Novartis Pharmaceutical Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit

Amy Velez, et al. , v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. is one of the largest gender discrimination lawsuits ever to go to trial. The class action lawsuit claimed Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NPC) practiced sex discrimination against female employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Wilson 2010). The plaintiffs are nineteen women presently or formerly employed by NPC in sales related positions. They claimed the NPC discriminated against them in various ways, including compensation, promotion and promotional opportunities, personnel evaluations and by adverse treatment of women who take maternity leave.They seek injunctive relief, back pay and front pay, and compensatory and punitive damages (US District Court Document). The class action lawsuit later grew to include 6,200 women employed by NPC. The time period of the discrimination was from 2002-2007 Amy Velez, who had twins in 2001 claimed she was repeatedly passed over for promotions by men who had inferior sales numbers . She also claims to have overheard a manager asking recruiters prospective employees were married or had children. Wilson 2010). Another woman claims she was told by a manager that he prefers not to hire younger women saying â€Å"First comes Love, then comes marriage, then comes flex time and a baby carriage. † (Wilson 2010). In addition, the plaintiffs claim that men in the same positions earned more money than women in the save positions. The final approval of the settlement was November 19, 2010. The settlement, which totaled $175 million, included $152. million in back wages, benefits, and adjusted wages, service payments to named plaintiffs who helped litigate the case, and attorneys' fees and costs, plus $22. 5 million in nonmonetary relief representing Novartis's commitments to revise its employment policies to eliminate sex discrimination (McGowan 2010).In response to the decision, according to NPC’s web page â€Å"As part of its commitment to fostering a di verse and inclusive workforce, NPC is implementing comprehensive programs designed to ensure that all members of its sales force are treated fairly. NPC still denies these claims but admits some of its employees may have not followed company policy. NPC will also substantially revising its human resources policies, revamping its personnel management systems, and strengthening its commitment to ensuring gender equality in the workplace These practices by NPC took place over a five year period between 2002-2007. The severity of the claims shows an escalating conflict. There were repeated offences. First here was awareness of differences; a couple female employees knew they were being passed over for promotions. This continued to annoyance; more female employees learned they were being continually passed over for promotions. Later to frustration; when the female employees learned that certain managers were not hiring younger women or women with children. Next there was anger; when sexi st comments were made by management. This conflict finally escalated to hostility and war (war being the lawsuit).NPC could have avoided this class action lawsuit by making sure all their branches were following proper anti-discrimination procedures. Inappropriate comments by management should have been taken seriously by upper management. All employees should have been required to go to diversity training. Upper management should have looked more closely at the male/female promotion ratio. If only NPC’s upper management would have been more in tune with their subordinates this costly lawsuit might have been avoided.

Tragedy Designed by Fate

Tragedy Designed by Fate book report on Jude the Obscure †a book Written by Thomas Hardy in the 19th century, Jude the Obscure is a masterpiece known by the world. It tells a story of Jude Fawley, the hero, and Sue, the heroine. Jude Fawley, a village stonemason, was always dreaming of going to the Christminster, a city modeled after Oxford. He spared no efforts to study Latin and Greek by himself. Although he was looked down upon by many people, he was still full of passion and confidence and eager to become a scholar. But his two-year- arriage with Arabella, a superficial woman who abandoned him later was terrible.Then he left for Christminster to pursue his goal and met his cousin Sue, his true love in the meanwhile. However, Jude failed in career and love, which I think were both fate-designed cases. No matter how diligent he was, Jude was impossible to get higher education because of his working-class Identity. university was only available for the upper-class. And this un fair fact couldnt be changed. In the first chapter, Jude's teacher Phillotson told him that he could choose his future by hard-working nd attending the university. But on the contrast, it adds to the tragic feature.Compared with Arabella, Sue was a free-spirited and well-educated woman. Before she and Jude lived together, Sue also experienced an unsatisfying marriage with Phillotson. So they were both afraid of getting married because they thought that marriage might ruin their love. They raised three kids including Jude's elder son delivered by Arabella. However. at the same time. they were at the mercy of social bias for their illegal relationship. They constantly suffered unemployment and had to ove from town to town, seeking employment and housing.Happy life no longer existed when Jude's elder son killed the other children and hung himself. The son left behind a note which simply read, â€Å"Done because we are too many. † I was astonished when I read this plot. The socia l pressure and their miserable experience even turned an Innocent boy to blame himself. That was cruel. After that, Sue suffered miscarriage, changed sharply and turned to church. She regarded their Illegal marriage as the sin of their children's deaths. At last, Sue remarried Phillotson as a alvation and Jude was lured by Arabella again.Jude drowned himself in the alcohol and after one desperate visit to Sue in freezing weather, Jude became seriously ill, ending his life miserably. I think their tragic life was victim of the age when Christianity was of great power. With the strict social rules, they could hardly fight back. What they could do In difficulties was to listen to the god and walt to see what would happen. Those invisible forces were even able to transform a person who used to be intelligent, open-minded and passionate into a numb and dead-alive person. port on Jude the Obscure By shirley_zy68 —-a book report on Jude the Obscure †-a book higher education be cause of his working-class identity. University was only available for the upper-class. And this unfair fact couldn't be changed. In the first chapter, delivered by Arabella. However, at the same time, they were at the mercy of social turned an innocent boy to blame himself. That was cruel. After that, Sue suffered miscarriage, changed sharply and turned to church. She regarded their illegal back. What they could do in difficulties was to listen to the god and wait to see what

Effects of Quantitative Easing on Food Prices Research Paper

Effects of Quantitative Easing on Food Prices - Research Paper Example Eventually, this leads to inflation. This paper demonstrates the effects that come about because of employing quantitative easing on food prices. Rise in food prices One of the established effects of quantitative easing is that it results to a rise in food prices. The reason behind this fact is that quantitative easing entails making of more money in order to assist in solving the situation affecting the economy. However, making of more money contributes in undervaluing the present ones in the economy of a country. Therefore, the country tends to experience hyperinflation. The inflation results to a rise in various commodities. Some of these commodities include raw materials associated with the production of food. Rise in raw materials especially in the agricultural sector forces most of the producers to increase the selling price of their products. Eventually the final consumer ends-up buying food at a higher price than usual. In every financial year, food producers tend to look on when they can be able to make more profits from the price of their commodities. Therefore, the producers are forced to increase their prices with an aim of avoiding incurring losses when inflation occurs especially because of quantitative easing (Duncan 162). ... Most of the small-scale farmers stops farming because of rising prices of various agricultural commodities ending up reducing their production. When most of the small-scale farmers fail to produce more goods as expected, the price of food in the market rises. In some cases, most of the small-scale farmers’ stops enacting agricultural related activities because of farming difficulties due to rise in prices of commodities. This creates a high deficit on the farm products hence a rise in food prices. Rise in international prices of raw materials and agricultural products Apart from the small-scale farmers being affected by inflation because of quantitative easing, large-scale farmers also tend to experience the same effects. Apart from the above outlined examples, showing effects of inflation due to quantitative easing, inflation also causes a rise in the import price index. This means that various raw materials related to agriculture like farming inputs that include fertilizers tend to rise in their prices. Some of other imported agricultural inputs that tend to rise in their prices because of inflation include farming machines and chemicals. Moreover, some of the seeds imported from other countries rise in their costs due to inflation. Failure of farmers to access the inputs contributes to low production of food hence rise in their prices. High cost of inputs makes most of the farmers fail to buy much of the products contributing to a decline in their activities. A decline in farming activities means that the production of law materials will eventually be low. This contributes in making the prices of the produced food rise. Rise in cost of activities in food manufacturing industries There is established evidence that inflation cause

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 18

Case Study Example nt of employees will be done purely on the basis of merit and the management skills in case of leadership positions.For the role of supervisors, the fittest candidate would be one who has the technical knowledge to guide the team as well as have good interpersonal communication skills for managing the people at work.Instead of a one-day training program, the new policy has the provisions of conducting a three day induction program that provides a detailed insight of the work and initial introduction with the existing employees. The company aims to return value to their employees who are willing to add value to the organization. The company believes in providing the best remuneration package in the industry as per the best standards (Armstrong 2006). This is done through competitive fixation of wages for the employees. Apart from the compensation packages, there are several allowances and perquisites that are offered to the employees.The company also believes in providing health benef its and taking care of the medical needs of the employees and their families. The company believes in equal and fair opportunities for both men and women at workplace. The new policy proposes that women should have equal representations as compared to men in the role of supervisors. This would also create fair and transparent communication practices in the workplace. The senior employees and the managers would engage into period communication and take feedbacks from the operational staffs in the process. This would ensure total involvement of the employees and reduce the chances of any communication gap in the process.The company disapproves the collective bargaining agreement between the employees and the union. The following suggestion for improvement could be provided to the human resource manager of FVI as the past recruitments have resulted in a failure rate of 40% amongst the number of candidates who were recruited. In the past, the supervisors were selected on the basis of their

