Five Forces of the Computer Industry Essay

The following table is an example of the Porter’s Five Forces Model applied to the Global Internet & Services Industry. I explain the industry infrastructure of Internet companies like Google Inc. according to the threat of entrants, buyer power, threat of substitutes, supplier power, and rivalry. Threat of New Entrants There is a moderate degree of new entrants into the global internet and services market. It is a very labor intensive industry while depending mostly on highly skilled employees. Overall though, it is a desirable industry to be in. Innovation/technological change, and R&D investment is very important so for potential new entrants it would require a large initial investment. Government regulations and large startup costs may deter new entrants but overall it is an attractive industry. Buyer Power There is a moderate amount of buyer power in this industry. Revenue for companies such as Google are generated by their advertisements. This business model gives control to the buyers who use those services and â€Å"click† on those advertisements. In this case, revenues from advertising are heavily dependent on the amount of people using the software and services. On the other hand, the market players enjoy a wide variety of potential customers, in turn weakening buyer power. Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitutes is weak. Substitutes in this industry are considered as the more traditional outlets like, print and TV. Leaders in the internet and services industry pose more of a threat to those media outlets, than they do to Google, or other leaders. Supplier Power Supplier power in this market is strong. Supplier power for Google isn’t very strong because they use their own software and hardware infrastructure. As for other market players, hardware components are usually purchased from large suppliers with differentiated products, giving them more power in negotiation. Servers are a main component of companies that work in the internet and services business and they rely heavily on suppliers to provide them with good quality, great speed, reliable, and energy efficient machines. Success in this market also requires skilled developers/programmers. Rivalry Rivalry in this market is moderate. The market is highly fragmented even though Google and a few other leaders account for less than 10% of the global revenue. With technology always changing, new products are being introduced and it is creating a more competitive landscape with rivalry increasing. Some of the market leaders operate in a wide range of markets so they are not entirely focused on the revenue from the internet and services industry. This mitigates rivalry between key players.

Problem solving Essay

Issue 7 â€Å"All nations should help support the development of a global university designed to engage students in the process of solving the world’s most persistent social problems. † I agree that it would serve the interests of all nations to establish a global university for the purpose of solving the world’s most persistent social problems. Nevertheless, such a university poses certain risks which all participating nations must be careful to minimize–or risk defeating the university’s purpose. One compelling argument in favor of a global university has to do with the fact that its faculty and students would bring diverse cultural and educational perspectives to the problems they seek to solve. It seems to me that nations can only benefit from a global university where students learn ways in which other nations address certain soda] problems-successfully or not. It might be tempting to think that an overly diversified academic community would impede communication among students and faculty. However, in my view any such concerns are unwarranted, especially considering the growing awareness of other peoples and cultures which the mass media, and especially the Internet, have created. Moreover, many basic principles used to solve enduring social problems know no national boundaries; thus a useful insight or discovery can come from a researcher or student from any nation. Another compelling argument for a global university involves the increasingly global nature of certain problems. Consider, for instance, the depletion of atmospheric ozone, which has wanned the Earth to the point that it threatens the very survival of the human species. Also, we are now learning that dear-cutting the world’s rainforests can set into motion a chain of animal extinction that threatens the delicate balance upon which all animals–including humans–depend. Also consider that a financial crisis—or a political crisis or natural disaster in one country can spell trouble for foreign companies, many of which are now multinational in that they rely on the labor forces, equipment, and raw materials of other nations. Environmental, economic, and political problems such as these all carry grave social consequences–increased crime, unemployment, insurrection, hunger, and so forth. Solving these problems requires global cooperation–which a global university can facilitate. Notwithstanding the foregoing reasons why a global university would help solve many of our most pressing social problems, the establishment of such a university poses certain problems of its own which must be addressed in order that the university can achieve its objectives. First, participant nations would need to overcome a myriad of administrative and political impediments. All nations would need to agree on which problems demand the university’s attention and resources, which areas of academic research are worthwhile, as well as agreeing on policies and procedures for making, enforcing, and amending these decisions. Query whether a functional global university is politically feasible, given that sovereign nations naturally wish to advance their own agendas. A second problem inherent in establishing a global university involves the risk that certain intellectual and research avenues would become officially sanctioned while others of equal or greater potential value would be discouraged, or perhaps even proscribed. A telling example of the inherent danger of setting and enforcing official research priorities involves the Soviet government’s attempts during the 1920s to not only control the direction and the goals of its scientists’ research but also to distort the outcome of that research—ostensibly for the greatest good of the greatest number of people. Not surprisingly, during this time period no significant scientific advances occurred under the auspices of the Soviet government. The Soviet lesson provides an important caveat to administrators of a global university: Significant progress in solving pressing social problems requires an open mind to all sound ideas, approaches, and theories—respective of the ideologies of their proponents. A final problem with a global university is that the world’s preeminent intellectual talent might be drawn to the sorts of problems to which the university is charged with solving, while parochial social problem go unsolved. While this is not reason enough not to establish a global university, it nevertheless is a concern that university administrators and participant nations must be aware of in allocating resources and intellectual talent. To sum up, given the increasingly global nature or the world’s social problems, and the escalating costs of addressing these problems, a global university makes good sense. And, since all nations would have a common interest in seeing this endeavor succeed, my intuition is that participating nations would be able to overcome whatever procedural and political obstacles that might stand in the way of success. As long as each nation is careful not to neglect its own unique social problems, and as long as the university’s administrators are careful to remain open-minded about the legitimacy and potential value of various avenues of intellectual inquiry and research, a global university might go a long way toward solving many of the world’s pressing social problems.

Impact of Preschooling on Primary Enrollemnet Rate and School Performance Essay

Education is an undeniable tool for nation building. It is a process of orderly instruction and training to pass on knowledge, attitudes and aptitudes to people intended at nurturing them to play proactive roles in the development of their nation. But in Pakistan the condition of education is unsatisfactory. According to Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, ‘Pakistan is facing an education emergency. The facts are shocking. Half the adult population and two thirds of the [female] population is illiterate’ (Mitchell, 2012). Pakistan is significantly off track on MDG 2, achieving universal primary education by 2015. Furthermore, almost half of children enrolled do not complete their primary education this is an alarming figure. Similarly the literacy rate of Khyber Pakhtoon khwa (KPK) is very low it is 50%. For females, it is 30 % females while for males it is 70 %. It is a huge gender disparity where an important part of the society has such a low literacy rate. In 2010-11, 45% students have been dropped out at government primary schools level over a complete circle of 6 years. It includes 39% boys and 53% girls. Apart from economic and cultural factors the other reason for high dropout rate is that most of the students don’t academically score well in primary schools and hence fail to promote to higher classes. There base is not strong so there is a dire need to familiarize children of the age of 3 to 5 years with education which is done through Pre schooling, instead of directly enrolling them to primary schools Government of KPK, 2010. So the seed of education is sown by pre schooling. Pre schooling is a stepping stone and foundation for all the succeeding phases of further education. It is a tool which helps to acquaint and prepare children with schooling. A substantial body of research establishes that preschool education can improve the learning and cognitive development of young children. There is a positive impact of pre schooling on the cognitive and social development of a child this is discussed in detail by many researchers like Shonkoff and Philips (2000) and Gormley (2005). Furthermore it’s concluded that the academic performance of a child in primary schools is enhanced by enrollment in pre schools which includes their reading, mathematical performance and adjustment issues in primary schools. (Currie, 2002), Katherine et al. , 2006 and Entwisle, 2012). Parents play an important role in academic learning of children and in sending their children to preschools; this includes the education level of the parents, their perception of education and their income level which in other words drive them to send their children to preschools Fagbeminiyi (2011). In case of Pakistan there is little body of research available on pre schooling, which is on rudimentary basis and not very detailed, a lot of areas are still untouched as the concept is still new for Pakistan. Studies have been conducted but still there is a lot needed to be done. This turned out to be the focus of our study which is clearly discussed in the problem statement, i. e what are different forms of pre schooling and their impact on Primary school performance and enrollment. When broadly divided there are basically two types of pre schooling, Formal pre schooling and Informal pre schooling. Studies have been conducted on just formal pre schooling and its impact but partial or almost none of them are about informal pre schooling and its impact on enrollment and academic performance. As both are substantially different from each other. Informal pre schooling is learning that takes place informally at home mostly by Primary Group. A primary group is a typically small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships and this includes, immediate family parents and siblings and relatives. In informal pre schooling learning aims are not pre-fixed. Medium used for education is also informal mostly done through tools like games, stories, rhymes. No specific scheduling is done or a specific syllabus is followed. Individual attention is given to the child its good but there is no spirit of competition and social skills of kids cannot be developed extensively. Whereas, Formal pre schooling is done in schools or madarassas, these are formal institutions. It is carried about by secondary group which interact on a less personal level then primary group and their contact is temporary. In formal pre schooling children belonging to same age group attend formalized classes, different books are followed, and they have rules, regulations and objectives. Students gain knowledge, skills and appropriate behavior by being in lessons of various subjects. Teachers follow schedule and lesson plan. Students are involved in various activities curricular and co-curricular, and from these activities their performance is assessed. Students performing to an expected level are promoted to next higher level grades. Medium of instruction and environment in both types of pre schooling is different hence their impact should be different as well. Because of which research will be conducted in KPK area to measure the academic performances and enrollment rate of the children who attended formal pre schooling and those who attended informal pre schooling. This will be done on the basis of in depth interviews and questionnaire survey of the primary teachers. The objective of this case study will be to find the answer of the following researchable questions: 1. What is the status of pre schooling in general and specifically formal and informal in particular and its impact on primary school enrolment in KPK? 2. How is formal different from informal pre schooling? 3. How does formal pre schooling effect the enrollment in primary schools? Formal pre schooling Informal pre schooling. Games Stories competition evaluation Social skills Rules and regulations Individual attention Primary school enrollment Academic Performance Reading skills Mathematical Social skills Unstructured References Currie, J and Thomas (1995) Does Head Start Make a Difference? American Economic Review, 85(3), p. 340-342. F. Fagbeminiyi. (2011) The Role of Parents in Early Childhood Education: A Case Study of Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. Global Journal of Human Social Science, 11 (2), p. 3-5. Gormley, W. T, Philips, D. , and Dawson, B. (2005) The Effects of Universal Pre-k on Cognitive Development. Developmental Psychology, 41 (6), p. 872-873. Government of KPK, 2010. â€Å"Annual Education Statistical Report† (2010): 3-15. Government of KPK. Mitchell, 2012. â€Å"Education Key for Pakistan’s Future: Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell. † www. dfid. gov. uk/Media-Room/Press-releases/2010/Pakistan-visit/ Shonkoff, J. P. and Phillips, D. A. ( 2000) From Neurons to Neighborhood: The Science of Early Child Development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. p. 2-4.

