What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago Free Essays

string(67) " and used almost twice as much cooking fat and oil as women today\." at was the I. What was the American diet like 50 years ago? a) Over the past 50 years, American diets have changed from leisurely family meals that were usually prepared at home using natural ingredients to today’s prepackaged, processed and convenience foods that are often eaten on the run with little thought towards nutrition or content. b) American diets have evolved in the last 50 years from natural ingredients to processed, high fat ingredients and will continue in the future to include convenience foods but with a greater emphasis on healthier choices. We will write a custom essay sample on What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago or any similar topic only for you Order Now ) This wasn’t always the case. â€Å"Fifty years ago, people sitting down to a meal were simply looking for something hot, filling and, in most cases, inexpensive† (Heymsfield 142). c) Throughout the century, Americans experimented with various diets. d) In the 1950s, Adele Davis published a cookbook exploring a healthy approach to food. e) In the 1960s, there was a movement to use unprocessed food, natural ingredients and macrobiotic cooking (Klem 439). f) The notion of a balanced diet was still quite abstract. ii) People weren’t as well informed about nutrition as they are today. ) While nutritional research was revealing new information about everyday foods, the American household underwent an important structural shift (Klem 438). h) In the 1940s and 1950s women began to enter the workplace in large numbers, it was then that the country became caught up in an explosion of convenience items. iii) Time for food preparation became more limited, and the industry responded with a wide variety of pre-packaged foods. iv) Products like Bisquick, Spam, instant oatmeal, canned tomato sauce and pre-sliced American cheese began to appear (Klem 438). ) By the 1950s, the refrigerator had replaced the old-fashioned icebox and the cold cellar as a place to store food. v) Refrigeration, because it allowed food to last longer, made the American kitchen a convenient place to maintain readily available food stocks (Heymsfield 144). vi) This also allowed for pre-prepared foods such as TV dinners, which became very popular. j) Swanson’s was one of the first TV dinners, which came out during this time. k) Frozen dinners and fast food chains arose and became a growing trend. vii) Meals became quick and simple. viii) People started eating things for taste and popularity, not for ealth reasons. l) In the 1960s and 1970s, when nutritional research really began to gain the nation’s attention, food manufacturers started to offer options that were bot h quick and health- conscious. ix) Instant orange juice and vitamin-fortified cereals appeared (Klem 440). m) Cereals came out to make people eat more grains, but over the years, large companies have decided that to make their cereal sell, they have to make it taste better. x) They added things like sugar, candy pieces, chocolate flavors, and numerous other things which are high in calories and high in fat in order to make their product taste better. i) This has made the idea of something healthy turn in to something less healthy over the years. n) The movement toward convenience finally caught up with movement toward healthy eating. o) This represents a drastic change from the 1950s, when people ate far more of their meals at home, with their families, and at a leisurely pace. p) â€Å"A hundred years ago there was no such thing as a snack food—nothing you could pop open and overeat,† says Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook and many others, and a consulta nt to Harvard Dining Services. ii) â€Å"There were stew pots. Things took a long time to cook, and a meal was the result of someone’s labor. † q) The 1950s were also an era in which the kitchen—not the television room—was the heart of the home. r) In 1941, the federal government established the first Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), and the concept of basic food groups was introduced. xiii) This period was also the â€Å"golden age for food chemicals† with hundreds of additives and preservatives brought to market for the first time. ) Convenience was most important, and by the 1950s, a large variety of convenience foods made meal preparation easier than ever before. t) Advancements in technology also led to faster meal preparation. u) During the late 50s and 1960s, American’s attitudes towards nutrition changed as scientific research and other factors combined to heighten awareness. v) In 1959 came the discovery that eating polyunsatu rated fats might lower serum cholesterol. xiv) This was followed in 1961 by further evidence linking cholesterol with arteriosclerosis. ) By 1962, nearly 25% of American families said they had made dietary changes that included less cholesterol. x) That same year, Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, provided fodder for the debate concerning the possibility of synthetic chemicals reaching humans through the food chain. xv) There was controversy about food chemicals in general, and the modern consumer movement was launched in 1965 following publication of Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe At Any Speed. y) 50 years ago women still managed to burn up many more calories than their counterparts today. vi) Research suggests the housework and general exercise that stay-at-home housewives did in 1953 were more successful at shedding the pounds. z) The mothers and grandmothers of today’s generation burnt well in excess of 1,000 calories a day through their domesticated lifestyle , according to the study by the woman’s magazine Prima. xvii) But females today get through only 556, even though seven in ten think they are healthier than the post-war generation. {) Modern women also consume a lot more calories, 2,178 a day now as opposed to 1,818 then. viii) This could be down to eating more junk food, the study suggested, as women in 1953 were more likely to cook meals from scratch with a mixture of ingredients. |) Not everything in ‘the old days’ appears to have been healthier, according to Prima, which compared the lifestyles of women in 1953 and those of today. xix) They would often eat twice as many eggs and used almost twice as much cooking fat and oil as women today. You read "What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago" in category "Papers" xx) They also ate more sugar and less chicken. }) Most meals were served with vegetables, although it was more likely to be swede, turnips and sprouts rather than the aubergines, mange- tout or ro cket favored today. ) Appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers have also played their part in reducing the amount of calories burned, the research showed. xxi) Women in 1953 would spend three hours a day doing the housework, an hour walking to and from the shops in the town center, an hour on the shopping itself and another hour making dinner. ) Many had lunch to prepare, too, as many husbands came home to eat in the middle of the day. ) More calories would have been burned, of course, walking the children to and from school, since the family car was still a rarity. Today, women drive, rather than walk, have freezers, which mean fewer shopping trips, and use supermarkets, which provide everything under one roof. xxii) It is all a far cry from 50 years ago when they would have to traipse between the butcher’s, to the baker’s, the greengrocer’s and other specialist stores. ) Women 50 years ago didn’t, however, have the benefit of 45 minutes on t he treadmill or an evening class in Pilates. xxiii) In 1953, their idea of relaxation was listening to Housewives’ Choice while they washed up the breakfast things or Mrs. Dale’s Diary when they stopped to enjoy tea and a biscuit for elevenses. ) The children needed playing with, too, as few families had a TV set to keep them quiet. xxiv) Evening entertainment involved listening to the radio again, curling up with a book or playing board games. xxv) And in a less disposable age there was always plenty of darning and mending to do by the fire. ) Prima editor Maire Fahey said the magazine decided to study the contrasting lifestyles following an earlier survey, which revealed how today’s women were neglecting their health. xvi) ‘It is telling that modern technology has made us two-thirds less active than we were. It goes to show the importance of exercise in the battle to maintain a healthy balance. ‘ ) Exercise and diet are not the only things to radically change over the last half-century. xxvii) Fitness and nutrition in the United States have changed tremendously in the past five decades. ) Cutting calories and exercise was th e most popular method of weight loss 50 years ago. xxviii) Some fad diets such as the Mayo Clinic diet–created in the 1930’s–were existent, but not the most common option in weight loss. II. Where do most of our foods come from other than America? a) Here in the US, we have several key issues. b) Specifically, every year we produce less and less of the food that our ever-growing population needs. c) There’s one word that sums up nearly everything we need to know about the food industry in the United States: conglomeration. d) According to the USDA, only about 1/3 of our fruit and nuts and 1/8 of our vegetables are imported. i) About two-thirds of those imports occur during the months of December to April, showing a strong seasonal component to it. ) Mexico is far and away our biggest supplier of fruits and vegetables, taking the top spot in both categories by about a 2-to-1 margin over 2nd place. f) Canada takes 2nd place in vegetables with China a distant third. (Note that these are in dollar figures, not volume, but the relationships should hold when converted. ) g) In the fruit category, most of it comes from Central and South America, with only China (4th) to break up the Top 6 of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador. ) The US actually does produce most of its own red meat. i) As of 2008, only about 10% of our red meat was imported, predominantly from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. j) Fish and shellfish are our major protein imports, with nearly 80% of those being imported. k) Most of that comes from China, Canada, and Thailand. l) There is one bright spot here: most of the food Americans consume is still produced here. i. Currently, between 10 and 15 percent of all food consumed by U. S. households is imported. m) According to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nearly two-thirds of the fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood consumed domestically come from outside the United States. n) On the other hand, we are seeing a marked increase in imports over time. o) According to USDA data, from 1999 to 2010, there was a 43. 25% increase in import volume (111% increase on a dollar basis). ii. Population growth is a partial contributor, but in that same time period, the US population only increased about 10%. p) The top three countries that we import from are Canada, Mexico, and China. iii. We are actually Mexico’s largest trading partners, buying 77% of their exports. q) From 1995 to 2006, imports from China grew five-fold: r) According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the United States imported $4. 1 billion worth of seafood and agricultural products from China in 2006. iv. In 1995, it was $800 million. v. From 2006 to 2008, it went up another 25%. s) In 2008, Chinese imports reached $5. 