Food Insecurities Essay

Have you ever seen a person yell at his colleague or his partner, overreacting on a particular matter that has caused not only the person who got yelled at to feel annoyed, but also third parties who know about it or have witnessed the scene? For the many who do not wish to get into the mess, or has enough logic sense to not judge immediately, they will most likely give out a fair statement and try to reason out that person’s overreaction by saying he probably had a bad day or he probably has dilemma at home. However, if we take a bit closer and look closely, all of us will eventually realise that it all goes down to one matter; insecurity. Insecurities are not something new and unfamiliar to the human kind. Everyone has insecurities, regardless of whether they realise it or not. The Oxford Dictionary defines insecurity as the uncertainty or anxiety about oneself or lack of confidence. Insecurities exist in every living soul on this planet. Till today, it is still seen as a negative matter as not many have addressed this issue in proper ways using proper mediums. Most parents don’t even talk about it and shove it away when their children decide to speak up about it. Little do people know that the slightest things in life are the ones that add up to our insecurities. The amount of insecurity in a person differs from one to the other. The types of insecurities that one possesses also vary. The most common type of insecurity is physical insecurity. Let’s face it; human beings are never satisfied. Even when you have all the parts of the body needed to sustain and go through your daily routine with ease, you still beg for more. Some want healthier and shiner hair, some want to be taller, but most importantly, everyone wants something. It is not just human beings as an individual who face insecurities, but also countries and states. Currently, the world is looking at the issue of food insecurity, which is also classified as a type of insecurity. Food security may be said as the availability of food and one’s access to it. Hence, the United Nations have defined food security as all people at all times having both physical and economic access to the basic food they need. For more than 2 billion of people on this planet, they are lucky to not worry about this form of insecurity. However, we might not realise this but this matter is more complicated than it seems. Food securities may result from many different causes. It is imperative that we focus on why are the food insecure, and why are the people are food insecure. Among the most common causes of food insecurities are drought and extreme weather changes. This setback, which is very commonly faced by third world countries, usually ranges from overnight floods to droughts. In short, the climate changes faced by these countries are extreme. In most African countries, like Nigeria, droughts are not new to them. It has been a setback since the time of their ancestors; nonetheless, they are helpless at it and have no comeback on solving this matter. In many comparisons throughout time, some of the most severe food crises were all preceded by drought or by other similarly extreme weather events. These extremities result in poor and failed harvests which in turn results food scarcity and high prices of the available food. As mentioned in the Climate and Development Knowledge Network report entitled ‘Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters in the Agriculture Sectors: Lessons from the IPCC SREX Report’, such force of nature causes impacts which will include not only food insecurity, but changing productivity and livelihood patterns, economic losses, and impacts on the infrastructure. Besides that, the natural resource base for the poor and food-insecure is invariably narrow and, in many areas, fragile. With the exception of Uganda only 4 to 10 percent of the land area is classed as arable, and just a small area of land suitable for rainfed cultivation. The greatest numbers of poor people are concentrated in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems and on marginal land in the higher rainfall parts of the region. It has become axiomatic to say that poverty is one of the main causes of environmental degradation. This can be seen all too clearly in the farming of steep slopes, which takes place as an increasing population is forced to cultivate marginal land. The falling crop yields that characterize the marginal areas are a result of the loss of massive quantities of topsoil throughout the region, declining soil fertility as fallow systems are replaced by continuous cultivation, reductions in soil organic matter as manure is burnt for fuel, and shrinking holding sizes. However, the poor are also the most vulnerable to environmental degradation because they depend on he exploitation of common property resources for a greater share of their incomes than richer households do. In the rangelands, the evidence for long-term secular environmental degradation is ambiguous. The successive cyclical growth and decline of herds reflects cycles of rainfall and rangeland productivity, and is perfectly normal. As animals die in large numbers, the rangelands recover remarkably quickly. However, when there i s a major drop in the number of animals, the people who depend on them for their livelihoods also suffer. Development programmes that have sought to increase animal production on rangelands through water development and animal disease prevention have all too often failed to find, at the same time, sustainable ways of increasing animal nutrition, so the resulting increased numbers of animals may wreak havoc on the range itself. Many of the available freshwater resources are in river basins and lakes that extend beyond the boundaries of individual nations. Shared water resources include lakes Victoria, Albert, Edward, Kivu and Turkana and major rivers such as the Blue Nile, White Nile, Atbara, Awash and Shebele. The potential for developing irrigation from these sources is constrained by the problem of achieving agreement on sharing the resources and avoiding conflict. Although natural climatic factors have played their part in the process of desertification, in general, it is increased population and the related development of unsustainable production systems that have had most negative impact on the fragile natural resource base. Wood and manure have remained the main sources of domestic energy, even in urban centres. This situation has contributed to depleting the forest and range resources, resulting in an overall decrease in biomass and biodiversity, reduced water infiltration and increased runoff and soil erosion. These factors, which contribute to the impoverishment of ecosystems, have led to a vicious circle of environmental degradation, lower system resilience to erratic rainfall, decreased agricultural productivity and increased poverty and food insecurity. Not only that, the cause of food insecurity in these third world countries are also caused by the poor state of development and maintenance of roads and transport, energy sources and telecommunications in the marginal areas of countries in the Horn of Africa makes it difficult for these areas to become integrated into the national and regional economy. As with all other indicators of development, the countries of the region have some of the worst figures worldwide with respect to access to roads and water supply. A recent report suggests that, in terms of access to infrastructure, the gap between Africa and the rest of the world has widened over the past 15 years. The sparse road and communications network hampers emergency relief operations as well as the commercialization of the rural economy. The density of the road network in the countries of the region gives an idea of both how difficult it is to reach people in rural areas