Spanish Words for Home

Although the differences between the English words house and home are very roughly similar to the differences between Spanish casa and hogar, respectively, hogar is far from the only way that home can be translated. In fact, the concept of home can be translated dozens of ways into Spanish, depending (as usual) on the context. Key Takeaways: Spanish Words for Home In broad terms, the differences between hogar and casa are similar to the differences between home and house, respectively, with the latter terms putting more emphasis on the building rather than the feelings it evokes.Despite their differences, hogar and casa are often interchangeable when referring to a place where someone lives.House and home as adjectives can often be translated as casero or hogareà ±o. Hogar vs. Casa The reverse is also true, but to a much lesser extent: While hogar nearly always refers to a building in which people live, it can also refer to a fireplace (it is derived from the Latin word focus, which meant hearth or fireplace), a lobby or similar place where people gather, or to a family that lives together. When home does refer to a building where people live, usually hogar or casa can be used, with the latter sometimes placing more emphasis on the building itself: Our home is located in the heart of the Bellemont neighborhood. Nuestra casa està ¡ situada en el corazà ³n del Barrio Bellemont.Our home will be celebrating with your arrival. Con tu llegada nuestro hogar està ¡ de fiesta.We can build your home in Chile. Podemos construir tu casa en Chile.My mothers home is the perfect place for the children. La casa de mi madre es el sitio perfecto para los nià ±os.The country has prohibited there being statues in a Muslim home. El paà ­s ha prohibido que en un hogar musulmà ¡n haya estatuas. To refer to institutional residences, hogar typically is used (although casa isnt unheard of): The entry of a loved one into a home for the elderly or similar institution can be a traumatic experience. La entrada de un ser querido en un hogar de ancianos o institucià ³n semejante puede ser una experiencia traumà ¡tica.The Farmworker Youth Home is an alternative for child care. El Hogar Juvenil Campesino es una alternativa para dar atencià ³n al nià ±o. At home can usually be translated as en casa, while to go home is to go a casa: Im not at home. No estoy en casa.We are going home at 9. Vamos a casa a las nueve. Adjective Forms for 'House' and 'Home' The singular masculine adjective forms of casa and hogar are casero and hogareà ±o: Many choose to feed their pets homemade food. Muchos optan por alimentar a sus mascotas con comida casera.The nine-bedroom mansion includes a home theater with 12 seats. La mansià ³n de nueve habitaciones incluye un teatro casero con doce asientos.  His early home life was not the type that can produce a completely trustworthy person. Su vida hogareà ±a temprana no fue del tipo que pueda producir una persona completamente confiable.Nicotine is highly toxic for the most common house pets. La nicotina es altamente tà ³xica para las mascotas hogareà ±as mà ¡s comunes. Other Types of 'Home' When home refers to the center or original place, various translations can be used: Just as Hollywood is the home of movies, Nashville is the home of country music. Asà ­ como Hollywood es el centro de las pelà ­culas, Nashville es el centro de la mà ºsica country.Greetings from Idaho, home of delicious potatoes. Saludos desde Idaho, la tierra de las papas riquà ­simas.Wendys is the home of the square hamburger. Wendys es el creador de la hamburguesa cuadrada. In Internet usage, the home page is usually the pà ¡gina principal or pà ¡gina inicial. A link to the home page may be labeled Inicio, although sometimes the loanword home is used as well. In recreation, home has various meanings: A home game is typically un juego en casa, while the home team is often el equipo local.In baseball, the home plate can be la goma, el hogar, or el plato, among other terms. El jonrà ³n (obviously derived from the English phrase) is universally used for home run.In board games and some athletic contests, where reaching home is the goal of the game, it can be known as la meta or el final, among other terms. The most common term for homeless is sin hogar, although sin casa is used, as is, less rarely, sin vivienda. Homeless people can be known as los sinhogares.

Creative Writing The Future is Made Out of Clones and...

The future isn’t made up of robots and freedom, but of clones and sex crazed people trying to find their way. There is basically a dictatorship type of society where everyone is told what they are going to be in life because there is no other way but the D.H.C. way. This is a world of control weather future or present there is someone that will try to have some type of control over you. This place is made of people that wouldn’t dare to be different, they were all just pawns in a big world of chess. The story is based in the future to give us a mental picture of what could be in our life to be. The citizens of this town don’t always have a choice in the life they live or in the things that take place in their society. Just like the citizens in our society today they are limited to the things they can and can’t do, due to the government restrictions. â€Å"Bokanovsky’s Process†. â€Å"A bokanovskified egg will bud, then proliferate, or divide. From eight to ninety-six buds and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full sized adult.† â€Å"With this they are making test tube babies and they are proliferating to produce more than ninety-six sets of identical twins, to be placed in factories and put to work.† This section of the story is basically suppressing the new birthing process of our future years. They are no longer making babies through physical contact they are just having pre-modified embryos. After the fertilizationShow MoreRelatedGp Essay Mainpoints24643 Words   |  99 PagesDemocracy 2. Science/Tech a. Science and Ethics b. Government and scientist role in science c. Rely too much on technology? d. Nuclear technology e. Genetic modification f. Right tech for wrong reasons 3. Arts/Culture a. Arts have a future in Singapore? b. Why pursue Arts? c. Arts and technology d. Uniquely Singapore: Culture 4. Environment a. Developed vs. Developing b. Should environment be saved at all costs c. Are we doing enough to save the environment? dRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesBradley H. Dowden Philosophy Department California State University Sacramento Sacramento, CA 95819 USA ii iii Preface Copyright  © 2011-14 by Bradley H. Dowden This book Logical Reasoning by Bradley H. Dowden is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. That is, you are free to share, copy, distribute, store, and transmit all or any part of the work under the following conditions: (1) Attribution You must attribute the work in the

Transition free essay sample

Charles de Gaulle Airport, August 2005. Destination: JFK Airport, NY. With mixed emotions, three pieces of luggage and one ticket in my possession, I was about to board a plane for a life-changing journey. Leaving Paris, my mind was full of questions and doubts about what would happen next. Having been educated in the French school system all my life, I was about to enter a new system and a new school: Scarsdale High. The French education was never right for me because they would not consider my learning differences or try to help me in any way to improve. Scarsdale turned out to be my academic salvation. In September, under sunny skies and warm temperatures, I entered Scarsdale High School. I was wowed. This was the â€Å"American Dream†! (Everything I had seen in movies was right in front of me; lockers in the hallways, cheerleading team posters, football practice outside on the field. We will write a custom essay sample on Transition or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page ) As I walked down the entrance hallway, I was a complete stranger to everyone, and they to me. People stared at me as if I was an alien from outer space. I felt uncomfortable and isolated. With the help of my father, my teachers, my psychologist and my counselor at the high school I managed to move ahead, looking at the positive aspect of my transition. School had started, books were being read, papers were being written, World History was being learned intensively for the Regents, and I was still here. The English vocabulary learned in France was useful, but insufficient. I struggled, day by day, to learn and focus, to concentrate and listen, to listen and to apply what my teachers had taught me. My transition lasted six months. During that time, I had only two friends; socially people thought I was different because of the way I dressed (â€Å"a la francaise†). Everything changed the day I passed my driving test. I became more independent, and was one of the first in my gra de to have my driving license. At the beginning of my junior year, I was prescribed Adderall to help me with my learning disabilities. This changed my life completely. Academically, my grades had varied from D’s to C’s but when I started the medication, they changed, as did I. My grades were now as low as B’s and as high as A+’s. I became more interested in classes and finally started to enjoy school. I particularly enjoyed psychology. The subject was so interesting, and the way it was taught even more so. Rashid Silvera, the teacher, was so enthusiastic about everything. He showed us the most fascinating things about psychology, and totally changed me. Mr. Silvera made an enormous impact on my life and made me realize that life was different than I had imagined. I was so involved in his class, and enjoyed an amazing student-teacher relationship, a relationship I would never have had in France. Socially, the medication made me more confident in tasks tha n I had ever been before, and I was able to enjoy life as a successful student. I was no longer the â€Å"French foreigner† but an American who could interact with others with no problem. This medication has really been life-changing, and has enabled me to show my full capacities. The transition from Paris to Scarsdale has changed me in various ways. I am now interested in school, and enjoy all of my classes. I plan on going to university to pursue my dream of one day becoming head of a marketing company, and learning as much as I can. No Stopping Me Now!

