS LEUNG (2005:7) suggested ‘online news media distinguish themselves from traditional media in a number of ways: they are interactive; they offer convenience, which embodies easy access, searchable features and the ability to cross-reference through hyperlinking; and they provide multimedia features. Being interactive is a important feature for new media, audience are not only passive receive messages but engage with the news event and trying to explore what happening behind news by search related news on the internet. Matt Carlson (2007) mentioned the rise of online news search engines allows users to set their own parameters governing the section of news according to personal preference. Matt took Google News as an example in h is article and states that Google news always reports a story from different side of view which may force the authority to be more democracy. ‘I want this to be a force for a democracy. One of the things that makes us objective is we show all points of view. Even if you disagree with one, we give you both the majority and the minority point of view. The ones you dont agree with are education. Its nice to know what the other side is thinking. Youll see left-leaning ones as much as much as you see right-leaning ones. Frankly, the software doesnt know the difference between left and right, which is good. (quoted in Kramer, 2003: n.p.) it just like King (1998: 26) argued that interactivity not only describe the high level of control and interactive with content but also present the increasing interactive with news producer such as feedback availability. Audience nowadays becomes more and more powerful in this new media environment. Audiences in historical perspective Before discuss the challenge of conceptualize new audience, it is necessary to take a look into audiences in history. Marie Gilespie (2005: 14) gives us a brief introduction of this perspective. He suggests in most research about media and communication in twentieth century, the researcher usually focus on todays media and todays audiences with the popular medium like television. However, the idea of the audience can be traced back to ancient times. And Marie think it is important to learn the lesson from history when something can be similar or entirely new ‘In history, audience means a face-to-face audience in the presence of a communicator or entertainer, whether at a political meeting, the theatre or a concert (Marie 2005: 14) Denis McQuail (1997: 3) use classical Graeco-Roman audience definition to identify the audiences feature today: Planning and organization of viewing and listening, as well as of the performances themselves Events with a public and popular character Secular content of performance-for entertainment, education and vicarious emotional experiences Voluntary, individual acts of choice and attention Specialization of roles of authors, performers and spectators Physical locatedness of performances and spectator experience We can find that some of the features of Graeco-Roman audience are similar with todays audience in mass media environment. The only obviously difference is mass media eliminated the limitation of co-location. Even in todays internet media background, some of the features above still match the todays audience, that is, no matter media environment changes, there are some characteristics will not change. This not means there will be no challenge to conceptualized new audience in new environment based on new technology. The aim of discussing the historical media audience is to find the link between history and nowadays society. Although the environment and technology has changed a lot, there are still many common features maintained from ancient time to mass media age and from mass media age to new media age. Changing audiences ‘From a coach potato to cybernauts is the title of Eugenia Siapera(2004)s article. The author analyse the change of television audiences to online audience. The article focuses on the broadcasters website such as BBC Channel to investigate the relationship of audience online and offline (TV broadcast). It is the fact that people gradually adopt into the new media environment. And it begins to change the notion of audience. Siapera (2004: 15) suggested the notion of audience has been expanded by the inter-media. The audience has been hitherto most interactive in the digital media age. (Rob cover 2006: 16) ‘Coach potato usually describe people who always sitting behind television and watch TV program. This image usually presents more passive way of people receive message from producer. However audience becomes more and more active. The new technology offers different platform for audience to interact with other audiences or the producer. Take fandom as example, Audiences no wadays can easily form or find a fan club on website such as blogging and forum, more over the broadcasts website usually design and develop the certain function to allow audience track their favorite star or program (Siapera 2004: 09) For example, ‘EastEnders (the BBCs soap opera and one of the most developed programme sites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/) has regular updates on what is happening in the soap, a chat room, newsletter, message