Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Power Distance between America and Brazil Essay

Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Power Distance between America and Brazil - Essay Example Since Brazil’s culture is ultimately high in power distance, bureaucracy is of high importance giving much more power to whom or which authority is found. For instance, religious and spiritual practices in Brazil contribute to the kind of order in governance and socio-politics in the country and further influence power distribution (Garmany, 2010). This means that the majority would find it important not to oppose decisions of religious leaders. On the contrary, in the US, one could expect autocracy, as there is a high sense of giving everyone freedom to express oneself. The very proof is the implementation of same-sex marriage from some states; a manifestation that the country may potentially disregard some powerful views on governance and socio-political issues and that there is a strong urge to demand more for self-expression (Sherkat et al., 2011). Therefore, demanding for self-expression in the US at some point may not be that effective within the bound of cultural orientation in Brazil based on Hofstede’s theory of power distance. Loyalty and favoritism are among the common manifestations in Brazil leading to the point that whoever is in power deserves to have these (Evans et al., 2008). Thus, Brazil remarkably would require respect prominent voices in the society. As a result, in this country and within almost every organization, it is from the higher rank which both idea and decision usually would come from, while it might not be necessarily the case in the US. In the US, everyone, provided having a good point, could freely express opinions and ideas and implement significant actions for the benefit of the country or organization. In fact, in the US, prominent public figures are not exempted from the law, showing no favoritism on their part.  Ã‚  

Benefits of TV media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Benefits of TV media - Essay Example Learning about different cultures is very important in the present age because today we live in a multicultural society. We have to frequently interact with people from different parts of the world both in the workplace and otherwise. TV helps a lot in promoting our relations with people from other cultures by making us aware of their norms, values and traditions. In the present age, when all of us are extremely busy and do not often get much time to spend with our family members, shared viewing of TV programs provides us with one big opportunity to be together. This strengthens the bond between family members and inculcates a sense of unity in the family members. TV programs promote learning by enabling children to see what they read about in their books. Without a visual image of the subject in mind, children are not able to develop the concepts as objectively as they do when they know what the subjects of discussion in the book look like. For example, Harry Potter series has been included in the English literature curriculum in a lot of elementary schools worldwide. Children are better able to learn the story when they can relate the incidents to individual characters they see in the Harry Potter movies. What authors take pages to explain is conveyed to the audience in one image. There is a lot of difference between imagining what quidditch looks like and actually view it being played in the movie. A vast majority of TV shows and dramas revolve around a central message that is of huge moral significance. Many people do not follow the advice of their elders because they do not realize how important it is, but when they see how their actions and words can impact others’ as well as their own lives, they tend to learn the lesson for good. TV shows and dramas not only create awareness, but also provide people with useful advice that benefits them in practical life when they act upon it. There has recently been a lot of debate about whether or not to offer sex education in public schools. This and several other topics like sex education are very controversial and are often not discussed with children. The resulting lack of awareness has its own consequences. TV programs are playing a fundamental role in doing their bit to make people aware of the sensitivity of these issues. Many people would not have been of the view to have their children provided with sex education in school had they not seen TV programs to convince them for the same. In addition to this, TV programs themselves are a very strong means of education for people regarding all sorts of controversial topics. In the contemporary age, people have a greater understanding of local and international political issues. The fundamental reason behind this is the TV news and talk shows. These days, one can see talk shows on a daily basis on the TV. Everyday, these talk shows are prepared for totally new and innovative topics. Most of the times, they discuss most recent issues of n ational or international political significance. Thus, people are able to not only know what is happening in their country and across the globe, but also they can critically analyze these events and happenings by listening to the commentary and criticism of the anchors and experts. Concluding, TV is an extremely important source of education, entertainment and rapport building in the present age. Modern age is characterized by increased awareness and TV happens to be the fundamental promoter of the same. Parents can draw optimum

