Management Model of Port

Model84 MODULE 3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Port Management Models Public Service Port Strength: †¢ Superstructure development and cargo handling operations are the responsibility of the same organization (unity of command). Weaknesses: †¢ There is no role or only a limited role for the private sector in cargo handling operations. †¢ There is less problem solving capability and flexibility in case of labour problems, since the port administration also is the major employer of port labour. †¢ There is lack of internal competition, leading to inefficiency. †¢ Wasteful use of resources and underinvestment s a result of government interference and dependence on government budget. †¢ Operations are not user or market oriented. †¢ Lack of innovation. †¢ No or limited access to public funds for basic infrastructure. Tool Port Strength: †¢ Investments in port infrastructure and equipment (particularly ship/shore equipment) are decided and provide d by the public sector, thus avoiding duplication of facilities. Weaknesses: †¢ The port administration and private enterprise jointly share the cargo handling services (split operation), leading to conflicting situations. Private operators do not own major equipment, therefore they tend to function as labour pools and do not develop into firms with strong balance sheets. This causes instability and limits future expansion of their companies. †¢ Risk of underinvestment. †¢ Lack of innovation. Landlord Port Strengths: †¢ A single entity (the private sector) executes cargo handling operations and owns and operates cargo handling equipment. The terminal operators are more loyal to the port and more likely to make needed investments as a consequence of their long-term contracts. Private terminal handling companies generally are better able to cope with market requirements. Weakness: †¢ Risk of overcapacity as a result of pressure from various private operators. †¢ Risk of misjudging the proper timing of capacity additions. Fully Privatized Port Strengths: †¢ Maximum flexibility with respect to investments and port operations. †¢ No direct government interference. †¢ Ownership of port land enables market-oriented port development and tariff policies. †¢ In case of redevelopment, private operator probably realizes a high price for the sale of port land. The often strategic location of port land may enable the private operator to broaden its scope of activities. Weaknesses: †¢ Government may need to create a port regulator to control monopolistic behavior. †¢ The government (national, regional, or local) loses its ability to execute a long-term economic development policy with respect to the port business. †¢ In case the necessity arises to redevelop the port area, government has to spend considerable amounts of money to buy back the port land. †¢ There is a serious risk of speculation with port la nd by private owners. Source: A. Baird and P. Kent (2001).

