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The assigned reading is based on a review of Latin America Free Essays

The appointed perusing depends on an audit of Latin America’s Banking framework and how it has had the option to develop over the tim...

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Wheat Seed Treatment in Australia Research Paper

Wheat Seed Treatment in Australia - Research Paper Example Seeds are subject to attacks not only externally but also internally as fungi or bacteria may attach to their coating or even within eventually causing plant diseases. The dangers that threaten seeds are present during storage and after planting. The soils upon which seeds are planted also contain fungi and bacteria that could harm them and the degree to which they could endanger seeds depend upon the condition of the soil at the time seeds are planted, which do not favour fast germination. Seed treatment had been practiced as early as 60 A.D. when seeds were treated with wine and crushed cypress leaves to deter insects from destroying them while in storage (Munkvold et al. 2006 7). Also, during the Egyptian and Roman periods sap from onion was used; in the Middle Ages, chlorine salts and liquid manure, and; in the 1600s, hot water started to become a ST method, one that is still being used even to this day (Australian Seed Federation 2010). The earliest treatment for wheat seeds was accidentally discovered in the 17th century when a ship carrying a load of wheat grains sank. When grains that got soaked in the seawater were recovered from the sunken ship and were planted they produced plants that have less bunt or stinking smut than the usual crops planted using ordinary seeds. Thus, soaking seeds in seawater became one of the earliest treatments to seeds to prevent bunt until in the year 1750 a Frenchman discovered that salt and lime can control bunt in wheat significa ntly. The advent of the mercurial compounds in the 1920s, although later banned, had revolutionised contemporary seed treatment (Munkvold et al. 2006 7).

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Management Accounting - Essay Example The method emphasizes on the total costs incurred and the cost volume profits of the relationship are not considered. As far as the decision provided by the accountant, it is solely based on absorption costing. It is imperative to note that a major part of the costs of the two products are due to fixed overheads and administrative expenses. Moreover, these expenses are incurred even if the production of these two products is dropped. Hence a better costing method has to be adopted to effectively allocate the overheads. The two methods suited for Rothfield Plc are activity based costing and marginal costing. Activity Based Costing: ABC is a modern accounting system in which the expenses and overheads are segregated based on the functions of the organisation, which is followed by allocation of the costs to each of the items in respect to the volume of the activity (Kaplan & Anderson, 2007). The use of ABC costing allows the company to accurately assign the costs for all the activities of each of the product or service (Drury, 2005). Rothfield Plc can allocate the fixed overheads based on the usage of these resources by the various production processes. Marginal Costing or Variable Costing: Marginal Costing provides a clear explanation of the impact of changes in volume of output on the profits and the changes on the profits. There is also a clear differentiation between the fixed and variable costs as well. As explained by Dyson (2007), the fixed costs are never charged to the production and instead the fixed costs are treated as period charges. Hence Rothfield Plc can adopt this method to estimate the potential profits effectively. The total labor hours required to meet the estimated production levels are slightly higher (by 333 hours). Hence, it is evident that some of level of production of either one or some of the products has to be reduced. It is essential that whatever the production combination, the contributions from the sales are significant

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Reflection Paper On Hong Kong Tourism

Reflection Paper On Hong Kong Tourism Hong Kong tourism is one of the four pillars in its economy. With its image as a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong has attracted millions of tourists each year. However there are tourism issues that should not be overlooked by the government and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC) in order to develop strategies to maintain the long term sustainability of Hong Kong tourism. In this paper, a situation assessment is presented and key tourism issues are identified together with the problems associated and relevant strategies to overcome these problems identified. After the handover of Hong Kong back to the hands of China in 1997, Hong Kong developed its strong links with China. Tourism is with no exception. In 2010, Hong Kong recorded 36 million visitors with more than 60% of visitors coming from Mainland China (HKTB, 2011). This was the result of the extension of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) and the relaxation of visa arrangement that stimulate the demand. In the coming future, demand from Chinese tourists is still in a grow. Despite the stable demand from Chinese tourists, Hong Kong faces huge challenges from nearby