Molson coors

Countries around the world has indeed shied away from its isolationist tendencies and has embraced wholeheartedly the precepts of globalization, China is not a stranger to this phenomenon. With over a billion people, it has somehow developed into a lucrative market for investment. Owing to its potential, China is considered as the largest beer market in the world. Breweries worldwide are vying to be part of this huge market, and Molson Coors is in a position to be a major player. But caution is expressed because China is a complex market and product demand would vary from region to region. So if the desire of Molson Coors is to saturate the market in a nationwide level, then they need to be extra judicious in their marketing thrusts. Part of the government’s protectionist measures is to allow foreign investors to have a manufacturing and marketing agreement with a local counterpart. In so doing, products could reach consumers in all levels of Chinese society. In line with this policy, Molson Coors in August 2001 formed the subsidiary – Coors Beer Beverages (Suzhou) Co.,Ltd., the purpose being to distribute Coors Beer products into China. A brewing agreement has also been inked with Lion Nathan Beer and Beverages (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. in October 2001. Threats: As in all potential markets there will always be threats as interested investors and companies jockey for position and share in the manufacturing and beer distribution business. And since the market is still young and so huge, there will always be room for everybody. Depending on each company’s strategy, the one that can provide consumers the most value for their money will get the lion’s share of the market. Competition has started to manifest its ugly head as major players in the beer market are now poised to increase their market share. Recently though more breweries are coming into China (50 are reported recently). This is in addition to Budweiser, the current market leader; Carlsberg; Anheuser-Busch’s; SABMiller; Harbin Brewery and Scottish & Newcastle. Even with the frantic activity now experienced in China, the local beer market remains to be controlled by domestic players. This makes it a fragmented market and totally needs infusion of massive international capital which could come in the form of joint venture agreements. As a form of encouragement, China’s per capita beer consumption remains to be low – meaning the market has still so much room for development. References: â€Å"Bear in China 2006 A Market Analysis.† Research and Markets. December 2006. Research and Markets. 24 February 2008. . â€Å"China’s Beer Market: Still Room for Investment.† AP-Foodtechnology. 6 August 2004. Decision News Media SAS. 24 February 2008. . â€Å"SABMiller ‘top China beer seller.’†BBC News UK. 6 October 2006. BBC. 24 February 2008. . Edgar Online Inc. 11 March 2005. Edgar Online, Inc. 24 February 2008. .

Goff Computer

Goff Computer, INC. Martin Teal BUS 650 Managerial Finance Instructor Scott Shaw October 15, 2012 Goff Computer, INC. Goff Computer, INC has been around for about eight years and has over seventy stores. Goff Computer, INC had $97 million in sales last year and wants to know what the cost of capital is. In order to answer this several steps have to be taken which include comparing the company to Dell and how they work. Dell is a major computer company and they build the computers to fit the customer’s needs and demands. The task at hand for Goff Computer , INC is to determine its cost of capital.There are several steps that must be done to get to the end result. Step 1 gives directions on how to obtain the beginning information needed about Dell. Step 2 asks several questions and the responses are: * The most recent stock price is $18. 16 * The market capitalization for Dell is 32. 62B * Dell currently has 1. 8B shares outstanding * The beta for Dell is 1. 33 * The yield on 3- month Treasury bill is . 865% * The cost of equity using CAPM is 16. 71% Step 3 instructs to go to www. reuters. com and find the competitors. However, there are none listed Step 4 instructs to calculate the cost of debt for Dell by going to cxa. arketwtch. com/finra/BondCenter/Dfault. aspx DELL. GJ yield to maturity . 754%| DELL. GF . 911%| DELL. GL. 724%| DELL. GP0%| DELL. GO. 946%| | | | | | Step 5 asks about the weighted cost and the book value weights. The book value is higher. Step 6 is the real question asking what the potential problems are and what suggestions I would have. The potential problems that I see when it comes to comparing the company to Dell are that Dell is a larger company and so things are different and constantly changing for them.Dell is more stable and has loyal customers so they can afford to take more risk as well. The only improvement that I can offer Goff Computer is to not try and follow a large company. They are building their own successful company. Therefore they should set their own trend that sets them apart from the competition. References Ross, S. , & Westerfield, R. , Jaffe, J. , & Jordan, B. (2011). Corporate finance: Core principles and applications (3rd ed. ). Boston, MD

Foriegn Direct Investment

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) FDI or Foreign Direct Investment is any form of investment that earns interest in enterprises which function outside of the domestic territory of the investor. Foreign direct investment is that investment, which is made to serve the business interests of the investor in a company, which is in a different nation distinct from the investor's country of origin Benefits of Foreign Direct Investment One of the advantages of foreign direct investment is that it helps in the economic development of the particular country where the investment is being made.This is especially applicable for the economically developing countries. During the decade of the 90s foreign direct investment was one of the major external sources of financing for most of the countries that were growing from an economic perspective. It has also been observed that foreign direct investment has helped several countries when they have faced economic hardships. Foreign direct investment also permits the transfer of technologies. This is done basically in the way of provision of capital inputs.The importance of this factor lies in the fact that this transfer of technologies cannot be accomplished by way of trading of goods and services as well as investment of financial resources. It also assists in the promotion of the competition within the local input market of a country. The countries that get foreign direct investment from another country can also develop the human capital resources by getting their employees to receive training on the operations of a particular business.The profits that are generated by the foreign direct investments that are made in that country can be used for the purpose of making contributions to the revenues of corporate taxes of the recipient country. Foreign direct investment helps in the creation of new jobs in a particular country. It also helps in increasing the salaries of the workers. This enables them to get access to a better lifestyl e and more facilities in life. It has normally been observed that foreign direct investment allows for the development of the manufacturing sector of the recipient country.Foreign direct investment can also bring in advanced technology and skill set in a country. There is also some scope for new research activities being undertaken. Foreign direct investment assists in increasing the income that is generated through revenues realized through taxation. It also plays a crucial role in the context of rise in the productivity of the host countries. In case of countries that make foreign direct investment in other countries this process has positive impact as well. In case of these countries, their companies get an opportunity to explore newer markets and thereby generate more income and profits.It also opens up the export window that allows these countries the opportunity to cash in on their superior technological resources. It has also been observed that as a result of receiving foreig n direct investment from other countries, it has been possible for the recipient countries to keep their rates of interest at a lower level. It becomes easier for the business entities to borrow finance at lesser rates of interest. The biggest beneficiaries of these facilities are the small and medium-sized business enterprises.

Experiment 8 formal report Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Experiment 8 formal - Lab Report Example Data analysis will involve determination of copper’s concentration using Beer-Lambert law. During the analysis, relevant graphs and calibration curves will feature in establishing the relationship between experimental variables. In addition, relevant statistical tests, especially the t-test well are used in detecting significant differences between absorbance by reference and sample solutions. Discussion of results will lead to eventual conclusion regarding the amount of copper metal in a penny. Technically, penny coins comprise of copper, zinc and metals in different proportions. In the past, copper metal was cheap; hence was used primarily in manufacture of coins. After 1980, copper metal became valuable and rare. Therefore, coin manufacturers used only copper coating in pennies and used primarily zinc in making the bulk part of the coins. With increasing value of copper, the metal’s composition in a coin keeps changing. The only way to determine the metal’s proportion today is to carry out quantitative analysis using reliable analysis methods like molecular spectroscopy. Concentration and hence the quantity of a metal species within a mixture is determined through molecular spectroscopy. This means that metals contained by a penny must be converted into molecular species in order to employ spectroscopic analysis. Fortunately, copper and zinc form molecular species with different colors. Copper form deep-blue ions while zinc form colorless species (Smith 45). The variation in ionic colors for the two penny components forms the basis of spectroscopic differentiation between copper and zinc. In this context, both copper and zinc must be converted into their ionic species with distinct colors before proceeding with subsequent steps of the experiment. This explains why the experiment’s procedure involved dissolution of a penny in nitric acid. Chemically, zinc is more reactive than copper.