board, and voting on what should happen to characters/storylines. The producer may be influenced by the audience opinions to adjust the storyline or what happened next to gain more audiences support. It is what I mentioned before that audience can interact and influence the producer in the new media age. The channel established by producer on internet made audiences more easily to send their feedback to the producer. The reason why producer take audiences opinions serious is because in todays world, the audience can be seen as consumer , ‘I suggested, is adopted by those who conceptualize the audience as a market (Livingstone 1998a) and the profitability of program is only standard to justify whether it should be continue or stop. Some American drama can continue make and broadcast for many seasons such as ‘Friends but some are not. ‘The ultimate power of internet fandom is in controlling the actual life and death of a series. For fans of a show, that power is usually in the hands of a network executive or, for a syndicated series, a production company. (Victor Costello and Barbara Moore 2007: 16) It depends on whether there are many audiences like it or not. It again, indicates that audience being more and more powerful which can influence both producer and context. Reception under new media environment The phenomena stressed above may challenge the traditional reception theory in mass media age. Reception theory points out that ‘Audience interpretations or decoding have been found to diverge depending on viewers socio-economic position, gender, ethnicity, and so forth, while the possibilities for critical or oppositional reading are anticipated, enabled or restricted by the degree of closure encoded into the text or genre.'(Marie Gillespie 2005: 40) Audience reception research towards television study revealed parallel connections between the conventions of television and viewers decoding strategies like the soap opera viewer builds up an understanding of the characters, puzzles over the secrets, eagerly anticipates the cliff-hanger, guesses the outcome of a subplot, recalls when appropriate the significant events from past episodes, etc., all in accordance with the conventions of the genre (Livingstone, 1998). It just like Cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggested in his theor y of encoding and decoding. He argued that audiences not just passive accept text but people can create their own mean of the text and the communication process should not be linear model such sender-message-receiver model rose by Shannon. The following chart is Halls Encoding and Decoding model, in the model, hall stressed the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader. We may find that even the halls model neglected the relationship between sender and receiver. As I mentioned before, the audience nowadays can influence the producer. So I suggest that todays communication process is a loop which every element in the process can be influenced by other elements. And nowadays, with the internet developed, the relationship between the text and the reader may convert to between the text and reader and other readers. Take times online as example, reader may write comments towards specific news and share the comment with other reader. The interactions within those readers which may influence the result by interpret the meaning of text. The two step flow theory also has been challenged by new media age as the process of decentralized the authority. The internet enhanced the availability of information flow. If people may express their opinion on the public space on the internet, Twitter can be a good example; audiences are more and more interested in tracking what other peoples point of views. At the same time the power of opinion leader becomes more and more declined. It is one of the reason why Twitter and youtube.com being successful. Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the New Media Environment With no doubt, the newer media environment enables audience to be more active, it not only means that audiences have muti-channels on the new cable television but also suggests that audiences nowadays have a wide range of medium choice. Perse (1990: 3) argues there are two dimensions of audience activity. The first one is a qualitative component and describes type of activity. It includes selectivity, evolvement, and utility. Audiences can easily target what they want to receive from the new media such as internet. Take online news as example, www.bbc.co.uk allows audience to customize their own home page. People can choose the type of news or information they may interest in and put them together on the home page of BBC website like the picture below: It has been changed a lot from traditional ‘one to many model to ‘one to one model which means highly customized and personalized design based on the cookie technology and web 2.0. The new media technology can help you to filter what you may not like and try to enhanced personal relevance with their audiences. And audiences become more selective and evolve with the context they received. Livingstone (2004: 6) suggested that the new media environment expended the range of issue and arguments in ‘active audience theory. Audiences or the media user become more active which means they are more selective, self-directed. Can new media environment blurry the boundary of being a producer and receiver. Changing relationship between audiences and producers A growing number of ordinary citizens are actively producing media content, challenging these traditional notions. We have seen an unprecedented level of citizen participation in media content-making, with the prevalence and use of blogs, chat rooms, forums, and citizen journalism (Bowman Willis, 2005). The â€Å"former audience,† a term coined by Dan Gillmor (2006), is now actively participating in content generation for a greater variety of media on a scale we have never seen before. Those large numbers of people are able to be more involved in the news and content making process itself. Typical media use is more active and interactive than it has been in the days when a handful of companies controlled content and dissemination. Consequently, the once distinct roles of â€Å"the elite producers of content and the mass consumers of content† are shifting, and the â€Å"distinction between producers and consumers of content† is blurring (Howard, 2004, p.11). A Pew study found 57% of teens who use the Internet create content online (Pew, 2005). People use digital media to share their favorite news and information with others, by emailing or posting on other sites. Until May of 2008, youtube.com and facebook.com ranked 3rd and 4th most visited website on internet. This information indicates audience keen on produce their own video or context on internet and express themselves which also means there has been a shift in power from large media institution to ordinary people. Challenging of audience study in new media age Livingstone (2004: pointed out three main challenges which audience research facing for recent age. Those challenges include the gap between what people say and what people do in real life and the unclearly relationship between text and reader, for example the reception theory and the debate on the process of encoding and decoding and also the question of media effects which may influence audiences. Furthermore, the demographic factor should be considered in audience research just like other social science diversified audience from different demographic background may interpret the same message differently. Those challenges have been existed in mass media age. The question is dose the challenge will be modified in new media or their will be some new challenge towards internet/online media age? Livingstone (2004) gives us the answer in his article called the ‘challenge of changing audience he suggests that all the old challenges towards mass media research still exist, and in s ome extent the challenges has been magnified in todays internet media background. It is more and more difficult to find out what online audience practices in their private space such as their bedroom. What they said on online chatting room may totally different with their own behavior in real life. This type of real practices or experiences is hard to record compare with to investigate the audience in a public space such as Movie Theater. Even to research family television experiences in audiences living room is more achievable than to investigate the online audience as Livingstone argues that online audience and online experience is more personal and private. It leads to the difficulties when conduct observation and interview research. Despite the issue of privacy, the cookie may be a good tool to track online audiences behavior when they surfing on the internet. It may track what part or type of website are most frequently being click by online user, this technology now being widely used in website design, such as www.amazon.com, the most famous online book ret ailer, customized the home page when people login to the website. There will be some book on the suggestion list which based on you pervious practice like keyword scan or the book you being purchase. The second challenge raised by Livingstone is about the relationship between text and reader. He suggested when this challenge met the online media environment, it brings both practical and theoretical problem. Not like data collected from traditional mass media, new media researcher need to process uncountable data gathered from internet to analyse the relationship between the text and the audiences. In addition, large portion of data are temporary and mean less. More over the notion of text itself has been modified in some extent in online environment. For most of online user (include online media researcher), they have no idea with the hypertext. It is the source of the online content, producer or website designer develop the online world by this hypertext rather than the text we familiar with in real life. Again, the blurring of producer and audience also can be seen as a challenge to research in to the relationship between the text and receiver as the notion of receiver itself has been changed. The last point draw by Livingstone is about moral panic related with online media such as the question about whether internet will result harm to young people or children. This challenge