Magodi project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Magodi project - Essay Example .higher level of employees involve more in mental calculation while physical jobs are take up by lower level workers. The objective of the work is a key element and should be given utmost importance. It is the most important planning aid which assists an organization in achieving success. An objective has more importance than a goal and a manager should be keen on this aspect. Operational need is also an important aspect to be considered before a certain job or work plan is drawn into action. This concentrate on different activities to be carried out to make the plan successful. The resources needed to fulfill a particular work are materialized and plans are made to put them in practice. Efficiency of the worker and the plan has a great role to play. The machines and equipments involved in the work should be of high quality so that minimal energy is consumed with high out put. Workers have to be efficient in their field of activity. A good organization of the activities will ensure more efficiency in the working plans. The plans should be studied intensively and negative and positive activities have to thoroughly check before implication. Time has to be utilized well and there should be good quality of communication between all people involved in the work plan. Cost factor is a major element to be given utmost importance. The plan should be economical and should not impose great financial burden on the firm. A proper estimation has to conduct in order to find the costs involved and their respective outcome. Cost refers to the value of the resource spend on particular activities involved in the business. Cost involved in the process of work should be studied with the aid of professionals and estimation should be created. â€Å"Cost-effectiveness values are a useful tool for comparing the relative merits of Consultation is to be done before initiating any plan or work. The appropriate professionals have to approach to take valuable advice and

Why Golf Is a Sport Essay Example for Free

Why Golf Is a Sport Essay A matter of opinion has separated a variety of sports enthusiasts apart, due to the ongoing debate of whether golf is a sport or simply a skill. Famed golfer Arnold Palmer declared, â€Å"Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented. (ThinkQuest. com)† These words state what every athlete experiences and feels when he/she is turning a double play, making the game winning three point shot, or throwing a hail mary pass for a touchdown. Golfers are athletes too, they train for that big moment just like any other athlete, but they do it individually and gain the glory for themselves. Golf has increasingly become known not as a sport, but as a skill, which is a huge misconception that I intend to set the facts straight. The definition of a sport is narrowly defined, and to one its own opinion, but Golf is a competition just like every other sport, winning is its pinnacle. Golf requires the number one characteristic that is vital to all sports – hand-eye coordination. These men and women use their athletic ability to reach the top of their game. Golf takes sports to a different level and is played on its own terms. To each his own opinion, but why has the definition of â€Å"a sport† being termed as so narrowly? The NCAA defines a sport as: An institutional activity involving physical exertion with the purpose of competition versus other teams or individuals within a collegiate competition structure. Furthermore, sport includes regularly scheduled team and/or individual, head-to-head competition (at least five) within a defined competitive season(s); and standardized rules with rating/scoring systems ratified by official regulatory agencies and governing bodies. Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and even golf display these qualities of what is defined as a sport. There has been a considerable amount of people who tend to disclose golf as a sport, only a skill or activity. Yet, many people object the physical exertion aspect with golf, that it does not require any. These objectors who say golf should not be included in that defined group are ignorant to athletics and its regulations. My definition of a sport is a competition that involves athletes who play to win within a certain structure of rules and regulations. Anyone can be an athlete; they do not have to be good to play a sport, as long as they try with some effort. A sport requires certain qualities of an individual too that it can not be without. Hand-eye coordination is vital to every sport out there. A basketball player has to shoot the ball into the hoop, a football player has to throw the ball to an open receiver, a baseball player has to swing a bat to hit a 95 mile per hour fastball, and golfers have to swing their club and hit a tiny ball a couple hundred yards. It is the number one aspect that is required in all sports. Although it is common to associate sports with many other qualities. The â€Å"manly† qualities of other sports such as cheerleaders and fights usually are not included in golf, some figure because it is missing these qualities, that it should not even be considered a sport. â€Å"Cheerleaders are important to sports. They keep the crowd excited; they keep the participants enthused about winning; and they give you something else to look at when the action on the field of play grinds to a halt. With golf theres not a lot of action to begin with. (Irvin)† Although golf is missing the appendages that invigorate other sports with such audacity, the onlookers respect their golfers need for silence and concentration. It is a sport which requires a massive amount of concentration, just like any other sport. Irvin states his idea that cheerleaders are important to sports, when in fact; cheerleading has nothing to do at all with the style of play. He is right that they keep the crowd excited, but that is the only reason why they are there, they do not play, they yell and dance. It makes me wonder why one would think that Golf needs to have cheerleaders to keep the crowd excited when the golfers need a massive amount of concentration. Yet regular sports fans forget that each sport is different, and that is what makes them stand out and appeal to others. Golf does not appeal to some, but a lot of people play the sport religiously, reason being – one does not have to be the typical in shape athlete that most are. Golfers are athletes too, and train to be good ones. Swinging a club and hitting a ball three hundred plus yards requires muscle strength in the torso and upper body. Golfers are just the kind of athletes who do not need to negotiate long-term big money contracts, and scratch themselves while being interviewed after play is over (Lowe). Golf is not a team sport either; it is an individual sport and the glory is captured for them, and they take pride and honor after an amazing feat as any athlete would. The honor and competitiveness of this sport has trickled down to the much supportive fan base. After exposing the truths and presenting evidence about one of the greatest sports ever to be played, we can no longer dispute golf as just a skill or activity, but declare Golf a real sport. It is important to sports enthusiasts everywhere that they have to look beyond the typical definition of a sport and expand their minds. Golfers are athletes too, playing for the top prize every time they step onto the course. Golf is gaining popularity by the second, no longer can it be said to be â€Å"not a real sport†. Golf justifies what every sport should be, the way it is played, the professional maturity that every golfer shows, and competition. Merriam Webster defines a sport as 1): physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2): a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in. Golf qualifies as a sport according to this definition and until it is changed, it will remain one of the legendary sports to play.

