How healthful is fish, really Can we balance mercury and omega 3 fats Essay

How healthful is fish, really Can we balance mercury and omega 3 fats - Essay Example In this respect, the level of pollution and its harmful effects on human beings as a function of the fish and seafood that we eat has perhaps been understood for a longer period of time than has the plethora of positive health effects that omega 3 can portend. Therefore, this brief analysis will consider the pros and cons of eating fish as a determinant of maintaining one’s overall health. However, rather than being a paper that is concentric on a deep and complex understanding of medical statistics and figures, the essay will seek to lay out a logical rubric, supported by medical evidence, for the reasons why the health benefits of eating omega 3 fatty acids far outweighs the overall risks of poisonous/cancerous substances that may or may not be found to a lesser or greater degree within the body of the fish or shellfish itself. In this way, it has long been understood that many types of fish and seafood act as a type of biological filtration system for the natural environmen t (Oken 1718). In this way, some (but notably not all) types of fish and/or seafood have what can only be described as unnaturally high levels of heavy metals and other types of potentially poisonous materials that have been collected in their bodies due to the types of food that is ingested as well as certain key environmental determinants. As such, as researchers have begun to understand the manner in which these creatures collect high concentrations of heavy metals and other types of potentially damaging poisons within their bodies (Rosenberg 8). Accordingly, in order to understand the ways that this effect the human being, a high number of studies have been conducted that have sought to measure and quantify and project the level to which these toxins have exhibited or will possibly exhibit in the future a negative health impact on those who regularly incorporate fish or shellfish into their diet (Marona 55). The end result of the majority of these studies have indicated that alt hough the heavy metals, to include mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and others, can have the effect of increasing one’s overall risk of developing a type of cancer, the overall statistical incidence of the increase in cancer rate is so miniscule as to not warrant a cessation of eating fish/shellfish so as to avoid the negative health consequences that are exhibited by the existence of mercury/PCBs etc (Foran 15). Such an understanding is of course at odds with some members of the medical science community that continue to put forward the idea that the existence of key poisons and heavy metals within these fish/shellfish as a function of health risk are not always exhibited within the short time span that some of these studies have taken into account (Olson 133). Naturally, when comparing the net positive of eating fish/shellfish as compared to the net health risks associated with the potential ingestion of various concentrated heavy metals and poisons, one must consi der the fact that reduction of risk with regards to the what omega 3 fatty acids provide with respect to heart health is greatly more statistically significant than the increased of risk of certain types of cancer associated with the ingestion of certain impurities. Such an important distinction is useful to note due to

Business studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business studies - Essay Example Diversity was not encouraged neither welcome. However, organizations view diversity at workplace as a positive sign and they even try to position themselves as the champions of diversity. Minority groups are no longer forced to fit-in, in fact, organizations make an effort to understand their culture and background to deal with them in harmony (Ham, Shams & Madden, pp. 60-64, 2004). This paper is an attempt to look at how an American businessperson can reach the same wavelength as his Saudi Arabian counterpart while dealing with him regarding business issues. This paper will take use of the classic research of Hofstede and Trompenaars in order to explore lesson for the American businessperson as in to understand the Saudi Arabian culture. Discussion Despite the fact that the entire world is quickly moving away from traditional concepts in all occupations, Saudi Arabia is still one of those countries, which have remained as theoretic Islamic monarchy. This means that the concept of re ligious freedom does not exist even in its theoretical form. The constitution of Saudi Arabia assumes that all the citizens are Muslims, however, it does not prohibit from being a non-Muslim. However, important here to note is that any expression of any religion, other than Islam, in public is taken as misappropriate behavior in public (Shoult, pp. 89-96, 2006). Furthermore, even if someone is found to be following any other religion even in their private lives inside their homes, police has all the right to break in, arrest, and punish those individuals. In fact, there is an entire committee of officers with the name of Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which takes the responsibility of application of Shariah Laws on every individual (Morrison & Conaway, pp. 69-74, 2006). Therefore, this means many different things. Nothing can take place, which is not in line with Islam. There are many examples. For example, no liquor would be tolerated even for cel ebration of a business deal or successful completion of a project. Women cannot wear revealing or tight dresses, in fact, it necessary for women to cover their bodies. Furthermore, a considerable distance is important to keep between men and women during their work and conservations. While meetings, it is advisable not to make any comment on the women, which are more than 12 years of age, of the family of the Saudi counterpart. Conversations should start with Islamic greeting line, which is â€Å"As-salam alaikum†, and the reply shall be â€Å"Waf alaikum as-salam† (Ham, Shams & Madden, pp. 60-64, 2004). One of the biggest problems that western businesspersons face while dealing with Saudi people is regarding the conception of time. There is a huge difference between the value, perception, importance, and concept of time in both of these cultures. In western cultures, time is equivalent to money, a very crucial resource, important to use it fully and do not waste any o f it. Business meetings have fixed timings and participants try their level best to ensure that meetings must start at the specific time. Anyone who is late is considered as lazy, lethargic, rude, arrogant, careless, irresponsible and offensive (Shoult, pp. 89-96, 2006). People do not prefer to wait for each since waiting for someone has the meaning, which any

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried Research Paper

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried - Research Paper Example The ambiguity of Tim’s dubious first person narration along with epistemological uncertainties that the narrator’s storytelling raises rather force the readers to rely more and more on the narrator as a guide through the atrocities and cruelties of war as per what to go and view the massacre and where not to. Therefore Tim’s as a narrator exploits the opportunity of being dubious to the readers just to warn them how storytelling can cheat their eyes. Referring to this epistemological uncertainty that the stories render Catherine Callaway comments as following: â€Å"The epistemological ambivalence of the stories in the Things They Carried is reinforced the book’s ambiguity of style and structure† (250) The narrator Tim himself along with his ambiguity renders the narrative an apparently believable continuity between the episodes of the novel, and hereby, sustains a progress, though little about the war, much about the spiritual progress. That is, th e narrator relates more of a spiritual journey than a military one. The surface level expectation, of the readers, that the novel tells the story of a war, is fulfilled through Tim’s effort to let the readers feel the immediate experience of war standing close to the battleground. Yet the war progresses little through these episodes. Rather the tantalizing meaning of the war continually gets developed through the elegiac continuity which exists among the episodes. The narrator, Tim O’Brien himself sits at the center of this continuity as a medium that links between the episodes. His role is more of a spiritual agent who symbolizes the progress, not of the war, but the war’s meaning or reality. Though the episodes of the narrative are not chronologically sequenced and not exclusively military-progress specific, an intangible progress prevails throughout these episodes. Being threatened and subsequently being provoked by the ambiguity and dubiousness of Timâ€℠¢s narrative techniques the readers’ attempts to muster the meaning from these episodic pictures necessarily gives birth to this meaning that war is not something conventionally assumed by the most. The stories told in twenty-two chapters of the novel â€Å"range from several lines to many pages and demonstrate well the impossibilities of knowing the realities of war† (Callaway 251). Sometimes the stories abruptly stop only â€Å"to be continued pages or chapters later† (Callaway 252). Often some stories are told by several characters part by part or randomly. Yet the validity of some stories can be questioned from the very beginning though they are told as if they are true. Referring to the possible motif behind this random fashion of storytelling Callaway comments: O’Brien draws the reader into the text, calling the reader’s attention to the process of invention and challenging him to determine which, if any, of the stories are true. As a result, the stories become epistemological tools, multidimensional windows through which the war, the world, and the way of telling a war story can be viewed from many different angles and visions. (Callaway 253) The episodes narrated by Tim serve as a set of catalysts that raise the epistemological uncertainties about the conventional perception of war. Tim recounts his experiences about the war and oft-repeatedly comments on them. He tells the story of the war when it

The Colt Revolver Essay Example for Free

The Colt Revolver Essay In the 1870s Colt’s Manufacturing Company was making new models. For example in 1872 the company began to manufacture its first breech-loaded revolver, which used self-contained metallic cartridges. After that between 1873 and 1941, Colt’s Manufacturing Company produced more than 350,000 Single Action Army Revolvers and 40,000 .45 Caliber bullets with it. In 1901 to 1960, the company had only eight presidents. Colt’s Manufacturing Company was faced with usual problems that confronted the company. With the onset of the war in 1942, Colt’s Firearms tripled its workforce to 15,000 employees in three plants. By 1955 the company was losing money and faced a deficit that was growing each month. By September, Colt’s board decided to seek a merger partner. They found Leopold D. Silberstein and his company, the Penn-Texas Corporation. In addition Colt’s Firearms became a wholly owned subsidiary of Silberstein’s holding company. From 1960 to 1994 Colt’s Firearms introduced the AR-15(which is a semiautomatic rifle). Shorter after the AR-15, the company made the M16 (which is a military full-automatic rifle). Changes came again in 1964 when the company reorganized under the name of Colt Industries and the firearms subsidiary became Colt’s Inc., Firearms Division. During the 1970s the company introduced the Sharps Rifle, Sawer Rifle, and the Black powder Reproductions. In addition Colt management also responded to an increasing demand for engraved firearms. In 1986 the company celebrated its 150 anniversary. By 1995 to 2009 Colt’s Firearms exited from a short bankruptcy and then launched a rebirth and rejuvenation. By doing so the company made ne weapons, for example different pistols and rifles that were automatic.

