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Reasons to visit Lanai

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Reasons to visit Lanai

I have always enjoyed touring to new places during the summer break. This is the only way I get to enjoy other life besides the busy life in the city and the memory of school work. Last holiday I decided to visit Lanai in Hawaii. I wanted a quiet place where I would experience all the activities I had wished for while young. The place is so fresh and green for one to imagine there exists deserted places. I still have the memories of the place and I believe it will take longer for me to forget about the beautiful serene in Lanai. The island is also known as the Pineapple. It was developed in the 1920s by James Dortmund who built bungalows to house his workers (https://www.hawaii.com/lanai/info/about/). It was once considered as among the largest pineapple plantations in the world. Currently, more than three thousands of people reside in the Island and it is no longer known for its pineapple plantation but the beautiful nature that the place has.

Visiting the place, I had a different experience on the atmosphere. I am used to waking up to noises in the city with cars hooting, this was not the same in Lanai. In the Island, one wakes up to a silent and peaceful morning. The sight of the sun rising and the rays reflecting in the water is wat one can’t miss to see in the amazing island (https://www.gohawaii.com/islands/lanai). The night is what changes everything, one can hardly hear a pin drop, it is all quiet and peaceful. On can sit on the chairs for ours and watch the true nature without getting bored, since the place is so calm and one can assume that there are no thieves and gangsters who rob a night.

Since back in the city there is a lot of air pollution and industrial activities, in Lanai the experience is different. Breathing the air, one can feel that it is cleaner. Perhaps this can be attributed to the green plantations that are everywhere that aid in air circulation. The bamboo plantation in the area is also widespread and it makes the place look more attractive. The people of Hawaii have utilized this plantation and made seats out of it that one can relax on them while watching the environment.

It is hard to get a direct flight from the mainland, but once one gets to the place, there are a lot to enjoy. The surroundings which are tropical makes it ideal for various sporting activities such as scuba diving and snorkeling. One can also go for swimming in the Hoopoe Bay which is a marine preservation area. At the offshore and the land of the island there are other activities such as golfing, four wheeling, hiking, horseback riding and whale watching. One cannot miss to watch how the whales in the ocean move around. Also in Lanai one gets a chance to visit the garden of Gods where he or she get to explore the red spires (https://www.gohawaii.com/islands/lanai). Getting directions on where to get all these activities and places is not a problem since the locals in the area are friendly and welcoming thus will be kind enough to walk one around just like they did guide me on my visit to the place.

Besides the green nature that one will find at the resorts in Lanai, there also exist rocks which are as a result of volcanic eruption. Residing in the cool heights of Lanai, one is able to get a beautiful view of the rocks that are always termed as ‘red dirt field’ among the rocks we have the sweetheart rock visited by many.

Conclusively, Lanai is a beautiful place that I would advise anyone looking for next destination for vacation to visit Lanai. Adventure will make it up for all that one will miss in the clubs and night parties. The place is amazing and is associated with famous people like Bill Gates.

Work Cited

https://www.gohawaii.com/islands/lanaihttps://www.hawaii.com/lanai/info/about/

Operant and Classical Conditioning

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Operant and Classical Conditioning

Burrhuss Fredrick Skinner had this exceptional belief that individuals had a unique way of thinking, and found it reasonable to study behaviors that are easily observed rather than the actions that take place in the mind of an individual. Skinner thought that the greatest way to comprehend behavior is to find out the causes of an individual action, and the consequences. He termed this kind of ideology operant conditioning. He mainly based his work on Thorndike’s law of effect.  Skinner came up with a new expression into the Law of Effect which was reinforcement.  Behavior that is reinforced is likely to be repeated by an individual, as well as behavior that is not reinforced is weakened and discouraged (Weiten pg 125).

In the year 1948, Skinner studied operant conditioning by undertaking experiments that involved placing animals in boxes he termed as Skinner box that was the same as Thorndike’s puzzle box. This brought out the idea that operant conditioning was a method of learning that involved rewards and punishments to change a person behavior. One of the characteristic aspects of the theory is attempts to present behavioral explanations for a wide range of the daily behaviors of an individual. Skinner accomplished this by explaining the motivation in terms of depriving and reinforcing schedules.

In 1975, Skinner tried to justify oral learning and language in the operant conditioning model, even though this idea was discarded by linguists together with psycholinguists. Operant conditioning is used mostly in a clinical environment, classroom situation and instructional programmes. The major components of operant conditioning are reinforcement. This can either be positive or negative (Weiten pg324).

One significant type of learning termed, Classical Conditioning, was discovered by a Russian psychologist named Ivan Pavlov. He discovered this fact when doing a study on digestion. This was aimed to understand the digestive patterns in dogs clearly. During these experiments, he placed meat powder in the dog’s mouth that had long tubes inserted into a variety of organs to assess bodily responses. The discovery was, dogs started to salivate before they were presented with the meat powder as this started when the person feeding the dogs came into the room. He started gaining interest in this incident, and deserted his digestion study to look into the now well-known Classical Conditioning study (Nicholas pg 398).

In essence, the findings hold up the suggestion that people develop responses to stimuli that do not occur naturally. When an individual touches a burning stove, one reflex pulls the hand away from heat emanated by the stove. This action takes place instinctually, as there is no learning in the whole process. It is just a survival instinct. This is the main reason why people tend to pull their hands away after getting burnt, as much as the stove is switched off. Pavlov outlined that people make associations that lead to generalizations of responses to stimuli paired with neutral stimulus. The stimulus does not naturally draw out the already conditioned response (Nicholas pg289).

Pavlov started blending the sound of the bell with the meat powder, and realized that as much as the meat powder was not given to the dog, in time it started to salivate after the sound of the bell. This is because the meat powder resulted in salivation of the dogs. The two variables are termed as the unconditioned stimulus, as well as unconditioned response. The sound of the bell and salivation of the dogs do not occur naturally, as the dog is conditioned to respond to the bell. Consequently, the bell is well thought-out as the conditioned stimulus, and the salivation of the dogs to the bell as the conditioned response. Many of people’s behaviors today is shaped by the coupling of stimuli. Individuals make associations all the time, not realizing the influence that these connections impact on an individual. Basically, individual have all undergone classical conditioning.

Work cited

Nicholas, Lionel. Introduction to Psychology. London: Cengage Learning , 2009.

Weiten, Wayne. Psychology:Themes and Variations. New York: Juta and Company Ltd, 2009.

Vaccination in Colleges

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Vaccination in Colleges

I believe vaccination is an important aspect of our health and thus universities need to tighten vaccination in campus. Research has shown that immunization has its own benefits including the prevention of certain diseases. Aside from personal protection, immunization is also important as the entire community is protected. There are certain diseases that if they occur then it is more likely that it may be transmitted to other people (The Editors). A great example is how there was a mumps outbreak at California, Berkley University and those that had not been immunized suffered the consequences. Immunization is not only important for one’s health and thus colleges need to be stricter on vaccination to ensure contagious diseases that could have been prevented are not transmitted within the campus.

Various debates have often been put forward on the need for vaccination. While some agree vaccination is important, others feel that it doesn’t still serve the intended purpose which is prevention. At times individuals may be vaccinated and are still not able to reach the expected immunity level and can still be at risk of getting the disease they were vaccinated against just in case there is an outbreak. Despite these occurrences, statistics have indicated that vaccination has a greater reduction in overall incidence of a disease. When most people are vaccinated it thus helps protect the vulnerable members in the society who may not be vaccinated (Slauer).

Legislators need to tighten vaccine exemptions especially in school. Lack of vaccination in schools has led to resurfacing of some diseases such as measles which should not be an issue in the century that we are living in. Although there may be reservations on taking vaccinations such as religious beliefs or personal beliefs who have been exempted in various states, the general population is at risk of getting these diseases and vulnerable individuals are more likely to be affected.

Works Cited

Slauer, Nathan. “Opinion: Policy-Makers Should Tighten Vaccine Exemptions.” Calvin University Chimes, calvinchimes.org/2015/02/05/opinion-policy-makers-should-tighten-vaccine-exemptions/.

The Editors. “The U.S. Needs to Tighten Vaccination Mandates.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 24 June 2019, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-s-needs-to-tighten-vaccination-mandates1/.

Sight and Vision in Oedipus the King

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Sight and Vision in Oedipus the King

Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King is an Athenian tragedy play by Sophocles that follows the life of Oedipus a great king who seems to be fleeing away from his fate but he eventually meets it at the end of the play. In the play there are numerous references to the act of seeing, vision, insight, the light as well as darkness. Theme of sight is an important motif throughout the play. Seeing in the text has been used both metaphorically as well as literally. Oedipus who is the King of Thebes has physical sight but he is quite blind to the evidence surrounding his life including his background. Sophocles uses theme of sight and vision to portray knowledge, physical light and the truth all which are depicted in Oedipus’ actions that led to his tragic end as king.

