Rappaccini’s Daughter Essay: The Ambiguity -- Rappaccinis Daughter Es

The Ambiguity in â€Å"The Rappaccini’s Daughter†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† This essay intends to illustrate this statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity.    Henry James in Hawthorne mentions how Hawthorne’s allegorical meanings should be expressed clearly:    I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were, a first-rate literary form. . . . But it is apt to spoil two good things – a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible-feeding writing that has been inflicted upon the world. The only cases in which it is endurable is when it is extremely spontaneous, when the analogy presents itself with eager promptitude. When it shows signs of having been groped and fumbled for, the needful illusion is of course absent, and the failure complete. Then the machinery alone is visible and the end to which it operates becomes a matter of indifference (50).    When one has to grope for, and fumble for, the meaning of a tale, then there is â€Å"failure† in the work, as Henry James says. This unfortunately is the case of â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† It is so ambiguous in so many occasions in the tale that a blur rather than a distinct image forms in the mind of the reader. The Norton Anthology: American Literature states in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne†:    Above all, his theme was curiosity about the recesses of other men’s and women’s beings. About this theme he was always ambivalent [my italics], for he knew that his success as a writer depended upon his keen psychologi... ...WORKS CITED    Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† ElectronicText Center. University of Virginia Library. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id="HawRapp"&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public    James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.    Kazin, Alfred. Introduction. Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Fawcett Premier, 1966.    Lang, H.J.. â€Å"How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne.† In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.      Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al.   New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1995.   

A True Story of Crime and Punishment Essay

A true story of how a man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, May God Have Mercy exposes the imperfections in the criminal justice system and how it led to the death of an innocent man. Roger Coleman’s case became the main story on nightly newscasts and prominent television shows such as Larry King Live, Nightline, Good Morning America, and the Today Show. Many crucial, yet harmful decisions were made that ultimately resulted in an innocent man’s execution at the death house in Greensville, Virginia. The police, the prosecutor, and the Judge can all be held responsible for Coleman’s death. However, the reason Roger Coleman was not acquitted of the murder of Wanda McCoy in the first place and thus in a position to be executed was because his original lawyers, Steve Arey and Terry Jordan, did not provide him with adequate representation, as required by the Constitution of the United States of America. Steve Arey and Terry Jordan were young, inexperienced lawyers who should have never even been considered for a capital case. Judge Persin, the presiding Judge in the case, however, decided on these two gentlemen because other more experienced lawyers refused to take the case because of the huge financial sacrifice it would require. Albeit public speculation that Judge Persin’s previous profession as a prosecutor had led him to heavily favor the prosecution, his decision stood. The two prosecutors who Arey and Jordan would be opposed by were Mickey McGlothlin and Tom Scott. Both prosecutors had far more experience than the defense lawyers, but that didn’t stop Judge Persin from appointing Arey and Jordan to the case. It was an obvious mismatch, intentional or not, and was just the beginning of many problems that would arise for the defendant’s case. The murder of Wanda McCoy took place in Grundy, a small town in Virginia. The year was 1981, and Brad McCoy, Wanda’s husband, arrived home from work to find his wife dead, the apparent victim of a brutal rape and murder. The police investigated the crime scene, recorded witness reports, and searched for suspects. When they identified their prime suspect, Roger Coleman, the police made the arrest. Due to the negative public opinion that had generated following the arrest, Coleman demanded that his lawyers file for a change of venue with the court. Since Grundy was such a small town, it would  be very difficult to pick an impartial jury to give Coleman a fair trial. Every person in the town had to have read or seen something on the murder. The fact that the police provided supposed â€Å"conclusive† evidence against Roger Coleman and made it public, many of