Women, The First Priests Essays - Feminist Theology,

Women, The First Priests? Women, the first priests? To say that society dictates what we do is an understatement, because society dictates so much more than that. We allow society to dictate our beliefs, our morals, and even the things we hold to be true. Society tells us that men should be the leaders, and we believe that and make assumptions based on this. Most Catholics would say that Women cannot be priests, and will tell you that they know it because it is in the bible. The truth is that there is nowhere in the bible in which Jesus states women cannot be priests. In fact, Jesus' teachings as well as history would tell us that the opposite is true. They would lead us to believe that not only is the role of the celebrant a gender-neutral role, but that the original celebrants were indeed women. In the catacombs under the streets of Rome, a new section has been discovered with a number of frescos painted on the walls. This, in itself, is not unusual, but the stories they tell and the history they convey are quite different from what many believe. These frescos depict people with outstretched hands signifying a priest, a group at a table breaking bread as if having a mass, and another figure is laying hands on the head of someone like a bishop ordaining a priest. What is striking is that these figures appear to be women. While many argue that the figures are men, a close look at the frescos reveals many feminine characteristics. Some of these characteristics are much more prevalent in some than in others. The paintings of women with outstretched hands and the bishop ordaining a priest are the easiest to distinguish. These figures have a woman's long hair and physique. There are no masculine characteristics about them. The figures around the table are not as easily distinguish able. Out of the seven at the table, one is clearly a female. The other, however, would be difficult to distinguish if not for a common trait that is found in all of the frescos. The garments being worn go all the way to the ankles. Only women wore these garments, while men's garments only came down to their calves. If these frescos are, in fact, women, we should not be surprised. Much of history also points to women being priests in the early church. Before the Edict of Constantine in 313 AD, Christians were forced to worship in the privacy of their homes. Women were the ones that ran things in the home. They organized the dinner and entertained the guests, and it would only have been natural for them to celebrate mass as well. It wasn't until after Constantine made it possible for Christians to practice in public, that Christians had the privilege of worshipping in basilicas. Once Christianity was the official religion under Constantine, Christians had to adapt to the culture around them and make the role of the celebrant a male role. Soon after, four councils in one hundred years banned the ordination of women. This is significant because if women were not being ordained priests already, the councils would not have to ban it so many times. This is not the only proof, however. In a church in R ome, a mosaic behind the alter depicts four women. One of these women has a rectangular halo that sets her apart from the rest and has the words Theodora Episcopa written next to her. Theodora would be her name and Episcopa translates into bishop. Not far from there a tomb was found with the title Letapresbiteressa on it. Leta is a feminine name, and if she were a priest, as the title would suggest, she would have been the first woman priest. While the debate will undoubtedly go on for a long time to come, the most obvious explanation for these findings is that women really were priests. While we can always find complex and extravagant explanations for any argument, the simplest explanation is almost always true. Religion Essays

buy custom Riordan Manufacturing essay

buy custom Riordan Manufacturing essay Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is a firm leader in the field of plastic inoculation molding. With condition-of-the art design functionalities, they generate innovative plastic designs that have gained international acclaim. The following are the network security functions required in the Riordan inventory and manufacturing systems. The first concern is that the industry has incomplete network documentation. The available network topology does not illustrate component location of the switches, routers, hubs, clients and servers. Furthermore, no computer node and port identification; in addition, there are no network security procedures and policies in place. Within Riordan Manufacturing Inc.s network security preparation is the network safety measures plan for Inventory and Manufacturing Systems (IMS). Particularly, this plans intention is ensure the integrity and quality of IMS data all through the IMS process, from inserting the order for unprocessed materials, receiving of the raw res ources, warehousing and enactment of raw materials, manufacturing and assemblage, packaging, back to store and, lastly shipping. Network security plans characteristically include the following, Firewall, VPN, Traffic shaping, Antivirus, Intrusion prevention system (IPS), Antispyware. The network security necessary functions are twofold, Internal and External transversely multiple applications and procedures as well as several locations throughout the surrounding. After a careful team review of current network security at Riordan Manufacturing Inc., deliberation was given to a complete system, refurbish, but was decided besides the enormousness of such a responsibility was beyond the extent of the Service Request. Riordan Manufacturing should spend in putting into place an automated structure for handling the inventory and manufacturing processes. Conclusion Most of these security requirements are addressed by the accessible system. However, with the accumulation t of RFID there are fresh security concerns consequential from the wireless nature or the invention such as RFID in Manufacturing, 2004. As a result, security practices such as data protection, authentication, and authorization need to be fully implemented for proper access management of the system. The above concerns need to be implemented to address the necessary network in security of the company. Buy custom Riordan Manufacturing essay buy custom Riordan Manufacturing essay It is clear that firms should improve on their systems thus improving on manufacturing and inventory processes. Some of the changes, which are vital for an enacted to achieve this, include upgrading current systems as increased utilization of computer systems for firms to be more efficient. For Riordan Manufacturing, the need of using computerized systems in data entry is a matter of urgency in all its braches such as San Jose, Michigan, Georgia and China. Currently, the firm uses different system in the branches, thus becoming hard to consolidate manufacturing and inventory information. Further, it is hard to euthanatize inventories from external facilites resulting to lack of continuity thus increased costs and time consumption. Business requirements definition for system upgrades For Riordan Manufacturing, manufacturing and inventory system upgrade is based on three major options. They include the virtualBox from Sun Microsystems, VirtualBOS: Business Operating Systems and Microsoft Office Accounting Express. In upgrading the system, Riordan Manufacturing may use the existing or acquire new equipments for the purpose .By using the existing hardware to upgrade the system; Riordan Manufacturing will be able to cut on cost hence better performance on all its branches. It is vital come up with time implementattion deadline by use of Gantt chart for managing the projects, software and hardware installations, assessments, software support and user training. By selecting one of the present actions, based on cost and time effectiveness among other notable aspects, the firm will be able to carry out the inventory and manufacturing upgrade within the stipulated duration by selected team. Conclusion From above information, it is clear that Riordan Manufacturing can adopt any of the above actions for system upgrade. By doping this, the firm will reduce on operation cost and meet the set deadlines in all its branches across the globe. Buy custom Riordan Manufacturing essay

Malcolm X Quotes

Malcolm X Quotes Controversial. Witty. Eloquent. These are some of the ways African-American activist and former Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X was described before and after his death in 1965. One of the reasons Malcolm X developed a reputation as a firebrand who intimidated whites and middle-of-the-road blacks is largely because of the provocative comments he made in interviews and speeches. While the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. earned praise and respect from the mainstream public by embracing Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence, Malcolm X struck fear in the heart of white America by maintaining that blacks had the right to defend themselves by any means necessary. In contrast, many African Americans appreciated Malcolm for discussing black love and black empowerment. Excerpts from his speeches reveal why Malcolm X surfaced as a leader that the public both feared and admired. On Being an American On April 3, 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech called the â€Å"Ballot or the Bullet† in which he urged blacks to overcome their class, religious and other differences to counter racial oppression. In the speech, Malcolm X also pointed out that he wasn’t anti-white but anti-exploitation and that he didn’t identify as a Republican, Democrat or an American. He said, â€Å"Well, I am one who doesn’t believe in deluding myself. I’m not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t make you an American. Why, if birth made you American, you wouldn’t need any legislation; you wouldn’t need any amendments to the Constitution; you wouldn’t be faced with civil-rights filibustering in Washington, D.C., right now. †¦No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism.† By Any Means Necessary In life and in death, Malcolm X has been accused of being a violence-loving militant. A speech he gave on June 28, 1964, to discuss the founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity reveals otherwise. Rather than support wanton violence, Malcolm X supported self-defense. He remarked, â€Å"The time for you and me to allow ourselves to be brutalized nonviolently is passà ©. Be nonviolent only with those who are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist, bring me a nonviolent segregationist, then Ill get nonviolent. †¦ If the United States government doesnt want you and me to get rifles, then take the rifles away from those racists. If they don’t want you and me to use clubs, take the clubs away from the racists.† Slave Mentality During a visit to Michigan State University in 1963, Malcolm X delivered a speech discussing the differences between â€Å"field Negroes† and â€Å"house Negroes† during slavery. He painted the house Negro as content with his circumstances and subservient to his master, the field Negro’s opposite. Of the house Negro, he remarked, â€Å"His master’s pain was his pain. And it hurt him more for his master to be sick than for him to be sick himself. When the house started burning down, that type of Negro would fight harder to put the master’s house out than the master himself would. But then you had another Negro out in the field. The house Negro was in the minority. The masses- the field Negroes were the masses. They were in the majority. When the master got sick, they prayed that he’d die. If his house caught on fire, theyd pray for a wind to come along and fan the breeze.† Malcolm X said that while the house Negro would refuse to even entertain the thought of leaving his master, the field Negro jumped at the opportunity to be free. He said that in 20th century America, house Negroes still existed, only they’re well dressed and speak well. â€Å"And when you say, ‘your army,’ he says, ‘our army,’† Malcolm X explained. â€Å"He hasn’t got anybody to defend him, but anytime you say ‘we’ he says ‘we.’ †¦ When you say you’re in trouble, he says, ‘Yes, we’re in trouble.’ But there’s another kind of black man on the scene. If you say you’re in trouble, he says, ‘Yes, you’re in trouble.’ He doesn’t identify himself with your plight whatsoever.† On The Civil Rights Movement Malcolm X gave a speech on Dec. 4, 1963, called â€Å"God’s Judgment of White America.† In it he questioned the authenticity and effectiveness of the civil rights movement, arguing that whites were running the movement. He said, â€Å"The Negro ‘revolt’ is controlled by the white man, the white fox. The Negro ‘revolution’ is controlled by this white government. The leaders of the Negro ‘revolution’ (the civil rights leaders) are all subsidized, influenced and controlled by the white liberals; and all of the demonstrations that are taking place on this country to desegregate lunch counters, theaters, public toilets, etc., are just artificial fires that have been ignited and fanned by the white liberals in the desperate hope that they can use this artificial revolution to fight off the real black revolution that has already swept white supremacy out of Africa, Asia, and is sweeping it out of Latin America...and is even now manifesting itself also right here among the black masses in this country.† The Importance of Black History In December 1962, Malcolm X gave a speech called â€Å"Black Man’s History† in which he argued that black Americans aren’t as successful as others because they don’t know their history. He stated: â€Å"There are black people in America who have mastered the mathematical sciences, have become professors and experts in physics, are able to toss sputniks out there in the atmosphere, out in space. They are masters in that field. We have black men who have mastered the field of medicine, we have black men who have mastered other fields, but very seldom do we have black men in America who have mastered the knowledge of the history of the black man himself. We have among our people those who are experts in every field, but seldom can you find one among us who is an expert on the history of the black man. And because of his lack of knowledge concerning the history of the black man, no matter how much he excels in the other sciences, he’s always confined, he’s always relegated to the same low rung of the ladder that the dumbest of our people are relegated to.†

