Assisted suicide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Assisted suicide - Research Paper Example In physician-assisted suicide, the physician prescribes the lethal dose, knowing the patient intends to end their life. The argument in favor of euthanasia usually justifies itself by citing compassion for the pain and suffering of terminally ill or respect for â€Å"patient autonomy.† (Hendin, 2004). The online Medical Dictionary defines â€Å"patient autonomy† as: â€Å"Patient Autonomy: The right of patients to make decisions about their medical care without their health care provider trying to influence the decision. Patient autonomy does allow for health care providers to educate the patient but does not allow the health care provider to make the decision for the patient.† These two bases are often made ineffective. The physician may have the best intentions in their heart for the patient and yet harm the patient unknowingly. And on the other side, patient autonomy is useless if the patients are not made aware of the options available to them by a physician who is trained to do so. Although it might be true that the concerned physician is indeed compassionate to his or her patient’s needs, it is also possible that the physician does not know best. It has often been seen that due to lack of experience or skill, the physician has misdiagnosed the patient’s illness and perhaps sent someone who could have been cured to his or her death. This argument is meant to be an assertion of the patient’s right to choose death over life. But can any member of society, one who is inextricably connected to other members of the society, really be allowed to exercise their freedom of choice in any manner they choose? If that was true, it would be completely acceptable for us to say, murder our neighbor just because we chose to. In its favor, Peter Rogatz in â€Å"The Positive Virtues of Physician-Assisted Suicide† states that human dignity is often at stake for patients. Even if they are not terminally ill or are not suffering from

The Relationship between Multinational Firms, the State and Essay

The Relationship between Multinational Firms, the State and Socio-Economic Development in the UK - Essay Example Most of the research work conducted did concentrate on the firm-level decisions regarding their FDI strategies but less time and resources have been devoted to the state level. It has been realized that a number of states such as the US have often attracted FDI through various tactics including reduction in taxation levels. The relationship between these multinationals and the State becomes very important in the success of both parties. Even though one would argue that the role of state in international business has been eroded by the development in globalization, this is still not the actual case on the ground. The nation state still has a crucial role to play and this is why its relationship with the multinationals is quite relevant (Henderson et al., 2002, pp.436-464). A number of reasons exist as to why most multinationals are tolerated. One of them is the mutual relationship that could emanate between the state and the multinational which further links it to the home state of th e multinational. In this case, a tripartite perspective could be established. The other reason is based on the social and economic developments that multinational companies do promote in the host country. These two reasons seem to underlie the basic intentions of the national governments in welcoming multinationals. This paper looks at the relationship between multinational firms, the state and socio-economic development in the UK as a case study. Analysis Multinational firms and the UK state The relationship between nation states and multinationals is one that has been characterised with juxtaposed needs or interests. Each seems to be pulling towards its side. The state is territorially defined and has well-defined political systems which provide the necessary framework for economic, social, political and cultural activities of those acting domestically and pursuing the interests of the nation (Dunn, 1994, pp.3-8). On the other hand, multinationals are interested in expanding their individual operations irrespective of the boundaries set by the state and have to cope with a number of political, economic, cultural and social conditions that exist in those acquired markets and they are always driven by private interests, which are usually founded on economy of scale, global trends in economy, and effective management of international operations. Existence of negotiated relationships between these two opposing parties merges their needs and ensures a win-win outcome (Kay, 2002, pp.1073-1102). Democratic political institutions have the capacity to establish policies that are market-friendly. The peace that exists in states links these democratic institutions to more credible levels of international systems. These mechanisms provide better playing grounds for multinationals in the long run. On this point, the institutional based checks as well as balances, which could be linked to democratic systems usually, reduce the possibility of reversing the policies made an d thus providing the multinational companies with the de facto commitment to the stability of these policies (Iet to-Gillies, 2002, pp.43-54). Stable policies ensure that multinational are given a friendlier environment where they can forecast their needs for budgeting in relation to the upcoming economic scenarios as well as tax schedules, make critical managerial decisions that are able to respond to macro-economic predictions, and also eventually hedge against risks associated

Silence of The Lambs Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Silence of The Lambs Research - Essay Example However, this involves a greater effort and hard work from the whole team working at the project, as the technique of writing a novel is very different from the usual movie scripts, and directors have to be very careful about handling the story. It is a dangerous gamble, and very risky. More than often a movie fails just because the director did not provide that flow to it that should keep the audience on the edge of their seats, a very important factor in the success of any movie, or because the proper treatment was not given to the storyline. The genres that have proven to be the most grossing at the box office have been horror and thrillers_ action, suspense, and mystery inclusive, as they provide that crucial adrenaline shots to the audiences and find a common pulse with them, giving them a chance to escape into the world of fantasy and reel life, and an opportunity to unwind. A recent addition to this genre is the concept of psychological thrillers. For long film makers have relied on camera tricks and special effects, and costumes and scary background score when it comes to horror movies as the sole technique of being true to this category. Sometimes, theological themes and fantasized versions of mystical stories are woven into the plot to make it sound more believable and so more scary. The exorcist was and still is to this day the pinnacle of success in this regard, and still stands out to be the top most name in the list of scary movies of all times. But psychological thrillers bring in something more to horror than just the monsters; they bring to it the human factor. Audience worldwide have the tendency to relate to stories that are more in synch with their emotions, thinking patterns and psychology, and touch upon the matters of the human soul and spiritual development of people. Movies that explore this aspect hold a special place in the history of cinema. Weave it together with the essence of horror and suspense, and you have the perfect blend of cinematic taste that will be intensely savored by the audience, given that it is handled very sensitively and extremely carefully, for as much as it is the formula of success, if negligence be a part of it, it can fall flat on its face in the box office. Case in point of an all time success is the movie The Silence of the Lambs. In the winter of 1991 came a movie that went on to be nominated for scores of awards and claimed many accolades, a proof of its tremendous success. The distributors were the Orion Pictures, and the director was Jonathan Demme. The cast was an impressive combination of

