Academic Performance and Use of Electronic Gadgets Essay

Development in the world is expanding to new levels. Let it be anything, technology has made things more knowledgeable and convenient. Today, the world has turned into a world of electronic gadgets. The electronic gadgets have advanced in various ways. Today, you will find gadgets that fulfill your everyday needs. These gadgets can be anything from a grinder to a camcorder to a laptop. The origins of the word â€Å"gadget† trace back to the 19th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there is anecdotal evidence for the use of â€Å"gadget† as a placeholder name for a technical item whose precise name one can’t remember since the 1850s; with Robert Brown’s 1886 book Spunyarn and Spindrift, A sailor boy’s log of a voyage out and home in a China tea-clipper containing the earliest known usage in print. These can be given as gifts to boys as well as girls. You can gift a play station or any game to a school going boy on his birthday or any occasion. A college going boy can be gifted a laptop or a handy cam, whichever is important and useful to him. Videos are not only created for college projects but, today they can also be created during family or friends. Get-togethers or some family functions. They store family memories for years which can be watched whenever you feel like watching them. Gadgets like cellular phones are used on a daily basis to communicate with your near and dear ones. You can also gift it to them. In the software industry, â€Å"Gadget† refers to computer programs that provide services without needing an independent application to be launched for each one, but instead run in an environment that manages multiple gadgets. There are several implementations based on existing software development techniques, like JavaScript, form input, and various image formats It is on this situation that the researcher was intended to conduct an investigation to identify the perception of secondary students about the use of electronic gadgets, the advantages, disadvantages and effects as well. Statement of the Problem The main purpose of this study is to determine the academic performance and use of electronic gadgets among secondary students of CSULS S.Y: 2012-2013. In addition, the advantages, disadvantage and effectiveness of these problems were also determined. This is done through descriptive survey using questionnaire to be answered by students of CSULS. Specifically, the survey will answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of CSULS students in terms of: a. Age b. Gender c. Year and Section d. Academic Performance e. Monthly Income 2. What are the different electronic gadgets that are used by CSULS students? 3. Does the frequent use of electronic gadgets affects and influences students’ academic performance? 4. Is there any relationship between the profile and the kind of electronic gadget used by CSULS students? Significance of the Study The result of this research study determined the academic performance and the use of electronic gadgets among secondary students of CSULS; S.Y 2012- 2013. In that way, one will have an idea on what teenage magazine shall he/she use. The Parents, this research would tell them on what particular electronic gadgets brings usefulness and harm to their children. The Students, themselves will know on what electronic magazine shall be a help and a hindrance for their academic performance. The Researcher, this research study will aid the students and the parents as well on the limitations of use of electronic gadgets. Scope and Delimitations The study is conducted to determine the academic performance and use of electronic gadgets among secondary students of Catanduanes State University Laboratory Schools. From Grade-7 to Fourth year students SY: 2012-2013. It focuses mainly on the perception of secondary students about the use of teenage magazine during vacant times. It comprises 8 sections namely; 7-Amethyst, 7-Pearl, II- Chrysanthemum, II-Daffodils, III- Platinum, III- Gold, IV- Einstein, IV- Galileo. The demographic characteristics included in this research are age, gender, year, and section, academic performance and monthly income. Definition of Terms * Gadget- the main factor of this study that affects academic performance * CSULS- school where the study was focused * Respondent – the one who will answer the study * Academic Performance- performances shown by students regarding academic matters. (Quizzes, Periodic Test, Recitation, etc) * Secondary Students- scope of the study * CSU Lab Students referring to all officially enrolled students of CSU Laboratory School CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE & STUDIES READINGS * Nabisunsa Girls School – no phones Grace Kitego, a teacher at Nabisunsa Girls School, says they do not allow students to carry mobile phones because they distract students and impact negatively on their academic performance * Kiira College Butiki – confiscated Isaac Tibasima, a teacher at Kiira College Butiki, says the school does not allow students to carry mobile phones because they increase the risk of moral decay. * Vienna College – times change Vienna College offers both local and international education curriculums and has an enrolment of both Ugandan and foreign students. Mohammed Kakiika, the headmaster, says they have no option but to accept their students to carry mobile phones to school since they are a necessity for communication. LITERATURE Cellphones Affect Academic Performance By Michael Kanaabi and Vicky Wandawa A study was conducted by Kanaabi and Wandawa on Aug. 3, 2010 that cellularphones affects the academic performance of students. This study indicates that cellular phones is a huge distraction to one’s attention especially on school hours. Thus, some schools prohibits the use and bringing their cellphones at school. Some of them use phones to call examiners and other students who may have access to examination papers. This is common during national, regional and district examinations. This causes panic and confusion among students because they get varying information from different sources and on many occasions, focus on revising the wrong way, thus failing. Conceptual Framework This study is anchored with the theory that those secondary students’ frequency of usage of electronic gadgets of the said sections has an effect on each of their academic performances. This can be proven in their perceptions used as the independent variable and the academic performance as dependent variable. Figure 1 THE CONCEPTUAL PARADIGM INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE Academic Performance Frequency of usage of electronic gadgets HYPOTHESES There is no significant difference between the academic performance and use of electronic gadgets of secondary students of CSULS S.Y: 2012-2013. RESEARCH DESIGN The study will use the longitudinal survey design in its attempt to determine, describe and analyze the relationship of each. It tries to find out if the independent variable significantly influences the dependent variable. References DiCaprio, N. (1976). The good life: models for a healthy personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. â€Å"Elizabeth.† (2004, July). Real Pretty [Letter to the editor]. Seventeen, 014. Hager, S. E. (1998). Using self-esteem as a concept for guiding early adolescent females toward healthy eating behaviors: A learning module. (Unpublished Masters of Science thesis, Michigan State University, 1998). McFarland, R. (1988). Coping through self-esteem. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. Media Awareness Network. (2004). Beauty and body image in the media. Retrieved November 9, 2004, from http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm. Media Awareness Network. (2004). Masculinity and advertising. Retrieved November 9, 2004, from http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_advertising.cfm. Media Awareness Network. (2004). Media and girls. Retrieved November 9, 2004, from http://www .mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_girls.cfm. Media Awareness Network. (2004). Resisting stereotypes and working for change. Retrieved November 9, 2004, from http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/wome n_reform.cfm. 16Meyers, M. (Ed.). (1999). Mediated women: Representations in popular culture. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc. Nachbar, J.G., Lause, K., & Nachbar, J. (1992, October 1). Popular culture: an introductory text. Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press. [Excerpt Retrieved November 9, 2004, from http://www.serve.com/shea/stereodf.htm.] Plotnik, R. (2005). Introduction to psychology. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning. Waltz, T. (2004, November)

No development without Security Essay

Discuss this statement. In 2005, Kofi Annan, former United Nations General, made the memorable statement that there could be ‘no development without security, and no security without development’. This sparked a debate among multilateral agencies, governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) about the effectiveness and targeting of international aid. Kofi Annan and the UN observed that violent conflict, poor governance and human development, for example reducing poverty and improving education, were interconnected. As well as this, they found that progress towards human development is impossible with political instability and poor governance but at the same time, areas of deprivation and poverty create fear within communities that allows terrorism, civil war and crime to erupt. During the past decade multilateral agencies, such as the UN, the World Bank and major donor governments have acknowledged that peace, political stability and good governance are required in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) for development. In Sub-Saharan Africa civil wars and regional conflicts have prevented progress because the resources that should have been devoted to development have in fact been lost through armed conflict. An example of this is Somalia, in east Africa with a Human Development Index of just 0. 284, where 20 years of civil war has created lawlessness, anarchy and a state without an official government, since 1991. Islamic insurgents including the Al-Shabaab group, with an estimated 14,000 militants and connections to Al-Qaeda, have controlled much of southern Somalia since 2008. Piracy on the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, is also a major problem in progress towards development. Dozens of foreign ships bearing food aid have been waylaid and about 10 billion dollars has been collected through piracy in ransom money and cargo value. This situation, affecting much of the coast surrounding Somalia, has prevented development from trade and foreign investment with an estimated 1. 25 billion dollars lost through potential trade opportunities. In contrast, the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland to the north of Somalia is having a construction boom. As well as this, the area has low crime rates and low fear of violence mainly due to greater group homogeneity but also because the port of Berbara, on the coast of Somaliland does not suffer from piracy so foreign aid is able to enter the country and hence development has occurred. Also, population structures within a country can impact upon the rate of development. In the past 40 years, 80 per cent of civil conflict outbreaks have occurred in countries with more than 60 per cent of the population under the age of 30. Many of these countries have been faced with autocratic governments, where life expectancies are, on average, 9 years less than democratically governed countries and infant mortality rates are 25 per cent higher than in democracies. However as these countries, with youthful populations, advance along the demographic transition, with declining birth and death rates, their vulnerability to civil conflict decreases due to lower dependency ratios and in turn a greater proportion of population at working age which allows for greater personal savings and government spending. A youthful population can be a tremendous advantage to society if they are educated, healthy and living in a safe world. This means that there will be many potential workers for the future, paying taxes, but most of these countries lack adequate economic capabilities to realise this potential. Afghanistan, in stage 2 of the Demographic Transition Model (DTM), has a population of 31. 9 million, a total fertility rate of 6. 8 and 45 per cent of the population under the age of 15. This is has been mainly due to the fact that educational and career opportunities were non-existent, before 1980, and it was seen that women should stay at home which has dramatically influenced the demographic and economic situation of the country. Although, some development has started to take place with improvements in health care, small rural schemes, such as drainage systems and health clinics, being built through the National Solidarity Programme and a Hydro Electric Power turbine setup in the Helmand region which produces 33 megawatts of electricity annually. Inadequate and unequal human development is also a cause of political instability as well as an outcome. Poverty, hunger, poor health and education and oppression can create popular resentment towards governments. Where these problems coincide with separatist tendencies, the result may be armed conflict and civil war. Hence, it is argued that to achieve security and peace human development issues must have priority. In many countries some development can take place without security but this can also be observed at a smaller scale. On a local scale, it is often believed that without security of land tenure, housing will not develop. The huge pace of urbanisation in LEDCs has shown that large areas of previously empty land have been overrun by the development of poor, informal housing. In Bangalore, over 50 per cent of informal, slum housing, greater than 6km from the city centre is not ‘declared’ and there is no security of tenure, yet the residents continue to build. This shows that they are rarely willing to invest into housing that is anything more than semi-permanent without the security of being able to make sure they remain. In Mumbai, 90,000 of these dwellings were destroyed and 300,000 people were left homeless. Although, in areas such as Rochina in Sao Paulo, the opposite can occur. Here, one area within the country received granting for some security has resulted in development. Buildings are now being built with bricks rather than wood, roofs have tiles instead of corrugated iron and sewage systems have been installed. The continued development of the area is reliant on further improvements in security. While multilateral organisations and many world leaders believe that development can only be effective with security and security can only be achieved with development, some objections are still present. Some NGOs fear that this belief will encourage governments in LEDCs to divert international development aid to military spending to defeat separatist groups and crack down on political opposition. This in turn could escalate conflict, violate human rights and set back the whole development process.

