Food Security of Bangladesh Essay

Though they have taken so many initiatives for food security recently, but those are not sufficient comparatively to our growing population. Although food grain is more available in good harvest years, Bangladesh as a whole still has a very low level of nutrition. This means many households and individuals do not eat a balanced, nutritious diet, even in good years. According to the World Bank, approximately 33 million of the 150 million people in Bangladesh cannot afford an average daily intake of more than 1800 kilocalories (the minimum standard for nutrition as set by the World Food Program). For people in most developing countries, the daily calorie average is 2,828. In Bangladesh, that average is only 2,190. Poverty is the major factor effecting food security in Bangladesh. Despite the impressive increases in food grain, around half of Bangladeshis remain below the established food based poverty line. And, as many as one third are living in extreme poverty and severely undernourished. Recent food price increases, regular natural disasters, and strains on the global economic market have caused additional destabilization. Bangladesh is a agricultural land. And our country comprises 30% of GDP by producing food. Rice is our main food and our population requires 55. 0 million tons of rice per year. However our country is now producing 27. 32 million tons for more than 140 million people (BBS and DAE, 2007). Though the growth of productivity goes up, but these growths of productivity cannot reduce the poor people’s hunger of our country. Without rice, Bangladesh cultivates other crop, vegetables and fruits. Though having natural calamities production of these things are well. But to distribute all over the country Bangladesh has to import some. And for this reason market price of these foods remain high for some corrupted business, tax and for unplanned steps of government. For this reasons people of our country suffer a lot recently. Not only this, imbalanced and unequal livelihood is quite responsible for food security. There are so many rich peoples in Bangladesh who leads luxurious life, eat rich and expensive and at the same time waste a lot. And they don’t have any concern about the poor people of their country!

Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Fly Away Peter Comparative Essay Essay

Menace and threat are two elements in fiction that often help to create tension and build towards a climax. These components are evident in David Malouf’s â€Å"Fly Away Peter† and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† under two overarching themes: sense of duty and violence. Through the perspectives and experiences of different characters in the stories, both Malouf and Marquez develop the concept of peril that is sustained throughout their stories of war and murder. In â€Å"Fly Away Peter†, Malouf introduces the notion of threat in the context of war – a place where people, including peace lovers like Jim, are forcibly drawn into. Jim is invited by Bert to ride on the bi-plane and Malouf reveals his â€Å"blood fear, a bone fear, of leaving the earth† and is thus portrayed as being resistant to change. When the war arrives, he feels â€Å"panicky† on this new and â€Å"dangerous slope† that had once been â€Å"ground [that]†¦ stretched away to a clear future† Brisbane is â€Å"sliding† towards Europe and the war as it is a duty befallen on patriotic men to prove their worth in defending the honour of their country. Many people seem to be supporting this view; Jim meets a girl who says â€Å"passionately† she would â€Å"want to be in it† because it is â€Å"an opportunity†, and similarly his father feels it is a â€Å"chance to reach out and touch a unique thing†. Malouf thus draws our attention to Jim’s change as he â€Å"slide[s] with the rest†¦ down into the pit† of war with â€Å"superstitious dread† and juxtaposes this to his initial â€Å"uneas[e]† about the â€Å"new presence† of bi-planes and man-made technology. This creates a sense of foreboding and threat, further emphasized by warnings such as â€Å"catastrophe† and â€Å"madness†, as Jim plunges into a brutal world of war from his sacred haven in the sanctuary (â€Å"the light, and then the dark†) to fight for his country. On the other hand, Marquez expresses the idea of threat in â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† through the rigidness of the townspeople in their ideas regarding tradition and family honour. To uphold the honour of their sister, the Vicario twins perceive as their duty to kill Santiago who supposedly took her virginity. However, this crime is largely condoned by their Catholic society and even Father Amador the priest pronounces their innocence â€Å"before God†. Marquez presents a town where first-degree murder is justified in the name of the cult of virginity and it is the responsibility of the men in the town to defend this tradition. Prudencia Cotes â€Å"would never have married [Pablo] if he hadn’t done what a man should do†. Her mother tells Pedro and Pablo them â€Å"honour doesn’t wait† and Clotilde Armenta voices her sympathy in saying it is a â€Å"horrible duty that’s fallen on them† as they are duty-bound to avenge Angela. The twins are forced to conform to society’s expectations of masculine assertiveness even if they â€Å"couldn’t sleep for the rest of [their lives]† on their conscience. In killing Santiago, the twins have â€Å"proved their status as men [and] the seduced sister was in possession of her honour once more† in defending the validity of their culture. The town can be viewed, to an extent, as dysfunctional and a tense atmosphere is present throughout the book as readers know the threat of this cult will result in an innocent man’s death. The theme of violence is exemplified in many characters and through the eyes of Jim, we see the menace posed in Man’s capacity to cause suffering and death in â€Å"Fly Away Peter†. Even before the war, violence is hinted as being part of daily life when Jim witnesses the killing of a lone man â€Å"with his hands over his face with blood between them† as â€Å"another figure, hurling itself from the shadows, brought him down†. Although Jim has always been consciously rejecting any notions of violence, he discovers â€Å"black anger† in himself and a potential for violence when he faces Wizzer’s bullying later. He is shaken to realize that he has come â€Å"closer to his father’s [similar] nature† of violence unwittingly to the extent that he does not wish â€Å"to be confronted with some depth in himself†¦ that frightened him and he doesn’t understand†. Killing in war is also epitomized by the brutality of Clancy’s death where Jim experiences for the first time Man’s ruthlessness on a personal level. Clancy’s senseless death comes as a shock to him and Jim is greatly affected by this; â€Å"the hosing off never†¦ left him clean† and often â€Å"woke from nightmares drenched in a wetness that dried and stuck†. Malouf forcefully juxtaposes the previous setting of Jim â€Å"buttering slabs of bread† with the diversely opposite scene of Clancy’s accident, effectively demonstrating the harsh reality of war. Clancy’s passing further shows another step in Jim’s loss of innocence as he feels touched by the horrors of war and menace is manifested in â€Å"Fly Away Peter† through the ordinariness with which violence presents itself. Violence is a dominant theme in â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† as it is in â€Å"Fly Away Peter† as it leads to the ultimate menace of Santiago’s death. It is a minor yet significant part of everyday life for most of the town; Victoria Guzman â€Å"[disembowels] rabbits†¦ pull[s] out the insides†¦ by the roots and throw[s] the steaming guts to the dogs† and Leandro Pornoy dies â€Å"gored in the jugular vein by a bull† – all of which are accepted by the town matter-of-factly. The murder of Santiago is brutal as his â€Å"liver was almost sliced in pieces†, his â€Å"pancreas [was] destroyed† and there were â€Å"perforations in the transverse colon and†¦ small intestine† among other injuries. His death has been â€Å"brought on by any one of the seven major wounds† and this reflects an unnecessary level of violence on the part of the Vicario twins. Even after his death, Santiago’s autopsy is mishandled as â€Å"a syrup-coloured liquid began to flow from the wounds, drawing flies, and a purple blotch appeared on his upper lip and spread out very slowly†¦ up to his hairline† and Father Amador remarks â€Å"it was as if we killed him all over again after he was dead†. Through the use of violence in the lives of common people and graphic imagery illustrating the aftermath of a murder, Santiago’s killing mirrors the menace in which the town is under in their acceptance of the idea of violence. The themes of male duty and violence in both â€Å"Fly Away Peter† and â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† develop the concepts of threat and menace. Malouf uses Jim’s dilemma in enlisting for the war to highlight the threat of the blind trend in which men fight to prove their masculinity even though it results in countless lives lost and Jim’s experiences in the war that draw on the idea of menace in the form of violence. Conversely, Marquez develops the notion of threat through the tradition of the town surrounding Angela Vicario’s enigmatic predicament which precipitates the menace of Santiago’s murder wherein violence plays an important role. A tense and portentous atmosphere is thus crafted in both books as the authors expand on these themes, building up to a final climax.

Yesterday: the Color Purple and Welcome Table

For my week one assignment I choose to write about â€Å"The Welcome Table† (Walker, A) 1970. What first captured my interest in this short story was a poem listed before the story, the poem was called â€Å"For my sister Clara Ward† by (Walker, A) 1970 â€Å"I’m going to sit at the Welcome table, Shout my troubles over, Walk and talk with Jesus, Tell God how you treat me, One of these days! † This short story and poem reminds me of going to church with my great grandmother and grandmother. At that time I didn’t realize how precious it was to have them around.I took for granted having dinner every Sunday after church with those two wonderful ladies, sometime we would have conversations about Jesus and life for hours and hours as we sat around the table. Today I wish they were still here to help guide me through hard times. I find myself walking with my eyes closed listening for their voices for some kind of spiritual direction. Reading â€Å"The We lcome Table† allowed my mind to connect with my imagination to what Alice Walker was expressing to the world, and to the readers.The story focuses on an elderly woman’s life, and after she had worked for many years in many different households, she knew her life was soon coming to an end. Though she felt her life would soon be over her inspiration and focus was looking forward to having a talk with Jesus at the welcome table.The welcome table I believe is a metaphor for when she reaches heaven, she will be able to talk with her savior. In her final days she choose to attend a church to worship and praise Jesus, unfortunately because she was  unfamiliar to the parishioners of the church she was not allowed to continue her worship and she was escorted out of the church, from there the author tells how this elderly woman walked away with her head up and eventually on her journey met with the Lord and he took her home. I was asked to describe one of the analytical approac hes outlined in Chapter 16, using details from the text to support your interpretations. I chose to use a formalist approach in my critical essay.1- The setting for is short story was based on inter-racial issues from a moral and spiritual perspective. It reminds me of my great grandmother and grandmother telling me stories about their participation in some civil right demonstrations, how they have to drink water, shop for food and household supplies and praise God in certain section of the town that they both were raised in. I was always told you must stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.No matter what happen to the women in the story, her faith like Job, no matter what happen she praised God till the very end. That’s what made this story so memorable. 2- The author made this story intriguing from start to finish. I knew what was going on, but was still surprise at the Christians and the way they handle her. 3- The Welcome Table was well described and devel oped. It seems like it was based from the same small town in the movie â€Å"The Color Purple† which was also written Alice Walker, who was best known for this Pulitzer Prize winning novel â€Å"The Color Purple†.4- The author had to use some figurative language to set the back drop and to set the mood to reveal the era of the story. It was based in Georgia. You can tell that the town was still segregated and no real harm came to the women because of her age. 5- My point of view was her skin was a pale gray from working in extreme Georgia weather picking cotton, many years she worked also as a cook, chauffeur, and maid some might say mistress.The only pleasure in life that was left was going to church to thank God for keeping her through all the hard times. â€Å"Many at the church saw this as the beginning of the end of the sanctuary of Christian worship. Saw the desecration of Holy Church, and saw an invasion of privacy, which they struggled to believe they still ke pt† (Walker, A) 1970. Surprisingly enough this elderly woman was escorted by force out of the church building and into the presence of Jesus.

