Advertising and Its Effect on the Demand Curve

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND ECON7002 Markets in Action Advertising and its effect on the demand curve Markets in Action Advertising and its effect on the demand curve Advertisement has always been an important market strategy for firms to accomplish their goals. From cereal companies to airline companies, it is inevitable to go through the process of advertising. However, what purpose does advertising serve for consumers and suppliers in the market? In this report, it is to examine the relationship between advertising and the market demand curve.Moreover, the impact that advertising brings toward the consumers and the company supplying the product or service. It is no doubt that peoples’ income is always limited relatively to peoples’ wants. Consumers therefore have to make choices among different products and services (P&S) to satisfy their unlimited wants with limited income. Firms take advantage of this issue by advertising the P&S they produce to increase their pro fits. There are two primary motives for companies to advertise their products and services.The first motive is to shift the demand curve to the right, meaning an increase in market demand for a product/service. The second motive is to lower the elasticity of the demand curve, meaning the demand for a product/service is less affected when the price of that product/service changes (Sloman, Norris & Garratt 2010). There are a number of reasons that causes a demand curve to shift to the right. In the case of advertisement, changing the preferences and tastes of the consumers can have a significant effect on demand.By enhancing the taste and preference of consumers, it draws new and inexperienced customers to purchase the product/service (Acharyya & Mukherjee 2003). Therefore, advertising brings a firm’s product/service to more people’s attention and increases the people’s desire for purchasing it. Advertisements can also eliminate the possible limitations in the kno wledge of consumers and familiarize them with new information about the product/service. Consumers can not review the qualities and values for most products and services in the market until it is purchased, such as kitchen appliances or automobiles.With providing information about the product/service by advertisements, the firm aims to influence the purchasing decision and raise the willingness to pay of the consumers (Erdem, Keane & Sun 2007). For example, SONY can change the consumer’s purchasing preference and taste by conducting a computer technology exhibition that displays the relevant technology information about the computers. Another example is McDonalds creating a television commercial about shaker fries to inform customers about this new product. Below is a figure illustration that shows the effect of advertising by a rightward shift in the demand curve.With the supply curve unaffected, it can be seen that the quantity demanded increases from Q to Q’ when th e demand curve shifts to the right. As for the price of the product/service, it increases from P to P’. Figure1. Effect of advertising by a rightward shift in the demand curve Price elasticity is the responsiveness of consumer demand when the price of the product/service rises or falls. Firms therefore use advertisements to affect consumers purchasing decisions by compelling people to buy their product/service over competitors. This means to make their product/service highly inelastic relatively compared to their competitor’s substitutes.So what factors influence the price elasticity of demand? In this report, five determinants are examined. The first factor is the number and closeness of substitute product/service. For companies that have monopoly power such as oil and electricity, an advertising scheme is usually unnecessary as consumer demand are already consistent regardless of a change in price. On the other hand, firms that have competitors attempts to use advert ising plans to create product differentiation. The second factor is the proportion of income spent on the product/service.Product/service purchases which have a small portion to total expenditure tends to have a lower elasticity, since consumers has less difficulty with the extra expenditure when prices go up. For example, salt and pepper. The third factor is whether the product/service is a luxury or a necessity. Products/services which are necessary goods tend to be more inelastic as they are used to fulfill the basic needs of a consumer even if the prices go up. Whereas luxury goods are more elastic as purchases can be postponed to the future. For example, laundry detergent is a necessity and Tiffany & Co jewelry is a luxury.The forth factor is whether or not the product/service is addictive. Products/services that are habit forming tend to be inelastic as they are required to satisfy the habit of the consumer. For example, cigarettes and alcohol beverages are addictive goods. Th e last but not the least factor is the amount of time consumers have to respond to a change in the price. With a longer time period, the elasticity of demand is more elastic as consumers have more time to adjust their purchasing habit (Welker 2010). In a competitive industry such as electronic products and clothing, the demand curves are most likely elastic.Advertising attempts to make the demand curve of the product/service more inelastic by utilizing the first and third factor in the previous paragraph. Creating more product differentiation to their substitutes and making their products as a necessity. A major method of product differentiation is to instill consumers with brand loyalty. With brand loyal consumers, they are willing to purchase at higher price for the intangible effects of the product/service. Slogans and Logos are popular schemes to familiarize consumers with brand names and increase brand loyalty (Patti 1977).For example, â€Å"Because you are worth it† by L’Oreal Cosmetics and â€Å"Buy it, sell it, love it† from eBay (Oak 2011). Advertisements can change the consumer’s relative evaluation of substitutes by leading them to believe that the substitute brands are inferior. For example, commercial battles between Apple and Blackberry. Nowadays, persuasive advertisements have reshaped the purchasing habit of consumers with culture and life background, leading consumers to think products/services are a necessary good such as cereals for breakfast (Acharyya & Mukherjee 2003).Next page is a figure illustration that shows the effect of advertising by a decrease in elasticity in the demand curve. With the same price rise P to P’, it can be seen that the quantity demanded decreases by a larger amount from Q to Q1 when the demand curve is elastic (curve D). On the other hand, the more inelastic curve (curve D’) has a relatively smaller quantity decrease from Q to Q2. Figure2. Effect of advertising by a decreas e in elasticity in the demand curve Figure3. Effect of advertising by a change in the demand curve With both a decrease in elasticity and a rightward shift in the demand curve, sales are increased from Q?P to Q’? P’. This is due to firms can now charge a higher price in a less competitive environment. So how do companies advertise their products/services? Firms advertise advertisement through a number of mediums, including emails and mails such as Dominos pizza, magazines such as Marc Jacob, bulletin boards such as Billabong, Radio announcements such as AAMI, television ads such as Optus and Yellow pages etc. Companies spend a significant amount of capital and time to plan a strategy to persuade people to purchase products.Some common strategy techniques includes celebrity testimonial, claiming that their products is desirable and consumed by many people, authority endorsements, slogan and logos etc (Gladen 2008). An advertising strategy of Apple is to gain brand loyal ty of consumers while charging at a higher price. Apple posts new advertisements continuously on the internet with branding strategy that focuses on peoples’ emotion such as lifestyle, imagination, aspirations, passion and dreams. It also uses advertisements to show an indefinable â€Å"cool† element associated with every new innovation devices that they produce.The demand for Apple products will therefore inevitably be increased by bringing in new customers and increasing the desire of purchase. Another technique is to show that competitors such as Microsoft PCs and Blackberry phones are an inferior product. For example, Apple created the ad â€Å"Mac vs. PC (Deny or allow)† to indicate that it is worth paying higher price for a virus-free Mac then a Microsoft PC (Marketing minds, 2011). For cosmetic brand Cover Girl, one of their strategies is to create a slogan to facilitate brand recognition. This leads to product demand curve becoming more inelastic.Almost all firms create a unique slogan to bolster and augment its business branding. Cover Girl uses â€Å"Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Cover Girl† as their slogan in advertisements. Moreover, they use celebrity endorsements including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Jennifer O’Nell and etc. as the face of their brand. Cover Girl also has a $100,000 US contact with America’s next top model every season (the most global popular modeling reality TV show). Celebrity enforcements work in a way that consumers identify themselves with the celebrity in the advertisements, and are mostly likely to increase demand in targeted consumers (Wikipedia, 2011).Advertisements have both advantages and disadvantages towards the consumers and the company supplying the products/services. The advantages for consumers include alerting people to products/services that fulfills the niche requirements they have such as tastes, preference, lifestyle and etc. Moreover, consumers have better access to the prod uct/service information and guidance. On the other hand, disadvantages include overstating the effectiveness of the product/service and mislead the consumers to make bad purchasing decisions.It also creates dissatisfaction for some people as their income cannot afford the desired product. Advertising appeals can also affect people’s health by promoting alcohol and cigarettes. For companies that supplies the products and services, advantages include increasing the exposure and awareness of the new developed products/services to consumers. Increase sales and profit if advertising scheme is successful. The form of online advertising using YouTube and other video sharing websites decreases the costs of supply.However, disadvantage includes spending excessive money on celebrity endorsements or on AFL half-time broadcast with no significant profit gains (Akrani 2010). Successful firms have a good understanding in who purchases their products, why consumers purchase their products a nd what advertising strategy to utilize to influence consumers purchasing decision. From this report, it can be seen that companies use a variety of advertisement plans to increase the demand of their products/services as well as to reduce the elasticity of the products/services.By changing the demand curve with a rightward shift and with a steeper slope, the main goal that firms are trying to achieve is to increase the sales and profits. Some advertising strategies might induce disadvantages to consumers and suppliers, but with suppliers applying the most suitable strategy by research and evaluation, it is more likely that both parties will benefit from the advertising result. Reference Sloman, J, Norris, K & Garratt, D 2010, Principles of economics, 3rd edition, Pearson Australia, NSW Australia Acharyya, R & Mukherjee D 2003, ‘Advertisement and Markets’, Economic and political weekly, Vol. 8, No. 50, pp. 5236-5239 Erdem, T, Keane, MP & Sun, B 2008, ‘The impact o f advertising on consumer price sensitivity in experience goods markets’, Quant market economics, Vo. 6, pp. 139-176 Patti, CH 1977, ‘Evaluating the role of advertising’, Journal of advertising, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 30-35 Welker, J 2010, The role of advertising in determining price elasticity of demand, viewed 27 Sep 2011, http://welkerswikinomics. com/blog/2010/10/04/im-proud-to-be-a-canadian-and- i-like-beer/ Oak, M 2011, Famous commercial slogans, viewed 27 Sep 2011, http://www. buzzle. com/ articles/famous-commercial-slogans. tml Gladen, NR 2011, Advertising and persuasive strategies, viewed 28 Sep 2011, http://naomi- rockler-gladen. suite101. com/advertising-persuasion-techniques-a52647 Marketing Minds 2010, Apple’s branding strategy, viewed 28 Sep 2011, http://www. marketing minds. com. au/branding/apple_branding_strategy. html Wikipedia 2011, Cover Girl, viewed 28 Sep 2011, http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/CoverGirl Akrani, G 2010, Advertising-Advertisi ng management features and benefits, viewed 29 Sep 2011, http://kalyan-city. blogspot. com/2010/07/5-ms-of-advertising-advertising. html