destinations. Hong Kong is used to have being a shopping paradise and being a MICE destination as its competitive edges, however these edges seem to be narrowing down. Hainan province in China has launched a shopping tax refund program to attract non-residents to spend in shopping (Peoples Daily, 2011). Singapore and Macau have developed casino resorts together with MICE facilities to attract business tourism. Despite all these, Hong Kong still has its advantage on its geographic location to be a gateway to China which attracts millions of people in and out of Hong Kong as a hub. Besides, Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city and an Asias world city which contains characteristics of the West and the East, tradition and contemporary which is appealing to overseas tourists. Its financial position in Hong Kong has attracted many business travelers to come to Hong Kong for business purpose and its image of being a Shopping and Food Paradise has also attracted many leisure tourists. Though Hong Kong still has these advantages, these competitions should not be overlooked in order to strategically maintain its long term sustainability. Tourism Issue 1 Reliance on Chinese tourists In the light of the huge share of Chinese tourists in the mix of Hong Kong tourist arrivals, it is an issue of whether Hong Kong tourism should rely that much on the Chinese market. Some supporters would say the huge supply and spending of Chinese tourists has stabilized Hong Kong tourism demand. From the statistics obtained by HKTB (2011), while the numbers of short haul tourists from Taiwan and Japan and that of long haul tourists from Europe and USA declined in the past 10 years, the visitor number from Mainland China grew rapidly. It can be said that Chinese tourists have sustained Hong Kong tourism. Moreover, according to another statistics from HKTB (2011), Chinese tourists were big spenders that have accounted for 69% of the total visitors spending in 2010. All these reasons have led Hong Kong to develop tourism policy especially for this group of tourists. However, over reliance on the Chinese market would create problems as well. In case of external forces or simply the change of taste of Chinese tourist would pose difficulties for Hong Kong to maintain its visitors number. The 12th National 5-Year Plan released by the Chinese government is one of the external forces mentioned. It was the first time that Hong Kong tourism was not highlighted in the plan, instead the Chinese government intended to develop Macau as a world-class tourism and leisure center (Hong Kongs Information Services Department, 2011). With this aim, the Chinese government might be policies that favor that development of Macau tourism. In that case, more Chinese tourists would be encouraged to go to Macau instead of Hong Kong. Back to Hong Kong, cases like Ah Zhen incident that happened recently would discourage Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong. Ah Zhen has been accused to have damaged Hong Kongs reputation as Shopping Paradise by blaming Chinese tourists for not purchasing souvenirs from designated shops. Similar incidents have also happened after this (Wall Street Journal, 2010). These incidents would hinder more Chinese tourists to travel to Hong Kong for shopping. In the long run, this would pose challenges to Hong Kong tourism. China is a huge market that would supply sufficient demand for Hong Kong tourism, Hong Kong government should continue retaining this group of guests to come to Hong Kong. In order to achieve this, there are several recommendations to protect the interests of these guests. Firstly, the government could expand its Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours Programme to continue strengthening Hong Kongs image as a quality and value for money destination. At the moment, the programme has been carried out in 27 Mainland cities and also in the virtual world on the Internet. Participating travel agents in the scheme have to commit that their itineraries should not contain designated shopping stops and forced shopping and forced self-paid activities. In the new expansion of the programme, the government can promote these tours together with its benefits in more cities in China. Besides, the government can also promote them more extensively via different communication channels, e.g. TV advertisement, social media, etc. Moreover, secret shopper campaign should be continued and done more extensively to spot out illegal or unethical behaviors of travel guides to maintain a satisfactory level of services. This campaign can be used to facilitate the implementation of the Quality and Honest Hong Kong Tours Programme as well to make sure the travel agencies in China and in Hong Kong if they are following the guidelines offered by Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) and the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (HKTC). It is hoped that by this campaign, travel agencies would self regulate themselves in service delivery and provision. Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) should develop a more regulatory system to warn and punish travel agencies or tourist guides once illegal or unethical behaviors have been spotted out. In the case of Ah Zhen, originally she was suspended from being a tour guide after the case discovered, however, after her appeal to TIC, she is now suspended for only half year. This indicates the ineffectiveness of the existing system which could allow similar incidents to happen in the future. TIC should be more careful in designing its regulatory system in order to exercise more regulatory power and punishment on Hong Kong tour operators and tour guides who have offended the rules and gives more confidence to Chinese tourists, thus remedy the bad reputation built. However, for the long term benefit of Hong Kong tourism, over focusing on one market segment could be dangerous, Hong Kong government should also find ways to attract other markets. Issue 2 Sustainability of cultural and heritage attractions In view of this and the keen competition from neighboring destinations, Hong Kong has tried its best to develop new tourism products to overcome these challenges. Cultural attractions are popular among these new attractions in recent years to improve Hong Kongs cultural image. Tsim Sha Tsui piazza and the West Kowloon Cultural District are two of the big projects that the government has under taken as new tourism attractions. Besides, the government has also emphasized in developing heritages to showcase Hong Kongs mixed culture. Examples are the former Marine Police Headquarter in Tsim Sha Tsui which has renovated to become a square 1881 Heritage and a boutique hotel named Hullett House. Another example would be the Central market which will be developed into Central Oasis and the project of revitalizing the Former Police Station is Central. One key issue that can be identified among all these projects is whether they could enhance sustainability. According to the Chief Executive in 1999 (Hong Kong Sustainable Department, 2008), the Hong Kong government would ensure a sustainable development to bring about full integration of economic and social development with conservation of environment. In order to achieve this, local participation is very important in leading to sustainable development which gives win-win situation to all parties of the society. However, one common key critics faced by the government in these big projects is lack of transparency. For example, in the case of Tsim Sha Tsui Piazza, a workshop that aims to gather opinions from different parties was subjected to question as these parties were mostly come from the government or government-related organizations (Tourism Commission, 2007). Another example is from another big project, the West Kowloon Cultural District. The management authority of the project is questioned as all of the 15 members from the authority were appointed by the government. Therefore, it is commonly believed that due to lack of transparency, the interest of the government might have affected the management. For heritage sites development, given that the Heritage Tourism Task Force was set up in 1998, it was blamed to be lack of leadership and lack of influence in the government bureaucracy (Chu and Uebegang, 2002). The essence of sustainable tourism development is how to balance different views from different parties which is actually a huge challenge that the government has to face in planning and developing tourist attractions. In order to fully implement sustainable tourism development, a bottom-up approach has to be adopted to collect more objective views from all sectors in Hong Kong so that specific needs could be satisfied and win-win situation for tourists and locals could be achieved. Cooperation with and involvement of locals or significant cultural group should be guaranteed and local community should be involved at the beginning stage of planning and operation to avoid these heritages to lose its original value, especially to the locals who have grown up with these heritage sites. It is hoped that by this approach, the integrity and authenticity of the heritage could be maintained while new elements like environmental friendly designs could be also involved in the new design. Another problem raised from sustainability is whether these new attractions could showcase the local elements. Perhaps due to the image of Hong Kong as being an international city, projecting an image of East-meet-West, attractions are often blamed to be lack of local characteristics. For example, in the case of West Kowloon Cultural District, even one of the advisory committees of the project criticized that the design is lack of local elements (HKheadline, 2011). This problem has to be dealt properly, or else every new attraction in Hong Kong would deliver similar image to tourists, especially for revitalized heritage attractions which are supposed to deliver a unique image and background knowledge of Hong Kong so that visitors could appreciate and understand more about Hong Kong. One of the solutions is to keep up with public consultations and gather opinions of the public about the kind of local culture to be included in the design of new attractions. By that, local culture could be incorporated into the design and would not be missed out. Conclusion With its strong link to China, Hong Kong relies on the supply of Chinese tourists to sustain tourism. Though the huge number of Chinese tourists remains a consistent supply, there are risks associated with it and as a government body, HKTC should develop measures to also attract other markets and diversify the profile of Hong Kong visitors. On the other hand, sustainable tourism development is often questioned due to lack of transparency and overlook of Hong Kong local elements in development new attractions. HKTC and the government should involve a more transparent public consultation and public engagement so as to guarantee a more sustainable tourism planning and development.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Karl Marx :: essays papers

