Facts about the Theory of Demand

Demand is the economic theory that explains a consumer’s desire and readiness to pay a price for a precise good or service. Normally, the price of commodities and services increase as their demand dwindles while the price decreases when there is a high demand for them. According to Taylor and Weerapana (53), the term demand is a relationship between two economic variables namely: the price of a particular good; and the quantity of that good that consumers are willing to buy at the price during a specific time period. It describes how much of a good consumers will purchase at each price and it can be represented by a numerical table or by a graph. As the price of goods and services rise, the quantity demand by consumers goes down. Siddiqui (35) further describes demand as that effective desire which can be satisfied meaning that desires are simply imaginations. It is required that the demand commodity should be available at a certain place, time, and price. Demand must satisfy the following requirements; desire for the specific commodity; sufficient resources to purchase the desired commodity; willingness to spend the resources; and the availability of the commodity.

Demand can also be used to measure or predict the quantity of commodities and services which the buyers would be motivated to buy in a market at a given time and at a given place. The changes in the price of the commodities that are related to that which a consumer uses affects the market demand for it and an example of this would be the price of margarine (which the consumer does not normally use) is much lower than the price of butter (which the consumer normally uses). Inevitably, the consumer will decide to go for the cheaper product although their preference lies with the more expensive one. The demand for certain commodities may also be affected by the changes of the income of potential buyers, for example, if the income of a buyer is reduced, then he will opt to purchase cheaper commodities in line with his diminished income; but if the income is increased, then the buyer’s demand for the same product at higher prices will increase significantly. The future expectations of buyers almost always have a tendency of influencing the market demand of a product and this is usually displayed by considering the income security of potential buyers. If a potential buyer is confident in his belief that his future income will be stable, the he is more likely to spend more in buying both the commodities that he needs and wants. If however his future income is very insecure, then he is most likely to keep most of his money in savings in anticipation of a bleak financial future than spending it on commodities.

The demand schedule is a table that shows the quantity of demand of a good at the various price levels and it is a very important feature within the market because it helps to predict the future trends in the demand of commodities. In this way, given the price level, it is easy to determine the expected quantity demanded. A demand schedule is normally used alongside a supply schedule and these show the amount of certain goods that can be supplied to a market or markets at given price levels at various times and it is used to indicate that there is an inverse relationship between the price and the quantity demanded. Lipsey and Chrystal (40) state that a demand schedule is one way of showing the relationship between quantity demand and price. It is a numerical table that is used to show the quantity of goods that will be demanded at some selected prices.

Hoag and Hoag (59) state that the law of demand shows an inverse relationship between the price of a good and the quantity demanded of that good. When the value of a commodity goes in a certain direction, the amount of the equal commodity that is in demand goes in the opposite direction. As the price rises, less is purchased and this is indicated by the quantity demanded decreasing. There is a clear evidence of the law of demand at work in our daily lives. For example, when postage rates increase, then fewer Christmas cards are sent because the quantity demanded has fallen as the price has risen. When retail stores advertise sales, then these sales serve to increase the quantity demanded by lowering the price. The buyer response to higher fuel and energy prices will lead to smaller and more energy efficient cars, and in the homes, cooler temperatures and sweaters because there is a lower quantity demanded of energy at the higher price.

One reason why a consumer buys more of a good as the price falls is that the good becomes an attractive substitute for other goods and this encourages the consumer buys more of the good and consequently less of the other goods related to it. As the price of a good goes down, the consumer is able to purchase more of this good than he could before the price fell. Therefore, the consumer appears to have more income but this is not the case because it should be noted that the amount of money that the consumer actually has remains unchanged yet the purchasing power of the money increases as the price falls. The law of demand tells us that people have a tendency to respond to the price changes of given commodities and learning this would be helpful for a trader in fixing the prices of his commodities because he knows how much the demand for that particular commodity will fall if the price is raised beyond a certain level. The law of demand also helps the government in the setting of taxes on various commodities by analyzing the effects of taxes on the demand of these commodities in the market and adjusting the tax rates so that they may be more to the government’s advantage. It is also a very important factor in the planning of when and where to sell commodities due to their demand.

There are however some exceptions to the law of demand and an example of this is the inability of this law to explain why when the price of some goods increases, their demand also increase, and when their prices fall, then their demand decreases with this fall. A good example of such goods are precious stones and metals whose demand will continue to be high when their prices are high and the demand for them falls when their prices fall. A lot of people out of ignorance consider goods of cheaper prices to be of low quality and they buy it less, but when the prices of such commodities become high, then there is a tendency among these buyers to buy more of this commodity.

