Drug Addiction Essay Example for Free

Drug Addiction Essay Drug Addiction The topic that caught my attention when I was reading my choices was â€Å"Drug Addiction†. Drug addiction is something that should not be taken lightly by anyone who has a family member or friend with this issue. We often wonder how and what make people turn into being a drug addict. â€Å"Drug addiction is rooted in long-term adaptations within the brain that promotes escalating drug use, difficulty quitting, and relapse—all despite the awareness of negative consequences.† With that being said I have always wondered what keep a person going back to their addiction and why can’t they quit. When I read the article and it mention how drug addiction is rooted a light bulb clicked in my head. When something is rooted inside of you whether it is for good or bad it is hard to break. â€Å"It was previously hypothesized that addiction was caused in part of an imbalance between an impulsive system that governs appetitive motivation and is driven by immediate rewards on the one hand and a reflective system that regulate and control impulsive according to future pleasurable or aversive consequences.† With this study they were able to predict the hypothesis and see what causes addiction to happen in some cases. I think that the method used in order to see how people become an addict was efficient and it was very precise that made the validity of the experiment a success. It is important to make sure that your study is conducted in a manner that will give you a pretty accurate result when using different research methods. Also in the study they took a small sample size of addicts who quit smoking after a brain injury and they had a criteria that asked them some simple question and due to such a small sample size they were not able to get the laterality effects could not be verified statistically due to the small sample size like I mentioned earlier. The results of this study gave great evidence that insula is critical for psychological processes that maintain addiction to cigarette smoke. I have known people to have drug addiction and it just hurt your heart when you see them all strung out and can’t even help themselves. I have had family members and friends who have battled with this addiction. I want to research this addiction so that I can learn how a person can overcome this type of addiction. Any addiction is hard to break it is going to take a lot of will power from the addict in order for them to be set free of this addiction. You never know what could have pushed the addict into becoming a drug  addict. I want to be able to relate to an addict whether it is a friend, family member or just someone in general whom I would want to be able to help them overcome this addiction. Drug addiction is the most common addiction and I feel that if we get the proper research on how to give treatment to an addict then maybe t heir chances of becoming free will be greater. I just want to be able to talk with them and see what I can do to help them overcome this disease. That is why it is important that we take all necessary measures when it comes to us trying to aid a person who is addicted to drugs. Drug addiction is something that I want to do research so we can come up with a method that can slow it down. I know that it can never exist but we could at least work on slowing it down. In the studies that I chose we will be dealing with how addicts can be treated to prescription pain medication. I hear some people talk about taking other people medication because they like the way it makes them feel and they become addicted to it. Addiction is bad whether it is drugs, food and or alcohol we all know how serious this can be to anyone. In this is article they are launching their large scale national study evaluating a treatment for addiction to prescription drugs. â€Å"NIDA’s National Drug Abuse Treatments Clinical Trials Network (CTN) is conduct ing the multi-site study known as the Prescription Opiate Addiction Treatment Study (POATS).† â€Å"This study is in response to the growing national problem of prescription drug abuse in this country. According to the 2005 National Survey on drug use and health the incidence of new nonmedical users of pain relievers is now at 2.2 million Americans aged 12 and older surpassing the number of new marijuana abusers (2.1million). In 2005, more than six million American’s reported current (in the past month) nonmedical use of prescription drugs – more than the number abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants combined.† This clearly answers my question to how many people are addicted to prescription drugs versus to the other drugs. The data collected in this study shows that there are a lot of people addicted to prescription drugs and how it has increased and the results in this study show it. In this study the results showed that there were more people addicted to prescription drugs rather than your everyday drugs. I feel that this is giving everyone a clear view that prescription drugs that are for pain and can give you some kind of satisfaction can be a ddictive. This study covers a variety of areas like those addicted to painkillers and those who abuse painkillers due to nonmedical reasons. I found this study to be quite interesting because it will give us a general idea of the amount of people that are addicted to prescription drugs and those that take it for chronic pain and that are addicted. This study will enroll a total of 648 participants that will be carried out 11 sites around the country. The outcome of this study will be very efficient for all to know just how many people are suffering from being addicted to some type of drug. The second article let us know how much this disease is deeply rooted inside an addict’s brain. â€Å"Drug addiction is rooted in long-term adaptions within the brain that promotes escalating drug use, difficulty quitting, and relapse – all despite the awareness of negative consequences.