Factors of Chinese Art Market Essay

The Chinese possess the longest continuous cultural history of any of the peoples of the world (Sickman. L, 1968). In recent years, pushed by the huge economic growth in Asia, the fine art market rise sharply within Asia, especially China, changed the geographical structure of the global art market. The Chinese government set up some preferential policies to promote the fine art market because they see the great economic potential in this flied. In 2011, China has a 49% growth of artworks in auction revenue, becoming the first global marketplace for the sale of art. Although the transaction volume of China (10.8%) was behind USA and France, the auction revenue (41.4%) was the first of the world (Artprice, Trend of art market 2011) . This means China is becoming the central of high price fine art market. In 2011, a painting with calligraphy which was painted by Qi Baishi, †Eagle Standing on Pine Tree; Four-Character Couplet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  was sold for 4.255 Yuan(about 65 million US dollars) in Beijing by China Guardian auction company, a record high for contemporary and modern Chinese paintings and calligraphy(China Guardian Auctions). As Chinese fine art market growing quickly in last few years, more and more researches and studies have been done by both Chinese and other foreign people, this essay will focus on some factors behind the market and analysis how the factors influence the Chinese fine art market. And the analysis can be dividing into four sections, cultures, history events and policies, buyers and marketing channels. First of all, this essay is going to find out the difference between the western countries people and the Chinese people in culture of collecting aspect and work of art aspect. There is some strong culture which is really to be changed in any country and this will completely change the way people treat art works in a country. Just because people treat art works differently, every country’s fine art market culture is unique, and this can influence the market automatically. For example when Chinese people selling antiques, they always leave a large gap between the quote and the deal price to wait buyers to bargain because Chinese people believe buyers will feel happy and they have brought the antique in a cheaper price. Secondly, history events and policies linkage to the Chinese fine art market will be mentioned. Through the history events (such as the reform and open up in 1978 and joining the WTO in 2001) and policies (like import and export trading policies) to analysis how these events and changes influence the Chinese fine art market. A cultural repatriation has been in the spotlight a great deal from 2000, with the sale of the Yuan Ming Yuan bronze fountainheads, then the Chinese government has attach more importance to the fine art trade after it(Wang. A, 2012). Actually, modern Chinese fine art market starts after the reform and open up in 1978 and today becoming the first place of the marketplace for the sale of art. Also according the Tariff implementation plan 2012 of China, the import duty of art work decreased from 12% to 6% (General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China), this promoted the fine art market, in the first half of 2012, the trading amounts reach 210.8 billion Yuan (Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China), which means China has been overtaken the USA, becoming the top art market. Then, this paper will explore different kinds of buyers and find out their purchasing intention. In this section, it will be a case study about the different buyers by having an interview with an antiquary and a staff of an international auction company. Antique buyers have different purchasing intention; some of them are shop holders or agencies buying art works for selling, some of them are art fanciers buying art works for collecting, some of them buying art work as investment, and there are some people just want to show their social status or financial position through buying expensive art works. Through the interview, more purchasing intention will carry out so that it will be more clear that how different buyers can influence the fine art market all around the world differently. The last section of this essay will talk about the marketing channels aspect. Chinese antiques can be seen in auction houses, trade fairs, art galleries, fine art shops all around the world(Artprice, Trend of art market 2011), People come together to appreciate or buy antiques. Furthermore, some private trade happens a lot without noticed by the mass. Different marketing channels have its own characteristics and price levels so that it could attract its own target audience. Although the market of Chinese antiques is growing in a very high speed, some scholars still have some issues to worry. As Audrey Wang mentioned (2012), some speculators believed that Chinese art market is an indomitable force and become the first place in volumes of sale of fine art. On the other hand, sceptics claim that the current trend as merely a bubble and today’s China is not ready yet to experience a full economic cycle of growth and decline. When a group of Chinese curio dealer visit the 25th of TEFAF which hold in the Nederland, they were not only shocked by the fine art work’s quality and authenticity, but also the seller’s integrity and normative. When they ask for some background and information about an antique, the vendor just read from the testimonial but not making an attractive story. The Chinese fine art market is still not mature because more standard rules or policies are needed. Lastly, the high speed growth of the Chinese fine art market might cause some mislead about the art. Quite a lot of people will regard high price as high quality in the fine art market, this is completely a misunderstanding for the art works. Therefore some scholars argue that the great growth could destroy the culture and art, this will be also discussed in this essay. Bibliography: Sickman, L (1968) The Art and Architecture of China, Yale University Press, London Wang, A (2012) Chinese Antiquities, an introduction to the art market, Lund Humphries, Surrey. TEFAF https://www.tefaf.com/ Artprice, Trend of art market 2011 http://imgpublic.artprice.com/pdf/trends2011_en.pdf (2013-01-07) China Guardian Auctions http://english.cguardian.com/ (2013-01-07) Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China http://www.chinaculture.org/index.html (2013-01-07) General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China http://english.customs.gov.cn/tabid/47800/Default.aspx (2013-01-07)

Biography of William Shakespeare Essay

William Shakespeare was born in 1564, supposedly on 22 or 23 April, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father, John, who was a prosperous glover there, preparing and selling soft leather, became alderman and later high bailiff. Shakespeare was educated at Stratford Grammar School. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway – eight years older than he and already, she was pregnant. Six months later their daughter Susanna was born. They had twins, a boy Hamnet and a girl named Judith, two years later. There are no records of Shakespeare’s life during the seven years that followed, ? the lost years’. But by 1592 he was already an established actor and playwright in London. He joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594, working as a leading actor and dramatist. By 1599 this all-male company of experienced and talented players – no women appeared on the stage until the Restoration – had built their own theatre, the Globe. Its owners were seven member of the company, including Shakespeare himself, who shared in its profits. For the next decade the Globe, on the Thames at Bankside, was to be London’s chief theatre, and the home of Shakespeare’s work. Many of his greatest plays were written during these ten years, and were acted there. Both Queen Elizabeth, and after her James I, showed the company many favors. In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, the Globe was destroyed by fire. But the Lord Chamberlain’s men, by now called the King’s Men, had four years earlier leased a second, smaller playhouse, the Blackfriars. This was an indoor theatre, unlike the Globe which was open to the sky, and it had the technical facilities for scenic effects – a fact which probably accounts for the spectacular element in Shakespeare’s late plays. In 1612, Shakespeare, it seems, went home. His son Hamnet had died when only eleven, but his two daughters were in Stratford-upon-avon with his wife Anne. He was now a wealthy man and had, as long before as 1597, bought a handsome house, New Place, the second largest in Stratford. It had two gardens, two orchards, and two barns. Here, with his family, he spent the last years of his life. Shakespeare remained friends with actors and poets, worked sometimes, and visited London. He bought a house in Blackfriars in 1613. He died on April 23rd, 1616, after entertaining Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton at New Place. He is buried at Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-avon. He wrote thirty-seven plays.

Computers and Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Computers and Learning - Essay Example Majority of the PCs in the college use Microsoft Operating System although some of the computers are still running on Office 97. The college has achieved a milestone in networking all the computers although not all PCs have been networked but there is increased trend of networking them. With a population of about 3000 students, the University has been thinking of providing laptop to the student the expense of which will be reduced from their fees. There has been increased pressure to make sure that the students accept the offer of the laptops because whether they accept them or not, they will still be charged in the school fees. This has been in line with the introduction of my Course system in the university website which is used by lecturers to post notes and exercises. There has also been declining number of student who are attending lecturer since they can download everything from the internet. How can the college achieve a competitive edge through the harmonization of the usage of the internet The aim of the university in introducing the use of computers has been to ensure that there is efficient delivery of services. ... tion this is one of the most important strategies that the university can use in order to achieve maximum use of computer technology in the university. If the university chose to sell the existing PCs and buying new ones, then the first step would be to find a way of storing the data based in the computers and then selling all of them. Then they would come up with a procurement procedure that will ensure that all the constituent colleges buys from one supplier. With a central supply system the university will be able to standardize the computer which is supplied to all the colleges. The university would then install all the computers with the require programs. This strategy would lead to loss of most of the data which may lead to distribution of the system though this may be the most efficient way of achieving the strategy, it will come with many disadvantages. However the greatest risk to the option remains in the way the university will be able to handle the risk of loss of the data contained in the PCs. One of the advantages with the option would be that the university will be able to acquire standardize computers and hence it would be easy for maintenance since the same company can be hired for the operation. (Bardini, 1995, p. 43) But on the other hand the university can choose to upgrade the current PCs that they are using in order to come up with new ones. The will involve increasing the various component of the computer instead of buying new ones. Therefore the best strategy would be hiring of IT specialist who will upgrade the PCs to use more upgraded memory and operating speed One advantage with this strategy will be that it will be easy to handle the database since it wills income upgrading one computer at a time. Therefore the data can be transferred

Influential Type Designer paper (Akira Kobayashi) Assignment

Influential Type Designer paper (Akira Kobayashi) - Assignment Example Akira Kobayashi was born in the year 1960. He undertook his studies at Murashimo Art University in Japan for four years until 1983 before proceeding for a calligraphy course at the London School of Printing. Even though the type designer did not benefit from the United States military scholarships for education at that time, he managed to carve for himself a successful career out his art studies (Kobayashi 1-2). Akira worked as a freelance type designer from 1997 to 2001, during which he won himself numerous accolades in type designing competitions. Since 2001, Akira has been the Type Director at Linotype Library. During his reign at the company, Akira has overseen the completion of numerous typefaces that have received immense appreciation from art scholars across the world. Recently, a type designer completed his Optima nova family in collaboration with the original designer, Professor Zapf Hermann. Akira Kobayashi is arguably the most accomplished type designers of his time. His dedication to the realm of typefaces has earned him very many awards and prices over a career that has spanned for close to three decades. Some of his most outstanding achievements include the following: The informal new brush typeface is characterized by a unique, streaky appearance. It was created with a brush before getting refined in order to give its font an even, overall texture. The font has proved to be very effective in big display applications in which a casual, immediate effect is desired. This is a contemporary sans serif typeface that derives its character from the Italian scripts from the Italian Renaissance. The typographer has utilized an extremely stylish and rational approach in designing an inspired modern Adobe Originals adaptation through the Calcite Pro. The typeface’s geometric form and its near crystalline texture elicit images of the mineral element from which its name has been derived. The dynamic appearance of the typeface adds a strong

Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None Essay

Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None - Essay Example Lawrence Wargrave, being a judge, it seems is being alluded to here. The second verse says that â€Å"one got in Chancery†. Perhaps Judge Wargrave is not the one who dies but the one who commits the murder. Being a judge, â€Å"getting in to Chancery†, all imply the notions of the meting out of justice. Perhaps, it can be argued, that Wargrave feels he has the right to punish these people who are guilty of murder (in some way or another). His last name â€Å"Wargrave† is not a common name, and could also be Christie’s way of telling us that the man perceives himself to be a soldier of justice of some kind, going to war against those he believes to be wrong; digging their â€Å"graves†. The immediate conclusion that one could spring to is that the next victim could be Philip Lombard. The use of â€Å"red herring† could signal in this case, to Lombard’s underestimation of Vera Claythorne. What he assumes her to be, and what she potentially could be, could lead to his possible demise; which leads us to another conclusion – that Claythorne could also be the murderer. This is not the only conclusion however. Whilst Claythorne could also be a murderer she might simply just be more resourceful than Lombard assumed her to be, and so saves herself from a sticky situation. Apart from Wargrave, the only other individual who seems to be a potential candidate is Blore. He is a former policeman, and might have similar notions of delivering justice, as presumed in the case of Wargrave. He also takes charge often which could be his way of manipulating the