Bakewell Draft Area Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bakewell Draft Area Plan - Essay Example It is important that involvement and inclusion are components of the redevelopment efforts to maximise results and meet goals. Policy then should incorporate local, regional, as well as national objectives in order to have a more encompassing approach. The national objectives consider a bigger picture where the whole country may be impacted on changes, whereas regional and local objectives magnify the role of the environment and the community, so that the areas of concentration will include: reduction of social exclusion or gaps between the poor and the rich, protect and enhance the environmental quality of settlements, improve health and economic status of locals through employment and other income opportunities (PPT lecture, planning workshop). Policy Various national, regional, and local strategies are already in place where regeneration programs are undertaken, For Bakewell, there is the Regional Spatial Strategies or RSS that is prepared by the regional planning bodies that prov ide broad spatial planning strategy for how a region should become in 15 to 20 years or longer. The Local Development Frameworks or LDF for local development outline the spatial planning strategy for the local area. Together with national planning policy, it will determine how the planning system helps to shape communities designed to streamline the local planning process and promote a proactive, positive approach to managing development. Aims of the system include flexibility or ability to address changes in demands and needs; strengthen community and stakeholder involvement in the development of local communities; front loading of key decisions in the preparation of plans; sustainability appraisal; programme... Bakewell Draft Area Plan Currently, Bakewell thrives on agriculture, light and tourism industries with an estimated 2 million visitors annually. Its Tudor and Stuart architecture – the Old Market Hall or now the National Park Visitor Centre, Bagshaw Hall, former Town Hall, St John’s Almshouses and the Bath House – are major tourist destinations including the Haddon Hall and Chatsworth. Britain’s first national park - the Peak District –located in Bakewell is now a Conservation Area. This makes a major impact on the regeneration of Bakewell’s town centre. Being a market town with a newly developed agricultural or livestock market, regeneration at Bakewell also needs to consider traffic and transport, tourism, retail changes of use linked to service provision, commuter hinterlands, affordable housing, and other community issues such as income opportunities, history and tradition, and maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Regeneration Regeneration is an effort to rejuvenate communities through improvement of the built and natural environment as well incorporating residents’ and leaders’ cooperation to meet redevelopment goals such as sustainable growth (Redmond and Russell, 2008). For the last few decades, sustainability has become a key word in redevelopment efforts due to the failed plan and growth projects of many towns, communities and urban centres around the world. In consideration of the natural, cultural, and historical environment of Bakewell, it can be said that the town is on a forward march towards progress and development.

Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Proposal - Essay Example s showed correlations between violent video games and aggression (Gentile), poor social skills (Kutner and Olson), racism (Anderson, Buckley, and Gentile 8), and poor academic achievement (Bryant). Although the causative nature of violent video games is not yet widely accepted, several studies depict that the more time children spend in playing these games with crude language, the more verbally and physically aggressive they become (Anderson, Buckley, and Gentile; Fink). Bad language in violent media is a critical factor, because it can arouse negative thoughts and images, which can drive aggression (Fink). There could be a connection between listening to and speaking crude language, even if it is just â€Å"fantasy† or make-believe play for these games, and actually feeling and being more aggressive against others. These relationships between playing violent media and poor social and academic skills are not surprising, since the military has used violent video games to desensitize and to train soldiers to kill (Gentile). If the military can use violent media to prepare these soldiers for combat, it is not impossible for the same conditioning to happen for young children, whose moral, intellectual, and psychological stages are not prepared to understand the difference between â€Å"playing† and real-life aggression and violence. This is a proposal for a paper determining the impacts of violent video games on the youth, especially those kinds which contain profane language. Profane language pertains to cursing and treating other people verbally with disrespect. The topic of this proposal is violent video games with crude language. These are games that some adults normally play for fun and recreation. These games are also commonly made for adult audiences. They are not supposed to be played by adolescents, especially by younger children. In reality, however, children and teenagers have easy access to these games. Their parents may not be aware of the ratings on these

Based off documentary (George) Orwell rolls in his grape Essay

Based off documentary (George) Orwell rolls in his grape - Essay Example There are several examples of the media not engaging in critical thinking throughout this movie. One of the main problems with the current media practices is that media will often report whatever they are told is happening without actually dissecting the context surrounding it. For instance, the media’s current coverage of the protests in New York over Wall Street do very little to unpack the socioeconomic causes of this anger, or the realities of the issue. Instead, they simply either cast the protesters as â€Å"good guys† or â€Å"bad guys† and run a story about how good or bad they are. Likewise, the movie â€Å"George Orwell Rolls in His Grave† shows that the media has a clear agenda that it pursues relentlessly, which is the aggrandizement of media and the protection and expansion of media profits. Media companies have become more and more concentrated into small ownership groups, so there is no real competition in the media market anymore, and whene ver there is a news story about deregulation of the media, the media portrays this as an amazing thing with no downsides because they want to be able to make more profit off of it. There is no way to truly be a critical thinker if you are relentlessly pursuing an agenda, so in this way the media fails to actually engage in critical

Robinson Crusoe As A Fully Secular Book And A Deeply Religious One Essay

Robinson Crusoe As A Fully Secular Book And A Deeply Religious One - Essay Example He was a tough man who had led a tough life: lifted as a dissident in the London of the Great Plague and the Great Fire; continuing Newgate penitentiary and the ridicule in ruined middle age; working as a top secret agent and an outrageous journalist until locked up again for debt and disloyalty. Defoe died old, and so might be accounted as a survivor, but he had beared a good distribution of authenticity, and his novels mirror that fortitude. Bloom studies for (1998, Pg 5-6), Defoe appears to be the slightest ironic of writers, and up till now Crusoe's tale is well versed by an irresistible irony. A fidgety vagrant, driven to travel and escapade by forces that he (and the person who reads) cannot understand, Crusoe is restricted to a loneliness that should to infuriate him by rotating him toward an intolerable inwardness. Nevertheless his wisdom succeeds, in spite of his obvious captivity. Defoe takes the contradictory path from the psychologist's path as he explains the consequences of sentiments on the body, not on the mind. Nowhere is this sturdy than in Crusoe's anguish as he visions a shipwreck: "After we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade us expect the coup de grace. It took us with such a fury, that it overset the boat at once; and separating us as well from the boat as from one another, gave us no time to say, "O God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment." (Chapter 3, Wrecked On A Desert Island) Robinson Crusoe As A Fully Secular And Deeply Religious Book According to Ritchie (1997, Pg 98-99), Robinson Crusoe, it might be, is a story in focus. It is a masterwork, and it is a stunning success mainly because Defoe has all through kept constantly to his own intelligence of viewpoint. It is, we know, the tale of a man who is terrified, after many dangers and escapades, unaided upon a desert island. The meager proposal threat and loneliness and a desert island is sufficient to rouse in us the hope of some far land on the confines of the world; of the sun rising and the sun setting; of man, remote from his kind, threatening alone upon the nature of culture and the weird ways of men. "But in reality there are no sunsets and no sunrises; there is no solitude and no soul. There is, on the contrary, staring us full in the face nothing but a large earthenware pot. It was the first of September 1651; that the hero's name is Robinson Crusoe; and that his father has the gout." (Chapter 1, Start In Life) Robinson Crusoe thinks of God: "Sometimes I would expostulate with myself, why providence should thus completely ruin its creatures.... But something always return'd swift upon me to check these thoughts." (Chapter 1, Start In Life) 'God does not live". Crusoe believes of Nature, the fields "adorn'd with flowers and grass, and full of very fine woods," (Chapter 1, Star

The Impact of Social Media in US Elections Research Paper

The Impact of Social Media in US Elections - Research Paper Example The 2012 US election is one of the areas of evaluation of the impact of media in the electoral process (Campaign tech panels 2012). The 2008 United States presidential campaign coincided with a period when social media were gaining fame globally. Barrack Obama extensively used Twitter and Facebook to reach voters. In 2008, President Barrack Obama’s campaign team successfully used the internet and social network solicit funds and effectively link up with campaign volunteers (Learmonth 16). Despite the fact that experts have no certainty on the extent to which social media impact the U.S election, they accept that opinion on across the social web sites influence election outcomes. The 2008 elections occurred at a time when social media was gaining fame in the society and becoming one of the most prominent aspects in communication and advertising (Metaxas & Mustafaraj, p.473). It offered a unique opportunity to evaluate the usefulness and the success of the different media platfo rms(Dylko, Beam, Landreville, & Geidner, 2012). However, for social media presence to be effective, it relies on access to the internet. According to American Life Project, the access to internet increased and by 2008 over 46% Americans were using the internet, email or text messaging to obtain news about the campaigns. Likewise, the same number shared their views and mobilized others. In specific reference to social networking, only 10% used the established social sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Compared to the 2002 elections, the 2008 elections registered an increase in social networking. While commenting on the increase, in social media use, Peter Daou, an internet advisor for Hilary Clinton states that virtually every platform including the social media was employed, in public dialogue. The social media, in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, was used to introduce stories into the public, which affected consciousness and had a direct impact on the news presented by the mass me dia organizations (Williams & Gulati, 2013 p. 64). The blogs and other social format helped set the agenda for the media and the discussion surrounding the elections. The findings of the day before elections indicate that the Obama campaign was more active in the social media than McCain. In fact on Facebook, Obama has over 2.3 million supporters against 620,359 followers for McCain. In addition, on twitter, Obama had over 100, 000 followers against a mere 4,603. Likewise, on You Tube, there were over 18 million views for Obama against two million for McCain (Gayo-Avello, 2011). The following on social media was reflected in the election results as Obama won the elections. Even on the traditional media platform, Obama enjoyed massive success with over 160,000 mentions against over 140,000 for McCain. The findings indicate that the Obama campaign used the media effectively in the 2008 elections which led to success in elections (Learmonth, 2009). The social media is useful both in fa cilitating and distributing the campaign message. It also offered a platform for engagement on the message presented. According to Learmonth (2009), the coverage of issues was similar regardless of the platform. In fact, the issues covered in the traditional media were reflected on the social media and vice versa. The finding indicates that information transfer between the traditional media and the social media

