COMPETITION AND FINANCIAL STABILITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

COMPETITION AND FINANCIAL STABILITY - Essay Example It has been argued that, similarly to other industries in the non-banking sector, competition prevalent in the banking sector is desirable because it tends to generate a market that is more efficient, as well as the benefits that tag along like efficient resource allocation and better consumer prices. However, other theories argue more competition in the banking sector may precipitate an increase in instability with regards to the financial systems. Since greater competition in the banking sector leads to a decrease in margins of bank profits, banks are banks are encouraged to acquire riskier investment so as to boost profit levels, which is in support of the competition fragility view (Boyd et al., 2009: 4). However, other arguments make the argument that greater concentration of banks in the loan markets may lead to an increase in instability via increased risks, especially because higher rates of interest that are charged on consumers could make it more difficult for them to pay b ack the loans, which supports the view on competition stability. Therefore, it is interesting when these hypotheses are tested to decide whether completion in the banking sector is desirable with an aim to increase financial stability (Boyd et al., 2009: 5). ... l failures of the market because of asymmetric information like adverse selection, moral hazard, and excessive taking of risks with agency problems, externalities like fragility because contagion and coordination problems, and potential power of the markets (Koskela & Stenbacka, 2000: 1857). This has led to regulation that seeks to protect the small investors, the system, and market competitiveness. However, these problems are made worse by policies that have to do with being too big to fail, deposit insurance, and the last resort lender. The global financial crisis uncovered the huge failures of the regulatory system and the potential contradictions between competition policy and regulatory intervention (Koskela & Stenbacka, 2000: 1857). Banks, indeed, are unique because of their specific mix of features that increases their vulnerability to potential systemic impact and very fundamental negative externalities with regards to the economy (Koskela & Stenbacka, 2000: 1858). The compet itive banking system’s fragility is excessive with financial regulation coming to the rescue at the cost of regulatory failure and side effects. The most essential one has to do with potential moral hazards caused by bailouts and protection of failing financial institutions. The recent global financial crisis is a testimony to failures of the Basel II system’s three pillars. First, risk assessment and disclosure have been deficient with market discipline being ineffective, especially due to blanket insurance from too big to fail policies (Koskela & Stenbacka, 2000: 1858). Secondly, capital regulation has failed to account for account systemic effects, i.e. failure’s social costs, with restriction on assets lifted because of pressure emanating from lobbies on behalf of investment

Impacts Of Industrial Urbanization On Working People History Essay

Impacts Of Industrial Urbanization On Working People History Essay Urbanization is a social process in which a countrys organized communities become larger, more specialized. There are both negative and positive consequences of this process. It involves a lot of economic , technological demographic, political , environmental factors and it is inevitably accompanied by other changes in society. Before moving on to industrial urbanization and its impacts , history and life of native people would be discussed. A lot of Native peoples lived by hunting and gathering. Agriculture was established between the Iroquoian groups (Huron, Iroquois, Petun, Neutral).Clothing was provided from fur bearing animals and silver and copper was used to make ornaments. Trading was common at that time but there doesnt seem to have any specialized merchant class. French and british traders began to buy furs, and in return they offered iron tools, weapons and alcohol , all of which the native peoples valued highly. This resulted in economic and cultural changes among the native peoples, who were to play a critical role in the early fur trade. Canada was a largely per-industrial agricultural society at confederation in 1867. People belonged to large families and lived on farms. Farms were only source of income for them as they often supported entire families generation after generation. Urbanization process passed four major phases. Canada became an urban nation quite early as compared to others. The first stage began with the founding of Quebec in 1608. Quebec City, Montreal, Halifax and St Johns tended to be the administrative centers. From the mother country there were entrepots, collection agencies for colonial staples and distribution centers of manufactured goods. Primary connection was the overseas metropolis because of which there was lack of significant connections with other towns in the colonies. Dependence on water transport powered byu wind and sail was another common feature of urban centers during this period. Fishery and fur trade were exploited by permanent European settlers who came to Canada. Due to the reason that the climate and soil were not encouraging, agricultural progress was slow until the end of 17th century. English-speaking merchants engaged in the fur trade; after the Conquest (1759-60), when many British businessmen began to control a large portion of the fur trade from Montreal, they also quickly extended their interests throughout commerce and finance.. The population grew through natural increase and through immigration from Britain. The good agricultural land in the St Lawrence Valley had almost been taken up by 1820s. In 1821, after the North West Company merged with the Hudsons Bay Company the transcontinental fur trade was no longer managed from Montrà ©al. By that time Upper and Lower Canada had developed an immense trade in timber, which went first to Britain and then, after mid century, to the US and domestic buyers. Second phase of urbanization started in early 1800s and was marked by the increasing control of commercial interests. By dominating their immediate region several cities began to assume metropolitan functions. There was a move away from an exclusive reliance on staples export to a new concern for regional and inter regional commerce and small scale artisanal production for a local or regional market. Industrial revolution took place in 1815 and 1914. The use of new technologies in transportation was a third aspect of the economic reorientation. In this phase, the form of cities is not readily definable but a number of features distinguish them from both their predecessors and successors. The most important factor was transport which played an essential role in the development of bigger, functionally more specialized towns from 1830. National rail network was established in 1840s due to which a fully integrated urban system developed and the constraints of time and distance . This led to a period of great change in the structure of the urban system and the extent, characteristics and internal and external relations. There was no significant European population until the 1780s in the present-day Ontario, although its waterways were used by the fur traders. There was a beginning of settlement with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, British and American settlers, and British troops and officials. export trades in wheat, potash and timber developed and forest land was cleared. A few roads and canals were built, of which the most important were the Welland Canal and St Lawrence River canals. most good land in the province had been claimed by 1867, although not all of it was under cultivation. Quebec contained 3 towns, Montreal, Quebec and Trios-Rivieras at the conquest. With settlement and with the development of commerce and government a lot of towns appeared. much of central Canadas industry, including the 2 great industries, milling and lumbering, was dispersed through the countryside or in small villages in 1871. Rapid industrialization and urbanization occurred in both provinces after c onfederation. By 1911 half of Ontarios population lived in cities and towns. less than one-fifth of the Quebec population lived in cities at the time of confederation. Thirty years later the proportion surpassed one-third. Urbanization was undoubtedly the most salient phenomenon in Quebec at the start of the 20th century. Only 36% of the population lived in cities; thirty years later, that proportion had reached 60%. Due to development in industry there was an increased rate in growth of cities. in Montreal the phenomenon was particularly visible, then the industrial hub of Canada. Within thirty years, its population more than doubled, growing from 107,000 in 1871 to 268,000 in 1901 (or 325,000 counting the suburbs). Montreal became Canadas uncontested metropolis when it outgrew Quebec city from 1830 onwards. Population comprised of working class, yet the countrys most powerful businessmen lived there as well. Population growth was slower in Quebec city. Population was just under 60 ,000 in 1871 and still below 70,000 in 1901. In smaller cities such as Hull, Sherbrooke, Valley field, Saint-Hyacinth, Saint-Jerome and Magog industrialization became evident. The largest of these had populations of only 11,000-14,000, but they bore witness to an important transformation in Quebec society. In british north American railway fever came a little late which had a small population and much of its capital tied up in the expansion of its CANALS AND INLAND WATERWAYS. But it did not take long for politicians and entrepreneurs to realize the potential benefits. In 1841 ,the Province of Canada (1841) was an enormous country. Its roads were poor and its waterways were frozen for up to 5 months per year. GRAND TRUNK Railway was the most ambitious pre-Confederation railway project in Canada. It was a bold attempt by Montreal to capture the hinterland of Canada West and traffic from American states in the Great Lakes region. But unfortunately Canadians did not have enough money and technicians to build it. In the process of Industrialization the railways played an integral role, tying together and opening up new markets while, at the same time, themselves creating a demand for fuel, iron and steel, LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK. Wooding-up