Comparison of Chicken Feed Effects on Development

Comparison of Chicken Feed Effects on Development All six significant domesticated agricultural animals today chicken, cow, goat, horse, pig and sheep had been domesticated in Eurasia by 5000 BP. (Thompson, 2002) The earliest evidence of domestication of chickens relies on interpretation of archaeological discoveries of bones and artefacts. (Crawford, 2003) Archaeological discoveries in China indicate that chickens had been domesticated by 5400 B.C. (Crawford, 2003) People of Cishan Culture (Neolithic Yellow River culture in northern China) had chickens then, but it is not known whether these birds made much contribution to modern domestic fowl. (Crawford, 2003) The jungle fowl (G. gallus), has without a doubt been a major contributor to domestic fowl (Crawford, 2003). The chicken (Gallus, gallus or Gallus domesticus) is generally considered to have evolved from the jungle fowl (G. gallus). (Kennth Kriemhild, 2000) The jungle fowl (G. gallus) ranges throughout the area between eastern India and Java. (Kennth Kriemhild, 2000) There are four key steps to domesticating poultry which were that in early stages of domestication poultry had to forage on their own. (Crawford, 2003) They had to be able to reproduce in captivity (Crawford 2003) the ability to imprint was important in initial taming. (Crawford 2003) and the species had to have a social order that allowed the keeping of large numbers of individuals. (Crawford, 2003) The main role of chickens now is to produce eggs and meet for the market. In 2004/2005 the gross value of production in Australia for the chicken meat and egg industries was estimated at approximately $1.3 billion. (Department of Primary Industries, 2008) Poultry meat is now the most consumed meat in Australia. . (Department of Primary Industries, 2008) Although chickens are strongly associated with egg production, they also have very different associations. (Kennth Kriemhild, 2000) In much of Southeast and East Asia they have been bred both for fighting and as a decoration. (Kennth Kriemhild, 2000) There are four different types of poultry enterprises: broilers (production of chicken for meat), layers (birds producing table eggs), rearing farms (production of point of lay pullets) and breeder farms. (Department of Primary Industries, 2008) The layout of the shed and type of housing differs between the types of poultry operation. (Department of Primary Industries, 2008) The aims of this experiment are to monitor and assess the development of chickens on different feeds using a feed conversion ratio, and to observe and describe their physical and behavioural development over time. On appointed days chickens were to be fed and given water on a daily basis. Excess foods were weighed and recorded so ratios could be calculated and obtained. Chickens were weighed on a weekly basis, on Wednesdays, so that the calculation of growth rate could be put monitored and observed. Along with this observations were made of chickens on various days, if not everyday for behavioural studying purposes. It was hypothesised that chickens fed on broiler feed would have a greater weight gain than chickens fed on layer feed over the 5 week period. METHODS The chickens were obtained from a poultry farm known officially as Wagners Poultry Enterprises. The chickens given were White Leghorn cross New Hampshire at the age of one or two days old. The chickens were divided into groups of six and student groups of approximately sixteen students were assigned to one group of chickens each. Chickens were placed in pens and in turn students were assigned to the pens where the chickens were kept through out the five week duration. The chickens pens located at La Trobe Universitys Agricultural Reserved housed a total of twelve chicken pens. The type of feed given to the chickens was decided by the group number the pen was given. Groups assigned to even number pens were to feed their chickens broiler feed, brand named Brastoc Turkey and Meat Chicken Starter, and odd numbered pens were to feed their chickens layer feed, Barastoc Pullet Starter. The pens were isolated, self-contained and about 1 x 1 x 2 m in size. The floor of the pens was concrete which was covered in black lining and contained a sawdust base. The top of the pen had a plastic mesh over it to prevent escape. The chickens were provided with heat lamps, feeders and water dispensers all attached to a chain and hooked to a pole above the mesh. The feeders and water dispensers along with the heat lamps were adjusted in accordance with the chickens age. Observations were carried out as much as possible, sometimes even twice in the one day, but generally all days except Tuesday was observed in accordance with the students university timetable and their availability. The duration of the observations under went intervals of fifteen minutes, where all aspects of behaviour and development were documented. Observations were done under the least amount of outside influence as possible, in respect to this only two students were allowed in the shed where the chicken pens were being kept and students were encouraged to keep noise to a minimum. As the weeks went on chickens behaviour that was recorded included those such as grooming, resting, drinking, interacting, alarming, ambulatory and aggressive. Above all the behavioural and developing attributes the hierarchy if any of chicken formation was also documented. All observations were recorded and documented into a plain exercise book by each student of the group, with clear indication of whom the observations were done by. Chickens were feed every second day, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with enough food given on each day to last the chickens for days not fed and on Fridays for the weekend. Initially a total of 240g were placed in the feed dispensers to accommodate the 20g required for each individual chicken and to compensate for the day the chickens would not be fed. The amount given to the chickens on feeding days was adjusted to accommodate for their growth further along in the project. Along with accommodating for the size of chickens the amount of feed to be given to chickens in further weeks was also based upon amount of feed offered and refused, all of which was weighed and kept a record of. Food was weighed on an electric scale in a container provided. The amount of food given and refused was always recorded on a sheet given to us indicating the date and feed given and refused. The sheet was stored along with our observation book, hooked onto a nail on the outside of the allocated chicken pen. Chickens were checked on a daily basis and were given fresh water daily if needed, except for weekends, providing the chickens with fresh drinking water. Replenishment of water was recorded alongside on the same sheet of paper where the feed record was being kept. Table 1. A timetable showing jobs carried out each day over the 5 week period Monday Feed, water check and observations Tuesday Water and chicken check Wednesday Feeding, weighing, water check and observations Thursday Observation, chicken and water check Friday Food, water and observation RESULTS Table 2. Composition of feeds Composition:Â  Crude Protein (minimum) (%) Layer feed:Â  19.5 Broiler feed:Â  22 Composition:Â  Crude Fat (minimum) (%) Layer feed:Â  2.5 Broiler feed:Â  2.5 Composition:Â  Crude Fibre (minimum) (%) Layer feed:Â  6 Broiler feed:Â  5 Composition:Â  Salt (maximum added) (%) Layer feed:Â  0.3 Broiler feed:Â  0.3 Composition:Â  Copper (added) (mg/kg) Layer feed:Â  0.8 Broiler feed:Â  8 Composition:Â  Selenium (added) (mg/kg) Layer feed:Â  0.1 Broiler feed:Â  0.3 Composition:Â  Calcium (minimum) (%) Layer feed:Â  1 Broiler feed:Â  1 Table 2. Shows that layer and broiler feed had the same amount of crude fat, salt and calcium. Broiler feed has more crude protein, copper and selenium than layer feed, whereas Layer feed has more crude fibre than broiler feed. DISCUSSION The results support the hypothesis that chickens fed on broiler feed would have a greater weight gain than chickens fed on layer feed over the 5 week period, as table 3 and figure. 1 show that chickens fed broiler feed had a higher average weight gain then chickens fed on layer feed. The aims of this experiment to monitor and assess the development of chickens were carried out over the five weeks and observations were made describing their physical and behavioural development over time. The experiment was carried out on chickens with different feeds and a feed conversion ratio was calculated. We also provided the chickens with clean drinking water, sufficient food amounts of food according to their age and feed refusal and a suitable environment in which they could grow and develop certain behaviours. The broiler chickens had a higher growth rate, as shown by table 3 and fig. 1. By the end of the 5 weeks, the broiler chickens reached a live-weight of 467 ÂÂ ± 58 where as chickens who consumed the layer feed for the duration of the experiment reached a live-weight of 429 ÂÂ ± 61. The difference between the growth rates of the broiler and layer chickens is closely related to live-weight. Through out the process, beginning in week one, chickens being fed broiler as opposed to layer maintained a higher growth ratio and remained heavier that the chickens being fed the layer product. In respect to this broiler chickens are capable of higher growth rates and greater weight gain than layer chickens. In the poultry industry, broiler chickens are selected for their carcass processing characteristics and meat density, whereas layer chickens are genetically bred to achieve smaller body weights than those of the broilers (Department of Primary Industries, 2009). Another factor of the growth and weight gain in chickens could also be the composition of the feeds. As seen in table 2 the broiler feed contained 2.5% more crude protein, 7.2 mg/kg more copper and 0.2 mg/kg more selenium than the layer feed. All these factors couldve influenced the growth in chickens and could be why chickens fed broiler feed would gain more live-weight as well as maintain a higher growth ratio. The increase in growth rate found within broiler chickens has been found to be linked to an increase in the deposit of fats and the use of energy. (Geraert et al 2006) All ingredients fond within the chickens feed contributes some part to their growth and weight gain. Coppers influence on health and growth within a chicken is present as the antimicrobial properties found within Cooper help to improve an animals performance such as; increase growth in poultry, improved growth rate, feed intake and feed efficiency (Forbes Shariamatdari 1993). Crude protein also influences the diet energy of a chicken when they are still young (Hayashi et al 2000) as well as their metabolic ability. (Hayashi et al 2000) From the experiment as show in table 4, it shown that broiler chickens have a slightly better feed conversion ratio of 1.5 ÂÂ ± 0.129 g but also maintain a higher feed intake 3889 ÂÂ ± 534 g than that of layer chickens, whose feed conversion ratio is similar to that of the broiler chickens at 1.52 ÂÂ ± 0.051 g and less of a feed intake at 3549 ÂÂ ± 247 g. Calcium levels also differ between that of the layer and broiler feeds. Layer feed has 0.5% more calcium than broiler feed. Calcium ratio plays a vital role in the quality of an egg produced, (Department of Primary Industries) As the chickens grew and developed more, so too did their behavioural characteristics. To begin with the chicks were hardly active at all being under the heated lamp majority of the time, however after a fortnight the chickens activity level was significantly higher, showing signs of flapping wings and a lot more running around within the pen. This behaviour of flapping of the wings is a mechanism known as break used by chickens. (Rogers 2006) Within the second week it was observed that chickens were preening one another, this type of behaviour was commenced whilst the chickens were flocked together in a group always near a wall. Preening aids in the removal of lice and is done using the beak (Gush 2006). As the chickens progressed with age in the 4th week a lot of the time was spent sitting perched up above the food and water dispensers. This type of behaviour is normal and is to be expected after four weeks of age. (Rogers 2006) Through out the five week period and supported by table 6 interactions was the most common behaviour during the experiment. Among these interactions were behaviours such as pecking and scratching, which were major contributors to the interaction database. The behavioural interaction of pecking and scratching are present during all ages of a chicken (Rogers 2006) and are the major ways in which chickens interact and assimilate with their surroundings. (Gush 2006) Through out the 5 week period no formal hierarchical establishment appeared to be present. However there was the mild sign of aggression where chickens would kick at each other within the third week but this type of behaviour was rare and unseen after later dates. A hierarchy within chickens is not formed up until about the sixth week or onwards within domestic chickens (Rogers 2006) and thus no aggressive behaviour was present either as aggression is derived from the sequence of the hierarchy. (Rogers 2006) It was found that roosters were among the chickens which were handed out to us. Roosters in general like male and female humans tend to be heavier than that of their female counter. The inclusion of roosters within the results could be erroneous to the over all weight gain results. This experiment could be improved by regulating the gender of the two strains of chickens being introduced to the artificial environment thus giving more accurate and reliable end results and will nullify the problem of genetic variability.

Invincible :: essays research papers

Invincible   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the age of ten, most boys either scrape their knees playing kickball or break their wrists playing football. I had it a little worse than most, I died, twice. I can remember that terrible day, when I was riding my bike down my street, and I was having a grand time going up people's driveways and speeding back down. It was a warm summer's day around noontime, and I was on my way home for lunch. I was alone, and I was no more than a mile from my house. I went up this very steep driveway and began to turn around to get that omnipresent rush of going so fast down a hill that I felt like I was flying. I opened my eyes to see a car pulling up the driveway just ahead of me. I jammed on my handlebar brakes, but it was too late, and before I could do anything, I was actually flying through the air. I landed on my head, and to this day I don't remember what happened after my collision with that very inhospitable surface known as the road. I awoke to several nurses rushing around me and a doctor asking me what day it was. It was a few days later, and I had the worst headache and an upset stomach. It turned out that I had given myself a severe concussion, and I was in a comatose state for several hours and had to be revived from death twice. I was now paying for my adolescent stupidity as I threw up for what seemed like hours. I was vomiting profusely like this because of the beating my brain took from its impact with the road. A few days after the accident, I was reunited with what used to be my shiny, new, midnight blue Huffy BMX bike. The front tire was flat, and the rim was bent up beyond repair. My seat was bent back and would probably take a machine to fix. In essence, my new bike was â€Å"totaled.† When I was feeling a little better, I learned that an elderly man was the first one to my side as he drove by my accident, and he had called the ambulance. He wasn't even the person who had been turning up the driveway and had hit me. That person had taken off, and to my knowledge, was probably just turning around at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Afghan-war prisoners Essay

Some insurgents’ failed attempt on an US military convoy was provocation enough for them to gun down 16 civilians, leaving another 25 severely wounded. The groups – dead and alive, contained woman and children. It is an event of March 4, 2007, took place in Iraq, on the Jalalabad highway in eastern Nangarhar province. The day next US army again responded the terrorist attack by 2000-pound aerial bombing in the civilian area, killing five women and three children. This happened at the Kapisa outpost. These are regular features in Iraq; between January 2006 till date, more than thousands of civilians were killed by US attack. Back home, US authorities are no less active under the ‘anti-terrorism’ movement. Ahmed Alenany, an Egyptian physician, was picked up from the road of New York City and was detained for five months, charged with overstaying, in spite of his valid ground of filing for its extension well before the expiry. His fault was that the police found two pictures of WTO in his car and he held a roadmap when arrested. That was one bubble on the sea. The United States securely took away 650 Afghan-war prisoners to their military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they are reportedly passing their days in small single-person cells. India: On July 2005, four Kashmiri youths went to attend a wedding in Vilgam, Kupwara, and while out in the open at night for smoking away from the disapproving adults, three of them were gunned down by the Indian army all on a sudden. Later army admitted its mistake and wanted to compensate, though there was enough effort to suppress this news. India is also experiencing zero tolerance in counter-terrorism, especially after the militant attack on its parliament on December, 2001. They have even created a special law, â€Å"POTA† , which is capable of detaining anyone under the slightest suspicion on any ground of terrorism, that would later arrest 131 Muslims for the Godhra carnage of Hindus in 2002, who later retaliated with the killings of 2000 Muslims throughout the Gujrat state, were mostly able to slip past this law. China: Charged for â€Å"crimes of terror† and â€Å"incitement to separatism†, the popular religious leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was arrested in Sichuan on a night in December 2002 and sentenced to death. He was linked to the series of bombings. Same fate met his co-defendant Lobsang Dhondup, even quicker as he was executed. Now the open secret was that the authorities were up against his activities all the time, as he was a known supporter of the Dalai Lama. Egypt: This country has a track record of arresting hundreds of people either for their proximity to the Muslims, or for possessing â€Å"suspicious† literature. In a known case, 94 such victims, allegedly belonging to an â€Å"Islamic Group† though none heard about its name), were arrested in May, 2001. It was before the September 11 attack and after the attack, they were charged additionally for plotting to kill the government officials! The hapless victims belong to almost all rank and file – Doctors, engineers, professors, to name a few. They were dragged into the military courts whose norms, understandably conform to the trial standards set internationally. Accordingly, 51 were convicted! Georgia: Armed by the US support Georgian authorities have targeted the Chechens at Pankisi Gorge, a place which Russia also labelled as a â€Å"haven for the terrorists†. Here the governmental approach to the human rights violations is indicative of non-caring, as it is echoed by the words of its President Eduard Shevarnadze, who, right after extraditing five Chechens to Russia (October 5, 2002) without holding any court, said, â€Å"International human rights commitments might become pale in comparison with the importance of the anti-terrorist campaign†