Karl Marx One day, I was walking in the forest, yearning for just something that will nourish my body. I had not eaten for days, and in order to survive, I needed food. All of a sudden, I came upon a block of bread laying ten feet in front of me. Running towards it, I was confronted by another man twice my size. He was definitely more than I. Being the smaller man, I lost out on my nourishment and on my survival. I lost my â€Å"struggle for existence†. Throughout this paper, I will expand on why this short story, has to do with a man by the name of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a failed medical school student, who finally received his B.A. degree in Biology. His schooling was finished up at Cambridge. If anyone is at all familiar with Darwin, they know his beliefs are pretty much the exact opposite of the Christian Theology. What strikes me, as strange, is that Darwin, when younger, was a Clergyman at the Church of England. As I will elaborate later on in this paper, he went from a religious clergyman, to questioning his beliefs, to even stating some of the most non-religious Theories known to man. As an unpaid Naturalist, he traveled on the H.M.S. Beagle, across the coastline of South America. While being dropped off and left on the Galapagos Islands for a number of days, he began to watch the species on the Island. To sum it up, He watched, for many days, Nature run its course. Throughout this time, and even after, he started to develop ideas about how he thought species survived. How they do survive, and how they should survive. This has to do with one of his greatest theories of all, Natural Selection. As I explained earlier about â€Å"the survival for existence†, Darwin developed a theory that explained how the most fit, biggest, and better of all the species have they opportunity to live on and survive. The weak, and less fortunate are able to compete for food, or other survival musts. He coined these thoughts along with a fellow Naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913). Wallace actually gathered his evidence in Indonesia. This theory in which these two men established has been critiqued for years.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Romeo and Juliet, Last Scene

Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s most well known plays and loved by many. It is a tragedy, where two feuding family’s conflict is reconciled with the loss of their children, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, the â€Å"two star crossed lovers† that take their lives. In this essay I will analyze the given passage in Act 5 Scene 3 (143) relating my discussion to the play as a whole. In the given passage, Juliet awakens from her drug induced ‘death† and finds Romeo dead along with Paris.Juliet cannot leave the tomb or even live without Romeo and decides to take her own life with his dagger. This does not come as a surprise to the viewer as they were told at the beginning of the play that â€Å"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. † (1:1 3) Shakespeare not only tells the viewer right from the beginning that the lovers will die but he a lso demonstrates that fate is against them. In Act 5 Scene 5 Juliet foresees Romeo’s death in a vision, adding to the drama.She says â€Å"†¦Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: Either my eyesight fails, or thou looe'st pale. † (3:5 109) Romeo replies that she too looks pale; furthermore saying that â€Å"Dry sorrow drinks [their] blood† (3:5 109). He even dreams of his own fate, â€Å"I dreamt my lady came and found me dead† (5:1 132. ) This dream of Romeo’s seals his fate and forewarns him of his death which is depicted in the given passage Act 5 Scene 3 (143). Lady Capulet also unknowingly condemns Juliet to her death.When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, Lady Capulet says â€Å"I wish the fool were married to her grave† (3:5 112). She even ironically foretells how Romeo will die when she tells Juliet that she will find someone to â€Å"give him such an unaccustomed dram That he shall soon keep Tybalt company† (3:5 110) seeking revenge for Tybalt’s death. Even Juliet brings upon the image of her own death and of Romeos on separate occasions. When she finds out she has to marry Paris she asks her mother to â€Å"Delay this marriage for a month, a week; or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt ies† (3:5 114). Upon finding out about her arranged marriage to Paris, and knowing that she is already married to Romeo, she says to the nurse â€Å"My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven. How shall that faith return again to earth, Unless that husband send it to me from heaven B +y leaving earth? † (3:5 114) As seen in the examples above, the images of death and marriage often intertwine emphasizing Romeo and Juliet’s fate which was foretold and wished upon. There was one person, however, who tried to alter it- Friar Laurence.He marries Romeo and Juliet hoping that their marriage would end the feud between the fami lies. He says, â€Å"In one respect I'll thy assistant be-; For this alliance may so happy prove To turn your household's rancour to pure love. † (2:4 63) This