History of Western Art Essay

It entered into the register in 1593 and was there for a period of 47 years. Venus is the goddess of love, while Adonis is a handsome mortal. The woman image (Venus) is seen, assisted by a small child, trying to restrain Adonis from setting off. The woman is naked while the man is in a hunter’s attire. Some hunting dogs are also seen by the man’s side. This painting shows only a small part of Adonis and Venus. The artist focused only on the two characters; Venus wanting Adonis’ embrace but Adonis is refusing and this is clear in the painting. It can also be seen that behind her, there are some flowers and a small thicket. In this painting the artist has tried to use the least poses or none at all. This makes it unique from most other paintings. Another ingredient of the uniqueness of this painting is that the artist has fairly restricted the gestures belonging to the two hovering figures. He has actually used calmness in such a situation that is so emotional. Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe (1863) This was first presented to the salon in 1863. There is minimum use of lines. A naked woman with two men seated together in an absurd manner. At the background is another image of a woman slightly bending and appears to be bathing and facing the two men and the woman. The background is also dark as compared to the foreground. In fact, the woman looks brighter than anything else. The naked woman has her clothes spread all over with some food stuff in a basket at the lower side end, while one of her legs is stretched towards one of the men’s own space. How these two men are seated suggests that they have no business to do with the woman and they seem to be communicating with each other. Being ignored, this woman chooses to just look at the viewer shamelessly. On the other hand, the two men are in attire which is actually decent and it probably was fashionable during this period. And contours here have not been used; the artist has utilized light and paint. It is evident that a viewer’s emotional response will be determined by the image of the naked woman and at the first glance, will be left wondering about the situation that these two men are in; nicely dressed men sitting next to a blatant woman who has not even a single piece of a covering on her body, in fact on an open. Grande Odalisque by Ingres Created in 1814, it fit into the romanticism of between 1750 and 1850. It was fist shown in salon in 1819. It again has an image of a naked woman lying in something like a sofa and also posed in an unhurried manner. She has a small head, looking at the viewer, and a stretched out arms and legs. She has only shown her back and small part of her breast in the ingress painting; it is polished smoothly on the surface and has simple contours drawn round in a rhythmic manner. The eventful material by the woman’s side complements the smooth body planes. The painter seems to be bringing out a relationship between colors and tone in a way that it is hard for one to forget. During this period, the concubines had a duty of merely satisfying sultan’s bodily pleasures. For this purpose, the artist has symbolically elongated the area around her pelvis. Furthermore, the way this woman has posed and her position in relation to her pelvis is an illustration of how deep and complex the emotions and the thoughts of the woman are. The romantic founders cast-off some common approaches and looked for freedom of expression through their art work. By doing this, they concentrated much on freedom in self-expression, mantic love, individualism, and adventure. Another dominant concept they used is the inspirational idea of dealing with pain, terror, power and darkness. This, of course, is not difficult for humans. Hence romantic artists have engaged a variety of styles and ways in their work even in neglecting the strict academia. This is displayed by Ingress in his Grande Odalisque work. From the above, it can be seen that the three images differ in some way. First, how the paintings are done differs from one another. For instance, while we are have wide use of lines and contours in Grande Odalisque, minimal of these features are employed in the Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe. another. The difference is that, the images were produced at different times and hence their themes are also different and each has a theme that is in line with the period it was created. Thirdly, we have different artists for the different images and as such since every artist has a different taste from another, definitely their work will be different. In as much as these differences exist, there are also similarities between these images. It is clear in all images that romance has been the major, or one of the major, themes and in every case the main character is a woman. Another major similarity is the nudeness of the women in every image. With all these, I still disagree that these nudes were consistent with the general trends of the period. This is because at some instances, the nudes behaved in a very awkward manner such as staying completely naked in public, and leaving the viewer questioning their moral standards. The difference is as a result of the fact that the artists have different ways of symbolizing events ant ideas and, as said earlier, they have different tastes. The similarity is as a result of the fact that each of the artists wants to divert from the tradition of the academic style and wants to embrace freedom. Every artist in these three images has shown the woman to be the major character and a suitable object of bringing out the real feeling of what each of them wants to communicate. Nudeness was actually such an enduring subject in western art because every one of the images tries to bring out a theme in the best way possible and every artist did not want to be left behind and subject of the nudes had to be considered by them. References Calley G. K. , (2000). â€Å"Romanticism†. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Blockbusters and Star Wars Essay

If one views the top grossing films of all time, it becomes easy to see that most of the films rely heavily on computer generated images, whether to enhance live action or the animation of popular animated features. Many cinematic experts cite the fact that blockbusters in the last thirty years have relied increasingly on special effects to the point that they overshadow the plot, which in essence becomes superfluous. However, this is hardly the case, and most blockbuster films feature plotlines and ideologies that date back to the earliest days of cinema when special effects were scarce. One of the most popular film franchises in history, Star Wars contains not only special effects that helped change movie making, but it also features a plot with many of the same elements as classic western films, including the ideological battle of good versus evil, the wild frontier, and archetypal characters. In the first few years of its existence, cinema was nothing more than a novelty that possessed little artistic value. The idea of moving images was more than enough to attract audiences, though like all novelties, the public would soon grow weary of the invention without the efforts of men like Edwin S. Porter. Undoubtedly, Porter can be said to be the creator of the first blockbuster in movie history, with 1903’s The Great Train Robbery. The film advanced filmmaking in many regards, as not only the first western, but also by incorporating action, violence, frontier humor, color, special effects, and a full-screen closeup of a bandit firing his pistol at the audience. While a short film featuring only one reel of action, it soon led to the proliferation of the nickelodeon as the most popular and commercially successful film of the pre-nickelodeon era, establishing the idea that film could be a commercially-viable medium. This realization that films could make money would eventually become the driving force behind the Hollywood film industry, and the conventions of the western would serve as the perfect template for plots to the present day. When the Hollywood studio system emerged in the 1910s and 1920s, films were produced much in the way of automobiles, with an assembly line mentality and factory-based production operations that allowed the studios to dominate the movie industry in the U. S. and abroad. The impact of the western formula on the success of film was apparent and by the mid-1920s, nearly half of Universal Studio’s annual output of feature films was westerns. After remaining the most profitable genre of film for decades, by the 1960s the western had peaked both as a viable Hollywood commodity and as a national myth to ease America’s rural-urban transformation, in part brought low by a combination of market saturation and generic exhaustion. However, many of its familiar conventions would find their way into the plots of some of the biggest blockbusters in history. Over seventy years after Porter’s blockbuster, George Lucas would also change the face of cinema, relying on the basic plot techniques developed through the evolution of the western. Stars Wars is credited as ushering in not only the era of dominating special effects, but also remains one of the highest grossing blockbusters of all time, with a worldwide box office take of $797,000,000, not to mention another few billion from its subsequent sequels and prequels. While Star Wars contains amazing artistry in the scale and scope of its special effects, its plot still relies on the simple conventions of the western film, which are designed to be accessible to all audiences. Often considered the first blockbuster to star one of cinema’s greatest icons, John Wayne, the film Stagecoach is an adult drama that had deep roots and moral lessons that helped make it a timeless classic, whose plot is about a group of strangers thrown together on a journey and put under stress so that the strengths and weaknesses of the character within them is revealed; this same basic formula has been seen in blockbuster films like Apollo 13 and the biggest blockbuster in history, Titanic. While both of these later films are heavy with special effects, they feature these proven plot techniques, much like Star Wars. The first time viewers see the heroic Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, it almost looks like a scene from a western. The classic desert landscape, the flat, expansive land and the big sky are all classic icons of the western genre. It is this vastness that is a key characteristic in Star Wars and westerns. Specific settings for westerns include lonely isolated forts, the isolated homestead, the jail, or small frontier towns that are forming at the edges of civilization. Luke, much like the young heroes of westerns, yearns only to get off the farm and lead a life of greater excitement. It is only when the Empire storms through and kills his family is he forced to become a man and take on the evil forces conspired against him. Usually, the central plot of the western film is the classic, simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast-paced action story: â€Å"It is normally rooted in archetypal conflict – good vs. bad, virtue vs. evil, white hat vs. black hat†¦ Often the hero of a western meets his opposite â€Å"double,† a mirror of his own evil side that he has to destroy† (Dirks). For Luke, the good, his opposition is Darth Vader, the evil. This point is even illustrated by the color of the clothing they wear, as Luke dresses in white and Vader is decked out in ominous black. This element of good versus evil, or white hat versus black hat is a key to western films and make it easy for viewers to delineate between good characters and bad characters is traditionally easy in conventional western movies. There is little question as to who the good guys and bad guys are. And, this is even seen in Luke’s sister, Leia, who begins the movie wearing an all-white dress. The white clothing of Luke and Leia link them through their apparent goodness, even though it is not revealed until later that they are brother and sister. The only character that is seen in both white and black is Han Solo, who wears a white shirt with a black vest. Unlike Luke and Leia, Han has elements of mischief and is also an outlaw. The white shirt signifies his goodness, while the black vest hints of his less than admirable qualities–his greed, selfishness, and willingness to deal with shady characters. When Han is introduced into the movie, he kills an alien within the first few minutes. According to author Stephen D. Greydanus, this scene is typical of western films: â€Å"The saloon shootouts, of course, come from that other great American mythology, the Western. (So does Han Solo’s general cowboy look and demeanor. ) By the 1970s, though, the Western no longer enjoyed the hold on the popular imagination it once had, though its influence has continued to be felt in films [like] Star Wars†. With all the element of classic westerns, including cowboy-type characters, evil villains, and a plot filled with action, it would only seem appropriate that Star Wars also possessed a classic theme, as many popular westerns do. However, Han’s goodness is finally known and he becomes one of the rebels’ greatest assets and is one of the movie’s best examples of a western style cowboy. While Star Wars could be considered a western set in space, it certainly possesses more elements and intricacies of plot than are given credit. While none of the conventions are new, they helped infuse the modern blockbuster with the spirit of old Hollywood, to very profitable results. A few true westerns have become blockbusters in the past thirty years, most notably Dances with Wolves, which grossed $424,200,000 worldwide, and featured many of the same elements as Star Wars, including good versus evil, the encroaching omnipresent technological power, and the perseverant hero. Ironically, Dances With Wolves even won the Academy Award for best film, beating out the film Goodfellas, which actually ended with an homage to Edwin S. Porter’s original western; it featured one of the most sinister mobsters in the movie shooting his gun directly at the audience at the end of the film, almost exactly duplicating the ending of Porter’s film. This just goes to show that regardless of what genre today’s Hollywood blockbusters fall under, the plot elements of the American western permeate most, from the simple battle of good versus evil to the ultimate victory enjoyed by the pure-hearted hero. Bibliography All-Time Worldwide Box office, Internet Movie Database, 2008, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Dirks, Tim, The Great Train Robbery (1903), The Greatest Films, 2008, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Dirks, Tim, Western Films, The Greatest Films, 2008, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Eyman, Scott and Gianetti, Louis, Flashback: A Brief History of Film, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1991. Greydanus, Steven D. , An American Mythology: Why Star Wars Still Matters,† Decent Films Guide, 2007, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Levy, Emanuel, Oscar History: Western Genre–Best Picture, EmanuelLevy. com, 2008, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Lucas, George. Star Wars. Hollywood, CA, Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Schatz, Thomas, Cowboy Business, The New York Times, November 10, 2007, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Schatz, Thomas, Studio System, Film Reference, 2007, retrieved 2 April 2008, . Williamson, Ed, John Wayne’s First Blockbuster Movie, Epinions, 2002, retrieved 2 April 2008, .

