What is an Interest Group?

An interest group (also referred to as advocacy groups) is an organization organized by a special set of people with specific skills to lobby for or against a specific interest to benefit their cause. They usually lobby for one or more shared concerns to manipulate public policy and opinion especially in the U. S. Congress to benefit their cause, supporters, or one segment of society. They include a vast array of organizations such as: charitable organizations, civil right groups, corporations, professional and trade organizations, etc. Their main goal is to publicly or discreetly promoting and creating an advantage for its cause. Different types of Interest Groups There are a variety of interest groups such as business/trade organization, agricultural groups, professional groups, labor groups, promote causes groups, promote the welfare groups, religious groups and last but definitely not leads public interest groups. A business/trade organization is created by merchants, business personal’s or owner’s and commercial organizations to represent both small and large business groups. An ideal example of these groups are the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, American Bankers Association, National Association of Manufacturers or N. A. M. (www. srvhs. org. Aug 26th, 2012). The sole objective of an agricultural group is to sort and look after the interest of farmers and farming policy. They represent a variety of farmers in the agricultural sector in the work force who specialize in diary, grain, fruit, livestock etc. Anything pertaining to farming and their specialized products. Arguable the most known agricu ltural groups are the National Farmers Union, The National Grange, and the National Farmers Bureau. Professional groups are classified as occupations that require extensive training through a certificate or higher education such as education, medicine and law. They are created to promote and protect their member’s occupational interests and safety. Examples include The American Medical Association or AMA, The American Bar Associate (ABA) , and The National Education Association (NEA). One of the well known interest groups is labor unions. It is an organization of workers who share the same type of jobs or work in the same industry. (www. srvhs. org. Aug 26th, 2012). They press the government to formulate policies that will be beneficial to their members. The largest and most well known labor union is the AFL-CIO (The American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organizations). Organized labor unions usually advocate with one voice on issues ranging from welfare to Social Security, employment and wages, etc. Promote causes groups are a large number of groups that either promote or advocate against a specific their members demand to be voiced upon. Examples include and not excluding the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), The National Right-to-Life Committee, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Planned Parent and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Promote the welfare groups are defined as interest groups seeking promote interest of a certain segment of the population and its welfare like minority groups. They include the American Legion, Vetarens of Foreign Wars, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Religious groups are interest that try to persuade policy in the favor of religious matters. Examples include the National Council of Churches, the Christian Coalition, the National Catholic Welfare Council, the American Jewish Congress, and the Anti-Defamation League.

Reward System And Its Impact On Employee Motivation Essay

Social networking also referred to as social media. The growing usage of social media indicates a potentially effective new platform for advertisers. Social Media, today, is among the ‘best opportunities available’ to a brand for connecting with Prospective consumers. Social media is the medium to socialize. These new media win the trust of consumers by connecting with them at a deeper level. Social media marketing is the new mantra for several brands since early last year. Marketers are taking note of many different social media opportunities and beginning to implement new social initiatives at a higher rate than ever before. Social media marketing and the businesses that utilize it have become more sophisticated. One cannot afford to have no presence on the social channels if the competitor is making waves with its products and services. The explosion of social media phenomenon is as mind boggling as that and the pace at which it is growing is maddening. Global companies have recognized social media marketing as a potential marketing platform, utilized them with innovations to power their advertising campaign with social media marketing. —————————————————————————————————————- KEY WORDS: Social networking, Marketers, Socialize, Media SOCIAL NETWORKING Social networking, also referred to as social media, encompasses many Internet-based tools that make it easier for people to listen, interact, engage and collaborate with each other. Social networking platforms such as Face book, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, message boards, Wikipedia and countless others are catching on like wildfire. People use social networking to share recipes, photos, ideas and to keep friends updated on our lives. SOCIAL NETWORKING IN MARKETING Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or â€Å"updates† with others. Face book, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities. ORIGINATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING According to a BBC Radio 4 documentary, the origins of social networking can be traced back to the 1970s. While conducting research for the radio show, The Secret History of Social Networking, the BBC’s Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, found that in 1973 the owner of a record shop in Berkeley California placed an analogue computer in his store and invited people to come in and type messages. The computer quickly became a popular attraction, especially amongst University of California students who would come in to the store to post messages and take part in discussions on the analogue machine. One of the first social networking Web sites, launched in 1997, was SixDegrees. com. This site started the trend of enabling users to create personal profiles and make lists of their friends. Two years after the fall of Six Degrees, Live Journal offered authors options to add a list of friends to their profile page. Other early social networking sites include Friendster and online dateing service Ryze. MySpace launched in 2003. However, the site didn’t start drawing the attention of the masses until well into 2004, due largely in part to MySpace changes that allowed teenagers to join the social network. Since their introduction, social networking sites (SNS) have attracted millions of users, whereby many people integrate these sites into their daily practices. The conception of Googlebuzz. com has been recently introduced to rival the likes of facebook, which has 350 million users. Here is a timeline to show the progress of the social networking world. 1995: Classmates. com is a social media website created by Randy Conrad. The website helps members find, connect and keep in touch with friends and acquaintances from school life. Classmates has more than 40 million active members in the US and Canada. In early 2008, Nielson Online ranked Classmates as number 3 in unique monthly visitors among social networking sites. 1997: Sixdegrees. com was named after the six degrees of separation concept and allowed users to list friends, family members and acquaintances and see their connection with any other user on the site. It was one of the first manifestations of a social networking websites in the format now seen today. Sixdegrees closed in 2007. At its height, the website had about a million users. 1999: Cyworld. com is a South Korean social networking service. Users can have â€Å"apartment like† spaces which make for a sim-world like experience. The ‘cy’ in Cyworld could stand for Cyber; however, it also plays on the Korean word for relationship. A 2005 survey showed that 25% of South Korea was users. 2002: Friendster. com has over 115 million registered users and over 61 million unique visitors per global month. Over 90% of friendster’s traffic comes from Asia. The website is also used for dating, discovering new events, bands and hobbies. 2003: Myspace. com launched after eUniverse employees with Friendster saw its potential and mimicked the more popular features of the social networking site. Myspace became the most popular social networking site in US 2006. The 100th million account was created on August 9 2006. 2005: Bebo. com is an acronym for â€Å"blog early, blog often†. It is similar to other networking sites; the site must include two specific modules, a comment section and a list of users’ friends. The site claims 40 million users. 2006: Facebook. com is the most popular social networking site boasting 350 million users. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg who studied at Harvard University. The websites membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges. Facebook has met with some controversy being blocked in countries such as, China, Syria and Iran. The original concept for Facebook came from the colloquial name for books given out at the start of the academic year by universities designed to help students get to know one another better. 2006: Twitter. com is a social networking site that that enables its users to send and read messages known as â€Å"tweets†. Tweets are text based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the authors profile page and are delivered to the author’s subscribers known as followers. It is sometimes described as the â€Å"SMS of the internet† and is widely popular with about 5 million users. ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING: Social media is now increasingly becoming an ingrained aspect of political campaigns, national defence strategies, public policy, public relations, brand management and even intra company communication. Since the major task of marketing as tool used to inform consumers about the company’s products, who they are and what they offer, social marketing plays an important role in marketing.  · Social media can be used to provide an identity about the companies and the products or services that they offer.  · Social media helps in creating relationships with people who might not otherwise know about the products or service or what the companies represent.  · Social media makes companies â€Å"real† to consumers. If they need not just talk about the latest product news, but share their personality with them.  · Social media can be used to associate themselves with their peers that may be serving the same target market.  · Social media can be used to communicate and provide the interaction that consumer look for. THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN MARKETING According to comScore, a marketing research company that tracks Internet traffic, social networking sites accounted for 13. 8 billion display ad impressions in August 2009, representing more than 25 percent of all display ads viewed online, in a study of U. K. online display advertising on social networking sites. Social media is changing the way marketing is done. No longer can marketers rely on putting out one general message to the public. In Malaysia, 80% of affluent Malaysians use social networking sites. The opinions of bloggers and friends have become more influential than advertisements. Using social media allows businesses to reduce cost on marketing or connect with customers. A number of Malaysian companies use social network to promote their product or service. A recent example is mobile operator DiGi who used social networking to create awareness on mobile broadband. One of the many campaigns DiGi did was Pimp My Broadband which was a contest allowing people to post up creative videos to the site. DiGi used mostly Face book and Twitter to spread the word and communicate with people. In another example, the Prudential insurance company was running in December 2009 a contest for which people were asked to guess the retirement fund a fictional character named Adam would need to retire comfortably. This campaign was heavily promoted over social networks and blogs. Most organisations have jumped onto the social networking bandwagon. Large and small organisations alike maintain Facebook fan pages and groups. The leading budget travel airline, AirAsia, has more than 20 different Facebook pages and groups that promote some aspect of their service. It also has Twitter feeds as well as its own social network located at www. airasia. ning. com. The results have been impressive. It claims to lead all other airlines with a fan base of approximately 100,000. The AirAsia blog is ranked as the world’s second most popular blog site by an airline while CEO Tony Fernandes’ blog is the most popular in Malaysia by a corporate leader. Its YouTube site is very popular while its Twitter account has 15,500 followers. AirAsia’s investment of time and effort to reach out socially to Internet users must be bringing results; it recently announced plans to launch a brand new social network for travellers. The Nielsen Company estimates online advertising spent on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119 percent, from approximately USD49 million in August 2008 to approximately USD108 million in August 2009. Businesses and professionals are also connecting with one another on social networks. It has become commonplace for professionals to maintain accounts at LinkedIn. Using that platform, businessmen are able to find contacts that they can trust as introductions come from people they know and trust. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN INDIA – AN OVERVIEW India has 71 million active internet users. Social Media is really picking up new heights in India. Many companies are coming big way for Social Media Optimization for their Product or Services nowadays. During Election 2009 Social Media was used for Influence Indian Voters. Social Media Marketing in India is being undertaken by brands like Tata Docomo, MTV India, Channel V, Clear Trip, Tata Photon, Axe deodorants, Microsoft, Naukri, Shaadi and many more. Besides, numerous Indian celebrities are also using SMM platform to promote their movies, music and events via Twitter, Facebook and personalized blogs. Social Media Marketing is also boosting public relations business. Several PR agencies in India are undertaking brand building exercises for corporate organizations, brands and celebrities. However, to the delight of many among us, the biggest gainers from SMM till date have been the organizations from the Not-for- Profit sector. Several Campaigns like ‘Bell Bajao’ and ‘Jaago Re’ have been quite successful on Social Networking Sites. These campaigns have been spreading the word about their cause through blogs, Twitter and Facebook. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES: SMM is still in its infancy. Most of the online retailers though appreciate its positives fallouts on the brand awareness and promotion; they are still in the early stages of adoption. For an organization willing to invest in social media marketing, it is important to understand why SMM is an important marketing strategy and how it can help: This is the age of consumer satisfaction. It is not about selling it is more about interacting. There is a lot to learn from the customers. Using social media one can identify customers, listen to their feedback and use them to improve and innovate on products or services. SMM is not a mass advertising strategy. It can be used to identify peer groups and advertise to that particular group. Social Media can help in identifying influencers and through them one can guide a prospective customer into making a purchase. SMM calls for novel advertising methods as the attention span of online junta is very low. This is largely due to the multitasking phenomena. A person watching a video clip on YouTube might be simultaneously updating a blog, while reading another one and watching friend’s photographs on Facebook. In order to garner their attention away from distractions the advertisement must be innovative and interesting to hold the imagination and attention of the prospect. At the same time the message must also provoke the recipient into action; like seeking a detailed description of the product/service, or suggesting to a friend, or initiating purchase. So, if the advertisement is trying to sell something then it should be conveniently placed with links so that the prospect can make a purchase with least effort. Similarly Social Media can be used to increase customer loyalty through customer support services and hence improve customer retention. Social Media Marketing can also be used by brands to ward off any negative publicity. But the brands will have to be cautious here as over doing it may further aggravate their customers / stakeholders. There are many things that social media can do for business. Developing a strategy for using it means that the firms need to think about what they want to accomplish this year and determine how social media fits into the plan. One of the benefits of a social media strategy is the fact that the available tools can customized for their particular needs. The firms can choose to concentrate their efforts on the sites that seem to offer the best return on investment, while taking a â€Å"wait and see† stand on the others. Better Marketing Communications Any marketing campaign is only as good as its effectiveness in reaching the client. As the saying goes, you can have the best product in the world but its success depends on its reach to the customers. One advantage that social media networks such as Twitter, Blogspot, MySpace and Facebook possess is that of cross-communication. In other words, much of the information is shared across different social sites. In the past, marketing strategies would target a certain audience based on the resources available. These days, however, if a company has a profile page on Facebook, for example, cross talk alone can generate interest, because of the fluidity of social media websites. Social media sites have helped do away with many geographical and communicative borders; companies who have listings with these sites can place themselves in a position where such communication can be just as effective as a targeted marketing campaign. In the same way, if one person subscribes to a certain company’s web page, it is likely his or her friends will see it and too may become interested. Qualified potential clients can come to the company rather than the other way around! Higher Customer Satisfaction When a company is seen as being active on social media sites, it has just established itself as having its proverbial â€Å"finger on the pulse† of modern society. In a very real way, people take notice and assume that the company has something to say, that it is part of the community rather than simply a static web page. By posting regular updates that subscribers can see, business can appeal to their tastes and, more importantly, that business also has the ability to follow trends and change strategies based on the requirement. A keen observation is always essential for these updates. A close association with current scenario and trends will align the business people to more accurately cater to their audience’s needs. In the past, a happy customer was a customer who could become a regular customer. Today, a happy customer or client has the ability to recommend a company to others grouped under similar target audience. Social networks can accomplish much of the work that in the past was allocated to the more traditional e-mail campaigns. Stronger Financial Returns This final factor should be the most obvious and, at the same time, the most motivating. It only stands to reason that with a larger target base, sales and publicity will naturally increase. One important thing to remember is that there are few if any costs when dealing with social sites. In the past, domain names came with a price tag. Even more relevant was the financial burden which often accompanied building a very good website (web design, maintenance, updates, etc). When a company takes advantage of social media, on the other hand, not only does exposure increase if done in the right manner, but also the financial obligation is little, if any. Why, then, are more businesses not taking full advantage of the tools in front of them? One of the issues is that many out there still consider the social media market a â€Å"niche† sector and haven’t fully implemented their campaigns to include social networking as a part of the overall strategy. Other companies state that not all of their employees are open to newer technologies. Still others just don’t have correct media policies in place; i. e. what can be said, how it can be said, the chain of command to approve updates†¦the list can go on and on. The main issue tends to revolve around the adaptation to changing technologies and sources of revenue. CONCLUSION: There is no escaping social media these days, either for individuals or for businesses. Today, it is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Companies are diverting resources and rethinking their traditional outreach strategies. And as the social media wave dissipates into the vast ocean of connected experiences, the term itself will become an entry in dictionaries and encyclopaedias and we will embark on a new era of knowledge, accessibility and experiences unbound by distance, time or physical walls. It is high time that every business adopts social media and takes it seriously!

