Free Essay: Analysis of Sonnet 64 :: Sonnet essays

Analysis of Sonnet 64 When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd The rich proud cost of outworn buried age; When sometime lofty towers I see down raz'd, And brass eternal slave to mortal rage; When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of the shore, And the firm soil win of the watery main, Increasing store with loss and loss with store: When I have seen such interchange of state, Or state itself confounded to decay, Ruin hath tought me thus to ruminate- That Time will come and take my love away. This thought is as a death, which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose. As A. Kent Hieatt did a great job in citing certain similarities in Sonnets to Spencer's Ruines of Rome: by Bellay, I was surprised enough not to dfind any parallels on sonnet 64 to that of Ruines of Rome. This sonnet delivers, moreso, the theme of Rome succumbing to time rather than textual correlations. I will provide a quatrain by quatrain explicaton that cites certain allusions to Spencer's text. In the first quatrain, time has destroyed Rome, the "buried age," having lived too long ("outworn") as a prosperous civilization. The "lofty towers" being "raz'd" echoes Rome being "Heapt hils on hils, to scale the starrie sky"; the first "hils" in Spencer refers to the Roman civilization and the physical buildings, whereas the latter "hils" refers to the mountains on which Rome was built. Thus, being "raz'd" are all of the monuments of Rome that are subject to mutability. Ambiguity in the second quatrain allows for two readings following the Roman theme. First, the "hungry ocean" is the sea itself which gains on Rome, "the kingdom of the shore," but if the ocean is rising against Rome, it is incongruous to say that the "firm soil" defeats the "watery main." A more appropriate alternate reading still refers to Rome as "the kingdom of the shore," but the "hungry ocean" refers to other civilizations that have tried to conquer Rome yet failed. 5-7: 'When I have seen usurping nations hostily advance towards Rome, and then steadfast Rome defeat the opposing navy,'. This latter reading more supports line 8, in which Rome 'increases [its] wealth through the gains of (Rome's) conquests [thus, "with loss"], and yet at the same time increases [its] loss "with store," (that is, time's store [of time])'.

Unit Three – Marketing P3

Marketing Research Market research indicates decisions made by a business, in this case Tesco, by helping the decision makers understand undercurrents of its market. This process involves research done on customers, competitors and the overall marketing environment. For example, when Tesco is promoting a product, they need to know the likes and dislikes of their targeted consumers in order to target the correct market successfully. They would also be required to research about their competitors, to find out if by any chance they offered a product that was similar, and how they would differentiate their product from it.Also, as an overall, they would be required to research the environment of the market, as well as the size of their target market, in order to decide how they are going to offer the product to the consumers. Example: sold in store, online, or both. Primary and Secondary Research There are two types of research: †¢Primary Research †¢Secondary Research Informati on for these types of research can be done internally – within the organization, or externally, from another organization or source of information outside the organization, in this case Tesco.When information or data is gathered for a certain purpose and has not been gathered before is known is primary research. Internal primary research data source could consist of: †¢The business’s sales figures of products †¢A central database holding customer data External primary research data source could consist of: †¢Various questionnaires and surveys †¢A variety of focus groups and interviews †¢Observation techniques When data or information that has been collected before, either internally or externally, is used for research is known as secondary research. Another name for secondary research is ‘desk research’.Internal secondary research data source could consist of: †¢Sales and regional reports †¢Market research gathered in the past External secondary research data source could consist of: †¢Websites and trade journals †¢Newspapers and books †¢Public reports †¢Census data †¢Industry reports For business like Tesco that operate in many different fields, secondary research is more cost-effective, before they decide to conduct primary research. This allows Tesco to have a better understanding of the market, as well as recognize any major obstacles before conducting expensive research.Secondary research also allows them to make assumptions based on similar products and therefore, once primary research is conducted, it can be used against the assumptions to evaluate and compare. This will help indicate how much primary research they are required to do and therefore they don’t end up doing too much that is not required. However, Tesco is required to take the limitation of secondary research into consideration: †¢The