How the threat of an imminent fiscal cliff is directly related to Research Paper

How the threat of an imminent fiscal cliff is directly related to income inequality - Research Paper Example The whole problem was triggered by the quarrel over tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% percentage of Americans. It can be argued that the prospects of the future global economy depends much on the debate circling to distribution of income or equality among all sections of the society. The republicans support the tax cuts on the argument of the role played by income in the development of incentives. They argue that the role of the government is not ecstatic in managing the money of the tax payers. They put the example of the CEO who may feel the disincentive on working harder if the government levies a tax of 10% more on his income. The Republicans states the money that is paid by the tax payers can be more efficiently invested in profitable investments instead of wasting the amount in the inefficient programs of the government. Research question How the threat of an imminent fiscal cliff is directly related to income inequality? Literature Review The law makers of the country are facing three unattractive options. They can keep the policy on hold till the beginning of next year. With the implementation of the policy the spending rates are anticipated to go down and therefore the economy will again be on the verge of inflation. Again the deficit of the current balance is anticipated to fall as well. They can opt for the middle course which would address the issues of the budget to a certain extent and will also have modest impact on the rate of growth. Two dimensions can be put forwarded regarding the inefficiency of the government. The spending in the public sector cannot be identified as waste because some of the expenditures roll out to the private sector as well. In some cases the roll is large enough. Moreover some profitable investments can only be done by the government. An individual cannot be held responsible for his resources and the same individual can be held responsible for the choices he makes. It is undoubted that the policy maker will opt for the pro grams that bring equalization in the society rather than increase the taxes for the wealthiest population. The term economic inequality is used to define the gap between the rich and the poor. The disparities in distribution of the economic assets among individuals or groups of population are regarded as economic inequality (World Bank, 2005, p. 27-28). There are many causes for economic inequality and primary of them being the differences in wages and salaries of the employed. Inequality in the labor market leads to concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. Some of the other causes are racial inequality, gender inequality, tax loopholes and increasing costs of education. The distributive inefficiency gets reduced by economic inequality. Inequality acts to reduce the total personal utility. The simplest form of measuring inequality arranges the entire population from poorest to the richest and pictures the percentage of spending attributable to either quintile or decile of th e arrangement. One of the most popular measures on inequality is Gini coefficient (Cullis and Koppen, 2007, p. 2-3). It ranges from 0 showing perfect equality to 1 showing perfect inequality. It is derived from the Lorenz curve which also arranges the population from the poorest to the richest. The Lorenz curve is drawn using the cumulative proportion of the population and the cumulative expenditure on the horizontal and the vertical axis

A Trench Fill Foundation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

A Trench Fill Foundation - Assignment Example Since the ground condition has firm clay, therefore there is a need to consider the depth of foundations. Clay exhibits the property to shrink or contract depending on the moisture content present in it (Kenneth, 1993:25). At the same time, if the surrounding area has trees, there is a possibility that the trees would absorb the moisture from the clay and hence, the foundation may experience settlement to a significant level. For this case, it is essential to consider the depth of the foundation. A trench fill foundation is thus ideal for this type of site condition. Research suggests that â€Å"trench fill foundations are quicker to prepare than deep strip foundations. This means that there is less disruption once the building work starts and not as much labour time will be needed. It is less likely that subsidence will occur in cases where there may be changes in the soil's substrata† (Mosley & Bungey, 2000, 48).   The site has different ground conditions and has different soils. Thus, it has a weak bearing capacity. For this purpose, the ideal foundation would be strip, grid or mat foundation. In this case, the suggested foundation is mat foundation. Because of varying ground conditions, majority of the isolated footings would have large areas and thus, it would become uneconomical (Terzaghi et.al, 2006, 256)l. According to the British Code, â€Å"Where the subsoil is very weak the load needs to be spread over a greater area. This is achieved by casting a slab of concrete over the whole ground area and thickening the slab where walls are to be placed†(Perry & Perry, 2009, 118). The design of any reinforced concrete structure aims at a suitable and economical design and for this purpose, mat foundation is ideal. A mat foundation is often used by designers when isolated footings may overlap with one another (Fleming et.al, 2005: 198). A mat foundation is considered to be that type of foundation, which is placed over the entire area. It comprises of reinforced concrete slab, which would be laid over the uneven ground and thus, it would bear the load of the entire structure.   Mat foundation is also ideal for this type of ground condition because of differential settlement. The aim of the mat foundation is to minimize differential settlement (Coduto, 2001, 289). The massive loading of the structure can cause the soil to compress and thus, the structure may experience settlement. For this purpose, the mat is used as an option in order to distribute the entire loads of the buildings and to remove differential settlement.   

Prospectus Regulation is it a Misleading Tool for Investors Essay

Prospectus Regulation is it a Misleading Tool for Investors - Essay Example H) RECOMMENDATION BY ESME REPORT 2. I) FUTURE CHANGES 4. CONCLUSION 5. REFERENCES 1) INTRODUCTION 1) A. PROSPECTUS REGULATION -2005 Prospectus regulation1 came into effect from 1st July 2005 based on Section 2(2) of European Communities Act 1972 in relation to issuing of prospectus offering transferable securities to public through listing of securities / shares in the respective stock exchanges of the home country (Legislative.gov.uk, 2005). Only an approved prospectus can be offered to the public. The Prospectus Directive (PD) is required to be reviewed every 5 years by the European Commission (Lannoo, 2007). On 25th January 2011, the PD was reviewed and amendments were submitted which was approved. This is the first review that has taken place since the Prospectus Regulation came into effect since 2011. 1) B. EXEMPTIONS AND CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL Securities are exempted from offer to public if – The offer is made to Qualified Investors only The offer is made to less than 100 investors other that the qualified investors Minimum consideration per investor should be at least 50,000 Euros. The transferable securities are denominated in amounts of 50,000 Euros The total consideration should not exceed 100,000 Euros. The prospectus shall be approved only if the following criteria is strictly met by the companies which includes- UK will be the home state where the transferable securities are to be listed The prospectus contains all information related to assets and liabilities, financial statements, the rights of transferable securities. The prospectus needs to be submitted in comprehensible format, non-technical language and also includes a summary, and risk factors. 1) C. SUPPLEMENTORY PROSPECTUS Supplementary prospectus is one which includes significant new factors, corrections due to material mistakes or omissions relating to information included in the prospectus approved by the authority. 1) D. PASSPORTING A prospectus which is approved by another state outside UK where the company is going for issue of transferable securities after getting necessary approval from competent authority. Here the competent authority has to provide with the following documents for approval – certificate of approval, copy of prospectus and translation of summary of specified prospectus. 1. A prospectus can be published only with some types of securities that are either offered to the public or are requested for admission on a regulated market (Legislative.gov.uk, 2005) 1) E. SUSPENSION OF TRADING AND OFFER TO PUBLIC If the competent authority feels that a particular provision has been infringed then it has the power to suspend issue of securities / advertisement of offer for a period not exceeding 10 working days. The aforesaid authority also has the power to require the offeror to with draw the offer of issue to public in case of breach of regulations. Similarly, after listing of shares on respective bourses, if the competent authority finds in fringement of provision, then it can inform the market operator to suspend trading in the stock for 10 working days or even in that matter prohibit public from trading in the securities till further notice. 1) F. INVESTOR RIGHTS An investor who has agreed to subscribe for shares in circumstances where the final offer price is not mentioned in the prospectus, then the investor can withdraw his acceptance before the withdrawal period which begins at investors acceptance and ends the second day after the competent aut

Marketing Plan (Project about product) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Plan (Project about product) - Essay Example This would be done by live demos as well as online advertisement. Besides, this, we are including a depreciation cost of $5000 which includes depreciation of equipment as well as that of patents and copyrights. We also need to provide after-sales support to our clients to help them use the software and troubleshoot any bugs that arise. To start the business, we are aiming to acquire funding of $500,000. As shown in the balance sheet, apart from the usual assets in the business, the major assets of the business shall be patents and copyrights on our software and the software in the inventory. It is assumed that we shall keep a ready stock of 20 ready-to-deploy software copies in our stock. Also, we are assuming that 20% of the sales will be on credit as well as 20% of the expenses will be payable by us. At the first stage, we need to define the marketing goals for our business. For our software product, we have defined specific goals that we plan to achieve from our marketing program. Since we are just starting the business, as an overall marketing goal, we want to become the pioneers of producing and selling social CRM software for manufacturers of outdoor gears. Specifically, we would like to achieve the sales figure mentioned in the financial projection in terms of both sales amount and sales units. Further, since we are launching a unique product, we do not have any existing competition. However, we can set a target for ourselves to convince at least 10% of the existing outdoor gear manufacturers in using our software. If we achieve this target, we shall be able to meet our sales projection goals. As a further step for product awareness and publicity, we would want that at least 60% of our target market is aware of our product. Once we have established these goals, we need to define measures to evaluate our performance and identify the gaps. As a further step, we need to find out the causes of these gaps. To evaluate our