Grundy’s residents wanted to see Coleman sentenced to death. Steve Arey had been preparing the case to present to Judge Persin, but at the last minute, he notified Terry Jordan that he would not be able to attend due to a prior engagement. Arey’s lack of respect for Coleman and the case in general left Terry Jordan with a crucial decision–whether to seek a continuance or to argue the motion himself. He chose to present the case himself. The defense’s decision to argue the motion was a terrible decision. Not only should Jordan have sought a continuance because he was not prepared to argue the case, but neither of the defense lawyers had done any research or made any effort to obtain evidence to support their case for a change of venue, except for a couple of newspaper clippings and a picture of the hanging-tree sign. The prosecution, on the other hand, had gotten approximately fifty affidavits from members of the town claiming that they did not have any biased feelings about the case. As expected, Judge Persin denied the ch ange of venue request, and effectively set the tone for Roger Coleman’s trial. The beginning of every trial begins with opening statements, which provide the jury with a preview of the evidence they will provide and what it will effectively show. A lawyer’s opening statement is probably the most important part of the entire trial, and usually puts the jurors leaning favorably towards the side with the more convincing performance. Like any other criminal case, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. They are required to prove â€Å"beyond a reasonable doubt† that the defendant committed the crime. Mickey McGlothlin presented an organized and persuasive opening statement that gave the jury the impression that Roger Coleman was guilty based on the significant amount of evidence against him. The defense’s opening statement should have attacked the evidence that the state provided, and also attacked McGlothlin’s credibility. The defense’s  opening statement should have consisted of a description of the friendly relationship that existed between Roger Coleman and the McCoys. It also should have also included Coleman’s alibi–Philip VanDyke–and the fact that VanDyke’s time card reinforces the time that he said he was with Coleman and the time that he clocked into his job. Arey and Jordan also had an opportunity to smear McGlothlin’s credibility by referring to evidence that he failed to mention in his opening argument–the pry mark on the door, the broken fingernails on the victim but no scratches on Coleman, and that the substance found on the victim was soil, not coal dust, which had been on Coleman’s clothes. The defense counsel didn’t refer to any of those facts. No scientific evidence was brought up, and it failed to respond to McGlothin’s statement that there was evidence that Coleman had in fact admitted to committing the crime. The opening statement was a complete disappointment for Coleman. It started to raise questions inside of Coleman of whether his own defense lawyers thought he was guilty and therefore were not putting the time or effort in to prove his innocence. In either case, his defense lawyers had presented a completely inadequate opening statement, and it left the jury with the feeling that Roger Coleman was guilty. In addition to failing to present a solid and influential opening argument, another major problem with the defense counsel was their extreme lack of preparation for the trial (their own witnesses and the state’s witnesses). Before the Coleman case, Terry Jordan â€Å"had never tried a murder case, a rape case, any case involving blood or hair analysis or a criminal case of any kind that lasted more than one day† (112). Being from Grundy, Jordan should have interviewed most if not all of the local witnesses, but that did not happen. He did not interview all of police officers that were investigating the crime nor did he interview Dr. McDonald, who was the first one to examine Wanda McCoy’s body and who estimated her time of death. He did not interview Hezzie McCoy, Dr. Oxley (the doctor who performed the autopsy), or even Elmer Gist, who was the state’s blood and hair expert. In fact, Jordan cross-examination of Elmer Gist was solely based on Gist’s report about hair comparisons and one on blood analysis. He had not read anything about blood or hair analysis, because if he had, he would have been more capable of performing an effective cross-examination of the state’s most crucial  witness. Terry Jordan also failed to carefully examine the physical locations that could have led to Coleman’s innocence and acquittal. He never actually went inside the house where the murder took place, nor did he examine the door to see if there was any evidence of forced entry. He never examined the bathhouse where Coleman said his pants got wet from, and he did not go to the mine where Roger worked. The route that Coleman supposedly took that night was never gone over to see how long it took and to see if there was time for him to commit the