Routing Protocol

1. INTRODUCTION 1. 1 What  is Computer Network? The group  of  computers and devices linked by communication channels allowing users to share information, data, software and hardware with further users is meant to be computer network. Network protocols bound hardware as well as software components of network. Two or more  computers are said  to be  in  a network if and only if they are connected  mutually  and  are  able  to commune. Computers are connected to a network by the use of all  the ports i. e. , parallel ports, modem ports, Ethernet ports, serial ports, USB ports  , fire wire ports and many more in one or more way. But Ethernet port is the most broadly used ports  for networking. Hosts, end stations or workstations are referred while talking  about networks. Anything  attached  to  the network  including hubs, bridges, switches, routers,  access points, firewalls, workstations, servers, mainframes, printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines  and more are included under Host or end stations . Computers are connected in a network for sharing of software and hardware resources, information and data as well as smooth the progress of communication. 1. 2 TCP/IP Layered  architecture Fig: TCP/IP Layered  architecture The following  are  the layers  of  the TCP/IP  architecture: Application Layer: In the  application layer Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) uses protocol  for network communication. Application layer protocols  are most  frequently  linked with client-server  applications. Transport Layer: End-to-end message transfer capability, flow control, error control and fragmentation etc are provided  by the transport layer. The transport layer ensures source to destination delivery of packets safely and reliably. The service through which applications are connected  together via  the use  of ports is provided by transport layer. Network Layer: Packets are logically transmitted over  the entire network in the OSI’s Network layer. Hosts addressing by assigning  them  an IP  address  and packet routing among multiple networks are handled in this layer. This layer is concerned with routing data; end to end message delivery etc. Interface Layer: The data exchange between  the host  and  the network are monitored by the  interface layer. The protocols for  physical transmission  of data is defined by Interface Layer . 1. 3  Autonomous System IP networks  and routers collection under  the control  of one entity representing a common routing policy is called an  Autonomous System. Each  AS  have a unique  AS number  for use  in routing. Each network is uniquely identified on  the  internet by ASN. IANA (Internet  assigned Numbers  authority) assign AS numbers  and supply  to Regional  internet Registries (RIRs)  in blocks. Autonomous System can be divided  into three categories: Multihomed  Autonomous System:   Connections  to more than one  AS is maintained by a Multihomed  AS. Stub  autonomous System:   Connection  to only one other  AS is Stub  autonomous System. Transit  autonomous System:  Connections through itself  to separate networks are provided by Transit  autonomous System. 1. 4 Routing The method  of selecting paths  in  a network via which  to send data is meant to be routing. The process  of finding  a pathway from  a sender  to  a desired destination is also said to be routing. The telephone network,  the  internet  and transport networks, etc perform routing. Network Layer  of either TCP/IP layered model or  the OSI (Open System  interconnect) Reference model mainly carry out routing. The logically  addressed packets are passed from  their source  to destination via  intermediary nodes i. e. orwarding is directed by routing. Routing tasks are performed by routers. Routing and packet forwarding is performed by ordinary  computers available with multiple network cards in a limited manner. Forwarding is directed by the routing process on  the basis  of routing tables where routing record to different network destinations are maintained. In order to have efficient routing, construction of routing table held  in  the routers' memory is most necessary thing. Only one network path are frequently used by routing  algorithms   at  a time, but  the use  of multiple  alternative paths is made possible by multi-path routing techniques. Following are the types  of routing delivery semantics: Unicast: A message is delivered to  a single specified node by router. Fig: Unicasting Broadcast:   A message is delivered  to  all nodes  in  the network by router. Fig: Broadcasting Multicast:   A message is delivered  to assembly  of nodes that have expressed  interest  in getting  the message by router. Fig: Multicasting Anycast: A message is delivered  to  any one out  of  a set  of nodes, typically  the one next  to  the source. Fig:  anycasting 2. TYPES  OF ROUTING Following are the types  of Routing mechanisms. They  are: Static Routing Dynamic Routing 2. Static Routing: The process  by which routes can be manually entered into the routing table with the help of a configuration file which loads automatically as soon as router starts is called static routing. Network  administrator, who configures the routes, can enter these routes as an option. Thus ‘static' rou tes mean the routes that cannot be changed (except  a person changes  them)   after their configuration. The simplest  type  of routing is static routing. In case of change of routing information often or configuration on a huge number of routing devices (router) it doesn’t work fine as it is a manual process. The outages or down connections are not handled properly by static routing because  manually configured route must be reconfigured physically in order  to fix or renovate  any lost connectivity. 2. 2 Dynamic Routing: Network destinations are discovered dynamically  by means of software  applications called Dynamic routing protocols. A routing table is created and managed by router  in Dynamic Routing. Firstly, a router will ‘learn' routes  to  the directly connected entire networks. It will  then learn routes from other routers using the same routing protocol. One or more best routes are selected from the list of routes for each and every network destination by router. ‘Best route'  information are distributed  to other routers running  the same routing protocol by Dynamic protocols, distributing  the  information on what networks it subsist  and can be reached. This provide dynamic routing protocols  the  capability  to  get used to logical network  topology changes, equipment failures or network outages ‘on  the fly'. 2. 3 Types  of Dynamic Routing Distance-Vector Routing Paths are calculated using Bellman Ford Algorithm by  a distance-vector routing protocol. RIPv1  and 2  and IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol) are examples  of distance-vector routing protocols. Earlier, distance vector protocols such as RIPv1 show classful behavior but newer distance vector protocols such  as RIPv2  and Enhanced  interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) show signs of classless behavior. Distance-vector routing protocols †¢ Easy  and competent  in small networks †¢ Deprived convergence properties †¢ Facilitate in  the growth  of more complex but more scalable link-state routing protocols  for use  in large networks. Periodic copies  of  a routing table are passed from router  to router by distance vector routing  algorithms. †¢ Logical broadcast is the most commonly used  addressing scheme. Periodic updates are sent by routers running  a distance vector routing protocol even if  there  are no changes  in  the network. †¢ Complete routing table is included under  the periodic rou ting update in a pure distance vector environment. †¢ All known routes can be verified and changes can be made  by getting  a neighbor’s complete routing table based on simplified  information also called as â€Å"routing by rumor†. Fig: Distance Vector Routing Periodic routing updates are received from router A to router B in  the figure. Distance vector metric (such  as hop count) are added by Router B to each route learned from router A,  rising  the distance vector. Its own routing tables  are passed to its neighbor, router C. This process occurs  between directly connected neighbor routers in  all directions. The chief purpose  is  to decide  the top route  to  contain  in  the table when the routing table is updated by  a routing protocol  algorithm. Different routing metric is used to determine  the best route by each distance vector routing protocol. Metric value  is generated for each path through network by the  algorithm. Usually, the path is better if metric is smaller. Single characteristic  of  a path helps in calculation of metrics and combination of several path characteristics helps in calculation of more complex metrics. The most commonly used  metrics used by distance vector routing protocols are: Hop Count: Packet’s number  of passages throughout  the output port  of one router Bandwidth: Link’s data capacity Delay: Time necessary  to shift  a packet from starting place  to destination. Load: work load on  router or link. Reliability: each network link  bit error rate Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU):  the utmost message extent  in octets satisfactory  to  all links on  the path. Link-State Routing Packet-switched networks use link-state routing protocol  for computer communications. OSPF  and  IS-IS are its examples. A  topological database is built by the help of link-state routing that describes extra  precise  inter-network routes. Large networks use link state routing protocols and now used by most of the organization and ISP. Router performs the link-state protocol in  the network. A map  of  the connectivity  of  the network is constructed by every node in the form of graph showing node connection to other node is the basic concept  of link-state routing. The best next hop is calculated by each node  independently for every possible destination  in  the network. The routing table for the node is formed by  the collection  of best next hops. Fig: Link-State Routing To find out  the shortest path from itself  to every other node  in  the network an  algorithm is run by each node  independently over  the map. OSPF, EIGRP and Novell's NLSP (NetWare Link State Protocol) are the examples of link state routing protocol. IPX is only supported by Novell's NLSP. A partial map  of  the network is maintained by each router in this type  of routing protocol. Link state  advertisement (LSA)  is flooded throughout  the network when  a network link changes state (up  to down, or vice versa). The changes are noted and routes are re-computed by all  the routers  accordingly. Greater flexibility  and sophistication are provided by Link State Routing protocols than  the Distance Vector routing protocols. Overall broadcast traffic is reduced  and better decisions are made  about routing by taking characteristics such  as bandwidth, delay, reliability,  and load  into consideration,  instead  of taking  their decisions only on hop count. 3. ROUTING  ALGORITHMS 3. 1 Bellman-Ford  Algorithm: †¢ Also called as Label Correcting  algorithm †¢ Used for negative edge weight †¢ Same as Dijkstra's  algorithm †¢ In order to maintain distance tables, this algorithm is used by router †¢ Exchanging  information with  the neighboring nodes help to update information in the distance table †¢ All nodes  in the network is represented by the number  of data  in  the table The directly  attached neighbors are represented by the columns  of table and all destinations  in  the network are represented by the row. †¢ The number  of hops, latency,  the number  of outgoing packets, etc. are measurements in this algorithm. 3. 2 Dijkstra’s  Algorithm: †¢ Edsger Dijkstra  conceived Dijkstra's  algorithm †¢ Mostly used for routing †¢ Is a graph search algorithm †¢ The single-source shortest path problem  for  a graph is solved by this algorithm with non negative edge path costs †¢ The shortest path tree is produced as a output †¢ Helps in finding shortest route from one router to other A shortest-path spanning tree having route to all possible destination  is built by this algorithm for router †¢ The router using  the  algorithm  is  the source  of its shortest-path spanning tree 4. ROUTING PROTOCOLS Routing protocol describe the way of communication between routers which helps in the selection of routes between any two nodes on a network. Usually, knowledge of immediate neighbors is known by each router. This  information is shared by  a routing protocol to have routers the knowledge  of  the network  topology. Most commonly used Rout ing protocols are as follows: 4. RIP (Routing  information Protocol) †¢ dynamic  inter-network routing protocol †¢ used in private network †¢ routes are automatically discovered †¢ routing tables are built †¢ a Distance-Vector routing protocol †¢ uses Bellman-Ford  algorithm †¢ 15 hops are  allowed with RIP †¢ 180 sec is the hold down time †¢ Full updates are transmitted every 30 sec by each RIP router †¢ Works at network layer †¢ Prevent routing loops †¢ Hop limit †¢ incorrect routing  information are prevented from being propagated †¢ easy configuration †¢ no parameter required Two versions  of RIP are as follows: RIPv1: †¢ classful routing is used subnet information is not carried by periodic routing updates †¢ no support for VLSM (variable length subnet masks) †¢ Same network class have different sized subnet by the use of RIPv1 †¢ No router authentication †¢ Broadcast based and 15 is the maximum hop count A RIPv1 packet  format  is shown below: [pic]Fig: RIP packet  format Command:  determine whether  the packet  is  a request or  a response. A router send  all or part  of its routing table is asked by  the request. Reply  to  a request or regular routing update means the response. Routing table entries are contained in responses. Version number: RIP version used is specified. Potentially  incompatible versions can be signaled by this field. Zero: RFC 1058 RIP doesn’t use this field; it was  added to have backward compatibility provided to pre-standard varieties  of RIP. Address family identifier (AFI):   The  address family used is specified. Address-family identifier is contained in  each entry  to  specify  the category  of  address being particularized. The  AFI  for IP  is 2. Address:   The IP  address is particularized  for  the entry. Metric:  The number of inter-network hops traversed  in  the trip  to  the destination is indicated. 1  and 15  for  an applicable route, or 16  for  an unapproachable route. RIPv2: Developed  in 1994 †¢ Classless  inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) is supported †¢ Subnet  information can be carried †¢ Addition of MD5  authentication and Rudimentary plain text  authentication for the security of routing updates. †¢ Routing updates   are multicast to 224. 0. 0. 9 †¢ 15 is the maximum hop count A RIPv2 packet  format is shown below: [pic] Fig: RIPv2 packet  format Command:  determine whether  the packet  is  a request or  a response. A router send  all or part  of its routing table is asked by  the request. Reply  to  a request or regular routing update means the response. Routing table entries are contained in responses. Version number: RIP version used is specified. Unused: Zero is the value set. Address-family identifier (AFI):  The  address family used is specified. Authentication  information is contained in the remainder of the entry if  the  AFI  for  the initial entry  is 0xFFFF in  the message. At present,  simple password is the only  authentication type. Route tag: The methodology is provided  for distinguishing between  internal routes (learned by RIP)  and external routes (learned from other protocols). IP  address: IP  address is particularized  for  the entry. Subnet mask:  The subnet mask is contained  for  the entry. No subnet mask has been particularized  for  the entry if this field  is zero. Next hop: The IP  address  of  the next hop is indicated  to which packets  for  the entry should be  forwarded. Metric:  The number of inter-network hops traversed  in  the trip  to  the destination is indicated. 1  and 15  for  an applicable route, or 16  for  an unapproachable route. 4. 2 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) †¢ A Link-State protocol †¢ used  for routing between routers belonging  to  a single  autonomous system †¢ link-state technology is used †¢   information  about  the direct connections  and links is communicated between the routers Identical database is maintained by each OSPF router for the description of   the  autonomous System’s  topology †¢ Calculation of a routing table by the construction of a shortest- path tree from this database. †¢ Routes are quickly recalculated in the face of topological changes †¢ equal-cost multi-path are supported †¢ Authentication of all OSPF routing protocol exchanges †¢ Designed for TCP/IP environment †¢ routing updates authentication †¢ IP multicast are utilized in sending/receiving  the updates †¢ routes IP packets based exclusively on  the target IP  address originate  in  the IP packet header Grouping of sets of networks †¢ IP subnets are flexibly configured †¢ Destination  and mask is available to the route distributed by OSPF The following figure shows  the packet  format used by OSPF: [pic]Fig: OSPF packet  format Version number:  the OSPF version used is specified. Type:  the OSPF packet type is identified  as one  of  the following: Hello: neighbor relationships are established and maintained. Database description:  the contents  of  the  topological database are described. Link-state request: pieces  of  the  topological database are request ed from neighbor routers. Link-state update:  a link-state request packet is responded. Link-state  acknowledgment:   link-state update packets are acknowledged. Packet length:  the packet length,  the OSPF header is specified. Router ID:   the source  of  the packet is identified. Area ID:   The  area of packet is identified. All OSPF packets  are  linked with  a single  area. Checksum:  the complete packet contents are checked  for  any harm suffered  in travel. Authentication type:  the  authentication type is contained. Authentication of  all OSPF protocol exchanges. Configuration of the  authentication type   on per-area basis. Authentication:   authentication  information is contained. Data: encapsulated upper-layer  information is contained. 5. WORKING 5. 1 Distance Vector Routing: The following methods show  the overall working  of  the Distance-Vector Routing: . There is no predefined route i. e. entire route for a particular destination is not known to any router. The port to send out a unicast packet is known by each router on the basis of destination address. Progressively the route is made and there is the formation of the route by the contribution of each router when it receives the packet. The optimal tree is not predefined in DVRP actually. No routers have knowledge for making an optimal tree. Slowly and gradually the tree is made. The tree is formed as soon as a router receives a packet; it is forwarded by router through some of the ports, on the basis of source address. Other down-stream routers make the rest of the tree. The formation of the loops must be prevented by this protocol. Duplications are also prevented in order to make the entire network receive only one copy. In addition to this, the shortest path from source to the destination is the path travelled by a copy. Inconsistencies occurring with Distance-Vector Routing: Incorrect routing entries are caused by slow  inter-network convergence which may bring inconsistencies maintaining routing information. .  The following example describes how  inconsistencies occur  in Distance-Vector routing: The entire figure describes the inconsistencies occurring with Distance-Vector Routing. Defining  a maximum  to prevent count  to  infinity: . With this  approach,  the routing table update loop is permitted by routing protocol until  the metric exceeds its maximum  allowed value. Fig: Defining  a maximum  to prevent count  to  infinity 6 hops are defined as the maximum  allowed value. When  the metric value exceeds 16 hops, we cannot reach network 10. 4. 0. 0 Routing Loops  in Distance-Vector Routing: A routing loop is said to be occurred if two or more routers have  false routing  information  representing that  a applicable path  to  an unapproachable d estination exists via other routers. Fig: Routing Loop Solutions  to eliminate routing loops Split horizon:  The information is not sent in the direction from where original information comes. The split horizon function is illustrated by the following figure Fig: Split Horizon Route Poisoning:  Routing loops are eliminated. The following figure provides  an example  of Route Poisoning: Fig: Route Poisoning In  addition  to split horizon, route poisoning  and holddown timers, poison reverse, holddown timers  and triggered updates  are other methods  to eliminate routing loops. 5. 2 Link-State Routing: The following methods show  the overall working  of Link-State Routing. Gathering of the neighbor  information continuously. Router answering to this protocol are broadcasted the list of neighbor  information, process known  as flooding. Soon, this  information is distributed to all routers on  the network. Flooding of the neighbor  information in case  of  a (routing-significant) change  in  the network. The best path can be calculated to any host on any destination network as everything  about  the network is known by every router. 6. ADVANTAGES  AND DISADVANTAGES Distance-Vector Routing Advantages  of Distance-Vector Routing: †¢ simple  and flat network †¢ No special hierarchical design is required. †¢ Implementation of hub-and-spoke networks †¢ No concern for worst-case convergence times  in  a network †¢ less memory  and processing power usage Disadvantages  of Distance-Vector Routing: †¢ Incorrect routing entries create inconsistencies in maintaining  the routing  information †¢ Rise of a condition count  to  infinity †¢ Occurrence of a routing loop †¢ Variable Length Subnet Masking (VLSM) or super netting is not supported †¢ multi-vendor routing environment is not supported Link-State Routing Advantages  of Link-State Routing: †¢ Paths are chosen via network by the use of cost metrics †¢ changes  in  the network  topology are reported to  all routers  in  the network quickly †¢   fast convergence times †¢ No occurrence of routing loops routing decisions are based on the most recent set  of  information †¢ Link-State protocols use cost metrics  to choose paths though  the network. The cost metric reflects  the capacity  of  the links on those paths. Disadvantages  of Link-State Routing: †¢ Topology database,  an  adjacency database,  and  a  forwarding database is required. †¢ a significant  amount  of memory  is required in large or complex networks †¢ significant  amount  of CPU power usage †¢ need of a strict hierarchical network design to reduce significant  amount  of CPU power usage †¢ network capability or performance is low to transport data . APPLICATION  AREAS Distance-Vector Routing: †¢ used in mobile, wireless and hoc networks (MANETs) †¢ used for mobile  ad hoc routing (Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing) . Link-State Routing: †¢ used  in larger, more complicated networks †¢ Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) designed for mobile, wireless and hoc networks 8. COMPARING DISTANCE-VECTOR  AND LINK-STATE ROUTING STRATEGIES †¢ Mostly, best path is determined by Distance Vector protocols, while bandwidth, delay, reliability  and load are considered to make routing decision by Link-State protocols Distance Vector protocols are simple and efficient where as Link-State protocols are flexible and sophisticated †¢ Routing  information Protocol (RIP v1  and v2)  and  interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP developed by Cisco) are Distance Vector protocols where as OSPF, EIGRP, Novell's NLSP (NetWare Link State Protocol) are Link-State protocols †¢ Notion of a distance is not required in Distance Vector routing where as Link-State routing is based on minimizing some notion of distance †¢ Uniform policies are not required at all routers in Distance Vector routing but uniform policy is required in Link-State routing Router have little knowledge about network topology in Distance Vector routing where as routing domain has excessive knowledge about topology information in Link-State routing 9. CONCLUSION Introduction, working, use, advantages and disadvantages of Distance-Vector  and Link-State routing  are explained  in this project. Bellman  ford  and Dijkstr a’s  algorithm are also discussed. This project describes the popularity of Distance-Vector  and Link-State routing  because of their complex, sophisticated, flexible features in recent computer networking field..