† This article will answer my question as to why do addicts keep going back to that same drug trying to get the same high as the first time. In this study it will explain the role of the insula in drug addiction as well. I feel that all data collected from this article will be informative and the results of the study will be concise and easy to follow and understand. I just hope with my two studies that it will conform enough information about drug addiction to where it will give clarity to what steps we can take to stop this trend in drug addiction. When we look back at the studies done on this particular study you try and think back at all the methods that we have learned in this class. It really makes a difference when you read about a research design and now you are able to relate to the experimenter when you come across some of the studies. So far I think that the designs that the two studies I have written about couldn’t research it any better with the methods they have chosen. I came across another study entitled â€Å"Scientific and political challenges in North America’s first randomized controlled trial of heroin-assisted treatment of severe heroin addiction: Rationale and design of the NAOMI study.† This particular article consist of this study targeting long term opiod dependents who have tried treatments conveniently in the past that are not currently in treatment who currently inject heroin. Now the sample size was based off of the outcome of the response and the retention. There was said to be two primary variables in this study they were evaluated with an alpha threshold of 0.025 which determined about 114 evaluable patients per group which yielded about 80% power in order to  detect increase of 20% of retention and response rate amongst the experimental groups provided. I think with the methods that they used they will have a broader testing ground in order to determine if the treatments are helpful to those that are an addict. Th is study involves a meta-analysis of predictors of continued drug use during and after treatment of opiate addiction. In this study they used meta-analytic techniques in order to identify the risk factors that are given in this study. When it came to the design and measurements in this study it was a search of public literature that yielded 69 studies that reported some bivariate association between independent variables. I think when it comes to this type of research the clinicians and researchers try and make a way to prevent relapse and other issues that form when you become an addict. They want to try and come up with an intervention that will be able to help those that are in need. That’s why these studies are very important to them and taken very seriously. The studies in this research for meta- analysis were researched through computerized databases that is said to have indexed published scientific reports and many other sources in order to complete their research. I think as far as the methods that are being used couldn’t chose a better design to do There were also a total of six criteria’s that were met for the meta-analysis of this study. â€Å"The independent variable clearly specified a single patient –related construct, and not a conglomeration of multiple constructs. An example of a conglomeration is Suffet et.al’s (1978) â€Å"conventionality† variable that is based on four distinct constructs (level of heroin use intake to treatment, number of arrest, type of residence and employment). We excluded from consideration independent variables that referred to treatment program types, policies, practices, personal and setting.† This pretty much shows you the results and how they were able to determine if the treatment helped or not. In this study there were a total of 28 independent variables for which there was said to be two studies with the results on the relationship between the independent variable and continued drug use. This study has to do with cocaine addiction treatments to improve or reduce harm by (CATCH). This study is said to investigate possibilities and problems associated with pharmacological treatments. ‘The methods and designs used in this study by (CATCH) consist of three separate randomized controlled, open label, parallel group feasibility trials,  conducted at three separate addiction treatment institutes in the Netherlands. Patients are either new referral are already in treatment. With a total of 216 eligible outpatients are randomized using pre-randomization double-consent design and received either 12 weeks treatment with oral topiramate (n=36; Brijder Addiction Treatment, The Hague), oral modafinil (n=36; Arkin, Amsterdam), or oral dexamphetamine sustained release (n=36; Bouman GGZ, Rotterdam) as an add on to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or receive a 12 week CBT only (controls n= 3 x 36).† With this design I am sure that they will come out with a pretty good analysis of if cocaine harms or improve those that are in treatment for this addiction. In this review it let us know up front that they are not going to be able to cover the whole clinical addiction arena or the parts dedicated to treatments. Although within this study there was a conflict of interest within the testing methods used inside this review. Personally when you are conducting a study on something with a broader view you will tend to have a conflict of interest with in your results. There are so many methods out there that you can use to conduct a study just depends on what you are trying to research. This is a different study and it aims to describe the derivation of recent status scores for the ASI. â€Å"The design was 118 ASI -6 recent status items were subjected to nonparametric item response theory (NIRT) analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Generalizability and concurrent validity of the derived scores were determined.