Mothers' Health Conscious Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mothers' Health Conscious - Essay Example This essay talks about the survey analyses regarding mothers food decisions for their families. 1,000 American mothers were included in the survey. Many respondents felt that major brands were not able to address their individual needs, which meant that changes in the food and beverage marketing have to be implemented so as to appeal to moms. This article by Ben Meridith was published in a website which advocates healthy living. By using distributions from a survey, it was able to support its claim that more people are awakening to the need for a healthy lifestyle. At the end of the article Meridith said, â€Å"while food corporations are not known for their healthy messages, we can hope that they will approach marketing with a refreshing honesty† which in a sense meant that there is business in providing healthy food. Hence, in total, the article was able to support the website’s advocacy – that a healthy lifestyle is the new trend. While the writer for this article was successful in supporting his claims, one cannot say whether his interpretation of the distribution was correct or not. This is because he stated only the percentage distribution and not the actual frequency distribution of the survey. Moreover, there is no way for this researcher to check on the actual questions posted to the respondents and determine whether or not questions statements might have affected responses. Aside from this, only the averages were reported and there was no way of computing other characteristics of the distribution.

Case study ( subject accounting theory) Assignment

Case study ( subject accounting theory) - Assignment Example The company shareholders had been complaining of airline’s image and share prices have faced a slowdown. The profits also have declined and for the second consecutive time. Problem 1: Hidden fees Ryanair required its passengers to check in online for boarding and arrive at the airport with the boarding pass. If the passenger failed to do so, he or she would have had to pay a fine of â‚ ¬70. A reissue of boarding pass invites a charge of â‚ ¬70 (Pope, â€Å"Is this the advent of a new caring, sharing Ryanair?†). Another issue with hidden fees is with the baggage standard norms and charges associated with it. Ryanair has been famous for having one of the strictest baggage allowances in Europe. The airline allows a baggage size of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm which is even smaller that what IATA standardizes as baggage allowance. Also, the airline charged a pretty high sum of â‚ ¬60 at the bag drop counters and boarding gate. Measures taken The charge for not checking in on line remains unchanged. The argument put forward by Ryanair is that if a passenger can come forth with his passport, he can check in online as well. This is one criticism that the company refuses to accept. They deny that the hidden charges are hampering company’s brand image and need to be tackled. ... Company chief says that they are actively participating in improvising on customer service and actively listening and responding. As a part of the initial steps towards better customer service, the company has reduced these charges to â‚ ¬30 at the bag drop counters and â‚ ¬50 at the boarding gate. The company also plans to put an end to hefty fines on baggage’s that weigh a little heavier or are just slightly larger. It also announced an allowance of a second carry in baggage that shall be limited by the measure of 35 x 20 x 20cm over and above the pre-existing 10 kg baggage allowance (â€Å"Ryanair Rolls Out More Customer Service Improvements†). Analysis The reasons provided for impositions for not checking online are unreasonable. People might not accept the reason that checking online is as cultural as carrying a passport while taking a flight. Technology has made online access easier. It shall be a matter of time until people get used to the idea of boarding online. Moreover, not all airlines view online check-in likewise. Until then, hefty fines on not checking in online is detrimental to company image. Strict rules on baggage size have been detrimental to company’s brand image. Complains have gone unheard over slight mismatches in size inviting heavy fine impositions. Such brand reputation goes a long way in bringing down customer count, word of mouth reputation spreads stronger and faster for factors that are unacceptable by consumers. In this view, small improvements in baggage allowances shall be welcomed but the change in consumer perception shall take long to change unless the fuss over extra handle size or extra wheels are not eliminated.