Body Images and Popular Culture in China Essay

Chen clams that Chinese girls have stronger preferences for a thin ideal predict body dissatisfaction because it has been rooted in Chinese history for centuries as their traditional idea. However, I believe that this is not the case, because the mass media and western ideas have a strong impact on today’s China. Young Chinese women have often said like a habit, â€Å"I want to be skinny. † Why do Chinese do they desperately wish to be slim or prefer to be thinner? There are many popular and famous celebrities who are typically skinny in China. The mass media pervades the everyday lives of people living in Chinese society. It plays an important role in influencing their attitudes on how they view themselves in term of body image. Not only influencing them on styles, fashions, and makeups but body images dealing with society’s standard what is beautiful and cute. They are powerful conveyors of the sociocultural ideals, so they can illustrate people’s mind about body images. Especially Chinese women are engaged in a rational struggle to understand the significance of pubertal weight and shape changes in a culture and full of confusing messages about female sexuality and female desires. The mass media and interpersonal influences on body image affect many young Chinese women. They create the body images as a message to the society, and the message spread among young Chinese women. Appearance pressure associates with body dissatisfaction. The message spread through typically TV, magazines, advertising, and films. In Dong’s â€Å"Who Is Afraid of Chinese Modern Girl,† she describes high class of modern Chinese girl’s qualities are appeared in the mass media. The figures are considered as good and respectable women figures in China. She states, â€Å"The magazine juxtaposed photos of real women with advertising images and fashion sketches and created a space for imaging the modern by blending reality, desire, and fantasy† (Dong 196). According to magazines’ surveys, majority of magazine readers are women and girls. For instant, there are many articles in fashion magazines how to dress and how to lose weight, which are targeted on young girls. Models in fashion magazines are pretty and beautiful in their eyes, and they believe that the models are considered what is beautiful in the society. The models are like a dream for many young girls. In Cash Pruzinsky’s book Body image, they discuss an important relationship between young girls and mass media. They explains, â€Å"In early adolescence, girls consider magazine articles and advertisements to be an important source of information for defining and obtaining the perfect body are more likely to be dissatisfied with their body. Many girls compare themselves to the slender, glamorous women in magazines and on TV† (Cash and Pruzinsky 79). In addition, girls are more likely than boys to feel pressure from the mass media and close interpersonal networks such as family and friends about their appearance because they generally have conversations about their appearance in more infrequency. Frequent appearance comparisons and discussions are important influences on body dissatisfaction. Cash and Pruzinsky argue that socializing and associating with others would send the media-based messages to others. They explain, â€Å"Socialization about the meaning of one’s body involves more than cultural and media-based messages. Expectations, opinions, and verbal and nonverbal communications are conveyed in interactions with family members, friends, other peers, and even strangers† (Cash and Pruzinsky 40). The female images represented by the mass media restrict women, and they are giving them a wrong message. This culture further prescribes the myriad body altering means of attaining societal expectations by dieting, exercising, using beauty and fashion products. For more advantages of Chinese companies, they would use mass media as a technique of advertising skills to sell their diet and cosmetic products effectively. Body image, the multifaceted psychological experience of embodiment, profoundly influences the quality of human life. The mass media shapes the idealized images and acceptable appearance. The body images what is called the perfect woman figures are created and presented by the mass media, and they can affect on the attitudes and behaviors of young Chinese women. China is a densely populated and rapidly developing country where has been absorbed various different cultures. In Louie’s book Modern Chinese Culture, she discusses that mass media serves as an interface between the self-identities of youth, consumer culture, global fashions and cultural trends. She states, â€Å"A distinct urban youth culture is taking shape, nurtured largely by an electronically based consumer culture. As such, this youth culture is the embodiment of globalization: it draws its icons, styles, images and values mainly from the ‘global’ consumer culture and entertainment culture†(Louie 331). Without a doubt, China has been strongly westernized, so it is most apparent that body image problems are increasing. The mass media expresses feminine standards of attractiveness such as ultra-thinness. It can encourage awareness of expected standards for appearance and behavior and willingness to adapt other’s preference in the service if international harmony. The mass media set standard images of attractive women, and they have affected to women’s life. This belief of sociocultural perspective is that cultural values influence individual values and behavior. Attractive women based on mass media’s influences have better life in general than women who are not attractive. They are the recipients of all manner of positive behaviors, and they appear to develop positive characteristics as a consequence. They are often treated more favorably than their less attractive counterparts. They receive more attention, positive interactions, and help from others. They experience greater occupational success and popularity, and they also have more dating and sexual experience. They have higher social self-esteem, better social skills, and better health both physically and mentally. The perspective addresses the source of Chinese cultural values regarding attractiveness, and there appears to be cross-cultural agreement in what constitutes physical attractiveness. The mass media’s idealized depiction of thin female figures may influence Chinese women’s body image in a several of ways. The body images have caused young Chinese women some problems such as emotional depression, lowering self-esteem, and eating disorders. The current societal standards for female beauty enormously emphasize the extreme thinness, and the level of thinness is almost impossible for most women to achieve by healthy means. The potentially negative consequences of the thin ideal, elaborated elsewhere in this volume, include negative body image, low self-esteem, and psychological and physical disorders of life threatening proportions. They have a powerful impact on them for their welling and self-esteem. â€Å"Because negative body images are likely to induce negative mood states such as anxiety and depression, the activation of a negative mood can activate the body self-schema, resulting in the exacerbation of body image disturbances†(Cash and Pruzinsky 50). Many young Chinese women feel public self-consciousness and appearance based social pressure. Public self-consciousness is a cognitive development correlated with body dissatisfaction among young girls as their brains region that process social information mature. Their brains focus on perception to one’s appearance and behaviors. They tend to adapt as media’s perspective as a positive image, and they decrease self-esteem and oppositely increase their body image concerns. The social pressure to look like perfect woman figures is associated with women’s happiness and success. They feel more pressure linked directly with shape, weight, and weight loss. â€Å"Thinness is a feminine and attractiveness ideal in China† (Chen 4). Girls who are perceived more pressure from the mass media are predicted more likely to have eating disorders. Rates have been increasing in China. Dissatisfaction with weight and shape is a moderately strong correlate and predictor of the perceived need to be thinner and the actions of dieting and purging. In conclusion, the social pressures of body images communicate through exposure to mass media portrayals of physical attractiveness contribute to body dissatisfaction for Chinese women. There are some historical and Chinese traditional aspects of body images as Chen argues. However, I argued that the mass media presentation of thin images as the ideal is a major contributor to current levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in China. There is a significant relationship between Chinese women’s body image and the mass. The commonness of the mass media confirms that nearly all girls and women are exposed to a substantial and idealized images of thinness and beauty. Most are vulnerable to adverse effects when they are exposed to media images. The mass media may be over influenced to promote the ideal attractiveness standards. The evidences show that media images contributes to negative body image, The most obvious strategy would be to reduce exposure to idealized images of thinness by encouraging the media to present a wider and more realistic range of female body shapes as acceptable and even beautiful. Even though the images narrow range of female body images, it is hard for them to resist being influenced by the mass media. It sets the standards of beauty, which has been greatly influenced by western countries; therefore, Chinese women have been losing their traditional features. It limits and controls their attitudes and behaviors.

History of Jazz Fusion. Social Changes and Jazz Fusion Essay

History of Jazz Fusion. Social Changes and Jazz Fusion - Essay Example When looking at the jazz fusions of the 1960s and 1970s, it can be seen that there is a direct relationship to both the expression of artistic advancement as well as the commerce which is associated with this. The combination of both intents by the various artists is one which has created several formulas for jazz fusion and has led to different sounds as well as new commercial opportunities for musicians. The formats and the interest which is surrounding this continues to remain as a main initiative with the idea of jazz and the promotion of specific formulas which can be used for higher interest among individuals who enjoy this particular expression of music. History of Jazz Fusion The propagation of jazz in the 1960s and the 1970s was associated with changes which were occurring in music during the time. Traditionally, jazz was known as an experimental style and was based on improvisation. However, the jazz form was constructed as the foundational movement with the ability to add in extra components to this. The construction of the jazz tradition was based first on the social roots, which was inclusive of innovation and experimentation as the basis of the art. The styles and periods that were before this time began with the blues, which emerged into swing, free jazz and jazz be-bop. Each of these related to finding a diverse way of expression, moving into improvisation that would be accepted and looking at more complex ways of examining style and expression. By looking at these components, there was the ability to create a different understanding and progression of jazz and the meanings which it held in contemporary society (DeVeaux, 1991: pg. 525). The historical aspects of jazz that led to the jazz – fusion of the 1960s was also inclusive of historical associations with popular culture of the time as well as the jazz culture that was well – known. The ideal of innovation, progression and the invention of new sounds was a part of the foundatio nal formula of jazz. However, the 1960s and 1970s began to move into these formulas not only as aspects of experimentation, but also moved into the ability to change the styles according to the sounds that were common during the time. This stayed in line with the jazz tradition and was able to tap into the cultural styles that were beginning to form in the contemporary society, such as rock and roll as well as pop. The concept of American jazz and the several branches which grew from this emerged during this time, specifically in light of the innovation and foundational ideologies of experimentation that were a part of jazz (Peretti, 1997: p. 35). Social Changes and Jazz Fusion Another aspect which was changing the way in which jazz was presented in society was from the cultural and social affiliations with music. During this time frame, jazz was known to be at a crossroads. There were traditions of jazz which were well – known to many; however, these were considered classics and often couldn’t be expressed in the same way. Repeating the same expressions in jazz through the traditional forms and the blues elements became one which didn’t work with the needs for jazz. At the same time, there was an emergence of cultural and social expressions that were based on diversity of thought as well as a changing ethnic identity within the culture. The traditions of music began to form within the culture as the main association of identity and were expanded on to reach specific groups who could best relate to these ideologies. The social movements were then a part of the jazz expressions and fusion that became a part of this time frame (Barkley, 2007: 6). The concept of creating a new sense of identity was one which jazz formed specifically because of social movements and the relationships which could be created. The Civil Rights Movement, aspects of free expression and the liberty to expand on various forms of ideals were the main concepts