Behavior Modification Project Essay

Identify Target Behavior: Get a Healthier Amount of Sleep/Stop Napping Daily I chose to modify my sleeping behavior for my behavior modification project. Sleep is something that I have always had a problem with. In high school I would get an average of about 5 hours of sleep a night, and now as a junior in college I get about 5-6 hours a night. I wanted to modify this behavior because I feel that not getting enough sleep is negatively affecting my mood, health, and overall outlook on my every day experience. It would be beneficial to me to be more awake and happy throughout my days rather than be tired and pushing myself to stay awake. My main issue with my sleeping behavior is the amount of time I spend per day napping. If my nightly sleeping patterns were increased, I could eliminate the need for naps during the day. Baseline Data: 4.5-5.5 Hours of Sleep per Night At the beginning of the term I observed my sleeping patterns for a week. Since I have a different schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays than I do on Tuesdays and Thursdays I found that I do get slightly more sleep on some nights than I do on others. I did not include weekend sleep times in my data. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights I would go to bed between 11:30 and midnight. I would then wake up at 5:30 am the following mornings. Therefore 3 nights of the week I was getting around 5.5/6 hours of sleep. On Monday and Wednesday nights I would go to bed somewhere in that same time frame of 11:30 to midnight. However on the following mornings I needed to be awake an hour earlier, so I would wake up at 4:30 am. On these nights I was getting about 4.5/5 hours of sleep. I noted that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I was more likely to get home from work and fall asleep around 4 pm for about 3 hours each of those days. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I would nap for about an hour and a half around 3 pm. I observed that during the times that I would come home and nap, I could have been doing something more valuable with my time if my body had the energy to keep going rather than take a few hours to rest itself. Stimulus Conditions: School, Homework, and Distractions I live at home and commute to school, so the main stimulus condition was the distractions that are available to me such as TV and internet. I have slept with my TV on for as long as I have had it. Usually I will turn on a show or a movie and fall asleep half way through watching it. This is the main problem for me because once I start I have an extremely difficult time stopping myself. My brain is still concentrating on the website I was on or what I was watching as I am trying to fall asleep. Another condition is school. Since I do commute, I have to be up a lot earlier than I would if I were living on campus. I work a lot of days after I get out of class so I have to have my hair and makeup done and can’t go to class looking the way I did when I woke up. I realize that I could not change my wakeup time for this project because that is the amount of time that I need to get ready and drive to school. Another condition is my homework. I usually study and work on homework after dinner which is around 7 pm so homework doesn’t usually affect my sleep that much unless I have a lot of work or studying to do. Set Goals: Every Week Sleep 30 Minutes More per Night At first my goal was to increase the amount of sleep I got by 10 minutes every day. I attempted that the first week and found it to be extremely difficult because the times were so close together that it was almost impossible to make myself fall asleep at that exact time. I also was thinking about it too much and thinking about it made it even more difficult to fall asleep. I decided to switch my goal by going to bed a half hour earlier than I did the week before. That way with a starting point of 5.5 hours, by week 5 I would be getting 8 hours of sleep. The national sleep foundation states on their website that 7-9 hours is the recommended amount of sleep for the average person over the age of 17. Therefore I took the median of that to use as my final goal. Since the main problem that I had was the distractions such as TV and Internet, I made it a rule that I needed to close my laptop and turn off my TV at the specific sleep time goal for that week. I found that with my TV off I was able to fall asleep almost immediately after laying down. I recorded the amount of sleep that I got every night, though it is not exact I did fall asleep almost immediately after the start times so it is only off by a few minutes at most. Sleep Time Goals Week 1 – 11:30 Week 2 – 11:00 Week 3 – 10:30 Week 4 – 10:00 Week 5 – 9:30 *Since Week 1 was unsuccessful in going to sleep around that specific goal time I changed my project by pushing my sleep goals back 30 minutes for the remaining 4 weeks. *Altered Sleep Time Goals Week 1 – 11:30 (Already Passed) Week 2 – 11:30 Week 3 – 11:00 Week 4 – 10:30 Week 5 – 10:00 Actual Sleep Times Week 1 Monday: 11:55 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours 35 minutes (5.58 hours) Tuesday: 11:45 pm-4:30 am – 4 hours and 45 minutes (4.75 hours) Wednesday: 12:00 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours and 30 minutes (5.5 hours) Thursday: 11:50 pm-4:30 am – 4 hours and 40 minutes (4.66 hours) Friday: 11:45 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours and 45 minutes (5.75 hours) Week 2 Monday: 11:20-5:30 – 6 hours and 10 minutes (6.17 hours) Tuesday: 11:15-4:30 am – 5 hours and 15 minutes (5.25 hours) Wednesday: 11:25-5:30 am – 6 hours and 5 minutes (6.08 hours) Thursday: 11:20-4:30 am – 5 hours and 10 minutes (5.17 hours) Friday: 11:15-5:30 am – 6 hours 15 minutes (6.25 hours) WEEK 3 Monday: 10:50 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 40 minutes (6.66 hours) Tuesday: 10:55 pm-4:30 am – 5 hours and 35 minutes (5.58 hours) Wednesday: 10:45 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 45 minutes (6.75 hours) Thursday: 10:50 pm-4:30 am – 5 hours and 40 minutes (5.66 hours) Friday: 10:50 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 40 minutes (6.66 hours) WEEK 4 Monday: 10:25 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 5 minutes (7.08 hours) Tuesday: 10:30 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours (6.0 hours) Wednesday: 10:35 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 55 minutes (5.92 hours) Thursday: 10:20 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 10 minutes (6.17 hours) Friday: 10:20 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 10 minutes (7.17 hours) WEEK 5 Monday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Tuesday: 10:05 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 25 minutes (6.42 hours) Wednesday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Thursday: 9:55 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 35 minutes (6.58 hours) Friday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Below I have included the graphs that I made weekly with the data I collected over the course of that week. The actual amount of sleep I got, my goal amount of sleep for that week, and the National Sleep Foundation recommended amount of sleep are all included. I found that these graphs are excellent for displaying how much closer I got to my sleep goal every week. I was very pleased with the results as I did not expect the project to go so smoothly. Since I live with them, I had asked my mother and my sister to look for any changes in my behavior during this time. Both of them agreed that around week 3 I was more fun to talk to because I wasn’t being so negative in our conversations. My mother enjoyed the fact that I was more willing to go out and run errands with her when I got home rather than go in my room and pass out. By week 5 both of them had said that they noticed I seemed to be getting through my days without as much complaining. Overall I also didn’t notice any changes myself until about week 3. Weeks 3-5 made a big difference because I no longer felt that I â€Å"needed† to take a nap and since I felt that I had more time to do things that I wanted I had a much more positive outlook on my day as a whole. Encourage/Remove Stimulus Conditions: Time Management and Eliminate Distractions Since my main stimulus condition was the distractions that I had, the most important thing for me to do was to set a rule for myself to always turn off my TV and laptop before the goal sleep time of that night. I have always thought that I needed the background noise of my TV to sleep, and I was very surprised to found that I did not have a single problem with the TV being off. The only issue I had with this alteration was the fact that I didn’t create this rule until after week 1. For the first week of my project I continued to go to bed with the TV on, and even though I was technically in bed at my goal sleep time I was not falling asleep until approximately a half hour after laying down. Once I made this change and altered my sleep time goals the project went a lot more smoothly. Since I could not change the time that I woke up in the morning, I knew I needed to work on time management with my homework so that I could have at least a little free time before I made myself shut off my electronics. I stopped taking so many breaks during the time that I was working on homework and I just used a solid block of time to finish everything I had to do. It was a lot easier for me to get done faster when I wasn’t losing focus on other things all of the time. I was happy with the decision I made to turn off my TV and laptop at the time I planned to go to bed every night. I believe that that factor made all the difference in the direction that my project went. I feel that there would have been more obstacles and challenges if I had not created that rule for myself. Modifying these two conditions helped me be able to fall asleep faster and also enjoy falling asleep much more than I had before. Punishers & Reinforcers: Activities During the Time that was used for Naps I at first contemplated the punishments that I could use for not going to sleep at my goal time. The first week of my project I was still not going to sleep around my goal time and I was continuing to sleep at the times I had been sleeping before. I realized that since I used this time to watch movies, I could instead turn it into a reward by watching movies during the time in which I usually napped. Therefore when I returned home around 4 pm, rather than napping for 3 hours I could use that time for â€Å"free time† watching movies and going on the internet so that I could get my fix during that time instead of getting my fix right before I went to bed. If I went to bed earlier, I would not need the naps. It was almost like a cycle that just needed to be adjusted. I stopped needing naps around week 3 when I was getting roughly 6 and a half hours of sleep. It was a nice feeling to look forward to coming home and having free time rather than coming home and wasting a few hours of my day to feel refreshed. The fact that I had something to look forward to was a good reinforcement. I didn’t feel that I needed many more rewards because being on a normal schedule and not losing as many hours of my day was a reward enough for me. I enjoy having more free time as opposed to having nap time. In a way I was using positive and negative reinforcement because I was taking away my time on the internet and watching movies late at night, but rewarding myself by using my time during the day for those activities which I got from going to sleep earlier. Design Schedules of consequence and Administer Schedules: I am going to modify my sleep patterns in order to get an increasingly healthier amount of sleep per night. This will aid in the elimination of daily naps. I am going to sleep 30 minutes earlier every week until I am getting 8 hours of sleep a night. My reward will be having more free time to relax and do what I want after a long day rather than wasting those few hours by sleeping. The free time will be my motivator since I already wish I had more time during the day to do things that I want to do. The Results: Creating this program was somewhat of a challenge because the main problem was my bad sleeping habits. I learned a lot about myself as a result of doing this project, and the most that I learned was near the end when I was organizing all of my data. Though week 1 did not go as planned, I was very proud of myself for actually following through with my goal sleep times for the remainder of the project and I can clearly see the benefits I have gained from the changes that I made. Even though my main goal was to work on the amount of naps that I would take, I noticed many more benefits along the way. I found it easier for me to pay attention in class, and my note taking skills have also improved. My need for coffee in the morning has gone down and I actually drink more water in place which is a much healthier alternative. I also find it much easier to drive to school. I also am in a much better mood in the mornings that I was before. I found the most difficulty in this project during week 1. I believe this is because I had not yet made the adjustment to turn my electronics off. After making that change in my project everything seemed to work out much better and I never really went off track again. I feel that I am more productive and I now also have more time during the day to relax and enjoy myself. I felt that I made a good choice in choosing this specific behavior to modify because it has really improved more than one area of my daily life. I really have learned what a difference a healthy amount of sleep can do for you and I will continue to try and stay with the amount I have worked to getting right now.

Intercultural Business Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intercultural Business Skills - Essay Example This report analyses the problems that Wheelabrator Allevard has faced in expanding its operations in three different countries; Japan, Saudi Arabia and United States of America. The three countries that have been selected belong from different continents and have different cultures. Therefore, the report aims to analyses the cultural issues, ethical issues and other managerial issues that the company would have faced in expanding its operations and strategies have been discussed to tackle these issues. Wheelabrator Allevard Company enjoys the high sales in Saudi Arabia and it is 10,000. In United States the sales of the company are 40,000. However in Japan the country enjoyed sales of 17,000 in the year 2010. The cultures of United States of America, Japan and Saudi Arabia are entirely different. For instance, the individualism in Untied States is very high according to Hofstede (Geert hofstede, 2012c). However, in Saudi Arabia individualism is very low and people like to work in teams rather than individually (Geert Hofstede, 2012b). Moreover, the individualism in Japan is moderate. Similarly another culture issue that the company would have to face is the dominancy of male. Japan scores 95 according to Hofstede in Masculinity and it can be termed as a highly male dominant society and it is one of the most masculine societies in the world. In Japan people would demand achievement and success a lot more than caring for others (Geert Hofstede, 2012a). On the other hand, the score of United States and Saudi Arabia is 62 and 60 respectively which shows that it is moderately or relatively masculine society (Geert Hofstede, 2012b; Geert Hofstede, 2012c). Another important dimension that differs is the power distance. The score of Power Distance according to Hofstede is 95 in Saudi Arabia (Geert Hofstede, 2012b) however Japan and Untied States score 54 and 40 respectively. This represents that individuals living in Saudi Arabia are not equal and

Headscarf Ban In France Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Headscarf Ban In France - Essay Example Though, Islam is the highest growing religion, and calculation approximately proposes that they will outnumber Christians sometime approximately by the year 2020 (Secularism 101, Online). Each religion appears to have some wisdom of the "sanctified" - counting holy texts, sacred times, and holy places. Islam is surely not extraordinary in that consideration. That which is blessed is measured particular, sacred, sanctified - understanding what a belief observes as sacred can go a long way in serving one comprehend more about the religion itself and the approach in which it compact with outsiders. Unnecessary to say, secularism had not forever been observed as a widespread good. Yet nowadays, there are many who not simply fall short to discover secularism and the procedure of secularization to be advantageous to society, but in fact argue that it is the foundation of all of society's evils. According to them, discarding secularism in errand of a more openly religious foundation for politics and civilization would create a more steady, more ethical, and eventually improved social arrangement (Cline, Secularism 101, Online). The application of hijab among Muslim women is one supported on religious principle, even though the Qur'an does not permit it. In its place, it appears from the Hadith of Sahih Bukhari. The Hadith, the "custom of Mohammed," discloses the knowledge of the Prophet to supporters. Bukhari's description of this text is normally observed as the customary one, even though plentiful versions survive. In a very extensive logic, the relation the Hadith has to the Qur'an be like the New Testament's to the Old in Christian scriptures (Hijab In The Workplace Q&A, Online) From the studies of Hadith, Prophet Mohammad said "My Lord agreed with me ('Umar) in three things... (2) And as regards the veiling of women, I said 'O Allah's Apostle! I wish you ordered your wives to cover themselves from the men because good and bad ones talk to them.' So the verse of the veiling of the women was revealled" (Bukhari, v1, bk 8, sunnah 395). One portion of the Qur'an is mainly frequently cited in maintaining of veiling. It affirms "O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close around them. That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever forgiving, merciful...." (From translation of the Qur'an). The intention of the hijab, frequently worn as headscarf, is to conceal a woman's beauty. All Muslim women are requisite to be dressed in the hijab according to Islam. Except, with the exemption of Iran and Saudi Arabia, women in Muslim countries have the liberty to decide to whether to be dressed in it or not. Their husbands or fathers can never force women. The hijab is a performance of respect and shield against the immodest looks of others. When any Muslim women intermingle with others, people critic them by their intelligence and personality, not by their appearance. The hijab also assist keep them from infusing sex into whichever relations (Souheila, Online). The Hijab also assists a woman control her actions and character. With the hijab, one cannot spotlight surplus on looks,

