What Constitutes a Healthy Person?

What Constitutes a Healthy Person? This chapter focuses on the features of a healthy physical constitution of a person, definitions of sleep, as well as key concepts associated with disease management such as etiopathogenesis, clinical presentation, prognosis, and management of atisthula. Some key etiological factors of atisthula include dietary lifestyle indicators (e.g., sedentary habit and high-calorie diet), and genetic and hereditary factors. This chapter also describes the pathogenesis of atisthula in detail, involving rasa (plasma) and meda (adipose tissue) as important dushyas (affected tissues). The significance of meda (adipose tissue) as the principal dushya has been recently confirmed in modern medicine where the central obesity and dyslipidemia are being considered as the main components of the basic matrix of this disease and its related disorders. [1,2,3] The recent concept of metabolic syndrome was already recognized in Ayurveda. Biomedical science points that overweight individuals experience greatly elevated morbidity and mortality from various ailments including cardiovascular diseases. 4,5 Obesity research is focused on preventive measures and management of complications like prediabetes, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmia/sudden death. [6] In the modern world, obesity has emerged as a serious health issue in both developed and developing nations and is recognized as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century. In 2008 the WHO estimated that globally, at least 500 million adults (or approximately 1 in 10 adults) are obese, with higher rates among women than men. Obesity is the reason for about 80% of type 2 diabetes, about 70% of cardiovascular diseases, and 42% of breast and colon cancers today. In the past two decades, the number of overweight children and adolescents has doubled. [7] The rate of obesity also increases with age at least up to 50 or 60 years old. Once considered a problem specific to only high-income countries, obesity has acquired pandemic proportions and is affecting people globally [8,9] Most researchers agree that once it is established in the body, obesity mostly takes an incurable course and continues to develop many progressive complications a fact that was already acknowledged in Ayurveda. [10] Any course of treatment for obesity suggested by modern medical practitioners primarily includes dietary changes and physical exercise followed by anti-obesity drugs that help reduce appetite or inhibit fat absorption. In severe cases, various invasive and non-invasive surgical procedures could be prescribed such as partial gastrectomy, gastric bypass, banding, gastric balloons, etc.[11]   However, Ayurvedas approach to weight management is very different in that it does not recommend pills or surgeries for inducing drastic weight-loss. Instead, Ayurveda advocates dietary restrictions according to the Prakriti (predisposition or temperament of the patient), moderate exercise, practice of yogÄ sanas and pranayama, besides certain ayurvedic medications and b io-purificatory measures for its management [12] The etiology, pathogenesis, clinical features and consequences of extreme leanness (atikrisha), as an outcome of rasakshaya (decrease of rasa), medokshaya (decrease of meda) and mamsakshaya (decrease of mamsa) have also been described in this chapter. The two basic approaches for management of atikrisha and atisthula are augmentation (brimhana) and depletion (karshana) of body tissues respectively. Various drug and non-drug modalities have been suggested for the replenishment of dhatus and their nourishment to attain good health.   In this regard, Rasayana drugs of Ayurveda help balance hormones, promote essential nutrition and enhance immunity to atisthula and atikrisha respectively. As mentioned earlier, this chapter also emphasizes the role of good Nidra (sleep) in maintaining a healthy life. In fact, as per Ayurveda, after Ahara (diet), Nidra is one of the three sub-pillars of life (trayopastambha) and has a significant place in preventive medicine because normal sleep hel ps prevent diseases and unwholesome sleep may lead to fatal diseases. In Ayurveda, Nidra is considered a brimhana (nourishing) agent that promotes physical mental health and enhances immunity.