Philosophy And Modernity Essay Example for Free

Philosophy And Modernity Essay The conflict between Philosophy and Modernity is a never ending topic. Each of the terms is individually supported by the corresponding generations. But those who support modernity, at least at some point of life will surely support philosophy. That is the power of philosophy. Let us take a mishap as example that shows us how these two issues conflict with each other. The terrorist attacks of September 11 still haunt the minds of Americans unnerved by the enormity of the crime. We need to know what could have inspired someone to do such a thing. It is bad enough to experience such a monstrous event; to feel it is inexplicable, an act with no conceivable motive, only adds to the sense of unreality. What is the source of this hostility? What ideas, values, and attitudes give rise to it? Lewiss observation contains the seeds of the two leading schools of thought about the answer to this question. Both schools place Islamist hatred of the USA in a larger cultural and historical context. Both are plausible, and in many respects they are compatible. But they differ in what they see as the essential terms of the ongoing conflict, and in their implications for the future. One school holds that the war on terror reflects an underlying conflict between Islam and the West as civilisations. Each is united, as a civilisation, by the loyalty of its people to a narrative of their past, a common religion, and shared ideas, values, and ways of life. The current tensions between Islam and the West are only the latest of the conflicts that have occurred over the centuries. The USA is a particular object of hostility now because it is the most powerful Western country. Those who reject modernity are to be found in every nation and civilization. The second school holds that terrorists hostility is directed at the principles and values of the West. On this view, what they hate is not the West as a society or a civilisation per se, but rather the culture of modernity. Modernity was born in the West, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but it is not inherently tied to the history or customs of any one society. It is a constellation of universal values the secular culture of reason, science, individualism, progress, democracy, and capitalism that have spread worldwide in different forms and to varying degrees. By the same token, those who reject modernity, who fear and wish to destroy it, are to be found in every nation and civilisation. And invariably they hate the USA as the fullest, most persuasive, and thus most dangerous embodiment of that culture. There are as many battles within civilisations as between them. Muslims saw military success as a mark of Allahs favour. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a prominent Iranian philosopher and historian, observes, During the first twelve centuries of its historic existence, Islam lived with the full awareness of the truth and realisation of Gods promise to Muslims that they would be victorious if they followed His religion. Such verses as There is no victor but God, which adorns the walls of the Alhambra, also adorned the soul and mind of Muslims. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, the tide turned. The scientific and industrial revolutions vastly increased the wealth and the military power of the West. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the Middle East was taken over by European nations and broken up into colonies and protectorates. Today, despite decolonisation, the countries of this region remain poor and backward by comparison not only with the West but also with the booming economies of East Asia. Oil revenue has showered wealth on the region, but economic growth has been held back by layers of regulations, wasteful government enterprises and investments, not to mention corruption. Because of their strategic location, Middle Eastern countries were pawns of the Cold War but were rarely true partners or friends of either power. Now, Muslims feel they are at the mercy of a global economy driven by Western capitalism. They feel invaded by Western popular culture, which they regard as morally decadent. Israel is the salt in all these wounds a nation of people who came from the West, tore a patch of land from Islam, turned it into a vibrant, wealthy economy, and acquired the military prowess to defeat its Arab neighbours. The result of all this, is a feeling of humiliation a growing awareness, among the heirs of an old, proud, and long-dominant civilisation, of having been overtaken, overborne, and overwhelmed by those whom they regarded as their inferiors. Having tried to take on Western ways, with dismal results, they are increasingly drawn to the idea that the solution is a return to the pure Islamic faith that reigned in the days of their former greatness. The clash-of-civilisations school doubtless represents part of the truth of the matter. But it is not the whole truth, and not the fundamental truth. Its chief shortcoming is that it exaggerates the extent of agreement in outlook, values, ideas, and loyalties among people who share the common history and culture that define a civilisation. In fact, there are as many battles over these issues within civilisations as between them especially in the West. The hijackers target was a temple of modernity. At the level of fundamental philosophical principles, however, the Enlightenment period was much more important as a turning point in the West, and in a way created a new civilisation. Anti-modernism Modernity was born in the West in a radical transformation of its past. The world of the Middle Ages, built around the world-view of Christian Scholasticism, was a society of religious philosophy, feudal law, and an agricultural economy. Out of this soil, the Renaissance and Enlightenment produced a substantially new society of science, individualism, and industrial capitalism. When we examine the wider context of Islamic terrorism, it is clear that a hatred of modernity is its driving force. The cultural foundation of this new society, if we state it as a set of explicit theses, was the view that reason, not revelation, is the instrument of knowledge and arbiter of truth; that science, not religion, gives us the truth about nature; that the pursuit of happiness in this life, not suffering in preparation for the next, is the cardinal value; that reason can and should be used to increase human wellbeing through economic and technological progress; that the individual person is an end in himself with the capacity to direct his own life, not a slave or a child to be ruled by others; that individuals have equal rights to freedom of thought, speech, and action; that religious belief should be a private affair, tolerance a social virtue, and church and state kept separate; and that we should replace command economies with markets, warfare with trade, and rule by king or commissar with democracy. It is therefore misleading to call our civilisation Christian, even though that remains the largest religion in terms of adherents. The West may still be a culture of Christians, by and large, but it is not a Christian culture anymore. It is a secular culture. And that is what the Islamists hate most about us. The al-Qaeda hijackers did not target the Vatican, the capital of Western Christianity whose leaders launched the Crusades. They did not attack the British Foreign Office, which directed colonial policy in the Middle East after World War I. They attacked the World Trade Centre, the proud symbol of engineering audacity and global commerce, where businesses from scores of countries (including many Muslim countries) worked in freedom and peace, creating wealth and investing in material progress. Their target, in short, was a temple of modernity. The culture of modernity is not a Western good but a human good Modernity meant people changing their relationship with both the world and themselves. For the first time, through science, they realised that many things, such as certain weather patterns or illnesses, were not a matter of fate. The social order no longer seemed impossible to change either. Revolutions could sweep away despots and people could improve their living standards. The threat posed by the Islamist terrorists derives not from their Islamic background but from the ideas, values, and motivations they share with anti-modernists everywhere-including in the West. In that regard, they have not merely assaulted our civilisation. They have attacked civilisation as such. Civilisation is the condition a society attains when it emerges from prehistoric barbarism and begins to apply intelligence systematically to the problems of human life, by creating technologies of production like farming, technologies of cognition like writing, and technologies of social order like cities and law. The culture of modernity is one of these permanent contributions the most important. Though Western in origin, it is not a Western good but a human good. It has vastly expanded our knowledge of the world; brought a vast increase in wealth, comfort, safety, and health; and created social institutions in which humans can flourish. Anti-modernism is not simply loyalty to pre-modern stages of civilisation on the part of people who have not yet discovered reason and individualism. It is a postmodern reaction by people who have seen modernity and turned against it, who hate and wish to destroy it. This is a profoundly anti-human outlook, and there can be no compromise with it. As we take aim at the terrorists who have attacked us, we must also take intellectual aim at the ideas that inspire them.

Grendel & Existentialism Essay Example for Free

Grendel Existentialism Essay â€Å"I understood that the world was nothing; a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly-as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. † Existentialism is a philosophy that I, personally, was unfamiliar with until we talked about it in class. The relationship between Grendel and existentialism was profound to me not only in the way that it drew lines of symmetry, but in the way that it helped me to interpret the concepts behind the philosophy. This quote spoke to me because it demonstrates how Grendel is pressured into living an existentialist lifestyle by the very forces that he says push upon him. Grendel delves into the psyche of a man-beast whose only choice is to react to the world as an existentialist; the world (specifically mankind) exemplifies all of existentialism’s concepts, proving Grendel’s niche to be that of an existentialist. â€Å"Dark chasms! † I scream from the cliff-edge, â€Å"seize me! Seize me to your foul black bowels and crush my bones! † I am terrified at the sound of my own huge voice in the darkness At the same time, I am secretly unfooled. The uproar is only my own shriek, and chasms are, like all things vast, inanimate. They will not snatch me in a thousand years, unless, in a lunatic fit of religion, I jump. † [Grendel, pg. 10] Grendel knows that he is alone, despite his attempts to fool himself. This is ratified by his mother’s inability to speak to him, the fear animals have of him, and the rejection he receives from mankind. He has no explanation for anything in existence due to his inability to communicate with anyone, until the dragon comes along. â€Å"My knowledge of the future does not cause the future. It merely sees it, exactly as creatures at your low level recall things past. And even if, say, I interfere even then I do not change the future, I merely do what I saw from the beginning. That’s obvious, surely. Let’s say it’s settled then. So much for free will and intercession! † [Grendel, pg. 63] Lack of free will is another concept of existentialism. Grendel’s previously mentioned lack of communication makes him eager to soak up any idea that the dragon shares with him, and eventually he takes this to mean that his war on the mead hall was not done of his own free will, but because it was his future as the dragon foresaw it.