† The sample size was 607 recent admissions to a variety of substance abuse treatment programs. I think that this study will a have great validity due to the fact that they used a variety of substance to test for this study. This is an interesting study which really caught my attention and this study aimed to explore the existential aspects of living with addiction. The design that was used in this study was called a Hermeneutic which I have never heard of this type of design apparently this was the right design th at was chosen to do this study although I am not familiar with it. When it came down to the methods used it was based on interviews within the first study with rich, personal experienced addicts. After the results it show that people living with addiction struggles with as long as it is existing within them. This study is talking about giving addicts their choice of drug for a variety of reasons. Can’t say that I would want to give an addict the drug of their  choice because I would want to try and help them overcome their addiction and not contribute to it. In this study it mentioned that offering drugs to the addict and by them determining if they can say â€Å"yes or no† to the drug does not help them make progress they need something to undermine them in order to get the results they need. I think that all the studies and reviews mentioned in my paper are really good ones they all have the intention to try and come to a solution to helping those that are addicted to drugs. Drug addiction like I mentioned earlier in my paper is a serious disease and it comes in many forms. I feel like this class has helped us learn that there are many methods and designs out there for us to be able to conduct a study or research and get the validity that we need to complete our study. References Cacciola, J.S., Alterman, A.I., Habing, B., McLellan, A.T. (2011). Recent status scores for version 6 of the addition severity index (ASI-6). Addiction, 106 (9), 1588-1602. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Naqvi, N. H., Bechara, A. (2010). The insula and drug addiction: An interoceptive view of pleasure, urges, and decision-making. Brain Structure and Function, 214(5-6), 435-50. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Nuijten, M., Blanken, P., Van Den Brink, W., Hendriks, V. Concaine addiction treatments to improve control and reduce harm (CATCH): New Pharmacological Treatment Options for Crack-Cocaine Dependence in the Netherlands. BMC Psychiatry 11.1 (2011): 135. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Nutt, D., Lingford-Hughes, A. (2008). Addiction : The clinical interface. British Journal of Pharmacology, 154 (2), 397-405. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Oviedo-Joekes, E., Nosyk, B., Marsh, D.C., Guh, D., Brissette, S., Gurtry, C.,†¦Schechter, M.T. (2009). Scientific and political challenges in North America’s first randomized controlled trial of heroin-assisted treatment for severe heroin addiction: Rationale and design of the NAOMI study. Clinical Trials, 6 (3), 261-71. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Walker, T. (2008). Giving addicts their drug choice: The problem of consent. Bioethics, 22 (6), 314—20. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Wiklund, L. Journal of clinical nursing 17. 18 (Sep. 2008): 2426-2434. Existential aspects of living with addiction – Part I: Meeting challenges. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com Drug abuse, NIDA launces first scale national study to treat addiction to prescription pain medications. (2007). Mental Health Weekly Digest, 23-23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com

Willa Cathers Paul‟s Case: A Study in Temperament Essay examples -- P

Willa Cather‟s â€Å"Paul‟s Case: A Study in Temperament† (1905) invites the reader to wonder, â€Å"What really is Paul‟s case?† Cather provides us with ample clues and descriptions of Paul‟s temperament with remarkable detail and insight into the human psyche considering that she had no formal background in psychology and that she was writing when Sigmund Freud was just beginning to publish his theories and was therefore writing by intuitive observation rather than by using a scientific approach. Because â€Å"Paul‟s Case† is written much like a descriptive analysis or case study in a patient‟s temperament, the reader is left with several details about Paul that are mysterious and psychiatrically and medically unexplained. The lack of a diagnosis for Paul has led many critics to develop their own diagnosis – some say Paul is a stereotypical homosexual, has Asperger‟s Syndrome or Autism, or that he has a combinati on of depression and anxiety. In my opinion, however, the most likely diagnosis for Paul is that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. According to the DSM-IV, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are â€Å"preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love† (Criterion 2) and believe that they are â€Å"„special‟ and unique and can only be understood by, or should be associated with, other special or high-status people† (Criterion 3). Paul‟s clothing gives us our first clue to his narcissistic attitudes about himself; in Cather‟s description of Paul‟s dress, it is apparent that Paul is attempting to rise above his lower-class status by mimicking the upper class‟ appearance. The collar of Paul‟s overcoat is velvet, and â€Å"there was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an... ...her was writing about a social disorder that had not yet been identified or studied. Despite the lack of knowledge about Narcissistic Personality Disorder when Cather wrote this short story, she provides readers with plenty of details to diagnose the boy themselves. Narcissism is the only diagnosis that can explain all of Paul‟s attitudes and behaviors, and that is why it is the disorder that he must be suffering from. Works Cited Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV. Arlington, VA.: American Psychiatric Association, 2007. Print. Larry Rubin. "The Homosexual Motif in Willa Cather's "Paul's Case"" Studies in Short Fiction (1975): 127-31. Print. Perkins, Barbara, Robyn Warhol-Down, and George B. Perkins. "Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament." Women's Work: an Anthology of American Literature. New York: McGrawHill, 1994. Print.