The law of demand further does not work when in anticipation for the rise of the price of goods; consumers begin to buy more of these goods even after there is an increase in the price of these goods in the present time. Similarly, if the prices are expected to fall in the foreseeable future, the consumers will buy less of these goods even if the costs of these commodities have become even lower in the present. Moreover, the law of demand does not work during the times of war or emergencies because if there are fears of a food shortage, then consumers will buy more food commodities for the purpose of hoarding and building stock. On the other hand, under certain situations, during an economic depression when prices are continuously falling, people tend to postpone their demand and thus buy less at lower prices.

In order to define marginal utility, we shall first define what utility is. Utility is the way defined by market participants of measuring gratification or contentment and how these relate to the decisions that people make while purchasing goods and it measures the advantages or disadvantages of consuming certain goods or services. Lipsey and Harbury (39) state that marginal utility is defined as the difference in utility arising from a change in the rate of consumption per period of time. Marginal utility is the added fulfillment that consumers gain from consuming additional units of commodities or services. It is an essential economic concept because the economists make use of it to determine how much of an item potential consumers will buy. The marginal utility is positive when the consumption of a bonus item increases the total utility while marginal utility is considered to be negative when the consumption of the bonus item decreases the total utility.

Mishra (20) defines the demand curve as the graphic illustration of a demand schedule depicting the relationship between the price of certain commodities and the amount of these commodities that buyers are able and willing to but at a given price. Demand curves are used to approximate the conducts in the market and these are often combined with supply curves to approximate the price at which sellers are willing to put up for sale the equivalent quantity of goods as buyers are willing to buy. The demand curve represents the highest quantities for every unit of time that consumers will take at various prices. The demand curve is used to show the relationships between the diverse quantities demanded at diverse prices.

There are various factors which affect the demand of commodities in the market and this is elaborated by Siddiqui (43) who states that an increase in the number of buyers will increase the demand for the good, for example, the demand for land increases as the population increases. An increase in the price of a commodity expected in future increases the demand in the present while a decrease in the same decreases the current demand. For example, when a good is temporarily put on sale, the people stock up on the good with the expectation that the good will no longer be in the market in the near future. Demand can shift due to the changes in taste over time, for example, the demand for breakfast cereal may possibly be very high in the morning but its demand may turn out to be very low at night. Furthermore, changes in quality also affect demand, for example, CDs cost more than cassettes because the music in CDs is of a higher quality than that in cassettes.

Siddiqui (52) states that elasticity of demand is a measure of the relative change in the amount purchased in response to any change in price or a given demand curve. Price elasticity deals with how sensitive the demand for a certain commodity is to a change in the products own price and in relation to this, there are several factors which determine the elasticity of a product or service and some of these include the following: the more the number of close substitutes for a good in the market, the more elastic is the demand for a product because consumers can more easily switch their demand if the price of one product changes relative to others in the market. Furthermore, there may be significant transaction costs involved in switching between different goods and services and in this case, demand tends to be inelastic, for example, cell phone service providers may decide to include fine sections in contracts or may insist on twelve month contracts being taken out. Goods and services that are considered by consumers to be necessities tend to have a more elastic demand because the said consumers can still survive without luxuries when their financial plans are stretched to their limits. Demand has a tendency to be more price elastic the longer consumers are allowed to respond to a price change by varying their purchasing decisions because it takes time for consumers to notice and to respond to price fluctuations.

References

Hoag, Arleen J & Hoag, John H. Introductory Economic. Singapore: World Scientific, 2006.

Lipsey, Richard G. Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Mishra, Sasmita. Engineering Economics and Costing. New Delhi, India: PHI Learning, 2009.

Siddiqui, S.A. Managerial Economics and Financial Analysis. New Delhi, India: New Age International, 2006.

Taylor, John B. & Weerapana, Akila. Economics. Andover, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning, 2007.

The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is a racist, anti-Semitic society with a dedication to excessive violence to attain its goals of racial separation and white dominance. It first emerged in 1866 following the American Civil War and it is considered to be America’s first terrorist group. Its first target was African – Americans and the white people who supported them. Later incarnations of this group added more categories amongst its enemies including Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and the various immigrant groups in the United States. In most of these cases, these recognized enemies of the Klan were marginal groups that came into direct financial competition with the working class whites that formed the core constituency of these groups. According to Newton (202) the activities were however surpassed by growing neo – Nazi organizations in the United States in the 1990s and in the early 2000s.