Teacher’s Pay for Performance

Should Teacher’s Salaries Be Based on Student’s Academic Performance? Is a student’s failure in a class an indication that a teacher or professor did not adequately perform his or her job? There are two points of view on this issue. Many will argue that teachers should be paid on a merit system, or Pay for Performance system. There are some that believe that there are too many external factors in a class room for a teacher’s salary to be based on how he or she performs in the class room.Teacher’s pay for performance will be highlighted by first discussing what is pay for performance, next, detailing the definition of teaching, and finally, exploring the question of should teacher’s salaries be based on a student’s academic performance. Pay for performance is essentially when an employee is allowed to be partly responsible for his or her pay increase. A company will set goals as well as allow the employee to set his or her own goals and if the employee meets those goals, he or she will get a raise.These raises are based on levels of performance ranging from one to five. A level of one means that an employee failed to meet his or her expectations. A level of two means that an employee needs improvements in some areas. A of three means that an employee met his or her expectations. A level of four means that an employee exceeded his or her expectations. A level of five means that the employee far exceeded his or her expectations or as some managers imply, he or she is a â€Å"super employee†.Pay for performance is designed to inspire employees to work harder so they can obtain higher raises and bonuses if they reach a certain level. Employees may also be motivated to perform better the next year. The question remains, should teachers be on this type of merit system? Teaching is conveying knowledge in formal learning institutions, whether it is a school, K-12, or a university or college. Teachers have a major i nfluence on a student’s life. They plant seeds of knowledge that continue to grow with a student.They support, empower, engage and care for their students. Today, most teachers are paid based on their seniority or academic degrees. Perhaps they should be paid based on their level of accomplishment and responsibility. Teacher evaluations should be based partly on student achievement data and their raises should be based on student’s academic performance. If teachers were paid based on student’s academic achievements, they would put forth more effort to provide a higher quality of teaching.Competition would be raised among teachers and a possibility of higher salaries would encourage them to perform better. If teachers were paid for their performance it might also differentiate teachers who care about their student’s performance from those who only want to collect a paycheck. On the other side of the coin, there are also reasons why a teacher’s salar y should not be based on student’s academic performance. The first being that there is a lack of standard academic performance tests, which means there is no measurement criteria.There is the possibility that some teachers might give students higher grades to benefit their salaries. The strongest argument against teacher pay for performance would be that all students do not have the same level of intelligence, commitment, or determination. It may not be fair to hold a teacher responsible for a student that cannot learn or do not want to learn. Given the scenario that a teacher’s pay increases would be based on student’s academic performance, their levels of performance could range from one to five also.A level five would indicate that all students have passed the class with a grade of B or better and performed well on a standardized test. A level four would indicate that all students passed the class with a grade of C or better. A level three would indicate that 80 percent of the students passed the class. A level two would indicate that at least 50 percent of the students passed the class. A level one would indicate that only 20 percent of the students passed the class or a student has failed the class more than once under the same teacher.Teachers that perform at level one should not receive pay increases. A performance level of three or above should receive salary increases. An example of a level one performance would be if a student failed the same class two or more times or if only four out of twenty students passed a class, then that teacher or professor obviously has not imparted the knowledge to their students that they set out to convey. An example of a level three teacher’s performance would be if his or her students continuously increase their academic performance or pass standardize tests.In conclusion, I assert that teacher’s salaries should be based on their student’s academic performances. If teachers hi t their levels, they should receive higher raises. It they fail their students, their salary should not increase. There are a lot of educators that would disagree with this assertion; however, given the state of our education system, a change needs to be put in place. If teachers are required to perform better and are paid better based on their performance, then students will perform better.

Management Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management Information System - Essay Example The variety of services offered to the passengers may be extended to include, for instance, communication between the cabins, GPS service, gambling etc. The system may also provide the customization of the offerings, by finding the stored information about the choices made during the previous trip and suggesting to a passenger his or her favorite dish or wine. On the other hand, for the ship managers and personnel the Ship Partner provides enormous benefits as well. By maintaining an extensive real-time database, allowing easy extraction of the information in the form of reports needed and facilitating the communication process with the passengers, the Ship Partner allows the managers to focus more on the core competencies. If there is no need to devote a lot of time to conducting these activities, the management can concentrate on providing a better customer service and inventing ways to improve cruise ship's current operational activities. In general, such an information system and communication network, customized to the needs of particular business sphere, would prove to be of use in the sectors for which reliable and up-to-date clients' information and provision of a high-level services to the custome

Swift's A Modest Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Swift's A Modest Proposal - Essay Example At the time of this pamphlet’s writing, Ireland was not an independent country and was much poorer than England. Ireland was a place which was wholly dependent upon England politically, economically and militarily. According to Swift, Ireland was an over populated and poor country full of beggars, lack of food storage, heavy taxes and with no right to handle their own country affairs as England uses to control the legislature of Ireland. Majority of the people who were born over there were Roman Catholics and they use to work as labors of agriculture or tenant farmers. The owners of the land known as landlords were paid at a rate which was not affordable by the workers from the lands production. These landlords were usually Protestants and were considered to be the ruling class. Majority of them were not the natives of Ireland by birth nor did they use to live over there permanently. If some labors lost the job they were doing, there position in a job was soon taken over by the other people who are poor living there. Ireland, at that time had the same level of starvation as it can be seen in today’s third world countries along with no social security system. Swift’s Modest Proposal’s beginning is based upon the real poverty of the people living in Ireland. Swift presented this pamphlet in a sympathetic manner but provided the facts and details which showed that there is a surplus that is an excessive number of children who cannot be fed. He mentioned about selling children for slavery as a possibility of living but is against this as nobody will ever buy children who are younger than twelve years of age rather than being against for this possibility due to its cruelty and wrongness. This gives the meaning that children cannot be fed for a long time period as their parents are too poor and children themselves are too weak and small for doing any work. Soon after this Swift went off the point and claimed

Clinical Chemistry Case Study , Liver Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Clinical Chemistry , Liver - Case Study Example The only conclusive tests recommended for establishing whether a person is infected with Hepatitis A virus is by obtaining blood sample and then conducting serological tests on the blood sample. The tests include looking for Immunoglobulin M antibody to Hepatitis A virus and Immunoglobulin G antibody for Hepatitis A virus (Palmer, 2004). The laboratory investigations revealed that the levels of urea, creatinine, bilirubin AST and Alk. Phos., above the reference range implying that the patient general had a disease of the liver. Urea and creatinine are usually used to test for liver diseases and higher levels are indicators of renal failure. Bilirubin is usually an indicator of pre-hepatic or post hepatic block depending on the rations while AST and Alk. Phos., are indicators of damage to the biliary tree (Basten, 2010). Biochemical investigations of the liver primarily involves finding out the level of biomolecules found in the liver and the exact position of these biomolecules. Since studies have been able to establish the normal ranges for these biomolecules any ranges outside the normal or when particular biomolecules are found at suspicious sites, then these could indicate liver disease (Sheety, 2009). Urine tests aids in the monitoring of the functioning of the liver and establishing whether the liver is diseased or not. Urine tests also target biomolecules that would otherwise not be found in urine or measures the levels of normal biomolecules found in the urine. An example is the compound Delta Aminolevulinic Acid that is produced from amino acids in the liver. Reduction in the levels of the compound might indicate chronic liver disease. In essence, urine tests target such compounds to establish the condition of the liver at a given time (Schiff,