High Oil and Gas Prices Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

High Oil and Gas Prices - Research Paper Example Global oil consumption has been another main reason (Millender-McDonald 1). China being one of the leading oil importing countries has added to the global oil demand by its continuous progress. The automobile industry in the United States has also added to the global oil consumption as it consumes around one-fourth of the total global oil. So is the case with US chemical industry (Liveris 1). The surge in oil demand has resulted because of low interest rates all over the world. Moreover, investors invest in oil business so as to minimize the risk of devaluation of their other businesses because when oil prices rise, the cost of all investments and businesses also rise (crack spread) which results in greater revenues and profits, and this makes the oil prices go up (Overdahl 3). Unfortunate events, like Hurrican Katrina and Rita, also caused oil prices to rise (Matthews 1). Jeffords, James M. â€Å"Clean Air Regulations and Natural Gas Prices.† Congressional Testimony,. MAS Ultra - School Edition, 2006. Web. 16 Sep 2011. . Liveris, Andrew. â€Å"Natural Gas Supply and Prices.† FDCH Congressional Testimony. MAS Ultra - School Edition, 2005. Web. 16 Sep 2011. . Matthews, Dan. â€Å"Mitigating Impact of High Gas Prices.† FDCH Congressional Testimony. MAS Ultra - School Edition, 2005. Web. 16 Sep 2011. . Millender-McDonald, Juanita. â€Å"Effect of High Natural Gas Prices on Small Businesses.† FDCH Congressional Testimony. MAS Ultra - School Edition, 2006. Web. 16 Sep 2011. . Overdahl, James A. (2005). â€Å"Rising gasoline Prices.† FDCH Congressional

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin Essay

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin - Essay Example All artists are shaped by their background and experience in life. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec came from an aristocratic family and was fascinated by theatres and Parisian dance halls. In early teens Henri broke his legs which lead to a deformity in his physical structure. This unfortunate experience controlled his art forms to a great degree. His love of painting equestrian objects reflects his passion for riding, of which, in reality, he was unable to do. When he paints a horse-drawn carriage the thoroughbreds and their vibrant beauty becomes alive on the canvas. Since he would be ridiculed for his physical deformity to a certain degree, he preferred to spend time in company of the eccentric and other depraved human beings, where his deformity would go unnoticed. His outlook of life was pessimistic to a certain degree. He took refuge in alcohol as he would take refuge in human degradation. His paintings would depict life not only in its stark reality, but also his keen observation of human character. Lautrec’s work is characterised by highly individual interpretation of forms. One may even call him a graphic artist. His lines are bold, expressive and restless and bring out the emotional intensity of his subjects. Toulouse-Lautrec was influenced by Degas in the sense that dance-halls and dancers were attractive to both. However, while Degas concentrates on perfecting small details, Luatrec sees life on a much grander scale. He understands that a crowd may assume a complete different personality. than the men and women who make it up. Placing anonymous models in the foreground he would sum up the character of his compositions. His most famous paintings include the series on Moulin Rouge and one of its important can-can dancers Jane Avril. Toulouse-Lautrec is also well known for the posters he made to advertise dance or musical performances in cafes and theatres. He would outline his figures but only color the images partially to draw attention. Sometimes h e would draw caricatures of famous dancers like Jane Avril to make the posters more attractive. In his posters and lithographs broad flat colors and graphic outlines were influenced by Gauguin’s style. Lautrec died young, at the age of thirty-seven, a pessimist already notorious for his portrayal of human degradations. Gauguin, on the other hand, was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and started working as a stockbroker. Only later he turned to a full-time artist. He was a friend of Pissaro and had

Social Activism and Taiwan Sunflower Movement Essay - 4

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Ethics in Free Market Economy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethics in Free Market Economy - Research Paper Example Social justice issues related to the costs of group membership can come up in any size of a group. Benefits of group membership are also allocated through social justice mechanisms. There are certain distributive principles of social justice out of which Neo-liberal or Libertarian view will be discussed (Barusch, 2009). (Somerville & Sprigings, 2005) The distributive principle of libertarian concept says: From each according to his choice; to each according to his product (Barusch, 2009). Allocation of resources according to a product is central under the libertarian view of distribution. Libertarians believe in liberty over equality. They are of the opinion that inequality is acceptable and fosters social being and welfare in a society. Equal treatment in distribution ultimately leads to unequal distribution of resources. This is the price for freedom and government need not interfere (Barusch, 2009). Libertarians focus on the benefits of a free market over a system controlled by th e government. The reason being a free market society enjoys greater productivity among its workers and greater incentive to generate capital (Barusch, 2009). Free Market Economy Supporters of the free market economy claim that individuals should be allowed to make contracts with others regarding wages and prices and profits. People should be free to compete with each other to gain maximum benefit. They believe that if markets are set free, the outcome will be just and fair distribution of gains and responsibilities in society. People who support a free market economy will never support unregulated markets (Finifter, 2009). Free markets ensure the efficient distribution of goods to those who grab the opportunities to obtain their desired products and services. Free markets operate on people’s demands. They produce only those products which are demanded by the consumers. Consumers set their desired price. Free markets work for people, for the betterment and welfare of the socie ty (Boyes & Melvin, 2009). In free markets, prices are determined by both buyers and sellers in the market.

Entrepreneurship Master Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Entrepreneurship Master - Assignment Example Craftadelic was set up in January 2004, a little over two years ago, by an individual who loved to make handmade greetings cards, using items found from her worldwide travels. Following a visit to a local craft store - Hobbycraft - the individual saw that crafts were very popular with other people, and started to think that there may be a future in selling the items she had found on her travels. Many people had commented on her cards, and when she had exhibited at local craft fairs, selling her cards, many people had asked her where the items she had used on her cards were from, and if they could be brought - other people therefore seemed interested in using the same items on their cards, as the items were very unusual, obviously reasonably priced, and of high quality. This fact, coupled with the fact that the local craft store was full of people buying supplies for their crafts, suggested that there would be a strong market for the goods she was thinking of selling. Within a few months of thinking of the idea to set up the business, her personal circumstances had changed, following a car accident, which caused damage to her shoulder and hands, and which left her unable to work on her main job (writing). At this point, she decided to use some of her savings to set up the craft business. She set about buying stock in bulk from her suppliers, whose names/addresses/business terms she had gathered on her travels. She had also located some British suppliers for some craft supplies that were too heavy, and therefore not cost effective, to post from abroad in small, initial, quantities (for example, card). It soon became apparent that in order to be able to buy in bulk from some suppliers, she had to prove her trading status, and so the decision was made at this point to register for VAT, which would give the business credibility, and which would be necessary anyway, as it was expected, from market research, that the business would be trading over the VAT threshold within its first few months of sale, and definitely within the first year of trading. Whilst the supplies were arriving, she made the decision that the business had to be run through an online store front, in order to catch the greatest number of customers, and in order that no initial outlay was made on renting premises, as in this way, the business could initially be run from her home, through the website. She set about using her local contacts to find someone who would be able to build the website for her, as she did not possess the relevant skills, and was not able, anyway, in her physical condition, to work on such a large project, involving such a lot of computer time. After a few months, the website was developed, through a collaborative process between the web designer and the individual. Many issues came up in the design process, such as branding and imaging of the business, graphic design, methods of payment acceptance etc., and in order to deal with these issues at the time of initiation of the business, and in an easily manageable, ongoing, manner, a plan was created by the individual for the development and implementation of these issues. For example, analyzing the set-up costs versus the ease of use, it was decided that PayPal would be used as a payment processor, not any of the more expensive payment processors (such as WorldPay), as many crafters use PayPal, as eBay

Motivation and Compensation Essay Example for Free

Motivation and Compensation Essay Attrition problems occur when an organization is going through changes. Magic Graffix seems to be having problems with recruiting, training, and retaining employees. The gradual reduction of a workforce by employees leaving and not being replaced rather than by their being laid off is called attrition. Attrition can be explained after a little digging to see where the problem actually occurs. The problem of diminishing employees for Magic Graffix is happening because the employees are not motivated to complete the task at hand. HR has been assigned a budget to come up with a plan to correct the problem. A number of steps must occur to correct the attrition such as finding out why the problems exist and trying to see how to make it better gradually. Attrition starts when employees start to leave an organization. The question is when it is first noticed what can be done to correct the issue so that it does not get any worse. The Magic Graffix simulation enables suggestions that would help in escalating the problem and correcting it. Conducting an employee survey, as well as commissioning, â€Å"Who is Smiling† is the first steps to combating the problem. The employee survey will allow the organization to get a feel or sense of how the employee thinks and what he or she is feeling towards the organization. The survey will also allow for seeking any areas that need improvement as the employee see it. Commissioning, â€Å"Who is Smiling† will allow the organization to see how other employees in similar organizations feel about the industry and his or her organization. The next step was to determine the needs of the employee in each area of the organization. I have decided that employees are less concerned with his or job descriptions or the training provided; however they are concerned with benefits and compensation so this is an area that needs to be looked into closely. Our employees want to be compensated for a job well done; he or she would like to have a salary that is comparable to others in the industry. Pay is a key motivating factor for the employees, so correcting the pay scale is a good place to start. The employees are also not concerned with the recruiting techniques. In the future after correcting the pay scale and making the pay more in-line with similar organizations Magic will look into other aspects of training for upward mobility. The next task was to identify Business Delivery needs. What I have chosen should boost morale throughout the department. Game credits will allow the developer to see that he or she is valued by the organization. It will also boost self-esteem and awareness of his or her skill in the industry. Personal projects will allow the developer to showcase his or her skills. This will allow him or her to flaunt the creative mind that he or she was hired for. Telecommuting opportunities in today’s industry is crucial to the success of an organization. As a gaming developer they need to feel comfortable when working. It may be feasible to offer telecommuting to the software and developer personnel. Telecommuting will allow for personal freedom to get the task completed in a timely manner. Developers and software personnel get burnout therefore it may be nice to offer a mini sabbatical. This will allow him or her time off to get things put in order. Time to get his or head in the right place is always a necessity. If allowed the mini sabbatical the employee will come back refreshed and invigorated full of new ideas. Compensation and benefits is an instant motivator for an employee. It would be a wise decision to structure pay and incentives around the type of job that is done by the employee for the organization. Spot performances, group incentives, individual incentives, and lump sum merit awards are the choices to support compensation and incentives. Magic has people that work as a part of a team and also individually therefore the pay, rewards, and incentives should be set up around the job title. The simulation has great ideas to correct the attrition problem however there are a few ideas that should be looked into. The first idea is the recruitment techniques. Magic has done the homework and analyzed the needs of the organization as well as the employee, putting this to use is the key to success. A recruitment plan to hire the best employee would include group or series interviewing techniques because this will allow for the organization to get a feel for the candidate and the candidate a feel for the people he or she would be working with. I would also recommend testing on the software the organization is currently using, because this will allow the organization to determine the individual skill level to complete the task. Once the person is hired it would be beneficial to sit with him or her at intervals along the way to determine if the organization is meeting his or her individual needs. At each interval the person is evaluated on his or her production and also areas are pointed out that need work. The employee will also be allowed time to give feedback to the organization. Magic Graffix is currently in a position to improve the way they utilize the employees. Magic is currently faced with trying to retain its employees as they are leaving for better jobs within the industry. Magic needs to make itself more competitive in the industry. Making the organization more competitive and offering key incentives will allow Magic to recruit the best candidates for the job.

