Nuclear Weapons And Defense Essays - Missile Defense,

Nuclear Weapons and Defense A third world country is producing nuclear weapons. The country is the same that has given the United States trouble in the past. It is Iraq. Shortly after the U.S finds this out, we are being attacked by a nuclear strike from Iraq. U.S. cities are being destroyed one by one. We declare a full scale nuclear retaliation against Iraq. Huge devastation occurs throughout the world as allies join into the war. Nuclear winter starts to develop. Over half of the world's population has been eliminated. Water and food is contaminated from the radiation. The few survivors of the nuclear war are eating dead animals and people. There are no hospitals available for the sick, no electricity, no hot water, and no warm clothing. The land is barren and covered with ruble in the areas that were once called cities. The sky is painted with dark gray clouds. Lack of sunlight causes the temperature to drop by 50 degrees. The wind picks up and is seldom below 15 miles per hour. The ! survivors' offspring, if they are not mutated in some way, will have no schools to attend. They will grow up like primitive people. The world is forever changed. The Strategic Initiative would benefit the U.S. because it would deter nuclear attacks on the U.S. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is a research and development program designed to create an effective space-based defense against nuclear missile attack, and may provoke other nations to put the same system into space above their own skies. The media labeled the system "Star Wars" because of the high-tech space aspect of the system. Once nuclear missiles are launched, there is no way to stop them once they are airborne. The system would be a layered weapon shield that could intercept large numbers of oncoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and their warhead projectiles in any phase of flight. The idea of stopping ballistic missiles enroute is not new. The United States and the USSR have deployed Antiballistic Missiles (ABMs) in limited numbers. It is known, however, that such missiles can be overwhelmed by thousands of warheads coming from many directions at once. In a nationally televised address in March 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called for the long term development of a space- based defense system that would render nuclear missiles "impotent and obsolete.'' The result of his appeal was SDI, with a planned spending level of $30 billion over five years. One reason for this was because it would only take 30 minutes for a nuclear warhead to reach the U.S. after it was launched. Once the stuff of science fiction, sophisticated missile defense systems employing satellite or ground based laser weapons, particle beam accelerators, "smart" interceptor projectiles, and other computer integrated space technologies may represent the next era in strategic milita! ry doctrine and the U.S. Soviet arms competition. As currently envisioned, the system uses a "layered" defense in which enemy missiles would come under continuous attack from the time they are launched to just before they reach their targets, a total of about 30 minutes. Surveillance satellites would register the heat given off by the rising missiles; satellite or ground-based lasers would strike at the missiles during the boost phase, before they disgorge their many warheads. X-ray or particle beam weapons would attack surviving missiles in space. A scientist working on the project stated that "A single X-ray laser module the size of an school desk which applied this technology could potentially shoot down the entire Soviet land based missile force, if it were to be launched into the modules field of view." The system could be managed only by super computers whose infinitely complex programs would have to be written by other computers. Most decisions would be taken out of human hands. Since 1983, space tests of many experimental SDI devices have been made. Nevertheless, intensive studies by such organizations as the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) are pessimistic about the possibility of developing reliable SDI weapons. They also question whether the Pentagon has fully understood the possible range of countermeasures that the Soviets might take. These groups and others have expressed concern that SDI could suffer "catastrophic failure" in wartime and that deployment and even testing violates the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Treaty The administration was careful to note, and scientists quickly confirmed, the technical difficulties in the new concept. If the space Nuclear Weapons And Defense Essays - Missile Defense, Nuclear Weapons and Defense A third world country is producing nuclear weapons. The country is the same that has given the United States trouble in the past. It is Iraq. Shortly after the U.S finds this out, we are being attacked by a nuclear strike from Iraq. U.S. cities are being destroyed one by one. We declare a full scale nuclear retaliation against Iraq. Huge devastation occurs throughout the world as allies join into the war. Nuclear winter starts to develop. Over half of the world's population has been eliminated. Water and food is contaminated from the radiation. The few survivors of the nuclear war are eating dead animals and people. There are no hospitals available for the sick, no electricity, no hot water, and no warm clothing. The land is barren and covered with ruble in the areas that were once called cities. The sky is painted with dark gray clouds. Lack of sunlight causes the temperature to drop by 50 degrees. The wind picks up and is seldom below 15 miles per hour. The ! survivors' offspring, if they are not mutated in some way, will have no schools to attend. They will grow up like primitive people. The world is forever changed. The Strategic Initiative would benefit the U.S. because it would deter nuclear attacks on the U.S. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is a research and development program designed to create an effective space-based defense against nuclear missile attack, and may provoke other nations to put the same system into space above their own skies. The media labeled the system "Star Wars" because of the high-tech space aspect of the system. Once nuclear missiles are launched, there is no way to stop them once they are airborne. The system would be a layered weapon shield that could intercept large numbers of oncoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and their warhead projectiles in any phase of flight. The idea of stopping ballistic missiles enroute is not new. The United States and the USSR have deployed Antiballistic Missiles (ABMs) in limited numbers. It is known, however, that such missiles can be overwhelmed by thousands of warheads coming from many directions at once. In a nationally televised address in March 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called for the long term development of a space- based defense system that would render nuclear missiles "impotent and obsolete.'' The result of his appeal was SDI, with a planned spending level of $30 billion over five years. One reason for this was because it would only take 30 minutes for a nuclear warhead to reach the U.S. after it was launched. Once the stuff of science fiction, sophisticated missile defense systems employing satellite or ground based laser weapons, particle beam accelerators, "smart" interceptor projectiles, and other computer integrated space technologies may represent the next era in strategic milita! ry doctrine and the U.S. Soviet arms competition. As currently envisioned, the system uses a "layered" defense in which enemy missiles would come under continuous attack from the time they are launched to just before they reach their targets, a total of about 30 minutes. Surveillance satellites would register the heat given off by the rising missiles; satellite or ground-based lasers would strike at the missiles during the boost phase, before they disgorge their many warheads. X-ray or particle beam weapons would attack surviving missiles in space. A scientist working on the project stated that "A single X-ray laser module the size of an school desk which applied this technology could potentially shoot down the entire Soviet land based missile force, if it were to be launched into the modules field of view." The system could be managed only by super computers whose infinitely complex programs would have to be written by other computers. Most decisions would be taken out of human hands. Since 1983, space tests of many experimental SDI devices have been made. Nevertheless, intensive studies by such organizations as the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) are pessimistic about the possibility of developing reliable SDI weapons. They also question whether the Pentagon has fully understood the possible range of countermeasures that the Soviets might take. These groups and others have expressed concern that SDI could suffer "catastrophic failure" in wartime and that deployment and even testing violates the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Treaty The administration was careful to note, and scientists quickly confirmed, the technical difficulties in the new concept. If the space

Depression Awareness Professor Ramos Blog

Depression Awareness People aren’t always aware of other’s feelings. This leads to bullying, misunderstandings, fights and the worst thing, suicide. Depression is a neglected illness it’s almost invisible unlike a broken leg. Take me for instance, I suffer from depression, and some people close to me, didn’t believe I was depressed which lead to fighting and a general bad time for everyone involved. A simple â€Å"cheer up pal† helps but isn’t the best way to approach the problem. The thing I am asking people to do, is reach out to others. The quiet person in the back of the room may have their nose in a book all the time, but that doesn’t mean they are weird or they don’t want friends. Not to say all quiet people are depressed, I speak from personal experience. Some signs of depression are : loss of interest in once-pleasurable activities, feelings of shame, guilt or worthlessness, difficulty sleeping or sleeping excessively, experiencing sadness, unhappiness and crying spells. (King Vidourek, 2012) These are just some of the warning signs of depression. Severe depression can lead into suicide, some suicidal warning signs are, changes in school performance, loss of energy, morbid ideation, withdrawn/isolated, changes in behavior, giving away cherished possessions and being depressed. (King Vidourek, 2012) If you see these signs, talk to the person while trying to get additional help from others. People who are depressed may not realize it. For the longest time I thought that’s how life was, bleak and not worth participating in. So I didn’t. I played games. It was my escape from all my bad thoughts and led me to worlds where I could do anything and be anyone. There are others though who feel similarly.   In a survey of 235,067 adults, 9.0% met the criteria for current depression, 3.4% of those were considered majorly depressed between the years 2006 2008.(CDC) The percentage may be small but its still twenty one thousand people. Although everyone can and probably will be depressed at one point in their life, for some it’s genetic. Again me for example, my brain chemistry is off. My brain doesn’t produce the right hormones properly like serotonin. It’s the same with my father, my grandmother and further back. â€Å"A PET scan can compare brain activity during periods of depression (left) with normal brain activity (right). An increase of blue and green colors, along with decreased white and yellow areas, shows decreased brain activity due to depression.†(Mayo) The brain has trouble functioning when we are depressed. People have started calling it â€Å"the Suicide Epidemic†. According to Dokoupil, â€Å"Throughout the developed world, for example self-harm is now the leading cause of death for people 15-49 surpassing all cancers and heart disease.