Appeasement and wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Appeasement and wars - Essay Example It is through this party that Hitler controlled Germany with no mercy (Evans 2006, p. 14). This paper will discuss the universally popular consent of Hitler’s rule. In other words, this is the main view of Hitler’s dictatorship rule. Hitler attained full control of Germany the after the First World War crisis (Evans 2006, p. 23). He used charismatic oratory, as well as propaganda, appealing to financial needs, anti-Semitism and nationalism to set up an authoritarian regime in the country. With a rearmed military, as well as a restructured economy, he pursued an aggressive international policy with the aim of expanding or increasing Germans boarders (Bracher 1972, p. 15). This eventually led to the explosion of the Second World War. The fighting broke out after Germany invaded the territories of Poland and Poland chose to resist German’s attempt. Hitler’s name is never forgotten in Germany. During the First World War, Hitler joined the German armed forces. He even got rewards for his stern bravery. However, when he got news of German’s defeat in the First World War, Hitler was extremely depressed. He felt that it was extremely dishonorable for the whole Germany to lose in such a war (Bracher 1972, p. 15). Hitler used documentaries and movies as propaganda devices. He was concerned and appeared in a series of films via Universum Film AG (UFA) by the revolutionary filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Such films were Victory of Faith (1933), Triumph of the Will (1934) and Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces (1935) (Bracher 1972, p. 23). Victory of Faith (1933) or Der Sieg des Glaubens was the first documentary to be directed by Leni Riefenstahl. She was hired regardless of the being opposed by Nazi officials, who disliked employing a female or a non-member of the Nazi Regime. Riefenstahl’s film talks about the Fifth Party Rally of the Nazi Regime, which took place in Nuremberg from August 30th to September 3rd, 1933. Triumph of the Wil l (1934) was made also by Leni Riefenstahl. It recounts the 1934 Nazi Party Congress that took place in Nuremberg. The event was attended by over 700,000 Nazi followers. The film contains excerpts from talks given by different Nazi leaders at the Congress, incorporating portions of speeches by Adolf Hitler, combined with recordings of massed party members (Joll 1990, p. 4). This film portrayed to the Germans of how Hitler was an able leader that could bring success to their nation. It is through this film that a majority of Germans started to admire Hitler. Hitler also used his right hand man, Fritz Darges, to spread propaganda and rule the Germans effectively. Fritz Darges headed the SS movement after being appointed by Hitler. Germans liked how the SS carried out its duties, and how it made their country safe (Bracher 1972, p. 34). The SS, the selected guard of the Nazi regime, wielded increasing control through its power over the police force. Political antagonists, mainly those in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Communist Movement of Germany, along with Jews, were subject to persecution, intimidation, as well as discriminatory legislation. In the opening two years of Hitler’s chancellorship, he, through the help of the SS, followed a rigorous strategy of Gleichschaltung (coordination), by which state governments, political parties along with professional and cultural organizations were brought in proportion to Nazi goals. The economy, culture, law and education all

The Implications of Dan Slobins Statements on Second Language Essay

The Implications of Dan Slobins Statements on Second Language Acquisition - Essay Example The Implications of Dan Slobin’s Statements on Second Language Acquisition Language is essential in being able to communicate properly and communication is essential to societal life, where a person needs to be able to understand and be understood by other people in order to survive. Thus, the study of language acquisition and development in children is well-covered as many delve into the process in order to help teachers and parents to promote a healthier and more successful language development in children in order for them to be well-equipped to live in the world. And with the diversity of language comes the need not only to fluently speak one language, but to also learn a second, or even a third, language. Immigration and inter-racial marriages are two very common happenings in the 22nd Century. Gone were the days when immigrants were treated like outcasts and racial discrimination was considered normal. Today, anyone can choose to migrate to another country in order to find a better life. Because of the phenomenon of immigration wherein a country is made more diverse and multicultural, it is but inevitable for inter-racial marriages to flourish. Because of these two factors combined and the subsequent success of international and multinational corporations, schools have felt it necessary to equip their students with the knowledge of a foreign language. In fact, â€Å"the number of people in the United States who speak more than one language has doubled to almost 50 million during the past 20 years†.