Youth Violence on the Possession of Firearms in School

Despite nationwide gun-free school laws that prohibit possession of a firearm on or near the property of a public or private school, students are bringing guns to school and using them against their fellow students and teachers with increasing frequency. What possesses these students to gun down their classmates? How are these students getting access to firearms? Who is ultimately responsible for these tragedies? What stresses contribute to these shootings? And how are parents and educators missing the warning signs that these children have reached the breaking point? Over the past few years, there have been an astronomical number of school shootings across the country, sending policy makers, parents, teachers, and other concerned citizens into a tailspin. These events are becoming more frequent and have shattered the sense of safety that children should have when they are in school. Shootings by students, some as young as 10, have occurred at sickeningly regular intervals in urban towns like Pearl, Mississippi, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Tennessee and most recently Littleton, Colorado, where 12 students and 1 teacher lost their lives at the hand of two teen shooters who took their own lives. Firearm violence falls second only to automobile-related deaths, as the leading cause of injury-related death, in the United States. By the year 2003, firearm fatalities are projected to become the United States leading cause of injury-related death, unless the violence is curbed. In 1991, Texas and Louisiana saw firearm fatalities surpass automobile fatalities, and Virginia and Nevada also have continued this trend. In fact, the firearm death rate is increasing faster than any other cause of death except AIDS related fatalities. Recent public attention has focused on the problem of gun violence in the nation†s schools. A 1994 Gallup poll of Americans, for the first time, fighting, violence, and gangs have moved to the top of the list to tie with lack of discipline as the biggest problem facing schools. It is difficult to determine what effect the threat of violence has upon the learning of each student, but clearly education takes a back seat to one†s own sense of security and well being. According to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, one in 20 high school students carry a gun and one in five students would tell a teacher if he or she knew of another student carrying weapons to school. Theories differ about where young people get their guns. School security experts and law enforcement officials estimate that 80% of the firearms students bring to school come from home, while students estimate that 40% of their peers who bring guns to school buy them on the street. The United States has weaker firearm regulations and higher numbers of deaths involving firearms than all other industrialized nations. The greatest tragedy of gun violence is the tremendous numbers of children and youth killed or injured each year by firearms. These numbers continue to increase at alarming rates. According to Gunfree.Org, in 1985, the number of firearm homicides for youth 19 years and younger was 1,339, in 1995, it was 2, 574. In 1995, guns accounted for 84% of homicides of persons 13 to 19 years of age. Averages of 14 youth each day are killed by gunshots. A group studying juvenile violence in Multhomah County, Oregon identified the inadequate response of the juvenile justice system to students expelled for possessing weapons in schools, the need for additional efforts to detect weapons, and anti-violence education in schools as primary concerns. We must, as a society, recognize that there is a cycle of violence and that violence breeds more violence. There is no single answer to the problem of violence. A multi-faceted approach is needed. Prevention must be a priority. According to a ‘Public Health† Approach, recognition of three levels of prevention activities is essential: Primary prevention: These are interventions directed at people who have no obvious risk factors for development of violence. An example would be teaching grade school children to deal constructively with anger and conflict. Secondary prevention: These activities are directed to those who show clear-cut risk factors for violence. An example would be training in anger management for people who have a history of arguments or fighting. Tertiary prevention: These activities are directed toward minimizing the danger caused by those who have displayed violent behavior. Examples include interventions to allow gang-established patterns of serious or repeated violence. Any approach to violence must include education carried out in various ways and settings including collaboration among community groups, businesses, the schools, and government. Most of all, the parents must get involved. Schools offer the opportunity to reach a substantial percentage of the youth population and teach them skills aimed at the reduction of violence. Teachers are able to identify early on problem youth and families. Schools represent an important site to convey the message of society against weapons and violence. An important part of the anti-violence prevention strategy aimed at all youth is increasing the efforts to detect weapons in schools. While schools are already vigilant about responding to individuals when specific knowledge is available about weapons possession, this approach has not addressed concerns and perceptions that a number of weapons are present in schools undetected. Expanding the commitment to zero tolerance for weapons in schools would also better communicate to youth community standards, assuming that adequate consequences are in place. Most weapons are found through reporting by a concerned student. Such reporting should be praised.

New York v. Quarles Supreme Court Case, Arguments, Impact