†(Dokoupil, 2013) This is terrible. A suicide creates a negative ripple in a community. Influencing those who didn’t know them that well or at all even to some degree. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a family member to have taken their own life. We need to be able to help these people in some way shape or form. Medication, therapy, interventions, even just spending time with the person, trying to have fun will help. A girl in Colorado had been mutual friends of people that had killed themselves. One night she downed a small bottle of whiskey and sent some troubling texts and snapchats saying, â€Å"I’m sorry it had to be me.† Though they looked for her, tried to calling and texting her. They found her body in the morning, she had shot herself.   Three days later a boy who may have known the girl killed himself, nine days later and another classmate killed himself. A total of five students committed suicide from that school in the span of about eight months.(Kutner, 2016) The fact that these kids, having never experienced the world or discovered a passion to keep them going is a solemn one. At some point if someone could have stepped in and potentially saving one or more of them if they had acted. If given the chance to save someone I’m sure everyone would. Suicide is not limited to teens and young people, men in particular are at risk. According to the Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology, â€Å"Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females.†(Hoffman,2006) The way we view males in our society is a toxic one. We expect men to be dominant, courageous and strong, like â€Å"men†. This is in itself is now a fallacy. This is an old and now harmful way of teaching and looking at one’s self. In the past when we had natural predators, we needed strong people , typically men, to hunt, gather and defend. But in modern times we can kill people with the pull of a trigger. Though there are physically demanding jobs, generally the role of men has changed from hunter gatherers to more passive jobs like office work and factory lines. That sort of strength is not nearly as all encompassing as it once was and now our view point needs to change. So what can we do? We can more more interactive and inclusive. By including someone you show that you want to spend time with them and to them might mean that they are worth something to someone. Feeling socially connected to others is one such protective factor that is directly associated with positive emotional health. (King Vidourek, 2012) Communication is another big one. We have a glorious piece of tech, the internet, which keeps everyone connected, so although we may not see the person on the other side, being polite is a good habit and being respectful to each other is great too. School is an important place where people need to be aware. There can be programs to raise awareness for signs of mental illnesses for students and staff, teaching coping strategies in case they are dealing with something. In addition, each school could have a therapist, or someone safe to talk to. We all need to be aware of more observant including the people we may not otherwise pay attention too. But some people may question whether depression a serious mental illness. It affects everyone at some point to varying degrees. So it is serious. Everyone deserves to be happy in life, it say so in the Declaration of Independence. It is one of the three unalienable rights. So how can we ignore our fellow man who cannot live happily? We don’t let him suffer, we reach out and do our best to help him onto his feet so he can live for himself. The next time your friend says something along the lines of â€Å"I don’t feel up to it.† Maybe ask why politely or tell them that you enjoy spending time with them. If a stranger looks sad one day, tell them a joke or compliment them on something. It doesn’t hurt you to say something nice to somebody and even this could save someone’s life. If you are depressed there are people that can and will talk to you. There are hotlines to call if you are feeling suicidal. Here is one, it is available all hours of the day. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 Dokoupil, Tony (5.22.13) â€Å"The Suicide Epidemic† Retrieved on: 8.6.18 from http://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000353849type=ART This article talks about how a researcher lost his father and how we need to change things in our society. â€Å"PET scan of the brain for depression† Retrieved on: 8.7.18 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/pet-scan/multimedia/-pet-scan-of-the-brain-for-depression/img-20007400 This is a Picture of a depressed person’s brain versus a non-depressed person. â€Å"Current Depression Among AdultsUnited States, 2006 and 2008† Retrieved on: 8.6.18 from http://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000309255type=SYL%20MAJ This article talks about the rates of depression and who is depressed in our society. Kutner, Max (10.24.16) â€Å"Teen Suicide Is Contagious, and the Problem May Be Worse Than We Thought† Retrieved on: 8.6.18 from http://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000388523type=ART Kids can influence each other even if they haven’t met in person according to this article King, Keith A. and Vidourek, Rebecca A. (November 2012) â€Å"Teen Depression and Suicide: Effective Prevention and Intervention Strategies† Retrieved on: 8.6.18 from http://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000349169type=ART One of our responsibilities is to try and help one another and this article talks about the signs and strategies to prevent it. Hoffman, John (2006) â€Å"suicide† Retrieved on: 8.6.18 from https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupsoc/suicide/0 This article talks about the societal causes of suicide and how people interact about it.