information may be outdated †¢The information may be b iased in order to promote particular causes †¢The methods used to collect the research may be unreliable.Qualitative and Quantitative Research Research methods can be qualitative, quantitive or can include both methods. Well-planned market research consists of both methods in order to result with a good combination of information revealing different things about the same market. Qualitative research is one-sided and normally unrestricted. It normally is gathered through interviews with customers or focus groups and therefore result in a wide range of research based on personal experiences and feelings.A qualitative question allows the individual go give a broad answer and not based against options. Qualitative research can be used to: †¢Find the perceptions of customers about an organization or brand. †¢Discover how changes in price and other factors affect customers and spending decisions. †¢Explore customer preference, interests and other factors. Quantitative research involves numbers and figures that can be examined mathematically or graphically. This may consist of sales figures, market values, etc. , as well as responses from customers on questionnaires.This is only categorized as quantitative research if the responses from the customers a chosen from series of answers provided on the questionnaire. The difference between quantitative and qualitative research: QuantitativeQualitative ObjectiveSubjective Tests theoryDevelops theory Concise and narrowComplex and broad Measurable Interpretive Basic analysis: NumbersBasic analysis: words and ideas Logical and reasonableDialectic Establishes relationshipsDescribes meaning Experimental settingNatural setting Uses of marketing researchThe information collected for market research prevents businesses like Tesco making wrong business decisions. If the product designer for Tesco progresses a new product without market research, then the business is not moving forward on reliable sources and the refore are unaware if customers are interested in the product or not. This indicates, effective market research improves the chances of success and reduces the risks. Tesco’s can also measure progress effectively over time. This can be done by, carrying out market research, to found out the awareness of the product before managing national advertising campaigns.Once they have conducted the research, they can put their national advertising campaigns into action and again conduct research and compare the two. Therefore, this indicates, market research can be used to measure progress as well as the effects of marketing activities. Limitations of market research – costs, effectiveness and validity of data collected Weather market research is done at a small or large scale, any time is required to be performed accurately and appropriately otherwise it gives irrelevant results.All market research conducted has the chances of being wrong no matter how well controlled and plan ned. There are various reasons why market research may not provide accurate or good results but a usual problem is deciding whether the research conducted really measures what it claims to be measuring. Marketers for Tesco are required to decide how reliable the information they have obtained is. Also they need to take into consideration, if the research contained had different respondents or different set of data points, would the results be similar.Validity refers to whether the research conducted is what it intended to be. Validity involves dependability, which means, a valid measure must be reliable. But, reliability doesn’t have to link to validity, a reliable measure is not required to be valid. The difference between reliability and validity: †¢Reliability guesses the point to which an tool processes the same way each time it is used in under the same conditions with the same subjects. †¢Validity involves the point of accuracy of your measurement.For organiza tions like Tesco’s, validity is considered more important than reliability because if a process does not precisely measure what it is supposed to, there is no use of it and therefore it being reliable is useless. Costs are also an essential consideration for Tesco when carrying out market research, as they are required to take into consideration if they money spent is worth the research undertaken and its potential benefits to the product, as well as the organization. A lot of time, effort and money can be spent on market research and in the end the solution discovered might not be worth implementing.

The Return: Midnight Chapter 18