2 billion, making China the third-largest source of U. S. food imports. About 41 percent of this import value was from fish and seafood, most of it farm-raised. Juices and pickled, dried, and canned vegetables, and fruit accounted for the other 25 percent. vi. According to the USDA, about 60 percent of all American apple juice, 50 percent of garlic, 10 percent of shrimp and 2 percent of catfish are imported from China. III. How has the typical American diet changed our health and affected rates of disease in this country? a) The sedentary 20th-century lifestyle and work habits brought its own unpleasant consequences, which were overeating and excess weight. a) The number of overweight Americans increased from 1970 to 1990 (Klem 440). ) By the 1990s, Americans had become more conscious of their diets, eating more poultry, fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer eggs and less beef. ii) They also began appreciating fresh ingredients. c) As Americans became more concerned about their diets, they also became more ecologically conscious. iii) Some Americans turned to vegan or vegetarian diets, or only started eating organic foods, which ar e foods grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. d) At the end of the 20th century, American eating habits and food production were increasingly taking place outside the home. v) Many people relied on restaurants and on new types of fully prepared meals to help busy families in which both adults worked full-time. e) Another sign of the public’s changing food habits was the microwave oven, probably the most widely used new kitchen appliance, since it can quickly reheat or cook food and leftovers. v) Since Americans are generally cooking less of their own food, they are more aware than at any time since the early 20th century of the quality and health standards applied to food (Heymsfield 147). ) Two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and half of these are obese. (Overweight means having a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or greater, obese, 30 or greater: to calculate BMI, a widely used measure, take the square of your height in inches and then divide your weight, in pounds, by that number; then multiply the result by 703. g) Even adults in the upper end of the â€Å"normal† range, who have BMIs of 22 to 24, would generally live longer if they lost some fat; add in these people and it appears that â€Å"up to 80 percent of American adults should weigh less than they do,† says Walter C. Willett, M. D. , D. P. H. ’80, Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the School of Public Health. h) The epidemic of obesity is a vast and growing public health problem. i) He notes that three aspects of weight—BMI, waist size, and weight gained after one’s early twenties—are linked to chances of having or dying from heart disease, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, plus suffering from arthritis, infertility, gallstones, asthma, and even snoring. i) â€Å"Weight is much more important than serum cholesterol,† Willett asserts; as a cause of premature, preventable deaths, he adds, excess weight and obesity rank a very close second to smoking, partly because there are twice as many fat people as smokers. vii) In fact, since smokers tend to be leaner, the decrease in smoking prevalence has actually swelled the ranks of the fat. j) The obesity epidemic arrived with astonishing speed. k) In 1980, 4 6 percent of U. S. adults were overweight; by 2000, the figure was 64. 5 percent: nearly a 1 percent annual increases in the ranks of the fat. iii) At this rate, by 2040, 100 percent of American adults will be overweight and â€Å"it may happen more quickly,† says John Foreyt of Baylor College of Medicine, who spoke at a conference organized by Gifford’s Oldways group in 2003. l) Foreyt noted that, 20 years ago, he rarely saw 300-pound patients; now they are common. m) Childhood obesity, also once rare, has mushroomed: 15 percent of children between ages six and 19 are now overweight, and even 10 percent of those between two and five. ix) â€Å"This may be the first generation of children who will die before their parents,† Foreyt says. ) Today, Americans eat 200 calories more food energy per day than they did 10 years ago; that alone would add 20 pounds annually to one’s bulk. o) A recent paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition argued that th e poor tend toward greater obesity because eating energy-dense, highly palatable, refined foods is cheaper per calorie consumed than buying fish and fresh fruits and vegetables. x) One explanation for our slide into overconsumption is that â€Å"the character of modern Americans is somehow inherently weak and we are incapable of discipline,† says Ludwig. i) â€Å"The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products. † p) Never in human experience has food been available in the staggering profusion seen in North America today. xii) We are awash in edibles shipped in from around the planet; seasonality has largely disappeared. q) Food obtrudes itself constantly, seductively, into our lives—on sidewalks, in airplanes, at gas stations and movie theaters. iii) â€Å"Caloric intake is directly related to gross nationa l product per capita,† says Moore professor of biological anthropology Richard Wrangham. xiv) â€Å"It’s very difficult to resist the temptation to take in more calories if they are available. r) People keep regarding it as an American problem, but it’s a global problem as countries get richer. † s) Still, the lavish banquet’s first seating is right here in the United States of America. t) â€Å"The French explanation for why Americans are so big is simple,† said Jody Adams, chef/partner of Rialto, a restaurant in Harvard Square, speaking at the Oldways conference. v) â€Å"We eat lots of sugar, and we eat between meals. u) Indeed, the national response to our glut of comestibles is apparently to eat only one meal a day—all day long. xvi) We eat everywhere and at all times: at work, at play, and in transit. v) But the most powerful technology driving the obesity epidemic is television. xvii) â€Å"The best single behavioral predictor of obesity in children and adults is the amount of television viewing,† says the School of Public Health’s Gortmaker. w) â€Å"The relationship is nearly as strong as what you see between smoking and lung cancer. viii) Everybody thinks it’s because TV watching is sedentary, you’re just sitting there for hours—but that’s only about one-third of the effect. xix) Our guesstimate is that two-thirds is the effect of advertising in changing what you eat. † x) Furthermore, in some future year when the Internet merges with broadband cable TV, advertisers will be able to target their messages far more precisely. â€Å"It won’t be just to kids,† Gortmaker says. â€Å"It’ll be to your kid. † y) Since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly in the last half-century, technology has enabled us to conduct an increasingly immobile daily life. ) Even a century later, before the invention of the automobile, many farmed o r at least used their bodies vigorously every day. xx) â€Å"At higher levels of activity, people seem to balance their caloric intake and expenditure extremely well,† he says. xxi) â€Å"If our grandparents were farmers, they were moving all day long—not jogging for an hour, but staying active eight to 12 hours a day. {) The way we do our work has changed, and so has the way we spend our leisure time,† he continues. xxii) â€Å"The average number of television hours watched per week is close to a full-time job! ) People used to go for walks and visit their neighbors. Much of that is gone as well. † xxiii) Not only do many adults spend their work lives in front of computer screens, but also the design of public spaces outside their offices eliminates physical activity. xxiv) In skyscrapers, it’s often hard to find the stairs; electronic sensors in public restrooms are eliminating even the most minimal actions of flushing toilets or turning faucets on and off. }) Furthermore, modern children â€Å"don’t have to forage or walk long distances,† says Lieberman. xv) â€Å"Kids today sit in front of a TV or computer. xxvi) They ride to school on a school bus. xxvii) We even have them rolling their school backpacks on wheels because we are afraid of them overloading their backbones. † ~) In sum, we no longer live like hunter-gatherers, but we still have hunter-gatherer genes. xxviii) Humans evolved in a state of ceaseless physical activity; they ate seasonally, since there was no other choice; and frequently there was nothing to eat at all. ) To get through hard winters and famines, the human body evolved a brilliant mechanism of storing energy in fat cells. The problem, for most of humanity’s time on Earth, has been a scarcity of calories, not a surfeit. ) Our fat-storage mechanism worked beautifully until 50 to 100 years ago. xxix) But since then, â€Å"The speed of environmental change has far surpas sed our ability to adapt,† says Dun Gifford of Oldways. xxx) Our bodies were not designed to handle so much caloric input and so little energy outflow. ) Different scholars and popular writers have argued that human beings have â€Å"evolved† to be carnivores, herbivores, frugivores, or omnivores, but anthropologist Richard Wrangham says we are â€Å"cookivores,† grinning at the neologism. xxi) â€Å"We evolved to eat cooked foods,† he declares. â€Å"Raw food eating is never practiced systematically anywhere in the world. † ) Cooking might be considered the first food-processing technology, and like its successors, it has had profound effects on the human body, as in the growth of bones. ) Various signals influence human growth; some come from genes, and others come from the environment, particularly for the musculo-skeletal system, whose job is engaging with the environment. xxxii) Less chewing of cooked food, for example, has altered the anatomy of our skulls, jaws, faces, and teeth. xxiii) â€Å"Chewing is a major activity that involves muscular forces,† says skeletal biologist Daniel Lieberman. â€Å"It has incredible effects on how the skull grows. † xxxiv) Chewing can transform anatomy rather quickly; in one study, in which Lieberman fed pigs a diet of softened food, in a matter of months their skulls developed shorter and narrower dimensions and their snouts developed thinner bones than those of pigs eating a hard-food diet. ) The same thing happens with human beings. xxxv) â€Å"Since the beginning of the fossil record, humans have become much more gracile,† Lieberman says. xxvi) â€Å"Our bones have become thinner, our faces smaller, and our teeth smaller—especially permanent teeth—although we have the same number of teeth. ) More recently, with the Industrial Revolution, people have become more sedentary; they interact with their environment in a less forceful way. xxxvii) We load our bones less and the bones become thinner. Osteoporosis is a disease of industrialism. † ) In today’s world, where we not only cook but eat a great deal of processed food that has been ground up before it reaches our mouths, we don’t generate as much force when chewing. In fact, for millennia human food has been growing less tough, fibrous, and hard. ) â€Å"The size of the human face has gotten about 12 percent smaller since the Paleolithic,† Lieberman says, â€Å"particularly around the oral cavity, due to the effects of mechanical loading on the size of the face. Fourteen thousand years ago, a much larger proportion of the face was between the bottom of the jaw and the nostrils. † xxxviii) The size of teeth has not decreased as fast (genetic factors control more of their variation); hence, modern teeth are actually too big for our mouths—wisdom teeth become impacted and require extraction. The health hazards of sedentary life seem like an adult problem, but actually, the skeletal system is most responsive to loading when it is immature. xxxix) There is only one window for accumulating bone mass—during the first two decades of life. xl) â€Å"Peak bone mass occurs at the end of adolescence,† Lieberman explains, à ¢â‚¬Å"and we lose bone steadily thereafter. Kids who are active grow more robust bones. ) If you’re sedentary as a juvenile, you don’t grow as much bone mass—so as you get older and lose bone mass, you drop below the threshold for osteoporosis. ) Furthermore, females get osteoporosis more readily than men because they start with less adult bone mass; as life spans lengthen, says research fellow in cell biology Jennifer Sacheck, of Harvard Medical School, older men will also begin showing symptoms of osteoporosis. ) Weight-bearing exercise only slows the rate of bone loss for adults; pre-adolescent bone growth is far more important to long-term skeletal strength. Hence, the sedentary lifestyles of today’s youngsters—and the cutbacks on school physical-education programs—may be sowing the seeds of widespread skeletal breakdown as their cohort matures. The dramatic upsurge in consumption of carbonated soft drinks, paired with the simultaneous d ecline in milk drinking, may also weaken future bones. xli) Both milk (lactose) and soda (sucrose, fructose) are sweet, but soda is sweeter, and today’s consumers are hooked on sugar. xlii) â€Å"We probably evolved our sense of sweetness to detect subtle amounts of carbohydrates in foods, because they provide energy,† says Walter Willett. ) â€Å"But now the expectations of sweetness have been ratcheted up. xliii) A product is not deemed attractive if it is not as sweet as its competitor. ) Sugars added to foods made up 11 percent of the calories in American diets in the late 1970s; today they are 16 percent. With agriculture, human health declined, says Lieberman, partly because farming is such hard work, and partly because it allows higher population densities, in which infection spreads more easily. ) â€Å"There was more disease, a decrease in body size, higher mortality rates among juveniles, and more stress lines in bones and teeth,† Lieberman says. ) Cu ltivating grain also allowed farmers to space their children more closely. liv) Hunter-gatherers have long intervals between births, because they do not wean children until age four or five, when teeth are ready to chew hard foods. (â€Å"You can’t feed babies beef jerky,† jokes Lieberman. ) xlv) Farmers, however, can make gruel—a high-calorie mush of roots or grains like millet, taro, or oats that doesn’t require chewing—and wean children much sooner. ) Grains, the source of products such as bread, baked goods, and corn syrup, did not become plentiful in the human diet until the establishment of agriculture. xlvi) So grain farming allowed bigger families and has changed the human situation in endless ways. But while people have eaten grains for a hundred centuries, until the last half-century, most grains consumed were not heavily