Land lord and tenant law(english law) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Land lord and tenant law(english law) - Essay Example Under Section 8, (1), where as per the agreement between the landlord or the Tenant, or as decided by the Court, specified repairs need to be carried out, and in cases where the initial repairs need to be carried out by the landlord, due to the inability on the part of the tenant to carry out the said repairs with regard to the tenancy, the landlord, in such cases, shall be privileged to claim: 3. This payment shall be made either in instalments, or in any other method agreed upon by the parties mutually or by the Court. (Ministry of Justice: The U.K. Statute Law Database: Statutory Tenancies arising under Part I : provisions as to repairs during period of statutory tenancy ) As mentioned earlier, the responsibility of the tenant and the landlord with regard to the repairs of the dwelling house, during the period of statutory tenancy shall be as covenanted, or as determined by the Court. The matters that need to be considered would be: 3. 1. The amount to be included as payment of the accused tenant's repairs, and paid off by the landlord for the determination of the costs 2. The estimated costs that have been incurred by the landlord. 3. Whether payment for the accrued tenant's repairs should be made by instalments or through any other mode of payment, and, in the event it is made through instalments, the amount of yearly instalments, the 1st instalments due and the periodicity of instalments. 4. It shall also be made known whether there are any other obligations, with regard to repair of dwelling house during the period of statutory tenancy, other than relating to the payment of initial repairs, and if so , the nature of such obligations. (Ministry of justice, The U.K. Statute Law Database : Statutory tenancies arising under Part 1 : Provisions as to repairs during period of statutory tenancies : Under Section 9, if it is the Court that has to determine what the initial repairs need to be, the sum determined by the Court, shall be done with the permission of the landlord and the tenants, and shall not exceed "what is required to bring the dwelling-house into good repair or the carrying out of any repairs not specified by the landlord in his application as repairs which he is willing to carry out" (Ministry of justice). Further, good repairs has been construed to mean the repairs needed to make good the structure and furnishings, taking into account the useful life, construction and area, in which the premises lies. Further, it has been laid out that Court shall not impose any repair liability on the tenant, without his consent. Further under Section 9 (4), the law does not require that the place needs to be kept in a higher condition of repair, than that what expected to be, post the initial repairs, and in the absence of any agreement, in a better condition than it was when the Court had determined the liability of repair to be imposed. Coming to the aspect of this case study, it is seen that Mr Razor, who is the owner of Focal House has requested Mr. Shabby, the tenant, to

Housewife and Successful Managers Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Housewife and Successful Managers - Term Paper Example The researcher describes that the women in the housewife category are responsible for their entire households. Some of the women around the world decide to leave the paid workforce to concentrate on household responsibilities at their homes. These women may quit either partially, to provide childcare for their younger children, they may also be involved in part-time work from the paid workforce and they may return to either partial or fulltime work when their children have reached the schooling age. As they stay home, homemakers may increase their skills by either joining institutions to gain more knowledge on certain fields. It is stated that management is a way in which a family identifies and deals with current and the anticipated future changes. It involves a series of decision-making processes, that housewifes do and influence the general objectives and goals of the family. Regardless of limitations of resources, effective home management can guarantee achievement of desired obj ectives and goals. It involves planning, controlling and evaluation using the modern management techniques.The family as an entity or organization needs management. Housewives are regarded as the successful managers of their own homes, as they are the principle members of the family involved in the overall foresight of activities within a given family, which they have done with utmost efforts to ensure that the families have at least the basic requirement needs and that the families are driving towards a given direction towards a given goal.

Marketing Plan Development Blog Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Marketing Plan Development Blog - Assignment Example The installation of efficient telecommunication system at the companys offices ensures that even at night, the machine generated reply is sent to the consumer. It assures him/ her that the responsible personnel will attend to the inquiry when they report to work. The company also has its own suppliers and has leased out quarries for obtaining its raw materials. This ensures all times the supply be less than the demand. As a result of a pre-arranged deal with the suppliers, the production costs are low for the company translating to a pocket friendly cost of the same to the consumers (Valentin, 2004). With low prices, the company can be competitive in the market. Due to the businesss young age, it becomes difficult to acquire loans and other financial assistance from financial institutions(Valentin, 2004). The requirement by these facilities requiring a certain cash flow for a company to be eligible for such services has hindered the growth of the company. It has resulted in the company losing out on big tenders requiring large capital to facilitate the consumer needs. The increase in mortgage offers and good financial times in the country has resulted in a boom, in the real estate sector. Thus with enough resources and efficient services it will be easier to acquire new markets for the products being offered by the company such as sand and gravel plus the offer on transportation of the same to the construction site. The external factors that threaten the success and future of the company among others include political and legal interference by third parties(Valentin, 2004). The government has set up environmental agencies that have become critical of open quarries being left after mining. Thus, it has been gazette that such sites be filled after the quarrying seizes subjecting the company to additional operation costs. Another threat is the emergence of other construction trucking companies which have flooded

The Music of Bollywood Films Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Music of Bollywood Films - Assignment Example Roopa’s father happily agrees as he knows they both love each other and all he can ask for is the happiness of his daughter. After getting married, Rajeev gets to know about the reality of Roopa and he thinks that she is not the girl he fell in love with and this is all a plan to cheat him. Disappointed and frustrated, he kicks Roopa out of his house while Roopa pleads and begs him to believe that she is the same girl he fell in love with and she did not cheat. Desperate for her love, Roopa decides to meet her husband daily in the night with her face covered. Rajeev with this supposedly different girl falls in love and they start to meet every night. One day Roopa realizes that she is pregnant. Having got to know about this, Rajeev suspects her again of cheating as he does not know that Roopa and that girl are the same person. Then one day, due to heavy rain, the dam breaks out and everything gets washed away in the rain. Then Rajeev realizes how wrong he has been and saves he r wife Roopa from the flood and gets her back to his home. There are many archetypes and stereotypes displayed in the movie. For example, how could two people fall in love with each other without even seeing the faces of each other. Also, woman here is again shown as a weak link of the society and men are portrayed to be the stronger half. Men can treat women the way they want to and women have no right to complain whereas in today’s society, women are given equal rights as compared to men.... One day Roopa realizes that she is pregnant. Having got to know about this, Rajeev suspects her again of cheating as he does not know that Roopa and that girl are the same person. Then one day, due to heavy rain, the dam breaks out and everything gets washed away in the rain. Then Rajeev realizes how wrong he has been and saves her wife Roopa from the flood and gets her back to his home. Archetypes/Stereotypes/Symbols: There are many archetypes and stereotypes displayed in the movie. For example, how could two people fall in love with each other without even seeing the faces of each other. Roopa keeps Rajeev in the dark about her facial disfigurement and he does not get to know about it until marriage. Also, woman here is again shown as a weak link of the society and men are portrayed to be the stronger half. Men can treat women the way they want to and women have no right to complain whereas in today’s society, women are given equal rights as compared to men. Men cannot misbe have with women as there are laws for it now. If a man kicks his wife out of his house, she can go court and the husband will be forced by law to pay her full expenses. Background Music &Sound Effects: The background music and sound effects were very much dramatic and gave the movie a look of a complete love-tragedy movie. The background sounds of Rain and then the breaking of Dam although not too realistic, still added to the glamour of the movie. Music: The music of this movie directed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal was, no doubt, the best music of that year. They won a Filmfare Award for the best music directors for this movie. The theme song of the movie – â€Å"Satyam Shivam Sundaram,† a song that has brought Truth, Destruction and Beauty together, a

Terrorist Behavior Essay Example for Free

Terrorist Behavior Essay After reading the article on â€Å"A Look at Terrorist Behavior† I found out some very interesting details on how they plan, prepare and also where they would strike. After reading the article I learned about approximately how close to a target a terrorist would likely live. A recent study shows that most terrorist lives closer to their target of choice. By being so close to their target they would learn and gather information quickly in aiding them to accomplish their mission. They would also end up studying a target for months or even years. According to analysis on terrorist residence to target of all groups around 44% of them live within 30 miles of their required target. There are four types of terrorist groups international, right wing, environmental and left wing groups. However since there are different types of terrorist groups they are different. For example international terrorist mostly lived closer to their targets, when right wing terrorist live in rural areas and would selecting targets in nearby cities. Terrorist mostly use a lot of surveillance and intelligence to help them aide in founding for their group. Most terrorist would stay close to their homes because of new immigration status and sometimes the lack of transportation. Terrorist living in urban areas are most likely would avoid attention. They are known as â€Å"lone wolves† they would target locally much uncoordinated violence such as anti-abortion extremists. Among a single-issue terrorist 77% of preparatory acts usually occurred within 12 miles and 92% occurred within 28 miles of their target. There are about a half of environmental terrorist’s acts only three fifths of them live roughly about 30 miles of their target. 5% of environmental terrorist and 59% international terrorist prepared for their target within 30 miles. Terrorist also conduct robberies, burglaries and thefts further away about an average of 429 miles from their homes. Running Head: Terrorist Behavior. As for law enforcement the implications of finding out about the proximity and preparation and time of a terrorist attack are very significant. With the help of early intelligence this can help law enforcement a lot of time to stop terrorist before an attack. Such Intel will also help local officials to respond rapidly. Law enforcement official must understand that most terrorist act locally and it’s important to know how to conduct a proper investigation method to seek and help prevent terrorism and also arrest perpetrators. Having a local pattern can be more efficiently in patrolling of high-risk target areas and gather enough Intel on suspected terrorist actions. Law enforcement officials will continue to understand and learn the relationship and the locations of terrorists preparation activities and their target of choice will help boost the knowledge and should help officers prevent and respond quickly to a terrorist attacks. Another way for local police to successfully meet the challenges posed by terrorism would be a time-tested approach that emphasizes prevention must converge with new ones that focus on prediction. Local police must also add critical elements of speed, resources, and numbers to any situation when necessary. They must be able to deploy rapidly and can quickly get more forces if needed. Homeland security must be ready at all times for any terrorist acts and threats. Overall I think if our homeland security along with local police train more and learn how terrorist operates I think our country would be safe somehow from a terrorists attack.