Japanese culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Japanese culture - Essay Example In Japanese films, her traditional values and identify had been mentioned little in spite of its growing popularity. The films produced in the country particularly, by Miyazaki shows Japanese tradition as static and monolithic from ancient times depicts Japanese culture as a dynamic composite of various cultures from difference period's history. The Japanese people consciously remember their tradition and culture. The Japanese culture is the combination of Japanese-ness and western-ness. There was an attempt to interpret Japanese tradition from modern viewpoint. During the period from 1955 to 1957, the media (one magazine) published the Japanese tradition controversy. The six characteristics stated above in the field of space had been divided into two streams. The Yayoa tradition was derived from the first three characteristics of Shinto shrines residential buildings and teahouses. The Jomon tradition was derived from the other three features mentioned above, they are, use of beautiful natural materials, right and left asymmetry and harmony with nature which display ordinary peoples vitality and dynamism. The Japanese-ness in architecture was not monolithic but derived from conflicting Jomon and Yayoi, Japanese cultural history as per Tange. The postwar Japanese architects were able to build up ideas of Japanese-ness in prewar years. Okinaw Okinawa, Japanese and American military personnel had various views of Japanese-ness after the pacific war. The American were in the belief that the Okinawa people were different from that of Japanese people. As a result of this, the Americans ordered Okinawa publishers to remove all associations with prewar images of Japanese-ness in their school textbooks. Thought the Okinawa was under the control of Japanese Ministry, the department of education was administratively under the control of Americans but Okinawa's had imported the textbooks from Japan since 1949. The ethnic differences between the peoples in Okinawa, Taiwan, and Korea had complicated the process of inventing Japanese-ness in the beginning of twentieth century. Many study papers reveal that the unique aspect of Japanese colony policy was attention to culture assimilation, the enforcement of Japanese language, Shinto religion and obeying the Japanese emperor were under princess during the years between 1895 and 1945. In the beginning, the Japanese technocrats were similar to Taiwan technocrats as cultural legacy of Chinese civilization bases on Confucian classics. The people of Taiwan did not accept the culture and tradition of Japanese as the text books edited and published in the year 1901 showed Japanese as evangelists of European civilization, depending on western medicine, punctuality and industriousness. During the colonial period, the modern ideas of democracy, hygiene and sanitation, Taiwanese intellectuals approved industriousness and punctuality. These aspects were partially regarded as of Japan but this legacy of official Japanese-ness was gradually faded

Australian organisations must adopt sustainability reporting in the 21 Essay

Australian organisations must adopt sustainability reporting in the 21 century - Essay Example However, the companies do not need to follow any standard reporting frameworks. Each industry faces varied external issues which are considered as significant to its operations (Hubbard, 2011). It can be stated that the companies are pressurised to disclose the non-financial information because of several market mechanism. These market drivers are found in numerous ethical, social as well as environmental investment funds that have given rise to sustainability reporting (Vormedal & Ruud, 2009). There are many reasons behind the companies’ disclosing sustainability reporting. They intend to persuade the non-stakeholders regarding the impacts of the performance of the company and strategies applied by it to stimulate the performance. The objective of sustainability reporting is to inform the shareholders regarding the fact that how well the company is handling with non-financial as well as financial risks. It also permits the company to recognize the areas of potential risks and evaluate its performance. Most of the companies prefer mandatory reporting since it sets up methods and structures for comprehending influences and risks which were not stated previously by the other organisations. It also offers institutional investors with the capability to avail the information on non-financial risks which further permits them to have better knowledge regarding the overall firm. Transparency and accountability to the stakeholders is promoted when companies tend to disclose sustainability reporting (Kolk, 2004). According to the views of Kolk, the main reasons behind sustainability reporting are to increase a company’s capability to keep track of the developments against particular targets. It tends to help in the proper implementation of the environmental strategy. It is proper sustainability reporting that creates awareness regarding the environmental issues in the organisation. Most of the companies try to focus more upon the sustainability reporting since it

Wage Labor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wage Labor - Essay Example They are portrayed as unfortunate and suffer at the hands of industrialists. On the contrary, the capitalists live in an upper class area where sun shines every morning. They are considered the fortunate ones. Their machineries churn and release steam in work areas and where labor lives. Through Fredersen, the film shows how people accumulate capital via expropriation in the sense that Fredersen’s father does not care about the welfare of his workers. For instance, when Freder tells his Father about the death of one of their workers, he fires his assistant Josephat so that he does not pay them their wages. Freder then starts thinking about the status of his workers. At the end of the film, he gets trapped in his industry and risks his life to save his labors (Freder). Similarly, in Chaplin’s Modern Times, the filmmakers try to present the matters between labor and the industrialists. In Modern Times, Charlie, the protagonist, performs the role of a struggling labor. He works at a grinding wheels industry where his boss often increases the speed so he could consume twice output from his labors. The movie shows the struggles of labor that they are not even allowed to interact directly with each others. In these two films, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, the filmmakers briefly show the differences and issues created between the labors and the capitalists. ... In Metropolis, filmmakers present the differences from capitalists’ perspectives and it is observed that makers try to favor the industrialists in the society. Despite of the fact that how badly Fredersens’ father behaves with his employees, his son the lead character of the film, acts kind with them. He was trapped in his factory and risked his life for the labors. He then starts being a good man and becomes the connecting factor between the two fractions of the capitalist society, the labors and the capitalists (Freder). Whereas in Charlie’s Modern Times, the makers strive to favor labors point of view by showing the story from their perspective. The film shows how a laborer struggles to adjust in the society after suffering hugely in the hands of different industrialists. Even after all the struggles and sufferings, Charlie still risks his life to save his boss from an accident (Chaplin). Analyzing the information it can conclude that the both films present th e issues between labors and capitalist in two different ways but the main highlight is to develop understanding the relationship between capitalist and labors. The similarity between these two films is the plot that demonstrates the interdependency of labors and capitalists. The plot of both films emphasize when labors are nothing without industrialists, these films portray that capitalists also cannot operate their industries without the labors. Both the movies talk about the dedication of labors and capitalist and try to remove the biases on capitalists of being unfair with their labors. The relationship between the government and business is evident in the films in the sense that the government seems to draft laws that controls the operation of the business in order to avoid public

Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes Band Assignment

Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes Band - Assignment Example The song also received a positive welcome in the commercial arena. Following the good commercial reception, the song won a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Rock Song title. Generally, the song explores the aspects of general life. What we see in the song is like-themed with some other songs in the album such as Blue Orchid. Though the song addresses some issues which the singer feels, it raises a feeling of self-worth and even more, a call to fight for one's rights. In analyzing this song, I will basically focus on the approaches aforementioned, that is; life in general and fight for freedom. Besides that, I will also analyze the video, musical as well as the lyrical structure of the song. To start with, the video is red themed. The video starts with a unique work by the producer. It then progresses to a kaleidoscopic view with three colors which are black, red and white. At some points in the video, there are scenes of skeletons holding shields which reflects the lyrics of the song that seven armies would not hold him back. The two Whites change roles with their instruments in harmony with the beats of the song. Still, in the video, there is an elephant citing which captures an association of the song with the title of the album. Back to the musical and lyrical analysis, the song starts with what sounds like bass, however, what sounds like the ass is actually a guitar to which an octave effect has been added that makes it sound like a bass. There is then the introduction of the drums’ this mixture of instruments, where all the instruments were used in the former years of the 1950s makes the music unique in its own. The song has three main stanzas. Each stanza s eems to be a continuation of the story in the former stanza; this gives the song a smooth flow from the start to its end. Every stanza has its own major idea but all in all, they sum up to form a masterpiece of a song.

