Economics Coursework †Demand Essay

Manufacturers and dealers want UK to follow Europe into scheme to give cash to drivers who scrap old cars to buy new The government was facing renewed pleas to bail out Britain’s ailing motor industry yesterday as figures showed sales of new cars had dropped by almost a third year on year. Only 313,912 cars were registered in March – a 30.5% fall in sales from this time last year, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed, prompting fresh calls for the government to pay motorists to trade in their old cars for new ones. The motor industry and lobby groups are hoping this month’s budget will include a scrappage scheme, under which car owners are given a financial incentive of about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,000 to swap their old vehicle for a new greener model. Treasury officials have told the industry they are seriously considering including such a stimulus in the budget a fortnight tomorrow although ministers publicly insist that no decision has been taken. A scrappage scheme in Germany – which offers car owners à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,500 (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2,263) for getting rid of any vehicle over nine years old – has attracted more than half a million buyers, with sales soaring 40% there in March. The SMMT estimates that 280,000 Britons would take advantage of a similar programme over an 18-month period. This would cost around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½560m, a figure the SMMT told the Guardian would involve a net cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½150-160m. The rest of the money would come from the VAT charged on new cars. But green groups counselled against such a â€Å"knee jerk† response and said the money could be better used to fund sustainable transport solutions. Some environmental organisations fear funds could be diverted from existing pots of money set aside by the government for investment in green technologies, such as the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½400m earmarked in the pre-budget report for an â€Å"environmental transformation fund†, which supports the development of new low-carbon energy and energy efficiency technologies in the UK. Pro-motoring lobbyists argue that if the government does not move quickly to boost the industry, further jobs would be lost and some manufacturers may transfer their business to other countries. In Whitehall, the debate is still swirling over the wisdom of adopting a â€Å"scrappage† scheme. Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said in February that his department was examining the experience of other countries, notably Germany, to see whether it would work in Britain and carmakers were asked to produce costed proposals, but no decision has been made. David Cameron told the Guardian in January that the Tories were looking at the idea but he was yet to be convinced. In the meantime, demand for cars has crashed across the world, throwing the global industry into its biggest crisis and forcing American giants General Motors and Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy. Manufacturers in the UK have also been hit, with factories such as Honda’s plant at Swindon mothballed and thousands of jobs cut. Last month’s decline in sales follows falls of 30.9% in January 2009 and 21.9% in February. March, when new number plates are issued, is a key period for the industry and traditionally accounts for nearly a fifth of annual sales. If things do not improve, the SMMT is forecasting that only 1.72m new vehicles will be sold in 2009, compared with 2.13m in 2008. However, there was one bright note with the rise of the small car segment, where sales increased 84%, indicating a trend towards downsizing among consumers. The top three best-selling models were the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus. Yesterday SMMT chief executive, Paul Everitt, said: â€Å"March new-car registrations are a barometer of confidence in the economy, from businesses and consumers alike. The fall in the market shows that the government needs to do more to boost confidence. â€Å"A scrappage scheme will provide the incentive needed and the evidence is clear that schemes already implemented across Europe do work to increase demand. The UK is the only major European market not to implement a scheme.† Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: â€Å"The latest figures show the stark difference between a country with a scrappage scheme and one without. A vehicle-scrappage scheme has the potential to reduce emissions, reduce accidents and their severity whilst giving a boost to the UK motor industry. There are many benefits from getting older gross polluters off the road.† But green groups counselled against introducing such a scheme. Peter Lipman, policy director at Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, said it would be â€Å"a really, really bad idea, wherever the money is coming from†. â€Å"There are so many better ways of spending government money if you are trying to deal with both the recession and climate change,† he added. The RAC motoring strategist, Adrian Tink, said: â€Å"The introduction of any car-scrappage scheme needs to be contingent on balancing the economic benefits with a concern for the environment. The scheme needs to be as much about getting old, high-polluting cars off the road as it is about stimulating car sales.† The dire sales figures bode ill for the economic recovery because new car sales are seen as a key indicator of consumer confidence. When the UK went into recession in the early 1990s, new car registrations dropped for 27 successive months. At one point, sales that had reached an annual peak of 2.3million in the late-1980s dipped as low as 1.5million. IB Economics: Internal Assessment Commentary Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling The article â€Å"Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair Darling† found on the web page of The Guardian discusses the effects of the current recession on the car industry, particularly in the UK. The article states according to the SMMT a 30 % fall in sales from the year before at the same time. In order to take a first step to solving the problem the motor industry hopes to impose the scrappage scheme.. The drop of demand for cars during the recession creates an example of the laws of demand and supply. Demand is the quantity of a good or a service that consumers are willing and able to purchase at a given price in a given time period. Supply is the willingness and ability of producers to produce a quantity of a good or service at a given price in a given time period. Consumers being aware of the recession will rather save their money than choose to spend it on luxury purchase. The fall in income due to the recession has, according to the laws of supply and demand and assuming that all other things stay equal (Ceterus Paribus), caused the fall of demand. Although the article doesn’t state a percentage of the fall in income of the population, the income elasticity of demand for vehicles can be described as at least unitary if not elastic, the examples will make an attempt to prove this. Income elasticity of demand measures the proportionate response of quantity demanded to a proportionate change in income. The article gives two proves for that: First, the thought of the coming recession has already let people stop buying cars by 30.5% from one year to the other. People won’t buy any luxury goods in bad times. And second, subsidising car buyers by about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (scrappage scheme) will increase the purchases in a month by 40%. The fall in demand will also cause an excess supply even if the motor industry stops production directly. All car producers will hence have a massive amount of cars that are just not being bought because there is no demand. According to the rules of supply and demand, as demand falls, quantity supplied decreases as well. In this particular case, the quantity supplied decreases as well but probably not as much as it could to find a new equilibrium, the price at which supply equals demand. Why this is the case will be explained after the following The following graph will show how a fall in demand will cause the demand curve to shift to the left and therefore a fall in the quantity supplied of cars to find a new equilibrium. It can be seen that cars sales fell by nearly 25 % from 2008 to 2009 As stated above, this development is not quite that what happens in reality. According to the rules of unemployment, unemployment is a lagging factor and the demand for labour depends on the demand for, in this case, cars. That means that it begins to rise some time after the recession began. This is because of several reasons such as that firms want to keep skilled workers and will delay redundancies hoping that things might get better. Since firms want to keep skilled workers they would have to keep up the production to a certain extend. Of course production will decrease what will cause cyclical employment but to a certain extend production will be kept up to occupy the workers. The term cyclical unemployment can be defined as occurring when the economy is growing more slowly than estimated as the demand for labour is interdependent on the demand for goods and services. This situation can’t be kept up for long because firms lose money spending more money on workers they try to keep than actually gaining through sales and go bankrupt if the recession doesn’t end or if they are not being subsidized by the government. Hence the motor industry searches for ways of pushing demand. A possible solution could be the scrappage scheme which encourages motorists to swap their old cars against new ones by giving the buyer about 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ directly. The effect of the scheme on the demand for cars can be seen on the following diagram: Demand rises again due to the encouragement and shifts the demand curve to the right again. Concluding one can say that the law of supply and demand is displayed in the real world. In the article â€Å"Car industry begs for budget boost from Alistair darling† it is clearly shown how recession can affect the demand for cars and how therefore demand for labour interdepends on demand for, in this case, cars. Furthermore it can also be stated that things like the scrappage scheme can encourage demand again.