shows the viewer that he is good intentioned yet naive and can not foresee the consequences of this clandestine marriage. In the given extract the Friar only recognizes the consequences of his plans and unexpected outcome when he finds Romeo and Paris dead.When Juliet awakens he offers to take her to the nunnery and then flees as he hears noises abandoning Juliet as he does not want to be associated with their death. Many Christians believe that the Friar tries to play God and even believe that Juliet’s death is made to resemble Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus died for the sins of humankind and Juliet dies for the sins of the two feuding families. Furthermore, gradesaver. com mentions another biblical reference, when Benvolio attempts to halt the fight in the first scene, he remarks, â€Å"†¦pu t up your swords; you know not what you do† (1. . 8). This same phrase is used by Jesus when he stops his apostles from fighting the Roman guards during his arrest. Shakespeare also contradicts these religious elements with erotic elements. To commit suicide, Romeo drinks the poison from a chalice which by its rounded shape symbolizes a woman’s torso. In turn Juliet kills herself with Romeo’s â€Å"happy dagger†, a phallic symbol. In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet die as a result of the poisonous feud between their families. With their death Shakespeare resolves the major conflict of the play as the families choose to reconcile.Fate and time is against the lovers. Romeo never receives the letter sent to him by Friar Lawrence informing him of the plans, Juliet awakes just after Romeo commits suicide and the families reconcile only after their death. Even though the audience knows right from the beginning that the lovers will die and are constantly reminded th roughout the play, they can’t help but feel heartbroken. There is however a glimmer of hope, as the night has always brought Romeo and Juliet together and on this tragic night the lovers will reunite in death, defying the stars.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Chapter 10 Sociology Race and Ethnicity Essay

– Race: people who share physical characteristics, such as skin color and facial features that are passed on through reproduction – social construction: a societal invention that labels people based on physical appearance. – Skin color, hair texture, and eye shape are examples of unequal treatment – Ethnic Group: a group of people who identify with a common national origin or cultural heritage that includes language, geographic roots, food, customs, traditions, and/or religion. – Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Serbs, Arabs, Swedes, Hungarians, Jews – Racial-Ethnic Group: people who have distinctive physical and cultural characteristics. Immigrants – Illegal immigrants do the jobs that most Americans don’t want like clean homes and offices, nannies and busboys, nurses’ aides, and pick fruit for low wage Dominant and Minority Groups: – Dominant Group: any physically or culturally distinctive group that has most economic and political power, the greatest privileges, and the highest social status. – Men are dominant group because they have more status, resources, and power than women. – Apartheid: a formal system of racial segregation – Minority: a group of people who may be subject to differential and unequal treatment because of their physical, cultural, and other characteristics such as sex, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or skin color. – American minorities have fewer choices than dominant group members in finding homes and apartments because they are less likely to get help from a bank to help with mortgage. – Patterns of Dominant-Minority Group Relations: – Genocide: the systematic effort to kill all members of a particular ethnic, religious, political, racial, or national group. – Holocaust in Germany – Segregation: the physical and social separation of dominant and minority groups. – De Facto: informal; may be voluntary as when members of racial or ethnic groups prefer to live among their own group. Due to discrimination -De Jure: Legal; replaced by de facto – Assimilation: the process of conforming to the culture of the dominant group, adopting its language and values, and intermarrying with that group. – Mexicans are less likely to assimilate in the US than immigrants from the Philippines, Vietnam or South Korea because they are more likely to have entered the country illegally which cuts them from getting a good job, most public assistance programs, and eventual citizenship – Pluralism: minority groups retain their culture but have equal social standing in a society. – The US is pluralistic because it is multicultural, multicolored, and multilingual. Also, the US has most racial and ethnic communities (â€Å"Little Italy†, â€Å"Greek Town†, â€Å"Little Korea†, â€Å"Spanish Harlem†) live peacefully side by side Some Sources of Racial-Ethnic Friction. – Racism: a set of beliefs that one’s own racial group is naturally superior to other groups. – Prejudice: an attitude, positive or negative, toward people because of their membership. – Different from us in race, ethnicity, or religion. Asians are really hard workers; White people can’t be trusted – Stereotype: an oversimplified exaggerated generalization about a category of people. – Can be positive; All African Americans are athletic – Can be negative; All African Americans