Diplomacy And the International System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Diplomacy And the International System - Essay Example On the one hand, it was implied that the global process of regionalism had to take Europe as a model and as an outcome. On the other hand, regionalism in itself came to be considered a political project, and regional integration around the world was viewed as a desirable and ‘good’ outcome to complement and support global governance.† + Luk Van Langenhove & Daniele Marchesi (2008), Lisbon Treaty and the Emergence of Third Generation Regional Integration, As the changes required by the Lisbon Treaty are currently being implemented by the EU, the essay will first discuss the new relationships of foreign policy decision making articulated in the treaty with reference to the historical context. Particularly, this method will explore the conflict of relations between a nation’s foreign policy as defined by domestic goals, the requirements of other treaty and charter-based organizations such as NATO and the UN, and the new EU foreign policy structure based on unan imity. The requirements of unanimous decisions in foreign policy will be further discussed in relation to dissent, and the way dissenting states can use their influence in EU foreign policy decision-making to influence or change policy. The essay will provide evidence from research built from historical documents and official statements of political leaders in order to review the practical application of policy in the EU foreign policy decision-making process. III. Cohesion in EU Foreign Policy after the Lisbon Treaty The first aspect to consider in reviewing the effect of the Lisbon Treaty on an integrated EU foreign policy based on consensus and unanimity is how the new accord relates to the Treaty of Maastricht, the Treaty of Nice, the Treaty of Rome, and other fundamental accords of... This essay approves that it is significant that the Treaty of Lisbon requires the unanimous decision of EU member states in undertaking foreign policy decisions and that all use of military force be equally approved by consensus. This acts as a fundamental limit to power in EU authority, and forces the building of community around core European secular values such as democracy, freedom, elections, human rights, and others that represent the best of the evolutionary thought of these nations’ collective history. The Treaty preserves the right of member nations to dissent, but the â€Å"newness† of the Lisbon Treaty makes it less certain as to date how this will influence the policy decisions and actions taken by the EU. This report makes a conclusion that the positioning of the shared values of European history as the rationale behind a progressive and safeguarding form of international government in foreign policy has a wider popular understanding and political support in the grass roots than is commonly assumed, and in this manner, the EU may actually be representative of a wider movement in history rather than a top-down, technocratic imposition. The real test of the union is found in situations where nations like Germany are forced to submit to and accept policies that go against their national state interest in favor of the larger interest of maintaining the progress of European unity, as in the recent financial crises. However, domestic political interests may prohibit the efficient use of EU military power in the future in ways unforeseen by current analysis, forcing the EU leadership into only accepting policy positions with broad consensus, a position well suited for a limited supra-nationa l government in guardianship of the civil rights of society.

Development of the professional role Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Development of the professional role - Essay Example I have selected this episode of practice, individualized care, because it is the section I took most of my time learning and had a vast experienced and involvement with other practitioners. I will use Gibbs Reflective Cycle to discuss this episode, my experiences, my actions, and lessons learned during the practice. Through the use of Gibbs Reflective Model, I will address clinical decision making, management, leadership and teamwork, delegation and supervision of others, quality assurance, and continuing professional development. I will address the above mentioned themes in relation to Gibbs Reflective Cycle of how I have developed in these areas during my training to date. I will also use Gibbs Reflective Cycle to demonstrate my fitness to practice and reflect on my personal and professional development, and the skills needed to be utilized in order to enhance my practice. The Gibbs Reflective Model is a six step cycle structured method which enables the students to explore their feelings and thoughts and encourages an action plan and analysis with the aim of challenging practice and improving knowledge (Brown 2007). The aim of this reflection will focus on individualized care for a patient of a man, who I will not mention the name in order to protect his anonymity. The reflection will equally examine my feelings and thoughts, evaluations, and critical appraisal of the care given to the patient in line with the National Health Service. While on placement in Emergency and Accident Department, I was assigned a patient under individualized care, to record his follow-up vital signs and document my findings on a chart. I was supposed to observe any deterioration and report and discharge or recommend referrals where possible as a health professional in charge of ensuring safe and effective discharge of patients from the hospital to their homes. This reflection is aligned with the policies established by the 2010 Quality Health Framework. The

Social network security is seriously threatened Dissertation

Social network security is seriously threatened - Dissertation Example The paper has gone to an inch to determine the level of importance is given to the privacy setting and its resultant security and safety. The results revealed that users of SNS, though considers that matter significantly important; however, have limited information about the dimensions from where these privacy fences are broken. The paper also concludes that despite understanding of a considerable level about the lacking strength of privacy setting of the SNS, the users still post information as established by Lee, Park, and Kim (2013).Furthermore, users of SNS have dominant view to stop limit the usage of SNS for sharing private information once the understanding of the malware is developed. TABLE OF CONTENTS WOULD SOCIAL NETWORK INTERCONNECTION THREATEN USER’S PRIVACY? 1 ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.5. CHALLENGE 14 3. METHODOLOGY 16 4. DATA ANALYSIS 19 6. LIST OF REFERENCES 32 7. APPENDIX 37 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background Social media has taken the driven seat in the current era of technology. ... here users are more deeply connected than ever before without any limitations, in most cases, as depicted below: (Merrill et al., 2011) In addition to the array of benefits that social media offers to range of users including individual, public figures as well as businesses, social media is also complimented with the risks and issues. Kirkpatrick (2011) in the book, The facebook Effect, has noted that social media has changed the entire phenomenon of interaction. The impact of social media has gone to an extent that it is driving the character of political figure as well as the democratic process. For instance, the presidential campaign of Obama employed data mining, analytics and reporting program under the leadership of Rayid Ghani, a Pakistani former employee of Chicago’s Accenture Technology Labs which in turn resulted in Obama wining an election with head to head margin (Imam, 2013). The analytical and data mining tools employed in the campaign for Obama and other individ ual and businesses at one end benefits the user but at the same time it also threatens risk to the privacy of the account holders of social networking sites (SNS). Lee, Park, and Kim (2013) claim that SNS users have awareness of the security, privacy and other types of risks associated with SNS but sharing of contextual information on SNS is more induced by the perceived benefits from these sites. 1.2. Aims and Objectives Having mentioned the risks that are associated with the SNS sites, the paper herein aims to develop the review of the awareness level about the intensity of the risks from SNS interconnection. Therefore, the research has set forth the following objectives for the study: Exploring the types of the risks that are associated with the interconnection of the Social Networking Sites.

Could Islamic Banking help avert the financial crisis Essay

Could Islamic Banking help avert the financial crisis - Essay Example Also, the focus will be on the Islamic economy to bring out how such factors will bring stability that the world is in need of (In Ahmed, In Asutay & In Wilson, 2014). The world could be in the midst of financial crisis which puts a lot pressure on the world’s economic recession. Islamic credit brought a lot of worries and confusion in that period of 2007 when economic depression was experienced making United States’ markets to rupture. An experience of the economic crisis is very threatening in that it brings into a stand still all the economic development due to increased prosperity and employment especially in the western economies and more so this leads into too much loss in the world economy (Kettell, 2011). Examining this topic will help in the understanding and appreciating of the roles of banking in diverse backgrounds (Kim & McKenzie, 2010). This can help borrow some knowledge in terms of rules and regulation that govern the banking activities in Arabic countries which can then be implemented in our banks. For example, Islamic banking holds fast on the principles of Sharia Law in which it is characterized by prevention of interest application on the loans given, and more so limiting excessive financial speculation (In Ahmed, In Asutay & In Wilson, 2014).The study of this topic gives me an understanding of international finance in that it gives the major causes of financial crisis, it impacts and also its effects (El, 2011). The financial crisis of 2007 had two major effects to the United States. First is that banks were unwilling to give or lend money which in turn increased the prices of borrowing. For example, the bonds that had been issued against different mortgages turned down $1.9 billion, in just a year, to $500 million in the year 2008 (Venardos, 2010). Second is that very many financial institutions became devastated, especially in the private finance initiative industry, single-line insurers