Economic Crisis and a Shift to the Right Essay

In 1867, after battling invaders for nearly a millennium, Hungary became an autonomous state within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This expansive empire had its northern border in present day Poland, its southern border in present day Serbia, and was bordered on the east and west by the Black and Mediterranean Seas, respectively. The empire was eventually defeated in World War I and through the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 the monarchy was disbanded, and after a period of turmoil, an independent kingdom was established under the authoritarian rule of Admiral Miklos Horthy. Due to the terms of the treaty and the redrawing of many European borders, Hungary’s size was reduced by two-thirds, leaving more than 5 million native Hungarians outside of the country’s borders. These effects remain a sensitive issue for many today and still complicate relations between Hungary and its neighbors. In the events that led to World War II, Hungary joined forces with Nazi Germany by joining the Anti-Comintern Pact and withdrawing from the League of Nations. These measures were taken in an effort to regain its lost territory from the World War I aftermath. At the start of World War II, Hungary remained neutral, however with pressure from Germany, Hungary entered the war in 1941 by invading both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. After several early battle losses, Hungary began secretly negotiating with the Allies. Hearing of these negotiations, Germany invaded Hungary and installed a puppet government. This new government began eliminating the Hungarian Jewish and Roma populations until Soviet forces in Budapest drove it out in 1945. In the wake of these events, the capital and much of the country was left in ruins. The Soviet Era (1945-1989) After World War II, Communists held power in Hungary with the support of the Soviet Union. A new land reform bill was passed that redistributed land from large estate owners to peasants. Additionally, during this time, industries became nationalized and collective agriculture was instituted. Hungary joined the Warsaw Pact aligning itself with the Soviet Union. The Hungarian population, however, was dissatisfied with this government, and in an effort to appease the people, the government instituted reforms such as withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact and becoming a neutral power. These concessions on the part of the government allowed the Hungarians to realize their power and they demanded further reform and removal of Soviet domination. As a result, Hungarians revolted against the Soviet domination of Hungary. Although the Soviet Army defeated the Hungarians, killing more than 2,500 citizens and forcing more than 200,000 to flee, a new government was instituted. This government, led by Janos Kadar, was still Soviet-friendly, but recognized the need for reform and began to become gradually more liberalized through the 1960’s. The Path to the European Union (1989-2006) In 1989, Hungary was the first country to breach the â€Å"Iron Curtain†. Soon thereafter, Hungary transitioned from Communism to a multiparty parliamentary democracy that welcomed foreign investment. Initially, the result was a dramatic decline in economic activity and living standards. However, within four years of the collapse of communism, nearly half of the country’s economic enterprises had been transferred to the private sector, and by 1998 Hungary was attracting nearly half of all foreign direct investment in Central Europe. In 1994, as a backlash to its rapid liberalization, Hungarians voted the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) into power. The MSZP was a center-left party and the unofficial successor of the Communists. This government supported and funded social programs while also continuing with economic reform by selling off government owned enterprises and implementing targeted austerity measures. Soon, the country’s newfound growth and stability allowed it to receive an invitation to join NATO. Despite its solid economic performance, the MSZP was affected by allegations of corruption, which led to its defeat in 1998 by a Fidesz led coalition who selected Viktor Orban as prime minister. Orban’s government created centralized control and refused to meet with opposite party leaders for months. They then adopted the â€Å"Status Law†, an effort to reach out to the displaced Hungarian natives. The â€Å"Status Law† offered native Hungarians living in neighboring countries benefits such as health, education, and employment rights in Hungary. Despite Western criticism of his policies, Fidesz did choose to continue the MSZP’s policy of satisfying the Copenhagen criteria to enter the European Union. In 2002, an MSZP coalition regained government control after Fidesz’s administration became the subject of scandals. The new Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurscany, was able to complete the process and formally join the EU along with nine other states in 2004. After joining, Hungary began to pursue the more difficult challenge of joining the Eurozone by completing the Maastricht criteria. The Hungarian government predicted that this task could be completed by the end of the decade. Hungary’s Entrance to the Eurozone ; Failed Attempts to Join Eurozone In the late eighties, Hungary made progressive steps to position themselves for entry into the European Union. Hungary was the first country to breach the forty-year â€Å"Iron Curtain† surrounding the Eastern European countries. The â€Å"Iron Curtain† was the political, military, ideological barrier created by the Soviet Union after World War II to separate eastern and central Communist European allies from the Western noncommunist countries. In 1989, Hungary peacefully replaced their communist political party with a multi-party parliamentary democracy. As reported by the New York Times, a sweeping majority of Hungarian Communist Party voted for the radical transformation of legislation. The main motivation for the shift was due to a stagnant economy and oppressed religion under communist rule. A need for reform and free open trade with Western countries aided the Hungarian Communist Party in their decision. Before making the final vote, Hungary already began permitting the assembly and association of the non-communist parties. In 1991 Hungary completely withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, appointing the country’s first Parliament President elect. The political restructuring was aided by a shift to a free market-based economy. Liberal economic policies and ideals such as foreign investment, asset management, entrepreneurship and integrating Hungary into the world economy were adopted by the new rule. A shift from an authoritarian economic science to a democratic capitalist system was projected to be a fairly smooth process. However, despite high hopes of a prosperous economy there was a dramatic decline of economic activity and living standards. High interest and inflation rates, unemployment amounting to 12%, and the conspicuous consumption of the new elite of entrepreneurs elicited widespread dissatisfaction among Hungarians. Some economists argue that the idea of capitalism in combination with the new practice of democracy will fail if introduced simultaneously. This is what occurred in 1991 as the ambitious measures of the new parliamentary party began to fail. Life became very difficult for many Hungarians as they struggled during the severe recession exacerbated by the fiscal austerity necessary to reduce inflation and stimulate investment. After rising backlash caused by the poor state of the economy, Hungarians voted into power the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) overthrowing the conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum. The MSZP was the center-left unofficial successor of the communist party. Since the MSZP was founded on traditional communist ideals, the MSZP gained majority support based on the belief that â€Å"things were better in the old days† when there were more jobs and economic security. The MSZP supported popular social programs while still progressively pursuing reform, selling state owned enterprises and implementing targeted austerity measures. For about 4 years, the reign of the MSZP was successful as there was a surge of stability and growth. Hungary also received an invitation to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during this time. Despite the success of the MSZP’s role in Hungary’s four-year economic stimulation, corruption plagued the party. In 1998, the MSZP lost control as the Fidesz-led coalition gained majority vote. In 1998 negotiations for Hungary’s entrance into the EU also began. Viktor Orban, the prime minister, was criticized after the implementation of controversial laws such as the â€Å"Status Law†. This law granted health, education and employment rights to native Hungarians residing in other countries. This law violated principles of the European Union. This was a horrible direction to take if Hungary had motives of joining the EU. Corruption scandals and bribery surrounding Orban’s government proved to be detrimental just as they had been for the MSZP in 1998. There was a flip flop in parties as the MSZP regained control in 2002. Picking up where Fidesz and the party left off in 1998, Prime Minister Gyurcsany implemented the final required reforms and joined the 15 country EU in 2004 along with Cyrus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. After this success, Hungary began pursuing the strict requirements for membership into the euro zone, also known as the Maastricht criteria. The criteria outlined the terms regarding inflation, public debt and the public deficit, exchange rate stability and the convergence of interest rates. The MSZP had high hopes that the terms of these criteria would be reached by the end of the decade. As exhibited by similar events in Hungary’s past, the ambitious attempts didn’t quite live up to expectations. The MSZP maintained control in the election of 2006. Before this election there was a ballooning budget deficit of over 9% of GDP. This issue was overlooked, while the party promised more spending and lower taxes. In 2006, as more controversy unraveled, Prime Minister Gyurcsany admitted that his party had lied about the economic condition of the country for two years. While protests plagued the country, Gyurcsany introduced austerity measures, which included tax increases and spending cuts to trim the budget deficit to 3. 2% of GDP. According to the Maastricht Treaty, the government deficit could not exceed 3% of annual GDP. Citizens revolted and the electorate denounced the new fees, causing a major defeat for Gyurcsany’s austerity measures. A global credit crisis overshadowed Hungary’s economy in 2008 and 2009 and the efforts to meet the Maastricht criteria for the Eurozone failed. Fixed vs. Floating: What Should Hungary Have Done with the Forint Hungary lost all hopes of reaching the Eurozone as the 2008-2009 financial crisis descended upon economies. Due to falling consumer spending, Hungary suffered a trade collapse and there was a loss of confidence in forint-denominated assets among investors. In February 2008, Hungary chose to float the forint after facing substantial pressure for devaluation. By midyear, the forint began a steep depreciation, which had the effect of making Hungarian exports more attractive. This had the potential to raise Hungary’s GDP, as an increase in net exports, all other things remaining equal, will raise GDP according to the equation in Chapter 5 of the textbook Y=C+I+G+NX, where NX=NX (? ). This was not the case, however, as from 2008 to 2009, Hungary saw a 6. 7% decrease in GDP. Other aspects of the economy were at work simultaneously which led to the decrease in GDP. The depreciation of the forint also meant that Hungarian households with foreign denominated currencies saw their payments increase dramatically in terms of the domestic currency. As many Hungarians had taken on loans in foreign currencies, specifically the Swiss franc, due to low interest rates, this proved a problem for several households. These loans were of little risk when the forint was pegged to the euro, however with the currency’s recent decline, many of these loans faced default. In October 2008, Hungary’s central bank raised interest rates to 11. 5%, a 3% increase. This was an effort to equilibrate saving and investment. According to the text, increases in the interest rate serve to increase the supply of loanable funds and decrease their demand. Because Chapter 5 states that an increase in investment demand leads to a trade deficit, we can see that the Hungarian government is trying to increase its net exports to combat the financial crisis. The switch to floating the forint was intended to free Hungary to pursue economic policy independent of the Eurozone, however fears of a Hungarian default on sovereign debt forced their government to request international financial assistance. Hungary received $25. 1 billion from the IMF, World Bank, and EU, making it the first nation to receive a bailout led by the IMF. This bailout came with promises to implement austerity measures to reduce public sector pay, increase some taxes, and decrease spending on social programs. By the first quarter of 2009, Hungary saw a decrease in GDP, an increase in unemployment, and the forint became Europe’s worst performing currency. During the financial crisis, four of the eight EU countries located in Central and Eastern Europe chose to float their currencies, and only Hungary was seeing such financial and political complications. The other countries that did not float their currencies took a different strategy and defended their pre-crisis exchange rates with the Euro during the global recession. In order to remain competitive, they slashed their deficits and curbed inflation. These countries, however, were some of the worst performing in 2009. In the decision as to whether or not Hungary should have chosen to float their currency or remain pegged to the euro, it is important to compare the features of each option. A country may choose to follow hard exchange rate pegs, soft exchange rate pegs, or floating currency. Hard exchange rate pegs usually lead to sound fiscal and structural policies and low inflation. They tend to be longstanding, allowing for certainty when pricing transactions. Downsides include that the central bank has no independent monetary policy because it cannot adjust exchange rates and interest rates are tied to those of the anchor country. Another option is soft exchange rate pegs. With soft pegs, countries maintain a stable value against an anchor currency/currencies, which can be pegged within a narrow ( ±1%) or wide ( ± 30%) range. Soft pegs remain a nominal anchor to settle inflation expectations and they allow for limited monetary policy to deal with shocks. Soft pegs are vulnerable, however, to financial crises, which can lead to large devaluations and even abandonment of the peg. The third option is floating exchange rate. This rate is mainly determined by the market and central banks intervene mostly through purchases or sales of foreign currencies in exchange for local currency in order to limit short-term rate fluctuations. Depending upon the country, the central bank may be particularly involved, or not involved at all. An advantage of floating regimes is that countries have the advantage of maintaining an independent monetary policy. Measures however must be taken to ensure success. First, the foreign exchange and financial markets must be able to absorb shocks without large exchange rate changes. Also, instruments must be available to hedge risks posed by the floating exchange rate. Hungary should not have remained pegged to the Euro during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Had Hungary remained pegged, it would have likely faced worse fates than it saw during this time period. Since the other countries who remained pegged found themselves among the worst performing nations in the region, Hungary would have likely found itself in a similar situation to Latvia who even found their IMF bailout insufficient. Since none of these nations fared well, it would have been an unwise decision for the forint to remain pegged to the Euro. In contrast, the others that decided to float their currencies during this time had mixed effects. Poland actually saw a 1. 7% increase in GDP from 2008-2009, while Romania’s GDP dropped 7.1% during the same time period. Since there was some success achieved by floating currencies during this crisis, it could be concluded that there was a difference in monetary policy that could account for the success or failure of these economies. Hungary’s decision to float the forint was a wise one, however the execution of the policies surrounding this decision should have been modified. The advantage of full control of monetary poli cy was an advantage to floating currency, although it could also be a disadvantage if the policies do not promote thecurrency’s success. Hungary should have implemented some austerity measures and set up policies to try to cushion some of the inevitable blow that would be brought on by the financial crisis and the new currency in the market. If those things had been done, Hungary may have seen less of a decline during this period and may have even prospered as Poland did. Exchange Rate of Hungarian Forint vs. USD, Euro and Swiss Franc Based off of the graphs you will be able to see what the forint was worth compared to the dollar, euro and Swiss franc. Looking at the first graph, forint and dollar comparison, the forint currency was worth around 200 to 240 dollars. The biggest difference in the currency was between 2008 and 2009, which is when they decided to float the forint. Looking at the second graph, forint and euro comparison, the forint currency was worth around 260 euros until they floated. After 2009 the value of the forint decreased making their value around 300 euros. Looking at third graph, forint and Swiss francs comparison, the forint currency was worth around 180 Swiss francs until they floated. Then in 2009 the forint value decreased making their value compared to Swiss francs around 200 to 240. Hungary decided to peg the euro and Swiss francs for different reasons. They decided to peg the euro because they ultimately wanted to adopt the euro and show some relative stability in their currency. They had a target date but it was abandoned due to their debt, high budget deficit and inflation. Hungary pegged the Swiss francs because nearly 80 percent Hungarians had foreign currency loans and 55 percent of mortgages in Swiss francs. These loans had low interest and presented little risk to borrowers. The unopposed legislation of Fidesz and Orban and its economic impact The Fidesz and Orban parliamentary election in 2010 caused some controversy with other countries but continued to unite the Hungarian nation. One of the first actions that occurred was passing a bill for dual citizenship for Hungarians living abroad to offset the negative effects of Trianon Treaty. Neighboring countries, such as Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia were frustrated with this bill, but Hungarians were very supportive because many thought the treaty was unfair. Another feud was with the IMF. Orban promised to fulfill their campaign promise and stand his ground on the loan repayment. He felt that Hungary didn’t need to repay these loans because these decisions were due to the previous MSZP-led government. International investors reacted negatively to his actions, but domestic reactions were more positive. Fidesz sought out meeting EU deficit goals through raising new taxes on the banking, telecom, energy, retains, and pharmaceutical sectors. Hungarian populations supported Fidesz while multinationals continued to lose profit. In late 2010, the government made another change to support its fiscal situation by bringing private pension assets under state control. This upset private pension fund industries and The National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions but increased the trust in the government from Hungarian population. They believed that the assets from pensions would help balance the budget. Lastly, the Hungarian government decided to take over the country’s rate setting Monetary Policy Council by amending a law that gave parliament the right to nominate all four external members. Despite the changes that Fidesz and Orban made, Hungary was still strong in investments. Some advantages were in fact foreign direct investments, which totaled more than $2. 5 billion. They also have been able to the meet the demands of EU since becoming a member in 2004, showing their political stability. The location of Hungary has attracted many firms by being able to connect Western Europe to other Eastern European countries. Hungary also continued to interest major multinational companies by having strong human capital. Outsiders, other foreign countries, and credit rating agencies may not have agreed with the decisions of the parliament, but it had no effect on their growth as a nation. Hungary continued their reform and growth. Is it wise to invest in Hungary? There are factors that the case touches on which suggest that Hungary is not the safest investment; however, from looking at Hungary in its totality it is undeniable that Hungary should be a European market to invest in. Location Examining Hungary’s location and its relative proximity to its neighboring European countries, helps justify why investors would want to consider investing in the country. Hungary is situated in the heart of Europe bordering seven countries with one of Europe’s largest waterways, the Danube, running through Budapest. This favorable location coupled with the major land routes and waterways that span across Hungary make the country an optimal place for manufacturing, trade, services, and logistics. This prime location, accessible within a few hours of all European countries, makes Hungary an ideal launch point for investors who plan to develop their growing businesses while capitalizing on key European markets. The central European country is known for their excellent infrastructure, their prime business parks and industrial sites. Considered a landlocked port city, Hungary is key in connecting Western and Eastern Europe. Stability and the EU As a long-standing member of the European Union, one of the major factors that also lends to the possibility of Hungary being a safe investment, is Hungary’s relative political stability. It is considered the most developed of the Eastern European countries and its highly developed infrastructure along with its stable government makes Hungary even more appealing. Hungary offers access to a market of over 250 million people within its borders as well as a European Union common market exceeding a half of a billion people. Di Tella, Weinzierl and Kuipers aptly highlight Hungary’s stability, by pointing out that since emerging from communism in 1989, Hungary had held no interim elections and the federal government was never forced to dissolve – two things most other countries in Central and Eastern Europe could not claim. The authors then continue in saying that, in addition, regardless of the political party in power, Hungary had honored the demands of the EU since becoming a member, including regulations on transparency , auditing, and budgets. Human Capital, Labor Costs and Economic Policy Other factors that help make Hungary an attractive investment are its labor costs, an investment friendly economic policy and its strong human capital. Hungary has a highly educated workforce where more than 85% of persons between the ages of 25-34 have completed secondary school; with 70% of those individuals are enrolled in some form of higher education. More impressive still are the wages that these highly educated individuals work for. The authors make mention of these low labor costs by saying: moreover, Hungary’s labor force worked for a fraction of their counterparts in the EU – in 2007, real wages in Hungary were 40 percent of the EU average. Essentially those companies willing to invest in Hungary’s human capital would be receiving a talented workforce, capable of achieving first-rate outcomes, at a discount rate. Frido Diepeveen, an operation manager at Randstad was quoted saying, â€Å"While the characteristics of a Hungarian workforce make Budapest an ideal choice of location for multinational companies, Hungarians also find the dynamic and multicultural atmosphere of corporate giants appealing, creating the right recipe for a mutually satisfying and long-lasting match between employer and employee. Young Hungarians are educated at a high level, satisfying your need for well qualified fresh graduates. † In addition to the affordable labor costs, Hungary’s economic policy welcomes foreign investment; and prior to its full absorption into the EU Hungary experienced some of the most aggressive foreign investment of any Eastern European country. Contrarily, it is true that there are some drawbacks to investing in Hungary, and one should be mindful of them before investing. The most obvious of these risks or drawbacks is the increasing rate of inflation. Hungary’s high inflation rate (of almost 8%) was the chief reason behind the country not being allowed in the Euro currency group – which had standards in place ensuring that inflation must be lower than 3% for a country to join. Hungary’s high rate of inflation coupled with their lingering government debt has prevented them from adopting the Euro as their chief currency and has left them with the much weaker forint. This has in turn led to higher taxes on businesses in an effort to counterbalance the large deficits and high rate of inflation. With companies being taxed at a much higher rate, companies are subsequently forced to either accept a lower profit margin or cut costs. Even after considering this major drawback to investing in Hungary, it is hard to overlook those key factors, which make Hungary a very appealing country to invest in. Bibliography