National Sales Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

National Sales Tax - Essay Example Among other things, the NST is not high enough to replace current revenues. The NST should remain a fringe argument against the federal income tax. The NST would replace a number of taxes levied by the federal government. Principal among them is the income tax. The income tax sprung into being with the adoption of the 16th Amendment in 1913 (McNulty and Daniel 7). The tax taxes all income, however derived. The income that is taxed is subject to certain exemptions, deductions and credits depending on the class of person involved or the activity involved. For example, there is an additional standard deduction for the elderly and the blind (McNulty and Daniel 4). Additionally, there is a greater standard deduction for married people over single people (McNulty and Daniel 3-4). The government discerns among people and activities to encourage certain social behaviors. As McNulty and Daniel put on page 23: The income tax raises revenue, subsidizes some people or activities, encourages or discourages behavior, redistributes wealth, stimulates or stabilizes the economy, maintains federalism and tackles social problems like pollution and urban decay. The income tax is progressive - a defining feature of the system. People fall into different tax brackets based on their income. Higher income brackets are subject to higher marginal tax rates. The end result is that higher income individuals pay on average a higher proportion of their income as tax (McNulty and Daniel 18). Progressive taxation represents a federal policy of wealth distribution of money from the wealthy to services for the rest of the populace (Posin and Tobin 18). The income tax does not discourage work. People will be motivated to work so long as their federal, state and local tax rates don't exceed 100% (McNulty and Daniel 20). The federal income tax system is far reaching, pursues policy goals in addition to raising revenue and attempts to be fair among the classes. The National Sales Tax Defined The NST is a simple way to generate revenue. 45 states and the District of Columbia already take advantage of sales and use taxes. Several proposals for a national sales tax has floated in the last couple of years. This discussion reflects the national sales tax defined in H.R. 3039, sponsored by Reps. Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) and Billy Tauzin (R-La.) (Burton and Mastromarco). The NST would replace the individual and corporate income tax, transfer taxes, and most non-trust-fund excise taxes with a single 15 percent flat-rate tax on tangible goods and services sold at the retail level (Burton and Mastromarco). The sales tax would be exempted from intermediate levels of production. The NST defined here does not replace the payroll taxes providing revenue for Social Security and Medicare. (Burton and Mastromarco). There are a slew of items that would be taxed in addition to goods and services. Housing, financial intermediation services and government goods and services that are sold to the public would be taxed. Rent and home purchases would be taxed. Imports would be taxed. (Burton and Mastromarco). The NST proposal attempts to deal with the otherwise regressive aspects of the tax. All people would receive a rebate of the tax equaling the tax rate times the poverty line, allowing poor people to avoid paying the tax and everyone else to afford the necessities of

Describe your professional goals and how your chosen major relates to Essay

Describe your professional goals and how your chosen major relates to these goals. Is there a professional in your field of choice who might serve as your role - Essay Example This would cater to people who want to beautify themselves, eat well, and have time for relaxation in this world of rush. I also want to own the Miss Universe Organization. This follows the same trend as mentioned previously. This gives people the opportunity to see, all over the world, beautiful ladies who also care about other people ´s needs as to when they are asked, what they would like to do. I want to help in various areas of research to help cure many diseases. This research will focus in the following diseases: diabetes, leukemia, breast cancer, and HIV/AIDS. Supporting researchers in these areas will help in prevention measures, maintenance/control, and cure. My desire is to also help combat poverty. There are too many poverty stricken people around the world. Measures to alleviate poverty should be one of the aims entrepreneurs should have while conducting their business. It is clear that corporations make donations and it is also clear that they are tax exempt however, more needs to be done. There is never enough. Working with Adoption Agencies that work with dwarf children and with orphanages is one of my most interests. Children all over the world need attention. They need to feel comfort given their present situations. I would like to build schools in India and in Africa to be in a position to educate children. To give them the opportunities that others take for granted and enjoy. My role model is Donald Trump. He is a wise man, kind, calm, intelligent, thinks quickly, and he is not regularly seen in the tabloids. He is also a successful entrepreneur who owns the Miss Universe Organization. I want to be this kind of person. I want to be an entrepreneur, make donations, become part of the process, and see to it that changes are made to help others in their crisis. I want to be in a position where decision

Supply in health care services-physician services Essay

Supply in health care services-physician services - Essay Example The supply of physician services can be influenced by factors such as the price charged on physician services and the cost related to the production of those services. These factors may be influenced by the number of physicians, the number of hours that the physicians work, the capital and equipment available, the inputs and expenses considered critical in the provision of physician services. The supply of physicians is unique in the sense that it can be influenced by the level to which physicians delegate tasks influences the quantity, type and cost of physician services available (Feldstein, 2012). Medical education is a core determinant of the number of physician, which also influences the supply of physician services. Furthermore, government policies, on the supply side, have broadened the supply of physicians by availing subsidies for the construction of new medical schools, including provision of government loans and scholarships (Golden, Hannam, & Hyatt, 2012). The supply of physician services is inelastic since the supply of physicians is not highly responsive to a shift in price since there is only a small amount of response to a shift in price (Gwartney, 2011). For instance, in the event that the earnings of physicians rise from $200 to $300 per hour, only some increase will be registered within the quantity of services that physicians avail. This draws from the assumption that physicians ate price-taking utility maximizers, which indicate that physicians supply curve remains positively sloped. Countries can adopt diverse policy instruments to impact on the supply of physicians such as education and training policies, policies impacting on retention and retirement, and migration policies. Similarly, it is essential to note that factors such high income and job satisfaction influence the supply of

Coke vs PepsiPepsi and Coke’s Uncivil Wars Essay Example for Free

Coke vs PepsiPepsi and Coke’s Uncivil Wars Essay Chapter 9 in Competition Demystified: Uncivil Cola Wars: Coke and Pepsi Confront the Prisoner’s Dilemma What are the sources of competitive advantages in the soda industry? First we should look at industry structure. The cola companies buy raw materials of sugar, sweeteners and flavorings from many suppliers then they turn the commodities into a branded product which consists of syrup/concentrated combined with water and bottles. The companies are joined at the hip with their bottlers/distributors who then sell to many retail outlets. Selling bulky and heavy beverages lends itself to regional economies of scale advantages. The soda companies cannot operate successfully unless their bottlers and distributors are profitable and content whether company-owned or franchised. The existence of barriers to entry indicates that the incumbents enjoy competitive advantages that potential entrants cannot match. In the soft drink world, the sources of these advantages are easy to identify. First, on the demand side, there is the kind of customer loyalty that network executives, beer brewers and car manufacturers only dream about. People who drink sodas drink them frequently (habit formation), and they relish a constancy of experience that keeps them ordering the same brand, no matter the circumstances. Both Coke and Pepsi exhibit the presence of barriers to entry and competitive advantage—stable *ROE can be influenced by whether bottlers’ assets are off or on the balance sheet Second, there are large economies of scale in the soda business both at the concentrate maker and bottler levels. Developing new products and advertising existing ones are fixed costs, unrelated to the number of cases sold. Equally important, the distribution of soda to the consumer benefits from regional scale economies. The more customers there are in a given region, the more economical the distribution. A bottler of Coke, selling the product to 40% to 50% of the soda drinkers in the market area, is going to have lower costs than someone peddling Dr. Pepper to 5% to 56% of the drinkers. During the â€Å"statesmen† era of Pepsi and Coke, what actions did each of the companies take? Why did they help raise profitability? Note the stability of market share and ROE. ROE dipped in 1980 and 1982 as Pepsi and Coke waged a price war. Yet, market shares did not change as a result of the price war—both companies were worse off. Pepsi gained market share in the late 1970s versus Coke. Coke was slow and clumsy to respond. Price wars between two elephants in an industry with barriers to entry tend to flatten a lot of grass and make customers happy. They hardly ever result in a dead elephant. Still, there are better and worse ways of initiating a price contest. Coke chose the worst. Coke chose to lower concentrate prices on those regions where its share of the cola market was high (80%) and Pepsi’s low (20 percent). This tactic ensured that for every dollar of revenue Pepsi gave up, Coke would surrender four dollars. Coke luckily developed New Coke which allowed it to attack Pepsi in its dominant markets in a precise way—minimizing damage to Coke’s profits–and force a truce in the price wars. They made visible moves to signal the other side that they intended to cooperate. Coca-Cola initiated the new era with a major corporate reorganization. After buying up many of the bottlers and reorganizing the bottler network, it spun off 51% of the company owned bottlers to shareholders in a new entity, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and it loaded up on debt for this corporation. With so much debt to service, Coca-Cola Enterprises had to concentrate on the tangible requirements of cash flow rather than the chimera of gaining great hunks of market share from Pepsi. PepsiCo responded by dropping the Pepsi Challenge, toning down its aggressive advertising and thus signaling that it accepted the truce. Profit margins improved. Operating profit margins went from 10% to 20% for Coca-Cola. Pepsi gain was less dramatic but also substantial. Both companies focused on ROE rather than market share and sales growth. The urge to grow, to hammer competitors and drive them out of business, or at least reduce their market share by a meaningful amount, had been a continual source of poor performance for companies that do have competitive advantages and a franchise, but are not content with it.