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Essay Example for Free

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Essay In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces many obstacles running away from his dad because he is accompanied by Jim, who is a run away nigger. While on their cruise they encounter a â€Å"duke† and a â€Å"king,† who only seem to bring them even more trouble, and later Huck meets his long time friend Tom. Throughout the whole story Huck faces different inner arguments over how things should be done to overcome a problem. One of them is when Huck leaves to the little village around Pikesville with the duke. He later returns to the raft to take off but he notices that Jim is no where to be found. Huck finds a boy around the area and the boy explains that some guy named Phelps has found a run away nigger (which is Jim) and plans on returning it for the cash reward. Later Huck gets into a big fuss about if it’s best for him to tell Miss Watson about where Jim is located. Huck evaluates the situation and determines that if he does write to Miss Watson, Jim would benefit in the way that he would rather be a slave at home close to his family than become a slave at Pikesville; but Huck would also be relieved of his sin of doing something wicked from the beginning and not ending up in the everlasting fire but clearing his conscious to the point were God will forgive him. Huck is appealing to pathos by expressing his thoughts when he says, â€Å" I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. † (Pg.190) In this phrase Huck reveals that he knows that he was doing wrong all along and was willing to give it up but his sin was more within him. His conscious was telling him he must do the right thing aside from what he thought was fair. Though if he does tell Miss Watson where Jim there may be some consequences. First of all, Miss Watson may be mad at Jim for running away and end up selling him or she might keep him but everyone would despite him for what he did. Secondly, Jim described Huck as his only friend who had saved him from some white men by telling them about smallpox. This may cause the friendship to brake and hatred to arise between them. Lastly, Huck would be looked upon disgrace for helping a nigger run away from his owner. This side of Huck is appealing to ethos by expressing, â€Å"That’s just the way: a person does a low-down thing, and then he don’t want to take no consequences of it. Thinks as long as he can hide, it ain’t no disgrace. †(Pg. 189) This shows how Huck is credible by explaining that doing something wrong is nothing to be proud of and hiding it isn’t going to take the wrongness from it. The argument is effective because it is a very important situation in the novel. It’s a turning point on how the story takes Huck on â€Å"stealing† the nigger again. Huck then decides it is best to not tell Miss Watson but for him to take his own action on setting him free again. Even though Huck understands the other point of view he sees, he determines that it is much better to lay low and not tell anyone. The side of Huck that says he shouldn’t announce where Jim is been kept is been more rational because he explains how Jim and him wouldn’t benefit in the long run and just defame themselves. The effect over the argument is that Huck decides to find a plan to set free Jim for them to run away together once again. Another inner self argument is brought upon when the king and the duke put on a â€Å"show† to the little town in Arkansaw and get $465. This causes the uneasiness of Jim and Huck. Huck then tries to find a way to get rid of the duke and king and confess to the town’s people that they are frauds. Once again, Huck gets stuck on what would be the right way to tell on these guys. If Huck decides to tell on the duke/king he will leave happiness to the town’s people by not letting them be fooled any longer and getting them arrested for Huck and Jim to leave in peace. Huck could also steal the money from them and give it back to Mary Jane and leading them on to stay and try to get the remaining money for them not to leave empty handed as said in page 158, â€Å"They’ve got a good thing here, and they ain’t a-going to leave till they’ve played this family and this town for all they’re worth. † From this phrase we can see Huck appealing to logos because he is been critical to how the men are going to react if he would steal the money from them. In the controversy, if Huck decides to tell the doctor or Mary Jane about the situation the outcome may not be the best. If Huck tells the doctor the king or the duke could ask who told him and the doctor would blame Huck and the frauds would hate him for it and cause even more problems. Now if he were to tell Mary Jane the frauds would suspect something and leave with the money and even if Mary Jane asked for help Huck would be involved in this mess. Huck is in this hand, appealing to ethos when he says, â€Å"Her face would give them a hint, sure; they’ve got the money, and they’d slide right out and get away with it,† showing how it’s reasonable that when your about to get caught with something people tempt to run away to get away with things because they know it’s not right. The argument is effective because Huck is been reasonable by knowing that the best thing to do is to bust these thief’s and not cause more pain to the family of Mary Jane. Huck see’s both points of views in order to work things right; enough to get the frauds arrested and not causing himself any trouble. The effect of the argument is that he tells Mary Jane the truth and plans out a way for the duke/king to get caught and Jim and him to leave without no fault. Mark Twains overall argument is that society has based things from right and wrong, but sometimes what’s right may not always be right but wrong. It’s this Right vs. Wrong kind of theme, were right is wrong and wrong is right in some cases. For example, it is bad in Huck’s society to be friends with a Negro but it is right to be friends with Jim because race shouldn’t matter since we are all equal. Another example provided in the novel was when it was said to be right to turn in Jim to her owner, Miss Watson, but it is bad to do so because every man deserves to be free. In this novel Huck is been attacked with many issues such as racism, friendship, war, religion, equality, freedom, and determination. Every decision made was a struggle between Hucks mind on what was best to be done over a conflict.