Microeconomic Analysis of Netflix

Microeconomic Analysis of Netflix Introduction This paper will assess the business operations of the Netflix Company from a microeconomics viewpoint examining and discussing how factors such as products supply and demand conditions, price elasticity of demand, cost of production, market entry barriers, market share, and market structure effect Netflix’s performance in their market. The paper will start with historical overview of the Netflix Company and conclude with recommendations based on the analysis suggesting how Netflix could run its future operations to stay competitive in the entertainment market and Industry. Company History Netflix began operation in 1997 as a DVD by mail rental service (About Netflix, 2017). After many years, it has morphed into the largest online television network, with over 100 million members worldwide which streams over 125 million hours of programming per day. Its members are able to watch on multiple different devices from just about anywhere, at any time. These entertainment choices include films, television, documentaries, and original programming (About Netflix, 2017). With an enterprise value of $71.47 billion, this internet giant has changed the way we consume modern media and entertainment (Netflix Enterprise Value, 2017). Netflix has frequently invested in original programming that is generated strongly based on the trends of the consumer. This company has market insight that Nielsen ratings can’t compare with. In addition to the number of people watching programming, Netflix can also tell when users watch, how long they typically watch for, what people want to see, and much more. This information is used to provide the highest quality experience for the consumer. With a large share of the online streaming market cornered, Netflix has openly said that their biggest current competitor is sleep (Netflixs View: Internet TV is replacing linear TV, 2017). Supply and Demand Conditions Supply and demand is the availability of an outcome for a certain product and the demand for that product has on cost. Meaning that if there is a low supply with a high demand the price increases or if the supply is greater with a demand that is lower than the price will likely drop. When it comes to Netflix and its supply and demand conditions, you can see that they are also vulnerable to the same supply and demand stress as other business organizations. Netflix is constantly expanding the streaming list of content providers along with their competitors such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO and other premium networks. The demand for growth in these streaming companies has driven prices upwards over the last few years. The cable industry, which is what Netflix is classified under, is continuously and quickly changing.   Advances in technology have driven the demand for cable television and companies like Netflix to have easily and quickly accessible content. In 1948, cable television originated in Arkansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania to enhance poor reception of traditional broadcast television signals in remote areas. (History of Cable, n.d.) During the 50’s and 60’s, cable subscriptions grew from 14,000 subscribers to 850,000 subscribers. From the 1990’s into the present, cable has continued to rapidly grow due to the different services that it offered customers. As customers started demanding higher quality cable service, the demand for basic cable started to decline. Satellite television originally provided more channels to their customers which increased the demand for these more extensive systems over the traditional basic cable system. Due to this high demand, the costs for these products continues to grow. The latest movement in the cable television industry is media streaming. This has caused massive growth for Netflix and similar services. Netflix has positioned itself to be a frontrunner in the media streaming industry. As a streaming provider, Netflix gives its customers the ability to watch ad free content from a large array of devices, at any time. This makes for a high demand as it gives customers more freedom than traditional cable packages. One other factor is the low cost of Netflix compared to the cost of cable subscriptions. The average monthly cable bill is over $120, which is more than a $35 average increase from the cost in 2011, while the average monthly fee for streaming services is $8 per month.   With the demand for streaming services on the rise, it is understandable that Netflix subscriptions would increase. If Netflix continues to grow its internet television concept of providing TV shows and movies that customers demand, it will hold their spot as an industry leader in the marketplace.   With very strong reception from critics and customers alike, they will need to continue with the production of original content, such as original TV series and movies, which have not only increased the demand for services, but has also increased their profits. There are few supply issues facing Netflix. In the streaming market, there are few competing firms that may threaten the market share of Netflix. These firms offer alike services at a comparable price to Netflix This means that the amount of substitutes that can supply similar quality services as Netflix are few.   The largest supply issue Netflix faces is technological change.   However, keeping up relations with various electronic devices, remaining relevant should be fairly easy. Price Elasticity and Demand Price elasticity of demand the relationship between change in the demanded quantity of a product and a change in the products price. If the price of services increase, it could affect the quantity of services demanded. There are a handful of quality substitutes for Netflix. In the cable industry itself, AT&T, Comcast, and Time-Warner, are all providers of services that compete for the same customers as Netflix. In the streaming market, Netflix competitors are other content providers such as Amazon Prime and Hulu. The major factor in this competition is pricing and content availability.  Ã‚   In 2014, Netflix increased consumer cost by $1-2 each month. While the price increase was a risky choice, it was necessary because of the rising prices of acquiring more content. Before this change, subscription plans for streaming and DVD rentals rose to $8 a month for streaming and $10 a month for streaming and DVD rentals. In 2011, this was raised again. All subscribers would have to pay $16 a month for both streaming and DVD rentals which is nearly a 60% rise in cost for the consumer. There was a large backlash from consumers as they felt that the small streaming library was not enough to justify those costs. This price increase was a way for Netflix to upgrade and expand the library content they were offering for streaming. With this price increase, Netflix lost nearly 750,000 subscribers and its stock tumbled in the following months. However, with Netflix expanding the production of their original series, this decrease of subscriber growth was only temporary. Netflix doesn†™t appear to see price elasticity as risk for their organization, but more of a prospect. As seen on the graph above, the stock and earnings of Netflix have proven to be growing at a steady rate over the last few years. Netflix has reported that the amount of watching from the average subscriber has grown in every quarter after the fourth quarter since 2011. Netflix continues to grow. In Argentina, United Kingdom, Brazil, Irelands, Chile, and Mexico is expected to make up more than a third of TV in the average household by 2020. If Netflix raised prices again, it could cause customers to other platforms because of the lower cost. On the other hand, if Netflix would lower its price, then the demand for its service could potentially increase. Netflix is a service that could be considered a luxury and not a necessity. This would provide Netflix a higher elasticity of demand. This may not be the case in the future as many people are beginning to use Netflix as their primary entertainment source. This means that in the customer’s budget, Netflix has already started to become a monthly expense, replacing standard cable services. As time goes on, it is expected that consumers will change their spending habits to completely move away from cable and move directly to streaming services which would increase the elasticity of Netflix. Although the expense is monthly, it will only be a small percentage of the consumer budget making it an inelastic demand. Because the market for media streaming is broadly defined, the number of available substitutes is low therefore it is inelastic. Netflix has shown to be profitably consistent, which allows shareholders to expand its equity as earnings are built up over time making Netflix more valuable. Money is being spent by Netflix to expand into more international markets after seeing huge success in its international growth into countries like the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Canada. This has allowed Netflix to study the trends of consumers across the world to create content that is palatable in many nations. This expansion should assist in lowering overall costs and increase the company’s profitability. Costs of Production Currently, Netflix offers streaming services on movies and TV shows. They have three subscription levels: Basic, Standard, and Premium. Netflix is currently working to grow their offerings and continue with original programming. The main cost that Netflix incurs comes from the licensing and production of their streamable titles. The cost of maintaining their content library has been quickly rising over the last five years as they expand the choices that they are offering to consumers, which can be seen in the chart below. While the largest cost for Netflix is their content, they also have various SG&A expenses, otherwise known as selling, general and administrative expenses. These expenses have also grown as the demand for their rises. From 2012 to 2015, these SG&A expenses had more than doubled. These costs have been growing as the consumer’s demand for more varied content grows and as Netflix expands into the international marketplace. This demand by consumers that Netflix has met, has resulted in a continuous growth for the Netflix Company. In 2016, the COGS had a nearly 32% increase in from the year previous. These growing costs for the most part have not prevented company growth. As you can see below, by continuing to increase the content available, Netflix has also helped itself to create strong sales growth. In 2016, Netflix experienced sales growth of 30.26%. Market Share While Netflix is the largest paid for streaming service, it has a market share of only around 12.7% (Netflix Incs Competitiveness, 2017) . The reason for this is that Netflix’s marketplace competitors are well established cable corporations and video providers that have many other products and services that would result in a higher revenue than Netflix. These companies include Amazon, Comcast, Cablevison, and Time Warner Cable. Although Netflix has strong sales growth, their profitability is lower than market competitors, with a net margin of 2.36%. Competitors in this market have an average net margin of just under 11% (NFLXs Competition by Segment and its Market Share, 2017). Due to the large capital and resources required to enter this market, Netflix will need to be aware of the streaming services provided by established cable companies and original content providers. These pose the greatest risk due to their large access to streamable content and access to existing customers. The market structure that Netflix operates under is an oligopoly. In an oligopoly, there are a few companies that control the entire market. In the streaming market, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Are the main competitors. In this type of market, price wars have a chance of occurring.   This means if one of these companies decides to drop its prices, the others must also drop prices in order to stay competitive. Taking a look at the current state of the market, this is evident because all of the major providers have comparably priced packages for their product. With Netflix being the market leader, they have large influence over this market. If Netflix decides to reduce prices, then Hulu and Amazon must also reduce consumer cost or risk losing customers to Netflix.   Recommendations With streaming quickly becoming the industry standard in television viewing, Netflix is expected to continue to increase its hold on the industry and market. Their current COGS while increasing, has provided Netflix a strong advantage in terms of sales growth due to their original content and variety of offerings. This current strategy seems to be working well for them. While some of the most expensive options to produce are original programming, these expensive productions are key to attracting customers due to the lack of availability from other previously subscribed to services.   This will also be helpful in further securing themselves in the marketplace. As mentioned earlier it will also be important for Netflix to keep developing their technology and continue to partner with different companies to update and keep their technology modern and relevant. By persistently providing the services and integration that consumers desire, Netflix can continue to expand its service to more consumers than it currently does.   If Netflix can continue to understand the wants of the consumers, then they will remain leaders in their market. Citations About Netflix. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from https://media.netflix.com/en/about-netflix Caporaso, T. (n.d.). Netflixs pricing strategies are bound by the same laws of supply and demand that affect every other commercial entitys rates. Retrieved July 30, 2017, from http://www.sdcexec.com/article/11442396/netflixs-pricing-strategies-are-bound-by-the-same-laws-of-supply-and-demand-that-affect-every-other-commercial-entitys-rates History of Cable. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2017, from https://www.calcable.org/learn/history-of-cable/ NFLXs Competition by Segment and its Market Share. (2017). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from https://csimarket.com/stocks/competitionSEG2.php?code=NFLX Netflix Enterprise Value. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from https://ycharts.com/companies/NFLX/enterprise_value Netflix Incs Competitiveness. (2017). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from https://csimarket.com/stocks/compet_glance.php?code=NFLX Netflix Inc Income Statement. (2017). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from http://quotes.wsj.com/NFLX/financials/annual/income-statement Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Stock Chart. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2017, from http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/nflx/stock-chart Netflix: revenue in 2016. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2017, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/272545/annual-revenue-of-netflix/ Netflixs View: Internet TV is replacing linear TV. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from https://ir.netflix.com/long-term-view.cfm TV Ratings. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/measurement/television.html

