Edward Taylor Essay

Living during the late 1600’s, Edward Taylor lived through a time of many hardships. With the constant battles between colonists and natives going on, he lived in fear of his home and life being in jeopardy. Yet, through this terrifying time, he wrote poetry that earned him the name of the best colonial poet. Some aspects that can be looked at of his writing are his style, subject matter, and tone. The first area of his writing is his style. Edward Taylor’s style consists of both easy to understand sentences, and a fluid happy word choice that shows the loving side of god. An example of his style is â€Å"Lord clear my misted sight that I May hence view they divinity†(Taylor). This sentence shows his focus on god and word choice, and comes from his piece â€Å"Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold†. The next area to go over of Taylor’s writing is his subject matter. The main aspects that he writes about are God and how he is gracious, and how he is evident in every day life events. This can be shown in the passage â€Å"My words, and actions, that their shine may fill My ways with glory and Thee glorify†(Taylor), from his writing â€Å"Huswifery†. He is very clear on what he wants to show and clear about his Puritan faith. Last of all the areas of Taylor’s writing is his tone. The tone of his pieces show a very happy and hoping attitude toward life. He clearly shows how he wants people to see the grace of go and how they can be forgiven, rather than the radical view of God’s wrath. This tone can be seen in the passage â€Å"Where all my pipes inspired upraise An heavenly music furred with praise† (Taylor), from his piece â€Å"Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold†. Edward Taylor goes down as a great colonial poet for a reason, and through his work that reason is easily seen. With aspects like style, subject matter, and tone, his writing is a crisp example of how to incorporate God into poetry in a hopeful matter. Everything about Taylor, from his childhood to his adult life, portrays his amazing character and strong love towards God. His writing has surely made the impact on people that he wanted of showing people Gods grace.