Environmental awareness any effect on this relationship

Environmental awareness any effect on this relationship INTRODUCTION The world is currently facing complex environmental problems that have resulted in environmental degradation. Western studies have evidenced that consumers in the USA and Western Europe have grown more environmentally conscious in the 1990s (Curlo E., 1999). Recently, green consumerism has started to gradually emerge in the Asian regions in a significant manner (Gura˘u, C. et al, 2005) Supporters of environmental protection tend to be younger in age (Martisons et al, 1997). Given the anticipated life span of this age group, the cultivation of its green purchasing behaviour may go a long way in reinforcing behavioural commitment for the next few generations, especially in the developing Asian economies, where a surge in income and purchasing power seems to be in the making. India, one of the biggest economies of the world and a growing economic powerhouse of Asia, suffers from dangerously high levels of air pollution, poor water quality, high levels of exposure to severe traffic noise and high levels of garbage disposal. Compared with what has been happening in the West, consumers in India are just at the stage of green awakening. The use of eco-friendly products is still not very prevalent in the country, though there seems to be a huge potential for such goods in the country. Our research is based on the consumer behaviour towards environmental-friendly products. We have studied the impact of attitude towards eco-friendly products on purchasing behaviour, and whether environmental awareness has any effect on this relationship. LITERATURE REVIEW Environment consciousness, environmental responsibility, â€Å"going green† and so on. These are the terms in which marketers are increasingly talking about, and selling, their products today. The subject of ‘Environment is attracting interest of the marketers, and this is not really a new phenomenon. It has been doing the rounds since the early 1970s. A plethora of products have been launched with the ‘eco-friendly tag. Various studies have looked into the relationship between environment and marketing (Kassarjian, 1971, Kinnear et al, 1974 and Fisk, 1973). Marketers are interested to know how much premium a consumer is willing to pay for buying an eco-friendly product. This type of consumer behaviour is primarily influenced by a persons attitude and awareness. However, not all regions have been successfully studied for the impact of such attitude and awareness. International green marketers have expressed that the unavailability of market information in Asian countries often becomes a major hindrance to the success of international expansion of their green products (Gura˘u, C. et al, 2005). Many international green marketers have failed to implement effective market segmentation in their overall marketing strategies due to insufficient information in Asian countries (Keegan et al, 2000). A topic which has not been properly explored is young consumers green buying behaviours and factors that affect such behaviour. Young adults constitute a large citizen group and have the potential for a powerful collective force in society for environmental protection. Past studies have found that young people are more willing than older generations to accept new and innovative ideas (Ottman et al, 2006). ECO FRIENDLY ATTITUDE The past few decades have seen a phenomenal rise in environmental concerns. Concern for the environment has increased significantly, and, at the same time, peoples values and attitudes towards nature has changed substantially. Studies conducted in different countries have showed an awakening interest in green products or increase in environmentally friendly attitudes (Barber, 2010). Environmental concern transformed into the specific activity of Green Consumerism emerged in the latter half of the 1980s. Surveys show that there has been a permanent change in the attitude of consumers. One of the functions of knowledge is to help maintain a strong attitude. Attitude is typically considered strong when it is resistant to change and persistent over time. Thus, knowledgeable people with a strong attitude are careful, expert processors of information. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS The level of awareness influences the attitude and behaviour associated with green consumerism (Mittal, 1989). Recent researches suggest awareness in terms of their extent to which the consumer views the product itself as an important decision making variable affecting environmental behaviour (Dodd et al, 2005, Kolyesnikova et al, 2009 and Yuan et al, 2005). Another study has conveyed that an important component of environmental conscious consumer behaviour is the need for more information to be revealed about the relationship between products and the environment (Peattie, 1985). Increased awareness with green information sources has been shown to influence consumer purchasing decisions (Peattie, 1995). Americans have begun to develop an environmentally-conscious mind-set, with half of them saying that they do not have the information needed to be involved in increasing green behaviour and are less knowledgeable about which products and packaging materials are recyclable (GFK, 2007). A study conducted to examine the awareness and attitude of Zambian farmers towards environmental degradation and the relationships of these with a set of beliefs used to evaluate their perceived capacity and take corrective action towards improving the environment showed that awareness of environmental degradation is significant in depicting environmental self-efficacy and behaviour (ÃŽ ²=0.38; p ECO-FRIENDLY BEHAVIOUR The findings of several studies reinforce the notion that Proactive Environmental Behaviour, like most other behaviours, is to a large extent situation-specific (Roozen and Pelsmacker, 1998). By studying Danish consumers buying organic products, it was found out that there is a relationship between values, environmental attitudes and consumer behaviour (Grunert Juhl, 1995 cited by Bjà ¶rk 1995: 66). However, the correlation between such attitude and consumer behaviour is not always high. In geographical studies it has also become evident that environmental knowledge is not something that explains ‘spatial behaviour. This is explained by saying that behaviour is influenced by intentions, which are in turn influenced by attitudes, and further which are influenced by beliefs about social norms (Whalmsley Lewis, 1993). Hence, attitude is just one factor among others influencing consumer behaviour. In case of many consumers, preferences for environmental amenities are exhibited either directly through polls and surveys