Marks and Spencer Overview

An overview of Marks & Spencer plc Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a leading British retailer, with over 895 stores in over 41 countries around the world. As of 2009, 600 stores currently located throughout the United Kingdom along with 295 stores planted internationally (M&S 2009). According to Deloitte (2009) M&S is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an exclusive food retailer and as of 2009, the 43rd largest retailer in the world.The large majority of its domestic stores sell both clothing and food, and since the turn of the century it has started expanding into other ranges such as homewares, furniture and technology. Figure 1 illustrates M&S’s overall sales in millions from the years 2005 – 2009. The graph trend shows a gradual increase in turnover every year. By the end of 2009 M&S revenue reaches 9,062. 1 million compared to 2005 revenue of 7,490. 5 million. A difference of ? 1571. 6 Data taken from M&S 2009. Figure 1: M&S Sales (2005-2009) Figure 2 represents the operating profit of M&S.There is a steady rise in the growth of sales from 2005 to 2008. However in the year 2009 there is a decline in the growth of sales. This is fairly due to the economic recession resulting in less economical activity. M&S prices would have risen resulting in a decline in demand for their products and services. Data taken from M&S 2009. Figure 2: M&S Sales growth (2005-2009) Figure 3 displays the two primary categories of business for M&S. Food as a whole and all other products falling under house hold products. Both areas of business are equally important as they hold a near perfect hare of the business. Data taken from M&S 2009. 51% 49% Figure 3: M&S main business areas Business strengths and weaknesses: M&S has grown over the 21st and it is arguable that the company has moved from strength to strength. M&S are strong in many dynamics ranging from a political ly, economically and highly strategic company. One major strength of M&S is its emerging image of an active environmentally friendly company. On 15 January 2007, M&S launched an initiative, known as ‘Plan A’ (M&S, 2009) to dramatically increase the environmental sustainability of the business within 5 years.In 2006 the Look Behind the Label marketing campaign was introduced. The aim of this campaign was to highlight to customers, the various ethical and environmentally friendly aspects, of the production and sourcing methods engaged in by M&S including Fairtrade products and sustainable fishing. As indicated by A. Fletcher (2006) all coffee and tea sold in M&S stores is now Fairtrade. According to the BBC (2006) the company offers clothing lines made from Fairtrade Cotton in selected departments.This aspect of M&S emphasises the equality and fairness to the public and helps promote its products to certain groups in the market who would not previo usly purchase their products for this specified reason. Although M&S is a highly recognised and established company it has fallen under heavy criticism in the past. War on Want (2007) criticised M&S, in its Growing Pains report for using its influence to force overseas suppliers to continuously diminish their costs while boosting their own profits. Political issues have also arisen, the company has been criticised for its support for the State of Israel during wars and conflict.According to J. Smith (2004) activists have campaigned against the company and some stores have had their signage altered and their goods re-labelled. As a result boycotts have taken place with little effect on M&S sales and profits yet this has led to a disruption in social cohesion of society demonstrate through protests. Development of new products and services: Most (M&S, 2009) stores originally sold both clothing and food, and since the turn of the century it has started expanding into ot her ranges such as homewares, furniture and technology, beauty and energy.The Indigo collection (M&S, 2009) is a new range of clothing aimed at the core, 35-45, feminine businesswoman type. The shoes, trousers and jeans will be UK-sourced and the T-shirts will involve Fair trade cotton from Senegal, India and Pakistan. Beachwear may be added to the list if the success continues. Per Una, also a relatively new product for younger female's clothing sold at M;amp;S stores. The product was launched on September 28, 2001 as a joint venture between M;amp;S and Next. All per Una items include the three hearts logo.The BBC (2005) states Per Una has been a major success for the company. In 2006 (M;amp;S, 2009) launched a range of domestic technology products. Thirty-six stores now offer this range. Additional services offered include television installation and technical help. Competitors: M;amp;S does not have any one store that is a complete competitor in terms of products and services . Supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys compete with M;amp;S to a certain extent, primarily in the food industry. Marks ;amp; Spencer is predominantly a clothing store which obtains most of the company’s profit.Yet due to the significant product differentiation, M;amp;S competes with many companies for example Cotton Traders are a competitor in their clothes, John Lewis competes in their home accessories whereas Waitrose competes in food. As a result M;amp;S have to constantly innovate and outsource to stay competitive in the market and dominate. Marketing Strategies: By training and developing its staff well, M;amp;S is in a position to develop a competitive advantage over its competitors Firstly, developing value-for-money products that customers want.Training and development brings new skills which help to add value to its products and services, for example by cutting costs. This enables the company to keep prices lower to benefit the customer and increase consum er demand leading to profit in the long run. M;amp;S provides good customer service through communication skills, this can have a positive impact on customer service. Training and development equips individuals with the skills they need to achieve their targeted role in the business.When Steve Sharp joined as marketing director in 2004, he introduced a new promotional brand under the Your M;amp;S banner, with a corresponding logo. This has now become the company's main brand in its advertisements. The use of high profile television campaigns has been influential in the company's recent success, particularly with the achievements of a new clothing campaign featuring high profile models, and the new TV ad campaign for its food range. These adverts have the tagline ‘This is not just food, this is M;amp;S food’.Furthermore the use of camera special effects and footage along with music and a pleasant voiceover leads to a very persuasive advertisement. A new store format desi gned by Urban Salon Architects has won much praise and is in the process of being rolled out across all stores, with a majority of stores being completed by the end of 2008. The full new look makeover is a reworking of store design, including the gutting of old stores. An increase in display and product walls, window display styles, larger fitting rooms, glass walls, till points, and general total updating of decals, equipment, and lighting.

Deciding to decide review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deciding to decide review - Essay Example Justification of petitions at the Supreme Court must meet clearly outlined criteria. This is the only way that a case on certiorari will be deemed acceptable at the Supreme Court. In the event that the Supreme Court does not necessarily have to be involved, then higher courts more or less apply the same process in justifying the certworthiness of certiorari cases. According to Perry (1991), a case on certiorari is said to be certworthy if it meets the circuit conflict, importance, and egregiousness criteria for cert. Certiorari cases capture the attention of the higher courts, and especially the Supreme Court, if they exhibit critical circuit conflicts. The availability of a circuit conflict does not automatically justify certworthiness. Higher courts or the Supreme Court for that matter has its evaluative measures that determine the criticality of the conflict, subsequently informing whether or not cert. is granted. Conflicts within and across circuits may or may not be deemed necessary for consideration by the higher courts. However, the justification process is clearly outlined so that an ultimate decision is reached from the facts, issues, concerns, or conflicts presented on the table. The importance of the certiorari case is another justification factor considered in the process of determining the certworthiness of the case. A case’s uniqueness, political and societal importance, and legal importance of a petition (Perry, 1991) are the primary factors that inform the importance of a certiorari case. Here, the implications of the petition are prioritized. Notably, the depth of the matter may not count as much. The political, societal, and legal factors subject to a certiorari case make all the difference. The process of determining the certworthiness of a certiorari case is undoubtedly intensive and extensive. What matters to the higher courts or the Supreme Court in particular are the three