Leadership Style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership Style - Essay Example leadership ensures that leaders and employees interact in different ways and subsequently build close relationships that promote progress within the organization. Transformational leadership is the most effective leadership style because it does not only focus on the results, but also the process by which results are realized. The most vital aspect of transformational leadership is that it allows leaders to motivate, inspire, and encourage their followers in a way that promotes individual growth and development (Kuckartz, 2010). Additionally, leaders are encouraged to harness and nurture talents, skills, and knowledge possessed by employee. In other words, this style of leadership makes it easy for leaders and their followers to identify their points of strength and subsequently discover ways to grow, develop, or improve personally and professionally. When it comes to transformational leadership, both the process and the results are critical. The process fosters close relationships that subsequently enhance well-liked interactions. For the results, motivation and inspiration are evident in the organization as far as transformational leadership is concerned. For example, leaders who embrace cultural diversity and promote the same in an organization play an important role in developing varied talents within the

DIscussion questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DIscussion questions - Assignment Example Getting paid more than your fellow employees gives you a psychological advantage and one is made to believe that is getting treated special. But keeping in mind the tasks I had to deliver and the number of hours I was forced to work in order to meet deadlines never gave me personal satisfaction. I had friends in others companies in the same industry and they were getting paid almost as much as me but there was one major difference. The difference was that they were only responsible for accounts related work. They had a separate tax department that handled tax related works and had a storage supervisor who was responsible for checking and maintaining the stock level. So that meant I was doing task of three people all alone. Although the level of pay made things look reasonable, the level of commitment, focus and hard work always made me feel that I was being over worked and the incentive giving me was comparatively less. This feeling and heavy schedule went on forcing me to resign fro m work and opting for a different place. Technology has really made it easier for us to gather information on compensation; explore the Glassdoor website at http://www.glassdoor.com Click on the Companies and Reviews, then Best Places to Work feature and check out some of the company reviews and salary information, remembering that this is unsubstantiated, anonymous information. What did you find on this site? How useful do you think it is? The website contains a vast number of things related both, to the companies and the employees. The overview of the company is given along with a list of salaries being taken by employees at different positions. The average salary and the range of salaries for each department/position are given. This gives a fair idea of what starting pay should one expect and as time goes on how much raise in pay scale should be expected while staying at the company. A percentage of number successful, unsuccessful and waiting list (neutral) candidates are also gi ven. A prospective employee may analyze his chances of getting through in the interviews. Reviews of employees is also an important aspect, as one may get to know how well a company is treating its employees and understand whether he/she can adjust to such an environment. The number of jobs and positions available along with the job description helps one to assess whether to apply for the job or not. The thing that I found most useful was the information and split in categories of how people manage to get an interview. Most prospective employees don’t know how to apply and what is the best mode of applying. Some may simply use the online portal while others may try getting a referral in a company before they even apply. They may be some individuals who go straight up to recruiting agencies and ask for their help and guidance. By analysing the information on people actually getting an interview, the possibility of managing to get an interview becomes much higher. Using Table 1 2.1, which two programs for recognizing employee contributions do you feel are most worthwhile from an employee motivation standpoint and why? Table 12.1 Employee Motivation Merit Pay Incentive Pay Profit Sharing Owner-Ship Gain Sharing Skill-Based Design features Payment method Changes base pay Bonus Bonus Equity Bonus Change in base pay when skill Frequency at payout Annually Weekly Semiannually or annually When stock sold Monthly or quarterly When skill or competency Performance measures Supervisor’

Analysis paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Analysis paper - Essay Example He adequately explains that tough laws on gun control will not be effective since it will affect about two percent of the one third of the 200 million guns in private ownership who own hand guns and who use these guns in serious crimes. He further explains that most of the handguns used in serious crimes are purchased privately from local pawn shops and gun shops which would not be affected from the gun laws (James, 126). While this happens Wilson argues that majority of the guns that would be subject to these laws would compromise the ability of victims of the climes to defend themselves since the guns are often used in self defense purposes. James (126) states that this would be centrally to the objectives of the gun laws of disarming citizens who own guns illegally and are more likely to use them commit crimes. Instead, the tough gun law would reduce the number of law-abiding citizens owning guns to use in areas with high crime levels. He further argues that the most effective way of discouraging individuals from owning and carrying illegally acquired guns is through police search and street frisks where individuals who are caught carrying guns without permits are arrested and charged. However the frisks must be based on reasonable suspicion and not mere hunch. Additionally, the police frisks must be aimed at detecting illegal guns, arresting suspects and avoids harassing innocent citizens in the name of searching illegal weapons (James, 127). According to Wilson, each police officer could be given a list of individual suspects who are members of a known criminal gang, on parole or probation, and live within the officer’s beat. The officer could conduct frequent search to ensure that the individual does not possess illegal weapons. This is because these individuals do not possess these guns to engage in criminal activity, but to protect themselves from other armed gangs or individuals who oppose them. In most cases the

Generic Strategies Model by Charles O. Godornes Essay

Generic Strategies Model by Charles O. Godornes - Essay Example In order for these businesses to be successful they have to follow and practice a certain Generic Strategic model which would be Cost – Leadership, Differentiation or Focus. Cost – Leadership is where a business has a low level of differentiation or low level of costs in order to have a competitive market price edge to the market. Businesses that wish to venture and be successful in this type of strategy must focus on lowering their costs and offer value to their customers by producing effective products. Companies should be alert in controlling and monitoring their production costs, overhead costs, and their costs on research and development and in their service costs, so that they could offer a competitive price to the market. Companies should also invest in state-of the-art manufacturing technology in order to lower their costs which would lead to its primary goal which is having competitive market price. In differentiation strategy, businesses create value to their market by offering products which are unique in features and in characteristics; these are products that meets the customers’ preference and satisfaction by charging customers with a premium price. Companies that practice differentiation strategy must charge its customers with a premium price in order to attain its unique products which satisfies and meets the customer’s preference by producing high – end quality products which would also charge companies higher costs. In order for companies to have differentiated products they have to have superior quality, advanced technological features and etc. And in focus strategy, companies focus and pay very close attention to its core competencies or in its smaller segments to offer its products to a particular group of customers in the market, this strategy is commonly used by smaller companies.

Bureaucratic budgetary process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Bureaucratic budgetary process - Essay Example The social work profession must be able to confront the issues that have arisen because of the dramatic increases to longevity accomplished in the 20th century, and social workers must be ready to meet the distinctive needs of the countrys rapidly expanding aging population. The increase in the number of elderly necessitates an increase in the number of social workers equipped to deal with the specific challenges of the elderly. However, at this point, workers currently working in the field note that there is a desperate shortage in the number of social workers who have the specialized knowledge and skills required to care for the elderly population. In addition to this there is a need of improving in the field of knowledge and restoring the up gradation of the techniques required in subject. Technologies change, time changes and along it the principals of management in the field of old age care change and it is only logical to take the most of the technologies available monitored by newly applied principals. Consisted of exercises that would help them share memories and feelings about common subjects and enhance feelings of belonging, share personal background to increase understanding of self and others, stimulate reminiscence to enhance feelings of identity and self-worth, promote resolution of past emotional issues, promote interpersonal awareness by increasing knowledge about the backgrounds of others, work through unfinished or unresolved feelings about mother or mother figure/father or father figure, and practice reminiscence in a group setting to strengthen identity and self-esteem. Everyone participated with guidance and direction on the topic at hand. As a leader of this group I acted more as a facilitator and listener. I had to get the group involved by directly asking them questions one at a time. Thus, it can be stated that the goal of the study was to improve recall, cognition, and communication skills along with