Trade-centred Approaches to Poverty Reduction

Trade-centred Approaches to Poverty Reduction Question: In the context of the current race to meet the MDG goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2015, what advantages and disadvantages does the global community face in advancing trade-centred approaches to poverty reduction, as opposed to an agenda focused on aid. In the 2009 Millennium Development Goals Report released earlier this year, the Secretary-General noted that important progress has been made in the attempt to eradicate poverty, but yet there are still many successes on which to build. Furthermore, movement toward that goal was too slowly. (website address) `The worlds least developed countries hold 12 percent of the worlds population but account for less than one percent of global trade so expanding trade with and among developing countries is a critical driver of economic growth and poverty reduction because it encourages entrepreneurship, human resource development, technology transfer (including access to the internet) makes global partnerships easier, technological innovation and good governance all these which are necessary. A new global and regional trade environment presents the Caribbean countries with critical challenges, but also many opportunities to reposition itself as a growing and competitive region, translating into significant economic and social gains, Trade must always be reciprocal However, global integration is being conducted in a context of macroeconomic and financial imbalances. The region experienced large current account and fiscal deficits, as well as high levels of indebtedness, which in the past, slowed trade reforms and are currently a major concern in the evolving trade environment. These macroeconomic and financial imbalances are exacerbated by the current economic crisis. A trade-centred approach to eradicating poverty thus takes into consideration using import and export strategies that include making sure those goods and services are in alignment with worldwide. Trade-centred takes into consideration the skills and the services of the entrepreneur, wholesaler, distributor and manufacturer. The Websters dictionary defines as entrepreneur as : One who undertakes to start and run an enterprise or business, usually assuming full control and risk So that one has to recognize that there is an opportunity to find solutions for needs, wants, problems and challenges). Entrepreneurs must be empowered to believe that they can make the difference in advancement of their economy and that they are a part of the development process to form sustainable partnerships for the future. If trade links cannot be developed internationally then certainly attempts have to be made intra-regionally. It is hoped that the greatest resource, the people, would become more independent in owning a business would make the individual more independent and the profits would not have to go back towards paying back not the loams but the exorbitant interest on the loans. Individuals feel empowered when they have sustainable employment. But this employment should not be done in a haphazard manner but should be done with such amenities as a business plan. Financial Management, Human Resource Management and Risk Management would have a lot to play even as market research is done. Regional Institutions can be strengthened as a mechanism of trade by the coordination of regional objectives and activities with national bodies. National institutions are often those who are in charge of the trade we must try to reduce the trade costs. The Business and regulatory environment, the national Insurance and the Business levy situation must be willing to look at the changes in customer needs so that the reevaluation of the product life cycle must be regarded. The environment must continuously be one that there is going to be some investment. While many Caribbean countries (most notably Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica) have undertaken policy measures to improve their trade policy, important weaknesses remain in five major areas is the proper establishment of customs procedures and administration. Additionally, the legal framework for businesses including taxation and monitoring must be properly in place because there is going to be active competition with other members of the society. Groups must be authorized by the government and regular training and workshops must be done to be able to reach to government standard (The Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards) that again must be regulated so that there would not be any shady or illegal activity going on. The training of youth is a factor which is critical if Micro Enterprise development is to be an issue. Micro Enterprises include very small businesses that employ about 1 to five persons. The establishment of Micro Enterprises is one strategy that is use by the MDGs in the eradication of poverty. The sizes of micro enterprise businesses may be small but altogether they make up the fastest growing of the private sector that should be a vital contributor of the social and economic creating new jobs every day climate thus creating a large part of the GDP. They are engines of the creative capacity of our economy by creating internal trade which would ultimately lead to regional and global trade. A person becomes more creative in order to be a step ahead of the competition and this uniqueness sets the entrepreneur apart while he seeks to align his products to quality standards. Competition, though, must be comprehensive and everyone must be willing to participate in competition policy. We would seek to capitalize on each individuals strength and not their weakness although we know that the business environment is very competitive The government takes the opportunity, as the strength of the economy increases, to want to encourage investments from international bodies so that technology from other countries could be included and that persons may even want to get in. A country must decide which are there niche markets and using money management strategies could apply them to certain goods. Focus must be done on niche markets and knowing what other countries may have to offer when we do an analysis and know the competition. Create a workforce that is able to sustain that type of environment after thorough research has been done but we must be willing to work hard and not look for handouts. However, failures that may be as a result of overinvestment, poor credit arrangements and poor inventory management must be avoided at all costs. A vision and a mission must be established. The disadvantage of going into business would include taking along of risks, meaning that it is sometimes a lonely scene where invariably one has to work long hours. However, a company has to be careful as global competition that could be dangerous for the company. Next, one has to be wary of barriers to trade that could influence the profitability of entering a trade relationship with partners in a particular area. There are lots of risks that are involved in engaging in such an act that includes the loss of initial start-up capital. Funding Options: The whole idea of an aid focused agenda according to the Aid Guide comes with the idea of richer countries trying to do their moral duties)but instead they are really seeking their own strategic interest which can include the desire to have some say in a countrys political affairs. Thus in order for the Millenium Development Goals to be accomplished, they must be accompanied by the monitoring of donors intentions. A lot of people clamour for aid for aid for impoverished nations but it only seems that aid has allowed the poor to get poorer where there is a situation of corruption and theft of government funds that creates a spiraling effect of inflation and a lack of investment into the country and thus a slower growth of the economy. Moyos idea of aid could entrap a country as the famous Bob Marley song quoted that we need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery Aid may come in many different forms inclusive of money that is usually a loan, or receiving country must spend the gift on buying the donor countys products. Loans, though, come with many restrictions that are attached to getting the loan though you can raise capital even within a particular country without having to seek additional funding from outside sources. Next, more than half of foreign aid is usually military, is often utilized to fight the donors enemies and terrorists or is given because there is that desire to buy that countrys vote in UN, likewise other future actions. Still, countries tend rather to go this way for many different reasons including the reason that it is an easy source of financing that is readily available to the public. Additionally, though most African nations claim that aid is needed for countries to get a head start in achieving so many other factors inclusive of the development of aid, there must be proper allocation of resources and monitoring should also occurs to make sure that funds are used the way that they have been designated to be used. Then we could use what is known as the traditional method of the Sou Sou. This started as a part of the African tradition could even continue in our traditional society today as this starts with persons. Aid should not only come in the form of money but it should also be in the form of making technology available and transferring technology to various groups so that the eventually the knowledge and the skills and the training could be transferred Aid, whether or not it is given for any developmental purpose costs the taxpayer and raises national debt. Furthermore, it reduces the receiving countrys ability to produce the items they get from us (that means if we send them food, then their farmers wont be able to sell their crops for higher prices) Financing for debt and equity capital is that which is seen as an investment that does not incur any interest and this could be money. Contributors must be able to get something out of the financing that they are putting out according to Management Consultant Sajjad Hamid Even using the Micro Enterprise Development Model, aid for individual business can take the form of venture capital may be another option that is available where management could have a say in how the company is run but this idea may not have a measure of enthusiasm for most who may be the recipient of such offerings. Microfinance Institutions that are not usually regulated by the government and that are viable options for businesses for small loans, savings, insurance and other financial products for low-income families. This is where credit unions come into play. The evidence linking public investment to private capital formation and growth have grown significantly in the past few years Young people, have to be motivated to engage in agricultural production in every country. There are approximately 6.1 billion people worldwide. The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) covers the agriculture sector with low interest loans and financing for farm projects with little or no initial positive cash flow. Why dont we encourage our populations to start planting rice and wheat since for our populations as required in the daily diet so that the global community could be fed and that each country would not have imbalances in trade? Products however do not need to be a product that is manufactured itself although once this is done there could be more profits but this could also be a product that needs to be distributed. Each country must be clear on what the funds are to be used for if they are to assess aid and there must be a personal evaluation of ones financial position. There must be that ability to negotiate the terms of a contract instead of just accepting that contract. If the whole idea and the entire concept of finding what must be traded needs to be discovered then the whole environment must be scanned for the product to that is to be sold to be discovered. Small changes could make big differences. Some disadvantages of using foreign aid are that it forces an individual to remain in a dependent state meaning that instead of an individual seeking creating alternative they search out excuses to obtain more money. The acceptance of foreign aid can have the effect of opening a can of worms as it allows the international lending agency such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to interfere in the political matters of a country. Furthermore, if for some strange reason, the loan cannot be repaid that the country may have to give up some of its resources as collateral for the loan. Many persons think that it is the humanitarian thing to do to offer aid but can this be more of a hindrance than anything else. Thus in evaluating whether or not a trade-centred approach is better it can be said that a country will always be better off if this is if they can develop their trading capabilities instead of using more developed countries as their lifeboat. I am not saying that they should not advocate for help if this is going to happen then the legal framework must be strengthened ultimately for sustainable trade to continuebut at the same time this should not be a situation that lasts for an extended period of time.if aid for trade was urgent in 2007 but it is essential today. It is the investment that will allow many developing countries to prepare to exit the crisis by enhancing their trade capacity. He spoke on Jul 6 at the opening of the second Aid for Trade Review under the heading of Maintaining Momentum. REFERENCES Dambisa Moyo. DEAD AID: WHY AID IS NOT WORKING AND HOW THERE IS ANOTHER WAY FOR AFRICA. London: Allen Lane, 2009. 188 pp.  £14.99 WORLD: TRADE ALONE NOT A CURE FOR POVERTY, CLAIMS REPORT Isolda Agazzi. Global Information Network. New York: Jul 9, 2009. TRADE CAPACITY BUILDING- EXPANDING TRADE WITH, AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IS CRITICAL DRIVER OF ECONOMIC GROWTH AND POVERTY REDUCTION US Fed News Service, Including US State News. Washington, D.C.: Jul 8, 2009 CARIBBEAN/NEW WORLD BANK STUDY: TRADE INTEGRATION, KEY FOR GROWTH AND POVERTY REDUCTION US Fed News Service, Including US State News. Washington, D.C.: Apr 6, 2009. Financing SMEs: Look Ye Shall Find Business Day Newsday Thursday September 24, 2009 Pg 16, Sajjad Hamid Roads out of Poverty? Assessing the Links between Aid, Public Investment, Growth, and Poverty Reduction Pierre-Richard Agà ©nor,* Nihal Bayraktar,** and Karim El AynaouiThis version: December 23, 2004 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html By: Moyo, Dambira. Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition, 3/21/2009, Vol. 253 Issue 66, pW1-W2, 2p, 2 color, 3 bw; (AN 37020959) Database: Academic Search Complete OneWorld.net Aid Guide http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/aid?gclid=CO2B8aSkmp0CFRpdswodORx12A