IKEA Global Strategy Essay Example for Free

IKEA Global Strategy Essay Introduction: A network that covers a broad area (i.e., any telecommunications network that links across metropolitan, regional, national or international boundaries) using leased telecommunication lines. Related terms for other types of networks are personal area networks (PANs), local area networks(LANs), campus area networks (CANs), or metropolitan area networks (MANs) which are usually limited to a room, building, campus or specific metropolitan area (e.g., a city) respectively. If you have a large campus network using routers and dynamic routing protocols and an internal infrastructure, you do not necessarily have a WAN. A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. If your network uses a network infrastructure that is owned by your service provider, implementing WAN technologies, you have a WAN. Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system. Body: The distinguishing features of a WAN: Sending data long distances Although distance is not a true criterion for determining whether your network is a WAN, most WANs do span a great distance, and the technologies used in the WAN depend a great deal on the distances involved. If your WAN spans only a single city, across town is a long way; nevertheless, your carrier may choose different technologies for that distance than they would if your network spanned a state, country, or continent. Although long distances are not criteria for defining a WAN, commonly, WANs do span substantial distances. Implementing routing protocols Routing protocols are also not true criteria for a WAN definition. A WAN can either use manual routing or implement a routing protocol such as RIP or EIRGP. Although larger, more complex networks like a national WAN may be  easier to manage when implementing a routing protocol, their use does not dictate that you have a WAN. A large corporation could have a single (but large) building or a campus of several buildings that causes the network to have several routers. To make life easier on the routing front, you could choose to implement one of the many available routing protocols. So, although most WAN environments make use of routing protocols, not all networks that implement routing protocols are necessarily WANs. Using carrier equipment Means the equipment from your telephone company that allows you to connect your network to the backbone of its network. These network connections can be digital subscriber line (DSL), frame relay, fiber optic, broadband cable, or another technology used by your telephone company or network provider. This component really turns a network into a WAN, allowing your traffic to travel between your locations while traversing another provider’s network, mainly your ISP or telephone company. In some cases, this traffic may cross several providers’ networks. If you are connecting two offices and they are in different countries, you may be crossing networks owned by a regional provider, which connects to a national provider and then crosses borders and travels across the other national provider to another regional provider before finally reaching your other branch office location. It is this use of other people’s networks that really defines use of a large LAN versus a WAN (LANs are covered in the next section). So, a WAN is not related to the size of your network, or to your choice of routing protocols, or to any other factors. Consolation: However, in terms of the application of computer networking protocols and concepts, it may be best to view WANs as computer networking technologies used to transmit data over long distances, and between different LANs, MANs and other localised computer networking architectures. This distinction stems from the fact that common LAN technologies operating at Layer 1/2 (such as the forms of Ethernet or Wifi) are often geared towards physically localised networks, and thus cannot transmit data over tens, hundreds or  even thousands of miles or kilometres. This could be to facilitate higher bandwidth applications, or provide better functionality for users in the CAN. A CAN, for example, may have a localised backbone of a WAN technology, which connects different LANs within a campus. The textbook definition of a WAN is a computer network spanning regions, countries, or even the world.