Agricultural Mechanizasion as a Solution to Food Insecurity in Africa Essay

Achieving food security in its totality continues to be a challenge for ever increasing population of Africa. A approaches are employed in developing countries but with less success due to a number of factors . this paper examines the causes of food insecurity in African. Scanning through researchers works ,it was noted that over seventy percent of the food insecure population in africa live in the rural areas. The paper therefore recommends that, if the ever increasing population of the african countries is to be fed, then mechanization of all agricultural operations should be embrace. In conclusion, efforts to words the development of the rural communities in Africa should be increased. Key words: agriculture, mechanization, food security, Africa, rural development. Introduction : Agriculture is the practices of cultivating the soil and raising livestock to produce plant and animals useful to humans and sometimes animals {S. N, Asogwu and O. A Asogwu,2007}, Agriculture is an important occupation in Nigeria with over 7o% of her population depending on it directly for livelihood. It provides the bulk of employment, income and food for the rapidly growing population as well as supplying raw materials for agro-based industries. World current agricultural production as an average growth rate of 1. 8% as compared to the 3% in the 1960s and therefore at a lesser pace than the demographic growth. The world bank has shown that in sub-saharan Africa (to which Nigeria belongs)the annual food increase needs to reach 4%, i. e. more than double the current figure in order to achieve food security. She suggested that this can be reached through a significant progress in plant and animal breeding that plays a key role in the development of the agricultural sector as well as a significant impact using appropriate farm mechanization {Pawlat et al , 2002}. Due to number of factors, which include rising population, increasing pressure on land resources, natural and man-made disasters such as drought, desertification, soil erosion and degradation (Raoult-Wack and Bricas, 001), the problem of sustainable agricultural production in Nigeria has assumed greater importance than ever before. Agricultural development involves three approaches namely bio-chemical, socio-economic, and engineering known as the trio of technologies (Mrema and Odigboh, 1993). The bio-chemical approach includes the development of improved animal and plant species, animal and plant nutrients (fertilizer and feed) and plant and animal protection (veterinary drugs, pesticides and herbicides). The socio-economic approach includes financial packages and management programmes (economic, business management, accounting, sociology, extension services, agricultural machines and equipment (be they human, animal or mechanically powered) for production and post harvest systems handling and storage systems and farm structures, erosion control measures, water resources development as well as irrigation and drainage structures, meteorological systems, and the technologies for optimally utilizing the above and their proper and economic use and management. Ani and Onwuala, 2002; Ampratwum et al, 2004; Onwuala and Pawa, 2004). Agricultural mechanization implies the use of various power sources and improved farm tools and equipment, with a view to reduce drudgery of the human beings and draught animals, enhance the cropping intensity, precision and timeliness of efficiency of utilization of various crop inputs and reduce the losses at different stages of crop production. The end objective of farm mechanization is to enhance the overall productivity and production with the lowest cost of production. The contribution of agricultural mechanization has been well recognized in enhancing the production together with irrigation, biological and chemical inputs of high yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanical energy. Different researchers have concluded that farm mechanization enhances the production and productivity of different crops due to timeliness of operation, better quality of operations and precision in the application of the inputs. According to NCAER (1980) survey covering 815 farming households in 85 villages, the increase was 72 percent in the case of sorghum, and 7 percent in the case of cotton as compared to traditional bullock farms. ITES, Madras (1975) found that the productivity increase on tractor owning and hiring farm ranged between 4. 1 and 54. 8 percent. The percent increase was comparatively low on custom hiring farms as compared to tractor-owning farms due to higher level of inputs and better control on timeliness of operations. These productivity increases, thus, were attributed to higher doses of fertilizer, irrigation and mechanization. Degree of mechanization is the ration of machine or technological work input to total work input (machine plus manual) into agricultural production. The importance of food security to any nation cannot be over emphasized. The issue of food security became prominent in the 1970s and had been given considerable attention since then. The World Food Programme Report in 1979 conceptualized food security, equating it with an â€Å"assurance of supplies and a balanced supply-demand situation of staple foods in the international market†. The report also emphasized that increasing food production in the developing countries is a panacea to food security. The concept of food security proposes that food is available, accessible and affordable, when and where needed in sufficient quantity and that this state of affair will continue and be sustained (Agboola, P. O. , 2002). It is a situation in which sufficient food us available at all times in the right quantity and quality, at affordable process. To accomplish this, we must have a production system that produces enough food in the short run, sustainable in the long run and does not place undue risks on agricultural producers and must respond rapidly to disruptions in the food supply due to disease epidemics, natural disasters, civil disturbances, environmental imbalances and other cause (Agboola P. O. 2002). With these objectives in mind, various efforts at the international, national and local levels had been put in place at one point in time or another to boost agricultural production to make food available to the teaming population and the ever-increasing world population. The world population. The world population explosion witnessed as at the end of 1999, further increased the fear of those concerned about world food security. During this period, the global population exceeded 6 billion. Leisinger, (2002), stated that never before in human history had the population of the earth been as great as it is today, and never before had it grown so rapidly within one century. He stated further that the doubling of world population over the past 40years had put enormous pressure on the natural systems that support all life on Earth. This pressure on natural resources also increased the burden of assuring food security for the entire world’s people international Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, 2001) stated in one of her reports, that about 73 millions people would be added to world’s population every year between 1995 and 2010 increasing it by 32 percent to reach 7. 5 billion. However, much of this population growth is expected to occur in the developing world. If this prediction is to go by, then the food security situation of the developing world needs constant assessment via empirical research. Joachim et depal (2004), wrote that these was a strong direct relationship between agricultural productivity, hunger and poverty. He stated further that three quarter of the world’s poor people lived in rural areas and made their living from agriculture. He therefore, concluded that the higher the proportion of the rural population that obtained its benefits from subsistence farming (without the benefit of pro poor technologies and access to markets) the higher the incidence of food insecurity. Challenges to Food Security in Africa The root cause of food insecurity in developing countries is the inability of people to gain access to food due to poverty. While the rest of the world has made significant progress towards poverty alleviation, Africa, in particular Sub-Saharan Africa, continues to lag behind. Projections show that there will be an increase in this tendency unless preventive measures are taken. Many factors have contributed to this tendency including the high prevalence of HIV/AID; civil war, strive and poor governance; frequent drought and famine; and agricultural dependency on the climate and environment. Food security on the continent has worsened since 1970 and the proportion of the malnourished population has remained within the 33 and 35 percent range in Sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence of malnutrition within the continent varies by region. It is lowest in Northern Africa (4 percent) and highest in Central Africa (40 percent) Over seventy percent of the food insecure population in Africa lives in the rural areas. Figure 1 shows the distribution of food insecurity in Africa. Ironically, smallholder farmers, the producers of over 90 percent of the continent’s food supply, make up the majority (50 percent) of this population. The rest of the food insecure population consists of the landless poor in rural areas (30 percent) and the urban poor. Throughout the developing world, agriculture accounts for around 9 percent of the GDP and more than half of total employment. In countries where more than 34 percent of the population is undernourished, agriculture represents 30 percent of GDP and nearly 70 percent of population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. This fact has in the past been used in support of the argument as to why developing countries should move away from agriculture and invest in technology. Because over 70 percent of the poor live in rural areas, where also the largest proportion of the food insecure live, it is evident that ;we cannot significantly and sustainably reduce food insecurity without transforming the living conditions in these areas. The key lies in increasing the agricultural profitability of smallholder farmers and creating rural off-farm employment opportunities. The objective of this paper is to h8ighlight the challenges to food security in Africa while providing alternative solutions to the problem that would not only allow for poverty alleviation but also wealth creation. While the focus of this paper is in alleviating food insecurity in the rural areas, effort has been made to address the plight of the urban poor.

The Challenger Tragedy Essays - Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

The Challenger Tragedy Essays - Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster The Challenger Tragedy Introduction to the Accident It was a clear sunny day at Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a temperature of 36 degrees which was 15 degrees cooler than NASA has ever sent a shuttle to space. Aboard the space shuttle was a civilian school teacher which made the Challenger such a publicized event. After being delayed five times from bad weather the Challenger was schueled to be launched at 11:38 AM Eastern Standard time on January 28, 1986. Seventy-three seconds after leaving the launch pad 39B the Challenger would explode. The Challenger Tragedy The problems started .6 seconds after ignition. With the temperature at 15 degrees below the NASA experience mark, a black smoke started to come out of the bottom field joint of the right SRB. The black smoke was the O-Rings and the joint insulation being burned. The smoke averaged at about three puffs per second. Then the last puff of smoke was seen was at 2.7 seconds which was an indication that the field joint was not sealed correctly. The arrow points to the black smoke. The second problem was at forty-five seconds when three bright flashes were seen on the Challenger's wings. Each flash lasted approximately one thirteenth of a second. When the film was enhanced it is clearly visible that the flashes were coming from the right SRB. The three hundred and five degree flame was coming from the aft center of the aft joint of the SRB. The flame was the gas burning that was coming out of the SRB. At fifty nine point three seconds the flame was clearly visible with the naked eye. As the flame increased in size, the flame had begun to push against the external tank by the rushing air around the orbiter. This made the struts that held on the SRB very weak because of the heat. Sixty four point seven seconds was the first sight that the flame was hitting the external tank. The color of the flame changed. The flame color change indicated that the flame was mixing with the hydrogen substance that the external contained. The top tanks we re oxygen and the bottom was hydrogen. The flame also indicated that there was a leak in the hydrogen portion of the external tank. A small glowing light appeared between the external tank and the Challenger's black tiles forty-five milliseconds after the color change. The small orange glowing light is visible. When the clock was at 72 seconds there was a sudden chain of events that destroyed Challenger and the seven crew members on board. All of these events happened in less than two seconds. By now the lower strut, that connected the right SRB to the External Tank was very hot and very weak. With the amount of force given by the SRB, the lower strut broke off and away from both the right SRB and the External Tank. Which allowed the right SRB to rotate freely around the top struts. The SRB was out of control, the bottom of the SRB swung around hitting, burning and denting Challenger's wing. At 73.12 seconds into flight a white vapor was seen from the bottom corner of the right SRB. The External Tank was weak because of the intense heat which the flame had produced. The dome structure under the External Tank failed and fell. The hydrogen inside the external tank acquired a hole and started to release liquid hydrogen contents. Since the hydrogen was out of it's tank the tank shot forward hitting the oxygen tank which also burst. The white vapor seen was the hydrogen and the oxygen mixing. Milliseconds after the white vapor was seen there was an explosion. The challenger was traveling at the speed of Mach 1.92 and at 46,000 when the hydrogen and oxygen exploded. Before the challenger exploded there was a cloud of gray smoke that engulfed the challenger which grew larger but under the gray cloud there was a red smoke which was the control system burning from the wreckage of the challenger . All sorts of debris was falling off of the challenger towards the ocean. Both of the SRB's flew off of the challenger in opposite directions. The