Perceptions Of Rape And Sexual Assault Sociology Essay

Perceptions Of Rape And Sexual Assault Sociology Essay Through the course of this essay Irina Anderson ¿Ã‚ ½s research into rape perception will be critically analysed. This essay will firstly summarise the research and then go through each hypothesis, the methodology employed and the ideas put forward within the discussion will be assessed due to their respective strengths and weaknesses. In addition to this there will be a section commenting on the place of this research within rape research at large. Some of the problems associated with results of this research and the conclusions drawn from it will be looked at also. Finally suggestions on ways to overcome these problems will also be investigated. As this analysis takes place within the context of Social Psychology Andersons research will thus be viewed through the lens of theories relating to attitudes. This was first put forward by Allport who defined attitudes as  ¿Ã‚ ½A mental and neural state of readiness, organised through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influen ce upon the individual ¿Ã‚ ½s response to all objects and situations with which it is related ¿Ã‚ ½ (Allport,1935 p.810). due to the gendered nature of rape perception this research is much needed in building a frame work for how rape is seen by the public. The abstract is very clear and to the point and succinctly condenses the research. The three hypothesises under investigation are what is the current perception of female rape, whether this perception is applicable to male rape or are there elements of cultural lag in male rape. Despite previous research it was found that these hypothesises were proved wrong during the study During the introduction these foundation of the hypothesises under investigation are laid. It was found that past research had shown that female rape was most commonly seen  ¿Ã‚ ½stranger rape ¿Ã‚ ½. The Stranger rape stereotype (SRS) is a script which constructs rape as occurring between two people who do not know each other, the act usually happens at night with the  ¿Ã‚ ½struggling victim subdued ¿Ã‚ ½, etc. However studies have shown that contrary to this scenario the vast majority of female rapes 78-84% (Gavey 2005, Koss 1988) are committed by males known to the victim this disparity between official statistics and public perceptions is part of the basis of this study. It is argues that changes in rape perception, brought on by demystifying of rape myths by the media , the breakdown of gender roles and reports which suggest that a broader definition of rape is being used have combined to contribute to the complete rejection of the traditional SRS paradigm into that of ac quaintance rape. Though Gavey p 17-49 has examined the move away from traditional stranger rape paradigm, especially from the 1970 ¿Ã‚ ½s onward, a complete reversal of public thinking does not seem to be completely supported. However as participants within this study were asked to  ¿Ã‚ ½generate their own lists of information ¿Ã‚ ½ it was expected that an answer to this question would be found through the course of Andersons research. One of the most important points that can be drawn from the introduction is what seem to be a lack of research following on from Kahn ¿Ã‚ ½s work regarding a concrete separation of and definition of public attitudes to the differences between acquaintance rape and seduction (Kahn 2004). The overlap between these terms as outlined by Kahn may lead to general confusion and it may be argued that without a clear differentiation between these terms present research into the conceptualisation of female rape may be hampered. In order to address these questions, this current research is vital is analysing what a female rape will be conceptualised as. The results pertaining to the first hypothesis are analysed within the discussion section, which is the well structured and logical it begins by addressing the first findings regarding the first hypothesis was directly contradicted by the results of the experiment. It is well argued that a possible reason for this opposition was due in part to the problems  ¿Ã‚ ½blame attribution ¿Ã‚ ½ where by participants described scenarios in which the victim would be less likely to  ¿Ã‚ ½invite societal blame ¿Ã‚ ½. From this analysis the issue of societal blame appears to be highly salient in rape perception. Moreover in descriptions of a typical rape Anderson asserts that respondents appear to convey scenarios in which no level of blame may be attached to the victim and suggests that further research should concentrate on whether participants are describing what they see as the reality of typical rapes or if other factors, namely blame attribution play a part in the results. Research c learing up this ambiguity would do much to further the study of public rape perception. The second intention of Anderson ¿Ã‚ ½s research is to ascertain whether or not male rape is seen along the same parameters as date/acquaintance rape in females. It is stated that due to a lack of data concerning male rape cause by low report rates and the propagation of rape myths and misconceptions that the research into the public perception of male rape has in not been given the attention which it deserves . From the information gathered in previous in previous studies (Donnelly and Kenyon 1996) it has been hypothesised that if the current opinion of female rape is characterised within the parameters of acquaintance/date rape and that male rape is more commonly seen within the older SRS model. The second part of the discussion directly deals with the results relating to this hypothesis. From the analysis undertaken female rape may still be generally seen along the lines of a  ¿Ã‚ ½stranger- acquaintance rape continuum ¿Ã‚ ½. However the results show that male rape is viewed along completely dissimilar lines to female rape. From these findings Anderson argues that  ¿Ã‚ ½male rape perception may be characterised by (a) erroneous and mythical perception ¿Ã‚ ½. These other factors include descriptions of the act of rape, the relative strength of the perpetrator and victim, sexual orientation and the motivation of the rape being sexual urges [rather than power related]. The fact that some of the factors attributed to male rape include homosexuality and that homophobic belief The hypothesis of the  ¿Ã‚ ½cultural lag ¿Ã‚ ½ of male rape was however not supported during the course of the research. Finding show that male rape does not lag behind female rape, rather  ¿Ã‚ ½other ¿Ã‚ ½ factors not found the SRS/AR models were drawn upon when conceptualising male rape. These  ¿Ã‚ ½other ¿Ã‚ ½ factors make up a fourth hypothesis in the method section were not previously mentioned within the introduction or hypothesis summary. The failure to include this fourth hypothesis previously, which directly addresses the  ¿Ã‚ ½other ¿Ã‚ ½ factors associated with male rape appears to be an oversight. However though it is very useful in helping to make sense of the data as a whole, the late formulation, or at least labelling of this as a hypothesis, subverts the initial aims of the experiment and calls into question the validity of the data coded within this section. The inclusion of this section also further widens the scope of this limited study. Considering the limited data which may be collected from such a small (119 people) and highly privileged sample of the population. In light of the three main interconnected hypothesises the extension to a fourth hypothesis principally concerned with factors initially outside the experiments design leads to a true weakening of this study. Though this data is well coded and analysed, there can be no doubt that this section places strain upon the method section of this study as a whole. The third intention of this current research is to analyse the differences of response between male and female respondents. All previous studies which consider male and female attitudes to rape have shown a strong divergence between attitudes along the gender divide. This it is argued is unsurprising due firstly the fact that men generally have less knowledge about or contact with rape, and secondly due to the fact that  ¿Ã‚ ½historically been the victims of violence while men have been the perpetrators ¿Ã‚ ½. In agreement with this it is demonstrated that men more often agree than disagree with rape myths, empathise less and  ¿Ã‚ ½hold less tolerant attitudes towards victims (Jiminez Abreu,2003) In addition to this Andersons previous research has found that men possess more homophobic attitudes that women in regards to male rape. This is backed up solidly by previous research, which in summery states that as men experience rape less and that as the issue of rape is less promi nent within the male consciousness. Men will extrapolate their knowledge of female rape, to a male scenario along the SRS paradigm. In drawing out the reasons for the predominance of factors such as homosexuality and homophobia associated with male but not female rape Anderson puts forward several reasons as to why this may be the case, the first is that participants may simply be  ¿Ã‚ ½expressing their disgust at this act ¿Ã‚ ½ (Davies, 2002). Secondly use homophobic language as a means of distancing the participants from the victim so at to keep their  ¿Ã‚ ½masculinity intact ¿Ã‚ ½ and to also remove the possibility that they (the male participants ) could themselves be raped. This is a very interesting point which is well argued and is a convincing analysis of the data presented. The recommendation given for further research investigating the connection between sexuality and homophobia in relation to conceptualizations of male rape and the blame attributed to victims is well founded and may go some way in explaining why these factors have gained such prominence in this research. Through course of critically analysing the current research many issues of importance have become apparent. Firstly any research which furthers the field of rape perception is of huge importance. It is also of paramount importance to educating the public at large about the predominant trends of rape within society. With regard the article under review some very important questions have been raised by this study. The fact that all but one of hypothesis has been proved false may be seen in part as a cause for alarm. This is particularly evident in the case that female rape perception has seemed to have lost its cultural lead over supposed paradigms of male rape. This calls for a reassessment of assumptions that female rape is typically seen within the AR framework. Secondly the fact that male rape is not seen either as SRS or AR and is viewed in often homophobic terms may be interpreted differently than to Andersons theory that homophobia is a form of distancing on the part of male par ticipants, it may be interpreted as evidence that homophobia is much more prominent in society than previously assumed. The difference between male and female respondents has not been clearly addressed either, it seems from previous research that more than ever there is now a pressing need to educate males within society about the various aspects of rape. From analysing this research it seems that very little was confirmed or disproved about rape attitudes and perceptions, this research has in turn raised more questions than it answers. In conducting future research it would be advisable to approach one hypothesis at a time, using a much larger sample of the population. In addition to this a more careful use of wording of research questions may also benefit future studies, for example the question what are the predominant circumstances of a male/female rape may address the hypothesis more clearly than the use of the phrase  ¿Ã‚ ½typical ¿Ã‚ ½. This leads us to ask further questi ons about the problematic nature of this type of research. Anderson ¿Ã‚ ½s current research acknowledges some of the shortcomings of the present study including the fact that the research participants used for the study were from a student population, despite this acknowledgement it would be naive to generalise these findings due to the particularities associated with a student sample to the population at large. Some of the main problems associated with using a student population for this type of are that as supported by the research that rape may be an issue generally held in the student consciousness. Secondly the predominantly young age participants, mean age 21.2, could perhaps play a large part in how rape is conceptualised. This is especially important considering that the age group of these students suggest that they have been brought up within the AR framework. A larger study would show how the population at large conceptualise rape. It can be argued that perhaps even previously un-theorised concepts of rape may be found as a resul t of such a study. It would also be of great interest to investigate what the current perceptions of marital/partner rape is. Another important factor which  ¿Ã‚ ½may have affected findings ¿Ã‚ ½ is that up to 34% of the participant were from ethnic minorities. Anderson argues that this factor may have altered the outcome of the study. It may however be argued that the inclusion of ethnic minorities may in fact give the present study a higher degree of validity and allow this research to be generalised. Regardless of the supposed  ¿Ã‚ ½less tolerant perceptions of rape ¿Ã‚ ½ within minority communities (Nagel, 2005), the hypothesised informed attitudes of the student population appear to be unfounded. This finding adds to the overall confusion of the results presented. At present it is impossible to say whether the inclusion of these minorities have lead to a substantial change in the findings of the survey. Further studies along the lines of Nagel ¿Ã‚ ½s research are to be suggested. This work should concentrate on the questions of race, ethnicity and class should be dealt with as a means of aidi ng the understanding of rape perceptions in the public at large. In conclusion the current body of research into rape perception is clearly lacking. The findings of some previous research which are not supported by this study are a serious problem which must in due course be addressed. Furthermore Andersons unsupported hypothesises clearly show the need for further and more directed research into the area of public rape perceptions. Some interesting points were brought up which also require further research, most importantly the fact that female rape perception is still categorised along the lines of SRS rather than AR. In addition to this the evidence produced regarding the  ¿Ã‚ ½other ¿Ã‚ ½ factors associated with male rape also warrant investigation. Anderson ¿Ã‚ ½s suggestion that further studies concentrating on blame attribution is a logical and well reasoned course of action and is highly advisable. In summery past and present research has shown gaps in the understanding of how the public view rape scripts. This research has done much to highlight this problem. It can only be hoped that further research and public education can lead to an increased awareness and understanding on the topic of rape.