Branding Bangladesh Essay

We would always be available and ready to explain further any of the contexts whenever asked. Sincerely yours, Members of the Brainstormers Acknowledgements Any comprehensive work such as report making owes credit to multitude of people. Certainly, we should acknowledge the contributions of the pioneers in the field of marketing & branding, especially those whose teachings have become a part of our thinking. First we commit ourselves grateful to almighty Allah who gives us power and knowledge to complete the report. Then we acknowledge our honorable course teacher Rafiuddin Ahmed; who has opened the door of knowledge in front of us. Through the whole semester he has broaden our outlook in Pricing and related sector. Next we acknowledge the Writer of the book who has helped a lot by writing a core book on: Strategic Brand Management (3rd Edition) -Kevin Lane Keller Without the direct and indirect support of these dear people this report would not exist. Contents |Serial No. | Topic Name |Page no. | |1 |Introducing Sundarbans |12 | |2 Nation Branding |13 | |3 |Branding Bangladesh |13-14 | |4 |Why select Sundarbans |14 | |5 |Branding Sundarbans |15-18 | |6 |Main attractions |19-20 | |7 |Requirements and recommendations |21 | |8 |Key Development strategies for Branding Sundarbans |22-25 | |9 |Conlusion |26 | |10 |Reference |27 | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In our report, we have discussed about a very significant phenomenon and that is our country’s natural pride Sundarbans. No other thing is so important for our nation in branding our country than the one and only Sundarbans. It is our nation’s very much blessing from God that, he has given it upon us. Not only its natural beauty but also its natural resources have made us very resourceful. Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world and it was on the short list of the new natural Seven Wonders of the World. The most amazing matter about Sundarban is that, it is the only forest in the world where the Royal Bengal Tiger lives. This Bengal tiger is a very rare animal in the world and its now on the verge of extinction. Most part of the Sundarban is water covered area and that is why it is called mangrove forest. Bangladesh can easily brand this mangrove forest and could gain a lot of attention of the foreigners. As a UNESCO world heritage site, the government of Bangladesh can make this extraordinary forest much more attractive to the outside world especially to the westerners. This â€Å"Beautiful Forest† sundarbans is the thing that we can proud of very much. It can be the main attraction for the visitors who love forests. The beauty and natural resource of the Sundarbans can symbolize the natural beauty of Bangladesh. The name may have been derived from the  Sundari  trees (the mangrove species  Heritiera fomes) that are found in Sundarbans in large numbers. Tourism as an industry can have all grounds to contribute to the national exchequer along with other industries. Perhaps, it sounds quite new when it comes up as industry in our country but tourism is one of the oldest industries across the world. As we look into the growth of tourism in the region, we do come to see bewildering facts that many countries of this region those developed quite a lot in industry did not have substantial natural advantages to turn tourism into industry. Though Sundarban consists of two countries- Bangladesh and India, most part of it are located in the Bangladesh portion. And again most number of royal Bengal tiger also live in the Bangladesh part. For that reason, it can easily be a tourist attraction and thus could become a good tourist spot for the tourists all over the world. Introduction As a student of marketing, we have to acquire a thorough knowledge about nation branding and country image. As a result to brand our own country is a very big as well as effective effort for us to achieve that knowledge. Moreover, the worthwhile thing is that, Sundarbans could be a good area of interest for the foreigners to visit our country. The Sundarbans provides a unique ecosystem and a rich wildlife habitat. According to the 2011 tiger census, the Sundarbans have about 270 tigers. Although previous rough estimates had suggested much higher figures close to 300, the 2011 census provided the first ever scientific estimate of tigers from the area. The management of wildlife is presently restricted to, firstly, the protection of fauna from poaching, and, secondly, designation of some areas as wildlife sanctuaries where no extraction of  forest produce  is allowed and where the wildlife face few disturbances. Although the fauna of Bangladesh have diminished in recent times[  and the Sundarbans has not been spared from this decline, the mangrove forest retains several good wildlife habitats and their associated fauna. Of these, the tiger and dolphin are target species for planning wildlife management and tourism development. There is high profile and vulnerable mammals living in two contrasting environments, and their statuses and management are strong indicators of the general condition and management of wildlife. Origin As a marketing student it is necessary to know different tactics and policies available to the term of Branding. The main purpose of our report is to make it an efficient as well as well-concerned item for a branding manifesto in the criteria of nation branding. Our teacher Mr. Rafiuddin Ahmed has been very much concerned with our topic and helped us in every step to create this wonderful report. The most important aspect of this report is that it has the latest information about the country aspect, the natural resources allocation items, the forest related articles and much more. It is a report which consists of all the current stuffs about the nature, the scenario, the natural habitat issue related to Sundarbans. Mostly our report is based on the nation branding that means we are very much focused to brand our country by Sundarbans and it is our main view of making this report. Therefore the natural scenario and the tourist attraction are all covered in this report about the Sundarbans. The most general view of this report is that, if a general person reads this report, he or she could easily understand the branding in Bangladesh and its current market situation, position, relevance in our country. Many organizations and renowned personalities of the world have made their report according to this planning process. Therefore to make this report meaningful and acceptable, we have tried our best to do this work a perfect one. Objectives Every report has some objectives. There are one broad objective and some specific objectives in their respective field. Our report on ‘Sources of Nation Branding’ has some specific objectives and a broad objective. Broad objective To make Sundarbans as a major branding element for Bangladesh. Specific objectives: ? To know the branding aspects of Sundarbans. ? To know the current tourism situations. ? To explain the various branding ways to brand our nation. Methodology We prepared one third of our report from secondary sources. We collected all the required information from different reference books, journal and related papers. All the members of our group worked hard in seminar for preparing this report. We also followed our text book for collecting some necessary information. The sheets provided by our course teacher also helped a lot for preparing report. Limitations We face some specific problem while preparing this report. These problems created some barriers to go ahead. Those specific problems are – 1. We didn’t get enough time to prepare this report, that’s why we prepared the report in a hurry. 2. We also had some financial problems to prepare the report. 3. We didn’t get all the required materials for enhancing the report. Introducing Sundarbans Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO. Two third of the Sundarbans remain in Bangladesh and the rest of it are situated in the India. The name  Sundarban  can be literally translated as â€Å"beautiful forest† in the  Bengali language  (Shundor, â€Å"beautiful† and  bon, â€Å"forest†). The name may have been derived from the  Sundari  trees (the mangrove species  Heritiera fomes) that are found in Sundarbans in large numbers. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the name is a corruption of  Samudraban  Shomudrobon  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sea Forest†) or  Chandra-bandhe  (name of a primitive tribe). However, the generally accepted view is the one associated with  Sundari  trees. The history of the area can be traced back to 200–300 AD. A ruin of a city built by  Chand Sadagar  has been found in the Baghmara Forest Block. During the  Mughal  period, the Mughal Kings leased the forests of the Sundarbans to nearby residents. Many criminals took refuge in the Sundarbans from the advancing armies of Emperor  Akbar. Many have been known to be attacked by Tigers  Many of the buildings which were built by them later fell to hands of Portuguese pirates, salt smugglers and dacoits in the 17th century. Evidence of the fact can be traced from the ruins at Netidhopani and other places scattered all over Sundarbans. The legal status of the forests underwent a series of changes, including the distinction of being the first  mangrove  forest in the world to be brought under scientific management. The area was mapped first in Persian, by the  Surveyor General  as early as 1764 following soon after proprietary rights were confiscated from the  Mughal Emperor Alamgir II  by the  British  East India Company  in 1757. Since the British had no expertise or adaptation in mangrove forests. Systematic management of this forest tract started in the 1860s after the establishment of a Forest Department in the  Province  of  Bengal, in  British India. The management was entirely designed to extract whatever treasures were available, but labor and lower management mostly were staffed by locals. Nation Branding Nation Branding is the establishment of an image (internally and externally) for a country based on positive and relevant values and perceptions. Nation branding aims to measure build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied, such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasize their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state and the successful transference of this image to its exports – is just as important as what they actually produce and sell. This is also referred to as country-of-origin effect. Nation branding is still a developing field in which scholars continue their search for a unified theoretical framework. Many governments have resource dedicated to Nation Branding. Their aim is to improve their country’s standing, as the image and reputation of a nation can dramatically influence its success in attracting tourism receipts and investment capital; in exports; in attracting a talented and creative workforce and in its cultural and political influence in the world. Simon Anholt is widely considered to be the â€Å"founder†, â€Å"champion† and â€Å"instigator† of this concept and field of study and practice. Branding Bangladesh Like other countries, Bangladesh has started to brand her and trying to figure out the resources, capabilities, acumen in the related field. We have lots of scopes/opportunities; resources say novel laureates, historical places, longest beach in the world, culture, manpower, cuisine etc. Lack of proper branding initiative and expertise, we are lagging behind form the race of branding the country. Simon Anholt identifies 6 criteria for branding a nation. They are: 1. Tourism, 2. Exports, 3. Governance, 4. Investment ; immigration, 5. Culture and heritage and 6. People. Tourism sector Tourism sector has a lot of potentiality for branding. It can be our major criteria for branding. We can create a positive brand image about Bangladesh by branding our beautiful tourist area. Because most of the people when think about any country, the first visual image come to mind that the tourism place of the country. We have many place in the country which is full of natural beauty, they need to be properly advertised and maintained. Why Select Sundarbans We have the largest mangrove forest in the world. This is The Sundarbans. The Sundarbans over the years attracts adventurous forest product collectors, hunters, nature and wildlife lovers, researchers, and tourists. The beauty and natural resource of the Sundarbans can symbolize the natural beauty of Bangladesh. It has the unique beauty with the dazzling expanse of green, the blue heaven overhead meeting the horizon, the playful high tide and the ebb, the very smell of life in the air and the pristine sea beach. The Sundarbans play an important role in the economy of the southwestern region of Bangladesh as well as in the national economy. It is the single largest source of forest produce in the country. The forest has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1999. So, we select Sundarbans for Branding Bangladesh. Branding Sundarbans The word â€Å"brand† is widely used but unequally understood. Its meaning ranges from source country to consumer’s perception about a product. In today’s world, consumer perception gets more currency. If we put it simply, a brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of all these elements that is intended to identify the goods or services of a seller and differentiate them from competitors. According to marketing guru Philip Kotler, â€Å"Brand image is the set of beliefs consumers hold about a particular brand. † Simon Anholt, pioneer of nation branding, argues that brand is intangible because it has brand value as outlined in his book Brand New Justice. The brand value lies in the trust of a brand name for quality and reliability, a form of guarantee for its reputation, a promise the brand delivers and the service it provides to the consumers. An increasing importance of the symbolic value of products has led marketers and, consequently, policy makers of countries to leverage their products with distinctive characteristics of the country of origin. Here comes the concept of ‘place branding’. Dr Heather Skinner provides a comprehensive definition of place branding: â€Å"a place’s promotional activities, contextualized in the domain of marketing communications, marking the place with a distinct identity in the minds of the various target groups targeted by the incorporated place, from an inside-out approach, assuring the place’s multiple stakeholders, in partnership, manage and communicate the place’s brand identity to a wider world as they wished it to be presented. † The idea of nation branding is an extended form of ‘place branding’. Nation branding focuses on the nation as a whole — its people, culture and heritage, products and exports, investment, climate, tourism and so on. Bangladesh must take care of its own brand. This means that it must invest in its brand. It must manage and promote its brand. This is a task that must be taken by the government. The government has to take initiative to identify the full agenda of the country and mobilise the power. For this, the government needs to involve the key stakeholders. Participation in the branding process would encourage the stakeholders to promote the brand. The government, with a positive initiative, can get the willing support of other stakeholders. Every citizen and organization in a country would like to share a positive image of the country. A successful brand will represent the diverse. A good brand will take into account the inherent complexities and, at the same time, it will differentiate the nation from the others, putting it in the best light possible, without exaggeration or distortion. Bangladesh is a wonderful Country in the world. Bangladesh has many tourist spot. All spot are very attractive and well-known. Sundarban is one of them. It is more beautiful place for the Tourist. The largest mangrove forest in the World (140,000 ha). The World famous Royal Bengal Tiger’s homeland and about 400 tigers live in sundarban. About 30,000 wonderful spotted deer live in sundarban. There are many Tourist Spot in Sundarban. We have the largest mangrove forest in the world. This is The Sundarbans. It can be the main attraction for the visitors who love forests. The beauty and natural resource of the Sundarbans can symbolizes the natural beauty of Bangladesh. place. Our most of the tea garden is situated in Sylhet district. It can symbolize the beautiful image of Bangladesh. KATKA Katka is one of Heritage sites in Sunderban. In Katka there is a wooden watching tower of 40 ft. high from where you can enjoy the scenic beauty of Sundarban. A beautiful sea beach is there is Katka; you will enjoy while you are walking to go the beach from the watching tower. Verities birds are visible in Katka. Most beautiful place in sundarban. Kotka beach is truely magnificent. This sand track   is five km long. I heard   Kotka Beach is beautiful. But, it was more than beautiful. Moreover, it is built by nature and cared by nature. We were standing in front of Bay of Bengal and behind us there was the largest mangrove forest of the world. The weather was perfect to take a sea bath. We made a lot of joy while some other were too busy to keep the snaps of this beautiful place in a beautiful day. We   stayed there till noon and then slowly made a return walk through the mysterious jungle of Sundarban again. It was really a thrilling walk. If one are interested to go to kotka beach, you will find it  Ã‚  south-east of  Ã‚  Nilkamal  Ã‚  in the range of the Sundarbans. Usually it is convenient to start from the nearby island of Mongla (Khulna) by a variety of different boats, such as speedboats and cabin cruisers. The World famous Royal Bengal Tiger’s homeland and about 400 tigers live in sundarban. About 30,000 wonderful spotted deer live in sundarban. There are many Tourist Spot in Sundarban. Katka is one of Heritage sites in Sunderban. Katka a base for