or indirectly by participating in outdoor activities, environmental organizations or causes, undertaking conservation, recycling, or other stewardship activities (Torgler et al., 2008). At the same time it was also being suggested that the complexity of environmental knowledge on attitude can affect purchase behaviour, whereby the more knowledge a consumer has about an issue and a product the better the attitude predicts the willingness to purchase (Frick et al. (2004), Krarup and Russell, 2005) HYPOTHESIS In existing literature, environmental attitude is commonly understood as a cognitive judgment towards the value of environmental protection. Contrasting results have been found between environmental attitude and behaviour. While some researchers have claimed a positive correlation between environmental attitude and environmental behaviour (Kotchen and Reiling, 2000), others have concluded that the relationship is either moderate or tenuous (Davis, 1995). The contradictory results in studies of the relationship between environmental attitude and behaviour suggest that further studies are needed to confirm the relationship between environmental attitude and behaviour. Thus, based on the view in majority of the literature reviewed, our hypothesis is: h3 :Eco friendly attitude positively impacts eco friendly behaviour. Though it has been debated whether awareness affects attitude or attitude affects awareness. But it is important to note that after developing an attitude, the awareness in terms of recognizing and observing different things about the topic comes into picture. This is especially valid for a country like India where these things are increasingly gaining understanding. Let us understand the impact of attitude on awareness through this simple example. A student has a class on environmental issues. To be specific, the teacher discusses an example of how pesticides enter the human body through food consumption and organic foods can help in reducing these toxic levels and lead to a healthy living. The student develops a positive attitude towards organic foods because of this knowledge. This positive attitude will lead to him subconsciously noting organic foods when in the superstore. This is what awareness is. Eco friendly attitude has an impact on the level of environmental awareness. Thus, based on the literature, our hypothesis is: H2 :A positive attitude towards the environment will positively impact the level of environmental awareness. Eco friendly behaviour is defined to the consumption of products that are beneficial to the environment (Mostafa, 2007). Past studies have examined what factors affect environmental behaviour in general (Johnson et al., 2004). According to these studies, environmental awareness can be an important factor towards determining eco friendly behaviour. (Chan, 2001). From the aforementioned, our hypothesis is: H3 :Environmental awareness positively impacts eco friendly behaviour. In this study we intend to explore the relationship between eco friendly attitude and behaviour. It has been generally seen that though environmental attitude is fairly high now, eco friendly behaviour does not show such high levels. This has been referred to as the attitude behaviour gap. (Alwitt and Pitts, 1996). Many studies have been conducted to explore this gap and what variables can be used to explain this. Environmental awareness is one of those variables. (Chan, 2001) This study explores the concept of environmental awareness as a factor that mediates the impact of attitude on behaviour. With reference to these literary studies, our hypothesis is: H4:Environmental Awareness mediates the relationship between eco friendly attitude and eco friendly behaviour. Certain literary works have evidenced that women reported significantly more participation in general environmental behaviour and specific green consumption than men (Maineri, 1997). Certain sample studies of western countries have shown that females express more positive attitudes towards the environment than males do (Tikka, 2007). Additional evidence also provides that women report stronger environmental attitudes than men across age and across 14 countries (Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, the United States and Venezuela) (Zelezny, 2000). A recent research conducted also claimed that female adolescent consumers scored significantly higher in environmental attitude (Lee, 2009). Equal numbers of males and females expressed a positive attitude towards organic foods according to study by (Dahm, Samonte and Shows, 2009). This finding varies somewhat from the literature, which identifies female s as being more aware and having stronger attitudes about organic foods. Based on these literatures, we have stated the hypothesis by breaking it into three sub-hypotheses: H5/A: The impact of eco friendly attitude on environmental awareness is more in case of Indian female consumers than their male counterparts. H5/B: The impact of environmental awareness on eco friendly behaviour is more in case of Indian female consumers than their male counterparts. H5/C: The impact of eco friendly attitude on eco friendly behaviour is more in case of Indian female consumers than their male counterparts. RESEARCH DESIGN METHODS OPERATIONALIZATION OF CONSTRUCTS AND VARIABLES The figure shows a diagrammatic representation of our research model. The definition of each of the constructs according to our interpretation is mentioned below. ECO-FRIENDLY ATTITUDE (EFA) Eco-friendly attitude (EFA) aims to measure the cognitive judgment of the respondent towards the value of environmental protection. It is the prerequisite to eco-friendly behavior (EFB). This is because the person should exhibit some environment friendly attitude before he takes definite steps towards improving the environment thus is considered as the independent construct in the model. ECO-FRIENDLY BEHAVIOR (EFB) Eco-friendly behavior (EFB) measures respondents readiness to take specific actions for environmental protection. These include consumers willingness to buy organic products, products which are certified ‘environmentally-safe. High eco-friendly attitude may or may not lead to eco-friendly behavior and hence latter forms the dependent construct under study. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS (EA) Environmental awareness/consciousness (EA) measures the awareness level of the respondent about environment and current environmental problems. A person with high environmental awareness realizes that an effort is required, both at an individual level and organization level, to improve general environmental conditions. GENDER The variable gender has been obviously taken into two categories male and female. SAMPLE Content Validity was performed on the questionnaire before floating it to the sample respondents. The questionnaire was administered to eminent faculty of XLRI Jamshedpur and two social entrepreneurs. An email with the link to the survey was sent across along with a document explaining the constructs used. The explanation consisted of a small definition. The document also explained the research model and the hypotheses under test. Then a sample of 180 students in the age group 20-30 years, doing a post graduate course in Business management or equivalent participated in a questionnaire which inquired about their attitude towards the environment, awareness and purchasing behavior regarding eco-friendly products. The sample consisted of 102 male and 78 female respondents. The questionnaire was administered through the Internet and responses were directly received. MEASURES For the purpose of Content validity questions were asked in the following format: â€Å"I often buy products that are labelled as environmentally safe† measures Eco friendly Behaviour on a 5 point Likert scale. Yes No Cant Say For actual analysis constructs were measured by a five point Likert scale wherein respondents were asked to mark their responses from 1 (‘‘Strongly Disagree or ‘‘Not at all ) to 5 (‘‘Strong Agree or ‘‘definitely). The scores in each of the constructs was a direct sum of all the individual items ECO-FRIENDLY ATTITUDE (EFA) Respondents eco-friendly attitude was measured with a five-point Likert scale (1 indicates ‘‘Strongly Disagree 5 ‘‘Strong Agree) developed by Sweeney et al. (2001). The scale had 7 items. A sample item is ‘‘It is very important to raise environmental awareness among Indians. ECO-FRIENDLY BEHAVIOR (EFB) Respondents eco-friendly behavior was measured with a five-point likert scale (1 indicates ‘‘Strongly Disagree 5 ‘‘Strong Agree) developed by Sweeney et al. (2001). The scale had 6 items. A sample item is ‘‘I often buy products which are labelled environmentally safe. Items 2, 4, 5 and 6 are reverse coded and hence these items are added after subtracting them from 5. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS/CONSCIOUSNESS (EA) Respondents environmental awareness was measured with a five-point Likert scale (1 indicates ‘‘Not at all 5 ‘‘definitely) developed by Vlosky et al. (1999). The scale had 5 items. A sample item is ‘‘I believe that environmental information on packaging is important. Gender was directly measured from a single question. The entire questionnaire is presented in Appendix A. ANALYSIS We have first of all conducted a reliability test for each of the three scales. Then for the purpose of our mediation analysis we have used a four step method that was developed by Kenny et al. (1998) and Baron and Kenny (1986) for the purpose of mediation analysis. This consists of four steps. In the first step we have used Eco Friendly Attitude as the independent variable to predict the dependent variable Eco Friendly Behaviour using linear regression. In the second step we have used Eco Friendly Attitude as the independent variable and used it to regress Environmental Awareness. The third step comprises of regressing Eco Friendly Behaviour using Environmental Awareness as the predictor variable. The final step comprises of regressing Eco Friendly Behaviour using both Eco Friendly Attitude and Environmental Awareness to determine the mediating effect of Environmental Awareness. RESULTS Content Validity reports showed that out of the 5 respondents, not more than 1 objected to the essentiality of any question out of the 17 questions in the survey. Hence none of the questions was discarded on those grounds. Reported in Table1 are the means, SD, correlations and internal consistency measure (Cronbachs ÃŽ ±). From the table we can clearly see that EA and EFB are very strongly correlated with each other. Even both of these are correlated with EFA but the extent of correlation of EFA is comparatively lower with EA and even lower with EFB hinting at a possible mediation of the EFA and EFB relation by EA. But a conclusive decision regarding the mediation can only be taken after we perform regression analysis for the same. Table 1: Means, SDs, correlations and Cronbachs ÃŽ ±. S. No. Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 Alpha (ÃŽ ±) 1 Eco Friendly Attitude 27.19 3.77 0.752 2 Environmental Awareness 19.52 3.7 0.606 0.797 3 Eco Friendly behaviour 18.89 4.47 0.457 0.738 0.847 Going forward, the regression analysis is presented in Table 2. In the first step we regress for EFB using EFA as a predictor or independent variable. The results show that the impact of EFA on EFB is significant (since p In the second step we regressed for EA using EFA as a predictor or independent variable. The results show that EFA significantly impacted EA (since p In the third step we regressed for EFB using the mediating variable EA as a predictor variable. The results again show a significant relation between the two which shows that the mediating variable here is significantly related to the criterion variable. Thus Hypothesis 3 is supported. In the final step we regressed for EFB using both EA and EFA as predictor variables to comment on mediation effect. EFA significantly affected EFB and EA as seen in step 1 and 2 but became non-significantly related to EFB in this step (p=0.795>>0.01). The same is emphasized by the fact that the significance of the impact of EA on EFB is still significant (p=0.000). Hence this shows complete mediation of the relation between EFA and EFB by EA. The mediation effect comes to 0.440 for EFA for its relationship with EFB. The Z-score using the Sobel calculator turns out to be 7.63 which is much greater than 1.96. Hence the mediation is significant at 1% level of significance (two-tailed). Hence hypothesis 4 is supported. Table 2: Regression Analysis Results for measuring the mediation effect. R ² Unstandardized ÃŽ ² Standardized ÃŽ ² Significance Change in ÃŽ ² Step 1 0.209 0.542 0.457 0.000 Step 2 0.367 0.594 0.606 0.000 Step 3 0.545 0.893 0.738 0.000 Step 4 0.545 0.88 0.728 0.000 Step 4 0.545 0.02 0.017 0.795 0.44 Once the mediation analysis is completed we now move to analysis of another important part of our model which is moderation of the relationships between EFA, EA and EFB by gender. Table 3 shows the regression re-performed separately for the male and the female samples. The mediation analysis again is shown to be significant in both the cases taken separately as seen from the fact that the first three relations are significant and in the step 4, the relation between EA and EFB is still significant showing that full mediation exists. The mediation effect turns out to be 0.62 in case of females and 0.322 in case of males. The Z-score comes to 