with services and the problems such people face in participating in the market economy. For example, in Ethiopia, every kilometre of road serves 72 km 2 and 3 000 people, compared with only 8 km 2 and 850 people in North Africa. Even after strenuous efforts by development agencies and NGOs, access to a clean water supply is still an unobtainable luxury for most rural inhabitants in the Horn. Piped systems are uncommon in rural areas and protected wells and hand pumps are the best that rural communities can expect. The burden of collecting water, as with so many other menial tasks, falls almost exclusively on women in the communities, who must spend many hours each day collecting water from unsafe sources. The statistics on access to water and sanitation reveal wide differences within the region. In three countries, namely Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, only one-quarter of the population has access to safe water, and in two others (the Sudan and Uganda) the figure is less than 50 percent. Access to sanitation is as low as 13 percent and, except for Kenya, barely exceeds 50 percent anywhere. In addition to that, the indicators of access to social services in the countries that face the setback of food insecurity are also among the lowest in the world. While the average figures are bad enough, they mask fundamental inequalities in access to services within the region. Again, rural areas, especially remote, low-potential areas are the least well served. Nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists are the most difficult populations to provide services to and, consequently, they are invariably the ones with the poorest health services and least education. All these indicators, combined with malnutrition and poor access to safe water, have adverse consequences for productivity and for the long-term physical and cognitive development of people in the region. Also, let us not forget the fact that crop and plants as well face diseases. Diseases affecting livestock or crops can have devastating effects on food availability especially if there are no emergency back-up plans in place. For example, an epidemic of stem rust on wheat which was spreading across Africa and into Asia in 2007 caused major concern. A virulent wheat disease could destroy most of the world’s main wheat crops, leaving millions to starve. The fungus had spread from Africa to Iran and may already be in Pakistan. A different threat, on the other hand, has attacked the African continent’s second biggest crop; wheat. In 1999, 50 years since the last outbreak, a contemporary and virulent strain of stem rust attacked the Ugandan crops. Its spores then travelled to Ethiopia and Kenya, before appearing in Iran last year. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation (FAO) has given warning to six other countries in the Central and South Asia to be prepared and keep an eye for symptoms of this new strain while scientists in the United States of America are working diligently in searching for a resistant that combats this problem. It is important that the remedy for this will be obtained quickly as in India alone; more than 50 million small-scale farmers are at risk because they depend on wheat for their food and earnings. Most importantly, we must not overlook that politics and dictatorship also play a role in food insecurity. Many do not realise that politics play a part in something as serious as this. As mentioned by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amarya Sen, â€Å"There is no such thing as an apolitical food problem. It is more often than not that the administration of the country that determines its severity, or even whether the famine will occur. If truth be told, the 20th century is full of examples of governments undermining the food security of their own nations. Let us take a look at Nigeria, Africa’s most densely inhabited state, where a legacy of corrupted governance and an economy based primarily on oil exports has left the agriculture sector significantly undermined, leaving millions of N igerians in deep hunger. True, the neighbouring countries export food to Nigeria in exchange for money, but remember; the people in these neighbouring countries need food too. And they are much poorer than those living in Nigeria. It was reported by the United Nations that thousands of children in countries neighbouring Nigeria died because of malnutrition. These kids paid the price not because of food shortage in their country, but because of food shortage in Nigeria. The distribution of food is often a political issue in most countries. The government will always give priority to urban areas and cities, since most influential and powerful families and enterprises are located there. The ruling government over and over again for generations overlooks the subsistence farmers and rural areas in general. In other words, the more rural an area, the less likely the government will pay attention to solving its needs. What’s more is that the governments of these countries would normally keep the price of basic grain at extremely low levels that subsistence farmers cannot accumulate sufficient capital to make investments to improve their production. Hence, they are prevented from getting out of their precarious situation. In addition, food has always been a political arsenal by the dictators and warlords, where they reward their supporters and deny food supplies to those areas that are against them. Under this condition, food has become more like a currency instead of a basic need that cannot be denied rights of. Food has become the money to buy support and used against the opposition. Even in Guatemala, income inequality is amongst the worst in the world, with indigenous communities at a disadvantage. In some areas, an estimated 75 percent of the children, ranging from infants to children ages six and seven years old, are severely malnourished. And this is a shocking statistic relating food scarcity coming from a country that is merely a four-hour flight away from the USA. Furthermore, it was pointed out in William Bernstein’s 2004 publication entitled ‘The Birth of Plenty’ that individuals without property will lead to starvation and it is much easier to bend the fearful and the hungry to the will of the state. If a farmer’s property can be arbitrarily threatened by the state, that power will inevitably be used to intimidate those with different political and religious opinions. It is fundamental and crucial that we understand and be aware of the consequences of this global food scarcity. The effects might be similar to the effects of malnutrition and hunger, where, at the outset, the human population will be affected greatly in the sense where stunted growth may occur. The stunting starts in when the baby is still in the mother’s womb and happens till the age of three. Once stunting happens, giving proper nutrition to these helpless children will not help in reversing the damage or improving the child’s condition. Pregnant mothers who do not receive the correct amount of nutrition needed may risk of having a higher chance of infant and child mortality later on, which is, of course, a very heartbreaking circumstance. Apart from that, severe malnutrition during one’s early childhood also leads to defects in cognitive development. Stunted individuals also have a higher chance of getting diseases and illnesses as compared to those who have not experienced stunting. It must also come to the attention that food insecurity is also associated with various developmental consequences for children in the United States. A research was conducted by Diana F. Jyoti, Edward A. Frongillo, and Sonya J. Jones to prove that food insecurity is linked to specific developmental consequences for children, and whether these consequences may be both nutritional and nonnutritional.