McDonald’s and Its Crisis Essay Example for Free

McDonald’s and Its Crisis Essay What should a company do when its core product is considered â€Å"unhealthy† or even â€Å"harmful† by the public? Is it even possible for such a company survive and thrive; or will it have to shut down its business? McDonald’s fast food has for a long time been considered unhealthy by the public. In recent years, the health conscious trends have become increasingly popular. Moreover, many scientific studies and findings have surfaced and successfully confirmed that children’s increasing intake of fast food, which often contains high sodium content, sugars, saturated fats, and calories, for a long period of time would lead to childhood obesity. Moreover, obese children have a much higher risk of many health problems such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancersall of which are fatal if left untreated. In 2010, a mother from California sued McDonald’s over the company’s marketing practice of Happy Meal. The mother claimed that McDonald’s used alluring toys to lure kids into Happy Meal. This lawsuit, which might be viewed by many as senseless and absurd, was one of McDonald’s biggest cases. In order to come out of the lawsuit ahead, this largest fast food chain had to undergo some major organizational changes. In this paper, we would like to use the knowledge learned in the class to analyze the event (the lawsuit) and its effects on McDonald’s. The paper will have four main parts. In the first part, we provide a brief introduction of the company, McDonald’s, and the lawsuit. In the second part, we will use the concepts learned in class to analyze Happy Meal’s influencing strategies and the organizational changes during and after the suit. We believe that Happy Meal’s influencing strategies deserve our attention as they were the main causes of the crisis. Since its Happy Meal’s influencing tactics were so effectively and successfully executed, McDonald’s became the obvious target of the mentioned legal dispute. In the third part, we will offer our evaluations, pros and cons, of McDonald’s strategies and tactics in handling the crisis. Finally, in the fourth part, depending on our evaluation of how McDonald’s control of the situation, we want to offer our recommendation to parts of the company’s strategies which in our opinions could have been improved. Also, since we overall felt that McDonald’s managed the crisis extremely well, we recommend its strategies to be implemented to Jack in the Box, which faced a similar situation to McDonald’s. However, unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight for the continuation of its using toys to push Happy Meal sales, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the pressure from the public. We believe McDonald’s implementation of strategic changes could have helped Jack in the Box to put toys back to its Happy Meal. I Introduction McDonald’s Corporation is the worlds leading food service organization. The corporation started out as a small drive-through in 1948 by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald. In 1961, Raymond Albert Kroc, a salesman, saw a great opportunity in the market at the time and bought the business from the McDonald brothers. By 1967, McDonald’s began its first business expansion to countries outside of the United States. This unyielding expansion resulted in the opening of 23,000 McDonalds restaurants in 110 countries in 1994. Today, McDonalds, the leading fast food chain, had twice the market share of its closest U.S. competitor, Burger King. In fact, McDonald’s market share represented 7 percent of total U.S. eating-out sales (Cohen, 2009, p8-2, p8-3). There are several major influences and factorssuch as government, customers, social trends, and so forthwhich play an important role in shaping organizational behavior.In the recent years, McDonald’s corporate image has been negatively affected by adverse publicity. For example, McDonald’s has been criticized of paying its employees low wages and enforcing an aggressive anti-union policy throughout its fast-food empire. Furthermore, the corporation was heavily condemned by the public for exploiting children market and causing childhood obesity. Indeed, McDonald’s has been using advertising which mainly targeted children. As a result, according to the survey to American school student in 1996, 96 percent of all children could identify Ronald McDonald (Cohen, 2011, p8-5). How was McDonald’s able to achieve the above result? McDonald’s children marketing strategies were very simple but extremely effectiveto give small toys as a treatment to children in order to appeal to their interests. With the repeated uses of this psychological influencing tactic, children would subconsciously make a connection between McDonald’s and toys. Therefore, children, who were under the influences of McDonald’s marketing strategies, could not help to think of McDonald’s whenever thinking of toys. The plaintiff, Monet Parham, a California mother of two, sued McDonald’s overly exploiting children market on Oct 2010 (Dan, 2011).She claimed that McDonald’s gave out alluring toys that come with the meals in order to lure kids into unhealthy diet. The mother also stated that â€Å"McDonald’s make it so much harder to say no to her kids when they are really want those toys† (York, 2010). The CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) confirmed that â€Å"kids do not have the cognitive maturity to understand the persuasive intent of advertising† (York, 2010). Later on, the ban of serving Happy Meals with toys was easily passed by the Board of Supervisors in an 8-3 vote, which would take effect on Dec 1st, 2011 if McDonald’s didn’t meets the nutritional standards of meal in San Francisco till that time (San Francisco Happy Meal Toy Ban Takes Effect,2012). McDonald’s quickly made response to this event. The fast food chain’s spokeswoman, Bridget Coffing, told the LA Times newspaper: We are confident that parents understand and appreciate that Happy Meals are a fun treat, with quality, right-sized food choices for their children that can fit into a balanced diet, (York, 2010). McDonalds said that it would defend itself against the lawsuit. Meanwhile, it started offering apple slices and milks in the new Happy Meals. Eventually, the San Francisco judge dismissed the suit since McDonalds was able to meet the required nutritional standards.†¨ In the next part, we will assess this problem relate to the concept of influence and organizational change. II Course Concepts Related To The Event Influence â€Å"Influence is any communication which produces a change in an action and/or an attitude in one or more people.† Influence is one of the most important management strategies in any organization. A strong influence tactic includes role of planning and dialogue, establish credibility, frame goals and common ground, vividly reinforce your position and connect emotionally (Wong, Influence and persuasion, 2012). In this case, although McDonald’s was sued by alluring children, they indeed occupied the children market successfully. In order to establish an influence, one must first establish communicationexchanges of dialogue. McDonald’s did good at emotional influence and ingratiation. The company created a clown character named Ronald and featured it on local TV in early 1960s. Then, people were employed to perform live Ronald McDonald clowns at children’s birthday parties held in restaurants. Ronald McDonald had a magic touch with children giving McDonald’s an important advantage over its competitors in the children market (Cohen, 2011, p8-5). With Ronald McDonald mascot so successful as a communication tool, McDonald’s went one step further to establish its credibility in children’s minds. This was not hard for the leading fast food chain as it is a common notionand quite truethat children are in most cases easy to influence. Then, how did McDonald’s make children trust it? The answer is easymake the children happy. For example, children were happy when gifts such as Ronald dolls and wristwatches were given free with every purchases of Happy Meals. McDonald’s also used toys of characters from popular movies appeal to children. In this aspect, they used influence of ingratiation effectively. Ingratiation means do something what the person likes. For example, a recent and very successful Happy Meal promotion was a tie-in with the popular DreamWorks Animation film Shrek Forever After. The meals included toy watches fashioned after the movies characters Shrek, Donkey, Gingy and Puss in Boots (Dan, 2011). Furthermore, McDonald’s needed to create a common goalas to what it stands forwith children. With free toys and the always smiling Ronald McDonald, McDonald’s convinced children that the company and its restaurants stands for happiness and enjoyment. However, just establishing common goal and credibility is not enough to make an effective influence, the communicating message and/or idea must be vividly reinforced and emotionally connected with the target audience. According to the Fast Food FACTS Report, young people viewed enormous amounts of fast food advertising. Every day, the average preschooler saw 2.8 fast food ads on television, the average child saw 3.5, and the average teen saw 4.7. Teens listened to approximately one radio ad per day. Children were exposed to more than 1,200 traditional fast food ads per year while teens saw and heard more than 2,000. (Harris, Schwartz Brownell, 2010, p132) Thus, with its spending of $900 million in media in 2009, McDonald’s made sure that the company’s image was vividly reinforced and emotionally connected in the minds of many children (Harris, Schwartz Brownell, 2010, p132). In sum, McDonald’s influencing strategies were so successful that 90 percent of the children go to McDonald’s once a month (Fast Food Marketing to Children, 2010). Nevertheless, McDonald’s effective influencing strategies made it a target for one of the biggest lawsuit in the fast food industry. In the next part, we will discuss how McDonald’s applied its strategic changes to overcome the crisis. †¨Organizational Change For years, critics have been criticizing McDonald’s and its role in America’s obesity problemspecifically the franchise’s aggressive marketing strategies toward children. As the lawsuit pointed out, McDonald’s used toys to lure children and in turn set kids up for a lifetime of health problems. The leadership and management of an organization must be prepared for a turbulent environment which demands more complex planning for the future. The phrase â€Å"organizational change† is about a significant change in the organization, such as reorganization or adding a major new product or service. In fact, there are six forces creating the need of change—the changing nature of the work force, technology, economics shocks, changing social trends, the â€Å"new† world politics, and the changing nature of competitions. (Stephen,1992, p.270) From this lawsuit, we could find evidences of a major force, changing social trend. As the health conscious became a more and more popular, people will be looking for healthy food that is low in calories, fat and sodium. In the American, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last 30 years. Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control, seventy percent of obese children have higher risk for cardiovascular disease, and are at â€Å"greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem† (Centers for disease, 2012). The publics pointed a finger at McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food company, who use of Happy Meal toys to lure children. This situation made McDonald’s under heavy criticism from public health officials, parents, lawmakers and so on because they are frustrated with rising childhood obesity rates and weak anti-obesity efforts from fast food restaurant operators. Oftentimes, organizations are confronted with problems in the environment or with internal contingencies suggesting that â€Å"current ways of doing things are not effective† (Miller, 2012, p180). When facing the changing forces, organizations often make changes gradually. Of course, the implementation of planned change is neither a simple nor a straight-forward process (Miller, 2012, p181). In fact, it took McDonalds six years (from 1984 to 1990) to react to pressure group tactics and litigation before starting to adapt its service offer to the dietary concerns of its customers. At the very beginning, the company just made some modestly changes, such as using light oil, adding 2% milk into the menu before actually launching new products such as the McVeggie, the McLean, and pizza in the 1990s (Joanne Caroline, 2006). If we consider McDonald’s step-by-step changes, in the above examples, organizational planned change in response to social trend, the fast food franchise’ reactions to the CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) lawsuit then can be defined as â€Å"unplanned change†. According to Coombs (1999, p.2), organizational crisis is â€Å"an event that is an unpredictable, major threat that can have a negative effect on the organization, industry, or stakeholders if handled improperly.† In other words, crisis is unplanned change that can rock an organization and all the people associated with it. In response to this lawsuit, on December 15 2010, McDonald’s posted on its website a Response to CSPI Lawsuit: We are proud of our Happy Meals and intend to vigorously defend our brand, our reputation and our food. We stand on our 30 years track record of providing a fun experience for kids and families at McDonald’s. We listen to our customers, and parents consistently tell us they approve of our Happy Meals. We are confident that parents understand and appreciate that Happy Meals are a fun treat, with quality, right-sized food choices for their children that can fit into a balanced diet. (Bridget, 2010) Later on, McDonald’s made it clear that the fast food chain had begun to make changes to the composition of Happy Meals in response to parental and consumer pressure. It also pledged to reduce the sodium content in all of its foods by 15 percent, with the exceptions of soda and desserts. Moreover, it set a deadline of 2015 for limiting salt, and said that it would spend the rest of this decade cutting back on sugars, saturated fats and calories and making adjustments to portion sizes. The new Happy Meals were introduced in September and launched across the company’s 14,000 restaurants on April 2012. They would all include apple slices, but in a smaller amount of three to five slices than the current eight to 10 offered as an alternative (Stephanie, 2011). McDonald’s will also offer a fat-free chocolate milk option, along with the option of low-fat milk or the traditional soda. The price is not expected to change (Andrew,2011). Furthermore, as part of an effort to provide better access to nutritional information about its foods, McDonald’s developed its first mobile application for the public. Additionally, in 2011, McDonald’s executives toured the country to hear directly from consumers about their concerns (Alex, 2011). In the next part, we would like to offer our evaluations, pros and cons, of McDonald’s strategies and tactics in handling the crisis. III Evaluation As we could image, the sales of Happy Meals have been a large contributions to McDonald’s daily revenue. Thus, if McDonald’s had lost the lawsuit, the company would have faced a really huge lost on its total profits and taken serious damage on its reputation. On the side of the organization change, we believe that McDonald’s did quite well in the face of the crisis. Organization crisis could be divided into three stages: pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis (Miler, 2012, p187). In the pre-crisis stage, an organization should protect or prevent possible problems. It should make employees have a kind of consciousness of crisis all the time. Indeed, McDonald’s has always been accused of selling unhealthy, greasy food to grownups, and exploiting children through advertising since 1960s (Cohen,2009,p8-6). As a leading company in fast food industry, adverse publicity always be the major problem for McDonald’s. Still, McDonald’s couldn’t find a way to solve this problem at all. It is necessary that a company grow with self-awareness against any problem. After all, McDonald’s had got unfavorable publicity in this event what had happened before. During the crisis stage, it is very important that the company should make correct and wise decisions in order to salvage the damaged reputation. As we said before, on one side, McDonald’s projected itself as a company which was proud of its products and would vigorously defend its reputation in order to calm down concerned customers . On the other side, McDonald’s announced that it would reduce the portion of French fries in every Happy Meal by half and replace them with apple slices. It even promised to start serving healthier food in the new Happy Meal to meet the nutrition standards. Indeed, McDonalds made very quick response to this event, and they also pointed out that parents could always choose not to buy happy meals for their kids instead of criticizing the corporation’s marketing strategies. After making the changes, McDonald’s operation was not impacted too much. Lastly, in the post-crisis stage, company should take lessons from this and establish backup plans for similar crisis which may happen in the future. Apparently, even after the crisis, Happy Meal was not banned. Furthermore, it has become a huge hit for McDonalds and even made the company one of the worlds largest toy distributors. As a result, more and more companies wanted to corporate with McDonalds. For example, many animation film companies wanted to team up with McDonald’s in order to take advantage of this fast food franchise’ huge market influence in promoting their movies. In sum, with its achievements overweight shortcoming, McDonald’s had a good handle on the whole crisis. Nevertheless, even the crisis had passed, this leading fast food chain suffered from public criticism regarding its products. In the future, we believe that McDonald’s should develop an effective strategy to help improve its brand image and a better risk management methodology to help mitigating coming crisis. In the next part of the paper, we want to offer our recommendation to help McDonald’s better handling similar situation. Also, since we overall felt that McDonald’s managed the crisis extremely well, we would like to recommend its strategies to be implemented to Jack in the Box, which faced a similar situation to McDonald’s. However, unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight for the continuation of its using toys to push Happy Meal sales, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the pressure from the public. We believe McDonald’s implementation of strategic changes could have helped Jack in the Box to put toys back to its Happy Meal. IV Recommendation and Implementation Recommendation for McDonald’s Obviously, McDonald’s managed the crisis really well. In fact, the nutrition of Happy Meal was improved as the calories were reduced substantially. Because the lawsuit was dismissed, McDonald’s continued sell Happy Meal with toys. In the end, McDonald’s didn’t have to change its children’s influence strategy. Even though McDonald’s made its Happy Meal healthier, we believe that their changes to the meal could be bigger, such as change the cheeseburger to a healthier burger with vegetable inside and make chicken nuggets with real chicken instead of minced meat. Also, McDonald’s could reduce the attraction to children or change a different way. For example, the fast food chain could design an advertisement to advocate children to eat healthy, such as drink milk and eat fruit. Furthermore, McDonald’s could optimize the influence aspect. For instance, McDonald’s could use influence strategy to encourage more people to do char ity and educate children to eat healthy and exercise frequently. Recommendation for Jack in the Box In 2011, under heavy public’s criticism, Jack in the Box decided to stop giving out free toys with the purchases of Happy Meal. Obviously, the scale of the crisis faced by Jack in the Box was much smaller than that faced by McDonald’s. However, we felt that Jack in the Box could benefit greatly by learning from McDonalds way of handling its crisis. We also have some recommendations for Jack in the Box based on the successful influence strategy of McDonald’s. According to the survey, McDonalds Happy Meal accounted for about 10 percent of the chain’s U.S. sales in 2010. The sales of McDonalds Happy Meals alone were more than Jack in the Box’s total sales (Maureen, 2011). This fact showed us that the influence strategy used by McDonalds was extremely effective. A spokesman of Jack in the Box said that the franchise’s target customers were â€Å"the frequent fast food consumer† or adults from 18 to 34. Therefore, we recommend Jack in the Box to use the same influence strategy to their target customer. The fast food chain could also use emotion and/or ingratiation influence to attract customers. For example, Jack in the Box could design online games for adults who gained access to the games with free codes offered with purchases of Happy Meals. Moreover, the company could design a discount card for the customers who accumulate a certain sum of consumption. Unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight so that it could continue using toys to promote Happy Meal, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the similar pressure from the public. We believed that many of the McDonald’s organizational changes could be copied and apply in Jack in the Box. This would allow Jack in the Box to continue selling its Happy Meal with toys. For example, Jack in the Box could change the composition of Happy Meal toward a more healthier trends—such as reducing the sodium content, sugars, saturated fats, and calories to its foods; including vegetables and fruits in the menu; and offering tea, juice, and milk as alternatives to the traditional soda beverages. Jack in the Box also needed to let its customers know of its commitment in making its products healthier. The reason provided by Jack in the Box regarding its letting go of Happy Meal’s toys was that it waned the Happy Meal to appeal to parents. Brian Luscomb, Jack in the Box’s spokesman, commented: â€Å"Rather than promote a toy weve focused on the quality of products in our Kids Meals, like a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough, grilled or crispy chicken strips, or a hamburger. We believe that providing these kinds of options is more appealing to a parent than packaging a toy with lower-quality fare†(Bernstein, 2011). However, we believed that Jack in the Box could benefit greatly from expanding its Happy Meal’s target market to include children. To achieve this, Jack in the Box would need to facilitate strategic change†the process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives† (Wong, Organizational change, 2012). In this case, the strategic plan would include extensive products innovation. For example, Jack in the Box could use popular toys and online games to attract children to its Happy Meal. The burger franchise chain could also build playgrounds inside its stores. This offered children with fun and healthy exercises. Implementation for Jack in the Box As we discussed above, Jack in the Box could drew on McDonald’s successful tactics to appeal more customers to consume their products. We found McDonald’s influence tactic could be successfully implemented on Jack in the Box due to two main reasons. The first reason is the industry similarity. Jack in the Box is one of the nations largest hamburger chains with more than 2,200 restaurants in 19 states. Also, just like McDonald’s, Jack in the Box is also a member of the fast food hamburger restaurant (FFHR) industry. This is an industry characterized by high competitiveness and risk. Although Jack in the Box is concentrated on the West Coastprimarily in California, the competition is still intensive. In this industry, McDonald’s is the only fast food chain to occupy nearly 13 percent of the US market (McDonald’s Report, 2010). There is no reason that Jack in the Box could not benefit from learning from the market leader, McDonald’s. The second reason is the easy-to-influence target customers. As we mentioned before, Jack in the Box’s target consumer are youth, aged 18 to 34. This group of customer is the most active part. They are independent buyers. This means that they could choose the thing they want without asking their parents’ permission or admission. Another character of this customer group is economic dependent. This group of customer typically has incomes and also can take charge of their money. The situation is much better than McDonald’s children market. Also, this group customer of Jack in the Box likes keeping pace with the trend. We think if Jack in the Box could use the influence tactic cater to its target consumers, they could further expand their market share in the future. However, in implementing aggressive marketing strategies, Jack in the Box would certainly be criticized by the public. Still, we believed that if Jack in the Box continues making its Happy Meal healthier and supporting the surrounding community through various charity activitiessuch as donating part of its Happy Meal’s profit to children hospitals, giving free Happy Meals to the homeless, and so forth, it can enjoy increase profit and at the same time maintain good public image. Reference: Alex, M. (July 26, 2011). McDonalds Happy Meal to include sliced apples, less fries. Retrieved from http://www.christianpost.com/news/mcdonalds-happy-meal-to-include-sliced-apples-52867/#gKDYWvXCIJGSO8g1.99 Andrew, L. (July 28, 2011). McDonalds adds apple slices, reaction to Happy Meal lawsuit?†¨Retrieved from http://chicagopersonalinjurylegalblog.com/2011/07/mcdonalds-adds-apple-slices-reaction-to-happy-meal-lawsuit.html Bernstein, S. (2011, June 20). Jack in the Box stops including toys in kids meals [updated]. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/06/jack-in-the-box-toys.html Bridget, C. (December 15, 2010). Response to CSPI Lawsuit. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/newsroom/mcdonalds_statements_and_alerts/response_to_cpi_lawsuit.html Centers for disease control and prevention: Childhood obesity facts. (2012, June 07). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm Cohen, I. (2009). McDonald’s and its critics, 1973-2009. Dan, L. (2011, April 19). McDonalds grimaces at Happy Meal lawsuit. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-mcdonalds-lawsuit-idUSTRE73I4P820110419 Harris, J., Schwartz, M., Brownell, K. (2010). Fast food FACTS: evaluating fast food nutrition and marketing to youth. Research report, Yale Rudd Center For Food Policy and Obesity, Retrieved from http://www.fastfoodmarketing.org/media/FastFoodFACTS_Report.pdf Joanne, R., Caroline, B. (2006). Corporate Identity and Strategic Change: The Case of McDonald’s Miller, K. (2012). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth. Molland, J. (2010, December 15). California mom sues McDonalds over Happy Meal. Retrieved from http://www.care2.com/causes/california-mom-sues-mcdonalds-over-happy-meals-video.html Stephanie, S. (July 26, 2011). McDonald’s trims its Happy Meal. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/business/mcdonalds-happy-meal-to-get-healthier.html?_r=0