ENG DB 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ENG DB 5 - Essay Example In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†, Hawthorne presents the idea that the Puritan religion, because of these beliefs, has lost all sense of meaning to the younger generations. In his journey through the dark woods and the events he witnesses there, Goodman Brown’s steps symbolize Hawthorne’s own doubts and observations about his religion based on his knowledge of what has gone before and the inevitable result of the Puritanical teachings he’s been part of. As Young Goodman Brown sets off on his dark journey, his young wife Faith implores him not to go, sensing some kind of immediate peril. The emphasis on young here indicates the journey Goodman Brown is proposing to undertake is a journey to find the necessary conversion experience deemed important in the Puritan religion of Hawthorne’s time. Without having gone through such a transformation, individual members were not considered to be full-fledged members of the congregation. As a newly married man, it would be among Goodman Brown’s chief concerns to establish himself as a member of the community and take his proper role as the head of a household. Yet, the fear expressed by Faith indicates there is a hidden peril in undertaking such a journey. Her warning, â€Å"may you find all well when you come back† (293), seems to indicate the peril does not apply strictly to Goodman Brown as he sets off on his journey, but for Faith as well in being left behind, alone in the darkness. The sense of foreboding in testing his own faith is further emphasized as Goodman Brown enters the forest â€Å"on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind† (294). In this solitary journey, Hawthorne indicates that the doctrine of purposefully seeking challenges to a faith already weakened by church dictates is a highly dangerous proposition with the

Profile of a Member of Congress Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Profile of a Member of Congress - Research Paper Example He and his wife Katherine have been married over thirty years, have two children and grandchildren, and attend Grace Episcopal Church in Jacksonville. Crenshaw is a fairly typical member of Congress: he is white, Protestant, and wealthy (â€Å"Representative† n.d.; Tannahill 249; â€Å"Biography† n.d.). Before procuring what The Washington Post calls a â€Å"safe Republican seat† in the House of Representatives in 2000, Crenshaw had a â€Å"rollercoaster political journey† as a member of both houses of the Florida state legislature (â€Å"Ander Crenshaw† n.d.). He has spent most of his career in politics; he was a member of the Florida State House of Representatives from 1972 to 1978. After three failed attempts at statewide office, he returned to the state legislature as a state senator in 1986 and stayed until 1994. His long period of political service, beginning shortly after graduating from college, most certainly makes Crenshaw a career politic ian. Crenshaw calls himself a â€Å"third-generation resident of Northeast Florida† (â€Å"Biography† n.d.), and that is the district he represents in the House of Representatives. The 4th Congressional District of Florida consists mostly of the Jacksonville, the largest city in the state. 78 percent of the district is urban. It is strongly conservative, with 62 percent of the voters going for Senator John McCain in the 2008 Presidential race. The district, much of its geography situated along the northern Florida coast, is also strongly pro-military. Crenshaw is a strong supporter of defense issues, and as his webpage states is â€Å"a champion for our men and women in uniform.† He supports veterans’ rights and has worked to establish Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville a nuclear aircraft carrier homeport. Anders serves on the House Appropriations Committee, and as a member of that committee, serves on two subcommittees, the Subcommittee on Military Co nstruction and Veterans Affairs and the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. He has chaired the Legistlative Branch Subcommittee and is a past member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. Since 2003, he has been Deputy Whip and has worked to help mobilize Republican members for key legislative votes (â€Å"Biography† n.d.). His work on these committees and subcommittees has mostly been focused on procuring and retaining funding for military installations and for the support of veterans’ benefits in Northeast Florida (â€Å"Ander Crenshaw† n.d.) In 2006, as member of the House Budget Committee, Crenshaw was chairman of the Republican Budget Task Force, a group that worked on budget issues that attempted to â€Å"rein in federal spending† (â€Å"Crenshaw† 2006). In 2010, Crenshaw raised $554,327 for his campaign, close to the half a million dollars average spent by Congressional campaigns last year. His opponent, Independent Troy Stanley, raised $15,799 (â€Å"Total Raised† n.d.). About half of Crenshaw’s campaign funds came from individuals and half from political action committees (PACs), although PACs made up the majority of his largest contributors. His top three contributors were WW Gay Mechanical Contractor, AT&T, and BAE Systems, all of which contributed $10,000 each. Crenshaw did not personally contribute anything to his campaign (â€Å"Representative,† n.d.) In 2010, Crenshaw essentially ran unopposed, winning 77%

Sleepwalking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sleepwalking - Research Paper Example Sometimes it may also lead to nonsensical talking while a person is sleepwalking. The sleepwalker’s eyes are also known to be open but have no recognition to be really seeing, as they have a glassy unfocused look in them. This kind of activity is most commonly observed during either middle childhood or young adolescence. Fifteen percent of the children from the ages of 4-12 experience sleepwalking. It is noted that most of these children resolve this behavior during late adolescence. Moreover, 10% of these sleepwalkers start their sleepwalking behavior as teenagers. It is also noted that some sleepwalkers may inherit this behavior genetically (Moorcroft 228). Every person experiences non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. NREM has four stages and begins when a person starts to sleep. After the fourth stage, it goes to the REM sleep, which is when a person’s eyes are rapidly moving inside their closed eyes and so is experiencing dreams. The REM cycle is an important cycle as it is associated with producing hormones which aid in proper metabolism and growth of a person. Each of these cycles, that is the NREM’s four stages and REM, last for 90-100 minutes and then repeats all over till a person is awake (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot, and Vanchella 190). Sleepwalking however, occurs at some point in the third or fourth stage in either cycle. As this is a time when a person is deeply asleep, sleepwalking is barely witnessed in naps or when a person sleeps for a short amount of time. No memory of having experienced any particular behavior is remembered by the sleepwalker (Butkov and Teofilo 141). There are several causes of sleepwalking some of which can be associated with genetics. Sleepwalking is observed to be more frequent within identical twins. It also has a ten times increased probability to occur in someone whose first-degree relative has experienced sleepwalking. Then, there are psychological factors as well. It is more common in children as they experience greater amount of slow deep sleep and so makes them increasingly likely to suffer sleepwalking as compared to adults or teens. Different environmental factors can be associated with sleepwalking such as sleep deprivation, stress, fever, disorganized sleep schedules, magnesium deficiency, alcohol intoxication, or the usage of different drugs such as specific sedatives (medicines that trigger sleep), minor tranquilizers, stimulants, neuroleptics, antihistamines etc. Also, sleepwalking frequency is increased during menstruation or pregnancy. Certain medical conditions are associated with sleepwalking sometimes such as fever, Arrhythmias, Gastroesophageal reflux, night time seizures, night time asthma, obstructive sleep apneas, etc. Different psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, multiple personality disorder, panic attacks are also connected to sleepwalking (Porth 596). There are some major symptoms of sleepwalkin g. Patients appear to be dazed and clumsy during their episodes and may appear to either be running around agitatedly or walking quietly around the room. Most often the sleepwalker’s eyes are noted to be open, with an unfocused glassy look as the person roams about the area. Prior to contrary belief, they do not extend their arms while sleepwalking. If questioned during the state, the responses are either slow ones with thoughts which are

Nobel prize winner Franco Modigliani Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nobel prize winner Franco Modigliani - Essay Example Instead, he opted to study law because that was the most famous field of education during that time in Italy. While studying law, he won first prize in an essay competition that was on economics; and this laid foundation for him to pursue economics in future. However, he had known that economics would not provide much opportunity for him in Europe because of fascist movements. Modigliani left Italy because of the fascist movements and the pact between Hitler and Stalin. From Rome, he moved to Paris and then to the United States just before the World War II began. He left for the United States to pursue his studies on Economics after realizing that his efforts in Europe would be futile due to political turmoil. He joined the New School for Social Research in New York that provided him the scholarship to study. There, he completed his PhD in social science in 1944 and worked as assistant professor in mathematical economics and econometrics in 1946. Between 1946 and 1960 he was associat ed with University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Carnegie Institute, Harvard University and Northwestern University. In 1948, he was awarded the Political Economy Fellowship of the University of Chicago. ... iting professor, Modigliani also worked on various other important and futuristic aspects of international finance, international payment system, impact of inflation, into various fields of finance such as credit rationing, the term structure of interest rates and the valuation of speculative assets. Modigliani, along with his student Richard Brumberg in 1954, formulated the life-cycle hypothesis of saving that was later developed by Modigliani and Albert Ando in 1963 with the use of many empirical studies. Modigliani’s work on this hypothesis was revisited again in 1980. This hypothesis debates upon Maynard Keynes’ General Theory or the consumption theory that directly relates current consumption with current income. Contrary to Keynesian theory, the life-cycle theory postulates that individual consumption in any time period depends on: resources available to the individual; the rate of return on his capital; and the age of the individual (Dwivedi, 159-160). On broader level, this hypothesis relates to the national economy in the way that national saving is directly linked with national income and mass of national wealth will be in proportion with the length of life span of working. This hypothesis made along with Brumberg was not empirically proven, and hence did not gain significance until Modigliani proved this hypothesis along with Ando and other associates. Modigliani’s hypothesized that in general, individuals tend to keep their expenditure and lifestyle constant, irrespective of their varying levels of income. This means, individuals tend to save more money when their earnings are higher and save less when their earnings drop. When their income is higher, they tend to spend more without assessing potential risks in future to their incomes; however, if