Residential Housing Essay

KB Home, one of the major housing companies in the market made a statement telling the public that they do not see housing sector to stabilize by this year. Number of housing companies has been acquiring great losses by the end of 2005 as disposable income of consumers’ declines as the consequence of lowering down of per capita income in the economy. According to the President and Chief Executive Officer of KB Home, Jeffrey Mezger, they have suffered to a staggering loss of nearly $10 per share during the first quarter of 2007 (Steverman 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deutsche Bank’s economists, Peter Hopper, said that the housing correction works sluggishly just like a ‘slow-motion train wreck’ which made worse the housing sector of the economy. Moreover, the said loss of KB Home worse than what they have expected. Analysts expects around $7 loss per share which is very far from the $10 per share loss accounted last quarter. Therefore, with the further worsening of the stock prices in the stock market, this only means that there will be no improvement in the coming first quarter of 2008.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To make the situation worse, there has been a rumor in the market regarding the bankruptcy of Countrywide which supplies loans and mortgages worth 2 million and 9 million respectively. Countrywide suffered from 25 percent losses as of January 8 of this year. Meaning, there would be a shortage on the supply of loan and mortgages in the financial market just in case Countrywide is really approaching to bankruptcy. Moreover, the shortage of supply of loans and mortgages in the economy will only worsen the purchasing power of the consumers, giving way for a further deterioration of demand to housing industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One possible reason behind the turmoil in the housing industry would be the oversupply of homes in the market creating a pressure for its prices to decline. By the time price level of housing units starts to decline, profitability of housing companies begins to deteriorate giving way for experiencing a low return on investment in the next quarter. Driven by speculation, investors will start to pull out their stocks in the housing sector causing stock prices to turn down. In this regard, the connection between the oversupply of housing unit in the market with the deterioration of stock prices is already established. Moreover, it is not only the oversupply of housing units in the market that caused the instability of the housing sector. The growing competition also adds up to the growth of the problem. At the end of the day, market analysts still believes that housing sector will not recover this year based from the current degree of losses that housing companies and financial institutions had experienced on the last quarter of 2007. Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is true that the turmoil in the housing sector started during the last quarter of 2005 when consumers have high disposable income. During then, consumers spent more in the housing market attracting the housing companies to produce more house units next quarter. By the start of the first quarter of 2006, per capita income of consumers starts to decline giving them a limited disposable income for housing sector. At this point, the housing industry experienced oversupply of housing units since companies did not anticipate the deterioration of consumer’s disposable income. The said oversupply caused the price level of the housing companies to decline causing the return on investment to depreciate which later on forced stock holder to withdraw their stocks in the market. The increasing competition in the housing sector also add up to the lowering down of housing unit prices since companies in this industry starts to compete each other through price competition. Meaning, housing companies tries to lower down the prices of their home units in order to attract more customers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The negative effects of eh oversupply of housing units will not be that severe if there is only adequate number of financial institutions that will provide loans and mortgages to uplift the purchasing power of the consumers, therefore, improving the demand on the housing industry. But the problem now would be, even financial lenders is also having a hard time providing loans and mortgages due to the low income level of consumers in the market which imposes the threat of bankruptcy   to the financial lenders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It would be best if the government would start making action by offering low interest rate on credit. The federal bank must structuralize a special credit scheme for housing sector customers, e.g. low interest rate on borrowing or longer payment period, in order to solve the problem of over supply on the said industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another way by which the government could solve this instability of housing sector would be to provide financial aids to Countrywide which, as what have already pointed out during the first part of the paper, plays a major role in uplifting the purchasing power of consumers though provision of loans and mortgages that can be used in purchasing housing units. The said government aid may be in the form of monetary of fiscal Moreover, the government could also increase the wage rate of the workers in the economy in order to improve the current level of disposable incomes of consumers in the market. By the time the disposable income of consumers increase, they will now have enough money to purchase housing units which will solve the problem regarding the oversupply of home units. Works Cited Steverman, Ben â€Å"Housing: A Fresh Jolt of Bad News.† 8 January 2008. Business Week. 11 February 2008 .