Purple Prose - Definition and Examples

Purple Prose s A generally pejorative term for writing or speech characterized by ornate, flowery, or hyperbolic language  is known as purple prose. Contrast it with plain style. The double meaning of the term purple is useful, says  Stephen H. Webb. [I]t is both imperial and regal, demanding attention, and overly ornate, ostentatious, even marked by profanity (Blessed Excess, 1993).Bryan Garner notes that purple prose derives from the Latin phrase purpureus pannus, which appears in the Ars Poetica of Horace (65-68 B.C.) (Garners Modern American Usage, 2009). Examples and Observations: Once in the hands of Duncan Nicol it was translated, as by consecration in the name of a divinity more benevolent than all others, into pisco punch, the wonder and glory of San Francisco’s heady youth, the balm and solace of fevered generations, a drink so endearing and inspired that although its prototype has vanished, its legend lingers on, one with the Grail, the unicorn, and the music of the spheres.†(Columnist Lucius Beebe, Gourmet magazine, 1957; quoted by M. Carrie Allan in Spirits: Pisco Punch, a San Francisco Classic Cocktail With Official Aspirations. The Washington Post, October 3, 2014)Outside pockets of euphoria in Burnley, Hull and Sunderland, fans have been wallowing in liquor-soaked self-pity as the chill hand of failure gripped them by the neck and flung them mercilessly onto the scrap heap of broken dreams. (Please forgive my purple prose here: as a red of the Stretford variety I am perhaps inappropriately using this weeks digest as catharsis, but Ill m ove on, I promise.)(Mark Smith, The Northerner: United in Grief. The Guardian, May 28, 2009) Uncle Toms Cabin suffers from padding (what the French call remplissage), from improbable plot contrivances, mawkish sentimentality, unevenness in prose quality, and purple prosesentences like, Even so, beloved Eva! fair star of thy dwelling! Thou art passing away; but they that love thee dearest know it not.(Charles Johnson, Ethics and Literature. Ethics, Literature, and Theory: An Introductory Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Stephen K. George. Rowman Littlefield, 2005)Characteristics of Purple ProseThe culprits of purple prose are usually modifiers that make your writing wordy, overwrought, distracting, and even silly. . . .In purple prose, skin is always creamy, eyelashes always glistening, heroes always brooding, and sunrises always magical. Purple prose also features an abundance of metaphors and figurative language, long sentences, and abstractions.(Jessica Page Morrell, Between the Lines. Writers Digest Books, 2006)In Defense of Purple ProseCertain producers of plain prose have co nned the reading public into believing that only in prose plain, humdrum or flat can you articulate the mind of inarticulate ordinary Joe. Even to begin to do that you need to be more articulate than Joe, or you might as well tape-record him and leave it at that. This minimalist vogue depends on the premise that only an almost invisible style can be sincere, honest, moving, sensitive and so forth, whereas prose that draws attention to itself by being revved up, ample, intense, incandescent or flamboyant turns its back on something almost holythe human bond with ordinariness. . . .It takes a certain amount of sass to speak up for prose thats rich, succulent and full of novelty. Purple is immoral, undemocratic and insincere; at best artsy, at worst the exterminating angel of depravity. So long as originality and lexical precision prevail, the sentient writer has a right to immerse himself or herself in phenomena and come up with as personal a version as can be. A writer who cant do pu rple is missing a trick. A writer who does purple all the time ought to have more tricks.(Paul West, In Defense of Purple Prose. The New York Times, Dec. 15, 1985) The Pejoration of Purple ProseThe idiom was originally a purple passage or purple patch, and the earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1598. The rhetorical sense in English comes from the Ars Poetica of Horace, specifically from the phrase purpureus pannus, a purple garment or raiment, the color purple symbolizing royalty, grandeur, power.Purple prose doesnt seem to have become wholly pejorative until the twentieth century when steep declines in the vocabulary and reading comprehension of college-educated Americans caused a panic in the education establishment and the newspaper industry, which together launched a campaign against prose that displayed royalty, grandeur, and power. This led to the disappearance of the semicolon, the invention of the sentence fragment, and a marked increase in the use of words like methodological.(Charles Harrington Elster, What in the Word? Harcourt, 2005) See also: AdjectivitisBaroqueBomphiologiaCacozeliaEloquenceEuphuismGongorismGrand StyleOverwritingPadding (Composition)ProseSamuel Johnson on the Bugbear StyleSkotisonTall TalkVerbiageVerbosity

Advertising through Social Media Application-Samples for Students

Social media communication has been emerging rapidly in the recent years. However, maximum businesses use the social media as their communication tool to cover a large number of customers (Holt 2016).Social media communication refers to the communication process that is exhibited through the use of digital tool. As commented by Ramanathanet al. (2017), social media communication is a modern business process, which can be done by using electronic media. However, for business organizations, it is crucial to incorporate the modern technology in their communication system to enhance the customer service. Hence, application of the social media gives the opportunity to the business owners to promote their brand as well and their products by using the digital media, which is an example of modern technology. This study deals with the promotion of Orchid women wear, which is a popular brand of John Smedley.   This organization sells over 30 countries in the world. This is a UK based knittin g fashion company and established in 1784. This brand has 200 stores all over the world and their sales revenue generation is high. Therefore, the role of the social media in the branding of John Smedley will be discussed in this study. A critical discussion will be conducted in this study based on the application of social media in branding. John Smedley is a UK based fashion organization that offers various types of women’s wear. However, woolen clothes, cotton wear and various types of fashionable clothing items are the major products of this organization. John Smedley is popular for the knitwear products. One of their popular products is Orchid women fashion wear. This organization is a global operator and has business throughout the world. This organization is considered as one of the leading companies for their fine gauge knitwear products. In the recent years changing demand of the customers is the major challenge of the global fashion market. However, it is often difficult for the fashion organizations to cope up with the changing need of the consumers as a result, there is a huge competition among the fashion companies to make something unique or innovative product. Orchid women wear is a renowned brand of John Smedley among their various women wears (Johnsmedley.com 2018).   This is a knitwear product a nd made up of wool. This is very much comfortable for the women in any weather. Thus, this brand is popular among the women who prefer to use John Smedley products. Traditional communication or advertising process in the business promotion needs a proper budget and a specific market (Bremset al. 2017). TV, direct mail, newspaper, and radio are the traditional communication channels that are used in the business. The traditional communication channels are more expensive in comparison to the social media communication as traditional communication needs more workforce while social media needs less workforce and it depends on the technology. In the recent years, John Smedley has faced issuesdue to the using of traditional marketing communication. Traditional communication channels need a particular target audience as a result, it is difficult for the organization to select the target audience. On the other hand, they are not able to cover a huge range of consumers through this traditional communication process. In the year 2014 their sale was increased by 14% from the previous year and the revenue generation was  £17.2.   In the year 2015 their customer number is increased by 10% from the previous year, which ensures their growth in the global market (Johnsmedley.com. 2018). However, traditional communication process has a specific target market but social media does not need any specific target market as it covers a large range of customers from different geographical regions (Kedzior et al. 2016). Hence, by the application of social media, John Smedley can promote their Orchid women wear in a huge range of customer domain easily. There is no need to expand the high budget to implement this communication process.Traditional media includes personal selling, pamphlets and leaflet distribution that needs more workforces. This enhances the cost of the product promotion (Nyangwe and Buhalis 2018).However, application of the social media in the promotion of the business will be an effective approach for such organization as it will help them to cover a large number of people from different geographical regions. Clothing products among the other products of the fashion industry run fast. However, consumers especially the women have a strong addiction towards the clothing products. They prefer the variety of products, which are comfortable to wear (Kedzioret al. 2016). Hence, the traditional marketing or communication is not as effective as the social media communication in promoting a brand as the traditional marketing process is not attractive like the social media. Through the social media women can see a variety of products and they do not need to go outside. In order to improve the brand image of an organization promotion through social media is an effective approach for the organization. In the context of John Smedley, they want to improve the brand image of Orchid women wear through the application of social media. As commented by Nyangweand Buhalis (2018), social media users keep the brand name in their mind, which they saw in their social networking site. This is a big opportunity fo r John Smedley to improve and promote their brand Orchid women wear. One of the major positive outcomes of social media application in branding is communication with the business goal (Deckers and Lacy 2017). However, in the context of John Smedley use of social media will help them to deliver their business objective regarding their brand Orchid women wear to the consumer domain by providing a detailed product as well as brand information. John Smedley can give the benefits of the products through the websites and it will be shared via social media like facebook, instagram etc. In the recent years, people are more technology oriented as they use the technological device rapidly to make their life fast. They have limited time to watch television, magazine and another traditional advertising process (Dinnie 2015). Therefore, maximum people spend a lot of time on the social media website as they get refreshment and also gather new knowledge regarding any product or service via social media. People have a great attraction towards the social media and they search new fashion products and brand through it (Dinnie 2015). As a result, advertisement through the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be effective for John Smedley to promote their brand Orchid women wear. This will give a great opportunity to John Smedley to promote their new product in a large consumer domain by using the social media in brand promotion. Social media makes a unique platform for John Smedley for their new brand and they will be able to get customer feedbacks via such sites. Such customer review is a good process for an organization to understand their brand position in the market (Habibiet al. 2016).Changing needs of the consumers is a big problem for the fashion market and they do not understand the exact demand of the consumers. However, by checking the customer review regarding a product on social media sites the organization will able to understand the type of the products that the current market prefers. Social media is an effective way for the business as it allows the consumers to research discover and share the information about a brand (Dinnie 2015). Application of the social media in the branding of John Smedley will bring a scope for their new brand Orchid women wear to reach in a large domain of the consumers. Social media advertisement will help the consumers to attach with the organization by sharing their feedbacks. This also improves the customer engagement in an organization. Good consumer rating will improve the brand image in the competitive market. Therefore, social media will help John Smedley to share content of the product information quickly in the context of Orchid women wear. As a result, the consumers can easily access the product details as well as the brand details, which enhance the branding process of such organization. Today the application of the social media is an integral part of the daily life. People from different parts and the entire world can be connected through the social media. In the context of business as well as the fashion industry social media plays an important role to promote a brand and to improve the brand image (Habibi et al. 2016). It is important for John Smedley to improve their brand image by suing the social media application. They can influence the public opinion regarding their new brand Orchid women to wear. As commented by Dinnie(2015), social media is the best platform to communicate with the people and people also share their opinion regarding any product or brand. As criticized by Kohliet al. (2015), is the business industry does not train their employees properly to use social media for business purpose then they fail to communicate their brand vision. This can lead John Smedley to an inconsistent as a result; their brand image can be affected.   However, John Sm edley can represent their brand image through the social media application in the context of their Orchid women wear. On the other hand, misrepresentation of the offered service or products and their features can hamper the brand image of such particular brand. Social media creates customer’s interest towards a product or a brand (Chahaland Rani 2016). In the context of John Smedley, advertisement or the promotion of Orchid women wear through social media enables them to deliver their messages to the public domain quickly. As a result, the audience starts to get information about the particular brand. Then they talk about the brand and pay their attention to it. Shopping in recent times is popular in the social media platforms. For example, Twitter and Facebook are two of the major social media platforms, which contribute more to improving the promotion of a brand and the enhancement of its image. For John Smedley, if they promote or advertise their products through such social media then audience get information about their Orchid women wears. This will make their brand popular and to improve its image in the consumer domain. Besides the positive aspects of social media advertisement there are some negative aspects. As argued by Koh li et al. (2015), advertisement via social media often affected due to the overflowing newsfeed. In the Facebook often people skip the messages or advertisement of a brand due to the overflow of the newsfeeds. This may affect the brand promotion in the context of John Smedley. Therefore, it is important for the organization to give a regular update of their product or brand on the social media. If the gap occurs in this process then it will be difficult for John Smedley to promote their brand Orchid women wear through social networking sites. On the other hand positive outcomes of social media highlights that social media especially the Facebook increase the customer engagement (Habibiet al. 2016). However, if John Smedley creates a page on facebook regarding their Orchid women wears with more details then it can reach easily to the consumer domain. Therefore, the consumers can give their feedbacks on this Facebook page regarding this particular brand. For John Smedley, they want to promote Orchid women wear via social media. Hence, it has been found that women discuss more about the fashion over social media like Facebook. Therefore, they refer to their friends the fashion brand that they have used. This will give John Smedley a good opportunity to improve the brand image as well promotion of Orchid women wear via social media advertisement. The above piece of the study reveals the social media application in branding in the context of John Smedley. However, this fashion organization is going to promote their new brand Orchid women wear through the social media advertisement. However, the major problem of current fashion market is the changing demand of the consumers. Hence, the application of the social media will help John Smedley to gather the customer feedbacks and develop innovative product as per the needs of the current market. It has been found that social media communication to market a product is very popular in the recent years. People, specially he women search new brand over the social media. One of the major drawbacks of the social media application is the inappropriate presentation of the brand information. Despite these challenges, social media communication is an essential element of the modern business. Brems, C., Temmerman, M., Graham, T. and Broersma, M., 2017. Personal Branding on Twitter: How employed and freelance journalists stage themselves on social media.  Digital Journalism,  5(4), pp.443-459. Chahal, H. and Rani, A., 2017. How trust moderates social media engagement and brand equity.  Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing,  11(3), pp.312-335. Deckers, E. and Lacy, K., 2017.  Branding yourself: How to use social media to invent or reinvent yourself. Que Publishing. Dinnie, K., 2015.  Nation branding: Concepts, issues, practice. Routledge. Habibi, M.R., Laroche, M. and Richard, M.O., 2016. Testing an extended model of consumer behavior in the context of social media-based brand communities.  Computers in Human Behavior,  62, pp.292-302. Holt, D., 2016. Branding in the age of social media.  Harvard business review,  94(3), p.13. Johnsmedley.com. 2018.  John Smedley. [online] Available at: https://www.johnsmedley.com/uk/about-us [Accessed 13 Feb. 2018]. Kedzior, R., Allen, D.E. and Schroeder, J., 2016. The selfie phenomenon–consumer identities in the social media marketplace. European Journal of Marketing, 50(9/10), pp.1767-1772. Kohli, C., Suri, R. and Kapoor, A., 2015. Will social media kill branding?.  Business Horizons,  58(1), pp.35-44. Nyangwe, S. and Buhalis, D., 2018. Branding Transformation Through Social Media and Co-creation: Lessons from Marriott International. In  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2018  (pp. 257-269). Springer, Cham. Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N. and Parrott, G., 2017. Role of social media in retail network operations and marketing to enhance customer satisfaction.  International Journal of Operations & Production Management ,  37(1), pp.105-123.