Money and consumer behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Money and consumer behavior - Essay Example The duo’s study unraveled that a sure shot predictor of people likely to go bankrupt, were people with children. The typical middle class American family was far more insecure financially than a middle class family was over three decades ago. It was also more vulnerable to one parent getting laid off, and when that happened, the effort to keep the children in good school districts saw many parents drive to bankruptcy courts more often than to the lavish malls. This got compounded by mortgage costs that increased 70 times as compared to a man’s wages over a span of one generation. Gone were the days when a one-income middle class family could be home owners. Today’s families need both incomes to make the basic payments like mortgage, health insurance, education and day care costs. When the government deregulated the home mortgage-lending industry and the credit card industry in the early 1980s without any public debate, the detrimental concept of sub-prime lending was its devious off-shoot. It’s a one way street to hell when families go in for a second mortgage or refinance the mortgage on their home. Hardworking middle class families find themselves with no financial support through retirement, they can’t dream of sending their children to college and will in all likelihood find themselves without a roof over their heads. (Mieszkowski, Katharine). According to the Center for Responsible Lending, the current outstanding debt on sub-prime mortgages totals about US$1.3 trillion, up from US$322 billion in 2003. (Whitman, Janet). Professor Warren suggests changes can be brought about; 1) middle class families caught in this trap need to talk about their shame rather than hide it, so that it does not remain a stigma; 2) politicians and law makers sho uld get middle class children back in the public schools by making it a system that will welcome their children for the uniqueness they bring to the school; 3) like all civilized nations,

Law of Contract Assessment III Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law of Contract Assessment III - Essay Example . The fifth element entails capacity. This involves the soundness of mind as well as legal age for a person entering into a contract. The law does not recognize a contract formed with a minor. The sixth and the final element entail legality of the contract. For example, some /contracts may be considered valid in a particular but may be invalid in other countries (Poole, 2010)3. The study will provide an insight of whether John is obliged to pay the extra  £3000 to B&B Ltd, and whether he is obliged to pay the full rent /arrears to Maritime Developments Ltd. In addition, the study will provide a clear summary of common law and equity as well as law and /facts relating to case. Finally, the study will take into consideration any issues arising for each party. In common law, the judges utilize the past precedent to decide on the current cases. This means that the principle of Stare decisis tend to be applied especially where there is no other law that can be applied to decide a case. Therefore, the judge decides a case based on the previous cases decided by previous the judges (Ferrari, 2012)4. However, if the case emerged to be very distinct from the previous cases that were being decided by the past judges, the court may formulate a law that may be used to decide on other future cases. The other principle in common law is that similar fact should be treated unanimously and should be isolated in any whatsoever. Therefore, similar cases should be held similarly (Shiblee, 2012)5. On the other hand, equity entails a system of principles that address or issues that fall outside the reams of a common law. This means that unlike common law which provides a manner in which the case may be decided by the court of law using the past precedent; equity provides a solution to the case. Equity further mitigates strict decisions arrived through application of the common law. Some of the

Often Imitated Never Duplicated Essay Example for Free

Often Imitated Never Duplicated Essay Never Duplicated Michael Jackson brought a new style to the music scene, changing everything from fashion, videos and dance, which started around the making of the Thriller album and several of it’s music video’s. Men, women, boys, girls, black, or white it did not matter; everyone wanted to be a little like Michael Jackson, he crossed over all races and genres of music. It could have been the red military type jacket, the black pants, patent leather shoes, or the white sequin glove that he wore in the Thriller video. Everyone tried to copy Michael Jackson in some shape, form, or fashion, especially trying to do the moonwalk or robot that Michael Jackson perfected. Everyone stood in front of a mirror to see if they could do the Robot or told someone to watch me as they did the moonwalk. Michael Jackson and the Thriller album have influenced many of the pop artists today in their dance and showmanship. Record executive, producer, and singer Antonio Reid stated this in Rolling Stone Magazine. Michael has influenced so many artists, some of whom are picking up on the grandeur and showmanship of his live performances. You can see his influence in his sister Janet, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Britney Spears, and in Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey. You can see his influence in the dance moves—the syncopated choreography—that a lot of young artists use. And a lot of them have picked up his work ethic. When you look at Britney Spears production or a Justin Timberlake production, or it you look at an Usher production, you really see that they took a page out of Michael’s book; they went to rehearsal, and they must have worked eight hours a day, because their shows are flawless, as Michael’s shows were flawless (A. Reid). So many artists are motivated and influence by Michael Jackson that a lot of them even imitate him 25 years after the Thriller album. The imitation runs deeper than just song and dance. His vision and perfection set the example for so many more to follow. Michael Jackson still has musicians in the 21ST century aspiring to be a modern version of him. Not everyone will pick up on how much he influences artist today unless they follow Michael Jackson closely or grew up with him and watched the evolution of Michael; he was the Elvis of his generation [early to mid 80’s]. Of all Michael Jackson’s great qualities, dancing is probably the most imitated or at least it’s the most visible imitation of all, unless you just have a good ear for Michael Jackson’s music and remixes. Michael Jackson perfected the Moonwalk that he learned by watching kids and break-dancers perform in the streets. Once Michael Jackson had it perfected it, he debuted the Moonwalk on the Motown 25th Anniversary special, which was on National TV. This made the Moonwalk tremendously popular and notorious worldwide along with the robot that he was famous for. There’s way to many pop artists inspired and influenced my Michael Jackson to cover them all, a few of them are Ginuwine, Justine Timberlake, Sisco, Usher, NSYNC, and Janet Jackson. Justin Timberlake, Usher, Chris Brown and Ginuwine are a few of the many that will be used to show how much influence Michael Jackson has had on the pop music of the 21st Century. In an interview with VH1 the VH1 staffer asked Justin Timberlake â€Å"How have your changing musical tastes influenced your solo work? † and Justin answered with â€Å"My inspirations have been the same since I was 12. I love Stevie Wonder†¦Al Green. And of course, Michael Jackson and Prince and Earth Wind Fire, too† (Lerner). Justin Timberlake has been known to dance like Michael Jackson in his concerts and videos, even wearing a fedora like Michael Jackson. Susan Horsburgh of People magazine did an article on Justin Timberlake covering Justin’s solo debut. â€Å"emerging from a gigantic boom box to sing â€Å"like I Love You,† which, with his fedora and moonwalk moves, he performed in the style of his idol, Michael Jackson† (Horsburgh). Just another example of how Michael Jackson has pop artist today trying to be the new King of Pop. Justin Timberlake is not the only artist that is influenced by Michael Jackson. Chris Brown is another popular pop artist that has been influenced by Michael Jackson when it come to his performances and dancing. Chris Brown took Michael Jackson’s style of dancing and added his on spin or flare to it to make it his own. In the Washington Post journalist Allison Stewart says this about Chris Brown, he’s, â€Å"Fond of modified moonwalking and benign, poppy club jams†¦Michael Jackson without the ick† (Stewart). Which tells the reader that Brown is just like Jackson but with out the ick, can’t get any better than that. Chris Brown has taken Michael Jackson’s moves, practiced them, perfected them, and added his own twist to them making it his own. Chris Brown is another pop artist that is known for his dance as much as his music. As we make comparisons you will be surprised by some of the artist and what they’ve done. One that you might not know that was influenced by Michael Jackson is Ginuwine. Popular RB singer Elgin Baylor Lumpkin or better known as Ginuwine was also influenced by Michael Jackson and took emulating Michael Jackson to a whole new level at an early age. â€Å"Lumpkins interest in music was ignited by Prince and Michael Jackson, especially the latter’s legendary moonwalking performance†¦at the mere age of 12, began performing parties†¦later worked as Michael Jackson impressionist†(biography). Ginuwine went on to further his music career using the influence and experiences of Michael Jackson to become a successful RB artist. Of the many, many artist influenced by Michael Jackson, Usher Raymond, has been influenced by Michael Jackson in so many ways, but mostly in his dancing. During the remaking of the 25th anniversary of the â€Å"Thriller Album† Usher said â€Å"That great choreograph and great energy that Michael puts behind it, try to re-create that feeling. I try to take different kinds of dance and apply it in the same way Michael did in â€Å"Thriller’, ‘Beat It’ and ‘Off the Wall. ’† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Which has brought us to where were at today, even with rap artist like Snoop D O double G. That’s the king right there,† Snopp Dogg said about the love Michael still gets. â€Å"Michael Jackson has always been an inspiration to me as far as his music is concerned. You can’t take nothing from Him† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Not that it’s a bad thing; there are worse people to imitate, emulate or just be influenced by. His dance moves have been imitated in just about everyway from music videos to TV ads. The most recent was the commercial during the Super Bowl with the SoBe drink, which had the lizards doing the thriller dance with one of the singers from Destiny’s child. Shaheem Reid a well known MTV and Hollywood writer points how Michael Jackson’s dance has influenced other artist to include female groups, â€Å"There is Michael Jackson’s dance moves from â€Å"Thriller† in Destiny’s Child’s â€Å"Bootylicious video† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Just another example of how Michael Jackson has influenced pop artist both male and female. Why would any artist imitate, emulate or even use Michael Jackson as an Inspiration? Here’s a few statistics that would explain why the Justin Timberlakes, the Ushers, the Chris Brown’s and the Ginuwines would use Michael’s work ethic, music and dance to guide them. Thriller originally spent 37 weeks at No. 1, a total of 80 consecutive weeks in the Top 10. Its also the only album in American history to be the bestselling album for two years. Seven of the albums nine songs hit the Billboard Top 10 with Billie Jean and Beat It both reaching No. 1† (Gamboa). â€Å"The â€Å"Thriller Album has earned 47 million dollars to date, making it the 2nd best album of all times only after the Eagles Greatest Hits album† (RIAA). If you were to imitate an artist why not Michael Jackson, he has been accepted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame twice, as solo artist and for the work in the Jackson Five. He has the largest selling record of all times; selling more than 40 million copies, double diamond in the United States, not platinum, but diamond. His Thriller album was accepted by the United States as a National treasure, not many music artists can say that. Michael Jackson will go down in history as one of the all time greats, putting him with the likes of Jimi Hendrix’s, the Eagles, the Beatles, Elvis and Bob Dylan. It’s now been 25 years since the release of â€Å"Thriller† one of the greatest albums ever. Various pop artists of today like Fergie, Akon, Will I Am, and more will redo the original songs on the 25th anniversary album. After 25 years the spirit of the â€Å"Thriller album† is still alive and artists all want to be a part of such a historical event. The 25th anniversary of the album was released on 11 Feb 2008, with never recorded songs, behind the scene’s look and the remix songs. Most of the artist doing the remixes admit they can’t live up to the standard that Michael Jackson set years ago and continues to do. It’s hard to believe one album could influence the music industry so much, much less 25 years after it’s debut, but â€Å"Thriller† has done just that. If you don’t think Michael Jackson is often imitated and used as a source of influence in the music world you’re in a real case of denial. These examples have shown that many artists since the album â€Å"Thriller† were influenced by Michael Jackson’s performance and dance. Music and dance has been influenced through years and years of artist and will continue to influence the artist of the future. Many people have formed unbiased opinions of Michael Jackson, but if they take his personal life and separate it from his work they would realize the impact on today’s music and dance. He has influenced so many artists to become the successes they are today and will continue to influence the music of tomorrow. His style of dance has been recreated in so many ways from other music artist actually imitating him to taking his style and trying to make it their own. His dancing from the â€Å"Thriller video has been used in other music videos, commercials and in various other media’s. Some have tried, but none have succeeded on a Michael Jackson level.