Objectives Of File Management Systems Information Technology Essay

Objectives Of File Management Systems Information Technology Essay In linux everything is treated as a file. A user frequently interacts with files directly or indirectly. They need perform various operations such as create, edit, delete etc on the files. To perform these activities, operating systems provide file management systems. The services required by file management system are provided by operating system. File management system is a collection of software that provides services to application and users. It facilitates the communication between user application and files. This relieves user from developing the software for each application. Objectives of File Management systems: Guarantees data in the file is valid Optimizes performance in terms of throughput response time Provide I/O support for storage device type Provide I/O support for multiple users Meet user requirements for data operations [1] FILE System architecture: Figure 1: File System Architecture. [1] As depicted in the figure the device drivers interacts with the peripherals. The function of device driver is to start the I/O operation complete the request. These device drivers are considered as a part of operating system. Above the device drivers there which is also called as physical I/O. Main function of file system is to deal with the is basic file system data from disk systems place them on secondary storage. Also it manages buffering of these blocks on to the main memory. It doesnt care about data inside the file. The next level is Basic I/O supervisor. The function of this layer is I/O initiation termination. At this level control structures deals with file status, scheduling, I/O. The device on which file I/O is to be performed selected by I/O supervisor based on particular file selected. Logical I/O enables users application to accept records. The logical I/O module deals with file Records. Logical I/O maintains basic data about the files. Access system is the file system closest to the user. The main function is to provide interface between file system applications. File Management Functions: Figure 2: File Management Functions [1] Application programs Users interact with the file system to create and delete files and for performing operations on files. File system first identify and locate the selected file before performing any operation. Directories are used to describe location of all files their attributes. Most shared systems implements access control policies. Only authorized users can have access to particular files. The basic operations that a user or application may perform on a file are performed at the record level. The file is viewed by user as structure of records. Access methods are used to map user commands into specific file manipulation commands. I/O operation is done on block basis. The records are organized as a blocks of output. In order to perform the operation files must be allocated to free blocks on the secondary storage. Also free storage must be managed so as to know what blocks are available for new files and growth in existing files. File Organization: Several criteria affect the selection of file organization. Some of these factors can be listed as follows. The suitability depends on the application which will be using the file. Economy of Storage Short Access time Reliability Simple maintenance [1] Original file system: Physical disk in Linux is divided into logical disks. It is called as partitions. Each partition is treated as a standalone file system. Each device is assigned with major device number and the partitions are assigned with minor device number. The device driver refers to these numbers to access raw file system. Major number acts like a index to switch table minor number will recognize specific instance of device. [3] Physical location of file data block: Placing the data blocks in a contiguous manner will improve the performance but will lead to inefficiencies in allocating space. User may need to specify the file of size at the time of creation. Linux file system allocates block one at a time from pool of free blocks[3]. File blocks are scattered randomly on physical disk. Inodes: inode contains key information related to files required by the OS. A single inode may point to several file names but the active inode is associated only with one file. Inode stores attributes, permissions other control information related to the file. The information contained in the inode is  ¬Ã‚ le ownership indication à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ File type à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ File access permissions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Time of last access, and modi ¬Ã‚ cation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Number of links (aliases) to the  ¬Ã‚ le à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pointers to the data blocks for the  ¬Ã‚ le à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Size of the  ¬Ã‚ le in bytes (for regular  ¬Ã‚ les), major and minor device numbers for special Device [3] Figure 3: Inode structure [4] Inodes has pointers to data block. Each inodes contain 15 pointers. First 12 pointers will point directly to data blocks. 13th pointer will point to indirect data block.14th pointer points to doubly indirect data block. Similarly, 15th pointer will point to triply indirect block. Advantages: 1] Very little space wasted. A disk can be filled completely. 2] Indirect block points many data blocks so larger files can be efficiently accessed. 3] Simultaneous operations can be performed. One read operation fetches the inode another will fetch first data block. Disadvantages: 1] may lead to poor performance Directories: Directory provides information about file location, file ownership its attributes. A directory is itself a file which is accessible to file management routines. The Directory structure can be shown as below Figure 4: Linux Directory Structure [5] As shown in the figure linux organizes directories in hierarchical fashion. The root lies at the top of the tree and it is denoted by /.Every directory in the linux system is under root directory. The various directories under root directory are Boot : The information required for booting is stored in this directory. This may consist of files used by LILO, Bootstrap loader. This is the place for kernel image. etc: configuration files of machine installed software are stored here dev: device files for devices such as disk drives, serial ports are stored here. Usr : it consists of all man pages, games, commands, static files for normal operations. Sbin :It consists of system admin commands. Home: This is the place where user will keep his own files. It contains users home directory for each user on the system. Root: This is the home directory for root user. File sharing: To share files a special group is created for the set of users who intend to use that files. Directory is created with ownership of that group. The permissions are set such that all users within the group can create files. We can also set group ID so that all the files created in it will automatically have group ownership its parent directory has. Access control in linux: Terms related to ACL A] User class: There are mainly three user classes owner, owning group other users. To allow permission three bits read(r), write (w) and execute (x) can be set. B] Access ACL: It determines group user access permissions for file objects. C] Default ACL: These can be only applied to directories. It decides permissions for file object when it is created. D] ACL entry: ACL is a set of ACL entries. An ACL entry contains a type (see Table B.1 on the following page), a qualifier for the user or group to which the entry refers, and a set of permissions There are 3 basic sets associated with linux file object. These sets are used to grant permissions read(r), write(w), execute(x) for 3 user groups, file owner others. We can also set group id, user set id for special cases. Access control list (ACL) allow the assignment of permissions to individual users or groups even if these do not correspond to the owner or the owning group [6] There are mainly two categories of ACL namely minimum ACL extended ACL. Minimum ACL only consists of entries for owning group, owner other which are associated with conventional permission bits for files directories. Extended ACL has mask entry entries for named group named user types. ADD NFS, VFS. Linux virtual file system: Figure 5: Virtual file system Figure 6: Linux virtual file system concept [1] In linux file management is done with the help of Virtual file system (VFS).T o user process it appears as a single, uniform file system interface.VFS treats files as a objects stored in mass storage area. Files can be identified by their symbolic names. A file has a attribute such as access protection, ownership etc. A mapping is required by file system to map real file system characteristics into Virtual file system characteristics. User process issues a file system call using VFS.VFS converts this call into kernel file system call which is then passed to mapping function for particular file system. Sometimes mapping function may result into complex operations. In many cases directories are not files, VFS may need to convert file corresponding to some directories. The original user file system call is translated into native call to the target file system. The requested function on a file or directory is performed by invoked file system software. The results of the operation are routed back to the user in a similar manner. As VFS is object oriented they are imlemented as a data structures using C,C++.Object consists of pointers which points to the file system functions.These funtions will operate on data. The four objects are Superblock object: Represents a specific mounted file system Inode object: Represents a specific file Dentry object: Represents a specific directory entry File object: Represents an open file associated with a process Third Extended (EXT3) File System: Journaling: EXT3 is third extended file system. It is journaling extension to EXT2.It is 100% compatible with all utilities designed for ext2 file system.Ext3 shares ext2s well-known robustness, but also adds extra features such as extended attributes, H tree.[7] The journaling approach used in EXT3 will greatly reduce the time spent for recovering file system after system crash. This will help to minimize system restart time file system inconsistencies after unclean shutdown. After rebooting a system mount program first checks the Journal. If it finds ay unchecked changes, it applies the changes to the file system. Thus we can say mount program provides consistency to the system. The mount program takes care of all the consistency the system doesnt need to check the consistency hence the computers using journaling are available within short duration after reboot.[8]. Ext3 allocated area called as journal in which it records the changes made to files directories ahead of time. If the system is crashed the recovery simply involves reading the journal from file system replaying the changes. [9] Journaling modes in EXT3 : The classification is made based on the fact that whether journaling makes log changes only to metadata or to all file system. There are three journaling modes Journal: It will record both metadata file system data changes. In this mode there is lowest chance of risk. This journaling mode minimizes the chance of losing the changes that have been made to any file in an ext3 file system. [10]It is the slowest mode. The risk associated with it is lowest. Ordered: It will record the metadata but not the file contents. It is the default ext3 journaling mode. In this mode there is possibility that one may end up with the file in the intermediate stage. The risk associated with this mode is at medium level. Writeback: In this mode only metadata is journaled file contents are not[11]. It allows showing up old data into the file after a crash. It ensures that on reboot all garbage due to unwritten data be zeroed out. Major Advantages of ext3: Data Integrity: If there is any unclean, improper system shutdown ext3 guarantees data integrity. We can set the level of protection. It prevents the writing of garbage data to the disk after a crash. Generally we keep the data consistent with state of file system.[10] Availability: The amount of time system will take to check the consistency after unclean shutdown depends on the size of file system. Larger the file system larger the time. Ext3 will not require such consistency check .recovery time in ext3 does not depend on the file system size or the number of files. It depends on size of journal. So there is faster availability. It only takes few seconds to recover Easy Transition: we can easily make transformation from ext2 to ext3 without reformatting. We can add journal to ext2 with the help of tune2fs program. Speed: though ext3 writes data more than once its faster than ext2. This is because journaling increases speed of head motion of hard drive. Because of its broad cross-platform compatibility it can be used on both 32 bit 64 bit architecture. As there is no need of any core kernel changes ext3 requires no new system calls.