Illegal Forest Acticvities In Malaysia Environmental Sciences Essay

Illegal Forest Acticvities In Malaysia Environmental Sciences Essay Malaysia is a tropical country which consists of three regions: Peninsular Malaysia and the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. According to Forest Statistic Information for the Year 2009 from Official Website Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia, the forested area in Peninsular Malaysia is 5.89 million hectares from overall Peninsular Malaysia Area which is 13.18 million hectares. McMorrow Talip (2001: 217, citing Wood 1990) have pointed out that, based on its performance up till the end of the 1980s; Malaysia is one of the 14 major countries with over 250,000 hectares deforested annually. They added that by the late 1980s half of the forest area in Peninsular Malaysia and a fifth in Borneo had gone. A variety of factors contribute to this state of affairs. When deforestation and forest degradation became critical issues, shifting cultivation was singled out by the governments, and particularly by the Sarawak government, as the main cause of forest loss. Yet, it has since been established that forest degradation due to shifting cultivators is minor (Cramb 1989; Jomo et.al. 2004; Nicholas 2003). The major causes of the decline in forest area and quality include commercial logging, agricultural development, dams and resettlement. To look deeply into the matter of the role of authority from land office and forest department to prevent illegal occupation in the forest, the author will give some definitions about forest, illegal forest activities which include illegal occupation of forestlands, illegal logging, etc. The laws such as National Land Code1965 and National Forestry Act 1984 that involve illegal occupation in forest have to be defined. Forest management or sustainable forest management also has to be defined to find out overview of forest law enforcement and system monitoring in Malaysia. Since the respondents of study are authorities from land office and forestry department, hence the functions, roles or responsibilities also need to be defined. 2.2 Definition 2.2.1 Forest According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, forest is a large area of land that is thickly covered with trees. While in Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, forest is defined as a large area of land covered with trees and plants, usually larger than a wood, or the trees and plants themselves. Forest is a problematic and hybrid category. As defined in FRA2000, it is a combination of a land-cover class and a land-use class: it relates not only to the presence of trees of over 5m and 10% canopy cover, but also to the absence of other land uses such as agriculture. It includes areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked but which are expected to revert to forest (FAO Forestry Department, 1998, p. 3). Further complications stem from changes in minimum size of area included (0.5 ha in FRA2000, compared with 100 ha in FRA1990). Rubber plantations were included as plantations in FRA2000 but not in FRA1990. And while a uniform definition was employed in FRA2000, it has not become a global standard: discussion continued thereafter (FAO, 2002), and a different one has been agreed for reporting on the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC, 2002). Even if a single definition is agreed, as in FRA2000, problems remain and indeed may become even more insidious because they are less obvious. At the country level, data are collected according to national definitions, and have to be adjusted to the international one Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 showed that forests cover 31 percent of total land area. The worlds total forest area is just over 4 billion hectares, which corresponds to an average of 0.6 ha per capita. The five most forest-rich countries (the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China) account for more than half of the total forest area. Ten countries or areas have no forest at all and an additional 54 have forest on less than 10 percent of their total land area. Carol Yong (2006) revealed that the official definition of a forest used in Malaysia differs from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) definition, which excludes areas under agricultural crops (e.g. oil palm). In Malaysia, however, the areas under oil palm, rubber and tree crops are frequently regarded as forest. The question of the definition of forests is particularly significant in the Malaysian context where the Malaysian forests are rapidly disappearing and, conversely, forest plantations areas are expanding. Malaysian Timber Council (2008) draws our attention that in the year 2006, Malaysia has 32.95 million hectares of land area, of which 24.60 million hectares or 74.7 percent of total land area are classified as total area under tree cover. Of these, 18.5 million hectares are forested area and 6.25 million hectares are other tree cops. Of the total area under tree cover, 8.96 million hectares (36.42 per cent) are found in Sarawak, 11.23 million hectares (45.65 per cent) are found in Peninsular Malaysia and 4.41 million hectares (17.93 per cent) in Sabah. Sabah claims it has the least area under tree cover. S. Mather (1990) in Zalinda Binti Muhammad (2003) and Norisah Binti Kasim (2006) stated that forest is one spectrum which has natural elements like product of the forest, flora and fauna, etc. Area of all the forest that has been identified at the middle of decade 1980 is more than 4000 million hectare or 31 percent of surface of the earth. According to S.M. Mohd Idris who is the director of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) or Friends of the Earth Malaysia (1987) in Norisah Binti Kasim (2006), he stated that forests offer protective roles against environmental changes. The complex role played by forest in the heat and water balance of the earth is undeniable. At the local level, the forest cover breaks the impact of heavy rainstorms on the soil, reduces and slows down surface run off, and minimizes soil erosion as well as situation of the drainage systems. Flash floods and prolonged floods in many areas of the topical world are increasingly attributable to extensive clearance of forested areas. 2.2.2 Unlawful Occupation According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, the meaning of occupation is the act of living in or using a building, room, piece of land, etc. Meanwhile the meaning of unlawful is not allowed by the law or synonym with illegal. Therefore unlawful occupation can be defined as the act of living in or using a building, room, piece of land, etc which is against the law. 2.2.3 Illegal Forest Activities Illegal forest activities is a broad term that includes illegal logging; it is used to refer to activities broader than just harvesting, which is, transport, processing and trade (Smith, 2002). Brack and Hayman (2001) also mention that illegalities may also occur during transport, including illegal processing and export, misdeclaration to customs, and avoidance of taxes and other monies. Illegal forest activities include all illegal acts related to forest ecosystems, forest industries, and timber and non-timber forest products. They include acts related to the establishment of rights to the land and corrupt activities used to acquire forest concessions. Illegal acts include unauthorized occupation of public and private forestlands, logging in protected or environmentally sensitive areas, harvesting protected species of trees, woodland arson, wildlife poaching, unlawful transport of wood and other forest products, smuggling, transfer pricing and other fraudulent accounting practices, unauthorized processing of forest products, violation of environmental regulations, and bribing government officials (Contreras-Hermosilla 2002a) There are many types of illegal forest practices like public servants may approve illegal contracts with private enterprise. Private commercial corporations may harvest trees of species that are protected by law from timber exploitation. Individuals and communities may enter public forest and illegally take products that are public property. Illegal activities do not stop at the forest. They travel down the line to operations in transportation, processing and trade of forest products. Individuals or corporations may smuggle forest products across international borders or process raw forest materials without a license. Corporations with strong international links may artificially inflate the price of imported inputs or deflate the volume and prices of their exports to reduce their tax liability and to facilitate the illegal transfer of capital abroad (FAO 2001). Contreras-Hermosilla presents examples of illegal activities in the forestry sector, grouped into six categories: illegal occupation of forestlands; illegal logging; arson; illegal timber trade and transport, and timber smuggling; transfer pricing and other illegal accounting practices; and illegal forest processing that shown in Table 1 below. Illegal occupation of forestlands à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Invasion of public forested lands by either rural families, communities or private corporations to convert them to agriculture or cattle ranching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Practice of slash-and-burn agriculture on invaded lands à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Landless peasants illegally occupying forested areas to force governments to grant land ownership rights to them and these governments buying lands from peasants. Illegal logging à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging protected species à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Duplication of felling licenses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Girdling or ring-barking, to kill trees so that they can be legally logged à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Contracting with local entrepreneurs to buy logs from protected areas à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging in protected areas à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging outside concession boundaries à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging in prohibited areas such as steep slopes, riverbanks and water catchments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Removing under-/over-sized trees from public forests à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extracting more timber than authorized à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reporting high volume extracted in forest concessions to mask the fact that part of the volume declared is extracted from non-authorized boundaries à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging without authorization à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Obtaining logging concessions through bribes. Woodlands arson à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Setting woodlands on fire to convert them to commercial uses. Illegal timber transport, trade and timber smuggling à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transporting logs without authorization à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transporting illegally harvested timber à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Smuggling timber à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exporting and importing tree species banned under international law, such as CITES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exporting and importing timber in contravention of national bans. Transfer pricing and other illegal accounting practices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Declaring lower values and volumes exported à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Declaring purchase prices higher than the prevailing market prices as equipment or services from related companies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Manipulating debt cash flows to transfer money to a subsidiary or parent company, such as inflating debt repayment to avoid taxes on profits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Under-grading, under-valuing, under-measuring and misclassification of species exported or for the local market. Illegal forest processing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Operating without a processing license à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ignoring environmental and social and labour laws and regulations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Using illegally obtained wood in industrial processing. Table 3: Examples of illegal practices in the forestry sector The World Bank estimates that loss of revenue caused by illegal forest activities throughout the world is worth US$5 billion annually. Illegal forest activities occur in tropical, temperate and boreal forests. Illegal forest activities abound in many countries, for example: * In Indonesia, as much as 50 million cubic meters of timber are estimated to be illegally cut-down each year. * At least one-fifth of Russias annual timber harvest is taken illegally, and illegal harvesting may account for as much as 50 percent of the total in East Asia. * In Cambodia in 1997, the volume of illegally harvested logs was ten times that of the legal harvest. * In Cameroon and Mozambique about half of the total annual timber harvest is illegal. * In Brazil, an estimated 80 percent of timber extracted each year in the Amazon is removed illegally. 2.2.4 Illegal Logging Illegal logging has no single definition. It is not a legal term derived from treaties, statutes, or court opinions. Neither is it a technical term that professionals use in a consistent way. In a general sense, illegal logging takes place when timber is harvested, transported, bought or sold in violation of national laws (Black and Hayman 2001). This broad definition includes almost any illegal act that may occur between the growing of the tree and the arrival of the forest-based product in the hands of the consumer(Rosenbaum 2003) There are usually no explicit definitions for illegal logging. In practice, the definition can be derived from the legal violations that are reported on in the national statistics concerning illegal logging. This does not necessarily mean that other types of violations would be ignored; they may simply be recorded under different headings. In broad terms, the various legal violations associated with illegal logging can be divided into eight groups: (i) theft, (ii) unauthorized harvesting, (iii) non-compliance with regulations related to timber harvesting, (iv) non-compliance with the procedure of timber sales/concession award, (v) manipulation of timber data, (vi) evasion of taxes and fees, (vii) non-compliance with regulations concerning transport or export of timber, and (vii) noncompliance with labor laws Typically, the statistics on illegal logging in the countries involved in the study refer to violations which involve physical removal of trees i.e. theft, unauthorized harvestin g and noncompliance with cutting regulations. Corruption in connection with timber harvesting is not recorded under illegal logging unless it involves physical removal of trees. All types of violations in the above list except theft could involve corruption. Based on interviews with various stakeholders in the countries involved in the study, noncompliance with labor laws is perceived to be only weakly linked to illegal logging. Sector-specific records are not maintained and forest administration is not involved in enforcement activities. The illegal logging phenomenon is neither new nor uncontested by the government. It started in the years prior to the social economic reform; it reached the peak in 1997 and continues to date. From this point of view, the illness has not infected only one sector but has extended its roots into other sectors of the economy, and the cure for this illness requires the intersectoral cooperation of public administration, not denying here the interested community and the work of the economic and environmental NGOs. 2.3 Forest Management Forest management is the branch of forestry concerned with the overall administrative, economic, legal, and social aspects and with the essentially scientific and technical aspects, especially silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness, wildlife, wood products, forest genetic resources and other forest resource values. Management can be based on conservation, economics, or a mixture of the two. Techniques include timber extraction, planting and replanting of various species, cutting roads and pathways through forests, and preventing fire. Formal forest management in Malaysia was introduced in 1901 by the British colonial administration with the creation of a forest department. The department was involved in forestry botany, silvicultural practice, policy formulation and forest preservation. Forestry policies formulated by the British in the 1920s and 1930s were consolidated as the National Forestry Policy (NFP) in 1978 to ensure orderly implementation of forest management, conservation and development across all states. This is because land and forest in Malaysia are strictly state matters. The ad hoc forest management policy practiced by each state makes monitoring and control of forest resources at the federal level difficult. The National Forestry Act (NFA) of 1984 provides for orderly harvesting, renewal and conservation of trees at the sustainable yield level. 