Preparation for Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Preparation for Work - Essay Example We came out with flying colors at the end since each one of us knew beforehand what we needed to do. Teamwork pays and this is absolutely true in the time and age of today. I learned this from experience with the help of my remaining team members that unity and discipline within a team are important aspects which need to be understood right from the onset of instituting a team. Since I understood the complexities involved with the moods and personalities of different team members, we decided right from the start that any grievances with one another could be settled once we are through with out assigned presentation. As a team, we made sure that there would not be any rifts amongst us but we compromised on having minor arguments which would lead us towards creative solutions as per the successful completion of our group presentation. We learned this with the passage of time that working as a team could mean so much more than just working for one another. It could mean that the collective results are more significant than an individual's achievement and that a team knows how to celebrate in a proper and befitting manner - a fact that is not so common when an individual attains success. As for the interpersonal skills, we guaranteed to one another that each of the team member's strengths as well as weaknesses would be analyzed in the light of the successful completion of the task at hand, which indeed was the completion of the group presentation. We appreciated the fact that judgments would not make the rounds of our team and thus we centered our attention on the premise of hard work, commitment, dedication and complete adherence to the rules laid down when the team was formed in the beginning. I am pretty contented to speak for my own self that I have felt a difference in my personality basis after the successful completion of the group presentation. I now feel that my personal development has been helped immensely by being a part of this team. Interacting with the team members and getting to know about each other's interpersonal skills is a definitive plus for me. 2- Verbal Communication I have understood during my graduate study regimes that intercultural communication is essential to understand since it is the form of communication that happens across cultural boundaries and transmits meaningful and unambiguous information. This process of exchanging the same preserves mutual trust and minimizes the element of aggression amongst my fellow colleagues. I have comprehended long and hard that a culture is indeed a shared system comprising of different beliefs, values, expectations, attitudes, norms, symbols, etc and thus it becomes all the more necessary in the present times to get the hang of such elements within the cultural contexts of a particular area, region or territory. I have tried my best to respect the intercultural faith whereby this has meant that this form of communication would indeed be successful with the people who matter within its cultural tenets. Similarly verbal communication is dependent a great deal on the intricacies entailed with the phenomen on of globalization and thus cultural diversity has reduced as a result of the very same. In order to understand oral, verbal and

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 120

Summary - Essay Example a guideline to those who may have developed interest in understanding student’s behaviors, conduct and development patterns while still under the experience of the campus life. The paper mainly focuses on family theories and characteristics based on their evolutionary-life in relation to student’s affairs, practices and mental development (Nilson, 2010). In essence, a doctor attempted to treat a psychiatric patient who failed to respond to services offered until her medical history was traced, and it has been clarified that there is a need to have a glimpse of patient history and absorb her experiences. Another psychological scholar Nilson (2010) illustrates that it is critical to understand the history of anybody suffering from mental disposition before treatment is administered. Moreover, majority of expatriates who are concerned with student affairs often believe in direct observation of patients other than listening to stories. Some theories include Cognitive development theory concerned with psychological issues, it allows for the synthesis of information thus enabling an individual to make a variation from very simple encounters to bigger events. Cognitive theory is mainly used in students to govern moral development. In addition, there is social identity theory that plays a critical role in giving contrast to different memberships that are claimed by an individual within a specific framework of representation. The most common social identities theories include ethnic identity or racial identity. Consequently, there is psychosocial development theory that focuses mainly on ho w a person relates to the social environment. Psychosocial development theory clarifies about the developmental period of a person based on his identity, value, career and family among other elements within the environment. The above article gives an evaluation and comparison of several theories associated with the development of a child. Despite such theories having been developed

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Essay Example Dave Holden, Rick’s fellow bounty hunter goes through a dreadful encounter with Nexus-6. He gets injured in the process and Rick heads an operation that is meant to find and retire the remaining Nexus-6’s. This operation succeeds when Rick finds and kills Polokov. Eventually, Rick retires from bounty hunting after witnessing Resch’s killing of Luba Luft, an android impersonating an opera singer. He terms this killing an absence of empathy towards androids. Could Rick engaging in doublespeak? Why does he abandon bounty hunting on the basis of the inhuman killing of Luft after participating in the elimination of Polokov? I believe that this story presents a paradox. The aspect of empathy that develops in Rick contrasts sharply the life he has lived. The main questions arising from the story are, â€Å"How is hypocrisy demonstrated of Dick’s future society?† and â€Å"How does the theme of mind control manifest in the character of Buster Friendly?† The aspect of decay versus regeneration is emphasized when Dick develops a world that is in peril. The dust of nuclear fallout covers the landscape. This decay is metaphysically represented by kipple. Against this backdrop, Dick suggests that the world can survive and regenerate through decay. This is the tragic irony of the

Eating Habits of Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Eating Habits of Students - Essay Example The importance of a healthy lifestyle is inevitable. A good and healthy lifestyle starts with the diet one takes (Bailey, 2007 ). A blend of calorie intake together with fruit and vegetable consumption, as part of the diet, is advisable in ensuring a balanced diet. It helps prevent lifestyle-related disorders and diseases (MacClanccy, Henry, & Macbeth, 2009). Strict dietary guidelines help maintain a healthy diet and avoid the big gap in dietary divide experienced today by many people. The prevalent short lifespan emanates from the wrong choice of diet that end up affecting our health (Shepherd & Raats 2006). The young generation seems to pay little attention to the crucial topic of diet and health. Their choice of diet remains a secondary consideration in their responsibility for their health (Gullotta, Adams & Ramos 2005). Dietary disorders among young people are on the rise at an alarming rate. Instances of obesity in young people are increasing more than ever experienced. Accordi ng to Richards, 2007, guiding the young generation on issues of diet and health become essential. Topics such as the choice of food, awareness of a well balanced diet and the need to create attention to nutrition among by young people need further elaboration. Teaching the youth about diet and health, therefore, is indispensable an issue most governments must consider engaging (Berg 2002). Statistics in the United Kingdom show that several schools going students have poor knowledge of diet and health (McGinnis & Gootman 2006). Several students express low attention to nutrition. The choice of a better diet by students is poorly in several students (Glass 2009). In what areas many students pay less attention to, as far as diet and health are concerned, this report sorts to find out. The report discusses the important dietary areas overlooked by students and their extent of caution to their health. 2. Method In order to find out the eating habits of students, a survey was conducted wi th the help of an oral questionnaire. Total 30 randomly selected students in the UK took the interview in different learning institutions for the purpose of representing the student population. The group of respondents composed of students from different learning institutions at different stages of studies. The respondents consisted of fifteen boys and fifteen girls. The questionnaire (attached in the appendix) consists of different kinds of questions which chiefly build upon each other. The question types used is, for example, â€Å"yes/no†, multiple choice and ranking questions. In addition, some questions require the respondents stating their own opinion or telling more about their own experiences. While the questionnaire is not plainly segmented, it focuses on one major topic of health and diet. The questionnaire consists of seventeen (17) questions. The first question asks about the respondent’s gender. The second question asks about the frequency of meals taken b y students per day. The number of meals ranges from one (1) to four (4) per day. The third asks the opinion of the responder, whether he or she gets a balanced diet. It offers five options of response to the question. The fourth question inquires the respondent’s knowledge of a balanced diet. The fifth question asks the respondent about his or her preferred meal.