Marketing Research- Individual Data Analysis Report Assignment

Marketing Research- Individual Data Analysis Report - Assignment Example Another critical factor that has led to an increased consumerism is the surge in credit culture. In addition, companies nowadays also put more emphasis on the requirements of consumers because they have understood that it is wise and sensible to manufacture products according to the requirement as it mitigates the market risk as well as provides opportunity to gain success. The same idea is applicable for a television production company (Edwards & Peccei, 2007). Television viewers have the tendency to watch programs that is entertaining and has some kind of social value (DeMozota, 2003). However, the viewership of a television program is greatly dependent upon the culture of the country and also the customer base that the television program has considered as its target. In this report, in-depth consumer analysis will be conducted to assess their attitude towards reality shows. On the basis of the analysis, a recommendation to the client, NBN will be made about whether they should int roduce a new Reality TV show or not. The analysis of data will encompass both qualitative and quantitative forms and a judgment will be made after considering both the facts (Solomon, 2008; Pride & Ferrell, 2004). Qualitative Analysis Key Themes Identified The study is trying to analyse the attitude of consumers towards reality TV shows. Another issue that became evident while exploring the qualitative data is the definition of a reality TV show. The analysis revealed that there are several types of shows being aired on television, but classifying programs as reality, soap and drama is a tricky task. Interpretation of Theme 1 The nature of the program is also dependent upon an individual’s point of view. According to R2, a reality shown is the one that depicts a real life scenario and showcases true reactions of the contestants participating in the program. Furthermore, the respondent also mentions that there are some reality shows that uphold real things but is often scripte d and participants act according to the direction. In the similar way, R5 comments that â€Å"I have to admit, I am not a very big fan of real-life TV. I tried watching programs such as survivors and Temptation Island, but they just are not appealing to me, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that I see those shows as acting and nothing else†. Hence, the same issue i.e. what actually is a reality television show is the matter of doubt among the mass. Another point raised by the respondent regarding reality TV shows is the authenticity of the participants. Exemplifying the mega hit show ‘Big Brother’, the respondents stated that â€Å"who wouldn’t be tempted to pretend to be someone that they don’t normally get to be on TV, even though the shows are supposed to be 100% real and genuine.† The statement obviously holds great importance, as consumers may feel cheated if they are not shown the real side of the participants. However, the po int made by R1 in this regards is contradicting. The respondent believes that some sort of acting in the reality shows is absolutely acceptable because they have participated in a competition and wining the show will reward them with a lot of money. Therefore, it is up to them how they portray themselves in front of the audience and it is up to the audience how the rate remains constant. In addition, the respondent also stated referring to reality show where two ordinary people

Should the Government Provide Health Care Essay

Should the Government Provide Health Care - Essay Example Accordingly, good health care is very important to everyone as it forms part of their universal human right as citizen of the world. Consequently, the government should provide health care to everyone to ensure high productivity and good governance in the country. People with good health care can achieve many goals as opposed to people without it. According to Porter et al (38), the U.S Health Care System is tarnished for it is far above the ground cost. Many Americans habitually thought that it was the price of quality but it is not so. Some health care is outstanding, but there are also problems in the structure. In the past twenty years, health care has gone from being a foundation of pride to a great concern for America. The country squanders almost two trillion dollars yearly on health care, and costs prolong to rocket to levels to come close to a national predicament. More Americans have lost entree to Health insurance due to rise in costs of living. Another reason is the infla tion which has affected people. As these people encounter inadequate and protective care, quality suffers and costs rise even to unmanageable levels. The grouping of high costs, disappointing quality, and limited right of entry to health care have created concern and frustration for all participants. Costs keep on rising regardless of dogged efforts at cost control. The biggest problem in the U.S. health care structure is that the system is wrecked. Costs are sky-scraping and getting higher regardless of the fierce effort to control them. Technological innovation disperses slowly and does not force value improvement the way it should; as an alternative, it is seen by some as part of the trouble (Reich, 52) Â  Nathanson (38) observes that there is a rise in health care costs. A way of controlling health care costs is by the government creating a system that would make available good health insurance coverage to Americans. There is a high increase in costs relating to health care. Pe ople are concerned in paying more on health care and insurance. The government should provide health care as the latter has become more unaffordable for individuals and businesses. People who have to keep their health plans must incur a high cost. Businesses spend a lot of money in investments. This gives them a less chance spending money on health insurance premiums. Less money will be put back in the economy if individuals spend more on premiums and have little money to spend on consumer goods. A system controlled by the government will reduce costs and help in that improvement. Another reason is the development of a general database that is centralized and makes treatment trouble-free for doctors. Physicians require precise information to make appropriate diagnosis. A centralized system would create room for data examination, going ahead to good medical progress and efficient diagnosis as long as the government is paying for everything. Patients would be given confidence by the f ree medical services offered by the government. When a treatment is light, they will enquire about that problem. Currently, many sick people shun preventive measures for the reason that the costs to be incurred will be expensive. Health problems that could be prevented at an early stage become a major illness. The government would help such patients in visiting physicians (Messerli). Messerli asserts that when the government provides health care, it would enable people to concentrate in starting and managing their own businesses. Many people have great

Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Strategy - Essay Example the people at the project level may not be well informed about the strategy of the business in detailed except in just a general manner. Those in top management may be unwilling to share the picture out of fear of commercial sensitivity (particularly of the future direction). Strategic planning is a vital tool within an organization and should be embraced within any level of management (Barry J. Witcher, 2010). A good organizational planning process is that which brings the organization together. It the process where clear vision of the organization is articulated and also the direction in which it intends to go. A strategic organization makes deliberate actions towards the future direction by coming up with ways to measure and benchmark the progress. Several organizations are faced with the challenges of adopting to changing business environment. The conventional view is that for firms to acquire competitive advantage, core competencies, it has to strategically allocate resources so as to be adoptive in the rapid changing environment. As a result, organizations should streamline their efforts and carry out extensive planning and analysis in selecting markets and products which to engage. The evolutionary, or ecology of population, perspective suggests the degree of organizational change is very high that adaptation is almost impossible; instead organizations grow to adopt into an environment through natural selection. At the other end are those who are of the opinion that the contemporary changes in environment are so high and unanticipated that planning becomes difficult, somewhat, organizations have to be adoptable and nimble. Critically, the metaphor that organizations as entities trying to adopt to their changing environment expresses a sense naturalness and inevitability that covers the discretion and internal conflicts of

Ashford University Essay Example for Free

Ashford University Essay Pornography is very addictive and can destroy someone’s marriage and life. This addiction can, and in many cases, lead to someone committing very serious sexual crimes. People who look at porn often look for more perversity in different areas. The resources from which I found my information on is the Ashford Library and a couple credible internet sites. There are several reasons why people turn to porn. Some reasons are for seeing their own fantasies acted out because they can’t act them out with their own partner / spouse, some people want to avoid intimacy within their own relationship for personal reasons, some just do it for personal pleasure. But for whatever reason, there is always a consequence that will follow. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), 56% of divorces occur because one spouse keeps returning to a pornographic website. These men / women feel as though they are being compared to these people in the pornographic films or pictures. Whether it’s the man or the woman who is watching porn inside the marriage, in most cases, they are doing this against their spouses wishes. This leads to lack of intimacy, low self esteem, shame, and lack of trust. This also makes the spouse feel as if they are no longer found attractive. â€Å"Just ask your spouse how confident they feel being naked in front of you after you’ve looked at pornography and you’ll understand this one.† ( http://www.debttolife.com ). Many people say that they introduce porn into their marriage to spice their love life up but in the end all this does is slowly destroy the intimacy that was there. After watching pornography people’s views are completely changed. After being exposed to R-  rated material men no longer see their spouse as they once did. They look at them now more as an object rather than an individual that they love. Studies have shown (http://www.webmd.com ) that pornography can be just the same as an addiction. Some experts who have studied porn addiction have called the effects of porn on the brain toxic and also compared it to the deadly drug cocaine (WebMD, 2014). These addicts no longer just suffer from nights without sleep or unpaid credit card bills but they are also becoming more engaged in group sex and sexual contact with animals. Other effects that have surfaced from pornography include acting out what they have seen in porn material, sexual acts towards children both boys and girls, and rape using foreign materials / objects. (The Forerunner, 1991). Child pornography is a disgusting fact that we hear about every day. â€Å"Child pornography is the visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct includes acts such as intercourse, bestiality and masturbation as well as lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area.† (Pulido, 2013). Recently, there were 71 people, 70 men and 1 woman, who were arrested in child pornography charges. Among that 70 included a police officer, a paramedic, a rabbi, an airline pilot, an architect, and a Boy Scout leader. Many of these people who were arrest had search the phrases â€Å"real child rape† and â€Å"family sex† into their computers search engines turning up extremely disturbing images (Hays, 2014). With so many people connected to the internet it has made this type of crime so easy. Perverts and pedophiles search the web everyday to find new victims. â€Å"The victims are getting younger, and the images more violent.†(Flack). When a picture of a child circles the internet going from one person to another, that child is being re-abused. No child should have to endear that type of suffering, never! A peer to – peer, also known as P2P, file sharing network, that allows people to share music, videos, and pictures, was under investigation by authorizes and had 3,000 child pornography consumers with tens of thousands of child pornographic images  traded. â€Å"The investigation began after agents, using software available to law enforcement, were able to trace f iles of child pornography to an I.P. address on a computer used by Brian Fanelli, 54, who until January was the police chief of Mount Pleasant, N.Y† (Berger, 2014). Another, earlier, report back in 2009, out of all the arrest made on P2P users, 33 percent of those arrested had images of children three years old and younger and 42 percent had images of children showing some type of sexual explicit material. (Pulido, 2013). Virtue Ethics is â€Å"A persons character is the totality of his character traits. Our character traits can be good, bad or somewhere in between. They can be admirable or not. The admirable character traits, the marks of perfection in character, are called virtues, their opposites are vices.†(Garrett, 2005)., I believe that this theory is a big part of someone who is willing to put everything at risk for something so degrading and disrespectful to themselves. A persons character says a lot about who that person is and what that person may be capable of doing. Not everyone has good virtue ethics and this is when one’s character and moral traits come in play. One’s character is shown through their actions an d behavior, whether this is being good or bad. One’s moral values are shown through their honesty, their loyalty, and their respect for others. As we all know pornography is very popular but it can also cause serious problems. Many people look at the disturbing images not thinking about the consequences, they are only thinking about what is happening at that moment and at that moment that’s what they want to do. I look at this issue using the deontology theory. â€Å"Rather than looking at the consequences of an act, deontology looks at the reason for which an act is done, and the rule according to which one chooses to act.† (Mosser, 2013). I take that as someone doing something on impulse rather than thinking about the consequences that they will face when they act upon their decision. If someone knew that they was going to destroy their marriage by watching porn, if someone knew that by watching porn it would make them fall behind on their bills, or  if someone knew that by watching porn they would go out and commit sexual crimes, do you think they would have continued or even started looking at these image s, I think not! REFERENCES: Berger, J. (2014, May).71 Are Accused in a Child Pornography Case, Officials Say. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/nyregion/dozens-arrested-in-new-york-state-child-pornography-investigation.html?_r=0 Dr. Garrett. (2005, Nov.) Virtue Ethcs. Retrieved from http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/ethics/virtthry.htm Editorial Staff. (1991, Nov.). The Documented Effect of Porn. The Forerunner, X(VI). Retrieved from http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0388_Effects_of_Pornograp.html Flack, (Date, N/A)E. Bill Calls For Harsher Penalties For Possessing Child Porn. Retrieved from http://www.wave3.com/story/4639194/bill-calls-for-harsher-penalties-for-possessing-child-porn Hays, T. (2014, May). Cop, rabbi among 71 charged in child porn case. Telegraph Herald Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1527156210?accountid=32521 Mosser, K. (2013). Ethics and social responsibility (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Pulido, Ph.D. (Oct, 201 3). Child Pornography: Basic Facts About A Horrific Crime. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-l-pulido-phd/child-pornography-basic-f_b_4094430.html