Alcoholism final

Generally, alcoholism is considered more as a habitual disorder rather than a disease. It is self initiated and mostly can be prevented or controlled. It is as a result of over dependency on the substance (Alcohol) which is by itself a drug. Abuse of the substance consequently leads to Alcoholism. There are some symptoms surrounding alcoholism, which includes; a strong thirst and urge to per take the substance, withdrawal, shakiness of hands and in some cases the whole body, anxiety after stopping drinking.Once one has started the habit, it’s extremely difficult to stop, they in turn gain tolerance of the drink where one gradually increases the amount in order to feel the effect and get ‘high’. (Shebek J, Rindone JP. 2000) Addiction dependency In such cases, the body is accustomed to always having alcohol present which translates to you becoming a slave of the substance. Consequently, one experiences a strong urge for the drink and at this point alcohol has taken over your life where you become alcohol dependent.With time, it soon becomes the only thing you can think of and cannot do without. Surprisingly, people with alcohol dependency do not necessarily suffer liver diseases. This mostly is dependent on genes which vary from one individual to another. In some individuals, it is possible to drink heavily and die from liver diseases without ever developing alcohol dependency whereas in some they may develop alcohol dependency but do not have the liver diseases. (Goodwin, Donald W. 1988). Effects on body In the body, alcohol is quickly metabolized and absorbed by other nutrients.It is rapidly absorbed in the upper portion of the small intestine, where the alcohol laden blood then travels to the liver via the veins and capillaries of the digestive tract, which affects nearly every liver cell. Also, it affects every organ of the body though its most impact is upon the liver. Liver cells are forced to first metabolize the alcohol, letting the fa tty acids accumulate. Alcohol metabolism permanently changes liver cell structure, which results to impairment of the liver’s ability to metabolize fats. This is basically the reason behind fatty livers in heavy drinkers.A liver clogged with fat causes liver cells to become less efficient which consequently impairs a person nutritional health. Alcohol displaces calories from needed nutrients and also interferes with the body’s metabolism of nutrients leading to damage of the liver, digestive system and nearly every bodily organ. Prohibition of alcohol can greatly reduce its consumption and subsequently bring down the crime related to alcohol which in turn can save many lives and society from the ordeals emanated from this. Though this is not an easy case, it calls for both the law enforcers and society to play part in it.(Cadoret, Remi J. , et. al. , December, 1986) Religious connection with alcohol where Jesus changed water into wine. Jesus changing water into wine wa s a manifest of his powers to demonstrate that he was capable and had the transforming power to change people from tasteless ordinary people to very important people who bring joy and happiness to others. He used Mary’s simple request and servants’ obedience to reveal his glory. His intention was to give Christians a life like that of a wedding feast which is only celebrated once in a life time.Alcohol consumption was not considered a daily event but a one time thing which was meant to bring happy and memorable feelings but nowadays, it’s not the case. It has been abused by many and some have made it a daily thing meant to solve personal issues like stress other than celebrating occasional and important events. (Agape miracle fellowship 2003). Jesus changed water into wine where wine was and still is considered a low alcohol drink which if it’s taken occasionally in the right quantity and manner cannot lead to alcoholism addiction and disorders. Stand of health sources pertaining alcoholism.Heath sources have a stand on this vice where they advice people to keep off from alcohol as alcoholism is perceived as a self induced disease which can be avoided or cured if at all the patient is willing to forfeit alcohol completely for his/her sake of healing. People are advised to keep off from alcohol because its repercussions are immense and damaging to ones health which is something that can easily be avoided. (Gallant . D, 1987) I can strongly advice victims to try their level best to quit alcohol and for those who haven’t started and are maybe considering it, to reverse their decision before it is too late to turn back.They can avoid the ‘I wish I knew’ slogan by avoiding the ‘one sip’ thing is what leads to a bottle which later grows into bottles and before long one is already an alcoholic, a very difficult situation to turn back from. Governments should strongly play their roles of enforcing laws which will regulate the sale of alcohol, for instance they can raise taxes on alcoholic products to make it difficult for purchasers to ‘enjoy’ it daily. Also, it can consider burning importation of this cheap alcohol drinks which are pocket friendly and encourage daily consumption. References. Cadoret, Remi J. , et. al., (December, 1986) â€Å"An Adoption Study of Genetic and Environmental Factors in Drug Abuse. † Archives of General Psychiatry. 43: 1131-1136. Gallant . D, (1987), Alcoholism: A Guide to Diagnosis, Intervention, and Treatment . Colombia. Colombia University press. Goodwin, Donald W. (1988). Is Alcoholism Hereditary? New York: Ballantine Books, 2nd Ed. Shebek J, Rindone JP. (2000) â€Å"A Pilot Study Exploring the Effect of Kudzu Root on the Drinking Habits of Patients with Chronic Alcoholism. † J Altern Complement Med. 6, 1:45-8. Agapemiraclefellowship. (2003). miracle at marriage. www. agapeindia. com /miracle_03. .