Sophocles throughout the novel builds the character of the king in three distinct phases all which portray both the themes of vision and light. In the beginning of the novel, Oedipus the king has physical sight, he is also quite knowledgeable as he even solves the Sphinx’s riddle. He is quite brave as in choosing to answer the riddle, he was prepared to die in case he failed as Sphinx had threated death upon anyone who failed. During this phase, we can say sight and light can be related to his knowledge and bravery as he even rescues freeing the city from Sphinx evil reign. However, he soon changes his character and becomes a man in denial determined to solve the riddle on Laius death. We can see his ignorance showing therefore bringing the aspect of his blindness to both his past as well as present (De Vlemick, pg. 197-214).

Sophocles introduces Teiresias who is a prophet but also blind to show the aspect of Oedipus blindness metaphorical. Although Teiresias is blind, he can still see the corruption that exudes in Oedipus’ life and the king who has complete sight cannot see the truth surrounding his life. Oedipus issues a curse upon Laius’ killers a curse that eventually would befall him instead. He places a curse on himself, “I curse myself as well… if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house, here at my hearth, with my full knowledge may the curse I just called down on him strike me!” (Sophocles, line 285) yet Tiresias goes ahead to tell him that he is the corruption of the land.

Oedipus is blind to the fact that his people are suffering the plague because of his own action yet a blind man can see this. It is proven that Oedipus escaped from his parents a while fleeing he meets with his real father Laius killing him. He goes on to become king of Thebes and ends up marrying the mother. He learns he has fulfilled the prophesy and was the cause of the misfortunes in the city of Thebes (Zachrisson, pg. 313-331). When truth is presented surrounding Oedipus birth and circumstances of his life, he blinds himself with pins stating “What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy” (Sophocles, line 1473-74). At the end he has seen the light by accepting the fact that he has to meet his fate and humble himself. He realizes even with his eyes he was not able to see the truth that was in front of him the whole time. Oedipus believed he was doing what was right for his people that is why we use the term tragic hero on him. He was unable to escape the prophesy that doomed his life.

In conclusion the novel seeks to answer the question whether painful knowledge of the truth may be more important than having happiness? King Oedipus was a knowledgeable man who wanted to be a great king for his people. By being blind to the truth he was a happy and a noble hero to his people. However, his blindness to the truth regarding his past and his obsession to solve Laius’ death resulted in his fall from the once noble hero to a sad, humiliated, blind man.

Works Cited

De Vleminck, Jens. “Tragic choices: Fate, Oedipus, and beyond.” The locus of tragedy. Brill, 2008. 197-214.

Sophocles, E. A. Oedipus the king. Classic Productions, 1994.

Zachrisson, Anders. “Oedipus the King: Quest for self‐knowledge–denial of reality. Sophocles’ vision of man and psychoanalytic concept formation.” The International journal of psychoanalysis 94.2 (2013): 313-331.

Works Cited

Research Summaries

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Research Summaries

Summary of a Research Article: Is Divorce More Painful When Couples Have Children? Evidence from Long-term Panel Data on Multiple Domains of Well-being

This article explores the psychological effects of divorce to the children. There have been various theoretical models that have indicated how divorce has an effect and is more painful to the children. Little research is available where a researcher looks at kids as moderators in divorce cases. In conducting the research, the first hypothesis used in the research that children caused much more effect on the wellbeing of parents during a divorce. The second hypothesis was children intensified a decline in divorce-related resources. Among the research question posed in conducting the research included: How would presence of children in marriage moderate divorce and does the age of children play a role in divorce process.

In conducting the research, interview was conducted in various households where parents had divorced and they had children. Household members who were of age 18 and above were interviewed in order to establish the transition that took place from marital to divorce state. 2353 participants were randomly selected with the criteria they had to have been divorced after years of marriage. The findings from the research was that presence of children increased emotional crisis on parents, economic losses and social resources. (Leopold, 2016). Mothers who had little kids who were yet to start school or were in pre-school were more likely to stop working. Mothers and fathers were also likely to fall into drug use such as alcohol because raising children as a single parent was hectic.

Summary of the Research Article: If We’re Going to Change Things, It Has to Be Systemic:’’ Systems Change in Children’s Mental Health

If We’re Going to Change Things, It Has to Be Systemic:’’ Systems Change in Children’s Mental Health is a research conducted to understand well-being of children. The research established a purpose that was to provide information that would aid in the development of care systems. It was enhanced to act as a reference for interested or parties in the subject of study and even further researchers to expand the knowledge and understanding the principle care units that include family, youth involvement, individualized care and cultural competencies that aimed at developing effective strategies for building systems and delivering services. The research question for the research was how the systems currently in place affected mentally ill children. The purpose of this article development was derived from calls for reforms on the child mental health in the United States since the 1960s. The hypothesis used in this research was how Soft System Methodology affected the systems of care especially for children with serious emotional disorder.

In conducting the research, a multi-embedded case study design was used in order to examine system changes. There were six systems that were selected through a national nomination process. The research used extensive document review as well as targeted phone interviews with the involved stakeholders. The study found out the current emphasis on medical fields through evaluation to be an emphasis on the implementation of evidence-based practices. Culture, individualized services, family children mental health and competence in linguistics had formed the bases to principles and values of systems in the study. Across the nations in order to develop community-based systems of care for children and families across states, there must be involvement multiple constituencies (Hodges, Ferreira& Israel,2012).

Summary of the Research Article: Children’s Shyness Moderates the Associations between Parenting Behavior and the Development of Children’s Pro-Social Behaviors

In a research article named Children’s Shyness Moderates the Associations between Parenting Behavior and the Development of Children’s Pro-Social Behaviors, a study on whether there is a relationship between the parenting style of a parent and the degree of shyness exhibited by the child they parent is conducted. To preface the work, shyness is described is described as a temperamental state in which a child exhibits unease when in a social group composed of individuals unfamiliar to them (Beier, Terrizzi, Woodward, & Larson, 2017). The main hypothesis made before the study theorize that children parented by parents who showed affectation and exercised behavioral on them would be more pro-social and moreover, the same associations would be more pronounced in children that exhibit shyness. While conducting the study, questionnaire was the data collection method of choice in which parents of 9368 children born in Finland in the province of central find land were supplied with questionnaires regarding their children`s temperament as far as shyness is concerned as well as their parenting styles. To establish the children`s temperament, the questions used the Children Behavior Questionnaire which contains 175 questions which require ratings on the children`s behavior on a scale of 1 to 7 as the answers.

To collect data on the children`s social behavior, the research used the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC) in which a scale of 1 to 4 is used to rate the social behavior of a child on 126 different items. On parenting styles, the research used the Finnish version of Block`s Child Rearing Practices Report (BCRR) parental affection and behavioral control subscales where the participants were required to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, their level of affection and behavioral control on 14 different items. According to the results obtained from this method, it was established that the affection of both mothers and fathers positively affected how the social behavior of their children by enhancing it. Among shy children only, more affection from their mothers was found to improve their pro-social behavior, a phenomenon which could not be linked to non-shy children. Further, the research established that affection from fathers only helped improve the social behaviors of shy children while their behavior control was good when instilling pro-social behavior in non-shy children.

Summary of Research Article: Shyness and Social Conflict Reduce Young Children’s Social Helpfulness

In the article Shyness and Social Conflict Reduce Young Children’s Social Helpfulness, research is done aimed at trying to confirm the hypothesis that shyness and conflicts are impediments that hinder children from being useful in a societal setting. The research question in the research was whether both shyness and social conflict reduced a child social helpfulness. The two main hypotheses were formulated which were as follows: in the event the individual to be helped is clearly unwilling, then a child will refrain to help if the decision to do so is based on their preference to the individual. Secondly, since shy children dread the consequence of conflict, they will be less likely to help if the individual is unwilling (Zarra-Nezhad, 2018).

To confirm whether the hypotheses were right or not, experiments were conducted where children were exposed to opportunities of helping either physically or socially by setting up experiments which involved having a child help an experimenter to collect a she dropped or helping her gain the attention of another experimenter she pretended not to hear her calling while appealing disinterested. The aims of the experiments were to determine whether a child`s decision to be socially helpful was dependent on the target individual`s interest and whether shyness determines the social helpfulness of a child. From the research 81.3% of the children were observed to provide immediate physical help while only 59.4% of them readily provided social support. When the experimenters showed clear disinterest to be helped, the children refrained from helping them confirming the theory that the preference of the target individual negatively affects a child`s decision to be helpful both physically and socially. Regarding the association between shyness and social helpfulness, there was a direct link between shyness and social helpfulness while none was established between shyness and physical helpfulness confirming the theory that social helpfulness is more demanding to shy children since it requires taking social risk.