processed. † ) In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cere als—even without added sugar—act exactly like sugar itself,† says pediatrics specialist David Ludwig. ) In 1981, David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, led a team that tested various foods to determine which were best for diabetics. xlvii) They developed a â€Å"glycemic index† that ranked foods from 0 to 100, depending on how rapidly the body turned them into glucose. This work overturned some established bromides, such as the distinction between â€Å"simple† and â€Å"complex† carbohydrates: a baked russet potato, for example, traditionally defined as a complex carbohydrate, has a glycemic rating of 85 (ffl12; studies vary) whereas a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola appears on some glycemic indices at 63. xlviii) Eating high-glycemic foods dumps large amounts of glucose suddenly into the bloodstream, triggering the pancreas to secrete insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells for meta bolism or storage. lix) The pancreas over-responds to the spike in glucose—a more rapid rise than a hunter-gatherer’s bloodstream was likely to encounter—and secretes lots of insulin. ) But while high-glycemic foods raise blood sugar quickly, â€Å"they also leave the gastrointestinal tract quickly,† Ludwig explains. â€Å"The plug gets pulled. l) † With so much insulin circulating, blood sugar plummets. This triggers a second wave of hormones, including stress hormones like epinephrine. li) â€Å"The body puts on the emergency brakes,† says Ludwig. lii) â€Å"It releases any stored fuels—the liver starts releasing glucose. iii) This raises blood sugar back into the normal range, but at a cost to the body. † ) One cost, documented by studies at the School of Public Health, is that going through this kind of physiologic stress three to five times per day doubles the risk of heart attacks. ) Another cost is excess hunger. ) The p recipitous drop in blood sugar triggers primal mechanisms in the brain: â€Å"The brain thinks the body is starving,† Ludwig explains. liv) â€Å"It doesn’t care about the 30 pounds of fat socked away, so it sends you to the refrigerator to get a quick fix, like a can of soda. ) Glycemic spikes may underlie Ludwig and Gortmaker’s finding, published in the Lancet two years ago, that each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage multiplies the risk of obesity by 1. 6. ) Some argue that people compensate for such sugary intake by eating less later on, to balance it out, but Ludwig asserts, â€Å"We don’t compensate well when calories come in liquid form. lv) The meal has to go through your gut, where the brain gets satiety signals that slow you down. On the other hand, you could drink a 64-ounce soft drink before you knew what hit you. ) Since humans can take in large amounts of food in a short time, â€Å"we are adapted to receiving much hi gher glycemic loads than other primates,† says Richard Wrangham, speculating that nonhuman primates may be poor models for research on human diabetes because they have a different insulin system. lvi) The only component of the hunter-gatherer diet likely to cause extreme insulin spikes is honey, which Wrangham feels â€Å"is likely to have been very important, at least seasonally, for our ancestors. What is certain is that hunter-gatherers never experienced anything like the routine daily glucose-insulin cycles that characterize a modern diet loaded with refined sugars and starches. lvii) Constantly buffeted by these insulin surges, over time the body’s cells develop insulin resistance, a decreased response to insulin’s signal to take in glucose. lviii) When the cells slam their doors shut, high levels of glucose keep circulating in the bloodstream, prompting the pancreas to secrete even more insulin. This syndrome can turn into an endocrine disorder called hype rinsulinemia that sets the stage for Type II, or adult-onset, diabetes, which has become epidemic in recent years. ) Ironically, U. S. government agencies’ attempts to deal with obesity during the last three decades—encouraging people to eat less fat and more carbohydrates, for example—actually may have exacerbated the problem. ) Take the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid, first promulgated in 1992. ix) The pyramid’s diagram of dietary recommendations is a familiar sight on cereal boxes—hardly a coincidence, since the guidelines suggest six to 11 servings daily from the â€Å"bread, cereal, rice, and pasta† group. ) The USDA recommends eating more of these starches than any other category of food. lx) Unfortunately, such starches are nearly all high-glycemic carbohydrates, which drive obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and Type II diabetes. ) â€Å"At best, the USDA pyramid offers wishy-washy, scientifically unfounded adv ice on an absolutely vital topic—what to eat,† writes Willett in Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy. â€Å"At worst, the misinformation contributes to overweight, poor health, and unnecessary early deaths. ) â€Å"Clearly, some food industries have for many years successfully influenced the government in ways that keep the prices of certain foods artificially low. lxi) David Ludwig questions farm subsidies of â€Å"billions to the lowest-quality foods†Ã¢â‚¬â€for example, grains like corn (â€Å"for corn sweeteners and animal feed to make Big Macs†) and wheat (â€Å"refined carbohydrates. â€Å") ) Meanwhile, the government does not subsidize far healthier items like fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. xii) â€Å"It’s a perverse situation,† he says. â€Å"The foods that are the worst for us have an artificially low price, and the best foods cost more. lxiii) This is worse than a free market: we are creating a mirror-world here. † ) Govern mental policies like cutting school budgets by dropping physical education programs may also prove to be a false economy. ) â€Å"There’s fast food sold in school cafeterias, soft drinks and candies in school vending machines, and advertising in classrooms on Channel One. ) Meanwhile there are cutbacks in physical education, as if it were a luxury. What was once daily and mandatory is now infrequent and optional. † ) Consider the flap that arose after the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report in 2003 recommending guidelines for eating to improve world nutrition and prevent chronic diseases. lxiv) Instead of applauding the report, the DHHS issued a 28-page, line-by-line critique and tried to get WHO to quash it. lxv) WHO recommended that people limit their intake of added sugars to no more than 10 percent of alories eaten, a guideline poorly received by the Sugar Association, a trade group that has threatened to pressure Congress to challenge the United States’ $406 million contribution to WHO. ) By the last decade of the 20th Century, Americans had become much more adventuresome eaters. lxvi) Variety of choice is nearly unbelievable. lxvii) Ethnic cuisine, once shunned, enjoys increasing popularity and the new foods introduced via that route add greatly to the variety of food choices. ) The trend toward eating out of the home continues to grow; in 1998, 47% of the food dollar was spent away from home. xviii) However, the concern for nutrition was higher than ever and that fact probably contributed to keeping some meals at home. ) Today’s families seem busier than ever. lxix) Rushing between work and school often leaves parents scrambling for time to prepare nutritious, good-tasting meals for their children. ) In fact, 44 percent of U. S. weekday meals are prepared in 30 minutes or less. ) As the quality of our diets has deteriorated over the last 50 years, certain diseases have become rampant. â€Å"Directly related to food, you hear a lot of talk about obesity-related problems in terms of diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure, and those happen in both men and women,† lxx) â€Å"Those are the general categories of ailments; there are also many specific diet-related disorders. † ) A majority of individuals are making less healthy food choices for better time management. ) Whether for good or bad, changes in diet and fitness have morphed the way people live. ) In the 1960s, it was still common to plant a garden or a fruit tree for food. xxi) Nowadays, this is not the case; in fact it is less common to grow a garden in the U. S than it was 50 years ago. ) Even quick, pop in the microwave or oven meals have become more popular, despite the fact that the invention of the TV dinner occurred in 1944. lxxii) Between working and conflicting schedules, there are not as many home-cooked, healthy meals on the plates of children today. ) Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. lxxiii) In 2007 and 2008, 34 percent of Americans were obese and another 34 percent were overweight, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. xxiv) In 1960 and 1962, only about 14 percent of Americans were obese and 31. 5 percent were overweight. lxxv) Since 1976, the number of o bese children from ages 2 to 5 has nearly doubled. ) In 2011, people are looking for weight loss at a quick pace with diet pills, diet shakes, surgery and different diets such as the cabbage soup diet. lxxvi) There are more fad diets and methods of weight loss than ever before. IV. Are food allergies on the rise? If so, why? a) The number of kids with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ) About 3 million children younger than 18 had a food or digestive allergy in 2007, the CDC said. c) A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that visits to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital Boston for allergic reactions more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. i) Although this is just one hospital, the findings reflect a rise in food allergies seen in national reports, said Dr. Susan Rudders, lead author and pediatric allergist-immunologist in Providence, Rhode Island. d) One theory is that the Western diet has made people more susceptible to developing allergies and other illnesses. i) The children in the African village live in a community that produces its own food. iii) The study authors say this is closer to how humans ate 10,000 years ago. iv) Their diet is mostly vegetarian. e) By contrast, the local diet of European children contains more sugar, animal fat and calorie-dense foods. v) The study authors posit that these factors result in less biodiversity in the organisms found inside the gut of European children. f) The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr. Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. vi) Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments. g) Another theory is that children need to get exposed to common allergens, such as nuts and shellfish, from a much earlier age, to avoid developing allergies. vii) Some doctors have been recommending waiting until 2 or 3, but Ferdman at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a proponent of giving kids nuts very early. iii) This could occur through breastfeeding or an unintended exposure to highly processed foods in the Western diet that may contain hidden sources of the allergens. h) Cooking practices can also affect the development of food allergies. ix) For example, roasting a peanut enhances its allergenic potential compared to other forms of preparing peanut. x) Peanut allergy is more common in the U. S. where peanuts are roasted, as compared to China where peanuts are boiled. V. Is the fast food industry hurting our waistlines and our health? How? ) American emphasis on convenience and rapid consumption is best represented in fast foods such as hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks, which almost all Americans have eaten. b) By the 1960s and 1970s fast foods became one of America’s strongest exports as franchises for McDonalds and Burger Kings spread through the world (Klem 443). c) The effect of fast food chains was infectious; they had become accepted in American society. d) Traditional meals cooked at home and consumed at a leisurely pace gave way to quick lunches and dinners eaten on the run as other countries mimicked American cultural patterns. ) In some ways, American food developments are contradictory. f) Americans are more aware of food quality, yet are still eating unhealthy foods due to their increasing dependence on convenience, and are a lso regularly eating fast foods (Heymsfield 148). i) â€Å"It’s hard for people to give up traditions,† states nutrition expert, Kathy Johnson. g) Spurlock’s total immersion in fast food was a one-subject research study, and his body’s response a warning about the way we eat now. h) â€Å"Super Size Me† could be a credo for the United States, where people, like their automobiles, have become gargantuan. i) â€Å"SUVs, big homes, penis enlargement, breast enlargement, bulking up with steroids—it’s a context of everything getting bigger,† says K. Dun Gifford ’60, LL. B. ’66, president of the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust, a nonprofit organization specializing in food, diet, and nutrition education. i) Steven Gortmaker, professor of society, human development, and health at the School of Public Health, observes that the