Crito Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crito - Personal Statement Example His association with then Athenian regime landed him in prison (Melchert 103). Even after being locked behind bars, Socrates held on to his philosophic principles of life. Socrates was unwilling to abandon his quest for truth even after being advised so by his trial jury. He believed in his wisdom and the power of reasoning rather than illusion reality. His firm devotion to his convictions and beliefs is illustrated well in the Crito incident. Socrates was known to display a calm spirit concerning serious issues in his life. Even after being sentenced to death, Socrates accepted the jury’s decision and maintained that giving up his philosophy at the expense of freedom signifies defeat. In this Crito incident, Socrates friends who had visited him in jail devised a plan of getting Socrates out of prison. However, Socrates engaged his friends through a series of rational evaluation of their plan. His friends were faced with an obligation to rescue Socrates because of the society’s expectations on them, concerning Socrates’ sentence. As usual, Socrates subjected his friends’ idea into an evaluation on whether it was in concert with any moral values. The basis of his friends’ plan was the expectation of the people after Socrates had been unjustly sentenced to death. Despite this underlying reason for the plan, Socrates opted to question the plan’s validity at the moral arena. He engaged his friends on the quest for what is truly right. Socrates always argued that in the context of decision-making, what matters most is not the public’s opinion but an individual’s knowledge on the subject problem (Melchert 107). He argued that the public are fond of acting randomly and usually fails to come up with rational justification of their actions. Socrates also based his argument on his belief that no one should think of doing something wrong, regardless of the state of affairs. He acknowledged the moral principle that it is not right to pay injustice with

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT - Essay Example As a far as being and achiever is concerned, I consider myself one since I see life as a set of goals that need to be fulfilled and as such whenever I complete a task I feel that I have achieved something no matter how small. Lastly, I am a restorer because I always derive pleasure and satisfaction from patching things, situations and even people. This is influenced by my positivism since whenever I come across a situation that could be made better; I almost always try my utmost to remedy it. While the test may have indicated that am an includer, I do not think that is very descriptive of me since I tend to prefer to run projects on my own rather than as part of a team. While I do include people in them, when it comes to their management, I end up trying to be the one to run point because I am a bit of a perfectionist. In the past, teachers and even friends have been full of praise about my positivism, I remember one of my teacher once told me that my glass is always half full and I should influence my colleagues to be as positive. Whenever my siblings or friends are stressed, sometimes by academics or life issues such as relationship they often seek me out since they know I will help them see the best in such situations. This has also been very useful to me personally since, as a student, I frequently used my positivism to motivate myself to take on complicated projects that others did not want to tackle. I often view challenges as opportunities to make myself a better person rather than inconvenient situations that should be avoided. As a result, I have found myself exceling and standing out, not because I am better than others are but because I am willing to try what they refuse to handle. Being an achiever as well as a positivist is often instrumental in helping one achieve success in most of the things they set out to do (Clear). In many cases, I make small short term goals which I gradually and consistently work on combining the small

Chapter review with news article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chapter review with news article - Essay Example approaches that are included a wide range of activities that are undertaken in the bid to obtain the best results from a group of people or employees of an organisation or firm. The system is a continuous concept that involves developing the employee’s goals as well as objectives, supervising the procedures concurrently with the goal that need to be achieved, analysing the outcomes and finally noting their performance. The whole of the process involves the technique of receiving and giving out feedback information. Performance management systems are usually carried so as to address various key issues; the first concept covered by performance management systems is the strategy. The strategy is important in the determination of the relationship between the various individual output in relation to the strategic objectives. Performance management systems are also responsible for the evaluation processes that are essential in the analysis of the objectives that have been obtained. Additionally, development is also a key factor that can be determined through performance management systems. Finally, diagnosis is also an aspect that can be evaluated through performance management system. Performance debates or discussion are the means by which the managers are able to come up with personalised work objectives together with their employees. This is the opportunity that the managers are able to talk about the measures that need to be undertaken in support of development of the work performance. On the contrary, the types of discussions that are held are always dependent on the various stages of the management cycle whilst the principles are always constant. It is preferable that there be at least one meeting session of discussing the performance schedule and at least two meetings for the discussion of the objectives that have been achieved. On the other hand, instances of informal meeting always create the opportunities to have discussions that are related to the

The Importance Of Online Reviews