Advertising and Sex

Sex and indecency are very mature areas and should not be used loosely. In todays society almost anything goes. This should not hold true for certain areas; like sex. I intend to use many examples of sex in advertising and various studies to show how this strategy is not only over used, but is improperly used and viewable to all consumers, including young children. The advertising industry has taken a low blow at society and needs to focus their attentions on preserving human decency and uphold a higher standard of moral concern. What are we really dealing with here?As time grows older, the acceptance of more and more ideals is growing by the second. Not only ten years ago were standards different. I remember when girls couldnt wear shorts that came higher than four finger widths above their knees to school. Today this standard is not only unheard of, but laughed at. Foul language on television is more accepted. Video games are more graphic than ever before and advertisements are using the idea of sex or sexuality to sell products to all ages (including video games: they now have nudity in video games). Do we really want our children growing and learning room these explicit images?How can companies sleep at night knowing they are using corrupt techniques to sell products to our children? We are talking about corporate social responsibility (CARS). CARS is defied that a corporation should be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment (McGraw-Hill, 1999, peg. 3). Companies have two choices in this world today. They can either be for CARS or against it. This paper will use both sides of the coin to view the argument about sexuality in advertising. Is the burger really that good?The advertisement industry is a no-holds-barred industry where just about anything goes. Companies need to focus their attention on their CARS more than getting the edge in ads. We might ask ourselves, who exactly is watching these ads? Who are they intended for? What are they selling? Sometimes an advertisement can actually be confusing as to what is being sold. I do not agree with a sexual display for irrelevant products. The reason I take an anti- sexuality view on the subject started from a Carols Jar. Commercial. In this particular commercial, Paris Hilton was displayed eating a Caracals. Ambusher. While eating she was dressed in black bathing suit crawling over a Bentley. Some might find it attractive and enticing while others find this a little explicit for them. This commercial is basically soft-core porn. The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouthits very suggestive and very titillating (http://money. CNN. Com/2005). Said Melissa Caldwell, research director for the Parents Television Council (APT). Carols Jar. Responded by saying that the group needs to get a life. This isnt Janet Concessionaires no nipple in this.Its a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car (http:// none. CNN. Com/2005). The APT is very concerned about this matter considering this commercial airs in the hours of popular television shows such as The O. C. And sporting programs. Milton Friedman (1970) would agree with Carols Jar. Friedman believes in the interest of the business and the business only. In his article with the title that speaks his opinion, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits, Friedman states that only people have responsibilities business as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities (Freidman, 1970, Peg. ). From Friedmans point of view if this immemorial, which more than likely improved profits, did not air because of some social value or norm then the company lost money. More specifically they would be spending someone elses money; the stockholders. The corporate executive made a decision to improve revenue for the company, which in turn makes more money for stockholders. He is not about to hold back from higher profits because of some social backlash. In the world of advertising sometimes bad press is good press. !Hold! A Mexican restaurant showed a lascar-clad woman posed with her hands on her hips over the headline 0 Tickle my Taco (Rotifer, 2003). In this case the owner probably thought this would be a good slogan to have. What he doesnt realize that the use of irrelevant sexual innuendos is actually more distracting attracting. He actually thought this was the best campaign he had ever had because of the numerous complaints he got. Another backfire experience involves a trucker business that had passed out calendars for his business with half naked women on each month.This was thought to be a perfect ad scheme until most of the people with the calendars actually forgot the name of his company. Advertising creators are so myopic as to believe hat publicity from offending people is always beneficial. They do not see it as being a distraction from saying positive things about the restaurant or store (Rotifer). Joe cool? Advertising is not created and used just to provide a smug example of public morality; advertising is honest because it has to be. What I mean by honesty is the product information is not all ways how it is displayed.Lets address the issues of what we care about, the way we raise our children, our ideas of right and wrong conduct, these in my view are all together. Lets take a look at liquor and tobacco advertising. The image of the Marlboro Man is one example. This type of advertisement depicts a buff, handsome, cool man smoking a cigarette. What message is this conveying to our young people? That it is cool to smoke. We all know it has been proven that smoking cigarettes can cause cancer. This type of advertisement causes the consumer to subliminally change their opinion of various items.This is why most advertising is geared towards the younger more susceptible crowd. Firebombed and who? The Caracals. Case is not alone in sexual content. Sex is everywhere we look in todays society. In The Prevalence of Sexual Imagery in Ads Targeted to Young Adults, Firebombed Fitch made an advertising attempt at combining a magazine with a catalog. They call it the analog. In this analog they TA regret young adults by using sexual imagery throughout their products. They increased their revenues from $50 million to over SSL . 