2.3.1 Significance of Forest Management 2.3.2 Sustainable Forest Management Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is the way of management in which growth exceeds timber harvest, now also encompasses economics, environmental and social qualities that contribute to the sustainability of forest dependent communities and ecosystems as well as the forest itself. Malaysia has a plan more environmentally-friendly and responsible business practices. This will help reduce operating costs in the long-run and is a wise investment in the future, safeguarding the natural resources depending on corporations and communities. For example, local corporations in forest industries are joining WWFs Global Forest and Trade Network. They are targeting European and US markets, where consumers are increasingly demanding wood products from sustainably managed forests (WWF-Malaysia, 2008). According to International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO, 1992), sustainable forest management is the process of managing forests to achieve one or more clearly specified objectives of management with regard to the production of a continuous flow of desired forest products and services, without undue reduction of its inherent value and future productivity, and without undue undesirable effects on the physical and social environments. FAO (1993) defines it as one which ensures that the values derived from forest meet present day needs while at the same time ensuring their continued availability and utilization to long-term development needs. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is impossible to achieve if a country does not have a management system. In this regard, the use of more systematic approach in managing the forests in Peninsular Malaysia began in 1901 when the first forest officer was appointed (Ismail, 1996). Since then, forest management practices in Peninsular Malaysia had been subjected to constant review and refinement so as to ensure their suitability in achieving forest renewal and sustained yield. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 report has provides a comprehensive overview of the results of FRA 2010 grouped according to seven themes, covering key aspects of sustainable forest management: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extent of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Forest biological diversity à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Forest health and vitality à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Protective functions of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Productive functions of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Socio-economic functions of forests à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Legal, policy and institutional framework 2.4 Legal Framework The forestry policies are implemented primarily through the provisions in the forest laws enacted for the three regions: National Forestry Act 1984 for Peninsular Malaysia, Forest Ordinance 1958 for Sarawak and Forest Enactment 1968 for Sabah, and the various amendments by the States. The other related regulations that affect forestry for Peninsular Malaysia include the Land Conservation Act 1960, Environmental Quality Act 1974, National Parks Act 1980, Protection of Wildlife Act 1972, National Land Code 1965, Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954, Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 and Forest Rules 1985. For Sabah, the relevant regulations include Forest Rules 1969, Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1977, Land Ordinance 1930, Cultural Heritage (Conservation) 1997, Sabah Parks Enactment 1984, Biodiversity Enactment 2000, Conservation of Environment Enactment 1996, Water Resource Enactment 1998, and Environmental Quality Act 1974. Sarawak has the Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance 1 997, Forest Rules 1962, Wildlife Protection Ordinance and Rules 1998, The Forests (Planted Forest) Rules 1997, Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Ordinance 1997, Sarawak Biodiversity (Access, Collection Research Regulations) 1998, Land Code 1958, Natural Resource and Environmental Ordinance, Water Ordinance 1994, Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, Land Ordinance 1952, Native Code 1992, Native Code Rules 1996, and Native Custom Declaration 1996. 2.4.1 The laws 2.4.1.1 Malaysian Constitution Forests are under the responsibility of the states as enshrined in the Malaysian Federal Constitution. Under Article 74(12) of the Federal Constitution, land and forest ownership and management is the responsibility of the State governments. Each state has control over how they use and protect their forest resources then come up with their own policies. For example, Sarawak governs under the Sarawak Forest Ordinance of 1954 while Sabah operates under the Sabah Forest Enactment of 1968. The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the States includes help with forest management, training of personnel, conduct of research and demonstration or experimental stations unless the State agrees to delegate some of their authority to the Federal Government. However, the Federal Government is responsible for trade policies, import and export controls and international cooperation among others. Under the provision of Article 74 Clause (2) of the Malaysian Constitution, land and forest are defined as state matters and are thus within the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments. Clause (3) of Article 76 of the Malaysian Constitution ensures that all Acts related to land and forest shall not come into force in a State unless it has been adopted by a law made by the legislature of the State. As such each State is empowered to enact laws on forestry and to formulate forest policy independently. The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the States, training and the conduct of research, and in the maintenance of experimental and demonstration stations. 2.4.1.2 National Forest Policy Upon independence from the British in 1957, the Colonial Office returned the forests to Malaysia. In 1958, with provisions under the Federal Constitution, the National Land Council (NLC) was formed for coordinating State and Federal policies and objectives covering land use, mining, forestry and agriculture to formulate from time to time in consultation with the Federal Government, the State Governments and the National Finance Council a national policy for the promotion and control of the utilisation of land throughout the Federation the development of natural resources was therefore perceived piecemeal, rather than holistically (Kathirithamby-Wells 2005: 267). The first step to protecting the forest resources in Malaysia was the formation of the National Forestry Council (NFC) in December 1971. The goal of the NFC was to create coordinated plans and effectively manage Malaysians forests. The NFC is made up of the Chief Ministers from all 13 states. Later, this body created the groundwork for the formation of the National Forestry Policy (NFP). This policy was officially adopted by the Malaysian government in 1978. This policy recognizes the importance of forests for the welfare of both individual communities and that nation itself. Malaysia has dedicated itself to sustainable timber yield practices. The National Forest Policy for Peninsular Malaysia of 1978 was revised in 1992 to incorporate several new elements, one of which is on the importance of forest law enforcement. In this revised policy statements, it was emphasized that the State Governments through their respective State Director Forestry must judicially implement the National Forest Act 1984 (Revised 1993) to ensure sustainable forest resource management and conservation. 2.4.1.3 National Forestry Act 1984 An Act to provide for the administration, management and conservation of forests and forestry development within the States of Malaysia and for connected purposes. There is the amendment to National Forestry Act 1984 in 1993 to provide for stiffer penalties for illegal logging and enlisting the Police and Armed Forces to assist the Forestry Departments in carrying out enforcement to curb illegal logging, timber theft and encroachments. The key measure taken by the Government to prevent forest crime was by amending the National Forestry Act, 1984 to incorporate new provisions to deter the occurrence of forest offenses. The Act was enacted to update and harmonize forest law in the Peninsula. Prior to the Act, the various State governments depend on the State Forest Enactments, which were formulated in 1930s, for legal guidelines on forest management and conservation. The Act also enables the effective implementation of the National Forestry Policy passed in 1978. It was amended in 1993 to further strengthen its provisions to curb illegal encroachment of forests and theft of timber. The Act has been adopted by all the states in Peninsular Malaysia. The main objectives of amending the Act are as follows: i) To increase the penalties and tighten the procedures in compounding forest offences ii) To transfer burden of proof from the prosecutor to the defense in the court iii) To delegate power in writing by State Director of Forestry under section 88, 89, 90, 92 or 93 to any member of the armed forces not below the rank of Lance Corporal as empowered to the police but shall not include the power of investigation iv) To add new sections 100A and 100B for rewards and protection of informers respectively, section 101A for power of court to order revocation and disqualification, section 110A for offenses committed by licensee or holder of permit, and New Sixth Schedule for list of machines, equipment and conveyance. v) To make general amendments in the national language text, change of name in the national language text and substitute sections 5, 69, 101 and 104 2.4.1.4 National Land Code According to section 425 unlawful occupation, etc., of state Land, reserved land or mining land National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) and regulations, Section 425(1) stated that any person who, without lawful authority Occupies, or erects any building on, any State land, reserved land or mining land or Clears, ploughs, digs, encloses or cultivates any such land or part thereof; or Cuts or removes any timber or produce on or from such land, shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand Ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. (1A) Any person who abets the commission of an offence under sub-section (1) shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both. (2) For the purpose of this section, State Land shall include all land held by or on behalf of Federal or State Government a local authority or a statutory authority exercising power vested in it by Federal or State law. Section 426 also stated that unlawful extraction or removal of rock material also show that any person who without lawful authority, extracts removes, or, transports or permits the extraction, removal or transportation of rock material from any land shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both. Section 426A show that any police officer not below the rank of Inspector, Registrar, Land Administrator, Settlement Officer or other officer duly authorized by the State Authority (hereafter in this part referred to as authorized officer may without warrant- Arrest any person found committing or attempting to commit or abetting the commission of an offence under section 425 or 426 Seize any vehicle, tractor, agricultural implement or other thing whatsoever which he has reason to believe was used or is being used in the commission of an offence under that section Demolish, destroy or remove any building, or take possession in the name of the State Authority of any crop, erected or cultivated on any land land in contravention thereof. 2.4.1.5 List of unlawful activities under each Law Violations of the protective provisions (damage of forest reserve through fire, prohibited acts in a forest reserve, illegal logging and removal from other areas, cutting of undersized trees) are punished by fine and imprisonment in the case of unauthorized entry for interference with fences or notice boards, by a fine alone [id. Section 20(1)(C) and 33(1)]. Various offences of fraud, concealment of evidence and receiving forest produce are also punished by fine and imprisonment (Section 30). In addition to fines and imprisonment, the Forest Enactment authorizes the court to order the cancellation of licences, the payment of any fees that would have been payable in the case of unlicensed acts that could have been licensed, and compensation of ten times the value of forest produce removed or damaged (Enactment No. 2 of 1968, Section 34). There is also provision for compounding of certain offences [entering closed area, practising shifting cultivation (Section 20(C)], subject to the payment of an amount based on the fine provided for the offence (Section 35). The Forest Enactment contains a number of presumptions that shift the burden of proof to the defendant charged with a forest offence. In prosecutions against licensees, if there is an extraction route from an area of alleged illegal removal to the licensed area, or if the volume of timber claimed to be covered by a licence exceeds the production of the licensed area, the elements of illegal removal or of possession of produce in respect of which an offence has been committed are presumed. In any case in which the existence of a licence, payment of any royalty, ownership of livestock or forest produce, or the provenance of forest produce is in issue, the burden of proof lies on the accused (id. Section 38) . 2.4.2 The Agencies Involved 2.4.2.1 Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (JPSM) is one of the departments under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia and consists of Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Headquarters, 11 State Forestry Department and 33 District Forest Office in all of the Peninsular Malaysia. The department is headed by Director General of Forestry and assisted by two Deputy Director of Forestry. At the end of 2009, the number of employees is about 5.432 people. Forestry Department is responsible for the management, planning, protection and development of the Permanent Forest Reserve (HSK) in accordance with the National Forestry Policy (NDP) 1992 and National Forestry Act (APN) 1984. Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Headquarters responsible for the formulation of forestry policies, providing advice and technical services to State Forestry Department in the planning, management and development of forests, forest harvesting and wood-based industries, forest operations research, and training and human resource development. At the Head Office of Forestry, there ar