Performance and Participation in games Essay

Read through the following notes and then answer the questions at the end of each section. Please answer each set of questions on a different sheet using a new heading each time. Please write your answers fully in sentences. Consider how many marks each question is worth as to how much you need to write. The questions should be finished and handed in on Tuesday the 7th November along with your coursework (all sections). School – Questions. 1. Explain how your experiences in PE can have both a negative or a positive effect on your participation in sport later in life (2). Name 5 different roles that a pupil could take within a PE lesson (5) 3. For key stage three PE explain what areas of activity are covered and the aims of PE at this level (7) 4. For key stage four PE explain what areas of activity are covered and the aims of PE at this level (4) 5. Explain what benefits can be sought from extra- curricular PE i. On a representational basis and ii. On a recreational basis (4) 6. Name one benefit of examination courses for i. The image of PE and ii. Pupils who have an interest in PE. 7. Explain what benefits links with sports clubs can have and why this is necessary (3) 8. Explain why cross- curricular links are important for pupils (2). 9. Name and explain 3 ways that a school could cover the cost of its sporting activities (3). 10. Explain how curriculum constraints can have a negative effect on how much time is available for PE (2). 11. Explain how tradition can affect the opportunities pupils may have within PE (2) 12. Explain how the environment can affect the opportunities that pupils may have within PE (both positive and negative) (2). Changing Attitudes. What effects do attitudes of society have on participation in games? 1. What is leisure (2) 2. How has leisure time increased (1) 3. Give some of the reasons for this increase and explain why these effects do actually increase opportunities (5) 4. Explain the aim of private leisure providers and name three different types of leisure opportunities they provide (4) 5. Explain the aim of public leisure providers and name three different types of leisure opportunities they provide (4) 6. Name some of the target groups that public providers make provisions for, explain what provisions they make and why this is useful. (5)

Essay on Amazons Vertical Integration

Essay on Amazons Vertical Integration Essay on Amazons Vertical Integration Essay on Amazons Vertical IntegrationThe marketing mix includes four essential components: product, price, promotion and place. Place denotes the approach to distribution and pertains to the methods of delivering the product or service to the target customers. The methods of distribution are shaped by the nature of the product or service, by technological factors, by the strategies of competitors, by the strategies of other participants of the supply chain or distribution chain, etc.In particular, there exist several distribution methods which include integration. The most frequently used methods are horizontal integration the inclusion of companies or business activities pertaining to the same level of the value chain, and vertical integration the integration of different levels of supply chain in one company or one union. The purpose of this paper is to analyze backward integration in publishing undertaken by Amazon, to review the facts of the battle between Amazon and Barnes and Noble, to discuss Amazons decision to get into publishing and to consider the perspectives of signing contracts with Amazon from the position of a well-known and a novel author.Key facts on the battle between Amazon and Barnes and NobleAmazon was one of the pioneers of e-commerce, and its department dealing with online sales of print books quickly became successful. Amazon paid a lot of attention to its book business and started investing into e-books and devices for reading e-books in order to attract the audience. Although Amazon clearly chose to focus on the segment of electronic books, it also entered the publishing segment and offered exclusive publishing services to the authors.Besides the bold decision on backward integration, Amazon also undertook several predatory marketing campaigns which were focused on directing customers from other book stores such as Barnes and Noble. In particular, Amazon offered an $15 discount for those customers who visited traditional bookstores and used Amazon price check app to purchase print versions of the necessary books in Amazon (instead of purchasing the books at the store they were visiting) (Hertner, 2012).Although Amazon managed to drive customer interest, publishers and book retailers united in a protest against such practices (Hertner, 2012). The companies also protest against Amazon tax protection: the company is allowed not to pay taxes across the United States because it has no physical presence in the states with sales tax (Hertner, 2012). Furthermore, Barnes and Noble made a public statement calling authors to avoid agreements with Amazon since such agreements strengthen Amazons monopoly and threaten to undermine the whole publishing industry (Turner, 2012).Despite the united efforts of publishers and book retailers, Amazon is clearly winning the game. Barnes and