6.38 in case of females and 4.57 in case of males. This shows that the mediation is significant in both the cases. Table 3: Regression Analysis Results for measuring the mediation effect (Female/Male). R ² Unstandardized ÃŽ ² Standardized ÃŽ ² Significance Change in ÃŽ ² Step 1 0.315/0.144 0.719/0.424 0.561/0.379 0.000/0.000 Step 2 0.519/0.262 0.839/0.427 0.720/0.512 0.000/0.000 Step 3 0.670/0.433 0.900/0.883 0.818/0.657 0.000/0.000 Step 4 0.671/0.435 0.947/0.844 0.861/0.628 0.000/0.000 Step 4 0.671/0.436 (-)0.076/0.064 (-)0.059/0.057 0.537/0.516 0.62/0.322 The standardized ÃŽ ² coefficient is shown for all the relationships in our model in the Figure 1 for both the male and the female set of respondents. The standardized coefficient clearly shows that for female respondents the impact of EFA on EFB is substantially higher than in the case of male respondents. The same is observed in case of the relationship between EFA and EA as well as between EA and EFB. Hence Hypothesis 5(a), 5(b) and 5(c) are supported. the Male/ Female set of respondents. DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The study conducted above analyzed the impact of Eco Friendly Attitude on Eco Friendly Behaviour and mediation of the relationship by Environmental Awareness in the context of the Indian youth studying in the post graduate schools of the country. Very little study, if any, has been conducted on this topic in the Indian Context so much so that only in 2009 has research started in Asia-Pacific by Kaman Lee (2009) on the same. This report provides a valuable insight into the topic for marketers as well as for future studies conducted in India. As can been seen from the analysis conducted above Eco Friendly Attitude seems to have a positive impact on Eco Friendly Behaviour which is consistent with the study conducted by Kotchen and Reiling (2000). This is very logical in the sense that people with a favourable attitude towards eco friendly products can be expected to have eco friendly behaviour even in spite of the extra price may be monetary or opportunistic that they have to pay for such behaviour. To have a better understanding of the topic we introduced Environmental Awareness as another construct and tried to find its role as a mediator. The first conclusion that came out of the same was that an Eco Friendly Attitude would imply a higher Environmental Awareness. This is in direct agreement to the study conducted by Mittal (1989). The logic behind the same is that an attitude would act as a motivation for them to learn more about these products hence increasing their awareness. The next conclusion that comes directly from the results is that Environmental Awareness leads to Eco Friendly Behaviour. This is again consistent with the study conducted by Chan (2001). This makes sense because people with more awareness about eco friendly products can be expected to have favourable purchasing behaviour towards the same. The results also establish the mediation of the relation between Eco Friendly Attitude and Eco Friendly Behaviour is being mediated by Environmental Awareness which is consistent with the studies conducted by Alwitt and Pitts (1996). This stresses on the importance of bringing about awareness about Eco Friendly Products among consumers. The conclusion that can be drawn here is that awareness about these products is more important than only an attitude towards the same. The results also show gender specific implications for each of these relationships. From the analysis for female consumers impact of attitude on behaviour seems to be higher which is in direct accordance with the study conducted by various authors like Maineri (1997) etc. mentioned in the literature review. The same is true to the other two relationships between Eco Friendly Attitude Environmental Awareness and between Environmental Awareness and Eco Friendly Behaviour. This makes sense because prominently household purchasing is done by females and hence there is a higher probability of attitude being converted to purchasing behaviour. Again females have been seen to exhibit more seriousness towards such issues as expressed in the literature review and hence the case. India is set to see a substantial increase in the market for eco friendly products. The study has great relevance for Indian marketers because this study emphasizes on the fact that awareness plays a key role in behaviour. This is a positive boost to the importance of environment awareness campaigns in bringing about eco friendly behaviour. This justifies the use of such campaigns in the drive for to create a host of environment friendly consumers. The fact that the impact of such awareness on behaviour is more in case of female consumers hints to the marketers about the possible benefit of targeting that segment of the consumers. The obvious conclusion from the above research is that the benefit from conversion of awareness and attitude to behaviour would be more in case of female consumers and marketing campaigns should be made to influence this particular market segment. LIMITATIONS, SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION Firstly the primary data collection was done among a restricted age group (20-30 years) and hence the same cannot be generalized for all the other age groups. Similar studies need to be conducted among other age groups as well. Secondly the same is valid for the educational background. As for the purpose of this study we had only approached students from B-Schools or other equivalent post graduate schools. Hence this result cannot be generalized for other sections of the society. Thirdly there might be an influence of cultural behaviour on survey results as the same is restricted to Indian cities. Hence for the purpose of generalizing the results, future studies should take into account the cultural influence on different variables. Fourthly The media used for the dissemination of the questionnaire in our case is internet because of the scarcity of time. Hence this might have restricted a few of the respondents from our target group. A parallel on-paper questionnaire could have provided a more comprehensive sample from the target group. But for the restricted category of people from which our sample was taken and which forms a substantial market for eco friendly products the results hold true. Thus for this section Eco Friendly Attitude positively impacts Eco Friendly Behaviour and the same is moderated by Environmental Awareness. The impacts are much higher in female consumers compared to male consumers. Hence female consumers should ideally be the target of marketers to eco friendly products who try to drive in awareness about eco friendly products to people having positive attitude towards the same.