crime given the stops that he made prior to the murder. Jordan did not look for other witnesses who the state had not identified, and he did not ever ask for VanDyke’s time card, an essential piece of evidence. No photographs were taken at any point, making everything that was presented in court non-visual. Visuals would have made the defense’s case much stronger. Steve Arey had interviewed most of the same witnesses that Jordan interviewed, along with a couple other defense-alibi witnesses. The state was heavily favored in the case to begin with because of their experience in criminal cases, as opposed to the defense counsel’s lack of experience in such cases. As expected, Judge Persin ruled in favor of the state and Roger Coleman was sentenced to death. Many criminal cases are appealed after their conclusion, and this case was no different. The defense has thirty days to file a Notice of Appeal with the Court. The defense prepared their appeal and mailed it to the Court. However, the attorney general’s office told the defense that they had filed the appeal one day late and that it would not be accepted. This was another huge mistake by the defense. Although a legal technicality should not be the cause for an innocent man’s evidence to be withheld, the law specifically stated that a Notice of Appeal must be filed within thirty days of the Judge signing the order that rejected all of the defense’s arguments. The defense had missed a crucial de adline and Roger Coleman would be punished because of it. The defense would not be able to get the Court to listen to their case again and this would eventually lead to Coleman’s death. The fact remains that neither Terry Jordan nor Steve Arey conducted a thorough enough investigation to really present a strong case to oppose the prosecution. Roger Coleman was never really given a fair trial, and it ultimately led to his conviction and death. His lawyers failed to use the evidence that was available to get their client acquitted. Their inexperience and lack of motivation resulted in an innocent man’s death. There were many opportunities for the defense counsel to question witnesses, to seek experts’ opinions on the forensic evidence, and to insert new evidence to support Roger Coleman’s case, but they did not do so. Jordan and Arey should have never been appointed as Coleman’s counsel, and that alone made Coleman’s chances of acquittal slim to none. Roger Coleman was never given a fair chance, even later on in the process before he was executed, however, his defense lawyers performed well below the standards that a man on trial for his life deserves. Their terrible mistakes and decisions led to the death of an innocent man.

The terms color blind and diversity

The terms color blind and diversity are widely used in affirmative action but they are not synonymous. Applied properly, color blind should be taken to mean without distinction to color. This means that the policies such as affirmative action should neither advance nor protect the interests of any race. As compared to diversity, this is understood to provide the necessary preferential treatment in order to advance the interests of all races, being color blind is not related to racial relations but instead advocates the lack of any racial undertones.To arrive at a better understanding of how these terms work it is important to briefly discuss affirmative action. Affirmative action has been praised and pilloried as the answer to racial inequality. First introduced by President Kennedy in 1961, â€Å"Affirmative action† was designed as a method of reducing the discrimination that had remained despite the civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees.It was a method that was put in place as a â€Å"Temporary Measure to Level the Playing Field† through the offering of the same opportunities to all Americans. As the video shows, the struggle for racial equality has taken different paths in American history. For some, it has mean equal opportunity and righting of a wrong long since committed, for others it remains a constant struggle not only for survival but for recognition.There have been several violations that have disenfranchised many but this clear violation of the Constitution prompted many to create a landmark law that will turn the tide once and for all. It was â€Å"Affirmative Action† that was supposed to save America from the evils of racism and discrimination but this directive failed and in fact it even backfired and instead of helping the oppressed it made them look less worthy of respect as ever before.As such, it is clear that being color blind, while different from encouraging diversity, is oftentimes interchanged and can have disastrous results. These concepts, however, are not mutually exclusive and may co-exist under the proper circumstances. It must be remembered that in order for Civil Rights plans such as Affirmative Action to work there must be a fine balance to encourage racial diversity but at the same time not lead to discrimination of other races.