convenience-food culture is so ubiquitous that even conscientious parents have trouble s teering their children away from junk food. ii) â€Å"You let your kids go on a ‘play date,’† says the father of two, â€Å"and they come home and say, ‘We went to Burger King for lunch. ’† j) He notes that on any given day, 30 percent of American children aged four to 19 eat fast food, and older and wealthier ones eat even more. k) Overall, 7 percent of the U. S. population visits McDonald’s each day, and 20 to 25 percent eat in some kind of fast-food restaurant. v) But taking the family to McDonald’s for, say, Chicken McNuggets, French fries, and a sugar-sweetened beverage—a meal loaded with calories, salt, trans fats (the most unhealthy, artery-clogging fats of all, typified in â€Å"partially hydrogenated† oils), fried foods, starch, and sugar—makes Gortmaker shake his head. â€Å"I can’t imagine a worse meal for kids,† he says. â€Å"They call this a ‘Happy Meal’? † l) H umans can eat convenient, refined, highly processed food with great speed, enabling them to consume an astonishing caloric load—literally thousands of calories—in minutes. ) Gortmaker, Ludwig, and colleagues did research comparing caloric intake on days when children ate in a fast-food restaurant to days when they did not; they soaked up 126 calories more on fast-food days, which could translate into a weight gain of 13 pounds per year on fast food alone. m) Pumping up portion size makes good business sense, because the cost of ingredients like sugar and water for a carbonated soda is trivial, and customers perceive the larger amount as delivering greater value. vi) â€Å"When you have calories that are incredibly cheap, in a culture where ‘bigger is better,’ that’s a dangerous combination,† says Walter Willett. ) Furthermore, â€Å"Portion sizes have increased dramatically since the 1950s,† says Beatrice Lorge Rogers ’68, profe ssor of economics and food policy at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. vii) For proof, consider a 1950s advertising jingle: â€Å"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot/12 full ounces, that’s a lot. † Well, it’s not a lot any more. o) For decades, 12 ounces (itself a move up from earlier 6. 5- and 10-ounce bottles) was the standard serving size for soft drinks. viii) But since the 1970s, soft drink bottles have grown to 20 and 24 ounces; today, even one-liter (33. 8 ounce) bottles are marketed as â€Å"single servings. ix) It doesn’t stop there. The 7-11 convenience store chain offers a Double Gulp cup filled with 64 ounces of ice and soda: a half-gallon â€Å"serving. † Surely, the 128-ounce Gallon Guzzle is on the horizon. p) Soft drinks are becoming America’s favorite breakfast beverage, and specialty sandwiches and burritos for breakfast are fast-growing items, part of the trend toward eating out for all meals . q) The restaurant industry—which employs 12 million workers (second only to government) and has projected sales of $440. 1 billion this year, according to its national association—ranks among the nation’s largest businesses. ) Today, Americans spend 49 cents of every food dollar on food eaten outside the home, where, according to Rogers, they consume 30 percent of their calories. x) That includes take-out food (which some parts of the restaurant industry now style as â€Å"home meal replacement†). s) â€Å"In some ways, you can see obesity as the tip of the iceberg, sitting on top of huge societal issues,† says Willett. xi) â€Å"There are enormous pressures on homes with both the husband and wife in the work force. t) One reason things need to be fast is that Mom is not at home preparing meals and waiting for the kids to come home from school any more. ii) She is out there in the office all day, commuting home, and maybe working extra hours at night. xiii) This means heating something in the microwave or hitting the drive-through at McDonald’s. u) There really is a time issue—people do have less time. v) Technology may have entrenched that passivity, while making food preparation easier and faster. w) Three Harvard economists, professors of economics Edward Glaeser and David Cutler, and graduate student Jesse Shapiro, argued in a recent paper that improved technology has cut the time needed to prepare food, allowing us to eat more conveniently. iv) For example, in 1978, they note, only 8 percent of homes had microwave ovens, but 83 percent do today. Food that once took hours to prepare is now â€Å"nuked† in minutes. x) Technology can also change what we eat. xv) Potatoes used to be baked, boiled, or mashed; the labor involved in peeling, cutting, and cooking French fries meant that few home cooks served them, the economists point out. xvi) But now factories prepare potatoes for frying and ship them t o fast-food outlets or freeze them for microwave cooking at home. ) Americans ate 30 percent more potatoes between 1977 and 1995, most of that increase coming in the form of French fries and potato chips. z) In general, technology has enabled the food industry to do more of the work of preparing and cooking what we eat, increasing the proportion of processed victuals in the nation’s diet. xvii) Frequently, processing also folds in more ingredients; russet potatoes, for example, contain no added salt or oil, though most potato chips do. {) Within our laissez-faire system of food supply, the food vendors’ actions aren’t illegal, or even inherently immoral. viii) â€Å"The food industry’s major objective is to get us to intake more food,† says Gortmaker. xix) â€Å"And the TV industry’s objective is to get us to watch more television, to be sedentary. |) Advertising is the action that keeps them both successful. xx) So you’ve got two hu ge industries being successful at what they are supposed to do: creating more intake and less activity. xxi) And since larger people require more food energy just to sustain themselves, the food industry is growing a larger market for itself. † }) That industry spends billions of dollars on research, says Willett. xii) â€Å"They have carefully researched the exact levels of sweetness and saltiness that will make every food as attractive as possible,† he explains. xxiii) â€Å"Each company is putting out its bait, trying to make it more attractive than its competitors. ~) Food industry science is getting better, more refined, and more powerful as we go along. xxiv) They do good science—they don’t throw their money down the drain. ) What we spend on nutrition education is only in the tens of millions of dollars annually. xxv) There’s a huge imbalance, and it tips more and more in favor of the food industry every year. Food executives like to say, à ¢â‚¬ËœJust educate the consumer—when they create the demand for healthier food, we’ll supply it! ’ xxvi) That’s a bit disingenuous when you consider that they are already spending billions to ‘educate’ consumers. † ) The food industry itself has begun to make certain investments in the direction of healthier eating. xxvii) â€Å"In the future, I see a convergence between food and health,† says Goldberg. xxviii) â€Å"The food industry has been warned of the backlash that could hit them, like it did tobacco. ) He suggests that the food industry will become more responsive to consumers’ health concerns regarding issues like bioengineered ingredients in foodstuffs. ) People â€Å"want a diversity of sources for their food, and traceability of sources,† he says. ) â€Å"The bar code will become a vehicle not just for pricing, but for describing and listing ingredients. † ) Even fast-food chains are changing; in the past year, they reported a 16 percent growth in servings of main-dish salads. ) Willet sees no reason why healthy eating should not be as delicious and attractive as junk food, and the franchisers may be headed that way as well. xix) McDonald’s is currently testing an adult meal that includes a pedometer and â€Å"Step With It† booklet along with any entree salad. In its kids’ meals, Wendy’s is trying out fruit cups with melon slices instead of French fries. xxx) Yogurt manufacturer Stonyfield Farm has launched a chain of healthful fast-food restaurants called O’Naturals. ) Doritos themselves are getting healthier. xxxi) Fitness expert Kenneth Cooper, M. P. H. ’62, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, has been working with PepsiCo’s CEO, Steven S. Reinemund, to develop new products and modify existing items in a healthier direction. The company’s Frito-Lay unit last year eliminated trans fats from its salty offe rings. xxxii) Frito-Lay introduced organic, healthier versions of Doritos and Cheetos under the Natural sub-brand. † xxxiii) As a result, 55 million pounds of trans fats will be removed from the American diet over the next 12 months,† Cooper says. ) PepsiCo is in 150 countries, and many of their healthier products will soon be promoted throughout the world. ) Physical fitness is good business for the individual and for the corporation. † ) PepsiCo sells plenty of food and beverages from vending machines, many of them in schools. xxiv) â€Å"You don’t resolve the obesity problem in children by taking the vending machines out of schools,† Cooper declares. â€Å"Kids will still get what they want. xxxv) Put better products in the machines and get physical education back in the schools. † ) Accordingly, PepsiCo is stocking some school machines with fruit juices from its Tropicana and Dole brands, Gatorade, and Aquafina bottled water; others offer F rito-Lay products that meet Cooper’s â€Å"Class I† standard: no trans fats and restricted amounts of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Fast food has become a staple for many individuals. xxxvi) Though fast food was developed in the 1930s, it has peaked in popularity during the past two decades. ) According to CBS HealthWatch, at least a quarter of all Americans eat at McDonald’s once per day. 1) How have your own dietary practices changed over the years? 2) How have your dietary practices changed since taking a course in nutrition? How to cite What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago, Papers

Costing Model Evaluating Effectiveness of RFID

Question: Discuss about the Costing Model for Evaluating Effectiveness of RFID. Answer: Introduction Activity-Based Management (ABM) is defined as a method used in the internal analysis of a business aimed at identifying its activities and evaluating them on the basis of the cost incurred and the value added by the activities (Chung-Kai, Chun-Yu, 2017). The same study denotes that the main idea of ABM is analyzing the activities in relation to the business operation while identifying the possible opportunities for improving the profitability and efficiency of the business. On the other hand, Activity Based Costing (ABC) is a method of accounting that helps in identifying the activities performed by a business organization while assigning direct indirect costs to the product results of the activities (Ippolito et al., 2016). In other words, ABC as an accounting system helps in recognizing the relationship between products, costs, and activities in a relationship through which it enables the assigning of indirect costs to products that are less arbitrary than the traditional accounti ng methods. This paper evaluates and presents the importance of Activity Based Management and Activity Based Costing in a contemporary environment of a business. Uses of Activity-Based Management in an organization ABM is often known to be a procedure that begun operation in the 1980s as essential in analyzing a business process with the aim of identifying the weaknesses and strengths of the business. Kim, Han, Yi, and Chang (2016) points out that ABM mainly targets section of the business that are causing financial losses with the aim of eliminating or improving the activities or the areas to increase the business productivity and profitability. The same study denotes that ABM helps a business in analyzing the costs of equipment, facilities, employees, and overhead distribution in the business among other factors. Chung-Kai and Chun-Yu (2017) point out that ABM can be applied in different types of businesses organizations such as non-profit org., government agencies, service providers, manufacturers, and schools among other sectors. It is hence essential in providing the cost information of the business in all facets of its operation. The analysis of ABM involves the classification of business activities as non-value-added or value-added. In his study, Dimitropoulos (2007) denotes that value added activities has a positive impact on the business as it increases the perception of the customers towards the value they have on the products of the organization. On the other hand, non-value added activities forces the business to incur costs but has no positive influence on the perception of the customers towards the products offered by the organization. Once the evaluation process on the value of the organization is completed, the organization can then focus on the activities that add value to its businesses while eliminating or reducing those that add not value to the business. Forcina (2015) denotes that companies that utilize ABM may often rank the value addition in a chosen scale of either one to five or one to ten so as to demonstrate