E-Bussines Technologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E-Bussines Technologies - Essay Example At the present, more and more companies are making use of the internet to carry out business tasks. Thus, seeing the importance of electronic commerce in today’s business environment Servue Corporation has decided to implement a new online business arrangement. In fact, web based business has transformed the map of the world. Now people can access any product or information by sitting at home using web links. The same simple and automated business technology is now required at the Servue business. In this scenario, this report will discuss some of the important aspects regarding implementation of this new technology. BUSINESS OVERVIEW Servue Corporation is specialized in offering a range of decorated crockery. They have before sold their goods with word of mouth to local customers as well as tourists, by means of their shop window, as well as with mail order from their catalogue or website. From the current business technology point of view the corporation has been making use of early 1990s computerised information system as well as makes use of their website mostly for marketing purposes. However, the current business website is not much dynamic to handle and manage the tasks of the business working through the web. Thus, the online management of business operations turns out to be a problematic job for the business. In this scenario there is need for efficient business and corporate management arrangement. BUSINESS ISSUES Currently, Servue Corporation is running its business using physical stores, email and telephonic order system. Though, the business as well uses products ordering system through phone calls from distant customer. The business is using 90s web based arrangement for capturing orders. However, such business arrangement is not much effective for ecommerce marketplace. Additionally, the business is facing a lot of problems in attracting the customers and targeting the products. The business main concern is to attract whole UK’s com munity towards the business and provide a better opportunity of attracting a wide variety of customer classes. The main issues here are lack of customer loyalty. The current business arrangement is based on a traditional legacy system for managing the orders. So it does not attract a great deal of customers. On the other hand, Servue Corporation has a lot of market contenders those are offering much superior customer support and online shopping capabilities to business customers. ONLINE BUSINESS WEBSITE FOR SERVUE BUSINESS In this section I will present the possible solution for Servue Corporation in order to improve their business productivity and corporate working through the web based channel. Here the main recommendation is about the establishment of web based business platform for possible business development and enhancement. This will be an online automated ordering and retailing system. In addition, business and market studies showed that the expansion rate of the Internet p urchases has been extremely high all through the previous years, as well as in spite of the circumstances of the real world financial disaster that affected the online orders registration, things still look extremely brilliant for the Internet. From this viewpoint, people who encourage a service or product as an element of an Internet trade have plenty

Is the Nation state finished Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is the Nation state finished - Essay Example This implies that the concept of nation states came after establishment of nations from the efforts of nationalists who were seeking sovereignty. However, there are also theories suggesting that nation state concept came around as an effort to unify already existing states. Borrowing from both views it seems that concept of nation state was founded after establishment of states. For example, some nation states such as Germany and Italy arguably came into existence as a result of nationalists efforts through campaigns to unify the state. Earlier on both these states were divided into several states small states and the unification began on the basis of cultural movements and later on evolved thereby acquiring political significance. For example, there is the case of the Volkish movement in Germany that comprised mainly of German speaking people from different states which later gained political significance. This implies that there is some substantial truth in claiming that the concep t came after creation of states. Away from matters revolving around origin of the nation states, there are more pressing and imminent matters with regard to its future. There are concerns over the existence of nation states due to current influential factors such as globalization. Globalization is the unification and integration of states with an aim of sharing views, ideas, and products in the wake of modernization. Amid these increased interactions among states there are concerns over the effects of globalization to individual sovereignty of states. This is because globalization may seem to somewhat exploit some states hence undermining sovereignty (Kennett, 2008, p.3). For example, there are claims that in such relations between nation states with distinct economic levels, low economy states are prone to exploitation from the high economy states. Moreover, in the modern day there has been increased threats on the security of many nations especially with the

Mobile Devices & Applications Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Mobile Devices & Applications - Lab Report Example ristics including unpredictable values and adoption rate uncertainties, network effect uncertainties, as well as unobvious cost and impact characteristics. We expect mobile computing technologies to exhibit the same characteristics. This paper explores the status of mobile development and emerging standards. In particular, we examine mobile design and HCI techniques, 4 Generation technologies, the concept of mobile sensors and technology utilization, as well as trends on mobile applications and possible future directions in their development. The main objective is to identify discernable trends in mobile computing technologies and develop insights on how Emerging Technology Group can promote mobile development projects run by ECC-Mobile Ltd using established development techniques and methodologies. Human-commuter interaction (HCI) designs aims to develop creative interactions that maximize user experience. Creating interactive HCI for mobile devices is an open problem attempting to create powerful mobile computing services and resources via small interfaces. The main challenges in designing HCI for mobile devices relate to both hardware and software challenges. Hardware challenges relate to the limitations in size and weight of mobile devices in consideration of portability purpose of such devices (Huang, 2009). Challenges for hardware interaction design for mobile devices include the problem of limited input facilities, limited output features and designing for mobility (Huang, 2009). Currently, mobile devices use three primary input facilities: keyboard, touch screen stylus, and scroll wheel. The challenge with mobile device keyboards emanates from the limited space for key installation. While stylus and touch screen are good alternatives in smartphones, if the screen is small users’ finger can occlude graphical phone elements. Lastly, scroll wheel provides a suitable solution to the problem of input facilities in smartphones (Huang, 2009). Software

Student's Post Week 7 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Student's Post Week 7 - Research Paper Example By reviewing the existing evidence and knowledge by previous researchers, this paper seek to prove that indeed there are problems facing homeless people in the United Kingdom. To understand the depth of the homelessness problem, the paper will review the extent to which lack of houses has escalated the problem. Moreover, it seeks to identify and possibly facilitate the implementation of solutions which will be discovered amid the efforts of improving the situation. At the outset, the focus of the subject topic of the paper is propelled by the extent of homelessness in the target population, United Kingdom. Increasingly, there is every need to urgently solve the existing problem after previous attempts have failed in offering solutions to the issue of homeless people in the United Kingdom. Research indicates that homelessness in the United Kingdom has drastically risen in the recent times. Coupled with the problems created by the economic recess and the increased demand, more people have found themselves homeless and without a roof over their head (Wilson, 2010, p. 76). The seriousness of the problem has been portrayed by the current figures from the most recent research conducted in the past three years, which has indicated a 25% increase in the need for emergency accommodation in the United Kingdom. This sharp rise in the need for housing is a direct reflection of the escalated levels of homelessness among the people and poses an ugly picture of a population that is at the blink of suffering. â€Å"BBC News According to â€Å"CentrePiece† (2012 p. 2), double housing crises face the United Kingdom. Apart from the short term fall in the in the housing prices and decrease in the construction of new houses that has been caused by the recession, there is a general shortage in housing, leaving a high number of people without decent homes (Quilgars 2011, p. 10). The short term effect of this crisis

BUREAUCRACY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

BUREAUCRACY - Essay Example It is, however, quite ironic that modern society now use bureaucracy as a critical generalization for inefficiency and red tape (Fisher; Heady). This was not how Max Weber visualized bureaucracy. Weber became the foremost exponent of bureaucracy when it was still in its crude form where bureaucracy and rationality were inseparable. Under such intertwined aspect, the four main elements of Weber’s rational bureaucracy were distinct lines of hierarchical authority, practical specialisation, professional training of administrators or supervisors, and efficient decision making (Borgatti). Practitioners have, however, extended Weber’s ideals of bureaucracy into a social structure distinguished by the following elements : job specifications, system of supervision and subordination, unity of command, general use of written documents and records, skills and competency training, use of rules and policies and hiring of personnel and work assignment based on competence and experience (Borgatti). Beyond Weber’s iron cage, Wang compiled the following perceived dysfunctional aspects of a bureaucracy : red tape from all the rules and the signatures required to get things going, difficulty to transform from this system to another and also the tendency to segment attention and response as a result of division of labor. There were some inadequacies pinpointed on the bureaucratic system of organization. Drawn from the thoughts of Bennis and Miner, the most obvious downside of bureaucracy are summarized in the following statements: (1) Owing to the rigidity of rules and procedures and the specialisation typical of a bureaucracy, it does not promote personal growth and professional maturity; (2) Since the system is run based on the principle of â€Å"unity of command†, conformity and â€Å"group-think† are developed; (3) Its inflexible structure is not

