Porn Addiction: Causes And Effects Essay

Porn addiction is one of the current problems brought about by the advancement in the information technology sector. Like other addictions, addiction to porn exhibits some common signs and follow a similar pattern as other addiction to substances and drugs. Addiction to pornography can be seen when one spends more time engrossed with a pornographic material to a point of neglecting important people like family or friends. After these moments, the person may also exhibit â€Å"mixed feelings of well being and guilt† because they have to lie about the time they’ve spent looking at or reading the material (Help Guide). The addict may also exhibit anxiety and depression when unable to access the material or might generally be irritable when their time to find complete sexual pleasure is interrupted or shortened. At times when the addiction becomes too serious the addict may experience hardships at the work place or in school because of frustration or may start misusing money by buying more porn materials or gambling and further much worse start engaging in flings with unknown people to satisfy new sexual fantasies. (Help guide) pornography in the current age has become harder to control and hard to censure. The internet which is relied upon by millions of people for information and telecommunications has played a big role in spreading pornography to people of all ages. Given its simple accessibility and fairly liberal use in many countries, any person with the knowledge of using a computer can access pornographic material on the internet at any time. According researchers to Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, meaning that it is a highly addictive leading to undesirable characters â€Å"such as, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction†, Singel (2004). The fact that the internet allows one to access numerous sites anonymously makes it ideal for porn viewing to become a habit. To make it worse even children as young as 7 yrs old have been known to access porn from the internet. Pornography is hard to delete from the mind one an addiction sets in. compared to cocaine addicts, the porn addict has a difficult time â€Å"†¦recovering from their addiction than cocaine addict†¦ since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever†¦Ã¢â‚¬  because the chemicals released in the body are what heroin and other substance users really aim for but never achieve; thus it is hard for anyone who is an addict to ever fully recover (Singel, 2004). The internet presents the largest challenge in the fight against porn and addictions. About 5 years ago over 1. 3 million porn sites and more than 260 million pages, making it one of the most profitable industries in the United States. In 2006 the industry raked 13. 3 billion dollars in the United States alone and more than 97 million dollars in the web. According to statistics form the internet filter review more than 72 million users accessed adult sites each month (Statistics on pornography). According to Statistics from Divorcewizards. com â€Å"At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended â€Å", had been divorced and they blamed the internet as a major cause of break in the marriage among the cases they pointed out, porn contributed to more than half of the reasons given. (Statistics on pornography). Other effects the computer had on the individual were carpal syndrome and dry eyes especially those who access porn on the internet while seated; headaches and sleep disturbance; eating irregularities among other issues. The underlying causes for the development of addiction could be mental illness relationship problems and /or substance abuse. According to experts there was a big connection between people who used substances and hard drugs and porn addiction. In other instances such as the church, many pastors admitted that they had either been tempted or had actually been accessing porn thorough the net even when they knew this was a sin. They also admitted that pornography was always an issue when it came to the congregation and the clergy alike such that a survey revealed that more than 30% of the clergy men in the past 8 years have visited the pornographic sites in and majority of them a couple of times. ( Statistics on pornography) It was also discovered according to Focus on the Family Poll carried out in October 2003, that at least 47% percent of families indicated that they hard experienced problems at home because of pornography especially with the children and adolescents. According to London school of economics, children who were aged between the ages 8 to16 were much more likely to have viewed pornography within their home setting. This was supported by figures which showed that 9 out of 10 children within the specified age bracket had accidentally viewed porn on the internet in computers they use at home together with their families. Also important is the fact that 1 out of every 7 children who frequently used the internet had been sexually solicited; a realization that sex predators had started using the internet to lure kids. Indeed, according to the journal of Adolescent health 76% of victims in the internet initiated sexual exploitation case fell between the ages 13 to 15 and mostly girls. In most of these cases the children were led into sexual encounters which were mostly forced. The coarse language and sexually overt material that the internet and other media, displayed became a matter of concern for the government in 1996 where the United states department of justice noted the â€Å"Never before in the history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent (and obscene) material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions†(statistics on pornography). A leading psychologist Dr. James Dobson explains that â€Å"pornography addiction causes a person to become desensitized to the material,† making one develop boredom or lack of interest