The Ku Klux Klan was basically based in the Southern states of America where they targeted the African Americans set free after the American Civil War. The Klan had never considered the former slaves as being free and they terrorized the African Americans to maintain their supremacy as well as to express their anger at the freedoms granted to these former slaves. The root cause for their actions was that although America experienced great economic prosperity after the Civil War, not much of the wealth generated filtered to the South and it was the racism, mixed with anger at their economic plight that inspired the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was a violent organization and they burnt the churches of the African American population, murdered, raped and castrated those who they targeted and they were rarely caught because most senior law enforcers in the South were also high ranking Klan members or were sympathetic to its aims.

According to Bullard (9) he earliest branch of the Ku Klux Klan was created in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866 and most of its leaders had been previous members of the Confederate army in the Civil War. During the next two years after its founding, they tortured and killed African – Americans and those whites who were sympathetic to them. Immigrants, who the Klan blamed for the election of radical Republicans, were also targeted and between 1868 and 1870, the Ku Klux Klan was instrumental in the restoration of white rule in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. West (110) states that the original objective of the Ku Klux Klan was to stop the African American people from voting so that white domination of the Southern states would be maintained. After all-white governments had been established in the South, this group continued to undermine the power of African Americans by attacking successful black businessmen and by stifling any attempt to form black protection groups such as trade unions. Since the Ku Klux Klan had achieved its main objective in the Southern states, by the end of 1871, the organization had practically disappeared.

It is claimed by Gitlin (133) that after its formation, the Klan quickly became a terrorist organization in the service of the Democratic Party and white supremacists and that its main goal was to destroy Congressional Reconstruction by murdering blacks and some whites who were either in active Republican politics or educating black children. They burned churches and schools and drove thousands of people out of their homes and because local law enforcement representatives were incapable or reluctant to stop them, Congress approved the Force Bill in 1871 giving the Federal government the authority to take legal action against the Klan. Dedicated prosecutors managed to win convictions and break up Klan activity and although relatively few people were punished, federal action did put an end to Klan activities, at least for a while.

Maclean (23) states that the Ku Klux Klan was reorganized in 1915 by William Simmons, a preacher who had been influenced by the book The Ku Klux Klan written in 1905 by Thomas Dixon and a film version of the book which glorified the past actions of this group. After World War One, the Ku Klux Klan became very antagonistic towards various religious and political groups and ideologies which they considered to be foreign to the United States. It was under the charismatic leadership of Hiram Evans, the group grew quickly and by the 1920s, Klansmen had been elected into positions of political authority and these included officials in Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and Maine. By 1925, the Klan members had reached a record four million members and this gave them so much power that on the rare occasions when they were arrested for serious crimes, Klansmen were unlikely to be convicted by the local Southern juries. However, after the conviction of a senior Klan leader for murder and the revelation of evidence of corruption by other senior members of this group such as the then governor of Indiana and the mayor of Indianapolis, the membership of the Klan started falling and this trend went on through the Great Depression and the Second World War. Eventually, the organization was weakened by disagreements amongst its leadership and because of the public criticism of its violent activities and by 1944, the Klan had lost most of its influence and membership and it was disbanded.

Chalmers (16) states that the emergence of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s resulted in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan movement and it saw a surge of Klan activity which included terror attacks on black schools and churches. The various Klan groups put pressure on African Americans not to vote mostly through lynching which the Klan employed as a method of terrorizing the local African American population. The success of these Klan activities can be seen in the state of Mississippi in 1960 where although the African Americans formed 42% of the population, only 2% were registered to vote.

In conclusion, it can be said that the Ku Klux Klan movement, despite its violent history, is still a part and parcel of the general history of the South of the United States. It however only developed to a position of great power during what can only be considered as emergencies. For example, it came into existence as a result of the emancipation of the slaves after the Civil War, the influx of immigrants after the First World War, and the rise of the Civil Rights movement. The Klan’s existence has been very persistent since its founding and it is as yet not known what its next incarnation is going to be.

References

Bullard, Sara. The Klu Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence. Darby, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing, 1998.

Chalmers, David Mark. Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement. Lanham, Maryland, 2003.

Gitlin, Marty. The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2009.

MacLean, Nancy. Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Newton, Michael. The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2010.

West, Jerry Lee. The Reconstruction Ku Klux Klan in York County, South Carolina, 1865 – 1877. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002.

Menopause: The Symptoms

According to Fox-Spencer and Brown (2006), menopause is the point when a woman has her last period which happens when her ovaries stop releasing eggs, and for some women, it happens all at once but for many women, it is a gradual process. If a woman has not had a period in more than a year, is not pregnant, or does not have another illness, she may have most likely reached menopause and this typically, this happens when the woman is in her fifties.