Research on Views of Food Packaging

Research on Views of Food Packaging Introduction To The Report: During the last two decades many important developments in the position of food in daily life of consumers and producers takes place. In earlier times consumers were self sufficient, but during the last two decades things have been changed and there was a rapid development in the industrialization of food packaging communication process. So this research study focuses on the area of Packaging which is one of the most important elements of marketing mix and many marketers had considered packaging as a fifth ‘P , while the other four Ps are Product, Placement, Promotional and Price. So packaging is used as an important marketing tool. In marketing terms, Packaging can be defined as: â€Å"All the activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper of a product, Packaging is a structure designed to contain a commercial food product, i.e. to make it easier and safer to transport, to protect the product against contamination or loss, degradation or damage and to produce a convenient way to dispense the product†. Packaging mainly can be divided into three main types, i.e. Consumer Packaging, Transport packaging and Food Packaging. This study is specified only to food packaging as food packaging industry requires packaging material that provides efficient barriers, preserves product effectively and therefore increases the shelf life of the product 1. However packaging is criticized largely from the environmental point of view, because many researchers think that packaging is depleting natural resources, as certain form of packages are health hazards, and there is a significant problem of disposing of these packages. Marketing researchers have to deal with these criticisms, and must enhance the positive features of packaging, like product protection, preservation, containment, communication, consumer convenience and marketing support 2. In context of above description, this study is basically consists of observations, surveys and interview from the consumers in order to determine how packaging contain, preserve, and communicate the buyer, the importance of packaging on their buying decision process, how they get influence, and how a good quality and attractive packaging convince them to buy particular FMCG food products. Background Of The Study: The professional fields are becoming more and more challenging and competitive in the present arena. So, in order to endure and be successful in any field, you must have the deep knowledge and appropriate skills of the concerned field. In fact this is true about the fields of management sciences, in which the Knowledge and skills of a person can be polished, if he goes through some practical experiences. Therefore this study is mainly conducted to have the knowledge of practical business situations, because the theoretical knowledge might not always match with the practical situations, where we do businesses. Therefore this would be the socialization to the market in a sense of applying our theoretical knowledge in the practical fields. In this regard, I have selected the area of Packaging for my research study which carries a great concern in the present arena because in the last one and half decade the importance of packaging has been actualized immensely and by having packaging knowledge and designing skills, practically you can enhance your capabilities. Packaging has covered all the consumer tangible goods in order to create and enhance the marketing efforts. According to â€Å"International Association of Packaging Research Institutes† IAPRI, the packaging technology has gone through a significant and fast exploitation in recent years, and globally the packaging material and machinery industry is estimated to be worth of $ 500 billion per year representing almost 1-2 % of the GDP industrialized country, and over 100, 00 packaging manufacturing companies have employed approx 5 million people to serve all packaging business manufacturers company 3. Introduction To The Topic: The topic for my research is â€Å"A Hypothetical Study on the Impact influence of FMCG food Packaging on Consumer Buying Behavior† in which we will try to explore the variables of packaging which attracts consumer behavior and influence them to buy. Importance Of Packaging: Many researchers together with Price, Promotion, Placement and Product considers Packaging as a fifth â€Å"P† as a marketing tools, because they think that packaging is a face of a product which actually refers to the material that servers to contain, identify, describe, protect, display and promote a specific product. The main objectives of packaging are to keep the food in good condition until it is sold or have been consumed and to encourage the consumer to buy it again and again. Correct packaging is essential to achieve above given objectives. Yearly billion of pounds are spent on packaging food. Functions Of Packaging: There are many protecting functions and purposes of packaging that influence consumers to buy a particular product. The various functions of packaging can be divided into three main types: Primary, secondary and tertiary (additional Functions). Primary functions concerned with the technical nature of the product while the secondary and tertiary functions are related to communications. The Primary Functions of packaging are to protect and storage of a product from loss, damage or any kind of deterioration from environmental conditions such as humidity, temperature, precipitation and solar radiation. i.e.; the durability of a package, because people wants material that will really protect the product they bought and something that can resist handling and shipping. The Secondary and Tertiary Functions of packaging are the sales, promotional, service and guarantee functions. The main intentions of sales function of package is to promote the sales processes and to make it more effective and efficient, therefore in designing a package promotional materials should be placed at right place, because it plays an important role to communicate about the product functions, features, and other informational elements. The various informational elements such as product features, manufacturing and expiry date, ingredients information, nutritional information, food labeling etc. provides the consumer with details about the contents and use of a particular product. Therefore these promotional materials should be properly placed on the package in order to attract the potential consumers attention and to have a positive impact on their buying behavior 4. Consumer Buying Behavior: The other main concern of the study is to know about consumer buying behavior or consumer decisions making process and how packaging can influence them to buy a particular product. Marella in one of her articles about packaging defines consumer buying behavior as the process by which â€Å"individuals search, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their need and want†. When consumers need to purchase something, they usually go for the brands which are trustworthy and try not to seek other products such as new products or   the brand which they dont know at all 5. Therefore at the point of purchase what communicates or influence consumer to buy particular product is only ‘Packaging. Quality judgments are significantly influence by the product characteristics reflected by the packaging. Because packaging acts as a communicator, and it underlines overall features and functions of a product that lies in it such as informational element s, product features, material used etc. so if the package is well design and attractive enough, consumer will likely to buy it especially in the case of new products. So, it is important that products should be well and attractive packaged to gain consumer attention. Purpose Of The Study: Success of a product depends on developing a strong relationship with consumer through an affective and efficient synergetic marketing mix, in which ‘Packaging† is one of the main elements to influence because packaging is the language of a product which only communicate to the consumer without any interpreter and has an immense effect on purchase decision. Most Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) is low involvement products. In low involvement, â€Å"consumers do not search extensively for information about the brands, evaluate their characteristics, and make a weighty decision on which brand to buy†, and as packaging plays an important role in success of a brand and on a retail shelf it is the last opportunity to influence the consumer to buy, so the main purpose of this research, so this study will be conducted with an idea of knowing the impact influence of packaging on the purchase decision of FMCG food products, which are mostly consumed frequently and also to know the experiences of the ultimate consumers about packaging. The research study is basically conducted to apply my theoretical knowledge of marketing in the practical field of professionals by interviewing different consumers and to know their views and preferences towards the importance of food packaging. The objective of the research study will be focused on: To know consumer awareness about packaging. To examine the influence of existing and new FMCG food products packaging on consumer buying behavior. To examine consumer experience of purchasing packaged food products. To understand how packaging can influence them to purchase their decision powers To know whether a good and attractive packaging of FMCG food products can influence consumers to buy it or not? Beside this the research is the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelors of Business Administration and the submission to the Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar. Methodology Of The Report: This study has been conducted with the following procedures: Reading Articles Reading articles are the formation of the strongest foundation. For this research study I have been reading and looking at different articles and research studies both in libraries as well as through Internet and searching through digital libraries the literature of the my research study.  Ã‚   Questionnaires The data for my research study has been collected from a representative sample of 250 people, who are responsible for purchasing the household food products and are also the ultimate consumers of the packaged food products. The sample from population was derived from shoppers at different geographical areas of Peshawar. The questionnaire was initially put to pilot testing on 5 respondents for clarity and validity. Through the use of questions related to the study, the respondents were highly encouraged to express their opinions. The questionnaire comprised of few questions, grouped in five sections: Visual Impact, Brand Information, food labeling and nutrition information, and new products purchasing. The impact of these variables is analyzed in the Analysis section. Responses of the consumers have been converted to frequencies and percentages by using SPSS software through which I developed the Bar chart or Histogram in order to explain the degree of impact of mentioned variables on the purchase decision I have also used the Pie chart method in order to find the most influencing variable on the purchase decision. Scope Of The Study The Scope for my research study is limited to Peshawar city and the sample for my research has also been taken from the population of Peshawar city for collecting primary data. The market, which has been surveyed, is limited to the consumers in Peshawar region. The reader of this research report will be able to understand the preferences of consumers about the packaging especially the food packaging, because consumers are more connected to the food industry. And also they would be having better understanding that how packaging can influence consumers purchase decision? Besides, this research study will also show the knowledge and understanding of packaging features and roles in the marketing efforts and new demands from the packaging industries as far as consumers are concerned. Limitations The first hurdle that I have faced is the unavailability of the secondary data about our local markets consumers therefore, in this stage I had the difficulty to find the relevant data as far as my study of research is concerned. Another limitation is the difficulty in collecting primary data in the market as I have used Questionnaire method but mostly respondents were not familiar about that how to understand and respond to a question being asked. Third limitation is time constraint, which is again a pressure on us to finalize the research report which might caused this research report be deficient in order to cover every aspect of my research study but still I made the best of it. Sampling The study population comprised of 250 people who are the ultimate consumers of packaged food products. The sample has been drawn from supermarkets located in different geographical areas in Peshawar and also collected data from the respondents in the universities. Scheme Of Report (1) Full Text PDF. (2) Packaging PDF. (3) Article URL: http://www.iapriweb.org/packaging_research.html (4) Information URL: http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/verpack/funktion/funktion.htm#anfang#anfang (5) Merella, Article URL: http://www.helium.com/items/1582891-packaging-affecting-consumer-behavior