Summary of Research Article: Clinical Characteristics of Young Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Atherosclerosis

This research looks at both biochemical and clinical characteristics of the young diabetic patients that also suffer from arteriosclerosis as well as Type II Diabetes. The research was a cross sectional study that involved 2199 subjects who had been hospitalized in the hospital with type two diabetes. The research question was the occurrence rate of arteriosclerosis on children. The hypothesis for the research was whether age had an impact on occurrence of arteriosclerosis. The patients were divided into two groups those who had atherosclerosis and non-atherosclerosis. An older group was also included as part of the study who had arteriosclerosis and were at least 45 years of age. There were comparisons made between the different groups in order to establish metabolic and cardiovascular risk profiles of the young patients (Yang, 2016).

The results established that the young people had deleterious profiles of hyperlipidemia and weight when compared to the older generation. Atherosclerosis was also more prevalent in lower extremity arteries of the young patients when compared with the old. The comparison between the young patents with atherosclerosis and non-atherosclerosis pointed out they were more likely to have longer diabetes duration, have older age and larger waste size especially in females and higher BMI and poor control of their blood lipid parameters. Their cholesterol level in both groups did not bear any significant difference. Younger type two diabetic patients were also likely to experience diabetic retinopathy, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetic neuropathy incidences when compared to the older patients.

Summary of Research Article: A cross-sectional study on correlates of high blood pressure among school-going children in an Urban Area.

The researcher of this article aims at establishing if there is a link between blood pressure in school going children specifically in urban areas. Over the years there has been a significant number of children who have suffered from increased high blood pressure and obesity. The research question for the study was whether there was if school played an impact in resulting in high blood pressure among school going children. Hypothesis for the research was whether played any role or was a factor that led to development of high blood pressure in children.

In order to establish this, a cross sectional study was carried out for one and half years involving 892 children who were selected randomly both male and female between 8th-10th class. Measurements including height, weight and Blood pressure were recorded and classified per the BMI and standard guidelines outlined depending on both age and sex. The researcher was able to establish that children who were obese had elevated systolic blood pressure and elevated diastolic BP. The children who had familial history of diabetes in their history also had elevated diastolic pressure. The male also had elevated blood pressure than the female gender. There was a correlation between weight, height and BMI with Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. From the experiment, the researcher established risk factors for elevated BP as being obese or overweight, family history of diabetes or hypertension and increase in age (Katta, 2018).

References

Beier, J., Terrizzi, B., Woodward, A., & Larson, E. (2017). Shyness and Social Conflict Reduce Young Children’s Social Helpfulness. Child Development, 88(6), 1922–1929.

Katta, A. V., & Kokiwar, P. R. (2018). A cross-sectional study on correlates of high blood pressure among school-going children in an Urban Area. Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, 43(2), 82.

Leopold, T., & Kalmijn, M. (2016). Is divorce more painful when couples have children? Evidence from long-term panel data on multiple domains of well-being. Demography, 53(6), 1717-1742.

Hodges, S., Ferreira, K., & Israel, N. (2012). “If We’re Going to Change Things, It Has to Be Systemic:” Systems Change in Children’s Mental Health. American journal of community psychology, 49(3-4), 526-537.

Yang, W., Cai, X., Han, X., & Ji, L. (2016). Clinical Characteristics of Young Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Atherosclerosis. PloS one, 11(7), e0159055.

Zarra-Nezhad, M., Moazami-Goodarzi, A., Nurmi, J.-E., Eklund, K., Ahonen, T., & Aunola, K. (2018). Children’s Shyness Moderates the Associations between Parenting Behavior and the Development of Children’s Pro-Social Behaviors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27, 3008–3018. doi: doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1134-0

Technology and Existentialism

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Technology and Existentialism

Technology has helped us expand how we communicate to each other and has also expanded our freedom of speech. Often we log on to social media where we can express on the views we have and you can get the backing from same people whom you share the same line of thought. The greatest challenge when it comes to controlling the freedom of speech is in the social media platform is the freedom of speech. Over the year’s social media has become the major platform where we express our views whether politics, social problems or economic problems. social media has also become a great platform where the leaders have had the opportunity to interacts with its citizen. Twitter specifically is one famous social media platform that is mostly used in engaging leaders and the citizen (Shao, pg. 96-104). The social media has provided a space where you can reach a large number of people and over the years it has even been used to campaign, explain manifestos or create a live session where individuals are able to engage with their leaders on matters pertaining their manifesto and their promises to the people.

Although social media has incredibly changed the way we convey our messages, it has also become problematic as there are no laws guiding freedom of speech in the internet (Byrd). Because of the web, it is presently conceivable to communicate all the more unreservedly and secretly on issues, be they political, social or monetary with almost no cost. However, concerns have been raised over the utilization of the web in methods for putting limits on what we say and post on the web. This has realized the subject of restriction on the substance we access or post however again it winds up almost impossible as it is viewed as a way of stepping on the freedom of expression. With occurrence of things such as cyberbullying, the debate on internet censorship has emerged.

The internet censorship is no longer a matter of legislation but now narrows down to moral questions. Even while James Madison was advocating for freedom of speech, he did not envision a situation we are in now, this may probably be because social media is a result of technology which was not there when the constitution was created. If the government tries to intervene on the censorship, the human activist will be on the road in a couple of hour accusing the government of infringing on the first amendment freedom of expression (Mailland, pg. 179). It is in the interest of the public to come up with laws that will restrict the freedom of speech on the social media sites. These sites have been used to propagate hate message, bully, troll innocent people as well as spread fake news. Spreading of fake news my result in a lot of panic in the country. Twitter is one social media site that is notorious for spreading of fake news or hatred. Just one tweet can be retweeted by a million of people in matter of hours. With the freedom of speech, you find individuals advocating against a certain race or even religion in these platforms. They cannot be arrested for this as they are protected by the 1st Amendment act. It is such loopholes in the bill of rights that have made some legislators to try and come up with legislations that will save such situations.

Jean-Paul Sartre a renowned philosopher who expounded on the theory of existentialism believed that “existence precedes essence. “I believe he would support the internet and it’s use. This is because he believed that as humans we were at a position to define ourselves including the use of internet despite all its disadvantages associated with it. However, Sartre is likely to advocate for the responsible use of the internet given the fact that as humans we ate in a position to make the best choices for us. Every single choice that one decides to take as human defines us and also gives a revelation on what we may think human being should be. In order to explore the internet and its negative impact that it has, then we must first use it. Denying the use of internet because we envision the internet to be in a certain way or used in a specific way by everyone is “living in bad faith” as Sartre said. Sartre was a philosopher who wanted the humans to break out of the shackles they had put on themselves. Those then who would love to use the internet as a form of entertainment or to entertain themselves should be left to do so (Mei, pg. 106).

Technology expands the human freedom in so many ways. Despite the part of the world one is, they can comfortably access any information or communicate to a person in any part of the world Everything g now is being used by the use of technology and now with the new field of Artificial Intelligence and data science, humanity is accomplishing so much even more than they could imagine. However, it has also diminished human freedom, the case of Cambridge Analytica is a perfect example. Through the use of the internet and people being able to share their data out their companies like Cambridge Analytica re using this information to influence people decision in certain ways and mostly election. Many have cited the concern of having free and fair election after there were news that highlighted how data science was being used to swing election. Despite the lows associated with the internet here and there the advantages outweigh the disadvantages depicting how technology and internet has expanded human freedom.

Works Cited

Mailland, Julien. “Freedom of speech, the internet, and the costs of control: The French example.” NYUJ Int’l L. & Pol. 33 (2000): 179.

Mei, W. A. N. “Being and Free Choice of Life——On Sartrean Existentialism in Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved [J].” Journal of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Social Sciences) 3 (2009).

Shao, C., Ciampaglia, G. L., Varol, O., Flammini, A., & Menczer, F. The spread of fake news by social bots. arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.07592. 2017. 96-104.

Literature Reflects Life in the Gilded Age

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Literature Reflects Life in the Gilded Age

As immigrants started to surge into America in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they had any desires for a wonderful new life in the Land of the Free. They may have imagined that they would not need to live in confined and unsanitary conditions as they had in their old homes. They may have had any expectations of discovering an extraordinary new profession that would soar them to notoriety and fortune and permit them to live like the Carnegies, Rockefellers, and Morgans did. It could be conceivable that all their trusts were guaranteed once they got a quick look at the New York City horizon, extending the extent that the eye could see and extending like arms spread inviting home a friend or family member. The sun may have been sparkling brilliant and brilliant, washing the not really inaccessible city in an incredible light. At a separation it was perhaps a standout amongst the most wonderful sights that their eyes had ever happened upon. On the other hand, the land that looked so delightful and fabulous from the separation was really loaded with covetousness, debasement, and go getters. That is the way America might be portrayed throughout the Gilded Age. The wrapping was beautiful, yet the present was appalling.