Psychology of Film Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Psychology of Film - Assignment Example One was surprised to know that it could be considered unusual in a way that it does not contain cells or blood vessels like other tissues do. Likewise, through the information revealed in National Eye Institute’s Facts about the Cornea and Corneal Disease, one could then appreciate more that blood vessels however small they may be, can interfere with the process of light refraction and thus impede vision (National Eye Institute). From the available knowledge one can then deduct that visual acuity then depends on the absence of cloudy or opaque areas in the cornea. It is intriguing that by the lack of blood vessels, it is still extremely sensitive to pain. It has a high concentration of nerve fibers that are connected to pain receptors that have a low threshold thus making us feel the smallest speck of dust (Montgomery). A small particle is enough to make us cry. MedicineNet.com had provided information on the 5 basic layers of the cornea namely: the Epithelium, Bowman’ Layer, Stoma, Descemet’s Membrane and Endothelium. Each part serves a purpose of protection, strength, elasticity and form. Each layer might be extremely small and thin but it is capable of protecting the cornea from injuries and infections. The last layer, the Endothelium which is the thinnest, makes sure that the cornea maintains its integrity by pumping the excess fluids out of the cornea. They are extremely sensitive and do not regenerate. It can only be restored through transplantation. Learning these, it would be easy to understand why medical professional provide special health instructions on its proper care and use. This information will be of use to a great deal of people and hopefully reduce vision impairment and disorders which may be costly and painful to

Impact of New Media Technology on International Law

Impact of New Media Technology on International Law To what extent can it be argued that new media technologies have impacted on the structure of international news? The concept of globalization has changed the way or perhaps the structure of international news and represents a key component in the media transformation. It implies that the new media technologies plays an important role in enhancing globalization by allowing mass flowing of information between countries and intercultural societies. However, the rise of citizen journalism and internet seems to challenges the traditional way of international news structure. First of all, globalization has made an impact on the editorial structure and content in international news structure. Globalization is best describes as a transformation process while the development of new media technologies like internet and satellite system is an important part it. Flew (2007) describes globalization as a process rather an outcome or a collective tendencies of economic, political, social and cultural relations across nation’s border. Therefore globalization creates new forms of international journalism, the political ideas, economic events and communication spread much more easily and widely than before. The global news system is driven by technology and spread through the different media form such as international news broadcasts, televisions programming, internet and even satellite radio broadcasting. In fact, Kperogi (2011) points out that foreign news and local news continues to co-exist but become networked and blended together, creating new form of j ournalism. However audience are still basically primarily concern on their own national news while national interests are still the main aspects in journalism. Holm (2001) agreed that the content in the international news structure was always about political and economic event in foreign countries. In that case, this foreign news is facing competitive pressures with the other sensualizes and entertainment news. However with the new media technologies such as satellite and cable system, more and more people are getting concerned about the issues happened around the globe. Foreign news is now known as global news; therefore new agencies have the need to expand news productions and developed a more professionalism practices in the news coverage. Reese (2010) argues that international news agencies have to position themselves within transnational relationships, while maintaining their norms and logics to engage with the local practices. CNN as an example, an US based satellite and cable channel, now has a specific column for international news coverage such as Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East in the website. Therefore the selection of international news must not just reflect global interests but also address to the local community. Likewise, globalization as a post-modern world phenomenon has eventually the shaped the role and practice of journalists to mediate the news between the nation and the global interest. As Volkmer (1999) argues that the globalization and journalism has reflected the new categories of media, practice, professionals, and content which they need to redefine into global perspective. Todays, every media people have the computer and internet access to international 24 hours news feed. The digitalization of information and the development of new media technologies with the capacity to store the information and permitting the convergence of information have contributed in spreading a global agenda. This evolution of news system has been seen in some of the international news agencies in the past 19th century such as Reuters and AP which had become the emergence of today’s modern global news system. Journalists and reporters are assigned throughout all over the world even the war zone l ike