the various levels and degrees of the customers perception towards the value add ition of each activity. From the analysis, it is evident that Activity-Based Management has specific objectives that it aims at achieving within the organization. Trowbridge (2013) points out that ABM often targets at achieving two major objectives. These include identifying and enhancing value-added activities in different facets of the business, identifying and eliminating or reducing non-value added activities, and redesigning the operational procedures of the company. These goals when achieved will help the organization to improve efficiency, maximizing value-added activities, and cutting wasteful spending on the invaluable activities. Uses of Activity-Based Costing According to ElGammal et al. (2016), the use of Activity Based Costing is often adopted in manufacturing organizations as it helps in enhancing the cost of data reliability thus producing a better classification of costs the company has incurred while executing its processes of production. Runliang and Bingning (2015) also point out that this costing accounting system is often adopted in product costing, product line, and target costing analysis, service pricing, as well as the analysis of the customer profitability. The method of accounting is thus hugely popular as it helps businesses to develop a much better and effective corporate strategy and focus when costs are better grasped. According to cost accountants, using the traditional cost accounting methods can often obscure or hide information on the costs of individual services or products, mainly when the local rules of cost allocation misrepresents the actual usage of resources according to Spiewak (2012). In such a case, the adoption of ABC is driven by the need of understanding the true costs of individual services and products with more accuracy. In support of the concept, Adane, Abiy, and Desta (2015) denote that companies often implement activity based accounting with the aim of identifying unprofitable individual products, finding the true cost of products and services for proper pricing policy, and revealing unnecessary costs that are worth elimination. Activity Based Costing is thus essential in the enhancement of the costing process in three major ways. Zakka et al. (2016) denote that ABC helps in expanding the number of cost pools hence suitable for assembling the overhead costs. Instead of the accumulation of all costs within one companywide pool, ABC helps the company to pool costs through its activities. The resulting effect is that it creates new bases for the assigning of overhead costs to different items to enable the allocation of costs on the basis of the costs-generating activities instead of focusing on the volume measures such as direct labor costs or machine hours. In support of this idea, Charaf and Rahmouni (2014) denote that ABC accounting system alters the organizational nature of various indirect costs enabling them to be traced to certain activities. The examples of these indirect costs include inspection, power, and depreciation among others. In a systematic review, Park and Simpson (2008) denote that ABC can be adopted by an organization to identify wasteful products. The study reveals that every ABC method adopted by a company for similar costs to production performance hence allowing the business to have a clear understanding on the progress of the overhead costs. The study hence denotes that the data can be used in identifying unnecessary costs and wasteful products to enable the productive use of resources. Park, J., Simpson (2008) also denote that the process can as well be used in fixing prices of services and products that are incorrect or excessive. In other words, the overall products and the quality of services can increase as the data details presented from the ABC can help in identifying cost and production issues that need to be resolved. According to Elgammal et al. (2016), adopting ABC in a business helps in improving the process of business for the organization. The ABC system adopted helps in allocating indirect costs on the basis of the product cost driver or on the factors creating costs. In other words, as these costs are allocated per product, a picture begin emerging in evaluating the business process that performs well and which other process calls for improvement. Analysis of the trends identified In their review, Kihuba et al. (2016) point out that management methods and practices have changed over the last decade. The same study denotes that organizations are moving from vertical to horizontal management systems. It is denoted as a move from a functionally oriented to a process system orientation adopting the use of just-in-time, total quality management, and business process reengineering as horizontal management initiatives for improvement. These are initiatives that are designed with the aim of improving the working process of the organization while ensuring its activities efficiently and effectively exceed or meet the ever changing requirements of customers. Park and Simpson (2008) also denote that the management information systems of tracking and providing information concerning the business horizontal aspects have significantly lagged behind the needs of the management. Activity-Based Management is hence adopted as a trend in many organizations to fill the required information as it provides the cost and operating information that often reflects the horizontal view of the business (Kihuba et al., 2016). The focus of ABM in horizontal business view provides the accurate information on the cost of services, products, distribution channels, activities, projects, contracts, and customer segments. The trend of ABM adopted by many organizations hence makes the costs and operation information useful as it provides cost drivers, value analysis, and measures of performance that can initiate, support, or drive improvement efforts and better decision-making. Depending on the organization adopting the accounting system, the Activity Based Costing is adopted in different trends (Charaf Rahmouni, 2014),). For instance, in the manufacturing companies, most manufacturing companies divides the overhead costs within the business into various activity centers mainly the machining, assembly, and quality inspection activity costs. Tsai et al. (2015) point out that each of these three activity centers does possess associated factors or costs drivers that influence the costs. For example, the machining activity costs can take into consideration the processing hours or the machine while the total number of the parts used can be considered in the assembly activity costs. Knowledge integration From the analysis of different literature presented in this manuscript, the adoption of the Activity based Accounting and the Activity-based Management accounting tools are adopted by many organizations as opposed to the traditional accounting methods. ElGammal et al. (2016) point out that they are often viewed as an opportunity for achieving the desire of improving the costing accuracy mainly to get very closer to the true costs as well as the return on investment for programs and projects among other initiatives in the business. Kihuba et al. (2016) also denote that organizations which effectively and consistently use activity-based accounting are viewed as practicing activity-based management. In other words, the management adopts ABC in supporting pricing deleting or adding items from product portfolio, choosing between in-house and outsourcing production, as well as the evaluation of the process improvement initiative. However, Charaf and Rahmouni (2014) assert that implementing Activity Based Accounting requires the very detailed information on the specific company activities such as the services, products, and tasks together with complete and detailed information on the resources consumed by these activities such as labor, time, etc. In a strategic survey, Chen et al. (2014) denote that any organization or company considering implementing or already implementing ABM needs to identify that certain market factors or products might be beneficial to the organization. However, some factors may not lead to the desired successful implementation goals. As a result, ABM can be adopted by the organization to solve the dilemma of what factors to implement as it gives a better chance to establish a beneficial costing for a valuable business output. However, ElGammal et al. (2016) denote that the process often comes with a challenge as it difficult finding out what costs are relevant for a particular activity. At the same time, the individuals involved in the process may also be suspicious of the other colleagues charged with the responsibility of evaluation. Adane, Abiy, and Desta (2015) also denote that some areas tend to overlap increasing their complexity and difficulty of separating them in addition to ABM being a costly process. The Activity-based costing or activity-based accounting id often used as a way of allocating costs on the basis of a number of resources that a service or a product can consume. Zakka et al. (2014) denote that its adoption is often essential in business organizations which provide customized services or products. Te same study denotes that a customized environment of production in a business requires allocation of the ABC on actual indirect costs to specific products so as to identify the true cost of the product. In their study, Kujacic (2015) also denotes that the process of implementing ABC can be a very challenging task for every business as the process has got its opportunities and challenges of implementation as well. The adoption of Activity Based Costing often comes with challenges to the organization as some costs are often difficult to assign through this cost such as office staff salaries and management expenses when focusing on assigning them to a specific product produced as pointed out by Kali?anin and KneÃ… ¾evi? (2013). For this reasons, its use is mostly adopted in the manufacturing industries as denoted by the same study. Additionally, its process of implementation is quite expensive as setting up an effective ABC accounting system requires many procedures and takes a longer time. In the process of analyzing the business activities, they have to be broken down into the individual components of each activity. According to Charaf and Rahmouni (2014), the process will require using up other valuable resources in the process of data collection, measurement, and entry into the new system adopted. The same study denotes that the process may as well require the assistance of a consultant with effective skills in the specialization to ensure a proper setup of the ABC system and provide training to the employees on how it is used. With modern technology, Spiewak (2012) denotes that most companies are currently using software that also adds additional expense to the process of implementation but it can be used in automating most of the manual aspects required while using ABC. According to Diavastisa et al. (2016), the misinterpretation of data is often a common challenge for many businesses. ABC system produced reports often contain essential information such as the activity product margin that often varies from that reported while using the traditional cost methods. In other cases, the Activity Based Costing may contain some irrelevant information due to the decision-making scenarios adopted. For instance, Ippolito et al. (2016) denote that ABC should not be used for external reporting as it does not confirm to any recommended accounting standard. The same study denotes that since the traditional cost figures are often the norm, the interpretation of ABC data together with the regular information of accounting can be very confusing leading to bad decision-making. Conclusion ABM and ABC have caused a radical change in managing cost for the organizational resources and activities. Activity-Based Management is essential in supporting the organizational excellence as it provides information essential in facilitating long-term strategic decisions on issues such as sourcing and product mix. It helps the product designers in understanding the impact their different designs can cause on the flexibility and cost for the possibility modifying the designs accordingly. The ABM adoption in business supports the organizational desire for continually improving the performance of the organizations as it allows the management to evaluate and gain new insights into the productivity and performance. ABM hence focuses on permitting the management with the aim of creating behavioral incentives that can improve the different facet aspects of the business. On the other hand, Activity Based Costing is not a method of costing but a tool for better management of the organization. The tool is a one-off activity that measures the performance and the cost of resources, activities, as well as the objects that consume them so as to generate accurate and meaningful data or information for effective decision-making within the organization. The use of activity-based costing or costing can hence be adopted as an essential tool in gaining a cost advantage over business competitors while increasing efficiency in operational and strategic decisions that can, in turn, lead to improved financial performance and profitability. The impact of using ABC and ABM in businesses hence helps in boosting their financial performances. References Adane, K., Abiy, Z., Desta, K. (2015). The revenue generated from clinical chemistry and hematology laboratory services as determined using activity-based costing (ABC) model.Cost Effectiveness Resource Allocation,131-7. doi:10.1186/s12962-015-0047-7 Charaf, K., Rahmouni, A. F. (2014). Using importance performance analysis to evaluate the satisfaction of Activity-Based Costing adopters.Accounting Management Information Systems / Contabilitate Si Informatica De Gestiune,13(4), 665-685. Chen, H., Chiu, A., Huang, S., Chen, C. (2014). 