Such affluent business visionaries as the Rockefellers and Carnegies served to make America the magnificence that she was on the outside, however to a degree they additionally helped the spoiled inside. America’s new European occupants existed in confined condo and worked in hazardous processing plants. The production lines housed the most recent engineering of the Gilded Age, the sequential construction system. According to Rowlandson, the large scale manufacture that the mechanical production system realized made the rich wealthier, yet did nothing to help poor people. They were working extended periods in at times greatly perilous conditions. Wounds and even passing’s would happen because of flawed apparatus or depleted representatives; however these events were frequently disregarded or concealed to keep away from any terrible reputation (Rowlandson 67). As the migrants overwhelmed the huge urban areas looking for occupations, different Americans headed west with the development of the railroad. On the other hand, no one appeared to think seriously about that they would be interrupting the American Indian’s domain. It additionally appeared that nobody minded. America was insatiable for land that lay to the west and would be very misleading in getting the land that they needed. The American Indians were pushed further and further west, and their tribes started to diminish. It appeared to be as though in this age that nobody was winning however the well-off white man.

Who was to uncover the defilement and advantage that streamed all through the Gilded Age? The creators of this time took it upon themselves to show how America was abusing its own. Creators and speakers, for example, Seattle, George Washington Cable, William Dean Howells, and Mark Twain concentrated on the subjects of defilement and advantage that were show in the Gilded Age. According to Emerson, one such case of a work offering the subject that debasement was talked by the Indian boss, Seattle, and interpreted for conservation by those intrigued by Native American concerns.

“Sometime in the past our kin secured the terrains as waves of a wind-unsettled ocean blanket its shell-cleared floor, however that time since a long time ago has passed away with the best of tribes that are presently yet a distressed memory” (228). So says Seattle in “Our People Are Ebbing Away Like a Rapidly Receding Tide.” In this discourse talked by the head of the Suquamish and Dewamish, Seattle recounts how the American Indian tribes are contracting into a close obscurity because of the degenerate white man. Nonetheless, Seattle knew enough that to deplore the white man would result in his work from being recognized and cause more objection towards himself and his kin. Subsequently, he portrays the tricky white man in a manner that may be recognized as joking.

A case of this methodology happens when he says, “The Great-and I assume great White Chief sends us word that he wishes to purchase our territories yet is eager to permit us enough to live agreeably” (228). Seattle knows exceptionally well that the cash that they will be paid will probably be little and that the area which they will accept will be the most exceedingly bad that there is to offer. Seattle returns to thank the White Chief for paying them for the area in light of the fact that, being the Native American, they have no rights and this gesure is seen as being to a great degree liberal. Not long after that Seattle says, “our extraordinary and great father, I say, sends us word that in the event that we do as he cravings he will secure us” (228). This announcement is not a type of liberality; however rather, it is the control of the Indians done by the all the more influential white man. Seattle is incognito when demonstrating how degenerate the populace of the Gilded Age could be. Seattle was by all account not the only one to manage an unmistakably good however clandestinely unsavory area swindler. George Washington Cable additionally managed the issue, however in a more private family climate.

In “Belles Demoiselles Plantation” Cable shows that debasement can exist inside a family and not simply between two different gatherings of individuals. The story manages Colonel Chaleau and his relative Charlie. The two principle characters originate from a blended family, the Colonel of French respectability and Charlie from the Choctaw Indians. The Colonel claims a great estate that sits on a duty. It goes to the Colonel’s consideration that the area is disintegrating separated and falling into the waterway and soon his wonderful estate could drop into the stream alongside the mud. The Colonel chooses to attempt to purchase Charlie’s property which exists in the city. He goes to Charlie and makes him an offer for his structures that is substantially more than what they are value. Charlie gets suspicious of the Colonel’s dealings. The old Indian asks why the Colonel would offer to pay such an extensive entirety for his structures and offer his own particular Belles Demoiselles for such a low cost. It is then that the Colonel positively gets misleading and does something that goes unequivocally against Creole convention. He sells out his own particular family. The Colonel advises Charlie that he needs to offer his ranch for no other explanation than to live in the city. At last the Colonel pays for his lies as he and Charlie witness his sublime ranch, alongside his darling little girls, fall in the stream. It without a doubt appears to be as though Colonel De Charleu pays for submitting a definitive sin against his family; inasmuch as, Editha, from William Dean Howells’ short story, never gets what she merits.

William Dean Howells’ “Editha” is an illustration of the shark that existed throughout the Gilded Age. She is a character whose psyche declines to see the pitiless substances of war, however rather sees the sentimental side of war that she peruses in her energetic books. She tosses her romanticized perspectives of war up in her life partner’s face, persuading him that it would be best for him to join the armed force. She understands that Gearson could be harmed or conceivably kicks the bucket in fight yet appears to be not to tend to, then consideration would be centered on her and she could go about as the courageous women in her books demonstration. Howells shows Editha’s twisted4 dream as she considers Gearson losing his arm in fight when he keeps in touch with, “She excited with the feeling of the arm around her; consider the possibility that that ought to be lost?” (368. Editha is manipulative with regards to Gearson. She controls him utilizing thoughts that she may have perused in her books. It is not ardent when she says, “‘I am yours, for time and endlessness time and forever'” (368), for after she articulates this expression she supposes to herself that these words “fulfilled her starvation for expressions.” Gearson does wind up passing on, and Editha acts in the way that she has perused that she ought to. She gets “wiped out” and wears dark. Editha and her father go to see Gearson’s mother, yet the mother sees directly through Editha’s veneer. Gearson’s mother defies Editha asking “‘What you got that dark on for?'” (371) on the grounds that she sees Editha for the manipulative, serving toward one, go getter that she truly is.

To sum up, the closure is surely shocking; however Twain demonstrates the debasement of the Gilded Age as no other creator could. Conceivably impacted by his great companion William Dean Howells, Twain likewise loathed the debasement and advantage that was moving through the Gilded Age. He was maintained as a dependable pioneer for American popular government and took the side of “the strong mass of the uncultivated” (266) as opposed to “the slight top hull of mankind” (266). His sensitivity towards the poor may have determined from growing up poor himself. Be that as it may, despite the fact that he grows up poor, he thought back affectionately on the days preceding the Gilded Age.

Work cited

Cable, George Washington. Belles Demoiselles Plantation. McQuade, et al. 2: 513- 524.

Downes, Paul. Democracy, Revolution, and Monarchism in Early American Literature.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.

Elliott, Emory. The Cambridge Introduction to Early American Literature. Cambridge, UK:

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self- Reliance.” Rpt in Course Materials for ENGL 2131. Web. June17, 2014.

Franklin, Benjamin. Benjamin Franklin. Vol. 65. Trajectory Inc, 2013.

Hartsock, John C. A History of American Literary Journalism: The Emergence of a ModernNarrative Form. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Print.Howells, William Dean. Editha. McQuade, et al. 2: 362-371. McQuade, Donald, et al., eds. The Harper American Literature. 2nd ed. 2 Vols. NewYork:HarperCollins, 1993.

Rowlandson, Mary W. The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rolandson.United States: Filiquarian Publishing, 2005. Print.

Twain, Mark. The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.”McQuade, et al. 2: 311-342.

obesity in pregnancy

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Obesity in Pregnancy

Introduction

Obesity is characterized as having a body mass record (BMI) of more prominent than 30. More or less 15 to 20 percent of pregnant women are obese. Late years have seen an increment in the predominance of maternal corpulence during pregnancy in the United States and around the world. Obese women have expanded dangers for gestational issues, for example, hypertension, diabetes, and preeclampsia. Further, gestational obesity can unfavorably affect fetal development and bring about inborn anomalies, macrosomia, and fetal demise. Measures must be taken to diminish maternal adiposity, as even an unobtrusive weight reduction during pregnancy is gainful for the soundness of mothers and infants (Andreasen, Malene, and Anne 1022). Calorie confinement and moderate activity are demonstrated safe strategies for ceasing weight addition and/or actuating white- obese misfortune in these subjects.