stations were required at regular intervals along the line and the pioneer wood burning locomotives had huge appetites. James of Toronto made first locomotive in Canada in 1853. (the Toronto No. 2 of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron). As a consequence, railway greatly stimulated engineering particularly with the demand for BRIDGES and TUNNELS. There were a few inventions by Canadians, notably the first successful braking system (W.A. Robinson, 1868) and the rotary snowplough (J.W. Elliott, 1869; developed further by O. Jull), which made possible safe, regular travel in Canadian winters. Zone system was devised by the great railway engineer Sanford Fleming to over the confusion of clocks varying from community to community along the rail routes. Low rolling friction of iron-flanged wheels on iron rails and steam locomotion enabled George Stephenson (the first of the great railway engineers) to design and superintend the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830), which began the railway age in England. steam locomotion, the standard gauge (1.435 m) and the rolled-edge rail (bellying out on the underside for strength) were the characteristics of the railway which were established in the early stage. Ind ustries such as tailoring and shoe making were becoming factory activities, and provincial governments began to regulate working conditions from 1870 to 1900. the industries in the cities eventually won the competition with the rural industries.Urbanization started in 19th century because of the industrialization that took place. Because of bad sanitary conditions and diseases, cities still needed many new people every now and again. But gradually with the passage of time there was an increase in number of people and cities. There were several types of cities: cities with textile industry, cities with heavy industry and administrative/commercial cities. Transportation was affected by industrial revolution. Bicycles, steamships and trains made it easier for people to move further away. The third phase, which began with the industrial era in the 1870s and lasted until the 1920s, saw the development of a national urban system that tended to concentrate power in major central Canadian cities, notably Montreal and Toronto. It attracted a steady supply of rural Canadians to the cities. The working poor was the new class that spawned instead. labor force, weak government protection, and social discrimination was faced by these families. Industrialization had caused Canadian cities to double, which brought wealth to the society, but that wealth was not shared. Although industrialization did provide thousands of jobs, it did not create an egalitarian society. With the arrival of railway numerous cities expanded or took advantage of railway development to consolidate their position in the economy. Montreal, for example, which was already the business and financial hub of British North America owing to its port installations, would extend its commercial influence over an increasingly larger zone following the arrival of the railway. The political economy of this industrial era was marked by the emergence of industrial capitalism and its counterpart, the industrial working class. The extent and nature of urban development was dependent on major improvements in the technological capacity of Canada. Science and engineering were systematically applied to transportation, communications, building methods and production. The outstanding physical characteristics of cities were the enormous spatial expansion of the suburbs and the tall office towers of the central core. The social landscape of cities was affected by the changing scale of development. A kind of giant ism prevailed, from the size of suburbs and the height of the buildings in the central core to the organization of new business enterprises and the building of enormous factories. Land use was increasingly specialized. Urbanization also affected cities less closely associated with the railway system. Saint John, New Brunswick, saw its population rise from 27,000 in 1840 to nearly 39,000 in 1861. The rise in population benefited from the growth in shipbuilding and maritime transportation, in particular. Due to this , the proportion of urban dwellers in the colonies as a whole went up from 13% in 1851 to 16% in 1861. The largest cities in British North America were Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, Toronto, Halifax, Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa and London on the eve of Confederation. Between 1896 and 1914, Central Canadas industrial advance was especially rapid when the whole nation experienced investment and export booms. A few industries such as carriage-making and blacksmithing declined after 1900. But soon after this new industries appeared like electrical equipment and chemicals in the 1890s, cars and aluminum after 1900, pulp and paper in. 1890-1914 Montreal and Toronto were the great cities of Central Canada by 1867. Montreal began as a port and a commercial centre. By 1900 it was producing large amounts of clothing and textile products, electrical equipment, railway rolling stock and many light industrial products. Finally by mid 19th century it was a place of industry. After 1867, Toronto after a slow and inauspicious beginning, developed after 1867 on similar lines, much of its early prosperity being based on Great Lakes shipping. Both cities had energetic banks and insurance companies and active stock exchanges. Immigrants were attracted to both cities from Europe and Italy. Cities of Central Canada were built by largely natural increase from britian between Confederation and 1914. Atlantic Canada Initially fur trading was common here but later on with serious economic development in the Atlantic provinces really began with the sea fisheries, whose markets were in Europe and later in the West Indies. Some francophone and anglophone migrants arrived during the 17th century on mainland, but the European population was small until the arrival of the Loyalists, partly because there was little good agricultural land. Scots settled on Cape Breton in early 19th century. Prosperity came from the fisheries, forests and maritime carrying trades. Western Canada In western Canada economic development began with fur trade. In 1812, settled agriculture began with Lord Selkirks RED RIVER COLONY. In 1880s the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway gave Manitoba a wheat economy. Prospects for development brightened as world prices rose, transport costs fell, methods of dryland farming improved, and more appropriate varieties of wheat became availablein 1890s. More progress was made and Prairie provinces enjoyed an immense expansion of the wheat economy, onto which was grafted, before 1914, a very much larger rail system, a network of cities and towns, coal mining and ranching. Because of this many migrants were attracted from many lands. T that time Alberta began to produce small quantities of oil and gas. In Early times most of the city dwellers got around on foot; only the richest could afford the services of a coachman or own their own horse but with the urban expansion , organized public transit came into being. In 1861, the first street cars appeared in Montreal and Quebec City. Then by 1982,electric streetcars made their appearance. At the start of 20th century , 46 urban centres had streetcar lines. Electric streetcars inaugurated in 1892 favoured the expansion of suburbs, since they allowed people to live further away from their places of work without having to travel long distances on foot Industrialization and urbanization brought about a lot of changes in work and family by early 20th century. The seniors who had retired and couldnt do any more work ended their lives in poor houses or old age homes, as they had come to be known. In the late 19th century the number of seniors who became poor increased as the process of industrialization began to affect Canadian society. More workers were needed as the factories were built in the cities. In the countryside the population grew to the point that people began to be forced off their farms into urban areas to work for wages. Later on, a revolutionary transformation occurred in human use of energy. Burning of wood to produce heat, plus human and animal muscle power were the biomass energy for human society. Then world entered the age of coal and steam power. It was the beginning of fossil fuel era and this is the era we live in today. the harnessing of steam power enabled humans to vastly multiply the energy generated from b urning coal, thereby greatly expanding the amount of energy. Petroleum was the second major fossil fuel by 1914. There was a significant development in communications and transport. Migration to long distances within continental spaces was done through steamships and railroads. Asian migrants, especially South Asians and Chinese, settled in many parts of the tropical world as well as in the Americas. Standard of living was increased and people were looking for more opportunities than they had in their native places. Another major environmental change was the enormous increase in population growth. The environmental impact of this dramatic population increase, combined with the surges in economic growth and energy consumption, was colossal. In Canada the earliest significant social piece of legislation was the Canadian Government Annuities (Act of 1908). It benefited and encouraged a lot of people to prepare financially for their retirement. With this facility, Canadians began to purchase various annuities for different amounts and leghts of time. There was a specific age when the recipient began to receive benefits from it. This system was carried out very nicely and all the costs were administered by the government. Federal civil servants were given pensions according to superannuation Act in 1870. Then the national pension programs were developed and enhanced more. In 1867, most of the Canadians did not retire. At that time Canada was predominantly an agricultural society. Majority of the population lived on farms and worked till old age as their was no other source of income. Canadian way of living was totally changed by urbanization and industrialization. With the invention of industries and new technology , farm life and family support system was completely dissolved. Before the old people had no choice except to work to earn their living but now they lived the rest of their live in old homes or poor houses.