are lazy – Ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own culture, society, or group is inherently superior to others. – Reject those outside of our group. – Scapegoats: individuals or groups whom people blame for their own problems or shortcomings. – They didn’t hire me because the company wants blacks; I didn’t get into that college because Asian Americans are at the top of the list Minorities are scapegoating targets because they differ in physical appearance and too powerless to strike back. – Stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and scapegoating are attitudes, but lead to discrimination. – Discrimination: any act that treats people unequally or unfairly because of their group membership. – Range from social slights (not inviting a co worker to lunch) to rejection of job application and hate crimes. – Can be subtle (not sitting next to someone) or blatant (racial slurs) – Individual Discrimination: harmful action on a one-to-one basis by a member of a dominant group against a member of a minority group. – Discrimination while eating in restaurants, shopping, buying house, applying for job, etc. – Institutional Discrimination: unequal treatment and opportunities that members of minority groups experience as a result of the everyday operations of a society’s law, rules, policies, practices, and customs. – Heath services; minorities get lower quality care than white people even when treated by the same doctor. – Relationship between Prejudice and Discrimination: – Robert Merton described the relationship between prejudice and discrimination as 4 patterns; 1. Unprejudiced Nondiscriminators: â€Å"All-weather liberals† They aren’t prejudiced and don’t discriminate; they believe in the American creed of freedom 2. Prejudiced Discriminators: â€Å"Active Bigots† They are prejudiced and do discriminate. They are willing to break laws to express beliefs 3. Unprejudiced Discriminators: â€Å"Fair-weather liberals† ; They aren’t prejudiced but they discriminate because its in their own self interest to do so 4. Prejudiced Nondiscrimination: â€Å"Timid Bigots† They are prejudiced but don’t discriminate. Major Racial and Ethnic Groups in the US – European Americans: immigrants from southern and eastern Europe; they viewed newcomers as dirty, lazy, and uncivilized because they differ in language, religion and customs. – Latinos: many Latinos who were professionals in their native land only find low-income jobs in the US. They often have a hard time to both work and learn English well enough to pass exams to become doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Many are successful though. Earn better hourly wages because they are older, better educated, and more likely to be employed in construction than agriculture. – African Americans: They are successful. A third of all black households earn incomes of $50,000 or more. – Asian Americans: the most successful Asian Americans are those who speak English relatively well and have high education levels. Have higher educational levels than any other US racial-ethnic groups. Most likely to be concentrated in highly skilled occupations like information technology, science, engineering, and medicine. – American Indians: they are not immigrants, they have been in the US longer than any other group. They have made considerable economic progress by insisting on self- determination and the rights of tribes to run their own affairs. Most of them work in construction and repair, maintenance, and personal and laundry services. – Middle Eastern Americans: one of the most diverse and complex combinations of geographic, historical, religious, linguistic, and even racial places on Earth. Tend to be better educated and wealthier than other Americans. Well integrated into American life. Three of four speak only English at home or speak it well and more than half are homeowners. Sociological Explanations of Racial-Ethnic Inequality – Functionalism: (macro) Prejudice and Discrimination can be dysfunctional, but they provide benefits for dominant groups and stabilize society. – Conflict: (macro) Powerful groups maintain their advantages and perpetuate racial-ethnic inequality primarily through economic exploitation – Primary Labor Market: held primarily by white workers, provide better wages, health and pension benefits, and some measure of job security. – Secondary Labor Market: (fast-food employees) are largely minorities and easily paid, their wages are low, there are a few benefits and working conditions are poor. – Feminist: (macro and micro) Minority women suffer from the combined effects of racism and sexism. – Gendered Racism: the overlapping and cumulative effects of inequality due to racism and sexism. – Symbolic Interactionism: (micro) Hostile attitudes toward minorities, which are learned, can be reduced through cooperative interracial and interethnic contacts. – Attitudes toward dominant and minority groups through labeling and selective perception can increase prejudice and discrimination. – Contact Hypothesis: the idea that more people get to know members of a minority group personally, the less likely they are to be prejudiced against that group Interracial and Interethnic Relationships: – Miscegenation: marriage or sexual relations between a man and a woman of different races. – The increase in intermarriage reflects many interrelated factors both macro and micro that include everyday contact and changing attitudes.