Affirmative Action :: social issues

Affirmative Action Affirmative action was orginally designed to help minorities, but women-especially white women-have made the greatest gains as a result of these programs†(Gross, 1996). Affirmative action is a growing argument among our society. It is multifaceted and very often defined vaguely. Many people define affirmative action as the ability to strive for equality and inclusiveness. Others might see it as a quote-based system for different minority groups. I agree and support affirmative actions in that individual’s should be treated equally. I feel affirmative action as an assurance that the best qualified person will receive the job. Is affirmative action fair? In 1974, a woman named Rose was truned down for a supervisory job in favor of a male. She was told that she was the most qualified person, but the position was going to be filled by a man, because he had a family to support. Five years before that, when Rose was about to fill an entry-level position in banking, a personnel officer outlined the woman’s pay scale, which was $25 to $50 month less than what men were being payed for the same position. Rose was furious because she felt this was descriminating to her. She confronted the personnel officer and he saw nothing wrong with it. Thanks to affirmative action today things like these situations are becoming more rare and/or corrected more quickly. Affirmative action has definately helped women and minorities in their careers, but it has yet to succed in the goal of equality to the fullest for the business world to woment and minorities. â€Å"Some observers argue that women have made huge strides with the help of affirmative action. They now hold 40 percent of all corporate middle-management jobs, and the number of women-owned businesses has grown by 57 percent since 1982†(Blackwood, 1995). â€Å"Affirmative action was desinged to give qualified minorities a chance to compete on equal footing with Whites† (Chappell, 1995). Equal opportunities for the blacks, for the most part, has remained more wishful-thinking than fact. Black students are continuing to struggle to seek an education, black business owners are still competing against their White counterparts, and black workers are experienceing an unemployment rate twice that of Whites and hold dead-end, labor-intensive, low-paying jobs. â€Å"Few can argue that racism is still rampant in awarding craontcts, jobs, and educational opportunities, eventhough it’s been proven benefical to have peop[le of different races with different ideas and different experiences working toward the same goal† (Chappell, 1995).