Fair Trade Essays

Fair Trade Essays Fair Trade Essay Fair Trade Essay Fair Trade: Consumerism for Global Justice Introduction The Fair Trade movement is rapidly becoming an emerging and dynamic strength to respond to the negative influence of globalization, or rather, to the contemporary international trade injustice. While on the other hand, there is criticism on fair trade, claiming that fair trade is not fair and it goes against free market theory. This term paper aims at introducing the development of fair trade, justifying its economical and ethical significance on the international trade and production chain, and also reflecting on its limitations from different respective. The term paper is structured starting from conceptual framework, which focuses on defining the term of â€Å"fair trade†, introducing the related international organizations, and a brief overview of its current development. And then, the paper takes a close look at how fair trade functions under its own standards and price system. Furthermore, both the benefits and criticism of fair trade on producers, consumers and the intermediary are discussed, finally the conclusion is defined that fair trade is an effective marketing exercise but is not the mainstream market model. Conceptual framework Fair trade Although there is no universally accepted definition of fair trade, Fair trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) most commonly refer to a definition developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade networks (Fair trade Labelling Organizations International, World Fair Trade Organization formerly International Fair Trade Association, Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association): fair trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to ustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade (FINE, 2001). Sushil Mohan (2010) also d efines Fair Trade as â€Å"an organized social movement which promotes environmental and labor standards and social policy objectives in areas related to the production and trading of Fair Trade labeled and unlabelled goods†. : By comparing the two definitions, it should be noted that the former one explicitly mentions political and ethical objectives. Besides, it’s crucial to know that the fair trade movement is not involved directly in commodity production or trade, but rather it provides producers and workers with particular forms of market structure and contractual terms that bring benefits to them. And also, it focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries. During the past 50 years, the mainstreaming of fair trade product catalog goes beyond traditional products such as coffee, cocoa, tea, handicrafts, honey, etc. Fair trade is making inroads into other commodities as well. These new products include minor food items (quinoa), perishable fruits and vegetables (bananas, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and horticultural produce), processed products (juices, wine, beer, chocolate, rice and sugar) and non-food products (Sushil Mohan, 2010, p. 23). In 2009, fair trade certified sales amounted to approximately 73. billion (about ? 2. 8 billion) worldwide, produced by over 1. 2 million producers and workers; producers also benefited from pre-financing of around 7100 million (? 83 million) (FLO, 2009). The table below (FLO, 2009) shows the level and growth in the sales of a sample of main fair trade products from 2004 to the end of 2009. Table 1 Growth in sales of some fair trade products, 2004–09 |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 | |Coffee sales in metric tonnes |24. 22 |33. 99 |52. 06 |62. 21 |65. 81 |73. 78 | |% growth | |40. 0 |53. 16 |19. 49 |5. 79 |12. 82 | |Tea sales in metric tonnes |1. 97 |1. 70 |3. 88 |5. 42 |11. 47 |11. 52 | |% growth | |33. 00 |127. 88 |39. 61 |111. 53 |0. 50 | |Rice sales in metric tonnes |1. 38 |1. 70 |2. 99 |4. 21 |4. 69 |6. 05 | |% growth | |23. 00 |75. 18 |40. 97 |11. 34 |29. 18 | |Fruit juice sales in metric tonnes |4. 54 |4. 86 |6. 31 |24. 92 |28. 22 |45. 58 | |% growth | |7. 00 |23. 01 |294. 98 |13. 24 |61. 53 | |Banana sales in metric tonnes |80. 64 |103. 88 |135. 76 |233. 79 |299. 21 |311. 47 | |% growth | |29. 0 |30. 70 |72. 21 |27. 98 |4. 10 | | Source: FLO (2009) Fair trade consumerism In academic research, the word â€Å"Consumerism† has different meanings in different contexts. When associated with fair trade, consumerism can be defined as a moral doctrine in developed countries. According to this view, consumerism is the vehicle for freedom, power and happine ss. All of these things lie in the consumer’s ability to choose, acquire, use and enjoy material objects and experiences (Gabriel Y and Lang T, 2002, p. 8). Since long, consumption has been defied as â€Å"a private matter, indirectly, but firmly, linked to virtuous mechanisms in the public sphere† (Roberta Sassatelli 2006). And recent research shows that the importance of the self-identity as a determining factor in ethical consumption has been identified before (Shaw D Shiu E, 2002), those findings indicate that practices on fair trade consumerism must themselves be seen as functional in the construction and expression of a self-identity which always has a moral dimension (Varul MZ and Wilson-Kovacs D, 2008, p. 2). How fair trade works Fair trade standards FLO (2006) formulated two distinct sets of fair trade standards, which acknowledge different types of disadvantaged producers. One set of standards applies to small-scale producers, who