The Daimler Chrysler Case Essay Example for Free

The Daimler Chrysler Case Essay QUESTION 1: How would you evaluate Daimler’s choice of partner/target? What is in your opinion the main reason for the troubles in integrating the two companies? The Daimler-Chrysler merger represent an example of poor partner selection when engaging in cross-border collaboration. Cultural and strategic differences between the two companies have significantly affected the outcome of the merger and should have been taken into consideration in the target choice phase. Strategic objectives of the two companies are opposite, with Daimler focusing on high-end, high-performance segment, and brand protection, and Chrysler focusing on more affordable and comfortable vehicles. Differences in organizational cultures, flexible and innovative on the Chrysler side, structured and bureaucratical on the Daimler side, have also played a significant role in the failure of the merger. Differences in executives pay, national regulations of governance structures and different degree of executives involvement, contributed to make the conflict even more harsh(see Appendix). Although cultural differences may be identified as the most plausible cause of DaimlerChrysler merger failure, the cause of the negative outcome is rooted in the ex ante selection and negotiation phase. Negotiations have been mainly carried on by companies’ presidents with few, if any, executives involved in the process. No consideration has been given to business differences and no agreement on the new venture structure and culture has been discussed beforehand. Moreover, while the outcome of negotiations was presented as a merger, it was more of a Daimler acquisition of Chrysler. This misbehavior was the origin of main management flaws. In fact the creation of a board with equal number of the companies’ executives and the simultaneous differences in executive pay and titles, created confusion among the employees about the nature of the relationship. When Daimler tried to take the lead of the new venture in this context, it lacked necessary leadership to effectively ma nage the company. Strategic objectives eventually clashed, due to Daimler unwillingness to give up its high-end image in order to adapt to Chrysler culture. Again, this is the result of a general failure in identifying the most appropriate partner to pursue the company’s objectives. Daimler also lacked a comprehensive analysis of business culture differences between the companies’ employees. A thorough analysis would have showed that the differences in the nature of the processes adopted by the companies could have caused significant problems when coming to the integration of the new venture. QUESTION 2: If you could turn back time and start all over again, what advice would you give to Schrempp and Eaton before the merger? Should they have considered an alliance? If so – would they be good partners for each other? Why, or why not? In order to ensure a better outcome of their merger both Daimler-Benz and Chrysler should have conducted a more extensive analysis of the partner/target culture and strategic objective and should have evaluated how these factors could have complemented their current competitive advantages. Although the merger objective was to create synergies by exploiting the two companies capabilities, one of the unspoken objectives was to take their respective products to foreing markets. In this view, Daimler choice of merging with Chrysler is seriosly flawed. The German company strongly relies on high-end products and on fancy brand image, while Chrysler targets a low-end segment. Also the integration of product lines has been flawed, as for example Jeep conveys an idea of ruggedness, insted of a luxury one. In this respect it would have been reasonable to choose a partner which deals with similar line of products in order to exploit its knowledge of the market and its distribution channels, rather than a partner like Chrysler which deals with a completly different market segment. The choice of an high-end segment oriented partner could have also contributed to reduce differences in business culture. In fact, companies which market similar product lines are likely to share similar processes and structures and hence similar business culture. On the integration side, negotiating the new venture structure and line of authority beforehand could have helped solving cultural issues. Determining such structure beforehand would have reduced uncertainties in executives roles and misunderstandings between corporate cultures. In order to make this effective I would suggest that executives from the two firms to be involved in the process, so as to develop a strong committment to the new entity’s success(BeamishBartlett, 2011). In addition, the role of the two firms should have been clarified, as this uncertainty lead to major management flaws, with each of the side trying to impose their view of the business on the other. In conclusion I wouldn’t recommend Daimler to choose Chrysler as a target. The differences in strategic objectives and culture are too big for the merger to succeed, especially given the unwillingness of Daimler executives to be open-minded toward the new culture. An automotive enterprise focused on the same segment as Daimler’s(which could eventually share some of the same processes and culture) is more recommended to achieve synergies. However, if the deal has to be made, I would reccomend to start with a temporary alliance and to remain flexible, so as to renegotiate the agreement as strategic objectives evolve and as trust is built among organizations (BeamishBartlett, 2011). References * C.A.Bartlett, P.W.Beamish, â€Å"Transnational management†, McGraw-Hill, 2011 * D.C.St. Jean, â€Å"DaimlerChrysler merger: the quest to create â€Å"One Company†Ã¢â‚¬ , Babson College, 2000