Pidgins and Creoles Essay

Note to the Customer I’m sorry the essay cannot be revised as you say. It was an urgent order, so books could not be found. Moreover, you didn’t say that you wanted a critical analysis of the pidgins and Creoles. Revisions are only possible if the writer fails to follow the original instructions. In your next order please mention that you would like books to be used, and whether the discussion should be descriptive or analytical. Best regards, Pidgins and Creoles A pidgin is defined as a language that has been simplified from at least two different languages.   Referred to as a contact language, a pidgin may be used by those who do not originate in a given geographical area and must therefore develop a common language to be spoken in the area.   All the same, pidgin is used sparingly.   Its structure is rather simplistic.   Seeing that it serves a â€Å"simplistic purpose,† a pidgin dies out rather easily (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997). If people manage to use a pidgin for a long time, however, the contact language is expected to become richer and more complex in terms of vocabulary and structure.   In that case, the pidgin is said to have evolved.   Children may learn the evolved pidgin as their very first language or mother tongue.   If this happens, the pidgin has managed to turn into a Creole.   An example of a Creole is Tok Pisin, a language of Papua New Guinea, which was a pidgin before it turned into a national language (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997). Stafford notes that pidgins and Creoles are mostly used in third world nations because of the dramatic changes in the social and political environment experienced by the communities there.   Moreover, most of the pidgins and Creoles in the developing regions, for example, in South East Asia, are based on languages of Europe.   English, French, and Spanish are very much associated with the pidgins and Creoles of the third world.   This is because Europeans had spent time a great deal of time in the developing world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pidgins are often created for communication between immigrants and natives or missionaries and locals (Stafford).   As the pidgin evolves, the contact language develops its own grammatical rules.   Typically it is the children who must get together to formulate grammatical rules for the pidgin that they have accepted as their first language.   The fact that the Creole is generally formed without the influence of adults reveals that the formulation of grammatical rules and the application of structure to a certain language is innate behavior (Pidgin and Creole).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Insufficient education† is another reason why people of a certain region may have to develop a pidgin, and subsequently a Creole, so as to communicate with a new group of people they have come into contact with (Pidgin and Creole).   It is estimated that between ten to fifteen million people in the world speak languages that are considered creolized.   As an example, Creole based on French is spoken by seven million people in the world. These people may be found in Haiti, the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe, Mauritius, Martinique, Guyana, Reunion, Dominica, St. Lucia, and many islands of the Caribbean that have been influenced by the British, in addition to southwestern Louisiana (Mauritian Creole, 2005).   In the case of the pidgins that were created by these people, most probably to communicate with the Europeans they had come into contact with; French was considered the superstrate language.   If there were minority languages that contributed to the creation of a pidgin, the languages were referred to as subtrate languages (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Regardless of the kinds of languages that were used in the creation of pidgins and Creoles, the fact remains that human beings have an essential need to communicate with one another.   Human beings do not appreciate invaders, so therefore people in the third world had by and large rejected the presence of the colonialists.   Nevertheless, they had to learn to communicate with the people who had become dominant on their lands.   Whether they had to communicate with the foreigners because the latter controlled their economic resources or otherwise, it may be inferred from this discussion that pidgins and Creoles would be created for as long as human civilization exists on earth.   Man is a social animal, after all. References Mauritian Creole. (2005). Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://kreol.mu/CreoleLanguages.htm. Patrick, P. L. (2004, Nov 14). Pidgin and Creole Languages: Origin and Relationships. Intro Sociolinguistics. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/Courses/PCs/IntroPidginsCreoles.htm. Pidgin and Creole. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.hevanet.com/alexwest/pidgin.html. Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.uni- due.de/SVE/VARS_PidginsAndCreoles.htm. Pidgins and Creoles. (1997, Feb 25). Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/socioling/pidgin.html. Stafford, A. Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/language/pidgcreol.html.

American History X and Racism

American History X is a film with racism as its overarching theme. Specifically, the subject of the film focuses not on the phenomenon of racism as we know it, slavery and the Malcolm X period, but on its current trends namely the neo-Nazist, white supremacist movement of the 90’s. This paper is determined to present the overt connections between American History X and Racism, after which the discussion will present some pertinent scenes in the movie. These scenes are analyzed from a racial discrimination standpoint. Lastly, a personal reflection on the movie concludes the argumentations.The film’s treatment is like a stereo—going back and forth from the present and the flashbacks. In the same way, the major scenes will be presented here in a non-linear fashion. One of the most important scenes in this film is when the film explains why Derek is mad with minorities. The underlying reason for this hatred is when Derek’s dad is shot by a Black drug dealer. H aving felt this injustice and being helpless in expressing his anger, Derek was approached by Cameron. This scene is important in presenting racism as not existing in a vacuum.There are always reasons behind actions, that even the most bizarre or illogical of behaviors can be explained by specific past experiences. Racism is rooted in intolerance and hatred towards others. Hatred is a sowed seed and here we begin to understand that a racist perpetrator has his own reasons why he is behaving in such a way. The abuses of the Nazism in Germany—killing Jews, concentration camps, widespread hunting of people with Jewish descent—will not take place without an idea, or a good reason, that the majority of people would buy into. People would be foolish to just wake up one day and decide to decimate 6 million people.Ideas are powerful, because ideas turn into acceptance and acceptance turns into actions, actions become behavior and behavior changes into a cultural norm in the lo ng run. Ideas, moreover, are only powerful because people buy into them. This is why the scene at the grocery store with Koreans is important. The scene portrays the power of ideas and its ability to change people. Moreover, the speech of Derek at the store presents surprising parallelisms with the ideas that people bought into during the Nazi movement. In Derek’s speech, he said that Koreans are stealing the opportunities that are supposed to be for Americans.The illegal immigrants that work in America creates the joblessness of the Whites. In the same way, the Nazis of Germany argued that the Jewish refugees from a devastated nation came to Germany carrying nothing but they thrived there—owning businesses, banks, etc—and became powerful while a bulk of the German population are poor and unemployed. The grocery store scene shows just how potent a dangerous idea is. People want to follow a passionate leader. Racism became accepted because people tolerate the act and follow the dangerous norm. Similarly, people with strong moral convictions are also heard. The scene of Dr.Sweeney and Danny is significant because it shows how racism can be challenged, not through hostility, but with reason. Dialogue fosters understanding, or at least, it presents a different way of looking at things. Sweeney’s assignment makes Danny think outside the box—outside his personal stereotypes and values on racism. Sweeney challenges his ideas and in a way, becomes a counter-force to Danny’s predisposition towards racism. The anti-racism movement is laden with Sweeney types of people such as Luther King Jr. who took the non-violent path of reasoning in pointing to the evils of racism itself.Sweeney is the personification of the challenge against the neo-Nazist trend. His moral courage and convictions made people think and listen. Another important scene in the film is the presentation of Derek and his change of heart. This took place in prison, where racism is also a strong force that binds and separates inmates. In prison, Derek is still resolved in his racist convictions and he bonded with fellow racists, until he was befriended by a Black guy. His previous stereotypes regarding Blacks was challenged by the good-natured behavior of the black guy.It is essentially a realization that people of different colors are still people sharing a common humanity. When fellow racist inmates raped Derek for befriending a Black guy, he came to understand that goodness and evil are not just seen by the color of the skin. There is blackness of the heart even in the whitest of white, and a whiteness of the soul in the pitch black-colored person. Every act of kindness and every act of violence has its ripple effects beyond what a person can control. This is seen in the scenes following Derek’s return. Derek’s little brother Danny had taken where he left off.Now Danny took the same convictions as Derek by being adamantly into lerant of minorities. The small anti-Black movement that Derek started became a great massive force, and now that he had a deeper realization of the evil of racism, he sees that he is responsible for this. Undoing things are more difficult that doing them, especially when we do things mindlessly such as when we resort to hatred and violence. It is easy to sow seeds of violence because it spreads like wildfire, but sowing peace is like planting a seed that needs to be nurtured. Danny also had his turning point. His brother made him realize that racism is a useless thing.Blaming others for the death of one’s father does not solve the problem, it just makes it worse. He understood that violence will only be met with violence. The symbolic image of the brothers’ turning point is the cleaning up of their Nazi-decorated rooms. Writing the American History X paper also supports Danny’s non-violence approach towards the hostilities of the world. He writes â€Å"analyze and interpret† on the computer. Racism is phenomenal because not many people analyze and interpret before acting on something. In many cases, irrational and false interpretations create chaos.When there is no room for analysis, there is no opportunity for people to try and understand each other before rendering biased interpretations and actions. Racism presents to us that it is a very strong force, one that is rooted in hostility and intolerance. American History X depicts that degree of hostility and intolerance in the different cascading scenes of the past. When our small monsters of hostility become gigantic titans of racism, we are confronted by something intimidating. Derek’s solution is to run, leave the giant. Running from the problem of racism does not solve the fundamental personal and social issues.While running seems tempting, the reality of racism is still with us and it will never go away unless it is collectively confronted in modern-day America and ever ywhere else. Running is a temporary solution to a long-term problem. Derek runs with Danny, but eventually the giant catches on them—Danny is shot by the same guy he had a violent (although subtle) argument with the day before. What does the death of Danny imply? It tells us that violence, in all its forms and degrees, is foolishness, it is never a means to an end—thereby rendering racism not as a virtue, but as a moral evil.Racism is only one form of violence, just as making another human being bite the pavement is another. Unknowingly, many of us do not realize that violence exists both within us and also in our world. Violence does not just mean killing people, it also exists in intolerance over other people’s beliefs and skin color, it is harsh language spoken, it is a thought unspoken. Racism is not only seen but felt†¦ while America boasts of equality and human rights; racism is still seen and felt in its other subtle forms of violence. The path of no n-violence is a beautiful but difficult journey that we must all decide to take.I now end with the echoing words of Abraham Lincoln quoted during Danny’s death scene, his final words in the American History X paper†¦ â€Å"†We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. † Works Cited American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton. New Line Cinema. 1998.