Equity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Equity - Essay Example Executive Summary: Owens & Minor Inc. Ticker: OMI Recommendation: Hold Price: $29.78 on 31.03.2010 Price target one year: $34.95 Highlights: A fortune 500 company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Wide distribution network throughout the United States. The provider of the broadest selection of branded products. Unique, superior products are offered through non competitive partnerships with leading manufacturers of health care products through cost effective product line labeled Medichoice, OM direct etc. Supplier assortment, community participation and sustainability are the guiding principles of the firm. Hospitals and Ambulatory surgery centers are the principal customers of the firm. Financial Summary: Market capitalization of $ 2.04 billion in 31.3.2010. The first quarter of 2010 saw an increase in the net income of the firm by 98% as compared to the previous year. Operating earnings in the firm increased by 23.3% as compared to the first quarter in the previous year 2009. Cas h and cash equivalents as on 31.03.2010 was $ 146.4 million. A review of the firm’s earning growth rate indicates an average earning growth of 5.4% over the past ten years. Dividend yield of the stock of the firm as on 31.03.2010 was 2.1%. Qualitative analysis: Company profile and industry overview: Owens & Minor makes sure hospitals are organized for main surgeries. â€Å"Its services include logistics, supplier management; analytics inventory management, outsourced resource management, clinical supply management, and business process consulting† (Owens & Minor Inc (OMI: New York) Par. 1). A primary dispenser of surgical and medical supplies, the industry takes about 200,000 products from 1,200 producers. Products distributed by Owens & Minor contain surgical dressings, intravenous and endoscope products, syringes, needles, sterile procedure trays, gowns, sutures and gloves. Owens & Minor consumers are chiefly health systems and hospitals and the purchasing associatio ns that serve them. It distributes products to about 4,400 health care contributors from above 50 distribution places from corner to corner the US. SWOT analysis: Strength: Owens & Minor offers a range of information investigation tools and consulting services and outsourced resource management. Weakness: In the recent times, their overall profits are down. Opportunities: The opportunities open to the Owens & Minor are measured in terms of its future development prospects. Threats: The company needs to evaluate prospective partners, vendors and suppliers. Porters 5 Competitive Forces: Porters 5 competitive forces consist of supplier power, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes, degree of revelry and buyer power of Owens & Minor. The healthcare supply chain expertise, joined with a continued responsibility to investing in information technologies and to bring a bounty of benefits to health provider customers and supplier partners alike. Threat of new entrants is a probabi lity of reaction from existing competitors and barriers to entry of the Owens & Minor. It consists of economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements and governmental and legal barriers of the Owens & Minor. Major Owners: Table 1 shows the major owners of Owens & Minor. Financial Statements Analysis: Ratio Analysis: I. Short term solvency or liquidity ratios a) Current ratio: Current ratio is defined as ratio of current assets to current liabilities. It is computed as follows. Current

Advertising Has Got Negative Influence to the Society Assignment

Advertising Has Got Negative Influence to the Society - Assignment Example Furthermore, advertisements are for willing people, nobody is forced to seek services or products in the adverts. Â  Speaker 1: Some adverts promote prostitution or other bad habits and behaviors in the society. For instance, we have seen innocent ladies trying the lifestyle of the models and artists they see on TV. Majority enter such life not knowing the consequences that could come with such. Take instance the adverts of women and female condoms, women explicit outfits and those with drugs meant for abortion among other unethical implications in the society. Young girls end up losing their virginity in tender age as they adopt such bad lives. Â  Speaker 2: It is a fact that the society has the good and bad side. The people on the bad also have the rights to live their lives provided they don’t disturb those on the better side. Those companies making condoms, explicit dresses and drugs have the rights to market their products; because it is through that that they can increase their sales and contribute to the national and international economy (Sawyer, 347). Remember those companies have legal rights to make whatever they are making; it means that the legal entity is satisfied with such companies’ operations. And again, nobody is forced to purchase such products. Blame the purchaser, not the seller or the adverts. Remember the adverts provide warnings so that the right audience can watch or hear the contents. Explicit adverts are aired at night when young society members are asleep. The advertisement companies provide employment to the people despised in the society because of their habits. For instance, dru nkards would be used to advertise alcoholic products and from here they can earn a living. The society would be boring if it only hades the good people. Â  Speaker 1: Some adverts are misleading to the consumers and this is common with mobile phones, computers, and tablets among other electronics.

Six Sigma Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Six Sigma Quality - Essay Example Wide spread of this concept has led to unreasonable growth of supervising personnel. Up to 40 and more percent of strength of workers involved in manufacture, that in its turn has caused irrational increase of expenses for quality management and, hence, has lowered efficiency of production. As a result in 20th the attention of managers has moved from rejection of production in the process of its yield to quality control in the process of manufacture. The most significant role of this stage was played by Mr. Shuhart, Western Electric company's employee, who suggested to apply statistical methods (known now as Shuhart control charts), which allowed to increase qualitative products yield in the process of production. However improvement of separately taken process has been often restrained by inefficiency of other fields of companies' activity. This problem has been solved owing to activity of Japan manufacturers who, having collided with a strong competition from the side of foreign pr oducts, have decided to take steps for improvement of quality at simultaneous decrease of net cost. They have invited American experts Deming and Juran, who worked the program consisted of 14 items, and based on improvement of entire company's management system, on direct participation of management in all quality issues of company, and on stimulation of personnel to qualitative labor activity. It appeared a 'Zero Defect' concept. New approaches have led to growth of quality produced goods and decrease of expenses for their manufacturing. However the qualitative product still was understood as production being congruent with norms, established by the manufacturer, instead of by consumers. In this connection the high-quality goods sometimes did not go through. From the middle of 60th of twentieth century manufacturers were focused on better satisfaction of consumers' demands. At this stage appeared the theory of reliability and system of the automated designing of works. As a result of analysis of industrial systems it was found out, that the reason of a better part of defects (about 80 %) is insufficient quality of design works. That is why before testing of samples in real conditions they began to conduct mathematical modeling of products and processes of manufacture properties. It has considerably raised efficiency of developmental works.Six Sigma Today companies use various technologies for decrease of costs, satisfaction of requirements of clients, reduction of terms of development and yield of production to the market. In order to transform consumers' demands into technical requirements to products and their manufacture, it is often conducted the functional-cost analysis (the analysis of expenses for manufacture of a product with the purpose to decrease its cost price); the analysis of opportunities of occurrence and influence of defects of a developed product on consumers; the is functional-physical analysis (the analysis of quality of technology projects, principles of product and its components working). At this stage the quantity of concepts of quality management grows. Despite of otherness of names and used tools, they have been based on the same principles. Quality can be presented in the form of a five-pointed star, in the basis of which lays documented, the formalized organizational system of quality manage

Paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 19

Paraphrasing - Essay Example The plastics are bad for marine life and when other specie eat some of the marine life that ate this plastics, it would make them sick. The cycle begun until it reaches the higher up of the food chain which us and pay the price for polluting our oceans. 3. After reading the textbook, I chose the topic that compared the two religions which are Judaism and Christianity. Judaism and Christianity share the belief that there is God and have the same origin. In terms of teaching and practicing, they show different ways. To illustrate this I quote the sentence from textbook that would contrast from Christianity, Judaism is focused more on life and practice than on belief. In light of the environment worldview, environmental stewardship is a part of its ethics. In Judaism, the idea of the Sabbath introduces the necessary restraint into stewardship. Before reading the textbook about both of religious, I just thought that these two religious were different but realized through their origin and characteristic that they are based on one God and that the same God created all things. 4. I like the idea because it will lead to protect our environment. Companies should look for new ideas that may help our environment and not just think about profit because it is their responsibility too to protect the environment. I would love to hear in the next few days that some companies make a new ideas to protect our environment. Finally, I would like to say my thanks McDonalds 5. In the first video which is presented by EPS Group LLC, it gave me an idea on how to recycle Styrofoam. I know that Styrofoam was really light and disposable packages and the video showed interesting methods on how to recycle Styrofoam as well as the weight of the final stage. The weight of 21 kg shocked me but they provided good information that their machines has several settings depending on region and climate. Actually, I think Styrofoam is not good for the environment in

The impact of cultural differences on the hierarchy of a hotel Research Paper - 1

The impact of cultural differences on the hierarchy of a hotel - Research Paper Example Customers would think that quality service is being delivered to them if the employees can understand them better. Whether it is food, services, employee policies etc, the global requirements need to be considered in all operations. While cultural diversity and incorporating the trends of globalization is indispensable for the hotel industry, various cultural conflicts occur as a result of this cultural diversity. These misunderstandings are of various types and due to various reasons. Every culture has a different set of beliefs and norms and when people of different cultures come together and work, differences are bound to arise. These differences become more challenging in an industry where customers to be dealt with are also from different cultures and have different demands. While various inter-cultural challenges are faced, one such issue is the impact of cultural differences on the hierarchy of a hotel. People from poorer countries usually have lower positions and from the developed have higher positions. This creates a barrier amongst the higher and lower level employees and creates many problems regarding cultural differences as what one may think is right as part of their culture, the other might not. This study aims to determine the impact of cultural differences on the hierarchy of a hotel. The findings of this study would be very helpful in determining how the barrier between high and low-level employees can be reduced in the light of cultural differences. Cultural diversity if managed properly can help to increase organizational performance (Kemp & Dwyer, 2001). There are various levels in an organization where culture has an influence and where a higher degree of cultural awareness is essential (Roper & Brookes, 1997). This study would hence facilitate in understanding how this diversity can be managed in a batter way to become a pro rather than a con for a hotel. Finally, it would also aid in giving better understanding to hotel managements

FIN MOD 2 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FIN MOD 2 SLP - Essay Example However, given the pace of economic growth and the fears of double dip recession in US, the price increase may not be sustainable. Thus prices may decrease by some percentage, but it may not change by great percentage due to fears of double dip recession. The movement in stocks indicates that the stock prices have relatively swung over the period of last five years. Though it remained in stable zones for some period of time, however, most of the time, it remained volatile given the fact that the overall performance of the firm was volatile also due to the financial crisis. However, its recent performance has seen the firm’s revenue to sky rocket again and its prices also swung upward due to higher performance of the firm. However, given the strong fundamentals of the firm and its strong financial performance and industry dominance, stock may not be entirely termed as risky. Theoretically, any firm with strong fundamentals and unique industry position may not be termed as a risky business because of the stability in the earnings. It is, however, also important to note that FedEx may still be considered as going through its growth stage given the fact that means of logistics are continuously changing i.e. e-mails and social networking has now become a norm, and consumers prefer to use free methods of communication. However, in other segments of the business such as parcel delivery and logistics, FedEx still leads the way. Some of the alternative investments that may be available include investing in mutual funds, saving accounts, etc. The normal rates offered by the banks on savings account range of 4.5% to 3.5% depending upon the term of the deposits. However, this return may be good enough to force the investor not to go for equity futures as given the recent performance of the stock, the investor may lose money on the futures as price of the futures may go down. Based on