has been inherited from television age. Researchers tried to identify the harm towards young audience caused by the violent movie, TV program, comics or other threatens factors. ‘At present, these moral panic centre on the internet, with anxiety expressed about violent, stereotyped, commercially exploitative or pornographic content and about the reinforcement of individualistic, lazy, prejudice, uncritical or aggressive actions. (Gillespie 2005: 12-13) Compare with traditional media, internet is more accessible for any resource on the virtual world. It is the reason why some researchers prefer to ban the online media rather than to take an in-depth research towards it. Take online game in China as an example. The famous MMORPG World of Warcraft is quite popular within Chinese player. 5 million accounts have been created in this online game in Chinese mainland. Many young people spent much time on playing online game in the virtual world. This phenomena draws socialist attention, they worries about those young people may be affected by the violence game like World of Warcraft, however most of them just want ban this online game in China without doing any research on other related area to investigate why young people addicted to this game. Some so called ‘psychologist even use electric shock to ‘help those young online game addicts. Doubtless, challenges faced by new media research can be trace back to history, however some new problems gradually out and beginning to be addressed (Hine 2000) Conclusions We are now in the liquid world. The new information environment, enabled by digital technology (internet), has changed the relationship between audience and media. Although the new audience still maintain some features from traditional audience, some new features of audience has been addressed by new media researcher. Audiences are becoming less passive and more in control of the use of media platform. They can be more selective and evolved with new media they can decide when, where and what type of the information they need to engages with. Audience now my decoding context better while they share their comments with other audience, also if they want, audience can convert to producer and create their own content on cyberspace. The classical audience theory need to be modified to suit the new environment such as the encoding and decoding process, as the audience becomes more powerful than ever before, they can influence the producer and messages producer created that is the communica tion process in new media age should pay more attention the interactive between producer and audiences. In addition, the two-step flow model has been challenged in online environment as audience nowadays are less influenced by opinion leader but peer review on internet offered by other audience. In the new media environment, the challenges, both old and new problems, which media researcher facing still exist. It is difficult for researcher to record online audiences practice and their experiences since the privacy of online behavior. In addition the new model of text hypertext becomes a challenge for explore the relationship between text and receive in new media environment. Moreover some researchers consider the online media can harm for young people and been a threat to society. It leads them to be more reluctant to do more complex research into this area. The analysis of the issue in this article suggests that even if most features of audience and media which addressed in past r esearch still suit todays situation, the changes in media technology and format do cause the challenges about how we conceptualize audiences. Reference Marie Gillespie (2004) Media Audiences, Open University Press, Chapter 1 pp40 Livingstone, S. (2003) ‘The Changing Nature of Audiences: From the Mass Audience to the Interactive Media User, pp. 337-59 The Blackwell Companion to Media Research. Oxford: Blackwell. Livingstone, S. (1998) Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation, 2nd edn. London: Routledge Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage. Hall,S.(1980) ‘Encoding/Decoding in Hall, S., Hobson, D., Lowe, A. and Willis, P. Culture, Media, Language, London, Hutchinson Bimber, B. (2000). The study of information technology and civic engagement. Political Communication. 17:329-333 Livingstone S. (2004). The Challenge of Changing Audiences: Or, What is the Audience Researcher to Do in the Age of the Internet? European Journal of Communication, Mar 2004; 19: 75 86. Livingstone, S, (1998a) ‘Audience Research at the Crossroads, European Journal of Cultural Studies 1(2): 193-217. Sonia Livingstone (2006) The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2006; 608; 233 ROB COVER (2006) Audience inter/active: Interactive media, narrative control and reconceiving audience history.New Media Society 2006; 8; 139 Joey Ka-Ching Chan, Louis Leung (2005). Lifestyles, reliance on traditional news media and online news adoption. New Media Society, Vol. 7, No. 3, 357-382. Frank Magid Association (2004). Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† www.online-publisher.org Sunstein, C. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Pew Internet American Life Project (2007, May 7). A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users Bowman, S. C. Willis (2005). The future is here, but do news media companies see it? Nieman Reports, 59(4):5-9 Howard, P.N. (2004). Deep democracy, thin citizenship: The impact of digital media in political campaign strategy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 597:1-17. Matt Carlson (2007). BLOGS AND JOURNALISTIC AUTHORITY: The role of blogs in US Election. Journalism Studies, Volume 8, Issue 2 April 2007, pages 264 279 Kramer, S. (2003) ‘Google News Creator Watches Portal Quiet Critics With â€Å"Best News† Webby, Online Journalism Review 25 September, King, E. (1998) ‘Redefining Relationships: Interactivity Between News Producers and Consumers, Convergence 4(4): 26-32. Victor Costello and Barbara Moore (2007) Cultural Outlaws: An Examination of Audience Activity and Online Television Fandom. Television New Media 2007; 8; 124 ELIZABETH M. PERSE. (1990). Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the Newer Media Environment. Communication Research 1990; 17; 675 Eugenia Siapera. (2004). From couch potatoes to cybernauts? The expanding notion of the audience on TV channels websites. New Media Society 2004; 6; 155 Fernando Bermejo (2009) Audience manufacture in historical erspective: from broadcasting to Google.New Media Society 2009; 11; 133 Alexa Traffic Rank for YouTube (three month average). Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com. Retrieved 2009-08-26. Accessed @ 15th Dec 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6900001.ece#comment-have-your-say Accessed @ 1st Nov 2009 http://media-ucn.co.uk/Lecture%20notes/EncodingDecoding%20Lecture.htm Accessed @ 6th Jan 2010

Malaysia Country Report Essay -- essays research papers fc

As the world prepares to move into the twenty-first century, many nations are rapidly developing their agricultural and manufacturing sectors. As these burgeoning industries become a larger part of the nation’s economy, the nation finds its population restructuring and streaming to the areas of growth. Just as the people are trying to compete for their survival, the nation is fighting its way to center stage in the world economy. The development of these countries is tied to the world’s economy, as is evidenced by the uneven development within each of the nations. Malaysia’s growing role in the world economy is likewise intertwined with the development of its industrial regions. Malaysia’s economy is centered on the production of rubber, timber, tin, and petroleum. Almost all of the country’s production of rubber and palm oil is raised solely for export. Historically, rubber was the dominant export, but now it is palm oil in terms of square miles used to cultivate it. Rubber, like â€Å"no other major commodity in the world,† was subject to â€Å"dramatic and rapid shifts in sources and derivation of demand† (McHale, 9). Thus, Malaysia has been moving away from its complete dependency on rubber for its income, and begun to diversify its economy. The peninsula’s forests produce approximately 1,100,000 tons of timber each year, and about two thirds of that is exported. Up to 1965, Malaysia was producing 40% of the world’s tin supply. However, with its quickly diversifying economy, Malaysia no longer depends on tin as a substantial part of its income. Small amounts of other useful minerals can be found all over Malaysia , as it is a naturally abundant land. Its major exports are electronic equipment, machinery, petroleum, palm oil, rubber, timber, and tin. The biggest trading partners are Japan, the United States, and Singapore. Other trading partners include the United Kingdom and Russia. About two thirds of the land on the peninsula is devoted to the cultivation of rubber, and Malaysia produces more than a third of the world’s rubber. Tin is the second largest export, and has been mined on the peninsula since the 17th century. Since Malaysia’s exports are mostly raw materials, and raw materials are susceptible to wildly fluctuating market prices, Malaysia’s economy is easily affected by market swings. For example, just a one cent fall in the price of rubber would decre... ...Cal Clark, eds. The Evolving Pacific Basin in the Global Political Economy. United States: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 1992. Cheok, Cheong Kee and Lin Lean Lim. Demographic Impact on Socio-Economic Development The Malaysia Experience. Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University, 1982. Drabble, J.H. Rubber in Malaya 1876-1922. Malaysia: Oxford University Press, 1973. Jomo, K.S. Growth and structural Change in the Malaysian Economy. London: The MacMillan Press Ltd., 1990. Lim, David, ed. Further Readings on Malaysian Economic Development. Malaysia: Oxford University Press, 1983. Lim, Lin Lean. Population and Development: Theory and Empirical Evidence. Malaysia: International Book Service, 1983. â€Å"Malaysia.† Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 1973. McHale, T.R. Rubber and the Malaysian Economy. Singapore: M.P.H. Publications, 1966. Peng, Khor Kok. Recession and the Malaysian Economy. Malaysia: Institut Masyarakat, 1983. Schatzl, Ludwig H., ed. Growth and Spatial Equity in West Malaysia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988. Yee, Lo Sum. The Development Performance of West Malaysia 1955-1967. Malaysia: Heinemann Educational Books, 1972.