Social Media In Marketing Communication

Social Media In Marketing Communication The technologies and tools people use to communicate online are referred to collectively as social media (Scott, 2010 ). Social media is not understood in terms of the different technologies and tools but, rather how those technologies and tools allow you to communicate directly with people or intended recipient. The term social media represents media that users can easily participate in, contribute to (Karjaluota, 2008), communicate with and congregate to have fun with friends and community (Scott, 2010 ). Social Media is an emerging phenomenon of recent times. Social media is a group of new kinds of online media embodied participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness as unique characteristics (Mayfield, 2008). Boyd (2008) refers social media is an umbrella term that refers to the set of tools, services, and applications that allow people to interact with others using network technologies. Social media encompasses groupware, online communities, peer -to-peer and media-sharing technologies, and networked gaming. Mayfield (2008) explain social media is all about being human like sharing ideas, cooperating and collaborating to create art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse, finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers, which our species has built since several civilisation. He further adds social media is becoming popular so quickly, not because its great shiny, speedy new technology, but because it lets us be ourselves. People can find information, inspiration, communities and collaborators faster than ever before. New ideas, services, business models and technologies emerge and evolve at fast speed in social media. According to Scott (2010) social media ; .provides the way people share ideas, content, thoughts and relationships online. Social Media differ from so-called mainstream media in that anyone can create, comment on, and add to social media content. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images, and communities (Scott, 2010 , p. 38). Social media is also known as user generated media (Mangold Faulds, 2009). User creates a network among friends, families, celebrities, and those who share common characteristics etc. that has built strong user base among different social media forms. It is becoming popular day by day due to its unique characteristics such as socialising, participating, freedom of expression, engaging, interactivity and easily accessible at fraction of cost. The main important features of social media is to keep in touch with friend, communicate with friend and share memories of good and bad experience through notes, post, blogs, video sharing and photo sharing etc. Social media is sometimes referred to as social software or social computing or computer-mediated communication (Boyd, 2008). In next section, social medias characteristic is explained. Characteristic of Social Media: The power of social media is rooted in its ability to connect people across time and space. The way these tools are used alters plethora of practices, including communication, collaboration, information dissemination, and social organisation (Benkler, 2006; Castells, 1996; Rheingold, 2002). Social media has affected how people interact with one another and, thus, it has the potential to alter how society is organised though they are simply the messengers, social media tools are revered for their potential to connect people( (Shriky, 2008; Tapscott Williams, 2006; Weinberger, 2008). Social media provides power to communicate one to literally hundreds or thousands of other people quickly and with relatively little effort. Participation and making connections are common characteristics among social media platforms. Part of this is informed by the notion of a flat community, in which all parties engage in open dialogue. Influence and credibility are prized in this arena, as the users reputation can often be a key motivator for one to remain active in the dialogue (Karjaluota, 2008). Some of the common characteristics of Social Media identified by Mayfield (2008) are; Participation, social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience. Openness, most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content-password -protected content is frowned on. Conversation, whereas traditional media is about broadcast and in contrast social media is better seen as a two -way conversation. Community, social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show. Connectedness, most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people. Common Forms of Social Media: There are various tools and format are in practice in the forms of social media. The commonly used or basic forms of social media (Karjaluota, 2008; Mayfield, 2008; Scott, 2010 ; Mangold Faulds, 2009) are; Social Networking Sites (SNS) are virtual communities that allow users to build personal profile, connect with friends, and cultivate a community of friends and to share information, content and communication. Some appeal to broad groups (i.e. Facebook) whereas others are built around particular niches and demographics (i.e. LinkedIn). The common SNS are Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Faceparty etc. Blogs are personal web sites written by somebody who is passionate about a topic, which provide a means to share that passion with the world and to foster an active community of readers who provide comments on the feature posts. Perhaps it is the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals, with entries appearing with most recent first. Blogs are vary widely in nature, but tend to be popular as they often provide an unvarnished, insider perspective on a particular topic. For example, user sponsored blogs (unofficial Apple Weblog, Cnet.com) and company -sponsored websites/blogs (Apple.com, PGs Vocalpoint). Content Communities are sites that allow users to post and share content. Such communities exist around anything from videos and photos to stories and links. Some of these sites include voting functions that allow the community to determine the relevance of content. Sites like YouTube, Flicker, Vimeo and Jamendo.com greatly simplify the process of sharing and commenting on Photos, Videos and Music. Other examples are content sharing combined with assistance Piczo.com and general intellectual property sharing sites Creative Commons. Forums are areas in which multiple users can create topics and then comment on these topics. They are commonly used as resources for those interested in particular topic. It is a place for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests. Forums came about before term social media and are a powerful element of online communities. It is also known as chat rooms and message boards, with the main feature being that anyone can start a discussion thread. Wikis are community -generated documents and databases. These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting as a communal document or database. The best -known wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia which has over 2 million English languages articles. Virtual Worlds represent one of the most novel areas on the web, in which users can engage in immersive worlds. Some of these spaces closely mirror real-world notions such as community and economics. Second Life is an example of virtual worlds. Micro blogging are social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content updates are distributed online and through the mobile phone network. Twitter is well known form of micro blogging. Social Bookmarking sites like digg, del.icio.us, Newsvine, Mixxit, Reddit allows users to recommend online news stories, music, videos and content to others and vote on what is interesting. Many other forms of social media exist are news aggregators, podcasts (Apple iTunes), mash-ups, company sponsored cause/help sites (Doves Campaign for Real Beauty, click2quit.com), invitation only social networks (ASmallWorld.net), commerce communities (eBay, Amazon.com, Craigs List, IStockphoto, Threadless.com), news delivery sites (current TV), educational materials sharing (MIT OpenCoourseWare, MERLOT), open source software communities (Mozillas spreadfirefox.com, Linux.org) , windows Live, Google community and Yahoo. The Use of Social Media in Marketing Communication: Communication has become more challenging due to rapid changes in technologies, multiple communication channels and consumers constantly changing preferences and media use for obtaining information. Effectiveness of communication will largely depends on understanding of consumers buying behaviour, indentifying their information need and provides them with the right information, in right time at right place. It is enormously important to make sure the appropriate media is used (Ennew, 1993). Selection of a medium is relative with the customer preference with that particular medium. In an interview by www.marketingprof.com , a marketing guru, Philip Kotler says; .major challenge today is getting people attention. Consumers are pressed for times and many worked hard to avoid advertising messages. The main challenge is to find new way to capture attention and position a brand in consumers mind.. (Kotler, 2005 ¶17) Multiple communication channels pose a challenge to marketers to select a right medium to reach their target consumers. Traditional marketing communication media are loosing thier importance and are being challenged by new media. The internet has replaced traditional media such as radio, newspaper, magzine and the TV as the preferred medium for advertising (Selek, 2010). TV advertising is loosing its effectiveness because of growing advertising clutter, the increeasing number of channels and reduced watching of television by certain group of people (Kotler, 2005). Social Media presence in marketing communication is increasing rapidly. Social media is becoming a part of the marketing strategies of organisations irrespective of shape, size, volume and purposes. Marketers are trying to make it as a part of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and element of their marketing mix (Mangold Faulds, 2009; Li Bernoff, 2008). IMC is a guiding principles, marketers has been practising since its identification as a marketing tools to communicate with their target market. IMC is arguably the best tools, as of now, use to coordinate and control varying elements of the promotional mix- advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion to develop customer focused integrated message and to achieve different organisational goals (Boone Kurtz, 2007). Social media is changing the landscape of marketing communication. Growing use and popularity of social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Flicker, Digg, Del.icio.us, Foursquare and others have compelled organisations use of social media as an integrated marketing communication tool. Consumers are making conversation on these platforms. Facebook alone has 500 million users worldwide, which accounts nearly 8% of world population and collectively, users spend more than 700 billion minutes a month in Facebook (Smith, 2010). The possibility of exposure to mass audience and high engagement are propelling organisations to use social media to communicate to their target consumers. Fortunes 500 companies have been using social media as one of the most important tool in their marketing strategy (Barnes Mattson, 2008). Increase in advertising spending on social media shows preference of marketers in social media against traditional media as a marketing communication tool.The growing popularity of internet business such as google and social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook have increased the use of social media in advertising. Advertising spending in the social networking area is estimated to be $865 million, with a projected value of $2 billion by 2011, or almost 8.5% of total online spending (eMarketer, 2006 cited in Gangadharbatla, 2008). Facebooks  £525 million revenue from advertising in 2009 (Smith, 2010) shows the magnitude of growing popularity of scoial media as a marketing communication tool. Marketers are shifting their marketing spending from traditional means of communication to digital ones, focusing on search, dispaly ads and social networking. Marketers who believe that most important way to improve communication effectiveness is to shift investment from traditional channels to digital channels are increasing. Another noticable changes is to shift advertising spending from awerness and brand building to promotional marketing (Ramsey Douglas, 2010). According to a 2009 survey, conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Marketing Management Analytics (MMA), most marketers say that they plan to increase their budgets for interactive marketing by pulling funds out of traditional media. Survey shows that U.S. companies moved total of $60 billion from traditional media into online marketing in 2009 itself, which represents a major shift from traditional marketing to digital marketing in an effort to increase marketing effectiveness. Research shows that after the corporate website, the most effective way to communicate with prospects is through social media. As many as 80% of U.S. companies are using social media in their marketing efforts, either placing ads on sites, monitoring sites for chatter about their brands, or engaging directly through sites like Facebook. For most marketers two prime objectives for usiing social media are enhancing brand awareness and deepening realationships with consumers. Many others use social media to expand to new audiences and acquire new customers (StrongMail, 2009). Social Media enables customer to talk to one another, which is an extention of traditional word-of-mouth communication (Mangold Faulds, 2009). The role of social media giving customer to communicate to one another is unique from traditional marketing communication. In his book The New Influencers, Gillin (2007) says that Conventional marketing wisdoms has long held that a dissatisfied customer tells ten people. But that is out of date. In the new age of social media he or she has the tools to tell [billions] consumers in few hours. The Internet has become a mass media vehicle for consumer-sponsored communications. It now represents the number one source of media for consumers at work and the number two source of media at home (Rashtchy, Kessler, Bieber, Shindler, Tzeng, 2007). Consumers are turning away from the traditional sources of advertising: radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. Consumers also consistently demand more control over their media consumption. They require on-demand and immediate access to information at their own convenience (Rashtchy et al., 2007; Vollmer Precourt, 2008). Social media is perceived by consumers as a more trustworthy source of information regarding products and services than corporate-sponsored communications transmitted via the traditional elements of the promotion mix (Foux, 2006). There are varying levels of trust and credibility among marketing channels: pretty low for ads, more so for traditional media and even lower for brand websites. Social media leverage the trust that users have with one another. This is well proven fact in marketing that most effective influencers in buying decisions are friends and family. Social media has been providing consumer different platforms to communicate easily with friends and family quickly and effectively. Recommendations