After breakfast Matt went online to find two stores, neither in Fel ‘s Church, that had the amount of clay Mrs. Flowers said she'd need and that said they'd deliver. But after that there was the matter of driving away from the boardinghouse and by the last lonely remains of where the Old Wood had been. He drove by the little thicket where Shinichi often came like a demonic Pied Piper with the possessed children shuffling behind him – the place where Sheriff Mossberg had gone after them and hadn't come out. Where, later, protected by magical wards on Post-it Notes, he and Tyrone Alpert had pul ed out a bare, chewed femur. Today, he figured the only way to get past the thicket was to work his wheezing junk car up by stages, and it was actual y going over sixty when he flew by the thicket, even managing to hit the turn perfectly. No trees fel on him, no swarms of foot-long bugs. He whispered â€Å"Whoa,†in relief and headed for home. He dreaded that – but simply driving through Fel ‘s Church was so horrible it glued his tongue to the top of his mouth. It looked – this pretty, innocent little town where he had grown up – as if it were one of those neighborhoods you saw on TV or on the Internet that had been bombed, or something. And whether it was bombs or disasterous fires, one house in four was simply rubble. A few were half-rubble, with police tape enclosing them, which meant that whatever had happened had happened early enough for the police to care – or dare. Around the burned-out bits the vegetation flourished strangely: a decorative bush from one house grown so as to be halfway across a neighbor's grass. Vines dipping from one tree to another, to another, as if this were some ancient jungle. His home was right in the middle of a long block of houses ful of kids – and in summer, when grandchildren inevitably came to visit, there were even more kids. Matt just hoped that that part of summer vacation was done†¦but would Shinichi and Misao let the youngsters go home? Matt had no idea. And, if they went home, would they keep spreading the disease in their own hometowns? Where did it stop? Driving down his block, though, Matt saw nothing hideous. There were kids playing out on the front lawns, or the sidewalks, crouching over marbles, hanging out in the trees. There was no single overt thing that he could put his finger on There was no single overt thing that he could put his finger on that was weird. He was Stilluneasy. But he'd reached his house now, the one with a grand old oak tree shading the porch, so he had to get out. He coasted to a stop just under the tree and parked by the sidewalk. He grabbed a large laundry bag from the backseat. He'd been accumulating dirty clothes for a couple of weeks at the boardinghouse and it hadn't seemed fair to ask Mrs. Flowers to wash them. As he got out of the car, pul ing the bag out with him, he was just in time to hear the birdsong stop. For a moment after it did, he wondered what was wrong. He knew that something was missing, cut short. It made the air heavier. It even seemed to change the smel of the grass. Then he realized. Every bird, including the raucous crows that lived in the oak trees, had gone silent. All at once. Matt felt a twisting in his bel y as he looked up and around. There were two kids in the oak tree right beside his car. His mind was Stillstubbornly trying to hang on to: Children. Playing. Okay. His body was smarter. His hand was already in his pocket, pul ing out a pad of Post-it Notes: the flimsy bits of paper that usual y stopped evil magic cold. Matt hoped Meredith would remember to ask Isobel's mother for more amulets. He was running low, and†¦ †¦and there were two kids playing in the old oak tree. Except they weren't. They were staring at him. One boy was hanging upside down by his knees and the other was gobbling something†¦out of a garbage bag. The hanging kid was staring at him with strangely acute eyes. â€Å"Have you ever wondered what it's like to be dead?†he asked. And now the head of the gobbling boy came up, thick bright red al around his mouth. Bright red – – blood. And†¦whatever was in the garbage bag was moving. Kicking. Thrashing weakly. Trying to get away. A wave of nausea washed over Matt. Acid hit his throat. He was going to puke. The gobbling kid was staring at him with stony black-as-a-pit eyes. The hanging kid was smiling. Then, as if stirred by a hot breath of wind, Matt felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It wasn't just the birds that had gone quiet. Everything had. No child's voice was raised in argument or song or speech. He whirled around and saw why. They were staring at him. Every single kid on the block was silently watching him. Then, with a chil ing precision, as he turned back to look at the boys in the tree, al the others came toward him. Except they weren't walking. They were creeping. Lizard-fashion. That's why some of them had seemed to be playing with marbles on the sidewalk. They were al moving in the same way, bel ies close to the ground, elbows up, hands like forepaws, knees splaying to the side. Now he could taste bile. He looked the other way down the street and found another group creeping. Grinning unnatural grins. It was as if someone was pul ing their cheeks from behind them, pul ing them hard, so that their grins almost broke their faces in half. Matt noticed something else. Suddenly they'd stopped, and while he stared at them, they stayed Still. Perfectly Still, staring back at him. But when he looked away, he saw the creeping figures out of the corner of his eye. He didn't have enough Post-it Notes for al of them. You can't run away from this. It sounded like an outside voice in his head. Telepathy. But maybe that was because Matt's head had turned into a roiling red cloud, floating upward. Fortunately, his body heard it and suddenly