Impact of Digitisation on Media Consumption

Impact of Digitisation on Media Consumption How has digitisation changed media consumption? Discuss with reference to at least one specific example. The last decades have brought a revolution on how and where information and entertainment are being delivered. About 13 years ago MySpace was the best source for social networking. Facebook and YouTube did not even exist then. Now Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have things ranging from news, sports, entertainment clips to original creations. However, this is not just about the development of more sources of media but it is about how media are delivered. Today everything we see, hear and read, is digitized. They are a product of those countless 1s and 0s codes. That in turn means, that as far as technology is concerned, it is all the same; print, audio and video have no difference. Every conceivable kind of information comes to us on the same device. If you own a smart phone then you automatically have a phone, a tv screen, a newspaper, a camera, a file holder, a radio and many more. This has shifted the power away from the providers to the users of information. Media gets shaped by t he consumers. Media convergence has encouraged an increase of participatory culture where the consumer is also the producer of media. As a result, participation in media has leaked into politics. The rise of the network society has also led to transformations of social dynamics and interpersonal relationships as well as how individuals relate to institutions. Donald Trumps tweeting demonstrate the notion of relationship shift in three different ways. In order to understand how Trump uses tweets in social media and with what outcome, one needs to be aware of how an individual can change the course of virtual products. Everyone is potentially a producer of media as well as a consumer of media. We live in a world where sharing with each other what we create is mutually rewarding and has an enormous emotional satisfaction. Going back 200 years in history, people struggled with the limits of technology to figure out a way to share their ideas with each other and to communicate effectively across great geographic distances. Middle of the 19th century, teenagers were producing publications using tin-toy printing press, where they had to sit and type letter by letter in order to print something (Leurs, 2017).They would print them and these things would then circulate on a national scale. That is the same impulse that leads kids today to put content on their Facebook page or to make their own song videos for YouTube. This desire to create and share what you create with others is really powerful. Is not an agency or a network that is pushing content to be viewed, but it is the consumer that engages other consumers with that content (Jenkins, Ford and Green, 2013: 2). For instance, on Facebook there is a share button where you can share content with your friends. If your friends like it then they can share it again and so on and this is one of the ways a content can go viral. Consequently, spreadability is all about the choices the consumers make which affects the flow of media through the culture (Jenkins, Ford and Green, 2013: 3-5). Spreadability allows information to flow in an interconnected society. Content does not just move around on its own accord; participatory culture allows media content to spread through multiple active choices (Jenkins, 2006: 3). Individuals have a greater control over the means of cultural production and circulation than ever before. This is because, it is not the creator of a virtual pr oduct that is spreading it to the mass, but it is the masses who are spreading it among one another and their networks. Trumps relationship with the media is complex in three ways. Firsly, Trumps tweets depict how participatory culture is important for the vitality of an individual or a virtual product. According to Castell, network society forms the new architecture of society. Networks have an open structure and are able to expand and contract as necessary.   The communication that occurs across these networks is multidimensional and multidirectional. For instance, during Trumps presidential campaign, in 2016, there was an apparent rise in Trumps tweets. His tweets were then taken out of context and converted to memes. These memes were then uploaded in multiple online pages such as 9Gag and Reddit. Through participatory culture people from all over the world could be part of Trumps presidential campaign. Additionally, people were not only sharing Trumps tweets but someone created a page (www.faketrumpetweet.com) where anyone can create a fake trump tweet and then share it as an actual tweet. There fore, the rise of participatory culture in a network society has led to transformations of social dynamics. Trumps constant controversial Tweets, during his campaign, made him look more like a mass media celebrity rather than a traditional politician. This demonstrates that people were connecting around and through Trump. This was about what the people did. Trump was simply a name attached to participatory culture as large numbers of young people moved for the first time in the political process. Wider culture is now translating politics to popular culture. Trumps constant tweeting proves that politics is moving away from policy discourse and into a more engaged audience. Secodly, Trumps tweets portray the blur lines between real and fake context in the network society. Cultural networks have evolved from the virtual network society and emerged from the industrial age to the information age (Castell). In this transition capitalism is no longer centred on the production of material goods, but on the information and knowledge. Trump has often been criticized for tweeting misleading information. However, not everyone can identify fake news. Pierre Levy, a French philosopher, cultural theorist and media scholar, developed the idea of collective intelligence. Levy argues that in a networked society nobody knows everything (LeÃÅ' vy, 1997: 13).Everybody knows something but there is an enormous array of all kinds of expertise and knowledge out there. Hence, we relay, to some extent, on media to make sense of the world around us. If someone relies on Trumps tweets to receive basic information then this person will not only receive deceptive information bu t a great amount of biasness too. With digitizations advancements, each individual, sitting behind a computer or a tablet, has in their hands more power than any previous generation could imagine. Each individual should make extra effort on social media to try and verify stories before passing them on, especially if they confirm a pre-existing bias. Thirdly, through Trumps tweets the representation of a paradoxical connection with globalization is evident and this allows information to be instantaneously consumed. His lack of globalized thinking is evident in many of his tweets such as America must put its own citizens first, because only then can we truly Make America Great Again! #JointAddress #AmericanSpirit (tweet was posted on Feb. 28, 2017, 9:14 p.m.) is just an example out of the tens. What Trump is trying to do is abandon globalization using globalized means. The nature of the network society, and thus globalization, make it possible for Trump to be accessed by different people in different places at the same time. As a result, social media becomes a meeting point and a place of global scale exchange of opinions and statements.   The difference in a network society is that the process of managing information within social networks is achieved using electronic based technologies. Still, what is interesting with Trumps t weets is that when he tweets it not only spreads throughout social media, but it also gets attention from traditional media (newspapers etc). Thus, he appeals to everyone by starting national as a well as global discussions 140 characters at a time. As a result, societies do not have to be attached to a specific geographic space such as a nation or state, but simply to the space of communication and information flows. Hence, in a way, it should not feel weird that a president tweets this much, because he is communicating in a way that any other person is. Consequently, Donald Trumps tweeting allows power relationships to shift and it makes participatory culture even more evident in the network society. This brings out an outcome where consumers are more intimately involved on how the media landscape looks like. Every minute new layers of content are created. People add their own variance by alternating information, creating new content, or adding on to the spreadability of virtual products. However, it is easy for someone to consume deliberate misinformation via social media. Nonetheless, the process of creating new product, whether they entail real or fake information, keeps on accelerating and expanding, thus, media will continue to create a type value and meaning as it travels across cultures through network societies.   This is because humans correspondingly shape and reshape communications and networks. Finally, Castells theory of the increasing connectedness of human society and our reliance on information and communication te chnologies is an important contribution to our understanding of globalization in the media and Donald Trump is e ultimate participator and reciprocator of his through his tweeting. Citations Jenkins, H. (2004). The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(1), pp.33-43. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. 1st ed. New York: New York University Press. Jenkins, H., Ford, S. and Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. 1st ed. New York: New York University Press. Leurs, L. (2017). 1800-1849: The history of printing during the 19th century. [online] Prepressure. Available at: https://www.prepressure.com/printing/history/1800-1849 [Accessed 15 Mar. 2017]. LeÃÅ' vy, P. (1997). Collective intelligence: Mankinds Emerging World in Cyberspace. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Books.

Basic Concepts Of Phytoremediation Environmental Sciences Essay

Basic Concepts Of Phytoremediation Environmental Sciences Essay Contamination of soil in oil refinery has been an environmental issue of modern industrialization in many countries. The main reason for this contamination is the contaminated products generated during the activities associated with purifying and refining petroleum in oil refinery. Those activities including distillation, chemical treatment, product transfer and storage and so on are the contributors of the contaminants. These consist of the petroleum hydrocarbons, asbestos, metals, some inorganic compounds and etc[1]. There are a lot of effective remediation technologies such as pump-and-treat (PAT), soil washing, thermal desorption, bioremediation and etc. However, some of them are causing inhibition of soil fertility or even destruction to ecosystem. Therefore, this encourages my evaluation on phytoremediation- a variation of bioremediation which has been an emerging technology for remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons since late 1990s[2]. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective in-situ treatment which uses up vegetation to clean up the petroleum-contaminated soils and groundwater. In general, it is to utilize the ability of the special plants roots associated bacteria to take up, accumulate, and breakdown the contaminants (e.g. TPHs) located in soils and ground water[3](Figure1). This technology is more suitable for: (a) large sites with shallow contaminants where only polishing treatment is required; and (b) the sites where vegetation is used as a final cap and closure of the site[4]. Figure 1 Basic concepts of phytoremediation 2. Mechanisms There are seven mechanisms of phytoremediation: phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, phytovolatilization, phytostabilization phytodegradation, hydraulic control and rhizodegradation. They can be described as follows: Phytoextraction This is also known as phytoaccumulation. It aims to utilize plant roots in order to uptake and translocate the metal contaminants in the soil into the above ground portions of the plants[5]. The plants absorb, concentrate, and precipitate the toxic metals from the soils into shoots, leaves, etc. (Fig. 1)[6]. Figure 2 Phytoextraction of Ni from contaminated soil There are some plants, called hyper-accumulators, which are capable of accumulating extremely large amount of metals especially nickel, zinc and copper[7]. These plants need to be either incinerated or composted to recycle the metal after have been used for some time[5]. Rhizofiltration It is the adsorption or precipitation onto plant root surfaces, or absorption into contaminants which present in the soil solution in the root zone. Although rhizofiltration looks similar with phytoextraction, the main function of rhizofiltration is to remediate the contaminated groundwater rather than the soil by removing inorganics and metals. The plants are first raised in greenhouses with their roots in water until a large root system has been completed. At this stage, the original water source is replaced by contaminated for acclimatization. Once the saturation of contaminants in the roots has been reached, the plants are harvested. In the study of removal ability, sunflower, Indian mustard, tobacco, corn and etc. have been used to investigate the removal of lead from water. Among those plants, sunflower has the greatest ability[5, 6]. Phytovolatilization This involves the uptake and transpiration of contaminants by plants, with release of the contaminants in vapour form to the atmosphere. It looks like a natural air-stripping pump system. This natural ability of volatilization enables the plants to volatilize the volatile organic compounds in parts of refinery site, vinyl chloride as well as inorganics and etc[6, 8]. Phytostabilization This process is to use plants for immobilizing contaminants in the soil and groundwater. The roots absorb and accumulate the contaminants, provide adsorption or precipitation within the rhizosphere (root zone) in order to reduce the mobility of contaminants. As contaminant migration to the groundwater or air has been minimized, the bioavailability for their entry into the food chain can be lowered. Metal-tolerant species can be used to restore vegetation to those metal-contaminated sites. Those species not only can decrease the potential migration of contaminants but also prevent the leaching of contaminants to groundwater[5]. Phytodegradation This is also called phytotransformation. It is the breakdown of contaminants through metabolic processes or the effect of constituents (e.g. enzymes) produced by the plants. The complex organic contaminants are degraded into simple molecules and these molecules are then incorporated into plant tissues[5]. Hydraulic Control Hydraulic control is employed by plant canopies on the control of water table and the soil field capacity. Phreatophytic trees and plants are commonly used due to the ability to transpire large amount of water and thereby influence the water balance at the site. The increased transpiration decreases the tendency of contaminants to move towards groundwater water or alleviates the migration of contaminants from the site in groundwater plumes[6]. There is something to be noted that trees must be rooted into a shallow water table aquifer in order to successfully prevent plume migration[9]. Rhizodegradation This is often referred to as phytostimulation or planted-assisted bioremediation/degradation. It can be achieved by breaking down the contaminants in the soil within the rhizosphere through microbial activities. During the microbial activities, organic contaminants such as fuels and solvents can be biodegraded by microorganisms into harmless products. The nutrients for the microorganisms are provided by the exudates produced by the plant[5]. 3. Major influencing factors (a) Soil composition and quality: Soils with high concentration of contaminants soils tends to have a poor physical conditioning which is not able to promote the growth of vegetation and rhizosphere microorganisms. Common limitations are the deficiencies in moisture-holding capacity, aeration, nutrient and permeability and so on. Thus, adjustments are required to improve the quality of soil before planting. A common adjustment is the amendment on pH of soil by adding sulphur or lime[9]. (b) Selection of plant: Plants are selected by taking the concerns of the target contaminants to be polluted and the remedial objectives for redevelopment such as time frame and risk management. Moreover, the climate for the plants to be adapted into is also very important. The ability of the plant acclimating to the soil and the depth of plants root structure also cannot be neglected. The selection and use of plant species must be done carefully in order to avoid the introduction of non-native species into the areas which are new to that species[10]. 4. Advantages Relatively low cost: Comparing with other treatment technologies such as thermal treatment, chemical extraction, some ex-situ technologies and so on, phytoremediation is relatively inexpensive as it only uses plants. [5, 11]. Besides, there is no extraction cost as it is an in-situ treatment. Safe and passive: Phytoremediation is driven by solar energy and there is no chemical usage Feasible for large varieties of contaminants: It can be used on the major contaminants produced in oil refinery-petroleum hydrocarbon as well as the other minor contaminants such as VOCs, TCE and even heavy metals and etc[12]. Mitigation of soil erosion: The establishment of vegetation can effectively improve the soil structure and resulting in reducing the soil erosion. Preventing migration of contaminants: Phytoremediation avoids excavation and transport of polluted media as the contaminants are destroyed in place. Therefore, it can lower the risk of spreading the contamination[13]. Aesthetically pleasing: The use of green plants can contribute a more eye-pleasing and natural green environment. 5. Disadvantages Relatively shallow clean-up of soil with low contaminant concentration: Treatment is limited to soils less than 1 m from surface for grasses, less than 3 m for shrubs, less than 6 m for deep-rooting trees and groundwater less than 3 m from the surface. Besides, it is not effective for contaminated site with high concentration [5, 14]. Slow process: The whole process is relatively slow compared with other technologies as three to five growing seasons are needed to achieve remediation goals[5]. Site specific and critical plant selection: The optimization of plant growth and the contaminants uptake depends on the characteristics of the site and the plant species that are selected[5]. Potential food chain contamination: Contaminants may enter the food chain through animals which eat the plants or borne fruits[14]. Production of residual waste: Using phytoremediation may relocate contaminants from the subsurface to the plant, thereby creating residual waste to be disposed of[5]. By looking at the features of phytoremediation in various aspects, we may find some drawbacks and limitations. Although the overall performance of phytoremediation is still not effective as soil vapor extraction and other technologies, its trade-off such as low cost, practicality and environmental-friendliness indicates that it can be a promising solution for remediation in oil refinery, especially in developing countries. Also, many studies on phytoremediation are still being carried out, so it can certainly be combined with a lot of technologies for future improvement and ultimately be widely applied in oil refineries all over the world.