safaris, and well spot to see tigers and for bird-watching. Katka is well known for many rare and majestic wild animals. At Katka, one can see many precious wild animals right from tigers to deer and also varieties of birds and many kinds of monkeys. Here one can hear the natures’ music mixed with the wild fowls in the mornings and evenings. For those interested in wildlife trekking, the vast expanse of grassy meadows running from Katka to Kachikhali (Tiger Point) is an ideal route. Don’t miss this place if you are an adventurous tourist. HIRAN POINT This is another tourist spot in Sunderban. It is called the world heritage state. You can enjoy the beauty of wild nature and dotted dears walking and running in Hiron point. There is number of spot in sundarban. Hiron Point is another tourist spot in Sunderban. It is called the world heritage state. Hiron Point is a graceful spot, great for spotting tigers and other spectacular and rare wildlife animals. Also known as Nilkamal, it is well-known for tiger, deer, monkey, crocodiles and many precious birds. Often they are looking out there. This place attracts many tourists owing to its natural beauty and connate splendor. This is a place to have a look at the rare species of wild animals and birds, to be noted in the diary of bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts. Every visitors can Enjoy their time by watching this beautiful sinary of the nature. Here land and water meet in many novel fashions, Wildlife presents many a spectacle. No wonder, you may come across a Royal Bengal Tiger swimming across the streams or the crocodiles basking on the river banks. With the approach of the evening herds of deer make for the darking glades where boisterous monkeys shower Keora leaves from above for sumptuous meal for the former. For the botanist, the lover of nature, the poet and the painter this land provides a variety of wonder for which they all crave. Its  beauty  lies in its unique natural surroundings. MAIN ATTRACTIONS Wildlife photography including photography of the famous Royal Bengal Tiger, wildlife viewing, boating inside the forest will call recordings, nature study, meeting fishermen, wood-cutters and honey-collectors, peace and tranquility in the wilderness, seeing the world’s largest mangrove forest and the riverine beauty. FAMOUS SPOTS The main tourist spots in Sundarban are Karamjol, Katka, Kochikhali, Hiron point and Mandarbaria. Hiron Point (Nilkamal) for tiger, deer, monkey, crocodiles, birds and natural beauty. Katka for deer, tiger, crocodiles, varieties of birds and monkey, morning and evening symphony of wild fowls. Vast expanse of grassy meadows running from Katka to Kachikhali (Tiger Point) provides opportunities for wild tracking. Tin Kona Island for tiger and deer. KARAMJOL Karmajal is one of the wonderful visiting places in sundarban. To appreciate and to view the most cherished species of Bangladesh’s wildlife, thousands of visitors make their way to Karamjol, a ranger station deep in the forest that also serves as a deer-breeding center. Bangladesh has some exquisite wildlife species that are unique to the country, and Karamjol is one of the gateways to the majestic wildlife sanctuary, Sundarban. About karamjol: Karamjol is one of the gateways to the majestic wildlife sanctuary, Sundarban. ? Karamjol, a ranger station deep in the forest that also serves as a deer-breeding center. ? In the year 1966, the 38 500 square kilometers of Sundarban was declared a wildlife sanctuary . ? Hunting in this area is strictly prohibited and illegal. ? Karamjol is one the main tourist attraction point in shundarban. ? Every year thousands of visitors make their trip to karamjol. ? The preservation and conservation of rare and endangered species, such as the Royal Bengal Tigers, are the primary concern of this national park. Wildlife of karamjol the treasure of karamjol is its wildlife. t is a kind of the focal point for the tourists. here one can enjoy the true sprite of the amateur forest. here one can see many kinds of species from birds to crocodiles. The lists of wildlife are following thereby: 1. Mammal, 2. Insect. 3. Bird species (260 species). 4. Reptiles and fish (120 species). 5. Wildlife enthusiast can look forward to viewing River Dolphins. 6. Salt-Water Crocodiles. 7. Deer. 8. Wild boar. 9. Ducks. 10. Sandpipers. 11. Moths. 12. Monkeys. 13. Snakes. 14. Foxes. 15. And the ever elusive and graceful Royal Bengal Tiger. Requirements and Recommended Items The requirements to make a trip to karamjol are quite easy and hassle free. they are following thereby: Visitors who are elicited in catching a glimpse of the breathtaking wildlife of Bangladesh at Karamjol and Sundarban must first gain permission from the Forest Officer before entering the forest. ? And vaccines against Cholera must be taken before leaving for Karamjol. ? Other recommended items for the trip include dressing according to the tropical climate. ? boots with rubber soles or comfortable walking shoes ? Adequate drinking water. ? Insect repellent. ? A medical kit. ? Anti-diarrhea medication. ? And ant-malarial medication is also proposed. Karamjol and the breathtaking natural world of the Sundarban Wildlife Sanctuary await the adventurous traveler. To stand in one of the world’s largest mangrove belts, the mysterious forests and swamp land, and be amidst he picturesque jungle of Bangladesh, is an experience that will stay forever embedded in the hearts of those who come to explore Bangladesh. DUBLAR CHOR Bangladesh is a wonderful country. Along with sky touching hills and forests there are a lot of majestic beaches and islands. Dublar chor is one of them. This island is an awesome place for visitors. This beautiful little island can be found on the southern border of the Sundarbans. It looks onto the magnificent bay of bangle, providing visitors with some outstanding views. It can be said that Dublar Chor is like paradise in the Bay of Bengle. Around 50,000 individuals stop here every year. Many of these visitors are local, but each year more and more foreigners seem to be added t o the mix. One of the main reasons that so many people make the trip out to Dublar Char annually is because it is the best location to celebrate Rash Mela and holy bath. This Hindu festival is based on the meeting of Radha and Krishna a pairing which is celebrated by a three-day long annual festival. The tradition dates back more than 200 years and is incredibly exciting for both local and international visitors . The island is beautiful and awesome†- that’s what I can say about the Dublar Char. The beach Is a nice one. And the water is like glass. Most important thing is that there is no  pollution  in the island. All are built by nature and taken care of by nature. Forest is very near and you can feel it. | | | | | | Dublar Char, a beautiful island known for its picturesque scenes, is famous for fishing and is a place for fishermen with abundant of fish fauna. One can enjoy the fishing here, The Island has all the natural beauty of any of the world renowned Islands. It is an attractive island where herds of spotted deer are often seen to graze. A casual walk around the Island provides the tourist with the chance of spotting many wild animals. With water all around and with lots of fish fauna, Dublar Char offers unique experience to the enthusiastic visitors. Key Development strategies for Branding Sundarbans 1. Establishing Priority Zones: Overall development of tourism in a country is a huge task that should be a coordinated effort while stakeholders, both public and private one, must reach a consensus in designing and creating priority zones for tourism in Bangladesh. Selecting priority zones is something that needs special focus and consideration from different sectors like Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism in collaboration with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Forest and Environment, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, different Chambers of Commerce & Industries, and interested corporate houses. To present an international standard Tourism Site, we not only have to take soft policies but also have to take hard policies as well. We ought to realize and believe that Branding for Sundarbans for the international visitors needs to understand the nature of available Tourism facilities they are interested in. 2. Marketing Mix Strategy: For any commercial venture appropriate marketing mix can play a dominating role along with other relevant mechanisms. When it comes to marketing mix for Sundarbans, the concept of marketing mix has to be understood in a way that the industry can become objectively profit oriented by using all its competitive advantages. The 7P’s, that is – Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical Evidence, of the marketing mix needs to pragmatically be considered to create effective market oriented customer services that can attract the local and international customers. There are sea, hill, historical and cultural tourism products in Bangladesh. That is why the nature of marketing strategy or product strategy should comply with the regions and its vicinity. Tourism as an invisible sector especially international tourism, as one of the most vibrant indistinguishable export sectors, get significant amount of foreign exchange to the balance of payment and makes very important contribution to the economic growth of a country (Hossain 2006). Tourism is regarded as an invisible export because it has the potential to bring foreign exchange to a country, through the provision of services to overseas visitors (Davidson 1994). 3. Branding Bangladesh as a Largest Mangrove Forest: In order to promote any country as tourist destination the collective efforts from the different stakeholders are mandatory because the bigger success of the promotion abroad depends on creating and presenting a very positive image of the country where the role of branding plays a definitive performance. So far as our tourism experiences are concerned our biggest fallout in tourism is lack of brand image. Briton (1979) in his article â€Å"the image of the third world in tourism marketing† pointed out the inability of the tourism industry to represent destinations as real places and noted that the third world destinations are portrayed as paradise, unspoiled, sensuous, mystical and/or exotic and these types of representation affect tourists’ expectations and behavior. As a result, branding Tourism in Bangladesh is a part of Branding Bangladesh as a nation, what means that Bangladesh should be branded first as a nation so that the products of the Bangladesh can be placed in the other parts of the world. Baker (2007) argues that creating a brand that is going to stand out from competitors, resonate with customer needs, and gain the support of local stakeholders requires patience, vision, collaboration, and strategic thinking. This is the high time for us to have a collective branding approach for Bangladeshi products abroad in general and for tourism in Bangladesh in particular. 4. Communications Strategy: Communication means a total sum of different facilities provided by roads and transports, power and energy, telecom and ICT based communication and so on. When the question of branding Bangladesh comes to the table of discussion, ur strategists both private and public ones should have a comparative picture of our communications with our neighborin g countries. Our roads and transport system cannot meet the global standard. Most of the roads of inter-district communications have been suffering from severe damage and maltreatment, for example, one passenger has to take about 7- 9 hours from Dhaka to Khulna. About 95% of the foreign airlines don’t cover any destinations of the country rather than Dhaka. The domestic flights between Dhaka and other destinations are not hassle free. World Wide Web creates a new avenue for a number of new players into the tourism marketplace. Internet as a main distribution mechanism for direct contact is the noteworthy creation. A well-organized, informative, easily accessible attractive website needs to be designed to pull the tourists. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the prime criteria here to make the browser hit the particular website. Better communication will increase the number of domestic tourists as well as overseas tourists. 5. Accommodation Strategy Developing unique accommodation facilities is an integral part of total tourism approach. What has to be stated here is that accommodation facility for tourism industry must be designed in different tiers. In addition, establishment of food shops and restaurants should also focus on income level of the different tourists. Here we want to state that local administration and business body should come forward to control this malpractice. In order to attract international tourists, some accommodation facilities should have all kind of services that are making available by our competitors. 6. Role of Financial Institutions: Tourism has yet to be recognized as an industry in our country. To establish or to recognize a concern as industry different organs of the society, business and government should frame a uniform code of policies where the role of financial institutions is in the front line. Short, medium and long-term project-financing needs to be made available to boost need-based portfolio investment in tourism sector. So, financial institutions, different business organizations and potential investors of this sector might develop a joint working policy to turn tourism into a full-fledged industry where concerned backward and forward linkage industries are equally treated as inevitable part of tourism advancement in Bangladesh. 7. Safety and Security Strategy Many of our tourist places happen to be quite vulnerable to security concerns. Most people believe that effective vigilance by the security agencies play vital role in maintaining security. In some cases, it is true that law enforcing authority can ensure safety and security. On the other hand, if we look into causes of the insecurity in one place, surprisingly it is found that most miscreants and trouble makers are from the locality. Consequently, moral, ethical and cultural upliftment of the local people, to a large extent, is the fundamental and sentinel for ensuring security of tourists. In the same vein, some quarters think that formation and the deployment of especial security force, which may realistically be called â€Å"Tourist Police†, can provide substantial security benefit along with regular security agencies. For example, an specialized police (Beach Police) are already in operation in Cox’s Bazaar but what has to be in the front line is that they need to be equipped so as to withstand against any disturbance from any quarter on beaches. Tourism as an industry can have all grounds to contribute to the national exchequer along with other industries. Perhaps, it sounds quite new when it comes up as industry in our country but tourism is one of the oldest industries across the world. As we look into the growth of tourism in the region, we do come to see bewildering facts that many countries of this region those developed quite a lot in industry did not have substantial natural advantages to turn tourism into industry; however, they for example, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore took effective and rational strategies to establish tourism as industry. At the same time, many countries of this region have earned considerable trust and financial benefit out of their tourism. Bangladesh as a country having enormous natural facilities and being at cross section of the land can be an illustrious destination of tourism. To make Bangladesh so, effective tourism strategies and contemporary product mix have no alternative. Therefore, categorization and segmentation of tourism product remain a challenging issue for our concerned strategies. As we understand, Bangladesh has dedicated room to develop tourism in the areas of hill, sea, history and culture. Concl usion The Sundarbans area is one of the most densely populated in the world, and the population is increasing. As a result, half of this ecoregion’s mangrove forests have been cut down to supply fuelwood and other natural resources. Despite the intense and large-scale exploitation, this still is one of the largest contiguous areas of mangroves in the world. Another threat comes from deforestation and water diversion from the rivers inland, which causes far more silt to be brought to the estuary, clogging up the waterways. A new Khulna Forest Circle was created in Bangladesh back in 1993 to preserve the forest, and Chief Conservators of Forests have been posted since. The direct administrative head of the Division is the Divisional Forest Officer, based at Khulna, who has a number of professional, subprofessional and support staff and logistic supports for the implementation of necessary management and administrative activities. The basic unit of management is the compartment. There are 55 compartments in four Forest Ranges and these are clearly demarcated mainly by natural features such as rivers, canals and creeks. The Sundarbans plays an important role in the economy of the southwestern region of  Bangladesh  as well as in the national economy. It is the single largest source offorest produce  in the country. The forest provides raw materials for wood based industries. In addition to traditional forest produce like timber, fuelwood, pulpwood etc. large scale harvest of non wood forest products such as thatching materials,honey, bees-wax, fish, crustacean and mollusk resources of the forest takes place regularly. The vegetated tidal lands of the Sundarbans also function as an essential habitat, produces nutrients and purifies water. The forest also traps nutrient and sediment, acts as a storm barrier, shore stabilizer and energy storage unit. Last but not the least, the Sunderbans provides a wonderful aesthetic attraction for local and foreign tourists.