Essay --

Address: Block 257 Serangoon Central Drive #05-24, Singapore 550257 Phone: 83827470 E-mail: syng5@e.ntu.edu.sg ________________________________________ Career Objective I am a fresh graduate seeking a career in the civil engineering industries. With my background in Civil & Structural engineering, I believe that the skills I have acquired during the course of my education would be of value in a civil engineering and/or construction setting. Besides application of these skills, I also desire to progress in these skills and look forward to learn new skills during the course of my career. Being keen and enthusiastic individual, I pride myself on picking up new knowledge and skills. In conclusion, I am confident that my self-discipline, interpersonal skills, thus the ability to work and accomplish tasks efficiently in a team would be beneficial in any organization I am a part of. ________________________________________ Education Nanyang Technological University August 2011 – Current School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) in Civil Engineering CGPA: 3.49 During my course of study, I completed modules in Fluid mechanics, Mechanics of materials, Reinforced Concrete Design, Steel Design, Foundation Engineering, Structural Analysis, Computer Aided design, Transportation Engineering, CE management, Geotechnical Engineering, . Besides these core-engineering modules, I also completed modules in Human Resource Management, Marketing and went to Vietnam for a 6 months internship program with CapitaLand Vietnam. Singapore Polytechnic Apr 2006 - May 2009 School of Built Environment Diploma in Civil & Structural Engineering CGPA: 3.3 During my course of st... ...my specialization. I was exposed to site work which enables me to conduct various construction inspections, and coordinate with respective contractors to propose and rectify various projects. Hence these have enabled me to have a first-hand experience in site supervision. Having mentioned my work experience that is closely related to the field, I believe that I would be an asset to your company if ever I will be hired for the position. My strong dedication and experience to the field would make me an asset to your team. Attached herein is my resume with addition information for your kind consideration. I would be very willing to present myself for an interview at your most convenient time. I can be reached anytime via email at syng5@e.ntu.edu.sg or at my mobile, 83827470. Thank you for your time and consideration. Yours Faithfully, Melvin Ng Si Yong (Mr)

What is there to Know about WNV and WNE Essay -- Biology Medical Biome

What is there to Know about WNV and WNE? West Nile Virus (WNV) is an arbovirus that causes West Nile Encephalitis (WNE), an inflammation of the brain. The virus was first found in an Ugandan woman, and spread throughout all areas of the world, from Europe to Oceania. WNV is virus carried by mosquitoes and birds. Other organisms are the secondary carriers of the virus. The first outbreak resulted in victims of WNE. Since then the U.S has been alert and cautious about the virus for public health. The virus is known to affect animals as well. Up to now there is no special treatment or vaccine for WNV and its symptoms. However, there are ways to preclude you from getting the virus. Though the chances of getting WNV and a fatal case are slim, the symptoms aren’t worth risking. West Nile Encephalitis is a brain inflammation that is caused by mosquitoes. WNE is new to the U.S.A and broke out less than a decade ago in one of the states. So far there aren’t any vaccines for WNV, but there are methods of prevention. Up to this day, WNE isn’t common; however, it is a brutal enemy to those who are infected. The first outbreak of WNE was in New York City in 1999. Four deaths occurred in 1999 due to WNE (Illinois Department of Public Health). Studies show that there was less involvement with their cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum. Their microglial modules that carried histiocytes and lymphocytes were dispersed and they also developed leptomeningitis. Two years later, in the autumn of 2001, the infection spread to Iowa and Missouri. There were 54 infected people in Illinois and a death in 2003 (Illinois Department of Public Health). By now, WNE has spread to the West Coast. Researchers aren’t sure how WNV or WNE was introduced to the U.S.A.... ...tious of areas that are reported to have infected mosquitoes. If anyone is going outside during the times of day or the places where they are prone to get infected, being cautious and careful can prevent a severe case of WNE. What Is There 5 References 1) Burke, A Cunha, MD. (2004, Dec). West Nile Encephalitis. eMedicine. 7/27/05: http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3160.htm 2) Dr. Tom Solomon. (2005, June). West Nile Encephalitis. Encephalitis Information Resource. 7/27/05: http://www.encephalitis.info/TheIllness/TypesEncephalitis/WestNile.html 3) Lee, M.C. 2003. West Nile Virus overview and abstracts. New York: NOVA 4) Illinois Department of Public Health. West Nile Virus. 7/27/05: http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbwestnile.htm 5) White, Dennis J. et all. 2001. West Nile Virus Detection, Surveillance, and Control. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 87-92