in what was once appealing. This is also followed by fantastic imaginations of the victim playing different roles in different scenes; begins to treat serious relationships casually and shows solitary tendency preferring to spend a lot of time privately. Dr. Dobson demonstrates how porn addicts unable to be satisfied by their partners decide to seek their fantasies and this leads to serious problems in marriage and even divorce. Cyber sex seems to have taken the place of relational sex because in majority of the patients he was attending to, 68 % had been hooked up to cyber sex did not have relational sex. Usually, as was testified by some of his patients, the individual beginning the habit does not realize it’s an addiction until they try to stop and they can’t. The thing becomes bigger than the individual hence it alienates him from his family and friends. (Gabriel Lefrancois, 2008). Defenders of pornography have put forward arguments that pornography in itself is not harmful, and therefore Banning or regulating it is unfair. Basing their argument on the Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970, they reject the apparent relationship between exposure pornographic material and the resulting behavior. However over the years many researches have conclusively shown there is a significant relationship between conditioning and human behavior. Psychologists at the Wisconsin University found that â€Å"brief exposure to violent forms of pornography can lead to anti-social attitudes and behavior. Male viewers tend to be more aggressive towards women, less responsive to pain and suffering of rape victims, and more willing to accept various myths about rape†. The psychologists showed that continued exposure to such materials made people insensitive to rape as a criminal offense thereby changing their attitude attitudes toward women in particular the way they viewed and treated women (Documented Effects of Porn). In addition, increased exposure to the materials also created an unusual desire for violent sex, conflict and suffering deviant behavior like abuse as well as molestation and pedophilias. Sociologists such as Murray Straus and Larry Baron of University of New Hampshire found out that rape increased exponentially with rates of high sales of sexually laden magazines. This was also confirmed by experiments carried out to show that exposure to violent and no violent pornography over some time yielded different results. Exposure to non- violent pornography made the subjects in the research very accommodating and understanding of women and they tended to be much gentler with them, however exposure to violent pornography gave the opposite results proving that ‘exposure to violent pornography, even after provocation , produced essentially no antiwoman aggression, fantasies, or attitudes†( American Psychological Association). A University of Texas Professor Robert Jensen in 2008, showed how attitudes expressed in porn spread from the California valley where the porn films were made â€Å"†¦to the bedrooms of real people in real places,† Jensen explained how this permeating effect of pornography was harmful due to racial undertones it carried which to a larger extent have continued to a main feature of television programs. He argued that porn expressed the desire by woman to be mistreated and the right of men to do so. He finally conclude that in order to tackle individual and societal harms produced by porn, we must acknowledge a moral quality to our relationships with one another and must come to a consensus on what the â€Å"limits of the sexual experience are. † (Kalloch Andrew, 2009) Pornography is very much in the public domain. In the US for instance, almost all theatres show x- rated films; almost every book or video store offer porn materials and most of the movies shown on box office which have sexually exploitive material rake in about 50 million dollars each year. Pamela Paul, a writer notes that â€Å"often pornography use ruins relationships, increases sexual dysfunction, and changes what men expect from women†. She reveals how a person who thinks it is harmless, found out that the moment they got used to pornography, their sex lives changed. They lost the human form of sex and adopted the computerized one. She explains how before the advent of the internet men and women alike used to see porn from time to time but the internet has made it so easy and so harmless that one cannot see when they are slipping in to addiction until it is too late. I fact most of them are usually happy and in complete denial that they are addicted until their marriages or jobs are lost (Paul Pamela, 2005) Though it is evident that the causes of porn addiction may be very few and subtle. The fact that we rely on the internet to communicate and do most of our work puts us in the direct pipeline of pornographic materials available. It is only our curiosity which separates us from clicking the button and accessing millions of materials filled with porn. Like some of the critics have shown, it might be very hard to take the experiments by the psychologists as conclusive because they do not take into account the fact that addicts seek out porn materials by themselves even before the addiction actually sets in and therefore the action by the psychologists in the experiments to give or expose the subjects to pornographic materials in order to observe change in behavior is absurd. The part which makes porn addictive is when it is sought by the person themselves. This trains and conditions the mind such that the body is always guided by the mind to imagine and seek the object of imagination as opposed to merely being given a specific material. Explaining further, there are other sexually stimulating materials which may not be considered stimulating in the general sense of the word for instance wearing boots or uniform of a certain kind. They may be appealing to some people and not elicit any feeling in