Pregnancy outcome in overweight mothers was tended to as right on time as 1945. From that point forward, study plans have changed broadly. Being overweight or obese during pregnancy may prompt complexities during pregnancy. Pregnant women are at a more serious danger for unsuccessful labor, preeclampsia, infertility, hypertension, gestational diabetes ledge conception, and complexities during conception. Most infants destined to obese or overweight mothers are conceived solid. Then again, they are at expanded danger of conception deformities (counting imperfections of the mind and spine), preterm conception, and harm during conception because of extensive size, passing after conception, and adolescence obesity (Rees, Mahantesh, and Louis 74). Overweight women may enhance their shots of having a sound pregnancy by getting early and customary pre-birth mind, and working out. Overweight women ought to addition give or take 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy and obese women ought to increase roughly 11 to 20 pounds

Issues/problems

Weight in pregnancy is currently a standout amongst the most critical difficulties in obstetric consideration. The predominance of corpulence in women has been characterized as 49.2% of African American women, 33.5% of white women, and 34.9% of women when all is said in done. The rate of weight in pregnancy is accounted for to be 6% to 10% and may be as high as 17% (Rees, Mahantesh, and Louis 81). A few experts accept that excessive intake of caloric versus calories depleted is the most widely recognized cause and records for 99% of weight. On the other hand, others express that obese women frequently ingest the same or less calories than their dainty partners. It has been recommended that women have inherited, set weight introductions and behavioral examples that focus their weight increase design all through life making change problematic. The metabolic parity is exasperates in the obese woman making her not able to keep up a steady, ordinary, body weight. One proposed clarification for this event is the likelihood of injuries in the midbrain locale influencing the hypothalamus which is in charge of voracity control. The etiology of corpulence incorporates metabolic, hypothalamic, endocrine, hereditary, dietary, latency, psychic (anxiety help), natural, and viral viewpoints (Galtier-Dereure, Catherine and Jacques 1244).

The relationship between maternal obesity and untimely conception is a matter of discussion. Contrasted and that in ordinary weight control subjects, the rate of untimely conception in overweight women was demonstrated to be lower, higher, or comparable. After delivery, obese mothers are more probable than ordinary weight mothers to encounter urinary indications, for example, urgency and stress incontinence (Andreasen, Malene, and Anne 1025). Weight increase during pregnancy is a solid indicator for maintained weight maintenance and weight picks up more than 9 kg are connected with the measure of weight held between 2 progressive pregnancies. Furthermore, Infants of obese mothers are at higher danger of being overweight at 12years of age than are babies of ordinary weight mothers. Notably, macrosomic newborn children are more prone to end up obese in later life. At the point when diabetes convolutes the course of pregnancy, newborn children are inclined to create overweight and obesity during youth, particularly on account of high conception weight. Hypertension during pregnancy is likewise in charge of expanded dreariness during early stages (Galtier-Dereure, Catherine and Jacques 1246). At 6 years old, mean diastolic circulatory strain is higher in offspring of women who created preeclampsia during pregnancy than in of offspring of control subjects.

However, countless women are uninformed of current recomendations encompassing gestational weight addition and numerous put on above present gestational weight pick up rules during pregnancy, and do not lose the extra weight post pregnancy (Ovesen and Dorte 102). This builds the dangers in the present and future pregnancies. The unfavorable effect of weight on pregnancy starts before origination. Obesity lessens fertility and has been indicated to influence the strength of the human oocyte and the quality and improvement of the fetus right on time in incubation. Despite the fact that there are a few approaches to figure obesity, the most of the time utilized is the Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI is computed as takes after: BMI refers to the patient weight in kg. In view of the vast number of clinically corpulent women in this nation and the potential clinical dangers connected with this condition, birthing assistants watching over these women must be mindful of the particular concerns and have learning in observation and treatment of resulting complications (Ovesen and Dorte 109).

Argument/claims

It is well acknowledged that the obese woman is herself at higher danger for wellbeing issues. Pregnancy is a period in women’ lives when the probability of weight increase is expanded putting the woman at danger during this time (Bogaerts 86). The survey of writing has uncovered numerous issues for the pregnancy of the obese woman also. These incorporate preeclampsia, anesthesia difficulties, hypertension, incontinence, increment in cesarean delivery, diabetes, discharge, neural tube deformities, endometritis, urinary tract diseases, and an increment in thromboembolism. Dangers to the neonate of the obese women have been distinguished as macrosomia with resulting inconveniences, for example, shoulder dystocia and paralysis, and difficulties connected with high-hazard maternal conditions. Simply precisely why these muddlings happen is still under scrutiny.

In a prospective multicenter investigation of more than 16,000 patients, a BMI of 30–39.9 was connected with an expanded danger of gestational diabetes mellitus, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and fetal macrosomia, when contrasted and a BMI of short of what 30. In this same study, the cesarean delivery rate was 20.7% for women with a BMI of 29.9 or less, 33.8% for women with a BMI of 30–34.9, and 47.4% for women with a BMI of 35–39.9 (Conway 77). Different studies have reliably reported higher rates of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, and cesarean delivery (especially for capture of work) in obese women than in non-corpulent women. No less than three partner studies recommend that obesity is a free hazard element for spontaneous premature birth among women who experience fruitlessness treatment. In differentiation of this affiliation, it is proposed that social insurance suppliers sway obese women to get in shape before starting infertility help (Conway 84). Data likewise connects obesity with spontaneous premature birth among women who imagine characteristically.

Obese pregnant women are more inclined to conceive a newborn child with intrinsic abnormalities, and obesity additionally brings down recognition rates of fetal oddities during pre-birth ultrasonography. Data secure that the danger of neural tube deformities among corpulent pregnant women is twofold that of pregnant women of ordinary weight in the wake of rectifying for diabetes as a potential perplexing component. The advantange of the organization of folic corrosive measurements higher than 400 micrograms for every day has not been contemplated in obese pregnant women without diabetes (Leddy, Michael and Jay 170). Numerous studies have demonstrated that maternal obesity and intemperate weight addition during pregnancy are connected with extensive for-gestational-age babies. Besides, these substantial for-gestational-age babies are at expanded danger of youth and pre-adult weight. Despite the fact that the finding of fetal macrosomia is uncertain, prophylactic cesarean delivery may be considered for suspected fetal macrosomia with evaluated fetal weights more prominent than 5,000 g in women without diabetes and more prominent than 4,500 g in women with diabetes.

Contention exists in the techniques used to distinguish the clinically obese patient. BMI is a simple estimation to get yet has a few constraints. Since body arrangement is not equivalent for all body sorts, an issue with the BMI is that it makes the tall individual more slender and the short individual fatter. The BMI additionally does not separate in the middle of obese and muscle. This implies that a woman who is 5 feet tall weighing 180 pounds would be viewed as obese by the BMI yet does not meet the criteria for obesity by weight. It is in this way recommended by two studies that maternal weight is as powerful in deciding obesity as the BMI (Bogaerts 93). Cautious preconceptual directing is attractive for all patients including the clinically corpulent woman. Recognizing and examining therapeutic difficulties with the patient and empowering dietary advising, way of life changes, and folic corrosive supplement could perhaps bring about a healthier mother and newborn child (Dinatale, et al 5). The testing perspective for the maternity specialist is to present this data in a delicate and positive way.

Obstetric administration of the obese patient is frequently confounding and convoluted. Numerous prior conditions, and also the plausible entanglements emerging during the pregnancy and conception, can make administration of obese patients testing. An agreeable, strong, clinical practice rule has not been created inside the distributed writing explored. Numerous recommendations for antepartum and intrapartum administration were recognized by different sources. The idea of co-administration among different fortes is viewed as basic. Anesthesia, pulmonology, cardiology, dietary, and endocrinology may get to be fundamental zones for counsel. Corpulent pregnant women have an expanded plasma volume and subsequently serum alpha-fetoprotein levels will need to be balanced in like manner (Morin, 1998). Current weight pick up proposals during pregnancy are BMI < 19.9, 28-40 pounds, BMI 19.8-26, 25-35 pounds, BMI >26-29, 15-25 pounds, and BMI >29, no less than 15 pounds (Conway 102).

Reconnaissance of the newborn child through ultrasound during pregnancy to survey fetal development is dubious. Macrosomia, a conception weight in overabundance of 4,000 grams, is known to expand the danger of fetal damage. Finding of macrosomia can be troublesome in the obese patient since manual palpation and fundal tallness estimation may be clouded by maternal obese tissue. Ultrasound is as often as possible utilized for appraisal of fetal size. However, the more progressive the pregnancy, the less precise the ultrasound for the estimation. It is likewise expressed in the writing assessed that stomach palpation is extremely wrong in that 20% of these appraisals only before conception are not inside 450 grams of the real conception weight. On the off chance that fetal macrosomia is suspected, by utilizing serial ultrasound, quickened stomach development can be recognized by as ahead of schedule as 32 weeks incubation, showing that macrosomia is surely display (Bogaerts 102).

Gestational diabetes (GD) is an alternate concern among pregnant, obese women. GD is portrayed as carb narrow mindedness with onset or first distinguishment during pregnancy that normally vanishes after labor. Women at danger for GD incorporate a monozygotic twin of a non-insulin subordinate diabetic, the fat, and women with a past baby weighing more prominent than 9 pounds during childbirth (Beare, 1994). Because of the expanded danger of this condition early glucose screening is shown. A one-hour screen in the first trimester ought to be performed and if ordinary ought to be trailed by another hour screen in the second trimester (Henn, Theron, and Hall 57).