The importance of ethics in the safety profession Research Paper

The importance of ethics in the safety profession - Research Paper Example By minimizing the number of such preventable events the US has a lot to gain. It has been estimated by National Safety Council that in 2004 accidents in the United States cost more than $ 574.8 billion, losses related to fire reached to the total of $9.8 billion. Exposure of persons to dangerous physical, biological and chemical agents create major losses every year causing severe illness and it is really difficult to make precise estimate of their impact. Additionally, all kind of pollution causes harm to every single form of life which therefore generates heavy cleanup costs bullies future stability of earth. The word â€Å"safety science† might sound latest, but many of the resources of this science are quite a number of years old. Some of the most knowledgeable areas of safety science are mentioned below and every field involves ethics that needs to be taken care of. 1. Chemistry and biology – knowledge about hazardous substances is provided by chemistry and biology . 2. Information about electricity, heat, radiation and all other kinds of energy is provided by physics. 3. The performance limits of humans and the ways in which improvements pertaining to performance and safety can be made are provided by ergonomics. 4. The knowledge about pollution, how it can be controlled and its impact is revealed by environmental sciences. Factories create a lot of pollution and there are often some that do not dispose of their waste products properly which is against ethical standards. 5. To understand the human behavior psychology is studied and this helps in avoiding accidents. 6. Other information about safety in the society is provided by engineering, business management and sociology. Various things can cause accidents and contribute to illness and other hazardous things such as fire and explosions. The ability to identify, evaluate, and control or prevent such kinds of hazards is provided by safety science. Moreover, it also provides with the methods to set policies and to operate the activities ensuring safety and the ethical standards. Hazard control activities are used by everyone all over the world on a daily basis and companies use designs for operation of nuclear power generating stations and is also used by homes for lead based paints to reduce any kind of threat to the public. Since the safety profession is highly important especially for the companies, its application occurs in various other places such as transportation, schools, and laboratories and on farms too in order to ensure safety so that people are not exposed to hazards. Safety science helps in understanding about the ways in which something can become a hazard and the people must know about the harms of the hazard and the ways in which it can be eliminated. However, in the cases in which the hazard cannot be eliminated totally, there are always some ways in which the harm can be reduced. However, this involves a cost and also requires the assistance of the d esigners and managers. The safety professionals come up with the cost effective ways in which the risk can be reduced and they also provide with their advice to apply the safety science so that all the activities are conducted in a careful manner. If safety science is not present, the safety profes

U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Cuba and the Philippines Essay Example for Free

U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Cuba and the Philippines Essay In January 2002, The United States Special Operation Commands, Pacific (SOCPAC) took on an arduous task of assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with a specific mission for ousting the terrorists forces of Al Qaida, Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf Group(ASG) and to carry the humanitarian operations in the islands of Basilan which was considered as the most dangerous place. The United States Special Forces (SP) unit along with the specially equipped forces and scout rangers of the AFP formed the Light Reaction Company. This Light Reaction Company along with the SOCPAC were deployed at Basilan with the sole motive to reject the ASG sanctuary, undergo surveillance on the key positions, support the villagers, conduct regular training to boost the morale of the AFP and support the strike forces of AFP and assist in the civil affairs operations. This was the part of the Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines (OEF-P). In this operation, 350 operating personal were deployed and other 750 were providing logistics support to the headquarters in Zamboanga on Mindanao. The main purpose of the Mission was to help AFP in curbing the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf and as a result, the declared members of the Abu Sayyaf group reduced to 80 from 700. Another project that took place was Operation Smiles, a program to give medical aid to the local civilians of Basilan where the intensive fighting was taking place. The result of this operation was the establishment of 14 Schools, seven clinics, three hospitals and more than 20 fresh wells. Fighting again resumed in 2005 and 2006 between the government forces and the Abu Sayyaf group who was aligned with the New People’s army. By the end of 2006, hundreds of guerillas and soldiers were killed, and NPA was left with 7,000 fighters whereas Abu Sayyaf with 2,000. United States took up a different approach in Cuba by interfering in their internal private affairs. When the United States felt threatened by the Cuban revolution in 1959 and rise of communism under Fidel Castro, they formed a special committee to launch an attack on Cuba. They faced the danger of the coercion of the communist parties in Cuba that they would unleash their communist movements in America. They formulated the plan to infuse the anti-regime spirit and overthrow the government. They made thirty different plans to over throw the government and disrupt their economy. Among these were included the use of American Green Berrets, destruction of their sugar crops and mining of harbors. To overcome the crises, Cuba began to establish the trade relationships with Soviet Union. On April 17, 1961, United States conducted air strikes across the island to eliminate the Cuban air force, and enabling the Brigade 2506 to have a complete control over the island much before their actual landing at the Bay of Pigs. This failed because the invasions were not conducted as planned and Fidel Castro even resisted an armed invasion of 1,500 CIA trained Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. This was another excuse for America to increase their propaganda against the Cuban government. In 1962 Operation North wood, plan was initiated with the intention to use false flag as an excuse to attack Cuba. Every month since 1962 there was one plan or the other to destabilize the communist regime either in the form of publishing views against Castro, equiping militant opposition groups with armaments, helping them in establishing guerilla bases and preparing them for their military interventions in Cuba in October. Many of the plans were devised by the CIA with the sole purpose to assassinate Fidel Castro which included the use of hair removal powder to fall the Castros beard, a poisoned wetsuit, the exploding cigars and the placing of explosive seashells in Castros favorite places including the place where he used to go for diving. This project was originally decided to put into action in October 1962 with an open revolt and ultimately to the overthrow the Communist regime. This action was planned when the Cuba was at the peak of the Cuban Missile crisis due to the Soviet Unions’s presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, and could have led to the nuclear war between Soviet Union and United States. Therefore on 30th October the operation was suspended, but they had already deployed three of ten six-man sabotage teams in Cuba. One team infact was successful in blowing Cuban industrial facility on 8th November, 1962. This whole Cuban Project was known as Operation Mongoose. United States broke all the diplomatic relations with Cuba and imposed sanctions against it in 1962. The relationship between the two nations improved in 2000-2001 but again deteriorated when George W Bush came to power. Bush termed Cuba as an outpost of tyranny and his undersecretary to the U. S. State Department John R. Bolton levied accusations against Cuba of keeping and maintaing bioweapons program. Bolton even declared that Cuban leader had visited US enemy countries like Libya, Iran and Syria. Cuba was also declared as a State Sponsor of Terror by the United States department of State but Cuban government in turn accuses America for sponsoring terrorism against Cuba. Thus American Government again started their activities towards overthrowing the Cuban government and through the media propagated against the government to the extent that the opposition parties, supporting United States in Havana started displaying messages on a scrolling â€Å"electronic billboard† and to counter these Cuban government constructed large number of poles, carrying black flags with white stars, to obstruct these messages. On 12th September, 2006, the United States formed five interagency working groups to monitor Cuba and to carry their policies. These groups were set up quitely in War like rooms. According to the U. S. officials, three of these created groups; diplomatic actions; strategic communications and democratic promotion are headed by the State Department. One more group which coordinated humanitarian aid to Cuba is run by the Commerce Department, and the fifth group tackles migration issues, is being run jointly by the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security. These prcocess is being undertaken to restore democracy. Thus the counter insurgency operations with Philippines was to help the Philippine regime to crush the terrorists activities of the Al Qaida, Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf Group(ASF) whereas the United States Policy towards Cuba was to eliminate the Communist regime by supporting the opposition parties and to counter the Russia’s missiles in Cuba. United States Counter Insurgency operations in Philippines were over and all successful, and the reasons behind these successful efforts were the comprehensive operations, adopting strategy of attacking the enemys line of attacks and disrupting their alliances and this was achieved by strengthening the Philippine government institutions and local security so that the daily lives of the people can move on smoothly. The measures were also undertaken for civic development to provide necessary amenities to its population. These operations being carried out in Basilan led to the ousting of the ASG from the island simply because they lost the support of the population and lost the combat operations as well as bases. But, there were certain strategic errors that led to again the emergence of ASG who â€Å"Lived to fight another day with the sole help from the JI and MILF. The ASG is again rising on the southern islands of Jolo and Tawi Tawi where Forces of the United States are not allowed to give assistance to AFP. This situation arises due to the certain strategic errors by the United States. The first strategic error was inability of the OEF-P, American leaders to fruitfully understand their own forces. They could not understand the basic traits of SF in an arena of employment and their capabilities to take out the combat advisory mission during unconventional warfare. Instead of fully understanding the situation, combatant commander and the Secretary of Defense imposed restrictions on SF soldiers. Over and above, the restrictions were also imposed on these SF advisers to operate at battalion level with their AFP counterparts but were not disallowed to operate at lower tactical echelons. U. S. leaders at the highest levels also could not able to comprehend fully the unconventional warfare. This led to the second strategic error and that is over-reliance on technical reconnaissance assets. The Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the Navys P3 Orion began to be used for locating the ASG and the hostages on Basilan. These they used again for protection minimizing the risks to U. S. personnel. These though reduced the patrolling in remote areas, but this kind of surveillance was unconventional, and the forces on the ground were not allowed to use these reconnaissance assets. The third reason cited because of the prohibition of the U. S. leaders to assist the SF units because the negotiations were going on between the AFP and MILF, so forces were removed from MILF and because AFP was desperate to take the advice and assistance from U. S. Military, AFP troops were shifted from MILF-controlled areas. This led to the creation of de facto ASG sanctuaries giving boost to the ASG and MILF strong relationship. Many people staying in the area are also the members of these two organizations. (Tzu Sun, May-June 2004). The United States strategy in Cuba did not get desired results. The CIA wrote an internal report that blamed the internal incompetence on failure. The administration thought that the troops could retreat to mountains and conduct guerrilla war if they lost in open battle. But they did not realize that the troops could not reach the mountains by foot. The second reason was that the troops were deployed in swampland, where they were easily surrounded. The third biggest fault was their thinking that Cubans would be great full to them to give them liberation from Fidel Castro and would join in the battle, but the Americans could not gain the support of the population. It was basically due to the agencys weak positions on the ground in Cuba. CIA’s witnessed the mass support of Castro and those who were against the Castro were rounded and arrested by him. (Bay of Pigs invasion, encyclopedia) Looking at these failures and strategies the soldiers in order to win the war against terrorism first of all should analyze the ground situation where the war is to be fought, take the local population into confidence, never underestimate the enemies, and use the reconnaissance assets at the appropriate situation and at the appropriate moment. WORKS CITED 1. Bay of Pigs Invasion All Experts: Encyclopedia Retrieved April 5, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://en. allexperts. com/e/b/ba/bay_of_pigs_invasion. htm 2. Maxwell S. David (May-June 2004) Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines: What Would Sun Tzu Say? The U. S. Army Professional Writing Collection Retrieved April 5, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www. army. mil/professionalwriting/volumes/volume2/june_2004/6_04_3. html