The Use Of Skype Education Essay

The Use Of Skype Education Essay The rapid growth and interest of college students in Computer Mediated Communication and social media has impacted the second language learning and teaching process. This study is a reflection of a pedagogical experience that attempts to analyze the use of Skype as a Synchronous Communication tool in regards to the attitudes of students in learning a foreign language when interacting with native speakers and engage in conversation. The participants are Spanish foreign language students at Fordham University in New York City and English foreign language speakers at a Jesuit University in Bogotà ¡, Colombia. Students were paired up and were required to set up online conversation meetings. The results of this pilot project suggest that students felt more interested to engage in conversation with native speakers and exchange personal and academic information as wells as other aspects of their culture using the target language rather than completing language laboratory activities or writing compositions. Key words: Computer mediated communication, Skype, socio-cultural competence, synchronous communication El continuo interà ©s y la rà ¡pida evolucià ³n de la comunicacià ³n a travà ©s de la tecnologà ­a y las redes sociales en estudiantes universitarios han transformado el proceso de enseà ±anza y aprendizaje de los idiomas extranjeros. Este estudio es una reflexià ³n de una experiencia pedagà ³gica que busca analizar el uso de Skype como una herramienta de comunicacià ³n sincrà ³nica en cuanto a las actitudes de los estudiantes en el proceso de aprendizaje de un idioma extranjero con la interaccià ³n de estudiantes que son hablantes nativos para participar activamente en conversaciones. Los participantes de este proyecto son estudiantes de espaà ±ol como idioma extranjero en Fordham University en la Ciudad de Nueva York y estudiantes de inglà ©s como idioma extranjero en una universidad jesuita en la ciudad de Bogotà ¡, Colombia. Los estudiantes fueron emparejados con el propà ³sito de organizar sesiones en là ­nea y hablar usando el idioma que està ¡n aprendiendo. Los resultados de este proyecto piloto indican que los estudiantes se sintieron muchos mà ¡s interesados en conversar con hablantes nativos para intercambiar informacià ³n personal, acadà ©mica y cultural haciendo uso del idioma que està ¡n aprendiendo en lugar de hacer ejercicios y escribir composiciones en el laboratorio de idiomas. Palabras clave: comunicacià ³n a travà ©s de la tecnologà ­a, Comunicacià ³n Sincrà ³nica, Competencias Socio Culturales, Skype Introduction As a young college language instructor, I find myself always trying to provide my students with opportunities in which they can see a real purpose of using L2 (foreign language) outside the conventional classroom where interaction is often reduced to their peers and instructor. The idea of this project was to encourage my students to speak via Skype with other college Spanish native speakers with like-minded interests -lifestyle, culture, education, and food -through the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). The idea of this project started in one of my graduate courses at Fordham University when I had to survey a sample of Jesuit undergraduate students and their likelihood to interact with their surrounding community. Fordham Universitys main campus is located in the Bronx. The New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo surround the campus. However, Fordhams main campus is located in a community where there is a large low income Hispanic and African American population wher eas the demographics at Fordham is mostly a white upper middle class student body. The survey aimed to understand how much interaction existed between these two communities Fordham students and the surrounding community. Based on the results of the survey, most of the students prefer to spend their free time either on campus or in Manhattan. I also realized that specifically my Spanish students would not take advantage of the Hispanic population to practice their Spanish skills as they felt English would be an easier way to communicate. Consequently, I thought that as a language instructor, I would need to provide my students with a setting in which they feel comfortable and make use of the target language specifically with native speakers who have similar interests or experience similar learning conditions. This article summarizes a pedagogical experience with the purpose of sharing with other language colleagues how I started and structured the project and it also reflects upon its outcomes. Literature Review Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) CMC is defined as the process of creating, exchanging, and perceiving information via networked telecommunications systems facilitating the encoding, transmitting, and decoding of messages (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). CMC was the result of linking different computers and having people interact by sharing messages and data. CMC spread rapidly and it allowed people from geographically dispersed locations to communicate replacing traveling and Face-to-Face (FtF) meetings with more efficient ways to instantly communicate. Different studies have shown that FtF gatherings give speakers with higher positions or power in any organization a larger portion of speech time while CMC meetings offer an equal share of the meeting participation (Walther, 1996.) Other studies, on the contrary, suggests that CMC does not contribute to active participation because it is assumed that in many CMC discussions a few members dominate the floor and the rest of the members become lurkers or passive recipient s. Both offline and online discussions have passive recipients; this implies that CMC does not discourage active participation and learning (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). Allowing students to interact with others considering their mutual interests and giving them the freedom to make their own choices when learning a foreign language is essential to motivate them. Bastidas (2002) proposes integrative and instrumental motivation affecting foreign language learners. On one hand, integrative motivation suggests the interest of learners in the community and culture that involves the second language. Instrumental motivation, on the other hand, refers to the specific goals of the students. Bastidas also shows the communicative need to use any foreign language as an aspect affecting learners motivation. He explains that many language students feel demotivated to learn a foreign language because they think the L2 is neither important nor useful for them. Additionally, more than a real life experience, I wanted this project to be an exposure to the target language with native speakers. Fordham University is located in a highly populated Hispanic community in th e Bronx. Unfortunately, many Fordham students do not take advantage of this opportunity to practice Spanish with native speakers. Noam Chomskys innatist theory (Lightbown Spada, 1993) suggests that after that critical period of humans to learn a second language, input exposure is essential to gain L2 proficiency. For this reason, a project including input exposure with native speakers would stimulate students interest in engaging in conversations using the target language. Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication The continuous growth of Internet-based communication and college students interest in social media and networking seems to have a greater impact in the way they interact with others nowadays. These types of communication can be Synchronous or Asynchronous. Synchronous Communication or real-time communication refers to face-to-face discussions among people, whereas Asynchronous Communication (delayed communication) suggests a significant time delay between receiving and sending messages (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). Hence, the inclusion of a computer-based activity and synchronous communication in my instruction was necessary in order to encourage and engage my students in the L2 learning process. I believe that real time communication would allow learners to provide instant feedback to each other, to emotionally bond, and to be spontaneous. According to Celce-Murcia (2001), the use of media in language classes only brings the outside world to the classroom and makes the learning proce ss more exciting and meaningful. Nevertheless, the only purpose of this project was not the improvement of L2 speaking proficiency but it also aimed to raise awareness in students about other cultures. In other words, I wanted to promote and instill values of inclusion, tolerance, and diversity as a principle of life in this globalized world. Teaching culture in a language class results in better communicators of L2. Culture is understood as body language, gestures, concepts of time, traditions, and expressions of friendliness. Consequently, linguistic proficiency is not enough for a second language learner social cultural competence is fundamental for a more proficient and effective L2 speaker. Hymes (1996)  [1]  also stresses the importance of socio cultural competence by saying that an individual who is not aware of the appropriateness norms accepted in a determined community is likely to be placed in a position of inequality. Similar Projects Other instructors and universities have implemented and explored a similar project, like the one I proposed at Fordham University, with positive results. Dickens (2009) shared an experience of two classes (one from the US and the other from Italy) in which students were initially paired up and required to interact with their partners discussing about different aspects of their life and classes topics using Twitter. After a couple of months the instructors decided that it would be appropriate to have them interact on video chat using Skype. Dickens report about the experience is positive. Students were able to communicate in the target language and to simultaneously multitask (surf on Facebook, share videos on YouTube, Google information, etc.) Alas, most of the session was held in the students native language. In a different experiment, Carney (2008) started a project in which an English class interacted with a Japanese class through the use of blogs, wikis, Skype text, voice, and vi deo chat and the exchange of homemade DVDs movies. Skype sessions in general were set up so that four English class students talk with one Japanese student. Each English class student had to prepare different questions to ask their Japanese partner. Some of the Japanese students were not able to speak due to the lack of web cams and computers. In general, this was a great experience for these students. The author recognizes the importance of CMC and its impact in foreign language classes. Project Objectives There were three major objectives identified at the beginning of this pilot project which will serve as an assessment of the achieved goals: Provide students with a space in which they can practice their listening and speaking skills in the L2 with native speakers by means of interactive and contextualized conversations online. Encourage students to learn from their partners culture, country, and traditions. Give the students the opportunity to interact in real life situations using the target language. Participating Institutions The two participating institutions are private higher education universities under the Cura Personalis (care of the other) philosophy and Jesuit Tradition. Fordham University is the Jesuit University in New York City. Fordhams Department of Languages and Literatures requires undergraduate students to take up to five levels of a foreign language aiming to develop the linguistic proficiency and cultural competence of Fordham students. The Colombian University in Bogota is a Jesuit University offering its community with quality Catholic education. The Department of Languages offers an undergraduate program qualifying its students to become language teachers. Participants A total of 50 students participated in this project. The participants are students from Fordham University (25 students) and from a Jesuit University in Bogota, Colombia (25 students.) Fordham University students are English native speakers learning Spanish in high beginner level courses. Students in Colombia are Spanish native speakers in intermediate English courses. It is important to clarify that Fordham students are studying Spanish (or any foreign language offered at the Department) as a mandatory language course during five (5) academic semesters. Some of them might want to minor in this language. The students at the Colombian university are future language teachers who are majoring in English. Fordham students age in average is 19 years old; whereas their online partners age in Colombia raged between 20 to 45 years old. The technological skills of the students were not considered when implementing this project. Pedagogical Proposal This pedagogical experience attempts to determine if there is any relationship between the implementation of Internet-based Synchronous Communication and the interest of foreign language students and native speakers to engage in conversation and learn about their culture. In order to start this project, a written proposal was submitted to the Chair of the Fordhams Department of Languages and Literatures and the Spanish Language Coordinator. In this document, objectives, description, proposed activities, projected timeline, proposed partners, and their responsibilities of the whole project were specified. The Chair at Fordham University had two important concerns about this initiative: 1. safety of students and 2. feasibility of the project. With the support of the Faculty Technology Center at Fordham University, I was able to persuade the Chair that there were no risks associated with the use of Skype for educational purposes and that its viability was directly related to the collaboration of the other university and the participation of the students. I should note that at Fordham University, foreign language students are required to attend the language laboratory two hours every week. For that reason, I decided to merge this project within the labora tory activities grade. As part of the curriculum at the Department of Modern Languages, language students are required to go to the language laboratory one hour a week. During this time (students are free to decide when to go to the laboratory from Monday to Saturday in a specific schedule) students listen to the audio section of their workbook as well as they complete different grammar exercises on line as part of their course evaluation. Roger Goodson (2005) states that some faculty members and administrators are normally resistant to include technology in their instruction because of time constraints, their demanding academic workload, lack of training, and insufficient research proving the effectiveness of E-learning. It is common to see some institutions still reluctant to explore technological changes in instruction, as it was the example of San Jose State University (SJSU.) The Associate Vice-President of San Jose State University proposed to ban Skype at the