from friends and acquaintances, particularly those people we think are most like ourselves, garner the highest trust. Almost three-fourths of customers consult product reviews before making a purchase, and more than half have made a purchase based on consumer reviews. They create transparency and establish trust to prospects (Ramsey Douglas, 2010). Marketers use several methods to improve consumer retention. Social media is becoming an important part of consumer retention and is giving companies new ways to tap into consumer mindset. A survey conducted by King Fish Media (2009) shows that 72% of US marketing managers, who participated in the survey, believes that social media is the most effective way to communicate with current consumers. Social media leave behind the old model of one- to- one communication and enable communication from one to many or many- to- many. Social media such as blogs, tweets, wikis, and social networks are all about speeding up and enriching communication. Social media tools bring the advantages of flatter, more democratic and presumably more effective communication networks (Hawn, 2009). The advent of social media challenge traditional type of intrusive and one way communication. Social media offer multi -dimensional communication among marketers to consumers, consumers to consumers and consumers to marketers. Social media is a great tool for listening to consumers and improving products and services using feedback and suggestion from consumers. Understanding the speed and breadth of response to a consumer issue is crucial in social media (Econsultancy, 2009). Mangold Faulds (2009) argue that social media is a hybrid element of the promotion mix because it combines characteristics of traditional IMC tools (companies talking to consumers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth (customers talking to one another) wherby marketing managers cannot control the content and frequency of such information. Consumers ability to communicate with one another limits the amount of control companies have over the content and dissemination of information. In the era of social media, consumers have greater access to information and great command over media consumption than ever before (Vollmer Precourt, 2008). In the era of social media, marketing managers control over the content, timing, and frequency of information is being severely eroded. In the new communication paradigm, information about products and services also originates in the marketplace. This information is based on the experiences of individual consumers and is channelled through the traditional promotion mix. The traditional communication paradigm, which relied on the classic promotional mix to craft IMC strategies, must give way to a new paradigm that includes all forms of social media as potential tools in designing and implementing IMC strategies. Contemporary marketers cannot ignore the phenomenon of social media because it has rapidly become the de facto modus operandi for consumers who are disseminating information on products and services (Mangold Faulds, 2009). In this section researcher tried to gain insights about social media from available literatures and its uses in marketing communication. In following section researcher reviews of existing literature on social networking site Facebook and its uses by students, motives of use and use of Facebook in selection of universities, which is the main purpose of this study. The Facebook: Facebook is very popular social networking sites, which gives user an opportunity to create personal profile (include general information like education background, work background, and favourite interest), build a friend networks who have Facebook account, upload and share photos, put comment, show liking or agreeableness on any subjects, issues, comments, products and brands through like button, write notes and create news and many more. Facebook members can also join virtual groups based on common interests, see what classes they have in common, and learn about others hobbies, interests, tastes, and romantic relationship statuses through the profiles (Ellision, Steinfield, Lampe, 2007). It also has an option to add specific applications to further personalise ones profile (Rosmarin, 2007). People mostly use it to make friends, networking with friends, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet (Reuben, 2008). A Harvard undergraduate student and a programmer Mr. Mark Zuckerberg along with his friend Eduardo was set up Facebook.com in February 2004 at Harvard University dorm as an online student directory for only Harvard students (Cassidy, 2006; Mayer Puller, 2007; Boyd Ellison, 2007). To join a user had to have a Harvard.edu email address. Facebook extended beyond Harvard to other Ivy League school in spring 2004. In fall 2004 Facebook.com had added websites to several hundred of colleges and university, then later expanded to any university students having an university e-mail and now anyone over age 13 with an valid e-mail account can join Facebook (Reuben, 2008). Mr. Zuckerberg, who set up Facebook at his early 20 (now 26), has grown it into a business worth an estimated  £15 billion (Smith, 2010). Facebook has now become habitual and a part of everyday life for 500 million users worldwide. Facebook has reached almost eight percent of world population with meteoric rise of its users from 150 millions in January 2009 to 500 million in 2010 (Smith, 2010). Today, Facebook is the number one social networking site beating MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare etc. Facebook is third popular online brand after Google and MSN respectively. According to Nielsen survey (April, 2010) 54% worlds internet population visiting Facebook and spends 6 hours per person every month. On average user create 90 pieces of content every month, 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news, blogs etc) are shared each month, more than 3 billion pictures are uploaded every month, there are more than 60 million status updates a day and have an average of 130 friends (Smith, 2010). Collectively, users spend more than 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. Alex Burmaster, of research agency Nielsen Online said: Facebook has become a phenomenon of our time, its become almost like a mobile phone, [and] people cant imagine their lives without it. Popularity of Facebook among Colleges and Universities Students: Origin of Facebook is directly associated with university students. Facebook was set up by a university student as an online student directory. Initially, it was restricted to users with a harvard.edu email address and was confined to colleges and universities students and staffs. It was officially open to non-academic and non-US based users in September 2006 (Joinson, 2008; Reuben, 2008). Facebook has become a number one choice among universities students. According to Pew Research Centers survey nearly three quarters (73 percent) of online teens and an equal number (72 percent) of young adults use social networking sites. The survey also reveals that among adults 18 and older Facebook is most preferred choice; 73% have profile on Facebook, 48% own profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, Zickuhr, 2010). According to previous survey by Pew Center 50% of young adult social network users had profile in MySpace, 22% had profile on Facebook and only 6% had a profile on LinkedIn (Lenhart, A., 2009). The recent survey also shows that among adult profile owners with high school degree or less, 64% have a profile on MySpace, 63% have profile on Facebook and just 3% have LinkedIn profile. Adults with at least some college experience, 78% have profile on Facebook, where 41% have a profile on my space and 19% have a LinkedIn profile (Lenhart, et. al, 2010). It shows the greater presence and growing popularity of Facebook among colleges and universities students. There is growing concern about universities students excessive use of Facebook. Sheldon (2008) states that 93% student had a Facebook account, on average they spent 47 minutes a day on Facebook and in overall 81% student logged into Facebook on a daily basis. Social networking sites are widely thought to have changed students communication pattern because many college/university students lives have an online component (Zywica Danowski, 2008). There is hard debate going on about the risk of students being addicted to, and spending too much time on Facebook. Those who argue about negative impact and against on students excessive use of Facebook are demanding control on students from using Facebook. Facebook has been met with criticism by educators, with suggestions that students spend too much time on Facebook and find it addictive (Bugeja, 2006). Others, who believe control is not the right options, are suggesting attract and encourage students for its academic and positive use. Some studies have shown advantages of Facebook use for undergraduate students to assist and adjust to university life, especially those experiencing low self-esteem (Ellision, et al., 2007). Lloyd, Dean, and Cooper, (2007) concluded that students can benefit and suffer from using technology [Facebook]. Positive effects of technology [Facebook] are knowledge acquisition, socialisation and entertainment. However, negative effects include that students tend to be less healthy and passive in off-line activities when their sole purpose is for entertainment, which has a direct effect on their academic success, personal relationships, and wellness. Students Motives for Facebook Use: People use media to gratify their various communication needs and wants. Uses and gratification is viewed as a psychological communication perspective which focuses on how individual use mass media and other forms of communication to fulfil their needs and wants (Sheldon, 2008; Rubin, 2002). According to the uses and gratification perspective, media use is determined by a group of key elements including peoples needs and motives to communicate, the psychological and social environment, the mass media, functional alternative to media use, communication behaviour, and the consequences of such behaviour (Rubin, 1994). McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972) classified mostly found needs and gratifications in four categories; diversion (escape from problems, emotional release), personal relationship (social utility of information in conversation, substitute of the media for companionship), personal Identity (value reinforcement, self understanding), and information (as cited in Sheldon, 2008). These classifications were, basically, developed for audiovisual media use and researchers extendend it for internet use and developed different motivational scales for internet use over time. According to Morris, and Ogan (1996) internet fulfills interpersonal and mediated needs. Needs traditionally fulfilled by media are social interaction, time pass, habit, information and entertainment (Flaherty, Pearce, Rubin, 1998). Media fulfilled interpersonal needs such as companionship, maintenance of relationship, problem-solving and persuation (Flanagin Metzger, 2001). LaRose, Mastro, and Eastin (2001) found that the expectation of finding enjoyable activities online predicted the amount of online media consumption. Song, LaRose, Eastin, and Lin (2004) identified virtual community as a new gratification that strengthen comunication with people met on internet. This definition contrast with relationship maintenance focused to maintain relationship with existing acquaintances (Song et al., 2004). Uses and gratification research has usually focused on how media are used to satisfy cognitive and affective needs relating personal needs and entertainment needs (Rubin, 2002), which includes need for personal identity, escapism, and self presentation. Researchers found various gratifications of internet and SNS uses such as acquisition of information, ability to engage in interpersonal communication and socialisation (Stafford Gonier, 2004); interpersonal utility functions such as relationship building, scoial maintenance and social recognition (Leung, 2007); interpersonal relations, information, and entertainment (Ho Cho, 2006); infromation, interpersonal communication, and entertainment (Matsuba, 2006). There has lot of research done about students motives in using Facebook. Majority of the previous research found friending, time pass, flirt and find new friends are the students prime motives to use Facebook. According to Coley (2006) most students use Facebook for fun to organise parties, and to find dates. They use it to find people with similar interest, peer who are in same class, and with whom they feel a sense of community and connectedness and its become habit to those who are already in online. Urista, Dong, and Day, (2009) in their study what motivates young adults to use SNS (MySpace and Facebook) found that individual use SNS to fulfill their needs and wants, which includes efficient communication, convenient communication, curosity about others, popularity and relationship formation and reinforcement. Ellision, et al. (2007) suggest that Facebook is mostly used to maintain or reinforce existing offline relationships, as opposed to establishing new ones online. There is usually some common offline activity among individuals with friends one another, such as a shared class or extra curricular acitivity. Lampe, Ellison, and Steinfield (2006) found that Facebook users engage in searching for people with whom they have an offline connection more than they browse for new people to meet. Sheldon (2008) conducted a survey of 172 students and found that large porportion of students use Facebook to maintain relationship with people they already know, majority of students also visit Facebook for time pass like when feel bored or get wall post update notification, significant porportion of students use Facebook for entertainment purposes and a small porportion use Facebook to develop new relationship. According to Pew Internet American Life Project survey (2009) teens and adults use Facebook to stay in touch with friends (97 percent), make plans with friends (62 percent), make new friends (52 percent), organize with others for an event, issue or cause (56 percent), and flirt (22 percent) (Lenhart, 2009). 2,251 subjects were participated in the survey. Research on Facebook is starting to emerge along with its popularity. The applications and utilities of Facebook is also constantly being developed. Most of the previous studies about motives to use Facebook was done before 2008, when Facebook was just started to emerge and not much popular as now and not much applications as now. The researcher found limited limited predictors have been used to study students motive for Facebook use. In this paper the researcher try to find out university students motives of using Facebook using new predictors. The first research question of the study is; RQ1: What are the motives of university students for Facebook use? Students Use of Facebook in Selection of Universities and Colleges: Oklahoma State Universitys study highlights a typical lifestyle of a todays student. On average each day students sleep for 7 hours, spend 1.5 hours watching TV, spend 3.5 hours online, listen to music for 2.5 hours, talk on a cell phone for 2 hours, spend 3 hours in class, spend 2 hours eating, go to work for 2 hours and study for 3 hours. This totals 26.5 hours a day, nearly half of that involve technology. Students read 8 books a year, surf t