The Importance Of Online Reviews In the wake of digital age, the internet offers a relatively complete and comprehensive environment for people all over the world to communicate and share information. The form of film review is reforming as well. From traditional critics of experts to review of ordinary audience (Awad, Dellarocas Zhang, 2004), cyber world offers a newly effective channel for audience sharing their comments about movies; cinema industry also encounters more challenges on box office from consumers (Boatwright, Kamakura Basuroy, 2005). For film industry, online review of critical audiences plays an important role. On one hand, the good comments of a movie can attract more audiences in general. On the other hand, the good comments do not necessary mean high box revenue and vice verse. The impact of film review has been proved by previous study on motion pictures (Litman, 1983; Eliashberg, Shugan, 1997; Basuroy, Chatterjee, Ravid, 2003; Desai, Basuroy, 2005; Gemser Gerda, 2007). However, most study tends to research film review from traditional critic review of journals or other form of articles while less study approach to the impact of online review on box office success. Within this paper, I approach to explore the correlation between the online review of new social media and the box office success of different types of movie. Although there are previous researches about the influence of online review on box office, those researches tend to study the whole catalog of film. In differ from previous research, the target of this paper is to find out to what extent online review could influence box office success and whether the impacts of different types of movies are the same. According to Gino and Ferrian research (2006), new social media can reflect the successful of the movie to a great extent. Audiences preferences and tastes can and stimulate final box office as much as the most positive comments from newspaper. Comparing with traditional media, such as articles written by critics or reporters on influential newspaper and magazine, obviously new social media is more powerful and covers a lager scope of audiences. By offering the opportunity to share preferences among ordinary audience, online movie database has established (www.IMDb.com). In the next couple of years, IMDb has expanded fast and became the best known platform for sharing information of the movie. The famous TOP 250 Movies list represents the best movies around. By cooperating with major film company and convenient operating platform, it has been recognized by both experts and audiences. The online ranking order of movies in IMDb, as the most direct and transparent approach to reflect th e positive or negative review of movie, is decided by normal audience worldwide. Due to the reliability and authoritative data of IMDb, this paper focus on online ranking order of IMDb. By dividing the first 100 movies of TOP 250 Movies into different catalogs which are artistic film and commercial film, the paper tests the correlation between the box office and the four independent box office drivers that are production budget, awards obtained, MAPP rating and online ranking order. In order to explore the correlation, this paper uses two equations for multiple regression analysis to test the possible difference between artistic film and commercial film by running SPSS. Comparing the results of outputs, there is statistical significance of both kinds of film. However, for artistic film, online ranking order has relatively less impact on box office while the most important determinant is awards. Meanwhile, the result of commercial film shows the strongest correlation between online ranking order and box office success comparing with other determinants. Thus, I con clude that higher online ranking order indicates higher box office of commercial film. As for artistic film, how many awards it obtained is the most important reason for box office. To be admitted, there are some limitations of the paper due to the small sample size of the research. Literature review 2.1 Artistic film and commercial film Film industry as an important part of creative industry has created huge fortune in both material and psychological of human contemporary history. Although there are plenty of types of movie and different catalog involved, considering the high marketing participation, film industry classifies two catalogs which can generalize all are types of movie. The two catalogs are labeled as major and independent films (Zuckerman Kim, 2003), or art house and mainstream films (Gemser, Oostrum Leenders, 2007). The reason of the different names attributes to the slightly difference about definition and criteria. However, those differences reflect the degree of artistic and commercial of a film (Bagella Becchetti, 1999). Thus, artistic and commercial film can be summarized as the most applicable assortment for film industry. Within this paper, I apply the concept of artistic film and commercial film on my research target since it is a relatively comprehensive classification. According to the author of Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, who had interviewed dozens of independent director and film researcher, whether a film could be defined as artistic or commercial film can be judged from two aspects. One is based on the way indies1 are financed, the other focuses on their spirit or vision (Emanuel Levy, 1999). The former concept refers to marketing issues including distribution and budget. While the latter one tends to be a abstract definition which is the fresh perspective, innovative spirit and personal vision that are determining factors. Since the concept is too ambiguous, the distinction between artistic film and commercial sometimes to be blurred to a great extent. Even a number of insiders of film industry tend to ignore the difference between artistic film and commercial film. Joseph Burstyn, a film distributor offered his point of view about artistic film. He said, I hate the expression art filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ there are o nly two kinds, good films and bad films. Based on his opinion, there is no fixed meaning of art film. And obviously the concept of art film and commercial is flexible because of the increasing complexity of producing a film due to the financial issue of the film. Nevertheless, there still are certain standards for distinguishing artistic film and commercial film according to previous study. The factors might determine whether a film belongs to artistic film or commercial film refers to several more practical elements that contain production budget and advertizing effect (Geer, 1998), the participation of super stars and award-winning situation (Bagella Becchetti, 1999), the number of released screen (Reinstein Snyder, 2005), or the story line and the narrative structure of the movie (Bordwell Thompson, 2001). Those elements construct the standards of judging whether a movie is an artistic or a commercial one. And the two types of film construct the success of movie industry. Since there are different criteria of artistic film and commercial film, the box office success, the potential influence, and the reputation are distinct. Traditional concept about artistic film tends to be closed to the definition of independent movie which indicates independent production without any financial support of the eight major film company, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount, 20th century Fox, Warner Brothers, RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum), Universal, United Artists, Columbia Pictures (Levy, 2001). However, throughout the development of the century, the eight companies have been through broken, emerged and rebuilt. The concept is not suitable anymore. In my research, I only focus on the distinction of box office success between the artistic film and commercial film by texting different determinants of box revenue. In order to research the correlation between online review and different types of film, which are artistic film and commercial, I consider three elements which ar e production budget, language (English/non-English) and the number of released screen as the criteria that can classify all the films preciously into artistic film and commercial film. Since I conduct quantitative research in this paper, the three factors could offer a clarity standard for classifying artistic film and commercial film. 2.2 The function of film review First of all, film as information good has an important characteristic, which is experience good. The feature of experience good is that consumers must experience it before they know what it is (Hal, 1998). This factor results in a permanent problem which is incomplete pre-purchase information. Thus, reviews of film help overcoming this problem to a great extent. By providing evaluations and comments to potential consumers are ubiquitous in digital age (Hal, 1998). Although it is still a limited access for consumers getting to know the product, reviews play a curial role in the whole film industry, especially before video image became popular. Due to the importance of review in film industry, there are plenty of studies and researches about the influence of film reviews. To be more specific, most researches discover the relationship between reviews and box office success. And the result proved to be positive in most cases (Wyatt, 1991). Nevertheless, there are a number of different study implies opposite result of the correlation between box office success and positive review. Negative or positive review does not indicate the significant relationship between box office success and the movie performance. For instance, Transformer as one of the best known profitable series of film history did not earn too much positive review from professional experts or public. However, the worldwide box office of Transformer reached 836,297,228 US dollars worldwide, four times more than production budget, according to official data collection of IMDb. Most study about how review impacts box office tends to have the similar conclusion that there is significant-but-weak association between judgments of reviewers and box office success (Holbrook, 2007). Based on previous research, there is a significantly positive correlation between the average of ratings in two critical guidebooks and distribution rentals (Prag Casavant, 1994). On the other hand, there are evidence indicating a negative relation between the earnings of selected films and their critical evaluation, which could be explained by the application of technical and analytical considerations and stringent artistic standards in critical evaluations, whereas audiences looked simply for enjoyable entertainment (Hirschman Pieros, 1985). To explain the different result, there is the assumption that ordinary consumers like more accessible, realistic forms of entertainment, while professional critics give higher ratings to more complex, abstract, and intellectually demanding artwork (Holbrook, 1999). Despite of previous research on correlation between box office success and review, the perspective of the research is prone to focus on favorability of journalistic reviews or judgments of film experts (Prag Casavant, 1994). There are relatively less researches concerning about publics review. Due to the popularity of internet, audiences are able to share their review and preference through the internet instantly. Holbrook concludes audiences opinion towards motion picture as popular appeal which contains online rating and review. The popularity of online review is the nature consequence of digital age. Neoclassic theory emphases the importance of demand induces. As for film industry, companies pay attention on the importance of marketing power even more than products themselves (Belaux Marteaux, 2007). Thus, there has been a growing increase in the emphasis of web-related promotion for nowadays film industry (Zufryden, 2000). Zufryden (2000) did the research on the development and empirical testing of a variable mathematical model approach for predicting a films box-office performance as a function of film website activity, as well as other relevant explanatory variables. The results of his study support the relative importance and statistical significance of website activity as a predictor of a new films box-office performance. In accordance with promotion of website, variables including screens, film grade, time from film release, production budget and seasonally were also found to be significant covariate s in the prediction of ticket sales during a films life cycle. Obviously, online review and ranking system account for an important part of variables that can influence box office success according to Zufrydens research. Moreover, Holbrook (1999) summarizes different types of film review according to multiple cultural markets of distinction (Hall, 1992): professional critics versus ordinary consumers, expert judgments versus popular appeal, extensive training versus naive appreciation, emphasis on aesthetics versus entertainment, genuine