Sector Matrix Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sector Matrix Analysis - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is sector matrix analysis as one of the frameworks that are useful in analyzing the demand and the supply linkages. To maintain the return on capital, most of the organizations usually struggle to reduce the cost of manufacturing process and to enhance the cost recovering technique. In sector matrix framework, the firm is usually viewed as one that consolidates al the income through a variety of activities that usually occur through the firm. The objective of a sector matrix framework is to analyze the business and actually understand how a complex structure of supply and demand side can actually interrelate and shape the policy of the businesses responses. The side of the demand is very different when compared to Porter’s value chain strategy. In the matrix framework analysis, the household demands for the products, which are finished, are the ones of interest. In addition to that, all the products and services that are usually complementary and are substitutable are added to the list so that they can become part of consumption for the buyer. This form of analysis usually creates a matrix that consists of vertical and horizontal relations unlike the industry chain analysis. In using sector matrix framework, if the manager is to increase the output of the organization, then the organization must be in a position to satisfy the consumer with their products or services and given at a low cost. In the value chain analysis of Porter (1985), the production function is used to determine the output and the input of the organization. The product process is the combination of inputs to provide a specific output. The output here is either in terms of a service offered or in terms of the product (Williams et al. 1994). A matrix framework analysis is created based on some assumptions. Firstly, on the side of the demand, rather than limiting the expenditure on a product that is new by an individual customer, the definition of the te rm is expanded to also include all the expenditure of the household that include all the expenditure of the household. The other assumption that is used to create the sector matrix of analysis is broadening the definition of the supply side. The concept that is used here is to broaden the definition so that the financial range can consist of a variety of activities that should cut across all the sectors of the industry. This is unlike the value chain approach where the definition of a business is limited and is defined by a common product that uses a similar technology. At a national or regional level, the space that is defined in the motoring matrix is usually controlled by the demand of the household and firms from the motoring sector. This sector maintains the cost recovery from a variety of supply side duties. On the side of the supply, the cost recovery that is usually obtained sustains the organizations surpluses that are often reapplied to merge the activities, which occur wi thin the industry sector and additionally across the industry sector. To explain sector matrix analysis, there are two examples that both used the sector matrix to sustain in the market. An instance is the

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Essay Example Dave Holden, Rick’s fellow bounty hunter goes through a dreadful encounter with Nexus-6. He gets injured in the process and Rick heads an operation that is meant to find and retire the remaining Nexus-6’s. This operation succeeds when Rick finds and kills Polokov. Eventually, Rick retires from bounty hunting after witnessing Resch’s killing of Luba Luft, an android impersonating an opera singer. He terms this killing an absence of empathy towards androids. Could Rick engaging in doublespeak? Why does he abandon bounty hunting on the basis of the inhuman killing of Luft after participating in the elimination of Polokov? I believe that this story presents a paradox. The aspect of empathy that develops in Rick contrasts sharply the life he has lived. The main questions arising from the story are, â€Å"How is hypocrisy demonstrated of Dick’s future society?† and â€Å"How does the theme of mind control manifest in the character of Buster Friendly?† The aspect of decay versus regeneration is emphasized when Dick develops a world that is in peril. The dust of nuclear fallout covers the landscape. This decay is metaphysically represented by kipple. Against this backdrop, Dick suggests that the world can survive and regenerate through decay. This is the tragic irony of the

Sector Matrix Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sector Matrix Analysis - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is sector matrix analysis as one of the frameworks that are useful in analyzing the demand and the supply linkages. To maintain the return on capital, most of the organizations usually struggle to reduce the cost of manufacturing process and to enhance the cost recovering technique. In sector matrix framework, the firm is usually viewed as one that consolidates al the income through a variety of activities that usually occur through the firm. The objective of a sector matrix framework is to analyze the business and actually understand how a complex structure of supply and demand side can actually interrelate and shape the policy of the businesses responses. The side of the demand is very different when compared to Porter’s value chain strategy. In the matrix framework analysis, the household demands for the products, which are finished, are the ones of interest. In addition to that, all the products and services that are usually complementary and are substitutable are added to the list so that they can become part of consumption for the buyer. This form of analysis usually creates a matrix that consists of vertical and horizontal relations unlike the industry chain analysis. In using sector matrix framework, if the manager is to increase the output of the organization, then the organization must be in a position to satisfy the consumer with their products or services and given at a low cost. In the value chain analysis of Porter (1985), the production function is used to determine the output and the input of the organization. The product process is the combination of inputs to provide a specific output. The output here is either in terms of a service offered or in terms of the product (Williams et al. 1994). A matrix framework analysis is created based on some assumptions. Firstly, on the side of the demand, rather than limiting the expenditure on a product that is new by an individual customer, the definition of the te rm is expanded to also include all the expenditure of the household that include all the expenditure of the household. The other assumption that is used to create the sector matrix of analysis is broadening the definition of the supply side. The concept that is used here is to broaden the definition so that the financial range can consist of a variety of activities that should cut across all the sectors of the industry. This is unlike the value chain approach where the definition of a business is limited and is defined by a common product that uses a similar technology. At a national or regional level, the space that is defined in the motoring matrix is usually controlled by the demand of the household and firms from the motoring sector. This sector maintains the cost recovery from a variety of supply side duties. On the side of the supply, the cost recovery that is usually obtained sustains the organizations surpluses that are often reapplied to merge the activities, which occur wi thin the industry sector and additionally across the industry sector. To explain sector matrix analysis, there are two examples that both used the sector matrix to sustain in the market. An instance is the

Is Abortion Immoral Essay Example for Free

Is Abortion Immoral Essay In Carol Levine’s book, Taking Sides, the debate discussing whether abortion is considered immoral or not raises questions about the relationship between law, society, and ethics. When discussing abortion, there are typically two polar opposite views in which to categorize the argument: the pro-life view and the pro-choice view. From a conservative point of view, the â€Å"pro-life† stance is one that sees abortion as the taking of an innocent life of a child. The pro-lifers would also argue that life begins at conception and are in favor of supporting the life of the child in the womb. However, abortion has been legal since 1973. The 1973 Supreme court decision of Roe v. Wade declared that a woman has a constitutional right to privacy, which includes an abortion. † (p 121) Even though abortion is legalized, it does not make the choice to abort the child morally right. â€Å"Patrick Lee and Robert P. George conclude that being a mother generates a special responsibility and that the sacrifice morally required of the mother is less burdensome than the harm that would be done to the child, causing his or her death, to escape responsibility. † (p 121) The first question to be raised is whether the human embryo/fetus should be considered a complete human being or not. The human embryo is considered to be distinct from any cell of both the mother and of the father because it is growing in its own direction. The human embryo is obviously human, with DNA characteristic of human beings. Most importantly, the human embryo is a complete organism even though it is said to be an immature one. â€Å"Rather, an embryo (and fetus) is a human being at a certain (early) stage of developmentthe embryonic (or fetal) stage. † (p 123) Therefore, it is arguably said that aborting the child, at any term, is considered feticide and objectively immoral. In abortion, what is killed is a human being, a whole living member of the species homo sapiens, the same kind of entity as you or I, only at an earlier stage of development†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p 124) Another argument in the debate is that abortion is justified as non-intentional killing. Some pro-choicers argue that it is not so much intentionally killing the child, but rather not choosing to provide the child with assistance or a home during the gestation period, all while knowing that evicting the child will almost certainly cause death. The â€Å"bodily rights rgument† states that â€Å"a woman is not morally required to allow the fetus the use of her body. † (p 124) By describing abortion as choosing not to provide bodily life support is a misconception, when the ultimate side effect is death, however unintentional it may be. â€Å"There is a significant moral difference between not doing something that would assist someone, and doing something that causes someone harm, even if that harm is an unintended (but foreseen) side effect. † (p 125) Most women that chose abortion do not want their child to die or to commit feticide, they simply want to terminate pregnancy. Death of their child is merely a horrible side effect. However, does it morally justify their choice? â€Å"Abortion is the act of extracting the unborn human being from the womb- an extraction that usually rips him or her to pieces or does him or her violence in some other way. † (p 125) From a Christian perspective, Ramsey would argue against abortion stating that the sanctity of life should be preserved. He respects the nature of human parenthood that calls for a sphere of love union and a sphere of procreation. When a woman becomes pregnant, whether it is by choice or not, it is from then on viewed as her responsibility. â€Å"So, the burden of carrying the baby, for all its distinctness, is significantly less than the harm the baby would suffer by being killed; the mother and the father have a special responsibility to the child; it follows that intentional abortion (even in the few cases where the baby’s death is an unintended but foreseen side effect) is unjust and therefore objectively immoral. † (p 128) Ramsey opposes an ethic based on goals or ends which from a Christian viewpoint will ultimately be destroyed anyway. This is one of his bases for an independent ethic of means. The Roman Catholic Church argues against direct abortion stating that we must treat the child with same rights as a person. A direct killing is an act that by the nature of the act or the intention of the agent aims at the killing either as a means or as an end. Ramsey would also support this argument. â€Å"Those who condemn abortion as immoral generally follow a classical tradition in which abortion is a public matter because it involves our conception of how we should live together in an ideal society. † (p 120)