Planned Parenthood, in their website state that perimenopause is the gradual change that leads to menopause which usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55 but it is not unknown to begin as early as 40, a time when menstrual periods usually become less predictable and they may become more or less frequent or may be heavier or lighter. Women who smoke have a higher possibility of going into perimenopause earlier than those women who do not smoke. Perimenopause is a process that can last for few months or can go on for up to 12 years depending on the physiological make up of the woman involved. If a woman has not had a period for more than a year or two, then this marks the end of the perimenopausal stage and the beginning of menopause.

Surgical menopause occurs with the removal of both ovaries in women who have yet to undergo menopause and this induces menopause because they suddenly experience the symptoms of menopause without the normal gradual changes that occur. Women with surgical menopause experience the following changes: hot flashes; sweating at night; the drying of the vagina; heart palpitations; frequent mood swings; unexplained depression; constant fatigue; and some changes in their sexual desire.

Stress menopause is caused by the constant stress experienced by a woman on many occasions which hastens the menopausal process. This type of stress can be caused by the various factors related to stress, for example, exposure to radiation, smoking, excessive alcohol intake or having a poor diet. Most of these factors result in stress or are the symptoms of a woman having stress.

Post menopause is the stage following menopause which normally starts between 24 and 36 months after the last period that a woman experiences. There is a reduction of menopausal symptoms as become less frequent. However, the reduction of menopausal symptoms during the postmenopausal stage is not uniform among all women and some may continue having them for a very long time after their last period while others have them for only a short time.

As a woman approaches menopause, her menstrual period starts to change and the time between periods can be shorter or longer and may vary from month to month and the defining feature of menopause taking place is the stopping of menstrual periods. However, it is difficult to determine whether a woman has experienced her last period or not unless she displays menopausal symptoms. The most common menopause symptoms are: changes in sexual desire, extreme sweating, frequent urinary tract infections, frequent urination, irritability, night sweats, sleep problems, and vaginal dryness.

Many life changes can occur during Perimenopause and menopause which can affect a woman. These changes can cause the increase of the symptoms of menopause and they include: anxiety about future loss of independence; anxiety about disability or loneliness; changes in social relationships; changes in identity or body image; children leaving home; getting divorced; and increased anxiety about illness, aging, or death among many others.

Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones, increasing the risk of sudden and unexpected fractures which results in the loss bone mass and strength and it progresses without any symptoms or pain. There is a relationship linking the deficiency of estrogen in women during perimenopause and menopause and the occurrence of osteoporosis because of early menopause and the prolonged periods in which hormone levels are low and menstrual periods are absent or infrequent which can cause loss of bone mass.

Wang-Cheng and Neuer (2007) state that some women opt for hormone therapy to treat their menopause symptoms and these therapy may include pills, patches, implants, rings, and vaginal creams whose main purpose is to replace hormones such as estrogen and progesterone that the body stops making during perimenopause and menopause. Some women concerned about the risks of hormone therapy choose alternative therapies including homeotherapy, herbal treatments and Chinese medicines but these therapies may also have undesired effects.

In conclusion, menopause is a very normal occurrence in women which has to happen during their lifetime and at different paces depending on the individual who is experiencing it. This period of gradual change in women should be met with understanding from their partners, family and co-workers because it is a very difficult time for them. By treating them with understanding, the process will be so much easier not only for them but also for those around them. It is important to recognize that whilst the menopause may cause some distressing symptoms, it is not an illness and it will happen to every woman who reaches menopausal age.  

Cited Works

Fox-Spencer, Rebecca & Brown, Pam. (2006). Menopause. Oxford, United Kingdom: CSF Medical Communications Limited.

Planned Parenthood. (2012). Menopause. Retrieved from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/womens-health/menopause-4807.htm?__utma=1.1141080531.1343551155.1343553528.1343555843.3&__utmb=1.17.9.1343556410875&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1343551155.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=-&__utmk=19141048 .

Wang-Cheng, Rebekah & Neuer, Joan M. (2007). Menopause. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ACP Press.

Face-to-face vs. Distance Learning

There are many advantages of the face-to-face learning system and some of these are dependent on the accessibility if the course instructors as well as the consistency if classes. Face-to-face leaning not only has the advantage of enabling students to develop a culture of teamwork, but it also enables them to actively participate in the lecture. Professors are able to directly influence their students by teaching them the ideas which are propagated by their various schools of thought. It is for these reasons that the following statement comes true:

Students who prefer the traditional format (face-to-face) do so for several reasons, but they most commonly cite a preference for the instructor presence and the learning advantage of face-to-face interactions.