Palestine and Iraq with the objective to cover and report any significant live event happened in the country. The transformation in the structure of international news communication has created the perception of a shrinking world through intercultural connectivity. Thus people are getting more concern with the global news, especially when it has huge political, economic and social impact to the world. New media technologies allow the people to access to foreign news, while breaking news, live event and exclusivity have resulted changing demand in international news coverage. The reason is because people always wanted to be the first to know what is happening and it must be huge, example like the 911 incidents the people around the world are able connect to live news reporting but also in the same time they have also witnessed the second terrorist plan attack during the news reporting in the their TV screen as it is happening. International news reporting has expanded widely and can be received throughout the world. CNN, Al-Jazeera and even BBC do not just exist in their origin country; foreign operational offices also have been established across the world. Therefore, it could be argued that new media technologies and the Internet have stimulated this interconnectedness between countries and lead to the rapid spread of information, news, content and programming. Furthermore as the media corporations expand globally, the structure and content in the international news become more and more saturated which people have been bombarded by different kind of political reinscribed messages. Basically, media consists of propaganda potential to narrow down the range of ideas in the public sphere and restrict debate among the citizens. McComb Shaw (1997) describes media has the powerful influence in determine the agenda and highlight certain issue in the society. With new media technologies, these effects certainly become global and visible especially throughout this cultural sensitivity world. To illustrates this, Israel-Palestinian and middle-east conflicts are now the international central agenda, by consistently highlighting and broadcasting on going live events such as the war in Israel and Palestine, the international media create a new form of public sphere and awareness. However as media grow in scale and centrality in international news report ing, the degree to which media constructs the agenda in news become an issue. Reese (2009) argues that the notion of globalization leads to another way to describe Americanization, cultural imperialism and transnational capitalism. One of the assumptions is that the international news agencies are very much controlled by the political elite group in the western countries. Neither do they are not covering enough news in the developing countries, the international news are still very much constructed in a very selective and biased way. Furthermore, due to the commercialised and privatisation in the media, the competition among those media tycoons has been reduced to few with media corporations are largely concentrate on fewer owner. Therefore media today are moving across national borders and building alliances with local forms through conglomeration and integration. One of the very good examples perhaps would be News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch. With the subsidiaries in Europ e, United States of America, Asia and Australia, Murdoch has successfully expanded his global media empire through the establishment of satellite TV systems (Flew, 2007). The international media system today is largely owned by Western Corporations, with not even single one is coming from developing countries. It would be wise to say that the current international news agenda is imbued with westernised ideology. For instances, the participation of the minority group such as the African American are very much underrepresented in the media while the hunger and poverty in South Africa seldom been highlighted in the international news agenda. It is perhaps these international agenda does not seem to create a political and economy interest to the westernised country. On the hand, the conflicts happened in the Islamic middle-east countries have been the central of the international news. This is because these people who own these technologies of satellite and cable system as well as the r esources are basically the white magnates, who have the tied relationship with the ruling class members. Thus they have the direct power to control the content and agenda in international media. From the political economy perspective, new media technologies has been seen as propaganda tools by these political elite groups members to spread their ideology into international level. The international news agenda somehow has been pre-constructed by the representatives such as journalists, editors and political figures to protect the dominant westernised ideology. Despite the media conglomeration impacted on the international news agenda, the rise of the new internet phenomenon, the citizen journalism, seems to challenge the traditional way of international news cover. In fact, Goode (2009) defines citizen journalism as a range of web-based practices whereby ordinary user engages in journalistic practices. These practices include current affairs blogging, photo and video sharing and even posting eyewitness opinion on current events in social network. Indeed, new technologies has eventually changed the practices of journalism while new digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, DIGG and even The Huffington Post have connected the world and lower the distinctions between professional journalists and netizen. Likewise Dahlgren (2005) points out that the internet has the potential to democratize