University imply ing that Skype might infect the institutions computers with viruses and that Skype might distract students and professors in the classrooms. One faculty member expressed his concern and called the institution luddite about this issue and explained the reasons why Skype should not be banned: 1. Skype allows communicating at no cost with other colleagues around the world, 2. There are many international students who might use Skype to communicate with other students, and 3. Foreign Language instructors have started to use Skype to have their students communicate with other students who are native speakers of the language they are learning Shaw (2006.) When the Chair of the Department at Fordham approved this pilot project, I immediately contacted different universities in Colombia. However, I thought that it would be a good idea to work with another university under the same Jesuit philosophy. Fortunately, a Jesuit University in Bogota, Colombia responded with great interest and eagerness in starting the project as soon as possible. The Chair of the Department of Modern Languages in Colombia designated his English Speaking Advanced class to take part in this linguistic experiment. The groups were not chosen based on any specific criteria. My two Spanish courses would participate in this project. At the Jesuit University in Colombia, the Chair chose that specific class because he was the professor in charge and had asked his students about their interest in partaking in this initiative, which had a positive reaction by the students. I clarified that this was intended to be a pilot project, which if it were to result with positive outcomes could be institutionalized by Fordhams Department, or at least it would encourage other instructors interested in creating a similar online community with their students. Community Development in general refers to the notion of people living close by to each other, face-to-face interactions, companionship, and support at different levels (Wellman, 1999.) However, in online communities the lack of physical location, verbal, and nonverbal cues implies impersonal relationships not able to build a community. However, other studies suggest that online communities can be built if participants have similar interests regardless their physical location they might find as an obstacle to communicate Face-to-Face (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). Once the project was presented and approved by the two universities, it was necessary to establish a clear set of stages and assigned responsibilities to each instructor in order to launch this initiative. Table 1 describes the different stages that were considered. Task Observations Person in charge Outlining responsibilities A list of responsibilities was outlined and shared to students, professors, and administrators. Instructor at Fordham University. Pairing up students It was easier for the instructor in Colombia to pair the students as he had more students in his class than I did in with my two classes. Instructor at the Colombian University. Choosing topics for each session Both instructors agreed that each session should focus on content, culture, and grammatical structures, which would reinforce the topics, learned in classroom. Both instructors. Setting up a chronogram Considering that the end of the semester was coming soon for both universities, it was important to use the time wisely. Both instructors. Table 1. Stages of the Project The first step was to inform all the participants (instructors, students, and administrators) about their responsibilities regarding this project as shown in Table 2. Instructors Pair up students based on their proficiency level Monitor that students are attending their Skype meeting Make sure that students are respectful with their peers time Remind students to be punctual Decide the topics the students will be discussing Communicate with the other instructors if there are doubts or suggestions Provide a space for the students with the necessary technology to access to Skype Students Be punctual Speak only the language they are required to speak during the session. Prepare enough questions to carry out the conversation. Submit a screen shot of their Skype conversation in order to confirm that they actually had a conversation with their assigned partner and the required time for each session Administrators Establish the partnership between the two universities Attend the on line meeting in December to analyze the effectiveness of the project Table 2. Participants Responsibilities Participants received an email with their respective responsibilities. Consequently, a list of Fordham students was sent to my colleague in Colombia. He was in charge of pairing up his students with mine. His class was considerably bigger (in terms of number of students) compared to my two classes together at Fordham. There were not any specific criteria when pairing up the students it was just a simple matching exercise from two rosters. Then, each student received an email with a list in which they would find their matches for the fours sessions. The list included names and emails. The final stage of the project required each instructor to choose the topics. It was the responsibility of each professor to decide the topics students would be discussing in every session. Each session was expected to last approximately 15 to 20 minutes and it was expected to be conducted by students as follows: use of the target language previously determined (English or Spanish), personal introductio ns (as every session they were paired up with different partners), discussion of a previously determined topic. The topics varying from academic structure, personal interests, gastronomy, etc. were carefully selected so that students have a wide exposure to new vocabulary, expressions, and especially culture. The sessions were organized as shown in Table 3. Session Language Topic In charge One Spanish Exchange personal information (names, hobbies, favorite food, sports they practice) Also get to know about each other. Understand how easy or difficult is to learn English or Spanish. Fordham Two English Compare academic structures from their schools and the differences of educational system. University in Colombia Three Spanish Compare lifestyle, culture, gastronomy, and currencies. Fordham Four English Understand how languages are taught in the US from elementary school through the university. University in Colombia Table 3. Organization of the Sessions Students were required to prepare questions and organize their ideas in order to have a meaningful conversation during the following week. Furthermore, each Fordham student was required to snap a screenshot of their Skype conversation records as a proof that they did Skype with their assigned partners. All the conversations were set up by each student at different times and days (within a week period) this with the purpose of giving students the opportunity to organize their busy time and also to give students a sense of belonging to the project. One important aspect to mention is that the administrators did not ever set up a meeting to discuss the outcomes or implications of the project due to the lack of time. When the project was over the university in Colombia was already in winter break. Findings In this section, the advantages and weaknesses during the completion of the project will be described. In addition, I will mention the opinions and thoughts of 18 participant students who were surveyed after the project was finished. Starting the project was somehow challenging due to the lack of time and the resistance of the administrators to approve the project. Additionally, the communication between the two universities was slow. As it was previously mentioned, each student was randomly paired up with another one from the other university. In order to set up their online meetings they emailed each other. Students reported that their partner did not respond their emails in a timely fashion or kept postponing the meeting, and some others never got an answer from their partner. One student said: I thought it was very interesting and cool to learn about the life of a complete stranger! Sometimes communication was difficult but it was a good experience. This frustrated a big part of the students because it did not allow them to ever experience a conversation My student never answered my emails so we were not able to talk via Skype. A student added. Sometimes there were problems related to technological issues an d Internet connection, which prevented students to have voice conversations. Nonetheless, students opted to chat instead. A great part of participants described their Skyping experienced as interesting and fun. In their own words they said: I found it extremely useful and fun. It was very interesting to speak with my partner and I believe that she and I will probably continue speaking even though the assignment has finished. I would definitely do it again and hope I have the chance to in the future. Another student added: I did enjoy interacting with a student from another country. I found it relatively easy to understand her but harder to express my own ideas. No matter the skill level or level of success, I think it is always helpful though to get practice speaking with someone who knows the language so well. Each session was supposed to last between 15 to 20 minutes. However, most of the sessions ended up exceeding this time limit because they truly enjoyed conversing with their peers. Other students thought it was rude to conclude a conversation in only 15 minutes and they allowed more time to this activity even if they were only text chatting. Only one student requested to be given a different Skype partner. One of them was more than 20 years older than the other participant creating an uncomfortable environment in the younger student. Based on the student at Fordham, her Skype partner made her feel uncomfortable as in their first email that they had exchanged, the student in Colombia had expressed that he had physical issues that prevented him of speaking. He was asking to have someone else participate in the sessions. The student at Fordham thought it was not a good idea and as a Fordham professor I am not allowed to ask her to do something when she has expressed that it makes her feel uncomfortable. Therefore a new Skype partner was assigned to her. Throughout the development of the project some students, who were able to set up their online meetings, expressed during class that they were bonding while many others felt discouraged because they never had the opportunity to speak. It is important to note that this pilot project has led to a possible partnership between Fordham University and AUSJAL (Asociacià ³n de Universidades Confiadas a la Compaà ±Ãƒ ­a de Jesà ºs en Amà ©rica Latina), which is an Association of Jesuit Universities in Latin America. A representative from AUSJAL has contacted me with the purpose to start a possible project in which these types of online environments would benefit students from various Jesuit universities in South America and the United States. Opinions of the Participants A number of 18 participants in this project completed an online survey on Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) about three different aspects regarding the development of the project as shown in Table 4 and Table 5. The third aspect was an open-ended question in order to understand the opinions of the students and their likelihood to participate again in a future similar project. Surveymonkey.com provides users with free web-based surveys. I chose this website because the website helps you to create any type of survey with predetermined formats. Additionally, Surveymonkey.com does not require a software installation, everything is self-explanatory and most importantly the basic features are free. Based on the answers from Table 4, it can be inferred that after different Skype sessions, students mostly learned about their partners culture regarding personal information, similar interests, and education. The results suggest that students in general were not able to exchange as much information as expected about their regions food, their schools academic structure, and quality of life in their countries. 1. Which of the following aspects do you think Skype sessions helped you learn about your partners culture? Completely disagree Somehow disagree Agree Somehow agree Completely agree Food 27,3% 27,3% 9,1% 27,3% 9,1% Education 0,0% 8,3% 33,3% 25,0% 33,3% Academic Structure 16,7% 8,3% 33,3% 33,3% 8,3% Personal Information 8,3% 0,0% 25,0% 8,3% 58,3% Similar Interests 0,0% 0,0% 41,7% 33,3% 25,0% Quality of Life 8,3% 25,0% 41,7% 16,7% 8,3% Table 4. Cultural Appreciation According to Table 5, students seemed to have a greater difficulty trying to set up a Skype session with their partners than expressing their ideas and carrying out spontaneous conversations. Additionally, participants also believed that understanding their partners ideas was challenging. 2. Considering that your Skype partners were college students with similar interests but they were people you did not know, to what degree was it easy or difficult to interact with them using the language you are learning? Very easy Easy Difficult Very Difficult Understand your partners ideas 25,0% 16,7% 50,0% 8,3% Set up a Skype session 16,7% 8,3% 33,3% 41,7% Carry out a spontaneous conversation 25,0% 25,0% 16,7% 33,3% Express your ideas 8,3% 33,3% 25,0% 33,3% Table 5. Degree of Difficulty in Communication Finally, based on the surveyed student responses, it can be inferred that most of the participants thought that the Skype Project with a foreign country did allow them to learn something new about another culture. Many students were surprised that, different from the US, the majority of Colombian college students live with their parents when they attend college. Also, students at Javeriana University do not use their institutional email account as frequently as many American college students do. In general, participants felt that the project was much more fun than going to the language laboratory and writing compositions. Although, they expressed that communication was somehow difficult due to technological inconveniences (e.g. Internet connection, time flexibility, lack of web cam), participants acknowledged the importance of getting to know people from other countries who are native speakers. Most of the participants agreed that setting up meetings was by far the most tedious part of the project because of their busy schedule, their lack of interest of some participants, and the fact that they were talking to, in literal words, a complete stranger. In addition, the idea to participate in a similar project seems to be a viable one for many of them because they think these types of experiences forced them out of their comfort zone. Unfortunately, some other students were not able to provide any feedback because they were never able to speak with their Skype partner because they never got a response to set up a meeting. Conclusions and Implications The idea of this pilot project between Fordham University and the Jesuit University in Colombia was to understand if Internet-based Synchronous Communication would motivate