5 billion in 2001.From these numbers one could say that sex does sell. In a survey taken in 2001 results found that 44% of young adults (age-24) said they are more likely to buy the clothes if the ad contains sexual imagery (Richter, 2003). Others may not agree that sex sells. Most people (61 %) report that sexual imagery in ads makes them less likely to buy the products (Richter). This quote was taken from the same article, but was used as a generalization about all people young and old. Other than being aimed at a much too young audience, there are more issues that are raised with sexuality in ads.Who wants to look like a celebrity? Lets talk about images. For example, most advertisements for clothing (I. E. Bathing suits etc), show shapely thin women and men. This has led our country to think that fat is demeaning and not socially accepted. This type of advertising has caused everyone to want to look like the people in the ads. Diets of all sorts have been developed to try to meet these expectations. But when their goals are not reached it causes depression, low self-esteem that in turn causes a poor image is developed.In my opinion these advertisements have a negative outreach. Who is to say only thin people look great? Advertisements do. These ads also have created anorexic teenagers, which has lead to serious health problems and even death. Advertisements often do not explicitly urge the consumer to buy a given product; rather they promise hat the products will enhance a persons life. If a stunningly attractive person claims to use a beauty product, that product may be assumed to be an element of the beauty formula.Ads arguing that consumers will be more attractive, accepted or appealing to other offer relevant to teens and young adults, for whom dating and group memberships are important (Richter). I Whats it goanna be? From one of my readings I have gathered two hypotheses about advertising that find relevant to our study. Hypothesis 1: A higher proportion of ads with sexual imagery appear in ads targeted to young adults compared to those targeted to mature adults. Hypothesis 2: Overall, ads contain a higher proportion of sexually dressed women than men (Richter).These two combined show that most advertising is targeted towards young males and that females are the primary source of sexual content in media and advertising. This could possibly lead to a bad outcome. Studies have shown that males viewing these sexual ads of women are far more accepting of sexual aggression towards females, including rape. These studies agree with the theories of Moses Papa (1997). Papa believes hat there are four criteria to our thought of social responsibility and that there is a trade-off between three of these four.These areas are; local knowledge, level of responsibility, shared consensus and relationship to financial performance. We find that most of the time local knowledge and relationship to financial performance are the one being traded off. Local knowledge would mean that the company designing the ad would know the background of the product being displayed and the target audience. Most of the time they do not take the product and audience into consideration, as we have seen. These companies are more focused on the relationship to financial performance: making a profit.Reaching perfect social responsibility seems very unattainable. These four criterion were setup as a guideline to reach such a goal. No program will meet all of these standards. They are purposely couched as ideals to be pursued, rather than as minimalist goals to be obtained easily (Papa). Whos doing it right? The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility is an optimistic outlook for todays society. A perfect example would be the Cummins Engine Company. Year after year this company insisted on donating to charitable foundations. And year after year they were threatened by bankruptcy.Any business or economics professor will tell you that their choices were not the smartest in the world. Their short term benefits suffered greatly because of these choices. Their long term, however have not suffered. They now produce over $5 billion in revenues each year. The iron law of responsibility states that in the long run, those who do not use power in ways that society considers responsible will tend to lose it (McGraw-Hill, peg. 4). Cummins Engines saw their long run capabilities and stuck with them. They prove the stewardship Renville that profits and social responsibility can coexist.

Classroom Attendance and Learning Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Classroom Attendance and Learning Process - Essay Example A nonexperimental cause-to-effect study can be performed. Firstly, students are divided into two groups, the control group, and the experimental group. The control group consists of students who are not absent from the first-day class begins until the day before the first examination starts. Students who have not been absent are alphabetically listed and then selected by choosing every second name on the list. Ten students are selected for the control group. If students come late into class, which means before eight o’clock in the morning, it would not count as absent. The ten students’ first examination results are collected. Students who are not absent from the day after the first examination to the day before the second examination are selected, then listed by alphabetical order and every second name from the last name on the list is chosen. The second examination results are collected for these students. The third and the fourth examination results are gathered in t he same way by using the first and second methods. There are 40 students in the control group, and the average percentage of the test results is then calculated. The experimental group consists of students who are absent at least twice from the first day that class begins the day before the first examination starts. Students who give the professor notice to be absent more than once in advance will count as absent. Also, students who come after eight o’clock in the morning will count as absent as well, because the professor’s lecture starts at the beginning of the class and ends around eight a.m., this is the most important time for students to obtain a lot of information from the Professor. If it is missed, then students would be considered as not attending a class. Students who have been absent are alphabetically listed and then selected by choosing every second name on the list. Ten students are selected for the experimental group.