The Effect Of Government Expenditure Economics Essay

The Effect Of Government Expenditure Economics Essay Pakistan stood categorized in the sixties by high rates of growth and it was widely believed that this exclusive preoccupation with growth had resulted in concentration of income in a few rich families. It has been argued that the manufacturing sector received favorable treatment at the hands of government policy thereby redistributing income from agriculture to industrial sector through over-valued exchange rate for industrial Sector, provision of cheap credit, liberal import of capital goods at below equilibrium cost of capital. The relationship between government expenditure and economic growth has continued to generate series of debate among scholars. Government performs two functions- protection (and security) and provisions of certain public goods Protection function consist of the creation of rule of law and enforcement of property rights. This helps to minimize risks of criminality, protect life and property, and the nation from external aggression. Under the provisions of pu blic goods are defense, roads, education, health, and power, to mention few. Some scholars argue that increase in government expenditure on socio-economic and physical infrastructures encourages economic growth. For example, government expenditure on health and education raises the productivity of labor and increase the growth of national output. Similarly, expenditure on infrastructure such as roads, communications, power, etc, reduces production costs, increases private sector investment and profitability of firms, thus fostering economic growth. However, some scholars did not support the claim that increasing government expenditure promotes economic growth, instead they assert that higher government expenditure may slowdown overall performance of the economy. For instance, in an attempt to finance rising expenditure, government may increase taxes and/or borrowing. Higher income tax discourages individual from working for long hours or even searching for jobs. This in turn reduces income and aggregate demand. In the same vein, higher profit tax tends to increase production costs and reduce investment expenditure as well as profitability of firms. Moreover, if government increases borrowing (especially from the banks) in order to finance its expenditure, it will compete (crowds-out) away the private sector, thus reducing private investment. Furthermore, in a bid to score cheap popularity and ensure that they continue to remain in power, politicians and governments officials sometimes increase expenditure and investment in unproductive projects or in goods that the private sector can produce more efficiently. Thus, government activity sometimes produces misallocation of resources and impedes the growth of national economy. Public Finance is to provide information to all arms of government in other to provide useful data as done for the developed nations that transferred Pubic Finance technology to developing countries. However, the public finance technological transfer has not been used in developing countries to develop their economies. One of the assumptions might have been due to culture mingled with public finance information made available to policy makers. The realities have been x-rayed by public finance and practices. Thus, ID omen citied the following: Economic growth represents the expansion of a countrys potential GDP or output. 2. OBJECTIVE: 1. Short run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth of Pakistan. 2. Long run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth of Pakistan. 3. LITERATURE REVIEW: Ranjan KD, Sharma C Examined the effect of government development expenditure on economic growth during the period 1950-2007. The authors discovered a significant positive impact of government expenditure on economic growth. They also reported the existence of co integration among the variables. Easterly and Rebelo (2009) find that public investment in transport and communications in developing countries leads to higher economic growth. Abdullah HA, 2000 analyzed the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. The author reported that the size of government is very important in the performance of economy. He advised that government should increase its spending on Infrastructure, social and economic activities. In addition, government should encourage and support the private sector to accelerate economic growth. Ogiogio GO Revealed a long-term relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. Moreover, the authors findings showed that recurrent expenditure exerts more influence than capital expenditure on growth. On empirical research using panel data, one can cite (among others) the papers by Devarajan et al. (1996) henceforth DSZ and Gupta et al. (2005) On the composition of government expenditure and growth for a sample of developing countries. DSZ found a negative (positive) and significant relationship between the capital (current) component of public expenditure and per capita real GDP growth for 43 countries over the period 1970-1990, while Gupta et al. (2005) found quite the reverse for 39 countries between 1990 and 2000. Lee et al. (2009), commenting on Islam (2009), observe that slope heterogeneity, even when random, causes major difficulties for estimation in dynamic panels. They contend that potential heterogeneity in growth rates of different countries renders the standard fixed effects panel estimator to be biased. Given the importance of slope heterogeneity as an econometric issue (see, among others, Baltagi (1995), and Pesaran and Smith (1995), we extend the methodology implemented by DSZ by explicitly modelling the potential cross-country heterogeneity in capital and current expenditure. The fixed effects panel estimator used in DSZ assumes that all the slope coefficients, adjustment dynamics and error variances are invariant across all countries. However, these assumptions are unlikely to hold, because countries are not unanimous in their views on the role of government expenditure in fostering growth, and this largely depends on the political stance of the party in power. The importance assigned to capital and current expenditures, i.e., the 1 commitment to spend on viable long-term capital projects vis-a-vis the spending on recurrent types of expenditure like wages and salaries, subsidies and pension arrangements, also vary across countries. The potential cross-country variations in the parameters of the level and composition of public expenditure are consequently modelled as a linear function of country-specific levels of current and capital spending in this paper. Wagner says, (1999:46) That there is a positive relationship between the per capital income of the citizens in a country with government spending such that the income elasticity of government expenditure is always greater than one. However, other researchers have discovered that the relationship is not always certain because there are periods when government expenditure in relations to the national income will decline when the elasticity of income to government expenditure is less than one. Ram Rati (1986) concluded that overall impact of government size and government expenditures on growth is positive. Rostow Musgrave model (1999:46) carried out a research on growth of public expenditure and concluded that, at the early stages of economic development, the rate of growth of public expenditure will be very high because government provides the basic infrastructural facilities (social overheads) and most of these projects are capital intensive, therefore, the spending of the government will increase steadily. The investment in education, health, roads, electricity, water supply are necessities that can launch the economy from the practitioner stage to the take off stage of economic development, making government to spend and increasing amount with time in order to develop an egalitarian society. To illustrate, models with varieties of capital goods is related to technological process corresponds to an expansion of the number of capital goods, the production function Barros (1979) Tax-smoothing hypothesis says that, if the marginal cost of raising tax revenue is increasing the optimal tax rate is a martingale. This implies that changes in the tax rate will be permanent and, given their different effects on growth, under the two types of growth models, very useful in empirically distinguishing between the exogenous and endogenous models. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: According to the Keynesian there is increase in government expenditure, the country will grow, holding other things constant. Y = C + I + G+ (X-M ) Y = GDP C=consumption I= Investment (X-M)=Net exports 4. DATA AND METHODOLOGY: Data is collected on annual basis from the year 1972 to 2008 from various issues of economic survey of Pakistan and IFS (International Financial statistics) for GDP and government expenditure. That is converted into growth form. Oxmatrics software is used for estimation. Model: Y=f (GE) Where GE=Government expenditures The model is specified as Y=ÃŽ ±+ ÃŽ ² (GE) +  µ Where GE=Government expenditures  µ=error term Y = GDP growth 5.Estimation technique: Unit root Test: Both series GDP and GE are unit root. AS ADF greater than critical value so we can further proceed for co integration. Regression model: After regression disequilibrium saved the residuals , further test the residuals for stationary , so the residual is stationary it means co integration is exist between GDP and government expenditures. Unit root for disequilibrium: As ADF is less than critical value so the series is stationary and co integration exists. ERROR CORRECTION MODEL: Now check the long run relationship between government expenditures and GDP growth by ECM. This is error correction model Dgdp = + 0.9029*DLgov 0.8551*deq_1 So the value of dis equilibrium is negative and lies between 0 to 1 there exists long run relationship between two variables. 6. Policy implications: The results suggest that the economic growth can be achieved by increasing government expenditures. As we know that increase in government expenditures has also other implications for the economy and this study is limited in scope. So we suggest that government expenditures hike will increase GDP keeping other things constant.