the current public sphere and lead to strengthened political interest and participation among the citizens in a long term effect. With computerized technolo gy, satellite TV and the Internet have contributed to the cost-effective communication which it stimulates the home-made news production phenomenon among the citizens without the contents of being filtered by the gatekeeper. Citizens can often report breaking news more quickly than traditional news agencies. Social media like Twitter and Facebook enable a powerful form of citizen journalism with live coverage of events such as the war in Israel and Gaza as it is happening. It is perhaps citizen journalism has been act as form of pre-alert form of news. As Reese et. al. (2007) argues that blogging and other social media have helped create an interlocking dialog between professionals and citizens. In fact, rather than competing against each other, professional media seems to take citizen journalism into account and are responsible to embrace their efforts. CNN with new media technologies allows the people around the world have to opportunity to contribute the unfiltered or uncensored video and text-based news report (Kperogi, 2011: 319). Furthermore this digitalised form of news allows rapidly retransmitted effect throughout the world while commentaries were available in the social media platform (E.g. Youtube video-sharing to Facebook). Such news and information sharing phenomenon eventually contribute to the development of meta-journalism, and offer diverse range of alternatives news sources in the internet. Therefore social media established a healthy form of public sphere where individual opinion can be heard and dialogue between the citizen and social institution could be formed. In this sense, the international news agencies sometimes do rely on the information from the citizens, especially when they do not have direct access or footage to the news coverage of the event. Professional sometimes selects and edits user-generated content before it actually published online. Indeed new digital media beyond most of the media regulation and gatekeeper control enable to create democratic practices in international news structure. However the practices of citizen journalism still remains scrutiny. Goode (2009) argues that the online communities lack of professionalism and credibility in this participatory news production. Although internet enable new form of public sphere, by creating the opportunity to publicize criticisms and comments, and to engage in a continuous dialogue, the accuracy of the news still much be questioned. This is because everyone on the internet can write and post anything about any issues in the internet. Unlike the professional journalism, the news without gatekeeper can be written without based on any facts, while the photo footage we seen on the internet might not be true and have been reconstructed by any computer tools like Photoshop and Video editor. Basically citizen journalism does not empower individual in any perspective. Again with the Israel-Gaza conflicts, the citizens in the country used twitter to routinely update about the news with the Hashtag features available (e.g. #IsraelGaza), but it still would not change anything. Therefore the credibility and objectivity of citizen journalism somehow still need to examine. In conclusion, international news structure has been deeply affected by the new media technologies in the process of globalization. Media, practice, professionals, and content have to restructure into global perspective. While majority of the international news agency are owned by Western Corporation, new media technologies are essential propagate to shape the ideological agenda into international level. The rise of citizen journalism on the other hand creates the opportunity for the public participation in news production which public opinion and dialogue between the citizen and social institution could be formed. Therefore, new media technologies to certain extent still plays a critical role in helping international news organization act as a watchdog to monitor issues around the world. References DAHLGREN, P. (2005) ‘The internet, public spheres, and political communication’, Political Communication, 22:2, 147–62. FLEW, T. (2007) Understanding global media: Globalization and global media corporations, Palgrave: London. GOODE, L. (2009) Social news: citizen journalism and democracy, New Media Society, 11, 1287-1305. HJARVARD, S. (2001) News media and the globalization of the public sphere in in HJARVARD, S. (2001) News in a globalized society, Nordicom: Goreborg, 113-128. HOLM, H. (2001) ‘The effect of globalization on media structures and norms: globalization and the choice of foreign news’ in HJARVARD, S. (2001) News in a globalized society, Nordicom: Goreborg, 113-128. KPEROGI, F. (2011) Cooperation with the corporation? CNN and the hegemonic cooptation of citizen journalism through iReport.com, New Media society, 13, 314-329. McCOMBS, M. E., Shaw, D. L. (1997) Communication and Democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory, Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence Erlbaum. Reese, S. D., Lou Rutigliano, Kideuk Hyun Jaekwan Jeong (2007) Mapping the blogosphere: Citizen-based media in the global news arena, cited in REESE, S. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353. REESE, S. D. (2009) The future of journalism in emerging deliberative space, Journal: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 10: 3, 362-364. REESE, S. D. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353. VOLKMER, I. (1999) News in the global sphere: A study of CNN and its impact on global communication, cited in REESE, S. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353.