a bridge to the 18th century Essay -- Free Essay Writer

Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Neil Postman identifies himself as a â€Å"neo-Luddite†. What bothers Postman most is the fact that the great innovators of this time have no frame of reference other than their own experience, and that experience is only that of the 20th century. Advocates of trends such as information superhighways and economic globalization appear to know nothing of history, philosophy and culture; they live digitally in the hollow present.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Postman assesses different ideas in each chapter: Chaper One: A Bridge to the Eighteenth Century   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Postman heralds the accomplishments of personalities of the 18th Century, including Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Kant, Hume, Gibbon, Paine, Jefferson, Franklin, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Haydn, among many others. Chapter Two: Progress   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Postman summarizes, â€Å"The idea of progress is a product of the Enlightenment. The eighteenth century invented it†¦ but it also criticized and doubted it and its limitations and pitfalls. Reason, when unaided and untempered by poetic insight and human feeling, turns ugly and dangerous. Chapter Three: Technology   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When assessing various technological advancements, Postman encourages the reader to be question, â€Å"What is the problem to which this technology is a solution?† â€Å"Whose problem is it?† â€Å"Which people and institutions might be most ser...

Different Styles of Imitation Essay

In The Transmission of Knowledge by Juan Luis Vives, Vives describes his idea of proper imitation. His basic theory is that people are not innately born with skills of art or rhetoric and therefore, these skills are obtained through the imitation of other skilled artists or rhetoricians. This idea is parallel to those of Petrarch and Alberti. Petrarch and Vives both say that proper imitation should be analogous to the way a son resembles his father. Vives says â€Å"A son is said to be like his father, not so much in that he recalls his features, his face and form, but because shows to us his father’s manners, his disposition, his talk, his gait, his movements, and as it were his very life, which issues forth in his actions as he goes abroad, from the inner seat of the spirit, and shows his real self to us.† (190) Petrarch says, similarly, â€Å"As soon as we see the son, he recalls the father to us, although if we should measure every feature we should find them all different.†(199) The father to son resemblance is the basis of imitation to both these authors. They both believe that a good writer should use imitation in a way where what they imitate resembles the original, but does it not duplicate it. For Petrarch and Vives, this can be achieved by properly integrating reading with writing. They both believe that by reading something and being able to digest it thoroughly, one can transport the overall idea and feeling of what he read onto his own writing. This creates a deep imitation, rather than copying what a writer says in different words. Both authors use the father to son metaphor to show that imitation should be meaningful and evocative. Petrarch supplements this idea by claiming that reading should be an alterative to experience. As one would in a sense â€Å"experience† the father through the son, one should similarly be able to experience the author a writer imitates. To illustrate this he referrers to â€Å"wandering† and â€Å"transport† throughout his works. Specifically, Petrarch interchanges writing with experience when he describes climbing Mont Ventroux. He says â€Å"But nature is not overcome by a man’s devices; a corporeal thing cannot reach the heights by descending† and, further, â€Å"there I leaped in my winged thought from things corporeal to what is incorporeal and addressed myself in words like these†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (39) The physical and spiritual are linked so closely together that they transport and overlap one another. According to Petrarch, characteristics like this are traits of a good imitator. Vives also relates to the kind of imitation which interchanges the bodily action with spiritual. He describes an oration, which links actions with rhetoric. He says â€Å"But these modern imitators regard not so much the mind of the orator in his expression, as the outward appearance of his words and the external for of his style.† (191) Both writers believe that by interchanging techne which psyche, one can properly imitate and transcend a deeper significance of what the writer is imitating. Although Petrarch and Vives share similar ideas, they also hold a contradictory belief: Petrarch only imitates Cicero, while Vives believes that one should imitate several models to create a single work. Although Vives clearly states that Cicero is the best model for writing in the conversational style: â€Å"Caesar and Epistles of Cicero will come into the first rank of conversational style,† (192) he also states that one should comprise writing by mimicking several writers: â€Å"The more models we have and the less likeness there is between them, the greater is the progress of eloquence.† (190) Foremost, Petrarch is not writing in the conversational style, instead he using the plain style. Therefore, he should mimic another writer from the list Vives has specified. Also, Petrarch is only interested in imitating one writer, Cicero. He defends the Ciceronian tradition by writing only in Cicero’s style. For this reason, Petrarch does not read other writers, like Dante, because he is afraid that he will become the product of what he reads, ideas and style. Instead he immerses himself in Cicero’s style by reading his work in such depth that he essentially writes in Cicero’s style without knowing he is doing so. Vives respects Cicero’s work, but he does not believe that Cicero is the best writer. Other than Vives’ belief that Petrarch should have imitated several conversationalists, Vives also states that â€Å"imitation of Cicero’s work is useful and safe, but not of his style; for if anyone cannot achieve success in the attempt he will degenerate into redundant, nerveless, vulgar and plebeian kind of writer.† (191) Therefore, the difference between Vives and Petrarch is that Vives believes that one should imitate several writers and that Cicero is not the best writer. Further, he offers a list of writers which should be imitated when trying to achieve a certain style. Petrarch, on the other hand, writes in Cicero’s style and believes that Cicero should be imitated while engaging in every kind of writing. Alberti was an author who was more like Vives in this sense. He also believed that one should embrace all the things which would make something beautiful into one. For example, he says that all arts are linked to painting somehow, and that all arts take from incorporate the skills associated with painting into their works: â€Å"The architect, if I am not mistaken, takes from the painter architraves, bases, capitals, columns, faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ades and other similar things. All the smiths, sculptors, shops and guilds are governed by the rules and art of the painter. It is scarcely possible to find any superior art which is not concerned with painting. so that whatever beauty is found can be said to be born of painting .†(Book II) Furthermore, it was important to Alberti to imitate the laws of nature, rather than nature itself. He pointed out that an architect should mimic the structure of reality and the geometry hidden in reality. Like Vives and Petrarch, Alberti joined the bodil y with the spiritual to create the perfect art. But, he resembles Vives, in the sense that he believes that one should imitate several things to create one thing. One difference between Alberti and Vives is that Vives believes that one should start out imitating a person who is not the best at what he does, but someone who is better than the imitator. Eventually, according to Vives, one should be able to move up in rank and imitate the best. He says â€Å"it is a wise precept of M. Fabius Quintilian that boys should not at first attempt to rise to emulation of their master, lest their strength fail them. An easier and quicker method will be to let them imitate someone more learned than themselves among their fellows, and contending with him let them gradually rise to copying their master himself.† (189) Alberti does not mention this method of imitation. Instead he says that when it comes to art, on must have â€Å"the favors of nature.† (Book I) In other words, Alberti strongly believes that one should have a natural talent for what he is doing, and that the gradual chain of improvement is not necessarily an established method, a s Vives indicates. Also, Alberti uses a style that is short and to the point. He says â€Å"I beg that I may be pardoned if, where I above all wish to be understood, I have given more care to making my words clear than ornate. I believe that which follows will be less tedious to the reader. (Book I) This type of frankness is a distinguished style of writing. He uses simple rhetoric so that his audience can grasp the idea quickly. This kind of style corresponds to the type of art he is writing about. He says that he writing about a new type of art: â€Å"We are, however, building anew an art of painting about which nothing, as I see it, has been written since this age.†(Book II) His new style is imitating his concept of having a different type of manual towards art. Also, his main is to gear away from the Ancients and more towards the Florentine. By changing his style of writing he is achieving this, not only through what he saying about graduating art from mechanical to liberal, but also through his style and techne. Both Alberti and Vives spend time discussing subject matter. Vives splits up who should be imitated based on the subject of the piece being writer. Similarly, Alberti pays attention to the subject matter of the painting. He says that an image can only bring pleasure of the subject matter of the painting brings pleasure. Alberti believes that one must imitate the feeling he wants the viewer to have in the subject of his painting for the artwork to be successful. This is what Vives is saying when he illustrates that one must pick the best writer in the subject that he wants to write about and imitate that style to be successful. Both Petrarch and Alberti can be compared with Vives and his ideas on imitation. To all three writers imitation plays a huge role on how to present written and artistic works. All three of them believe that imitation of others will lead to success. Further, they believe that imitation is the only way to learn how to write properly. Alberti adds another assumption: he says that to be the best, one must imitate, but before the imitation process takes place, one must have a natural talent for art. Petrarch and Alberti both believe that one must mimic what they believe is the right tradition through their styles. Petrarch believes in the Ciceronian tradition and follows in Cicero’s footsteps by imitating his style. Alberti is more concerned with understanding than the use of eloquent language. Overall, to all three writers imitation plays a huge role in their understanding of how written works influence their audiences.

Do people travel further to buy comparison goods rather than convenience goods?

