Abstract
Analysis of the cool medium of Rlay Bradbury's science fiction novel in terms of two theories on cause & effect in terms of changes in perception. Marshall McLuhan's theory of perception altered by technology. David Abram's theory of everyday perception as the primary perception. Bradbury's vision. How characters in the novel illustrate the theories. Problem of objective truth.

From the Paper
"One of the key theories of Marshall McLuhan is that technology and the way we relate to and view technology shape our way of thinking about the world. In his discussion of phenomenology, David Abram suggests something similar in that he finds that language shapes how we view the world. Both see a connection between our subjective perception and the objective world we perceive. Both would also agree that our perceptions are neither completely subjective or completely objective. We might think they are subjective, but McLuhan says we are shaped by the technologies we use and by the way those technologies extend our perceptions outside the body. Abram follows the phenomenology of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty and accepts the notion that perception is participation. If this idea is extended to consciousness as such, it could lead to the..."

Abstract
The paper relates that during initial studies with mouse oocytes, it was postulated that once intracellular ice formation and osmotic stress were properly addressed, they should become minor or negligible problems. The paper explains that attention was focused on the medium in which the oocytes were frozen, and it was found that replacing all sodium ions in the medium with choline ions allowed mouse oocytes to be frozen effectively. The paper looks at how the effects of the plunge temperature (degree of dehydration) and thawing regimes on mouse oocyte survival (Stachecki & Willadsen, 2000) were investigated and how each of these findings supports previous assertions because they demonstrate that the composition of the freezing solution can have dramatic effects on oocyte survival.

From the Paper
"Evolution of the slow cool rapid thaw method of oocyte cryopreservation: A. Mouse oocytes: During initial studies with mouse oocytes, it was postulated that once intracellular ice formation and osmotic stress were properly addressed, they should become minor or negligible problems. Attention was focused on the medium in which the oocytes were frozen, and it was found that replacing all sodium ions in the medium with choline ions allowed mouse oocytes to be frozen effectively. The effects of the plunge temperature (degree of dehydration) and thawing regimes on mouse oocyte survival..."

Tags:oocyte, fertilization, biology

Abstract
This paper provides a discussion about a working medium to artists in Los Angeles, California. The discussion defines the skills and capabilities of the medium, his clientele, his pricing, his success rate and his client practices.

From the Paper
"As a medium to artists, I have a number of capabilities. I am able to hear and interact in conversations with the spirit world. I have the capability of going into a trance and speaking though I do not know what I am saying. When acting as a medium, my body consists of a spirit who controls my body and my speech in order to convey messages from the spirit world to the living. As a medium to artists, many living in Southern California,..."

Tags:spirit world, channeling, new age, consciousness, death

Abstract
This paper discusses a number of factors affecting and influencing small and medium size enterprises in Thailand. The paper looks at the industrial sector and its regulators, what may impede the growth of these enterprises, taxes and laws affecting the operation and ownership of businesses and requisites for entrepreneurship.

The Industrial Sector and Its Regulators
Growth Impediments to SMEs in Thailand
Income Tax and Laws for Foreigners in Thailand
Small Retailers vs Big Chains
Business in Thailand Only 2% E-Commerce
Requisites for Entrepreneurship

From the Paper
"The industrial sector has contributed the most to the economic growth of Thailand, with manufacturing as its most important sub-sector , followed by construction, mining and quarrying. Manufacturing, accounting for approximately 25% of each addition to the incremental Gross Domestic Product, has relied heavily on agricultural products, such as rubber, textile, food processing, beverages and tobacco. Employment in the manufacturing sector has constituted more than more than 25% of the labor force Thailand's most important exports have been processed food, leather, wood, rubber and basic metals. The industrial sector is under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, the Board of Investments, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry, the Industrial Finance Corporation, the Bank of Thailand and the National Economic and Social Development. The Ministry of Finance administers taxes and duties and provides refunds on exports and has a decisive role on government equity participation, foreign borrowing for project support and protection through tariff. The Board of Investment provides incentives for investments."

Tags:economic, growth, manufacturing, construction, commerce, trade, asian, developing

Abstract
This paper is an analysis of the book "Success in Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises", a report written by Cortes, Berry, and Ishaq on a research project undertaken and published by the World Bank. The paper discusses the main findings of the study, which set out to explain the escalated growth of selected businesses, in comparison to large industries, during the 1970s in Colombia.