We Must Revitalize Downtown Los Angeles :: Argumentative, Persuasive

Downtown is the commercial center of city or town. Downtown is a main target for employment and a great place to live in most cities. It should be the biggest attraction and most beautiful place of the city. Los Angles downtown is voted to be one of the dirtiest downtowns and Los Angles is a big attraction to tourist. Cleaning up downtown would leave better impressions on tourist and also residents. The crime rate would get lower and their wont be any homeless people around. One of the most beautiful music centers is the Disney Hall. Walt Disney Concert Hall is the fourth and most recent addition to the Music Center of Los Angles County. It is situated on 3.6 acres- a full-city block at the intersection of First Street and Grand avenue in the historic Bunker Hill area of downtown Los Angeles. Walt Disney Concert Hall encompasses two outdoor amphitheatre, including Keck Children Amphitheatre seating 300 and a second performing space that accommodates an audience of 120, as well as a space for pre-concert events. A large portion of the site has been dedicated to an urban park with expensive public gardens and ornamental landscaping and water elements. The Disney Hall attracts people all over to come down to see an outstanding show there. It is amazing and has the best shows and concerts showing there. Downtown LA voted 1 of the dirtiest downtowns ever but has the most beautiful music center. Around Disney we have some nice buildings. The cathedral is just across from Disney. The environment is very clean and it attracts rich and wealthy people. It is a very clean and safe area to be in downtown. When u go just a little bit west from Disney you see the real downtown. The Fashion District is a very large area where they only sell clothing and fabric for very low coast and wholesale price. The LA Fashion District spans 90 and is the center of the apparel industry on the West Coast. Retailers, wholesale buyers, designers, stylist, students, shopper and residents all converge here. The Clean Team keeps the LA Fashion District looking its best with daily sidewalk cleaning and graffiti removal. Other Clean Team services including the regular removal of visitor street trash, weeds, ally and storm drain cleaning. The Clean Team washes over 14.5 million square feet of sidewalk per quarter and collects and disposes We Must Revitalize Downtown Los Angeles :: Argumentative, Persuasive Downtown is the commercial center of city or town. Downtown is a main target for employment and a great place to live in most cities. It should be the biggest attraction and most beautiful place of the city. Los Angles downtown is voted to be one of the dirtiest downtowns and Los Angles is a big attraction to tourist. Cleaning up downtown would leave better impressions on tourist and also residents. The crime rate would get lower and their wont be any homeless people around. One of the most beautiful music centers is the Disney Hall. Walt Disney Concert Hall is the fourth and most recent addition to the Music Center of Los Angles County. It is situated on 3.6 acres- a full-city block at the intersection of First Street and Grand avenue in the historic Bunker Hill area of downtown Los Angeles. Walt Disney Concert Hall encompasses two outdoor amphitheatre, including Keck Children Amphitheatre seating 300 and a second performing space that accommodates an audience of 120, as well as a space for pre-concert events. A large portion of the site has been dedicated to an urban park with expensive public gardens and ornamental landscaping and water elements. The Disney Hall attracts people all over to come down to see an outstanding show there. It is amazing and has the best shows and concerts showing there. Downtown LA voted 1 of the dirtiest downtowns ever but has the most beautiful music center. Around Disney we have some nice buildings. The cathedral is just across from Disney. The environment is very clean and it attracts rich and wealthy people. It is a very clean and safe area to be in downtown. When u go just a little bit west from Disney you see the real downtown. The Fashion District is a very large area where they only sell clothing and fabric for very low coast and wholesale price. The LA Fashion District spans 90 and is the center of the apparel industry on the West Coast. Retailers, wholesale buyers, designers, stylist, students, shopper and residents all converge here. The Clean Team keeps the LA Fashion District looking its best with daily sidewalk cleaning and graffiti removal. Other Clean Team services including the regular removal of visitor street trash, weeds, ally and storm drain cleaning. The Clean Team washes over 14.5 million square feet of sidewalk per quarter and collects and disposes

The Farm :: Descriptive Farms Essays Papers

The Farm Flat Rock Farm was a hardscrabble anachronism in the 1950s. The dirt roads of Kansas, in those days, were littered with similar testimonies; relics of another time, passed down by the pioneers who carved them from the prairie. That it survived at all was a testament to the resourcefulness and tenacity of those that had scratched a subsistence from it during the dust bowl and great depression. Once the fulfillment of life-long dreams, farms like this one were being rendered obsolete by the emerging consumer society of post-war America. To the uninitiated there was nothing unique or extraordinary about this particular farm, except perhaps for the telltale signs of its certain obsolescence. The harness hanging from the tack room wall, the idle team of aging horses milling in the corral, the bucket at the cistern pump and the absence of electric lines all betrayed the homestead's lack of modernization and its inevitable future. Like thousands of others, it would be bought out and combined with a larger, more modern operation when death or bankruptcy hastened its demise. The passing of such a small and unremarkable homestead on the Kansas prairie would not be noticed nor long remembered -- yet it is. To a small boy growing up in the inner city, there was no place more wondrous or exciting to visit than that small farmstead somewhere northeast of Emporia. It was a vibrant place, alive with the sights and sounds of nature and bustling with important work that mattered. Work whose value and purpose was easily recognized by a child. Work connected to the land and animals in some grand collaboration with the universe. There were people there too who were glad when you came to visit. Patient people who cared, and who took the time to listen as well as teach. People who understood the value of a small child's efforts to help with the important work of the farm and encouraged those efforts. There always seemed to be a humming in the background that permeated everything there. A current, perhaps, that ran through it all and kept the people, land, and animals in sync with some universal pattern. I couldn't actually hear it, but if I sat very still on the rocks by the well pump, on a warm spring afternoon, and closed my eyes, I could feel it. The warmth of the rock beneath me, the sun reaching out to touch my skin, the breeze on my cheek -- all were connected -- as I was, with the sounds of the insects and animals around me.