or pure versus commercial or commoditized art, highbrow versus lowbrow standards, elite versus mass tastes, legitimation versus market success, dominance via cultural capital versus economic capital, autonomous versus heteronomous principle, and restricted versus large-scale production. Own to those different concepts, film reviewers have their own opinions about certain film. The ordinary audience in question does not share in the relevant habits governing the dispositions that guide the professional critics standards of evaluation. Therefore, the different judgments from ordinary consumers are quite personal. However, the influence of those judgments can be differe d according to different tastes. Holbrook (1999) compared popular appeal representing ordinary consumers and expert judgment in order to analyze the most importance variable for box office success. The data Holbrook collected for conducting research focus on polls of film viewers. Since his paper has published in 1999, one year from the establishment of IMDB, the best popular internet movie database, which involves film grade and audiences review. Therefore, there is a gap of studying to what extent online review system can impact a films box office success. My research in this paper would try to fulfill this missing part. The development of IMDB The IMDB has become one of the most popular forums for on-line interaction. The popularity of a movie can be gauged by the number of votes. The establishing of IMDB can be trace back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Col Needham, the founder of IMDB, created a database that sought to provide useful and up to date movie information online across as many platforms as possible (Dodds, 2006). Since the year of 1990, the technology of constructing web site has developed speedy. Col Needham as a big fan of movie believed that there should be a place in cyber world to offer a free land for sharing ordinary audiences comments2. Therefore, IMDB has been created and expanded quickly since then. Firstly, the IMBD includes new features such as votes awarded to individual films. Later in 1995, it was formally launched and the Amazon.com Company subsequently bought it in the 1998. The site has been further enhanced to allow for greater on-line interaction as well as additional features providing updates on movie releases and film gossip (Dodds, 2006). Till now, IMDB import Metacritic, a similar movie database but focus on judgment of professional movie review like authoritative movie magazines and journals. Although there is increasing number of competitive online movie database, IMDB is still the most reliable, recognizable, professional and comprehensive online movie community containing the largest users and offering the best platform for sharing information and interaction. The ranking system of IMDB represents audiences opinion. The famous Top 250 list indicates the best movie in the history throughout time, culture and races. And the option belongs to ordinary audience. The top 250 films are also based on a weighted rating formula referred to in actuarial science as a credibility formula (Norberg, 2007). In order to create a fair and reliable grading system, IMDB sets a formula to calculate the final result of the movie as the following equation: This formula is equivalent to a Bayesian posterior mean3. In this equation, represents weighted rating, which means final score of the movie. means rating, represents average for the movie as a number from 0 to 10 (mean). refers to number of votes for the movie, more votes represents more influence. indicates minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250, the current entrance is 3000 votes. is the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.9)4. Because of my research focus on box office success and online review while IMDB includes all the official data and information, I introduced the brief history of IMDB and rating equation in order to convince people the reliability of this database. Determinants of the successful box office success Investing film industry has been considered as higher risk business even more than stock. Pervious study indicates that only three to four out of ten movies could reach breaking even point, and about one out of ten becoming profitable at the box office success (Valenti, 2004). Although film producers make profit through various channels such as DVD sales and sound track CD or any other related business. Box office still accounts for the largest part of gross revenue for the film market. Furthermore, box office success has been related to the successful of the movie itself to a great extent. Talking about the standards of a good movie, there are diversity of criteria according to different scholar and the era they lived in. In the last century, three indicators of judging success of a movie which are the reviews of professional critics, the size of audience and industry recognition via awards (Hirschman Pieros, 1985). The relationship among the three indicators has certain order. Fir stly reviews of critics come out, followed by amount of audience and finally awards prove the success of the movie. Besides, the three indicators have inside impact on each other as well. As for the determinants of motion picture in the 21st century, there are a number of detailed factors from several disciplines have been used in the literature to understand and explain various aspects of motion picture success (Hennig-Thurau, Houston Walsh, 2007). In general, there are three groups of movie-success drivers have been recognized in this century. The three determinants are movie characteristics, post-filming marketing studio actions, and non-studio factors (Elberse Eliashberg, 2002; Hennig-Thurau, 2001). Movie characteristics refer to star power, director power, cultural familiarity, genre, and certification. However, the research of questioning whether star power related to a successful movie has been published (De Vany Walls, 1999). As for director power, so far there is no empi rical evidence about a successful movie on economy can be decided by director. The second determinant studio actions are the term including the production budget, marketing expenditures, timing, and the number of screens. Finally, non-studio factors contain reviews, awards, consumers perceived movie quality, and early box-office information. The Academy Awards tend to represent a compromise between art and