Humancomputer interaction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Humancomputer interaction - Assignment Example The mental model encompasses operations that work in just like the computer. Most of the computer interfaces developed for visually impaired individuals are designed for those who have not lost their sight completely. Many HCI use several other types of feedback such as haptic and tactile feedback system. However, these interfaces are normally supplemental to the visual communication. As such, it is essential to note that those who have not lost their sight completely will be in an enhanced position to access several computer applications based on the haptic and tactile system, Clifford (2008). When interacting with the computer, some of the critical movements very useful include movement aside (Fig. 1a), pressure (Fig. 1b), static contact (Fig. 1c) and encircle and follow object contour exploration procedures Individuals with no sight or with reduced sight use these model in an analogous way. A significant constituent of the ability to create cognitive models for features in the physical world is closely correlated to the sense of feeling or touching. Touching is the only sense that allows simultaneous input and output interaction with the computer in two directions. The usual interfaces for normal people use only one

Summarizing the Documentary with particular emphasis on the law Essay

Summarizing the Documentary with particular emphasis on the law - Essay Example The basics of law and the sources of law in United States of America Law can basically be defined as rules that guide the conduct of businesses, persons and the society in general. The rules protect individuals and their belongings from undue interference and outline the punishment that should be meted to those who go against the letter and spirit of the law. Basically, the quality of law as exhibited by American law should be fair and flexible. Law has several schools of thoughts and these are law and economic school, command school, Natural school law, historic school, sociological school, analytical school, and critical legal studies school. Although the different schools have different definition of law, they basically hold that it is a set of rules and regulation that dictate the social, economic and political aspects of people. In United States of America, there are several sources of law that have played a key role in maintaining order and cohesiveness of the society. These ar e the English common law, the constitution, judicial precedence, statutes, treaties, and executive orders. Court system and their jurisdiction Basically, there are two court systems in the United States of America. These are the state court and federal court systems. The state court systems consist of limited jurisdiction trial courts, general jurisdiction trial courts, intermediate appellate courts which analyses the ruling of trial courts in case of an appeal, and the highest state courts or â€Å"supreme court of state† which hears appeals from some trial courts and the highest state court. Federal court systems include special federal courts, US District courts located in each state, US court of appeal that have 13 circuits and hear appeals from the districts courts and the Supreme Court located in Washington DC and its jurisdiction is to hear appeals from the highest state courts, Federal district courts, Federal circuit district courts of appeals, and special federal co urts. The jurisdiction of state courts includes cases than cannot be heard by the federal courts and a concurrent jurisdiction that a defendant decides. The federal courts have jurisdiction to hear cases that arise from the US Constitution, federal statutes, treaties, citizen diversity, an amount that exceed $75000 in dispute, federal crimes, and commercial related disputes. An important case involving the jurisdiction of the federal courts is the Hertz Corporation versus Friend that was presented to the supreme court of USA with an intention of determining whether Hertz Corporation was a citizen of California State. Alternative, judicial and e-dispute resolution Judicial resolution entails a number of processes that include discovery, pleading, pretrial motion and settlement conference. The pleading process involves complaints by the plaintiff, summons by the court, answer by the defendant, cross-complaint, reply filed by the plaintiff, intervention by other interested parties who intend to join the case, consolidation involving integration of lawsuit emanating from the same situation and class action. Example of a close related case is Wal-Mart store inc versus Dukes. Discovery process entails ascertaining witnesses and the facts of the case. The forms of discoveries are production of documents, interrogatories, mental and physical examination and deposition. Pre trial motion is one in which a party may endeavor to

Report analysis on braintree Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Report analysis on braintree - Essay Example Users usually sign up using their installed app or in Venmo website where they find friends who have created an account. Venmo account can be linked to users’ bank accounts, debit cards, or even credit cards (Moorthy, 2015). The leadership of Braintree Company encourages its employees to work towards achieving the goal, vision and mission of the company. The command creates a friendly environment for the employees through conducting performance appraisals and rewarding the best accordingly and also ensuring that their social needs are met, for instance, through recreational services (Hertz, 1999). Braintree encourages teamwork amongst the employees when doing their daily activities, and this promotes excellent performance. In addition, creativity, innovation, and invention are key qualities required of the employees (Hertz, 1999). In this area, the company focuses on outdoing its immediate competitors in the industry through the use of creativity, extensive training of employees as well as the use of the best technologies (Hertz, 1999). Payment wall supports payment options like credit cards, debit cards, landline payments, mobile payments, ATM payments, prepaid cards, kiosk-terminal payments, bank transfer as well as direct billing. Payment wall entered into the partnership with Alipay of China in 2011. This partnership has caused massive competition to Braintree (Moorthy, 2015). Stripe was founded in 2010, accepts payments online, and has expanded internet commerce by easing online business transactions and management as well. The stripe is developed for creators and makers, as it believes enabling more transactions is a problem rooted in code and design rather than in finance. Blue Snap It has optimized and reinvented and optimized the checkout experience by combining frictionless one-click checkout, intelligent payment routing, cross-border payments, multiple integration options, award-winning Smart