In New York v. Quarles (1984), the Supreme Court created the public safety exception to the Miranda rule. Under Miranda v. Arizona, if an officer interrogates a suspect without notifying him of his Fifth Amendment rights, evidence gathered from that interrogation cannot be used in court. Under New York v. Quarles, however, an attorney may argue that evidence should be admissible because the officer acted in the interest of public safety when securing certain information from a suspect without issuing Miranda warnings. Fast Facts: New York v. Quarles Case Argued: January 18,1984Decision Issued: June 12, 1984Petitioner: The People of New YorkRespondent: Benjamin QuarlesKey Questions: Can evidence offered by a defendant prior to receiving his Miranda warnings be used in court if there is a public safety concern?Majority Decision: Justices Burger, White, Blackmun, Powell, and RehnquistDissenting: Justices OConnor, Marshall, Brennan, and StevensRuling: The Supreme Court ruled that, due to a public safety concern, Quarles statement regarding the location of his gun could be used against him in court even though he had not been read his Miranda rights at the time. Facts of the Case On September 11, 1980 officer Frank Kraft entered an AP supermarket while on patrol in Queens, New York. He identified a man, Benjamin Quarles, who matched the description of an assailant armed with a gun. Officer Kraft moved to detain Quarles, pursuing him through the aisles. During the chase, three officers arrived on the scene. Officer Kraft caught up to Quarles and handcuffed him. The officer noticed that Quarles had an empty gun holster on him. Officer Kraft asked where the gun was and Quarles directed the officer to a revolver stashed inside a carton. After securing the gun, Officer Kraft read Quarles his Miranda rights, formally placing him under arrest. Constitutional Issues Was Quarles’ statement about the location of the gun subject to the exclusionary rule under the Fifth Amendment? Can evidence offered by a defendant prior to receiving his Miranda warnings be used in court if there is a public safety concern? Arguments The petitioner argued that it was the officer’s obligation to find and secure the gun in the interest of public safety. The gun could have been within reach of Quarles, placing everyone in the supermarket at risk, the attorney argued. The exigent circumstances of a gun hidden in the supermarket overrode the immediate need for Miranda warnings, the attorney told the court. An attorney on behalf of Quarles argued that the officer should have notified Quarles of his Fifth Amendment rights as soon as he apprehended him. The attorney noted that the act of restraining Quarles and handcuffing him should have prompted the officer to read the Miranda warnings. Questions about the gun should have been asked after administering Miranda when Quarles was aware of his right to remain silent. The attorney called it a classic coercive situation. Majority Opinion Justice Rehnquist delivered the 5-4 opinion. The court found that Quarles statement, directing the officer to the gun, could be used as evidence. The decision in Miranda v. Arizona, according to the court, aimed to reduce police coercion of suspects in custody by advising them of their constitutional rights. When Officer Kraft apprehended Quarles, he reasonably believed that Quarles gun was loose in the supermarket. His question was prompted by a concern for public safety. The immediate need to find a potentially dangerous weapon outweighed the need to administer Miranda in that instant. Justice Rehnquist wrote: We think police officers can and will distinguish almost instinctively between questions necessary to secure their own safety or the safety of the public and questions designed solely to elicit testimonial evidence from a suspect. Dissenting Opinion Justice Thurgood Marshall was joined by Justice William J. Brennan and Justice John Paul Stevens. Justice Marshall argued that Quarles was surrounded by four officers, weapons drawn, when he was handcuffed. There was no immediate concern for public safety that overpowered the need to provide Miranda warnings. Justice Marshall argued that the Court would create chaos by allowing public safety to create an exception to the practices outlined in Miranda v. Arizona. According to the dissent, officers would use the exception to coerce defendants into making incriminating statements that would be admissible in court. Justice Marshall wrote: By finding on these facts justification for unconsented interrogation, the majority abandons the clear guidelines enunciated in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966), and condemns the American judiciary to a new era of post hoc inquiry into the propriety of custodial interrogations. Impact The Supreme Court affirmed the presence of a public safety exception to Miranda warnings established under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The exception is still used in court to allow evidence that would otherwise be inadmissible under Miranda v. Arizona. However, courts do not agree on what constitutes a threat to public safety and whether that threat needs to be immediate or not. The exception has been used in situations where officers need to locate a deadly weapon or injured victim. Sources New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649 (1984).Rydholm, Jane.  The Public Safety Exception to Miranda. Nolo, 1 Aug. 2014, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-public-safety-exception-miranda.html.

Obesity Obesity And Obesity Essay - 1169 Words