Effect of Music on Heart Rate | Experiment

Effect of Music on Heart Rate | Experiment Daniella Urteaga Background Information: The heart is a vital organ made of cardiac muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Heart rate is associated with the contraction of the different chambers of the heart, and is considered myogenic. As a result, the heart beat is controlled independently of the central nervous system and is instead controlled by the pacemaker, also known as the Sino arterial node. The node sends signals through nerves in the heart to other nodes such as the AV or atrio-ventricular node and these result in the contraction of the chambers (Copeland, 1991). Heart rate is the number of heart beats per unit of time, typically expressed in beats per minute or bpm. The average heart rate at rest under normal conditions of adolescents and adults is 63.3 bpm  ± 13.1 bpm, with variability of 3.2 bpm  ± 2.1 (Leschka, 2006). Other factors also have an influence on the heart beat and heart rate such as the medulla of the brain of the hormone adrenaline. External stimuli or external factors also result in alterations of the heart rate. These include physical and emotional factors. One type of external stimuli that is shown to have effects on the heart rate is sound, specifically music. Music is currently being considered to be used as therapy for coronary conditions as well as on anxiety (Smolen et al, 2002). In addition, music is widely prevalent in the lives of adolescents. Teenagers in this day are age are exposed to music on a regular basis and a majority of adolescents living in the United States own mp3 or I-Pods (Epperson, 2011). Also, there are music therapies available for autistic patients that show improvement in their communication skills and behavior over time because of the certain music played in the therapy session. Sound has been shown to have effects on the heart rate. The average volume at which adolescents listen to music is 80 decibels which is approximately 80% volume on a music player using standard headphones (Epperson, 2011). Increasing volume has been shown to increase the heart rate, and decreasing volume has been shown to lower the heart rate (Okamoto, 2011). In addition, studies have been conducted that investigate different genres of music and their effects on heart rate as well as other heart application such as blood pressure. Personal Engagement Statement: The reason for doing this experiment is to see to what extent are we affected by music on a physical level. The reason I decided to focus on musics physical effect is because of how it is mostly known to have a more mental and emotional effect on our mood. I want to investigate how an everyday thing like music can cause physical change in our bodies by the different type of genres that come with it. This topic idea was also influenced by the fact I have been involved in musical groups, orchestra and mariachi, since I was 12 years old. The contrast between these two distinct musical groups, one soothing and the other festive, lead me to inquire upon musics effect in general. I want to not only know the difference between classical and mariachi music, but also take into account all the other music with varied tempos. Exploration: The topic I will be conducting an experiment on will be the study of musics effect on our heart rate. My research question my whole experiment will be based on is: What effect does the different genres of music have on an adolescents rested heart rate? The dependent variable of this experiment is going to be the heart rate because it will change or not due to the music, and I am going to measure the heart rate by beats per minute. My experiments independent variable will be the genre of music since it will not depend on the other variable for change. The controlled variables of this experiment will be the musics volume, headphones used, starting heart rate, the device used to play music, and the age and gender of the test subjects. Hypothesis: If the music is loud and has a fast tempo, then I believe your heart rate will increase because the tempo causes people to breathe faster. However, music with a slower and softer tempo, like classical music, causes the opposite effects on your heart rate. The research that helps back my hypothesis up is how Sakamoto found, for the Journal of Sound and Vibration, that there was an increase in systolic and diastolic pressure, which are the first and second reading in blood pressure, during exposure to steady noise and music with high intensity peaks. Since heart rate and blood pressure work interchangeably, like when exercising, it is a strong indicator heart rate will be affect by the musics genre based on the research. According to a study performed in Japan, hearing classical music results in a small variance of Mayer Wave which results in the lowering of the heart rate (Mamoru, 1998). This is because the sympathetic nerve is suppressed by the sound of classical music. In addition, rapid changes in volume and fast paced tempos cause the heart rate to increase (Epperson, 2011). These elements are what techno songs are composed of, and therefore an increased heart rate can be predicted upon listening to them. Independent Variable: The independent variable is the genre of music the subject is exposed to while their heart rate is being measured. The levels of the independent variable will include five different genres of music. These will include classical music, pop music, jazz music, techno music, and country music. These genres vary in style and tempo or speed. Dependent Variable: Heart rate which will be measured by beats per minute Controlled Variable: Volume of music, headphones used, starting heart rate, device used, age, gender, the quietness of room environment, and the position of subject while exposed to music. Materials: Headphones, iPhone for the music, stopwatch, paper, calculator, and pencil. Procedure: Data Collection will be a sample size of at least 30 trials ranging from the age of 14-18. For each age year, in total 5, there will be at least six trails for each subject that is of ever age, turning out to be 30 trials in total. My subjects will have a variety of males and females. Make sure to pick a quite outside or room environment where there is minimal distractions or conversations. Allow the subject to sit in the chair in an upright position, ensuring that his/her back is against the backing of the chair and his/her feet are firmly planted in the ground. Place headphones in the subjects two ears, but do not play any music yet. This is to ensure that the act of wearing headphones is not an additional factor. Conduct the first trial for the experimental control. Allow the subject to sit in the chair for three minutes without the addition of music to rest their heart rate as much as possible. Write down resting heart rate of subject by finding their radial pulse. (To find the radial pulse I will put my index and third finger on the subjects wrist nearest their body. I will use the pads of my fingers. Place them just below the wrist creases on the thumb side. Press lightly until I feel the blood pulsing under their skin). Once three minutes have passed, measure subjects heart by using beats per minute. In order to do this begin the stop watch after the first pulse is felt. Count the number of pulses felt until the stop watch reads 60 seconds Allow the subject one minute of silence before continuing with the rest of the trials. Conduct the trials involving the different levels of the independent variable. Set the volume on the iPhone to medium volume. After one minute of silence since the first pulse reading has elapsed, begin playing the pop music. (Ensure that the iPhone is set on repeat in case the song is too short. If this step is forgotten, the song may switch and the trial will not be valid for use) Allow the subject to listen to the song for three minutes on a constant volume. During the three minute time interval, note any changes in heart rate when finding their radial pulse. As the subject listens to the music, note changes in facial expression, skin temperature, skin color (paleness or redness), and involuntary movement as qualitative data. Allow the subject one minute of silence before continuing with the rest of the trials. Repeats steps 6a- 6g for all genres of music (jazz, classical, techno, and country). Repeat steps 1-5 until I get a sample size of 30 trials. Calculate the average for each subject and the respective genres of music in order to make a representation of the data. Measure the percent change in the pulse comparing the experimental control and all genres of music bpm in order to calculate the effect of the intensity of physical effect on the heart rate. Ensure collection is significant, relevant data by pooling the data. This will make sure that there is analysis even if this sample size may be too small to evaluate the effect or relationship of the study. Safety, ethical or environmental issues: To make sure this experiment is conducted in the safest and ethical manner, I will make sure the songs chosen are censored from any explicit language during the trials. Also, I will make sure the volume of the music is not very loud for the subjects to prevent any hearing injuries to take place. I will also make sure the headphones used while this experiments are always clean for each subject to prevent any possible ear infections. Data Collection: Qualitative: During this experimental procedure, I noticed various qualitative observations. Each genre of music seemed to have a different effect on the subjects. Some effects were subtle, while others were more noticeable. No changes in the skin color or body temperature were noted in this experimental procedure. However, slight movements were present. During the classical music, subjects made subtle swaying movements and briefly closed their eyes like showing they were relaxed into it. During the pop and rap music, the head swaying became more upbeat and the subjects smiled or lightly chuckled while their eyes were open. The rock genre and techno genres had similar movements and expression as the pop music. Quantitative: Table 1: Displays heart rates (bpm) of ten subjectsduring resting heart rate, classical, pop, country, jazz, and techno hearings for six trials. Subjects Trials Resting (bpm ±1.0) Classical (bpm ±1.0) Pop (bpm ±1.0) Country (bpm ±1.0) Jazz (bpm ±1.0) Techno (bpm ±1.0) Subject 1 (14 years old) 1 61 60 74 63 68 75 2 63 61 72 61 69 73 3 63 60 75 60 69 74 Subject 2 (14 years old) 4 64 57 73 60 67 74 5 62 57 75 59 69 76 6 63 58 74 59 70 75 Subject 3 (15 years old) 1 62 62 70 62 72 73 2 62 61 71 62 73 75 3 63 61 70 60 71 76 Subject 4 (15 years old) 4 63 63 69 58 74 72 5 63 62 67 60 74 71 6 62 63 68 57 73 71 Subject 5 (16 years old) 1 63 61 76 59 72 74 2 65 62 74 59 71 77 3 65 60 76 61 72 76 Subject 6 (16 years old) 4 65 59 75 62 74 75 5 66 61 73 60 73 76 6 64 59 74 63 75 78 Subject 7 (17 years old) 1 62 60 75 57 70 78 2 61 62 73 56 72 75 3 63 64 77 58 69 76 Subject 8 (17 years old) 4 64 64 72 60 75 73 5 64 63 68 63 73 72 6 66 64 71 59 77 72 Subject 9 (18 years old) 1 60 58 76 58 73 73 2 59 61 74 56 70 73 3 59 59 75 59 74 71 Subject 10 (18 years old) 4 63 59 69 62 72 72 5 67 60 72 58 71 70 6 65 57 71 60 71 73 I conducted the mean of the different bpm values for resting and the five genres of music (classical, pop, country, techno, and jazz) for each of the five subjects. This statistic allowed me to observe the average heart rate of each subject under the influence of the different music genres. Through this analysis, I was able to collocate the data and compare the differences in the bpm for each music genre. It gave me the ability to determine if a certain genre caused a larger average bpm for the subject and how it changed based on the intensity of the genre. I conducted the range of bpm of all six trials for each type of exercise. This statistic allowed me to identify the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value for bpm during each music listening. It gave me the ability to determine the distribution of my data for each different genre of music. Due to its small number, this value showed me that my average bpm for each exercise was overall pretty consistent, and did not fluctuate greatly during the three trials for each age section. I conducted the standard deviation of heart rate bpm from all six trials for each genre of music conducted. This statistic allowed me to obtain a more detailed and accurate estimate of the dispersion in the data values because one outlier can greatly exaggerate the data in the range, therefore making it inaccurate. The standard deviation showed me the relation of the bpm for all three trials to its mean value. Since it was a small value, it showed me that the bpm levels stayed mainly constant throughout the trials with a small dispersion of data. I conducted a percent change in order to determine the change in my bpm values between each genre of music and resting. By doing so, I analyzed by how much of a difference (bpm) value there was for each genre of music compared to resting. This was done to see if there was a significant increase or decrease in the bpm values between the genres of music and resting. Table 2: Displays average heart rate of ten subjects (bpm) and average data dispersion for eachgenre of music   Ã‚   Subject Genre of Music Average (bpm) Range (bpm) Standard Deviation Subject 1 (14 years old) Resting 62.3 2.0 1.2 Classical 60.3 1.0 0.6 Pop 73.6 3.0 1.2 Country 61.3 3.0 1.2 Jazz 68.6 1.0 0.6 Techno 74 2.0 1 Subject 2 (14 years old) Resting 63 2.0 1 Classical 57.3 1.0 0.6 Pop 74 2.0 1 Country 59.3 1.0 0.6 Jazz 68.6 3.0 1.5 Techno 75 2.0 1 Subject 3 (15 years old) Resting 62.3 1.0 0.6 Classical 61.3 1.0 0.6 Pop 70.3 1.0 0.6 Country 61.3 2.0 1.2 Jazz 72 2.0 1 Techno 74 3.0 1.5 Subject 4 (15 years old) Resting 62.6 1.0 0.6 Classical 62.6 1.0 0.6 Pop 68 2.0 1 Country 58.3 3.0 1.5 Jazz 73.6 1.0 0.6 Techno 71.3 3.0 0.6 Subject 5 (16 years old) Resting 64.3 2.0 1.2 Classical 61 2.0 1 Pop 75.3 2.0 1.2 Country 59.6 2.0 1.2 Jazz 71.6 1.0 0.6 Techno 75.6 3.0 1.5 Subject 6 (16 years old) Resting 65 2.0 1 Classical 59.6 2.0 1.2 Pop 75.3 2.0 1 Country 61.6 3.0 1.5 Jazz 74 2.0 1 Techno 76.3 3.0 1.5 Subject 7 (17 years old) Resting 62 2.0 1 Classical 62 4.0 2 Pop 75 4.9 2 Country 57 2.0 1 Jazz 70.3 3.0 1.5 Techno 76.3 3.0 1.5 Subject 8 (17 years old) Resting 64.6 2.0 1.2 Classical 63.6 1.0 0.6 Pop 70.3 4.0 2.1 Country 60.6 4.0 2.1 Jazz 75 4.0 2 Techno 72.3 1.0 0.6 Subject 9 (18 years old) Resting 59.3 1.0 0.6 Classical 59.3 3.0 1.5 Pop 75 2.0 1 Country 57.6 3.0 1.5 Jazz 72.3 4.0 2.1 Techno 72.3 2.0 1.2 Subject 10 (18 years old) Resting 65 4.0 2 Classical 58.6 3.0 1.5 Pop 70.6 3.0 1.5 Country 60 4.0 2 Jazz 71.3 1.0 0.6 Techno 71.6 3.0 1.5 Table 3: Displays total average bpm of all ten subjectscombined, average data dispersion for each genre, and comparison of average bpm of genres and resting using percent difference Subject Music Genre Total Average (bpm) Total Range (bpm) Standard Deviation Percentage Difference from Resting Combined (10) Resting 63 8.0 1.8 0.0 Classical 60.6 7.0 2.0 -3.8 Pop 72.7 10.0 2.7 15.4 Country 59.7 7.0 1.6 -5.2 Jazz 71.7 10.0 2.1 13.8 Techno 73.9 8.0 1.9 17.3 Conclusion: The results supported my initial hypothesis; however, they were not statistically significant. Initially I hypothesized that classical music would result in a lowering of the heart rate while techno music would have the most influence on raising the heart rate. According to my results, the percent difference between resting and classical music is -3.8% and the percent difference between resting and techno music is 17.3%, supporting my hypothesis. Country music also lowered the average heart rate by a lower -5.2%, while pop and jazz music heighted the heart rate by 15.4% and 13.8% respectively. The more upbeat songs such as the pop, jazz, and techno appeared to have increased the heart rates of the subjects as predicted, and the slower more relaxed songs such as the classical and country music lowered the heart rates. This experiment can be expanded to possibly aid in the development of new therapeutic methods based for cardiac conditions based on music. It can also be used to help aid in the stressful lives of teenagers, often resulting in higher-than-normal heart rates (Smolen et al, 2002). The results of my study, although not statistically significant support the findings of other scientists researching the field. Increases in systolic and diastolic pressures during exposure to steady noise and music with high intensity peaks are present (Epperson, 2011). This would account for genres of music such as techno that have a consistent beat and high peaks of volume. The opposite can be observed for classical music that constantly changes in rhythm and lack