Why Marjane Satrapi Graphic Form

Why Marjane Satrapi chose to tell her story Persepolis in the graphic form The graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi was written in the graphic medium to appeal to a wider audience. Literary critic, Manuela Constantino, proposes that â€Å"the combination of a visual representation and a child’s point of view makes the story easily accessible and therefore attracts a wide range of readers. † (Constantino, 2008: 2) Another plausible reason for Satrapi's choice to do the novel in this medium is the apparent popularity graphic novels enjoyed at the point of the memoir’s publication.Writing the novel graphically, brings the Middle Eastern novel closer to its Western readers. As Constantino wrote; Satrapi emphasizes â€Å"the universal qualities of her child narrator and the details of her experiences that would be familiar to her Western readers. † (Constantino, 2008: 2) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi in the graphic form deems effective because it is writ ten in a form that is recognizable to her target readers, written in somewhat a ‘universal’ language. Satrapi chose to tell her story in the graphic form to better connect with her readers. It is apparent that Satrapi’s targeted audience are mainly Western Christians.Over forty percent of the world’s population who practice a religion are Christians. The religious stature of the main characters made the novel accessible to its non Muslim readers. Being able to observe Christians in a predominantly Islamic country, opens a window to a life Satrapi's readers could only dare to imagine. A world where u are told what to believe and what to think. It is therefore logical to target the sensitive majority of the population to educate about the Iranian political struggle and to get her story across. The novel in itself is about driving away the West from the conservative Iranian nation.Driving away the things her targeted readers consider their norm. Westerners an d others around the world try to â€Å"seek insight into a country and a nation that have been deemed â€Å"evil† and an imminent threat to Western society. † (Malek, 2006: 10) To aid the West in its quest to â€Å"seek insight† into the nation of Iran, Satrapi wrote the novel in a medium that is very closely related to and very familiar in the Western culture. As demonstrated in: â€Å"†¦ They found records and videocassettes at their place, a deck of cards, a chess set. In other words, everything that’s banned. The scene leads the reader to feel unwanted and driven off alongside Marji, an Iranian who embraces the reader’s culture as demonstrated in page one hundred and twenty six , from her Iranian world. The reader and Marji form a special bond – they become a unit. This common ground builds a stronger connection between Marji and the reader leading the audience to feel a stronger form of empathy towards the child, as they are now p art of the cultural issue.Satrapi also chose to relate socio-political issues, conflict and loss to Arabic writing; as demonstrated in page eighty seven, in the panel where in two women are arguing. Satrapi, 2003) Their banter is written in a language unfamiliar to her targeted readers leading the reader to classify fighting and arguments as foreign and that the very presence of these women and their conflict is alienating. Another instance is when Pardisse reads her letter to her dead father, a letter written in the same foreign writing – grief is then related to this alien language. (Satrapi, 2003: 86) And on page one hundred and thirty two, in the panel where The Guardians of the Revolution (women’s branch) were introduced, one will observe the same unreadable writing resembling Arabic on their vehicle. Satrapi, 2003) Her use of all these subtle details in the graphic aspect of the novel adds to the effectiveness of the medium in that it forces the reader to lose al l sense of familiarity with the antagonistic characters. The visual aspect of this novel aided in Satrapi’s depiction of Marji as someone who embraces the western culture, the reader's culture, with the familiar images of Nike sneakers, jeans, jean jackets, and chocolates, as well as Kim Wilde and Iron Maiden songs. (Satrapi, 2003: 126) This brings another dimension to the relationship between Marji and her readers.Writing the novel in graphic form brings the Middle Eastern graphic novel closer to its Western neighbours because it is in a medium that is recognizable in the West. In addition, Satrapi’s depiction of Muslim leaders as â€Å"uneducated, primitive, and narrow-minded brutes† strengthens her connection with her Western readers whose perception of Muslim extremists might indeed be quite similar to the one crafted in the autobiography. (Constantino, 2008: 4) The novel Persepolis is effective because it was written to please a specific type of community.I t uses language and cultural barriers in the illustrations and text to further separate the reader from the antagonists. â€Å"Satrapi’s Persepolis appeared, significantly, at a time when memoirs have been experiencing a great surge of popularity. † (Malek, 2006: 8) The time of the publication of the memoir deemed critical to its success. It was published around the time where graphic novels were coined â€Å"the most important narrative mode of our contemporary culture. † (Miller, 2000: 421) It shared the lime light with other graphic novels, the likes of Craig Thompson’s â€Å"Blankets† and Joe Sacco’s â€Å"The Fixer†. Time, 2003) Satrapi chose the perfect time to debut her graphic memoir as she was able to ride ‘the literary high’ comics were experiencing at that point in time. A probable reason why Satrapi chose to tell her story in the graphic medium is the effectiveness and popularity of graphic novels at the point of the novel’s publication. Writing the novel in graphic form and through the eyes of a child allows the issue to be digested with fewer objections by the reader. The novel written through the eyes of a child makes it easier for the reader to comprehend the situation.It gives the story a comedic approach to a devastating period in Iranian history. â€Å"Readers of all ages can identify with the child, feel for her, and learn with her about the complexities of national and international politics. †(Constantino, 2003: 4) The connection shared between Marji and the reader strengthens their bond and heightens the effectiveness of the story. It is a medium closely related to fun. Writing the novel in graphic form ‘dumbs down’ the brutality of the whole situation. A frame on page fifty two illustrates Ahmadi’s gruesome fate in prison: chopped into several pieces. Satrapi, 2003) Another panel depicting the same kind of ‘turned down' brutality is a s cene on page seventy six where a woman is being stabbed on the leg. These otherwise gruesome scenes can be better understood because the reader can look at it, take it as it is, and envy the child’s innocence and simplistic thought process. Constantino adds: â€Å"The text is easily accessible and seemingly transparent. It makes many people feel that they are educating themselves while they are being entertained.† Although the text might seem, in a way due to its graphic medium, juvenile, its purpose is to educate and tell an ‘untold story. Some might argue that depicting critical situations such as the Islamic Revolution in a form of graphic medium takes away the severity of the circumstances however; it can definitely be counter argued by the undeniable phrase ‘it’s so simple it works. ’ The visual element allows her to include the offstage action as part of the main narrative flow. Instead of having to impart information as separate inciden ts, where its impact is reduced by removing it from the context of the story, we see things as they happen, increasing the emotional mpact of the moment. The directness of her work allows her to do two things excellently: to distinguish between individuals easily with just small strokes of the pen and make her depiction of horrors, death, torture, and anguish, emotionally realistic without being graphic or gruesome. Persepolis was written in the graphic form to create a stronger connection with the material and its readers. Persepolis is a powerful story about a person’s struggle for self identity.The different occurrences in Marji’s life that define her for who she is was written in the graphic medium to make it easier for her audience to connect with her as people in search of who they are. Writing the novel in graphic form offers a sense of familiarity with Satrapi’s targeted Western audience. It brings the unfamiliar Iranian world, issues and their tradition s closer to the West’s classification of ‘normal’. It uses religion (specifically Christianity) in illustration and text to even deepen the connection between Marji and her audience. It forms a common ground, a sense of belonging to the same movement.It is also plausible that one of the reasons why the novel was written in the graphic form was to ride the growing popularity of comics at that particular point in time. Publishing the graphic novel to a community who openly accept comics as a form of sophisticated literature presented an opportunity for the novel to succeed. And lastly, it was written in graphic text to make it easier for the reader to comprehend the situation as these instances don’t usually happen to her targeted Western audience. It makes watching people die a little bit more bearable as it is depicted in a way that a child might perceive death.Satrapi choosing to tell her story in the form of a graphic novel not only shows us how far that medium has come as a means of expression, but allows us a glimpse into a world that few of us know anything about.Word Count: 1707 Citation Arnold, Andrew. â€Å"The Best and Worst: 2003. † Time. November 13 2010. Website. ;lt; http://www. time. com/time/bestandworst/2003/comics. html;gt; Malek, Amy. â€Å"Memoir as Iranian Exile Cultural Production: A Case Study of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Series. † Iranian Studies: Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies 39. 3 (2006): 353-380. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. Print. Manuela Costantino. â€Å"Marji: Popular Commix Heroine Breathing Life into the Writing of History. † Canadian Review of American Studies 38. 3 (2008): 429-447. Project MUSE. Cameron Library, Edmonton, AB. 17 Aug. 2010. Website. ;lt;http://muse. jhu. edu/;gt; Nancy Miller, â€Å"But Enough About Me, What Do You Think of My Memoir? † Yale Journal of Criticism 13, no. 2 (2000): 421. Print. Satrapi , Marjane. Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books. 2003. Print â€Å"World Religions. † The World Almanac and Book of Facts  ©2010. 2010. Print.

What are the factors leading to child labor Thesis

What are the factors leading to child labor - Thesis Example .States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the childs education, or to be harmful to the childs health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development (Child labor, 2013)." Economic activity conducted by an individual less than 15 years of age, constitutes child labor. This definition of child labor has been provided by the ILO. Some examples of child labor that can be regarded as beneficial are; moderate work after school or engagement in legitimate apprenticeship. Instances of these being contributing to the family business or working on a farm that belongs to the family. Instances of child labor that have a damaging effect are those that prevent proper attendance at school, and which prove to be hazardous to the mental and physical health of the child (United Nations, n.d.). A definition provided by the ILO, regarding child labor, is that it is work that renders children bereft of their childhood, dignity, potential, and which harms their physical and mental development. In addition, the ILO describes child labor as work that is mentally, morally, physically, or socially harmful and dangerous to children. Another major disadvantage with child labor is that it adversely affects the schooling of children (Nam, 2013, p. 524). This transpires due to children engaged in child labor being deprived of the opportunity to attend school, causing them to leave school prematurely, or compelling them to endeavor to combine attendance at school with unduly time-consuming and heavy work. In addition, the Convention on the Rights of the Child describes a child as individuals whose age is less than 18 years. As such, children can take part in labor. Moreover, every form or work done by children, does not constitute child labor. Work can exercise a beneficial influence upon children, as

Titanic Film Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Titanic Film - Movie Review Example The paper tells that in the movie â€Å"Titanic† each scene, irrespective of the situation, you would be swept off your feet, seeing its beauty. A typical example of mere creation would be the scene which shows the ships logo. The movie opens with a sepia tone scene of the first voyage of the ship. Slowly as the camera covers the entire ship, it shows that Titanic is the most elegant, grandest and beautiful ship to be ever made on the face of the earth. It shows how majestically it floats in the mighty Atlantic Ocean, even the smoke churning out of the tall smoke towers on the top of the ship, and with the most soulful hymns, to add icing on the cake. She simply becomes the metaphor for Eden, sailing in the ocean of blue. Slowly we see the title, ‘TITANIC’, which appears over dark waters, which eventually speaks of her story, in the same way as Eden, as she will also fall into the darkness of the water. ‘I’m flying’. This happens to be the most beautiful and memorable scene in this movie. Who could ever forget the scene when Jack and Rose stand on the frontest tip of the mighty ship and opens their arms wide, and feel like they are flying. Everything was perfect in this scene, the sun setting, the beautiful hymns of ‘Every Night In My Dreams’, Rose’s clothes and hair symbolizing her freedom, which she is beginning to move into, and the words that she says, â€Å"I Trust You†, to Jack. These aspects make it one of the most beautiful romantic scenes in the history of Hollywood.

No topic Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

No topic - Term Paper Example Our hospital provides our patients with 24/7 psychological support. Moreover, there is a perfect opportunity for family members to take part in these meetings and see positive results of our help. In spite of our efforts, there are some complaints from our patients. We clearly realize that they suffer from constant pain and depression and that is why we would like to apologize for making you and your mother worry. We can assure you that we do our best to make our patients feel comfortable in the process of treatment. We can solve this problem together and work in the name of good emotional conditions of our patients. We would like to invite you to visit meetings and trainings, which are free of charge and available for family members of our patients at any convenient time. Programs of support â€Å"Trust me†, â€Å"We hear you†, â€Å"We shall overcome† are available online at www.wakemed. com. You can contact me via email or by cell phone, which I specified on my visit card you have. We are looking forward to cooperation, understanding and help from you. Let’s help your mother live through this difficult period in her life

How Mercedes Benz, a division of Daimler AG has applied its marketing Essay

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New product Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

New product - Research Paper Example This pricing strategy allows the business to attract customers through using persuading the customers emotionally in terms of the pricing messages (Schlag & Schade, 2003). The business set the prices of their offerings at prices points that seem unusual which makes the customers feel that the prices offered are los. For instance, more consumers will go for the products with prices set at $29.99 rather than $30. This pricing strategy will attract the customers who usually look for value of the product. The preference of this method is due to the chance that if gives to the business allowing it to attract more customers without changing the content of the product. This pricing strategy allows the business to adjust pricing in favor of the customers with reference to variety of circumstances. The differential pricing may come in form of discounts coupons or rebates. The discounts will increase the number of customer since it attracts those who might not be able to afford the original price. The differential pricing serves as a form of incentive to the customer since it relieves them of the supposed high prices. This is a pricing strategy used by firms, which would like to sell different products in the same product range and at different prices points based on the features and benefits (Smith, 2012). It is suitable for the business since it would like to offer mobile grooming services that always come with multiple products. Mobile grooming is the primary while other product arises from this such as maintaining friendly environment for the pets. This strategy is suitable for Pyramid Solution business since it involves the firm being flexible in their prices (Smith, 2012). This pricing strategy allows the business to reduce the price of offering in the quest of attracting customers. It applies to almost all existing industries hence it will be suitable for the business. Road transport involves the use of the motorway network to transport goods to

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Enhancing IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks Essay Example for Free