Annotated Bibliography-Terence-W8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Annotated Bibliography-Terence-W8 - Essay Example The elderly perceptions should change as it was the key to the resistance. Peek, S. T., Wouters, E. J., van Hoof, J., Luijkx, K. G., Boeije, H. R., & Vrijhoef, H. J. (2014). Factors influencing acceptance of the technology for aging in place: a systematic review. International journal of medical informatics, 83(4), 235-248. The article is the publication by the pub med. The study tries to examine factors that affect technology acceptance among the older persons in the society. In this regard, it establishes that factors of post implementation of the technology were detrimental to technology adoption. Information concerning the study was available, and the authors propose for further studies to investigate if the factors are interrelated. The literature was not provided, but methods of research were limited to mixed surveys of other studies done by different individuals. The methods of analysis were unique since no study had used them. It is necessary for the factors of implementation of technology to be favorable to the older persons since they acted as inhibitors to technology acceptance. Pub Med published the article. The study observes that social networking sites can improve the quality of life of the senior members as they enhance their communication ability. They can communicate easily with their family members and the young generation that increases their intergenerational communication. Not much information was available regarding the study, and the authors were silent on future research. The literature review was less in depth but offered a good insight for the reader to integrate the study. The methods of analysis were by systematic reviews of the various articles that were common to other studies. It is significant for the seniors to embrace the social networking as it helps bring them closer to the young generation. This is an extensive

Building Cost Estimation and Calculation of Construction Profit Essay

Building Cost Estimation and Calculation of Construction Profit - Essay Example Item rate contracts Sources of profit specific to item rate contracts: 1. Profit as a percentage of each executed item from tender. Contractors try to reduce low-margin items and increase high-margin items. 2. Profit from sub-contractors. 3. Profit from administrative reimbursable expenses borne by client. 4. Profit from delays caused due to client, or design changes. Cost plus fee or Cost plus percentage contracts Sources of profit in cost plus fee contracts: 1. Profit as a percentage of expenditure. Higher the project cost, higher the profit. 2. Profit from efficient material purchase. Material is bought low and contractor's fee is calculated as a percentage of a higher material cost. Profit from material and from administrative charges. Not possible if material bought by client. Labour contracts 1. Profit from labour. 2. Profit from administration, site office and other reimbursable expenses. Design-Build Contracts. Sources of profit in Design-build contracts: 1. Profit on design services. 2. Ability to maximise profit through influencing the design process. 3. Reduction in costs through better coordination and streamlining of execution. 4. Control of costs through easy and efficient tracking of changes and adaptability to change. PFI (Private Finance Initiative) or BOT (Build Operate Transfer) contracts: The only way for contractors executing such projects it to maximise revenue by operating the project for a specified period of time that is deemed to be sufficient for the contractor to recoup expenses and a reasonable profit. Such contracts are given for large public projects like roads or power plants. In conclusion, a contractor has two avenues of maximizing profit from a project; direct and indirect methods. Direct methods are...Material is bought low and contractor's fee is calculated as a percentage of a higher material cost. Profit from material and from administrative charges. Not possible if material bought by client. The only way for contractors executing such projects it to maximise revenue by operating the project for a specified period of time that is deemed to be sufficient for the contractor to recoup expenses and a reasonable profit. Such contracts are given for large public projects like roads or power plants. In conclusion, a contractor has two avenues of maximizing profit from a project; direct and indirect methods. Direct methods are those that are built into the contract, and indirect are those profits that accrue due to an efficient and well managed project team.

Research on Meth Addiction Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Meth Addiction - Research Paper Example There were efforts to control them through regulation through the Food and Drug Administration as well as by law enforcement. However, these illicit drugs are still a part of our society, often having comorbidity with other aspects of crime, which disrupts our society. Methamphetamine is an extremely powerful narcotic. It has multiple ways of being ingested into the body. Sometimes, it is injected through the use of hypodermic needles, while other times it is snorted or smoked. Typically, snorting will have the quickest effect on the body due to the fact that methamphetamine is lipid soluble, which means it can interact past the blood brain barrier faster than any other route of administration. It was and still is the cause of many problems in relation to drug abuse in our society. It enslaves the user through powerful chemical drug dependence. This works because it changes the brain on a fundamental level. Freud was one of the first psychologists to say that humans operate on a plea sure principle. This rewarding pathway in the brain is known as the dopaminergenic reward pathway. Dopamine is one of the primary rewarding neurotransmitters in the brain and is responsible for regulating many actions such as hunger, sex, etc. Methamphetamine affects this system by causing a large increase in the amount of dopamine. This is why drug users feel such a high euphoric effect. The withdrawal effects of methamphetamine are also extremely unpleasant. Therefore, drug users self-administer more of the drug in order to not â€Å"crash†. As a result, they become chemically addicted. This occurs due to the fact that the brain rewires itself and does not secrete dopamine in the normal amounts of a person who does not use methamphetamine. Methamphetamine users comment that while they are not using the drug that there is a lack of feeling and everything seems grey. This is a primary motivator in encouraging the user to continue using the drug as a result of physiological re sponse. This physiological response is what drives the psychological and behavioral response. It works in both ways of classical and operant conditioning. Drug users learn that with the drug they will experience a state of euphoria. As a result, they develop not only the physiological dependence to the drug, but they also develop a psychological addiction. This in turn fuels other aspects of crime. Methamphetamine is common in all social classes, however it affects the lower classes the most. Often, many of these lower class citizens do not have a surplus income in order to fuel their drug addiction. Thus, they turn to other criminal activities in order to supply the income required to fuel their habit. This exposure to the drug often also causes problems among families. Methamphetamine can tear families apart and often leaves children with parents behind bars. Prostitution is also common for drug users in that they can take methamphetamine as collateral for sexual favors. The side effects of the use of methamphetamine are wide and varied. The fact that methamphetamine is a stimulant means that it promote a wide variety of anxiety and â€Å"twitchy† behavior. It also can lead to attentiveness problems as well as deficits in cognitive function and memory. As discussed previously, the dopaminergic reward system is highly stimulated when methamphetamine is in the system and that long-term use can lead to dopamine deficit. This puts high, chronic methamphetamine use

Business Email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Email - Essay Example Following are the primary positive aspects of this alignment for any form of business organization: 1. Source of competitive edge – Any corporation that implements the latest technology in its business processes such as marketing, production, sales, operations and etc. has more chances of enhancing its performance in the respective market. When both IT and business strategies move in the same direction, there is high probability that the top most IT components are used in the business operations. Every stakeholder from employees to end-consumer is satisfied with the company and its operations. 2. Value-added offerings – When IT strategy is considered as an integral part of the business plan, the core competence of the company can be strategically developed. The businesses can reap the benefits of availing the opportunities of employing the up-to-date technology for boosting their performance in the long-run. It ensures that the business plan is well-integrated and synchronized by efficiently managing the company’s resources. 3. Communication enhancement and synergy – When there is harmonization in IT and business strategies, everyone has clarity about the course of action that has to be pursued for successful attainment of the vision. There is even precision about the plan that has to be followed and everyone can make a better and well-informed decision after assessment of available resources. IT can help a business in availing the opportunities that are unexploited in the market and deliver unlimited business benefits. For instance, IT system such as SAP or Oracle can help an organization in keeping track of its business operations every second; these systems ensure that every aspect of the company is properly covered and monitored so that its performance becomes efficient and progresses at an accelerating

Set operations and Venn diagrams. week 5 MAT Essay

Set operations and Venn diagrams. week 5 MAT - Essay Example So using the example above, cars, buses and vans should be written inside the circle for land vehicles, while rafts and yachts belong to the circle for water vehicles. It is also possible that an object possesses both characteristics. For example, if you want to use a Venn diagram to organize a variety of tools based on whether it is for kitchen (circle 1) or for plumbing (circle 2), you know that scissors belong to both circles. To represent this, we write ‘scissors’ in the overlap of two circles. What if you have an object that does not have any of the characteristics represented by your circles? Then you simply put its name outside the overlapping circles, to signify that it does not belong to any of the groups. Taking the Venn diagram of tools, you know that a watering can does not belong to either kitchen or plumbing tools because it is a gardening tool. Thus, you put ‘watering can’ outside the overlapping

Case study of evaluate an event in the form of a case study

Of evaluate an event in the form of a - Case Study Example This study will evaluate Australia-based sports event. The Australian Open is taken under consideration in this study as the event. This case study will analyze and evaluate the impact of Australian Open on the economy of the country. Moreover, this study will reveal the contribution of this sport event in the growth of sports tourism sector. Government and sports ministry of Australia, several stakeholders including national Tennis agencies, state government, several state tennis academies and institutes are considered as important resources of Australian Sport Tourism Industry. Part 1 There are several classifications of sport tourism in Australia. Australian sport tourism can be segregated into three parts, such as sport events tourism, active sport tourism, and celebrity and nostalgia sport tourism (Hinch and Higham, 2011, p.45). Australian Open can be considered under active sport tourism wherein the individuals or players participate in the sport events to win this prestigious Tennis Title. In Australian Open, greatest global tennis players come to Australia in the month of January. Australian Open is a popular sporting event that blends the enjoyment and fun of tennis with traditional cultural and social activities that celebrate the love of Australians. Australian Open gained huge popularity and acceptability across the globe. People of Australia love tennis and love to watch the Australian Open as all the popular global tennis players take part in this sporting event in order to win this tennis title. Every year the popularity and acceptance of Australian Open is significantly increasing at a constant rate. Economic development is the major consequence of this Australian Open. It is important for government, sports ministry and state or national tennis academies to develop future plan for this specific sporting event. Stakeholder’s role in Sport Tourism Sector Australian sport tourism sector is one of the major economic drivers. Australian Open is one of the popular sporting events in which leading global tennis players used to participate in order to win the prestigious Tennis Title. This Australian Open is one of the most significant tourism catalysts (Smith and Stewart, 2010, pp. 1-13). This sporting event attracts several global tennis lovers and spectators. Moreover, various scenic beauty and tourist spots forced the spectators to visit Australia. The country gets benefited in both ways. Ultimately, the revenue increases. It plays an important part in country’s development. There are several sport event organizations in Australia. Australian government and ministry of Sports developed Federal Sport Policy (McCabe, 2005, pp.85-106). This policy is delivered through a range of significant structure. It includes Anti-Doping Authority of Australian sports, Department of Ageing and Health and Australian Sport Commission. Australian Open is managed by the Tennis Australia. This organization is regulated by the sports ministry of the country. Government and sports ministry of Australia, several stakeholders including national Tennis agencies, state government, several state tennis academies and institutes are continuously trying to