Transaction Management And Concurrency Control Computer Science Essay

Transaction Management And Concurrency Control Computer Science Essay As more networks and databases are connected together, the importance of a solid database management system becomes apparent. Transaction and Concurrency Control, Recovery and Backup, and Security are major functions that should be examined when choosing the correct system. Databases which contain your companys valuable information must be properly protected, backed up, and secure from data loss and unauthorized access. In response to this requirement, both Oracle and Microsoft have implemented strong features into their database products. This paper compares the offerings of the two databases in terms of features, functionality, and ease of management. Table of Contents Introduction Overview a) SQL Server Overview b) Oracle Overview Transaction Management and Concurrency Control a) Overview of Transaction Management and Concurrency Control b) SQL Server TM and CC c) Oracle TM and CC d) Comparison Backup and Recovery a) Overview of Backup and Recovery b) SQL Server B and R c) Oracle B and R d) Comparison Security a) Overview b) SQL Server Security c) Oracle Security d) Comparison Conclusion Introduction This paper will provide a comparative review of three database management system functions: transaction and concurrency control, recovery and backup, and security, between Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. The purpose is to enhance understanding of database functionality and, through comparison, provide insight into the commonalities and differences between two different systems. Overview of Database Management Systems Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, with its primary languages being T-SQL and ANSI SQL. ANSI SQL is the American National Standards Institute standardized SQL and is used as the base for several different SQL languages, including T-SQL. T-SQL is a proprietary extension that uses keywords for the various operations that can be performed, such as creating and altering database schemas, entering and editing data, and managing and monitoring the server. Any application that works through SQL Server will communicate via T-SQL statements. T-SQL has some differences/extensions to basic SQL, including local variables, control of flow language, changes to delete and update statements, and support functions for date and string processing, and mathematics. Version 1.0 of SQL Server was released in 1989 and originated in Sybase SQL Server. Microsoft later ended the co-licensing agreement with Sybase and went on to develop their own version of SQL Server. The latest version is SQL Server 2008, released on August 6, 2008, and includes many improvements to speed and functionality, which will be discussed in further detail below. Sample SQL Server Architecture Diagram 1 Oracle Database is a relational database management system produced by Oracle Corporation. Users can utilize the proprietary language extension to SQL, PL/SQL, or the object-oriented language Java to store and execute functions and stored procedures. Oracle V2 was first released in November 1979 and did not support transactions, but had basic query and join functionality. The latest version is Oracle Database 11g, released in 2007, and includes many enhancements to functionality, which will be discussed in further detail below. Sample Oracle 11g Architecture Diagram 2 Transaction Management and Concurrency Control Overview A transaction, a single logical unit of work, is an action or series of actions that are performed by a user or application which can access or change the database contents. A transaction results in database transformation from one consistent state to another, and can either result in success or failure. A failed transaction is aborted and the database restores to the previous consistent state. The Database Management System is responsible for making sure all updates related to the transaction are carried out, or that stability is maintained in the case of a failed transaction. Transactions have four basic properties: Atomicity, Consistency, Independence, and Durability (ACID). Atomicity means that it is a single unit of work. Consistency ensures that data is always held firmly together in a coherent state, even after a failed transaction or crash. Independence ensures that the effects of an incomplete transaction are contained and not visible to other transactions. Durability ensure s that successful transactions result in permanent changes to the state of the database. Concurrency control is the process of managing and controlling simultaneous database operations. This is required because actions from different users and operations must not interfere with functionality, or the database could be left in an inconsistent state. Potential problems that concurrency control can solve are lost updates, inconsistent analysis, and uncommitted dependencies. The two main concurrency control techniques are locking and timestamping.  [3]   SQL Server TM and CC SQL Server fulfills the ACID requirements by using transaction management, locking, and logging. An explicit transaction is created in SQL Server by using the BEGIN TRANSACTION and COMMIT TRANSACTION commands. ROLLBACK TRANSACTION rolls back a transaction to the beginning or another save point within the transaction. SAVE TRANSACTION sets a savepoint within the transaction by dividing the transaction into logical units that can be returned to if part of the transaction is conditionally cancelled. Locking ensures transactional integrity and database consistency. In SQL Server, locking is automatically implemented, and provides both optimistic and pessimistic concurrency controls. Optimistic concurrency control assumes that resource conflicts are unlikely but not impossible, and allows transactions to execute without locking resources. Pessimistic concurrency control locks resources for the duration of a transaction. SQL Server can lock the following resources: RIDs, keys, pages, extents, tables, and databases. It utilizes several lock modes, including shared, update, exclusive, intent, and schema locks. Shared locks allow for concurrent read operations that do not change or update data, such as a SELECT statement. Update locks prevent a common form of deadlock that occurs when multiple sessions are reading, locking, and potentially updating resources later. Exclusive locks are used for data modification operations, such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, and ensure that multiple up dates cant be made on the same resource at the same time. Intent locks are used to establish a lock hierarchy, and include intent shared, intent exclusive, and shared with intent exclusive locks. Schema locks are used when a schema dependent operation of a table is executed, and include schema modification and schema stability locks.  [4]   A deadlock occurs when two transactions have locks on separate objects and each user is waiting for a lock on the other object. SQL Server can set deadlock priority by scanning for sessions that are waiting for a lock request, and the SET DEADLOCK_PRIORITY command to customize deadlocking. The SETLOCK_TIMEOUT command can set the maximum time that a statement waits on a blocked resource, because the timeout period is not enforced by default.  [5]   Oracle TM and CC Oracle Database offers two isolation levels, providing developers with operational modes that preserve consistency and provide high performance. Statement level read consistency automatically provides read consistency to a query so that all the data the query sees comes from a single point in time when the query began. The query never sees any dirty data or changes made during query execution. Transaction level read consistency extends read consistency to all queries in a transaction. Oracle uses rollback segments, containing old values of data that have been changed by uncommitted or recently committed transactions, to provide consistent views and does not expose a query to phantoms. Oracle Real Application Clusters (RACs) use cache-to-cache block transfer to transfer read-consistent images of blocks between instances. It uses high speed, low latency interconnects to answer remote data block requests. Isolation levels provided by Oracle Database are read committed, serializable, and read-only. Users can choose the appropriate isolation levels for transactions depending on the type of application and workload, using these statements: SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ COMMITTED; SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE; and SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY. The ALTER SESSION function can then be used to change isolation level for different transactions. Read committed is the default transaction isolation level. Each query executed by a transaction sees data committed before the query began. Oracle Database does not prevent other transactions from modifying the data read by a query, so that data can be changed by other transactions between two query executions. This can lead to non-repeatable reads and phantoms in cases where the transaction runs the same query twice. This isolation level is good for when few transactions are likely to conflict, and can provide higher potential throughput. Serializable transactions see only changes made at the beginning of the transaction, plus changes in the transaction itself through INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. These transactions do not experience non-repeatable reads or phantoms. This isolation level is suitable for large databases and short transactions that update few rows, when there is a low chance that two concurrent transactions will modify the same rows, or where long-running transactions are primarily read-only. A serializable transaction can modify a data row only if it can determine that prior changes were committed before the current transaction began. Oracle Database uses control information in the data block to indicate which rows have committed and uncommitted changes. The amount of history that is retained is determined by the INITRANS parameter of CREATE and ALTER TABLE. To avoid having insufficient recent history information, higher values can be set for INITRANS for tables that will have many transaction s updating the same blocks. If a serializable transaction fails with the CANNOT SERIALIZE ACCESS error, the application can either commit the work executed to that point, execute additional statements with ROLLBACK, or undo the entire transaction. Read-only transactions see only changes made at the time the transaction began and dont allow INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements. Oracle Database uses locks to control simultaneous access to data resources. Low-level serialization mechanisms called latches are used to protect shared data structures in the System Global Area. Oracle automatically gets the necessary locks when executing SQL statements, using the lowest applicable level of restrictiveness to provide the highest possible data concurrency and data integrity. The user may also lock data manually. There are two modes of locking: exclusive and share lock modes. Exclusive lock mode prevents the associated resource from being shared, and is obtained to modify data. The first transaction to lock the data is the only one which can modify it until the lock is released. Share lock mode allows the associated resource to be shared, depending on the operations. Users reading data can hold share locks to prevent a writer access. Multiple transactions can have share locks on the same resource. All locks created by statements within a transaction last until the tr ansaction is completed or undone. Because row locks are acquired at the highest degree of restrictiveness, no lock conversion is needed or performed. Oracle automatically converts table lock restrictiveness from lower to higher as appropriate. Lock escalation is when multiple locks are held at one level of granularity, and a database raises the locks to a higher level of granularity. An example is converting many row locks into one table lock. Oracle Database never escalates locks, because this increases the chances of deadlocks. A deadlock occurs when two or more users are waiting on data locked by each other. This can prevent transactions from continuing to work. Oracle automatically detects deadlocks and solves them by rolling back one of the statements. User generated deadlocks can be avoided by locking tables in the same order for transactions accessing the same data. Oracle Database locks fall into three general categories: DML locks (data locks), DDL locks (dictionary locks), and Internal locks and latches. DML locks protect data (i.e. tables, rows). The purpose is to guarantee the integrity of data accessed by multiple users. Row locking is the finest granularity and has the best possible concurrency and throughput. A transaction always acquires an exclusive row lock for each individual row modified by INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT with the FOR UPDATE clause. If a transaction uses a row lock, it also uses a table lock for the corresponding table. Table locking is mainly used for concurrency control with DDL operations. Table locks are used when a table is modified by the INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, SELECT with FOR UPDATE, and LOCK TABLE DML statements. These statements require table locks to reserve DML access to the table for the transaction and to prevent conflicting DDL operations. Table locks can be used at both table and subpartition level for partitioned tables. A table lock can be held in the following modes, from least to most restrictive: row share (RS), row exclusive (RX), s hare (S), share