Alliances and Ententes Were to Blame for the Outbreak of World War One

Alliances and Ententes Were to Blame for the Outbreak of World War One (WWI) In August 1914, World War One broke out. The main cause of the war has never been established and has been among the many debates among historians studying this period. Many historians have conflicting views about what caused war to break out in 1914, and many believe there is not one cause to blame but was the result of many conflicts and disputes between different countries over a long period. There are also other causes for the outbreak of World War One including Political systems and developments, Colonial Conflicts and rivalries, The Moroccan Crises, The Balkan Wars and the July Crisis. In my opinion, Alliances and Ententes was to blame for war to break out in 1914. The main reason for this is that after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was shot by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Therefore, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an ultimatum, which they had chose to ignore, and as a result Germany, who was their ally persuaded Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Russia, who supported Serbia, began to mobilise. This began to escalate and France, Germany and Britain consequently got involved because of their alliances or ententes. The question is without these alliances and ententes, would war have broken out in 1914? Due to the built up tension of Militarism, Nationalism and Imperialism the Great powers were worried of being attacked from rival countries. As a result, alliances and ententes were beginning to form. In 1879 Germany had made a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary, and Italy joined three years later to create... ... 1914. The motive for the assassination was that they feared that once the Archduke came to the throne he would continue to persecute the Serbs within the Austrian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia, and issued the Austro-Hungarian government a list of demands to the Serbian government, who inevitably refused these demands and denied having any part in the assassination. Therefore, World War One broke out. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that Alliances and Ententes were to blame for the outbreak of WWI because if countries such as Austria and Serbia did not have any allies there would not have been a World War, just a European War. Also, the countries colonies became involved. However, it must be stressed that there were other causes that eventually resulted in the outbreak of war in 1914.

Birth order and School Achievement Essay -- essays research papers

Birth order and School Achievement There has always been an attempt to figure out why some people do better in school than others. Is it due to financial stability? Is it attributed to parents’ own success as students? Very importantly, one’s birth order plays a role in one’s school achievement. I. Theory Growing up with siblings or the absence of siblings can be a major factor in determining academic success. Being the oldest, middle or youngest child does not necessarily determine academic success concretely without exception, but serves as a predictor of future academic success. School achievement is gauged by how far one goes in his or her education, starting from grade school, all the way up to graduate school. Before getting into the developmental stages across the life span and in the interest of time, I will only be discussing birth order in terms of the oldest child, middle child, youngest child and only child because configurations of five or more children occur only in 10% of the families with children. The average family in the U.S. has three (Toman, 1976). Also, I will be dividing the developmental stages into 3 stages: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Childhood (Ages 1-12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The firstborn child is likely to have intensified feelings of power and superiority, high anxiety, and overprotective tendencies (Feist & Feist, 2002). The firstborn children usually have a close relationship with the parents than laterborn children. The child has the experience of having his or her parents to him or herself and tends to feel like a rather important individual (Forer, 1969). For a while, these children are only children until a younger brother or sister is born. They experience a traumatic dethronement, which may development resentment towards the new baby. During this time in their life, firstborns may be jealous and want to seek mother and father’s affection. When it comes to school, in grade school, these children will try to seek attention by being a class clown or a rebellious child. Education itself may not be of interest to them. Report cards may show poor grades and unsatisfactory behavior. This makes sense because before the younger siblings were born, the firstborn child was anxiously awaited. Parents are so proud of the firstborn as their â€Å"pride and joy.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The middle child or s... ...his or her final grade in the class. The students would then be grouped into categories of first born, second born, third born, fourth born, and so on. The students would then be ranked by grades along with their birth orders. I would try to determine the effect of birth order on school achievement. The professor would determine the students’ final grade. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether or not this questionnaire would find significant results for birth order and grades (school achievement), it would be a good way just to see whether there was a correlation. Ultimately, I’m not sure if this group of students would be representative of the population. The group I picked is in California, so it would not be representative of the entire United States. School achievement can be attributed to many things besides birth order such as social influences. References Feist, G.J., & Feist, J. (2002). Theories of Personality (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Forer, L.K. (1969). Birth Order and Life Roles. Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A.: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. Toman, W. (1976). Family Constellation (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company, Inc. Birth order and School Achievement Essay -- essays research papers Birth order and School Achievement There has always been an attempt to figure out why some people do better in school than others. Is it due to financial stability? Is it attributed to parents’ own success as students? Very importantly, one’s birth order plays a role in one’s school achievement. I. Theory Growing up with siblings or the absence of siblings can be a major factor in determining academic success. Being the oldest, middle or youngest child does not necessarily determine academic success concretely without exception, but serves as a predictor of future academic success. School achievement is gauged by how far one goes in his or her education, starting from grade school, all the way up to graduate school. Before getting into the developmental stages across the life span and in the interest of time, I will only be discussing birth order in terms of the oldest child, middle child, youngest child and only child because configurations of five or more children occur only in 10% of the families with children. The average family in the U.S. has three (Toman, 1976). Also, I will be dividing the developmental stages into 3 stages: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Childhood (Ages 1-12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The firstborn child is likely to have intensified feelings of power and superiority, high anxiety, and overprotective tendencies (Feist & Feist, 2002). The firstborn children usually have a close relationship with the parents than laterborn children. The child has the experience of having his or her parents to him or herself and tends to feel like a rather important individual (Forer, 1969). For a while, these children are only children until a younger brother or sister is born. They experience a traumatic dethronement, which may development resentment towards the new baby. During this time in their life, firstborns may be jealous and want to seek mother and father’s affection. When it comes to school, in grade school, these children will try to seek attention by being a class clown or a rebellious child. Education itself may not be of interest to them. Report cards may show poor grades and unsatisfactory behavior. This makes sense because before the younger siblings were born, the firstborn child was anxiously awaited. Parents are so proud of the firstborn as their â€Å"pride and joy.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The middle child or s... ...his or her final grade in the class. The students would then be grouped into categories of first born, second born, third born, fourth born, and so on. The students would then be ranked by grades along with their birth orders. I would try to determine the effect of birth order on school achievement. The professor would determine the students’ final grade. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether or not this questionnaire would find significant results for birth order and grades (school achievement), it would be a good way just to see whether there was a correlation. Ultimately, I’m not sure if this group of students would be representative of the population. The group I picked is in California, so it would not be representative of the entire United States. School achievement can be attributed to many things besides birth order such as social influences. References Feist, G.J., & Feist, J. (2002). Theories of Personality (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Forer, L.K. (1969). Birth Order and Life Roles. Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A.: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. Toman, W. (1976). Family Constellation (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company, Inc.