My title asks, ‘do people travel further to buy comparison goods rather than convenience goods?' My data collection was carried out in the central business district (CBD) of St Albans. My general aim is to investigate a range of interests of shoppers in the area and also a little on the land use in the CBD. Once sufficient data is collected I will be manipulating it to answer my hypothesis and to draw a conclusion from the relevant results. St Albans was visited on a Market day, which is held in the main street of the city every Wednesday and Saturday. It was a suitable study area as it has many different aspects to it which would suit the needs for different types of data collection for many students with a large variety of hypothesises and questions. St Albans is located in Hertforshire, south-eastern England, on the River Ver, near its confluence with the Colne. St Albans is situated on the northern fringe of Greater London. The district includes the city and the parishes of Colney Heath, Harpenden Rural, Harpenden Town, London Colney, Redbourn, St. Michael, St. Stephen, Sandridge and Wheathampstead. (See figure 3). Nearby places outside the district include Hatfield to the east, Welwyn Garden City to the north-east, Luton and Dunstable to the north-west, Hemel Hempstead to the west, Watford to the south-west and Borehamwood to the south. (See figure 1 and figure 2). The population in mid-1998 was estimated at 131,400. (See figure 6). In the CBD of St Albans, our study included the roads, Market place (where the market is held), Chequer Street, Victoria Street, Peters Street, London Road, Holywell Hill, High Street, Verulam Road, Dagnall Street, Spencer Street, Catherine Street and Hatfield Road. (See figure 4 and figure 5). There are two main train stations. The city station is about 750m east of the city centre and is serviced by Thameslink. The abbey station is about 1km south of the city centre and is serviced by Silverlink. There is also a single train running between St Albans and Watford Junction, starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day. Housing is expensive relative to England in general, possibly due to the fast commuting to London by train. Notable buildings include St Albans Cathedral. The sphere of influence is the area served by a settlement, sometimes called a catchment area or hinterland. The larger the settlement, the greater the number and variety of shops and services and the wider the area from which people will travel to use the centre. London's sphere of influence is the whole country. Outside London towns such as Plymouth, Newcastle, Leeds and Norwich serve local regions. Market towns serve smaller villages and farms in the area. A village only serves itself and some surrounding farms. Smaller settlements tend to have fewer shops and services than larger settlements. The shops, such as a general store, newsagent, small supermarket and chemist tend to provide low-order or convenience goods such as newspapers, bread and milk. In larger settlements there are more shops and services. They include shops selling convenience goods but there are also department stores and specialist shops selling jewellery, sports equipment and furniture. These are called high-order or comparison goods. The types of goods and services in a settlement are linked to the following: – The threshold population: the minimum number of people required to support a service so that it remains profitable. In the UK this is about 300 for a village shop, 500 for a primary school, 25000 for a shoe shop, 50000 for a medium sized store and 100000 for a large one. – The range of a good: the maximum distance people are prepared to travel to use a shop or service. Most people do not travel great distances to buy a newspaper or do their shopping but they are prepared to travel further to purchase clothes, jewellery or furniture, which are more costly and bought less often. Method: On Wednesday 26th February 2003, geography students of Year 10 St. Helen's School visited St Albans on a market day in order to carry out some geography fieldwork for coursework. During the morning it was sunny and fairly warm, however, as the day went on, although it stayed sunny, it got colder. The CBD land use map (see figure 7) and the shopper's questionnaire (see figure 8) were carried out during the afternoon, when we were in the CBD. We were split into 11 groups of 4-5 people and were sent to one of the 11 sections of the CBD. By being split into groups and then spread to different areas all around the CBD, made data collection easier and quicker. My group and I were appointed to work in area 4, which included Chequer Street, Market Place and a small part of High Street. This area is in the heart of the CBD and was in an area where the market was being held. The CBD land use map was completed at about 14:30. My group and I walked around our area completing our land use map by filling in how each store along the streets was used. E.g. Fast food shop, shoe shop, newsagent etc. By doing this it showed us what proportion of stores were comparison and what proportion were convenience, were present in the CBD. This had to be pointed out as it could well effect whether people would travel further to buy either type of good. For example, if the CBD consisted almost completely of convenience stores, it may not be too likely that a lot of people would travel from very far to shop at the small range of comparison stores. There were a few problems with this method of data collection however. First of all, it was quite difficult to fill in every shop on the map. Some of the stores were hard to find or couldn't be found at all. Also, the map was a little too small to fill in enough detail. The shopper's questionnaire was carried out later on in the day. Each person in each group was advised to ask at least 5 different people who were seen in their particular area of the CBD. By asking the actual shoppers in St Albans, it allowed us to see their interests, whether they came to shop for comparison goods or convenience goods, how far they have travelled to buy what they wanted to buy, where bouts they have come from etc. Each question in the questionnaire had a different purpose, and some had some problems with them: – ‘Are you shopping in St Albans?': this was the first question asked. If the answer was ‘no' to this question, most of the other questions that followed would be completely irrelevant. – ‘Were you held up in any traffic jam?': there was a problem with this question because, if the person being questioned travelled by foot it would not be a relevant. – Some terms in the some of the questions were not understood by everybody. For example, ‘Have you come to use specialist services?', the term ‘specialist services' was not always understood and it had to be explained on many occasions. If the person being questioned was in a rush, they may not have had time to ask what the term meant, consequently giving an inaccurate answer which could effect the results. – ‘Where have you come from today to shop in St Albans?': this question may have caused problems as people were sometimes too vague with their answer because they may not have wanted us to know where they came from or maybe where they lived. E.g. If the person said that they came from London, it would have been too vague as from that, we do not know if they came from the CBD of London or the suburbs etc. Analysis and Interpretation: From studying the desire line maps (see figure 9 and figure 10) that I have drawn for both the distances people are prepared to travel for either comparison or convenience goods, it is fairly obvious that there are more people coming into St Albans from the south than from the north. This may be because of accessibility from these areas in the south and north to St Albans. I can see that there are better motorway links from the south than from the north. From the south there is the M1, A1, A41 etc. However from the north, although there are a few motorway links, it is more limited. Again from looking at the desire line maps, I can see that the results for comparison goods and convenience goods do not differ greatly at all. They both are drawn slightly north from Harpenden, and attracted greatly south-west by people travelling from Greater London. There are not so many people however travelling form the north-east or the south-west. Both desire line maps are very similar to each other, though there is one anomaly on the comparison goods map. This anomaly is the person who had travelled from Enfield which drew the sphere of influence further east. This, again, seems to be due to motorway links. A possible reason as to why the two desire line maps are so similar may be there is not a very large range of comparison goods in St Albans. From the CBD land use map, (see figure 12) even though it shows that there is a greater proportion of comparison stores than convenience stores, it may not mean that there is a large and wide variety of comparison stores. And at the same time, the market may have extended the distance people are willing to travel for convenience goods. Even though the market is of mainly convenience goods, people may still be prepared to travel from fairly far to shop in the market. This may be because people see that St Albans has a different atmosphere to any other market. For example, despite the fact that there is Watford Market in Watford, we can still see that quite a few people have travelled from Watford to shop and to use the market in St Albans. This may be because Watford Market differs greatly from the market in St Albans. Firstly, Watford Market is indoors. On the day we visited St Albans, the weather was very good, so that could have attracted more people. Watford Market is also only open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, so because of this, people in Watford may have needed to buy something from a market even though the market in their area was closed. So, as the market in St. Albans is open on Wednesdays, and the day we visited the market was on a Wednesday, their may have been more people from Watford on that day, who wanted to use the market in St Albans. St Albans is also a fairly historical area, for example there are prestigious monuments such as St Albans Cathedral and the Clock Tower. This again could be another reason as to why people are attracted to the market in St Albans rather than a market in their own area or one nearer than the one St Albans. Conclusion: My title asked ‘do people travel further to buy comparison goods rather than convenience goods? From my results and interpretations I have been able to come to a conclusion to answer the question. I was able to see from my interpretations of the two desire line maps that the spheres of influences are of roughly the same shapes. The only factor that makes than a little different is the anomaly of the single person who had travelled from Enfield on that particular day. Also, all the reasons I have given as to why people may have travelled from particular places to buy either of the types of goods, even each other out. For example, the lack of variety of comparison stores lowers the distance people would be willing to travel for comparison goods, but at the same time the distance people would be willing to travel for convenience goods is being extended due to the unique market St Albans has. The results and interpretations don't particularly match text book predictions saying that people travel further to buy comparison goods than convenience goods. The ranges of the goods are very similar in this study and it shows that many factors can effect the distance people would be willing to travel to buy a particular good or to use a particular service. Therefore, one cannot always be grounded on the idea that comparison goods are always travelled further for than convenience goods are. To conclude, people do not travel further to buy comparison goods rather than convenience goods, but they travel about the same distances for either.

Plagiarism in the Digital Age Essay Example

Plagiarism in the Digital Age Essay Example Plagiarism in the Digital Age Paper Plagiarism in the Digital Age Paper To plagiarize means to steal and pass off as ones own the ideas or words of another. In academic environment, it can be when one uses some paper when an online essay plagiarism check shows this paper is not a unique one its someones else writing. Todays society revolves heavily around technology and the internet, which creates a generation that has different ideals and standards about plagiarism. The simple act of cutting and pasting as described by author William Gibson in Gods Little Toys: Confessions of a cut and paste artist is no longer simple; it is complex. Instead of viewing it as wrong, which is done in Trip Gabriels article, Plagiarism Lines Blur for students in the digital age, it should be seen as a new form of creation and xpression. The digital ages expansion requires new standards and interpretations of plagiarism because of the growing use of mixing and matching of ideas. In William Gibsons article, Gods Little Toys: Confessions of a Cut and Paste Artist, he describes how todays growing internet culture constantly redefines our culture. Gibson narrates his discovery of the radical writer William S. Burroughs whose method of writing involved incorporating other writers texts into his own work. Normally this would be considered plagiarism, but Burroughs believed it was essential to his work. Gibson explains how Burroughs, although used the scissors and paste pot method, was no plagiarist at all. He compares this style of writing to the work of visionary DJs methods of breaking apart different records and incorporating them into their own music to make new hits. The remix is the product of todays audience participating in their culture rather than passively listening. This new form of creation sprung from the expanding digital age. Gibson describes how the cut and paste method is a technology that emerged on its own and we simply follow it wherever it will take us. He states that even though many are unaware, we own our culture; We own our words. In Trip Gabriels article Plagiarism Lines Blur for students in the digital age, he explains how plagiarism is a growing problem due to the different type of internet age this generation is growing up in. He explains how students growing up in the internet age show a lack of understanding that information found on the internet does not belong to them. Gabriel speaks of multiple cases of students that believed information and texts found on the internet did not need to be cited because it was assumed to be common knowledge. These days, students fail to see that lifting texts or words from the internet and pasting it into their own work is a serious offense. This generation believes that information found on the web is fair game for anyone to take because of how easily accessible it is. Ms. Bookover, an undergraduate Trip Gabriel interviewed about the cheating going on in college life, describes how walking into a library and actually holding the article is different than viewing it online. Being in the same place one downloads music and video gives the researcher the sense that everything can belong to you. She discusses how students feel it is O. K. to uses someone elses words as long as you dont care and do it purely for a grade. She emphasizes that if the educational system loosens plagiarism standards, creativity will decline and laziness will grow. Bookover believes one major factor for the growth of plagiarism is the lack of preparation and education given in high school In both Gibson and Gabriels articles the use of copied texts is discussed, although, both have contrasting opinions on the subject. Gabriel emphasizes shared texts as being a problem and labels it as plagiarism, whereas Gibson explains how it is a new orm of creating work in an ever changing age of the internet. Gabriel describes a one dimensional evaluation of the topic and Gibson a multi-faceted assessment. Instead of viewing mixing and matching as a crime that does not foster creativity, it should be seen as more of a way to bring together great ideas that have already been written and creating new works of art (Gabriel). Just like DJs around the world who are deconstructing recorded music to create their own versions, writers who use the ideas of others create their own (Gibson). Applying the same methods, riters use an endless recombinant process that actively uses ideas from past work as a Jumping off point and expand upon them (Gibson). This characteristic of todays digital media age should not be frowned on by the academic community, but rather viewed with an open mind. The availability of information on the internet is a useful tool that was meant to be taken advantage of. Students feel confined when they fear the possibility of accidentally using an idea that was not originally theirs, and as a result, stifled creativity. The idea that students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a erious misdeed is a true statement when blatant copying and pasting of whole paragraphs or essays is concerned, but not so much when ideas or certain texts are taken and used (Gabriel). Making collages out of previous work should not be put into the same category as mindless copying and pasting because inspiration does not equal plagiarism. The standards defining plagiarism need to be rethought now that todays generation is able to see the endless possibilities and combinations of ideas and information that is open to them. All of the information and all of the ideas in the pool of knowledge belong to the people.