CHAPTER 87 The fireplace in Chateau Villette's drawing room was cold, but Collet paced before it nonetheless as he read the faxes from Interpol. Not at all what he expected. Andre Vernet, according to official records, was a model citizen. No police record – not even a parking ticket. Educated at prep school and the Sorbonne, he had a cum laude degree in international finance. Interpol said Vernet's name appeared in the newspapers from time to time, but always in a positive light. Apparently the man had helped design the security parameters that kept the Depository Bank of Zurich a leader in the ultramodern world of electronic security. Vernet's credit card records showed a penchant for art books, expensive wine, and classical CD's – mostly Brahms – which he apparently enjoyed on an exceptionally high-end stereo system he had purchased several years ago. Zero, Collet sighed. The only red flag tonight from Interpol had been a set of fingerprints that apparently belonged to Teabing's servant. The chief PTS examiner was reading the report in a comfortable chair across the room. Collet looked over. â€Å"Anything?† The examiner shrugged. â€Å"Prints belong to Remy Legaludec. Wanted for petty crime. Nothing serious. Looks like he got kicked out of university for rewiring phone jacks to get free service†¦ later did some petty theft. Breaking and entering. Skipped out on a hospital bill once for an emergency tracheotomy.† He glanced up, chuckling. â€Å"Peanut allergy.† Collet nodded, recalling a police investigation into a restaurant that had failed to notate on its menu that the chili recipe contained peanut oil. An unsuspecting patron had died of anaphylactic shock at the table after a single bite. â€Å"Legaludec is probably a live-in here to avoid getting picked up.† The examiner looked amused. â€Å"His lucky night.† Collet sighed. â€Å"All right, you better forward this info to Captain Fache.† The examiner headed off just as another PTS agent burst into the living room. â€Å"Lieutenant! We found something in the barn.† From the anxious look on the agent's face, Collet could only guess. â€Å"A body.† â€Å"No, sir. Something more†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He hesitated. â€Å"Unexpected.† Rubbing his eyes, Collet followed the agent out to the barn. As they entered the musty, cavernous space, the agent motioned toward the center of the room, where a wooden ladder now ascended high into the rafters, propped against the ledge of a hayloft suspended high above them. â€Å"That ladder wasn't there earlier,† Collet said.† No, sir. I set that up. We were dusting for prints near the Rolls when I saw the ladder lying on the floor. I wouldn't have given it a second thought except the rungs were worn and muddy. This ladder gets regular use. The height of the hayloft matched the ladder, so I raised it and climbed up to have a look.† Collet's eyes climbed the ladder's steep incline to the soaring hayloft. Someone goes up thereregularly? From down here, the loft appeared to be a deserted platform, and yet admittedly most of it was invisible from this line of sight. A senior PTS agent appeared at the top of the ladder, looking down. â€Å"You'll definitely want to see this, Lieutenant,† he said, waving Collet up with a latex-gloved hand. Nodding tiredly, Collet walked over to the base of the old ladder and grasped the bottom rungs. The ladder was an antique tapered design and narrowed as Collet ascended. As he neared the top, Collet almost lost his footing on a thin rung. The barn below him spun. Alert now, he moved on, finally reaching the top. The agent above him reached out, offering his wrist. Collet grabbed it and made the awkward transition onto the platform. â€Å"It's over there,† the PTS agent said, pointing deep into the immaculately clean loft. â€Å"Only one set of prints up here. We'll have an ID shortly.† Collet squinted through the dim light toward the far wall. What the hell? Nestled against the far wall sat an elaborate computer workstation – two tower CPUs, a flat-screen video monitor with speakers, an array of hard drives, and a multichannel audio console that appeared to have its own filtered power supply. Why in the world would anyone work all the way up here? Collet moved toward the gear. â€Å"Have you examined the system?† â€Å"It's a listening post.† Collet spun. â€Å"Surveillance?† The agent nodded. â€Å"Very advanced surveillance.† He motioned to a long project table strewn with electronic parts, manuals, tools, wires, soldering irons, and other electronic components. â€Å"Someone clearly knows what he's doing. A lot of this gear is as sophisticated as our own equipment. Miniature microphones, photoelectric recharging cells, high-capacity RAM chips. He's even got some of those new nano drives.† Collet was impressed. â€Å"Here's a complete system,† the agent said, handing Collet an assembly not much larger than a pocket calculator. Dangling off the contraption was a foot-long wire with a stamp-sized piece of wafer-thin foil stuck on the end. â€Å"The base is a high-capacity hard disk audio recording system with rechargeable battery. That strip of foil at the end of the wire is a combination microphone and photoelectric recharging cell.† Collet knew them well. These foil-like, photocell microphones had been an enormous breakthrough a few years back. Now, a hard disk recorder could be affixed behind a lamp, for example, with its foil microphone molded into the contour of the base and dyed to match. As long as the microphone was positioned such that it received a few hours of sunlight per day, the photo cells would keep recharging the system. Bugs like this one could listen indefinitely. â€Å"Reception method?† Collet asked. The agent signaled to an insulated wire that ran out of the back of the computer, up the wall, through a hole in the barn roof. â€Å"Simple radio wave. Small antenna on the roof.† Collet knew these recording systems were generally placed in offices, were voice-activated to save hard disk space, and recorded snippets of conversation during the day, transmitting compressed audio files at night to avoid detection. After transmitting, the hard drive erased itself and prepared to do it all over again the next day. Collet's gaze moved now to a shelf on which were stacked several hundred audio cassettes, all labeled with dates and numbers. Someone has been very busy.He turned back to the agent. â€Å"Doyou have any idea what target is being bugged?† â€Å"Well, Lieutenant,† the agent said, walking to the computer and launching a piece of software. â€Å"It's the strangest thing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  CHAPTER 88 Langdon felt utterly spent as he and Sophie hurdled a turnstile at the Temple tube station and dashed deep into the grimy labyrinth of tunnels and platforms. The guilt ripped through him. I involved Leigh, and now he's in enormous danger. Remy's involvement had been a shock, and yet it made sense. Whoever was pursuing the Grail had recruited someone on the inside. They went to Teabing's for the same reason I did.Throughout history, those who held knowledge of the Grail had always been magnets for thieves and scholars alike. The fact that Teabing had been a target all along should have made Langdon feel less guilty about involving him. It did not. We need to find Leigh and help him.Immediately. Langdon followed Sophie to the westbound District and Circle Line platform, where she hurried to a pay phone to call the police, despite Remy's warning to the contrary. Langdon sat on a grungy bench nearby, feeling remorseful. â€Å"The best way to help Leigh,† Sophie reiterated as she dialed,† is to involve the London authorities immediately. Trust me.† Langdon had not initially agreed with this idea, but as they had hatched their plan, Sophie's logic began to make sense. Teabing was safe at the moment. Even if Remy and the others knew where the knight's tomb was located, they still might need Teabing's help deciphering the orb reference. What worried Langdon was what would happen after the Grail map had been found. Leigh willbecome a huge liability. If Langdon were to have any chance of helping Leigh, or of ever seeing the keystone again, it was essential that he find the tomb first. Unfortunately, Remy has a big head start. Slowing Remy down had become Sophie's task. Finding the right tomb had become Langdon's. Sophie would make Remy and Silas fugitives of the London police, forcing them into hiding or, better yet, catching them. Langdon's plan was less certain – to take the tube to nearby King's College, which was renowned for its electronic theological database. The ultimate research tool, Langdon had heard. Instant answers to any religious historical question.He wondered what the database would have to say about† a knight a Pope interred.† He stood up and paced, wishing the train would hurry. At the pay phone, Sophie's call finally connected to the London police. â€Å"Snow Hill Division,† the dispatcher said. â€Å"How may I direct your call?† â€Å"I'm reporting a kidnapping.† Sophie knew to be concise.† Name please?† Sophie paused. â€Å"Agent Sophie Neveu with the French Judicial Police.† The title had the desired effect. â€Å"Right away, ma'am. Let me get a detective on the line for you.† As the call went through, Sophie began wondering if the police would even believe her description of Teabing's captors. A man in a tuxedo.How much easier to identify could a suspect be? Even if Remy changed clothes, he was partnered with an albino monk. Impossible to miss.Moreover, they had a hostage and could not take public transportation. She wondered how many Jaguar stretch limos there could be in London. Sophie's connection to the detective seemed to be taking forever. Come on! She could hear the line clicking and buzzing, as if she was being transferred. Fifteen seconds passed. Finally a man came on the line. â€Å"Agent Neveu?† Stunned, Sophie registered the gruff tone immediately. â€Å"Agent Neveu,† Bezu Fache demanded. â€Å"Where the hell are you?† Sophie was speechless. Captain Fache had apparently requested the London police dispatcher alert him if Sophie called in. â€Å"Listen,† Fache said, speaking to her in terse French. â€Å"I made a terrible mistake tonight. Robert Langdon is innocent. All charges against him have been dropped. Even so, both of you are in danger. You need to come in.† Sophie's jaw fell slack. She had no idea how to respond. Fache was not a man who apologized for anything. â€Å"You did not tell me,† Fache continued,† that Jacques Sauniere was your grandfather. I fully intend to overlook your insubordination last night on account of the emotional stress you must be under. At the moment, however, you and Langdon need to go to the nearest London police headquarters for refuge.† He knows I'm in London? What else does Fache know? Sophie heard what sounded like drilling or machinery in the background. She also heard an odd clicking on the line. â€Å"Are you tracing this call, Captain?† Fache's voice was firm now. â€Å"You and I need to cooperate, Agent Neveu. We both have a lot to lose here. This is damage control. I made errors in judgment last night, and if those errors result in the deaths of an American professor and a DCPJ cryptologist, my career will be over. I've been trying to pull you back into safety for the last several hours.† A warm wind was now pushing through the station as a train approached with a low rumble. Sophie had every intention of being on it. Langdon apparently had the same idea; he was gathering himself together and moving toward her now. â€Å"The man you want is Remy Legaludec,† Sophie said. â€Å"He is Teabing's servant. He just kidnapped Teabing inside the Temple Church and – â€Å" â€Å"Agent Neveu!† Fache bellowed as the train thundered into the station. â€Å"This is not something to discuss on an open line. You and Langdon will come in now. For your own well-being! That is a direct order!† Sophie hung up and dashed with Langdon onto the train. CHAPTER 89 The immaculate cabin of Teabing's Hawker was now covered with steel shavings and smelled of compressed air and propane. Bezu Fache had sent everyone away and sat alone with his drink and the heavy wooden box found in Teabing's safe. Running his finger across the inlaid Rose, he lifted the ornate lid. Inside he found a stone cylinder with lettered dials. The five dials were arranged to spell SOFIA. Fache stared at the word a long moment and then lifted the cylinder from its padded resting place and examined every inch. Then, pulling slowly on the ends, Fache slid off one of the end caps. The cylinder was empty. Fache set it back in the box and gazed absently out the jet's window at the hangar, pondering his brief conversation with Sophie, as well as the information he'd received from PTS in Chateau Villette. The sound of his phone shook him from his daydream. It was the DCPJ switchboard. The dispatcher was apologetic. The president of the Depository Bank of Zurich had been calling repeatedly, and although he had been told several times that the captain was in London on business, he just kept calling. Begrudgingly Fache told the operator to forward the call. â€Å"Monsieur Vernet,† Fache said, before the man could even speak,† I am sorry I did not call you earlier. I have been busy. As promised, the name of your bank has not appeared in the media. So what precisely is your concern?† Vernet's voice was anxious as he told Fache how Langdon and Sophie had extracted a small wooden box from the bank and then persuaded Vernet to help them escape. â€Å"Then when I heard on the radio that they were criminals,† Vernet said, â€Å"I pulled over and demanded the box back, but they attacked me and stole the truck.† â€Å"You are concerned for a wooden box,† Fache said, eyeing the Rose inlay on the cover and again gently opening the lid to reveal the white cylinder. â€Å"Can you tell me what was in the box?† â€Å"The contents are immaterial,† Vernet fired back. â€Å"I am concerned with the reputation of my bank. We have never had a robbery. Ever.It will ruin us if I cannot recover this property on behalf of my client.† â€Å"You said Agent Neveu and Robert Langdon had a password and a key. What makes you say they stole the box?† â€Å"They murdered people tonight. Including Sophie Neveu's grandfather. The key and password were obviously ill-gotten.† â€Å"Mr. Vernet, my men have done some checking into your background and your interests. You are obviously a man of great culture and refinement. I would imagine you are a man of honor, as well. As am I. That said, I give you my word as commanding officer of the Police Judiciaire that your box, along with your bank's reputation, are in the safest of hands.† CHAPTER 90 High in the hayloft at Chateau Villette, Collet stared at the computer monitor in amazement. â€Å"This system is eavesdropping on all these locations?† â€Å"Yes,† the agent said. â€Å"It looks like data has been collected for over a year now.† Collet read the list again, speechless. COLBERT SOSTAQUE – Chairman of the Conseil Constitutionnel JEAN CHAFFeE – Curator, Musee du Jeu de Paume EDOUARD DESROCHERS – Senior Archivist, Mitterrand Library JACQUES SAUNIeRE – Curator, Musee du Louvre MICHEL BRETON – Head of DAS (French Intelligence) The agent pointed to the screen. â€Å"Number four is of obvious concern.† Collet nodded blankly. He had noticed it immediately. Jacques Sauniere was being bugged.He looked at the rest of the list again. How could anyone possibly manage to bug these prominent people?† Have you heard any of the audio files?† â€Å"A few. Here's one of the most recent.† The agent clicked a few computer keys. The speakers crackled to life. â€Å"Capitaine, un agent du Departement de Cryptographie est arrive.† Collet could not believe his ears. â€Å"That's me! That's my voice!† He recalled sitting at Sauniere's desk and radioing Fache in the Grand Gallery to alert him of Sophie Neveu's arrival. The agent nodded. â€Å"A lot of our Louvre investigation tonight would have been audible if someone had been interested.