Increased Competition and Pricepressures in Supply Chain

CD5590 Professional Ethics in Science and Engineering Presentation: Ethics in Supply Chain Management (SCM) Abedullah Zaman Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management Definition: The network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities and suppliers that participate in the sale, delivery and production of a particular product. In the simplest terms, Supply Chain Management (SCM) lets an organization get the right goods and services to the place they're needed at the right time, in the proper quantity and at an acceptable cost.Efficiently managing this process involves overseeing relationships with suppliers and customers, controlling inventory, forecasting demand and getting constant feedback on what's happening at every link in the chain. Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Roots of Ethics Professional ethics is about managing relations which is a crucial part in SCM. Successful companies use supply chains not only to reduce cos t and complement the product but also to nurture long-term valuedadded relationships.Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Why society is concerned about ethics within SCM? Environmental Effects Treatment plants for water, treatment of solid waste, gases Health and Safety In Food Industry- uses of pesticides, hormone-treatment of animals Consumer Rights Legislations about right to safety, right to choose, right to be heard. Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Ethical Model/Process Economic responsibilities: Supply Products and Services. Legal Responsibilities: Ethical Responsibilities: Obey Laws.Conduct business in a way that is morally consistent with the beliefs of society Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Reasons for Increasing Concern about Ethics in Supply Chains The pressure is coming from various sources. A wide range of stakeholders are interested in the social, ethical and environmental performance of the retail industry’s supply chai n. General Public Growing people's awareness of these issues and increasing expectations of companies' responsibilities.Investors and rating agencies It is also coming from investors as socially responsible investment becomes more mainstream. Managing supply chain issues is seen as one indicator of how well a company is run. Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Media The media are also becoming more interested in stories about malpractice, as are campaigning groups as they target new sectors and become more skilled at harnessing public opinion. Consumers More educated and discerning consumers.Government and NGOs Public exposure of poor labour standards in some factories and other establishments, often located in developing countries, can inadvertently undermine progress on establishing ethical trade and good labour practices. Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Examples Marks & Spencer Ethical concerns about child labour, prison labour, discrimination and terms and condition of work environment. M&S Ethical Global Sourcing Strategy: Global Sourcing Principles Partnership with Suppliers Social Audit and Verification Continual Improvements and SanctionsProfessional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Nike Labour involved in production of footballs. Code of Conduct- Improve working conditions in factories. Forced labor, Child Labor, Compensation, Benefits, Hours of work, Safety and health, Documentations and inspection. Reebok Sourcing Procedure- Supplier list based on â€Å"Fair Factories Clearing House† evaluation. Zero Tolerance Strategy GAP Apparel Outsourcing- Social Responsibility Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Addressing Ethical Issues in Supply ChainRole of Certifications Example: World Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) WRAP is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the certification of lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing throughout the world. Other Regulations International Labour Organisat ion (ILO) Conventions United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recent issues with SCM Research Trust in Supply Chains Ethical Supply Chain Ethical supply chain should communicate ethical behaviours and fair treatment to all its stake holders. Supply chains must satisfy societal expectationsProfessional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Discussions Child work can be seen as important in developing responsibility and independence as well as contributing to household economy. Should the societies be let isolated by not giving orders to already poor communities? Engagement or Disengagement strategy? Professional Ethics in Supply Chain Management Five Myths about Business Ethics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ethics is personal Business and ethics don? t mix Business ethics is relative Good business means good ethics Information is neutral and amoral

Perception paper

In these two stories you see both women being stereotyped. Christa Kilvington being stereotyped for being on government well fare. I can see why people would use that stereotype on her. A lot of the people see using the well fare system are dead beats so to speak, people that are too lazy or on drugs to go find a decent job. With Carol Paik she keeps getting the Asian stereotype where people think she looks like other Asians. I also can understand how people can make this mistake; I think every single one of us will admit that all Asian people look kind of similar and that we’ve each made the same mistake as the people in this story are making with Carol. I personally have made this mistake, even carol made it and she used to complain about people doing the same thing to her.The major factors that affect the selection of information by the people who see Christa are that she is on the welfare system and that she’s a 4.0 student. The people at grocery stores or the welfa re office see her as a lazy person who wont go get a job and make her own money. Her classmates see her as the hardworking dedicated 4.0 student. The two are very different after reading the story I see Christa more on the side of hardworking and dedicated. The major factor affecting Carol is her race. The fact that she’s Asian is the biggest reason people perceive her as someone else.The people who meet Christa organize the information they are given into two different groups. People out in public see her as the single mom that is on government welfare, from that they assume that she is a worthless, lazy woman who is coasting on government funds. People who meet Christa around college see her as the exceptional student. It would be interesting to see what her classmates would say if they knew about her being on welfare and if people out in public knew that she is a 4.0 student. People who meet Carol organize her into one category. People who meet carol confuse her with other women because the general stereotype is that all Asians look alike.The cultural views are big in theses two stories. Generally in our, or American culture, we don’t usually see 4.0 students on government welfare, we’re just not used to seeing that combination of traits from somebody. We also see in our culture that we mix up Asian people with each other. I don’t believe it’s because we are racist I think it’s that we are not raised around a lot of Asians usually so its kind of hard for us to distinguish between them sometimes.To minimize the perception problems people could use perception checking. â€Å"Perception checking is a tool for helping you understand others accurately instead of assuming that your first interpretation is correct. Because its goal is mutual understanding, perception checking is a cooperative approach to communication (Alder/Proctor II, 105).† Perception checking has three parts, description, interpretations, and a request of clarification. In this situation a request for clarification would help out both these women greatly.