Malcolm Baldrige

Malcolm Baldrige Malcolm Baldrige was a native of Nebraska. He did not come from a poor family but he was born and raised in Omaha. It means that he grew up far away from the major urban centers of the United States and yet he became the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. However, being a part of the Reagan cabinet was not the most important achievement of his life. His legacy also includes the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award (â€Å"MBQA†), a prize named in his honor.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Malcolm Baldrige specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The MBQA is considered the most prestigious award-giving body when it comes to excellence in the marketplace. The fact that it was named in honor of Malcolm Baldrige is not only a testament to his character but also to his passion to see an America that is great once again and maintain its status as an economic powerhouse. The following is an overview of Malcolm Baldrige life in Omaha, his stint in the U.S. Army, and then his contributions to the world of business and politics. From Omaha to Washington, D.C. Malcolm Baldrige was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 4, 1922 (Sobel, p.16). It is important to understand his personal background to appreciate his success story. He grew up far-away from the commercial noise of New York and the intense political dealings that characterized Washington, D.C. It was in the slow-paced lifestyle of Omaha wherein Malcolm developed the leadership qualities that would serve him well in World War II and beyond. He was the son of a lawyer named Howard Malcolm Baldgridge and Regina Conell Baldrige. On March 31, 1951 he married Margaret Trowbridge Murray. She bore him two daughters named Megan Brewster and Mary Trowbridge. But before all that, Malcolm decided to finish his studies first. He prepared for college studying at Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Afterwards he graduated from Yale University in 1944 with a degree in B.A. in Englis h. However, before he graduated he had to take time-off from college because he volunteered to go join the U.S. Army in 1943 and as a private he was sent to the Pacific theater of war (Sobel, p.16). When he finally gave up his army life in favor of civilian life 1946, he was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. In 1947 he entered the corporate world and started near the bottom. He joned the Eastern Malleable Iron Company in Naugatuck, Connecticut and his first job was to be the foundry foreman in the said company. But a little over four years later, he became the managing director of the Frazer and Jones division of the company. In 1957, ten years after joining Eastern Malleable Iron Company, Malcolm was the newly appointed executive vice president. Three years later he would assume the position of president. He did not get to enjoy the top leadership position for a very long time because in 1962 he was recruited to work at Scovill Manufacturing Company in Waterbury, Conne cticut . He became their new executive vice-president. A year later he was promoted once again and became the CEO of the said company.Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In 1969 he became the Chairman of the Board. He turned the company around. In the ten years time that he worked at Scovill, he was able to quadruple the companys earnings by successfully creating an international market for this brass-manufacturing firm (Levy, p.30). Malcolm Baldriges reputation as an excellent leader was evident to everyone who knew him and the offers began to come in. While he was still Chairman of the Board at Scovill, Malcolm also held directorships in the following organizations: AMF, Inc.; White Plains, N.Y.; Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford; Bendix Corporation; IBM, Inc.; Eastern Company; and Uniroyal Inc. (Sobel, p.16). He was also a trustee for the Swiss reinsuranc e Company and member of the Business Council and the Council on Foreign relations. He did not always work for profit though, in 1968 he was the chairman and director of the Red Cross fund drive and he was also the trustee of the Waterbury Hospital and even found a way to help establish the Waterbury Non-Profit Development Corporation, an organization responsible for â€Å"promoting low-income housing and developing employment and recreational facilities for blacks† (Sobel, p.16). He was not only good at running profitable companies he was also interested in politics. It can be argued that Baldrige always wanted to be business and politics at the same time. His father was not only a lawyer but also served in the Nebraska state legislature. His father also served as a Congressman from 1930 to 1932 (Levy, p.30). When Malcolm Baldrige was in his early forties he started to become active in the Republican Party and from 1964 to 1980 he served as a delegate to the Republican conven tion. He began to get noticed in the Republican circle and so at one point he â€Å"headed President Richard Nixons Connecticut campaign in 1968 and George Bushs unsuccessful campaign in 1980† (Levy, p.31). He may have suffered a setback with George Bushs campaign but he was able to bounce back when he raised funds for the Ronald Reagan campaign (Levy, p.31). After Reagan took the White House the new president remembered the people who helped him get elected as president. One month after Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981, he chose Baldrige to become the 26th secretary of Commerce of the United States of America and he also easily won the confirmation for the said cabinet post (Levy, p.31). When he was the secretary of commerce he â€Å"advocated free trade and deregulation† and he also understood the need for America to maintain superiority when it comes to excellence in producing products and services (Levy, p.31). He sat on the Council on Commerce and Trade, Coun cil on Economic Affairs as well as the Council on Natural Resources (Sobel, p.17). He succeeded in convincing Japan to accept â€Å"voluntary restraints on its exports† because he saw that the aggressive Japanese businesses were hurting the U.S. economy (Sobel, p.17). Later on his passion to improve the the level of competence of business leaders and their organizations was the main reason why his name is well-remembered even to this day.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Malcolm Baldrige specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Aside from his business and political dealings, Baldrige was also interested in a host of different things and one of which is the rodeo. In his private life, away from the spotlight, Baldrige was a professional steer roper. On July 25, 1987 while practicing for a rodeo competition, in Walnut Creek, California, he fell from a horse and died a tragic death (Sobel, p.17). But this was not the end of his story. Legacy In the mid-1980s it was apparent to many U.S. leaders that American companies were no longer at par with their foreign counterparts in the international market. One of them was Malcolm Baldrige and when he was the Secretary of Commerce he was the â€Å"advocate of quality management as a key to U.S. prosperity and sustainability† (Spechler, p.1). Less than a month after his death â€Å"the U.S. Congress passed Public Law 100-107, the National Quality Improvement Act, which established the Malcolm Baldgridge Quality Award (MBQA) for quality achievements in American manufacturing and services† (Milakovich, p.112). The main purpose of this law is to encourage American businesses, educational institutions and health care organizations to aim for excellence in the creation of goods and in the provision of services. Behind this need for an award is the growing alarm that foreign competition was slowly overtaking the United States. The quality of foreign imports is slowly eclipsing American products. The award was an incentive to push US companies to increase their capability to become a global leader in their chosen industry by improving their manufacturing systems and quality control (Sallis, p.54). It easily became a much-coveted prize in the business world. The former President Ronald Reagan was the first to hand out the award in 1988 (Milakovich, p. 112). In the first decade here the following were a few of the winners: Motorola, 1988 (Large manufacturing); Cadillac, 1990 (Large manufacturing); Texas Instruments, 1992 (Large manufacturing); ATT, 1994 (Service); Wainwright Industries, Inc., 1994 (Small business). These are trusted brands. The products and services that these companies offer are well-known and well-respected in their respective industries. The MBQA is a measuring rod that organizations and business leaders can use to gauge their performance. The MBQA is govern by strict standards. There was a year, for instance, when the no one from the manufacturing sector won the award. This was explained by one commentator who wrote, â€Å"The Malcolm Baldrige Award is the highest honor any business can receive, and after 18 years has remained very difficult to win. As the criteria have changed over the years, the Baldrige has become an award for overall effectiveness of an organization, as opposed to an organization that simply has high quality products/services† (Brown, p. 2).Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More He also added that aside from a high-quality product and excellent service the MBQA examiners take a closer look at the quality of the business leaders, strategic planning; customer and market focus; human resources focus; process management; and results. It is difficult to win this award. An organization must be able to take a long hard look at their current system and them improve in accordance to the standards of the MBQA. This is a good thing because they will be able to gauge where they are at and can further develop their capabilities. If not for the MBQA then the quality of products and services in the United States will continue to decline because there is no incentive that can encourage businessmen to go on to the next level. Conclusion Malcolm Baldrige demonstrated his passion for excellent service. It all started when he was a student, soldier and employee. His character and leadership skills became evident early on and so he was promoted several times until he became the CEO and then Chairman of the Board for a large corporation. He could have easily rested on his laurels. However, he went on to test the political waters. He was successful as a member of the Republican Party until finally he became the 26th U.S. Secretary of Commerce. It was a tremendous achievement for him but it was not after his tragic death in 1987 that his name was immortalized in the business world. The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award is a symbol of excellence and it was just fitting that it was named after a man of noble character and great work ethic. Brown, Mark. Baldrige Award Winning Quality: How to Interpret the baldrige  Critieria for Performance Excellence. 5th ed. New York: Productivity Press, 2006. Levy, Peter. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Milakovich, Michael. Improving Service Quality: Achieving High Performance  in the Public and Private Sectors. Florida: CRC Press, 1995. Sallis, Edward. Total Quality Management i n Education. 3rd ed.Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing Inc., 2002. Sobel, Robert. Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch,  1774-1989. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990. Spechler, Jay. Managing Quality in Americas Most Admired Companies. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1993.