Obesity Obesity refers to excess body fat while overweight refers to excess body weight in terms of excess fat, muscles, bone or water. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2009–2010), about 69% of the adult population in the U.S. is overweight or obese, with more than 78 million adults being obese. Consistent with the survey, at least 2 in 3 adults are overweight or obese and more than 1 in 3 adults are obese. In addition, more than 1 in 20 adults in the U.S. are said to have extreme obesity. The obesity and overweight ranges are calculated using body mass index (BMI). An overweight person has a BMI of 25 to 29.9 while an obese person has a BMI of 30 + (Flegal et al. 493). Obesity and overweight are linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and impairment in insulin secretion. Obesity induces insulin resistance and predisposes individuals to inflammation and metabolic complications. Consequently, insulin resistance occurs when more than normal amounts of insulin are needed for a normal biological response. With time, the pancreas gets exhausted and blood glucose levels increase leading to hyperglycemia, which has toxic effects on pancreas cells and impairs insulin receptors eventually leading to type 2 diabetes. According to research, about 13% of adults aged 20 and above have type 2 diabetes although 40% of them have not been diagnosed (Ogden et al. 483).Show MoreRelatedObesity : Obesity And Obesity986 Words   |  4 PagesObesity is one of the major health epidemics that human being struggle to deal with it. Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by excessively high body f at in relation to lean body mass. In the last 20 years, people started complaining that fast food is the main cause of rising obesity. 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Global Business Cultural Analysis Of International Business

GLOBAL BUSINESS CULTURAL ANALYSIS Winter Harris BUSI604_B01 July 3, 2015 Dr. Stephen Preacher Abstract International business has been a part of society for centuries. With the introduction of modern technological advances, countries have moved from participating in business ventures primarily by land or boat and advanced to virtual environments and acquiring passports that enable flights all over the world. This impact has challenged businesses to improve their cultural relations as they venture into unknown markets that are on the opposite end of their cultural spectrum and perspective. The world is a vast melting pot of all walks of life. The business world is no different and requires even sharper skills, especially when entering environments that may be tense or chaotic. This paper examines the country of Italy and how its culture impacts business domestically and internationally. 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Business Model Re-Engineering Myspace Free Essays

string(117) " revenues and nothing else which is a great flaw for a social networking site, as it needs to focus on the onsumers\." ————————————————- Business Model Re-engineering MySpace Date: November 4, 2011 ————————————————- Word Count: 3742 Introduction Nowadays, increasingly more industries, especially the media sector, are facing a continuous change. In the case of media, this is mainly a result of steadily developing digital technology. Even though a company’s business model might have been successful for many years, it suddenly can start to become weaker. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Model Re-Engineering: Myspace or any similar topic only for you Order Now The media market is quite competition-driven and hence a competitor with a new business model might alter the industry almost instantly (Business model re-engineering, n. d. ). In such a competitive market, the â€Å"strategy [†¦] is about being different. † (Eisenhardt Sull, 2001, p. 116). This statement perfectly implies that companies and their products need to be so unique with such a well thought-out and innovate business model that they can create a competitive advantage. However, this adaption of the business model in an ever-changing media environment turns out to be quite a complex challenge, since now many companies face a decline of customers and revenue. A good example for a business model that could not survive the changing media environment in terms of online social networking is the one of Myspace. Consequently, I am going to propose a re-engineering of its business model. In this paper, I will focus on the problems of the current business model and carefully analyze the context of the market in order to propose a refreshed model that will help Myspace to survive and to compete more successfully in nowadays’ social networking market. Myspace needs a business model that provides value to its customers, guarantees a competitive advantage, as well as collects revenue (Teece, 2010). Myspace Myspace. com, which was founded in 2003 by Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson (Piskorski, Chen, Knoop, 2008), is an online social networking ervice that is now owned by Specific Media LLC and singer Justin Timberlake (Specific Media Acquires Myspace, 2011). Specific Media LLC is a media company which sells advertising online with a technology that aims at targeting specific customer segments (Specific Media LLC, 2011). Specific Media LLC, however, has not been the owner of Myspace for long. In June 2011, the company bought Myspace for about $35 million and as part o f the deal pop star Justin Timberlake took an ownership stake (Specific Media Acquires Myspace, 2011). Before, from 2005 until 2011, it was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (News Corporation to Acquire Intermix Media, Inc, 2005). From 2005 until 2008, Myspace was the most popular social networking website in the world, as measured by the visitors. But the number of 75. 9 million visitors per month in 2008 dropped to 34. 8 million in May 2011 (Gillette, 2011). Problems Is Facebook Myspace’s biggest problem? Since 2008, Myspace has been continuously losing members which was at the time when it was overtaken by Facebook (Mack, 2008). Myspace has been gradually losing its users which can be expressed by the declining members and visitors of the website. As from February 2010, the visitors decreased by 43. 