Media Effects Body Image Essay Example for Free

Media Effects Body Image Essay Over the past 10 years, mass media and the access to social networks has evolved substantially causing the effects of negative self-image and what is considered beautiful. Body image expectations for both African-American male and female share the battles of society’s expectations, yet African American women body images come with a stricter and more unhealthy stigma; growth of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter brings these expectations of self-image into our homes and our children minds. â€Å"The Internet is easily the most pervasive form of mediated communication that we encounter in our lives. Even traditional forms of mass communication drive us toward the Internet† (Bryant, Thompson Finklea, 295). Social networks influences negative self-image and expectations of what is beautiful to society. Beauty expectations has a long standing history into our lives, but comparing the increase in body augmentations, extreme dieting and even bulimia nervous in our generation is heavily related to mass media. Over exposure to social networks may contribute to the development of low discrepancy for sexual desire with partner, negative views toward self-body image, and even the need to seek illegal avenues for plastic surgery. As humans, we tend to rate ourselves pretty harsh and I believe social media networks have caused an increase for the expectations of body image. Recently, the media has had a huge impact on relationships, the proper raising of children and especially the ideal body that an African- American woman should have. Although, I do highly believe that we should improve woman’s health, I also know that every person doesn’t look like the model we see on television. In the African American culture, recently, it has been a turn of times and the media thin-ideal is being curvy within our community. Every new music video and social media networks put the black woman with the tiny waist with huge thighs and butt as the perfect woman. The impact of the  media is causing a change in African American women views on their lives, body and overall expectations as what a black woman should look like. It is well known that obesity and being curvier than other races is well documented withi n society, yet it’s now becoming an issue with our society to enhance these features that we are so well known for. Even for the common thin-ideal woman that is often portrayed in the media is typically 15% below the average weight of women, representing an unrealistic standard of thinness (tall, with narrow hips, long legs, and thin thighs) (Johnson, Tobin, Steinberg, 1989). Yet within the African American culture, video vixens promote their bodies as a sign of owning who they are and controlling the situation regardless of what they may have on. Still another perspective is that of Melyssa Ford, â€Å"the highest paid video girl to date† (Byrd and Solomon, 2005) who describes her vulnerability on video shoots, objectification by men, and the process of reclaiming power over her own body, which she describes as her commodity. Without denial, Melyssa Ford is a well-educated woman and one of the few vixens who have used her body to open doors to new opportunities, but believing her body is the golden ticket is the main issue that I have with the media influence. These contrasting perspectives demonstrate the complexity of issues (e.g., the range of perceptions about woman’s objectification) and pose critical questions for scholars who seek to understand contemporary Black women’s experiences (Byrd and Solomon, 2005). The idea that the African American woman has been created as an object and should have a particular body to be accepted into their culture as the ideal African American woman. Black culture has always been the more voluptuous curves in women, yet those women were considered cornbread fed and the ones who weren’t blessed with these assets, didn’t go out their way for unethical surgical practices. The social media negative influence on African American women growing up within the 21st century has made it seem the simple life is depending on the curves of your body, instead the knowledge of your mind and the power in your beliefs. Proper parenting is started at home, yet with social networks being such a part of our children’s lives, the media is also in the homes. In the process of the media influence, I believe the importance of the media understanding the black culture and the expectations of a woman’s curves also cause many medical issues that we are associated with, such as: Type I and II diabetes,  high blood pressure and obesity. With overweight being accepted in most black families homes, the media and social networks should deter as much as possible from promoting the oversexed woman is the ideal woman. The effect social networks has on the children coming behind us is powerful and I believe the power of the media should be used more effectively. There is evidence that social media influences behaviors at home because women such as Ford promotes her body as her job, just as woman who is a part of the corporate community, but her body expectation is for her job, natural African American women are not all curvy. I had the opportunity to speak with several close friends who utilize social networks as often as I do and I wanted to know their take on their own body image when looking at different women on Facebook or Instagram. Do they feel the need to conform and seek that particular body? Do they feel less beautiful that moment when looking at these women? Although all of them stated they didn’t feel any less beautiful and was comfortable within their skin, they did state it causes them to want to stay in the gym more or avoid a meal for the sake of staying the â€Å"ideal body type† as an African American woman. But 2:3 of the women claimed they did have a lower sexual discrepancy when it came to being with their mates and questioned themselves during sexual intimacy after looking at these women. 1:3 of the women even resulted in having plastic surgery for a breast implant after seeing the changes in a models career off of Instagram because she felt like this would increase her chances of finding a husband. â€Å"Social comparison theory is one of the few theories that are commonly used by mass communication scholars to understand the relationship between media exposure and body image dist urbance† (Zhang, Dixon Conrad, 266). The ideal African American woman portrayed in the media and on social networks is difficult, almost impossible, for the majority of the women if you want to live a normal, healthy life. When you have a certain type of body within the African American community, the woman seems to be more glorified by men and catches the attention quickly. Yet, often African American women who have curvy shapes find themselves not liking the attention because of comments. The effects of lower discrepancy are basically the lack of compatibility between two individuals and this may increase with the harsh media influence. I believe social networks and media influence has caused African American women to want a voluptuous body  because apparently this is what gets a man attention. â€Å"Stice and Shaw (1994), suggested that as women internalize the thin-idea/media image, they tend to experience heighted body dissatisfaction, set unrealistic body dimension goals, and ultimately engage in disordered behaviors designed to achieve the thin-ideal body image (Hawkins et al, 2004). The increase of plastic surgery within the Black American culture probably has increased within the last five years due to the wanting of large buttocks and smaller waist which media makes to believe this is what a Black woman should look like. The media so- called expectations of the perfect African American woman can’t be the only problem when it comes to the issues the culture experiences toward wanting a certain look. Possibly, the future research will get the attention of media and social media executives to realize their power over the younger generations to develop positive influences and promote healthier lifestyles. In this research, I was able to find that African-American women often compare themselves to images on social networks and although it causes them to work out more, it isn’t necessarily causing a healthier lifestyle and positive self-body image. Works Cited Bryant, Jennings, Susan Thompson, and Bruce W. Finklea. Fundamentals of Media Effects. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print. Byrd, Ayana, and Akiba Solomon. Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips and Other Parts. New York: Penguin Group, 2005. PsychINFO. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. . Hawkins, Nicole, P. Scott Richards, H. Mac Granley, and David M. Stein. The Impact of Exposure to the Thin- Ideal Media Image on Women. University of Houston- PsychINFO. Taylor Francis, Inc., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. Johnson, C. L., Tobin, D. I., Steinberg, S. L. (1989). Etiological, developmental and treatment considerations for bulimia. Special issue: The bulimic college student: Evaluation, treatment and prevention. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 3(2-4), 57-73. Stice, E. Risk Factor for Eating Pathology:

Coffee and Starbucks Essay Example for Free

Coffee and Starbucks Essay had enjoyed phenomenal growth and become one of the great retailing stories of recent history by making exceptional coffee drinks and selling dark-roasted coffee beans and coffee-making equipment that would allow customers to brew an exceptional cup of coffee at home. The Starbucks brand was regarded as one of the best known and most potent brand names in America and the company had firmly established itself as the dominant retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in North America. It already had over 1,500 stores in North America and the Pacific Rim and was opening new ones at a rate of more than one per day. Sales in fiscal year 1997 were a record $967 million and profits reached an all-time high of $57. 4 million. The companys closest competitor had fewer than 300 retail locations. And since going public in 1992, Starbucks has seen its stock price increase nearly ninefold. Exhibit 1 contains a summary of Starbucks key performance statistics for the 1992–97 period. Company Background Starbucks began in 1971 when three academics—English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker—opened a store called Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice in the touristy Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The three partners shared a love of fine coffees and exotic teas and believed they could build a clientele in Seattle much like that which had already emerged in the San Francisco Bay area. Each invested $1,350 and borrowed another $5,000 from a bank to open the Pikes Place store. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker chose the name Starbucks in honor of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick(so company legend has it), and because they thought the name evoked the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders. The new companys logo, designed by an artist friend, was a two-tailed mermaid encircled by the stores name. The inspiration for the Starbucks enterprise was a Dutch immigrant, Alfred Peet, who had begun importing fine arabica coffees into the United States during the 1950s. Peet viewed coffee as a fine winemaker views grapes, appraising it in terms of country of origin, estates, and harvests. Peet had opened a small store, Peets Coffee and Tea, in Berkeley, California, in 1966 and had cultivated a loyal clientele. Peets store specialized in importing fine coffees and teas, dark-roasting its own beans the European way to bring out their full flavor, and teaching customers how to grind the beans and make freshly brewed coffee at home. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker were well acquainted with Peets expertise, having visited his store on numerous occasions and spent many hours listening to Peet expound on quality coffees and the importance of proper bean-roasting techniques. All three were devoted fans of Peet and his dark-roasted coffees, going so far as to order their personal coffee supplies by mail from Peets. The Pikes Place store featured modest, hand-built nautical fixtures. One wall was devoted to whole-bean coffees; another had shelves of coffee products. The store did not offer fresh-brewed coffee by the cup, but samples were sometimes available for tasting. Initially, Siegel was the only paid employee. He wore a grocers apron, scooped out beans for customers, extolled the virtues of fine, dark-roasted coffees, and functioned as the partnerships retail expert. The other two partners kept their day jobs but came by at lunch or after work to help out. During the start-up period, Baldwin kept the books and developed a growing knowledge of coffee; Bowker served as the magic, mystery, and romance man. 1 The store was an immediate success, with sales exceeding expectations, partly because of a favorable article in the Seattle Times. In the early months, each of the founders traveled to Berkeley to learn more about coffee roasting from their mentor, Alfred Peet, who urged them to keep deepening their knowledge of coffees and teas. For most of the first year, Starbucks ordered its coffee beans from Peets, but then the partners purchased a used roaster from Holland and set up roasting operations in a nearby ramshackle building. Baldwin and Bowker experimented with Alfred Peets roasting procedures and came up with their own blends and flavors. A second Starbucks store was opened in 1972. By the early 1980s, the company had four Starbucks stores in the Seattle area and could boast of having been profitable every year since opening its doors. But the roles and responsibilities of the cofounders underwent change. Zev Siegel experienced burnout and left the company to pursue other interests. Jerry Baldwin took over day-to-day management of the company and functioned as chief executive officer; Gordon Bowker remained involved as an owner but devoted most of his time to his advertising and design firm, a weekly newspaper he had founded, and a microbrewery he was launching (the Redhook Ale Brewery). Howard Schultz Enters the Picture In 1981, Howard Schultz, vice president and general manager of U. S. operations for Hammarplast—a Swedish maker of stylish kitchen equipment and housewares—noticed that Starbucks was placing larger orders than Macys was for a certain type of drip coffeemaker. Curious to learn what was going on, he decided to pay the company a visit. The morning after his arrival in Seattle, Schultz was escorted to the Pikes Place store by Linda Grossman, the retail merchandising manager for Starbucks. A solo violinist was playing Mozart at the door, with his violin case open for donations. Schultz immediately was taken by the powerful and pleasing aroma of the coffees, the wall displaying coffee beans, and the rows of red, yellow, and black Hammarplast coffeemakers on the shelves. As he talked with the clerk behind the counter, the clerk scooped out some Sumatran coffee beans, ground them, put the grounds in a cone filter, poured hot water over the cone, and shortly handed Schultz a porcelain mug filled with the freshly brewed coffee. After three sips, Schultz was hooked. He began asking the clerk and Grossman questions about the company, about coffees from different parts of the world, and about the different ways of roasting coffee. Next, Schultz met with Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker, whose offices overlooked the companys coffee-roasting operation. The atmosphere was informal. Baldwin, dressed in a sweater and tie, showed Schultz some new beans that had just come in from Java and suggested they try a sample. Baldwin did the brewing himself, using a glass pot called a French press. Bowker, a slender, bearded man with dark hair and intense brown eyes, appeared at the door and the three men sat down to talk about Starbucks. Schultz was struck by their knowledge of coffee, their commitment to providing high-quality products, and their passion for educating customers about the merits of dark-roasted coffees. Baldwin told Schultz, We dont manage the business to maximize anything other than the quality of the coffee. 2 Starbucks purchased only the finest arabica coffees and put them through a meticulous dark-roasting process to bring out their full flavors. Baldwin explained that the cheap robusta coffees used in supermarket blends burn when subjected to dark roasting. He also noted that the makers of supermarket blends prefer lighter roasts because they allow higher yields (the longer a coffee is roasted, the more weight it loses). Schultz was struck by the business philosophy of the two partners. It was clear from their discussions that Starbucks stood not just for good coffee, but rather for the dark-roasted flavor profiles that the founders were passionate about. Top-quality, fresh-roasted, whole-bean coffee was the companys differentiating feature and a bedrock value. It was also clear to Schultz that Starbucks was strongly committed to educating its customers to appreciate the qualities of fine coffees, rather than just kowtowing to mass-market appeal. The company depended mainly on word-of-mouth to get more people into its stores, then relied on the caliber of its product to give patrons a sense of discovery and excitement. It built customer loyalty cup by cup as buyers of its products developed their palates. On his trip back to New York the next day, Howard Schultz could not stop thinking about Starbucks and what it would be like to be a part of the Starbucks enterprise. Schultz recalled, There was something magic about it, a passion and authenticity I had never experienced in business. 3 Living in the Seattle area also had a strong appeal. By the time Schultz landed at Kennedy Airport, he knew he wanted to go to work for Starbucks. Though there was nothing in his background (see Exhibit 2) that prepared him for the experience, Schultz asked Baldwin at the first opportunity whether there was any way he could fit into Starbucks. The two quickly established an easy, comfortable rapport, but it still took a year of numerous meetings and a lot of convincing to get Baldwin, Bowker, and their silent partner from San Francisco to agree to hire Howard Schultz. Schultz pursued a job at Starbucks far more vigorously than Starbucks pursued him. There was some nervousness at Starbucks about bringing in an outsider, especially a high-powered New Yorker, who had not grown up with the values of the company. Nonetheless, Schultz continued to press his ideas about the tremendous potential of expanding the Starbucks enterprise outside Seattle and exposing people all over America to Starbucks coffee—arguing there had to be more than just a few thousand coffee lovers in Seattle who would like the companys products. Schultz believed that Starbucks had such great promise that he offered to take a salary cut in exchange for a small equity stake in the business. But the owners worried that by offering Schultz a job as head of marketing they would be committing themselves to a new direction for Starbucks. At a spring 1982 meeting with the three owners in San Francisco, Schultz once again presented his vision for opening Starbucks stores across the United States and Canada. He flew back to New York thinking a job offer was in the bag. But the next day Baldwin called Schultz and indicated that the owners had decided against hiring him because geographic expansion was too risky and because they did not share Schultzs vision for Starbucks. Schultz was despondent; still, he believed so deeply in Starbucks potential that he decided to make a last-ditch appeal. He called Baldwin back the next day and made an impassioned, though reasoned, case for why the decision was a mistake. Baldwin agreed to reconsider. The next morning Baldwin called Schultz and told him the job of heading marketing and overseeing the retail stores was his. In September 1982, Howard Schultz took on his new responsibilities at Starbucks. Starbucks and Howard Schultz: The 1982–85 Period In his first few months at Starbucks, Schultz spent most of his waking hours in the four Seattle stores—working behind the counters, tasting different kinds of coffee, talking with customers, getting to know store personnel, and educating himself about the retail aspects of the coffee business. By December, Jerry Baldwin decided that Schultz was ready for the final part of his training—roasting coffee. Schultz spent a week at the roaster examining the color of the beans, listening for the telltale second pop of the beans during the roasting process, learning to taste the subtle differences among Baldwin and Bowkers various roasts, and familiarizing himself with the roasting techniques for different beans. Meanwhile, he made a point of acclimating himself to the informal dress code, blending in with the culture, and gaining credibility and building trust with colleagues. Making the transition from the high-energy, coat-and-tie style of New York to the more casual ambience of the Pacific Northwest required a conscious effort on Schultzs part. One day during the busy Christmas season that first year, Schultz made real headway in gaining the acceptance and respect of company personnel at the Pikes Place store. The store was packed and Schultz was behind the counter ringing up sales when someone shouted that a customer had just headed out the door with some stuff—two expensive coffeemakers it turned out, one in each hand. Without thinking, Schultz leaped over the counter and chased the thief up the cobblestone street outside the store, yelling Drop that stuff! Drop it! The thief was startled enough to drop both pieces and run away. Schultz picked up the merchandise and returned to the store, holding up the coffeemakers like trophies. Everyone applauded. When Schultz returned to his office later that afternoon, his staff had strung up a banner that read Make my day. 4 Schultz was overflowing with ideas for the company. Early on, he noticed that first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores because of their lack of knowledge about fine coffees and because store employees sometimes came across as a little arrogant. Schultz worked with store employees on developing customer-friendly sales skills and produced brochures that made it easy for customers to learn about fine coffees. Schultzs biggest idea for Starbucks future came during the spring of 1983 when the company sent him to Milan, Italy, to attend an international housewares show. While walking from his hotel to the convention center, Schultz spotted an espresso bar and went inside to look around. The cashier beside the door nodded and smiled. The barista (counter worker) greeted Howard cheerfully, then gracefully pulled a shot of espresso for one customer and handcrafted a foamy cappuccino for another, all the while conversing merrily with those standing at the counter. Schultz judged the baristas performance as great theater. Just down the way on a side street, he entered an even more crowded espresso bar, where the barista, whom he surmised to be the owner, was greeting customers by name; people were laughing and talking in an atmosphere that plainly was comfortable and familiar. In the next few blocks, he saw two more espresso bars. When the trade show concluded for the day, Schultz walked the streets of Milan exploring espresso bars. Some were stylish and upscale; others attracted a blue-collar clientele. What struck Schultz was how popular and vibrant the Italian coffee bars were. Most had few chairs, and it was common for Italian opera to be playing in the background. Energy levels were typically high, and the bars seemed to function as an integral community gathering place. Each one had its own unique character, but they all had a barista who performed with flair and exhibited a camaraderie with the customers. Schultz was particularly struck by the fact that there were 1,500 coffee bars in Milan, a city about the size of Philadelphia, and a total of 200,000 in all of Italy. His mind started churning. Schultzs first few days in Milan produced a revelation: The Starbucks stores in Seattle completely missed the point. Starbucks, he decided, needed to serve fresh-brewed coffee, espresso, and cappuccino in its stores (in addition to beans and coffee equipment). Going to Starbucks should be an experience, a special treat; the stores should be a place to meet friends and visit. Re-creating the Italian coffee-bar culture in the United States could be Starbucks differentiating factor. Schultz remained in Milan for a week, exploring coffee bars and learning as much as he could about the Italian passion for coffee drinks. In one bar, he heard a customer order a caffe latte and decided to try one himself—the barista made a shot of espresso, steamed a frothy pitcher of milk, poured the two together in a cup, and put a dollop of foam on the top. Schultz concluded that it was the perfect drink, and thought to himself, No one in America knows about this. Ive got to take it back with me. 5 Schultzs Growing Frustration On Schultzs return from Italy, he shared his revelation and ideas for modifying the format of Starbucks stores with Baldwin and Bowker. But instead of winning their approval, Schultz encountered strong resistance. Baldwin and Bowker argued that Starbucks was a retailer, not a restaurant or bar. They feared