How To Run A Successful Blog That Will Boost Your Following

How To Run A Successful Blog That Will Boost Your Following There are a few blogs on the Internet. A few of them have instructions on how to do content marketing and blogging the right way. And by a few, I mean millions. As a content marketer, you’re overloaded with information. Even if it’s helpful information, you can’t process all of it. Research has shown that when youre  faced with an information overload, the viewer tends to glaze over and not see the actual information. You  instead look for patterns. This is why zebras value their stripes and paint horses value their splotches- it’s hard for the predator to discern the individual animal behind the pattern of the vast herd. That’s fine for herbivores who want to live to see another day, but what about for us bloggers? What if you picked out the pattern that all blog headers should be blue  because you noticed a plethora of blue header graphics and can’t really remember anything else? Sometimes you need a distillery. (No, I do not mean you need to go get a drink). In this post, we will boil down to the very basics of blogging. Well enforce three core blogging concepts and will show you how to run a successful blog. Let’s forget hedging our bets so you can get a clear picture instead of a blurry pattern. 1. Write The Blog Post Fact:  You have to write blog posts if you’re going to blog. Real-world Realization:  Writing is hard work. It’s not shovel-ready work, it’s not elbow grease, but it’s work that strains your brain. Writing successful blog posts means you’re facing several decisions about what and how you will create the copy. While there’s truly no wrong approach to how you'll resolve these decisions when you are sincerely trying to do your best, this post is all about distillation. Let’s reduce all of those legitimate options and cut down to the bare bones of blogging. What should my blog posts be about? (Ideation.) Your post should be about one specific thing, and then three things related to that one thing. In other words, it’s about the idea of core content and peripheral content. If you blog about baking, that is your core. You’ll spend most of the time writing about the recipes and things you bake. Three related topics to that core content might be talking about handy kitchen tools, ingredient reviews, and new cookbooks. Your post  should be about something you love and believe in. If either of those  are lacking, writing will not be enjoyable work; it will be dreaded drudgery. What should my specific post be about? (Focus.) Your blog post should be specifically  focused, not generally. You are not writing about every kitchen mixer, but a specific kitchen mixer. You are not writing about everything you can do with email marketing, but about a specific email marketing technique. You might have lost specific focus if: You have more than three level two headings. Your post is much longer than you planned. You are having trouble writing a conclusion or call to action (we’ll talk about that next). Your introduction or thesis statement doesn’t make sense with what is in the body of the post. How long should my blog post be? (Depth.) Everyone has their own opinion, and there are many different right answers to the question of blog post length. But let me give you one to start from: 1,000 words (give or take a hundred). In those 1,000 words, your blog post should contain: An introduction:  You will tell your reader what you’re about to say in the blog post introduction. An argument:  This is the main body of your post, where you present information to the reader. That information should have: At least three links to your own content. At least one link to scholarly or research-based content. At least one link to quality outside content. A conclusion:  You will tell your reader what you just said. A call to action:  You will give the reader something to do with a call to action. What should my blog post look like? (Appearance.) Your blog post should have: A great headline:  about six to eight words long. The most exciting words come at the beginning of the headline. Three  level two headings: If it has a third level of subheading, try to have a few for each level two heading. At least one pull quote or tweetable quote:  This helps with blog promotion, which we talk about next. Here is an example: Aim for having at least one tweetable quote in your blog post. #blogging #SocialMediaGive your reader lots of white space by keeping your paragraphs to no more than three sentences each. Having headings, lists, and white space is all about people being able to scan your blog. How many images should I have in my post? (Appearance.) You must have at least one image. That image should: Be a â€Å"hero† image (strong enough to stand on its own outside of the context of your post). Have either your URL or your Twitter handle on the image. This is in case your image is orphaned via Google image searches or image social networks like Pinterest. Be sized to fit the majority of social networks. Using a tool  like Canva  can really help you out. Dig Deeper:  If you want to set yourself up with a mini course in foundational blog writing techniques, here are my favorite posts on the matter and methods I use myself: Write Better Blog Posts With Just 4 Quick Edits The 10-Minute, 10-Step Solution For The Best Blog Outline How To Write A Blog Post When You Don’t Want To How To Defeat Writer’s Block How To Write A Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist To Rock A Perfect Post How To Blog With As Little As Possible 4 Simple Brainstorming Techniques That Will Help You Write Killer Content 4-Step System For Writing A Great Blog Post, Even If You Have Writers Block 2. Promote The Blog Post Stupid question:  If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear, does it make a noise? More useful question:  If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear, does anyone care? Coming up with a content marketing promotion strategy is easily forgotten about for anyone who is more focused on creating blog content, abhorrent of self-promotion, or simply too distracted with the joys of writing to bother letting anyone know that there’s also publishing going on. Who do I tell I wrote a blog post? (Audience.) You tell people you know are interested and any you think might be interested. Recommended Reading from Neil Patel: The 6 Types Of Social Media Content That Will Give You The Greatest Value The people you know are interested are those who: Signed up for your email. Followed you on social media. Commented on your blog. Shared your link somewhere. Email you. The people who might be interested are those who: Do the previous list, but on another blog that is similar to yours. You already know this. It’s easy to forget there are five obvious audiences (and one possible audience) who want to hear from you. Sometimes it's easy to spend too much time building a promotion plan that is email or social media heavy. For every blog post you publish, alert each of these known/potential audiences. How do I tell them? (Relationship.) Telling people you created new blog content is a lot less awful if you’re not a jerk about it.

Death Penalty II Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Death Penalty II - Research Paper Example Nevertheless, the bible upholds human life as sanctity and the same Bible instruct no one to kill. Humans have enforced the law through the constitution and in United States, since the 1787 constitution, the 5th, 8th, and 14th amendments expressly support the act, but places limits in prosecution. Capital punishment methods have changed; methods such as electrocution, lethal gas injection, and use of gas chambers are the modern methods. The death penalty is intended to help deter crime by acting as a warning message to potential criminals. This paper finally addresses the implication of the punishment on criminals and society at large. Keywords: Death Penalty, Capital Punishment, Criminals, Cruel, Unusual, 5th/8th/ 14th Amendment, Crime, Human Life, Crime Deterrence, Torture, Constitution Death Penalty Most countries and world human rights organizations have abolished and are against the death penalty for any type of crime. However, some nations still retain it and are strongly suppo rted by their constitutions for certain death eligible crimes. The federal government and a high number of states in the United States allow the death penalty, even though they have acted to amend the legislature with time. The Constitution The US federal government has for the last two centuries practiced death penalty, since its adoption from England. The U S supreme court has always held it to be constitutional, apart from the challenging period between 1972 to 1976 in the case of Furman v Georgia, where Furman challenged the 8th amendment arguing that it resulted in arbitrary and capricious sentencing, which caused the penalty to be concluded as cruel and unusual in the violation of the amendment (â€Å"Constitutionality† n.d.). Since the first US constitution of 1787, thousands of individuals have been executed to what has been upheld by the U S criminal justice system. Over time, reasons that would call for the penalty have changed and so far, the US constitution reserv es the policy for murder, treason, espionage, or as part of the military justice, which is contrary to some Middle East countries that have religious sharia law embedded in their constitution, making the punishment applicable to additional sexual and apostasy crimes. The fifth amendment of the US constitution clearly allow for life taking, without use of ambiguous phrases like in 8th and 14th amendments. It states that no individual can be punished through death penalty ‘answering for infamous crime or for a capital,’ unless the case is presented for review or condemnation of a Grand Jury; in short, the law has to be followed before attempt to be put in jeopardy of life or deny criminals of their lives, property, or liberty (â€Å"The Death,† 2007). The law however places limits in the prosecution putting it clear that the accused has to receive proper indictment, trial, and conviction by the grand jury. The phrase mentions of answering for capital, which openly suggests serious crimes punishable by death. Since then, the congress has since adopted, revised, or rejected certain bills related to capital punishment. The 8th amendment indirectly emphasizes on death penalty, even though it clearly bans cruel and unusual punishments. Before this amendment, most states had already been practicing it and hence the use of the terms ‘cruel and unusual’

Maya And Spaniards In Yucatan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Maya And Spaniards In Yucatan - Essay Example Through the accounts furnished by the Spanish chronicles and other texts of historical importance that the Historians have predominantly tried to judge the invasion of an acclaimed and great civilization in pre-Columbian America. There is no denying the fact these historical accounts ensuing from the Spanish adventurers, churchmen, and booty hunters were somewhat biased in their approach towards the Mexican history (Henderson 45). These historical accounts present only the Spanish side of the story, without caring much about the Mayan perspective regarding the Spanish invaders (Henderson 45). Many times the historians never cared to bother that perhaps the conquered Mexicans may have set their own versions of the Spanish invasion of America. So a great part of the Mayan side of the story is known through the works compiled by Mexicans in their native language, which managed to survive the ravages of the Spanish Invasion. Though it is a fact that both the Spanish and Mexican accounts tell the same story, yet, these two sets of historical text tend to differ immensely in what they decide to convey and how they try to convey it. Though the modern historians of the European origins tend to outline varied cultural, moral and religious motivations that supported the Spanish invasion of the Native American civilizations, still even a cursory perusal of the Spanish invaders brings to fore the fact that the Spanish invasion was predominantly ruled and guided by economic and pecuniary motives (Patch 22). Many accounts of the Spanish encounters with the Mayan diplomatic missions strongly unravel the fact that the Spaniards tried to evaluate the gifts extended by the Mayans in a profit to loss context, without delving specifically on the artistic and cultural relevance of those gifts.