(Daymont, 2011: 156)

There are various disadvantages of face-to-face learning despite the fact that it is still the most popular mode of learning. Some of these disadvantages stem from the need for there to be an instructor present in order for lectures to take place and this added to the cost of transport imposed on the students may limit their access to education. Although it is emphasized by many that face-to-face learning is preferable, it is still quite limited:

For example, the learning outcomes of students in a traditional face-to-face system may be considered to be better than those of students learning in a distance learning system but the latter has the advantage of permitting greater access to education.

(Henry, 1998:117)

The distance learning system has an advantage over the face-to-face system because it enables many people to have access to education at their own convenience. This system is currently used by adults who, because of their busy schedules, cannot attend lectures frequently and their best and fastest option is to do so online. It is to the advantage of these students for them to have distance learning that is easier for them to cope with:

Factors that predispose undergraduates towards taking online classes were examined and it was found that the risk factors for non-completion of their degree prefer distance education courses since distance educations courses provide students with more convenient and flexible class schedules.

(Moore and Kearsley, 2011:150)

The distance learning system also has some disadvantages which face-to-face learning does not. Distance learning does not require the presence of a professor or instructor and this leads to less interaction between them. Furthermore, it is very difficult for a student to gain a full understanding of what the instructor is saying because responses to queries take a very long time to get. A further disadvantage is that it is very hard for the students being taught a course through distance channels to develop the necessary skills that are needed for teamwork, an advantage that face-to-face learning has over distance learning. Research has shown that many students still prefer face-to-face learning to distance learning because they feel that it is a better way of getting instruction from their professors. A study undertaken on various distance learning students showed:

Surprisingly, more students would like to have more turns when interacting with the instructor and this seems to contradict their earlier assertion that they did not want to focus more on listening and speaking.

(Zi-Gang, 2012: 291)

Cited Works

Daymont, T. and Blau, G., 2011. Deciding Between Traditional and Online Formats: Exploring the Role of Learning Advantages, Flexibility, and Compensatory Adaptation. Journal Of Behavioral & Applied Management, 12 (2), pp.156-175, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 August 2012.

Henry, M., 1998. Using IT Effectively: A Guide To Technology In The Social Sciences. Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis.

Moore, M.G. and Kearsley, G., 2011. Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning. Andover, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning.

Zi-Gang, G., 2012. Cyber Asynchronous versus Blended Cyber Approach in Distance English Learning. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 15(2), pp.286-297.

Google

Google was created in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a website for conducting internet searches based on the popularity of websites. As organizations grow, they face the challenge of attracting and retaining top talent, and it is this problem that Google is currently facing as it continues to grow and the interpersonal environment which helped build it slowly dissolves. In this paper, we shall discuss these challenges among others and what Google is doing or should be doing in order to contain them.

According to Girard (165) by the beginning of 2007, Google had more than six times the number of employees it had only three years before. Google should be commended for employing such a large number of people but this comes with a lot of challenges. The large number of employees tends to slow down the decision making process within the organization and it makes it harder for individuals within it to feel like they are making an impact. In the process, this may lead to some of the top talent at Google to lose interest in working within the organization and being attracted by the more conducive atmosphere that can be found among Google’s rivals. Rival internet companies to Google are maturing enough to attract the top technical talent and offer a real opportunity of making plenty of money by from offering stock or selling to larger companies. The close proximity of these companies to Google makes it easier and faster for them to poach top technical staff from Google.

The growing aspirations of its top talent can be a very big problem within any fast growing company. In the case of Google, it should encourage its top talent to pursue their aspirations by funding their personal projects and by giving them the freedom to develop within the company without any interference. Flexibility should be encouraged, more opportunities for career growth should be created and individuals should be allowed greater decision making and planning for their career paths within the organization. This will not only be beneficial to these employees but it will also benefit Google because it will have a new range of products to put into the market and it will also be able to retain its top talent.

A reason why employees leave Google is the relatively low pay to what they could be earning elsewhere.  Within the internet search industry, Google is considered to be one of the most underpaying companies and although it still presents itself as an organization whose employees are not that interested in the money but rather to the benefit of working within the organization, this is no longer true. Saporito (48) suggests that Google’s growth has been so fast and so many employees have been hired that it is difficult to continue with the close relationship and understanding which characterized it at its founding. As it grows in size and continues to spread its tentacles all over the world, the large amount of money it makes will negate its need for giving low salaries to its employees. If Google does not reform its salary structure in favor of its employees, then it will only be a matter of time before there is an exodus of its top talent to other companies.

The stock option system at Google ensures that some employees are compensated for their low salaries. However, this system only applies to the older employees of the company. Google may suffer from new employees envying the older ones, some of whom have a stake in the company worth millions. This will lead to inefficiency within the organization because some employees may opt to leave to take up other opportunities in newer upcoming companies, and those who choose to stay will have very little morale for innovation because they will see no reward in it. Google should ensure that a more balanced system of payment is introduced to make its entire employees feel like being part of a large family.