Solutions

Weight can trigger an assortment of destructive wellbeing conditions that have the inclination of influencing your whole life. Since eating less carbs is not empowered for pregnant corpulent individuals, physical activity is one of the answers for this issue. One of the best physical activities that women can do every day is lively strolling. This is significant in diminishing the danger of managing weight and safeguarding a solid weight and body. It is likewise prudent to work out in the rec center for roughly thirty to forty-five minutes 4 to 5 days week after week (Baeten, Elizabeth and Mats 436). Joining the consistent workouts with solid dietary propensities can help in altogether lessening your weight.

Obese women are at expanded danger of a few pregnancy muddlings. Accordingly, predisposition appraisal and advising are unequivocally supported. Obstetricians ought to give instruction about the conceivable complexities and ought to urge corpulent patients to embrace a weight-lessening project, including eating regimen, activity, and conduct adjustment, before endeavoring pregnancy (Sebire, et al 1176). Particular medicinal leeway may be shown for a few patients. At the introductory pre-birth visit, tallness and weight ought to be recorded for all women to permit computation of BMI, and proposals for proper weight addition ought to be checked on both at the starting visit and occasionally all through pregnancy.

At the point when guiding obese women about potential pregnancy complexities, it is imperative to advise them of the related fetal dangers, including rashness, stillbirth, inherent variations from the norm (eg, neural tube imperfections), macrosomia, and adolescence and pre-adult obesity. A few studies have reported a higher rate of unexpected labor for obese women than for women of ordinary weight. On the other hand, in a study by Galtier-Dereure, Florence, Catherine Boegner, and Jacques Bringer of more than 2,900 obese women, prepregnancy weight was connected with a lower rate of spontaneous preterm conception. A vast Swedish accomplice study reported a more serious danger of antepartum stillbirth among obese patients than among women who had a BMI of short of what 20. It is vital to examine potential intrapartum inconveniences with corpulent women, for example, the difficulties connected with anesthesia administration and the expanded danger of entangled and rising cesarean delivery (Sebire, et al 1176). Other potential issues incorporate trouble evaluating fetal weight (even with ultrasonography) and the failure to acquire interpretable outside fetal heart rate and uterine compression designs.

Conclusion

Weight during pregnancy was interfaced with maternal inconveniences going from consequences for ripeness to impacts on delivery and in the baby blues period, and in addition numerous entanglements influencing the hatchling and infant. The maternal complexities connected with obesity included expanded dangers of gestational diabetes mellitus, hypertensive issue, infertility, and delivery by Cesarean area. Fetal complexities included expanded dangers of macrosomia, intrauterine fetal demise and stillbirth, and admission to the neonatal emergency unit.

Weight causes huge inconveniences for the mother and hatchling. Mediations steered towards weight reduction and anticipation of inordinate weight pick up must start in the predisposition period. Obstetrical consideration suppliers must guidance their obese patients with respect to the dangers and difficulties presented by corpulence and the imperativeness of weight reduction. Maternal and fetal observation may need to be increased during pregnancy; a multidisciplinary methodology is valuable. Women need to be educated about both maternal and fetal muddling and about the measures that are important to improve conclusion, yet the most critical measure is to address the issue of weight preceding pregnancy.

Previously established studies appraisal and directing are emphatically empowered for obese women and ought to incorporate the procurement of particular data concerning the maternal and fetal dangers of weight in pregnancy, and also support to embrace a weight-lessening system. At the beginning pre-birth visit, tallness and weight ought to be recorded for all women to permit figuring of body mass list (figured as weight in kilograms partitioned by stature in meters squared), and suggestions for suitable weight addition ought to be looked into at the starting visit and occasionally all through pregnancy. Nourishment conference ought to be offered to all overweight or obese women, and they ought to be urged to take after an activity program. Pregnant women who have experienced bariatric surgery ought to be assessed for healthful lacks and the requirement for vitamin supplementation when shown. Corpulent patients experiencing cesarean delivery may require thromboprophylaxis with pneumatic pressure gadgets and unfractionated heparin or low atomic weight heparin. For all corpulent patients, anesthesiology counsel right on time in the process of childbirth ought to be considered, and conference with weight-diminishment experts before endeavoring an alternate pregnancy ought to be energized.

Work cited

Sebire, N. Jolly, et al. “Maternal obesity and pregnancy outcome: a study of 287,213 pregnanciesin London.” International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders: journal ofthe International Association for the Study of Obesity 25.8 (2001): 1175-1182.

Leddy, Meaghan A., Michael L. Power, and Jay Schulkin. “The impact of maternal obesity onmaternal and fetal health.” Reviews in obstetrics and gynecology 1.4 (2008): 170.

Andreasen, Kirsten Riis, Malene Lundgren Andersen, and Anne Louise Schantz. “Obesity andpregnancy.” Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica 83.11 (2004): 1022-1029.

Rees, Margaret, Mahantesh Karoshi, and Louis Keith. Obesity and Pregnancy. Ashland Ohio:Royal Society of Medicine Pr Ltd, 2008. Print.

Henn, E. W., G. B. Theron, and D. R. Hall. “Obesity in pregnancy.” O&G Forum. Vol. 16. 2006.Baeten, Jared M., Elizabeth A. Bukusi, and Mats Lambe. “Pregnancy complications andoutcomes among overweight and obese nulliparous women.” American Journal of PublicHealth 91.3 (2001): 436.

Conway, Deborah L. Pregnancy in the Obese Woman: Clinical Management. Chichester, WestSussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.

Dinatale, Angela, et al. “Obesity and fetal-maternal outcomes.” Journal of prenatal medicine 4.1(2010): 5.

Galtier-Dereure, Florence, Catherine Boegner, and Jacques Bringer. “Obesity and pregnancy:complications and cost.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 71.5 (2000): 1242s1248s.

Ovesen, Per G, and Dorte M. Jensen. Maternal Obesity and Pregnancy. Heidelberg: Springer,2012. Print.

Bogaerts, Annick. Obesity and Pregnancy: An Epidemiological and Intervention Study from aPsychosocial Perspective. Antwerpen: Garant, 2013. Print.

Corporate responsibility, philanthropy, altruism and benevolence

Corporate responsibility, philanthropy, altruism and benevolence are some of the words that are often used to describe cause-related marketing when businesses join together with charities as a means of promoting their product, image, brand or services for the mutual benefit of the society (Van Yoder 2003). From this excerpt, one can tell that cause-related marketing deals with the society at greater lengths than it would have dealt with them had it not collaborated with charities. According to business in the community (2004), cause-related marketing is not altruism or benevolence as people may like to call it. It is based, according to them, on the recognition by businesses that link up with charitable organizations could lead to mutual beneficiary. They term is as a way of addressing current issues affecting the society while at the same addressing their business marketing objectives. CRM, as is commonly known, goes beyond sales promotion and takes into consideration the entire marketing spectrum activities. This may include advertising, sponsorship and direct marketing. This is simply linking up marketing of products and services to wider social benefits. Adkins (1999 p.1) states terms cause related marketing as another aspect within which self-interest is enlightened to promote products in conjunction with a good cause. Money is raised and the values of the goods are also raised while at the same time enlisting customer loyalty and purchase of their own products.

Ways in which corporate companies can enlist public support is through supporting charities, underwriting a public service television campaign, sponsoring a fundraiser to support a worthy cause or host an invent that will benefit the local community. These events could be geared towards environmental management in arid areas, business initiatives in poverty stricken areas, food donations for those in dire need, distribution of learning materials and facilities in schools within marginalized areas, supporting war against social ills like violence, crimes, drug abuse and child labor and civic education in areas where events like voting will take place (Baker, 2003 p.510). The community can easily judge between a sincere company with societal motives and a company out to sell more products at their expense. The community will always be glad to support a company that shows genuine, long term commitment to the consumers and to the larger community by way of its business practices and public service.

Several companies have benefited from these initiatives. Major corporate companies like Barclays Plc, Centrica Plc, Tesco Plc, and Cadbury Schweppes Plc have understood the benefits involved in CRM programs that have reaped benefits for themselves whilst making positive and significant impact on the wider community. They have demonstrated this through their benefit from the essential win: win: win of CRM. They have also heightened their stakeholder value addition which is vested in good corporate reputation. Good reputation leads to influences in prices and purchase of stocks (Baker, 2003 p.515). The corporate also benefit from increased visibility putting them an edge ahead of their competitors due to their constant appearance in worthy causes and many public adverts. They benefit from enhanced corporate image which is a good way to create a company that mirrors the society and fulfills its needs satisfactorily. The media is the most influential way of creating a stepping stone to the company’s ideals. The media will most definitely view a company that cares about the community from a positive angle (Van Yoder, 2003; Carr 2005 p.100). This serves as a good ingredient for good image and increased trust among the consumers. The mixing of a resonating cause with an equally ecstatic target market generates tremendous goodwill and media attention can be the good side effect emanating from this.