he was up on the back of his car, and had grabbed the hanging kid. For a moment he had a helpless impulse to let go of the boy. The kid Stillstared at him but with eerie, uncanny eyes that were half rol ed back in his head. Instead of dropping him, Matt slapped a Post-It Note on the boy's forehead, swinging him at the same time to sit on the back of the car. A pause and then wailing. The kid must be fourteen at least, but about thirty seconds after the Ban Against Evil (pocket-size) was smacked on him he was sobbing real kid sobs. As one, the crawling kids let out a hiss. It was like a giant steam engine. Hsssssssssssssssssssssss. They began to breathe in and out very fast, as if working up to some new state. Their creeping slowed to a crawl. But they were breathing so hard Matt could see their sides hol ow and fil . As Matt turned to look at one group of them, they froze, except for the unnatural breathing. But he could feel the ones behind him getting closer. By now Matt's heart was pounding in his ears. He could fight a group of them – but not with a group on his back. Some of them looked only ten or eleven. Some looked almost his age. Some were girls, for God's sake. Matt remembered what possessed girls had done the last time he'd met them and felt violent revulsion. But he knew that looking up at the gobbling kid was going to make him sicker. He could hear smacking, chewing sounds – and he could hear a thin little whistle of helpless pain and weak struggling against the bag. He whirled quickly again, to keep off the other side of crawlers, and then made himself look up. With a quiet crackle, the garbage bag fel away when he grabbed it but the kid held on to what was in – Oh my God. He's eating a baby! A baby! A – He yanked the kid out of the tree and his hand automatical y slapped a Post-It onto the boy's back. And then – then, thank God, he saw the fur. It wasn't a baby. It was too smal to be a baby, even a newborn. But it was eaten. The kid raised his bloody face to Matt's, and Matt saw that it was Cole Reece, Cole who was only thirteen and lived right next door. Matt hadn't even recognized him before. Cole's mouth was wide open in horror now, and his eyes were bulging out of his head with terror and sorrow, and tears and snot were streaming down his face. â€Å"He made me eat Toby,†he started in a whisper that became a scream. â€Å"He made me eat my guinea pig! He made me – why why why did he do that? I ATE TOBY!† He threw up al over Matt's shoes. Blood-red vomit. Merciful death for the animal. Quick, Matt thought. But this was the hardest thing he'd ever tried to do. How to do it – a hard stomp on the creature's head? He couldn't. He had to try something else first. Matt peeled off a Post-It Note and put it, trying not to look, on the fur. And just like that it was over. The guinea pig went slack. The spel had undone whatever had been keeping it alive up to this point. There was blood and puke on Matt's hands, but he made himself turn to Cole. Cole had his eyes shut tight and little choking sounds came from him. Something in Matt snapped. â€Å"You want some of this?†he shouted, holding out the Post-it pad as if it were the revolver he'd left with Mrs. Flowers. He whirled again, shouting, â€Å"You want some? How about you? You, Josh?†He was recognizing faces now. â€Å"You, Madison? How 'bout you, Bryn? Bring it on! You all bring it on! BRING IT – â€Å" Something touched his shoulder. He spun, Post-it Note ready. Then he stopped short and relief bubbled up in him like Evian water at some fancy restaurant. He was staring right into the face of Dr. Alpert, Fel ‘s Church's own country doctor. She had her SUV parked beside his car, in the middle of the street. Behind her, protecting her back, was Tyrone, who was going to be next year's quarterback at Robert E. Lee High. His sister, a sophomore-to-be, was trying to get out of the SUV too, but she stopped when Tyrone saw her. â€Å"Jayneela!† he roared in a voice only the Tyre-minator could produce. â€Å"You get back in and buckle up! You know what Mom said! You do it now!† Matt found himself clutching at Dr. Alpert's chocolate brown hands. He knew she was a good woman, and a good caretaker, who had adopted her daughter's young children when their divorced mother had died of cancer. Maybe she would help him, too. He began babbling. â€Å"Oh, God, I've gotta get my mom out. My mom lives here alone. And I have to get her away from here.†He knew he was sweating. He hoped he wasn't crying. â€Å"Okay, Matt,†the doctor said in her husky voice. â€Å"I'm getting my own family out this afternoon. We're going to stay with relatives in West Virginia. She's welcome to come.† It couldn't be this easy. Matt knew he had tears in his eyes now. He refused to blink, though, and let them come down. â€Å"I don't know what to say – but if you would – you're an adult, you see. She won't listen to me. She will listen to you. This whole block is infected. This kid Cole – â€Å"He couldn't go on. But Dr. Alpert saw it al in a flash – the animal, the boy with blood on his teeth and his mouth, Stillretching. Dr. Alpert didn't react. She just had Jayneela throw her a packet of Wet Wipes from the SUV and held the heaving kid with one hand, while vigorously scrubbing his face clean. â€Å"Go home,†she told him sternly. â€Å"You have to let the infected ones go,†she said to Matt, with a terrible look in her eyes. â€Å"Cruel as it seems, they only pass it on to the few who're Stillwell.