others. It is therefore the responsibility of the individual to make a choice of weather to avoid visiting porn websites all together in order to have a healthy relationship or to pop in once in a while and risk getting addicted. The choice is yours. References A Help Guide: Internet porn and cyber sex addiction http://www. helpguide. org/mental/internet_cybersex_addiction. htm [Accessed 24th April 2009 Documented effects of pornography http://www. forerunner. com/forerunner/X0388_Effects_of_Pornograp. html [Accessed 24th April 2009] Kalloch Andrews (2009) Texas professor decries porn permeating media: Harvard law record http://media. www. hlrecord. org/media/storage/paper609/news/2009/04/16/News/Texas. Prof. Decries. Porns. Permeating. Effect-3712817. shtml [Accessed 24th April 2009] Lefrancois Gabriel (2008) Online porn addiction, Hitched Magazine [Online] http://www. hitchedmag. com/article. php? id=134 [Accessed 24 April 2009] Paul, Pamela (2005) How porn destroys lives, belief net 2005 http://www. beliefnet. com/News/2005/10/How-Porn-Destroys-Lives. aspx [Accessed 24th April 2009 Ryan Singel, (2004), Internet porn, worse than crack? http://www. wired. com/science/discoveries/news/2004/11/65772 [Accessed 24th April] 2009] Statistics on Pornography, sexual addiction and online perpetrators, http://www. safefamilies. org/sfStats. php [Accessed 24th April 2009] Studies on effects of pornography, Data from PsycLIT Database – American Psychological Association. http://www. netspeed. com. au/ttguy/refs2. htm [Accessed 24th April 2009]

Сomparing and contrasting movie The return of Martin Guerre and article The Great Cat Massacre

Ð ¡omparing and contrasting movie The return of Martin Guerre and article The Great Cat Massacre Introduction Entertainment is part of human life. This is because if enables people to have an opportunity to replenish their energies as they take their time off their busy schedules. There are different types of entertainment. First, there is active entertainment and there is passive entertainment. Active entertainment involves the actual participation of the person who is being entertained. In this case, it might be sports.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ð ¡omparing and contrasting movie The return of Martin Guerre and article The Great Cat Massacre specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the other hand, passive entertainment does not involve a person who is participating. It is usually based on the person being in a position of following a series of activities without being necessarily involved. Either way, a person is being entertained. In this paper, we are going to look at a passive form of entertainment. Passiv e entertainment involves watching a movie or a program. The return of martin guerre movie: Plot This is a true story which revolves around a man named Martin Guerre. This story gives a reflection of Martin’s life which took place in the 16th century. In essence, martin decided to flee from his home town and family in 1549. This was a consequence of a seemingly difficult life that he was or had been leading in his past. Martin had faced several accusations from his father. For instance he had been accused of stealing the family grain for his gain. Martin surfaces after eight years showing great changes and progress in his life. In this case, he comes back having possessed the ability to read and write. Furthermore, he is able to impress majority of the people of Artigat with the stories about his life in the army. Martin comes back with the sole intention of possessing his family and properties back. Essentially, this new life that he represents is challenged the moment three vagabonds appear. These vagabonds identify Martin as Arnaud du Thil. That is, a young man who strove with the real Martin and who they claim was living in a place known as Flanders. This information does not bring much stir. However, the moment that Martin decides to ask his uncle how he took care of the property he had, his uncle opts to file a suit against Martin. In this case, Martin is sued for being an impostor. In this case, his uncle seems to side with the accusers which spur investigation into the claims which leads to an ultimate trail in the local parliament. The trial reflects the case of a man who is alone in the docks fighting off accusations from a group of angry peasants. This gives a reflection of a battle of wits. This court drama brings to the fore the twists and turns which are usually associated within the courts. The Great Cat Massacre This article is a reflection of life in Paris during the 18th century. It is based on the fact that in the 1730s, a group of app rentices tortured any cat that they could come across. This article narrates a story about an apprentice, which is Nicolas Contat who narrates of his experience as an apprentice in the printing shop of a man named Jacques Vincent. Contat recounts of the experiences that he had with his colleague Leveille during the apprenticeship. It was during this time that they reportedly slept in rooms that were in no condition for human habitation.