Enhancing IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks Essay Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless network is a very important standard especially today that wireless technologies are very popular due to its effectiveness and usefulness. However, the standard supports the use of omni-directional antenna which radiates and receives signals in all directions that does not support spatial reuse and does not have high capacity and gain. Research studies show the benefits and advantages of using directional antennas instead of omni-directional antenna in wireless networks. Spatial reuse and high capacity are both very important especially today that the wireless networks are increasingly deployed due to the demand and needs of the users. But, as mentioned, IEEE 802.11 supports the utilisation of omni-directional antenna and not of directional antenna, thus to be able for directional antenna to be at its optimal use, the IEEE 802.11 protocols must be amended to be able to address problems associated with the use of directional antenna. Directional antenna or directivity of an antenna can be created using antenna elements that are combined to form an array. Smart antennas which are becoming popular today have achieved directivity due to the techniques employs with it. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to technological development in data and telecommunications during the past years, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of the United States developed standards and guidelines to ensure orderly transfer of information between two or more data communication systems using different equipment with different needs. Standards and protocols are useful in ensuring that equipments such as computers, mobile phones, and communication devices from different manufacturers and providers have established compatibility and interoperability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, due to rapid technological development and introduction of newer technologies brought about by the increasing demands and needs of users, some standards are needed to be enhanced and improved. This is because as newer technologies are created, more and more data are needed to be transmitted requiring more capacity for the existing infrastructures. If standards and protocols are not improved, existing communication infrastructures will only have limited capacity causing serious problems such as interference and slow speed. People nowadays always demand for real-time communication of various data such as video, audio, pictures and multimedia. Background   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most innovative technologies today has been the wireless communication technology. Wireless technology encompasses the use of television and radio, mobile phones, wireless internet connection and computing system which are all very important for communication needs, eliminating the need for cables and wires and making possible the communication even in the remotest areas as along as there is available signal. WLANs increased the degree of mobility which are not possible using the conventional local area networks. In mobile phone communication alone, development has been tremendous that from analogue to GSM, now comes the 3G and 4G mobile systems. In the internet technology, connections have developed from ISDN to dial-up to DSL and now Wireless LAN which is very popular today. Communication between computers and mobile phones are also now possible with the GPRS technology.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These technologies are primarily intended for easy and real-time communication brought about by fast-paced lifestyle of people and also because of globalization. Mobile data and communications have become important for personal, professional, and business use. Because there are so many manufacturers and service providers from different locations, and also because of the popularity of these technologies, the IEEE developed the IEEE 802.11 which is a standard particularly intended for Wireless Local Area Networks. However, as WLAN experienced development and are improved, the IEEE 802.11 is also needed to be enhanced to be able for WLANs to be at their optimum performance. Additionally, because of the many uses and demands for WLAN, it has been increasing deployed causing interference between transmissions. Interference in data communications is a serious problem for it caused delay of transmission and alterations or distortion of signals that caused unreliable, unclear and error in messages received. The use of directional antenna is a well known method to reduce interference and to increase the range and capacity of wireless networks (Zhu et al, 2005). However, the IEEE 802.11 is not designed for the use of directional antennas. This project which is focused on the enhancement of the IEEE 802.11 using directional antennas and multiple receivers is important to be able to determine in-depth what improvement and advantages can directional antennas and multi-receivers can contribute to the current IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks standard. Literature Review   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This part of this proposal reviews literatures that describe the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard in details to be able to determine the needs for the enhancement of the standard. The literature review also provides earlier research about the functions and advantages of directional antennas This review is a brief discussion providing an overview of the detailed review of literatures that will be provided in the chapters of the research study. 3.1. The IEEE 802.11 Wireless Network Standard   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aside from promoting interoperability, the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless network was created to deliver services that were previously found only in wired networks but have been found out to be possible using wireless networks; to achieve high throughput; for highly reliable data delivery; and for continuous network connection (Ergen, 2002). As a standard, the IEEE 802.11 established the network architecture, components, type of equipments and set of services offered that must be complied with by wireless network administrators and providers. These are also known as the physical layer and that IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard provides a number of physical layer options in terms of data rates, modulation types and spreading spectrum techniques (Ergen, 2002). This means that the medium, the path that the signal transmitted and received via the WLAN, the range, location, frequency to be used and the type of antenna to be used are all determined by the IEEE 802.11 standard. IEEE 802.11 does not only specify the physical layer characteristics but also the link layer protocol for medium access in broadcast channels (Dham, 2003). The medium access control protocol is designed for the specified physical layer characteristics thus any changes made in the physical layer also requires significant alterations in the MAC protocol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The MAC layer of the standard defines two different access modes: the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and the Point Coordination Function (PCF) (Xu Saadawi, 2003). DCF is a mechanism which is a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance. The standard allows the use of a basic access method or an optional handshake which is done by exchanging Request to Send (RTS) and Clear to Send (CTS) messages which are also the frame sent from the source to the destination and an acknowledgement from the destination that the frame was received correctly (Erger, 2005). These frames or control packets contain the proposed duration of data transmission while nodes or stations within the vicinity of communicating nodes overhear either of these control packets and suspend transmission for this proposed duration (Choudhury et al, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This process unable the nodes or devices to communicate directly with all other devices and for a wireless device to be able to transmit and receive at the same time thus the IEEE 802.11 MAC implements a network allocation vector (NAV) which is a value that indicates to a station the amount of time that remains before the medium becomes available (Erger, 2005).   With this standard, directional antenna is obviously not utilised because in using directional antennas, it is possible to carry out multiple transmissions in the same neighbourhood provided that the beamwidth of the directional transmissions is not very large (Choudhury et al, 2002). 3.2. The Directional Antenna   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An antenna is one or more electrical conductors of a specific length that transmits radio waves generated by a transmitter or that collects radio waves at the receiver (Frenzel, 1994). It is a basic component of every wireless networks, thus it must be chosen carefully depending on how it will be used. WLAN commonly used omni-directional antenna which allows for transmission and reception of messages in any direction (Frenzel, 1994) which is commonly used in wireless internet connections and wireless telecommunications. However, because the transmitted signal is exposed in any direction, interference with other signal has been a problem. In search for the solution with the problem of interference, various research (Dham, 2003; Zhu et al, 2005; Choudhury et al, 2002) have been focused on the use of directional antenna in WLANs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The primary advantage of directional antenna is that it eliminates interference from other signals being received from all directions except the direction of the desired signal (Frenzel, 1994). It was found out that the use of directional antenna for transmission gives the highest capacity, allows spectrum reuse, and provides range extension (Zhu et al, 2005). At the receiver, the antenna is pointed directly at the station to be received thus rejecting signals from transmitters in all other directions (Frenzel, 1994).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another advantage of directional antenna over omni-directional is that there is greater efficiency of power transmission while when omni-directional antenna is used at the transmitter side the transmitted power goes off in all directions wasting a significant amount of power (Frenzel, 1994). It is argued that all messages should be sent in directional mode to take advantage of this gain (Zhu et al, 2005). Choudhury et al (2002) conducted a study and proposed a protocol that exploits the benefits of using directional antenna namely spatial reuse and higher transmission range. On the other hand, the use of directional antenna also poses some problems such as higher collision probability. That is, as space is segmented and the carrier is reused with directional antennas, the amount of MAC information required for conflict-free transmission increases (Zhu et al, 2005). Because the current IEEE 802.11 standard does not support spatial reuse, several problems may occur when directional antennas are used without changing the modifying the existing protocol. Collision occurs due to the deafness of the nodes as these nodes are immersed in only one direction. And because of this deafness, the transmitting nodes will send RTS packets repeatedly which is a waste of bandwidth (Zhu et al, 2005). The research study conducted by Zhu et al (2005) focused on solving the problems caused by the spatial reuse which is higher collision probability and proposed a protocol called sectorised 802.11 MAC protocol. These two studies along with the other studies serve as the framework of this research. To create an antenna with directivity and gain, two or more antenna elements are combined to form what is known as an array (Frenzel, 1994). Antenna array has the capability of spatial signal separation and could radiate frequency energy towards a desired receiver with narrow beamwidth and null towards an interfering terminal to reduce the negative impact of multi-path and co-channel interference (Zhou, 2006). Phased array antenna systems are an example of an array. Phased array antennas consist of an array of antenna elements connected by a feeder or adder network arranged so that their individual signals combine to provide maximum gain in one direction while minimising it in other directions (Dham, 2003). There is also what is called smart antenna which is consist of multiple antenna elements arranged in a special configuration and connected through complex weights (Zhou, 2006). Smart antenna Switched beam and adaptive array antenna are the two major categories of smart antenna. Switched beam is the simplest smart antenna with a number of fixed beams in predetermined directions at the antenna site (Zhou, 2006). Adaptive array on the other hand uses a complex signal processing algorithm to continuously detect multi-path and interference among desired signal (Zhou, 2006). The studies about the applications of smart antennas in wireless networks are also related and will be useful in the completion of this research study.   Zhou (2006) added that a smart antenna can be applied to all current major wireless protocols and industrial standards to achieve higher system capacity, larger network coverage and higher data rate thus smart antenna must be further investigated to determine what it can contribute to the enhancement of IEEE 802.11 with directional antennas. Aims and Objectives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conducting any research, it is important that definite sets of objectives are present.   These objectives will serve as the researcher’s guide in conducting the data gathering, data analysis and conclusion formulation. The primary objective of the research is to provide a protocol designed for the utilisation of directional antennas in wireless local area networks. Such protocol is proposed to be used in the deployment of WLAN using directional antennas thus it includes some amendments on the original standards, architecture, and physical layer. However, this general aim is an umbrella objective that would dictate the general path that the research will take. Within this umbrella objective are the specific aims of the research that will allow the researcher to touch the important aspects of the topic. These specific aims are the following: To identify the problems associated with the current protocols to determine the necessary adjustments or enhancement that are needed to be done; To determine the characteristics of directional antennas and what it can contribute to improve the capabilities of the wireless local area networks; To evaluate the advantages of having multiple receivers in wireless local area networks; To investigate on the differences of the current protocol and the proposed protocol and determine the limitations of the latter; and To test the effectiveness of the proposed standard. Intellectual Challenge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most intellectual challenge on this research is the proposal itself. The IEEE 802.11 is developed by reliable engineers and to propose an enhancement for this standard is a big challenge thus the research study should be based on reliable data. The proposed protocol should also be tested on using a prototype and accurate calculations to ensure that the outcome of the studies is viable. Research Program 6.1 Research Methodology The method of collecting data for the dissertation will be composed of two methodologies. The first methodology is review of related literature or secondary sources.   Reviewing earlier studies and other related literature would allow the researcher to become familiar with the already accepted theories and statements pertaining to the topic. The sources should be from technical books, journals, earlier theses and published articles technical organisations such as the IEEE. The second methodology would be surveys and personal interviews. Technical professionals like engineers and technicians from different communication network companies and Internet service providers (ISP) will be surveyed using questionnaires that include questions that will determine the problems encountered with WLAN particularly with the use of the antennas they currently utilise, the solutions they are implementing and the improvement they would like to suggest and impose with the current standards. It is important that the views of these people be collected since they are the ones who are immersed in the realities of the WLAN conditions. They will be able to provide insights that will help the researcher in evaluating the current IEEE standard. This study will be using the descriptive research method where the general part of the paper will be dedicated to the description of the subject in question. Descriptive research intends to present facts concerning the nature and status of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study (Creswell, 1994). It is also concerned with relationships and practices that exist, beliefs and processes that are ongoing, effects that are being felt, or trends that are developing. In addition, such approach tries to describe present conditions, events or systems based on the impressions or reactions of the respondents of the research (Creswell, 1994). The use of the descriptive method also suggests that the research will be focusing on obtaining qualitative data. Qualitative research is an umbrella that refers to various research traditions and strategies. The research will be carried out systematically. First, the researcher needs to review previous literature about the topic. This will allow the research the researcher to become familiar with what is already known about the topic. This will also allow the researcher to formulate the appropriate questionnaire that will be able to extract the most useful data. After the questionnaires have been completed, the researcher will have to tally the results and compare it with the findings of previous studies. If the finding of the research is the same as the findings of previous studies then the research can be supported by the findings of previous studies. On the other hand, if the findings of the research do not agree with past studies then the researcher must look back on previous studies to check if the findings of the studies are supported by other findings. This will ensure that the results of the research are not isolated and have been tested by other researches. 6.2 Schedule The Gantt chart below shows the schedule of activities involved in conducting the research study. Activity Date 1st Month 2nd Month 3rd Month 4th Month Data Gathering/Survey, Personal Interview             Review of earlier studies and related literature/ Analysis of data collected             Writing of the First Draft             Development, Testing, Analysis, Evaluation and Documentation             Revision of the study             Formulation of the conclusion             Completion of Writing             Printing and binding of documents             Submission                Deliverables   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research study will be organised as follows: A chapter describing the IEEE 802.11 A chapter describing the antenna used in WLAN and the problems using non-directional antennas A chapter describing the analysis of the problems A chapter that presents the data collected and the analyses of those data A chapter for the proposed solutions and the methods for testing the solutions A chapter that serves as documentations of the testing, calculations involved and evaluation of the proposed solutions Resources   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As already mentioned, this research study is highly technical nature thus resources must be from reliable sources such as the IEEE itself that developed the standard that will be enhanced and the Association for Computing Machinery which is an organisation that publishes reliable sources about computing and related technology. ACM also has a digital library where various literatures can be accessed. The World Wide Web is also be used as a source where different latest articles and journals can be found. University and public libraries will also be used where books that discuss the basic concepts of the subject and topics involved can be found. The researcher will need the cooperation of technical professionals, technicians and engineers whose personal knowledge will be needed as they answer the survey questionnaires. The researcher will also need to collaborate with an ISP or a network company to test the proposed standard, determining its effectiveness as well as its shortcomings. References: Choudhury, R., Yang, X., Ramanathan, R., and Vaidya, N. (2002) Using Directional Antennas for Medium Access Control in Ad Hoc Networks, MOBICOM’02, ACM: Georgia, USA Creswell, J.W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Dham, Vikram (2003) Link Establishment in Ad Hoc Networks Using Smart Antennas Thesis in Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University retrieved online on December 13, 2006 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05072003-180228/unrestricted/etd.pdf Erger, Mustafa (2002) IEEE 802.11 Tutorial, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California Berkeley, Retrieved online on Dec. 13, 2006   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ergen/docs/ieee.pdf Frenzel, Louis (1994) Communication Electronics 2nd edition, Glencoe Macmillan/McGraw-Hill: Singapore Xu, Shugong Saadawi, Tarek (2003) Does IEEE 802.11 MAC Protocol Work Well in Multi-hop Wireless Ad Hoc Networks? Dept. of Electrical Engineering, City University of New York retrieved online on December 13, 2006   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://academic.csuohio.edu/yuc/mobile03/0415-xu.pdf   Zhu, Chenxi, Nadeem, Tamer and Agre, Jonathan (2005) Enhancing 802.11 Wireless Networks with Directional Antenna and Multiple Receivers, Fujitsu Laboratories of America, retrieved online on December 13, 2006 http://www.flacp.fujitsulabs.com/TM-PCR-TM-21.pdf Zhou, Hao (2006) The Improvements in Ad Hoc Routing and Network Performance with Directional Antennas, Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, Retrieved online on December 13, 2006   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://lib.tkk.fi/Dipl/2006/urn007316.pdf