don’t depend on hired workers all the time, but run their farm mainly on their own and their family’s labour. The other set applies to hired labors, whose employers pay decent wages, guarantee the right to join trade unions, ensure health and safety standards and provide adequate housing where relevant. The Standards Unit (SU) within FLO is responsible for developing and revising fair trade standards. Fair trade standards refer to: (a) generic standards, (b) product standards, (c) fair trade minimum prices (FTMP) and fair trade premiums (FTP). Producers and traders must meet applicable standards for their products to be certified as fair trade. Fair trade prices According to fair trade standards, most products have a fair trade price, which is the minimum that should be paid to the producers for their goods. This fair trade minimum price (FTMP) is intended to cover the average producers’ costs of sustainable production (COSP) per product. If global or regional minimum prices are determined, otherwise national prices are set. Producers or workers (in the case of hired labour situations) of fair trade products also receive a fair trade premiums(FTP) in addition to the minimum price. The determination of a minimum price may involve the determination of the related premium (Andreas Kratz, 2010). Impact of fair trade Benefits to producers Stable income and long-term trading partnerships For most products, fair trade standards determine the price paid to producers. The fair trade price  acts as a safety net for farmers at times when world markets fall below a sustainable level. The fair trade standards also require that producers can obtain partial pre-payment of the contract, which ensures the small-scale farmers have sufficient cash flow. This allows them to plan ahead and invest in new technology or planting that should ultimately increase their income and help them to develop their businesses (Nicholls A and Opal C, 2005, p. 7). Table 2 Arabica Coffee Market 1989-2010: Comparison of Fairtrade and New York Prices [pic] NB Fairtrade price = Fairtrade minimum price* of 125 cents/lb + 10 cents/lb Fairtrade premium** When the New York price is 125 cents or above, the Fairtrade price = New York price + 10 cents *Minimum price was increased from 121 cents/lb on 1 June 2008 **Premium was increased from 5 cents/lb on 1 June 2007 The NY price is the daily closing price of the second position Coffee C futures contract at ICE Futures US (Source: FLO, 2010) Social premiums and ethical outcomes According to FLO, fair trade helps farmers and workers to tackle poverty, improve the quality of their lives and invest in their futures. Throughout the unique trading chain, producers are empowered to participate in the decisions that affect themselves. Fair Trade Federation (FTF) also points out that, members seek to eliminate discrimination based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, age, marital, or health status. Members support workplaces free from physical, sexual, psychological, or verbal harassment or abuse. For instance, in 2006, the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative in Ghana received a premium of US$150 per tonne of cocoa which is invested back into the communities. This has helped to fund the drilling of about 300 boreholes, and the establishment of seven schools as well as funding links with the medical school in Ghana (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 21). Sustainable production According to Fair Trade Federation (FTF), fair trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the benefits of next generations. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the surroundings and promote sustainable production. They reduce, reuse, reclaim, and recycle materials wherever possible. For instance, all farms and co-operatives must have resource management plans in place. Certain pesticides are prohibited on all farms. Many farms use fair trade premia to invest in organic certification, which demands a higher fair trade floor price (Nicholls A and Opal C, 2005, p. 7). Impact on consumers The Department for International Development of UK (DFID) points out that fair trade has made an important contribution to raising awareness among consumers about development and ethical trade issues. Moreover, this awareness can create pressure for changes in favor of poor countries. For instance, Starbucks has made an excellent example in this respective. Starbucks began purchasing Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in 2000, helping grow the market for Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in the U. S. And in 2009, it increased the purchases to 40 million pounds – making it the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certifiedâ„ ¢ coffee in the world. While increased awareness of ethical issues does not definitely turn into consumption actions, there has been a steady conscious increase in fair trade sales. According to the Fair Trade Foundation, price is not the only concern on people’s minds when they go to the supermarket. Mike Barry of Marks Spencer in UK commented that the FAIRTRADE mark gave customers certainty about the origins of the product in the context of many different brands. He considered that there was a high level of trust in the FAIRTRADE brand (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 24). Impact on intermediary According to International Development Committee of UK, fair trade and the success of fair trade labeling, has led companies