Health Services Organization Essay Example for Free

Health Services Organization Essay Identify and evaluate at least three forces that have affected the development of the health care system in the U. S. The U.S. healthcare system has continually evolved due to the success of innovative fore-thought. These innovations have been both strategic and tactical, influenced by all segments of the health care industry. There are many key strategic and tactical innovations, I will elaborate on three forces I feel affect the development of the healthcare system in the U.S.; they are: Increasing cost of healthcare, affect of economics on the healthcare system, and labor force trends in the U.S. as it relate to healthcare. * The steadily increasing cost of healthcare in the U.S. 1. The Unites States is known as the land of plenty, but if you are a native of this great nation you might feel quite differently about that statement. Being poor here has to be much like being poor anywhere else in the world, poor is poor; what might be different is opportunity. The opportunity that we are going to discuss is that of the pursuit of receiving the best healthcare regardless of race, creed, national origi n, or station in life (being with or without money). The cost of health care in the U.S. neared 2.6 trillion dollars in 2010, this is a staggering amount of money; but what make it more astonishing is that this amount is ten times higher than the 1980’s sum of 256 billion dollars that was generated by health care system (population bulletin, 2008). The rate of funds generated by health care has slowed down in recent years, but still is expected to grow faster than the national income. Our country need to address this growing burden and not just let politician say it’s a major policy priority, really make it a priority for the overall good of our nation. Furthermore, the United States has been in a recession for most of the past decade, resulting in a high rate of unemployment and lower incomes for many Americans. These conditions have put even more attention on health spending due to its affordability. Since 2002, employer- sponsored health care coverage for employee and family premiums increased by 97%, making the pursuit of health care a burden on the workers and employers. Medicare covers disabled people as well as the elderly; while Medicaid provides medical coverage for low-income families. Medicare enrollment has grown tremendously over the years due to the aging baby boomers and Medicaid due to the recession. This has added considerably to government spending, straining both federal and state budgets. Health spending accounted for 17.9% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 (kaiserEDU.com, Health Policy from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Explained). * Economic affect healthcare. 2. Economics and health care is very simple to explain, especially by someone who has seen first-hand families being mentally tormented, because they could not afford dental care for their children, the check-up not covered by the company’s insurance to enable your child to be eligible to play football, or not being able to afford the prescription medication. There are many reasons families go without medical care, and far too many times it’s just because the individual is living just above the poverty line; which make them ineligible for assistance. I personally feel the affect economics have on healthcare or the lack there of, can never be explained any clearer; unless you are experiencing it yourself. * Labor force trends in the U.S. 3. In the 1960’s the U.S. labor force grow at the rate of 1.7 percent annually and continue to grow into the 70’s as the baby boomer (those born between 1946-1964 generation continued to reach adulthood and enter the workforce. During this same period women began to enter the workforce as never seen before causing the labor force to grow at a rate of 2.6 percent annually. One might not see this as a health issue, but with women joining the workforce men began to feel the pressure, causing health complication. Women on the other hand who at one time lived the life of a care free house wife, but now working in corporate America; has started to feel stress now heart attacks are the number one killer of the American female species. I know there was nothing glamorous about being a slave, but slaves lived with just about no illnesses or life threatening diseases, know blacks have the highest numbers when it comes to diabetes, HIV, and high blood pressure than any other ethnic group (but we are free), freedom should make us take life more serious and take care of ourselves as well as our children. During the 1980’s and 90’s fewer people entered the workforce, therefore the labor force growth slowed down and ranged from 1.6 to 1.1 percent. Even though we had covered on set of baby boomers we were about to see another set reach adulthood and struggle for a place in the workplace (U.S. labor force trends), in-turn means no health insurance because they are no longer their parents dependent. Healthcare is becoming a great necessity due to infectious diseases, the year of the flower children seem to have spread more than just flowers. Health Insurance Companies are not seeing their usual capital gain at this point, consequently a change in the way benefits are paid across overall is about to change. At one time people thought as long as they paid their insurance premiums the benefits would be there when or if it was needed (we learned to read the fine print). * Speculate whether or not these forces will continue to affect the health care system in the U.S. over the next decade. (Include a force that was not mentioned that you believe will impact the health care system of the nation. Unfortunately we show no immediate signs that the cost of healthcare will decline in the Unites States anytime soon. With all the bickering about healthcare, there’s one fact everyone seems to agree on: American medicine cost too much, especially considering what we’re getting for the money. As expert look toward the future, they don’t see the cost dropping dramatically anytime soon. Curbing the rise in healthcare cost depend on our ability to gain control of the many forces causing them to climb, technology has helped other industries lower costs by eliminating waste and increasing efficiencies, but its done the opposite in healthcare (Lisa Zamosky, Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2012. Without any dispute I’m sure we can all agree the economy will always affect healthcare and the people who need it, which will always be everyone. We all hope the economy will make a rapid recovery, but that’s just not how things work; just as it took decades of bad decisions to get us where we are today it’s going to take time for our nation to make a meaningful recovery. Over the next 50 years, the labor force is projected to grow even more slowly (at about 0.6 percent per year) as baby boomers retire. What will this mean as far as health care is concern; well as we grow older our need for healthcare on a regular base becomes more essential than it was when we were in our prime (population bulletin). Baby boomers, reaching senior living status promotes a different type of demand on the medical system; a tremendous demand for those employed by senior living facilities, as well as those providing home health care. * Evaluate the importance of technology in the health care system. Technology is the driving force behind the universe, if you are not a believer just think about the devices you use to get through your day; hence technology. Medical technology is constantly presenting us with new devices that make our lives more fulfilling, we have laser surgery, hip replacement, artificial limb to replace worn out or damaged ones, cataract surgery that have advanced so rapidly it’s amazing, can you believe a person can have heart surgery and be walking around the next day? This is all because of technology, it’s amazing. This is something we cannot put a price on, what is being learned and the advances being made due to research technology is saving lives as well as making lives better each and every day. References: KaiserEDU.com, Health Policy, from the Henry J. Kaiser family foundation, Explained, Cost and Spending. http://www.kaiseredu.org/en/Top ics/Costs-and-Spending Population Bulletin, Vol. 63 No. 2, June 2008, U.S. Labor Forces Trends By: Marlene A. Lee and Mark Mather (Marlene A. Lee is a senior research associate and editor of the Population Bulletin at the Population Reference Bureau. She holds degrees in public policy analysis and development sociology/demography from the University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill and Cornell University. Mark Mather is associate vice president of Domestic Programs at the Population Reference Bureau, where he coordinates several projects that communicate population research to advocacy groups, educators, the media, and the public. He holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in sociology/demography from the University of Maryland. http://www.prb.org