Interrelationship Between Systems of the Human Body

Interrelationship Between Systems of the Human Body Introduction This essay will consider the structure and function of the 11 systems within the human body. It will detail the interrelationship between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system and between the circulatory system and the lymphatic system. It will then explain the roles of the circulatory and lymphatic systems in the immune response and the role of hormones in metabolism. Human Body Systems The human body is made up of 11 separate but interconnected systems (Sherwood, 2007). These are the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, nervous, integumentary, immune, endocrine and reproductive systems. The success and survival of the human body is dependent on the ability of separate body systems to work together. The skeletal system provides structure for the human body, stores minerals, produces blood cells and provides protection for delicate organs (Kelly, 2004). 206 bones are connected with ligaments, muscles and tendons, with cartilage, a softer cushion like material, providing protection in jointed areas. Body movements are controlled by the muscular system, with these muscles being connected to bones via tendons (Adams, 2004). Stimulation of these muscles by the nervous system causes contraction and the resulting movement of bones to which they are attached. A number of involuntary muscles ensure the respiratory and circulatory systems continue with contraction of the heart and lungs (Adams, 2004). The heart is central to the circulatory system and acts as to pump blood through arteries, veins and capillaries. The circulatory system is responsible for delivering nutrients and oxygen to cells as well as removing waste products and aiding the immune system through the circulation of whit e blood cells (Jacab, 2006). The immune system is comprised of lymph organs, such as the spleen and thymus, and the skin, all of which are responsible for protecting the body against invading pathogens (Parham, 2005). The circulatory system and the respiratory system are closely interconnected with the latter bringing fresh oxygen into the body through the alveoli of the lungs (Johnson, 2004). The respiratory system is closely connected with the excretory system as it is responsible for the removal of carbon dioxide and other waste gases through exhalation. The excretory system eliminates both solid and liquid wastes in addition to these gaseous products, and is made up of a number of specialist tissues along with the large intestine, bladder, kidneys, rectum, lungs and skin (Sherwood, 2007). The physical and chemical breakdown of food into energy is carried out by the digestive system. This system commences with the mouth, teeth and salivary glands then passes through the oesophagus to the stomach and small intestine for digestion. The liver, pancreas and large intestine are also involved, through the production of digestive enzymes and bile and the processing of nutrients (Windelspecht, 2004). The nervous system is responsible for sending messages to and from the brain through neurons. The nervous system controls all bodily functions by sending electrochemical signals through the neural network (Llamas, 1998). The endocrine system acts as a communication network but uses hormones as chemical messengers which travel through the bloodstream (Klosterman, 2009). The hormones have specific target organs and carry signals to start or stop performing a specific function. Finally, the reproductive system is responsible for the production of children and reproductive hormones cause our bodies to develop into sexual maturity. Relationship between the nervous and musculoskeletal system Muscle is a contractile tissue that can be histologically divided into three types. These are: striated or skeletal muscle, which are under direct nervous control; cardiac muscle, which is also striated but is a specialist form that is confined specifically to the heart; and smooth or visceral muscle, which is not under direct nervous control (Nair and Peate, 2013). This latter form can be found in the walls of blood vessels and the alimentary tract and in arrector pili. Smooth muscle is usually in the form of flat sheets and forms circular and longitudinal layers, or can be arranged as a sphincter in order to control passage through a tube, for example the anus (Ikebe, 1996). Skeletal muscle is usually attached to two separate bones via tendon, fleshy or aponeurosis connections. Muscle action control is carried out by the nervous system (Stein, 1982). Contact between nerves and muscles often occurs through chemical stimulus conveyed by motor end plates, which instruct muscles to contract. Signals can also be sent through tendons via specific receptors that are able to measure the stretch of the tendon (Stein, 1982). Messages from nerves are referred to as efferent when they take a message to a specific tissue and afferent when they are taking the message to the spinal cord and brain (Craig, 2005). As such the nervous system comprises two separate but combined systems. These are the central and peripheral nervous systems, with the former being made up of the brain and spinal cord, and the latter comprising the remaining neural network (Cervero, 1988). This neural network comprises 12 pairs of head nerves connected to the brain and 31 pairs of spinal nerves connected to the spinal cord. Nerves which transfer information from receptors within the body to the ce ntral nervous system are sensoric nerves, whilst nerves that transport information from the CNS to muscle fibres are motoric nerves (Cervero, 1988). As such, the peripheral nervous system comprises collections of nerves, their insulating myelin sheaths, Schwann cells and connective tissue. The majority of these nerve cells are able to carry out efferent and afferent cell processes (Craig, 2005). Figure 1 shows the organisation of a neuron, with the body being the axon and the smaller projections being known as dendrites. The neuron uses the dendrites to obtain and pass information from and to other neurons (Spruston, 2008). The axon passes the information to other cells particularly muscle cells. The information is then passed along the neuron through voltage changes within the cell membrane. This is known as the action potential (Bean, 2007). Information transfer between individual nerve cells occurs through chemical agents which are released when the action potential has reached the end of an axon.

The Presentation of Education in Hard Times by Charles Dickens Essay ex

Examine the presentation of Education, chapters 1 to 4 in Hard Times by Charles Dickens Charles Dickens wanted to attack the failings of education and the wrong-headedness of the prevailing philosophy in education. He believed that many schools discouraged the development of the children’s imaginations, training them as â€Å"little parrots and small calculating machines† (Dickens used this phrase in a lecture he gave in 1857). Nor did Dickens approve of the recently instituted teacher training colleges. These had been set up in the 1840s, after the British government acknowledged the need to raise the standard of education in schools. The first graduates of these training colleges began teaching in 1853, a year before the publication of Hard Times. M’Choakumchild, the teacher in Gradgrind’s school (which was a non fee-paying school that catered to the lower classes), is Dickens’s portrait of one of these newly trained teachers. Many educators agreed through time-sharing Dickens’s view of what were wrong with the schools. They believed there was too much emphasis on cramming the children full of facts and figures, and not enough attention given to other aspects of their development, for example â€Å"'NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!'† Dickens chooses to begin the novel in the classroom, which he depicts as a microcosm of the inhuman world ou... ...e in the moon; it was up in the moon before it could speak distinctly. No little Gradgrind had ever learnt the silly jingle, Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what you are! No little Gradgrind had ever known wonder on the subject, each little Gradgrind having at five years old dissected the Great Bear like a Professor Owen, and driven Charles's Wain like a locomotive engine-driver. No little Gradgrind had ever associated a cow in a field with that famous cow with the crumpled horn who tossed the dog who worried the cat who killed the rat who ate the malt, or with that yet more famous cow who swallowed Tom Thumb: it had never heard of those celebrities, and had only been introduced to a cow as a graminivorous ruminating quadruped with several stomachs.† This shows a bit more about Gradgrind's views on education and the way he raises his children.