The Stranger, Albert Camus

The Stranger, Albert Camus The Stranger, Albert Camus reader gluing book is all about an inane activities of Meursault the protagonist. The setting of this book is in Algiers; in the beginning of this wonderful novel we encounter the death of Maeursaults mother in Marengo. The author of this book wrote it in the first person style thus allowing the reader to view Meursault to be the sole individual that propels all the unfolding in the novel. For this matter, the author relays sequence of events that invokes Meursault to shoot a friend, he is imprisoned and his eventual death. With regard to all that Meursault does and does not do convicts the reader to call him an anti-hero. This paper seeks to discuss the anti-hero theme in The Stranger as written by Albert Camus. Death of Meursaults Mother Part one of the book describes Meursault as a person of indifferent towards emotion and interaction with others. When he receives the news of his mothers death he is not even carried away with emotions as one who has lost an important person in his life, (Bloom 20). In addition he only focuses on the physical and practical details surrounding the death of his mother. He is also depicted by the author as one who loves weather and other beautiful sceneries. In relation to this, he does not feel anything; neither grief nor sadness during his mothers funeral procession, (Camus 70). He also beliefs that, the world is meaningless and purposeless; the feelings of an anti-hero person and therefore, Meursault fulfills the anti-hero theme. The unique character of Meursault to certain events compels the reader to claim that Meursault is an anti-hero. For instance, before the death of his mother Meursault was looking forward to spending the weekend with Marie. After getting the information that his mother is dead, he appears heartless, doesnt express any grief or even get concerned, in fact he goes for swimming in a public beach spending good time with Marie. He doesnt seam affected by the death of his mother, he does stand with solidarity for his mother a complete character of anti-hero person. Meursaults conversation with his boss and other co-workers with regard to the death of his mother is cleverly avoided by Meursault. Furthermore, he changes the subject after giving a very short response. As much as his work mates express concern about the death of Meursaults mother, Meursault himself is adamant and does feel anything he continues working as usual. Meursault has a different personality which completely contrasts that of a focused and a determined person, (Enotes 5). He displays traits of a failure in life throughout the book. Lust and Lack of emotions Albert portrays Meursault as someone who is lustrous and having no feelings or passion. When he goes swimming with Marie we are told that he was intensely aroused at any moment he sees her. Consequently, after swimming, they all hurry to Meursaults apartment, spend the night together till the next day, (McCarthy 40). When Marie asks him if he really loved her, he replied that it doesnt mean anything and therefore, he doesnt think so. With regard to this event, Marie perceived Meursault as her hero who could eventually marry her but it turned out that he was not. Meursault is a person who lacks any ambition to accomplish anything substantial in life. For instance, when he is offered a position in a new office to be opened by his boss in Paris, Meursault replies that it is all the same to him. In addition when Marie asks Meursault if he wants to merry her, he says that it doesnt make any deference meaning that he has no feelings for her, (Sagi 20). Meursault is a non performer and therefore, an anti-hero character. Meursault is also portrayed as one who cannot make a distinction between two conflicting situations; unable to decide. For instance when he is given a gun by Raymond he has no capacity to neither to shoot nor not shoo. He is unable to make out the difference that exists between the two alternatives. When he murdered an Arab does not affect him in any way, it is inevitable that Meursault doesnt know the order and meaning of life. His acts are irrational completely describing somebody who is unable to accomplish a meaningful act given that Meursaults killing of the Arab was an act out of no reason, (Schwerner 25). These are actions of an anti-hero person. Arrest and Execution Part two of The Stranger begins with the arresting of Meursault for killing the Arab. When the court appoints a lawyer to investigate about Meursault, he establishes that Meursault is insensitive. When he is also taken to the examining magistrate, the magistrate concluded that Meursault has a hardened and irrevocable soul. It was also established that Meursault never believed in God and he never knew what caused to act the way he acted. Heroes believe in God and have a clear self understanding, but with this man Meursault, everything is different. He is an anti-hero and doesnt understand what he does with his life, (Showalter 15). When Marie visits Meursault in jail, she encourages him to have hope because she believes he will be acquitted and that they will get married as soon as he is out of prison. On the other hand Meursault is interested in mournful prisoners sitting besides him. When Marie leaves, Meursault sends a letter to her informing her that the authorities will not allow her to visit Meursault anymore. This indicates that Meursault is hopeless and does not know the meaning of life which a recipe of all heroes who have ever lived. Meursault confinement and imprisonment does not incite any guilt or regret over his actions, he only focuses on hi practical and physical situation rather than the emotional elements. He longs for nature, ocean, sex, and cigarettes rather than his freedom. As a hero one should think of how to get out of the prison and not issues that cannot him get acquitted. It is only in prison that Meursault starts to know about himself as to how he can adjust and live in any environment, (Sparknotes 3). Heroic minds have a vision of what living conditions they need, and strives to achieve the perceived condition, Meursault is not one of them, he has an anti-heroic minds. During Meursaults trials he is surprised to see people parked in the courtroom. Furthermore he passively observed the judgments leveled against him. Without even thinking of how he might help himself out of the prison or to get acquitted, he begins to ponder the fact of his inevitable death. In fact, he concludes that there is difference between dying soon by being executed and dying decades later of a natural death. This kind of thinking is inclined to failures in life, somebody who dont have hope and therefore no meaning for him to live. He is not a hero and therefore he can not live to the fact that one day he can have a better life full of meaning and hope, (Warsh 27). Conclusion In conclusion, Camus managed to display the anti-hero them in the book The Stranger. Meursault specifically was used to display different situation in which human beings are unable to think rationally and make rational decisions. The behavior and characters attached to Meursault are evident enough that a person can deviate from the true line of life of being determined, hopeful and ready to confront any situation for him come out successful. It is true that we have people who completely lack emotions and feelings and this is so strange as human life is concerned hence The stranger.

John Pappajohn :: essays research papers

John Pappajohn was born July 31, 1928 in St. Luke's Greece to George and Maria Pappajohn. His father was a U.S. citizen and thus he is a U.S. citizen by birthright. He immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 9 months with his mother and they joined his father in Mason City. Iowa. In 1961, he married Mary L. Limberis of Minneapolis, Minnesota and the two of them have a daughter, Ann Pappajohn, who resides in New York. Mr. Pappajohn attended Mason City public schools and then attended the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, and received a bachelor's degree in business in 1952. Upon graduation from college, he started his own insurance business. In 1962, he moved to Des Moines and organized the Guardsman Life Insurance Company. He was Chairman of the Board of Guardsman Insurance from 1962 to 1969, at which time he sold his interest and dedicated himself full time to venture capital investments. He organized Equity Dynamics Inc. in 1969 and continues as its President today. He also organized Pappajohn Capital Resources (a venture capital fund) in 1969. Pappajohn Capital Resources is well known on Wall Street as a venture capital fund primarily investing in high tech, medical and healthcare projects. He has over 35 portfolio companies in his fund and has averaged over 68% annual return on investments for over 25 years. At the present time, he serves as director on the following company Boards: Radiologix, Inc., Dallas, TX PACE Health Systems Inc., Des Moines, IA Allion Healthcare, Inc., Huntington Station, NY Logisticare, Atlanta, GA Patient Infosystems, Inc., Rochester, NY MC Informatics, Inc., Irvine, CA. He has served as director in over 40 public companies and also serves as a director for many private companies. He is a member of many professional organizations including The Society of Financial Analysts, Association for Corporate Growth, National Association of Corporate Directors and the Association for Investment Management and Research. He was a Horatio Alger Award recipient in 1995 and serves as a member of the Board of Directors and on the Executive Committee for the Horatio Alger Association. He also is on the Board of Trustees for Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece, the University of Iowa Foundation Board of Trustees, Iowa City, IA., and formerly a Trustee for Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA. He was named Iowa Business Leader of the Year in 1992 and was inducted into the Iowa Business Hall of Fame in 1996. He served as a member of the Advisory Board for the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. He was initially appointed by President Ronald Reagan and re-appointed by President George Bush.

Morality and Politics Essay -- History, Philosophy, Plato, St. Augusti

Morality and politics have always been closely linked; even in present day politics, morality often has a part to play. Morality within politics has always been a controversial and highly debated topic by many leading political thinkers. There have been many key thinkers on the subject; however, Plato and Augustine have both an interesting and highly debated view on the argument of whether politics should be focused on morality. Both Plato and Augustine had differing views on the ideas of politics and the role that morality plays within this. These two political thinkers were around in very different times and this is reflected in their views of morality and politics. Plato was born in 429BC and came from a distinguished Athenian family, heavily involved in Athenian Politics. As a pupil of Socrates it was inevitable that Plato would be influenced by Socrates and inspired to go into politics. At the time that Plato wrote, Greece was beset by instability and Plato’s focus was to stabilise the â€Å"Polis†, meaning ‘city-state’ and mainly involving Athens and Sparta, which results in an interesting view on morality and politics. Augustine was born in 354AD, in a Rome dominated culture, and had strong Christian beliefs, which heavily influenced his views on morality and politics. This essay will examine both Plato’s and St. Augustine’s view of morality and politics, and whether or not politics should be focused on morality, before coming to a reasoned judgement. Both Plato and Augustine examine whether or not politics should be focused on morality, however, their approach to study and the outcome of their thought leads to very different results. The theory behind these two political thinkers is complex and will therefore need to be examin... ...this Augustine attempts to keep morality and politics separate, however, a closer look reveals that Augustine attempts to remain apolitical due to the immorality surrounding politics, this immediately makes politics focused on politics, even if it is the immorality in politics. Politics should, therefore, be focused on morality. Morality has had an important role to play in the explanation and justification of many political events over the years. It is almost impossible to separate politics from morality therefore a focus of politics on morality can only serve to enhance the understanding of various political systems. Politics has been focused on morality from the era that Plato was writing through to Augustine and even in the present day, it was and remains to be important for politics to be focused on morality; therefore politics should be focused on morality.