Sailing Ship Effect Essay Example for Free

Sailing Ship Effect Essay MGMT002: Technology World Change AY 2009-2010, Term 2 Student Paper Review, Howells (2002) The response of old technology incumbents to technological competition sailing ship effect exist? Prepared for: Dr Terence Fan Prepared by: Nicole Isabella Aw Su Sien (G14) Does the Howells presents the audience with a critical view of the sailing ship effect and postulates that it is triggered by misinterpretations based on insufficient knowledge, and that the mer. This sailing ship effect is the rocess whereby the advent of a new technology engenders a response aimed at improving the incumbent technology. I am inclined to Howells view and will further demonstrate this below. There is evidence to believe that the sailing ship effect is existent in the world today. Cooper and Schendel (1988) considered 7 different cases and I would like to focus on the case between vacuum tubes and the transistor. A simple timeline of the development of the vacuum tubes has shown that the old technology (vacuum tubes) ontinued to be improved and reached its highest stage of technical development only after the new technology (transistor) was introduced. Nonetheless, there is still insufficient evidence to definitely conclude that the sailing ship effect did take place. The sailing ship effect is challenged due to the number of externalities involved in the technological development of any product, making it difficult to conclude that accelerated improvements made by incumbent technology is driven solely by the emergence of new ones. Granted, there is a timely connection between the arrival of new technologies and the accelerated improvement of old ones, however, one must question the genuine motivation for this action (government funding, normal intra- industry competition, lock-in effect or arrival of new technology). The Flettner rotor ship, for example, was a government-inspired project. Research and Development (R;D) is essential in the improvement of any technology. The availability of funds is a problem many firms face, however, with high barriers to entry coupled by inancial support from the government, it is not difficult to understand how this could provide the impetus for accelerated improvement of a technology as a firm would want to gain monopoly in the industry. In the Alkali industry, the Claus-Chance process was already in the works before the threat of the Leblanc process. This improvements are still being made. I believe that the extent of the sailing ship effect can also be related to the substitutability of the old and new technologies. The more substitutable the new technology is, the greater need to invest in the improvement of the old technology to maintain competitiveness in the market (assuming the firm does not exit the industry or switch from old to new technology). This could be a factor, which allows the coexistence of both old and new technology. The advancement of cameras today illustrates the aforementioned idea. Despite the technological advancement of cameras (from film to digital), digital cameras and film cameras still coexist in the arket because of their relatively low substitutability (as film photography is different from that of digital photography). It would be fallacious to argue that the lack of evidence of the sailing ship effect would mean that it is non-existent. Therefore, I do not believe that this effect is non- existent but support Howells viewpoint on the rarity of the sailing ship effect because it is too superficial to claim that the advent of new technologies provided the main driving force for the accelerated improvement of old technologies.

Death benefits Essay Example for Free

Death benefits Essay Scholars such as Gnckenzie (2007) advised people to take action before the 1st of July in order to ensure that they stand an opportunity to benefit under the new super rules. Among the things people were advised to do were to make a clear review on their nominations of death benefits, to make sure that they were still appropriate and in the current manner. Doing a review on insurance cover was also necessary to consider whether the amount in the account should be increased or not. Another strategy was to do a combination of all or part of the money for those who started their funds before 1983, the 1st of July. The set one million as a limit was also supposed to be utilized by people if they were to get advantage in the new changes. According to Betamann (2006) a person was supposed to make sure that they had effectively quoted the number on the tax file (TFN) to make good use of the new rules on their superannuation funds. Co-contributions were to be appropriately made to the government for the people whose contributions on the super is non-concessional, all these were recommended to be done before 1st July 2007. People were also advised to review their arrangements on salary contributions and confirm that the contributions they made did not go above the set limits. The set one million as a limit should be utilized by people if they are to get advantage in the new changes. A recommendation was also made that one should make sure that they have effectively quoted the TFN to make good use of the new rules on their superannuation funds. Co-contributions should be appropriately made to the government for the people whose contributions on the super is non-concessional. Annette (2006) advised people to make a review on minimum payments allocated on pension and be careful about the amount of money they withdraw, because if one withdraws a lot of money, then it means their accounts would soon run out. There was an advice to people to make applications for the health card of the seniors if they were legible for that. Checking whether one would suitably fit in the non-commutable to be able to enjoy the benefit of exception on the asset test which is on a 50% limit. Conclusion By and large the, the changes made on the 2007 simplified superannuation Act as Gnckenzie (2007) stated, have had a great improvement on the lives of the employees who were approaching retirement period. The exemption of tax, tax deduction, reduction of tax on death penalties and tax free death benefits upon the immediate dependents are among the benefits the seniors have enjoyed. However, the limitations introduced in the Act may have negative effects on the retirees who may not be able to comply. If a retiree takes action on the advice offered by the scholars, then they stand a great chance to take advantage of the 1st of July simplified superannuation Act. References Annette, N. (2006).Choices of Individual Investment and Retirement Enhancement: The Subcommittee Hearing. New York: McGraw Publishers. Batemann, H. (2006). Retirement Provision in Scary Markets (3rd ed. ). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Clare, S. (2005). Retirement in Australia and Superannuation: The Government Fund. Cambridge: Anderson Publishers. Cohen, P. (1998). Superannuation and Retirement (2nd ed. ). Chicago: Moody Press Gnckenzie, R. (2007). The Book That talks On Money: How to Manage Your Money Well. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brand Identity And Brand Image Marketing Essay

Brand Identity And Brand Image Marketing Essay In business brand isnt a new theory. It is used by marketers from long time to identify their products from other competitors that have same product category. As Van Den Heever said the word brand comes from the old German word brandr which means to burn. (Lombard, 2007, p. 18)A Brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it (Kalakumari Sekar, 2012)The traditional American definition of brand is, a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them, which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors (Lee Zhang, 2000) 2.1.1 Brand identity and Brand image Brand image has been assigned different meanings from the day it was introduced into the marketing discipline by Gardner and Levy (1955). Some researches has define brand image as brand identity, but according to the recent studies that have claimed that brand image and brand identity are two different concepts but they are interchangeable. Moreover, there are four basics to understand and define the brand image, which are : 1)Brand image is an image in the mind created by the consumer.2) Consumers use their emotions and feelings to interpret the concept of brand image.3) Brand image is an idea fuelled by knowledge through marketing activities taken from the observation of consumer characteristics. 4) The perception of brand image designed in the mind of consumer is much more important than the actual one. However, Brand image is how a brand is perceived by consumers, while brand identity is the way that the company exposes the brand in the market, and how it wants to be perceived by the customers. Eventually, customers may not have the same image of the brand that the company presented. (Bian X., 2011) (Price, 2010) 2.1.2 Brand Power and Market Share According to Stobart (1994) brand power and dominant market share could be occurred through perceived product quality. Generally, entrepreneurs and managers have a great impact on creating power brands. They understand a need and desire of a specific group of customers then they create products and supply the associated services that satisfy those needs extremely well. Effective quality control procedures make sure they do things right the first time in delivering those products and services. Therefore, they achieve superior quality when they sell them the high quality with a less cost of lower quality competitors. Then, they advertise and promote the benefits and the advantages they got using those products. The customer perceives the high quality and the added value offered by the product. The result : a power brand is created and dominant share follows. (Vantamay, 2004) (draw brand power conceptual model) 2.1.3 Brand equity According to Kwok Keung Tam (2007), brand equity is the value premium that a company  realizes from a  product with a recognizable name as compared to its competitors. when Companies make their products memorable, easily recognizable using its name or symbol and superior in quality and reliability, this is the process of creating brand equity. Also, it depends on the number of people with habitual purchase, in that way it could also be a strategy used by the firm to generate cash flow because people arent buying just an ordinary product but they are buying unique value. However, when people are ready to pay more for a standard product instead of branded one, here the brand fails that means brand equity is negative. This might happen if a company caused a widely publicized environmental disaster or had a major product recall. So, when the company wants to expand its product line, it has to consider the brand equity conceptual model. (draw conceptual model) For the consumers, brand equity could present them information about the brand that improves their confidence while their purchasing process. Nevertheless, the brand equity could reduce the expenses of promotions because when brand equity is positive, brand image is positive too that means consumers dont focus on the short term promotion but on the whole brand. Brand equity has five major areas, which are Brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand association and brand positioning. Brand awareness is one of main determinants of brand equity. Brand awareness consist recognition of one particular brand which allows a potential customer to recognize about a specific product or services existence, and confirms that he or she has previously been exposed to it and creating brand awareness is one of the  key steps in promoting a product. (Csapà ³, 2010) In addition according to Kwok Keung Tam (2007) there is two tasks should be done to achieve brand awareness which are namely increasing brand name identity and associating it with the product class. Also, To raise brand awareness some techniques could be useful as advertising and celebrity endorsement. Furthermore, Using perceived quality strategy may lead to consumer satisfaction, which will be shown through perceived performance and expectation. As well, there are many definitions said by some scholars, as consumers perception towards tangible and non tangible characteristics of a product is perceived product quality. these characteristics may include some added value characteristics as performance, durability, conformance, features, serviceability, aesthetics and reliability etc. Moreover, sometimes the actual quality of the product doesnt confirm all these characteristics but the perceived quality of a product could be derived from consumers past experiences. (Vantamay, 2004) A consumer gives a brand loyalty by purchasing the same product or service over and over again rather than buying from other suppliers that sell the same product category. As well, brand loyalty could be defined as the degree of purchasing repeatedly the same brand by the same consumer within a product class. Brand association is the linkage that exist between a brand and the other nodes stored in memory (Korchia, 2007). Every company through consumer buyer research must understand its brand as well as competitors brands . Such a research studies existing and potential customers, past customers, industry experts, and intermediaries. A strong brand should be difficult to be copied by other companies, and such a powerful brand is associated with beliefs and values. (Ghodeswar, 2008) Brand positioning occurs when brand occupies a distinct position comparative to competing brands, in the mind of the customer. Companies use this brand positioning marketing strategy by differentiating the features and characteristics of their brands, or they try to create a specific image of the brand as luxurious, inexpensive, premium and utilitarian through advertising. Branding its all about adding psychological value on service, products and companies. Such value could be in the form of emotional links, beliefs, values, and feelings that people relate to the brand. Once a brand is positioned, it is very difficult to reposition it without destroying its credibility. (Lee Zhang, 2000) 2.2 Consumer Behavior Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires (Solomon, 2007, p. 7).In other words, it is a study focuses on how, what, why, and why people buy. In addition, it studies how people choose to spend their available resources time, money, and effort. 2.2.1 Consumer Buying Behavior The consumer buying behavior concept is the individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption (Tam, 2007). For companies the buying decision is the most crucial part of their enterprise, yet no one really knows how the human brain makes that choice. Buying decisions are made at an unconscious level (Csapà ³, 2010). Furthermore, there are many theories explain the meaning of consumer buying behavior, one of them is Role theory. It suggests that consumers satisfying a need or desire, for this reason they change their consumption decisions, their evaluation criteria. The 7 Ps of marketing stimuli consumer buying behavior which are product, price, place of distribution, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence (KHOURY, 2008) Moreover, there are many factors called buyers characteristics that affect the buying behavior, which are economical, cultural, personal, psychological and social. All these inputs enter the buyers middle box, then many consumers responses observed as product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing, and purchase amount. (Csapà ³, 2010) (conceptual model vanda article) 2.2.2 Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior Culture factors: Buyer culture, subculture, and social class are factors that affect consumer buying behavior. Culture is the piece of every society and behavior of people is deeply influenced by their culture. Moreover, Culture is the collection of beliefs, behavior, values, customs and attitudes. Marketers should be careful by analyzing every culture because needs, wants and buying behavior vary from country to other. Culture is divided to many subcultures, and each subculture is a group of people with mutual value systems based on common life situations and experiences. Moreover, subcultures includes nationalities, religious, racial groups, and geographic regions. Marketers should segment the market into different small portions using these groups. Every society contains many social class(upper class, middle class, working class and lower class) which are determined by different factors such income, education , wealth and occupation. These social classes are used by marketers in market segmentation, and it is an important factor because all similar social classes recommend same marketing strategy and every social class its members shares same interests, values and beliefs. (Griffin Pustay, 2003) Social factors : Social factors which are reference groups, family, role and status also influence the buying behavior of consumers . Reference groups could form the attitude or behavior of a person. The impact of reference groups varies according to products and brands types. As an example if the product is visible as clothes, the impact of reference groups is high. Moreover, there is a person who has special skills, knowledge or characteristics which called leader, his opinion is considered by a reference group in many societies. Family members could deeply influence buyer behavior. Hence marketers are trying to know every role of every person in a family, husband, wife, and children. However, they also try to find out who buys a specific product, if husband then they will try to target the men in their advertisements. So, here we should understand that buying roles vary with evolving consumer lifestyles. In the society, roles and status change from one person to other because every person is a member of a specific clubs, organizations or groups For example a husband is working as a coach of football team, that means he will buy the kind of clothing that reflects his and status in his work. (Csapà ³, 2010) Personal factors: Personal factors have impact on buying behavior, such as the buyers age and life cycle, occupation, lifestyle, and personality and self concept. Age and life cycle shape the consumer buying behavior. Purchasing of goods and services of people change with time because every stage of life has its own interests. Life-cycle of a family consists of diverse stages such as young single, unmarried couples, married couples which facilitate marketers to design specific products for each stage. Occupation of a person will affect his purchasing behavior. For example a accounting manager of an organization he should purchase business suits, but a regular or low position worker will purchase cheaper clothes. Economic situation of a consumer has great impact on his buying behavior. The more the income of a consumer is high the more his purchase will be high. However, a person with low income will purchase cheap products. Lifestyle is an important factor that affect strongly the buying behavior of people. lifestyle is a persons of living as expressed in his or her psychographics (Kotler Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 2001, p. 146). Moreover, people coming from same subcultures, occupation, social class may have quite different lifestyle because lifestyle is determined by customer opinions, interests, activities (work, sports, shopping etc.) Personality varies from person to person, place to place and time to time. the behavior of a person it is his personality not what he wears or what he eats. Personality includes some characteristics such as : self confidence, positive attitude, dominance , active etc which could be useful to determine the selection of products or services for a person. Psychological factors: There are four factors affecting the consumer buying behavior, which are Perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes. Motivation level that affect the buying behavior. Every person has specific needs such as biological, social, and physiological needs etc. Moreover, these needs vary from one person to another because every person has priority in his needs, and some of these natural needs are pressing more than others. So, These needs which are pressing strongly become motive for a person to reach satisfaction. Perception is a process to produce a meaningful experience in the mind of consumers which contain three steps: Select, organize, and interpret information. Furthermore, there are three different perceptual methods. First method which is selective attention, this case is used by marketers to grab customers attention. Second method is selective distortion, this case is used to interpret the information available about the product in a way to support the customers beliefs. However, third method is selective retention, which is used to retain information that supports customers beliefs. Every customer has specific belief and attitude towards diverse products. However, some of these beliefs and attitudes marketers are interested in them because they affect buying behavior and make up brand image. Moreover, there are some campaigns done by marketers to change customers attitudes and beliefs. (Kotler Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 2001)