Depression and Monoamine Neurotransmitters

Depression and Monoamine Neurotransmitters Depression is no longer seen as a disorder of monoamine neurotransmitters discuss this assertion in the light of the current neurobiological hypotheses of depression The most common mental health disorder not only in United Kingdom but everywhere around the world is depression. Even more disturbing is the fact that depression disorder is estimated to affect around 10% of the people in England. Moreover, approximately 5 to 15 percent of men population and 10 to 20 percent of women population in the USA will suffer from depression during their life. Or to put it more simply, one in five adults worldwide will experience depression at some point of their lives (Kessler et al, 1997). World Health Organization described depression as state of sadness which is accompanied by loss of pleasure or interest in almost every activity. It also includes feelings of guilt, low self-worth, tiredness, poor concentration and disturbed sleep and appetite. According to the criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for depression, a person suffers from depression if it experience at least five of the symptoms during the same 2 weeks perio d. These symptoms include depressed mood, loss of interest, weight loss or weight gain, lack of energy, feelings like worthlessness and thoughts of death or suicide etc. Apart from the mental suffering that depression brings, it is also considered as one of the most often reasons for deaths. In 1996 suicide was listed as one of the leading causes of death in the USA (Mireault Deman, 1996). In other words, depression was the reason for more than 30,000 people to take their lives, which was even more than the one infected with the AIDS virus. Even more disturbing is the verifiable truth that most of the investigators believe that the number of deaths because of depression are more than the ones listed due to the fact that those who kill themselves sometimes do it in a way that looks not like a suicide because of depression (Nemeroff, 1998). The financial costs due to depression are also extremely high. Only in UK costs for the economy are estimated at around  £8.6 billion a year. R ecent research revealed that consultations with the GP for treating a depression are estimated at around  £30 million a year and moreover, treating it in hospitals costs more than  £200 million a year. Furthermore, anti-depressants are also one of the leading costs for NHS  £270 million for the last year only (Mentalhealth.org.uk, 2016). Results of recent studies also showed that the major depressive disorder increase the risk of future hearth attack or stroke (McManus, Meltzer, Brugha, Bebbington and Jenkins, 2009). Having explained how important the problem of depression is to our society, it is now important to review the hypotheses and reasons of why people suffer from it. Firstly, this essay will aim to introduce and explain the genetic factors, how the monoamine theory of depression was developed and why in the recent years depression is no longer seen as a disorder of the monoamine transmitters. In addition, this essay aims to discuss how early life stress can increase the risk of depression later in life. One of the oldest explaining of depression provided by researchers is the fact that it runs in families. In other words, geneticist determined that the ones that are blood related to the one suffering from severe depression are much more likely to suffer from this condition too than the general population. Furthermore, family, twin and adoption studies also supported the hypothesis that depression might be inherited (Sanders et al., 1999; Fava and Kendler, 2000). According to the results, around 40% 50% of the risk of depression is on genetic base. Even though the researchers were able to confirm that the risk of depression is partly genetic, there are still many difficulties in finding the vulnerable genes. This is due to the fact that depression is a very complex disorder and it is believed that it involves many genes (Burmeister, 1999). (Nestler et al., 2002). Another reason for the complexity and difficulty in the identifying the faulty gene is that it is also possible that diff erent variants in genes may cause depression in families. Additionally, as the risk of depression is only partly genetic, another important point needs to be considered the nongenetic factors such as individually specific or environmental. Results from a number of studies, including Akiskal (2000) and Fava and Kendler (2000), shed light on the importance of the stress and emotional trauma during the brain development and the importance they have in the etiology of depression. Even though there are a lot of evidences that depression is a stress related disorder, stress itself is not the leading cause of it. As a matter of fact, usually after a stressful event or situations most of the people are not becoming depressed. Indeed, experiencing a serious stress because of physical abuse or rape does not lead to depression but to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Another important point to consider is also that in general, there are gender differences in the way people respond to a stressor. To put it simply, Kendler, Thornton and Prescott ( 2001) found that even though men and women are more or less equally sensitive to stressful life events, depending on the type of stressor they tend to respond very differently. In their study they revealed that men are much more likely to become depressed after divorce or having troubles in the work place. On the contrary, it was found that women are more likely to have depressive episodes if they have difficulties in relationships, suffer from serious illnesses or death of someone close to them. Having said that, findings again shed the light into the fact that depression is very complex disorder and there are other important factors and mechanisms that need investigation. While genetic researchers continued to look to try to identify the faulty genes, neuroscientists concentrated themselves on the possible brain changes leading to depression. At the beginning most of the work was focused on the neurotransmitters of the monoamine class serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the central nervous system. The reason why researchers became interested in monoamines was because in the early 50s physicians found that depression symptoms appeared in around 20% of patients who were treated with drug reserpine which on the other hand was found to exhaust the supply of the monoamines. In other words, researchers found that these antidepressants were effective for depression as a side effect but they didnt know yet exactly how they worked. Following these results, another research revealed that there is an underlying biological basis for depression and therefore the monoamine hypothesis of depression was proposed. However, it wasnt cleared which of the monoamin es was the most important in depression. At the beginning the theory was called the norepinephrine theory of depression because the scientist thought that the affected neurotransmitter is the norepinephrine. However, several years after the monoamine theory was proposed, there was a research on the hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and its action. During the investigation it was revealed that the serotonin receptors are being blocked by the LSD which brought the question whether serotonin might have an important role in the explaining of mood disorders and specifically depression. Therefore, these findings made serotonin the most studied neurotransmitter in the depression disorder. There are several indications that there is an aberrant decreased function of the serotonergic system. The most obvious evidence of reduced serotonin synthesis comes from the studies of Neumeister, Konstantinidis, Stastny et al. (2002) and Neumeister, Nurgent, Waldeck et al. (2004) in which wa s used tryptophan depletion. The results from these studies once again revealed and confirmed that the reduction of serotonin neurotransmitter leads to the development of depressive disorder. Despite the evidences that the studies on serotonin depletion provided, its mechanism in the depressed patients it still unclear. Meyer, Ginovart, Boovariwala et al. (2006) proposed that high amount of monoamine oxidase (MAO) in the brain is one of the reasons that causes the deficiency of the serotonin. Since the hypothesis was proposed various of antidepressants were developed in order to increase the levels of serotonin in the nervous system. However, scientists realized that even though many of the produced antidepressants relieved the symptoms of depression they actually does not affect the serotonin levels. In fact, they were affecting the dopamine, norepinephrine and cholinergic systems but not the serotonin. Furthermore, there were also some drugs that acted only on the norepinephrine system but still they had shown to improve the symptoms of depression. Another important point to consider regarding the serotonin hypothesis is the fact that antidepressants dont work immediately. In fact it can take more than a month to relieve the depression (Onder and Tural, 2002). Therefore, it raises the question if depression is caused because of the low serotonin levels in the brain then why the increasing levels did not change the symptoms right after. Another limitation of the theory i s the fact that the antidepressants does not work on every depressed person. For example recently it was found that antidepressant drugs work in approximately 60 percent of the depressive patients (Gartlehner, Hansen, Thieda, DeVeaugh-Geiss, Gaynes, Krebs, Lux, Morgan, Shumate, Monroe and Lohr, 2007). This again raises the debates whether the low serotonin levels were really responsible for depression. Also, the final problem of the theory is that it is expected that the decreased levels of serotonin in human brain will low the mood. However, several studies were not able to conclude it. Actually, it was found that despite the fact the serotonin is increased by the antidepressants, the lack of serotonin in the brain does not cause the depression (it is like having a stomachache and taking a pill to reduce the pain, however not taking the pill does not mean it started to hurt you because of that), (van der Veen, Evers, Deutz and Schmitt, 2007). Following this discussion it is important to conclude that the depressive disorder is not entirely caused by the serotonin levels in the brain. The monoamine theory of depression does not sufficiently explain the pathology and treatment of depression. It is a fact that human brain is a very complex place and there is a high probability that depression is caused by a combination of factors. Nowadays, it is generally accepted that mood disorders such as depression are definitely occurring as a result of combinations of factors such as genetic, biological and environmental. The discussion above made it clear that the low serotonin levels are not the cause of the depression. Even though antidepressants do not work on everyone, it is essential to examine the other things that these drugs are doing in the brain. Interestingly, recent study has found that the antidepressant drugs not only increase the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain but in fact they can also stimulate the birth of new neuron cells in the brain which is also called neurogenesis (Lucassen, Meerlo, Naylor, van Dam, Dayer, Fuchs, Oomen and Czeh, 2010). Over the past decade, researchers are arising their interest on the fundamental process called neuronal plasticity (or neuroplasticity) which allows the brain to receive information and also to respond in an appropriate way to the same stimuli. The most studied examples of the neural plasticity are learning and memory or in other words the hippocampus of the brain. However, the structures of the brain and the neural plasticity in it can be also activated by various of other stimuli. An example of these include the environmental, pharmacological, social and behavioural. In other words, brain can be stimulated to produce new cells by positive emotions, actions, thoughts etc. These include healthy diet, active lifestyle (sport), good and healthy relationships, sex or in generally being happy stimulate the brain to produce new cells. Pharmacological stimuli such as antidepressant drugs have also been found to increase the formation of new cells and then neurons. On the contrary, bad life style like binge drinking, smoking, having a stressful relationship, poor diet and chronically experience stress is associated with loss and death of brain cells, which on the other hands is believed to play an important role in the pathology of depression. Furthermore, according to the neurogenic hypothesis of depression, the reduced neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus lead to depression symptoms. Controversially, it has been suggested that the increased formation of new neurons in the adult hippocampus is associated with successful treatment of depression disorder. As a matter of fact it rapidly became clear that neural plasticity is one of the most important process that the human brain is able to perform and moreover it is closely associated with most of the functions of the nervous system (Duman, 2004). Having introduced the topic of neurogenesis or neuroplasticity, it is now necessary to look at the factors that suppress the formation of new cells and what influence the formation of the new one. Over the past 25 years a certain amount of excellent reviews have been written on the topic of depression and stress (Kessler, 1997; Paykel, 2003; Monroe Hadjiyannakis, 2002; Tenant, 2002). Many studies revealed that the experience of stress during the development of the brain is highly associated with impact on emotional and cognitive functions (Ammerman, Van Hasselt Hersen, 1991; Fernald Gunnar, 2009). Examples of stress events associated with vulnerability to stress related disorders later in life include poverty, loss of parent, divorce of parents, substance abuse of any of the parents, physical abuse etc. (Repetti, Taylor Seeman, 2002; Halligan, Herbert, Goodyer Murray, 2007; Lupien, McEwen, Gunnar Heim, 2009; Schore, 2000). Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety are all stress related disorders which are considered as important part of chronic early life stress (CES) (Heim, Newport, Mletzko, Miller Nemeroff, 2008; Bremner, Southwick, Johnson, Yehuda Charney, 1993; MacMillarn et al., 2001). Interestingly, recent studies proposed that the loss of the neurons in the hippocampus may contribute to the developing of the depressive disorder. As a matter of fact, the hippocampus is one of the parts of the brain where the formation of neurons is a very essential process that takes place during the life of the humans and animals (Eriksson et al., 1998). Many researchers also reported that the neurogenesis in the hippocampus is able to be influenced by several factors one of which is stress (Kempermann et al., 1997; van Praag et al., 1999). In a number of studies was demonstrated that hippocampus plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of the major depressive disorder (Ho and Wang, 2010; MacMillarn et al., 2001). Moreover, in one recent stud y (Ho and Wang, 2010) confirmed the theory using animal models that stress and shock reduce the cells in the hippocampus and also that the long term use of antidepressant treatment can significantly reverse the effect. Another important evidence supporting the neurogenesis theory are the posmortem studies of the hippocampal tissue. By investigating the hippocampal tissue from depressed patients, researchers found reductions in the neuropil network as well as decline in the neurogenesis of the hippocampus (Sheline, Wand, Gado, Csernansky and Vannier, 1996; Sheline, Gado and Kraemer, 2003). Following the evidences that there is a possible link between the stress, depression and neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a study of Malberg, Eisch, Nestler and Duman (2000) aimed to examine whether the treatment with antidepressant drug will influence the neurogenesis in the hippocampus of an adult rat. It is challenging and difficult to create an animal model that can completely represent the symptoms of depression. This is due to the fact that most of the animals do not have self-consciousness, thinking abilities and most importantly they are not able to indicate the symptoms of the depressive disorders such as the depressed mood, the low self-esteem, the suicidal desires etc. However, many mental disorders including depression, consists endophenotypes which allows to be evaluated in animals. Examples of these endophenotypes that can be observed in the animal model of depression are anhedonia, changes in appetite, behavioural hopelessness, weight gain, changes in sleep etc. (Hasle r et al., 2004). Moreover, brain responses to stress is similar in rodents (Lupien, McEwen, Gunnar and Heim, 2009).   So, in order to examine the effect that antidepressants have on the neurogenesis Malberg, Eisch, Nestler and Duman, (2000) examined adult rats. During the experiments, different kinds of antidepressant drugs were used for a period of 28 days. In order to find out the effects of the drugs on the cells there were two group of rats. In short, to one of the group was given antidepressant and to the other vehicle. To label the dividing cells, four days after the last antidepressant drug treatment rats were given a thymidine analog bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and one of them were killed after 24 hours (to measure the cell proliferation) and the other one were killed after another 28 days (to determine the phenotype). The results of the study revealed that continuously treatment with antidepressants increases the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus part of the brain of an adult rats. Another very important finding that this study demonstrated is the fact that antidepressants are increasing the neurogenesis after a chronic treatment (28 days) and not a straight after the intake of the drug (short term).   These results are also consistent with the results of several similar studies (Santarelli, Saxe, Gross, Surget, Battaglia, Duman et al., 2003;). Furthermore, few recent studies also examined the effects that antidepressant drug therapies have on the cognitive functions of healthy humans. Results in one of the studies (Mowla et al., 2007) demonstrated that antidepressants positively influence the memory and other cognitive functions in the old patients that have cognitive problems. Several other researchers also demonstrated that antidepressant drug treatment of depression is associated with improvements in memory and also the cognitive functions (Allain et al, 1992). To summarize, the neurogenesis theory has been supported by many researchers that also include animal studies. As stated earlier, antidepressant drugs were found to increase not only the levels of the neurotransmitters in the brain (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine) but also to increase the formation of the new cells in the brain on in other words the neurogenesis. It is generally widely known that during the life of a person new neurons are growing in the hippocampus. On the other hand, it was also found that stress is able to reduce the neurons in the hippocampus of the brain. However, nowadays there are a lot of evidences that taking antidepressant drugs for at least month will significantly increase the neurogenesis in the brain which at the same time will reduce the depression symptoms. In contrasts with the monoamine theory, neurogenesis theory takes the right amount of time to have an effect on the brain. Furthermore, many researchers are now trying to investigate the pa rt that neurogenesis plays in depression disorder. This at the same time will help to increase the production of new cells directly, rather than focusing the antidepressants on the neurotransmitters. However, there are still many debates whether there are real changes in the neurogenesis in the brain of the people suffering from depression (Werry, Enjetu, Halliday, Sachdev and Double, 2010). Further investigation of the neuroplasticity and the antidepressant treatments will lead to better understanding of the disorder and the development of new treatments. References Akiskal, H. (2000). S27.05 Temperamental dysregulations in mood disorders. European Psychiatry, 15, p.s268. Ammerman, R., Van Hasselt, V. and Hersen, M. (1991). Parent-Child Problem-Solving Interactions in Families of Visually Impaired Youth. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16(1), pp.87-101. 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Regulation of adult neurogenesis by stress, sleep disruption, exercise and inflammation: Implications for depression and antidepressant actionà ¢Ã‹Å"† . European Neuropsychopharmacology, 20(1), pp.1-17. MacMillan, H., Fleming, J., Streiner, D., Lin, E., Boyle, M., Jamieson, E., Duku, E., Walsh, C., Wong, M. and Beardslee, W. (2001). Childhood Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology in a Community Sample. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158(11), pp.1878-1883. Malberg, J., Eisch, A., Nestler, E. and Duman, R. (2000). Chronic antidepressant treatment increases neurogenesis in adult rat hippocampus. Neurosci, 20, pp.9104-9110. Meyer, J., Ginovart, N., Boovariwala, A., Sagrati, S., Hussey, D., Garcia, A., Young, T., Praschak-Rieder, N., Wilson, A. and Houle, S. (2006). Elevated Monoamine Oxidase A Levels in the Brain. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(11), p.1209. Monroe, S. and Hadjiyannakis, K. (2002). The social environment and depression: focusing on severe life stress. Gotlib Hammen, pp.314-40. Morgan, L., Gartlehner, G., Richard, H., Thieda, P., DeVeaugh-Geiss, A., Krebs, E., Monroe, L. and Lohr, K. (2012). P-1102 Comparative effectiveness of second generation antidepressants in the pharmacologic treatment of adult depression. European Psychiatry, 27, p.1. Mowla A, Mosavinasab M, Pani A (2007). Does fluoxetine have any effects on the cognition of patients with mild cognitive impairment? A double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial. J Clin Psychopharm 27: 67-70. Mireault, M., DeMan, A. (1996). Suicidal ideation among older adults: Personal  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   variables, stress and social support. Social Behavior and Personality, 24, 385-392. Mentalhealth.org.uk. (2016). Mental health statistics: the most common mental health problems. [online] Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-most-common-mental-health-problems [Accessed 4 Dec. 2016]. 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The neurobiology of aging and the neurobiology of depression: Is there a relationship?. Neurobiology of Aging, 9, pp.120-122. ÃÆ'-nder, E. and Tural, U. (2002). Faster response in depressive patients treated with fluoxetine alone than in combination with buspirone. Journal of Affective Disorders, 76(1-3), pp.223-227. Paykel, E. (2003). Life events and affective disorders. Acta Psychiatr Scand, 108(3), pp.61-66. Sanders, A., Detera-Wadleigh, S. and Gershon, E. (1999). Molecular genetics of mood disorders. In Neurobiology of Mental Illness, pp.299-316. Tennant, C. (2002). Life events, stress and depression: a review of recent findings. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36(2), pp.173-182. van der Veen, F., Evers, E., Deutz, N. and Schmitt, J. (2007). Effects of Acute Tryptophan Depletion on Mood and Facial Emotion Perception Related Brain Activation and Performance in Healthy Women with and without a Family History of Depression. 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Summary of William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Free Essay Writer