Examination Of Muted Group Theory Sociology Essay

Examination Of Muted Group Theory Sociology Essay Imagine for a moment that you find yourself in an exotic and far off land. You have been forced to live in a foreign country that speaks a completely different language than yours. You struggle day after day not just to articulate yourself in this strange, foreign tongue, but to simply be heard and have your opinions appreciated by your new peers. Instead you find your new neighbors disregard every word you say and write you off as inarticulate or just plain dumb; or even worse they ignore your unique existence and experiences altogether. This is exactly the sort of phenomenon that Muted Group Theory details and why it is so incredibly fascinating. This literature review will define exactly Muted Group Theory and its basic tenets are, delve into the theorys origins, and provide a few examples of its further use before moving on to several research studies illustrating the theory in practical, scientific application. The Muted Group Theory of Communication seeks to explain and rationalize the faults inherent in language and the ways in which it fails many of its users. While most individuals would simply dismiss language merely as a tool of communication to be molded in order to fit their specific needs; in actuality, language acts as a dominant and controlling factor in establishing and shaping its users. Muted Group Theory asserts that because language was developed primarily by the dominant group of society; specifically white males of greater income and socio-economic status, that minority cultures and non-dominant groups such as women, individuals of lower economic means, and non-whites are thus muted by their own lack of influence on the formation of their language (Wood, 2008, as cited in Turner West, 2009). Because non-dominant groups have had little to no contribution towards the creation of their language they are poorly served by it. Muted Group Theory emphases a minority groups inabi lity to fully and properly articulate themselves or designate their unique experiences due to the necessity of translating their individual views and opinions into what is essentially a foreign language (Wood, 2008, as cited in Turner West, 2009). The language of a particular group does not consistently support or function for all of its members with any sense of equality due to the disparity in their involvement in their languages development (Kramarae, 1981 as cited in Orbe, 1998). Muted Group Theory posits that language acts as a representation of a societys overall ideologies. The dominant sector of a group conceptualizes a means of communication which not only maintains, but perpetuates their specified worldview and establishes it as the correct and proper language for all of said groups remaining members (S. Ardener, 1975, as cited in Orbe, 1998). As it is defined as a critical theory, the Muted Group Theory of Communication is both valuable and worth exploring because it str ives to reexamine the established status quo of a society or culture, it highlights the imbalances and unfairness within said society for its possibly unsuspecting inhabitants, and lastly; and most importantly, it proposes potential solutions to these problems plaguing said culture (Turner West, 2009). Muted Group Theory interestingly illuminates individuals to the unconscious methods through which a language and its creators dictate and manipulate interpersonal behaviors and relations as well as concepts of ones own self-identity. Muted Group Theory finds its origins within the research of social anthropologists Edwin and Shirley Ardener and their work on social hierarchy and structure. Muted Group Theory developed following the Ardeners examination of the, at the time, male dominated fields of ethnography and social anthropology (Turner West, 2009). Individuals and groups which inhabit the highest tiers of a social hierarchy define the specific communication system within a culture and the non-dominant groups are thus relegated to working within the confines of whatever communication guidelines the ruling class has consciously or unconsciously imposed upon them. Subordinate groups are thus rendered mute as the mainstream structures of communication echo the dominate groups perceptions (E. Ardener, 1978, as cited in Orbe, 1998). A further implication of Muted Group Theory founded by the Ardeners is that the silencing of women as a muted group bears a direct correlation to deafness of their male counterparts. The notion put forth here is that even if a minority group has yet to be muted, on the whole or in a specified subject, the continued obliviousness committed by the dominant group as they ignore the assessments and opinions of their subordinates results in a lack of any further articulation on said subject by the non-dominant group as they thus become muted over time (S. Ardener, 1978, as cited in Turner West, 2009). Put simply, a dominant group, by not understanding or completely ignoring the views of their subordinate counterparts, can in essence silence these views completely. The repercussions of this sort of passive thought suppression are staggering. The undesirable ideologies and wishes of a silent minority can be expunged over time simply by ignoring them. This idea is highly reminiscent in the old adage to ignore a bully into leaving one alone. Though its genesis lies with the work of Edwin and Shirley Ardener, Cheris Kramarare is commonly regarded as the true founder of Muted Group Theory. Kramarares work expanded on the ideas brought on by the Ardeners, and tailored it primarily to the study of communication. Kramarare focused Muted Group Theory into three paramount assumptions: women, and other minority groups, view the world far differently from men due to the division of labor, due to male-centric political superiority, mens views and communication systems are given priority, thus restricting the communication of women, and other subordinate cultures, and lastly, in order to effectively partake in a society, non-dominant groups are forced to shoehorn their own ideologies into the dominant groups established system of expression (Kramarare, 1981, as cited in Turner West, 2008). Kramarares work expanded the bounds of Muted Group Theory and inspires further inquiry and analysis to questions and concepts raised by the Ard eners initial research. Far more intriguing than the unfortunate in-articulation of minority groups brought on by Muted Group Theory are the stunning implications of the theory on the development of an individuals self-concept. From birth men and women are treated vastly different by society at large. From the color of the clothes they are put in to the way in which they are described, male and female infants are immediately indoctrinated by the societal views and expected gender roles of the dominant group they were born into. Muted Group Theory further invades into ideas of self-concept via the ways in which dominant groups perceive society. Female nurses, for instance, are limitedly defined by societys dominant group as either hardened battle-axes of anti-femininity, or ultra-compassionate and sensitive angels of mercy. These highly constricting labels, imposed by dominant groups, limit these women to identifying themselves as one of these two, polar descriptors (Callan, 1978, as cited in Turner West, 2 009). Because of the restricted definitions provided by dominant groups, these nurses can only potentially conceive themselves as aligning with one of these completely differing camps and are thus limited in the development of their own self-concept and individual identity. The first of the research studies examined here focuses on the muting inherent in the culture of date rape found on many college campuses. A rape culture can be defined as an environment which supports attitudes conducive to rape and increase sexual violence risk factors (Buchwald, Fletcher Roth, 1993, as cited in Burnett et all., 2009). The study in question, Communicating/Muting Date Rape: A Co-Cultural Theoretical Analysis of Communication Factors Related to Rape Culture on a College Campus was authored by Ann Burnett, Jody L. Mattern, Liliana L. Herakova, David H. Kahl, Jr., Cloy Tobola, and Susan Bornsen and was first published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research in November of 2009. Burnett et al. (2009) sought to uncover how certain attitudes and outlooks regarding the act of rape, as expressed by social, individual, and cultural perspectives, stemmed from various behaviors preceding a possible rape, during a rape itself, and as a response to a rape occurring. Th ese attitudes served to mute college students, primarily women, and possibly perpetuate the continued creation of a rape culture on college campuses. Their research primarily utilized Muted Group Theory in a co-cultural theoretical paradigm in order to define campus rape culture through communication focused on rape and sex, the negotiating of sexual consent, the potentiality of a rape to occur, a rape itself, the aftermath and repercussions of a rape, and peoples perceptions of, and reactions to, date rape (Burnett et al., 2009). Burnett et al.s (2009) study methodology chiefly utilized hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry. Hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry involves delving into the shared, lived experiences of individuals who have been involved in a specified phenomenon (Lanigan, 1979, as cited in Burnett et al., 2009). Researchers utilizing a phenomenological approach search for any central, underlying themes behind a given experience and attempt to develop general or universal implications from them (Creswell, 2007, as cited in Burnett et al., 2009). Phenomenological inquiry involves researchers gathering descriptions of lived experiences, reviewing the various capta found to uncover any essential themes of the experiences, and discovering any interrelatedness among the established themes (Nelson, 1989, as cited in Burnett et al., 2009). The capta for Burnett et al.s (2009) study were gathered through nine separate focus groups at a Midwestern university. These focus groups contained five with just wome n, two of only men, and two groups were co-ed in composition. The university in question housed an approximate population of 12,000 students, contained fifteen fraternities or sororities, and had a Division 1 athletics program on campus. The study did not specify a need for focus group members to have been rape victims to be involved. Focus group moderators utilized an open-ended conversational style in order to encourage member participation (Nelson, 1989, as cited in Burnett et al., 2009). Topics put to the focus groups included various definitions of, and motivations for, rape, alcohols role in rape, post-rape options, potential reasons why rape is not reported, how to avoid possible rape scenarios, and group members perception of the prevalence of rape on their campus (Burnett et al., 2009). Following this, the gathered capta were reduced by recognizing what given factors were essential to the experience and which were not, and then attaching meaning to the essential elements re maining by contrasting and comparing the different given experiences and how the identified themes contributed to them (Nelson, 1989, as cited in Burnett et al., 2009). Burnett et al.s (2009) results indicated an ambiguity surrounding date rape that silences potential, meaningful intercourse on the subject and mutes both possible and actual victims of date rape. Burnett et al. (2009) found that focus group members had great difficulty in pinpointing a firm definition of date rape as they felt situational factors affected any interpretation of the event. For instance, although sexual consent was suggested as an essential element, focus group members probed which non-verbal and verbal actions could be construed as consent. Because they had no firm way of defining what date rape was, both male and female participants were muted from recognizing the signs of date rape or when to report it. Students are thus forced to rationalize their notions of rape because their culture, the college campus, fails to do so (Burnett et al., 2009). On an individual, psychological level, the focus group members, even the women, utilized primarily dominant, male-driven language to characterize known date rape victims as overtly promiscuous individuals whose state of dress could almost function as a form of consent. Participants also noted how males are often praised for extreme sexual prowess and a high number of partners whereas women are cast in a negative light for the same sort of behavior. These common views reiterate the dominant position of men in society and their influence on the language and ideologies concerning date rape (Burnett et al., 2009). From a post-rape perspective, female focus group members questioned the strength and validity of their ability to communicate a lack of consent. This sort of interrogation places the responsibility for the rape on the victim (Burnett et al., 2009). Both female and male focus group members agreed that the reporting of date rape is muted due to further ambiguity regarding the cor rect steps to take following a rape and a fear of others reactions to said rape. This fear of victim blaming only serves to further isolate and mute anyone who has been the victim of date rape or knows a victim who is choosing to remain silent (Burnett et al., 2009). Additional dominant groups such as a colleges administration and staff can silence victims and perpetuate a date rape culture through a lack of backing for anti-rape preventative education and post rape support services on campus. This lack of recognition of date rape in the dominant discourse leads individuals to mute themselves via various explaining-away tactics in order to not contradict the mainstream. Following their study, Burnett et al. (2009) concluded that both male and female students participate in the inherent muting of a date rape culture and that date rape victims are actively muted before, after, and even during a rapes occurrence. The largest factor in the continued perpetuation of campus date rape culture is the failure of the student population to properly and affectively define what constitutes date rape and sexual consent. Because there is no firm classification of either of these, date rape victims, and potentially the rapists as well, have no clue they are actually involved in a date rape. The