3 per cent (Arrington, 2011) and the members shrunk by ten million within one month at the beginning of 2011 (Stafford, 2011). This decline brings along a dramatic loss in revenues which are solely generated by advertising (Enders, Hungenberg, Denker, Mauch, 2008). Facebook has now about 25 times more users than Myspace (Stafford, 2011) and it seems that members migrated from Myspace to Facebook, but there is other reasons for the failure of Myspace, mainly in terms of innovation. Myspace was performing really well at the time of News Corp’s acquisition and it barely had any competitors. However, with the rise of its first great competitor Facebook, the former leading social networking site had to confront one of its severest lacks: innovation! At the very beginning, Facebook entered a niche market, namely the one of college students. Firstly, it was available to Haravard students, then more and more universities wanted to join Facebook and today, almost everybody is using this social network, no matter if college student or not (Piskorski et al. , 2008). Today, around 600 million users enjoy keeping in touch with people all over the world via Facebook (Cauwels Sornette, 2011). Facebook managed this great success because it was innovative. New features have been added all the time since it has been launched, hence people were involved and kept coming back as a result of new innovations such as the ‘news feed’ at that time (Stafford, 2011). While Facebook managed to be innovative all the time, Myspace failed to adapt to the market and did not add new features as Facebook did. Additionally, Myspace did not allow third party developers to create new features such as applications (e. g. Facebook – FarmVille etc. ), they rather kept everything behind closed doors. Therefore, Myspace lost the competition of controlling the market at the time between 2006 and 2008 and consequently it became boring (Stafford, 2011). Even though Myspace had certain features, they did not all work very well. For example, members were able to create their own backgrounds either themselves or they could download an existing design from many providers who specialized in creating Myspace profile designs. This feature turned into quite a mess, problems, and confusion regarding certain profiles. The whole competition resulted in a confusing mess and one could not be sure on what Myspace was focusing. Not only because of the customized user profiles but also because of some other flaws in the site’s design, Myspace was confronted with security issues. Results were spyware (Hesseldahl, 2006), phishing, and spam (Webb, Caverlee, Pu, 2010). Another security fear was regarding the profile content. Users were concerned about trust and privacy and even law enforcement officials claimed, â€Å"MySpace is used by sexual predators to lure teenagers† (Dwyer, Hiltz, Passerini as cited by Schrobsdorff, 2006, p. 5). The last problem I want to focus on is the revenue model. As previously mentioned, Myspace operates on revenues from advertising. Especially under the ownership of News Corp, the main focus was on generating revenue. It seemed that Rupert Murdoch solely focused on revenues and nothing else which is a great flaw for a social networking site, as it needs to focus on the onsumers. You read "Business Model Re-Engineering: Myspace" in category "Papers" In 2006, Google pledged to pay News Corp as many as $900 million over three and a half years and in return Google was allowed to provide search services and advertising on Myspace (Piskorski et al. , 2008). For Myspace’s customer it seemed that the site was fu ll of too much unorganized advertising, hence the website appeared unprofessionally (James, 2009). The previously listed problems of Myspace are mainly problems of the time when Myspace lost the competition against Facebook, and reasons why Myspace is not successful anymore. With regards to the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder (2009), I will focus on the problems based on the following elements: Value Propositions, Key Partners, Revenue Streams, and Media Channels. The element of value propositions â€Å"seeks to solve customer problems and satisfy customer needs with value propositions† (Osterwalder Pigneur, 2009, p. 16). I consider this part to be Myspace’s greatest problem regarding the issues of trust, privacy, spam, spyware, and phishing. Furthermore, the lack of innovation was one of the major problems why Myspace lost that many users who constantly want to experience something new. With its lack of good and new features as well as its unclear point of focus, Myspace was not able to deliver value which would result in customers continue to use the social network. From my personal experience, I can say that Myspace faded into obscurity which can be backed up by the low number of users now, compared to the time of 2006 when Myspace was at its peak (Snyder, Carpenter, Slauson, 2006). I was a Myspace user around 2006 as well, when I was 15 years old. It seemed to be a meeting point for teenagers and for me it was not any different from the German social networking site ‘Schuler VZ’ except that it is international. However, as time went by, I decreasingly used Myspace as for me it always was too confusing and it could not compete with the German social network. Besides, I got spammed with advertising, random men (who were not at my age) thought it was a dating service, and it simply became boring. Therefore, I can state that Myspace’s biggest problem is that it is not valuable enough for the users. Theory Firstly, I will focus on the value propositions as all the other elements, I chose to focus on, follow up on the value propositions. When looking at value propositions, I would like to consider the three types of value propositions according to Anderson, Narus, and van Rossum (2006), namely ‘all benefits’, ‘favorable points of difference’, and ‘resonating focus’. In the case of Myspace, it certainly would not be enough to â€Å"simply list all the benefits† (Anderson et al. , 2006, p. 2) since there are too many competitors in the Internet environment that share most of the benefits and values. The ‘favorable points of difference’ approach is promising in so far that it distinguishes the valuable points that the competitors do not offer. However, I believe that Myspace does not present many highly valuable aspects over their competitors and therefore it would be most convenient to concentrate on the ‘resonating focus’. With this approach, I will focus on â€Å"the one or two points of difference [†¦] whose improvement will deliver the greatest value to the customer for the foreseeable future† (Anderson et al. , 2006, p. 4). In connection to that, I will of course need to study the greatest competitors with regards to their value propositions in order to highlight Myspace’s most valuable points of difference. Furthermore, I will need to research what customers expect from online social