Biography of Abraham Lincoln Essay -- American Presidents History Essa

Biography of Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was born Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. His parents names were Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. They named him after his grandfather. Abraham’s grandfather had been killed by Indians long before Abraham had been born. Both of his parents were born in Virginia. Abraham had an older sister and a younger brother. His younger brother was named Thomas but he died in infancy. Abraham’s sisters name was Sarah. Abraham’s father was a hard worker, he was a carpenter and a farmer. Abraham’s parents were members of a Baptist congregation which had separated from another church due to opposition to slavery. Abraham was seven when his parents decided to move to Indiana. One of the reasons they wanted to move there was because of slavery. Abraham had attended school for a little while in Kentucky and did so again in Indiana. In 1818, Abraham’s mother died from milk sickness. It was a sickness that you got from drinking the milk from cows which had eaten poisonous white snakeroot. He took her death hard. His father remarried in a year. Abraham liked his new step mother. She brought along three of her own children to the household. Her name was Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln. As Abraham grew up he realized that he preferred learning things than to be working in the fields. This caused a problem between Abraham and his father because his father was the complete opposite. Abraham would borrow ...

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Traditionally, the drugs were marketed towards the doctors and there was a limit to the direct to consumer marketing. This was because of the fact that television advertising for such products was highly expensive. The expensiveness of these television commercials was due to the regulations of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to 1997, all direct-to-consumer advertisements that contained a medical claim and brand name had to have a brief summary of drugs effectiveness, side effects and contraindications.But in the August of 1997, Food and Drug Administration allowed the advertising of drugs without a brief summary, though a major statement still had to be added, which had to educate the consumer about the major risk and refer him to other sources for detailed information. They were number of departures from the requirements under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which had prohibited the use of print and television media for advertising prescription drugs. This ch ange in the regulation brought about a change in the promotional activities of the drugs manufacturing companies.There was an increase in the advertising expenses of these pharmaceutical companies from a mere US $ 800 in 1997 to about US $29. 8 billion in 2007. The supporters of the direct-to-consumer advertising emphasis that, such promotions help the consumer in understanding the symptoms of many under-diagnosed diseases. While the opponents of the same believe that such advertising would mislead patient towards demanding heavily promoted drugs, leading to inappropriate drug usage and unnecessary purchase of comparatively expensive products.The advertising being used today has a lot of influence on the consumer, but does this advertising actually help the consumer or does it mislead them to a disaster. Mr. Brain Storm, professor and chair of biostatistics, epidemiology, and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has termed Direct-to-Consumer marketing as â €Å"a disaster†. He while addressing the issue said that the public should not be given such kind of information as the drugs are difficult for the patients to understand.Further he added that dosing is even a harder job and finally, the assessment of a disease is best done by a doctor. He assured that the patients were not at all qualified to make an assessment of what drug they need. And so the information leads to no benefits for the patients but a lot of harm. Over the years many drugs have only been available for the consumers on the prescription of a medical consultant only, the reason behind such a restriction was that all the drugs that have the ability to heal, could also be harmful.The doctors, nurses and other health professionals get trained and have the experience to help them decide whether drugs are suited for a particular patient or not. And so they carry all the authority to take the decision for the prescription of a drug to any patient. Advertising of such prescription drugs has increased the pressure on the doctors and other health professionals to recommend particular medications which are often more expensive and dangerous yet less effective.This is an intrusion in the relationship between a doctor and patient, and so would disturb the therapeutic process. Further the doctor now has to give the patient reasons why certain advertisement could have misled him into the use of the drug, or why could the patient use a certain prescription under the circumstances. Studies have shown that Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising information does not provide patients the complete information, rather the information provided is biased â€Å"education.