Heineken in Cambodia

Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 Sanne van der Wal & Rob Bleijerveld April 2009 Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 Sanne van der Wal & Rob Bleijerveld Amsterdam, April 2009 Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 Colophon Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 April 2009 By: Sanne van der Wal & Rob Bleijerveld Cover Design: Annelies Vlasblom Funding This publication is made possible with co-funding from the Vereniging van Beleggers voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (VBDO) Published byStichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations Sarphatistraat 30 1018 GL Amsterdam The Netherlands Phone: + 31 (20) 6391291 E-mail: [email  protected] nl Website: Hwww. somo. nl This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivateWorks 2. 5 License. 1 Introduction This company report has been prepared by SOMO (Centre for R esearch on Multinational Corporations). It provides an overview of business practices that could be regarded as unsustainable or irresponsible which occurred (or might have been addressed) in 2008.The overview below describes only controversial practices and not the positive achievements of a company in the same year. Information on positive achievements can usually be found in a company’s annual and/or sustainability report and on the company’s website. The purpose of this report is to provide additional information to shareholders and other stakeholders of a company on controversies that might or might not be detected and reported by the company itself.This report does not contain an analysis of a company’s corporate responsibility policies, operational aspects of corporate responsibility management, implementation systems, reporting and transparency, or total performance on any issue. For some controversies, it is indicated which standards or policies may hav e been violated and a brief analysis is presented. Apart from this, the report is mainly descriptive.The range of sustainability and corporate responsibility issues eligible for inclusion in this overview is relatively broad and mainly based on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. These Guidelines are used as a general frame of reference in addition to the company-specific standards. Sources of information are mentioned in footnotes throughout the report. The main sources were obtained through SOMO’s global network of civil society organisations, including reports, other documents, and unpublished information.Media and company information databases and information available via the Internet are used as secondary sources where necessary. Heineken has been informed about the research project in advance and was given two weeks to review the report and provide corrections of any factual errors in the draft version. The overview of controversial practices in this rep ort is not intended to be exhaustive. Instead, it focuses on a limited number of issues and cases that might merit further attention or reflection.Where information about the latest developments, either positive or negative, was unavailable, it is possible that situations described in the overview have recently changed. Taking into account these limitations, SOMO believes that the report can be used for improvement and for a more informed assessment of a company’s corporate responsibility performance. For more information, please contact SOMO: SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) Sarphatistraat 30, 1018 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tel. 31 (0)20 6391291 Fax +31 (0)20 6391391 e-mail: [email  protected] nl website: www. somo. nl 2 Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 Precarious working conditions of Heineken Beer sellers in Cambodia This short overview deals with only one issue: the continuing bad labour and health conditions of s ocalled ‘beer sellers’ in Cambodia, salaried women who wear distinctive Heineken uniforms while exclusively selling Heineken beer in bars and restaurants, alongside those working for its partly owned partner brands (e. . , Tiger, ABC, etc†¦), and for competitors.The work conditions of these women, who are hired by most of the international brewers and their distributors operating in Cambodia 1 , have been criticised for several years, by the Cambodian NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation ) Siem Reap Citizens for Health, Educational and Social Issues (SiRCHESI) 2 . In 2002 the CEO and the Boards of both Heineken Breweries Ltd and Heineken Holding N. V. from here: Heineken) were first notified by SiRCHESI of concerns about the health and welfare of their beer sellers, who continued, in 2008, to be at high risk for HIV/AIDS and alcohol- related health problems, who experience sexual harassment and violence at their workplaces, and who are not paid a ‘living wage'- a salary for a full-time job on which they can support themselves and their family dependents. Press reports going back to 1998, and particularly a story in the Wall Street Journal (2000) had already clearly described the problems before social scientists began systematic data collection. Also SOMO's overview of controversial business practices of Heineken during 2006 for VBDO of April 2007 has called attention to this critical issue. 4 Recent inquiries and research in Cambodia –as part of a longitudinal study (2004-2009) 5 – reconfirm that these bad labour and health conditions still exist. Heineken – and other brands, with whom they both compete and co-operate – have not made significant progress in 2007, nor in 2008 to reduce the high risks to the health and safety of the women beer-sellers in Cambodia nor meet their monthly financial needs.So far, industry efforts to resolve these issues – through the formation in late 2006 of â€Å"Beer Sell ing Industry Cambodia† as a professional brewers association with a code of conduct (COC) for beer sellers – have failed. 1 2 3 4 5 See e. g. â€Å"Heineken en promotiemeisjes in Cambodja – deel A,† R. Feilzer and F. P. van der Putten (p. 85-96) and F. P. van der Putten, â€Å" – deel B† (p. 109-13), in: Bedrijfsgevallen, Eds. W Dubbink and H. van Luijk (Assen: Van Gorcum, 2006). SiRCHESI website, . and ,, and . SiRCHESI’s website http://www. fairtradebeer. com press reports section. Heineken – Overview of controversial business practices in 2006,† Francis Weyzig (SOMO), April 2007 Performed by Staff, volunteers ,researchers and students located in Siem Reap with SiRCHESI, or at Siem Reap Provincial AIDS Office, of University of Guelph (CA), National Center in HIV Social Research (University of New South Wales, AU), Macquarie University (Sydney, AU), University of Melbourne (AU), Australia Volunteers International, Duke Un iversity (North Carolina, US), Oxford University (Oxford, UK), University of Technology Sydney (AU), as welll as University of Maastricht, NL, National University of Singapore, and Staffordshire University (UK).Data and analyses were provided through Ian Lubek, international advisor to SiRCHESI. The SIRCHESI interviews with beer sellers were conducted either in the workplaces or during health workshops. 213 interviews were conducted from 2004-6, and 324 from 2007-9. 22 beer sellers worked for Heineken and partner brands, 57 worked for Carlsberg brands such as Angkor; 56 sold AB-INBEV brands, 1 sold a SAB-Miller brand, and the remaining 201 sold other brands including Dutch brands Bavaria, Hollandia, as well as Corona, San Miguel, Singha, Oettinger, Asahi, etc. 3 Below, some controversial aspects of the situation in 2008, revealed by SiRCHESI, are described. More background data can be found on the SiRCHESI website dedicated to this issue www. ethicalbeer. com. On the same website mo re new details on the longitudinal study, including data for 2008-9, are published by SiRCHESI 6 as well. Low income and transparency As in 2006, SiRCHESI research 7 confirms that Heineken is not paying a â€Å"living wage† in 2008.If Heineken and its Asia Pacific Breweries partner brands (Tiger, ABC, Anchor, Cheers,etc. paid their beer sellers the current industry standard (2008) of just over 8 US dollar per beer case as commission, they would earn – based on SiRCHESI’s observations of sales of more than 3 cases per night – about 700 US dollars per month which amounts to about 10 times the current fixed salary. BSIC brand sellers are consistently paid less each month than non-BSIC brands yet increasingly sell manifold more beer each year 8 . In fact workers get less than 2. 5 percent of the sale, and face severe nightly workplace health and safety risks. Part of this profitability for Heineken is based on the sellers’ own nightly consumption of ab out 6 percent of sales, which adds harm and risk to their working situation.For a number of years, Heineken officials reported paying bonuses to the beer servers, yet SiRCHESI interviews showed that from 2002 onwards these were not being received by the beer sellers. In fact in 2008 they reported receiving monthly earnings of 71 US dollars which is considerably lower than the 84 US dollars reported by non-BSIC sellers and the 85 US dollars Heineken headquarters reports paying 9 . SiRCHESI estimates that 71 US dollar monthly is still less than half of what would be enough to provide for them and their family dependents. This situation of underpayment –first reported to Heineken executives in 2002 and unchanged ever since- puts terrible pressures on the women to support their families and to make ends meet, compelling some to sell unsafe sex to customers in desperation to supplement insufficient income.In general it is difficult for Heineken beer sellers to know to what benefit s and bonuses they are entitled because Heineken is failing to provide beer sellers copies of their work contracts specifying working conditions, benefits such as severance pay and maternity leave, and exact earnings– all, transparently. In 2008, no beer seller could show SiRCHESI a copy of their signed contract. Several Heineken beer sellers said they did have signed contracts but that these contracts had gone to the distributors' Head Quarters in Cambodia. In 2008 SiRCHESI asked the distributor and BSIC for copies of these contracts they but were told they were â€Å"proprietary† and could not be disseminated. 6 7 8 9 See for example: â€Å"Ab-Inbev, Carlsberg, Heineken and other international brewers are yet again in 2008-9 behaving badly to women beer sellers in Cambodia†, SiRECHESI, April 2009, http://www. ethicalbeer. com/read/April2009-INFO.df AND â€Å"Professor criticizes international beer companies for not being proactive enough in Cambodia (2008-9) to protect their women beer sellers from hazardous, harmful, and potentially mortal workplace health and safety risks: Citing recent research, he urges company executives, brand consumers and shareholders to implement immediate changes. †, SiRCHESI, April 2009, http://www. ethicalbeer. com/read/APRIL2009Press-info. pdf This overview builds on SiRCHESI published (see footnote directly above) and unpublished information provided/communicated directly to SOMO by As Tiger Beer seller Sophea wrote to management at Cambodian Breweries Ltd. asking for a salary increase to 100 US dollars monthly: â€Å"Our claim is absolutely justified. The quantity of our sales increased, and the price of beer increased too†¦. Now it {Tiger Beer} is sold for 2. 90 US dollars. â€Å" (Cambodge Soir, 18-25 June, 2008). â€Å"Biermeisjes bezorgen Heineken hoofdpijn,† Financiele Telegraaf (p. 27) 10 mei 2008 4 Heineken Overview of controversial business practices in 2008 Workplace health an d safety issues Heineken’s HIV/AIDS policy of 2002 has promised coverage to all its workers world-wide 10 . However the company and partner brands are still not providing free HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) for their HIV positive beer sellers as they do for their personnel in Africa.What compounds the situation is that most beer-sellers are currently excluded from Government ARVT (anti-retroviral therapy) programs due to Cambodia and the Global Fund’s inability to implement access in 2008-9 for all persons living with HIV. Simple factors such as lack of daily transportation to a distribution site mean that many beer-sellers cannot receive ARVT. In Africa Heineken has solved this problem through workplace distribution of HAART. Heineken is also not providing enough effective workplace health and safety education about HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and alcohol risks before employment begins. Although Heineken proactively developed the Selling Beer Safely ( SBS) Program in 2003 it has not been offered to every employee; moreover, the number of beneficiaries of SBS is declining markedly.Of 224 Heineken family sellers in the SiRCHESI research sample of 2004 to 2009, 31. 2 percent had received no health training at the time of the interview. It should be mentioned that this is better than the industry average of 43. 3 percent that received no health and safety training about being a beer seller. In 2004, 22 percent of Heineken or Tiger beer sellers had received SBS training. However in 2008 this share had declined to 4. 7 percent. However, when SiRCHESI asked whether they had received either the SBS or any other in-house training program 11 , BSIC beer sellers did modestly better: 27. 8 percent reported in-house training, while only 8. 3 percent non-BSIC sellers reported in-house training.But the most serious criticism is the procrastination in supplying this education. Of 224 Heineken family beer sellers interviewed, 16 (7. 1 percent) re ceived training before they started, and a further 6 (2. 7 percent) received it on the first day. 80/224 or 35. 7 percent had received it in the next 6 months, while the remainder had training in the next 18 months or not at all (122 or 54. 5 percent). Hence only 9. 8 percent had been given some early-warning training – before or on the first day of work- about the risks and harm possible for beer-sellers themselves, damage to the fetus during pregnancy, or contraction of HIV/AIDS or a sexually transmitted infection (STI).Although the BSIC COC which Heineken claims to uphold explicitly forbids workplace drinking of alcohol, SiRCHESI found that only 6% of Heineken (7. 6% of BSIC brands) beer sellers were in fact abstaining in 2008. For those who continue to drink, the mean alcohol consumed nightly by BSIC sellers in 2008 was 1. 48 litres nightly or 6 standard drinks (N=103), while 1. 53 litres (7 standard drinks) were consumed nightly by Heineken beer family servers (N=89). Al l of these levels are well above levels of national guidelines for responsible drinking as set for women by 23 countries surveyed by the International Center For Alcohol Policies (ICAP) 12 including the Netherlands.This means that these women have an increased risk for physical (raised blood pressure, stroke, and liver cirrhosis), mental, and social problems associated with alcohol abuse. While (excessive) workplace drinking continues to be a critical issue in Cambodia it has been observed by SiRCHESI to no longer exist in nearby Singapore. 10 11 12 â€Å"Heineken's HIV/AIDS Policy – contribution of a private company,† HEINEKEN COR P. COMMUNICATION ~ 02 92857455 NO. 023, by Heineken International, 18 April 2002 (at http://fairtradebeer. com/reportfiles/heinekenaidspolicy2002. pdf) SiRCHESI: â€Å"other in house-training† are mostly shorter than the 3 day SBS training some just get 1-2 hours – the â€Å"refresher courses† International Center For Al cohol Policies (ICAP) in International Drinking Guidelines Reports 14