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Formalizing and appling compliance patterns for business process compliance.Software Systems Modeling,15(1), 119-146. doi:10.1007/s10270-014-0395-3 ElGammal, W., Zakka, J. S., El-Kassar, A., Dandash, G. (2016). Reasons behind the non-application of the activity based management system in developing countries, case of Lebanon.Journal Of Developing Areas,50(3), 417-435. Forcina, A. (2015). An Activity based Costing Model for Evaluating Effectiveness of RFID Technology in Pallet Reverse Logistics System.AIP Conference Proceedings,1648(1), 1-4. doi:10.1063/1.4912791 Huang, S., Chen, H., Chiu, A., Chen, C. (2014). The application of the theory of constraints and activity-based costing to business excellence: the case of automotive electronics manufacture firms.Total Quality Management Business Excellence,25(5/6), 532-545. doi:10.1080/14783363.2013.820023 Ippolito, A., Boni, S., Cinque, E., Greco, A., Salis, S. (2016). Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing to Establish a Tariff System for Home Health Care Services.Journal Of Healthcare Management,61(6), 436-448. Kali?anin, D., KneÃ… ¾evi?, V. (2013). Activity-Based Costing As An Information Basis For An Efficient Strategic Management Process.Ekonomski Anali / Economic Annals,58(197), 95-119. doi:10.2298/EKA1397095K Kihuba, E, Gheorghe, A, Bozzani, F., English, M, Griffiths, U. K, (2016). Opportunities and challenges for implementing cost accounting systems in the Kenyan health system. Global Health Action,91-11. doi:10.3402/gha.v9.30621 Tsai, W., Tsaur, T., Chou, Y., Liu, J., Hsu, J., Hsieh, C. (2015). Integrating the activity-based costing system and life-cycle assessment into green decision-making. International Journal Of Production Research,53(2), 451-465. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.951089 Kim, Y., Han, S., Yi, J., Chang, S. (2016). Supply chain cost model for prefabricated building material based on time-driven activity-based management.Canadian Journal Of Civil Engineering,43(4), 287-293. doi:10.1139/cjce-2015-0010 Kujacic, M., Blagojevic, M., Sarac, D., Vesovic, V. (2015). The Modified Activity-Based Costing Method in Universal Postal Service Area: Case Study of the Montenegro Post.Engineering Economics,26(2), 142-151. doi:10.5755/j01.ee.26.2.2818 Park, J., Simpson, T. W. (2008). Toward an activity-based costing system for product families and product platforms in the early stages of development.International Journal Of Production Research,46(1), 99-130. doi:10.1080/00207540600825240 Runliang, D., Bingning, P. (2015). Managing risk for business processes: A fuzzy based multi-agent system.Journal Of Intelligent Fuzzy Systems,29(6), 2717-2726. doi:10.3233/IFS-151975 Spiewak, J. (2012). Activity-based costing as an innovative tool for the management of food processing enterprises in the kuyavian-pomeranian province. Studies Proceedings Polish Association For Knowledge Management, (61), 113-123. Trowbridge, M. m. (2013). Overcoming Legal Liability Concerns for Activity-Based Management for Business Activity Promotion.American Journal Of Public Health,103(11), 1962-1968. Zakka, J. S., El-Kassar, A., ElGammal, W., Dandash, G. (2016). Reasons behind the non-application of the activity based costing system in developing countries, case of lebanon.Journal Of Developing Areas,50(3), 417-435.

Rachael Carson Essays - Natural Environment, Biology, Pesticides

Rachael Carson Rachael Carson Would you want to know if the pesticides that were being sprayed on and around your homes would, in later years, cause cancer? That was Rachael Carson's intended purpose: to make the general public aware of the harmful pesticides used in and around their neighborhoods. Carson stated that chemical treatment of soils led to the destruction of beneficial biological species, and that such destruction resulted in imbalance to the ecosystem. In human safety, Carson pointed out the exposure to or ingestion of various products, each at individually safe levels, taken together, could lead to health problems (mental and cancer). Despite attempts by the chemical industry to dismiss Carson's science, her work is credited with beginning the American environmental movement, the creation of the Environment Protection Agency, and the 1972 ban on DDT. I don't believe that Rachael Carson had any weaknesses in her line of argument. She stated things that were clinically proven through extensive research that she concluded while working for seventeen years at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The only problem with her argument is that she was just ahead of her time with all the information she was uncovering about the chemicals that were being used. People didn't think about their health, they just thought how the pesticides were going to help them. All the people wanted to hear was the positive aspects of agricultural chemicals. Her language was put in simple terms and was straight to the point with her statements and facts. She did this to allow the general public to be able to absorb the information she provided for their benefit. I also believe she put her information in simple text so that she would not come off as a know it all scientist trying to become famous for her research. Instead she wanted people to feel as she was simply putting out the information for the people's benefit. ?We are subjecting whole populations to exposure to chemicals which animal experiments have proved to be extremely poisonous and in many cases cumulative in their effects. These exposures now begin at or before birth and ?unless we change our methods- will continue through the lifetime of those now living.? These important words of the renowned Racheal Carson will be heard ringing in our ears forever. Political Issues Essays

Explore why an understanding of politics is an essential element in fully understanding a specific aspect of contemporary leisure The WritePass Journal

Explore why an understanding of politics is an essential element in fully understanding a specific aspect of contemporary leisure Explore why an understanding of politics is an essential element in fully understanding a specific aspect of contemporary leisure IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction Surveillance and the politics of technological advances.‘Justice’. ‘Equality’. ‘Freedom’. These three words are largely associated with politics and can be dated back to the 14th centenary ancient Greece with philosophers such as Aristolote, where the concept of politics and social policies began. Political concepts and movements such as liberalism, feminism, socialism, Marxism and nationalism all fall underneath an umbrella term for political ideology. (Leach R, 2002) Political ideology is a construction of ideas that relates to power, economy and discourse which is classified by the political spectrum and create a discourse. These ideologies and discourses shape social norm’s that directly affect economic, social and cultural developments (Adams I, 2001) thus directly affecting each individual in different ways; one example would be ones leisure lifestyle. Leisure in Britain is principally a creation of modernisation and growth of capit al political systems. The Late 19th Centaury and the onset of the industrial revolution saw the occurrence of leisure in society, and in a modern economy is at most is the largest financial budgets of local authorities, and similarly 1997 saw the onset of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). (Roberts K, 2006) The definitions of leisure can evoke many different meanings which creates a paradigm of theories, however as Parker, 1981 suggested the nature of contemporary leisure is associated with freedom, free choice, free time, flexibility and self determination; these qualities thus make it independent from ‘work’ ethics (Rojek C, 2006) however do these qualities make leisure independent from politics, or is an understanding of politics crucial for engaging in leisure pursuits and do current discourse and policies affect our participation in leisure? Surveillance is a broad concept that can induce numerous meanings. Modern technologies mean that local communities and interpersonal interactions have led to a more diverse global community that can interact endlessly without even being on the same continent.   (Haggerty, KD Samatas, M, 2010) Therefore individuals whose leisure time consumes much of the net or tele-communications and lives in the UK could be being surveyed by the US government or my Gaddafi’s security force. The shift of leisure in the UK has turned from folk culture and mass culture to sub cultures and high culture, these shifts highlight modern technologies and the 20th centauries drive to consume. We now consume leisure time due to the inventions of modern technologies, of which modern interactions begin. (FIND REF) An ever growing modern twist in culture is the prevalence of Social networking sites such as Facebook, which since 2009 has over 250 million users that are regularly using the site. (Zuckerbe rg, M, 2009). The modern angle of Facebook ‘’embodies the big brother spirit of our generation †¦ [people] are okay with everyone knowing our personal affairs via Facebook, yet we highly protest (and rightfully so) the ever-increasing surveillance that has been imposed on our society post-September 11th.’’ (Kuerschner, J, 2006, pg165) Facebook is a ‘’virtual community that has grown tremendously in popularity †¦ [members begin by] creating a profile, then make connections to existing friends as well as those they meet though the site. A profile is a list of identifying information. It can include your real name, or a pseudonym. It also can include photographs, birthday, hometown, religion, ethnicity, [political views] and personal interest†¦Members uses the site for a number of purposes. The root motivation is communication and maintaining relationships.’’ (Dwyer C et al 2007 pg1) Profiles therefore uploaded onto Facebook are very personal; however there is a lack of concern about privacy. Facebook’s Privacy Policy shows evident that it fully complies with the TRUSTe’s Privacy Seal and the EU Safe Harbor Framework, making with legally compatible as a company, however, the privacy policy states that all applications and games are governed by third party businesses that have accessed to users information who use this application as well as the users friend list. On top of this Facebook had countless amounts of advertising partners and websites that also advertise through Facebook, therefore if a user responds to an advertising campaign then the data sharing is tracked to analyse how effective the advert has been, thus again third parties can gain access to personal information relatively easily.(Facebook, 2010) Access from third parties illustrates the Big Brother framework that is evident in modern society. TRUSTe’s Privacy Seal and the EU Safe Harbor Framework ensure that Facebook compels to abide by the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Act 1998 ensures the regulation of information processing rights given to individuals whose data had been obtained, held, used or discussed. (Legislation.Gov 2011)   The Data Protection Act contains 8 key principals; 1. Processed fairly and lawfully. 2. Obtained for specified and lawful purposes. 3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive. 4. Accurate and up to date. 5. Not kept any longer than necessary. 6. Processed in accordance with the data subjects rights. 7. That there are the proper technical and organisational procedures in place to protect the data against unlawful and unauthorised processing and accidental loss or damage 8. Not transferred to any other country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) without adequate protection in place. (DCMS, 2007) Facebook have legal obligations to comply with all the above principals, however, as Social networking sites were not around when the Data Protection Act 1998 was created and amended and some issues have been raised over the data protection rights of site users. Under the Data Protection Act the ‘data’ subject’ (that is the Facebook user) can ask the ‘data collected,’ (in this case that is Facebook), to remove or correct any information or data they are holding on that individual, as well as to prevent the data being used by third party applications. (Solicitors Regulation Authority, 2008) However a Marxist approach would suggest the economic foundation of Facebook and the financial success lies within the capital provided by the third party application which buys profile information to analyse consumer behaviour. However, a major row over the data protection rights of users was discovered by Channel 4’s Watchdog. The Programme reported an inci dent where a user wanted to deactivate their account, yet, Facebook still withheld personal information. On contacting Facebook, they said, ‘’ We give users the notice that the UK Data Protection Act requires in order to inform them about what information is collected. We also give users granular control over what information they share and who they share it with. However, the sites privacy policy states that to delete all data, would mean having to physically delete everything you have ever uploaded onto the site, as well as anything that other users have uploaded onto the site.   