History And Background Of The Unilever Company

History And Background Of The Unilever Company Unilever began with British soap-maker company named Lever Brothers. Their revolutionary action in business was by introducing the Sunlight Soap in 1890s. That idea was from William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers. This idea helped the Lever Brothers become the first company that help popularise cleanliness in Victorian England. Moreover, the product rapidly emulated globally after that it was a success in UK and made Lever Brothers obtained more business worldwide. One of the reasons of this success was the strategy from William that not only prioritize on selling the products but also focus on manufacturing them. On the other side, in 1872 Jurgens and Van den Bergh created a company that produces margarine. Since there were many competitors in the margarine industry in Dutch, in 1920s, Jurgen and Van de Berth decided to strengthen their company by joining another margarine manufacturer in Bohemia. In 1927, there were three companies including Jurgen and Van de Berth compan y which formed Margarine Unie located in Holland. In 1930, the Lever Bros merged with the Margarine Unie and even though, an international merge was an unusual move at that time,   both of the two companies have the same vision that by doing this merge with strong global networks would create new opportunities. Finally, the name of Unilever was created by the merge of the companies. Not too long after Unilever was formed, they got a big problem which was that their raw material companies were reduced from 30% to 40% in the first year. As that problem started to attack, Unilever had to react quickly by building up an efficient system of control. In September of 1930, Unilever established the Special Committee that was designed to stabilize British and Dutch operate and concern as an internal cabinet for the organization.   Since William Levers death in 1925, it was Frances DArcy Cooper who replaced him to become the chairmen of Lever Brothers. Cooper made several benefits for Unilever, one of his revolutionary action was that he led the various companies that included Unilever into one Anglo-Dutch companies. According to The Netherlands official UK site, Anglo-Dutch Companies is the British and the Dutch historically joined forces to form some of the strongest companies in the world, and until now their position is still strong. In 1937, when the correlation between the profit-earning capabilities of the British and Dutch companies found itself overturned, it was Cooper that came to solve the problem by convincing the board of the necessity for restructuring. In the 1930s, Unilever continued to grow their business when they promoted their products in America Latin. To keep it growing, Unilever adapted a new strategy in 1940s by widening their business areas and create new areas such as particular food and chemical manufactures. Furthermore, Unilever recognized that there were something more important than widening their areas, it was the relationship between marketing and research that they must focus on. Therefore, Unilever expanded their operation by making association by two important actuations in US, those are Thomas J. Lipton company, manufacture of tea, and the Pepsodent brand of toothpaste in 1944. In 1957 Unilever continued their actions by associating with U.K. frozen food maker birds eye, and in 1961 with U.S. Ice cream novelty maker Good Humor. In the 1980s Unilever made a revolutionary restructuring by selling most of its subsidiary business to concentrate the companys core business. Eventually, foods, toiletries, detergents and special chemicals were the Unilevers core business. This restructuring also helped Unilever to make a collaboration with Chesebrought-Ponds in U.S. in 1986. That collaboration made a big impact to Unilever, their profit margin increased. Furthermore, Unilever bought Chesebrought-Pond in 1987. Nowadays, Unilever become the worlds most consumed product brand in home care, personal care and food. In 2002, Unilever had a worldwide revenue around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬48,760 million. Unilever has two main parenting companies, they are Unilever NV in Rotterdam and Netherland and Unilever PLC in London, UK. However, Unilever still has two major competitors named Nestlà © and Procter Gamble. Unilever has several worldwide products in foods such as Lipton, Knorr, Blue Band, Ben and Jerry, Walls, and Brooke bond. In home care, they have Surf, Sun, Radiant, Domestos and Skip. In personal care, they have Ponds, Vaseline, Rexona, Lux, Dove, Lifebuoy, Pepsodent, Sunsilk and Axe/Lynx. Social and Environmental issues Besides Unilevers success, there are also some social and environmental issues that affects Unilever. There are several damages created by Unilever during their processes in manufacturing, supplying, and labouring. Palm oil issues that affected by Unilever Unilever is the company with the worlds largest buyer of palm oil. They turn the palm oil material to their products like detergents, cosmetics, bio-fuel and soaps. Their actions by cutting down the palm oil of the most area in Kalimantan was slowly destroying habitat of Orang-utan, an endangered species which lived almost everywhere in the rainforest of Kalimantan. This action resulted in the extinction of the Orang-utan species in Kalimantan. An expected of two million acres of the rainforests in Kalimantan have been cut down annually. This action is also damaging Indonesias rainforest, eventually leading to a severe climate change. Unilever created their products to help people in doing their daily life, but in fact they are also destroying other endangered lives. In 2008, Unilever was criticised by Greenpeace UK because of these actions. In November 2009, Unilever announced to cancelled and stop buying palm oil from Indonesian company, PT Smart for environmental reason. In April 2010, Unilever had secured GreenPalm certificates. GreenPalm endorsed By RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), Organization formed by several stakeholders in the palm oil industry, to protect the environmental impact of palm oil and endorse sustainable agriculture. These certificates have function to cover the supplies of its European, Australian and New Zealand businesses. Unilevers Mercury Waste In 1983, Chesebrough Ponds Ltd, one of U.S. company bought an area near Kodaikanal. They relocated their thermometer-making factory that had been in Watertown, suburb of New York to this area. In 1987, Unilever bought Ponds and the thermometer-making factory in Kodaikanal and became the biggest facility in the world. Then, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), the subsidiary of Unilever which operates and located in India, took charge of the factory. Early 2001, there were 7,4 tonnes of mercury-contaminated wastes around Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu found. Kodaikanal has beautiful lakes, perennially cool weather and rich forests which is why it became the most popular tourist destination in South India. After investigating the source of those mercury it was found to be from Hindustan Lever Limited factory. Mercury is a toxic metal that can harm humans liver and brain.   Once mercury come into the environment, it will be changed during natural method into a structure that works its way quickly through the food chain where it can contemplate to hazardously high levels. Mercury is the basic material to create thermometers. In March 2001, four hundred people from Factory workers unions and local communities protested and complained about the unsafe waste disposal methods from Hindustan Lever Limited factory. They gave an ultimatum of either closing the factory or remove it from Kodaikanal areas. They also said since the mercury disposal happen in this area, it was destroying the Shola ecosystem of Western Ghats. After that incident, Unilever decided to postpone their thermometer production in Hindustan Lever Limited factory near Kodaikanal until they find a solution to the problem. However on June 21 2001, the Government of India ordered HLL to close the factory and ship the rest of the mercury waste to the U.S. Unilever Use Child Labour in India In India, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) has employed for expected number of 25,000 children, mostly girls in cotton seed production. They worked usually between ten and thirteen hours per day and they only got 40 Eurocents per day. Sometime, they are exposed to toxic pesticides during their work. The reason company prefer employed child than the adult was to save money in waging the labour. Usually, a child only receives 55% less than a man and 30 % less than a woman. One of their labour was Narasamma, 12 years old. She was a migrant who worked in cotton seed field for the last three years. She worked more than 12 hours per day with only two breaks. During work, she was regularly sprayed by pesticides and got ill after. However, she only earned Rs. 800 a month. In early 2003, many countries in Europe such as Germany, Netherlands and Ireland started do the campaign to stop Child labour. This campaign started from Germany, then to Netherlands and the campaign finished in Ireland. The main message from those campaigns was that school is the best place for children, so stop child labour. In may 2003, Unilever announced that they would solve the child labour problem in India. Unilever told Hindustan Lever Limited to start rejecting the use of child labour. Conclusion Unilever is one of most influential companies in the world by providing products that help people in their daily life and also supporting global economic growth. They improve their strategy to create products time by time until they meet customer requirements. That is why most of their product trustable and convenient to be used. Some survey showed that every houses in the world at least has one of Unilever product. This is showed that Unilever is very influential in human social life. Perhaps giving value to the brand is the best action that Unilever had done. However, Unilever made some environmental and social issues in their history. Many had protested what Unilever had done in the moment. In fact, Unilever is one of the companies which have been responsible for their actions. Unilever reacted quickly by fixing the problem.