O’Rooke (251) states that Google has over the past few years faced several legal issues from around the globe ranging from non censorship of content uploaded on its site to matters of copyright infringement. I believe that Google should start a new policy of negotiation with copyright owners to ensure that it does not break any copyright laws which may damage its reputation. Furthermore, it would be prudent for it to enforce a strict censorship of the content posted on its website in order to ensure that the content posted is not offensive to anyone, and also that it does not infringe on anyone’s right to privacy. If these two steps are seriously undertaken by this organization, then it will see a huge reduction in the legal problems that are currently plaguing it.

In conclusion, Google is one of the largest and most influential multinational organizations in the world and over the past decade, its influence has reached almost every corner of the globe. It is the preferred search engine for many people in the world especially for academics who find its resources very useful. Its other products such as Gmail, Google Books, and many others have become a part of the daily lives of millions and they would in fact be lost without them. Such use of a single organization’s products give this organization great power, and with power comes responsibility. It is the responsibility of Google to ensure that it gives the best quality of services to its customers and to ensure that it helps to keep their rights secure from being violated by using its website.

Cited Works

Girard, Bernard. The Google Way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management as We Know It. San Francisco, California: No Starch Press, 2009.

O’Rooke, James S. The Business Communication Casebook: Notre Dame Collection. Andover United Kingdom: Cengage Learning, 2007.

Saporito, B. “Refreshing Google.” Time 177.5 (2011): 48 – 49.

The Vietnam War: Were the lessons learned?

The United States was involved in the Vietnam War for about twenty years and this resulted in the loss of many American as well as Vietnamese lives. There are many lessons America learned from this war and the most significant of these were in the areas of diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership and finally, cultural relations. It is these lessons which have influenced the determination of American foreign policy since the end of the Vietnam War to the present time. Therefore, we shall discuss some of these issues in this paper.

According to Cavagnol (2007), the end of the Vietnam war saw a change in the foreign policy of the United States, which moved from an aggressive and militaristic one to one of diplomatic negotiations. The American failure and massive loss of life in Vietnam may have influenced this because of the negative public opinion that came out of the Vietnam affair. Furthermore, an anonymous article in the Tribune Business News (2010) states that the Vietnam War had made the American government very unpopular not only among the American people but also in the world because of such atrocities committed by its forces against the Vietnamese people. The shift to diplomatic negotiations was a move to help rehabilitate the image of America in the world stage in order to maintain its position of leadership. The move to diplomatic negotiations enabled the United States to achieve its foreign policy goals without the need of resorting to military aggression.

There were also changes in presidential leadership in the United States especially in matters of foreign policy. Bradford (2005) suggests that the decision to end the war in Vietnam saw a turn in presidential leadership in America from one which did not listen to public opinion to one which did. It was the first time that an administration since the beginning of the Vietnam war that had followed a policy different from the administration before concerning this war. Each president since nineteen seventy four has attempted to avoid the kind of situations that happened in Vietnam due to their disastrous effects and have instead moved towards policies which are more peaceful and have only used military action as a last resort as seen during the Gulf War and the War on Terror.

In the cultural context, the American government and people have come to accept that the American way of life is not necessarily the best way for other people in the world. Werner and Huynh (1993) state that the attempt to enforce American values and ideologies in Vietnam ended in complete failure due to the fact that America was giving its support to a very unpopular government. The American government, since the end of the Vietnam War until very recently, had pursued a policy of letting every country have its own system of government, cultural and social system without resorting to forcing them to conform to the ideals of the American way.

In conclusion, the Vietnam War taught many lessons to America, not only concerning how to handle foreign policy, but also to appreciate other people’s cultures as well as accepting the right of the people of foreign nations to self determination. Moreover, the experiences of this war saw a radical change of American policy towards other countries especially in the Third World from one of aggression to place pro-American governments in power, to one of diplomatic negotiations with regimes which it did not necessarily approve of. It is therefore an important thing for America to have learned from its Vietnam experience and to avoid making such mistakes in future.

Cited Works

Bradford, D. (2005). From people's war to people's rule: Insurgency, intervention and the lessons of Vietnam. Special Warfare,18(1), 44-45. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/199400574?accountid=38376

Cavagnol, R. M. (2007). Lessons from vietnam. Marine Corps Gazette, 91(3), 16-19. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/221462197?accountid=38376

Forum examines lessons from vietnam war.(2010, Mar 14). McClatchy - Tribune Business News, pp. n/a. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/458477176?accountid=38376

Werner, J & Huynh, L D. (1993). The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspective. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc.