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They were filthy and very cold. Finding food was not an easy task for these two. This is because they had to feed from the scraps in the kitchen instead of finding food from the master’s table. What can be recounted as the last injustice which was meted against these young apprentices is the theme has been captured as the theme of cats. In essence, cats occupied a prominent position in this article. Especially in the house of the rue Saint – Severin, the master’s wife adored the cats. During this time, it seemed as though the passion of cats had swept this era’s printing trade. This is especially regarding the master’s class and the bourgeoisie. Some have gone on record to have even kept up to twenty five cats in a home. The passion for these cats was so high such that their owners even fed them on roast fowl. On the other hand, the apprentices had a nasty experiences with the cats which were prowling almost everywhere in the alleys. The cats disturbed the peace of these young men by howling and growling at times the whole night on their room’s roof. This denied them the ability to have adequate rest at night. This was especially because Jerome and Leveille had the responsibility of opening the gates of the earliest arrivals. In spite of all their acts, the master did not even eat with them. In addition, the only time that they interacted wit h their master was when they were had confrontations from their master regarding what was supposed to be done within the shop. Having been bothered enough by these cats, Leveille decides to take a step to stop this menace. During one of the nights, he climbed on top of his room and ensured that he was almost near the master’s bedroom. During this time, he mimics the cats. He howls and meows horribly such that it denies the bourgeoisie and his wife adequate sleep during the night. After being exposed to several nights of this experience, they both agree that they have been bewitched. And in the attempt to bring this habit to an end, they opt to get rid of the cats. Happily, Jerome, Leveille and the journeymen armed with all manner of weapons pursue the cats violently with the aim of eradicating them completely. They bludgeon them heaping them in sacks and placing them in the courtyard. A mock trial is staged and the animals are pronounced guilty. During this experience, the mi stress appears and she seems to be shocked by the scene of what is taking place. However she is reassured by the apprentices that everything is in order and as such they proceed with the activity. This experience brings to the fore the hilarity which is associated with the negative state of affairs at some point. This story brings an issue to the reader. Contat’s story depicts an attack which targets a given class of people. In this case, it is an attack which targets the master and his wife. This is based on the fact that there is the denial of basic things like food, and sleeps whereby there is a great disparity between the apprentice and the working class. The injustice meted against the apprentices is shockingly noticeable.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ð ¡omparing and contrasting movie The return of Martin Guerre and article The Great Cat Massacre specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is characterized by the fact that these people seem to be considered lesser as compared to the cats of the day. In this story, the animals occupy a position at the master’s table while the boys are denied this position. In essence, this gives the reader the interpretation that the animals have a higher value than the humanity which is depicted by the boys. Although the apprentices seem to be the ones who are mostly abused, killing of the cats is an expression of hatred of the bourgeoisie. This is a hatred which is spreading among the workers. This hatred is based on the fact that since the masters love the cats, the workers hate them. In this context, Leveille becomes the hero of the shop because he was the mastermind of the whole exercise. Some historians portray the workshop as a family. This is an extended family whereby the master and journeyman labored at some point for the same objectives. Comparison The movie and the article both represent the on goings in the country of France. This captures the historical traditions of what was happening in France during this time as well as the challenges which were faced by people who were living in this era. Secondly, the article and the movie reflect a clash of interests between two parties. In this case, we have the social classes in both cases. What comes to the fore in this is the fact that these two classes have got different views about life and what life should be. In the article for instance, the apprentice who is associated with the lower class seem to be condemned to struggles and working for the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, in the movie, the peasants seem to be people who live though when it comes to seeking professional assistance, they have no choice but to run to the bourgeoisie. Both cases give a depiction of what is happening in the current society. That is, in the current age, the struggle and the conflict regarding social class are still eminent. There is a tug of war which exists between the working cl ass and the seemingly lower class. People are divided and live based on their earning ability. Those who have got a financial muscle have a better chance of making in life. This is because they have the ability to ensure that quality is achieved. For example, there are schools and locations which are associated with the affluent in the society. Lastly, both of them give a depiction of the writings of famous authors. What is captured clearly is the fact both the early and the modern society use literature to inform what is going on in the society. Through writings of famous people, people or citizens are able to associate what is going on the society. Despite the fact that there is a difference when it comes to the issues which are facing the general human race during that time and the present, the fact that still holds is that life and issues evolve with time. Conclusion In conclusion, writers give the society an opportunity to reflect where it has come from. Through the eyes of aut hors and critical analysts, one is able to understand where the society is coming from and where it is heading to and thus arrive at a conclusion as to what can be done in the same breadth. Thus, the movie and the article have enabled us to be able to associate the on goings in the French country during that time as well as the present society.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More

The Frontier of America