Summary of Romeo and Juliet Scene 1 Act 1:Scene one opens with a fight on the streets of Verona between servants from the Montague and Capulet households. While attempting to stop the fight, Benvolio is drawn in by Tybalt. The heads of both houses (Montague and Capulet) arrive on the scene. Prince Escalus arrives and stops the fight, forbidding any further brawls. Montague and his wife discuss Romeo’s strange behavior with Benvolio and ask him why he is acting that way. They find Romeo and have Benvolio talk to him. Benvolio advises him to forget Rosaline, but Romeo refuses. Scene 2 Act 1:Paris asked Capulet if it would be all right if he could marry Juliet. Capulet is not sure because Juliet is so young, however he ends up agreeing with Paris. Capulet invites Paris to the feast. He sends off the guest list with a servant, that can’t read the names. He meets Romeo and Benvolio and asks them for help. Romeo noticed that the list had Rosaline on it, so he dared to go to the feast to meet with her. Benvolio again suggests to Romeo that he should forget Rosaline, he again refuses. Scene 3 Act 1:Lady Capulet talks to Juliet about marriage then tells her about Paris’ proposal. When lady Capulet tells Juliet that Paris will be at the feast, Juliet doesn’t act too excited. Nurse responds for Juliet with something that Lady Capulet wanted to hear. Scene 4 Act 1:Romeo, Benvolio, Mercutio, and other members of the Montague house go to the Capulet feast. They are all wearing masks to hide their identity. They talk it over and decide to stay for one dance. Because Romeo is still in love with Rosaline, Mercutio teases him about being a hopeless lover. Mercutio then starts a long tale about how fairies deliver dreams to humans as they sleep. Scene 5 Act 1:Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and the servants arrive at the feast in masks. Capulet is there at the door to greet them. Capulet talks to his cousin about how long ago it was when they took part in a masque. Romeo sees Julies and falls in love with her immediately. Tybalt recognizes Romeo’s voice and is ready to fight. Capulet stops Tybalt and tells him to ignore Romeo for now and try to keep the peace. Romeo and Juliet keep talking and end up kissing, Nurse runs in the middle of them and tells Juliet to go find her mother immediately.

The State of Despair in American Beauty Essay -- American Beauty Films

The State of Despair in American Beauty In life, everyone must make choices. Choices give an individual the freedom to decide upon the path to which they will follow. Since it’s beginnings, the film making industry has focused on showing the direct relationship between the choices that people make and the resulting consequences they must face. In the movie American Beauty, the character of Lester Burnham must make many important choices that could either lead to his ultimate happiness, or draw him further into his despair. In the movie American Beauty, it is evident that Lester Burnham is in a state of despair. Lester’s dull and monotonous voice introduces the audience to his daily routine of life. When Lester declares plain and simply, â€Å"This is my neighborhood, this is my street, this is my life,† he exposes the lifelessness and unhappiness to which he has become accustomed. The hopeless tone that Lester has set continues when he cynically comments, â€Å"jerking off in the shower will be the high point of my day.† He realizes his family life is no better when he becomes aware that both his disdainful wife and his troubled daughter consider him â€Å"a gigantic loser.† It is easy to recognize and understand Lester’s disheartenment through analysis and symbolic car scene. In this scene, Lester sits slouched down in the back seat with a look of emptiness while his daughter Jane sits up front, next to his wife Caroline who is driving the car. The symbolism is shown through Carolyn driving the car, as she drives the family (especially Lester). She has evolved into the decision-maker, and leader of the Burnham family. Sitting in the backseat, Lester avoids further conflict with his wife, leading him to become an even unhappier and more desperate person. It is understandable why Lester feels like a sedated visitor in his own life. It is also easy to empathize with Lester when he states that he feels â€Å"in many ways already dead.† For Lester, his life at work is nothing better than his life at home. After fourteen years on the job, Lester is asked by an efficiency expert at work to write a memo justifying his position. This requires making the first of several choices, which will ultimately affect his future happiness. Should he justify his job and continue to provide for his family or choose freedom and a new life? To answer this question the audience must examine... ....† This is the first time in the movie in which it is apparent that he wants to know his own family and is just working out how to go about doing it. But it also allows Lester to be happy, happy for Jane to experience the â€Å"best thing he once had† a true loving relationship with Carolyn. Lester finds himself not sad that he is now missing that loving relationship, but happy that he got the chance to experience it at one point. By the end of the movie, Lester actually seems sincerely happy in his thoughts, in his mind and in his life. This is the happiness that he has been searching for all along. The discovery of happiness and the extinction of despair are two of the greatest feats known to humans. Everyone chooses which of the two will ultimately rule their life, but sometimes life itself can get in the way. Lester Burnham is a man with limits, a man without the freedom to know himself, but with the ability to overcome these boundaries. Throughout this movie Lester is taken down a path to which hedonism is the roadblock and morality is the hidden passage. For some the choice will never be able to be made, but to Lester, life was much too beautiful to ignore the possibilities.

“Cyberschool” by Clifford Stoll Essay

Cyberschool is a story well written by Clifford Stoll, who shows us what Cberschool is. Cyberschool is an idea, a reform, and a solution that has been explained in the story. The idea of Cyberchool is ironic and unceremonious, or at least explained that way. The use of technology is in play, trying to expand education by using technology. As a reform, they discussed getting rid of teachers, and that would cut back lot of other opportunities. Seeing a teacher is one thing that your not able to do, and sometimes is very important to get a face to face experience. It also eliminates luxuries such as, art lessons, and field trips. All these things that are being eliminated recoup the price of what’s spent on the computers. Money as well would have to be spent on CD-ROMs for educational games. Cyberschool is said to showcase technology and train students for the upcoming electronic workplace. Author Clifford Stoll expresses Cyberschool theme to us as tremendously satirical and informal. Bringing back reform, the paper is shown that it’s supposed to help, but rather far from that. Clifford Stoll has well expressed his thoughts, and theme with a clear understanding, but still slacked on some certain occasions. The idea is just crazy, but some may find it genius. After reading Cyberschool, it kept reminding me of online classes. I have personally taken them, and find them not as bad as some may think. It is an advantage to have a face-to-face discussion with a teacher though. If at anytime have questions, they wouldn’t be able to get the same answer as a teacher would give. Cyberschool to me was a well-written plan, and had ups and downs. It could save money and cost money, for example, getting rid of teachers, and buying computers and CD-ROMs.