Burma’s Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Future Essay

Burma is an Asian country that attained its independence on 4th January 1948 and is bordered by China on the North and Thailand on the East. it was referred to as the union of Burma in 1948. On January 4th 1974 it changed its name to the union of Burma and then on 23rd September, 1888 it reverted to the union of Burma. In 1989, then it changed the name again to the union of Myanmar and this was through the efforts by the state law and order restoration council (SLORC). It is a country whose population has had a lot of significance in Burma’s politics. The Burmese government is known as Myanmar and assumed an authoritarian feature that is dominated by a military leader. There have been substantial efforts to switch to a more democratic moves but these efforts have be hampered by the military which is against this move for example in 1990, a parliamentary government was elected but the Burma’s military could not let it to convene. Burma has a population of about 50 million people and has 500,000 troops who have been helping the government to create a regime of fear by denying the citizens most of their basic rights. Some democratic leaders have come up and visualized a viable idea of freeing the people from the torture they get from the government. In 1992 with his party the National League for Democracy, managed to scoop 82 % of all country’s parliamentary seats but the military regime which used dictatorship principles declined to transfer power to the leaders that were democratically elected. For more than ten years later, Aung San Suu kyi was put on house arrest and was released only in 2002. Her release was viewed by many as the only hope to the establishment of Burmese democratic government that would be sensitive to the people’s needs unfortunately in 2003 herself and many of her supporters were killed by a rowdy mob that was sponsored by the government. This conflict between the majority and the minority became evident after Burma achieved independence in 1948. It was at this time that Aung San Suu was given the mandate to control all those areas that traditionally were not controlled by only single community. After 1948 when the Burmese constitution was signed, constitution right have not been exercised on the minorities, they also do not have pieces of land and especially those that formerly belonged to their people. Since the war period, the Burman minorities have been sidelined by the majority who are the Burmese Burma was a British colony from the 1920s and this continued up to 1948. Though the Burma’s heartland was ruled directly by the colonial powers, the surrounding regions were allowed to rule themselves and this led the loyalty to split along the ethnic lines. The dominant ethnic group is the Burmese that comprise of 68 percent of the whole population and minority accounts for the remaining 32 percent. Religion in Burma has played a key role in causing further divisions. There are many religious in Burma for example there are Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. These religious divisions have been aggravating the situations for example in 1991; more than a quarter million Muslims were evicted from their homes. This was exacerbated by the fact that there were many alliances formed. They were forced to cross the border to Bangladesh where they were accepted as refugees by the Bangladesh government but were helped by the international community with the basic needs. Today, the Burmese government is led a prime minister whose regime is greatly accused of displacing thousands of Burmese communities both internally and externally, some community such as Karen, Mon and Kareni were forced to seek refuge in Thailand. Those that are internationally displaced receive a better treatment than those that are internally displaced as the later are mistreated by the military. It is estimated that about 600,000 citizens have been internally displaced and are constantly looking for ways they could avoid slavery. They are used as slaves by this government as many of them are conscripted in the army by force or are left with no other choice except from joining the drug network that is sponsored by the state. There are various movements that have been trying to free the population of Burma from military. Some of these are; the Junta, the Karen National Union and the Moi Tai army though their efforts did not materialize because most of the current military officials are from the community with the majority that oppresses the minorities. So, it is really hard to make any advance but there is one very vibrant group that has mobilized the minorities to participate in a non-violent peaceful demonstration. Led by Buddhist monks, these people protested against the abuse of human rights and matched in groups of more than hundred thousand protestors in the streets. The Head of the State, General Shwe who is also the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is greatly criticized by the United States and the European governments which have imposed various sanctions that are enforced thorough consumer boycotts. The United States of America and the European governments using their influence led other Western nations to stop cooperating with Burma. Though these governments have been relentless in enforcing bans against Burma, some western companies are still cooperating due to some loopholes in sanction application. Most of these are the oil companies. Such as the American oil company and the French oil company. Also Cherron and the Yadana natural gas pipeline that runs from Burma all the way to Thailand is so much in use. There are still Asian businesses that operate in Burma for example the Daewoo Company that invests in extracting resources. The United States government in collaboration with the European governments also imposed sanctions on Burma’s clothing as well western nations to stop sourcing from Burma and more particularly those shops that were either partially or wholly supported by the government. After those peaceful protests, a good number of people stopped getting their products from Burma and these were led by an individual like Levi Strauss who was very vibrant in keeping up with the fight against the government products for example from 1992,many American cloth and shoes companies stopped acquiring their properties from Burma. In 2003, the united government banned Burma’s imports as in accordance with the Burmese freedom and democracy Act that was amended in the year 2003 however, some people have attacked this United States strategy of forcing this government to step down as has led many people to suffer greatly. Despite these critics, the move was supported by the Burmese democratic movement and has supposed by the Burmese democratic movement and has vowed to keep encouraging the western world to impose harder and stricter sanctions against the military government (Smith M. 1991) Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity London and New Jersey. Zed books. The human watches in Burma have highlighted all the crimes against humanity but there is no judiciary to address the problem any such move faces strong opposition from the military government. There is no free communication that is allowed by the Burmese military government in fact no one is allowed to access the internet and the search engines such as Google, G mail, hotmail and yahoo so the Burmese citizens are less informed. What the government has done is that it does not allow these companies to operate in its territory and as such they are blocked. If people have to access materials from the internet, they must first of all be filtered and censored by the military government. They use US filtering soft wares such as the Fortinet to censor emails, web pages and pro-democratic pages. In Burma, child soldiers are forcefully conscripted. They are also forced to punish their fellow military friends by being giving death threats incase they do not as they bare told. Children are conscripted in army by force. These children are promised to be jailed if they do not accept to join the army. Since the military regime usurped power in 1962, after overthrowing sthe democratically elected government, this regime has been one of the worst violators of human rights in the whole universe. The climax reached after the (SLORC) State Law and Order Restoration Council was changed To State Peace And Development Council sometimes back in 1997, November. This party in 1988 seized the states powers established itself and forcefully removed the little pretence that was there that they were upholding the dignity of the citizens and took part in massacring the demonstrates who were demonstrating against the creation of this undemocratic regime. They were marching in the streets of Rangoon and Burmese towns and cities when the military forces descended on them killing thousands. According to the comment that was made by the amnesty international human rights violation and torture were like a Burmese institution and they even listed various forms of abuses that were perpetrated by this corrupt regime. This report was further affirmed by the United Nations and other human rights watchdog. These abuses that they listed were for example torture, murder, litany abuses, forced displacements of citizens, holding or arresting individuals and keeping them in detention houses without trials and various litany abuses. These were the activities that were characteristic of this military regime and citizens have suffered enormously under it. Children were also abused by the military that forcefully conscript them in the army and also the villagers were forced to work for the military. Children are reportedly said to have been raped and defiled by the troops. The military operations that are from time to time conducted in various villages and these led to deterioration of living standards for example this was witnessed in Karen state and Shan state in 2001. This has forced many to be to run away to the neighboring states such as Thailand while those who are unable to move out of the country were internally displaced. The internally displaced and lived in the camps for internally displaced received very harsh treatment by the ruling military regime than those who manage to seek refuge in the neighboring states. The military regime do not in any way follow the internationally agreed freedoms for example the civil and political rights though Burma is a signatory to various international peace accords. Everything that happens in this country must be censored including the exhibitions. There is completely no freedom of expression. Even publications are not spared as they are censored by the government infact it is only sports and romance magazines are not censored. The broadcasting media houses are state owned and the government has the monopoly over them. They only air information that is favorable to them for example you it is common to see junta’s generals making speeches and from these stations and instead they go for less biased information. The SLOPCS has been very determined in curtailing the freedom of speech. Though they try to censor the information given by the public media, there are international ones that give more accurate information and these are what people rely on. These are stations such as the British broadcasting corporation (BBC), the democratic voice of Burma, radio Free Asia and the Voice of America (VOA). Apart from these international radio stations, any other person who goes against this decree risked twenty years imprisonment as per the 1996 decree. These are some of the laws that are enforced by this government without any regard to the international law standards. Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from government controls and abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the â€Å"Burmese Socialism†, but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances including a steep inflation rate and an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. Burma is a nation that is rich in various natural resources for example the country has precious such as pearls and rubies. The country is also rich in natural gases. In 1962 its economy was performing well when compared to other economies of the developing nations but the socialist party which assumed power later changed the economic status of Burma for example it replaced the capitalism mode of economy with socialism that advocated for central planning as opposed to central planning. Due to this economic change it became one of the poorest developed nations of world. In addition, most overseas development assistance was cut after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. A crisis in the private banking sector in early 2003 followed by economic moves against Burma by the United States, the European Union, and Japan – including a US ban on imports from Burma and a Japanese freeze on new bilateral economic aid further weakened the Burmese economy. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burma’s foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade – often estimated to be one to two times the official economy. Better relations with foreign countries and relaxed controls at home are needed to promote foreign investment, exports, and tourism. In February 2003, a major banking crisis hit the country’s 20 private banks, shutting them down and disrupting the economy. In July and August 2003, the United States imposed a ban on all Burmese imports and a ban on provision of financial services, hampering Burma’s ability to obtain foreign exchange. As of January 2004, the largest private banks remained moribund, leaving the private sector with little formal access to credit outside of government contracts. In Burma the rate of unemployment is very high and the prices of commodities are very high and life standards are very high. According to one businessman said that the situation in Burma was moving from bad to worse and that there was looming danger of social unrest, lectures, professors and pipeline construction workers are poorly paid. Due the constant mass uprising by the democratic movement against this regime, it was rendered bankrupt in 1988 in the onset of the 21st century, it was on the lowest income generating countries in the world but it has greatly reversed this situation because it dropped its economic isolationism. It has also welcomed the foreign investors in its economy so that it would strengthen its military bases. In response to its call, UNOCAL and TOTAL oil companies came to its rescue. In Burma, there are military controlled economic sectors such as Myanmar economic holdings limited and the Myanmar economic corporation that is, UMEH and MEC respectively. These two industries which are controlled by the Burmese military are the ones that dominate the economic sector of Burma. UMEH is geared towards military strengthening while MEC is geared towards shifting the defense cost from the public sector to the private ones but both corporations have a part to play in strengthening the military base of Burma. Though European Union has been imposing economic sanctions to Burma its sanctions are not as stricter as those of the United States. It has invested a lot in Burma and it doesn’t want to lose the much that it has invested. United States has been very keen in reinforcing the bans or sanctions that have been imposed on Burma. The US government particularly has imposed a ban on its investments in this country and has also placed a ban against Burmese exports. Since the bans were proposed, US is the only nation that has implemented them. In the past, the European Union has not been imposing strict sanctions but starting from last year it has increased economic sanctions on precious metals and on imports such as gemstone and timber but they still demand for fresh elections to be held and human rights to be respected. It is only thorough these ways that the country can witness a transition from military rule to a democratic one. It had eased its sanctions basing its reasoning on its above conditions. Japan has been very friendly to Burma. It has never failed to support this military regime though on a small scale. Infact it is one of the major donor in Burma but it is reconsidering its foreign policy on Burma especially after a Japanese journalist was killed. It said that it would cut the aid that Burma gets from it. The other reason for it to withhold its financial aid was in 2003 when San Suu Kyi was kept in detention by the Junta. They believed that was the only best move that would pressurize the military regime to address the democratic principles that have never been allowed to take root in this regime. In 2002,Japan supported Burma’s government with 17 million US dollars on top of that it gave Burma the technical support it needed Japan which was all this time shying away from enforcing sanctions on Burma as the US and UK were doing, it changed its policy after this saga. The British government pressurized the European Union to increase sanctions until san Suu Kyi was realized but it was assured that these sanctions would be eased if Suu Kyi was released. That nation that seems to support Burma or appears or appears or appears to be annually to Burma face violation by the US and UK government and this has occurred to china and North Korea. This is based on misconception that these close friends would be providing economic support to this government that has little regards for its citizens. The United States for example was very bitter because Burmese government suppressed democracy and imposed its will on people and that is why it has imposed sanctions. The heroic stature of Aung San Suu Kyi has greatly helped in making Myanmar to be recognized world wide. China has been blamed for helping this region for its support. The western world cannot sway the Juntas government for this to be effective, then the regional ASEAN countries such as India, Thailand and especially china must first be willing to transform this government. China has been asking Myanmar to quell violence and control protesters but it seems this is falling on deaf ears. China has been helping Burma in international affairs management for example it has been very vibrant in keeping the issue of Burma out of the United Nation’s agenda but the United States and the British governments have been on the other side. Due to many economic sanctions that have been imposed on this regime, it finds it even hard to provide aid to its people who living in poverty. The aid that Burmese gets is below par and is the lowest in the region especially when it compared with that of the local countries for example, an individual’s aid is counted as 2. 5 dollars per head while that of Laos’s stands at 63 US dollars. China has been accused of providing Junta with military aid thus limiting the chances of democracy being realized. It has continued to conduct business relations with. Burma but it is because of some factors that are understandable and some of these are that Burma is rich in useful natural gases that china is interested in again Burma provides China with an overland route to the Indian ocean so Chinese government would not do anything to destroy its relations with Burma. Though there have been calls for better treatment of protestors, they fall on deaf ears. The amnesty international has been pressurizing the United Nations to impose embargos and sanctions on China so that peace in Burma would be realized. This is based on understanding that the Burmese military government relies on china for most of its assistance so, if china was to cut its military aid then, the Burmese government would be unable to control the nation there by creating a platform of peace transition. If the new government would come in place, it would not find it hard to sustain itself even without getting any financial aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that would help the government to finance its entire government projects. The new government should create confidence among its citizens so that they would participate in the economy thereby making the economy of this nation even stronger. This government should also extend its business relations with other nations as many of them do not have those minerals and definitely they would be so much interested in them. Work cited. Altsean-Burma: Alternative Asean Network on Burma campaigns, advocacy and capacity-building for human rights. 2008. Accessed on Wednesday, March, 2008 at http://www. altsean. org/ Andrew S. Burma’s Armed Forces: Power without Glory. Norwalk: East Bridge. 2002; 45-56 Burma net News. Accessed on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at www. burmanet. org BBC News. Analysis: Burma’s economic Crisis. 15th March, 2002, 13:47 GMT Accessed at http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/business/1871326. stm Brookings. Quality, independence and impact. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at www. brookings. edu Donald M. S. Burma-China Relations: Playing with Fire. Asian Survey, Vol. 37, No. 6, 1997; 533 International Crisis Group. Working To Reduce Crisis World Wide. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at http://www. crisisgroup. org/home/index. cfm Myanmar. com. New Light of Myanmar. April 30, 2008 Accessed on April 30, 2008. At http://www. myanmar. com Philip S. Robertson: Sanctions Are Working in Burma. 2003. Online commentary at www. irrawaddy. org/com/2003/com31. html Accessed on August 2003. Smith M. Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity. London and New Jersey. 1991; 78