Trends in UK Rape Statistics Over Time

Trends in UK Rape Statistics Over Time National statistics about crime in England and Wales have been collected and published by the Home Office since 1805 (Clarke, 2006). Originally, the statistics only included proceedings and convictions data from the courts. However, in 1857, data about crimes reported to and recorded by the police were also introduced in to the statistics, with the introduction of the latter, the government seized the opportunity and could exercise oversight over what was then a highly localised policing structure accountable at the local political level (Clarke, 2006, p. 7), meaning that the government could watch over the statistics produced by the police when it came to politics. This essay is going to look at the figures for Rape from these statistics provided, and comment and discuss the trend of rape over the last 120 years, and will also look at the origin and location of these statistics and how they have changed and the impact the changes have had on rape. There are many different definitions to the word Rape in the English language. But overall it is not all that hard to define because most of the definitions broadly have the same concept of what rape is. One definition of Rape, comes from Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer, who define rape as: copulation resisted to the best of the victims ability unless such resistance would probably result in death or serious injury to the victim or in death or injury to individuals the victim commonly protects (Thornhill Palmer, 2000, p. 1). However, they do also acknowledge that other sexual assaults such as oral or anal penetration of a man or a woman under the same conditions, can also be classed as rape (Thornhill Palmer, 2000, p. 1). Another definition of rape comes from Merriam-Webster, which defines Rape as: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception (Merriam-Webster, 2017, p. 1). However, the main legal definition comes from government legislation website, by The National Archive, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which defines Rape as: (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) He intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis, (b) B does not consent to the penetration, and (c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. (Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1). In addition to this, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 also has definitions of rape for rape offences committed against children under the age of 16 and even younger children, who are under the age of 13. The definition for rape or other sexual activity of a child under 16 is as follows: The elements of the offence are: (A) aged 18 or over intentionally causes or incites another person (B) to engage in an activity the activity is sexual, and either (B) is under 16 and (A) does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over, or (B) is under 13.(Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1) Finally, the Rape of a child under 13 is defined as: (1) A person commits an offence if- (a)he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, and (b)the other person is under 13. (2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. (Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1). Now that the definition of rape has been outlined, we can now move on to look at the trend of rape over the last 120 years and how it has changed over time and the reasons for it. If we look at the graph for Rape over the last 120 years, we can see that there has been a huge increase in the amount of rape that has taken place compared to the amount of Criminal Damage that has occurred. As we can see from the graphs below, the trend for Rape has significantly increased over the last 120 years. Even though the graph for Criminal Damage shows that the trend for Criminal Damage has increased, we can see from the chart that criminal damage peaked in 2008/09 and then the figures started dropping, resulting in the trend decreasing. As far as rape goes, the main increase has been over the last 20 years, mainly because of the new laws that were introduced in the Sexual Health Act 2003 replacing the old laws of the Sexual Health Act 1956. As can be seen from the graph, after the new laws were introduced in the Sexual Health Act 2003, the rate of rape per year increased by 2561 between the year 2001/02 and 2002/03. This is because the Sexual Health Act 2003 introduced the new law that allowed for more sexual offences to be classed as rapes. For example, before this new law, it can be seen from the two bar charts below that the rape of a child under 16 or even under 13 wasnt even recorded by the police until 2004/05 when Sexual Health Act 2003 was properly taking form. Further to this, the rape of a female in general wasnt even recorded by the police in these statistics until 1995 as can be seen in the graph below. A reason for this can be because before 1991, it was legal for a husband to rape his wife. This was suggested by Sir Matthew Hale, in Historia Placitorum Coronea, who stated that the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given herself up to her husband, consent which she cannot retract (Hale, 1736, p. 629). However, after this case, that rule was abolished by the judge hence making marital rape illegal. Despite this, female rape wasnt recorded pre-1995 because it wasnt until 1994 when S.1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 was substituted by S.142 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to include marital rape, and so added the following to the definition of rape: (3) A man also commits rape if he induces a married woman to have sexual intercourse with him by impersonating her husband.(4) Subsection (2) applies for the purposes of any enactment. (Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994, p. 1). After this law was introduced, female rape started to be recorded by the police. Furthermore, two feminist researchers, Jalna Hanmer and Sheila Saunders, found that the encounters that women faced by men everyday were not revealed in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) because the CSEW is not designed to disclose information of that kind of nature. This suggests that rapes which may have occurred prior to 1995 were only reported to the police in the last decade. This may have been because of the changing in the social construction of the police, meaning that there are more female officers now than there used to be, which makes rape victims more likely and willing to talk to instead of male officers. In addition to this, society has also changed to provide more victim support for rape victims by establishing rape centres for victims (Hanmer Saunders, 1984). However, having said this, we are looking at police recorded crime statistics. These statistics are not exactly accurate because there are some rapes or crimes not recorded by the police at all. This is because we are looking statistics from the Crime Survey for England Wales. According to a Crime Statistics 2006 report, by the then Home Secretary of State Charles Clarke, even though there is a lengthy history of reported and recorded crime statistics, that were used to judge police performance, the statistics, for a while now, have been documented as having a number of weaknesses (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). He went on to outline three main weaknesses in the statistics from the CSEW. He stated: First, there have been regular claims that the police adjust their crime statistics to improve measured reported performance (Clarke, 2006, p. 7), meaning that the statistics recorded by the police are not exactly, as they have been adjusted so that the police look more credible and it looks as thou gh they have high performance. Second, the processes and categories used by local police to record crime have historically had a significant degree of local variability; this has made it difficult both to make comparisons among local forces and to form aggregates to provide a meaningful national picture (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). This suggests that the categories that police use to categorise the crimes, are only clear to the local police who have created these statistics, as the statistics are mainly based on the crime in their area, which makes things very ambiguous in the grand scheme of things, when a bigger picture of crime rates in England and Wales. Third, the picture that emerges from recorded crime is potentially distorted by the unknown and uncontrollable variability in the publics reporting of crime to the police (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). This weakness proposes that when the crimes are recorded, the statistics are not entirely accurate because it is not possible to distinguish how many people from the public reported a crime, and how many of the statistics have been adjusted by the police like the first weakness. However, the then home secretary did state that whilst the problems we have remain, there have been several attempts made over the years to address these perceived problems that are there in the Crime Survey for England Wales. These weaknesses are a big factor in the statistics we have for rape, as they came from the CSEW. As the weaknesses mentioned in the report exist, our statistics for rape may not be entirely accurate. This leads us to believe that there may have been more rapes reported by the public but not recorded by the police, and of those that were recorded, only a few maybe accurate as the others may have been adjusted to make the police look more efficient. A further problem this creates for the statistics we have is that, like the second weakness mentioned above, some rape statistics may not have been recorded in the survey by the police as they may not have fell into any of the categories that the police were using to define rape. This could possibly have had a major impact on the statistics we have, hence, impacting the graphs that have been used above to illustrate the trend of rape. To summarise, this essay has looked at the overall trend of rape over the last 120yrs and compared it to the trend of Criminal Damage statistics over the last 120yrs, to show the trend of rape over this period. This essay then delved deeper into the main statistics and broke them down into figures of rape over the last 20 years and then went even further and showed the trends of rape of females of different ages, for example under 16s and under 13s. After that, this essay looked at reasons as to why the statistics are showing what they showed and then went onto discuss the location of where the statistics were found and outlined the problems with the CSEW. Because of these weaknesses, the essay finally looked at how the weaknesses impacted on the rape statistics that we had and used to illustrate the trend of rape from 1898 to 2014/15 which has increased. References   Clarke, C. (2006). Crime Statistics: An Independent review. London: Home Office. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http:/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/crime-statistics-independent-review-06.pdf Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. (1994, November 3). Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Retrieved March 13, 2017, from The Government Legislation Website The National Archive: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/142 Hale, S. M. (1736). Historia Placitorum Coronae: The History of the Pleas of the Crown (Vol. 1). Oxon (Oxfordshire): Professional Books Ltd. Hanmer, J., Saunders, S. (1984). Well-founded fear : a community study of violence to women. London: Explorations in Feminism Collective (Great Britain). Merriam-Webster. (2017). Rape. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape Sexual Offences Act. (2003, November 20). Sexual Offences Act 2003. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from The Government Legislation Website The National Archive: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42 Thornhill, R., Palmer, C. T. (2000). A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