Noble reports that the sales of electronic and printed books are decreasing as well as the sales of electronic devices and accessories (Gelles, 2 014). The revenues of Barnes and Noble are declining, and the Nook department of Barnes and Noble is no longer able to compete with Amazon Kindle devices and the variety of tablets and smartphones available at the market. Barnes and Noble is planning to use the services of third-party manufacturers to upgrade its Nook line of e-readers or to sell the department to G Asset Management (Gelles, 2014). Although Barnes and Noble managed to optimize costs and therefore increase the overall profits despite the drop in revenue, the prospects of brick-and-mortar bookstores are not very optimistic. At the same time, Amazon is actively pursuing its vertical integration strategy and growing the market of electronic books and e-readers.Assessment of Amazons entry into publishingAmazon started as online retailer and its major competitive advantage was formed by the benefits caused by early entry into the industry (Krug, 2012). At the same time, Amazon quickly expanded its presence in innovative m arket segments. One of these segments was the publishing segment. Amazon started offering publishing services to authors and focused on selling both printed and electronic versions of books. From the authors perspective, such idea is fruitful as it allows to gain access to a large audience and helps to target both the fans of printed books and the new generation of readers who prefer e-ink devices for reading.Amazons conditions are exclusive and the authors might be unable to publish their books with other publishers. In this way, Amazon manages to eliminate intermediaries and therefore decrease publishing costs. Furthermore, Amazon receives the opportunity to capitalize on publishing books and strengthens its supply chain. At the same time, Amazons exclusive publishing conditions result in the weakening of other publishers and book retailers and in the strengthening of Amazons market position. Therefore, vertical integration is highly beneficial for Amazon as it helps the company t o expand the market of e-books and at the same time to retain its leadership in selling printed books.Author choices in different situationsFrom the perspective of a popular author of childrens fiction, it might be not very beneficial to sign a contract with Amazon since this company requests exclusive rights, and a popular author might want to choose more beneficial contracts with other publishers in the future. Furthermore, book retailers and publishers often boycott Amazons printed books and therefore signing a contract with Amazon might limit access to readers audience for a popular author. Therefore, it would be reasonable for a popular author to reject Amazon offer and to retain the relationships with the traditional publisher.In the case of a new author working on a first book it is best to accept Amazons offer because of several reasons. First of all, it is difficult for beginning authors to attract the attention to traditional publishers because of numerous procedures and r equirements as well as competition in this sphere. Every publisher also targets a particular audience and it is hard for a new author to choose the right publisher and to win the contract. In Amazons case, the risks for a new author are lower and the author can quickly gain access to a worldwide audience (especially in the case of electronic books).Conclusions and recommendationsThe development of technology has dramatically changed distribution channels in the publishing industry. The dynamics of the recent decade shows that the sales of e-books are increasing and the sales of print books are declining (Trachtenberg, 2014). Amazon is the global leader in selling e-books while the sales of Barnes and Noble are declining (Trachtenberg, 2014). However, there are specific categories of print books the demand for which is growing or keeps at the same level: these are textbooks, books for entertainment (detectives, fiction), books for children and illustrated books such as recipe books ( Herther, 2012).The major strategic advantage of Barnes and Noble is its brick-and-mortar chain of stores. At the same time, this chain of stores incurs significant costs. It is recommended for Barnes and Noble to track the categories of print books the demand for which is still high, and to optimize its store layout to offer only these categories of books available for instantaneous purchase. Other categories of books should be sold in online store of Barnes and Noble.Furthermore, to stay in the publishing business, Barnes and Noble needs to keep in touch with technology. In this context, acquisitions of new technologies might be helpful for the company if these technologies can enhance reading experience. Currently Barnes and Noble can improve its market position if the company focuses on delivering ultimate reading experience and empowering it with technology. The company made a bold move by introducing Nook reader, and it would be efficient to empower this device with break-throu gh technology. In any case, Barnes and Noble should focus on online distribution of print and electronic books, and use its brick-and-mortar stores in combination with its digital strategy.