Privatization of Transmission Corporation of NAPOCOR

Privatization of Transmission Corporation of NAPOCOR In Philippine context, privatization is used to refer to the policy which allows the government to disengage in activities which are not part of the governments inherent function. This may be in many forms, such as the complete turnover of public corporations to the private sector and contracting services to private firms who has the necessary resources to manage it, or the government would just turnover certain services to the private sector but it would still be under some government regulatory procedures and incentives. This privatization mostly occurs within the framework of economic globalization. By economic globalization, it means that privatization is used as a measure to pursue the globalist restructuring of the state and to further develop the market access which mostly benefits the business elites of a state and of course, the transnational corporations (TNCs) (UP and Stiftung 91-93). Privatization, along with liberalization and deregulation, is also a part of neoliberal globalization which aims to produce surplus products within the economy and also huge capital for production. In the process, private sector continues to have a big role over the public sector activities, made possible by direct transfer of ownership and management and by the elimination of the laws that promotes the public interest (deregulation), and through the reduction of budget for the basic services, that in turn leads to the graver degradation on the access on public services of the people. For example, in privatizing public utilities like the water and power sector of the Philippines, many detrimental factors are experienced by the people, particularly the government workers under the corporation because they were displaced as private companies turned to control those sectors. The poorest sector of society also was immensely affected since those private companies seek to get high profits which leads to very high prices at the peoples expense (IBON xi-4). During the Marcos regime, a decree on creation of government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) was made through Presidential Decree (PD 2029) and later on through PD 2030, a policy was made which promulgates privatization. By the time of Cory Aquinos regime, this decree was first implemented through Presidential Proclamation 50 on the 9th of December in 1986 (TransCo). In 1990, Aquino also signed 6957 or what we call as the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law which has let and approved the intervention of the private sector in the financing, contracting, operation and also maintenance of infrastructure projects. But in 1993, when Ramos assumed the presidency, he signed RA 7718 amending the BOT law and further allowed the full involvement of private sector in crucial government development projects. Through this act, various forms of privatization schemes have evolved (TransCo). Many reasons were presented by the government regarding the privatization of the GOCCs. To enumerate some, they said that through transferring these assets to the private sector, it would yield a better efficiency in its operations. Furthermore, it was also stated that the government needed to collect more revenues for government spending to improve the economy, and this can only be done with such move. Also stated as reasons by the government is that first, it would lead to increase in investments which will boost up the economy and will also help to develop markets for capital generations. Through lessening the budget for public services in GOCCs, and selling those which are poorly performing and money-wasting, the government expected to decrease our budget deficit and also to recover its expenditures (PSALM). START OF NAPOCOR PRIVATIZATION When the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) was created in 1936, our government has mandated it to generate and transmit sources of energy while letting the private sector to be in charge of its distribution. But it 1980s, the government has started to gradually entrust the entire power sector to private companies. From former Pres. Aquinos Executive Order (EO) No. 215 issued in 1987, the power generation sector of NAPOCOR was started to be deregulated. By the power of build-operate-transfer scheme, EO No. 215 also gave way to private firms to establish and manage power plants in the country. This situation was further strengthened when Ramos took over the presidency. RA 7648, the Power Crisis Act of 1993 was passed and encouraged more private companies to partake in the power generation sector of NAPOCOR. Later in 1984, Expanded BOT law was also passed and had given Ramos to have emergency powers which allowed him to make contracts, most of which were foreign corporations, regardi ng the construction, repair and other technical maintenance of NAPOCOR without the need to undergo it through a public bidding (IBON 82-83). Due to the contracts of mostly 10 to 25 years made with the foreign companies, NAPOCOR was obliged to pay the power contracted to them whether they had actually produced or consumed power or not. This is what is referred to as the take or pay provision. According to this provision, NAPOCOR needs to buy 75-80 percent of a firms power capacity even though it didnt really produced or consumed it. This in turn made NAPOCOR to pass the obligation to the local consumers even though they really hadnt consumed even a small part of it, which is really a great burden since it takes about 60 percent of the total power available at the economy. Of course, this is clearly seen when power distributors such as Meralco get wholesale power from NAPOCOR and pay for it which is the Purchased Power Cost Adjustment (PPCA) that corresponds it (IBON 83-84). Aside from this Purchased Power Cost Adjustment or PPCA, NAPOCOR has also passed the Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) fees to the power distributors due to the need to do its obligation to supply enough fuel to the firms or power plants in which it had its long-term contract with, regardless of the fluctuations in the price of oil or fuel in the global market or even in the domestic domain. These two costs of NAPOCOR and wholesale costumers further make up the Fuel and Purchased Power Costs Adjustments or FPCA (IBON 84-85). Furthermore, the contracts made by NAPOCOR to the independent power plants (IPPs) are in dollar rates. This only means that charges between the two entities are affected by the foreign exchange rates or peso-dollar rates to compensate the change in payout because of the continuing weakness of peso currency as against dollars. Due to the fact that these IPPs are owned by foreign companies, they are selling their power to NAPOCOR by almost $20 per megawatt hour (mWh) higher than the power sold to them by their own power generators. Of course, these very high rate would translate and reflect to the additional fees charged to the end-consumers of electricity through the purchased power adjustments (PPA) without their power to refuse against it even though in 2002, a review made by the government showed that most of these IPPs has either legal or financial issues and are disadvantageous for the government itself. During the Arroyo administration, this PPA was still not stopped in operations of NAPOCOR since it was a great source of income for the government, although we know that the local consumers are the ones who intensely suffer from it; and also of course not to jeopardize the privatization of NAPOCOR and to continue attracting foreign corporations to invest and participate in such measures of the government. Among other transnational corporations (TNCs), NAPOCORs IPPs incorporate energy sectors giants such as Marubeni, Kawasaki, Mitsui, Chevron, and Enron (IBON 85). According to Meralco, PPA is just one cost adjustment mechanism that is passed on to the local consumers, since there is also the CERA which is intended so that Meralco will be able to recuperate the changes in operating costs and repayment of principal debt mainly brought about by the changes in foreign exchange rates in which the contracts are bound. Due to this, Meralco claims that only little of the consumer charges go to them, since it primarily goes to NAPOCOR as PPA and to the government as franchise tax. But, apparently it turns out that these might be made up stories or complains since Meralco as a power distributor was also allowed to have its own IPPs by virtue of former Pres. Aquinos EO 215. Meralco has indeed three IPPs which are among the countrys largest companies which supply almost half of its power requirements. This only means that Meralco, having its own IPPs actually earns a lot of money from the PPA. It has also made use of it to make a way out of the controversy arising from the fact that it has monopoly control over power distribution. By this, it was also able to control and manipulate the computations regarding the IPPs which are remarkably its sister companies. For example, First Gas which is one of its IPPs and partly owned by Meralco itself, was used to make anomalous transactions in PPA since Meralco c an actually protect and cover the supply cost from the said IPP even though in reality it doesnt even delivered one kilowatt of power to Meralco (IBON 86-89). Meanwhile, we can clearly see that the results of letting private corporations participate in the power industry is contrary to the rationale behind its approval, which among others is to relieve the government from its burden on funding the setting up of power generating plants (UP and Stiftung 115-116). Instead of it happening, the reverse had taken place. NAPOCOR has left in charge of paying the debt obligations of the IPPs assured by state guarantees which were made to further attract investors. Through those incentives, including long-term power contracts, IPPs were assured that they will have return on investments whatever happens. Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) Through the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA which is RA 9136, payment for stranded costs of NAPOCOR or the costs due to stranded debts and contracts, were passed on to consumers as a universal charge along with the cost of restructuring the power industry. This was implemented during the Arroyo administration when she declared that the government must not shoulder this expense but must be recuperated through a universal charge. To further clarify some previously mentioned terms, stranded debts as part of the stranded cost is the obligations that will be left out by NAPOCOR once it is sold to private individuals, while the other one, the stranded contract cost is the difference from the price of electricity from the wholesale market to be set by EPIRA itself and the price from IPPs. Due to this very large cost of NAPOCORs obligations which are partly paid by the government through debt from foreign sources, very high priced bonds were sold by the government to finance its principal obligations mainly due to those long-term contracts. So it is obvious that it has only made the government and the people suffer from paying them instead of getting away from funding large amount for power generators, while the private sector like the transnational corporations (TNCs) and other local elites were getting more and more income from it each year making it as its milking cow. Also it is evident that PPA has only intens ified the dependence of government to private sector to pay its foreign debts and its grave situation of national bankruptcy which clearly impacts detrimental effect to the poor Filipino citizens (IBON 89-91). Actually, in 2001, the Arroyo administration had pushed EPIRA to be approved for a great loan to be released, the $900 M ADB Power Sector Restructuring loan which was filed since 1998. IMF had also played a part on its approval, since it made it a condition for it to release a $300 M rehabilitation loan for the Philippines since 1999. By this, we could clearly see that the government had pushed it not to improve the condition of accessible power service to the people, but the adverse that favored the private companies and further strengthened their control over the power service. Transmission Corporation (TransCo) Along EPIRA in 2001, the creation of a National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) in 2003 under NAPOCOR was also signed into law. In line with this, the Arroyo administration had also pushed for its privatization by the mandate of the same aforementioned law. This TransCo as a GOCC is basically in charge of operating and managing the power transmission system of the country which will link power plants to the electric distribution utilities throughout the Philippines (TransCo). In simple terms, it will be taking control over the transmission and sub-transmission functions, assets, as well as the liabilities of NAPOCOR. TransCo, in taking over the sub-transmission assets will manage it until they are finally disposed into their proper distribution utilities which in turn will hold its planning and overall maintenance of those assets. But, as like NAPOCOR, through EPIRA, TransCo is mandated to be privatized through either an outright sale or a management concession contract lasting fo r about 25 years. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Finance (DOF) were basically in charge in the planning and setting up its transfer to private companies (Cook and Mendoza, 9; 68). As again an expectation of the government, from privatizing TransCo, it expects a high income which will be used to pay the NAPOCORs remaining debt that is extensively big which will in result lessen or decrease the governments public sector deficit. Aside from that expected revenue from its sale, the government also expects that when a technologically advance and proficient private concessionaire will take over the transmission line, it will result to more efficient and world class network. It says that due to the crippling energy crisis, people are hard to be provided with a dependable and secured supply of electricity at low rates, so privatization of such sector will be a necessary response to it, while attracting more investments at the energy division (Perez). But, the government actually marginalizes the stake of local power sector by doing this. First, they can be exploited since through the privatization of TransCo, it will surely lead to a monopoly of the private business. Since in EPIRA, the cross-ownership of distribution, generation, and transmission under NAPOCOR is allowed, this only means that through the profit-seeking goal of the monopolies over those areas, power rates will still remain indefinable (TransCo). TransCos privatization clearly manifest the government favoring TNCs as well as local elites like the Lopez Group of Companies in their reinforced power over the Philippines power sector. According to the president of PSALM or Public Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Edgardo del Fonso, it would seem not attractive to foreign investors if the assets of TransCo will not be franchised nationwide (PSALM). Actually, based on a primer released by IBON Foundation in 2003, there were already at least eight TNCs which had expressed their interest in the privatization of TransCo, not to mention that these TNCs are among the worlds largest. And some of those TNCs were already on hold of some local power industries operations. But due to certain limitations of our constitution, they were only allowed to operate up to 40 percent of the power sector, but then again PSALM had admitted that later on, it is possible that there would be some restructuring to be done to allow greater share of private sector on power service. This only means that possibilities are open on the total foreign control of our local power sector at the expense of the national interest and welfare. As of now, this transmission system under NAPOCOR known as the crown jewel of the governments power privatization program is already at the hands of the private sector. On the 12th of December in 2007, PSALM has conducted a successful bidding for TransCos 25-years concession contract to be able to maintain its functions on transmission. On the year 2008, it finally announced that TransCos transmission function will be transferred under the management of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the successful bidder who offered a US $3.950B for the said concession after the three failed attempts in the previous years (PSALM). This was despite the opposition of various consumer and militant groups like the People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (Power) and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) because for them it was a crucial step for the government to take since the burden soon will heavily fall at the local consumers when the winning bidder will make a way to recover its loss and investments at the earliest time possible. As Legazpi cited in her article, according to Tapang, a convener of Power, (Transcos) infrastructure provides a highway for electricity and other uses. Whoever controls it can impose a toll fee on users of this highway. In the hands of private interests, there is always the potential for abuse in the name of greater profits. Bayan has also released their statement through their secretary general in the person of Reynato Reyes, adding that TransCo is of strategic importance to our economy and so it must remain as state-owned and it is basically a prejudice on the part of the g overnment to continue to such action due to the fact that this will lead to a great load to be carried on by ordinary consumers (Legazpi). Amidst those oppositions, unfortunately on that same year also, the congress had approved a bicameral resolution which will grant franchise of TransCo to NGCP, legitimizing it as a private unit to run a public service. By December of that year, former Pres. Arroyo signed the law which will officially grant franchise to NGCP, RA 9511. Following that year, in 2009, TransCo was formally turned over to PSALM in a ceremony held at PSALMs office in Makati on January 14, 2009. The event significantly indicated the NGCPs authority to start TransCos operation under its new management with Atty. Moslemen T. Macarambon as its first new president. Currently, it is headed by Rolando T. Bacani, president and CEO (TransCo). After the sale transaction of TransCo, NGCP has paid almost US $1B to PSALM as provisioned by the contract as its straight payment for its operation. PSALM is also confident that after TransCos privatization and turning over of NGCP on its operation will eventually result to an efficient operation and effective maintenance of our transmission network, while counting on the successful record and wide experience of the consortium and its foreign partners (PSALM). After TransCos successful bidding and private transfer of ownership, PSALM is still opening its invitation for bidding of other power plants such as those at Naga, Cebu, the Naga Power Plant Complex, in Tongonan, Leyte, the Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants, and in Pililia, Rizal, the Malaya Therman Power Plants (PSALM). In 2010, many assets under power generation have been sold as well as its contracted capacities. In spite all of those, the PSALM and the government still pushes for further privatization of the power sector. EFFECTS OF PRIVATIZATION When the government resort to privatizing state owned corporations especially those involved in economic services, this basically turn to an impact which is as destructive as the liberalization of trade and investment. As a Third World country, taking this crucial step marginalizes the interest and welfare of the people and other economic development programs and projects for the country. The people are more vulnerable and are easily affected by the impact of having no jobs and the inaccessibility of basic social services. After some years of the promise of improved effectiveness and efficiency of these privatized sectors by the government to the people as the reason behind the privatization of such basic public services, the supposedly good results are yet unseen but on the contrary, public menaces and difficulties are experienced of the people on that particular service (IBON 131-134). First of all, the government did not had a financial relief on privatizing public services, since like in NAPOCOR and other corporations, the government becomes more bankrupt and indebted to private or foreign investors since privatizing assets only provide short-term or one-time big-time revenue, but in the long run, results to a great dependence on private sector due to the debts incurred after privatization. it has also resulted to a lesser allocation of budget for other social services due to the automatic appropriation of budget to debt servicing mandated by the law. Some privatized assets by the government were also not as considerable since sometimes they are key economic players in the countrys economic growth. Moreover, in the case of privatization of NAPOCOR, the government had shouldered the huge liabilities left when it was privatized, or some parts of it. This results to a huge public funds being used to pay for its interests and amortization. Through state guarantees, t he government bore the obligations of the IPPs, which through long-term contracts are assured by the government to have return on its investments no matter what. In short, the government is no more than losing in this kind of program and gradually is put into a profound bankruptcy. This is one of the main reasons behind the fiscal crisis experienced by national government in 2004 and still contributes to the worsening condition of the economy. On improved efficiency One point that is to be remembered regarding privatization is that having the private sector does not necessarily mean that the previously owned and controlled corporation of the government would yield better efficiency. In the first place, they were not created to be profit-oriented but to provide accessible support and basic service to the people. This is critical to the consumers situation, since if the market fails, there should the government to secure them against it and continue to provide them its responsibility. Supposedly, our government expect that when private corporations took control over it, they will invest in its improvement, but just like the MWSS privatization, this is not what is actually happening but they use their revenues to expand their properties around the globe, in short they are not concerned of efficacy of operation of the corporation, but more concerned on how to gain more profits. Peoples access to basic services When GOCCs are privatized, people can expect spikes in their rates and inaccessibility and unaffordability of the basic service that were previously provided to them by the government in low and accessible prices. Of course this is only logical since private corporations main objective is no other than to get more profit. We can expect this effect to be mostly aggravating to the poor and marginalized Filipino citizens who also try their best to survive with their very small income that doesnt increase in real terms and growing joblessness throughout the country. In fact, almost 20 percent of an average household income is spent to pay their electricity bills alone. Because of this, some of the poor Filipino families had chosen to cut their electricity connection to lessen daily budget costs, or even on some families their supply was cut due to being not able to pay for their high electric bill. Up to now, many the typical Filipino consumers are not able to get basic services at lower or reasonable rates since as like the government said, those privatized institutions should have been more efficient due to improved infrastructure implemented by private firms. But, it just bloated up their rates that the people could hardly pay for it, just like in the power service of NAPOCOR, cost recovery mechanisms were passed to the peoples responsibility. So through that, we can already conclude that when market forces rule without any regulation from the government promoting public welfare, the consumers situation is largely at stake and worsened. Because of this we can clearly say that where is the choice of power and power choice that the government said and promised to its consumers if the power industry and its functions will be privatized? Clearly, it shows that it was merely a false and deceiving statement. Workers situations Aside from these detrimental impacts, privatization also increases level of unemployment especially in underdeveloped nations like the Philippines. This is due to the displacement of workers from the previous state-owned corporations or in other way, through contractualization of those somehow lucky workers left at the privatized corporation. In this way, workers are put in an acute situation while the private corporation continues to gaining more profits and cutting production costs. They are also aggrieved through cutting their wages without their power to stop those private firms. In the restructuring and privatization of NAPOCOR, more than 2,000 of its employees had already lost their job and currently, as threats of further privatization of electric cooperatives are on the way, this number will possibly increase. Aside from the employees of NAPOCOR who lost their jobs, there are also many workers from industrial and commercial sectors who lost their jobs due to closure of their companies which one of the factors which caused it is the very high electricity rates that they have lesser production that cannot compete with other industries either around the country or outside. Factory workers also dont get wage hike since their employers insist that they are spending more and more on operation and maintenance costs as industrial electricity rates also sores up. Actually last July 2009, more than 1,000 former workers of TransCo were not accepted by NGCP to continue their work on it after 5 months of transition period, despite having EPIRA assurances that were not that effective afterwwards. This was due to the high NGCP standards in accepting new employees according to the Mindanao Transco Employees Union or Mintrea. Before TransCo was privatized, the consortium of the private companies to take over it said that they will not let those more than 5,000 employees of TransCo to lose their jobs instead they will again hire them even privatization is already done. But according to Walder Revellar, North Luzon chapter president of Mintrea, most of the TransCo employees suffered retrenchment even before when NAPOCOR was started to be privatized when reorganization within the sector began. Most of them were of old age but has not reached the age of retirement on the new private administration of TransCo due to forced leave since according to them, they dont have the full capacity to absorb all of the previous workers of TransCo. Being too old to be rehired, workers like them as a result had difficulties in finding new jobs because of their age constraint. Some of the previous employees also are at young age, which are said to be too young to be retired, that could have done great job on TransCo if they w ere not removed from their jobs as Revellar stressed out also. Unfortunately, despite the workers complains they couldnt anything about that concern because it has been transferred already to the private sector (Inquirer). After of all the results of TransCo privatization, it only appears to us that the government is just making a way to decline its social responsibility to the state and most especially to the people in providing the basic services that it must provide in the first place. Public utilities and services play an important role in protecting the poor and marginalized sector of society so letting the free-market and the market forces operate on its own on those assets would defy the public assets original intent like the power sector in generating efficient and affordable electricity throughout the country. It had also meant a lesser government intervention to the economic and social activities of the state, and so it results to peoples situation becoming worse over time as private sector continues to exploit our resources and earn super-profits. This should not be tolerated since first and foremost, these are all done at the peoples expense.