†It has been observed, according to (Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Tremmel J, et al: Direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs: What are Americans being sold? ) that 87 percent of television advertisements presented the potential benefits of medications in vague, qualitative terms that w ere not backed by scientific data. A massive campaign was launched by Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America in the summer of 2006, the campaign was targeted to the insomniacs and suggested that the drug Rozerem, could reunite them with the dreams that were waiting for them.This campaign was joined in with other campaigns, all targeted to the consumers directly. Today, a typical American television viewer has to watch around 16 hours of such directly targeted advertisements in a year (Frosch et al, 2007). The consumer groups such as US Public Interest Research Group want the Food and Drug Administration to act bit more responsibly, so that consumers cannot be harmed through misled ads. The direct-to-consumer advertisements have been a new entrance to the world of advertising.This is a major reason for the lack of trust in such commercials. The case of the drug Vioxx could be taken as one of the stories which support the argument. Merck introduced an anti-inflammatory drug by the name Vioxx, the drug became a blockbuster drug with the sales exceeding US $ 1 billion. All this occurred due to the television commercials targeted towards the consumers. Later, it was known that the drug had increased the number of patients with strokes, heart attacks and so the drug was removed from the market (Donohue et al, 2007).Although the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have made guidelines for the DTCA (direct-to-consumer-advertising), yet it has been observed that critics such as AIDS Healthcare Foundation argue that the self regulation has not been functioning well and the companies continue to start advertising for the product with the one year of the approval from FDA (AIDS Health Foundation 2007). According to a study conducted in Baltimore, the 46% of the consumers who had watched a DTC for certain product would get disappointed if they were not provided the same drug by the practitioner.While 25% said that would try to influence their doctor to chang e the mind, while the remaining 15% thought that they would switch the doctor. All these factors suggest that the use of DTC is actually creating complexity in the minds of the consumers. DTC has clearly increased the sales of drugs, or they have actually increased the number of drugs that have been prescribed, but the question that has to get answered is whether these drugs are essential for the consumers or are they just wastage of the scarce resources in the economy.According tot eh doctors, a drug is thought to have efficiency if the positive impacts of its use out number the negative connotations. Under these situations it is of great importance that the correct drug is prescribed. Another factor that has been raised due to the use of DTC has been the increase in the prices of the DTC advertised products that cost more than the generic drugs available in the market. These ads present biased appeals to the masses to influence decisions about drugs that are designed to be approve d within the context of a relationship between a knowledgeable professional and a person who is known as an individual.The professional has a complete historical knowledge about the patient and does know about anything present in the drug that might cause a problem to the patient. On the other hand when the same patient requests the use of another product that had been advertised, it becomes difficult for the doctor to explain to his patient that the drug has a different purpose, and so wastes around 40% of the doctors precious time just to explain that the drug that was been prescribed was much better than the one being advertised.One unintentional effect of the DTC would be the worsening of inequalities in health and heath care. Research has shown reduced understanding of DTC ads for viewers with limited literacy and lower health knowledge, raising the concern that the effect of ads would increase disparities. Conclusion: The study that was done tried to explore the different pros and cons of the direct-to-consumer marketing on the consumer’s choice for the prescription of the drug.It was seen that the consumers are naà ¯ve about the use of the drugs and could be easily manipulated by the pharmaceutical companies through the misleading information in the advertisements or the incomplete information. Therefore, it is of utmost need that the authorities like PhRMA and FDA take serious steps towards consumer protection. On the other hand, it was observed that it is not the use of advertising was not being done to educate the consumer; it was rather being done to increase the profitability of the organizations.Had it been other way round, the companies would not mind using the generic names. The pharmaceutical organizations are trying to increase the market size; this increase in the market size would automatically mean an increase in the potential customers, and so higher revenues over the years for the companies. The drugs that are being advertised are being sold at even higher cost, suggesting that these drugs are of a superior quality, although that is not the case.Proper research is lacking as within a period of one year the drug are advertised leading to the sales. Proper trust in this form has to be inculcated, and that would be possible only if the pharmaceutical companies act more responsibly and instead of trying to generate only profits also work for the betterment of humanity. The long term impact of DTC need greater in depth studies and would require extensive research, but it would be worthwhile to do so, given the enormous stakes of public health and huge sums of money involved.