One flew over the cuckoos nest Essay -- essays research papers

There are three major conflicts in the novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. Both internal and external in nature their causes, effects, and resolutions are explored in great detail.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cause of the conflict between Mac and Ratched begins immediately. As soon as McMurphy enters the ward he shows his individuality. He’s loud, brassy and the chief says, â€Å"He sounds big.† McMurphy publicly introduces himself and stands out from the rest of the men. He shows that he wont be controlled. Ratched wants and expects complete control. She refers to Mac as a, â€Å"Manipulator,† who will, â€Å"†¦use everyone and everything to his own end. Ironically Ratched is also a Manipulator. Miss Ratched chooses the orderlies to control them, she wants them to hate so they take their anger out on the patients.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ratched’s first win against McMurphy is when he challenges the ward policies on the music. He demands for the music to be shut off or at least turned down. Knowing that all the men are watching she completely humiliates Mac by telling him that she wont turn the music down further more she treats him like a child when she tells him to take his hands off her glass because he was staining them. â€Å"†¦don’t be so selfish,† says Miss Ratched when Mac asks for the music to be turned down.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ratched’s second major win against McMurphy on the ward is when she forces the men to ignore him and not to play cards with him. Using the threat of rationed cigarettes the patients are still much too afraid of Miss Ratched to go against her orders. McMurphy is completely left alone by the men and Ratched shows that she maintains control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although McMurphy does not get the votes of the men because the fear they hve of Ratched McMurphy still comes out victorious when in the end the men eventually do vote to watch the world series. When the men do vote Ratched looses complete control over her ward and it’s the first time the men defy her as a group. â€Å"And we’re sitting there head up in front of that blanked out television set†¦and she’s screaming behind us.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McMurphy mocks and taunts Miss Ratched when he runs around with his towel on. He wasn’t assigned a uniform and when Miss Ratched tells him to stop running around in the towel Mac stops and... ...g because after this Mac has lost three time in a row to Ratched or the combine. Chief sees the trouble Mac has to lift the control panel and finally gives up, the control panel, to chief, is a symbol of the combine and the fact that Mac cant lift it destroys Chief.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of Chief major wins against the fog is when the men all come together to back up Mac for the world series and the comments that everyone makes to her. Chief say, â€Å"†¦I quit worrying about the BIG NURSE and the combine behind her.† For the first time in his life he saw people clearly and not just the black outline around them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another great win for Chief is when he enters the pool with all the other men. This is a big win because the Chief is so afraid of even the ground that to enter a pool is a great progress for him. Also Chief begins to see the ward as â€Å"clean and silent† and not humming of machinery. Chief even takes a big step when he stands up and looks out the window of the ward.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The resolution to Chief’s conflict is after he kills Mac and escapes the institution at the end of the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

The Assessed Causes Of The First World War :: history

The Assessed Causes Of The First World War Long Term Causes And Arguments: In 1838, a agreement was formed to protect Belgium if attacked or invaded. Briton along with other major European powers signed this therefore dragging themselves into the First World War when Germany invaded Belgium to fight France. In 1848, Austria-Hungary under Franz Josef lost a war against France, beginning a long rivalry between the two countries. In 1860, Italy was founded which agravated Austria-Hungary as parts of ithe land had originally been owned by them. In 186, Austria-Hungary under Franz Josef lost to Prussia creating tention between Austria-Hungary and yet more countries within Europe. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War happened. France, led by Napoleon III, lost to Wilhelm I. This loss meant Alsace-Lorraine was joined on to Germany Empire. France would never forget this and was keen for revenge. In 1875, France set up a War college â€Å"Ecole Superieure de Guerre† which implied that they were building up a strong army to attack Germany again. In 1879, the Dual Allience was formed between Germany and Austria-Hungary, although Wilhem I was afraid that it might damage relations with Russia, which had always supported Prussia. In 1881, The Emperors League was formed creating more allies for Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1882, Italy who had been waiting to see which was the stronger empire between the two sides finally joined Germany and formed the Triple allience. In 1888, Wilhelm I died and Wilhelm II was appointed Emperior of Germany. In 1890, Germany refused to renew the Russian Reinsurance Treaty and lets Russia go off to find new allies. In 1891, Russia and France agreed to protect each other if either country was attacked(the Franco-Russian Alliance). This created more strain on Germany as the surrounding empires teamed up. In 1904, Briton became an unoffical member of the Franco-Russian allience, building up to fight Germany if attacked. In 1912, Briton and France agreed to join each others battles if it was an unprovoked attack. The Pig War: The Pig war was an attempt by Austria-Hungary to stop the Pan-Serb movement and eventually Serbia, but all that came from this was a stronger Serbia and encouragement to get revenge somehow. Serbia’s main trade was in live-stock and so in 1906 Austria-Hungary stopped the import of all Serbia’s livestock. The Pig war had begun and continued for five years with unexpected results from both Serbia and Austria-Hungary.