On Style :: Style Toward Clarity Elements Writing Essays

On Style Style is a very ambiguous word. Asking the question, â€Å"What is Style?† is almost a philosophical endeavor, comparable with â€Å"What is Truth?† Asking the question, â€Å"What is Good Style?† is even harder. Society’s boundaries are constantly shifting to accept or banish items from the definition, in art and writing specifically. Yet there are certain elements that remain constant in all these changes, and these are the elements that style manuals try to pin down. Before the class reading/blogging project began, I thought of style as the method a writer uses to communicate his/her ideas to the reader. I still do. If the point of writing is to communicate ideas, and the vehicle we use to transport the ideas from our brains to our readers is our STYLE, then the most important element of style is being clear. What I have learned from reading Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and Joseph William's Style Toward Clarity and Grace is that there are a variety of ways to make writing clear. Each book has its own unique approach to the problem of establishing clear communication in print. Strunk and White’s method of attack is from the angle of the writer. The rules outlined in the book focus on the writer’s image of what he is communicating. The rules are designed to help the writer sort through her own thoughts on paper, and extract the essence of what is being communicated. The theory seems to be that clearer writing begets clearer thinking. For example, rule #14 in Strunk and white states "Use the active voice." If we compare the two sentences given in the example; "Do not say: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground. Do say: Dead leaves covered the ground." (S&W 18) we see how the active voice communicates more clearly than the passive. The excess words get in the way of what the writer is trying to say. This is compounded in rule #17, â€Å"Omit needless words.† The passage states that â€Å"Vigorous writing is concise.† (S&W 23) This reference to vigor and other health terms is mirrored in other rules, and is a clue-in to the entire Strunk and White approach to style. Good style to them is a way of thinking, a confidence in thought that lends itself to forceful, clear statements by the writer. Williams Style Toward Clarity and Grace carries on many of the same rules that are laid down in Strunk and White, only with a different approach.

The Lying Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby Essay -- The Great Gatsby F.

The Lying Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby explains the type of character he is, through his lies. Gatsby acts out to be a man who has it all. The only item missing from Gatsby’s life is love. Love is the only true key to happiness with out it you are lost. Gatsby goes all out to be loved even if it means lying.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gatsby shows his love, to the love of his life Daisy, who is in love with another man named Tom. Tom and Daisy are married, but Tom is having an affair with another woman. With this on going problem, Daisy tries to get back at Tom by returning the favor of cheating on one another. With this Gatsby fall in love with Daisy, but Daisy is still in love with Tom. The love web involved becomes so twisted that Gatsby ends up losing his life. Gatsby’s love for Daisy causes him to make false statements about how he got his money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gatsby tells about two different stories about how he got his money. Gatsby said that all his money was inherited by a wealthy man that he came to be good friends. He also said that his parents had died and he was all-alone. All the lies were to empress the people of the upper class how cool he is now. These lies were brought forth to indicate to the reader the reason for his lying was to win the love of Daisy. Gatsby is shown as a man who will screw you over in the end for his benefit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the novel Gatsby personality is negative, but loving and caring when Daisy is around. His ...