Cloned stem cells may give you a new lease of life Essay -- Biology

Cloned stem cells may give you a new lease of life (A new lease of life means â€Å"an opportunity to improve someone’s future†) Summery Paragraph The name of my article is â€Å"Cloned stem cells may give a new lease of life† I found this article in the â€Å"New Scientist† magazine. It was published on November 8, 2002. The article is telling us about how to use therapeutic (treatment) cloning to take adult cells from a human body, create cloned embryos (animal or plant in the early period of its development before it is born or grown) and remove stem cells that can turn into a wide range of tissues (a bunch of cells forming an animal or plant. Like the heart, brain, muscles, and lungs are some examples of tissues). When they tried this experiment on two cows, one cow was given drugs...

The Silicon Valley Technology

The Silicon Valley Technology simulation created a good opportunity for me to observe situations and expectation under a corporate environment. Through interactions with other managers and executives, I had experienced many issues regarding business operation and management that were mentioned in the class. I would like to share what I observed, encountered, and applied into four main topics: interpersonal communication, relationship management, influencing people, and decision-making process. Interpersonal communication technique played a crucial role in the SVT simulation. As a Director of Advanced Product, I had to report to the vice president and also pass information to other directors and managers. Our division worked closely because all of us knew each other from the same class. That basic trust was built quickly during the early stage of development. The Vice President of Advance Product made sure everyone’s voice and concern were included into every discussion to reduce blind spots. For example, I had a request to set aside at least 21 million dollars to fully develop the video products. The VP asked the Director of Product Development if she had the same budget plan or related concerns. This way, we could allocate the budget efficiently to prevent double-spending. We also set a basic norm to focus and respond appropriately when others were sharing important information. This active listening will help others to gain clear understanding of the situation, so I can take responsible actions. When I talked to the product managers about the shipping schedule, I would let them finish their talk first and try to suspend my judgments, and then repeat what I have heard to ensure correctness and share my point of views. What I observed was the way I received messages through multiple channels, the facial expressions, gestures and non-verbal language to clearly understand their points. Although our group communication was truly informative and supportive, I am aware of spending a lot of times in prioritizing the issues and exchanging information to the extent that I ran out of the time to come up with possible alternatives and had to make decisions hastily. What I could have done better was to avoid ambiguous communication and emotional involvement. When I suggested hiring new sales forces and establishing international offices in Europe, I did not provide a clear answer or data to support my ideas. When our discussion became heated, I felt that the greater the emotional involvement, the greater the likelihood of distortion. If I could eliminate these communication issues, I could have allocated more quality time to make better decisions and received fewer complaints about the deadline. Management of Relationship is one of the key functions in the SVT simulation. There were several situations where I had applied what I learned from the case study â€Å"Managing Your Boss. Even though everyone in our division knew each other already, I had no clues about their preferred working styles. It took me some times to figure them out. My VP was very energetic with a get-it-done attitude, but she intended to interrupt the discussions and instructed us to get to the main points directly. The other product manager was very down to earth and a detail-oriented person. For example, when I spoke to the VP about our target estimate for video products, I used bulleted points and data, such as the focus on global market expansion, hiring qualified sale engineers, and budget allocations. On the other hand, since the product manager is more detail-oriented, I would cover information in depth whenever possible. Thus, understanding your boss and peers would definitely enhance the efficiency. I also had experienced a paradox of information flow in two different directions. I usually received a lot of information from my region sale forces and supplied to my VP to make decisions. The upward flow of information, which was adapted by the VP, was a standard norm in Advance Product division. Besides, I could report both good news and negative surprises. When the level went up to the president and vice presidents, the flow of information went downward. There seemed to be much information was related to Advance Product but only known by the top management. When it comes to gaining