scope of this study, while thorough on the campus it took place, is in actuality quite limited. Because Burnett et al. limited their focus to one specific college campus in one specific area of the country it cannot be considered an entirely accurate representation of possible rape cultures on college campuses across the board. Along with its scope, the studys testability is extremely limited because of their research methodology. While relying on interpersonal communication allowed for a more personal and in-depth examination of various individuals experiences with date rape, these particular views are that of the individual in question and cannot be affectively measured with any sort of documentable accuracy. The parsimony and heurism of the study are both notable, however. At its core, the explanation for the continuance of date rape culture is exceedingly simple and direct and the new thinking initiated by the study is of paramount importance. Hopefully, colleges can use the data provided here to better arm their student bodies against possible date rape in the future. The second research study being examined here involves the gender specific effects of muting on outdoor ropes challenge courses. The study, authored by Phillip A. Irish III, first appeared in the Journal of Experiential Education in 2006. Irish (2006) sought to discover the myriad of effects that verbal muting, a primary means for modifying a courses objectives, has on both genders and how successfully they can accomplish the tasks set forth by the moderators of these ropes courses when thusly limited. The ultimate goal of the study was to better arm ropes course facilitators with documented research to supplement their own experience and intuition in an effort to further the communication enhancing nature inherent in these sorts of challenges. The ropes course study examine two primary hypotheses: on specifically masculine-attributed outdoor ropes courses, muted males will experience stronger goal engagement, specified by proximal distance to said objective, than their muted, female counterparts, and, conversely, the greater time spent on a particular task will result in greater disengagement of muted males, measured by increasing distance from goal, than muted females in the same given time span. The methodology of Irishs (2006) study involved adult groups being given one of three possible outdoor ropes challenges: Doughnut, Thread the Needle, and Water Wheel. These challenges were selected specifically for because they involve the team members navigating a specific, centralized piece of equipment while simultaneously not limiting participants free movement about the challenge arena. These trials were also selected due to their generally male oriented objectives, such as lifting individual members up into the air. In differing groups, either all of the men or all of the women were verbally muted though gesturing and pantomime were allowed. The average group makeup consisted of five males to three females with individuals being lined up and divided my height in an effort to spread the height advantage out to each group. Distance measurements were taken every two minutes during the planning phase of the given challenge. The results of Irishs (2006) study indicate varying shifts in involvement by both sexes in regards to factors of group composition and the handicap of verbal muting. When looking at group makeup, there was no correlation on the involvement of males or females in the task based upon the increased number of females in the group, or male involvement based on the increased number of males in the group, however, when the number of males increased, regardless of other factors involved, female involvement dropped significantly. When the influence of verbal muting is examined, again, male involvement is curiously unaffected by muting or not, but female involvement dramatically lowered when they were muted. Irish (2006) felt his research was successful in terms of providing future researchers a methodology for empirically measuring involvement and interest in a task with relation to muting and non-muting factors. While muting had little variant effect on the position and involvement of males, muted females were generally twice as far away from the specified goal as non-muted females (Irish 2006). Muted females seemed to disengage entirely from the task as the positioned themselves farther away from the goal than their male counterparts. Irishs (2006) research shows slight correlation to male disinterest and disengagement overtime, but not enough, he felt, to be entirely conclusive and supportive of his original hypothesis. Irish posits that greater effect of muting on women may be due to the verbally communicative style generally attached to women. The implications of Irishs research on future Muted Group Theory are compelling. Even though Irish was not trying to illustrate the ways in which male dominant groups subjugate female non-dominant groups, the results of his research still support that central tenet of Muted Group Theory. As discussed previously, Muted Group Theory posits that male originated language forces women to translate everything into what essentially amounts to a foreign tongue. Irishs examination demonstrates how the severity of the male language barrier places women in an ingrained mindset of near constant verbal translation in order to be heard and understood by their male counterparts. When this verbal element is removed from their repertoire, women are left with no further tools to successfully navigate the ropes course or contribute in any meaningful way; because of both an inability to fully articulate themselves in a now non-verbal, male-centric language and because their male counterparts will essent ially ignore their female-oriented non-verbal communication tactics. The scope of this study is quite narrow as it only delves into a small aspect of muting; however, the study provides a high level of testability as the data provides an easily repeatable experiment in an effort to replicate the results and has great utility as it can be used to reinforce the basic notions of Muted Group Theory. The third research study being explored delves into the realm of email communication and how the once gender neutral communication arena now exhibits gendered voices which are being muted. The study, authored by Heather Kissack and Jamie L. Callahan was first published in the Journal of European Industrial Training in 2010. Kissack and Callahan (2010) sought to critically asses the validity of newfound research indicating increased textual gender cues in regards to preferred language use in email based communications. Kissack and Callahans goal was to illustrate how the muting of feminine voices occurs even in email communications. The methodology of Kissack and Callahans (2010) study is fairly straightforward. The study utilizes a vast array of previously completed research into the foundations and implications of Muted Group Theory on subjugating the speech of women and draws logical correlations to previous research on male-female communication in a structured organization as well as studies on genders impact on email conversing. The arguments posited are logically consistent and draw understandable conclusions between already researched topics. Kissack and Callahan (2010) discovered that feminine voices are more than simply marginalized in the work place as was once believed, but are in fact muted as well. Despite lacking the visual and audio cues of verbal language, email communication has still developed unique male and female centric consistencies which allow them to be easily distinguishable to a given reader (Corney, de Vel, Anderson, Mohay , 2002, as cited in Kissack Callahan, 2010). Even if the names of sender and receiver are omitted, either sex can easily identify the gender of email senders as gender specific language cues aid in this accuracy (Savicki et al., as cited in Kissack Callahan, 2010). Kissack and Callahan (2010) successfully accomplish their studys goal of shedding light on the still prevalent issues of feminine voice muting, specifically in an arena that most thought to be gender neutral be default. What is most intriguing about the work of Kissack and Callahan is that the majority of email users would claim the format to be primarily without gender bias. After all, the anonymity presented on the internet allows a user to appear as any gender they wish. This research study shows great logical consistency and scope through the great volume of research Kissack and Callahan have done to draw successful correlations between preexisting research topics. This study also shows potential to stand the test of time because it initiates a heuristic response to a fairly modern invention and the biases that have unfortunately come along with it. These growing trends could even be reexamined in the future to further track the validity of Kissack and Callahans work and to measure if any improvements have been made in the field. Kissack and Callahan focus strongly on the critical aspects of Muted Group Theory in an effort to inform (re: warn) our modern, technology-dependent society; as forward thinking as we think we are, to the dangers of gender muteness now creeping its way into email communication. The suggestions of their work are frightening. If gender bias and muted groups can find new life thriving in technology can these relics of a bygone era ever truly be stamped out? The fourth study observed focused on the application of two primarily feminism based theories, standpoint theory and Muted Group Theory, to emphasis the resilience and fortitude of individuals living in rural America and plan more effective methods of community-based healthcare promotion to better suit their needs. The study was authored by Deborah Ballard-Reisch and was first published in Women Language in 2010. Ballard-Reisch (2010) sought to rectify the vast differences in her previous research on the lives of rural Americans with that of some of her statistician and epidemiologist peers whose own research painted a vastly different, and far less optimistic, picture of frontier life. Ballard-Reischs (2010) methodology, in a similar fashion to the previously explored work of Kissack and Callahan, utilized a veritable melting pot of formerly gathered research and theoretical ideologies in an effort to repurpose them into a grounded, community based approach to better serve the healthcare needs of diverse rural and frontier constituents. Ballard-Reisch (2010) combined aspects of Muted Group and Standpoint Theories together with engaged scholarship and a community-based participatory research approach to more effectively recognize the strengths, needs, health issues, and dynamics of these rural residents to create and exercise far more efficient health promotion interventions. Ballard-Reischs research showed that rural areas contain a higher percentage of older adults than anywhere else in America (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010) and that women constitute a far larger portion of this percentage than anywhere else in the country; representing 52% of individuals aged sixty to sixty-four, and representing 68% of individuals aged 85 or older (CDC, 2010; ERS/USDA, 2001, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010). Ballard-Reisch also discovered that despite containing a far larger portion of elderly Americans, one of the largest groups of consumers of healthcare products and services in the country (Wright, Sparks, OHare, 2008, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010), rural areas hold a far lower concentration of able, effective healthcare professionals than their urban counterparts (ERS/USDA, 2007, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010). The engaged scholarship approach suggested by Ballard-Reisch emphasizes collaboration and cooperation between both r esearchers and collaborators in a learning community to cultivate a theoretical and practical knowledge base (Van de Ven, 2007; Barge Shockley-Zalaback, 2008, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010) and the community based participatory approach she posits underlines the participation of community members along with scholars to more properly research and address various issues of mutual interest (Israel et al., 2005, as cited in Ballard-Reisch, 2010). Ballard-Reisch (2010) theorizes that these two approaches in tandem can be utilized to unmute the healthcare issues of the disenfranchised elderly population of rural America and more successfully serve their needs. Ballard-Reisch believes the older individuals living in rural America must un-silence themselves and take an active role in shaping the future of their health. Ballard-Reischs research highlights the ways in which rural Americans, primarily older women, have their problems muted by a mainstream that instead chooses to focus its attention on the healthcare needs of urban individuals only, leaving the frontier population to fend for themselves. Because they are members of several non-dominant groups; elderly, female, and rural-based, these individuals are triply muted and to such an extent ignored by the urbanite healthcare professionals they so desperately need. Ballard-Reischs proposed solution would seem to be the most effective approach as it plays to the community focused nature of these rural areas and allows them the forge their own path to health moving forward instead of relying on the otherwise preoccupied dominant, urban groups for a hand out that may never come. Ballard-Reischs ideologies most notably show heurism as they seek to stimulate new kinds of thinking to solve old problems. The utility is less substantial as Ballard-Reis chs ideas require a lot of additional legwork and extensive knowledge and research of individuals who are often less educated, and less willing to educate, than their urban counterparts. The ramifications of Muted Group Theory are astronomically important. Something as simple and taken for granted as ones language has astounding implications towards ones ability to not only articulate their thoughts, but also generate said thoughts in the first place. By not having a specified word for something; whether it be an object, an idea, or a feeling, that notion cannot exist. It is fascinating to explore how; hopefully unconsciously, white, heterosexual, upper-class, males have strictly dictated for muted groups exactly how they can not only think, but perceive.