Communication and Learners Essay

Much of my research was carried out online and I have included my written research notes and sources. Teacher net (2010) says â€Å"Adopting an approach to your teaching which draws on research and evidence should help you in reviewing and developing your practice†. With this in mind I considered Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs motivational model which we often refer to in teaching, although the original model was designed as a business motivational tool. Maslow claims that needs 1-4 are deficiency motivators and are generally satisfied in order when the previous need is fully or partially satisfied (Businessballs, 2010). If the lower level needs of the model are met then I can begin to help the learner gain the top level and realise their own potential however, in order to help others reach this level I must first achieve this myself, by researching I am furthering my own knowledge and developing myself on an ongoing basis. 1a – Negotiating With Learners – 753 words Gravells and Simpson state that â€Å"Initial assessment of you learner’s skills, knowledge and preferred learning styles should take place before you begin teaching the programme content.† (Gravells & Simpson, 2010, P17). Here they are saying ‘before the program content’, so an initial assessment is valid even if it is at the beginning of the session itself. I do however slightly disagree with the necessity to always know the learners preferred learning style from the outset. If we accept that learners are different then we must accept that we will be teaching learners during each session with differing learning styles, and must therefore accommodate those differing styles. I usually do not get chance to assess my learners for learning styles before a session so I must compensate using a progressive style of assessment, this enables me to adjust my teaching methods and styles to suit and include my learners. It is therefore not so important to know what th e learning style of an individual from the initial assessment but, it can assessed as the teaching progresses. Learners enter the learning environment with varying needs and expectations; it is my responsibility as the teacher/tutor, through processes such as initial assessment, to ensure that the learner is on the correct path/course or at the right level. Failing this then I should be able to help the learner choose a more appropriate path. According to Walklin â€Å"It is important to assess all people seeking access to education and training opportunities, the purpose being to help them to plan their future education and training programme. Initial assessment helps the provider and the learner sort out what it is they wish to achieve†, (Walklin, 1993, p.290). The initial assessment is a way of evaluating what the learner will need to achieve the goals set and indeed a way of setting future goals with the learner. I have recently experienced this myself when an experienced teacher found that I was in fact following an unsuitable path, he was then able to change the course I had appl ied for, to a more suitable and achievable course. Having an understanding of a learners previous experience is also beneficial to the teacher, I myself train professional drivers who often have many years experience within the industry. Using a short pre-session initial assessment which consists of an informal one to one chat and note taking, and group introductory sessions allows me to make a connection with these more experienced learners, who often feel disgruntled by the process of having to train within an industry they feel they already know. It is important then to be aware that experience will affect learning and that it may have a positive or negative influence. After an initial assessment I can ascertain what the learners knowledge and skills will be to date and a learning action plan can be completed, this plan is specific to each individual leaner to ensure their needs as a learner are met. A tutor should spend time with each individual learner and agree learning goals and further actions. Further actions may include additional help that may be needed, for a student with learning disabilities for example. Once the learners needs have been identified and agreed the trainer would focus on the teacher/training cycle, Kolb (1984) which is made up of the following 5 points, keeping in mind that this is an ongoing cycle. * Identify needs and planning * Designing * Facilitating/deliver * Assessing * Evaluating Further actions that should be agreed prior to the course commencing is the establishment of ground rules. Ground rules are commonly referred to as, â€Å"the minimum necessary conditions for getting learning work done in the class.† (Atherton, J S 2009). I agree with Atherton here and would add that, establishing ground rules in a learning group can also be negotiated between the learners and the teacher. WestOne (2010) discusses various strategies for negotiating with learners, it suggests that It can often be effective to give learners some responsibility for rules, such as what time breaks and dinner is taken, these small items of negotiation will give learners a sense of control within the environment and encourage them to take part in the learning process as they will begin to have shared ownership of it. I would say though that to give too much away to learners may lead to a loss of control for the teacher, one must always consider the fine balance here. I looked at a company called Novadata, they provide training similar to mine but also have a larger portfolio of courses. Their main initial assessment is carried out over the telephone or via an online internet form. While I will consider the option of the online form in the future I do think it may be a little impersonal and I would have doubts about getting the right quality of information, telephone based initial assessment is however a possibility that would allow me to connect with learners better. 1b – Inclusive Learning – 748 words Gravels & Simpson discuss inclusive learning and suggest that â€Å"inclusive learning is about recognising that each of your learners is different from other learners in many ways†, and â€Å"you should plan your teaching and learning sessions to enable all of your learners to take part†. (Gravells & Simpson, 2010, P25). There are various methods to ensure this, we can for instance use different teaching methods to appeal to the different learning styles, for instance VAK or VARK(Visual, aural, reader and kinaesthetic), kinaesthetic learners prefer to touch whilst visual learners will prefer to see demonstrations and, aural learners will be more attuned to a discussion while readers prefer the written word. In all of these cases it should be noted that any given learner may have a preference for learning but will to differing degrees have traits of all styles. I use this as the basis for any planning but keep myself aware that it is just that, a basis or starting point for a flexible plan. It is once we begin to understand that learners are individuals with varying needs that we realise that relying on the VAK descriptions alone is inadequate in order to be inclusive. Inclusion UWE states â€Å"The aim is not for students to simply take part in further education but to be actively included and fully engaged in their learning† (2008). It may be that a particular learner is a kinaesthetic learner but for one reason or another cannot take part in an exercise. In order to agree with the UWE statement I had to recently change the way I carried out a practical exercise as one of my learners could not look at a small computer screen for very long, by pairing him with another learner and allowing them to use a projector connected to the computer they were able to complete the exercise together thus ensuring inclusivity. But inclusivity goes further than just planning sessions and resources. Huddleston and Unwin discuss how teachers must no longer be concerned with their own subject and transmitting knowledge but, â€Å"as managers of learning, teachers will need to seek the help and support of other professionals in their college, including non-teaching staff.† (Huddleston and Unwin,1997, P117). While I do agree in principle with what they are saying, for example, a student with problems of childcare can easily be helped by being pointed toward crà ¨che facilities within the learning establishment, I would also have to point out that it is important to facilitate a solution rather than be the solution. I think a teacher must maintain a certain distance from the student, so it is better to offer information on transport subsidies than to offer a lift. Another example of how we can be flexible to promote inclusion recently happened to me, When I arrived at a site to carry out training many of the delegates found that in order to start for their working shift the following day, they would have to finish 45 minutes early, as the requirements for the training to be completed meant they had to carry out a full 7 hours of training I could not legally cut the course short. We then came to an arrangement whereby tea breaks would be taken as we carried out practical exercises thus allowing for the full session to take place. By making this small adjustment I was able to cater to the individual needs of a few of the learners which again placed them in a position where they did not have to worry about working the following day and, could continue the learning process. Preparing to Teach Inclusively states â€Å"There are many issues to consider when identifying a student’s needs, but it is important to remember that they may fluctuate from day to day. As the course progresses, try to review with students whether you are meeting their needs.† (2006). Students needs do change constantly, it may be that a bus service is delayed and a number of students will be late by 10 minutes or another may have employment difficulties, while it is not the job of the teacher to fix these problems, it is the responsibility of the teacher to make provision for them and to suggest agencies or information that can help. A solution can be as simple as asking another learner to take extra copies of handouts and pass them on, whatever the action, the aim is always to enable the student to return to a successful learning environment. 1c – Integrating Functional Skills – 557 words QCDA says that â€Å"Functional skills are practical skills in English, information and communication technology (ICT) and mathematics. They allow individuals to work confidently, effectively and independently in life† (2010). Functional Skills are often given different names such as â€Å"Key Skills† or â€Å"Minimum Core†, but they all amount to the same thing, the basic integration of Maths, English and Information & Communication Technology. Petty states â€Å"The alternative to integrating key skills is to teach them separately. The problem with this approach is that students tend to see them as an irksome irrelevance to their main course of study†.(G Petty, 2009, P538) Whilst I agree with his point and I agree with the methods and reasons for teaching Functional Skills in this way, I also believe that this statement pays little attention to those of us who would thrive in a situation where those key skills are taught separately, people such as myself, I trained as a chef when I was young, attached to this course I did a C&G in communicating and in computer programming. I enjoyed having a separate learning session for this and was able to gain another certificate to be proud of; in conclusion I would say that this is again an area where we can see how people differ in so many ways. Gravells and Simpson state that â€Å"As a teacher, you should be able to demonstrate your own competence in the areas of literacy, language, numeracy and ICT.† (Gravells & Simpson, 2010, P59). As a teacher I believe it is important to have a good understanding of Functional skills, spelling and maths mistakes within a handout or presentation will be transferred to learners, why should they not believe you if you are the teacher. To this end it is important as a teacher to continually give consideration to improving my own Functional skill on an ongoing basis. The embedding of these skills within a teaching session is not difficult but should be given careful consideration at all times, for instance, I recently had a learner who was dyslexic, I try where possible to provide printed material on different coloured papers as this can often help people with this condition. It turned out that this was the first time this particular learner had come across this aid to reading, so instead of just ignoring the reading exercise he became interested enough to ask about further help. I was able to give him a contact at Learndirect. This particular learner now has the confidence to learn to read and write at higher standards than he thought possible. It is this gaining of confidence and belief in oneself that will cause the attitude change that is conducive to learning. In order to integrate Functional Skills into any given session you could consider exercises such as multiple choice quizzes for reading, discussion sessions for language skills. By adding in maths questions to a PowerPoint presentation you can elicit answers from learners, by watching the reaction of other learners it is often possible to see if anyone is struggling with these concepts thus allowing you to go over the question in more detail until you are sure the learner has grasped it. ICT can be integrated in just as many ways, for instance asking learners to find and print a particular style of picture for the next session. 1d – Communication – 677 words Just out of interest I typed into a leading search engine â€Å"verbal non-verbal communication†, within the first five listings I found the following (MinorityCareerNet, 2010): â€Å"Nonverbal Communication According to A. Barbour, author of Louder Than Words: Nonverbal Communication, the total impact of a message breaks down like this: 7 percent verbal (words)   38 percent vocal (volume, pitch, rhythm, etc) 55 percent body movements (mostly facial expressions)† This is a misquote that can be found time after time in books, on websites, and more worryingly within training courses. In fact, this statement is based on the work of Professor Albert Mehrabian in the mid to late 1900’s. The research actually concentrated on the communication of feelings and attitudes, it has since been misquoted to define all types of communication. It is somewhat ironic that his message has been so misused and misunderstood. I raise the point of this because I am guilty of using it in the incorrect context, assuming that because those that have taught me use it, then it must be so. It really does not matter how I contort my face wave my arms in front of learners, unless I explain verbally or with written instructions very few of them will understand what I am trying to communicate. Different people respond to different forms of communication, when we teach we give consideration to the varying types of learners, Visual, Aural, Readers, Kinaesthetic (VARK), we try to design our lessons to include all of the styles. I asked myself the question, â€Å"Why do people learn in these different ways?† My research results led me to investigate a condition known as synaesthesia, in which one sensory input produces unexpected results for example, a synaesthete may see the colour red when they see the number 2 and blue if they see number 3, in some cases sound caused a visual effect for the synaesthete. It occurred to me that this may go some way to explain why one person responds better when information is given in a verbal format, another responds better if it is visual and so on. The connections between these different sensory areas of the brain mean that we all have our own unique way of perceiving what is being taught or communicated (please refer to my micro teach for more information). For me the advantage of this seemingly odd line of research had the effect of allowing me to empathise with learners of different styles and gave me meaningful reason to consider how I communicate to learners with differing learning styles. â€Å"Communication is the art of successfully sharing meaningful information with people by means of an interchange of experience. The important word is ‘successfully’, which implied that a desired behaviour change results when the receiver takes the message† (Walklin, 1993, p.164). I think what Walklin is trying to tell us is that it is not enough to communicate the instructions, it is also important to deliver praise or constructive criticism in order to encourage and guide the learner into new discovery, if you ask the learner to complete a task a feeling of accomplishment will encourage behaviour conducive to further learning. This is important to me when teaching as my own learners can often be hostile to the learning process, feeling it has been imposed upon them. It is also important to listen to the students, if you set tasks that are above the student’s current abilities then you are likely to create a barrier to communication whereby the student will close in on themselves not wishing to admit they cannot continue and the learning process will cease. Achieving two way communications with our students is not straightforward. Barriers can often present themselves. It is crucial that a teacher can identify barriers and help students overcome them. Petty (2009) suggests that inappropriate level of work, jargon, vocabulary and other use of language, environmental factors, fear of failure and an inapproachable teacher can be barriers to students learning experience. Whilst I agree in principle to this, I also believe that introducing new vocabulary and language usage is essential to the student’s further development. ATHERTON J S (2010) Learning and Teaching; Ground rules for the class (Online) Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/ground_rules.htm (Accessed: 03 January 2011) Anne Gravells and Susan Simpson (2010) Planning and Enabling Learning (2nd Edition), Learning Matters Businessballs (2011) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, (Online), Available: http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm , (Accessed: 15 February 2011) Inclusion Further Education (2008)(Online) Available: http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/tmlnsn.htm (Accessed: 10 January 2011). Minority Career Network Inc. (2011) Non Verbal Communication, (Online), Available: http://www.minoritycareernet.com/newsltrs/95q3nonver.html , (Accessed: 15 February 2011) Open University (2006) Preparing to Teach Inclusively (Online), Available: http://www.open.ac.uk/inclusiveteaching/pages/inclusive-teaching/preparing-to-teach-inclusively.php (Accessed: 20th January 2011) Prue Huddleston and Lorna Unwin (1997) Teaching and Learning in Further Education (2nd Edition), Routledge Farmer. Petty G (2009) Teaching Today (4th Edition), Nelson Thornes. QCDA (2010) Introduction to Functional Skills (Online), Available: http://www.qcda.gov.uk/qualifications/30.aspx, (Accessed: 11 January 2011). Teachernet (2010) (online), Available:http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/research/Learning_about_research/ (Accessed December 15 2010), (Note-now removed) Walklin, A. (1993) Teaching and Learning in Further and Adult Education. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes (publishers) Ltd. West One (2010) How to negotiate learning (Online) Available: http://www.westone.wa.gov.au/toolbox8/taa/elearn/toolbox/resources/e_space/e_sources/quickguides/interaction/negotiating/howto.htm (Accessed 03 January 2010)