supports from top management under Silicon Valley Technology, the best way to do it was through influencing people. For instance, in order to reduce employee turnovers and shipping costs, the production director and I tried to relocate the manufacturing factory to Indiana. However, unless there would be an additional budget and an action plan approved from the top management, this plan wouldn’t work out. Therefore, I went to the corporate library to look up the forecast of future regional sale growth and the shipment schedule predictions. I implemented influence tactic by persuading the VP with a complete budget plan and forecasts through an adequate levels of communication. The VP also chose the correct combination of influence tactics such as ingratiation and a rational plan for the president to be nfluenced. Finally, the committee meeting granted our request to include sufficient funds in the next year annual budget. What I observed was that the persuasion went smoothly because it was a simulation; there were not many arguments and push backs. It will not be as easy in real world settings. In addition, the another way to influence people was developing a network of resourceful people whom can be called upon for assistance, such as the special project manager who was in charge of the strategic planning for the future of the company. With deadlines in mind, the timeliness of decision making process became relatively important in SVT simulation. As a director, I have many decisions to make between my regional sales teams and international salespeople. Many of these decisions are programmed decisions, which are repetitive and routine. A routine procedure has been developed for handling them, such as a request from my Northwestern Sales Office to have rewards to celebrate the success of getting the biggest order from NorCal Power. In this case, I would follow the recognition policy to give them rewards. However, most decisions are non-programmed not only in SVT simulation, but also in the real world situations. These decisions were required by unique and complex management problems and were consisted of a complete process including a clear objective, resource allocations, time management and so on. In our first meeting of Advance Product with the VP, the product development directors and product managers, the VP urgently informed us that Flemming Inc. ould like to partner with AP to expand its market in Europe and a division decision was due before the committee meeting in 45 minutes. Under this time pressure, we quickly established specific goals, using this opportunity to increase market presence in Europe and to test out international markets of new home video products. We also identified problems that Flemming Inc. might steal our technology because SVT was mainly responsible for the R&D, not marketing and sales. It might delay our own R&D process since this partnership would receive most of the resources. Thirdly, although the VP was patient to include our voices and ideas, we spent a lot of time prioritizing issues and doing cost/benefit analysis to come up with only a few alternatives, such as asking Flemming Inc. to include our brand name on the future products, and increase our forecast revenue to almost double by 40%. But In the end of the discussion, we ran out the time to evaluate the alternatives and decision was made by the VP hastily since she had to go to the meeting and had the final say. After the VP left for the meeting, I reflected on our decision making process, which was inefficient in term of pre-work and time management. First, in the beginning, I did not have any information about Flemming Inc. since the information was from our President to only the VP as an urgent matter. Second, when the meeting was called, I was not informed of the agenda that would be discussed. As a result of that, time management generated the most impact on the decision making process. This could be improved by setting up a clear agenda before the meeting, obtaining extra information from the corporate library, and working out the cost-benefit analysis. These improvements would bring us to a reasonable expectation on what we were trying to achieve and would not waste time to brainstorm the pro and con during the meeting. Instead, the time we spent could work on evaluating the alternatives and choosing one. Eventually, we could have more time to make a group decision rather than relying on one person’s decision. Although there were many mistakes and learning opportunities during the decision making process, I was glad to have the managers and peers who were willing to listen and accept everyone’s ideas so we could quickly establish specific goals and identify the problems. Through the SVT simulation, it was a great experience for me because I had never worked in a corporate environment so I was impressed what I observed and experienced. Although the time wasn’t enough for me to apply what I have learned from the class, I could tell the importance of interpersonal communication and relationship management that. These techniques would definitely help me sharp my tactics of influencing people and then apply to the decision making process.