As the CEOs of these companies will confess, building corporate image is similar to building a brand. The company is tasked with consistent delivery of quality service over time. Quality here equally entails propelling core values and ideologies in the marketing strategies endorsed. It offers the company with a chance to bring to life their corporate values and enhance corporate reputation over who cares and why (Adkins, 1999 p.3). Another benefit acquired from CRM is the increased knowledge on using marketing ix to evaluate and implement CRM programs effectively. There has to be a criterion through which the company creates an impact worth remembering and one that will be there for certainly along time (Carr 2005 p.100).

The community also wins in this whole entrepreneurship business. The non-government organizations involved in these partnerships create a basis through which the community can be uplifted and how the community can benefit from their own purchases. They are further assisted in marketing their causes through even greater financial resources that are donated by these corporate. They are able to reach more people through the company’s consumer base. Through this, they can accomplish a whole lot of objectives by partnering with these companies since the financial constraints that might have hindered their earlier ambitions are taken care of (Rubenstein 2004, p.128). The community also benefits from better living standards as some initiatives that help in the health care subsector assist those in the low-income earning bracket offering them another chance on being healthy again. The locals benefit from employment opportunities in these non-governmental organizations which entail the use of skills for the benefit of all. This opportunity assists the people to raise their own living standards and improve their livelihoods.

We can deduce is that CRM is a good strategy within which marketing values can be based on. It offers strategies within which a company can benefit form loyalty accrued from the consumers. It provides an avenue through which the company can show its willingness to create a society worth being emulated. The community is the main beneficiary in this aspect as all the money they use for their purchases is brought back in a whole new dimension to benefit them for a long period of time. The core components of these links include a win for the business, a win for the cause and a win for the consumer. As Earle (2002) states, the number of cause related adverts are on the rise (p.27). This is due to the spreading information that this type of marketing is beneficial to all the stakeholders in the business. More corporate are turning out to support several initiatives that will portray them as the ideal company with which to identify with. However, goodwill has to be earned and nurtured. This strategic move has to be clearly and solely approached with due care because it involves winning the society’s trust, credibility and support for the initiatives that are to be carried out (Gitman 2008 p. 276). The brand created must be oriented in some kind of passion for the community as well as a means through which the company can help ease the burden from the community and slash it up with different incentives.

As Adkins (1999) suggests, CRM is an under utilized strategy that can achieve business objectives as well as the cause objectives (p.4). If well utilized, it enhances corporate image and differentiates the product from other competitors’ thus increasing customer loyalty and sales. The only challenge is for the corporate to find the most appropriate partnerships, plan, implement and communicate them through the different avenues in the society. Nothing can help build strong brand loyalty like a company’s proven track of committed support of worthy causes (Gitman 2008 p. 277). This creates a basis through which a consumer will gladly appreciate and value products produced by a company willing to do something for them beyond the normal. They see this as a way of raising their living standards by investing in the community what they have gained from it. If a company is willing to stand for something profits, the consumers will be willing to stick with it for better or for worse.

Thus, one can suggest that CRM is based on creating good rapport with the community. The better consumers understand the corporate partnership with the society, the more positive they are and this goes a long way into creating beneficial brand equities. CRM has also been seen to encourage companies to switch between products, when the prices, quality and product are equal (business in the community, 2004; Rubenstein 2004 p.130). This helps create business affinity. This is expressed as a measure of consumer identification with common brand sin the market. Thus, one can look at the positive perceptions that help motivate people’s buying decisions and strategies for improved performance based on statistics gathered. As can be observed from sale reports from different companies, the success of CRM is reflected mainly in consumer awareness. Growth in awareness comes hand in hand with increased participation. An increase in affinity is also reported due to benchmark statements that deal with brand’s capacity to innovate, the level of trust it inspires, the level of endorsement it is receiving and the extent to which consumer’s values are being matched by the products in the market.

Evidently, the social, political and economic changes that have transpired all over the world have seen the universe drawing back to the state for funding. The demands have increased responsibility flexibility seed and innovation from business quarters. The consumer expectations have grown generally directed towards the business community. They expect more personalized messages that show an evidence of understanding their needs. This has led to an increase in consumer compassion form the corporate world. This has spiked more partnerships between the corporate and the society to bridge this gap. This is appropriate for investors from different sectors to involve themselves in such worthy causes first as a passion so as to attract attention and benefit from these interactions with the local people.

References:

Adkins S. (1999) who cares wins: Cause related marketing, London: Butterworth-Heinemann, p.1-7

Baker, M.J (2003)Marketing Book, London: Butterworth Heinemann, p.500-579

Business in the community (2004), how cause related marketing impacts on brand equity, consumer behavior and the bottom line: brand benefits, international research. Retrieved 12th November, 2010. < HYPERLINK “http://www.bitc.org.uk/document.rm?id=9000” http://www.bitc.org.uk/document.rm?id=9000>

Carr P. J. (2005) a study of consumer nonprofit brand identification: Cause related marketing, Oregon: University of Oregon, p.100-110

Earle R. (2002), How to Use Advertising to Change Personal Behavior and Public Policy: The Art of Cause Marketing, New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, p.27-49

Gitman L. J. (2008). The Essentials: The Future of Business, Michigan: Cengage Learning, p276-300

Rubenstein D. (2004) a practical guide: The good corporate citizen, New York: John Wiley and Sons, p.127-150

Van Yoder, S. (2003), cause related marketing, frugalmarketing .com. Retrieved 12th November, 2010. < http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/cause-related.shtml>

Corporate Social Reporting The Case of British Airways

Corporate Social Reporting: The Case of British Airways

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Institution

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility has been recognized as one of the most fundamental issues in the contemporary business environment. The term refers to a company-adopted policy that operates as an in-built self regulating mechanism where the business entity monitors, as well as ensures that it actively complies with the ethical standards, spirit of the rule of law, and international regulations and norms. It revolves around a process where the company strives to embrace its actions, as well as encourage or have a positive influence via its activities pertaining to the environment, employees, consumers, stakeholders, communities and all people in the public arena who are considered to be stakeholders. There are varied reasons as to why corporations incorporate corporate social responsibility in their operations. It comes as one of the ways of showing or exhibiting true commitment in a certain cause, not to mentions that it enhances their social media visibility. In addition, it comes as one of the most effective techniques of establishing a positive and enviable workplace environment, thereby enhancing the productivity of employees. On the same note, corporate social responsibility comes with immense public relations benefits, not to mention that it enhances the relationship between the corporations and government agencies. In the contemporary world, the manner in which corporations behave has been subjected to intense scrutiny. This is especially due to the dramatic increase in the public awareness of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of a business in the last few years and decades. In essence, corporations are now faced by intense pressure from governments, investors, customers, as well as other stakeholders even in the public arena to demonstrate the effort that they have undertaken to manage and alleviate the negative effects that their operations may have on the society and the environment in general. Scholars, however, note that accounting, which is essentially a set of socially conditioned processes and practices that have different but significant effects on the societal operations, has been called upon to help in outlining the integrity and accountability pertaining to business actions. Corporate social reporting has resulted from combination of the intense pressures that companies in the contemporary world face daily. It has been developed in an effort to address the intense need for information emanating from the key stakeholders of the company with regard to the company’s environmental and social performance. Recent times have seen an increase in the cases of Corporate Social Disclosures. While varied reasons may be used in explaining this, researchers acknowledge that corporate social disclosures are mainly used when the legitimacy of an organization or business entity is threatened, then business entities face intense media exposure or pressure from the general public, or in instances where the corporations fails to comply with the requirements pertaining to an implicit social contract. This may also be seen when corporations are facing immense threats to their image and reputation.

Extensive research has been carried out with regard to legitimacy theory as the key driver for corporations to report environmental and social information. Legitimacy theory has been defined as a supposition that a business entity undertakes constant attempts at functioning or operating within varied accepted customs and norms pertaining to the society within which they operate. The legitimacy of the operations of a corporation are conferred by the constituents who, essentially are the external and external actors making decisions pertaining to the legitimacy of a business entity. Researchers have always underlined the problems emanating from the legitimacy gap existing between the expectations of the constituent and the behaviors of the firm and underlined the fact that the deficiency of legitimacy would result in the withdrawal of the social contract that exists between the society and the business entity. Research shows that companies tend to modify policies pertaining to their disclosure especially around the time when there occurs fundamental industry or company related social events. This statement underlines the strategic nature pertaining to voluntary social disclosures, and affirms the view that the management of varied business entities considers social disclosures in annual reports as a useful and effective device in alleviating the effects of an event that is seen as unfavorable or unattractive to the image of the business entity. The contract of the organization to continue operating in the society may be revoked in instances where the social expectations pertaining to its operations’ legitimacy are unmet. It is noteworthy, however, that the event must have taken place, thereby having detrimental effects on the legitimacy and reputation of the organization. This causes the organization to have a perception on how the society sees it with regards to whether it carried out its duties in an acceptable manner. With perception and pressure from varied sources, the organization’s effort to gain legitimacy would result in strategic tactics that aim at convincing the general public as to its legitimacy. A large number of these tactics aim at controlling or concentrating the perception of the public to an organization as a response to threats to the organization’s legitimacy emanating from social pressure. This was the case for British Airways in 2000.