Essay --

The impact of Social Media on academic life In this report we will be discussing a whole range of topics on how social media has had a massive impact on academic skills. The reason why we choose this as a group is because we all know how big social media and also social networking sites has had a massive impact on us and also a lot of people not just youngster but adult as well so this research/project really fits in our age democrat and our day to day lifestyle. We split the research and presentation evenly so between the three of us know one had too much to do or too little to do. As a trio I believe we worked well as a team even though we only knew each other’s couple weeks prior the group research was given out. No matter what people do everybody socialise with different people whether if it’s on the phone, computer, work, school, colleges and even universities. What we really want to know is why it has a massive affect on people’s academic life, seeing as people mostly use social media networking sit es to communicate with family members and friends. The issues that will be discussing in this report will be: †¢ What is social media †¢ History on how social media expanded †¢ Several different types of social media †¢ Advantages of social media on academic life †¢ Disadvantages of social media on academic life †¢ Our view on social media on a whole and conclusion What is social media? Social media is interacting with people using the internet. Having varies of social channels, websites that allows you to blog communicate, upload pictures and videos are all different types of social media. This allows you to share information with one another. Social media is increased throughout the years, every other month and new social media ... ...attending our meetings or lessons we will let the teacher know and also deal with the matter ourselves. This risk assessment shows what we have planned for any risk that may accrue while doing our project. We also showed what and how we would handle them as a team. Few of the risks above did occur to us which is what we put it in our risk assessment. References Dave Kerpen (June 7th 2011). Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and Other Social Networks). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. 25-30. http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/social-media.htm (website) http://www.icrossing.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_Social_Media_iCrossing_ebook.pdf (book/webiste) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/cyber_bullying/ (website) Spot light news by John Puecell (newspaper article)

The Idea Of Universal Design Architecture Essay

There are many misconceptions environing the thought of cosmopolitan design. Peoples frequently believe that supplying the handicapped with signage or a incline is sufficient and patterns the ideals of cosmopolitan design. What people must understand is that cosmopolitan design is about supplying these necessary comfortss to the disabled without segregating them from the norm of society. It is besides approximately making a infinite that can defy multiple environments and the crazes of clip as a dateless creative activity. In a universally designed universe peoples differences are non highlighted by constructing use but are designed for and make seamlessness between users. The bottom up theory is looked to by many interior decorators when set uping cosmopolitan infinite ; â€Å" it works on the premiss that the edifice users, the designer is functioning include those with disablements are all people who can be treated as normal people [ 2 ] † and with this you must get down at the underside of the pyramid and purpose to make the top and achieve universal design. Questions to see when planing a universally designed infinite may be how this infinite will react to different environments or epochs and as the user or users change what will be the response to how it is used. Universal designed has been outlined and defined into seven rules that can be applied to a broad scope of countries including architectural infinites to merchandise design.Equitable usageFlexibility in usageSimple and intuitivePerceptible informationTolerance for mistakeLow physical attemptSize and infinite for attack and usageAccess Living HeadquartersAccess Living is an organisation that started in the early 1970 ‘s and has been committed to rehabilitation and growing of handicapped peoples by the support of handicapped peoples. This company has personal with a battalion of disablements and alone challenges that they encounter. In March 5, 2007 LCM Architects lead by spouse John H. Catlin, FAIA designed entree life ‘s chief central office in Chicago with non merely a cosmopolitan focal point by as a sustainable design way. This 50,000 115 West Chicago Avenue. concern footmark for Access populating genuinely reflects the mission of the company and reinforces their ideals to authorise the options available to differences of others. It has been awarded â€Å" the Barrier Free America Award from Paralyzed Veterans of America ; A sustainable design award from AIA ; the Trend Setter Award from Friends of Downtown ; LEED Gold Certification ; and a Silver Award from the Association of Accredited Architects † .Design Solutionsâ€Å" LCM designers started the vision of cosmopolitan design, by taking an accessible location † and sing edifice attack. The edifice is no more than two blocks from the local train ‘s belowground station and from the metropolis coach. This close relationship non merely encourages green transit but it provided for utilizations that may non hold other manners of transit and its premier location allows for people from multiple locations to be able to utile this characteristic with easiness. In add-on to the consideration of close propinquity, the garage of the edifice has designated infinites that allow for electri c vehicles to be recharged for usage. As users approach, the edifice integrates two kerb bead offs seamlessly added to let for users coming from street degree and for wheelchair lifts to hold a â€Å" direct path to the chief edifice entryway † [ 4 ] . Being in a colder clime of the United States, architect Catlin devised a solution to cover with iced pavements in the winter months by planing a het concrete pavements and good illuminated attacks. All of these characteristics lead straight into the entryway of the edifice that is separated by two sets of skiding doors that open straight off the pavement. These doors have a broad gap of 60 inches to let for easy mobility or two wheelchairs in passing. Once you enter in to edifice for entree life, its good designed interior anteroom infinite and furniture choice leaves you no hint that this infinite is universally designed. LCM designers and there squad of interior decorators took close consideration into their interior picks being scruples of spacing, stuffs, colourss and constellations so this truly was a universally accepting infinite. â€Å" Universal design has a close relationship to human factor and biotechnologies. As a procedure they both attempt to see the abilities and restrictions of users when developing a merchandise or edifice an environment. [ 5 ] † All of the furniture came from the Steelcase, so a choice