Before 1905 the opposition to the government of Tsar Nicholas II was of no consequence Essay

The Tsar was not in serious Jeopardy in 1905 Throughout his time as Tsar, Nicholas II was faced with constant threats due to terrorist groups such as the peoples will. Many of these groups were oppressed by ‘The reaction’ that began under the reign of Alexander III, however not all opposition was destroyed. This meant that Nicholas was in constant Jeopardy. This essay will discuss whether or not Tsar Nicholas II was truly in serious Jeopardy during the events of 1905. The Russian revolution which began in 1905 was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian empire. Factors such as industrialisation, urbanisation, bouts of economic depression and a rapidly increasing population all contributed to undermine the order and stability of the regime. In light of the opposition he received, Nicholas created a Duma as a result of the October Manifesto in order to appease the masses. Before the creation of the Duma in 1905 however, political parties were illegal in Russia because Nicholas was a strict autocrat. There were three main groups which opposed tsardom during the period 1881-1905: the Populists, the Social revolutionaries and the Social Democrats. This essay will discuss whether these three groups were of any consequence to the government of Nicholas II before 1905. Populism began in the 1870’s. It was a revolutionary movement that thought the future of Russia was in the hands of the peasantry. The Populist’s were not peasants themselves, but members of the middle and upper classes. The Populist’s began to try and teach the peasantry about how they were going to lead the revolution by beginning a scheme called â€Å"going to the people†, however this did not work as well as they thought as many of the peasants did not understand or accept the revolutionary message being preached to them. This caused, in desperation, some members of the populist’s to turn to terrorism. In 1879 members of the Populist’s broke off and formed a separate group â€Å"the peoples will† with intention of killing members of the ruling class. This group, with little over 400 members, was responsible for t he assassination of Alexander III in 1881; however this act of violence weakened, rather than strengthened the movement. The Populist’s were of little consequence for the government of Nicholas II during his reign, however by the late 19th century most other revolutionary groups were inspired by Populist theories and methods as well as their challenge to tsardom, which would have posed a problem for  Nicholas. The second group that opposed tsardom were the social revolutionaries (SR’s). The SR’s grew directly out of the Populist movement. It extended the idea of the ‘people’ beyond the peasantry, to incorporate a growing urban workforce. However, as with most revolutionary groups in Russia, The SR’s were torn apart by disagreements with themselves, and soon emerged a right and left wing element to the party. One side wanted to follow on with the violent methods of the people’s will, and the other saw revolution as their primary goal and used peaceful methods such as working with other parties in order to achieve their goals. Between the years 1901-1905 the SR’s were responsible for over 2000 assassinations, including the Tsar’s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei. This suggests that the SR’s were of some consequence for the government of Nicholas II as the assassination of Grand Duke Sergei as well as many other important people, without a ny retribution from the Tsar, would have portrayed him as weak and therefore the citizens of Russia may have lost respect for him. The final group to oppose Nicholas II’s government were the Social Democrats. The All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was formed in 1898. It was a Marxist party, which meant that it accepted the theories of German revolutionary Karl Marx. Marx believed history was an on-going class struggle and that two classes existed, the working class and the proletariat. Marx said that the workers were exploited by the proletariat in order to make them wealthy. They worked long hours for poor pay and would never be in a position to own anything. A deep divide soon occurred within the party however, this became known as the Bolshevik/Menshevik split. The Bolshevik’s and the Menshevik’s soon became two opposing Marxist parties. The Social Democrats, or the Bolshevik’s and Menshevik’s had little consequence for the Government of Nicholas II prior to the 1917 revolution and played a very little party in anything before 1905. In Conclusion the opposition to Nicholas II’s government prior to 1905 was of some consequence however it was not enough to instigate any major change. This lasted until 1917 when the Bolshevik’s eventually took power and turned autocratic rule into communist rule.

The Stupidest Angel Chapter 22