The Event

The accident occurred on 25th July 2000, when the Concorde had its first fatal accident 10 miles north-east of Paris after departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on a non-scheduled service heading to New York. The accident took place after close to 25 years of offering the only sustained supersonic passenger service. All the 109 passengers aboard the Concorde including the 9 crew members and an additional four on the ground died in the accident, while another six people suffered serious injuries. The Concorde was chartered by a tour company from Germany and was ferrying individuals who were to take a transatlantic trip using a Caribbean cruise. On the fateful day, Air France Concorde started its take-off on Runway 26-Right. On attaining a speed of about 320 Kmh, one of its tyres ran over a strip of metal that was lying on the pavement. This resulted in a fire on the Concorde’s left side. The aircraft, nonetheless, lifted off and was airborne for almost a minute but was incapable of maintaining altitude or speed, in which case it struck a hotel and exploded about 5.5 km from the runway’s end.

One day prior to the accident, British Airways had been forced to admit to having safety issues after stating that all the planes in the Concorde fleet incorporated some hairline cracks in the wings. This resulted in serious concerns pertaining to safety among the aviation industry and the general public.

Consequently, Concorde’s certificate for airworthiness was revoked by the British and French Civil Aviation Authority. While varied changes were made with the Concorde returning to regular service as at November 2001, British Airways and Air France, the only two operators of Concorde announced the termination of the Concorde’s service by the end of the year thereby eliminating the other aircrafts from use. They cited low passenger loads, general slowdown of the airline industry and high cost of maintenance.

Investigation and Outcomes

France’s accident Investigation bureau undertook the official investigation, which was published on January 16th 2002. It was concluded that the Concorde had been overloaded by about 810 kg above the maximum weight safe for takeoff. This excess weight, however, was said to have a negligible effect on the takeoff performance.

The key blame was laid on the tyre of wheel number 2, which, after attaining takeoff speed, was cut by a metal strip that was lying on the runway. The metal strip had come from the thrust reverser cowl door for engine number for Continental Airline DC-10, which had left the runway a few minutes prior to the Concorde. It was concluded that the strip, which had been installed in Houston, Texas, was neither manufactured nor put into place in line with the procedures laid out by the manufacturer. On the same note, the investigating team noted that the accident may have emanated from the ripping out of an enormous piece of the aircraft’s tank in a complicated transmission process for the energy emanating from the piece of tyre at a different point on the tank. The transmission associated the tank skin’ deformation and the oil movement, with the contributory effects pertaining to other minor shorts or a hydrodynamic pressure surge.

The investigators exonerated the crew and aircraft stating that they were qualified and airworthy respectively. They stated that there were no prior serious problems pertaining to the landing gear that failed to retract. In fact, terminating the takeoff would have resulted in a high-speed runway excursion, as well as collapse of the landing gear, which would eventually have resulted in a crash. On the same note, as much as two of the plane’s engines had problems with one of the being shut down, the structure of the plane was so severely damaged that the crash could not be prevented if with the normal functioning of the engines. However, as much as the crew was properly trained and certified, the airline did not have any plan for the failure of the two engines on the runway at the same time, considering such an occurrence as highly unlikely.

Recommendations

The investigators published four recommendations that were specific to Concorde. It recommended that the operators and manufacturers of Concorde, as well as the airworthiness of authorities undertake a reinforcement of the means that were available for analysis of the operation of in-service events and aircraft systems and a speedy definition of the corrective actions.

In addition, it recommended that Air France makes certain that the emergency procedures pertaining to the utilization of Concorde in the Operations Manual are coherent with the flight manual. On the same note, it recommended that Air France installs recorders that have the capacity to sample at least once every second the parameters allowing for the determination of engine speed on all engines in Concorde aircraft. Lastly, the report recommended that the Directorate General for Civil Aviation audits the maintenance and operational conditions within Air France.

Other recommendations revolved around the primary certification authorities asking aircraft manufacturers to undertake an immediate identification of any potentially dangerous substances (in case of an accident) that are used in manufacturing aircrafts under their responsibility. They were supposed to outline them explicitly in documentation. The Federal Aviation Administration was supposed to audit the maintenance of Continental Airlines in the United States, as well as the foreign subcontractors.

Asserting its Responsibility and Legitimacy Using Accounting Reports

While the accident did not involve British Airways directly, BA’s Corporate Social Reporting was affected by the subsequent grounding of the Concorde fleet, as well as the intense public concern pertaining to the safety of the aircrafts. Researchers note that following the accident, British Airways increased the total Corporate Social Disclosure in its financial reports by 8% in 2001. Prior to the accident in 2000, the company’s Corporate Social Disclosure was primarily revolving around Social and Environment Report. This, however, reduced after the accident with the company paying more attention and giving more space to Healthy and Safety information as the popular disclosing theme. It is worth noting that Health and Safety information doubled in proportion in 2001 from 2000. Researchers note that these attempts are attributable or interpreted as an attempt by the organization to address and salvage their legitimacy, which was threatened by the accident. This was also necessitated by the dire effects that the September 11th 2001 attacks in Washington DC had on the entire industry, as well as the occurrence of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) after the accident, which further threatened the entire industry’ s legitimacy and, therefore, contributed to the proportional increase in the Health and Safety information. Considering that the Health and Safety and total substantive Corporate Social Disclosure reduced in the subsequent years, it would only follow that the symbolic vs. substantive evidence signifies an image-oriented, as well as pragmatic organizational stance to corporate social reporting, where the organization gives priority to the protection of their legitimacy rather than ethically or opportunistically extending it. A qualitative analysis pertaining to British Airways annual and sustainability reports indicate an organizational position towards Corporate Social Reporting that changes from stakeholder expediency to ethics opportunism while being predominantly pragmatic. While the airline, for instance underlines its support for the UK government’s interpretation of the sustainable development as espousing better life quality for all today and in the future, thereby seeming to adopt an ethical position, it seems to be opportunistically driven when it states that it would consider ethical, environmental and social implications pertaining to decisions that enhance shareholder value. It, however, seems that British Airways has a pragmatic perception of the CSR as a condition for enhancing its economic success where it states that although it was fundamentally concerned with the financial performance of the company, it acknowledged that its capacity to sustain a well-performing business was subject to considerations on the environment on global and local scale, as well as its relationship with the business’ legitimate stakeholders. On the same note, its pragmatic perception pertaining to Corporate Social Reporting explains the regular attempts to question contribution of the entire industry to climate change, while also laying emphasis on its contribution to economic good over the likely undesirable environmental impacts. It underlines the fact that an all-inclusive audit on the performance of the company as a sustainable business should consider the environmental, social, as well economic dimensions.

It is clear that British Airways sees corporate social reporting as a necessary or imperative “pragmatic” activity that would satisfy the heightened consumer expectations, as well as maintain legitimacy, which would consequently sustain profitability. It is also a technique through which the company undertakes an opportunistic attraction of patient shareholders, as well as enhances the reputation of the firm and its brand value so as to establish new markets, increase customer loyalty, increase the market size and gain extra market share. Comparing the pre-accident period and post-accident period Corporation Social Reporting, quantitative evidence suggests that the company paid an increased emphasis on its health and safety responsibilities in a likely attempt to protect, as well as restore its legitimacy. It is worth noting that, for instance, while British Airways noted the absolute importance of safety prior to the accident and stated that it will never compromise on the safety offered in its services for commercial reasons, the sustainability reports in the two years following the accident (2001 and 2002), were the only ones that incorporated an insinuation on air safety as embroidered within a culture of openness that the company had taken up. The emphasis on Health and Safety comes alongside more frequent references to aviation’s contribution that could be seen as a symbolic strategy for repairing its threatened image, as well as a substantive strategy that would change social legitimacy’s definition through attempting to modify their constituents’ perceptions. It stated that what the aviation industry can offer and facilitate as a crucial part of the world communication network is creating wealth needed for health, education and welfare that ensures a sustainable society. It continued that the aviation industry produced socio-political external benefits that may cannot be empirically measured.

However, the increased emphasis on aviation’s contribution is not supported by further attempts to question its contribution to climate change as was the case during pre-accident years. British Airways, on the contrary, seems to acknowledge that their environmental impact. The change may potentially be part of substantive efforts by the organization for role performance via engaging with its stakeholders, not to mention symbolic admission of its guilt in an effort gain ceremonial conformity. However, having in mind that these efforts were made after the accident occurred comes as an indication as to the pragmatic attempt to protect, as well as restore its legitimacy in the eyes of the society.

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