Does the european union need a constitution Essay

Does the european union need a constitution - Essay Example However, the bigger picture is, will it be integrative of them as one whole body A constitution must serve the best interests not just one or a few member states. Devanny (2004) says the debate about whether the EU should adopt a constitution has been protracted and controversial. It is both a practical debate (Does the EU need a constitution) and a more abstract debate (Is the EU the kind of entity/organisation that should adopt a constitution). According to Murkens (2002), the European Union leaders at the Laeken summit in December 2001 had agreed to a constitutional convention headed by the former French President Valry Giscard D'Estaing to craft an EU constitution. And yet, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the German Federal Constitutional Court, and academic commentators say the founding treaties already form a constitution. From Murkens (2002) - "In its famous decision in Van Gend en Loos in 1963 the ECJ held that the Treaty of Rome had created a Community not only of governments but of peoples, and that the Member States had agreed to limit their sovereign rights in certain fields. A year later the ECJ established the doctrine of supremacy of Community law in Costa v. ENEL which was basically accepted by national constitutional courts. These decisions heralded the 'creeping constitutionalisation' of Community law. The novelty of the ECJ's approach was that it did not try to squeeze the Treaty into the constitutional mould of the Verfassungsstaat. More important than the 'formal constitution' was the interpretation of the Treaty by the ECJ as the 'material constitution' (Petersmann 1991: 28), whose basic tenets include the doctrines of direct effect, supremacy, and implied powers, as well as respect for human rights." The arguments for and against an EU constitution rest on complicated issues of law, sovereignty, political philosophy and the efficiency and effectiveness of the EU's institutions and procedures (Murkens 2002). At the June 2004 European Council meeting, governments of the 25 EU member states signed a constitutional treaty for the European Union (Closa 2004). Intended to include voices not usually heard in the European integration process, this treaty was drafted by a "Convention on the Future of Europe." From there, member state governments negotiated on the draft that eventually produced a treaty (Ibid). But the process is far from over. It has just entered its final and perhaps most difficult phase. According to Closa (2004), the text must be ratified unanimously by the member states, each according to its own national process, but there are uncertainties that may spell disaster for the future of European integration (Ibid). II. From treaties to Constitution A timeline (History, Wikipedia 2005) shows the development of seven treaties into EU constitution from 1952 to 2003 to include - 1952: Treaty of Paris, 1958: Treaties of Rome, 1967: Merger Treaty, 1987: Single European Act, 1993: Treaty of Maastricht, 1999: Treaty of Amsterdam, and 2003: Treaty of Nice. The European Constitution is being hoped to be enacted in the soonest future. The three pillars are: 1) the European Communities (the European Coal and Steel Community or ECSC which came about in 1952; the European Community or EC which came around in 1958; the European Atomic

Debating Policy Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Debating Policy Issues - Essay Example debaters often resort to faster usage of speech so as to include as much evidence as possible in support of their arguments put forward in the debate which further helps in lending credibility to their claims while in yet another case, the debaters might include several arguments to counter the claims made by their opponents. In academic debates including more quantity is often considered an act of displaying knowledge and educational and hence appreciated while it might be criticized outside the debate community. While slow speed is often used to include laymen or common people in the purview of their audience (Cheshire, 2008). The order of speeches in various forms of policy debate is fixed such as 1AC – First Affirmative Constructive which includes cross examining the First Affirmative by the second negative, 1NC – First Negative Constructive i.e., cross examining the first negative by second constructive, 2AC – Second Affirmative Constructive i.e., cross examining the second affirmative by first constructive, 2 NC – Second Negative Constructive i.e., cross examining the second negative by first constructive etc. Similarly the other forms of policy debate include; 1NR – First Negative Rebuttal, 1AR – First Affirmative Rebuttal, 2NR – Second Negative Rebuttal and 2AR – Second Affirmative Rebuttal. The time for all these forms of policy debates varies with high school and college debates. For instance the time allotted for all constructive speeches in high school is generally eight minutes and for rebuttal the time allotted is five minutes. Similarly in college, the time allotted for constructive speeches is nine minutes and six minutes are allowed for rebuttal. The period for cross examination, however is same in high school as well as college i.e., three minutes. The first speech given in a round of policy debate is the 1AC and is presented by the affirmative team. This team usually focuses its attention on advocating on textual issues to