The Subject of Love in Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter :: Rappaccinis Daughter Essays

The Subject of Love in Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter Many spend their entire life looking for true love. It is that one love between a man and a woman that spurred spin-off stories of every kind for us to watch on TV or to read in books. Rappaccini's Daughter is a perfect example of this age old search for an inner peace, believed only to be found in a relationship with that "perfect" person. Giovanni sought this peace and believed he had found the one for him. Unfortunately, Giovanni was only led into disappointment after overcoming the obstacles that were in his was and then losing her after the fact. All of this leaves a question to be abswered; is it better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all? Giovanni felt a need to seek love in his life, only to find a young lady that inded caused him to seek her out. This young lady was of course Dr. Rappaccini's daughter, Beatrice, whom Giovanni first saw in the garden below from his window. This was only the beginning of the always painstakingly brutal process that two people encounter as they start on their journey toward the actual "in love" stage. Fortunatley for Giovanni, Beatrice did take a special interest in him. Beatrice came from a rather background. Her father had raised her as one of his many experiments. The downfall to this was the fact that she was a walking, talking poisonous flower created by Rappaccini, just like his other poisonous plants. Giovanni did not know this however. It was without this knowledge that he pursued her and they became well acquainted to each other. It would not be until later that Giovanni would find out this truth that few knew about. Giovanni was overwhelmed with this relationship that he had acquired with Beatrice. Their lives had almost come to the point of living and "breathing" each other. This is actually one of the first clues to Beatrice's lifelong handicap. It is her breath Giovanni notices that has such a sweet aroma to it, just as sweet as that of the aroma released from one of her father's plants. Giovanni had also noticed, the first day he peered into the garden, that Beatrice had touched and sniffed of all the plants which her father was so careful not to get close to or touch.

Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights :: Free Essay Writer

Wuthering Heights centers around the story of Heathcliff. The first paragraph of the novel provides a vivid physical picture of him, as Lockwood describes how his â€Å"black eyes† withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwood’s approach. Nelly’s story begins with his introduction into the Earnshaw family, his vengeful machinations drive the entire plot, and his death ends the book. The desire to understand him and his motivations has kept countless readers engaged in the novel. Heathcliff, however, defies being understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist seeing what they want or expect to see in him. The novel teases the reader with the possibility that Heathcliff is something other than what he seems—that his cruelty is merely an expression of his frustrated love for Catherine, or that his sinister behaviors serve to conceal the heart of a romantic hero. We expect Heathcliff’s character to contain such a hidden virtue because he resembles a hero in a romance novel. Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous, brooding, and cold at first, only later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving. One hundred years before Emily Brontà « wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that â€Å"a reformed rake makes the best husband† was already a clichà © of romantic literature, and romance novels center around the same clichà © to this day. However, Heathcliff does not reform, and his malevolence proves so great and long-lasting that it cannot be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge against Hindley, Catherine, Edgar, etc. As he himself points out, his abuse of Isabella is purely sadistic, as he amuses himself by seeing how much abuse she can take and still come cringing back for more. Critic Joyce Carol Oates argues that Emily Brontà « does the same thing to the reader that Heathcliff does to Isabella, testing to see how many times the reader can be shocked by Heathcliff’s gratuitous violence and still, masochistically, insist on seeing him as a romantic hero. It is significant that Heathcliff begins his life as a homeless orphan on the streets of Liverpool. When Brontà « composed her book, in the 1840s, the English economy was severely depressed, and the conditions of the factory workers in industrial areas like Liverpool were so appalling that the upper and middle classes feared violent revolt. Thus, many of the more affluent members of society beheld these workers with a mixture of sympathy and fear. In literature, the smoky, threatening, miserable factory-towns were often represented in religious terms, and compared to hell. The poet William Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, speaks of England’s â€Å"dark Satanic Mills.† Heathcliff, of course, is frequently compared to a demon by the other characters in the book.

Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy :: Virgin and the Gipsy Essays

Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy In D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy, the character of the gipsy is much easier to define than that of the virgin. Virginity, in this novella, is something very different, and much more comprehensive, than simply lack of sexual experience. We usually associate virginity with purity, but Lawrence associates it much more closely with innocence—innocence and purity being mutually exclusive. Virginity is a state of primary selfishness and absence of control over one’s will. Losing one’s virginity is a process that must be gone through that does not involve an actual sex act, but sexual feeling can empower the will. The common ideas of feminine virginity revolve around a personality that is generally guileless, unmanipulative (at least consciously so), and honest. There is an absence of knowledge and wisdom. Yet, Yvette does seem to be dishonest, manipulative, to have some kind of worldly knowledge, and even is described as â€Å"always wayward, always perverse.† It goes against common reason to think of a virgin as perverse because perversion involves consciousness of normalcy and a decision to act abnormally. To make this distinction and decision involves knowledge. Sexually speaking, a virgin cannot be perverted not only because of lack of opportunity to commit a perverted act, but also because of lack of experience and understanding of a normal sexual encounter. One cannot pervert what is not known. During her first visit to the gipsies (24-29), Yvette comes to understand that she has something in her that the gipsy woman responds to. She knows she is different from the other young people and senses that her difference is powerful. When she perceives the mental penetration of the gipsy woman, she is scared and initially backs away from exposing this difference to those around her and to herself. Yet, her curiosity is piqued and she agrees to hear her fortune in private. This decision seems quite unvirginal because it involves a knowledge of normalcy and difference and a decision to act upon difference. It is â€Å"wayward, perverse† (27). Not only does she seek wisdom, but she makes a decision to hide this wisdom from those around her. This is not innocence or honesty. When Yvette emerges from the caravan she is twice referred to as â€Å"witch-like.† A witch has supernatural and evil powers that she uses to manipulate people. Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy :: Virgin and the Gipsy Essays Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy In D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy, the character of the gipsy is much easier to define than that of the virgin. Virginity, in this novella, is something very different, and much more comprehensive, than simply lack of sexual experience. We usually associate virginity with purity, but Lawrence associates it much more closely with innocence—innocence and purity being mutually exclusive. Virginity is a state of primary selfishness and absence of control over one’s will. Losing one’s virginity is a process that must be gone through that does not involve an actual sex act, but sexual feeling can empower the will. The common ideas of feminine virginity revolve around a personality that is generally guileless, unmanipulative (at least consciously so), and honest. There is an absence of knowledge and wisdom. Yet, Yvette does seem to be dishonest, manipulative, to have some kind of worldly knowledge, and even is described as â€Å"always wayward, always perverse.† It goes against common reason to think of a virgin as perverse because perversion involves consciousness of normalcy and a decision to act abnormally. To make this distinction and decision involves knowledge. Sexually speaking, a virgin cannot be perverted not only because of lack of opportunity to commit a perverted act, but also because of lack of experience and understanding of a normal sexual encounter. One cannot pervert what is not known. During her first visit to the gipsies (24-29), Yvette comes to understand that she has something in her that the gipsy woman responds to. She knows she is different from the other young people and senses that her difference is powerful. When she perceives the mental penetration of the gipsy woman, she is scared and initially backs away from exposing this difference to those around her and to herself. Yet, her curiosity is piqued and she agrees to hear her fortune in private. This decision seems quite unvirginal because it involves a knowledge of normalcy and difference and a decision to act upon difference. It is â€Å"wayward, perverse† (27). Not only does she seek wisdom, but she makes a decision to hide this wisdom from those around her. This is not innocence or honesty. When Yvette emerges from the caravan she is twice referred to as â€Å"witch-like.† A witch has supernatural and evil powers that she uses to manipulate people.