that serving drinks would put them in the beverage business and dilute the integrity of Starbucks mission as a coffee store. They pointed out that Starbucks was a profitable small, private company and there was no reason to rock the boat. But a more pressing reason for their resistance emerged shortly—Baldwin and Bowker were excited by an opportunity to purchase Peets Coffee and Tea. The acquisition took place in 1984; to fund it, Starbucks had to take on considerable debt, leaving little in the way of financial flexibility to support Schultzs ideas for entering the beverage part of the coffee business or expanding the number of Starbucks stores. For most of 1984, Starbucks managers were dividing their time between their operations in Seattle and the Peets enterprise in San Francisco. Schultz found himself in San Francisco every other week supervising the marketing and operations of the five Peets stores. Starbucks employees began to feel neglected and, in one quarter, did not receive their usual bonus due to tight financial conditions. Employee discontent escalated to the point where a union election was called, and the union won by three votes. Baldwin was shocked at the results, concluding that employees no longer trusted him. In the months that followed, he began to spend more of his energy on the Peets operation in San Francisco. It took Howard Schultz nearly a year to convince Jerry Baldwin to let him test an espresso bar. After Baldwin relented, Starbucks sixth store, which opened in April 1984, became the first one designed to sell beverages and the first one in downtown Seattle. Schultz asked for a 1,500-square-foot space to set up a full-scale Italian-style espresso bar, but Jerry agreed to allocating only 300 square feet in a corner of the new store. There was no pre-opening marketing blitz and no sign announcing Now Serving Espresso—the lack of fanfare was part of a deliberate experiment to see what would happen. By closing time on the first day, some 400 customers had been served, well above the 250-customer average of Starbucks best-performing stores. Within two months the store was serving 800 customers per day. The two baristas could not keep up with orders during the early morning hours, resulting in lines outside the door onto the sidewalk. Most of the business was at the espresso counter; sales at the regular retail counter were only adequate. Schultz was elated by the test results; his visits to the store indicated that it was becoming a gathering place and that customers were pleased with the beverages being served. Schultz expected that Baldwins doubts about entering the beverage side of the business would be dispelled and that he would gain approval to take Starbucks to a new level. Every day he went into Baldwins office to show him the sales figures and customer counts at the new downtown store. But Baldwin was not comfortable with the success of the new store; he believed that espresso drinks were a distraction from the core business of selling fine arabica coffees at retail and rebelled at the thought that people would see Starbucks as a place to get a quick cup of coffee to go. He adamantly told Schultz, Were coffee roasters. I dont want to be in the restaurant business . . . Besides, were too deeply in debt to consider pursuing this idea. 6 While he didnt deny that the experiment was succeeding, he didnt want to go forward with introducing beverages in other Starbucks stores. Schultzs efforts to persuade Baldwin to change his mind continued to meet strong resistance, although to avoid a total impasse Baldwin finally did agree to let Schultz put espresso machines in the back of two other Starbucks stores. Over the next several months, Schultz—at the age of 33—made up his mind to leave Starbucks and start his own company. His plan was to open espresso bars in high-traffic downtown locations that would emulate the friendly, energetic atmosphere he had encountered in Italian espresso bars. Schultz had become friends with a corporate lawyer, Scott Greenberg, who helped companies raise venture capital and go public. Greenberg told Schultz he believed investors would be interested in providing venture capital for the kind of company Schultz had in mind. Baldwin and Bowker, knowing how frustrated Schultz had become, supported his efforts to go out on his own and agreed to let him stay in his current job and office until definitive plans were in place. Schultz left Starbucks in late 1985. Schultzs Il Giornale Venture Ironically, as Schultz was finalizing the documents for his new company, Jerry Baldwin announced he would invest $150,000 of Starbucks money in Schultzs coffee-bar enterprise, thus becoming Schultzs first investor. Baldwin accepted Schultzs invitation to be a director of the new company, and Gordon Bowker agreed to be a part-time consultant for six months. Bowker urged Schultz to make sure that everything about the new stores—the name, the presentation, the care taken in preparing the coffee—was calculated to lead customers to expect something better than competitors offered. Bowker proposed that the new company be named Il Giornale (pronounced ill jor-nahl-ee ) Coffee Company, a suggestion that Schultz accepted. In December 1985, Bowker and Schultz made a trip to Italy during which they visited some 500 espresso bars in Milan and Verona, observing local habits, taking notes about decor and menus, snapping photographs, and videotaping baristas in action. Greenberg and Schultz then drew up plans to raise an initial $400,000 in seed capital and another $1. 25 million in equity—enough to launch at least eight espresso bars and prove the concept would work in Seattle and elsewhere. The seed capital was raised by the end of January 1986, primarily from Starbucks and two other investors who believed in Schultz and his ideas, but it took Schultz until the end of the year to raise the remaining $1. 25 million. He made presentations to 242 potential investors, 217 of whom said no. Many who heard Schultzs hour-long presentation saw coffee as a commodity business and thought that Schultzs espresso-bar concept lacked any basis for sustainable competitive advantage (no patent on dark roast, no advantage in purchasing coffee beans, no way to bar the entry of imitative competitors). Some noted that consumption of coffee had been declining since the mid-1960s, others were skeptical that people would pay $1. 50 or more for a cup of coffee, and still others were turned off by the companys hard-to-pronounce name. Being rejected by so many potential investors was disheartening (some who listened to Schultzs presentation ? didnt even bother to call him back; others refused to take his calls). Nonetheless, Schultz continued to display passion and enthusiasm in making his pitch and never doubted that his plan would work. He ended up raising $1. 65 million from about 30 investors; most of this money came from nine people, five of whom became directors of the new company. One of Howard Schultzs earliest moves during the start-up process was to hire Dave Olsen, who in 1974 had opened a coffee bar, Cafe Allegro, near the busiest entrance to the University of Washington campus. Olsen was a long-standing Starbucks customer, having discovered the quality of Starbucks coffee beans, gotten to know the owners, and worked with them to develop a custom espresso roast for use in his cafe. Olsens successful Cafe Allegro had become known for cafe au lait, a concoction equivalent to the Italian caffe latte. When Olsen heard of Schultzs plans for Il Giornale, he called Schultz and expressed an interest in being part of the new company—he was intrigued by the Italian coffee-bar concept and was looking for a more expansive career opportunity. Olsen not only had coffee expertise but also had spent 10 years in an apron behind the counter at Cafe Allegro. Schultz immediately picked up on the synergy between him and Olsen. His own strengths were in forming and communicating a vision, raising money, finding good store locations, building a brand name, and planning for growth. Olsen understood the nuts and bolts of operating a retail cafe, hiring and training baristas, and making and serving good drinks. Plus, Olsen was fun to work with. Schultz put Olsen in charge of store operations, made him the coffee conscience of the company, and gave him the authority to make sure that Il Giornale served the best coffee and espresso possible. The first Il Giornale store opened in April 1986. It had a mere 700 square feet and was located near the entrance of Seattles tallest building. The decor was Italian, the menu contained Italian words, and Italian opera music played in the background. The baristas wore white shirts and bow ties. All service was stand-up—there were no chairs. National and international papers hung from rods on the wall. By closing time on the first day, 300 customers had been served, mostly in the morning hours. Schultz and Olsen worked hard to make sure that all the details were executed perfectly. For the first few weeks, Olsen worked behind the counter during the morning rush. But while the core idea worked well, it soon became apparent that several aspects of Il Giornales format werent appropriate for Seattle. Some customers objected to the incessant opera music, others wanted a place to sit down, and many didnt understand the Italian words on the menu. These mistakes were quickly fixed, without compromising the style and elegance of the store. Within six months, Il Giornale was serving more than 1,000 customers a day and regulars had learned how to pronounce the companys name. Because most customers were in a hurry, it became apparent that speedy service was a competitive advantage. Six months after opening the first store, Il Giornale opened a second store in another downtown building. A third store was opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April 1987. Vancouver was chosen to test the transferability of the companys business concept outside Seattle. To reach his goal of opening 50 stores in five years, Schultz needed to dispel his investors doubts about geographic expansion. By mid-1987 sales at the three stores were equal to $1. 5 million annually. Il Giornale Acquires Starbucks In March 1987 Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker decided to sell the whole Starbucks operation in Seattle—the stores, the roasting plant, and the Starbucks name. Bowker wanted to cash out his coffee-business investment to concentrate on his other enterprises; Baldwin, who was tired of commuting between Seattle and San Francisco and wrestling with the troubles created by the two parts of the company, elected to concentrate on the Peets operation. As he recalls, My wife and I had a 30-second conversation and decided to keep Peets. It was the original and it was better. 7 Schultz knew immediately that he had to buy Starbucks; his board of directors agreed. Schultz and his newly hired finance and accounting manager drew up a set of financial projections for the combined operations and a financing package that included a stock offering to Il Giornales original investors and a line of credit with local banks. While a rival plan to acquire. Starbucks was put together by another Il Giornale investor, Schultzs proposal prevailed and within weeks Schultz had raised the $3. 8 million needed to buy Starbucks. The acquisition was completed in August 1987. After the papers were signed, Schultz and Scott Greenberg walked across the street to the first Il Giornale store, ordered themselves espresso drinks, and sat at a table near the window. Greenberg placed the hundred-page business plan that had been used to raise the $3. 8 million between them and lifted his cup in a toast—We did it, they said together. 8 The new name of the combined companies was Starbucks Starbucks as a Private Company: 1987–92 The following Monday morning, Schultz returned to the Starbucks offices at the roasting plant, greeted all the familiar faces and accepted their congratulations, then called the staff together for a meeting on the roasting-plant floor. He began: All my life I have wanted to be part of a company and a group of people who share a common vision . . . I’m here today because I love this company. I love what it represents . . . I know you’re concerned . . . I promise you I will not let you down. I promise you I will not leave anyone behind . . . In five years, I want you to look back at this day and say I was there when it started. I helped build this company into something great. 9 Schultz told the group that his vision was for Starbucks to become a national company with values and guiding principles that employees could be proud of. He indicated that he wanted to include people in the decision-making process and that he would be open and honest with them. Schultz said he believed it was essential, not just an intriguing option, for a company to respect its people, to inspire them, and to share the fruits of its success with those who contributed to its long-term value. His aspiration was for Starbucks to become the most respected brand name in coffee and for the company to be admired for its corporate responsibility. In the next few days and weeks, however, Schultz came to see that the unity and morale at Starbucks had deteriorated badly in the 20 months he had been at Il Giornale. Some employees were cynical and felt unappreciated. There was a feeling that prior management had abandoned them and a wariness about what the new regime would bring. Schultz determined that he would have to make it a priority to build a new relationship of mutual respect between employees and management. The new Starbucks had a total of nine stores. The business plan Schultz had presented investors called for the new company to open 125 stores in the next five years—15 the first year, 20 the second, 25 the third, 30 the fourth, and 35 the fifth. Revenues were projected to reach $60 million in 1992. But the company lacked experienced management. Schultz had never led a growth effort of such magnitude and was just learning what the job of CEO was all about, having been the president of a small company for barely two years. Dave Olsen had run a single cafe for 11 years and was just learning to manage a multistore operation. Ron Lawrence, the company’s controller, had worked as a controller for several organizations. Other Starbucks employees had only the experience of managing or being a part of a six-store organization. When Starbucks’ key roaster and coffee buyer resigned, Schultz put Dave Olsen in charge of buying and roasting coffee. Lawrence Maltz, who had 20 years of experience in business and eight years of experience as president of a profitable public beverage company, was hired as executive vice president and charged with heading operations, finance, and human resources. In the next several months, a number of changes were instituted. To symbolize the merging of the two companies and the two cultures, a new logo was created that melded the Starbucks and Il Giornale logos. The Starbucks stores were equipped with espresso machines and remodeled to look more Italian than Old World nautical. The traditional Starbucks brown was replaced by Il Giornale green. The result was a new type of store—a cross between a retail coffee-bean store and an espresso bar/cafe—that became Starbucks’ signature format in the 1990s. By December 1987, employees at Starbucks had begun buying into the changes Schultz was making and trust had begun to build between management and employees. New stores were on the verge of opening in Vancouver and Chicago. One Starbucks store employee, Daryl Moore, who had voted against unionization in 1985, began to question his fellow employees about the need for a union. Over the next few weeks, Moore began a move to decertify the union. He carried a decertification letter around to Starbucks stores and secured the signatures of employees who no longer wished to be represented by the union. After getting a majority of store employees to sign the letter, he presented it to the National Labor Relations Board and the union representing store employees was decertified. Later, in 1992, the union representing Starbucks’ roasting plant and warehouse employees was also decertified. Expansion into Markets Outside the Pacific Northwest Starbucks’ e.