However, for a regular user, this would prove to be almost impossible. (King B, 2007) Even in 2011, with the Data Protection scandals ‘’If you deactivate your account†¦ your profile and all information associated with it are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. What this means is that you effectively disappear from the Facebook service. However, we do sav e your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc)’’ (Facebook, 2011a) Therefore although your account may seem to be deleted Facebook still encloses personal information and data, consequently understanding contemporary leisure in relation to politics is vital, as Facebook could contain personal data unless the users understand the Data Protection Act as well as their own personal Rights as a user. The Big Brother effect, mirrors discourses such as the ‘panopticon’ way of understanding of surveillance. Panopticon illustrates the hierarchical power distribution between who controls society and who is being controlled. Modern surveillances and conspiracy theories concerned with social networking all reflect a dystopian view that mirrors protection and privacy rights.   (Albrechtslund A, 2008) The modern shifts in technologies and the uprising number of people using social networking sites have meant that constant monitoring as a panoptic effect has become a part of every day life and the idea of the Orwellian society present in liberal societies. The idea of the Orwellian society through a panoptic lens shows how society is beginning to change from a disciplined society to one of control, organization and containment. The Panopticon surrounding social networking sites and privacy is concerned with the employment of information gathering of individuals in relation t o power and control. The ‘objective’ of the panopticon is to limit ‘unsociable’ behaviour, and as a result monitors, ranks and categorizes behaviours. A panopticon society in these terms is closely related to distribution of power linked in to creating a more orderly society. However, the enhancements made upon consumer profiling generated by third party advertising surrounding Facebook generates a power distribution that effectively controls consumer markets that is distributed through orders of power, thus the surveillance in relation to the internet is a innermost element of a capitalist society. (Campbell J Carlson M, 2002) Modern shifts in surveillance, especially, post September 11th, posted a contemporary shift from Panopticon to ‘Ban-Opticon’, Bigo suggested that a ‘Ban-opticon’ society refers to a constant state of emergency and originates from the International relations and suggestions of a ‘global in-securityâ₠¬â„¢ that leads to increased global surveillance to avoid future mass terror and destruction. (Bigo D 2006) Although hierarchies of power create a structured and postmodern view upon surveillance, social networking does induce forms of lateral peer-to-peer systems of surveillance. In terms of lateral peer-to-peer surveillance that forms through social networking privacy concerns are almost magnifies due to awareness the constant surveillance of significant others and colleagues. (Andrejevic M 2005) The awareness of being constantly surveyed will therefore bring around a false profile in term of how people present themselves and self-surveillance will come into effect. Self surveillance and not being able to present yourself as your own right thus again reiterates the Orwellian society. Power is a primary process in all societies; powered domination forms unified asymmetric power relationship between the dominant powered group or individuals and dominated groups or individuals. Facebook is a colossal field upon which power, counter-power and power struggles is exhibited. Facebook accumulates millions of personal data which manufactures economic capital and power. Facebook users however can not directly influence managerial decisions or policies, thus creating asymmetric power relationship. (Fuchs C, 2011) In terms of power relations users within the UK contain a sense of power through their own knowledge of The Human Rights Act 1998. The Human rights Act of 1998, give everyone the right to their personal privacy and family life along with his correspondences. The Act says there shall be no surveillance or interferences of personal privacy except for circumstances where the law may be being exempted, public safety is being breeched or for the privacy protection and f reedom of others. (BBC, 2000) An example through users exercising their Human Rights of Privacy shows methods where the users have tried to counter-power decisions by suing a method called cyber-protest. Changes to Facebook issued in 2009 began huge protest amongst Facebook users, who referred to the changes in privacy as a ‘’Stalker track down feature’’ (Facebook, 2011b) In 2009 Facebook officials made a controversial decision to retain all information about a user, even if there account was deactivated, however Facebook and privacy protesters counter-powered this decision into making Zuckerberg (the creator of Facebook) to withdraw the changes of the legal policy and privacy settings as a consequence Facebook deleted all online remaining evidence of deactivated accounts.   However, if you do require all data to be deleted, this has to be achieved individually, on a separate basis, to confirm the request, however many users do not know about this as the y do not read the sites privacy policy. Cyber protest’s over tele-communication infrastructure such as Facebook creates a social movement that generates media attention. Facebook in particular creates a level playing field of freedom of speech that ‘’globalized and decentralizes’’ (pg276) issues that fabricate, replicate and distributes knowledge and resistance to produce a mass socio-political movements. (Fuchs C, 2006) Therefore being a cog into the way political ideologies and polices are created and amended. Surveillance and privacy in terms of Social Networking sites like Facebook creates a paradigm of power relations ranging from cyber protest to containment of data. The value surrounding privacy rights of personal information is difficult as in the eyes of the law it is difficult to establish data as property, as a consequence it’s hard to define unlawful processing of personal information. Sites like Facebook have gained economic and capital power due to containment of the ‘ownership’ of users personal information. (Bennet C Raas C 2007) Concepts of peer-to-peer and participatory surveillance that creates self-surveillance again form an in-depth value or what Privacy and Surveillance relates, The Orwellian suggests that the idea of self-surveillance through propaganda creating a dystopian society controlled through a modern surveillance government. Around 20% of employers use Facebook as a tool or ensure employees are of the correct social category, they are poli tically correct and give the company a positive image. (Havenstein, H 2008). References Albrechtslund, A. (2008). Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance. Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet . 13 (3), http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2142 Andrejevic M, 2005. â€Å"The work of watching one another: Lateral surveillance, risk, and governance,† Surveillance Society, volume 2, number 4, pp. 479–497, and at surveillance-and-society.org/articles2(4)/lateral.pdf, accessed 10/04/2011 Adams, I. (2001) Political Ideology Today, University Press: Manchester BBC (2000) ‘Human Rights Act 1998: What the Articles Say’ BBC News [online] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/946400.stn#top Bennett, C Raas, C (2007) The Privacy Paradigm ‘The Surveillance Studies Reader 22 pgs338-353 Bigo, D. (2006). Security, Exception, Ban and Surveillance . In: Lyon, D Theorizing Surveillance; The Panopticon and Beyond . Devon: Willan Campbell J Carlson M. (2002). Panopticon.com: Online Surveillance and the Commodifaction of Privacy. Journal of broadcasting Electronic Media. 46 (4), 586-606. DCMS (2007)   Data Protection Act 1998 what it means to you DCMS [Online] culture.gov.uk/images/freedom_of_information/106698_dataprotection.pdf pg1 [accessed 2/05/2011] Dwyer C, Hiltz S Passerini K. (2007). Trust and Privacy Concern within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and MySpace. Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2007 Proceedings. 1-12pg. Facebook . (December 2010). Facebook’s Privacy Policy. Available: facebook.com/policy.php. Last accessed 31/03/2011 Facebook (2011a) ‘Frequently Asked Questions – I want to permanently delete my account.’ Facebook [online] facebook.com/help/faq/ [accessed 3/05/2011] Facebook. (2011b). Facebook users protest AGAINST the new STALKER TRACKDOWN FEATURE. Available: facebook.com/group.php?gid=353942026657. Last accessed 17/04/2011 Fuchs, C. (2006). The self-organization of cyberprotest. In ‘The internet society’ 2006. Ashurst: WIT Press. Fuchs, C (2011). Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies. Oxon: Routledge. Haggerty KD Samatas M. (2010). Introduction: Surveillance and Democracy: An unsettled Relationship. In: Haggerty KD Samatas M Surveillance and Democracy. Oxon: Routledge. 1-17 Havenstein, H (2008). One in Five Employers Use Social Networks In Hiring Process’ Computer World [online] computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasicarticleId=9114560. [accessed 3/05/2011] King, B (2007) Facebook data protection row, The social networking site faces an investigation from UK privacy watchdog after a complaint from a Channel 4 News viewer. Channel 4 News [online] channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/facebook%20data%20protection%20row/1060467.html [accesed 29/04/2011] Kuerschuner, J (2006) Big Brother is on the Facebook. Mercher Street [online] nyu.edu/cas/ewp/kuerschnerbig06.pdf [accessed 31/03/2011] Leach, R (2002) Political Ideology in Britain ‘in’ Contemporary Political Studies ‘eds’ Benyon, J. Palgrave: New York Legislation.Gov (2011) The Data Protection Act 1998 Legislation.Gov [Online] Legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/29/contents [accessed 1/05/2011] Roberts, K (2006) Leisure in Contemporary Society, CABI: Oxford Rojek, C. (2006) Leisure and Consumption: Journal of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies 30(2) pp.475-487 Solicitors Regulation Authority (2008) ‘Facebook – Privacy and Data Collection’ Teacher Stern Solicitors [online] http://teacherstern.com/documents/Facebook.pdf [Accessed 30/4/2011] Zuckerberg, M . (2009). The Facebook Blog: Now Connecting 250 Million People. [Online: Facebook] Available: facebook.com/blog.php?post=106860717130. [Last accessed 31/03/2011]

The Human Body in Renaissance Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Human Body in Renaissance Art - Essay Example As the paper stresses  the Ancient Greek and Roman arts prompted fantasy amongst the renaissance arts leading to the preoccupation with the body offered a stark in comparison to the medieval tradition. The Renaissance arts also exhibited high levels of the value of spirit as compared to flesh thus medieval artists had intensively worked in terms of abstract and two-dimensional linear model that elaborated a deemphasized corporeality.This study highlights that there had been huge dissatisfactions amongst the earlier approach thus the fifteenth-century artists borrowed intensively from the body-conscious excellence undertaken by the ancient Greek and Roman sculpture that drew intensive inspiration from the predominant portrayal of nudity and application of massive drapery that showing articulation of the body. The renaissance arts exhibited strong inclinations towards the revelation and concealing of the limbs and torso parts.  Renaissance sculptures hugely recognised the perfected classification of mathematical ratios that aided in the process of presenting beauty to the ideal beauty of ancient art. The idea created increased levels of fascination amongst the Renaissance artists. They majorly unlocked the process through the adoption of the intense analysis of the ancient texts and also creating intensive propping of survival works of art.  There are an outlined indication that Mantegna borrowed critical insights from Greek and Roman sculptures and the beauty of the ancient art.