Dialectics

Dialectics has been considered as one of the three original liberal arts known to classical philosophers as the Trivium, with the other two as rhetoric and grammar Dialectics Dialectics has been considered as one of the three original liberal arts known to classical thinkers as the Trivium, with the other two as rhetoric and grammar. During the ancient times in Greece, dialectic's forte was at the affairs of persuasion, very much like its sister counterpart rhetoric. Dialectic's purpose was to resolve discrepancies and disagreements through logical and rational discourses.The simple approach and explanation to how dialectics work is through the three step process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis, which was postulated by a German idealist philosopher named Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel. He identified that for which, say a given premise, would be the emergence of a proposition (the theses) only later to be refuted (hence the anti-thesis of it). Being in this state of unacceptability, the only alternative is to arrive at a higher understanding or denial of the supposed presupposition of the thesis and anti-thesis forming a third proposition termed as the synthesis.A more simple and un-Hegelian example to understand dialectics is, let's suppose you just got a hold of a brand new cell phone. Being new to you, you have a limited understanding of it. You start on a state of ignorance knowing that its only purpose or the only reason for having one is to enable you to communicate. (thesis) Sooner or later, one way or another, the batteries will run out(assuming it is not a solar powered device) and it will stop functioning, hence the opposite of communicating or not being able to communicate. anti-thesis)Only then when you have a deeper understanding that for a cell phone to work and operate it needs a power source and learning the concept of recharging/changing the power source(a synthesis is reached and you gain a higher knowledge about the cell phone)will you get it to function properly again. Frederick Engels and Karl Marx, two very well-known revolutionary thinkers during their time applied this philosophical thought in studying the ideal and material condition of the world.It has been the theoretical foundation of Marxism which led to the development of dialectic materialism, which is simply the combination of Hegel's theory of Dialectics and Materialism and Historical Materialism, the application of dialectic materialism in studying history. The first principle of dialectics according to Frederick Engels is that everything, be it physical and material objects to real world processes, is made of opposing forces or opposing sides. (Fleck) To elaborate on this principle just look at everything around you.Everything works like a magnet. Objects hold each other because of the opposing forces that keep them from flying separately. The chair you sit on tries to break away from the earth, but the planet's gravity keeps it from doing so, the sun is he ld together by gravity which counteracts the nuclear reaction from its core. Even seemingly abstract concepts are made of opposites. For instance, to have an idea of the concept of bad, we need an idea of what is good, to have an idea of what is hot, we need an idea of what is cold and so forth.This is what Engel called the interpenetration of opposites which he frequently referred to as the unity of opposites. Many critics have argued on this property of dialectics which up to until now, many thinkers, new and old alike have yet to settle. Another important principle of dialectics that Engel stated in his work about dialectics is that in everything, gradual changes lead to turning points. (Fleck) What happens is that the two opposing forces in a process of change push against each other. Change would be gradual if one side is stronger than the other one.But when the other side becomes stronger, there is a turning point, much like when too much trees is cut down in a mountain slope, a mud slide occurs (turning point), you heat a kernel of corn until it turns into popcorn (turning point). This is what Engel referred to as the principle of the transformation of quantity into quality. Quantitative change results from the steady but continuous dominance of one opposing side or force. Things then follow a qualitative change when the other or opposite side dominates the other.The third principle of dialectics is that changes moves in spirals, not circles. (Fleck) Around us processes of change are cyclical in the sense that at first, one side dominates, then the other as in the cycle of day and night, breathing in and breathing out, one opposite then another. Engels claims things turn in cycles. However, it is not indispensable that they would return to where they came from and how they started. It is therefore cyclical but not circular. Change is ever-changing, moving in spirals.This principle is referred to by Engels as the law of negation of negation. This seeming ly complex principle, according to Engel goes on and on in everyday life. This happens when one side overpowers the other making the first negation. The dominated side then overpowers the dominating side at some point making the second negation. This is what law of negation of negation explains. In real-life drama, dialectics play a crucial role, in communication specifically in day-to-day normal conversations more than we ought to think.Traditionally, dialectics has been considered as a linguistic process that leads to generation of new ideas and thought by one's apprehension of a contradiction and paradox between two or more opposites. It layman's term, a conversation starts with stating a point of view followed by the others verification of its validity or questioning it from other points of view. In this whole conversation process, the clash of ideas or propositions trying to reach a consensual agreement which in turn is still ultimately questioned from other perspectives.Much l ike dialectics, in dialogues there is an imminent clash of ideas that are going on between individuals which ultimately lead to a consensus. The use of the dialectical approach or method in analyzing our history has long been used by its pioneer thinkers, more notable in arts, philosophy, science and religion. This may have been due to the analytical and critical capability of dialectics in explaining why and how changes occur which is essential for historians in probing the past.By pinpointing what stream of thinking and clashing ideas during a particular epoch, much can be surmised to wisely presuppose what will would or could happen next. Dialectics is essential in understanding fully the how's and the why's of how things happen. It provides the tool that gives wisdom on knowing the factors of change in a society and how it is ultimately molded and formed. Another concept that is noteworthy in the field of dialectics is called the â€Å"principal contradiction†, termed by Mao Zedong.This is defined as the contradiction in all things that needs to be resolved first and foremost. In determining what the principal contradiction in a thing, it is necessary to look at the overall or main goal of it. The three principle of dialectics namely. (1)the unity of opposites,(2)quantity into quality, and (3)negation of negation fits clearly on how to identify and possibly solve the principal contradiction in our society though it does not give a clear blueprint on what should be done.

Natsume Soseki has written Kokoro

Natsume Soseki has written Kokoro in such a way that the reader be acquainted with Boku and Sensei.   Through them, Soseki believed that a person’s actions should be coming from their true emotions and not by what others perceive of it.   A person should always do things in accordance to what he thinks is right and not by merely considering what the people dictates to him.   Sometimes people tend to live up to what the people tell them because their reputation is at stake.   Just like the planned graduation party of Boku[1].   Even though Boku did not want to have a party, his parents insisted because his father has a reputation to maintain in their community. Kokoro was also written in such a way that there is a special connection between Sensei and Boku in being able to see their imperfections by means of their shallowness.   Despite the two characters having different worldly views, they still found company in each other’s presence.   Boku is somewhat a person who wants to know who Sensei really is and Sensei was not the type of person who would reveal the real him. The style of the first part of Kokoro resembles that of a detective novel, and helps first to establish the reader’s curiosity towards Sensei. Narrator Boku provides no self-introduction and no adequate explanation for his interest in Sensei. Instead, he continuously feeds the reader small ‘clues’ – pieces to the puzzle of Sensei – to gain the reader’s curiosity. ‘â€Å"I cannot tell you why,† Sensei said to me, â€Å"but for a very good reason I wish to go to that grave alone. Even my wife, you see, has never come with me.† [End of passage]’[2] Sudden breaks in narrative are often used to leave these clues hanging, helping to compound the suspense felt by the reader. Additionally, despite having already experienced all the events he describes, Boku chooses to present them in the original chronological order and to narrate his original thoughts regarding each event.    â€Å"I wondered also why Sensei felt the way he did towards mankind.†[3] Revealing his thoughts and experiences in this manner assists Boku in linking with the reader, as it constructs between them a shared interest towards Sensei. Soseki seeks to direct this interest, as evident in the sentence: â€Å"Had I been curious in an impersonal and analytical way, the bond between us would surely not have lasted.†[4] This explanation of the nature of Boku’s curiosity can be interpreted as a suggestion to the reader; in order to complete the puzzle of Sensei, the reader needs to explore Sensei on a more personal level – not simply to analyse from a third person perspective, but rather to attempt to interpret Boku’s regard for Sensei by examining the similar attitudes and values that the two espouse. In the third part of Kokoro, Soseki switches to a new narrative frame, and we read Sensei’s letter through the eyes of Boku. Sensei directly addresses Boku in the letter – driving us as readers even closer to Boku, as we to try to interpret Sensei’s words through the mindset of Boku. Contrastingly, despite the title ‘My Parents and I’, part two of the novel serves to distance the reader from Boku’s family. As readers, our interest draws to a peak when Sensei agrees to tell Boku about his past. However, Sensei does not, and instead Boku’s father’s illness forces Boku to leave for home. This is frustrating for Boku, and for the reader, as is revealed in the passage: ‘†¦ there was much that I did not know about Sensei. He had not told me about his past, as he had promised. I could not be content until he was fully revealed to me.’[5]  Even as Boku’s father lies on his deathbed, Boku’s thoughts wander towards Sensei – physically represented by his moving back and forth between his bedroom and his father’s bedroom. In the process of affiliation with Sensei and Boku, the reader is exposed to the two characters’ disdain towards external appearances and opinions.  Both Sensei and Boku show their disregard for academia. Boku shows little regard for his diploma – he ‘pretends his diploma is a telescope’ surveys the world outside his window in it, and then throws it down on his desk. Similarly, Sensei does not know where he put his diploma.  In contrast, Boku’s parents hold Boku’s diploma in the highest regard. They scold Boku for not having taken better care of the diploma, and display it in the house. Boku’s narration shows that he also is not interested in the appearance of things.   He tends to observe, conclude and investigate on it.   Just like what happened when he saw Sensei at the beach centre.   He overlooked at Sensei’s appearance and focused his attention more on his behaviour thus speculating Sensei’s state of mind.  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"He was always aloof and [†¦] seemed totally indifferent to his surroundings†.[6] Sensei bears a similar disregard towards appearances to others and describes it:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I used to consider it a disgrace to be found ignorant by other people. But now, I find that I am not ashamed of knowing less than others †¦Ã¢â‚¬ [7]  Sometimes people tend to pull themselves down because they think they know less about things.   But come to think of it, even though a person does not graduate high school or college, it means that he is more ignorant than those who have graduated.   People know different things and not all individuals can learn everything. With these, it forms a sharp contrast with Boku’s parents.   The parents of Boku have a high regard for the physicality of things while Sensei and Boku do not.   Boku’s parents seem to relate the physical aspect of a thing with its value just like the diploma.   For them, being able to have a diploma is something that should be cherished, treasured and be well cared of.   While for Sensei and Boku, a diploma is somewhat like a representation of the knowledge acquired while in the university.   A diploma is just a paper, nothing more, nothing less.   What is important are the learning obtained during the years studying in the university. In conclusion, Kokoro is a classic example of presenting two characters that may turn out to be indifferent from one another at first but later on saw their similarities.   Even though these two characters obviously come from different generations, they still were able to find a common ground.   These two started out as complete strangers and tended to avoid the fact that they needed each other’s company but in the end, it just proves that no matter the distance of two persons, they still are close when always remembered. Bibliography Soseki, Natsume. Kokoro (Part 2) Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1957. 21 Jan. 2000. http://www.eldritchpress.org/ns/k2.html [1] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Online Version, 2001. part 2                                                                                                                               [2] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p11 [3] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p22 [4] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p11 [5] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p65 [6] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p5 [7] Natsume, Soseki. Kokoro. Quiet Vision Publishing, 2001. p37