Chapter 22 A PERFECT LONESOME CHRISTMAS The archangel Raziel hovered outside the Santa Rosa Chapel's big cathedral window, looking through a small pane of pink glass that formed Saint Rosa's cheek. He smiled at his handiwork, then beat his great wings and flew off to find some chocolate to sustain him on his trip home. Life is messy. Would that every puzzle piece fell into place, every word was kind, every accident happy, but such is not the case. Life is messy. People, generally, suck. This year, however, the Lonesome Christmas party in Pine Cove was coming off with clarified joy, an infectious goodwill, and a general harmony of spirit that shone in the guests with a smooth, high polish – a no-mess affair. â€Å"Theo,† Molly said, â€Å"can you grab the other lasagna pans out of the back.† She was carrying two of the long stainless-steel pans herself, and she was careful to bend at the knees as she set them down on the buffet table to keep the back of her short cocktail dress in the realm of decency. It was a plunging neckline LBD (little black dress) she'd borrowed from Lena just for the party – the first low-cut thing she'd worn in years. â€Å"We could have barbecued after all,† Theo said. â€Å"I told you fucksticks that the storm would turn south,† Mavis Sand growled as she sawed the end off a baguette like the moyl at a titanic bris. (Some people's goodwill shines differently than others'.) Molly set down her lasagna and turned around into the arms of her praying mantis of a husband. â€Å"Whoa, sailor, Warrior Babe's got work to do.† â€Å"I just wanted to tell you,† Theo said, â€Å"before everyone gets here, that you look absolutely stunning.† Molly brushed her hand across her neckline. â€Å"Scars don't do that, do they? They don't just disappear overnight like that, right?† â€Å"Doesn't matter to me,† Theo said. â€Å"Never mattered. Wait until you see what I got you for Christmas.† Molly kissed him on the chin. â€Å"I love you, even if you have mutant tendencies; now free me, Lena needs help with the salad.† â€Å"No, I don't,† said Lena, coming out of the back room carrying a huge salad bowl. Tucker Case followed close behind with a stainless caddie of dressings. â€Å"Oh, Theo,† Lena said, â€Å"I hope you don't mind, but Dale is going to come by in his Santa suit tonight.† â€Å"I thought you guys were in combat,† Theo said. â€Å"We were, but he surprised me a couple of nights ago when I was stealing some of his Christmas trees, and was just losing his temper when Tucker happened along and popped him in the nose.† Tucker Case grinned. â€Å"I'm a pilot, we're used to handling tense situations.† â€Å"Anyway,† Lena continued, â€Å"Dale was drunk. He started crying, getting maudlin, talking about how he was having trouble with his new girlfriend, saying how he hated that everyone saw him as the evil developer, so I invited him here. Thought maybe if he could do something nice for the kids, it would make him feel better.† â€Å"No problem,† Theo said. â€Å"I'm glad you two are getting along.† â€Å"Hey, Theo!† yelled Joshua Barker as he ran across the chapel floor toward them. â€Å"Mom says Santa will be at the party.† â€Å"A quick appearance, Josh, then he has to get on his route,† Theo said. He looked up to see Emily Barker and her boyfriend/husband/whatever Brian Henderson coming across the room. Brian was wearing a red Star Fleet Command shirt. â€Å"Merry Christmas, Theo,† Emily said. Theo hugged Emily and shook Brian's hand. â€Å"Theo, have you seen Gabe Fenton?† Brian asked. â€Å"I wanted to show him the shirt, I think he'll get a kick out of it. You know, nerd solidarity.† â€Å"He was here a little bit ago, Brian, but then Val Riordan arrived and they were talking. I haven't seen them for a while.† â€Å"Maybe they went for a walk. Beautiful evening, isn't it?† â€Å"Isn't it,† said Molly, coming to Theo's side. â€Å"He said he was good with weather,† said the Narrator. â€Å"Shhhhhhh,† said Molly. â€Å"Pardon?† Brian said. Out behind the chapel, the dead were feeling festive as well. â€Å"He's going to do her right here in the graveyard,† said Marty in the Morning. â€Å"Who would have thought a shrink could moan like that. A little carnal scream therapy, huh, doc?† â€Å"No way,† said Bess Leander. â€Å"She's wearing Armani, she's not going to mess up that outfit.† â€Å"You're right,† said Jimmy Antalvo. â€Å"They'll just suck face and take the party home for makeup sex. But how do you know she's wearing Armani?† â€Å"You know what?† said Bess. â€Å"I have no idea. Just a feeling, I guess.† â€Å"I do hope they sing ‘Good King Wenceslas, † said Esther, the schoolteacher. â€Å"I just love that song.† â€Å"Has anyone seen the biologist's dreadful dog?† asked Malcolm Cowley, the dead book dealer. â€Å"Last year the beast urinated on my headstone three times.† â€Å"He was sniffing around a minute ago,† said Marty in the Morning, â€Å"but he went inside when they started to bring the food out.† Inside, Skinner was sitting under the Christmas tree, looking at the strangest creature he'd ever seen. It was hanging from the lower branches, but it didn't look like a squirrel, or smell like food; in fact, it had a face that looked like another dog. Skinner whimpered and sniffed the air. If it was a dog, where was its butt? How could he say hello if he couldn't sniff its butt? He took a tentative step back to study the thing. â€Å"What are you looking at?† said Roberto.