Assignment #1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

#1 - Assignment Example In addition, the efforts put by the government during the period also made citizens appreciate institutions in general. The article is of the assumption that since the terrorist attack the society perception of the social circles and institutions has never changed. In the article The Strange Disappearance of Civil America, the American population is created with an image that depicts its ignorance on social relationships. Different from ancient American social setting, the modern day society do not value the significance of creating social relationships. Putman acknowledges this trend to numerous factors that derail persons from participating in social activities (2). For instance, the author cites the increased role of women, economic constraints, family acquaintances and technologically based distractions. According to Putman the trend is growing (10). Children are more inclined to television and other technological advances thus ignoring the importance of social circles. With society preferences changing to suit more personal needs, the traditional social setting would never be embraced by the modern

Control Systems and Quality Management in Relation to Motivation Essay

Control Systems and Quality Management in Relation to Motivation - Essay Example Most healthcare organizations have established continuous quality control and improvement systems for an excellent and constant quality management program as suggested by Shortell and Kaluzny (1997). Healthcare companies should consider that institutions with constant quality control systems desire to adopt positive changes in all aspects of the organization’s activities. Quality management in healthcare companies offers a framework for service delivery and helps hospitals organize their operation to provide quality services. Â  Management control systems aim at bringing commonness of goals and coordination of processes in healthcare organizations for dysfunctional control systems. The control systems are expected to monitor and regulate the behavior of workers in the organization. For instance, the top management depends on information provided at different management levels to make decisions and to evaluate processes. Management control systems in healthcare organizations are concerned with resource allocation, coordination, and motivation of the employees. The control system in the management of healthcare organizations applies techniques such as total quality management. Total quality management is an aspect of management which constantly aims at enhancing quality services and management. Every healthcare organization’s management should develop a control system customized to its goals and resources. These control systems relate to the motivation of employees in healthcare organizations throug h different principles as outlined below: Â  Focus on critical points: for instance, controls are used where failure is a threat and the costs do not exceed a specific amount.