Discrimination in America Essay -- essays papers

Discrimination in America Prejudice is the negative attitude based on false generalizations about members of different racial and ethnic groups. From prejudice, discrimination is born. We all are guilty of discriminating other people, but one can only speculate the factors that bring about this hatred towards one another. Although a single cause cannot account for the presence of racism, factors such as socialization, self-justification, and competition are a few human attributes that lead to acts of racial discrimination. At an early age, children begin the process of socialization. In order for one to be able to communicate with others, it is essential for one to learn to socialize with the people around them. One cause of racism is what a young child learns from his or her parents. Parents become the sole teaching source in terms of the values and beliefs that are picked up by their young and impressionable children. Vincent Parrillo, a chairperson of the Department of sociology at William Paterson College, suggests that individuals are molded by the people around ...

sayings of jesus :: essays research papers

THE HARD SAYINGS OF JESUS  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   CHAPTERS 1-20   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a Christian and a bible student there is on greater subject than Jesus. No other person has effected history more than Jesus; some say he was a prophet, some say he was a great teacher, and others just think he was crazy. But, to those of us who know him to be the Son of God it is very important to understand his teachings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout Jesus ministry on earth he made a number of statements that went misunderstood both then and now. However it is important as followers of Christ to understand the teachings of his ministry. The author of this book starts off with one of Jesus’ toughest sayings. The saying is found in John 6:53 were he says that, â€Å"unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.† To an orthodox Jew this comes off as pure heresy. The Law of Moses forbids cannibalism and drinking blood. However the writer explains this statement as a gradual revelation of who He was. The writer, F.F. Bruce started with the feeding of the 5,000 on (pg 21) and the walking on the water, then in a teaching in the synagogue about manna (Exodus 16:13-36 or Numbers11: 4-9). The story of the woman at the well, also pointed to the fact that Jesus was the Bread of Life and the Living water.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another saying of Jesus that proved his power and authority on earth to forgive sins found in Mark 2:10, â€Å"The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.† This saying of Jesus occurred before the healing of the paralytic. He was lowered in to the house were Jesus was at by his four friends. The reason the author gave for this being a hard saying is that only a spokesmen of God could say that god has forgiven their sins and they did not see Jesus as such authority.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have noticed in Jesus ministry that he was often more strict than the Law; for example in Matthew chapter five Jesus makes a series of statements that start with, â€Å"For you have heard it was said ______ but I say______.† Jesus addresses the subjects of murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, and retaliation or vengeance. It is in these dialogs that it is painfully obvious that the Sadducees did not understand the law.