Business unit

I have excellent communication skills I am trustworthy I have a smart appearance Weaknesses: Nervous when speaking in front of groups I am sometimes shy when I meet people for the first time sometimes a problem My punctuality is When starting your own business there are many advantages, these vary from being your own boss, which means you are able to make your own decisions which is very convenient because everything you say goes.You are also able to work at a place that suits you, whether It being a location that Is close to your home or a place that has more attractions_ This also means that you are able to combine work and family together. You can spend more time with your family because you being your own boss means you are able to go to work when it suits you. Starting your own business also means all the profit that is made within the business is all yours. With every business although there are advantages there are also disadvantages. It could be that you work very hard and st ill not make any profit.If this happens it could be a big downer on the business and you yourself as the owner. It is also possible that you could make a loss. It can also be very stressful running your own business because all the pressure will be on you as the owner and manager of the business. Regulations and laws for business When starting a business one of the most important law is to obtain a license to operate a business Marketing and sales and hers we use direct selling and distance selling. At his and hers we sell our products directly to our customers from our store.Which gives us direct contact with our customers which with great customer service helps us to build a relationship with our customers. We also have our own online website where customers can place their order and we send them their products via delivery or shipping. Financial issues UP (LEAFLET) Legal status The business I have chosen is a sole trader business. A sole trader has the freedom to do things the wa y you want. Being a sole trader also means On the other hand being a sole trader could be quite lonely if you work alone and you will need to have wide range of skills such as marketing, finance, etc.Process for starting a business legally When starting up your own sole trader business you have to inform the HAM Revenue and Customs with the first three months of starting the business and you also have to complete a self-assessment x return and pay income tax on their profit. Businesses pay a fixed rate National Insurance contribution called and class 2 another contribution called class 4. Sole traders their own name for their business do not need to register this, but other businesses that trade under a different business name must include their own name on the business information.Formal records for example leasing arrangement, tax returns, health and safety. Every business needs to keep records. All records usually fall into two main categories, records required by the law and rec ords to help run the business. Being that my chosen business is a sole trader I will not need to register with the tax office. Customer care Customer service is key to maintaining good customer relations and growing a successful business. Customer care means trying to make the customers experience as good as possible.At His and Hers we ensure that customers get their moneys worth, we make sure the product and our service matches the customer needs, we also complaints are dealt with promptly, courteously and thoroughly. Market research At his and hers we like to find out information about existing and potential personal factors, such as their age, gender, culture, occupation, income, the products they currently use and location. There are two main ways to carry out market research, primary research and secondary research. Primary research is where we get information straight from the customers.These could include interviews, questionnaires, analyzing purchase records and feedback. Se condary research uses published information such as yellow pages, newspaper reports and articles in trade journals. Promoting and advertising your product or service Promoting and advertising your business is quite important because it helps make the business more recognizable. We usually promote advertise to give people information on products and services, we explain about changes and improvement, publicizing special offers and sales and building a positive image of the business.At His and Hers we use a variety of ways to promote and advertise our business. We have posters around the local area, we hand out leaflets, we advertise in the local newspaper and many more. We also promote our business by giving out key holders and pens with our logo and address on it. Unique selling point My business His and Hers sell pure virgin hair, they vary from different lengths to different textures. We also have appealing packaging and outstanding customer service. We also sell at very reasonabl e prices compared to other high street cosmetic stores. CompetitionMy business has many competitors such as Pass cosmetics, Shabby, beauty depot and many more. All of these hair and cosmetics shops are located all around London. Pass are very similar to my business because we both sell a variety of hair. Although Pass do sell a vary of hair whether it being human hair, virgin hair or synthetic hair His and Hers sell unprocessed virgin hair with a variety of different textures. Sources of finance When starting a business you need some form of finance to get the business started and for the running cost for the first few months. There are many different sources of instances out there.You could look into your own savings, this could be your money that you've saved, money you've inherited or money from family or friends. You could take out a bank loan which is borrowing money from the bank for a fixed period and is paid back monthly including interest, or you could get a bank overdraft which is an agreement with the bank where you withdraw more money from a current account than there is in the account. Businesses always need money to get them started, this is called a start-up cost. There are two basic costs when starting a business, this is called capital costs and tart-up working capital.Capital costs and items that will last long term such as the purchase of a building or rental deposit, refitting of a building such as installing shop displays or a shelf, equipment such as a computer or any vehicles required. Start-up working capital is needed to buy stock for production such as stationary and cleaning products. Cash flow forecasting Cash flow is the total amount of money that goes in and out of the bank account of a business. The most important factor is the closing balance, which tells you're the final amount of money in the bank at the end of month.If it's a loss, the business could be at risk because they may not have enough money to pay the bills. It is im portant for businesses to forecast cash flow to see if there may be a problem. Measure financial success for example, profit, income and costs. The financial success of a business can be measured in many different ways such as cash flow which is the closing bank balance of a business' ability to pay its debts on time, cost and income which is when businesses aim to minimize they're costs and maximize their income and profit which is this figure after costs are subtracted from income.

My Trip to Europe Essay

Since my childhood I dreamed about traveling around the world. Last year in summer my dream finally came true. I took a trip to Europe. I traveled to Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy. I went to many interesting places including the Louvre and Eiffel tower in France, the castle of Koln in Germany, the Anne Frank house and the Amsterdam in Netherlands, Mountains in Switzerland, Madame Tussauds in Austria, Manneken Pis in Belgium and many more. Well, the reason I went on this trip and got the chance to go see all these fantastic places was because of my father. He actually paid the whole expenses of my trip. I went on this trip with my friend Kaj Falk Wiklund from Switzerland. There’s only one word to describe Switzerland, and that’s beautiful. The country turned out to be extremely clean. There are not as many tourist attractions but the scenery alone was enough to full fill my trip or I would like to say more than enough. Zurich, Geneva, Interlaken are the main attraction places in Switzerland. Zurich’s multicultural flair and variety of leisure activities makes it popular with travelers from all over the world. Interlaken is considered the adventure capital of Switzerland and its more than 45 mountain railways, cable cars, chair lifts and ski lifts lead the adventurous to 150 miles of slopes and a dense network of hiking trails. The architect in Netherlands was absolutely beautiful and the cities and places we went, spoke of so much history. One of my favorite places was the Anne Frank house. All my life I’ve heard of everything she went through, but to actually be in the place she stood and struggled, to read the actual journal she wrote in, it was astounding. There was so much emotion and history, and a mix of feelings that hit me. I was just extremely honored to even be there. But we waited in line for a long time since we go there in the afternoon. Another place is the capital city of Netherlands called Amsterdam. It is the place that all the teenagers are dreaming of. Amsterdam is famous for its vibrant and diverse nightlife especially the red light district. I really have some significant memories of this place. Germany is also another place where is so much to do and so many sites to  see. The historic city Lindau, The Brandenburg Gate and The ultimate fairytale castle Neuschwanstein are the most popular places in Germany and I am really happy to get the chance of visiting there. The historic city Lindau is located near the meeting point of the Austrian, German and Swiss borders in the eastern part of Lake Constance. The Brandenburg Gate is the only surviving city gate of Berlin and symbolizes the reunification of East and West Berlin. It is regarded as one of the most famous landmarks in Europe. The ultimate fairytale castle, Neuschwanstein is situated on a rugged hill near Fà ¼ssen in southwest Bavaria. It was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castles in the Disneyland parks. Neuschwanstein is the most photographed building in the country and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Germany. Just in general, Germany had such a pleasant atmosphere and everyone was so friendly. It was truly one of my favorite countries that we went to. France is well known by the name of Paris. Paris is called ‘The city of Romance’ and ‘the culinary capital of the world’. There are so many phenomenal things to see and do so we never got bored. I had read about Eiffel Tower in my text books, but experiencing it for myself, is truly amazing and wonderful. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and were able to see the entire city from the top, which was jaw dropping for me. The Louvre was absolutely fantastic. Actually getting to see so many of the masterpieces of the world that I’ve learned about in class was mind blowing, especially when I saw the Mona Lisa. The streets were exactly the same as I had read in books. Paris, France is one of the most amazing places I had ever visited. In every country I had stayed in my friend’s house. Their families were so warmhearted. So I got the chance to learn their culture being so close. I felt different environment and culture staying with each family though they all live in Europe. But one thing is in common with everyone that they were so fascinating. While I was in Switzerland I stayed with Kaj and his family. I even attended his school there and got the chance to experience their education system. It was so cool and better than ours. In conclusion, this trip really did have an impact on my life though. It was such a great opportunity to see and really experience the different parts of the world. And believe me Norway is the most expensive country in the world. This trip planted in me, an appreciation for all the cultures and different type of people in our world. It really was a fantastic experience for me.

Family Conflicts

Family Conflicts There are a lot of things that could cause conflict among a family. Some like jealousy, infidelity, and the way you were raised. Jealousy is the natural counterpart of love; when you commit your love to one person, you want an exclusive commitment in return. Anything that threatens that commitment, whether it is another person, a hobby, a job or a situation, causes jealousy. You want the attention of the person you love; when it is taken by another person, activity or thing, you are jealous for the one you love, and jealous of whatever is claiming that person's attention.It can cause the family to fight often which causes family to drift apart which causes emotional problems between the parents and children. Infidelity affects everyone in a family not just the parents. The children take a large blow from it too. It can cause them to act out. Experts say children who learn about parental infidelity react similarly to children whose parents divorce, except the emotiona l responses to cheating are deeper and can have greater, longer-lasting impacts. Children who see a parent cheat lose trust in them because the parent was always telling them to be good.But in the end they were the ones misbehaving. The difference in between parents being raised can have a large impact on the family and how they raise their own children. If a parent was raised in a strict family they might want to pass that to their teaching styles of their own children. But if theres a strict parent and a free willing parent, they may not see eye to eye. That in turn would cause them to fight about how their children should be raised. Which could end up in a crazy custody battle.