The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is the series of events which happened and are still happening in the Arab world when the people of the various Arab nations started mass protests and open revolts against the autocratic regimes ruling over them. These events started taking place in Tunisia and they spread through Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and currently, it is happening in Syria. The Arab Spring has seen the fall of several autocratic regimes whose toppling has surprised many in the world. There are several ways through which these revolutions came to be and were organized. In this paper, we shall discuss some of the events which led to the Arab Spring and how most of the public protests were organized.

The Arab Spring came into existence as a response to the lack of political freedom in the various countries in which it has occurred. At first, they were peaceful protests some of which became armed struggles whose aim was to topple the autocratic regimes ruling over these countries. According to Ben-Meir (106), the rebellion against such governments was due to the fact that instead of taking into consideration the calls of their people to allow them more political freedom, these autocratic regimes responded with violence against peaceful protesters, a move which may have been spurred by their conception that their authority was being threatened and that there was a need for them to reclaim such authority by using brute force. The use of force against unarmed civilians led to the discrediting of the legitimacy of such governments and calls for the stepping down of these leaders were made from many international organizations and governments. Moreover, in cases such as Libya and Syria, the peaceful protests suddenly became fierce armed rebellions against the government which attacked the unarmed civilians.

Jones (447) states that protesters in the Arab Spring made very good use of modern technology such as social networks in order to organize protests as well as making people outside their countries aware of what was really going on because of the media blackout that had been created by the autocratic regimes. Many of these regimes had banned and continue to ban international journalists from having access to their countries perhaps because they do not wish for their crimes against their own people to be revealed in the international arena. To counter this, many protesters have devised ingenious ways of getting the information out of their countries including hacking through the heavily censored internet to sites which are most suitable for them to relay their messages. The violent crackdown on civilians by their own governments has also led many military personnel to defect from the government ranks and these have joined the protesters to form the core of the armed rebellion against the government. These military defectors have been very instrumental, through their skills and experience, to bring a semblance of discipline into the ranks of the rebels.

In conclusion, the Arab Spring has brought a lot of changes to the Arab world, most of which are positive especially in the political arena. Most of the countries formerly ruled by autocratic regimes have in the recent months had their first legitimate elections in decades and the majority of them have brought Islamist parties to power. Furthermore, those Arab governments which are afraid of what happened to their neighbors happening to them have started to allow more democratic space in their countries because they would otherwise lose their legitimacy. It is hoped that the Islamist parties which are currently coming to power in the wake of the Arab Spring will be more democratic than their predecessors.

Cited Works

Ben-Meir, Alon. "In all Or in Part: A Look at the Unique States in the Arab Spring and their Collective Future." The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 13.1 (2012): 105-16. ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 17 Aug. 2012.

Jones, Peter. "The Arab Spring." International Journal 67.2 (2012): 447-63. ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 17 Aug. 2012.

The Negative Effects of Drugs

Drugs are very important in the treatment of the various health problems that occur within the human population. Although drugs are important, some tend to have some very serious side effects on the patients who use them. In this paper, we shall discuss two drugs which have a high risk of giving patients some serious side effects.

There is a high risk for Multiple Sclerosis patients who take the drug Ampyra. The majority of these seizures occur within days of starting the dosage especially among those patients who had no prior history of seizures and it is advised that patients who miss a dose should not take extra doses because doing so will increase the seizure risk. Patients should stop taking the drug right away if they develop any problems and should immediately contact their doctors for advice about what to do next. The healthcare professional should order his patients’ blood tests periodically to monitor the kidney functions of their Multiple Sclerosis patients in order to reduce the chances of a seizure due to the use of Ampyra.

Healthcare professionals are supposed to regulate the dosage of the antibacterial drug cefepime in patients with kidney impairment because there have been some cases of a specific type of seizure called non - conclusive status epilepticus associated with the use of cefepime especially among patients with kidney problems who did not receive appropriate dosage adjustments of the drug. To minimize the risk of seizures, healthcare professionals should adjust the dosage of cepefime in patients with creatinine clearance less than or equal to 60mL/min and if seizures associated with cefepime therapy occur, the discontinuation of the drug should be considered. It is advised that patients should get in touch with their doctors if they have any inquiries or apprehensions about cefepime.