Sylvia Plath Essay -- Sylvia Plath Biography Biographies Essays

Sylvia Plath was a gifted writer, poet and verbal artist whose personal anguish and torment visibly manifested itself in her work. Much of her angst stems from her warped relationship with her father. Other factors that influenced her works were her strained views of human sexuality, her sado-masochistic tendencies, self-hatred and her traditional upbringing. She was labeled as a confessional poet and biographical and historical material is absolutely necessary to understand her work. Syliva Plath was born on 27, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts to Otto Emil Plath and Aurelia Schober. Otto Plath was a professor of biology and German at Boston University. He was of German descent and had emigrated from Grabow when he was fifteen. Her mother was a first generation American; she was born in Boston to Austrian parents. Their common Germanic background indirectly led to their meeting in 1929. Aurelia Schober took a German class taught by Otto Plath. Aurelia was working on a master’s degree in English and German at Bosto n University. Otto Plath was guided by his principles of discipline. Their background was one major source of for Sylvia’s poetic imagery. Sylvia’s brother, Warren, was born on April 27, 1935. After Warren’s birth, the family moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts just east of Boston. Otto’s health began to fail shortly after Warren’s birth. He thought he had cancer as a friend of his, with similar symptoms, had recently lost a battle with lung cancer. â€Å"He refused to seek medical care due to the lack of a cure or effective treatment at that time. In 1940 after suffering ill health for years, Otto was forced to see a doctor for an infection in his foot. The doctor diagnosed the illness Otto has been suffering from as not cancer, but diabetes- -and not do advanced that it threatened his life. Otto’s leg had to be removed in October after he developed gangrene, and he spent the rest of his days in the hospital rapidly declining.† (Nuerotic Poets) Otto Plath died on the night of November 5, 1940. Her fathers’s death scarred her permanently; theirs was an extraordinarily close relationship. In 1942, Aurelia moved the family to Wellesley so that she could return to work despite her own health problems to support her family. Sylvia began writing when she was only five years old. Her first publication was a short couplet she wrote when she was eigh... ...hould be able to control and manipulate experiences even the most terrifying, like madness, being tortured, this sort of experience, and one should be able to manipulate these experiences with an informed and intelligent mind†¦.† (Uroff 37) Plath’s work is valuable for its ability to reach today’s reader, because of its concern with the real problems of our culture. In this age of gender conflicts, broken families, and economic inequities, Plath’s forthright language speaks loudly about the anger of being both betrayed and powerless. She was hailed as literary symbol of the women’s rights movement and a feminist writer of great significance. Sylvia Plath began by creating art that imitated life, but ended when life imitated art. Works Cited Butscher, Edward, ed. with and introduction. Sylvia Plath: the woman and the work. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1977. Plath, Sylvia. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Ted Hughes and Frances McCullough. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. Sylvia Plath. Ed. Brenda C Mondragon. n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. http://www.neuroticpoets.com/plath/ Uroff, Margaret Dickie. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979.

Human Resources Management JC Penney Essay

JC Penney is ranked number 153 in the fortune 500 company list in the United States for the year 2012. They are one of the largest companies, and have been around for one hundred and ten years. Recently, Management has embarked upon new strategies to improve the company and create a better shopping experience for their customers. To do so, some of their sales tactics, as well as employee training to ensure a successful transaction, as well as satisfaction of customers has been examined and improved greatly. JC Penny has embarked on a new sales strategy to boost sales for the Christmas season. Starting Black Friday through Christmas Eve, employees will be handing out more than 80 million small, holiday-themed, circular buttons to customers. This is a ploy used to increase sales, since behind each button is the chance for customers to win great prizes. This is believed to be a better approach than mailing out coupons, since it ensures customers visit the store; increasing sales and giving them a cut above the rest of their competitors. Apart from using this strategy, the company has recently embarked on marketing strategies to equip employees with the necessary knowledge and tools, to improve sales on an everyday basis. Some of these includes: new pricing strategies, new logo and advertising. What they have done with their sale pricing strategies is made their sale prices into everyday low prices for customers to enjoy yearly. In addition to that, there is also easy to decipher tags. JC Penny is changing the way sales are distinguished by using a new tagging system to identify different prices. A red tag shows an â€Å"Every Day† price, a white tag is a â€Å"Month-Long Value†, and a blue tag shows the â€Å"Best Price.† This provides clarity for customers and makes it easier for them. New logo and advertising also has great influence on customers mentally. According to their press release,â€Å"the new JC Penny logo, which combines the elements that have made JC Penny an enduring American brand, by evoking the nation’s flag and JC Penney’s commitment to treating customers fair and square.† This make customers feel welcomed and appreciated and causes an increase in activity among the population of the United States. However before this can be possible, there must be employees who are competent enough to handle the task. For this purpose there are strategic processes which must be adhered when hiring new workers. This is believed to help in obtaining the best suited applicants for the job. These include individuals who are willing; and also share in the vision of the company. The process by which applicants are recruited into the company is similar to that of most business places; which takes the form of an interview. The interview process is intense and helps the employer to test many different skills and attributes of the employee. This is necessary since it allows employers to meet with potential workers face to face. Therefore it helps to distinguish if they are able to represent the image of the company physically both in attire and expression. In addition it helps employers to screen potential candidates to determine the most honest and experienced candidates. Also it helps to find out the punctuality of employees, something that one has to take into consideration; since unpunctuality can lead to upsets and setbacks in a business. It will also help to give an understanding of the knowledge the prospective employer have of the company. By knowing this, one can be able to tell if potential employees know what is expected of them. After the hiring process is over, the staff must be competent enough to deal with customers. They should have the knowledge and experience to do this in such a way as to build long term relationships with customers. This is to ensure smooth transactions and to avoid the loss of customers through unfriendly habits. JC Penny often provided training for new staff to ensure that they are able to understand and display the image that they would want to portray by the company; to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid hostility and unfriendly approach. One of the training programs offered by JC Penny for new employees is the planning and merchandising trainee program. This helps to give trainees the opportunity to experience first hand how buying, planning, allocation and inventory management integrate to produce products in JC Penny stores nation wide and on jcp.com. The 17-week training program is fast-paced and high-caliber. It gives employees the opportunity to gain insight into store environment processes, visit a logistics center, attend specialized training classes, and more. It also fosters interaction among the staff since Planning and Merchandising team members work side-by-side with other trainees throughout the entire process. A host of projects, activities and hands-on training also helps to facilitate learning; making the process enjoyable for participants. Having senior managers mentoring and coaching you to success will only lead to great achievement. Apart from training of new applicants, development training is also very important in the process of continuing to acquire success. This is because as time change so too do people and therefore strategies that were effective ten years ago may not be as successful today. For this purpose companies have to continue to train their employees so they will be able to comply with the changes of society; since strategic training received over a decade ago won’t be profitable in the workplace today. JC Penny provides sales associates with the skills they need to help the company achieve their business objectives in a challenging, supportive learning environment that fosters achievement. They are given the opportunity to build their skills and improve hands on relationships with customers; as they obtain experience to promote development. Associates typically are trained for a particular department, such as home decor or women wear, but may rotate from department to department based on need; they will also complete additional training for other departments. Helping them to be well rounded individuals who will be equipped enough to fill in where ever they are needed in the company. Therefore this additional training helps employees to be better equipped than when they first entered the workplace; increasing competent performances, and improving their ability to handle situations. In addition to normal rotation training, employees also have the opportunity to participate in developmental workshops offered by the company for which they qualify. Therefore this will help to mold them into very capable young individuals, with great experience for future endeavors. Because of the sales force strategies used at JC Penny, the company is noted as one which has both the interest of employees and customers at hand. The training offered to their staff is well executed and well received; resulting in JC Penny being described as a company that turns jobs into careers. In addition, it also creates innovative ways for customers to view the shopping experience; since the sales tactic they use make the experience much more easier, straight forward and convenient than most of their competitors.