†Matt started to tel her about the effectiveness of the Post-it Note amulets, but she was already cal ing, â€Å"Tyrone! Come over here and you boys bury this poor animal. Then you be ready to move Mrs. Honeycutt's things into the van. Jayneela, you do what your brother says. I'm going in for a little talk with Mrs. Honeycutt right now.† She didn't raise her voice much. She didn't need to. The Tyre-minator was obeying, backing up to Matt, watching the last of the creeping children that Matt's explosion hadn't scattered. He's quick, Matt realized. Quicker than me. It's like a game. As long as you watch them they can't move. They took turns being the watcher and handling the shovel. The earth here was hard as rock, heavy with weeds. But somehow they got a hole dug and the work helped them mental y. They buried Toby, and Matt walked around like some foot-dragging monster, trying to get the vomit off his shoes in the grass. Suddenly beside them there was the noise of a door banging open and Matt ran, ran to his mother, who was trying to heft a huge suitcase, much too heavy for her, through the door. Matt took it from her and felt himself encompassed in her hug even though she had to stand on tip-toes to do it. â€Å"Matt, I can't just leave you – â€Å" â€Å"He'l be one of those to get the town out of this mess,†Dr. Alpert said, overriding her. â€Å"He'l clean it up. Now we've got to get out so we don't drag him down. Matt, just so you know, I heard that the McCul oughs are getting out too. Mr. and Mrs. Sulez don't seem to be going yet, and neither do the Gilbert-Maxwells.†She said the last two words with a distinct emphasis. The Gilbert-Maxwells were Elena's aunt Judith, her husband Robert MaxWell, and Elena's little sister, Margaret. There was no real reason to mention them. But Matt knew why Dr. Alpert had. She remembered seeing Elena when this whole mess had started. Despite Elena's purification of the woods where Dr. Alpert had been standing, the doctor remembered. â€Å"I'l tel – Meredith,†Matt said, and looking her in the eyes, he nodded a little, as if to say, I'l tel Elena, too. â€Å"Anything else to carry?†Tyrone asked. He was encumbered by a canary birdcage, with the little bird frantical y beating its wings inside, and a smal er suitcase. â€Å"No, but how can I thank you?†Mrs. Honeycutt said. â€Å"Thanks later – now, everybody in,†said Dr. Alpert. â€Å"We are taking off.† Matt hugged his mother and gave her a little push toward the SUV, which had already swal owed the birdcage and smal suitcase. â€Å"Good-bye!†everyone was yel ing. Tyrone stuck his head out of the window to say, â€Å"Cal me whenever! I want to help!† And then they were gone. Matt could hardly believe it was over; it had happened so fast. He ran inside the open door of his house and got his other pair of running shoes, just in case Mrs. Flowers couldn't fix the smel of the ones he was wearing. When he burst out of the house again he had to blink. Instead of the white SUV there was a different white car parked beside his. He looked around the block. No children. None at al . And the birdsong had come back. There were two men in the car. One was white and one was black and they both were around the age to be concerned fathers. Anyway they had him cut off, the way their car was parked. He had no choice but to go up to them. As soon as he did they both got out of the car, watching him as if he was as dangerous as a kitsune. The instant they did that, Matt knew he'd made a mistake. â€Å"You're Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt?† Matt had no choice but to nod. â€Å"Say yes or no, please.† â€Å"Yes.†Matt could see inside the white car now. It was a stealth police car, one of those with lights inside, al ready to be fixed outside if the officers wanted to let you in on the secret. â€Å"Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt, you are under arrest for assault and battery upon Caroline Beula Forbes. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this right, anything you say can and wil be used against you in a court of law – â€Å" â€Å"Didn't you see those kids?†Matt was shouting. â€Å"You had to have seen one or two of them! Didn't that mean anything to you?† â€Å"Lean over and put your hands on the front of the car.† â€Å"It's going to destroy the whole town! You're helping it!† â€Å"Do you understand these rights – ?† â€Å"Do you understand what is going on in Fel ‘s Church?† There was a pause this time. And then, in perfectly even tones, one of the two said, â€Å"We're from Ridgemont.†

Multi Lateral Peace Operations essays