The Frontier of America The United States of America is a perfect name for the country. It is after all many states united. But to have states you must have land for those states. Before those stats become land they must be a frontier, or as defined by Webster's Dictionary, "A region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory." The United States has had a frontier of endless land, which has been settled throughout many years. The Frederick Jackson Turner thesis on the frontier states:Up to our own day American history has been in a large degreethe history of the colonization of the Great West.The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession,and the advance of American settlement westward explainAmerican development.Expansion of the United States can be traced from the first of those who settled in Jamestown. It all began with a simple idea, a faster route to India.This is a photograph of barges on the Mississippi ...Yet instead of going around Africa someone proposed to just sail west. Yet when these people sailed west they had not reached India. They found North America. They had made the first frontier of America, the colonial frontier. Other groups came to this vast land with its seeming endless frontier. This frontier had multiple challenges, such as Indians, survival, and means of trading for use in mercantilism. The Pilgrims, at Plymouth, followed the Jamestown adventurers. Later the Puritans settled into what today is Boston and Salem. The Frontier, which was ever expanding, and always existent in the United States, grew immensely after the revolutionary war. In the Treaty of Paris the United States received the area known as the North West Territory. It was from the Mississippi River to the present day boundary, which were the Appalachian Mountains as was stated in the Proclamation...

Historical Profile of the Visigoths

Historical Profile of the Visigoths The Visigoths were a Germanic group considered to have separated from other Goths around the fourth century, when they moved from Dacia (now in Romania) into the Roman Empire. Over time they moved further west, into and down Italy, then to Spain where many settled and back east again into Gaul (now France). The Spanish kingdom remained until the early eighth century when they were conquered by Muslim invaders. East-German Immigrant Origins The Visigoths origins were with the Theruingi, a group comprised of several peoples Slavs, Germans, Sarmatians, and others under the recently acquired leadership of Gothic Germans. They came to historical prominence when they moved, along with the Greuthungi, from Dacia, across the Danube, and into the Roman Empire, possibly because of pressure from Huns attacking westwards. There may have been approximately 200,000 of them. The Theruingi were â€Å"allowed† into the empire and settled in return for military service, but rebelled against Roman strictures, thanks to the greed and mistreatment of local Roman commanders, and began plundering the Balkans. In 378 CE they met and defeated the Roman Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople, killing him in the process. In 382 the next Emperor, Theodosius, tried a different tactic, settling them in the Balkans as federates and tasking them with the defense of the frontier. Theodosius also used the Goths in his armies on campaign elsewhere. During this period they converted to Arian Christianity. The Visigoths Rise At the end of the fourth century a confederation of Theruingi and Greuthungi, plus their subject people, led by Alaric became known as the Visigoths (although they may only have considered themselves Goths) and began moving again, first to Greece and then into Italy, which they raided on numerous occasions. Alaric played off rival sides of the Empire, a tactic which included plundering, in order to secure a title for himself and regular supplies of food and cash for his people (who had no land of their own). In 410 they even sacked Rome. They decided to try for Africa, but Alaric died before they could move. Alaric’s successor, Ataulphus, then led them west, where they settled in Spain and part of Gaul. Shortly after they were asked back east by the future emperor Constantius III, who settled them as federates in Aquitania Secunda, now in France. During this period, Theodoric, who we now regard as their first proper king emerged, who ruled until he was killed at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451. The Kingdom of the Visigoths In 475, Theodoric’s son and successor, Euric, declared the Visigoths independent of Rome. Under him, the Visigoths codified their laws, in Latin, and saw their Gallic lands to their widest extent. However, the Visigoths came under pressure from the growing Frankish kingdom and in 507 Euric’s successor, Alaric II, was defeated and killed at the Battle of Poitiers by Clovis. Consequently, the Visigoths lost all of their Gallic lands bar a thin southern strip called Septimania. Their remaining kingdom was much of Spain, with a capital at Toledo. Holding together the Iberian Peninsula under one central government has been called a remarkable achievement given the diverse nature of the region. This was helped by the conversion in the sixth century of the royal family and leading bishops to Catholic Christianity. There were splits and rebel forces, including a Byzantine region of Spain, but they were overcome. Defeat and End of the Kingdom In the early eighth century, Spain came under pressure from Umayyad Muslim forces, which defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete and within a decade had captured much of the Iberian peninsula. Some fled to the Frankish lands, some remained settled and others found the northern Spanish kingdom of Asturias, but the Visigoths as a nation ended. The end of the Visigothic kingdom was once blamed on them being decadent, easily collapsing once they were attacked, but this theory is now rejected and historians still search for the answer to this day.