Critical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Critical Analysis - Essay Example Healthcare expenditure of the United States constituted almost 17% of the GDP. Healthcare costs rise at a rate faster than the income of the nation. Healthcare costs are expected to rise in future. A control in the rise is the need of the hour as healthcare costs are negatively affecting the growth and economic stability of the nation. Even though health care systems of America are benefited from the investments in healthcare, the heavy increase in healthcare costs, increasing federal deficit and the general economic slowdown are negatively affecting them. Medicare, Medicaid and other health-insurance coverage sponsored by employers are extremely burdened with increasing healthcare costs. Family premiums available for healthcare coverage sponsored by employees also increased, putting trouble on workers as well as employers. Income of workers is growing at a fast rate when healthcare costs are increasing at a fast rate. Medicare and Medicaid and other government systems contribute a b ig chunk of healthcare expenses. However, compared to private insurance government programs are increasing at a slow rate. Enrolment in government programs have increased significantly because of economic recession. Expenditures of government programs have increased considerably these days. The high spending figures is putting government programs under great pressure. Affordable Care Act or The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act signed by US president in 2010 is considered as a highly beneficial healthcare reform (Mantel 221). It is a far-reaching and useful healthcare reform. It is expected to bring good result like what Medicare did. This Act makes the Health and Human Services (HHS) department to offer essential health benefits to people. These benefits should be dispensed through health plans, covering the plans that include in the health insurance markets. However, this process that extends

Democratic Peace Theory and Georgia

Democratic Peace Theory and Georgia Georgias decision to launch an offensive attack against Russian personnel occupying the contested regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia seems to contradict the theoretical underpinnings of the Democratic Peace Theory. However, further analysis of Georgias and Russias regimes reveals some of the criticisms of the theory itself and their impact on the Intelligence Communitys (IC) ability to provide warning in the region. The Democratic Peace Theory states that democratic states do not go to war with each other, or at least, are much less likely to. The basis of this theory is two-fold: first, that democracies are like-minded in fiscal and political polices and that democratic political culture makes going to war less likely, and second, that political constraints on leaders of democratic states discourage the use of force as a foreign policy option.[1] In his book, Democracy and International Conflict: An Evaluation of the Democratic Peace Proposition, James Lee Ray further describes the cultural and structural explanations of democratic peace: Disputes between states do not escalate to war because the leaders expect, on a basis of common culture, to be able to work out their differences, and that greater decisional constraints [i.e., political structure] on a leader produce a lower probability that a dispute involving the state will escalate to war.[2] Additionally, studies have argued that when dem ocratic leaders do choose to escalate international crises, their threats are taken as highly credible, since there must be a relatively large public opinion for these actions.[3] In August 2008, Georgia and Russia, both democratic countries, went to war over two disputed regions within the borders of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, that had long been sources of conflict. South Ossetia and Abkhazia also have established, democratic governments, although Georgia does not recognize the government of South Ossetia as legitimate. Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, all had coexisted relatively peacefully under Soviet control. Conflict over the desire for independence by the territories and nationalism by Georgia had erupted after the break-up and had been simmering since then, with Russia quietly supporting the regimes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in a covert attempt to assimilate first the population, then the territory into the Russian Federation.[4] The conflict impacts stability in the region, which has implications for the safety and control of major oil pipelines, roads and railways between Russia and Armenia and between Georgia and Russia through South Ossetia. Support to Georgia, as an emerging democracy in the region and a member of the coalition in Afghanistan, puts the U.S. at odds with Russia, which is counterproductive to stability in the region and even globally. Given the cultural and structural explanations of the Democratic Peace Theory, the conflict between two democratic states can be explained through criticisms of the theory. First, one of Dean Babsts four indicators of a democracy is the country must have been independent.[5] Georgia was part of the Soviet Union until gaining independence in 1991, and the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not agreed upon by the international community. Georgia, despite its independence, is still in the process of establishing state sovereignty within an ethnically divided nation. Next, the vulnerability of democracy is a criticism of the theory.[6] President Mikheil Saakashvilis election in 2008 was hotly contested, and it threatens to unhinge the real progress Georgia has made towards institutional, democratic and economic reform from 2004.[7] Additionally, the leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church has proposed a constitutional Monarchy to guarantee stability.[8] Therefore, Georgias infant dem ocracy, after it spent years under a communist regime, is far from security. Finally, Spencer Weart stated wars have never occurred between well-established democracies.[9] However, he does not delineate what constitutes a well-established democracy. Georgia has operated as a democracy for almost two decades and fulfills Babsts other three indicators of a democracy.[10] While Russia is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy, Freedom House lists Russia as not free based on the Kremlins stage-managed parliamentary election campaign, Putins move to Prime Minister after two terms as president, and an alarming increase in state power over civil society.[11],[12] The point at which Georgia and Russia can be considered democracies that will not go to war with each other is vague. Therefore, the United States and the IC cannot apply the Democratic Peace Theory to the conflict in Georgia. In order for the IC to assess the threats to U.S. interests in Georgia, analysts must predict Georgias willingness to resort to armed conflict with Russia over the disputed regions. Georgia has troops in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and they are politicking heavily to become part of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).[13] In this sense, they are striving to become part of the international democratic community. If Georgia is part of the EU and NATO, then any action they take against Russia would require support on the part of other member nations. The United States assisted Georgia in their efforts against Russia, specifically through airlift. However, U.S. combat and combat support forces did not deploy to the region due to undesirable outcomes from United States combating Russian forces. While Georgia continues to present itself as a U.S. ally, the IC needs to provide warning to U.S. policy makers of any impending conflict in the Russian occupied regions. President Obama needs to use other national instruments of power to resolve the dispute or stabilize relations between Georgia and Russia in order to avoid going to war with Russia over a civil conflict within a sovereign state. The Democratic Peace Theory seems to be well supported when applied to states which have both the cultural and structural aspects of democracy. However, it falls short of establishing criteria to consider a country truly democratic despite giving indications of democracy. Georgia and Russia, both newly democratic states, cannot be viewed through the lens of the theory, especially in light of the recent trend towards authoritarianism by Russia. With Russia occupying regions in Georgia and declaring them independent states, the IC must continue to analyze relations between the two states and provide warning to policy makers in the United States. References James Lee Ray, Democracy and International Conflict: An Evaluation of the Democratic Peace Proposition (Studies in International Relations), p. 30, Columbia: Univ Of South Carolina Pr, 1998. Ibid. Democratic Peace Theory , Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_peace_theory (accessed November 30, 2009). The Georgia-Russia conflict: lost territory, found nation, Open Democracy, http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-georgia-russia-conflict-lost-territory-found-nation (accessed November 30, 2009). Ray, Democracy and International Conflict, p. 12. Ray, Democracy and International Conflict, p. 204. Robert Parsons, Mikheil Saakashvilis bitter victory. Open Democracy (January 2008), http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/mikheil_saakashvili_bitter_victory (accessed November 30, 2009). Giorgi Lomsadze Time for a King for Georgia? Eurasia Net (October 2007), http://www.eurasianet.net/departments/insight/articles/eav 101207a.shtml (accessed November 30, 2009). Ray, Democracy and International Conflict, p. 35 Ibid., p 12. Russia, Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia (accessed November 29, 2009). Freedom in the World Russia (2008), Freedom House, www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/ fiw/inc_country_detail.cfm?year=2008country=7475pf (accessed November 30, 2009). Ambassador Batu Kutelia (lecture, National Defense Intelligence College, Washington, D.C., October 5, 2009)