row exclusive (SRX), and exclusive (X). A row share table lock is the least restrictive, and has the highest degree of concurrency for a table. It indicates the transaction has locked rows in the table and intends to update them. It is specified by the statement LOCK TABLE IN ROW SHARE MODE. A row exclusive table lock is slightly more restrictive, and indicates the transaction holding the lock has made one or more updates to rows in the table or issued a SELECT FOR UPDATE statement. It is specified by LOCK TABLE IN ROW EXCLUSIVE MODE;. A share table lock is made automatically for a table specified by the statement LOCK TABLE IN SHARE MODE;. A share row exclusive lock is more restrictive and is made for a table specified by the statement LOCK TABLE IN SHARE ROW EXCLUSIVE MODE;. Exclusive table locks are the most restrictive and are specified by the statement LOCK TABLE IN EXCLUSIVE MODE;. DDL locks protect the structure of schema objects (i.e. table definitions). Internal locks and latches are automatic and protect internal data structures such as data files. Only individual schema objects that are modified or referenced are locked during DDL operations. The entire data dictionary is never locked. DDL locks have three categories: exclusive DDL locks, share DDL locks, and breakable parse locks. Exclusive and share DDL locks last until DDL statement execution and automatic commit is complete. Most DDL operations require exclusive DDL locks for a resource to prevent interference with other DDL operations that might reference the same object. If another DDL lock is already held, then the operation must wait until the other lock is released to proceed. DDL operations also create DML locks on the modified schema object. Some DDL operations require share DDL locks to allow data concurrency for similar DDL operations. A share DDL lock is created for the following statements: AUDIT, NOAUDIT, COMMENT, CREATE (OR REPLACE) VIEW/ PROCEDURE/ PACKAGE/ PACKAGE BODY/ FUNCTION/ TRIGGER, CREATE SYNONYM, and CREATE TABLE (if CLUSTER is not used). Breakable parse locks are acquired is created for a SQL statement and each schema object it references. A parse lock does not restrict any DDL operation and can be broken to allow conflicting DDL operations. It is created in the parse phase of SQL statement execution and held as long as the shared SQL area for the statement is in the shared pool. Latches and internal locks protect internal database and memory structures. Users cannot access them. Latches are simple, low-level serialization mechanisms to protect shared data structures in the system global area. The use of latches is dependent on the operating system. Internal locks are higher-level, more complex mechanisms and include dictionary cache locks, file and log management locks, and tablespace and rollback segment locks. Dictionary cache locks are very short and are on dictionary caches while the entries are being modified or used. They make sure that parsed statements dont have inconsistent object definitions. They can be shared or exclusive; shared last until the parse is finished and exclusive last until the DDL operation is finished. File and log management locks protect different files. They are held for a long time because they indicate the status of files. Tablespace and rollback segment files protect tablespaces and rollback segments. All instances must agree whether a tablespace is online or offline. Rollback segments are locked to make sure that only one instance can write to a segment.  [6]   Comparison Microsoft SQL Server is enabled to lock smaller amounts of data at a time, which is a big improvement. There is row-level locking, so now SQL Server locks only the rows that are actually being changed. However, SQL Server has no multi-version consistency model, which means that reads and writes can block each other to ensure data integrity. The difference with Oracle is that the database maintains a snapshot of the data, which prevents queries from hanging without performing dirty reads. Backup and Recovery Overview Database backup and recovery mechanisms ensure that organizations have prepared a copy of their data, or have the tools necessary to recover from a failure. A failure is a state where inconsistency prevents transactions from reaching the desired results. Some types of failures are transaction failure, system failure, media failure, and communications failure. Transaction failure may be caused by deadlocks, time-outs, protection violations, or system errors. Transaction failures can be solved with either a partial or total rollback, depending on the extent of the failure. System failures can be recovered with a restart, or rollback to the last consistent state. Restore/roll forward functions help with restoring the database after a media failure. SQL Server B and R SQL Server databases consist of two physical hard drive files, the MDF and LDF files. MDF files contain all of the data being stored. LDF files contain a record of every data change. Logging data changes make undo operations and backups possible. The log file is cleared, or truncated, after a certain amount of time, which is determined by the database recovery model. SQL Server can maintain multiple databases, with different recovery model settings. The recovery model can be either simple, full, or bulk-logged. With simple recovery, log files are not kept permanently, so when this setting is activated, a full backup must be done. Full backups restore all of the data and cannot be set to a specific time. The full recovery setting refers to a database with a transaction log file history. The log files keep track of every data change operation. The database will stop working if the log file runs out of space, so the auto grow function can be enabled. When running in full recovery, differential and transaction log backups become available. Differential backups copy all data changes since the last full backup. Every time a full backup is run, the differential backup is reset. Transaction log backups copy all data changes since the last full or transaction log backup. They are usually very small and fast. The disadvantage is the level of recovery; if any log backup is damaged or unusable, the data is not recoverable past the last good backup.  [7]   Oracle B and R Oracle databases can be backed up using export/import, cold or off-line backups, hot or on-line backups, or RMAN backups. Exports extract logical definitions and data from the database to a file. Cold or off-line backups shut down the database and backup all data, log, and control files. Hot or on-line backups set the tablespaces into backup mode and backup the files. The control files and archived redo log files must also be backed up. RMAN backups use the rman utility to backup the database. More than one of these methods can and should be used and tested to make sure the database is securely backed up. On-line backups can only be done when the system is open and the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode. Off-line backups are performed when the system is off-line; the database doesnt have to be in ARCHIVELOG mode. It is easier to restore from off-line backups because no recovery is required, but on-line backups are not as disruptive and dont require database downtime. Point-in-time recovery is available in ARCHIVELOG mode only.  [8]   Comparison Starting with version 10g, Oracle Database adopted the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) feature, which automates storage management after a certain point. The DBA allocates storage devices to a database instance and it automates the placement and storage of the files. SQL Server storage management must be done manually, using the Share and Store Management Console in SQL Server 2008, or must purchase a separate tool. Oracles Flash Recovery feature automates the management of all backup files. The Flash Recovery area is a unified storage location for all recovery related files in the Oracle database. The DBA can also change the storage configuration without having to take the database offline. SQL Server also provides the ability to manage backup files, using a backup wizard to manage the relevant files, but does not do it automatically. SQL Server 2008 introduced improvements in backup compression. With compression, less disk I/O and storage is required to keep backups online, resu lting in increased speed. Tradeoffs seem to be between SQL Servers speed and Oracles increased functionality. In Oracle, backups are fully self-contained, but in SQL Server the DBA must manually recreate the system database using the install CD. Oracle also uses the Data Recovery Advisor (DRA) tool to automatically diagnose data failures, show repair options, and execute repairs at the users request. Oracles Flashback technology allows for instant recovery of dropped tables and logical data corruptions. SQL Server provides for data recovery by rebuilding the transaction log, running repair to fix any corruptions, and ensure the logical integrity of data is not broken.  [9]   Security Overview Security is an important part of any organizations database management system. According to Dr. Osei-Brysons lecture notes, security breaches are typically categorized as unauthorized data observation, incorrect data modification, or data unavailability. Unauthorized data observation discloses confidential information to users without the proper permissions. Incorrect data modification can be either intentional or unintentional, but can be devastating to database consistency and can result in unreliable data. Unavailable data can be very costly to an organization, depending on how the data is used. Three requirements for a data security plan include secrecy and confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Secrecy and confidentiality protects data from being accessed by unauthorized parties. Database integrity is important to protect the data from incorrect or improper modification. Availability means preventing and minimizing the damage from unavailable data. Database management systems include some form of access control mechanism to make sure each user has access to only the data they require to perform their jobs. Users are granted certain authorizations by a security administrator to determine which actions can be performed on each object. The database administrator is responsible for account creation, assigning security levels, and granting/revoking privileges. SQL Server Security Security is an integral part of SQL Servers package, according to a recent White Paper commissioned by Microsoft.  [10]  Security features for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 include policy-based management to apply policies to database objects. These policies contain a collection of conditions that can be used to enforce business and security rules. Oracle Security Oracle 11g uses supports strong authentication through KPI, Kerberos, and Radius for all connections to the database except connections made as SYSDBA or SYSOPER. Tablespace encryption provides an alternative to transparent data encryption column encryption by enabling the encryption of the entire tablespace. This is best used with large amounts of data. The transparent data encryption master key can be stored in an external hardware security module for stronger security. 11g also provides increased password protection, secure file permissions, optional default audit settings, and controls on the network callouts from the database.  [11]   Comparison In SQL Server, transparent data encryption encrypts and decrypts data in the database engine and doesnt require more application programming. The functionality is included in SQL Server 2008, but requires a $10,000 per processor additional charge with Oracle Database 11g. SQL Server 2008 allows Extensible Key Management and Hardware Security Module vendors to register in SQL Server and provide management that is separated from the database. This separation of keys from the data provides an additional layer of defense. SQL Server 2008 also has auditing support through an Auditing object, which allows administrators to capture and log all database server activity. The National Vulnerability Database, provided by the National Institute of Science and Technology, reported over 250 security vulnerabilities with Oracle products over a four year period, and none with SQL Server. The report did not list the type and severity of the vulnerabilities, or which specific products were affected, but there seems to be a trend toward vulnerability. Microsoft Update is a fairly straightforward and easy to use patching solution for SQL Server. Computerworld called Oracles patch management system involved excruciating pain and two-thirds of Oracle DBAs dont apply security patches. Oracle seems to be behind in patch management at this time. SQL Server can also prevent highly privileged users from accessing sensitive data through use of the auditing object, assigning individual permissions, module signing, Policy-based management, and additional functionality. Oracle uses Database Vault to control privileged access, but costs 20k per processor. Conclusion The comparative review of Transaction Management and Concurrency, Recovery and Backup, and Security functions on Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle 11g database has shown that there are many similarities in the functionality between the two companies, but also key differences in database management philosophy. I learned that SQL Server seems to have the edge on speed and better security, but Oracle is making many advances in high level functionality and is starting to automate many features than in previous years. I was also able to improve my understanding of the DBMS functions by examining their practical application in separate systems.