Faisal Mosque in Pakistan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Faisal Mosque in Pakistan - Research Paper Example The mosque was built as an attribution to the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Its symbolism was based on the fact that it was to portray the hopes and aspiration of Pakistani people (Archnet Digital Library, â€Å"Faisal Mosque†). According to Serageldin, the Muslim culture values the symbolic portray of the architectural building. Some of the most important symbolic structures in Muslim architecture include the minaret, dome, gateway and mihrab. These parts communicate a message to everybody, Muslims or non-Muslims. Vedat Dalokay implemented this symbolic meaning into the Faisal Mosque and, that is why it has become a landmark. According to Mandour, Islamic culture includes art, design, education, science, religion and sport, which has a specific meaning. The design architecture by Vedat Dalokay symbolized and implemented art, beliefs, values and customs in the Pakistani people. The architecture of the mosque was based on a new design that was not related to the usual and t raditional mosques that had been previously built. As a tribute to King Faisal, it was to have a unique architecture and that was why Vedat Dalokay was chosen to make it a state of the art construction. Some of its characteristics were that it was looking like a desert tent where its height was approximately 40 m, and it had girders that supported its concrete walls. The surface was pure white, and its interior design was decorated with mosaic designs and a Turkish chandelier that was strategically placed by its architect, Vedat Dalokay. Its space was big to accommodate a total of 10,000 worshippers in the main prayer hall, and it had four minarets, each measuring approximately 90 m, and they were slender and sharply pointed. Lastly, it was a people’s mosque, meaning it was a contribution to the people of Pakistan by King Faisal, and thus it also accommodated the mausoleum of General Zia-ul-Haq, who was the President of Pakistan from 1978 to 1988 (Archnet Digital Library, â⠂¬Å"Faisal Mosque†). Thesis Architecture is one of the most prestigious arts that can be portrayed in form of a structure. The King Faisal Mosque is one of the best-designed mosques in Pakistan and in the world. This research paper will seek to analyze the architecture of the Faisal Mosque, its symbolism, the color of the mosque and its design and some of the quotes from the founding architect Vedat Dalokay. The paper will also seek to discuss the possible symbolism of the mosque and its historical and cultural concept. Analysis of the design Dalokay was a great architect whose designs were based on the 20th century designs. The mosque's architecture is modern and unique. The mosque was also constructed with the twist of Turkish design as well as Islamic designs. The modern mosque lacked the traditional dome shapes design, as compared to other mosques that are located in the world. The traditional shapes for the olden mosques were related to the historical religious designs th at were dated back then to the olden days of the Islamic culture. The mosque’s design also includes a triangular prayer hall that can hold up to 10,000 people, and in addition to that, it has four minarets that depict the classical shapes of modern architecture. The minarets are also said to have been designed with regard to the Turkish tradition because they are sharp-pointed. It has an eight-sided shape, which was inspired by the famous desert Beduoin's tent and the cubic Kaaba in Mecca and whose architect was Vedat Dalokay, according to Rengel. Speaking to students, the architect, Vedat Dalokay later explained his acute and unique architectural design to design school students commenting that: I tried to capture the spirit, proportion and geometry of Ka'aba in a purely abstract manner. Imagine

Sector Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sector Analysis - Essay Example This is a dangerous sign, and many companies try to continuously update and innovate their business models in order to achieve success in terms of profitability and growth. Sector analysis is one of the new innovations that are being used by corporations and managers. It is a spin-off from Financialization. Financialization can be described as a process whereby financial markets and organizations dictate the economic policy of a country. In other words, Financialization is process where financial elites dictate the business policies formulation by the government. (Froud et al. 2006) Sector matrix defines the activity horizon of a company. As a result, it is sometimes also called â€Å"activity matrix†. Sector matrix is nothing but a representation of overall finances or revenues of a company coming into the business from its various areas of operations. The matrix is based on modern business and financial thinking. The old way of thinking about the supply was to consider it th e function of technology and product. The supply can only be increased if there are significant improvements in the production technology. This concept soon become obsolete and the new way of thinking was developed which stated that firm as a whole should be considered on the basis of its business model and various sources of income. A business usually