to think about the supply hain of the wider range of products they sell. Although the amount of fair trade products is still limited among the total sales, the concept of fair trade has begun to enter the mainstream in the supply chain and what’s more, the economic framework has been set up. Thus an important impact of fair trade may ultimately steam up other traders to perform their responsibilities. In response to t he new trends of the coffee industry, the German Coffee Association took the initiative to create a Common Code for the Coffee Community. Nestle, Sara Lee, Kraft and Tchibo, representing 40% of the world coffee-roasting market, have all signed the Common Code which seeks to improve working and environmental conditions on coffee farms. The Code requires producers to pay minimum wages to workers, not to use child labor, to allow union membership, and to protect the environment (International Development Committee, 2007, p. 9). Criticism on fair trade Perspective of intermediary Fair trade affirms non-economic values of cooperation and solidarity which challenge the capitalist imperatives of competition, accumulation, and profit-maximization. (Gavin Fridell, 2007) In the market, every part wants to make their profit maximization. Nowadays, in the competition between the producers and intermediary, the intermediary is much stronger, so they use this power to minimize the price of the producer, and sell the products with a much higher price to the consumer market, to get most of the profit. In the fair trade system, Fair trade removes the unfair dealing away with the person doing most of the hard work. The intermediary must give the producer a fair price for them doing the sustainable production. Normally this â€Å"fair† price means a higher price than what the producer got before. For this, the cost for the intermediary increases, if the consumer market price stays the same, intermediary’s profit decreases. But as every intermediary wants to keep their usual profit, then the decreasing profit became a problem. In order to solve this problem, the intermediaries either increase the price on the consumer market, or buy less fair trade products. The Adam Smith Institute claimed in 2008 that Fair trade has had little effect on the decreasing percentage of final sale value ending up with the producers as only a fraction of fair trade premiums reach producers. This claim is based on a calculation that only 10% of the fair trade premium for a cup of coffee at a popular London chain goes to purchase fair trade coffee beans instead of standard beans (Marc Sidwell, 2008). This situation has led Tom Clougherty of the Adam Smith Institute, to describe fair trade as little more than a marketing ploy. Perspective of consumers â€Å"Fair trade reveals the social and environmental conditions under which goods are produced and brings producers and consumers together through ‘ethical consumerism,’ which challenges the commodification of goods into items with an independent life of their own. (Gavin Fridell, 2007). Basing on how the fair trade works, if the intermediary wants to keep the usual profit, one of the solutions is to increase the consumer market price, which is the reason why most of the fair trade goods are priced higher than the normal market price. When consumers are making their purchasing decision, the key factors are not the product attributes anymore in favor of the alternative character- Fair Trade, to make the global commodification more justice. Even at the very beginning of Fair Trade Movement (back to 1960s), the slogan of it was â€Å"Trade not Aid†. But when we take a closer look at fair trade, something can be found: This purchasing model is in conflict with the economic theory (under the certain budget line, consumers desire to buy as much products as possible, which means the consumers would like to buy the more cost-effective products). So this fair trade purchasing behavior does not benefit the consumers themselves that much, the main reason for the consumer to do it is the â€Å"ethical† reason. Therefore, the decommodification is through â€Å"ethical consumerism†. Given the fact that ethical consumerism does not appeal directly to self-interested motivation, some people claim that the future growth of ethical markets is very limited. Perspective of producers The Adam Smith Institute sees fair trade as a type of subsidy that impedes growth. The price on fair trade market is not decided by the market, but the FLO or other fair trade organization with the lowest protection price. Furthermore, fair trade can resolve some poverty issues in some extend, but can not solve it fundamentally. Perspective of production chain [pic] From this chart, we can learn that: firstly, compared to the normal trade market, if the intermediary can keep their usual profit, there is not much difference between fair and unfair trade. So fair trade is just an alternative option for them to the different segment market. And the reality is that most fair trade farmer groups are currently only able to sell a fraction of their production on Fair Trade terms; they must sell the rest to conventional buyers and local traders at lower prices. Secondly, the consumer is playing one more role in this Fair Trade business circle: monitoring whether the trade is fair, whether the producers get a fair price. Now the consumer outgoing is â€Å"Money† + †Monitor†, and the incoming is â€Å"Product† + †Ethic†, compared with the normal trade (outgoing: Money; incoming: Product). If we make a function about these, those would be: Fair trade market: U(Price-Fairtrade)+U(Monitor)=U(Pro)+U(Eth) Normal market: U(Price-Normal)=U(Pro) So U(Eth)=U(Monitor)+U(Pice-Fairtrade)-U(Price-Normal)= U(Monitor)+U(Price Difference) This means buying the fair trade products, the ethic gain that consumers get should be equal to the price difference plus the additional monitoring responsibility that the consumers should take. If this function cannot be equal in a long term, the consumers would feel loss, then this business model cannot last for too long, or at least cannot be promoted widely in the whole world market. Conclusion It can be concluded that fair trade reflects a brand-new approach to producer-consumer transaction, which aims at maintaining the Fairtrade mark’s predominance in an increasingly competitive market for ethically-branded products. On one hand, the movement is essential, since there is every reason for smart consumers to make other choices and the producers suffer from the decreasing market price. On the other hand, fair trade is working â€Å"in and against† the market, because it is involved what it needs to play to ethical assumptions that are implied by market practices. So fair trade is an alternate, branch trade model in the market compared to the mainstream model. Reference List Andreas Kratz (2010): SOP development of Fairtrade minimum price and premium, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Internet: airtrade. net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/310510_SOP_Development_of_Fairtrade_Prices_and_Premiums. pdf Bacon, C. (2005): Confronting the coffee crisis: can Fair Trade, organic and speciality coffee reduce small-scale farmer vulnerability in northern Nicaragua? , World Development, 33(3): 497–511. Gabriel Y and Lang T (2002): The unmanageable consumer, p. 8, SAGE Publications, Lo ndon. Gavin Fridell (2007): Fair trade coffee and commodity fetishism: The limits of market-driven social justice, Trent University, Canada. International Development Committee (2007): Fair trade and development, Seventh Report of Session 2006–07, Volume 1, Great Britain. Koppel H. and Schulze G. (2008): Inefficient but effective? A field experiment on the effectiveness of direct and indirect transfer mechanisms, University of Freiburg, Germany. Marc Sidwell (2008): Unfair trade, Adam Smith Institute, London, p. 28. Nicholls A. and Opal C. (2005): Fair trade: market-driven ethical consumption, p. 7, SAGE Publications, London. Roberta Sassatelli (2006): Representing consumers: contesting claims and agendas, Palgrave, London. Shaw D. and Shiu E. (2002): Ethics in consumer choice: a multivariate modelling approach, European Journal of Marketing, 37(10), 1485 – 1498. Sushil Mohan (2010): Fair trade without the froth, The Institute of Economic Affairs, Great Britain. Varul MZ. and Wilson-Kovacs D. (2008): Fair trade consumerism as an everyday ethical practice – A comparative perspective, University of Exeter, Great Britain, Internet: http://people. exeter. ac. uk/mzv201/FT%20Results. pdf Product Product Consumer Ethic Intermediary Money Producer Money Monitor

How to Read and Write Byte Streams in Java

How to Read and Write Byte Streams in Java Reading and writing binary streams is one of the most common I/O tasks a Java application can perform. It can be performed by looking at each individual byte in a stream or by using a more structured buffered approach. Note: This article looks at reading binary data from a example.jpg file. If you try this code then simply replace the name of the example.jpg with the path and name of a jpeg file on your computer. Byte by Byte The java.ioclass was the first Java api to provide Input/Output functionality. It has two methods that can be used to input and output byte streams (blocks of 8 bits) from and to a file. These classes are the FileInputStream and FileOutputStream. These methods provide a basic method of I/O by allowing a file to be input or output one byte at a time.  In practice its better to use a buffered method for binary streams but its good to look at the most basic building block of the Java I/O functionality. Notice how we place the I/O handling inside a try, catch, finallyblock- this is to make sure we handle IO exceptions and to properly close the streams. The catch block will show any I/O exceptions that occur and print a message for the user. In the finally block its important to close the streams explicitly by calling the close method otherwise they will remain open and a waste of resources. There is a check to see if the FileInputStreamand FileOutputStreamare null before attempting to close. This is because an I/O error could occur before the streams are initialized. For example, if the file name is incorrect the stream will not be opened properly.In the tryblock we can add code to read in the bytes:The readmethod reads in one byte from the FileInputStreamand the write method writes one byte to the FileOutputStream. When the end of the file is reached and there are no more bytes to input the value of -1 is returned. Now that Java 7 has been released you can see the benefit of one of its new features- the try with resources block. This means that if we identify the streams to the try block at the beginning it will handle closing the stream for us. This eliminates the need for the finally block in the previous example: The full Java code listings for the two versions of the byte reading program can be found in Binary Stream Example Code.