6 MBA Interview Mistakes to Avoid

6 MBA Interview Mistakes to Avoid Everyone wants to avoid making mistakes so that they can put their best foot forward during an MBA interview. In this article, were going to explore some of the most common MBA interview mistakes and analyze how they can hurt your chances of getting accepted into an MBA program.   Being Rude Being rude is one of the biggest MBA interview mistakes an applicant can make. Manners count in professional and academic settings. You should be kind, respectful, and polite to everyone you encounter - from the receptionist to the person who interviews you. Say please and thank you. Make eye contact and listen attentively to show that you are engaged in the conversation. Treat every person you speak with - whether it is a current student, alumni, or the director of admissions - as if he or she is the one making the final decision on your MBA application. Finally, dont forget to turn off your phone before the interview. Not doing so is incredibly rude. Dominating the Interview Admissions committees invite you for an MBA interview because they want to know more about you. Thats why it is important to avoid dominating the interview. If you spend the entire time asking questions or giving lengthy answers to every question youre asked, your interviewers wont have time to get through their list of questions. Since most of what you asked will be open-ended (i.e. you wont get a lot of yes/no questions), youll have to temper your responses so that you dont ramble. Answer each question fully, but do so with a response that is measured and as concise as possible. Not Preparing Answers Preparing for an MBA interview is a lot like preparing for a job interview. You pick out a professional outfit, practice your handshake, and above all, think about the type of questions the interviewer might ask you. If you make the mistake of not preparing your answers to common MBA  interview questions, youll end up regretting it at some point during the interview. Start by thinking of your answers to the three most obvious questions first: Why do you want an MBA?Why did you choose this business school?What do you want to do with your MBA after graduation? Then, perform a bit of self-reflection to consider your answers to the following questions: What are your strengths and weaknesses?What is your biggest regret?What are you passionate about?What can you contribute to an MBA program? Finally, think about the things that you might be asked to explain: Why does your resume show gaps in your work experience?Why did you perform poorly in undergraduate classes?Why did you decide not to retake the GMAT?Why didnt you provide a recommendation from a direct supervisor? Not Preparing Questions Although most of the questions will come from the interviewer, you will probably be invited to ask a few questions of your own. Not planning out intelligent questions to ask is a big MBA interview mistake. You should take time before the interview, preferably several days before the interview, to craft at least three questions (five to seven questions would be even better). Think about what you really want to know about the school, and make sure the questions are not already answered on the schools website. When you get to the interview, dont spring your questions on the interviewer. Instead, wait until you are invited to ask questions. Being Negative Negativity of any kind wont help your cause. You should avoid badmouthing your boss, your co-workers, your job, your undergraduate professors, other business schools that rejected you, or anyone else. Criticizing others, even lightly, wont make you look better. In fact, the opposite is likely to occur. You could come across as a whiny complainer that cant handle conflict in professional or academic settings. That is not an image you want to project onto your personal brand. Buckling Under Pressure Your MBA interview might not go the way you want it to. You might have a tough interviewer, you might be having a bad day, you might misrepresent yourself in an unflattering way, or you might do a really poor job of answering a question or two. No matter what happens, it is important that you keep it together throughout the interview. If you make a mistake, move on. Don’t cry, curse, walk out, or make any type of scene. Doing so demonstrates a lack of maturity and shows that you have the potential to buckle under pressure. An MBA program is a high-pressure environment. The admissions committee needs to know that you can have a bad moment or a bad day without completely falling apart.

Should sick people pay more for health insurance Research Paper

Should sick people pay more for health insurance - Research Paper Example However, I do not think sick people should pay more for health insurance. This is because doing so would create several ethical issues that may in turn lead to crisis. It is worth noting that the value of life cannot be quantified by money. Making sick people to pay more for health insurance would create some shadow of discrimination amongst the people in the society. The feeling of not being wanted would set in the sick. Surely the sick need the support of the society to keep them psychological and emotionally strong. They need this support more than the healthy. When such a thing happens, we would be killing these people by making demanding much from them instead of supporting them. Besides, sickness is not a permanent condition thus it is wrong to assume that if someone is sick today, then they will be sick tomorrow. It is therefore unnecessary to make people pay more when their conditions are not permanent. It will therefore inhuman to subject the sick in more expenses when they need our

How to improve the poor customer service rating Research Proposal

How to improve the poor customer service rating - Research Proposal Example This research will help readers take corrective action in relation to customer satisfaction and improve their customer service rating. The increased use of Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVRs) has hindered personal interaction between consumers and the service providers, leading to dissatisfaction and discontentment of consumers. Therefore, there is a need to rectify this problem and divert to more consumer interactive models of customer service. The goal of this investigate is to provide an interactive customer service model that will increase customer service and in turn increase customer satisfaction and service ratings. Case studies have shown that by eliminating the barrier between customers and service providers, the customers feel more appreciated and better served. It has also been proven that this increases customer retention rates. This will be done by adopting a face to face sale of company’s products to consumers, a process that will be very interactive through product sampling, answer query session and feedback about the product. The customer will be able to interact personally with the service provider and ask questions about the product i.e. how it works, what ingredients have been used to make it, what its limitations are, how long the product will serve the customer among other questions the customer might have. This solution will also enable the customer feel well served since his/her complains/concerns will be handled immediately without the hustle of having to follow up through phone calls. By eliminating barriers, more customer interactive model will be adopted that will hel p accomplish the first objectives of this research, i.e., to make customer service interactive and also the second objective by ensuring that customers are satisfied with services provided. Most customers are not satisfied with the service they