Mexico †Tax Measures on Soft Drinks and Other Beverages Essay

The Mexico- Soft drinks case was an important case based on the sweetener’s trade market in North America. This case note will try to summarize the facts of the case in order to analyze the issues raised by it. Following, we try to expose the reasons why Mexico decided to implement tax measures as a response to the United State’s refusal to submit their dispute to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) dispute settlement panel. And last, give a brief opinion on the issues and the way they were upheld along the case. Since January 2002, Mexico imposed a twenty percent tax on the sale and distribution of soft drinks and other beverages that used any sweetener other than cane sugar, including, and specially, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The United States is the primary supplier of almost all the HFCS used to sweeten beverages in Mexico, and on the other hand all the beverages sweetened with cane sugar use domestic product. In March 2004 the United States requested consultations with Mexico regarding Articles 1 and 4 of the DSU and Article XXII of the GATT 1994, with respect to these tax measures imposed by Mexico. And on 10 June 2004, the United States requested the WTO to establish a panel pursuant to Article 6 of the DSU. The United States claimed that Mexico had violated the provisions stated in GATT 1994 Article III. The Dispute Settlement Body established the Panel on 6 July stating the following, as purpose of the establishment of the panel : â€Å"To examine, in the light of the relevant provisions of the covered agreements cited by the United States in document WT/DS308/4, the matter referred to the DSB by the United States in that document, and to make such findings as will assist the DSB in making the recommendations or in giving the rulings provided for in those agreements. † Canada, China, the European Communities, Guatemala and Japan participated in the panel as third parties. Relevant Facts regarding the case: The tax measures imposed by the Mexican government were: a) twenty percent tax on the transfer or importation of soft drinks and other beverages that use any sweetener other than cane sugar, b) twenty percent tax on services such as: agency, representation, brokerage, distribution, etc. when transferring or importing beverages sweetened with any kind of sweetener except for cane sugar, c) and some other requirements imposed to taxpayers regarding the above mentioned taxes. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) comprised one hundred percent imports of sweeteners from the US to Mexico and cane sugar is a domestically produced product that comprises ninety five percent of Mexican sweetener production. Considering the fact that the â€Å"soft drink tax† did not apply to beverages sweetened with cane sugar, it is pretty clear that Mexican sugar production industry was being favored by the imposition of these measures. Articles I and III of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT) talk about the non-discrimination on like products. More specifically Article III establishes the national-treatment rule, which seeks the equal treatment to domestic and products imported from other states, establishing criteria such as: â€Å"No domestic laws should be applied to imported products to protect domestic producers from the competing â€Å"like† products. And imported products should receive treatment under national laws that â€Å"is no less favorable† than the treatment given to like domestic products†. United State’s claims: The issues concerning provisions established on Article III of the GATT 1994 that were claimed by the United States were the following: (i) imposing an excessive tax on an imported product compared to taxes applied to a â€Å"like† domestic product, (ii) imposing a tax to an imported product that is directly competitive or substitutable with a domestic one that is â€Å"not similarly taxed†, (iii) imposing a law that affects the internal use of imported HFCS, treating an imported product in a â€Å"less favorable way† compared to products of national origin. So the United States requested the Panel to consider the violations on the imposition of these challenged tax measures. The above-mentioned issues concerning the imposition of soft drink taxes, distribution taxes and bookkeeping requirements were adopted by Mexican legislations by virtue of a decree that reformed the Mexican Special Tax Law applicable to Production and Services as well its Regulations and also the Miscellaneous Fiscal Resolutions of years 2003 and 2004, in order to incorporate the taxes subject to this dispute concerning soft drinks and beverages that use any sweetener other than cane sugar and its distribution and special requirements. So these legislative bodies are also the issues and subject matter to the dispute. Mexico’s requests to the Panel: On the other hand, Mexico requested the Panel to decline the exercise of its jurisdiction and suggested to submit their dispute to an Arbitral Panel in accordance to NAFTA, based on the Shrimp Turtle decision where the WTO recommended that the parties should resolve their difference according to the Inter-American Convention, so both states could resolve their concern with respect to the sugar trade between them. That way, Mexico could claim market access to the United States and the compliance of previous Treaties between them and the United States could also submit its claims regarding tax measures adopted by Mexico. The Panel decided to proceed and exercise its jurisdiction, so Mexico requested for them take into account its particular condition and that as a developing country some â€Å"special treatment† exceptions could apply to their situation. So the Mexican measures could be justified under this understanding and also under Article XX of the GATT. Mexico also requested the Panel to consider the NAFTA framework while resolving and formulations their recommendations. â€Å"Mexico explained that its tax on sweeteners was a necessary measure to secure U. S. compliance with NAFTA in granting access for Mexican sugar to the U. S. market†. Statements considered by the Panel: HFCS-sweetened and cane sugar-sweetened soft drinks are â€Å"like† products in accordance to what is established on GATT Article III:2, first sentence for having virtually identical physical properties, end-uses and tariff classifications and are equally preferred by consumers based on surveys applied by the US. Therefore; The HFCS soft drink tax and distribution tax are inconsistent with GATT Article III:2, first sentence. The imported product (HFCS) and the domestic product (cane sugar) are â€Å"directly competitive or suitable products† that with the tax measures imposed by the Mexican government were not being similarly taxed in order to protect Mexican’s domestic production, consequently; there was no doubt that Mexico was infringing its obligations under GATT Article III,2 second sentence. Based on these statements the WTO Panel rejected Mexico’s petitions and favored the United State’s position. The Panel stated that Mexico was not empowered to take measures in order to â€Å"secure compliance† to induce another Member to comply with obligations owed to it under a non-WTO treaty. , it also resolved that that International Treaties such as NAFTA were not covered in the exceptions established in GATT Article XX (d), and also that the â€Å"laws or regulations† covered in exception of Article XX(d) of the GATT 1994 do not include NAFTA (which is an International Treaty) as part of them, and last, that the measures adopted by Mexico â€Å"were not necessary to secure compliance† to previous agreements to the United States. In December 2005 Mexico appealed the Panel’s decision based on exceptions provided on GATT Article XX(d) and arguing that the Panel failed to make â€Å"an objective assessment of the facts†, as required by Article 11 of the DSU but still, the Appellate Body upheld the Panel’s conclusions and rejected Mexico’s claims. Considering the stated facts, there is no doubt regarding the violation of the GATT Article III by the Mexican government on the establishment the soft dink tax along with distribution tax and other requirements imposed to taxpayer on this matter, but I firmly believe it is important to consider the reasons why the Mexican government was lead to implement these radical measures considering the United State’s non-compliance with obligations established in the NAFTA. One of the main reasons why Mexico implemented the soft drinks tax measures was the United States’ incompliance with market access agreements on sugar trade established on NAFTA, while US export of HFCS to Mexico were substantially increasing. The United States continuously refused to submit to NAFTA dispute settlement while still enjoying the benefits of the agreement regarding sugar trade. Before Mexico decided to take tax measures, it tried to resolve the dispute regarding the scope and meaning of provisions in the NAFTA governing sweeteners, but no dispute settlement forum seemed to be able to hear about the case, they needed the cooperation of the US for the integration of the panel and the United Stated did not cooperate. Importance of the Mexican Sugar Industry The sugar industry it’s a growing sector of the Mexican economy. According to NAFTA agreements, Mexico had an expectation for it to would be competent to export very high quantities of sugar to the United State’s market, but the US never acknowledged what they had agreed by virtue of two letters negotiated between the two states after NAFTA, so there was a confusion on the volume of sugar that could be exported from Mexico to the US. In the mean time, US exports of HFCS to Mexico were increasing and that was reflected on a reduction on the domestic sugar market. So with this background it is now easier to understand the reason why the Mexican Congress decided to impose â€Å"soft drink taxes† in order to balance the situation and try to bring the falling Mexican sugar industry to an equilibrated position in the market so that the sugar that could have been exported to the United States, could now be sold in the domestic market. But it is understandable that even if the United States did not comply with its NAFTA obligations, there is no justification a WTO member to violate its WTO obligations in order to punish another member for not complying with its obligations under an international agreement like the NAFTA in this case. Analysis of relevant issues regarding Mexico’s initial petitions More than criticizing I would like to analyze two of the petitions made by Mexico to the WTO Panel along with the Panel’s and Appellate Body’s responses to those petitions, more specifically determine if a Panel is entitled to decline to exercise its jurisdiction in an issue presented before it. As well as Mexico’s petition to the Panel to consider the NAFTA framework on its resolutions, this leads me to questioning if the Panel can actually exercise its jurisdiction based on other international agreements, and if so, to what extent? The Panel immediately refused Mexico’s petition to decline to exercise its jurisdiction on this case. It seems very obvious that if both parties were subject to an International Treaty such as NAFTA, which regulated the sugar trade between them and they were having conflicts regarding this sector, those issues should have been heard by a NAFTA Panel. But the answer to this issue relies on the Appellate Body’s argument that according to the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) a panel with jurisdiction could not decline to exercise it at all without some legal impediment because it would be contradictory to articles 3. 2, 7. 1, 7. 2, 11, 19. 2 y 23. So according to the Appellate Body’s Report Paragraph 52: A Member is entitled to initiate a WTO dispute whenever it considers that â€Å"any benefits accruing to [that Member] are being impaired by measures taken by another Member† implies that that Member is entitled to a ruling by a WTO panel. The Appellate Body also stated that the issues claimed by Mexico regarding the agreement on NAFTA were NAFTA-based issues related to market Access, that did not necessarily under lapped with the issues claimed by the US that violated Article III of the GATT 1994 with respect of the imposition of soft drink taxes as well as distribution taxes, which in my opinion makes sense but it is clearly an disadvantaged position for Mexico since it would have needed cooperation from the United States in order to constitute a panel that could hear and resolve those NAFTA- based issues. In these I agree, so I think we cannot blame this matter on the Panel or Appellate Body of the WTO, since they just complied with their work and obligation to bring protection to the Members when they considered to be entitled to a ruling from the WTO for being effected by measures taken by other members that are subject to the WTO jurisdiction. So the main problem here is not the decision of the WTO to continue hearing the case, as they were just performing their work, but the way the United States managed the situation, only claiming the actions that directly affected their market and economy without obeying their obligations under an International Treaty or at least making an effort to clarify on the misunderstandings related to them, so Mexico could also be beneficiated from the importation of sugar to the united States. The second matter in question is whether the Panel can consider International Agreements on its resolutions and of so, to what extent? Article 3. 2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) states that the WTO dispute settlement system â€Å"serves to preserve the rights and obligations of Members under the covered agreements, and to clarify the existing provisions of those agreements†. There could be circumstances in which the Panel or Appellate Body would have to determine for its own purposes as to whether the United States acted consistently with NAFTA, not to determine its rights under NAFTA or to punish them for non-compliance but to take it in account in their determinations and as a preliminary step in WTO ruling. WTO Panels and Appellate Body cannot definitively determine rights and obligations under non-WTO agreements; they can refer to and analyze such agreements as long as it serves to determine rights and obligations under the WTO agreements. This is a very clear statement that clarifies the situation as it should be seen in every case the WTO can always take into consideration obligations that arise from other international agreements between countries subject to a dispute, as long as they relate to the dispute and to rights and obligations related to the WTO. I believe the most important issue raised on the present case relied on the contradiction between an International Treaty and the WTO regulations whereas from the International Law perspective the Tax measures imposed by Mexico seemed fair since the United States was not complying with obligations established under post- NAFTA negotiations so the US was challenging an international obligation derived from an International Treaty (NAFTA). Nevertheless, these fiscal measures are violations from the WTO perspective. What Mexico was seeking with the imposition of these tax measures was to enforce an equitable defense in a way of â€Å"clean hands doctrine† in the understanding that the United States was acting unethically by avoiding the conformation of a NAFTA panel, while being the principal importer of sweeteners in Mexico. It just seemed really unfair for Mexican sugar market to be affected by the exportation of United State’s high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners, when Mexico was not being able to enjoy the benefits from their previous agreement under the NAFTA. But the measures adopted by Mexico were perhaps not the best, since a state is not empowered to attempt against its WTO obligations in order to try to force another state to comply with its obligations under a non-WTO international agreement. And as stated above, despite the controversies arisen in this case, I do not think there is a problematic within the WTO and its jurisdiction or the way they resolved the case, I would say that if the United States would have observed its obligations under the NAFTA or at least tried to cooperate in order to resolve their differences and came to an agreement on the sugar trade, Mexico would have never had to take this radical and GATT-violating measures, still, it is not justifiable for it to have done so. As to the recommendations that raised from this case, on May 2006 the Executive Branch of the Mexican Federal government sent to the Permanent Commission of the Union Congress which is the maximum authority regarding legislations, a reform project in order to overturn the legal dispositions on the Mexican Special Tax Law applicable to Production and Services regarding soft drinks taxes so as to comply with the recommended on the Appellate Body’s resolutions. 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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994 [ 5 ]. http://www. usitc. gov/publications/332/journals/corn_sweeteners. pdf, Kornis, Magda, United States international Trade Commision, Journal of international Commerca and Economics, Web version December 2006. [ 6 ]. UNITED STATES, Mexico- Tax Measures on Soft Drinks and Other Beverages , Report of the Panel, WT/DS308/R, Paragraph 8. 134. [ 7 ]. Report of the Panel, Paragraph 8. 78. [ 8 ]. Panel Report, Paragraphs 8. 170 to 8. 181. [ 9 ]. Mexico- Tax Measures on Soft Drinks and Other Beverages, Notification of an Appeal by Mexico, WT/DS308/10, December 6th 2005. [ 10 ]. Appellate body Report, Paragraph 82. [ 11 ]. Appellate Body Report, Paragraph 47. [ 12 ]. Appellate Body Report, Paragraph 56. [ 13 ]. J.Davey William and Sapir Andre, World Trade Review / Volume 8 / Special Issue 01 / January 2009, pp 5 -23 DOI: 10. 1017/S1474745608004151, Published online: 06 March 2009, page 18. [ 14 ]. UNITED STATES, Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp-Containing Products, WT/DS58/AB/R, adopted 6 November 1998, PARAGRAPH 168. [ 15 ]. http://cdei. itam. mx/ComentarioMexicoRefrescosOA. pdf, Crzo, Ernesto, Corzo Victor, Comentario sobre Mexico – Impuestos sobre refrescos, Informe del Organo de Apelacion, 24 de marzo de 2006, web publication.