Inverse Proportion of Physical Fitness and Awareness Program

Although awareness of the importance of physical fitness has increased in the United States, the average level of an American†s fitness has decreased. In short, most everyday citizens are out of shape. This is partially due to the more modern and easier lives that most Americans lead compared to Americans of earlier time periods. If Americans wish to stay in good health, then their daily regiments must be changed. Among adolescents and teenagers, the same numbers are noticeable. Nearly fifty percent of American youth aged twelve through twenty-one are not vigorously active on a regular basis. Only nineteen percent of all high school students are physically active for more than twenty minutes or more, five days a week, mainly in physical education class (Physical Activity and Health: Adolescents and Teenagers, par. 5-8). These numbers are a significant drop from previous studies of earlier decades. When physical fitness reform was stressed in schools during the fifties, the government administered several test to get an exact figure on American children†s level of fitness. The United States office of Education discovered that in one year fifty-six of 108,000 public schools had strengthened their physical education programs. These modifications were noticed. Between 1964 and 1965, 11,000 boys and girls who took the Youth Fitness test had higher mean scores in every event and at all ages than the results recorded from the previous decade†s tests (Van Dalen 520-521). Although modern, well-designed school-based interventions directed at increasing physical activity in physical education classes have been shown to be effective, only twenty five percent of high school students enroll in physical education class daily. In 1991, forty-one percent of all high school students enrolled in physical activity. That means that in only ten years, the daily level of physical activity amongst teens has been cut almost in half (Physical Activity and Health: Adolescents and Teens, par. 9-10). Not even the best school based interventions directed at increasing physical activity can actually improve a student†s level of fitness if they aren†t participathing in class to begin with. Over sixty percent of adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. In fact, over twenty five percent of American adults are not active at all (Physical Activity and Health: Adults, par. 6-8) Concerning the history of physical fitness awareness, physical activity for better health and well-being has been an important theme throughout much of western hemispherical, American history. Since the beginning of awareness, public health recommendations have evolved greatly. They started with emphasizing vigorous activity for cardio-respiratory fitness. The same recommendations are still given, but now it is thought to be better to include the options of moderate levels of activity for numerous health benefits (Historical Background and Evolution of Physical Activity Recommendations, par. 1-2). One of the first specified fields of medicine in the fitness world was sports medicine. Physicians associated with professional sports teams initially practiced sports medicine, but with interest in amateur sports and physical fitness programs in the 1970†³s and 1980†³s the field grew rapidly. Sports medicine still continues to be a fast-growing division of specified medicine that has to revolutionize the understanding of exercise and the body†s reaction to the stress of exercise (Sports Medicine, par.1) These physicians and doctors are not uncovering these earth-shattering discoveries on their own. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is very active in fitness research (The Future of Fitness, par. 2). The official government committee to support physical fitness is The President†s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS) is extremely vocal in the education of the public. PCPFS has been fighting its ever-toughening crusade against laziness since the era of President Kennedy, who founded the Council (Van Dalen, p. 520-521). There are also many Internet websites (e.g. efitness.com, emedicine.com, nutricise.com) that provide easily accessible information to the public. Because of groups like ACE and PCFS, the awareness of the benefits to physical fitness are being broadcasted everywhere; it is just a matter of time until every American understands the value of being physically fit. When that time comes, experts say more people will exercise to achieve better health instead of just to improve appearance. Also, exercise will become a vital part of disease management. In the future, adventure workouts such as hiking and mountain climbing will replace traditional treadmill and weight training workout. Sports specific training such as golf and tennis exercises will become more mainstream. It is also said that exercise programs geared towards older adults such as water-based fitness will increase in popularity (The Future of Fitness, par. 3-4, 6-7). Inverse Proportion of Physical Fitness and Awareness Program Although awareness of the importance of physical fitness has increased in the United States, the average level of an American†s fitness has decreased. In short, most everyday citizens are out of shape. This is partially due to the more modern and easier lives that most Americans lead compared to Americans of earlier time periods. If Americans wish to stay in good health, then their daily regiments must be changed. Among adolescents and teenagers, the same numbers are noticeable. Nearly fifty percent of American youth aged twelve through twenty-one are not vigorously active on a regular basis. Only nineteen percent of all high school students are physically active for more than twenty minutes or more, five days a week, mainly in physical education class (Physical Activity and Health: Adolescents and Teenagers, par. 5-8). These numbers are a significant drop from previous studies of earlier decades. When physical fitness reform was stressed in schools during the fifties, the government administered several test to get an exact figure on American children†s level of fitness. The United States office of Education discovered that in one year fifty-six of 108,000 public schools had strengthened their physical education programs. These modifications were noticed. Between 1964 and 1965, 11,000 boys and girls who took the Youth Fitness test had higher mean scores in every event and at all ages than the results recorded from the previous decade†s tests (Van Dalen 520-521). Although modern, well-designed school-based interventions directed at increasing physical activity in physical education classes have been shown to be effective, only twenty five percent of high school students enroll in physical education class daily. In 1991, forty-one percent of all high school students enrolled in physical activity. That means that in only ten years, the daily level of physical activity amongst teens has been cut almost in half (Physical Activity and Health: Adolescents and Teens, par. 9-10). Not even the best school based interventions directed at increasing physical activity can actually improve a student†s level of fitness if they aren†t participathing in class to begin with. Over sixty percent of adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. In fact, over twenty five percent of American adults are not active at all (Physical Activity and Health: Adults, par. 6-8) Concerning the history of physical fitness awareness, physical activity for better health and well-being has been an important theme throughout much of western hemispherical, American history. Since the beginning of awareness, public health recommendations have evolved greatly. They started with emphasizing vigorous activity for cardio-respiratory fitness. The same recommendations are still given, but now it is thought to be better to include the options of moderate levels of activity for numerous health benefits (Historical Background and Evolution of Physical Activity Recommendations, par. 1-2). One of the first specified fields of medicine in the fitness world was sports medicine. Physicians associated with professional sports teams initially practiced sports medicine, but with interest in amateur sports and physical fitness programs in the 1970†³s and 1980†³s the field grew rapidly. Sports medicine still continues to be a fast-growing division of specified medicine that has to revolutionize the understanding of exercise and the body†s reaction to the stress of exercise (Sports Medicine, par.1) These physicians and doctors are not uncovering these earth-shattering discoveries on their own. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is very active in fitness research (The Future of Fitness, par. 2). The official government committee to support physical fitness is The President†s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS) is extremely vocal in the education of the public. PCPFS has been fighting its ever-toughening crusade against laziness since the era of President Kennedy, who founded the Council (Van Dalen, p. 520-521). There are also many Internet websites (e.g. efitness.com, emedicine.com, nutricise.com) that provide easily accessible information to the public. Because of groups like ACE and PCFS, the awareness of the benefits to physical fitness are being broadcasted everywhere; it is just a matter of time until every American understands the value of being physically fit. When that time comes, experts say more people will exercise to achieve better health instead of just to improve appearance. Also, exercise will become a vital part of disease management. In the future, adventure workouts such as hiking and mountain climbing will replace traditional treadmill and weight training workout. Sports specific training such as golf and tennis exercises will become more mainstream. It is also said that exercise programs geared towards older adults such as water-based fitness will increase in popularity (The Future of Fitness, par. 3-4, 6-7).