Multi Lateral Peace Operations essays When President Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993, he stressed a new policy concerning a revived United Nations and the actions that would be taken by the United States concerning the New World Order, a term coined by his predecessor George Bush depicting the post-Cold War international arena. Clinton had campaigned on the need for a multilateral organization to share costs and share risks of any peacekeeping venture. The Clinton Administration had made multilateralism a campaign issue and put it in the forefront of their foreign policy agenda. However, with the problems occurred during the initial trial period of this assertive multilateralism, exemplified by US military blunders in Somalia, Clinton and his advisors now found themselves questioning their own policies and preferences in foreign affairs especially in terms of multilateral peace operations. This case study delves into these issues and how Clinton and his administration sought answers to this problematic puzzle. The main operations of the United Nations are humanitarian relief efforts, peacekeeping by invitation and peace enforcement. The latter entails the most danger and conflict situations. These are soldiers trained to fight, not make peace. This is, and always will be, an enigma for those associated with peacekeeping operations. The same forces that are meant to keep the peace for a UN peacekeeping mission have been trained all their lives to make war, not peace. Your warmakers are your peacemakers. This will always cause confusion and disruption in any relief efforts involving peacekeeping operations. The case study attempts to explain the problems encountered during multilateral peace operations. Certain issues must first be addressed. The national interest of the United States is first and foremost. This is the key to making peace or to making war. The issue of whom is in command and who is in control is also an important factor as is the ti...

How to Do a Science Fair Project for School

How to Do a Science Fair Project for School Okay, you have a subject and you have at least one testable question. If you havent done so already, make sure you understand the steps of the scientific method. Try to write down your question in the form of a hypothesis. Lets say your initial question is about determining the concentration required for salt to be tasted in water. Really, in the scientific method, this research would fall under the category of making observations. Once you had some data, you could go on to formulate a hypothesis, such as: There will be no difference between the concentration at which all members of my family will detect salt in water. For elementary school science fair projects and possibly high school projects, the initial research may be an excellent project in itself. However, the project will be much more meaningful if you can form a hypothesis, test it, and then determine whether or not the hypothesis was supported. Write Down Everything Whether you decide on a project with a formal hypothesis or not, when you perform your project (take data), there are steps you can take to make the most of your project. First, write everything down. Gather your materials and list them, as specifically as you can. In the scientific world, it is important to be able to duplicate an experiment, especially if surprising results are obtained. In addition to writing down data, you should note any factors that could affect your project. In the salt example, it is possible that the temperature could affect my results (alter the solubility of salt, change the bodys rate of excretion, and other factors I might not consciously consider). Other factors you might note could include relative humidity, the  age of participants in my study, a list of medications (if anyone is taking them), etc. Basically, write down anything of note or potential interest. This information could lead your study in new directions once you start taking data. The in formation you take down at this point could make a fascinating summary or discussion of future research directions for your paper or presentation. Don't Discard Data Perform your project and record your data. When you form a hypothesis or seek the answer to a question, you probably have a preconceived idea of the answer. Dont let this preconception influence the data you record! If you see a data point that looks off, dont throw it out, no matter how strong the temptation. If you are aware of some unusual event that occurred when the data was being taken, feel free to make a note of it, but dont discard the data. Repeat the Experiment To determine the level at which you taste salt in water, you can keep adding salt to water until you have a detectable level, record the value, and move on. However, that single data point will have very little scientific significance. It is necessary to repeat the experiment, perhaps several times, to achieve significant value. Keep notes on the conditions surrounding a duplication of an experiment. If you duplicate the salt experiment, perhaps you would get different results if you kept tasting salt solutions over and over than if you performed the test once a day over a span of several days. If your data takes the form of a survey, multiple data points might consist of many responses to the survey. If the same survey is resubmitted to the same group of people in a short time span, would their answers change? Would it matter if the same survey was given to a different, yet seemingly, a  similar group of people? Think about questions like this and take care in repeating a project.