piece could be duplicated in several signifiers to include with arms/without, adjustable or basic systems that encouraged alteration as necessary. Using a individual maker line allowed for a broad scope of siting picks to read and flux seamlessly. Within this constellation ample infinite is giving for wheel chair move ability and integrating within a personal or big group interaction. Multiple chair highs are included for users of all statures and â€Å" clearance below some of the seating is unfastened to let the user to force up to the standing place with their leg musculuss [ 6 ] † . A usage characteristic within the anteroom is the response desk ; â€Å" Lehner points out that the response country underscores the cosmopolitan design. â€Å" â€Å" A individual nearing the response desk in a wheelchair should hold the same ability to utilize it as a individual who does n't hold a disablement. That ‘s the premiss behind the full design-no 1 uses a back door or side door, and no 1 uses a incline. Everybody comes in the same door and uses the same lifts † † [ 8 ] . Unique to most response desk, the primary dimension is at a wheel chaired accessible â€Å" antagonistic tallness of ( 29-30 † AFF ) † [ 9 ] . Based on the guided attack to the desk articulatio genus and toe infinite is carefully designed and supply for. The response desk does besides include a little part at the standard tallness of 42. Much consideration was giving to the response side of the desk because this would be the primary and full clip user of the millwork. The desk maintains the counter tallness and electrical mercantile establishments are placed at the terminals of the counter opposed to across to minimise the demand for users to strive to make across counter span. The employee besides is provided with a really accessible attack to their work station and a turning radius within, leting for a 360 grade wheelchair turning radius. Beyond the response desk, cagey inclusions of cosmopolitan rules are utilised to help with user move ability throughout. Two lifts with dual entry points allow users to travel rapidly in and out without the demand of turning within a little confined infinite. The lifts are besides big plenty to back up four wheelchairs within. Along with the maximization of mobility within the lift Architect Catilin incorporated province of the art exigency usage engineering for the deaf and caput of hearing and enlarge lift buttons placed at a cosmopolitan accessible tallness. Each of the floors of the Access Living Company, are colour coded so users can easy place vicinity and way. This colour coding procedure is a fantastic tool to help the immature kid to aged and people with all timers. This would besides extinguish the defeats of acquiring off the lift on the incorrect floor, like so many of us have done. Once on a floor users, will detect ample floor infinite as to non to experience constraine d by close furniture constellations and for wheelchair passing. The high traffic and countries of emersion are ingeniously deigned with a floor boundary line that lines the walls so the visually impaired can easy use this tool to steer through the floors. To a user with no sight impairments this merely appears as an aesthetical characteristic because of how good it integrated throughout. This characteristic is a premier illustration of how cosmopolitan design rules do non foregrounding the differences of users.ObstaclesIn planing the Access Living headquarter LCM Architects, incurred many obstructions in making a infinite that was non merely cosmopolitan, sustainable but besides aesthetically and functionally functional. With their primary focal point on making a cosmopolitan infinite they rapidly learned that â€Å" what works for one disablement does n't ever work for another, [ 10 ] † Lehner says. As a cosmopolitan interior decorator you must larn to equilibrate the integrating of adjustments so they are non swayed by a peculiar user. à ¢â‚¬Å" That ‘s nowhere more evident than in the flooring. Lowest common multiple discovered through research that rug, contrary to popular belief, serves people with MCS by pin downing contaminations that would otherwise remain airborne. It besides offers grip for people utilizing canes. â€Å" But rug can be hard to negociate with a wheelchair, † says Catlin [ 11 ] † This is a great lesson to be learned because when people think a disablement they excessively frequently merely think of wheelchair users. After choosing a cloth that architect Catlin thought would be perfect for all of the users in the infinite he rapidly had to return to the pulling board after one employee had an epileptic ictus from the intense patterning of the flooring. This is one illustration of the many troubles faced in this undertaking in planing for the multitudes, but Catlin remedies this job by put ining a more hushed form through the edifice while still â€Å" guaranting at that place was still adequate contrast on hallway boundary lines to assist steer people with ocular damages [ 12 ] † .DecisionAlthough they are a part of users there are wheel chair bound we must see and be cognizant that there are infinite damages that cause all users to hold different demands and ways in which they utilize a infinite. Planing a cosmopolitan infinite you must hold an apprehension of that and retrieve that you are non planing for outlined user but in bend everyone becomes your user. It is frequently really hard to make and plan a feasible solution that all people will hold user friendly, which is why designers and interior decorators seem to steam off from this rule. Catlin illustrates that non merely can plan be an aesthetically delighting cosmopolitan infinite but green rule can besides be an applied in a superb manner.Plants CitedAccess Living. Ed. Geekpak. Acess Living, 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2009.Boniface, Russell. â€Å" Paralytic Veterans of America Honors Chicago-b ased Access Living for Accessible Design. † The News of American ‘s Community of Architects. AIArchitect, 17 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2009..Dong, Hua. Switching Paradigms in Universal Design. Vol. 4554/2007. Heidelberg: Springer, 2007. Print.Goldsmith, Selwyn. Universal Design. Pine tree state: Architectural, 2001. Print.Meyers, Tiffany. â€Å" UNIVERSAL DESIGN IN ACCESS LIVING HQ. † Metropolis Magazine Oct. 2007. Metropolis Magazine, Sept. 09. Web. 23 Oct. 2009..Tandem, Byan, erectile dysfunction. â€Å" Home Design: Understanding Universal Design. † AARP ( 2008 ) . AARP. Web. 22 Oct. 2009..Goldsmith, Selwyn. Universal Design. Pine tree state: Architectural, 2001. Print.GoldsmithAccess Living. Ed. Geekpak. Access Living, 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2009.Access LivingDong, Hua. Switching Paradigms in Universal Design. Vol. 4554/2007. Heidelberg: Springer, 2007. Print.Access LivingAccess LivingBoniface, Russell. â€Å" Paralytic Veterans of America Honors Chicago-bas ed Access Living for Accessible Design. † The News of American ‘s Community of Architects. AIArchitect, 17 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2009..Access LivingMeyers, Tiffany. â€Å" UNIVERSAL DESIGN IN ACCESS LIVING HQ. † Metropolis Magazine Oct. 2007. Metropolis Magazine, Sept. 09. Web. 23 Oct. 2009..MeyersMeyers