An A to Z List of Countries That No Longer Exist

An A to Z List of Countries That No Longer Exist As countries merge, split, or simply decide to change their names, the list of countries that no longer exist has grown. The list below is far from comprehensive, but it includes the most notable former countries. Abyssinia Also known as the Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia was a kingdom in northeast Africa. In the early 20th century, it split into the states of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Austria-Hungary A monarchy established in 1867, Austria-Hungary (also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire) included not just Austria and Hungary but also parts of the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Romania, and the Balkans. The empire collapsed at the end of World War I. Bengal Bengal was an independent kingdom in southern Asia that existed from 1338 to 1539. The area has since been divided into the states of Bangladesh and India. Burma Burma officially changed its name to Myanmar in 1989. However, many countries still have not recognized the change. Catalonia Catalonia was an autonomous region of Spain. It remained independent from 1932 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1939. Ceylon Ceylon was an island country located off the coast of India. In 1972, it changed its name to Sri Lanka. Corsica This Mediterranean island was ruled by various nations over the course of its history but had several brief periods of independence. Today, Corsica is a department of France. Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia was a country in eastern Europe. It peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. East Pakistan This area was a province of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. It is now the independent state of Bangladesh. Gran Colombia Gran Colombia was a South American country that included what is now Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador from 1819 to 1830. Gran Colombia ceased to exist when Venezuela and Ecuador seceded from the union. Hawaii Though a kingdom for hundreds of years, Hawaii wasnt recognized as an independent country until the 1840s. The country was annexed to the United States in 1898. New Granada This South American country was part of Gran Colombia from 1819 to 1830 and was an independent country from 1830 to 1858. In 1858, the country became known as the Grenadine Confederation, then the United States of New Granada in 1861, the United States of Colombia in 1863, and finally, the Republic of Colombia in 1886. Newfoundland From 1907 to 1949, Newfoundland existed as the self-governing Dominion of Newfoundland. In 1949, Newfoundland joined Canada as a province. North Yemen and South Yemen Yemen split in 1967 into two countries, North Yemen (a.k.a. the Yemen Arab Republic) and South Yemen (a.k.a. the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen). However, in 1990 the two rejoined to form a unified Yemen. Ottoman Empire Also known as the Turkish Empire, this empire began around 1300 and expanded to include parts of contemporary Russia, Turkey, Hungary, the Balkans, northern Africa, and the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire ceased to exist in 1923 when Turkey declared independence from what remained of the empire. Persia The Persian Empire extended from the Mediterranean Sea to India. Modern Persia was founded in the 16th century and later became known as Iran. Prussia Prussia became a Duchy in 1660 and a kingdom the following century. At its greatest extent, it included the northern two-thirds of modern Germany and western Poland. Prussia, by World War II a federal unit of Germany, was fully dissolved at the end of World War II. Scotland, Wales, and England Despite recent advances in autonomy, part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, both Scotland and Wales were independent nations that eventually merged with England to form the United Kingdom. Sikkim Sikkim was an independent monarchy from the 17th century until 1975. It is now part of northern India. South Vietnam South Vietnam existed from 1954 to 1976 as the anti-communist counterpart to North Vietnam. It is now part of unified Vietnam. Taiwan While Taiwan still exists, it is not always considered an independent country. However, it did represent China in the United Nations until 1971. Texas The Republic of Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836. It existed as an independent country until it was annexed to the United States in 1845. Tibet A kingdom established in the 7th century, Tibet was invaded by China in 1950. Since then, it has been known as the Xizang Autonomous Region of China. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) For decades, this country was the most powerful communist nation in the world. In 1991, it broke into 15 new countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldovia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. United Arab Republic In 1958, non-neighbors Syria and Egypt joined together to form the United Arab Republic. In 1961, Syria abandoned the alliance, but Egypt kept the name United Arab Republic for itself for another decade.

Battle of Wagram - Napoleonic Wars Battle of Wagram

Battle of Wagram - Napoleonic Wars Battle of Wagram Conflict: The Battle of Wagram was the deciding battle of the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Date: Fought east of Vienna, near the village of Wagram, the battle occurred on July 5-6, 1809. Commanders Armies: French Napoleon I180,000 men Austrians Archduke Charles155,000 men Battle Summary: Following his defeat at Aspern-Essling (May 21-22) after trying to force a crossing of the Danube, Napoleon reinforced his army and built up a large supply base on the isle of Lobau. By early July, he felt ready to make another attempt. Moving out with approximately 190,000 men, the French crossed the river and moved onto a plain known as the Marchfeld. On the opposite side of the field, Archduke Charles and his 140,000 men took positions along the Heights of Russbach. Deploying near Aspern and Essling, the French drove back the Austrian outposts and captured the villages. By late afternoon the French were fully formed up after encountering some delays crossing the bridges. Hoping to end the battle in one day, Napoleon ordered an attack which failed to achieve any significant results. At dawn, the Austrians launched a diversionary attack against the French right flank, while a major assault was brought against the left. Pushing the French back, the Austrians were succeeding until Napoleon formed a grand battery of 112 guns, which along with reinforcements, stopped the attack. On the right, the French had turned the tide and were advancing. This coupled with a massive attack on the Austrian center that split Charles army in two won the day for the French. Five days after the battle, Archduke Charles sued for peace. In the fighting, the French suffered a staggering 34,000 casualties, while the Austrians endured 40,000.

The Reliability of Structures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Reliability of Structures - Essay Example Natural structures are those that are not built by people. Their occurrence takes place naturally. On the other hand ‘manufactured structures’ are usually built by people. Many of the manufactured structures are modelled in accordance to some natural structures. Structures when are classified on the basis of their design, categories like ‘mass structures’, ‘layered’, ‘frame structures’, ‘shell structures’ etc. are found. Mass structures are built by piling up similar materials to reach a specific design or shape. Coral reefs and mountains are some of the examples of natural mass structures. On the other side dams, brick walls and sand castles are mass structures that are built by people. A major advantage of mass structures is that their strengths are little affected if some small parts are lost. Mass structures are often found to be having a ‘layered’ look. For instance, pyramids of Egypt are having a layered structure. There are four major factors that are important in order to avoid failure. First of all the structure has to be heavy enough so that it stays in place. Secondly structure must not be so heavy that it affects the earth unevenly. Thirdly the structure has to be thick enough so that one cannot make out of place and finally it must be anchored tightly. Another important type of structure is ‘frame structure’. In case of this structure there is a skeleton which is built of strong materials. This skeleton is then filled with other materials that support the overall structure. Some of the examples are partition walls, load-bearing walls. Shell structures, on the other hand are the structures in which the shape of the structure is kept without any frame or even solid materials inside the structure. The strength and rigidity of this type of structure is dependent on a thin outer layer of materials. Thanks to its

Organization Chart Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organization Chart - Assignment Example This level also include the general manager. The design of Chicago Bulls organizational structure is a typical functional structure. According to Pedersen et al (2011), a functional structure is organized on the basis of roles and responsibilities. As elucidated by Pedersen et-al (2011), a functional structure analogous to Chicago Bulls structure has high levels of specialization. In other words, each unit or department has its own distinct role. From the Chicago Bulls organizational structure, it is evident that the organizational has adopted a centralized system whereby control managers and staff are allowed to make specific decisions on their own. Operations are also standardized, and the number of processes varies within departments. Specialization and centralization of control is imperative as ability to concentrate on specific functions and ability to make key decisions promotes innovativeness. In a nutshell, a functional organizational structure categorizes processes based on functions, roles, and

Critically Analyse the Evolving Role of Ports as Logistics Hubs in Essay

Critically Analyse the Evolving Role of Ports as Logistics Hubs in International Supply Chains - Essay Example Case Example - Role of Rotterdam Port as a Logistic Hub in International Supply Chain 10 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Ports are often viewed as the geographical mediums which contribute to the business in any country. Ports facilitate to entice numerous trading activities within different nations. Ports not only act as a transport system, but also act as a medium of financial activity. Ports are logistic hubs which play a vital part in international business network (Lugt & Nijdam, 2005). Due to the continuous changes in global market context, the international business has changed significantly. Globalisation has eliminated numerous trade restrictions formerly imposed by the government of different countries which in turn has amplified the seaborne trade. The unprecedented growth of seaborne trade has generated huge impact on the logistics and global supply chain. The international supply chain has become quite multifaceted and this trend is stimulated by the demand of people all over the world. In line with the increasing change of demand, the logistics chains are changing continually with the imp rovement of ports. The paper is concerned with analysing the importance of port in global supply chain. The objective of the paper is to assess the various activities of port and how it has evolved to become one of the significant parts of logistics. Literature Research ... America, Africa and Middle East have demonstrated significant growths in import. The trade growth is higher than the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate. The progresses in global GDP and merchandise business have essentially impacted on the seaborne business and the demand for transportation services. In the year 2007, the cargos transported through ports were forecasted to be around 8.02 billion tonnes which is similar to the yearly growth rate of 4.8%. In transportation, tanker represented almost one third of international cargo transportation. In seaborne trade, Asia was in the leading position with 40% share subsequently America which accounted for 23% share in seaborne trade in 2007. The shares of Europe, Africa and Oceania were 18%, 10% and 9% respectively. These three regions represented almost 80% of total freights (Buck Consultants International, 2009). According to an estimation of UNCTAD, the global seaborne trade will grow by 44% by 2020 and 88% by 2030 encomp assing almost 11.5 billion tonnes and 16.04 billion tonnes correspondingly (Buck Consultants International, 2009). Dynamics of International Logistics Logistics is an activity which is liable for flow of materials. Usually, international logistics has been viewed as an integral part of commercial strategic planning. Logistics is considered as an unavoidable expense and appears within the boundaries of business. Organisations search for raw materials internationally in order to maintain low expenses. The expenses of logistics represent higher portion of sales. In present days, for several large multinational organisations, logistics expenses encompass more than 10% of sales revenue. These expenses are determined by internal as well as external aspects. Internally,