networking, what they value about Myspace, and what they generally find lacking in the social networking environment in order to develop ideas for a possible niche market. Additionally, for this customer value research, I will need to conduct research on focus groups with regards to problems mentioned in the previous section (safety and innovation). Furthermore, the design is an important aspect of the value propositions as well. As I previously stated, the old Myspace design was quite confusing which resulted in safety problems. Hence, a new design is needed which is unified for every user, yet attractive and which does not allow bugs. Secondly, in relation to innovation, I will need to look at the Key Partners who will be part of the re-engineering of the Media Channels as well and concerning revenues. Through Media Channels, the company can communicate with its customers and deliver the value propositions (Osterwalder et al. 2009). Especially in the online environment, awareness can be raised with the help of other key partners. For example, you can share content from one website on another. Not so long ago, Myspace introduced connection opportunities to Twitter and Facebook (Myspace introduces mashup with Facebook, 2010) and also youtube allows sharing videos on myspace. Myspace’s connections to Facebook which will al so help to generate user-specific streams according to the user’s Facebook profiles. However, Facebook for example, does not allow a connection to Myspace. Accordingly, Key Partners are needed that would help promoting Myspace. Moreover, the former revenue model which only consisted of advertising, has proven to be quite annoying for the users, hence Myspace needs Key Partners who will not only make the website more appealing but also help to make revenue. Hence, research has to be done on Key Partners who are willing to help financing Myspace as well as who would be interested to offer for example applications (which then help the Key Partners as well). As I said before, Myspace faded into obscurity. For this reason, I will also need to look at other media channels such as campaigns and marketing strategies in order to bring Mypsace back to people’s minds. In that relation, research needs to be done on what marketing strategies worked for successful social networks such as Facebook and also what media channels can help to basically re-introduce a media product like Myspace. Assumptions Best Practices Review First of all I need to mention that Myspace decided in 2010 to focus on music and entertainment (About Myspace, 2010). However, for now I will only consider online social networking sites as websites that focus on music and entertainment are not Myspace’s greatest competitors. Of course, I will need to take Facebook into account as Myspace’s greatest competitor and as today’s most popular social network which was the most visited website in June 2011 (Smith, 2011). Facebook first started in a niche market of college students and it got awareness from the very beginning. It did not use any special advertising campaigns to become popular but the promotion was rather by word to mouth (Mitchell, 2009). The popularity has then been covered by newspaper articles and television which reported on the success (Ibid). Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook as a unique and intimate website and constantly added new features that kept the site interesting. Facebook is far more innovative than Myspace and therefore the members keep using it and promote it by word-of-mouth advertising. Similarly to Facebook, Twitter was initially successful in a niche market. At the beginning, primarily computer- and technology specialists as well as bloggers used Twitter for example to promote their blogs (How did Twitter become popular? 2009). Twitter could convince with its simplicity and real life experience. Real life experience in so far that people twittered news from certain events such as the Mumbai attacks or recently the uprisings in Tunisia as different to regular news channels (Ibid). The best practices that made Twitter and Facebook successful and popular are therefore word-to-mouth advertising and t he Internet itself. Word-to-mouth advertising only worked because of the convincing and interesting designs and usability. Both platforms are innovative, as they have been creating new features that make them enjoyable, flexible and interesting (The Success of Twitter, 2011). Those best practices worked for Myspace as well – in the beginning. However, the task now is to remake Myspace aware to people’s minds and the goal is that the users actually keep using Myspace because of the new design and value propositions. I would suggest sending a short and catchy email to the Myspace users which shortly introduces them to the new Myspace. Users might want to get to know the new Myspace and then tell people about their good experience. Additionally, since Myspace is focusing on music, an advertising campaign might help to make new bands aware of Myspace’s ability to promote their work. Facebook uses an aggressive innovation approach, meaning that it comes up with new features that users initially might not like but after a while they cannot imagine Facebook without those new features anymore. Furthermore, Facebook constantly adapts the privacy settings in order to meet the customers’ needs with regards to safety (Blodget, 2010). Innovation keeps Facebook interesting and worthwhile to continue using it. Another highlight it offers for their users are applications. Many software developers create applications for Facebook which make the site not only more interesting and entertaining but also help to generate revenues (Stone, 2007). With the help of key partners, Myspace can get help for its design as well as applications that help to make the site interesting. What is more, key partners help financing; hence Myspace would not only be dependent on advertising revenues. As users find the amount of advertising quite annoying, Myspace can focus on less but personalized advertising. Those steps would help to make Myspace more innovative and it can easier meet the users’ needs in terms of design, safety, new