makes money from diverse sources of profits and, hence, all of these sources should be taken into account before the supply and demand function of a business can be determined. Similarly, the old thinking about the demand was about winning the nameplate competition. It was all about improving or differentiating the brand from other competing brands in order to generate demand and make sales. However, the new way of thinking demand is about capturing the expenditure that consumers spend on substitutes and encouraging a complement product in order to increase the overall revenue of the firm. (Bowman & Singh 1993) The differentiating fac tors of the sector matrix and supply chain industry are that related products or complements are demanded together, therefore, a firm can achieve great success and double its sales if it starts producing complementary products. It is also believed that the firm operates in a boundary or in a particular sector. For example, a firm producing motor cars can produce car lubricants or wheels, but it will not immediately start a healthcare business. Hence, business models have boundaries. Similarly, a firm will try to enter into new businesses to lever its profits and in doing so there are chances that it may attract competition that may follow a similar matrix as this firm. However, it must be remembered that no existing firm exists in a particular matrix before the entry of this firm. The sector matrix can be explained more aptly by using two examples from different industries. The first example is taken from the Car Manufacturing Business and the second example is from Healthcare Busin ess. The reason for choosing these two sectors is to determine the applicability of the model in service and goods sector. This approach will check whether or not the model can be used for both goods and service sectors or whether or not this model is applicable for only one sector. (Brigham & Ehrhardt 2010) Example 1: Figure1: Sector Matrix of Car Assembly Source: (Froud et al. 2006) The above diagram shows that a car manufacturer exists in the upper left corner. This is unrewarding business because the industry is saturate and there are enough cars in the market that many people tend to buy used cars. This leads to demand substitution and demand for the firm’s products goes down. This has resulted in declining revenue for car

Regulation of Interest Groups by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act Essay

Regulation of Interest Groups by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act - Essay Example The Bipartisan Campaigns Reform Act came along with two unique features that were not covered in the earlier federal act. One requirement of the BCRA was that the amount of soft-money contributions by interest groups be limited during the campaign period. This was effected by instituting federal limits to bar spending or raising of finances that are beyond the preset values. Secondly, this new law defined â€Å"electioneering communications† that required that no corporation would be allowed to fund the advertisements that had to be done 30 days before the primary elections or 60 days before a general election (Campaign Finance Institute, 2006). In addition, the candidates had to declare their names within the advertisement and confirm to have authorized the airing of such an advertisement. The impact of the new law was to minimize the influence that interest groups had maintained in the campaign by either funding the process or contributing to advertisements. Surprisingly, the provisions of these laws have faced a lot of antagonism from numerous federal candidates that have raised concerns regarding the restriction of utilization of financial resources during the campaign period. One issue that has seen many political parties and organization move to court is the pre-BCRA constitutional provision on the ‘527 organizations’ that were not covered adequately in the regulation of soft money spending. The law required that the 527 organizations such as Media Fund and Swift Board Veterans for Truth spend at least 50% of hard money in their campaign expenses while participating in federal campaigns. In 2007, the Federal Election Commission was forced to impose fines on these organizations after they had failed to abide to the financing laws governing the election process. In addition, in 2007, the US Supreme Court overturned the BCRA condition that limited the interest groups from contributing to the financing of media adverts on t he ground that this restriction was unconstitutional. As Boatright (2006) points out, BCRA has received abundant criticism and the public demand is that this law be changed to include more realistic regulation of interest group contributions to the campaign process. From above experience, it's worthy to note that the BCRA has numerous weaknesses that warrant its revision to achieve an effective regulation of interest groups. The United States President, Barack Obama, in 2010 announced the need for US to pass a bill that would restrict financial spending in the campaign period, and particularly the contribution of the specific interest groups. His argument was that the BCRA law is subject to alteration by the Supreme Court as long as this law does not state implicitly the specific amounts that federal candidates would