From the Paper
"Cortes, Berry, and Ishaq in "Success in Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises" set out to explain the escalated growth of these businesses, in comparison to large industries, during the 1970s in Colombia. This book is a report on a research project undertaken and published by the World Bank. The data used in the study are mainly based on surveys of the metal-working and food processing industries. Determinants of efficiency in these industries are examined, along with determinants of viability. Patterns and trends in firm size and distribution are explained by technological factors, demand factors, input supply factors, and constraints on the rate of exchange of output.

Tags:colombia, industry, success

Abstract
This essay deals with issues raised by Marshall McLuhan's famous dictum: "The medium is the message". The paper offers an analysis of Marshall McLuhan's various essays investigating how this dictum applies and is supported or contradicted by the content therein. It also attempts to accommodate for modern technological trends such as the internet and takes into account the importance of other general media theories.

From the Paper
"Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) once wrote that he would never become an academic. Though he was learning in spite of his professors, he would eventually become Professor of English, in spite of himself. In a famous quote that is well related to his investigation of media, McLuhan says, "I don't explain, I explore". His explorations of media and their significance in our daily existence took him through James Joyce, the symbolist poets, Ezra Pound; back to antiquity and the myth of Narcissus, and forward to the mythic structure of modern Western culture dominated by electric technology."

Tags:technology, television, communication, newspaper, internet

Abstract
This paper discusses a number of reports in the English-medium PRC press as produced online for foreign audiences. The paper provides comments on how the reports vary as well as on the focus of the reports. The paper also discusses the coverage of different hydro projects known to affect water management and reservoirs.

Tags:propaganda, 2006floods, prc

Abstract
This paper explores the Internet service, MySpace, as primarily a ritualistic medium and secondarily as a transmissive medium. The paper further loooks at how MySpace and its imitators and competitors function as a medium of social and cultural re-tribalization. Lastly, the paper relates the ways that the unique qualities of MySpace tend to blur the traditional old-media distinction between audience and producer.

From the Paper
"Social networking on the Internet, by its very nature, is a ritualistic model of communication. The purpose of the social networking is first and foremost to bring people together into a common environment to discover and to share their common values and interests, rather than merely transmit a given packet of information. That this environment is a virtual one rather than a physical one (such as a community center, for example) is part of the uniqueness of Internet-based social networking technologies such as MySpace."

Tags:criticism high-definition, cool medium, advertising pseudo-communal

Abstract
Examines the first seven chapters of Marshall McLuhan's book on the effect of mass communication. Impact of rapid technological change on society. McLuhan's theory that the medium is the message and are one. Hot and cool media. Media as an extension of people's senses. Information systems and learning. Psychic consequences of the new technologies.

From the Paper
"In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan described and explained media and cultural transformations. This paper will analyze the first seven chapters of his seminal book, which contain his central ideas on mass communication and contemporary culture.

THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
McLuhan offers a form of technological determinism as he sees a relationship between the way we live and the way we process information. Cultural change is driven by technological change, says McLuhan, and for McLuhan it is specifically changes in modes of communication that shape human existence. McLuhan saw every new communications development as an extension of some human faculty -- the book is an extension of the eye, the wheel an extension of the foot, clothing an extension of the skin, and ..."

Abstract
The writer contends that as a result of advertising, the American nation as a whole is slowly losing all individuality, to transfigure as a consumption driven entity that is essentially just a product itself. The writer then shows how marketing has used psychological tools that provide individuals with desires that slowly seep into one's self and drive one into submission. The writer looks at the television as one of the mediums for advertising towards children and teenagers. The writer also discusses the implications of commercials, such as those for toys that romanticize the idea of war to children, and of advertisements geared towards teenagers that show them what they need in order to be "cool" like everyone else. The writer calls upon society to resist the pull of consumerism and of copying what others are doing and buying.

From the Paper
"As the United States has evolved into a multi-market-driven-economy, the advances of advertisement have had a great influence over its identity. Marketing and advertisement are synonymous. Advertising has affected the individual by bombarding one with images that stimulate not only the conscious mind but the unconscious, the uncontrollable, as well. Marketing has used psychological tools which provide individuals with desires, desires which slowly seep into one and drive one into submission. Advertising has delivered objects with abstract values, which are then taken by one and used as "substitutes" for one's existence. Although marketing has been accused for making society a numb and cultureless entity, it is society who is taking advantage of the opportunities provided by it."

Tags:consumption, consumerism, desires, products, commercials, individuality, values, images