Structure And Properties Of Ibuprofen

Structure And Properties Of Ibuprofen Ibuprofen, which is a member of the propionic acid group of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, drugs (NSAIDs). Ibuprofen is a racemic mixture of [+]S- and [-]R-enantiomers. Ibuprofen contains contains a stereocenter in the ÃŽ ±-position of the  propionate  moiety. Studies shown that [+]S -ibuprofen was the active form and it showed activity in both in-vivo and in-vitro. Ibuprofen is white to off-white in colour and occurs as a crystalline powder, with a melting point of 74 ° to 77 °C. It is practically insoluble in water, but readily soluble in organic solvents such as ethanol and acetone. Ibuprofen has a pKa value of 4.43 ±0.03 and an n-octanol/water partition coefficient of 11.7 at pH 7.4. The chemical name for ibuprofen is ( ±)-2-(p-iso-butylphenyl) propionic acid. The molecular weight of ibuprofen is 206.28. Its molecular formula is C13H1802. Mechanism of action The major action of Ibuprofen and all other Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and is the inhibition of the cyclooxygenase enzyme or the COX enzymes and hence inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins. These cyclooxygenase enzymes catalyse the reaction of synthesis of prostaglandins and thromboxanes from arachidonic acid, which in turn is synthesized from phospholipids by the action of the phospholipase enzyme. The prostaglandins and thromboxanes are then responsible for the synthesis of various inflammatory mediators. There are two types of cyclooxygenase enzymes namely, cyclooxygenase enzyme-I (COX-I) and cyclooxygenase enzyme-II (COX-II). COX-I is a constitutive enzyme which is released in most of the body tissues including the blood platelets. COX-I performs a house-keeping role in the body and is involved in the tissue homeostasis. Whereas, COX-II is present in the inflammatory cells and is responsible for the production of prostanoid mediators, which are responsible for inf lammation, pain and fever. Therefore, inhibition of the COX-II leads to the anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and analgesic activity of ibuprofen and whereas on the other hand, inhibition of COX-II is responsible for the unwanted effects of ibuprofen in the gastric mucosa and on platelet aggregation. In 2002, a study reported that, ibuprofen selectively inhibits a new variant  of the  COX enzyme that was totally different  from the  then known two variants of cyclooxygenase enzymes, the COX-I and  COX-II. This iso-enzyme is now referred as the COX-III enzyme. Study also showed that this COX-III enzyme was only expressed in the  brain and  in the  spinal cord. Its exact  mechanism  and actions is still poorly understood, but future research  may provide  further insight into how it works. A study on rats has shown that administration of ibuprofen increases the  bioavailability of serotonin (5-HT) in rats and evidence for a similar mechanism  in humans was also found. Chronic ibuprofen doses in rat showed down-regulation of central 5-HT2A receptors and  an increase  in the  number of serotonin transporter proteins. In 2006, a study showed that ibuprofen is converted to N-arachidonoyl phenolamine, or AM404, a compound known as an endogenous cannabinoid reuptake inhibitor and it indirectly activates the  CB-I cannabinoid receptor, resulting  in analgesia. This activity was proven through the  induction of a CB-I receptor antagonist  which  resulted in the  reversal of the  analgesic action  of ibuprofen. Pharmacokinetics Absorption Ibuprofen is well absorbed from the gastro intestinal tract. The peak plasma level of ibuprofen is reached within 1 to 2 hours. It was shown in a study that absorption of ibuprofen is faster in fasting conditions. Food affects the rate of absorption of ibuprofen but the extent of absorption remains unchanged. The study also showed that, ibuprofen when administered with food delays the time taken for peak plasma concentration by approximately 30-60 minutes. Distribution Ibuprofen like the other agents of its class is highly protein bound. It was found in a study that about 90-99% of ibuprofen was protein bound at a concentration of 20 µg/ml and this binding was non-linear. The volume of distribution ibuprofen changes with age and fever conditions. Studies reveal that febrile childrens less than 11 years old have volume of distribution approximately 0.2 L/kg, while adults have volume of distribution approximately 0.12 L/kg. Metabolism Ibuprofen is extensively metabolised in the liver to form inactive metabolic compounds. Ibuprofen is mainly metabolised by glucoronidation reaction. A study showed that majority of the ibuprofen dose was recovered in the urine as hydroxy phenyl propionic acid (25%) and carboxy propyl phenyl propionic acid (37%) metabolites. Elimination Ibuprofen and its inactive metabolites are rapidly and completely excreted by the kidney. About 95% of the administered dose of ibuprofen is eliminated in the urine. The elimination half-life of ibuprofen is in the range of 1.9 hours to 2 hours. Pharmacological activity Ibuprofen has the following pharmacological actions on the biological system Antipyretic effect Analgesic effect Anti-inflammatory effect Antipyretic effect A normal body temperature is regulated by a centre in the hypothalamus that ensures a balance between heat loss and heat production in the body. Therefore, the hypothalamus maintains a normal temperature of the body and thus it acts as a thermostat. When there is a disturbance in this hypothalamic thermostat, temperature of the body set by the hypothalamus is raised, fever occurs. Ibuprofen and other Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reset this rise in the temperature. It regulates various temperature regulatory mechanisms such as dilation of superficial blood vessels, sweating etc. to reduce the temperature. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs do not affect the normal temperature. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs are thought to act as antipyretic agents by inhibiting the prostaglandin production in the hypothalamus. During an inflammatory reaction, the bacterial endotoxins cause a release of a pyrogen-IL-1 from macrophages. This release of pyrogen stimulates the generation of E-type prostaglandins in the hypothalamus, this in turn causes the elevation of temperature. There are evidences that prostaglandins are not the only mediators of fever, hence ibuprofen and other NSAIDs may have some alternate mechanisms for their antipyretic activity which is not yet known. Analgesic effect Ibuprofen is mainly effective against pain associated with inflammation or tissue damage. This is due to the inhibition of prostaglandins that sensitise nociceptors to inflammatory mediators such as bradykinin. Therefore ibuprofen is effective against pains that are associated with increased prostaglandin synthesis. Their ability to relieve headache may be related to the inhibition of the vasodilator effect of prostaglandins on the cerebral vasculature. There are some evidences that ibuprofen have a central effect by an action mainly in the spinal cord where it inhibits the COX-III enzyme. This action of ibuprofen is not yet clearly known. Anti-inflammatory activity Many chemical mediators are released when there is a stimulus of an inflammatory and allergic response. This response leads to vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, cell accumulation, etc., which are produced by several mechanisms. Furthermore, different mediators may be of particular importance in different inflammatory and allergic conditions. Ibuprofen reduces mainly those components of the inflammatory and immune response in which mediators produced by COX-II enzyme action plays a significant part. The components inhibited by ibuprofen are vasodilation, oedema and pain. Ibuprofen has no effect on those processes which contribute to tissue damage as in chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis and nephritis. Uses of ibuprofen Ibuprofen is used to treat a wide range of illnesses such as headaches, backache, menstrual cramps, dental pain, neuralgia, rheumatic pain, muscular pain, migraine, arthritis and athletic injuries. Ibuprofen is also used to reduce fever and to relieve minor aches and pain caused due to common cold or flu.   In a recent study, it was found that ibuprofen was effective in the treatment of Alzheimers disease when given in low doses over a long period of time. A study also showed that ibuprofen is associated with a lower risk of Parkinsons disease, and ibuprofen may help in delaying and prevent it. . Adverse effects of Ibuprofen Ibuprofen appears to have  the  lowest  incidence of adverse  drug  reactions  (ADRs)  when compared to all other  non-selective  NSAIDs. However, this only holds  true  at lower doses of ibuprofen. Common adverse  effects of ibuprofen with the gastrointestinal tract include nausea, dyspepsia, heartburn, gastrointestinal ulceration and bleeding, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, stomach pain. Effects on central nervous system include headache, dizziness, fatigue and nervousness. Hypersensitivity reactions include skin rashes, itching. In very rare cases ex-foliative dermatitis and epidermal necrolysis has been observed. Infrequent  adverse  effect includes- oesophageal ulceration, heart failure, hyperkalaemia, renal impairment, confusion,  bronchospasm, and  salt and  fluid retention [11] Photosensitivity Like the other agents of the NSAIDs,  ibuprofen has also been reported to be  a photosensitising  agent.[12][13]  However, this only rarely occurs with ibuprofen and  it is considered to be  a very weak photosensitising  agent  when compared with other members of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. This is because the  ibuprofen molecule contains  only a single phenyl moiety and  no  bond  conjugation,  resulting  in a very weak chromophore system and  a very weak absorption spectrum  which  does not reach  into the  solar spectrum. Cardiovascular risk Ibuprofen has been reported to elevate the  risk  of myocardial infarction,  particularly among  those taking chronically  high  doses of ibuprofen [14] Risk in pregnancy Studies have  found an increased risk  of miscarriage  with the  use of ibuprofen in early pregnancy; however, there are no thorough findings in  this association.  There are also  concerns  that drugs such  as ibuprofen may interfere with implantation of the  early foetus, although a clear risk has not been established. When ibuprofen is used as directed in the  first  and  second trimester of pregnancy,  it is not associated with an increased risk  for birth defects. However, ibuprofen is generally not used  during  pregnancy because there are concerns  with their  use during  the  third trimester. Ibuprofen Overdose Ibuprofen is the most commonly and widely used Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent all over the world. Since, ibuprofen was licensed as an over the counter drug, ibuprofen overdose became a common phenomenon. The most common symptoms of ibuprofen overdose are unsteadiness, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, gastrointestinal, nausea plus vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain, probable loss of blood in intestinal areas or stomach or both, headache, agitation, drowsiness, incoherence and confusion etc. Sometimes more serious symptoms are also noticed in some victims, such as seizure, gastrointestinal bleeding, metabolic acidosis, respiratory depression, hyperkalaemia, tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, coma, hepatic dysfunction, renal failure, cyanosis, and cardiac arrest etc., however these symptoms are very rare. The  severity of symptoms varies with the ingested dose  and  the  time elapsed. However, individual sensitivity also plays  an important  role. Generally,  the  symptoms observed with an overdose  of ibuprofen are similar to the  symptoms caused by  an overdose of other NSAIDs. Doses of ibuprofen below 100 mg/kg are less likely to produce any toxic effects. But doses of ibuprofen above 400 mg/kg are considered an overdose and can result into any of the above consequences.