Remember the Titans Film Essay

In the film remember The Titans directed by Boaz Yakin, an important character in the film is Coach  Herman Boone. He uses his determination and skill to make the titans successful. This is shown  through the use of visual and verbal features such as camera angles, costume, use of dialogue and  music. Boone’s acceptance and tolerance teaches the team to learn to work together to achieve their goals and success. Herman Boone is an important character as he had to accept coach Yoast. They learned to tolerate each other. At the beginning of the film they didn’t get along but in order to make the team a success Boone learned to. This is because when Boone arrives in Alexandria to take over from the old Coach, Bill Yoast neither of them were welcoming or friendly towards each other once. Once they got over each other’s differences, they began to develop a good football team to win the state championships. Herman Boone is a respected character in the film. He had to accept the new team and the old coach, Yoast which was now the assistant coach. Both coaches had to learn to work together. They finally accepted each other and the titans went on to win the state championships. Yoast started to accept Boone when he heard Boone talk about the fight at Gettysburg where black and whites had been fighting against each other. Through dialogue, Boone revealed to the players â€Å"If we don’t come together at this point â€Å" about how the futility of battle, how it had torn families apart, dividing friends, creating rifts. Yoast then realized why Boone was so harsh on the team. He realized that Boone wanted to overcome the continual racism. This was shown by the use of camera angles extreme close up and close up to show the emotion from Boones speech. It showed how he was tormented by the continual fighting, sad that the players were continuing the same fight years ago. Yoast realized that Boone was only trying to bring the individual players  together as one team, even if they had to tolerate each other. It was through the use of camera angles that Yakin showed the sadness Boone was feeling, realizing that prejudice was stopping the players from coming together as one team. Herman Boone had to learn to tolerate Bill Yoast and his football coaching ways just Yoast also had to tolerate Boone so they could make a successful team. At the training camp they both saw how each others coaching was benefitting the team. They all were starting to work together as a great successful team because of learning to work together .This was shown at their first game where they won, continuing throughout the season as they did not lose one game the whole season. This was through Boone’s determination to make the team successful. This was reinforced by use of upbeat music to show Boone’s and his team successes. Wide angle shots were used to show the whole team getting along and succeeding. I learnt from Boone’s tolerance that individuals and groups can succeed together no matter what race they are if they all make minor sacrifices. In the film Remember The Titans one of the main characters Herman Boone is determined for the titans to succeed. He is tough on them by, he does this by accepting his fellow coaches and the members of his team. And how he realizes he has to makes sacrifices in order for the team to come out on top. These messages and values are shown by camera angles such as close up extreme close up and music.

Marketing: Sense and New Balance Essay

New Balance has been in business for 103 years. The company started in Boston manufacturing shoes of police officers, waiters and any other occupations that kept people on their feet all day. In the 1970’s New Balance switched its focus and decided to make athletic shoes for all athletes. New Balance marketing department decided it was time to go overseas and to make money so, they open retail store in 2010. The stores are called Experience Stores located in Beijing and Shanghai. New Balance stores decoration emphasizes on the company’s heritage and accomplishment over the years. The marketing team of New Balance uses five senses to market the Experience Store in China. From the time customer walk in the door they get the feeling they’re in a different era from the music to smell of the store. A DNA ribbon† in each Experience Store accents the company’s history and accomplishments. The store setting promotes DNA concept and brings customer to the second floor where the store has a more modern setting. New Balance was planning its entry to China the Experience stores shows the concept of sensory branding that is the process in which is a brand experience that calls upon all of the senses in reflecting a company’s brand. To keep the concept of Total Fit the stores include healthy running tips, pointers on foot care and input from well known runners in China. Questions: 1. Do you think opening retail stores in China is a good move for New Balance? Why or Why not? I think it was a good move for New Balance to move to China. It’s a good idea for any company or any company to expand their business overseas it is just good business practice this day and age. 2. New Balance calls its new retail stores â€Å"Experience Stores† in your opinion what does the company mean by experience and how does that experience translate to sales? I think New Balance call its retail stores Experience Store because they have been in business for a long time. Experience is a good teacher with that been say New Balance should know how to generate sales.

New York Life – Marketing Management Case Analysis

BAB25 – Case analysis 2: New York Life and Immediate Annuities Unlike the old days where a retiree could rest assured that they could live out the rest of their life on their pension and social security checks, the retirees of today receive their pensions paid out in a lump sum that takes the place of the pension check, but encompasses the total amount a retiree has to live on until they pass away. This creates uncertainty in the amount a retiree can spend per month, and if the total amount is sufficient to last them until they pass away. Immediate annuities help to create certainty in the financial situation of retirees. While retirees can be certain that they will receive a social security check each month, the amount of income they are able to receive from their pensions can vary depending on their contribution plan. Immediate annuities are a one-time purchase that guarantees a monthly payment for the remainder of the purchaser’s life. They solve the problem well as they take away the uncertainty of where a retiree can receive their income from, they are the â€Å"ideal vehicle to guarantee retirees a lifetime income† (Rotemberg & Gourville, 2010, p. ). Generally speaking, neither the buyers (the retirees) nor the sellers (agents/advisors) of immediate annuities are very enthusiastic about them. Consumers have several interrelated reasons for not buying immediate annuities. Firstly people are often not familiar with immediate annuities, which evidently causes fewer buyers. Then, buying immediate annui ties means spending a large sum of money as usually immediate annuities cost at least $100. 000 or more. This large sum of money has to be paid at once, while the purchase is irrevocable which causes doubts, most importantly because the retiree does not know if they will live long enough to make the purchase profitable. If not, more money will be put in the purchase than they will get out of it, meaning it is quite a gamble to buy immediate annuities (Rotemberg & Gourville, 2010). The agents and advisors that are supposed to sell immediate annuities, on the other hand, also have their doubts. Investment advisors actively manage their clients’ money. Immediate annuities do not allow for this as it is a one-time investment. This also means that the advisor/agent gets a one-time commission, which is less profitable compared to collecting multiple fees from one client over time for revocable investments (Rotemberg & Gourville, 2010). Additionally, advisors/agents often also do not have enough knowledge of the product, making it very hard to sell. Agents/advisors that do have knowledge of the product often state that immediate annuities are a bad retirement product. Only 9% of financial advisors (strongly) prefer the product, against 64% having a (very) weak preference for it (Morgan Stanley Research, 2007, as used in Rotemberg & Gourville, 2010). New York Life (NYL) has set its mind on growing the Guaranteed Lifetime Income (GLI) business in the future, but faces several possible paths in order to reach this goal. To be as cost-efficient as possible, we think that the company should select its pool of end-customers wisely. The focus on retirees should be maintained and even enforced, as many still do not know the products proposed by NYL. Furthermore, the focus should be broadened to a larger target group, to include the â€Å"typical† customers of the companies, families with children. As noted by Rotemberg and Gourville (2010), NYL tends to build long term relations with its clients, as agents follow them over time and sell multiple contracts to them. We can think that an ageing family would present a â€Å"risk management mindset†, as their children's future is not secured yet. We can hence position the product by presenting it as a safe solution adapted to one's own needs. Differentiating the product from those of NYL's competitors is important; potential clients of GLI annuities should understand the superior benefits of the product. Building on the company's reputation, GLI annuities should be promoted as a long term investment from a responsible company, concerned with its customers and providing long term relations between agents and customers. In order to reach a greater public and change customers' mindsets, we need to strengthen the core components of the company. For this, we believe that the focus should be put on NYL's agents rather than collaboration with investors that would force NYL to compromise on its values and products. While the pool of agents is already significant, only 4000 of them sold GLI annuities, as only 40% of the 11,500 agents had received the training specific to the product (Rotemberg & Gourville, 2010, p. 12). Therefore we believe that the GLI business would grow if all agents are trained to improve their knowledge of the products and hence their services to customers. We believe that the pool of agents should be increased gradually as number of customers grows in order to sustain the aforementioned values of NYL while the price of GLI annuities should not be changed, considering the customized services NYL provides. Instead, they need to focus on convincing customers that they're worth their price as their product is unique. i. e. NYL needs to emphasize the novel aspects of its product to differentiate from competitors', while promotion should be built on NYL's values.