† â€Å"Have you sent anyone in to sweep for the bug?† â€Å"No need. I know exactly where it is.† The agent went to a pile of old notes and blueprints on the worktable. He selected a page and handed it to Collet. â€Å"Look familiar?† Collet was amazed. He was holding a photocopy of an ancient schematic diagram, which depicted a rudimentary machine. He was unable to read the handwritten Italian labels, and yet he knew what he was looking at. A model for a fully articulated medieval French knight. The knight sitting on Sauniere's desk! Collet's eyes moved to the margins, where someone had scribbled notes on the photocopy in red felt-tipped marker. The notes were in French and appeared to be ideas outlining how best to insert a listening device into the knight. CHAPTER 91 Silas sat in the passenger seat of the parked Jaguar limousine near the Temple Church. His hands felt damp on the keystone as he waited for Remy to finish tying and gagging Teabing in back with the rope they had found in the trunk. Finally, Remy climbed out of the rear of the limo, walked around, and slid into the driver's seat beside Silas. â€Å"Secure?† Silas asked. Remy chuckled, shaking off the rain and glancing over his shoulder through the open partition at the crumpled form of Leigh Teabing, who was barely visible in the shadows in the rear. â€Å"He's not going anywhere.† Silas could hear Teabing's muffled cries and realized Remy had used some of the old duct tape to gag him. â€Å"Ferme ta gueule!† Remy shouted over his shoulder at Teabing. Reaching to a control panel on the elaborate dash, Remy pressed a button. An opaque partition raised behind them, sealing off the back. Teabing disappeared, and his voice was silenced. Remy glanced at Silas. â€Å"I've been listening to his miserable whimpering long enough.† Minutes later, as the Jaguar stretch limo powered through the streets, Silas's cell phone rang. TheTeacher.He answered excitedly. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Silas,† the Teacher's familiar French accent said, â€Å"I am relieved to hear your voice. This means you are safe.† Silas was equally comforted to hear the Teacher. It had been hours, and the operation had veered wildly off course. Now, at last, it seemed to be back on track. â€Å"I have the keystone.† â€Å"This is superb news,† the Teacher told him. â€Å"Is Remy with you?† Silas was surprised to hear the Teacher use Remy's name. â€Å"Yes. Remy freed me.† â€Å"As I ordered him to do. I am only sorry you had to endure captivity for so long.† â€Å"Physical discomfort has no meaning. The important thing is that the keystone is ours.† â€Å"Yes. I need it delivered to me at once. Time is of the essence.† Silas was eager to meet the Teacher face-to-face at last. â€Å"Yes, sir, I would be honored.† â€Å"Silas, I would like Remy to bring it to me.† Remy? Silas was crestfallen. After everything Silas had done for the Teacher, he had believed hewould be the one to hand over the prize. The Teacher favors Remy? â€Å"I sense your disappointment,† the Teacher said,† which tells me you do not understand my meaning.† He lowered his voice to a whisper. â€Å"You must believe that I would much prefer to receive the keystone from you – a man of God rather than a criminal – but Remy must be dealt with. He disobeyed my orders and made a grave mistake that has put our entire mission at risk.† Silas felt a chill and glanced over at Remy. Kidnapping Teabing had not been part of the plan, and deciding what to do with him posed a new problem. â€Å"You and I are men of God,† the Teacher whispered. â€Å"We cannot be deterred from our goal.† There was an ominous pause on the line. â€Å"For this reason alone, I will ask Remy to bring me the keystone. Do you understand?† Silas sensed anger in the Teacher's voice and was surprised the man was not more understanding. Showing his face could not be avoided, Silas thought. Remy did what he had to do.He saved the keystone. â€Å"I understand,† Silas managed. â€Å"Good. For your own safety, you need to get off the street immediately. The police will be looking for the limousine soon, and I do not want you caught. Opus Dei has a residence in London, no?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"And you are welcome there?† â€Å"As a brother.† â€Å"Then go there and stay out of sight. I will call you the moment I am in possession of the keystone and have attended to my current problem.† â€Å"You are in London?† â€Å"Do as I say, and everything will be fine.† â€Å"Yes, sir.† The Teacher heaved a sigh, as if what he now had to do was profoundly regrettable. â€Å"It's time I speak to Remy.† Silas handed Remy the phone, sensing it might be the last call Remy Legaludec ever took. As Remy took the phone, he knew this poor, twisted monk had no idea what fate awaited him now that he had served his purpose. The Teacher used you, Silas.And your bishop is a pawn. Remy still marveled at the Teacher's powers of persuasion. Bishop Aringarosa had trusted everything. He had been blinded by his own desperation. Aringarosa was far too eager to believe. Although Remy did not particularly like the Teacher, he felt pride at having gained the man's trust and helped him so substantially. I have earned my payday. â€Å"Listen carefully,† the Teacher said. â€Å"Take Silas to the Opus Dei residence hall and drop him off a few streets away. Then drive to St. James's Park. It is adjacent to Parliament and Big Ben. You can park the limousine on Horse Guards Parade. We'll talk there.† With that, the connection went dead. CHAPTER 92 King's College, established by King George IV in 1829, houses its Department of Theology and Religious Studies adjacent to Parliament on property granted by the Crown. King's College Religion Department boasts not only 150 years' experience in teaching and research, but the 1982 establishment of the Research Institute in Systematic Theology, which possesses one of the most complete and electronically advanced religious research libraries in the world. Langdon still felt shaky as he and Sophie came in from the rain and entered the library. The primary research room was as Teabing had described it – a dramatic octagonal chamber dominated by an enormous round table around which King Arthur and his knights might have been comfortable were it not for the presence of twelve flat-screen computer workstations. On the far side of the room, a reference librarian was just pouring a pot of tea and settling in for her day of work. â€Å"Lovely morning,† she said in a cheerful British accent, leaving the tea and walking over. â€Å"May I help you?† â€Å"Thank you, yes,† Langdon replied. â€Å"My name is – Robert Langdon.† She gave a pleasant smile. â€Å"I know who you are.† For an instant, he feared Fache had put him on English television as well, but the librarian's smile suggested otherwise. Langdon still had not gotten used to these moments of unexpected celebrity. Then again, if anyone on earth were going to recognize his face, it would be a librarian in a Religious Studies reference facility. â€Å"Pamela Gettum,† the librarian said, offering her hand. She had a genial, erudite face and a pleasingly fluid voice. The horn-rimmed glasses hanging around her neck were thick. â€Å"A pleasure,† Langdon said. â€Å"This is my friend Sophie Neveu.† The two women greeted one another, and Gettum turned immediately back to Langdon. â€Å"I didn't know you were coming.† â€Å"Neither did we. If it's not too much trouble, we could really use your help finding some information.† Gettum shifted, looking uncertain. â€Å"Normally our services are by petition and appointment only, unless of course you're the guest of someone at the college?† Langdon shook his head. â€Å"I'm afraid we've come unannounced. A friend of mine speaks very highly of you. Sir Leigh Teabing?† Langdon felt a pang of gloom as he said the name. â€Å"The British Royal Historian.† Gettum brightened now, laughing. â€Å"Heavens, yes. What a character. Fanatical! Every time he comes in, it's always the same search strings. Grail. Grail. Grail. I swear that man will die before he gives up on that quest.† She winked. â€Å"Time and money afford one such lovely luxuries, wouldn't you say? A regular Don Quixote, that one.† â€Å"Is there any chance you can help us?† Sophie asked. â€Å"It's quite important.† Gettum glanced around the deserted library and then winked at them both. â€Å"Well, I can't very well claim I'm too busy, now can I? As long as you sign in, I can't imagine anyone being too upset. What did you have in mind?† â€Å"We're trying to find a tomb in London.† Gettum looked dubious. â€Å"We've got about twenty thousand of them. Can you be a little more specific?† â€Å"It's the tomb of a knight.We don't have a name.† â€Å"A knight. That tightens the net substantially. Much less common.† â€Å"We don't have much information about the knight we're looking for,† Sophie said,† but this is what we know.† She produced a slip of paper on which she had written only the first two lines of the poem. Hesitant to show the entire poem to an outsider, Langdon and Sophie had decided to share just the first two lines, those that identified the knight. Compartmentalized cryptography, Sophie had called it. When an intelligence agency intercepted a code containing sensitive data, cryptographers each worked on a discrete section of the code. This way, when they broke it, no single cryptographer possessed the entire deciphered message. In this case, the precaution was probably excessive; even if this librarian saw the entire poem, identified the knight's tomb, and knew what orb was missing, the information was useless without the cryptex. Gettum sensed an urgency in the eyes of this famed American scholar, almost as if his finding this tomb quickly were a matter of critical importance. The green-eyed woman accompanying him also seemed anxious. Puzzled, Gettum put on her glasses and examined the paper they had just handed her. In London lies a knight a Pope interred. His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred. She glanced at her guests. â€Å"What is this? Some kind of Harvard scavenger hunt?† Langdon's laugh sounded forced. â€Å"Yeah, something like that.† Gettum paused, feeling she was not getting the whole story. Nonetheless, she felt intrigued and found herself pondering the verse carefully. â€Å"According to this rhyme, a knight did something that incurred displeasure with God, and yet a Pope was kind enough to bury him in London.† Langdon nodded. â€Å"Does it ring any bells?† Gettum moved toward one of the workstations. â€Å"Not offhand, but let's see what we can pull up in the database.† Over the past two decades, King's College Research Institute in Systematic Theology had used optical character recognition software in unison with linguistic translation devices to digitize and catalog an enormous collection of texts – encyclopedias of religion, religious biographies, sacred scriptures in dozens of languages, histories, Vatican letters, diaries of clerics, anything at all that qualified as writings on human spirituality. Because the massive collection was now in the form of bits and bytes rather than physical pages, the data was infinitely more accessible. Settling into one of the workstations, Gettum eyed the slip of paper and began typing. â€Å"To begin, we'll run a straight Boolean with a few obvious keywords and see what happens.† â€Å"Thank you.† Gettum typed in a few words: LONDON, KNIGHT, POPE As she clicked the SEARCH button, she could feel the hum of the massive mainframe downstairs scanning data at a rate of 500 MB/sec. â€Å"I'm asking the system to show us any documents whose complete text contains all three of these keywords. We'll get more hits than we want, but it's a good place to start.† The screen was already showing the first of the hits now. Painting the Pope. The Collected Portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds. London University Press. Gettum shook her head. â€Å"Obviously not what you're looking for.† She scrolled to the next hit. The London Writings of Alexander Pope by G. Wilson Knight. Again she shook her head. As the system churned on, the hits came up more quickly than usual. Dozens of texts appeared, many of them referencing the eighteenth-century British writer Alexander Pope, whose counter religious, mock-epic poetry apparently contained plenty of references to knights and London. Gettum shot a quick glance to the numeric field at the bottom of the screen. This computer, by calculating the current number of hits and multiplying by the percentage of the database left to search, provided a rough guess of how much information would be found. This particular search looked like it was going to return an obscenely large amount of data. Estimated number of total hits: 2, 692 â€Å"We need to refine the parameters further,† Gettum said, stopping the search. â€Å"Is this all the information you have regarding the tomb? There's nothing else to go on?† Langdon glanced at Sophie Neveu, looking uncertain. This is no scavenger hunt, Gettum sensed. She had heard the whisperings of Robert Langdon's experience in Rome last year. This American had been granted access to the most secure library on earth – the Vatican Secret Archives. She wondered what kinds of secrets Langdon might have learned inside and if his current desperate hunt for a mysterious London tomb might relate to information he had gained within the Vatican. Gettum had been a librarian long enough to know the most common reason people came to London to look for knights. The Grail. Gettum smiled and adjusted her glasses. â€Å"You are friends with Leigh Teabing, you are in England, and you are looking for a knight.† She folded her hands. â€Å"I can only assume you are on a Grail quest.† Langdon and Sophie exchanged startled looks. Gettum laughed. â€Å"My friends, this library is a base camp for Grail seekers. Leigh Teabing among them. I wish I had a shilling for every time I'd run searches for the Rose, Mary Magdalene, Sangreal, Merovingian, Priory of Sion, et cetera, et cetera. Everyone loves a conspiracy.† She took off her glasses and eyed them. â€Å"I need more information.† In the silence, Gettum sensed her guests' desire for discretion was quickly being outweighed by their eagerness for a fast result. â€Å"Here,† Sophie Neveu blurted. â€Å"This is everything we know.† Borrowing a pen from Langdon, she wrote two more lines on the slip of paper and handed it to Gettum. You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb. It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb. Gettum gave an inward smile. The Grail indeed, she thought, noting the references to the Rose and her seeded womb. â€Å"I can help you,† she said, looking up from the slip of paper. â€Å"Might I ask where this verse came from? And why you are seeking an orb?† â€Å"You might ask,† Langdon said, with a friendly smile,† but it's a long story and we have very little time.† â€Å"Sounds like a polite way of saying â€Å"mind your own business.†Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"We would be forever in your debt, Pamela,† Langdon said, â€Å"if you could find out who this knight is and where he is buried.† â€Å"Very well,† Gettum said, typing again. â€Å"I'll play along. If this is a Grail-related issue, we should cross-reference against Grail keywords. I'll add a proximity parameter and remove the title weighting. That will limit our hits only to those instances of textual keywords that occur near aGrail-related word.† Search for: KNIGHT, LONDON, POPE, TOMB Within 100 word proximity of: GRAIL, ROSE, SANGREAL, CHALICE â€Å"How long will this take?† Sophie asked. â€Å"A few hundred terabytes with multiple cross-referencing fields?† Gettum's eyes glimmered as she clicked the SEARCH key. â€Å"A mere fifteen minutes.† Langdon and Sophie said nothing, but Gettum sensed this sounded like an eternity to them. â€Å"Tea?† Gettum asked, standing and walking toward the pot she had made earlier. â€Å"Leigh always loves my tea.†