Media And Violence Against Women Media Essay

Media And Violence Against Women Media Essay There has been an exponential growth in the media over the last fifty years. We have witnessed the advent of technology with the development of; telegraph, newspaper, magazines, television to internet. No doubt, the advance has been tremendous. Modern society depends hugely on information. Communication is important at work, health care, personal relationships traveling, and entertainment. Indeed most of our decisions, values, and beliefs are based on our assumptions, facts we know, our values, our studies and our experience. In our daily lives, we rely hugely on information we get from the media. Our trust on media as an indisputable authority to give us entertainment, news, and education is evident in all civilized nations of the modern world. People are at all times being exposed and bombarded constantly with thousand of sex, celebrities, advertising, violence and much more. Indeed, a modern child is exposed to more than 40,000 adverts each day. It is then imperative that we appreciate the role of the media to shape our values, beliefs, and decisions. Every six hours, a woman is murdered in South Africa. Each day, two women are killed in Guatemala. In every 15 seconds in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a woman is assaulted. In U.S.A, within a span of six minutes, a woman is raped. In Europe, 50% of women go through sexual harassment, or physical contact where they work.6000 women are genitallly mutilated in North Africa every day. In China, more than 15,000 women will be sold to sexual slavery this year. This grim statistics points to the fact that violence on women is rooted in the global culture of discrimination. This is a human rights issue. Legitimization of women bodies for individuals and political gratification is disturbing. Each year, community, and home violence devastates and shatters lives of millions of women throughout the world. In 2009, 8000 women were raped in Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a society where combatants have a prevalence rate of 60% H.I.V (Amnesty international, 2010). This form of violence cannot be justified by any cultural, religious, and political claim. Violence is being allowed to happen daily by the prevailing global culture with impunity. Every time when women are terrorized, raped by soldiers as spoils of war, abused in custody, battered at home; what is manifested is unequal power between men and women. This reduces their choices and worsens their plight. Governments all over the world have legal, social, economic duties to protect and punish any form of abuse done on women. This is a responsibility they must sustain with due diligence to protect individual rights from abuses. Violence against women manifests itself in a number of ways. When in custody, aggression on happens due to unevenness of control between inmates and guards is because of dependency on correctional officers and the ability of the guards to hold on privileges. In order to get food or personal hygiene products, women are coerced into supplying sex for favors. Though these crimes are prevalent, perpetrators are rarely held accountable (Division for the Advancement of Women, UN, 2006) Honor Killings; In some countries, if suspected of extra marital relations, even in the case of rape, the cruelest form of indignity and violence is meted on women. Those who are raped are incapable of providing overt substantiation and are occasionally accused of Zina .This is especially so in Iran. The punishment is often stoning .Laws such as these only serve to aggravate and inhibit women from pursuing cases of those who raped them.Making an assumption that the woman is guilty, male respective families believe the only form of dealing with the infringement of honor is to kill the woman. The presence of pornographic videos and images in the media portrays women as cheap and objects of personal gratification. This is a widespread phenomenon, highly commercialized form of business, whose existence is solely because of media reliance. It should be noted that it is the electronic media that hosts most of these demeaning and distasteful images. The fact that the media will place the woman as an object brings about the expected setback of women rights being violated. Domestic violence; this is a global pandemic. With no exception, a womans greatest risk is from someone she knows. Resentment at homes is a contravention of a womans physical right, veracity, and right to being. When basic steps are not taken to curb this abuse, crimes of this nature are allowed to prevail Female Genital Mutilation; F.G.M is the removal of every or a fraction of women external genitalia. In Africa, it is being practiced in more than 28 countries. With dire consequences, an estimated 135 million women have undergone FGM .Though legislation against the practice exists in these countries where it is practiced, complete lack of enforcement and persecution of the perpetrators only ensures that the whole problem continues to thrive (Human Rights Watch, 2010). In the case of sexual orientations, cultural norms and sometimes-legal measures support regulation of sexuality. Families, cultural networks, media, institutions, and religion regulate womens sexuality. A good number of women alleged to be or are lesbians go from end to end through abuses meted by private sector, police, family, and state authorities. Multiple cases of beating, rape, forced impregnation, or marriage are reported to having been inflicted to such persons. In United States, lesbians consistently face well-founded fears of attack or persecution by police because of their identity. On regular basis, this form of violence occurs (Renzetti Bergen, 2005). Consequently, we can say that a Gender Based Asylum case scenario is brought to light. Here, fear of persecution or discrimination by women is considered for the purposes of refugee status. Forcible abortion, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, and honor killings are forms of persecutions that allow one to seek asylum. However, women seeking asylum in many countries rarely gain the refugee status based on claims of these forms of violence. Restrictive interpretation of the international definition of persecution of refugees is severe. In particular, lesbians fear disclosing their sexuality based on violence generated from such disclosure (Malamuth Check, 2004). On the Problem of Impunity, most women fail to report abuses against them because most Government departments are accomplices of gender discrimination. Ostracization, lack of resources, and shame from communities causes most women to fail to seek legal redress to crimes committed against them. Challenging of abusers in a court of law is often long, tedious, humiliating where authorities and those present dwell on sympathy other than empathy (Crowell Burgess, 1996). The brutality meted on women is so widespread that it often fails to invite outrage and censure from members of the public. One in four women experience violence by an intimate partner. Yearly, thousands and thousands of women are recruited to prostitution. In addition, thousand of girls are forced to genital mutilation. In armed conflicts, forces and groups do sexual assaults as an act of war. Violent acts rarely results from one cause. Many things come play. The influence of the mass media is viewed as part of the many potential factors that influence the abuse on women. Constant broadcasting of media violence on women promotes aggressive behavior in young children contributing to increased aggressiveness and ultimately violent behavior many years later. Abuse against girls and women takes various forms. Economic, sexual, psychological, and sexual form. All form these forms of abuse are related and affect women from the onset of their life to their death. This violence is not concentrated to a particular country, region, or to a particular group of people in the society. It is widespread and with it are repercussions the society cannot afford to allow. Indeed 70% of women experience abuse in their lifetime. This has debilitating effects on the society because it leads to women impoverishment, family disintegration, and erosion of progress in communities and Nations (Ferrell Websdale, 1999). Media is a double-edged sword. It has the power to influence the society in a positive way as well as influence it in the most destructive form. It will not be fair to note that although there has been a tremendous progress championed by the media in addressing violence against women, electronic as well as print media has played a complementary role in encouraging degradation of women (Cuklanz Moorti, 2009). Largely, the media is as guilty as charged for promoting violence against women. Media violence leads to an increase in aggressions and real world violence. Film violence and fictional television contribution to both long term and short term rise in silence and aggression against women. Imitative rapes, filmed sexual acts, and pornography portrayals in movies tend to compound the problem of women abuse in the society. Media violence and real world violence relationship tends to be moderated by the nature of the media content and social influences and the characteristics on the individuals exposed to that content. This overall size of effect is big enough to place it in the category of known threats to women rights. Exposure to violence on television and video games increases risk of violent behavior on the part of the viewers (Byerly Ross, 2006). Accumulation of body research is consistent and clear that television violence causes an increase in violent and aggressive behavior. It leads to acquisition of beliefs, attitudes, schemes, and scripts that increase the risk of aggressive and violent behavior in the observer of media violence. Media has always played a significant role to address issues of health, economy, and politics. If similar energy is focused on the issue of eliminating violence, it can play a vital role. Victimization of females in storylines reduces perceptions of violence. Media monitoring, an African institution that advocates fair journalism reported that there is a shortage of women journalists in major media outlets in the continent. Where they exist, the people controlling stakes in these media institutions restrict their roles. These people are either the management or the owners. They are therefore denied a chance to highlight issues pertinent to their plight. According to Meyers (1997), it is of prime importance to be responsible always on how to present news in matters regarding violence on women. The media has the role of making these events however challenging or sad to be a moral lesson to all the viewers. There is an acknowledgement that the media is a strong influence in our age. However, responsible use can sway the influence in a positive direction. Studies show that even in female friendly nations, news reporting remains dominated by men. Almost half of journalists are women in these countries; however, three out of the four seniors in the media industry are men. This is a serious disparity. It denies women an avenue in which to address issues pertinent to them. The media should be the watchdog of international organizations making effort to stem the spread of violence against women. Campaigns such as UNITE should be given needful coverage to raise awareness of the initiative noble goals. The media should follow up on the progress Nations of the world are making to meet the set target in 2015 when the issue of aggression on women should be eliminated. Nations should marry their own initiatives with the wider programs that are already in various countries to ensure that conducive legal environment is provided to deal with offenders and mitigate against further injuries being inflicted upon women. Intergovernmental cooperation is also of prime importance to stop trafficking of women for sexual slavery. It is only through such concerted efforts that the war will be won. As United Nations Secretary General observes, there is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures, and communities: Abuse on women is never acceptable, never excusable, and never tolerable. This is a noble dream that should be supported by all.