Caring for the individuals with dementia

Currently, incidences of disruptive behavioural problems such as agitation, aggression, rest-activity pattern and sleep wake disturbance are reported to be high in people with dementia. The specific determinants of disruptive behaviour are still unclear but predisposing factors are considered to be associated with the external factors such as the negative staff attitudes and environment. Actually, disruptive behaviour is an umbrella that describes behaviours such as throwing objects, hoarding, resisting care, self abuse, wandering, repetitious verbalization, aggression and general agitation.Prevalence of aggressive behaviour has been considered as a subset of disruptive behaviour among individuals with dementia in long-term care facilities as 86. 3% has been reported. (Ryder et al. 1991). According to studies on cognitively intact residents and residents with dementia, shows a consistently higher prevalence of behaviours. This paper presents research literature to support the role of a positive environment including attitudes and staff interaction in the aggressive individuals with dementia.Importance of a positive environment including staff interaction and attitudes towards the aggressive individuals with dementia Environment has been increasingly recognized as a significant therapeutic element in care of individuals with dementia. In the last decade, it has been realized that environment plays a significant role in reducing the disruptive behaviour, increasing the functional ability of the individuals with dementia, as well as improving their quality of life.Problem behaviour in dementia is associated with deficits in the executive control functions of the frontal lobe. However, complex behaviours seen in individuals with dementia are as a result of multiple, over-learned routines the environmental stimuli triggers. The executive control functions orchestrate the routines into coherent goal-directed behaviours which in turn contribute to the expression of th e required habitual response while limiting the unrequited responses.It therefore means that failure of executive control function leads to distractibility and overdependence on environmental factors or can even lead to apathy and environmental indifferences. However in any case modification of social and physical environment can reduce behaviours that are not required and can elicit the desired behaviours effectively. Moreover, environment is the major component in progressively lowered stress threshold model. (Sife, 1998).Subject to the model, since the ability to adapt in individuals with dementia declines as the dementia progresses, the care givers should reduce the environmental demands to ensure that the level of the environmental demands is congruent with the abilities of individuals with dementia. Basically, disruptive behaviours are more often when the stress threshold of an individual is exceeded. Most of the intervention strategies given in the literature engage manipulat ion of physical and social environments to meet the unique needs and personalities of individuals with dementia.Following the recognition of the important role of environment to individuals with dementia, many long-term care facilities have come up with special care units that give a total supportive milieu for them. Following the increase of such special care units design guidelines such as recommendation for both social and physical environments have been developed to ensure that the environment provided by the facilities enhanced the well-being and personhood of individuals with dementia.(Morgan & Stewart1997). However, since there is no empirical data, the special care unit design manuals are based on extrapolations and clinical experience. Predictability and structure are the important aspects of the environment in which individuals with dementia live. The daily routines that reflect the rhythm of the society are predictable, and with a chance to rest and opportunity for activi ty, individuals are kept in touch, thus promoting their well being.Patient-centred dementia care is the recommended approach in caring individuals with dementia as it focuses on independence, it is value-driven, and it is concerned with the empowerment and well being of individuals with dementia and their families. Moreover the patient-centred care makes the individuals to feel socially confident, valued and supported thus creating personhood which is described by Kitwood (1997a) as a status that is bestowed in individuals by others within the society in the context of social being and relationship.Care for the individuals with dementia should focus on maintaining the personhood in the face of the individuals whose mental powers is failing. (Kitwood, 1996). Paying attention to personhood involves recognizing the centrality of the relationship and the uniqueness of the individuals as well as the fact of the embodiment. It therefore means that dementia care that is only involved with the dementia as the disease and its treatment has nothing to do with the patient’s personhood, damages the patient, and treats as a passive object rather than a human being.Patient-centred dementia care is recommended as it is based on the ethic that regardless of disabilities, all human beings have absolute value and need to be respected, and on the convictions that just like all other human beings, people with dementia are capable of living a fulfilling live. (Kitwood, 1999). The principle central to patient-centred dementia care is that the life experience of the individuals, their network relationships and unique personalities should be valued and considered with constant attention by the staff giving the care.This is based on the observation that once dementia is presentation it can never be reduced to the neuropathological damage effects, instead, it is a combination of factors such as social psychology, neurological impairment, physical health, biography and personalit y. Focusing on the losses or deterioration of the patients with dementia reinforces negative perceptions, progression of dementia and its treatment. Based on several studies, self-esteem is considered as a necessity for the well being of individuals with dementia. (Thorngate, 1999).Patient-centred dementia care is concerned with establishment and maintenance of positive and supportive social environment for individuals with dementia. In the context of this care, the personhood of the individuals is established through strengthening of the individuals positive feelings, promoting the healing of psychic wound and nurturing the individuals skills or abilities. Generation and sustenance of positive interaction used singly or together, secure and stable relations, replenishes the personhood of individuals with dementia constantly.Some of the psychotherapeutic techniques that promote these relationships include: facilitation which involves providing the missing parts of action to enable t he individuals to do what they would not have done, holding which involve providing physical and psychological space for the individuals to expose vulnerability and tension, and validation which involves the accepting reality – the fact that they have dementia- and the feeling of being connected, alive and real.Actually, caring for individuals with dementia possess challenges to the care giver in all environments probably because the condition is characterized by progressive brain damage making creating difficulties in their communication, remembering things and to think clearly. Because dementia is associated with swing s in moods, and changes in behaviour and personality, the staff and other care providers should develop positive attitudes when dealing with the troubling behaviour such as aggressiveness and communication difficulties encountered while providing the care.Aggressive behaviour among individuals with dementia continues to burden and challenge the caregivers in special care units and nursing homes. It therefore means that working in such facilities increases the risks of experiencing aggression. Actually, aggression is associated with older people with cognitive impairment than individuals with no cognitive behaviour. The staffs in long-term care facility and nursing home are required to set a positive mood for interaction. The body language and attitude communicates the thought and feeling of an individual better than words.The positive mood is set by speaking to the individuals in a respectful and pleasant way. To show affection and to convey message, the staff should use tone of voice and facial expression. Studies show both positive and negative attitude of staff towards the aggressive behaviour of individuals with dementia. These two domains are consistent with the theory of planned behaviour which suggests that attitudes follow from the beliefs held by individuals about the attitude’s object just as actions and intentions foll ow from attitudes.(Ajzen, 1998, p. 32). Although the personality traits and attitudes are similar in a way, attitudes are more malleable and they can change unlike the personality traits. This means that although most of the caregivers’ attitudes toward aggressive individuals with dementia are negative, they can be changed through appropriate training. Negative and positive attitudes are associated with various forms of care used to prevent the aggressive behaviour from continuing.Acknowledging the relationship between care for individuals with dementia and attitudes, and indication of the effectiveness the positive needs-based approach in reducing aggression can prompt change in the attitudes of the staff. According to the findings of the study carried out by Nakahira et al. (2008, pp. 13 on attitudes towards dementia-related aggression among staff, staff characteristics such as level of education, years of experience, position, occupation and age are related to their attitu des. Staffs with higher position, more clinical experience and the older ones have positive attitudes towards patients’ aggression.It is therefore believed that education factors, and clinical experience influences the attitudes of the staff towards patient’s aggression hence appropriate education can be used to influence the negative attitudes of the staff towards aggressive individuals with dementia Based on the findings of the study carried out by Middleton et al. (1999) carried out to compare the staff’s attitude towards aggressive behaviour of patients with dementia in traditional unit and in special care unit, the staffs from the special care unit have sympathetic towards aggressive individuals with dementia than the staff in traditional unit.Although aggressive behaviour is more in special care unit than in traditional unit, the staff at the special care unit understands that the behaviours are part of the dementia disease thus they do not feel that the p atients intentionally directs the aggressiveness towards them as is it believed by staffs in traditional unit. Furthermore, the staffs’ attitudes and decision-making can be influenced by organisational factors. Staffs working in dementia units of gerontological and mental hospitals within acute hospitals have negative attitudes towards aggressive patients.By measuring the attitudes of staff towards aggressive individual s with dementia, areas requiring skill improvement or education can be identified and it can be used over time to monitors changes in attitudes. Staff education to change the negative attitudes should advocate that there are possibilities of unmet needs among individuals with dementia, and that aggressive behaviour is a form of communication used by the patient and that efforts to understand the message conveyed by the patient, and attempts to meet the possibly unmet needs lowers the aggression incidences.Conclusion Incidences of disruptive behavioural problem s such as agitation, aggression, rest-activity pattern and sleep wake disturbance are reported to be high in people with dementia. The specific determinants of disruptive behaviour are still unclear but predisposing factors are considered to be associated with the external factors such as the negative staff attitudes and environment. Environment has been increasingly recognized as a significant therapeutic element in care of individuals with dementia.Moreover, it is the major component in progressively lowered stress threshold model which states that the ability to adapt in individuals with dementia declines as the dementia progresses, the care givers should reduce the environmental demands to ensure that the level of the environmental demands is congruent with the abilities of individuals with dementia. Basically, disruptive behaviours are more often when the stress threshold of an individual is exceeded.Most of the intervention strategies given in the literature engage manipulatio n of physical and social environments to meet the unique needs and personalities of individuals with dementia. Patient-centred dementia care is recommended as it is based on the ethic that regardless of disabilities, all human beings have absolute value and need to be respected, and on the convictions that just like all other human beings, people with dementia are capable of living a fulfilling live.The principle central to patient-centred dementia care is that the life experience of the individuals, their network relationships and unique personalities should be valued and considered with constant attention by the staff giving the care. Staff education to change the negative attitudes should advocate that there are possibilities of unmet needs among individuals with dementia, and that aggressive behaviours are forms of communication used by the patient and that efforts to understand the message conveyed by the patient, and attempts to meet the possibly unmet needs lowers the aggress ion incidences. References: Ajzen, I (1988). Attitudes, behaviour and personality. Buckingham: Open University. Kitwood, T (1996). Building up mosaic of good practice. J DementCAre, 3, 12-13. Kitwood, T (1999). When your heart wants to remember: person- centred dementia care in RCN Nursing update. Nursing standards, 13, 1-22. Kitwood, T. (1997a). Dementia reconsidered: the person comes first. Buckingham: Open University, pp. 7-8, 91, Middle ton JI, Stewart NJ & Richardson. (1999) Caregivers distress; related to disruptive behaviours on special care units versus traditional long-term care units. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 25, 11-19. Morgan, D.G., & Stewart, N.J. (1997). The importance of the social environment in Dementia care. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 19(6), 740-761 Nakahira, Miwa, Moyle, Wedy, Creedy, Debra and Hitomi, Hiroe. (2008). Attitudes towards dementia-related aggression among staff among Japanese aged care setting. Clinical Nursing Journal, 18, 807- 816. Ryden, M, Bossenmaier, M and McLahlan, C (1991). Aggressive behaviour in cognitively impaired home residents.   Research in Nursing and Health14, 87-95. Sife, W (1998).   After stroke: enhancing quality of life. New York: Haworth, pp. 129-42 Thorngate W (1999).   Forget me not: some comments on  Ã‚  Ã‚   self-esteem among Alzheimer’s sufferers. Culture and Psychology, 5, 33-39.