ECO202 - CA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ECO202 - CA - Essay Example 4. Compare the four countries regarding the Labor Market (Unemployment Rate). The analysis should only cover the period from the beginning of 2008 to the present, and make sure the most recent 2010 changes are addressed. This is a difficult part because instead of reporting and ranking the indicators you must look at them as a whole, in an analytic manner to arrive at conclusions: 5. After reviewing the recent economic indicators for these countries, which is the country that currently has the strongest economic recovery at the present time. Make certain you confine your choice to only one country. 6. What is your prediction about the economic health of the United States over the next 3 to 5 year period? Please confine your comments only to the US economy. The purpose of this paper is to provide an examination and analysis on economic indicators pertaining to United States, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The format that this paper will utilize is to answer the six questions t hat this paper outlined on the title page through analyzing the nations and then providing insight into the grand picture. 1) The purpose of this question is to provide a comparison of four countries based on output and growth (Real GDP) from the period of 2008 to the present. ... On the other side of the spectrum it could be argued that Japan spent the most amount of time as the lowest performer of the pack of nations, by being at the overall average lowest and reaching the most extreme negative points. Moreover the United Kingdom and the United States both seemed to spend the majority of the time somewhere in the middle (Never spending much time as the highest performer and lowest performers respectively). What can be stated that is that the economic downturn of the 2008-2010 season held a devastating effect on all of the nations with arguably Japan being the most strongly affected and Canada was left performing the best of all the nations. It should also be noted that Japan rebounded to the highest levels of all the nations but this seems to represent an over rebound and the nation has been quickly plummeting over the past year. 2) The purpose of this question is to examine the productivity (Output per worker) of the four nations. Upon early examination it is clear that all the nations seem to follow the same pattern, insofar as when there seems to be a significant tradeoff between which nation seems to hold the highest position. Every single nation held this position at least a few times, and what could be concluded from this is that no one nation seemed to have any sort of competitive advantage over another. However it is also the case that Japan recognized the most significant drop during the economic downturn. What this could arguably translate to is the idea that Japanese industries were more exposed to the effects of a significant depression. It could be that the industries that employed the most people in Japan produced goods or provided services that would

CRITICAL REVIEW OF TOURISM STUDIES ARTICLE Essay

CRITICAL REVIEW OF TOURISM STUDIES ARTICLE - Essay Example Utilising man's instinct to travel to make commercial sense has resulted in various governmental and tourism related entities vying for a share of the wallet. Since the penchant for real, genuine, authentic destinations are on the rise, many are being touted as such and aptly exhibited to trigger interests in the tourist. This is called "staging" and this has led to the loss of authenticity. This article deals with how there is a loss of authenticity of the destinations due to the necessity to conform to expectations as perceived by the tourists. "Staged authenticity" involves manipulation of local cultural phenomenon to cater to the expectations of tourists arriving there. This may be in the form of hosting shows to adding cultural expressions and cultural aspects of the local culture that closely align to creating an experience for the tourists. These shows may not necessarily be replicas of the original culture. Tourism can turn local cultures into commodities when religious rituals, traditional ethnic rites and festivals are reduced and sanitized to conform to tourist expectations, resulting in what has been called "reconstructed ethnicity." As long as tourists just want a glimpse of the local atmosphere, a quick glance at local life, without any knowledge or even interest, staging will be inevitable. It leans more towards creating that unique experience than preser ving local culture or involving the locals as a part of that culture and bringing the tourist into the unique world for a glimpse. However, this article also says that while these hyperactive contrived experiences may satisfy a postmodernism oriented tourist, it may fall short when a genuine authentic experience-seeking tourist is in contact with it. The article also argues that though it is important for the experience to be real, often even in the genuine historic sites, it is not possible to recreate accurately every aspect of the past. This is because the past is an immense entity of which we are fortunate to have a glimpse of certain pieces of the puzzle. We will never be able to comprehend in totality of what life was at that point in time. In addition, to make it more viewable to the public, it is often necessary to sanitize the site and provide basic amenities and odour removal so that the tourist is not turned off exploring it. Therefore a minimal amount of doctoring when the lines between the real and the "doctored" are almost invisible, the experience for the tourists is more authentic and satisfying. Once a destination is sold as a tourism product, and the branding of the destination starts duplicating an experience to the tourists that may or may not be exactly what the tourists want. Perception of an experience by the tourists is very individualistic and subjective. This is because each individual perceives an experience differently. While a few staged local shows and a photograph moment with the locals may be sufficient for a certain group of individuals as a long-term memory there are another set of tourists who are disappointed by the lack of true cultural aspects. In conclusion, the article stresses the following points. The definition of "authenticity" is by itself very subjective because how the scholar, researcher and the heritage manager visualize it may be different from how the tourist perceives it. While there are some of