Good Night and Good Luck and Belonging

How has the film Good Night and Good Luck contributed to your understanding the experience of belonging? In your response identify 3 observations about belonging and analyse 3 techniques used to convey this experience. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- The 2005 black and white film Good Night and Good Luck is able to present multiple views and perspective of belonging through the threats of communism and the sense of belonging that is associated by this context. The three most prominent ideas placed forth throughout the film about belonging are that belonging comes at the price of conformity, that fear can be used to silence those who choose to challenge the authority of the group and that choosing not to belong requires great courage and the acceptance of ostracism. The idea of Belonging comes at a price of conformity is strongly represented throughout the film as McCarthyism is presenting the idea that to belong or fit in one must believe what everyone else must believe in and act likewise. At the beginning of the film no one is prepared to confront or disobey what is considered the ‘right’ thing by McCarthy and his committee as they were too afraid of being accused themselves. Those that did not oppose McCarthyism and their leaders felt that they could belong as they shared a common belief and all acted in the same way to keep their sense of belonging intact and preserved. Edward Murrow uses a metaphor to display this idea of belonging through the statement, â€Å"I see a chain reaction that has no end. This quote displays that if people are pressured to conform to the majority, it will be a never ending cycle with all choice and freedom taken from the individual. A second observation of belonging I observed in the film, Good Night and Good Luck, was that fear can be used to silence those who choose to challenge the authority of the group. Joseph McCarthy uses fear to control the country by accusing anyone that opposes him by declaring them to be communis ts themselves. This fear prevents people from speaking up against McCarthy as they are afraid of being ostracised and from not belonging. This is shown when Edward Murrow stands up to McCarthy and speaks against him, and in response McCarthy discredits Murrow by claiming he is a communist and cannot be believed. Throughout the film, particularly towards the end we get the sense that choosing not to belong requires great courage and the acceptance of ostracism. At the beginning of the story we see that McCarthy has everyone under his control and he has the power of the country. However as the movie progresses we see that Murrow and the CBS news team begin to rebel against McCarthyism and are required to show great courage to do what everyone else is too afraid to pursue. Also we see that as their movement persists, Murrow is framed by McCarthy as he attempts to be ostracised from the mainstream society and not allowed to belong. Good Night and Good Luck has altered my understanding of belonging as it has opened my eyes to the negative aspects of belonging and the harmful consequences that result from belonging. The film is a strong text to be able to create awareness of belonging requiring courage as it can bring fear and conformity among those in the group.

Theraputic relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theraputic relationship - Essay Example The movie losing Isiah has evidence of the concept (therapeutic relationship); the movie is a story of a young boy (Isaiah) left in the trash by her mother. The mother leaves the child for dead after she found her missing in the dumpster she had left him. Trash collectors find him and take him to the hospital where a social worker named Margaret Lewin takes an interest in the boy, later she starts filling the adoption papers for the little boy. Margaret and Charles (her husband) want to give Isaiah a good and loving home together with their daughter Hannah. The boys mother, khaila is arrested for possession of drugs and shoplifting, she is later taken to a rehabilitation program where she heals and maintains without the use of drugs. After she leaves the program she secures a good job and finds a good place she lives, khaila later realizes that her child is well and alive. With the help of her lawyer and her counselor, khaila attempts to get Isaiah back, news that devastated the Lewins who by then considered Isaiah, their own son. The family also opens a case to fight for the boy, but the same goes for the mother, however khaila wins the case by showing that the two white parents did not expose the boy to his culture (black nation), they did not give the boy any books about blacks, had no black friends, and no black dolls. Even though the ruling was against Margarets argument was better as she defended her case by arguing that all that mattered was the love the family had for Isaiah and not political correctness. Khaila brings in an ex pert witness (psychologist) who argued that the mother had changed and that the child should grow to her own race. As the social worker takes the boy away, after her mother won the case, it is evident that the boy did not want to leave the white family. In this scene, the boy screams and cries for the Lewins,

Strategic Review based on Zara Case Study Essay

Strategic Review based on Zara Case Study - Essay Example The report presents a brief introduction to the capabilities and competence of the organization which leads to the competitive advantage of Zara over its rivals. Resource audit of Zara briefly highlights the physical, financial, and intellectual resources of the company. It also puts some light on human resource and then critically evaluates the intangible assets of the company. The report clearly mentions that vertical integration is the hallmark of Zara which is well supported by its value chain. The paper critically discusses how Zara adds value to its products to gain a competitive advantage to dominate the fashion industry. Zara is one of the most recognized global brands in the world, but it was badly affected due to the allegations of slave-labour. The incident is stated briefly in the middle of the paper. In the end, the case study configures that Zara is practicing a hybrid strategy which is combination of cost leadership strategy and product differentiation strategy. The pa per recommends few steps and target markets where Zara should venture. No doubt, due to globally changing scenario, Zara must take few innovative steps with respect to its online retailing network and expansion strategy. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0Introduction (203 words) 4 1.1 Aims and Objectives 4 1.2 Methodology 4 2.0The External Environment (1201 words) 5 2.1 PESTEL-DG (All information extracted from Appendix-1) 5 2.2 Porter’s 5 Forces 7 3.0The Internal Strategic Audit (1192 words) 9 3.1 Resource Based View (RBV) 9 3.1.1 Resource Audit 9 3.2 Value Chain 11 4.0The Company Reputation and Brand Image (486 words) 13 5.0Zara’s Strategy and Recommendations (1308 words) 15 6.0REFERENCES 20 7.0 Appendices 23 7.1 – Appendix 1 – PESTEL-DG 23 7.2 – Appendix 2 – Porter’s 5 forces 24 7.3 – Appendix 3 – Resource Audit 25 7.4 – Appendix 4 – VRIO Model 26 7.5 – Appendix 5 – Value Chain 27 1. 0 Introduction (203 words) Zara apparel has become the flagship brand of the ?2.5 billion holding group Inditex (Zara Case Study, 2013), Zara has 1,751 stores around the world with 65 in the UK alone (Inditex Group, 2013). The company’s founder, Amancio Ortea Gaona, began retailing clothes in 1963 with the first Zara store opening in 1975. He is current the third richest man in the world with a net worth of ?38 billion (Forbes, 2013). Zara’s strategy has been instrumental to its success, hence why it is so important to analyse it. This report is a strategic report which will review Zara and the industry it is in. It will primarily focus on the UK market but will also include global aspects. 1.1 Aims and Objectives This report has four main aims and objectives: To analyse the external environment To carry out an internal strategic audit To review the company’s reputation and brand image To identify the company’s current strategy and give recommendations on how they should continue in the future. 1.2 Methodology This report took an analytical approach grounded in existing literature and evidence from reliable journalistic, practitioner and government sources. All the research is secondary research based mostly upon qualitative data but also including quantitative information were needed. 2.0 The External Environment (1201 words) This section is focused to looking at the external envi

World Bank and IMF Policies in Developing Countries Essay

World Bank and IMF Policies in Developing Countries - Essay Example This paper offers a thorough analysis of current economic policies of The IMF and the World Bank, and makes evaluation of their effectiveness. The difference in viewpoint on the role of global financial institution between world economists, makes for an importance of the essay The policies of the institutions advocate free trade, liberal markets, property rights, deregulation which have been suggested by a group of rich countries to poor countries without qualification in the past. In present times, a country must qualify for certain conditions and certain policies need to be avoided. By qualification, the economic need for the policy must be established first before World Bank or the IMF lends support for the policies. the IMF and World Bank policies for the developing countries of the world should be expanded to include other things like company accountability, social and personal responsibility, corruption mitigation, WTO agreements, control of quality standards, a free banking system, welfare systems. The IMF and the World Bank are acting to control and support the international system of fiscal dependency that connects one country to the rest of the world. Certainly the role has expanded beyond the original and it will continue to expand since there will always be nations that are relatively poor in comparison to rich ones. With the help of these bodies and the correct application of the policies a country can recover to become a productive member of the international community.

Term paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Term paper - Assignment Example Non verbal communication includes the use of gestures, body languages, the dressing code and even the scent. All these convey very significant information which at times speaks even louder than verbal communication. There is also the written communication which may be in the form of letters, memos, reports, minutes, books, emails, internet and magazines. Another form of communication is the use of visuals such as graphs, maps, logos, charts among others (Alvesson 45-9). The key elements of communication include the message, the sender, the receiver, encoding, decoding, medium of transmission, and the feedback. The message is the information that is being transmitted. For communication to be effective, the message has to be very accurate, clear and correct. The central idea ought to be necessarily communicated very clearly so that the receiver is able to understand and utilize the content of the message. The sender is the person who is transmitting the message. He is the one to determine the medium to use in sending the information. The sender is therefore very important in the process of communication since he is able to determine the success or failure of communication. If the sender uses a wrong channel, the information may not reach the intended audience. Similarly, if he does not embrace the clarity of the ideas that are to be communicated, the information may get distorted and therefore not serve its intended purpose. Communication is very essential at the work place. Without effective communication in an organization, several problems are bound to arise. As such, for any organization to realize its objectives effectively there ought to be effective transmission and communication. Effective and efficient communication is critical for managers in organizations so as to perform the basic functions of management including: leading, planning, organizing, and controlling. Communication

The crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The crusades - Essay Example eds much light on many mystic forms and ceremonies yet extant, notably upon Freemasonry, the Tarot, and the later Kabalah, and is a great aid to the comprehension of the Astro-Theosophic schemes of the Rosicrucians.† (Carnahan) Another important text is the Talmud, composed of the Mishnah and the Gemara, both written in the early Middle Ages. The Talmud contains Jewish oral law and customs, although it has not been taken as religious authority by all Jews. The manuscript Toledoth Yeshu provides a Middle Ages Jewish version of the Christian gospels, in which Jesus is seen as a false prophet who used the Ineffable Name to perform miracles (Humm). The Medieval Christians used typological allegory to connect the Old Testament to the New Testament Bible. For instance, the Old Testament was seen as prophesizing Christ’s life. In the Old Testament, Jonah was freed from the whale after three days; likewise, Jesus rose from the tomb after three days. Many other Old Testament events are linked in this way to Jesus. Illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages were mostly of a religious nature. In the case of the Christians, illuminated manuscripts were usually either the Bible or a book of prayers. Jewish illuminated manuscripts include the Padua Ashkenazi Mahor (NYPL), which is a medieval Jewish festival prayer book that reflects the customs of the Jewish community in Germany. A traditional Jewish allegory in the Padua manuscript refers to Israel as a rose. An image of a Gothic gateway is used for the Gates of Mercy. During the early Middle Ages, there was much legislation concerning Jewish ownership of Christian slaves, sometimes prohibiting the situation (Glick 33). Jewish ownership of slaves was atleast partly related to the fact that many Jewish merchants specialized in long-distance trade, including transport of slaves (Glick 45). The Christian clergy tried to prevent the loss of Christian slaves into Muslim territory as well as the conversion of Christian

The article "The Health-Care Myths We Live By" Assignment

The article "The Health-Care Myths We Live By" - Assignment Example According to the study by Guallar et al., Beta-carotene, Vitamin E and high doses of vitamin A supplements are harmful. In addition, other more antioxidants, such as folic acid, Vitamin Bs, multivitamin and mineral supplements are not effective in improving and protecting human life due to major chronic diseases (Guallar et al. 850). The research by Guallar et al. has justification to support Krauthammer’s standpoint that all the supplements are ineffective because of their baseless prevention trials. Second, Krauthammer challenges a commonly held belief that Medicaid improves quality health care provision to low-income earners. He criticizes the introduction of Medicaid and its influence on the delivery of quality health services. In support of his claim, Krauthammer refers to a study by Baicker et al. According to the study, the Oregon initiated a limited plan of the Medicaid for low-income adults. Through the lottery, approximately 30,000 beneficiaries had the opportunity to apply for Medicaid and enrolled if they met the requirements (Baicker et al. 1715). However, irrespective of efforts to invest in Medicaid coverage there were no significant improvements in the measured physical health outcomes in recent years of luncheon. The study justifies Krauthammer’s claims that Medicaid is ineffective in improving contact between patients and doctors. Baicker, Katherine., Taubman, Sarah., Allen, Heidi., Bernstein, Mira., Gruber, Jonathan., Newhouse, Joseph., Schneider, Eric., Wright, Bill., Zaslavsky, Alan and Finkelstein, Amy. "The Oregon experiment—effects of Medicaid on clinical outcomes." New England Journal of Medicine 368.18 (2013): 1713-1722. Guallar, Eliseo., Stranges, Saverio., Mulrow, Cynthia., Appel, Lawrence and Miller, Edgar. "Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money On Vitamin And Mineral Supplements." Annals of Internal Medicine 159.12 (2013): 850-851. Krauthammer, Charles. â€Å"The Health-care

Genres and Genre Film Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Genres and Genre Film - Movie Review Example The director of the film,  Brian De Palma, adheres to the dictates of the genre theory. He develops a systematic plot that follows the life of criminals. He limits the story to underground industries that constitute the crime and gangster relations thereby upholding the features of the crime and gangster genre in films as the discussion below portrays. Crime and gangster is a major genre in films. Genre is a system of classification, which categorizes things in groups of similar kinds. In films, the genre influences the process of creating films since every genre addresses a unique social feature and adheres to the identified intricate features of such categories (Grant, 2003). As explained earlier, crime and gangster is a major genre in films. Such films follow the sinister actions of mobsters or criminals. Every economy has different types of criminals who make up a large underground economy thriving on different types of criminal businesses. Such films therefore delve in the industry of crime following the lives and actions of criminals as they go about developing their gangs and the conflicts that develop among the gangs (Browne, 1998). Scarface embodies the features of a crime and gangster film. The story in the film follows the life of a gangster, Tony Montana, as he enters the country and develops his criminal empire. The film shows the intricate features of the drug industry. Drugs are contraband products that dealers must protect both from the law enforcers and from rivaling gangs. In order to develop their illegal businesses, drug dealers engages in immense violence as they eliminate any forms of threats. Tony enters the industry when Frank Lopez approaches him with a request to kill a former Cuban official who threatened the prosperity of his drug market in the country. The film therefore opens up with the violence that characterizes the risky activities of criminals. As is the case with

No Mans Land Essay Example for Free

No Mans Land Essay I tiptoe through the night, scared for even my sweat to make the slightest noise as it drips off my face and onto the ground. I am not thinking of anything at the moment but my survival and how my life will be once I am free of the Soviet grip around my wrists. My heart feels like it is breaking through my ribs and protruding out of my chest with every breath I take as I run faster and faster towards the barrier that has incarcerated me over the years. As I throw myself over the eleven-foot concrete wall with barbed wire at the top, I can hear gunshots all around, and I pray they are not intended for me. I hit the cold, hard ground on the other side, but I am not even close to being safe any time soon. I am in no mans land now. I would be better off asking for someone to shoot me than to make it out of here alive. I have only one chance. At least that is how I imagined it would have been like if I were in trapped in the tribulations of East Berlin trying to escape into the desired West Berlin between 1961 and 1989. However, it is a gray December day in 2004, and if it werent for remains of the Iron Curtain and Checkpoint Charlie, people would not be able to relive that part of history or be reminded of the dictator that destroyed so many lives. The temperature was eight degrees Celsius as the gloomy sky attempted to cough up snow onto Berlin. Before that moment I had only heard of the Berlin Wall through history books and stories. I would sit and listen to travelers tales told by my courageous father who had walked through Checkpoint Charlie and into East Berlin in seventy-five. He told me how he had to exchange West Berlin money into East Berlin money at Checkpoint Charlie before entering East Berlin. Then going back into West Berlin he had to drop it in a rusty tin can at Check Point Charlie because you were not allowed to keep East Berlin money. He witnessed two tourists getting assaulted by the guards for trying to smuggle East Berlin money into West Berlin. My only expectations of Berlin came from the adventures of my dad. I expected Checkpoint Charlie to be a barricade miles long with tollbooths that have the arms that swing up and down. Similar to the tollbooths that run across the freeways of really large cities, or at the airports you go through after short-term parking. Once you pass through the chomping arms of the tollbooths I imagined East Berlin to be scattered with desolate buildings and run down streets. But as I approached the once controlling wall and Checkpoint Charlie I realized nothing was as I imagined it at all. It was like walking down any other street in a big city. A few people who were always pushing their way through the gaps that opened up between the wandering men and women, obviously in more of a hurry than anyone else on the street. Christmas lights clung to the tall buildings that ran down the streets of Berlin. People popped in and out of the busy stores, squeezing their last bit of Christmas shopping in before the Holiday. Suddenly the bustle of people slowed like a murmur in time as I stood right before the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie which are now surrounded by the commercial buildings of downtown Berlin. My gaze dropped to an engraved brick in the ground that now serves as a commemorative plaque for the Berlin Wall. A chill ran from the tip of my toes all the way to the ends of my hair as I realized how lucky I was to be standing right there in no mans land. I can now speak of the Berlin Wall, not as hearsay from a history book, but as a memory. No mans land, a memorial now, is where 171 people who attempted to escape into West Berlin were shot, and left to bleed to death like a deer on the side of the road. This area contained walls on either side with mines and stern East Berlin guards to make it almost impossible to escape. As I stood in the middle of no mans land facing East Berlin, I looked over my left and my right shoulders only to see black, wooden crosses a little taller than I am. The crosses looked as if snow had only given them the pleasure of its company and nothing else around them, when really it was just white sand covering the ground. I took a deep breath in as if I was trying to swallow it into my memory, making sure to keep it forever. I am motionless. Where the median strip of the road would have been, an American soldiers somber picture was enlarged and hoisted up on a pole staring out towards West Berlin. On the opposite side was a Russian Soldier keeping close watch over East Berlin. Below the soldiers pictures was Checkpoint Charlie. Wilted flowers surrounded this one room shack that once controlled the passage of people from East to West Berlin. Now it also stands as a memorial for people who died crossing over into West Berlin. On either side of me, there were remains of the wall still standing. I got an eerie feeling as I stared at them. My sense of time was completely altered. There I stood at one of the most historical sites imagining what it would have been like to be boxed in by a concrete wall that was suffocating you more and more each day. But when I looked around I was in the middle of one of the largest cities in Germany. It was like time slowed when I was walking through no mans land, but everything else around no mans land and Checkpoint Charlie was full of life. I was in my own little bubble. I walked about a block and returned to the normal noises and the packed sidewalks of what use to be the Soviet controlled East Berlin. My view of Berlin has been altered for the better, with a greater understanding of the saying seeing is believing.