Leadership in Global Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership in Global Health Care - Essay Example ctiveness, and agility whereas her negative attributes include being judgmental, occasional lack of understanding, and too much kindness, so I would like her to change her negative attributes while strengthening the positive ones. As a nurse, my mother has to deal with patients on daily basis. Patients come from different backgrounds, have different cultures and ethnicities. Some speak English well while others do not. Some act restless because of the pain of their injury, illness, or disease, while others are frustrated by the environment of the hospital. It is not uncommon for a patient to lose his temper for no good reason. In such times, my mother remains patient and maintains her cool. She immediately attends them, and tries to address their concern. Likewise, my mother is often suddenly called on duty which is not scheduled. She might have to serve in place of a nurse on-leave. She tends to understand it and does not mind. â€Å"Good leaders are patient† (Adventure Scouts USA, 2007). My mother is quite pro-active in her approach. She remains completely aware of the present circumstances, and tends to forecast the future depending upon them. For example, she always maintains two sets of documents, one in hard copy and one in soft copy to make sure she has another version available if one is somehow lost. Before going on duty, she has the list of tasks to do ready with her so that nothing is delayed or missed out. My mother is very active. She follows a weight-loss as well as energy-boosting plan. She takes several short meals in a day that help her maintain a high metabolism. Most of these meals are based on fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition, she jogs for at least 20 minutes in the morning. She is not weight-conscious as she is already very smart. She does all this to maintain a high energy level. She says that controlling diet and doing exercise helps her remain active throughout the day both physically and mentally. At times, my mother gets a

A merge and acquisition study and report Term Paper

A merge and acquisition study and report - Term Paper Example Retrieved from http://transition.fcc.gov/omd/history/radio/power.html. 24 Appendix A 26 Appendix B 27 Abstract This paper is going to look at a possible merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. It will provide an overview of the industry, history of companies, how the companies will integrate after the merger, historical financials as well as projected financials. This paper will also look at the industry competitors, past successful mergers and failed mergers. It will cover the benefits if the merger takes place and the associated risks with the merger. T-mobile and Sprint’s Merger and Acquisition Report Introduction T-Mobile US, Inc. is a mobile system running company with headquarters in Washington. The company caters to millions and is almost the fourth largest mobile company in U.S. Sprint mobile is another telecommunication company in U.S.; its headquarters is in Kansas (Antaki, Borst, Brzeski, & Sze, 2004). The company is a giant internet service provider, but in 2013, a Jap anese telecommunication company named Softbank Corporations had purchased the majority of its shares (Theodore, Rappaport, Annamalai, Buehrer, & William, 2002). This report concentrates on the details of the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. It is believed that the Japanese company Soft Bank is trying to enter the U.S. market. Industry Nokia Telsa and Radio communications led to the development of the telecom industry from 1900 onwards. Telecommunication is a growing industry and uses high technology in its operations. United States (U.S.) being the world’s most technologically efficient nation has a well established telecom industry (FCC, 2005). â€Å"Companies in this industry provide wireless and wire line telephone and data services; cable and satellite television distribution services; and Internet access. Major companies include the US-based AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast, as well as Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Spanish firm Telefoni ca, and China Mobile. Demand is driven by technological innovation and by growth in business activity and consumer spending. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and good marketing. Large companies have big economies of scale in providing a highly automated service to large numbers of customers, and have the financial resources required to build and maintain large networks. Smaller companies can compete effectively in small markets or by providing specialty services. The industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate about 90 percent of revenue. Major source of revenue are wireless services (39 percent of industry revenue); wire line services (33 percent of industry revenue); and cable distribution (24 percent). Other services include satellite telecommunications (Hoovers, a D&B Company).† More than 3.8 million Americans are employed in the wireless industry either directly or indirectly. The strength comprises of almost 2.6% of the total employments in U.S. The salary for the workers in the wireless i