Is Sexual Orientation Genetic Sociology Essay

Is Sexual Orientation Genetic Sociology Essay In this modernised world sex and relationship plays an important role as sexuality is part of who we are as humans. Sexuality defines how we see ourselves and how we physically relate to others beyond having the ability to reproduce. Sexuality is made up of three components which include biological sex, gender identity, and social gender role. In a less brief context, biological sex is the anatomical, physiological, and genetic characteristics associated with being a male or female, gender identity means the physiological sense of being a male or female and social gender role is the cultural norms that define feminine and masculine behaviour (1). Sexual orientation is known as an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and sexual attractions to men, women or both sexes besides also referring to a persons sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviours and memberships in a community of others who share those attractions which may or may not be evident in a persons appearance or behaviour. People may choose not to act on such feelings as having attractions to people of the same sex or opposite sex. For example, a bisexual who can be attracted to members of either sex may choose to have a one partner relationship with one gender, therefore, choosing not to act on the attraction of another gender (1). Three commonly recognized aspect of sexual orientation are heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality and one uncommon aspect is asexuality which is when a person has no sexual attraction or interest in sexual activity. Therefore, sexual orientation differs from sexual behaviour in that it involves an individuals feelings and perception of their own sexuality. According to current scientific and professional understanding, the core attractions that form the basis for adult sexual orientation typically emerge between middle childhood and early adolescence. These patterns of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction may arise without any prior sexual experience. Heterosexuality is the attraction to individuals of the other gender which is the cultural normality for the behaviour of males and females. For example, males and females being attracted to individuals of the opposite sex. Bisexuality is the attraction to members of either gender, as an example a male having a sexual relationship with another male partner as well with a female partner. On the other hand, homosexuality can be defined as the attraction to members of the same gender, are not completely understood by scientists. Scientists have pondered the theory for many years that sexual preference is a learned behaviour that is developed during early childhood. There are many theories regarding how a particular sexual orientation develops. Some scientists share the view that sexual orientation is shaped at an early age through interactions of biological, psychological and social factors. Other psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals agree that homosexuality may be genetically predetermined. Research over the past thirty-five years has determined that homosexuality is not an illness, mental disorder or emotional problem. Other objective research shows that homosexual orientation is not associated with emotional or social problems. Because sexual orientation develops in early adolescence, without any prior sexual experience, it is believed that it is not chosen. It has been reported that some people try diligently to change their sexual preference from homosexual to heterosexual with no success. For this reason, psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed. An untrue stereotype about homosexuals is the belief that gay men have more of a tendency than heterosexual men to sexually molest children. There is no evidence of this. Instead, recent studies have shown that homosexual parents are quite capable of rearing developmentally secure children who are intelligent, as well as being psychologically well adjusted. There is no evidence that homosexual parents are less capable of parenting than heterosexual parents. Because therapy cannot change sexual orientation, it is important for society to become better educated about homosexuality, thus diminishing anti-gay prejudice. Accurate information for young people struggling with their own sexual identity is especially important. The belief that such information when given to young people will affect ones sexual orientation is not valid. The people who have the most positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians are those who say they know one or more gay persons well. For this reason, psychiatrists believe that discrimination against homosexuality is based on his or her lack of knowledge concerning gay people. Therefore, educating all people about sexual orientation and homosexuality is likely to diminish anti-gay prejudice. Homosexuality was once believed to be a mental illness, due to the unfortunate fact that mental health professionals furnished society with incorrect information. Most studies about homosexuals only involved gay men and lesbians who were in therapy. They were seeking help for their problems, just as straight men and women do. These studies, and the misunderstanding of homosexuality, seriously damaged the acceptance of gay men and lesbians. The theories of homosexuals by psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, painted an untrue portrait of gay men and lesbians. This unfair portrayal directly attributed to the un-acceptance of homosexuals. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association confirmed that homosexuals were not mentally ill, and it was not until two years later in 1975, that the American Psychological Association passed a resolution supporting this confirmation. Both associations urged all mental health professionals to help dispel the stigma of mental illness that had been associated with homosexual orientation. Since this original declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, this decision has been reaffirmed by additional research findings and by both associations. However, when one is reared to believe a certain way, it is not easy to change his or her opinion. Psychiatrists, psychologists and the Lord above could urge one to rethink a learned fact; however, to dispute a theory learned early in life is sometimes impossible. This unfair discrimination against homosexuals is an obstacle to their leading a normal, happy and productive life, which is the desire of gay men and lesbians, just as it is the desire of straight men and women. Research has shown a high rate of violence, as well as discrimination, against homosexuals. Just as it is with straight men, the more positive the gay male identity, the better ones mental health will become and the higher ones self-esteem will be. To accomplish this, the acceptance of gay men and lesbians as productive citizens, without prejudice, is necessary. Protection against violence and discrimination would not be necessary if one understood that gay men and lesbians are just like you and me; the only differ ence is their sexual preference. Most scientists today agree that sexual orientation is the result of a combination of environmental, hormonal, and genetic factors. In other words, there are many factors that contribute to a persons sexual orientation, and the factors may be different for different people. In other words, we intend to research in depth on each factor stated and how does it affect a persons sexual orientation then come to a conclusion if sexual orientation is genetic relating back to our topic. This is the prime objective of this project. To arrive at our objectives, we have to research about the other factors affecting sexual orientation. Therefore, we have divided each factor into 3 subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 will be a detailed explanation on how genetic factors contribute to sexual orientation. Chapter 3 consequently will be discussing on environmental and emotional factors in relation to sexual orientation. Besides that, Chapter 4 is on the role played by hormones in determining a persons sexual orientation. All these 3 chapters will be discussing sexual orientation on homosexuality and bisexuality. The final chapter will relate back to our main topic which is Is Sexual Orientation Genetic? A conclusion will be brought about based on the research, studies and evidences done on the previous 3 chapters. Chapter 2 : Genetic Factors Chromosomes in humans can be divided into two types which is autosomes and sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes contain certain genetic traits link to a persons sex. It can be XX with phenotype female and XY with phenotype male. On the other hand, the autosomes contain the rest of the genetic hereditary information. Both autosomes and sex chromosomes act in the same way during cell division. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes of which 22 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair of sex chromosome giving a total of 46 per cell for one human. A persons sex is determined by the sex chromosome (wiki chromosome). Based on a research conducted by scientists on November 8th 2007, new evidences have been uncovered showing genetics has a role to play in determining whether an individual is homosexual or heterosexual. Dr. Sandra Witelson, a neuroscientist in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, and colleges at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto conducted the research on studies of the brains of healthy, right handed, 18 to 35- year old homosexual and heterosexual men using magnetic resonance imagining (MRI). About 10 years ago, which is now accepted as fact, studies have demonstrated that there is a higher proportion of left-handers in the homosexual population than the general population. Consequently, in other research it was found that left-handers have a larger region of the posterior corpus callosum which is the thick band of nerve fibres connecting the two hemispheres of the brain compared to the right- handers. Furthermore, the posterior part of the c orpus callosum is larger in homosexual than heterosexual men. The size of corpus callosum is largely inherited suggesting a genetic factor in sexual orientation. A correlational analysis by researchers which included size of the corpus callosum, and test scores on language, visual spatial and finger dexterity tests. Prediction on sexual orientation in 95 per cent of the cases was done by using all these variables. A report by the National Cancer Institute researchers states that the appearance that many homosexual men inherit a gene from their mothers that influences sexual orientation. It was suggested that inherited genetic factors at least play a role in determining sexual orientation. The studys lead author Dean Hamer, chief of the cancer institutes section on Gene Structure and regulation concluded that it is basically not a choice or a decision to be a gay. However, people have no control over the genes inherited and there is no way to change it. The family histories of 114 gay men were studied and it was found that more homosexual brothers, uncles and male cousins than would be expected in the general population whereby some families had three generations of homosexual relatives. It was suggested that something inherited was going on since the uncles and cousins were not raised in the same household but do share genetic information. Following up another studies was made on the DNA from 40 pairs of homosexual brothers and it was found that 33 of them shared same genetic markers on the X chromosome in a region known as Xq28. The X chromosomes are always inherited from mothers. Genes consist of tiny coils of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, which carries the instructions to manufacture a particular body substance. No such similar sharing was present in the same region among heterosexual men. It is expected that this region will be important for both heterosexual and homosexual development providing very small and subtle difference between the genes of each group. However, the finding does not explain all homosexuality. Seven out of 40 pairs of homosexual brothers studied did not have the common genetic factor. Part of the studies state that the cancer Kaposis sarcoma unusually afflicts large numbers of homosexuals. Further study is being conducted to determine whether a similar genetic link occurs in families of homosexual women hoping to identify the specific gene involved in sexual orientation. Gregory King, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a gay and lesbian activist group, said he hoped from the studies it would help Americans understand that most lesbian and gay people do not choose their sexual orientation. Despite, concerns are there among people who are lesbians and gay that this discovery will be misused to suggest that homosexuality is something that needs to be corrected. According to the variation in sexual orientation, heritability studies have differed on the precise contribution of genetics, though a few linkage studies have indicated a possible role for certain genes on the X chromosome. However, the strength of that evidence is limited due to the conflicting nature of the reports and small sample sizes. Some of the questions in relation to the possible genetic underpinnings of sexual orientation have been clarified by a more recent study conducted by the first ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) on sexual orientation. It is also in relation to the release of a web-based survey to the large 23andMe database of over 180,000 individuals. Furthermore, the other non-genetic phenotypes associated with sexual orientation are also explored. The objective is to understand the relationship between sexual orientation and non-genetic phenotypes as the data collected was extracted from dozens of 23andMe surveys taking into consideration thousands of conditions and trait. Research has shown that lesbians are more likely than heterosexual women to have alcoholism and alcohol-related problems (3). A number of studies have also found that women with same sex partners are more likely to have psychiatric disorders, including major depression (4) and men with same sex partners are more likely to have anxiety and mood disorders (5). Phenotype analyses were conducted using linear or logistic regression. In statistics, linear regression is the relationship between a scalar dependent variable Y and one or more explanatory variables denoted X as the data modelled using linear predictor functions, and unknown model parameters are estimated from the data. Logistic regression is a type of analysis used to predict the outcome of a categorical dependent variable based on one or more predictor variables that is used in estimating empirical values of the parameters in a qualitative response model(wiki). The reported betas are the change on the sexual identity scale per unit of the other phenotype. Both the phenotype analyses and GWAS analyses controlled for age, the first five principal components, and attitudes towards homosexuality as collected in the Sexual Orientation Survey. GWAS analyses were conducted in individuals of European descent. The questions asked for this study to over 23,000 individuals 23andMe database is as follows: The survey counts based on the questions asked were as below: They have examined the correlation between sexual identity and ~1000 phenotypes already characterized in the 23andMe database through other surveys. These analyses were preliminary as outliers or confounders beyond what is listed in the methods were not checked. Previous  ¬Ã‚ ndings were replicated showing a positive association between lesbians and alcoholism, and between lesbians and