Effect of Mutant EDA-A1 Gene on Huvecs

Effect of Mutant EDA-A1 Gene on Huvecs Effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on proliferation and cell cycle distribution of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cell Running title: The effect of mutant EDA-A1 gene on HUVECs. Ke Lei, MM; Lunchang Wang, MD; Bing Ma, MM; Ping Shi, MD; Longjiang Li, MD; Tuanjie Che, MD; Xiangyi He, MD Highlights: EDA-A1 gene mutant significantly decreased proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HUVECs of mutant group were blocked at G0/G1 and S phase. HUVECs of wild group accumulated in S phase and decreased in G2/M phase. Abstract Background: To investigate the effect of ectodysplasin A gene (EDA-A1) on proliferation and cell cycle of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and explore the possible mechanism underlying this process. Methods: Recombinant eukaryotic expression vectors pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M/W (mutant, M; wild, W) containing the coding sequence of EDA-A1-M/W were transfected into HUVECs. EDA-A1-M/W genes were amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the proteins were detected by western blot. Then MTT assay for cell proliferation of HUVECs in each group was performed and cell cycle was detected using flow cytometry. Results: The EDA-A1 gene and protein were detected respectively by RT-PCR and western blot in HUVECs transfected with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M/W, but not in HUVECs transfected with empty plasmid pcDNA3.1(-) (control group) and cells without transfection. Compared with control group, EDA-A1 gene mutant significantly decreased proliferation of HUVECs and the inhibition rate was 45.70% (PEDA-A1 gene did not cause such growth inhibition (P>0.05). A significant increase of the G0/G1 and S fraction was seen in the HUVECs of mutant group, compared with wild group with an accumulation in S phase and a concomitant decrease in G2/M phase population (P Conclusion: Compared with the wide-type, the mutant EDA-A1 gene could inhibit the proliferation and cell cycle of the HUVEC. Key words: EDA-A1 gene; Mutant; Human umbilical vein endothelial cell; Cell cycle; Proliferation Introduction Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED), also called anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (AED) or Christ-Siemens-Touraine Syndrome, is a kind of X-linked recessive genetic disease (XLHED) (1). HED is a rare congenital genetic disorder with a birth incidence of 1/100,000-1/10,000 (2, 3). It is characterized by the diminution or absence of eccrine sweat glands, oligodontia and peg shaped teeth and sparse hair (1, 4). Previous study indicates that XLHED is caused by the ectodysplasin A gene (EDA-A1) mutant (5). EDA-A1, a major causative gene of HED, locates in Xq12-13.1 and encodes a novel tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family protein ectodysplasin A (EDA-A1) and this protein is associated with the nuclear factor-ÃŽ ºB (NF-ÃŽ ºB) signaling mechanisms (5-9). Bayes M et al. (10) indicates that the full-length of EDA-A1 is 5296bp (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, AH007059, Gene ID 4007891), the open reading frame (ORF) of EDA-A1 is 1176bp, and it encoding the protein with 391 amino acids (EDA-A1, GeneID1896). Studies showed the combination of EDA-A1 and ectodysplasin receptor (EDAR) could promote programmed cell death and active the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB (8, 11). Recently, the related research on HED are mostly for mutation analysis of EDA-A1, and more than 100 mutations in the EDA gene have been reported to cause XLHED up to now (12, 13). However, there have few reports relating to the function of mutant EDA-A1, and the exact pathological mechanism of mutant EDA-A1 on HED is still unclear. In the present study, EDA-A1 mutant (pcDNA3.1 (-)-EDA-A1-M) and wild type (pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W) eukaryotic expression vector that we used were constructed in our previous study (14). Then the function of transfected EDA-A1 and its mutant for cell proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs were analyzed. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of EDA-A1 on proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs and explore the possible mechanism underlying this process. Material and Method Cell culture HUVECs were kindly provided by professor Wang chunming (Lanzhou University, China). HUVECs were cultured in RPMI-1640 (Huamei Company, Shanghai, China) Medium. The medium were consisted of 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Evergreen Company, Hangzhou) and 100U/ml penicillin/streptomycin. All these cells were maintained in humidified incubator of 5% CO2 at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ (0.25% trypsin digestion overnight). Inverted microscope was used for the cell morphology investigation. All the experiments were performed at least in triplicate and repeated at least twice. Plasmid extraction EDA-A1 mutant (pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M) and wild type (pcDNA3.1 (-)-EDA-A1-W) eukaryotic expression vector that we used were constructed in our previous study (14). Totally 3ÃŽ ¼l mutant (M) and Wild-type (W) plasmid DNA was extracted respectively from transfected HUVECs, followed by the sterile deionized water diluted to 1ml. The values of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹A260nm and A280nm were measured by UV spectrophotometer. Plasmid DNA concentration (ÃŽ ¼g / ÃŽ ¼l) = A260 Ãâ€" dilution factor Ãâ€" 50/1000. The plasmid DNA (positive recombinants and empty control) was precipitated by ethanol. Then the DNA pellet was resuspended in sterile deionized water. Cell transfection Cell transfection was carried out according to the instructions of QIAGEN-Effectene Transfection Reagent Kit (QIAGEN). Transfection was carried out when the cell density was up to 70% after 24 hour-cell passaging. Cells were transferred into a complete medium (CM) 2 hours before transfection. Totally 2.5 µg mutant (M) and Wild-type (W) plasmid DNA was slowly added to the 2 M CaCl2 solution (stand for 10 minutes). DNA-CaCl2 solution was slowly added dropwise to the 2 Ãâ€" HeBS (stand for 30 minutes) until the precipitation of tiny particles. The precipitate was uniformly dropwise added to the culture flasks. After a 12 hours growth under standard conditions, cells were washed 2 times with HeBS, followed by the cultured in CM. HUVECs transfected with empty vector were used as the control group. Semi-quantitative real-time PCR To identify the expression levels of EDA-A1 in HUVECs, semi-quantitative real-time PCR (SqRT-PCR) analysis was performed. Total RNA was extracted from cultured cells in each group (cultured for 48 hours) by using reverse transcription (RT) kit (Fermentas Company), followed by the EDA-A1 primers designation (Primer Premier 5.0 software) and synthesis (Shanghai Biological Engineering Company ). The primers used were as follows, EDA-A1 (408bp): 5’- CGC AGG ATC CAT GGG CTA CCC GGA GGT -3’ (forward) and 5’- ATT AAG CTT GCC AAG CGG GCA CCA GGG AGA C -3’ (reverse), ÃŽ ²-actin (230bp): 5’- ACG CAT TTG GTC GTA TTG GG-3’ (forward) and 5’- TGA TTT TGG AGG GAT CTC GC-3’ (reverse). The 50ÃŽ ¼l PCR reaction system were: cDNA template (2ÃŽ ¼l), 10 Ãâ€" PCR Buffer (5ÃŽ ¼l), dNTP (1ÃŽ ¼l), primer (up and downstream, 1ÃŽ ¼l), Taq DNA polymerase (1ÃŽ ¼l), ddH2O (39ÃŽ ¼l). Products were subjected to electrophoresis (1.5% agarose gel, 120V, 90mA). Western blot analysis For Western blot analysis, proteins were extracted from HUVECs in each group. Proteins were collected after cell lysis. Protein concentration was determined using the Bradford dye-binding method (15). The proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to the 0.45ÃŽ ¼m pore size nitrocellulose (NC) membrane (RPN303E, Amersham Company). NC membranes were blocked with TBS buffer (5% milk and 0.5%-Tween) for 1 hour (37 °C). Then, the membrane was incubated overnight at 4à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ with the rabbit antibodies EDA-A1 and ÃŽ ²-actin (1:200 dilution with TBST solution), followed by incubation at room temperature for 1h with an anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Sigma). Finally, the expression levels of the target proteins were visualized withchromogenic substrate. MTT assay for cell proliferation detection To determine the proliferation of HUVECs in each group, the 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay was performed. The 24 hours-transfected and untransfected cells were seeded into 96-well plate with inculation density of 5000 cells/well and incubated at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. After 12 hours, 100 ÃŽ ¼l serum-free DMEM was added in each well. After 72 hours, 20 ÃŽ ¼l MTT was added into each well to continue incubation at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™(4 hours). Then, the medium was removed and the precipitation was dissolved in DMSO. The absorbance at 560 nm was measured by SpectraMax 190 microplate reader (Moteular Devices Company) for colorimetric analysis. Inhibition rate of cell growth was calculated (n=10) based on the experimentally measured absorbance value (OD value). Cell cycle analysis Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle.After incubation for 48 h, the cells were collected and washed with cold PBS. The washed cells were fixed in 70% cold ethanol with incubation overnight at 4à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. To stain the cells, prodium iodide (PI) solution was added. Flow cytometer (Coulter Epics XL, Beckman Coulter Company) was used to analyze the samples. Cell Quest software was used to analyze the cell percentage of G0 / G1 phase, S phase, and G2 / M phase. Statistical analysis All assays were performed in triplicate and datawere expressed as mean values  ±s.d. The SPSS 13.0 software employing ANOVA was used to analyze all data which expressed as mean ±SD. P values less than 0.05 was considered as significantly different. Results EDA-A1 expression pattern in HUVECs influenced by plasmid-mediated transfection To identify the expression level of ED1-A1 in HUVECs transfected with vector pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W, the RNA samples with an OD260/OD280 ration of 1.8-2.0 were chosen for RT-PCR. The HUVECs with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W transfection showed a band nearly 400 bp compared with control using semi-quantitative PCR and primers specific to EDA-A1 (Figure 1). Additionally, ÃŽ ²-actin band between 200 bp and 300 bp have been seen in all the groups. Then, EDA-A1 protein expression in HUVECs were detected by western blot. Figure 1 shows that the EDA-A1 protein was expressed in the transfected cells with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W vector, however, it could not be achieved in control group. In conclusion, the EDA-A1 was expressed in HUVECs after exogenous delivered of EDA-A1, but not in the un-treated control cells. Overexpression of EDA-A1 affects HUVECs proliferation To elucidate the effect of EDA-A1 on HUVECs proliferation, the MTT assays were performed. As shown in Figure 2, the HUVECs viability at 96 h transfection was decreased significantly in the mutant group by comparison with wild type and control. The proliferation of mutant group cells was suppressed by 45.7% compaired to control, while the wild type group was suppressed by 16.0% (Table 1, Figure 3). EDA-A1 overexpression regulates the cell cycle of HUVECs To determine the role of plasmid-mediated EDA-A1 transfection in cell cycle of HUVECs, the flow cytometry was used (Figure 4). We observed that 25.45  ± 1.89 % cells were arrested at G0/G1 phase of cell cycle in the mutant group compared with 20.37  ± 0.6% and 20.30  ± 0.68% cells in wild type and control groups, respectively (Table 2). During S phase, both mutant and wild type groups showed significantly higher cell percentages (14.80  ± 1.45% and 12.4 0  ± 1.75%) than that of control (8.55  ± 0.57%). However, both transfection groups had lower cell percentages than control in G2/M phase. The lowest cell percentage with 62.15  ± 1.94% was showed in the mutant group during S phase. We could conclude that the cell cycle distribution in G0/G1, S, and G2/M of HUVECs were regulated by EDA-A1 overexpression. Discussion HED characterized by impaired development of hair, eccrine sweat glands and teeth is caused by mutations in the EDA-A1 gene (3, 16). Recently, the related research on HED are focused on the mutation analysis of EDA-A1, however, the exact pathological mechanism of HED caused by mutant EDA-A1 is still unclear (17). In this study, we investigated the effect of HED related gene EDA-A1 on proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs. The results showed that mutant EDA-A1 gene significantly decreased proliferation of HUVECs (P EDA-A1 protein, a type à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡ transmembrane protein, is one of the TNF ligand family members involved in ectodermal development (18). EDA-A1 contains a TNF-like domain (aa: 245–391), a collagen domain, and a furin protease recognition sequence (7, 8, 19-21). The TNF-like domain is necessary and sufficient for receptor molecule EDAR binding (22, 23). Furthermore, EDA-A1 has been shown to specifically bind to EDAR, which could promote programmed cell death and active the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB (8, 11). In our study, the reason why EDA-A1 mutant could inhibit the proliferation and block the cell cycle progression in G0/G1 phase and S phase of HUVECs might be the change of protein spatial configuration and biological activity that caused by the EDA-A1 gene mutation and the changed protein could not combined with EDAR and thus inhibit the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB. Maria et al. found that HED was related with the blocked signaling pathway of NF-ÃŽ ºB (9). Pascal et al. found th at point mutations in the TNF-like domain of EDA-A1 strongly decreased EDAR binding to EDA-A1 by altering the folding of EDA (21). Moreover, the substitution of Gln306 with Pro in our study was found to be located in the TNF-like domain of EDA-A1 and may influence the epithelial signaling pathway required for the normal ectodermal development through altering the topology of EDA, which is consistent with previous study. HUVECs are cells derived from the endothelium of veins from the umbilical cord, and they are often used as a laboratory model system for the study of the function and pathology of endothelial cells (24). Some studies showed that during vascular development and pathological angiogenesis, the maintenance of blood vessel homeostasis and its functional execution depend on the integrity of vascular endothelium, which is affected by proliferation, migration and apoptosis of endothelial cells (25, 26). Furthermore, Jie et al. showed that recovery of injured endothelial cells through regulated endothelial cell proliferation plays significant roles in thrombosis disease (27). In our study, mutant EDA-A1 decreased the proliferation of HUVECs, therefore, we suspected that pathological mechanism underlying HED caused by EDA-A1 may be the growth inhibit of endothelial cells which could lead to the defection of eccrine sweat glandsis. Despite of all results mentioned above, there were still some l imitations in the present study, whether the EDA-A1 mutant blocked the combination of EDA-A1 with EDAR required further experiment. In conclusion, our study revealed EDA-A1 gene mutant could inhibit the proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs. We explored the mechanism of HED caused by mutant EDA-A1. The substitution of Gln306 with Pro may influence the epithelial signaling pathway required for the normal ectodermal development through altering the topology of EDA, which could impair the binding of EDA-A1 to EDAR and further inhibit the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB. Our finding broadens the spectrum of EDA-A1 mutations and may help to understand the molecular basis of XLHED and aid genetic counseling. Acknowledgements We wish to express our warm thanks to Fenghe(Shanghai) Information Technology Co., Ltd. Their ideas and help gave a valuable added dimension to our research. Conflict of interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Authors’ contributions KL and LW participated in the design of this study, and they both performed the statistical analysis. BM and TC carried out the study, together with PS, collected important background information, and drafted the manuscript. LL and XH conceived of this study, and participated in the design and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Figure legends: Figure 1 Detection of mRNA expression of EDA-A1gene in ECV304 cells by RT-PCR: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group. Figure 2 Expression of ECV304 cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene and mutant: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group. Figure 3 OD560 value of ECV304 cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene after cultured for 96h: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group; a: compared with the control group, P Figure 4 The effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on cell cycle in ECV304 cells. Table 1 OD560 value of ECV cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene after cultured for 96h Note: a: compared with control group, P Table 2 Effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on cell cycle in ECV304 cells Note: a: compared with control group, P