haile selassie Essay -- essays research papers

Haile Selassie   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Haile Selassie who was believed to be a descendant from the line of David by Solomon, was a symbol to the black man. He exhibited that the black man had the capacity to be strong. This image that Selassie provided, was contrary to what blacks saw in Ethiopia, despite, Ethiopia being a black nation that had been independent for thousands of years. As a result of his assumed decadency and what he embodied, both Ethiopian’s and Jamaican’s assigned him as their savior. Within â€Å"Classic Black Nationalism: From the American Revolution to Marcus Garvey†, Young illustrates how Selassie was able to transcend form Africa to Jamaica proving that he is the black Messiah.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On November 2, 1930, Ras Tafari, at the age of thirty-seven, was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah. Form this point on, he ruled as Emperor of Ethiopia for the next forty-four years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Haile Selassie accomplished many great things during his rein as Emperor of Ethiopia. Perhaps his most important contribution was his efforts to further the education of his people. â€Å"Education was pressed forward on all levels-primary, secondary, and at the university level† (Gorham 140). Selassie had also pushed for the abolition of slavery in the 1920s and made a new constitution in which the citizens attained the right to vote in 1958.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ...

Leo Tolstoys The Death of Ivan Ilyich Essays -- Leo Tolstoy Death Iva

Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich I related readily with Ivan Ilyich, the main character in Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich. There was a time when I myself lived my life without regard to the spirituality of life. I, however, was very lucky in that it did not take death looming over my head to realize this. Maybe the fact that my bout of depression’s onset happened sooner in life allowed me to see it sooner. Eric Simpson put it best as â€Å"We all die, like Ilyich, and if we only live to live, to create and carve our own meaning into the universe, then life itself becomes ultimately meaningless and painfully insignificant.† The key point here is the â€Å"painfully insignificant†(Simpson). Depression snuck up on me like old age will, forty times quicker. Ilyich manages to cover his depression by compartmentalizing his feelings from his thoughts and by becoming a workaholic. Doing this, he had a means of either dismissing his depression or drowning it in work. Ivan Ilyich did not notice his depression and lack of spirituality until three days prior to his death. It is not until Ilyich asks himself, â€Å"What if my whole life has really been wrong?†(Tolstoy 1203), and comes up with an affirmitave answer that Ilyich tries to find a way to rectify his situation. His solution is painfully simple, spare his family the heartache of his dying and to just get it over with. My solution was quite different. I came up with two simple rules. The number one rule of feeling better is to help strangers whenever possible. For example, last Wednesday, my car broke down on Route 7. I did not have a cell-phone and there wasn’t a payphone in sight. Since I had a paper due, I started hitchhiking to class. After about five minut... ...d Western doctrines. He also points out Ilyich’s total lack of spirituality and the feeling of a wasted life. Simpson points out these differences and includes Biblical quotes to back it up with great insight, getting to a level of depth that could confuse some readers but has shown this reader something I would never have thought of on my own. Novel Analysis: Death of Ivan Illich. 12 April 2001 This author explains how Ilyich’s life is a ‘front’ for the sake of propriety. Also, the author points out that Ilyich is not aware of this until just days before he dies. A very short interpretation, but one that completely backs me up. Note: All quotes from Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich are from the following edition: Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. Seventh ed. Ed. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998.