features that make it worth to use. Research Proposal – Method Myspace needs change! More specifically, Myspace needs a re-engineered business model. The previous statistics show that the numbers of Myspace users decline gradually. If this decline continues, the once most popular social network (Bains, 2009) will soon be almost unknown or at least unused. However, with further research on my previously stated ideas based on the problems of Myspace in relation to the Business Model, I will be able to help Myspace creating a new and innovative Business Model that will help to avoid further declining user numbers and to create competitive consistency in the environment of social networking. In order to study the value propositions carefully, I will conduct qualitative research. Only with qualitative research I will be able to gather in-depth understanding of the reasons why people do not use Myspace anymore. I can gather such information in two ways: through interviews and through an online research community. With the help of a qualitative research interview I will gather the facts as well as analyze the meaning (Kvale, 1996). As a result, I will be able to understand the values customers need as well as the reasons and problems which caused the failure of Myspace. By using an online research community, Myspace can put â€Å"the customer at the heart of [the] marketing strategy† (Simon, 2009). Such research communities allow efficient and deep qualitative research online. In such a community, members can discuss certain aspects such as new features and designs, and Myspace can adapt accordingly. Besides, a qualitative research online will probably bring more results since people rather take the time to discuss issues online. However, the qualitative Interview will also be needed because it is an additional in-depth analysis with face-to-face communication that enables immediate follow up questions and answers with high reliability. The qualitative research of both forms will be base on current or former Myspace users and also on general social network users in order to determine the general arget group’s values. Questions for both kinds of researches will for example include what they currently like about Myspace, what they do not like, why they use Myspace, or why they (stopped) using Myspace, what they generally value about Myspace, and their opinions about the competitors such as Facebook. For good measure a detailed research on the competit ors and their best practices is essential. This can be done by further online research on the competitor’s strategies in order to find out what could work for Myspace as well. Plan The following table provides an overview of the estimated time and costs for this project – subject to modifications. For now, I will conduct the research for three weeks, meaning that for example that the online community will be run for three weeks. Part| Time| Costs per hour| Costs per day| Creating online community(5 employees)| 8 hrs| EUR 10 (x5)| EUR 400| Leading discussion online(10 employees)| 3 wks (120 hrs)| EUR 8 (x10)| EUR 9600| Analyzing online community (10 employees)| 2 wks (80 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9600| Developing questions for both onliny community and interview (4 employees)| 8 hrs| EUR 12 (x4)| EUR 384| Interviews (5 hrs per day)(10 interviewer)| 3 wks (75 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9000| Evaluation Interview(10 employees)| 2 wks (80 hrs)| EUR 12 (x10)| EUR 9600| Total Costs for staff:| EUR 38584| Further costs: Possible travel costs (for interviewers):ca. EUR 300 Equipment (for Interviewers – recorders etc. ):ca. EUR 400 Technical equipment for online community:ca. EUR 10000 Total Costs:ca. EUR 49284 The additional costs might not apply if the equipment already exists. All prices are including value added taxes. Reflection In this paper I laid the foundation for a re-engineering of Myspace’s Business Model. Back in 2006 and 2007 I was a member of Myspace as well. However, I never liked this social network much since it was confusing, annoying because of all the advertising and I did not feel safe using it. Overall, it did not really work out. Now I am a Facebook user and I totally forgot about Myspace. Apparently, other social network users feel the same way which can be expressed by the declining number of Myspace users. Myspace became quite unpopular, fewer and fewer people visit that site and Facebook out-competed Myspace fast. Therefore I analyzed the problems that resulted in the failure of Myspace. The main overall problem is innovation. Myspace failed to add new features in order to make the platform interesting and worthwhile to keep using it. Myspace totally faded into obscurity wherefore it is essential to re-engineer at the media channels. Also, Myspace did not allow third party developers to help designing the page and add for example applications which not only would make the network more entertaining but also help generating revenues other than advertising. Instead, members were able to design their own profiles. This feature, however, resulted in an overall confusing design and safety problems. Safety problem arose from the bad software as it was easier to install for example spyware. Myspace could not meet the values that the customers need. Aside from bugs such as spyware, spam and phishing, users experienced a great lack of trust and privacy in that online network. To sum it up, I focused on the re-engineering of the following parts of the Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2009): Value Propositions, Media Channels, Key Partners, and Revenue Streams. All parts of the business model are connected though. That is why I analyzed all parts with regards to the others. My idea is that Myspace needs to be innovative. It can do so in analyzing both the values of customers and the best practices of the competitors and then adapt accordingly. With this method, Myspace can add new feature that will surely meet the customers’ desires. This is connected with a new design and key partners. Key partners can not only help with the design but also with innovation by adding applications that make Myspace