The Importance of a Role Model in The Adventures of Huckberry Finn by M

â€Å"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me† (Twain 1). The role of a parent is important in a person’s life, as they learn the acceptable way to live their lives, and even how to act spiritually. As people begin to grow up, they remember the traits and guidelines given by their guardians, and use them to establish their own beliefs and shape their actions. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain exemplifies the influence of morals and religion that the Widow Douglas teaches young Huck and he returns to throughout the novel. Mark Twain begins by describing Huck staying in the Widow’s home and conforming to the social norm of civilized behavior he says he â€Å"was getting sort of used to the widow’s ways, too, and they warn’t so raspy on me† (Twain 19). Huckleberry is beginning to appreciate the lifestyle of the widow. He begins to like his education, and the love that he receives from the woman. He learns how to be a more respectable human being as he sees the goodness of the Widow’s ways, but as the good characteristics begin to appear they are hindered by the maleficent aspects of his poor initial upbringing. Huck recounts "Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the Widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it anymore" (Twain 2). The Widow passively attempts to control Huck and force him to conform to the society that he has been attempting to avoid by sneaking away. The idea of smoking represen ts all the things that Huck use to do in his old life, however the things that are comfortable to Huck are not accepted by the world, and society endeavors to remove the controversial subject or make it change to fit... ...shows that the boy wishes to be accepted into the religion of the Widow and will do things to help him reach the next life. Huckleberry also remembers that the good people help even the criminals and that he should try to help all sorts of people who are in need. The Widow’s teachings of Christianity have a lasting affect on Huckleberry Finn as he tries to live his life according to the rules he was given and experiences the impact of prayer. The Importance of Widow in Mark Twain’s novel is shown as Huck Finn experiences the rules and spiritual guidelines the widow has taught him, and they impact his actions in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. People often use the morals they remember from the role models they had when growing up. But, however people remember the teachings of their role models, ultimately they are free to make their own decisions in their lives. The Importance of a Role Model in The Adventures of Huckberry Finn by M â€Å"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me† (Twain 1). The role of a parent is important in a person’s life, as they learn the acceptable way to live their lives, and even how to act spiritually. As people begin to grow up, they remember the traits and guidelines given by their guardians, and use them to establish their own beliefs and shape their actions. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain exemplifies the influence of morals and religion that the Widow Douglas teaches young Huck and he returns to throughout the novel. Mark Twain begins by describing Huck staying in the Widow’s home and conforming to the social norm of civilized behavior he says he â€Å"was getting sort of used to the widow’s ways, too, and they warn’t so raspy on me† (Twain 19). Huckleberry is beginning to appreciate the lifestyle of the widow. He begins to like his education, and the love that he receives from the woman. He learns how to be a more respectable human being as he sees the goodness of the Widow’s ways, but as the good characteristics begin to appear they are hindered by the maleficent aspects of his poor initial upbringing. Huck recounts "Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the Widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it anymore" (Twain 2). The Widow passively attempts to control Huck and force him to conform to the society that he has been attempting to avoid by sneaking away. The idea of smoking represen ts all the things that Huck use to do in his old life, however the things that are comfortable to Huck are not accepted by the world, and society endeavors to remove the controversial subject or make it change to fit... ...shows that the boy wishes to be accepted into the religion of the Widow and will do things to help him reach the next life. Huckleberry also remembers that the good people help even the criminals and that he should try to help all sorts of people who are in need. The Widow’s teachings of Christianity have a lasting affect on Huckleberry Finn as he tries to live his life according to the rules he was given and experiences the impact of prayer. The Importance of Widow in Mark Twain’s novel is shown as Huck Finn experiences the rules and spiritual guidelines the widow has taught him, and they impact his actions in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. People often use the morals they remember from the role models they had when growing up. But, however people remember the teachings of their role models, ultimately they are free to make their own decisions in their lives.