Critical Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical Analysis Paper - Essay Example Moreover, Chaffee’s The Philosopher’s Way discusses the various philosophers’ view of the world, the nature of reality, and the truth (2012, 51). By using Kants Categorical Imperative and utilitarian views, morality is relative to humans’ rationale of right and wrong. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative Kant is the main proponent of a critical type of philosophy known as the categorical imperative. Human beings have the tendency to evaluate their actions based on their emotions towards the acts they committed. This means that it is hard to assess the goodness or badness and rightfulness and wrongness of an action because of the difficulty to find a basis for logically and objectively judging this particular action. Kant helped us in understanding and explaining our actions and decisions based on a given principle known as a priori judgment, in which all knowledge presupposes an experience. It is in this line of thought that Kant differentiated mo ral judgments from empirical ones. Empirical judgments refer to judging facts of which experience teaches us, while moral judgment tells us what we ought and not ought to do. Empirical judgment does not relate to the understanding of moral action. What Kant meant by a priori judgment also entails a judgment of necessity which judges an act based on universal standards of right and wrong, such as stealing is wrong in any circumstances. Categorical Imperative is considered by Kant as the universal principle of justice that right is superior to good applicable to the whole universe. He postulates that humans must act based on universally accepted maxims which also apply as laws for all of the humanity. Kant believes that moral rules are universal. Therefore, what is allowed for a single person is also allowed for everybody, and what is prohibited for one is also prohibited for the rest. Moreover, what is obligatory for one is also obligatory for the rest. He also acknowledges freedom o r autonomy along all individuals, but this autonomy must rest on positive values and will serve as a guiding law for all our actions. The word imperative in his philosophy provides us with some sort of restriction which limits our actions that are grounded on personal interests and selfishness which moral rules considered universally wrong. Simply saying, actions that are morally wrong universally regardless of the means or ends are considered to be morally wrong and nothing else, while morally right actions that are universally accepted are also morally right. In other words, Kant suggests that life is composed only of two colors, black and white, and that there is no extent to which an action can be considered better or worse because it only falls into two categories. White lies are wrong under any circumstances because they are still considered as lies, and lying is universally wrong in any event. Principle of Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham, in his Principles of Morals and Legisla tion, conveys rationality in his analysis of ‘the greatest happiness system’ or the so-called ‘means-end’. Other philosophers describe happiness as a goal, a result while Bentham describes happiness as simply a pleasure without the pain. In other words, people can quantify the value of pleasure or pain depending on the magnitude and for how long. According to Bentham, the overall good of the society is dependent

Research report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Research report - Essay Example The main principles included the social settings, social relationships, cultural practices, and present trends that can be used to provide an ethnographic description of the term. Findings were also compared and contrasted to some of the theories that relate to the topic of the study. Consequently, the study provided an all rounded understanding of the barbeque through time and various trends that have changed. The project was carried out in Melbourne, one of the major towns in Australia where the barbeque culture has been adopted by time. The location was strategically chosen due to factors such as financial, accessibility and socio-cultural backgrounds among others. The research took place over a period of one month, a calculated period that would provide substantial data to the projects. Additionally, there were also variations that were put in place due to changes in time caused by weather and other unwanted causes. However, the study took place at the specified time and date was strategically collected from the locals. It also focused on some of the local celebration that involved lamb and pork barbeques. The location was chosen based on factors such as tourism and entertainment that the town has been well for been known. Moreover, the locality has an added advantage due to its proximity to the ocean; that is used in transportation for social and cultural integration. The participants included some of the town folks and those from neighboring residential areas. The variation in the participants was due to the changes in cultural and social backgrounds due to the rural-urban migration. However, a detailed literature review of the study provided a foundation for the right locations to gather information. The population sample included individuals ranging from the age of forty to seventy years. The age bracket had an added advantage because the subjects had longer experiences of most of the social and cultural activities in the

Response to quiz questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Response to quiz questions - Assignment Example As well, the signifier and the sign are continuously being used in our modern culture nowadays. Thus, the semiotic method can be used to examine popular culture by inquiring about the sign. The signs direct us to ask queries about its fundamental meaning, hence steering our attention to the system the sign fits and search for related signs that back up our primary hypothesis. Since all is connected, signs hint to one another thus enabling one to view the broad picture and how our culture is affected by them. In the American culture, vampires are so popular since they represent a sense of individuality, immorality, youth, eroticism and an outlaw hero. Thus, the semiotics assists us understand how vampires of in the present day are so popular (Maasik, and Solomon, 2). Typical stories at the origin of our life experience are termed as Myths. Additionally, myths are present in all literatures and cultures. However, myths are true stories founded on facts since all of us lives them at some level. In addition, myths connect and speaks to all of us. Some myths are true stories that achieve mythic importance since individuals involved appear superior to life and live their lives more forcefully than ordinary people. While others rotate around make-believe characters who have the potential of capsulizing for us our entire journeys. Additionally, some behaviours depicted by the make-believe might seem similar to characters we encountered in our dreams (Braumoeller, 23). In many hero stories, the hero is usually presented under ordinary circumstances, in a rational world doing ordinary things. Usually, the hero originates as a non-hero looking humble, young and simple however in the course of the story something different enters the hero’s life thus acting as a catalyser setting the story into motion. In many occasions, the hero is not willing to leave, thus termed as a reluctant hero who is uncertain,

Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Case Analysis - Essay Example m, and CollegeWikis.com—hope to come in.† (Facebook Faces Up, 2008) Facebook has increased it user base by opening admission to all: â€Å"In June, 11.5 million of the individual visitors to the site were 35 or older, more than double the number a year before, according to market researcher ComScore Media Metrix† (Facebook Faces Up, 2008). Now at 33 Million subscribers total Facebook’s worth has been estimated between 1 and 4 billion dollars. However the increase in size has contributed to more site downtime and possible problems with security that are slowly being addressed. In analyzing Facebook’s position in the marketplace, as table 1 on the next page shows, there are some key factors for the company as well as its competition to be explored. Facebook is the number two site for all social networking website as of April 2008. While MySpace is certainly dominating the field it has not grown as dramatically as Facebook has done. More recent numbers, as stated above, have put Facebook even closer with 33 million subscribers since opening its doors to all users in May. Furthermore, according to most reports, the college age users that have currently been using Facebook do not seem to be switching services any time soon. While other companies are attempting to fill the college niche market, they have not successfully created an easier to use platform with as much Web presence as Facebook. However, as this table reveals and many analysts agree with, LinkedIn is quickly increasing its user base and with some changes in its website structure and presence, may soon represent some valid competition for both Facebook and MySpace. While Facebook is certainly growing by leaps and bounds it may be time to consider partnering with other companies whose infrastructures have proven successful and who may assist FaceBook with the challenge of growth and security that it currently faces. Recent refusal to partner with Googel, Yahoo1 and others may only be

Response to quiz questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Response to quiz questions - Assignment Example As well, the signifier and the sign are continuously being used in our modern culture nowadays. Thus, the semiotic method can be used to examine popular culture by inquiring about the sign. The signs direct us to ask queries about its fundamental meaning, hence steering our attention to the system the sign fits and search for related signs that back up our primary hypothesis. Since all is connected, signs hint to one another thus enabling one to view the broad picture and how our culture is affected by them. In the American culture, vampires are so popular since they represent a sense of individuality, immorality, youth, eroticism and an outlaw hero. Thus, the semiotics assists us understand how vampires of in the present day are so popular (Maasik, and Solomon, 2). Typical stories at the origin of our life experience are termed as Myths. Additionally, myths are present in all literatures and cultures. However, myths are true stories founded on facts since all of us lives them at some level. In addition, myths connect and speaks to all of us. Some myths are true stories that achieve mythic importance since individuals involved appear superior to life and live their lives more forcefully than ordinary people. While others rotate around make-believe characters who have the potential of capsulizing for us our entire journeys. Additionally, some behaviours depicted by the make-believe might seem similar to characters we encountered in our dreams (Braumoeller, 23). In many hero stories, the hero is usually presented under ordinary circumstances, in a rational world doing ordinary things. Usually, the hero originates as a non-hero looking humble, young and simple however in the course of the story something different enters the hero’s life thus acting as a catalyser setting the story into motion. In many occasions, the hero is not willing to leave, thus termed as a reluctant hero who is uncertain,