more interesting. Furthermore, key partners would create another method of generating revenues. Then, Myspace would not only depend on advertising revenues and can reduce the annoying advertising to unostentatious, user-personalized advertising. After its changes, people need to be made aware of the new Myspace. This can be done with a short and catchy email to Myspace members who will then positively experience the re-engineered Myspace and spread the word. Additionally, television and Internet advertising campaigns might help to bring Myspace to the people’s minds. I am convinced that those methods and the further research, suggested in form of qualitative interviews, qualitative online community research and qualitative research on the competitors, would help Myspace to survive the competition in the online environment of social networks as well as stop a further downfall. References About Myspace. (2010). Retrieved November 1, 2011 from Myspace http://www. myspace. com/pressroom/2010/11/myspace-introduces-mashup-with-facebook/ Anderson, J. C. , Narus, J. A. , van Rossum, W. (2006). Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets. Harvard Business Review. Arrington, M. (2011, March 23). Amazingly, MySpace’s Decline is Accelerating. Retrieved October 29, 2011 from http://techcrunch. com/2011/03/23/amazingly-myspaces-decline-is-accelerating/ Bains, L. (2009). Facebook Overtakes MySpace as Most Popular Social Networking  Site. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://www. switched. com/2009/01/27/facebook-overtakes-myspace-as-most-popular-social-networking-sit/ Blodget, H. (2010). Ignore The Screams–Facebook’s Aggressive Approach Is Why It Will Soon Become The Most Popular Site In The World. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://articles. businessinsider. om/2010-05-17/tech/29991115_1_ceo-mark-zuckerberg-facebook-s-pr-innovation Business model re-engineering. (n. d. ). Retrieved October 27, 2011 from AMR International http://www. amrinternational. com/services/corporate_and_business_unit_strategy/business_model_re-engineering Cauwels, P. , Sornette, D. (2011). Quis pendit ipsa pretia: facebook valuation and diagnost ic of a bubble based on nonlinear demographic dynamics. Retrieved October 30, 2011 from Cornell University Library http://arxiv. org/abs/1110. 1319 Dwyer, C. , Hiltz, S. , Passerini, K. (2007). Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking How to cite Business Model Re-Engineering: Myspace, Papers

What Is the Nature of the Conflict in Act One, Scene One or Romeo and Juliet free essay sample

Right from the start Shakespeare lets us know there will be conflict throughout the play as in the prologue it says from ancient grudge breaks to new mutiny. And where civil blood makes civil hands unclean This lets us know that there will was a past grudge and in this play the grudge will be re-ignited and it also suggests there will be fighting throughout the play and conflict will escalate. These two lines are about the feud between the families. It shows that it is an ancient grudge, which has been brewing for many years. By repeating the words civil, Shakespeare is stressing the fact that they are all civilians but the pride within each family has led them to violence and evil. The play then goes straight from the prologue into a brawl in the first scene between both houses. It begins with servants from the two houses but later Tybalt, the son of the Capulets, and Benvolio arrive. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is the Nature of the Conflict in Act One, Scene One or Romeo and Juliet? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Tybalt, during the brawl, says to Benvolio about the idea of peace, â€Å"As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. † (1. 1. 65) These are powerful words as Tybalt is ranking Benvolio and all the Montagues at the same level as hell and is expressing extreme hatred and genuine hatred. In Act One Scene One, we are immediately introduced to two servants of the Capulet household, Gregory and Sampson. We see them engaging in informal dialogue that at its best could be described as playful banter. At first the two boast about themselves and about their status that they are above those carry coals. However they do not just converse about themselves, the conversation swiftly begins to incorporate the Montague family. Shakespere uses the servants here as a device to stir gossip which will eventually result in a fight. I will push Montagues men from the wall The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men(1. 1. 18) This enforces the feud we have previously read about in the prologue and also helps us to establish the scale of conflict between the two families; the conflict is so large, that even the servants are involved. This line said by Gregory also shows the faith and devotion that the servants have for their family. Gregory and Sampson serve more than one purpose in the first scene. The argument between Sampson and Gregory at the start of the play is more of a comical hate rather than a genuine one. Sampson begins the brawl between the Montagues and Capulets by flicking his thumbnail from behind his upper teeth, an insulting gesture known as biting the thumb. He engages in this juvenile and vulgar display because he wants to get into a fight with the Montagues but doesn’t want to be accused of starting the fight by making an explicit insult. This has aspects of comedy as the scene of the servants is trivial hate. Because of his timidity, he settles for being annoying rather than challenging. The thumb-biting, as an essentially meaningless gesture, represents the foolishness of the entire Capulet/Montague feud and the stupidity of violence in general. Moreover, Sampson is clearly the more violent of the two shown in the quotation; â€Å"The heads of maids or their maiden heads. †(1. 1. 23) This shows the audience that Sampson is very aggressive and it is showing sexual aggression and violence which gives the audience the impression that the violence can only get worse as at the moment it’s only on a low level between servants rather than people further up the hierarchy of the two families.