commerce (Caves, 2000). Audiences review does ascend the movies opportunity on obtaining an award. In another word, audiences voice has equal importance as experts judgment. Sony picture indicates that the insiders of film industry believe that movie review is important for box office success (Terry, Butler Armond, 2005). Combining the indication of Sony, one of the largest film companies in the world, the output of commercial film tends to prove Sonys standpoint. Firstly, there is statistic significance according to the output. And R-square is 0.694 which indicates 69.4 percentages dependent variable, in this case, box office, can be explained by the four box office drivers. In another words, the four determinants are major drivers of box office for commercial film. Production budget still has less importance comparing with other independent variables. Meanwhile, awards have positive and strong impact on box office of commercial film as artistic film. However, table 6 shows that among the four elements, the strongest correlation exists between box office and online ranking order. For commercial film, online ranking is the strongest box office driver, f ar more than artistic film. Comparing the outputs of artistic film and commercial film, online ranking order has less influence on artistic film while the strongest determinants of commercial film. Meanwhile, the higher online ranking order do result in better box office success in both artistic film and commercial film. Especially, for commercial film, the recognition from audience attributes to box office to the largest extent. Although there are some distinguish cases, the tendency of impact of online ranking order is quite clear according to the research. Conclusion Summary Online ranking order as the direct and clarify symbol of online review provides important information for audience. This paper tests the correlation between online ranking order and box office success by comparing online ranking order with other determinants of box office. Throughout running multiple regression analysis in SPSS, the result indicates online ranking order has stronger impact on commercial film while less important for artistic film. However, high online ranking order contributes to higher box office in general for any kinds of movie. Limitations This paper only includes four major determinants of box office success. However, other determinants such as released screen, released date, star power and region are also contributing to the box office success. Due to the limited words and research time, there are more important indicators are excluded. Besides, the result could be less trusted and accurate because of relatively small sample size. Furthermore, due to the producing time of some movies are quite old, the lack of some data and currency rate might lead to different results slightly.

International Adoption Essay -- Adoption Adopting Children Family Essa

The birth of a girl has never been a cause for celebration in China, and stories of peasant farmers drowning newborn girls in buckets of water have been commonplace for centuries. Now, however, as a direct result of the one-child policy, the number of baby girls being abandoned, aborted, or dumped on orphanage steps is unprecedented. Adopting Internationally Adoption is procedure by which people legally assume the role of parents for a person who is not their biological child. Adopted children become full members of their adopted family and have the same legal status as biological children. Although the majority of people who adopt are married couples, many single people also adopt. Many people seek to adopt when they discover that they cannot give birth to biological children. Others adopt children to add new members to a family that includes biological children. Many people adopt simply to give a home and family to children who might not otherwise have them. Likewise, children become available for adoption for a variety of reasons. Some children are orphans. Some biological parents make arrangements for their children to be adopted because they cannot care for them due to illness or personal problems. Other children are abandoned by their biological parents (Adoption, CD-ROM). Adoption is a common practice throughout the world and throughout history. However, laws regulating adoption vary from country to country. People seeking to adopt in a country other than the one in which they live, a process known as international adoption, should familiarize themselves with the laws of that country. Similarly, although every province recognizes adoption, provincial laws regarding specific aspects of adoption vary. INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION A significant number of people seek to adopt children from other countries, a process known as international adoption. People seek to adopt abroad for many 1 reasons. Many people want to adopt an infant or a very young child. Some also hope to adopt children who share their ethnic heritage. Such prospective parents may find a shortage of suitable children available for adoption in Canada. Publicity regarding the availability of infants in a particular country also encourages some people to seek to adopt there. Many people adopt abroad because of anxieties regarding d... ...at all," the letter read. "Our investigations confirm that those reports are vicious fabrications made out of ulterior motives. The contemptible lie about China's welfare work in orphanages cannot but arouse the indignation of the Chinese people, especially the great number of social workers who are working hard for children's welfare."(Adoption, CD-ROM). The day after the program was shown, questions were raised in the House of Commons about China's one-child policy and its dying rooms. Predictably, however, no one has raised the subject of providing massive aid for a collapsed and famine-ridden China in the event of its population rising to, say, 2.4 billion if this generation is allowed to have two children per family. "We don't want to criticize the one-child policy," says Dr. Blewett. "But we want to focus on the problems it is causing which can be solved." The documentary features a tour of a privately run, locally funded orphanage where the children are happy, healthy, and loved. "We were very keen to show what can be done with the right attitude," says Blewett. "No child should suffer the kind of neglect we filmed." (Hilditch, World Wide Press).