Poverty In United States Essay

United States of America being among   Ã‚  the richest and most developed nations one would expect poverty to be a vocabulary that only exist in the national policies of third world countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By comparison Americans can be described as wealthy but there are some pockets of poverty in this vast and rich nation This paper attempts to explore poverty situation in United States highlighting its causes and characteristics, digging deeper to understand which group of people consist the poor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A report released in 2002 shows that there were 35 million poor Americans, this represented roughly 10% of the population, and this figure has been rising Presently 12% of Americans are living below the poverty line.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By definition poverty is described as that condition where one is unable to meet the basic need in life, that’s one, can not afford a well balanced meal, decent housing and clothing. Poverty in United States is somehow different from the one experienced in least developed nations where living on less than a dollar qualifies one as poor. The poor in America constitute people who depend on state welfare since they are unable to provide for themselves, every year people fall in and out of poverty.   In a period of 10 years 40% of American fall in and out of poverty, this is attributed to fall of their income, when one of the family member moves out, among other situations (Fisher, G.M., 2003)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some groups of people are more prone to poverty than others. This depends on their economic social or cultural position they occupy in the society. There are those who are unemployed meaning they do not engage in any income generating activity. Crime on one hand is a result of poverty or it can breed poverty. Poor tend to engage into criminal activity or they are driven into it by poverty. Apprehended criminals in correction centers rarely engage in economic activity while victims of crime e.g. thefts have to replace the stolen property eating on their savings. (Zweig, Michael, 2004)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Households headed by women on average tend to be poor in comparison to those with both spouses. In this type of a family woman is the sole bread winner. Most of her income goes towards provision of basic needs with less or no savings therefore making it difficult for this family to rise beyond poverty line (Martin N.,2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The size of the family affects family income, large families have more mouths to feed, more household bills to clear, huge spending in insurance, education and healthcare. If this type of family income is not enough they will for ever be trapped in poverty cycle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other groups that are likely to be poor are the unskilled, the less educated substance abusers immigrants and children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Causes of poverty in America are several they range from economical, cultural, and geographical to social. . Distribution of resources largely affects people ability to produce. This also determines employment opportunities available which by and large dictates people incomes. States endowed with resources will have low poverty rates than those with little or unexploited resources. (Adams, J.Q, Pearlie S.A, 2001)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Economic condition which is not favorable will result to increased poverty rate, recessions leads to rise in inflation which means people pay more for the same goods they were buying but their income remains constant, and this means savings are curtailed. For example recession in 1982 led to rise in poverty rates from 12% to 15%   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Education equips Americans with skills that enable them to gain employment or venture into business. On average Americans with a college diploma have access to high paying jobs compared to the less educated. To a greater extent educational level determine ones income, less educated are likely to earn less making it impossible for them to afford a decent living. On the same line education level dictates opportunities available to an individual. Unskilled labor attracts low pay making unskilled laborers more prone to poverty than their skilled counterparts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rural and urban settings provide greater disparities as far as living standards are concerned. Americans living in urban areas have higher incomes when compared to their rural countrymen. There are more opportunities in urban areas due to high population with disposable income and better infrastructure. In rural areas opportunities are few and are limited to primary production e.g. agriculture, mining e.t.c.This means income generation activities and employment opportunities are fewer and only attract the less skilled   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Regionally, most of the southern states have higher poverty rates especially the rural areas .This is due to few employment opportunities and historical background.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Children are more prone to be poor than any other age group. According to the information released from population survey by census bureau in 2004, 21% 0f children were considered as poor. A greater disparity is seen when it comes to racial lines, almost half of African Americans and 40% of Latino kids are trapped in poverty circles. (Harrington, M.,1962).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Immigrants are great victims of poverty .Those with low education earn their living in low paying jobs. Illegal immigrants are even more disadvantaged as they can not gain any meaningful employment, therefore remaining in poverty circles for a long time   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, poverty in United States is dynamic, one may be in and out of poverty throughout their lives. Though there are conflicts as to who is poor, there is a common understanding that those who live on an income that is below what an average American earn is living below poverty . What constitutes poverty in United States may be middle class in some parts of the world especially in least developed nations. Poverty is a limiting factor in the society as it denies some Americans decent lives curtailing their freedom to enjoy lives. Policies need to be implemented to lower the poverty rates so as to rid United States of poverty. Reference Adams, J.Q.; Pearlie Strother-Adams, 2001. Dealing with Diversity. Chicago, IL: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. . Harrington, Michael ,1962 The Other America. Macmillan. Fisher, G.M. ,2003 The Development of the Orshansky Poverty Thresholds. Macmillan Zweig, Michael ,2004 What’s Class Got to do With It, American Society in the Twenty-first Century. ILR Press. Martin N. ,2008. Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes, 4th ed.. Boston: McGraw-Hill