Westlake Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Westlake - Case Study Example Price of recreational activities of Westlake Lanes was affordable which contributed a lot in attracting customers from all income groups. Pricing strategy of this company helped to strengthen its business position. Westlake Lane also had fooding facilities. It sold Pizza, soda etc in their bowling zone (Hamermesh and Zalosh, 2012). This acted as strength to the business by satisfying its customers through different products and services. The company incurred a huge cost for maintaining its recreational activities. Low sale of these activities weaken the business position and lower the company’s profit. For a long period of time the company was operating its business activities by taking different types of loan from the market. In many cases Westlake Lane was unable to repay the loans which hampered its revenue. Strategies in which the company operated its business process were not effective enough to improve the business condition. For its inefficient business process the company incurred huge losses which weaken the business position. The operational activities of Westlake Lane were not managed properly which resulted in rise of cost in its business process. General expenses of the company were very high. Productivity of its employees was very low. As a result the company delivered low quality of products and services to its customers. There was no strong long term strategy for the company to improve or stre ngthen its business position. Westlake Lanes is into a developing industry. This attractive industry provides huge growth opportunities to the company. Westlake Lanes is into the business for past 30years. So it acts as a strong barrier to different small companies in this industry. The loyal customer base of this firm helps it to improve business position. Westlake Lanes is a family owned business which provides different opportunities to the company to

Social Influences In Todays Society Young People Essay

Social Influences In Todays Society Young People Essay The five social influences that are being chosen are the media (news), new technology such as (television, computers, video games, and cell phones), punishments and/or the lack of, poverty, and divorces. All of these affect the way children are being influenced, raised, and how they deal with their daily lives and futures to some extent. Some of these affect more than others and they can affect on different levels, some on a positive note and others on a negative. Over the last generation a lot of things have changed in the way parenting and households work, how technology has sky rocketed, and they way media is being portrayed. All of these changes have dramatically changed the way our society deals with numerous things, how children are being brought up, and how our children are being influenced. Our technology has increased to the extreme, now we have television, cell phones, and video games of all sorts. Children spend more time doing these things than playing with other kids or going outside to play. Their lives are based on what they play, have, and do. Our news is more in depth; we look at reality and try to make a story out of it no matter what it is. The way families and schools handle punishments has changed too. We are more lax on kids now; we use different forms of punishments that do not always work. More parents choose to divorce or do not even get married in the first place. The binds that once were, are really not there anymore, which can have affects on a child being raised. The last one is poverty; this is an important factor too. Believe it or not poverty is at an all time high affecting more children than adults in the United States. (Knapp, 1995) Analysis of Social Influence New Technology: Technology can be very beneficial in a society. We use it in America every day. It has helped business grow, add different types of communication, stay in touch with others. It helps cut down on some environmental factors such as paper waste. But even with all of these benefits it can have very negative effects on children and adults. These negative effects are the lack of personal attachment, personal communication, kids and adults get sucked into it too deep, they are used as escape goats. It is being used more and more to raise kids than an actual parent. Based on studies, computers prevent children from interacting with each other and with adults. While these children need stronger interpersonal ties with supportive adults, the use of the computer technology only serves to keep children and adults apart. (Slavin, 1998) On the other side of the study it indicates that children who engaged in adult-mediated computer activity improved the level of their cognitive performance on measures of abstract thinking, planning ability, vocabulary, and visual-motor coordination, as well as on measures of response style including reflectivity. In Vygotskyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s theory of development, he states that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. When you compare using technology to not using technology, then the usage of technology would make it to where cognitive development would not be developing properly because of the lack of social interaction. It would alter the development because the type of interaction is virtual rather than face to face. Punishments: The lack of discipline in a childs life during the early years often promotes insecurity, dependence, and uncontrolled behavior. The way children are punished today is through a non physical punishment. Timeouts are a very big trend. Putting a child in a place to sit for a minute every year their age is. So an example of this would be an eight year old who gets sent to time out and sits for eight minutes; this approach takes the hands off the children. Another trend is redirection; this is where you redirect a child from the negative behavior to a different task. You are basically redirecting what they are doing at that present time. Using time out can be effective; it underscores the relationship between behavior and consequences. Discipline is about guiding children into acceptable and desirable behavior. Time outs give them an opportunity to make the connection between the behavior and the negative consequence (Reese, 1997). Time out also can be problematic. One of the problems with time out and redirection is the lack of fear. Most children feel time out is fun; they tend to misbehave even more than the start. Another problem is it takes more from a parent to do time out than corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has been a long debate; many advocate it and many are against it. With timeout and redirection you would be using Vygotskyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s theory of development, since you are socially interacting with the child. This can help them focus and grow in a positive way. Since each interaction is considered a learning experience, when timeout is being used they are learning that if they do a behavior that is not wanted then they will sit for so much time (Zhang, 2010). Media: The media is a very important aspect in our lives today. We broadcast anything and everything that can make a story. A lot of the media is altered for ratings. There is more displayed than ever before. Reality television is very big in the world today. This can have a very negative impact on children today. They see other kids doing wrong but then getting a show out of it. These types of media can be overwhelming for a child. Their brains are not fully developed and they do not understand what exactly is going on. These types of negative behaviors can rub off on the child. A research study that was done showed the more exposure six month old infants have to media, particularly media directed toward older children and adults, the less developed their cognitive and language skills may be at fourteen months, according to research published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine (2010). In Vygotskyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s theory, children imitate their surroundings and peers. Poverty: Unfortunately this happens everywhere and it is happening more and more in the United States than ever before. Children are going without food. A long-term study of cognitive development in lower- and middle-class students found strong links between childhood poverty, physiological stress and adult memory. Compared to well-off kids, poor children tend to go to ill-equipped and ill-taught schools, have fewer educational resources at home, eat low-nutrition food, and have less access to health care (Knapp, 2005). Cultural/Regional Differences Social exposure to various cultures expands a childs pool of knowledge. The more experiences that a child has, the richer their world becomes. Developmental advancements, dependent upon the people and the cultural tools provided to the child, will help him to form his perceptions of the world. Not all places around the world are up to date on all of the new technology. Some of these places really have no need for all of it either. Arranged marriages is very common in the Middle East, India and Africa, while in some Asian and most Western cultures, the romantic marriage is idealized and one has a right to choose their marriage partner and thus an arranged marriages is perceived as an infringement on this right and viewed unfavorably. Generational Differences In older generations there was some technology but nothing compared to what we have now. Children would play outside from sunrise to sunset, they were rarely ever in the house. They would go to school and come home just to play with friends. Families were more family orientated, dinners would be served and all would gather to eat. School was a very important aspect in the children lives and so was music. Children would develop more of a personal bond with their family and friends. Marriage was an important factor as well; it was against moral values to have a child out of wedlock. Children grew up in a two parent home front. The biggest difference is the direction we are heading. A great example of this is older generations were preparing their children to work on farms and now we are preparing our children to work on computers. Conclusion In society today, we are using social interaction through various forms. It is no longer just a parent and a child. Many of the technological advances take the place of this; which in turn can result a hindrance on cognitive behavior. Even at an early age televisions, games, media, and other exposures are coming into the picture. In Vygotskyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s theory, imitative learning is the first, where the child simply copies another person. Second is instructed learning, where a child recalls direction given by a teacher and then puts it into play, and the third is collaborative learning. Collaborative learning happens when a peer group cooperates to learn or achieve a specific goal while working to understand one another (Eckhoff, 2008). If you believe in Vygotskys theories you would want to advise parents to expose their children to a variety of social situations, since each interaction is considered a learning experience. It is especially important to introduce children to people and ideas that operate above their current knowledge level, giving them access to new ideas and concepts. Guiding children to look for answers by imitating what they see in others, listening to instruction and working as part of a group all provide opportunities for them to expand their current base of knowledge (Zhang, 2010).

The Triple E Senate Of Canada :: essays research papers fc

The Triple E Senate of Canada Public interest in the Senate is currently stronger than it ever has been. Nearly everyone agrees that our present Senate is unsatisfactory. Political parties such as the New Democratic Party want the outright abolition of the Senate while others such as the Reform Party want to elect it. Since the Senate has not been considered an effective forum for regional representation- which was one of the reasons for its creation-many Canadians have wondered what reforms would allow it to perform that role better. The objectives of Senate reform are based on one idea, that of enhancing the quality of regional representation of politicians within national political institutions. Through the implementation of a Triple E Senate (Equal, Effective, Elected), a federal principle can be constructed into the national government and therefore provide a check on the majority in the House of Commons. A major function of second chambers is legislative review. This means that bills coming from the other house are examined, revised and sometimes delayed. Unless regional representation is included, the legislative review function does not examine the purpose of proposed legislation, but instead attempts to improve it technically. In federal systems, the legislative review function of the Senate is only secondary to their role in providing for representation for various parts of the country in the national legislature. Representation is selected in favour of the smaller regions, in contrast to the first chamber, where representation is always based on population. Therefore the functions associated with the Senate are legislative review and the representation of the various regions on a different basis from the lower house. The Fathers of Confederation originally intended for the Senate to play the legislative review role. As sir John A. MacDonald said, the Senate was to have "the sober second thought in legislation" and should not be "a mere chamber for registering the decrees of the Lower House". They also agreed on a particular qualification of Senators, which was intended to help them act as a check against the majority in the Lower House. This qualification has remained unchanged since 1867, but its practical meaning has long been discarded. The other major role meant for the Senate was to preserve what MacDonald called "sectional interests". It is believed that this agreement about representation in the Senate was the main factor that allowed the Canadian federation to be formed. The Senate has functioned quite effectively as a house of legislative review up to the present time, but its intended role in regional representation has not been as effectively performed. seventy-five), the Senate's ability to represent the regions of Canada has been weakened.