Right of Habeas Corpus Essay Example for Free

Right of Habeas Corpus Essay

Business Organisations Within Different Industries

Business Organisations Within Different Industries Private Sector Private sector organisations are ones that are owned by private individuals or groups and is not controlled by the state. the main purpose of private sector businesses is to generate revenue and create profit. Other private sector business aims include furthur growth, increasing market share and maximising sales. By contrast, establishments that are part of the state are part of the public sector; private, non-profit organizations are regarded as part of the voluntary sector and do not fall in to this sub heading. There are a number of organisations under the private sector. The main types of businesses in the private sector are: Sole trader Sole traders are individually run businesses. These include plumbers, painters, accountants and hairdressers. They are responsible for the overall running of their business and their is no distinction between the individual and thier business. Unlike other types of organisations you do not have to register your business with anyone. Advantages of being a sole trader is the freedom to make your own decisions as you are your own boss which may be very motivating. As a sole trader you also keep 100% of the profits. Controversially the disadvantages equally weigh the advantages as being a sole trader means sources of finance are limited as you are the only individual able to raise money. Also as a sole trader you will have to work long hours and have limited holidays as closing the business could result in loss of customers which will lead to a loss in revenue creating a ripple affect which could harm potential profit. One of the main disadvantages of a sole trader is that as a sole trad er, you are subject to unlimited liability meaning failure to pay off debts could result in personal assets e.g. your home being repossessed. Partnership, either limited or unlimited liability Partnerships usually consist of 2 20 people. This is widespread is professions such as accountancy and law. Unlike sole traders the responsibility and work load is shared and more finance can be raised from the partners. Also each partner can specialise e.g. if you have a legal practise one partner can specialise is marital law and one can specialise in tort law. However they are undifferentiated from sole traders in terms of partnerships being unlimited liability. Other disadvantages include sharing of profits between all partners, size is limited to 20 members and also disagreements between partners. Private Sector Limited Companies Owned and run by shareholders. Requires a Memorandum of Association (which includes name of company, address,objectives, type of activities, amount of capital to be raised, number of shares to be issued). Requires an Articles of Association (which includes the rights of shareholders, procedures for appointing directors, timing and frequency of company meetings, arrangements for auditing company accounts). Shareholders have a right to attend the AGM. Private Limited Company or LTD-limited liability, with private shares Private limited companies are owned by share holders and the owners can place restrictions on who the share ae sold to. Many people who own family run companied for instance can place restrictions to allow family members only to purchase share. In this case shares can only be sold privately and cannot advertise their share for sale. Private Sector Public Limited Companies This companies name ends PLC. There are around 500,000 companies in the UK but only 3% of them are public limited companies. Shares can be bought and sold on the stock market. Accounts must be published. Advantages limited liability;huge amounts of capital can be raised; economies of scale; domination of the market. Disadvantages setting up costs can be very expensive; an outsider can take over the company; competitors can take advantage of information in published accounts; Legislation control the way the organisation is operated; Companies may be inflexible due to their size. Public Limited Company shares are open to the public. Two examples are: Franchise business owner pays a corporation to use their name, receives spec for the business Workers cooperative all workers have equal pay, and make joint business decisions Public limited companies like private limited companies are owned by share holders however no restrictions can be placed and shareholders can sell shares to whoever they like. One disadvantage in this is that companies my be subject to a take over by other shareholders if they start buying up shares in attempt to take control. Some share holders may want to resist this take over but can not stop other shareholders selling their shares. Public Sector The Public Sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector is owned and run by the state (government) for their citizens. Their aim is to provide services needed by the citizens, regarless of income or wealth, for example health and education. These organisations are funded through taxation. The organization of the public sector can take several forms, including: Central government These include such services as defence, national health service, social security, prisions, police, universities. Local government These include primary secondary education, refuse collection, libraries, social services, council housing, parks and sport facilities Public corporation Non-profit sector. Non-profit sectors, the organisations in which fall into this category are different to both the private and public sectors, which has main objectives of turning a profit. Instead non profit organisations e.g. charitable organizations, trade unions and public arts organizations do not distribute its profits to shareholders or owners but use the money to meet goals. Ownership is the quantitative difference between for- and not-for-profit organizations. For-profit organizations can be privately owned and may re-distribute taxable wealth to employees and shareholders. By contrast, not-for-profit organizations do not have private owners. They have controlling members or boards, but these people cannot sell their shares to others or personally benefit in any taxable way. While non profit organisations are able to turn a profit known as a surplus, finance earned are retained by the organisation for its self-preservation, expansion and future plans. They are in most countries exempt from income and property taxation. Purpose Activities Marketing Marketing is the function of the business that is responsible for understanding customer needs and developing the right products, setting the right price and promoting and distributing products in the right way. Marketing ensures what is being provided is always a want and need. Market research new product development Purchasing Purchasing functions objectives are to buy at the most economic order the right quantity and quality for the right price from suppliers who are reliable and provide a good service. Through this they can ensure they can provide their organisation with an uninterrupted flaw of materials and services for company operations. They also have to find reliable alternative sources of supply. Determine needs, select the suppliers, negotiate the purchase and follow up on orders. Human Resources The pupose of the human resourse function is to assess the current and future capacity of a businesses future workforce needs and maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. Job design, Advertise job vacancies, select candidates, training and development, performance appraisal compensation, maintenance labour relations, Finance Production Hirachical strucutre Also known as the pyramis structure, the hierarchical structure means that with every level in the structure is a different level of authority. The structure houses fewer people at the top of the pyramid which can include job titles such as owner ceo and managing director. In hierarchical structures the chain of command runs from the top down and through each line department. Employees at each level are managed by their line manager directly above them in their orgainsation function. Within hierarchical structures authority and responsibility is clearly defined and it is clear to see the promotion path for employees. Also there are specialist managers which could effectively be used as the hierarchical strucuter encourages this in terms of environment. Futhur more employees will be very loyal to their department within their orgainsation. However the organisation can be beauracratic and theirfore respond sloly to changing customer needs and thet market within which the orgainsation operates. Communication across various sections can be poor due to having to report to line managers especially horizontal communitcation. And departments can make decisions which benefit them rather than the business as a whole especially if there is inter departmental rivalry. Matrix structure The matrix structure groups employees and resources in two ways simultaneously by both function and product. This structure can combine the best of both separate structures. A matrix organization frequently uses teams of employees to accomplish work, in order to take advantage of the strengths, as well as make up for the weaknesses, of functional and decentralized forms. An example if a organisation wanted to produce two products, a table and a chair. Using the matrix structure, this company would organize functions within the company as follows: a table sales department, a table customer service department, a table accounting, a chairsales department, a chair customer service department, a chair accounting department. Advantages of such structures are individuals can be chosen according to the needs of the project, the use of a project team wich is dynamic and able to view problems in different ways as specialist have been brought together in a new environment and project managers a re sirectly responsible for completing a project within a certain time frame and budget. However the disadvantages are a conflict between line managers and project managers over the allocation of resources, if teams have a lot of independence than it can be hard to monitor and cost can be increased if more managers are created through the use of project teams. Divisional structure Also known as the product structure, the divisional structure groups each organizational function into a division. Each division within a divisional structure contains all the necessary resources and functions within it. Each divisional unit is responsible for a product, geographical area, or customer base. Each division has its own functions such as Finance, Marketing and research and development, Divisions can be categorized from different points of view. There can be made a distinction on geographical basis (a US division and an EU division) or on product/service basis (different products for different customers: households or companies). Another example, an automobile company with a divisional structure might have one division for SUVs, another division for subcompact cars, and another division for sedans. Each division would have its own sales, engineering and marketing departments.