Cited Works

Food and Drug Administration. “FDA Drug Safety Communication: Cefepime and risk of seizure in patients not receiving dosage adjustments for kidney impairment.” Web 29 July, 2012 <www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm30966.htm>

Food and Drug Administration. “FDA Drug Safety Communication: Seizure risk for multiple sclerosis patients who take Ampyra (dalfampridine).” Web 29 July, 2012 <www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugsSafety/ucm312846.htm>

Effects of Television

Watching television is a major human activity in which billions of people all over the world participate and it has become such an essential part of our lives that many of us can hardly do without it. However, what we do not normally consider are the effects of television on us; whether they are beneficial or detrimental to us. In this paper, we shall be focusing on discussing these effects in relation to the work of two authors, Wilbur Schramm’s “The effects of television on children and adolescents” and Frey Bruno’s “Does Watching TV Make Us Happy?”

Wilbur Schramm received a Master of Arts in American Civilization at Harvard University and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Iowa. Schramm was a journalist, writer and academic and most of his publications dealt with mass communication and he is indeed sometimes called the father of communication studies. Frey Bruno on the other hand, received a Master in Economics at the University of Basle and a Ph.D. in Economics. Bruno worked as a Professor of Economics at the University of Constance and later at the University of Zurich. From the year 2010, Bruno has been Distinguished Professor of Behavioral Science at the Warwick Business School and most of his publications deal with the study of behavior.

Schramm (17) is of the opinion that television is more beneficial than it is harmful especially on children. He further states that the effects of television on people would be very hard to study because we are unable or unwilling to experiment on humans as we do on other things. Bruno (3) on the other hand believes that many people are subject to a self control problem because although television is entertaining and relaxing, the future costs of watching television such as not having enough sleep, and the underinvestment in social contacts, education, or career are not considered.

Schramm’s research can be considered to be biased towards television because it is not balanced and it is mostly based on the previous researches conducted to explain why people go to watch films. The majority of his research tends to focus on the benefits of television to children and its positive effects towards their development especially in their interaction within society and in the development of their vocabulary. Schramm states that television offers security and reassurance through the familiar format of many of its programmes but Bruno’s research on the other hand is fairly biased against television. The tone of his research, as opposed to Schramm’s, is generally negative and it focuses more on the negative effects of television than on the positive ones. He even goes as far as to declare that it is quite plausible that unhappy people watch more television than happy people.

Schramm’s article was published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which is an agency of the United Nations founded in 1946 whose purpose is to promote global co – operation through education, the sciences, and culture. The UNESCO publishes material that deal with the various issues concerning education, science and culture. Frey Bruno’s article was published by the Center for Research in Economics, Management, and the Arts which he and other colleagues founded to promote scientific research in economics, management and the arts based on the rational choice of approach and from insights from neighboring social sciences.

Schramm’s article was published in 1965 at a time when the age of television was just at its infancy. This was a time when not much had been learned about its effects because most of the people who lived then were not so focused on television they ignored other activities. There were many other sources of entertainment such as the various outdoor activities. Bruno’s work, which came forty years later in 2005, was written at the peak of the television age when many aspects of our lives revolve around the television. Everything from news to television programmes to advertising can now be seen on television and this has led many to spend most of their time watching television.

Parke (307) agrees with Schramm when he states that television programmes have been shown to have positive effects on children’s cognitive and language development. He however disagrees with Schramm’s opinion (and agrees with Bruno’s) that television depicts what is familiar and that it gives us a secure feeling. Parke states that television’s representation of life and society are often inaccurate and as a result, people who view it extensively tend to overestimate the degree of danger and crime in the world and underestimate the trustworthiness and helpfulness of other people. Hamilton (322) further elaborates on this by stating that the most common theme when discussing television today is violence. Television violence is very harmful especially on impressionable children who as they grow up try to emulate the violence they saw on television.

The tone in Schramm’s article depicts his very positive view of television and it also shows a part of the general view of the sixties as being very optimistic about television. The writing style in this article is fairly broad addressing the various issues which were a concern at the time of the article’s writing. Bruno’s style is more contemporary and it gets directly to the point. He addresses the issues even more broadly than Schramm because he has forty years more worth of data to work with than Schramm did.

In the writing of Schramm, we notice that he mostly used periodicals as sources for his articles. He uses a diverse range of periodicals from those dealing with psychology, sociology, and mass communication. Bruno on the other hand mostly uses sources dealing with issues related to his field of study, that is, economics. He however also touches on the very same subjects that Schramm did especially in psychology and sociology but all of these in relation to economics.

Cited Works

Bruno, Frey. “Does Watching Television Make Us Happy?” 2005.

Hamilton, James T. Television Violence and Public Policy. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2000.

Parke, Ross D & Clarke-Stewart, Alison. Social Development. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2010.

Schramm, Wilbur. “Effects of Television on Children and Adolescents.” 1965.