gay men and several psychiatric conditions. Chapter 3 : Environmental and Emotional Factors On the development of human sexual orientation, another possible factor is the environmental and emotional influences. Many influences or factors lead to sexual orientation but no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Therefore, a great deal of people thinks nature and nurture both play complex roles (wiki environment sexual orientation). Environmental factors are associated with family influences. Evidence have been provided by researches that gay men report having had less loving and more rejecting fathers, and closer relationships with their mothers, than non-gay men. Some researchers think this may indicate that childhood family experiences are important determinants to homosexuality, or that parents behave this way in response to gender-variant traits in a child. Both possibilities might be true in different cases (wiki). Childhood factors do affect marital choices as children who experience parental divorce are less likely to marry heterosexually than those growing up in intact families. In a broad point of view, heterosexual marriage was significantly linked to having young parents, small age differences between parents, stable parental relationships, large sibships (a group of offspring having the same two parents) , and late birth order. For men, homosexual marriage was associated with having older mothers, divorced parents, absent fathers, and being the youngest child. On the other hand, for women, maternal death during adolescence and being the only or youngest child or the only girl in the family increased the likelihood of homosexual marriage. Childhood family experiences are important determinants of heterosexual and homosexual marriage decisions in adulthood (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-006-9062-2). Consequently, parental sexual orientation may affect child development. Studies were focused on an early research on children with lesbian and gay parents in which the children had been born in the context of a heterosexual marriage. The developments among children of divorced lesbian mothers were compared with children of divorced heterosexual mothers and few significant differences were found. Children in the research who had been born into homes with married mothers and fathers have no obvious reasons to understand on their healthy development as the children faced early exposure to apparently heterosexual male and female role models which mainly contributes to the healthy development. In comparison, a study conducted by Charlotte J. Patterson from University of Virginia on lesbian or gay parents who rear infants and children from offspring and it is important that the children had never lived with heterosexual parents. The study was on a group of 4 to 9 year old children who had been born to or adopted early in life by lesbian mothers. Results from in-home interviews and also from questionnaires showed that children had regular contact with a wide range of adults of both genders, both within and outside of their families. The childrens self-concepts and preferences for same-gender playmates and activities were much like those of other children their ages. Moreover, standardized measures of social competence and of behaviour problems, such as those from the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), showed that they scored within the range of normal variation for a representative sample of same-aged American children. Therefore, it was clear from this study and others like it that it was quite possible for lesbian mothers to rear healthy children. Consistent with earlier findings, results from the study revealed few differences in adjustment between adolescents living with same-sex parents and those living with opposite-sex parents . There were no significant differences between teenagers living with same-sex parents and those living with other-sex parents on self-reported assessments of psychological well-being, such as self-esteem and anxiety, measures of school outcomes, such as grade point averages and trouble in school, or measures of family relationships, such as parental warmth and care from adults and peers. Adolescents in the two groups were equally likely to say that they had been involved in a romantic relationship in the last 18 months, and they were equally likely to report having engaged in sexual intercourse. The only statistically reliable difference between the two groups is that those with same-sex parents felt a greater sense of connection to people at school compared to the youngsters living with same-sex c ouples. There were no significant differences in self-reported substance use, delinquency, or peer victimization between those reared by same or other-sex couples. Although the gender of parents partners was not an important predictor of adolescent well-being, other aspects of family relationships were significantly associated with teenagers adjustment. Consistent with other findings about adolescent development, the qualities of family relationships rather than the gender of parents partners were consistently related to adolescent outcomes. Parents who reported having close relationships with their offspring had adolescents who reported more favourable adjustment. The fact that children of lesbian mothers generally develop in healthy ways should not be taken to suggest that no challenges were encountered. Many investigators have remarked upon the fact that children of lesbian and gay parents may encounter anti-gay sentiments in their daily lives. For example, in a study of 10- year-old children born to lesbian mothers, Gartrell, Deck, Rodas, Peyser, and Banks (2005) reported that a substantial minority had encountered anti-gay sentiments among their peers. Those who had such encounters were likely to report having felt angry, upset, or sad about these experiences. Children of lesbian and gay parents may be exposed to prejudice against their parents in some settings, and this may be painful for them, but evidence for the idea that such encounters affect childrens overall adjustment is lacking. Another study, published in the October 2006 issue of Archives of Sexual Behaviour, authored by Danish epidemiologist Morten Frisch and statistician Anders Hviid, reports the analysis of data from over two million men and women. It is the first study to examine an entire group of homosexuals for environmental factors in their decisions to marry homosexually. The research suggests a link between environmental factors such as geographic birthplace and family relationships and the probability of marrying a same-sex or opposite-sex partner. The massive study also finds that the number of brothers and sisters increases the probability of marrying heterosexually. This finding questions a recent, widely touted Canadian study of birth order that found the number of older brothers increased the probably of homosexuality in men. The researchers found for each additional year ones parents stay married, the probability of heterosexual marriage in the children increased by 1.6% among sons and 1.0% among daughters. In contrast, the rate of homosexual unions decreased by 1.8% among sons and 1.4% among daughters for every year of intact parental marriage. Summing these effects over years of childhood and adolescence contributes to a noteworthy impact. Regarding homosexual marriages, researchers have also found that birth place relates to the sexual orientation of marriage partner. Being born in urban settings increased the probability of homosexual marriage and decreased the probability of heterosexual marriage. This study was said to be the first to show that birth place or some correlate thereof influences marital choices in adulthood. The researchers also confirmed previous research suggesting that children who experience parental divorce are less likely to marry heterosexually than children reared in intact families. For men, unknown paternal identity, parental divorce, short duration of cohabitation with both parents, and long duration of father-absent cohabitation with mother were all associated with increased rates of homosexual marriage. For women, homosexual marriage rates were elevated among women whose parents were married briefly, and those who experienced long periods of mother absence due either to abandonment or death during the teen years. Taken together, the studys findings suggest that intact parents bearing multiple children and living in rural areas increase the probability of heterosexual pairings in their children. The study was not designed to examine all possible contributions to sexual orientation nor does it account for individual situations. We know, for instance, that gays and straights come from all kinds of families and locations. However, the study raises the possibility that family and social factors function to help shape adult sexual orientation. Chapter 4: Hormonal Factors Hormones are your bodys chemical messengers. It is released by one or more cells which travel through the bloodstream that affects cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. In relation to sexuality following up the hormonal theory, exposure to certain hormones plays an act in fetal sex differentiation. Besides that, this exposure also influences the sexual orientation that emerges later in the adult. Hormones which interact with the developing brain cells coming from the differences in brain structure are accredit to be the basis of sex differences in countless behaviour, including sexual orientation. The interaction of these hormones on the developing brain is affected by prenatal factors that can influence later the sex-typed behaviour in children. Factors hypothesized in contributing to sex-typed behaviour concerns the same as those hypothesized to contribute to sexual orientation. Higher rates of sex-atypical behaviour in childhood and adulthood are seen in homosexual men and women compared to the same sex heterosexuals. Early hormones have been suggested to influence both sexual orientation and related childhood sex-typed behaviours. Recent studies, however, have provided evidence in support of prenatal androgen exposure influencing childhood sex-typed behaviour. An example of the study is Early Hormonal Influences on Childhood Sex-Typed Activity and Playmate Preferences: Implications for the Development of Sexual Orientation. The hormonal influences on activity and playmate preferences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are examined. The children were in the range of ages between 2.5 to 12 years. It is observed that CAH girls preferred boys toys and activities and had greater preference for boy playmates than controls. On the other hand, CAH boys did not differ significantly from controls and activity and playmate preferences were not related. From this it was concluded that early androgen has a major effect on childhood activity preferences but only a weak influence on playmate preferences. Besides that, sex segregation does not arise from sex-typed activity preferences, activity and playmate preferences may be differently predictive of sexual orientation and hormonal influences on sexual orientation are likely to be comp lex. Consequently, prospective and retrospective studies of childhood gender role behaviour reveal homosexual males to be more likely than heterosexual males in the sense of participating in girls games, to experiment with cosmetics and jewellery and to be less likely than heterosexual males to participate in sports. In the same way, lesbians analytical report shows that they were more likely than heterosexual females in the manner of participating in sports, to be called a tomboy and to be less likely than heterosexual females as in experimenting with or using cosmetics and jewellery or even to wear dresses. From reports by Bailey Zucker, it was also known that homosexual men and women played with opposite sex playmates in childhood more that did heterosexual men and women. However, the differences between homosexual and heterosexual individuals may not be confined to childhood activities. For example, in another report by McCormick Witelson, it is stated that heterosexual men have higher spatial ability and lower verbal ability compared to both homosexual men and heterosexual women. Besides that, a higher rate of left-handedness has been noticed in both homosexual men and women than heterosexual comparisons. Nonetheless, it is important to note that there are a few other sex-typed behaviours not related to sexual orientation. This is identified as most homosexual men and women have typical gender identity and are similar to same sex heterosexual individuals on aspects of mating psychology related to sexual selection that show sex differences, for example, interest in uncommitted sex. These comparisons are useful because sexual orientation differences that parallel sex differences suggest that some of the factors that cause sex differences also cause differences between homosexual and heterosexual individuals of the same sex. This is because some homosexual individuals are as sex-typical as most heterosexuals, there may be more than one cause of sexual orientation. On the other hand, when sexual orientation differences do not parallel sex differences, different etiologies are likely. Gonadal hormones have been hypothesized to play a main role in the development of sex-typed behaviour and sexual orientation. Thus, high levels of androgen during sensitive periods of development have been suggested to produce masculine-typical behaviour, including childhood activities, cognitive abilities, and sexual orientation directed to women, that is, male heterosexuality and female homosexuality, whereas very low levels of androgen during those periods are hypothesized to result in female typical childhood activities, cognitive abilities, and sexual orientation directed to men, that is, male homosexuality and female heterosexuality. Human sex-typed behaviour is also affected by early exposure to hormones. Thus, female participants with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who have high levels of androgen during the prenatal and early postnatal periods, have greater preference for traditionally masculine toys and activities, higher spatial ability, and greater rates of homosexual or bisexual fantasies than controls. Similarly, female participants exposed to high levels of masculinizing or defeminizing hormones as a result of maternal ingestion during pregnancy have been reported to be more aggressive and to have higher rates of homosexual or bisexual fantasies than controls. These increases in male typical behaviour which occur in the presence of female gender identity in both CAH girls and women and those with exogenous hormone exposure. Unusual hormone exposure in boys and men has complex relationships to behaviour. In relation, low androgen seems to result in reduced male typical behaviour. Male adolescents and adults with deficient androgen beginning early in life have shown reduced spatial ability compared with controls. High levels of masculinizing hormones have been associated with increased, decreased, and unchanged masculine typical behaviour. Male participants exposed to androgenizing progestin have been reported to be more aggressive than their brothers, but male participants with CAH and thus high levels of androgen generally show male typical behaviour. There are few systematic studies of sexual behaviour in men with unusual early hormone exposure, but homosexuality may be more common in men who are assumed to have low prenatal testosterone, for example, XXY men. There is evidence especially in female individuals that early hormone exposure affects both sexual orientation and some of the behaviors that are related to it, providing indirect support for the hypothesis that sexual orientation typically is influenced b