Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Moral and Ethical Principles of Self and of Company Literature review

Moral and Ethical Principles of Self and of Company - Literature review Example Three types of right vs. right problems of â€Å"dirty hands† situations were discussed by Badaracco (1997). The first problem is the crises of moral identity on which a person has responsibilities to himself and to others. The second problem is the conflict of moral identity and personal integrity which a person has responsibilities for others. This type of problem is usually faced by middle managers wherein they have responsibilities for their subordinates and their superiors. The third is considered to be the most complex on which the first two problems are present. The person facing this problem has responsibilities to himself, to others and for others. I should say that the situation I am facing is an example of the third type of problem. This is because I have responsibilities and commitment to myself to become a decent and honest manager. I always wanted to be on top of everything but with principles and standards governing myself. I cannot tolerate dishonesty, bribery, and lies. I also swore that I will uphold the vision and mission of the company which includes honesty and integrity as well as to follow company policies to make sales. Besides these responsibilities, I also have accountability for my team and my department. I have a duty to my subordinates to manage our performances and keep the sales up. This means keeping our job at the same time. It is also my job to provide good sales to my superiors, to my department, and to my company. In Barry Schwartz’ s TED talk (2009), he quoted Aristotle saying that practical wisdom â€Å"is the combination of moral will and moral skill.†

Monday, October 28, 2019

Hilton Hotels Corporation Marketing Analysis Essay Example for Free

Hilton Hotels Corporation Marketing Analysis Essay The marketing issues addressed here are focused on how to draw more consumers from other gambling casinos, and how to make Hilton a resort destination. Two-thirds of Hiltons total operating earnings in the early 1990s were derived from the four casinos they owned in Las Vegas, Nevada. Expanding on this idea will ensure the hotel chain firmly plants its feet in the entertainment and resort business (Hilton Case Study). By investing massive amounts of revenue into developing their gaming division, the Hilton will become a destination resort that would encompass of all the guests needs to keep them interested staying within the confines of the resort. Some considerations include how Hilton would get its market share of the billions of dollars in casino revenues. The percentage of gambling versus side attractions will influence the profit margins, depending on how much focus is placed on each area. The hotel chain can also strive to increase its overall occupancy rate of seventy percent while continuing to set the industry benchmark (Hilton Case Study). In researching how to improve marketing to attract customers, we must first look at where the Hilton stands today. Second, we must analyze what has worked in the past and see if we can apply past practices into the current market. Third, we shall look at how the competitors are more effective by looking at their gaming plans, marketing structure, customers spending habits and dollar/cost value based on guest surveys. Hilton entered the gaming market as an attempt to compete with the other big hotels for the gambling dollar. Investments in renovation and expansion caused Hilton to over- extend. Although the investments were needed to compete, the hotel chain felt it needed to lure big money to its locations, and extend credit more than usual. Heavy hitters receive this same courtesy from other hotels, but this puts a strain on the operating cash flow, as chasing bad credit costs money, and slows up cash flow. Gaming revenue was already down, which was attributable in part to renovation and more so to extended credit that had been difficult to reclaim. In todays market, families are a prime target. Big beautiful hotels are  catering to families all along the Las Vegas strip. Gambling is still the main focus, but todays gambler is more inclined to visit the Casino Resort, a place that the kids can stay, have a good time and be entertained. Meanwhile, the parents can drop next months mortgage money at the casino. This type of package appeals to the whole family. As far as quality of service, no one does it better than Hilton, because they create an environment that the customer, family or non-family guests will remember and to which they will want to return. The focus on entertainment is important, but Las Vegas is still sin-city. Three point six billion dollars have been spent in packaging entertainment; focus on the family is important, but a balance of adult-only and child-friendly entertainment is required. Gambling is the central purpose for casinos to exist. Continue to market the standard tables of chance, card tables, slot machines, and lavish floor shows, with headliners people recognize, and the main source of revenue will continue to flow. Have shopping, kids activities, and outdoor recreation available, but not as the focus of why travelers should visit, and that will provide entertainment for the rest of the family. Hilton should pull back the extended credit. By doing so, they may lose a few customers, but the resulting loss of risk will increase bottom-line profit. By changing the focus to families, the customers that discontinue patronizing the hotel for credit line reasons are not the desired target anymore. The chain should pay more attention to the middle-market segment, conventions, and sporting events such as youth tournaments and professional venues. In volume, the more people that move through the doors, the more money there is to be made. With this said, room rates must stay within the $100.00 a night rate with weekend promotions of Thursday through Sunday at a lower rate; perhaps 25% to 35% lower. This would be a novel concept, as the industry generally promotes lower room rates Monday through Thursday. The food and beverage structure should remain the same, as it has proven to be more than adequate and very popular. The increase in competition can be dealt with through better values in room rates, childrens activities, slot machines that pay off more frequently and the most important aspect of the business, service. Hilton could offer something that the other hotels do not: ensuring the employee responses to each customers needs are met with enthusiasm and expedience. People are paying for an experience along with the opportunity to break the house; give them what they are looking for. Word of mouth is far more powerful than any media advertisement. Hilton has entered the gaming industry. Gaming must focus on gambling and hotel must focus on hotel amenities and service. It would be the hotels responsibility to insure the entertainment, promotions and accommodations were settled; leaving the gaming operations to generate gaming interest. Advertising would be a joint effort, but casino operations would focus on the age 21 and older market. The two operations would report to the Chief Executive Officer and his staffs to ensure all objectives are met. It would be the CEO and staffs responsibility to ensure both lines were working hand-in-hand, while maintaining separate operations. The purpose for this suggestion is to keep revenues separate so one function does not bear the full brunt of any losses that may occur. The casino will always show a bigger profit than the hotel, but by having separate bottom lines, profit and losses are easier to control. The hotel/casino is one business, but must have two different mindsets as the casino and hotel does, and will operate much differently. Situational AnalysisThe U.S. based Hilton Hotels Corporation is a multi-billion dollar corporation and a leading brand in the hotel and gaming industry. Conrad Hilton started the company in 1919 with his first hotel purchase. Since then the company has grown to over 2,000 hotels globally, with several brand name acquisitions, including Ballys, Hampton Inn, Doubletree Suites and Homewood Inn. Besides standard hotel service, the Hilton Corporation runs casinos, vacation ownership businesses and luxury hotels, like the Conrad Line. The Hilton Hotels Corporation earned in excess  of $3.8 billion in fiscal year 2003 (Datamonitor, p. 4). External FactorsAccording to the Datamonitor report, the Marriott and Hyatt Corporations are the Hilton Hotel Corporations biggest competitors. Las Vegas is a gaming town, thus every hotel is expected to have gambling casinos within. The Las Vegas Hilton website shows that they also provide live entertainment, including comics and headline musical acts, as well as hosting a million-dollar Blackjack tournament. These factors, along with the attractive room packages and gambling activities, should be enough to maintain the occupancy rate and keep the gambling action constant. According to its website, the Las Vegas Marriott is a hotel with 278 rooms. The Hyatt franchise is located 17 miles away from the Las Vegas strip on Lake Las Vegas, but is a resort, casino and spa. While the Hyatt is a luxury hotel chain, the Marriott is a corporation more in line with Hilton. The Marriott made over $9 billion in fiscal year 2003; more than three times the Hilton Hotel Corporation (Marriott Datamonitor report). To contend with a company of this magnitude is not an easy job for any of their competitors. Hilton Hotels Corporation is an enormous company as mentioned above; so sizable that they had to split the corporation into six main divisions, totaling approximately 100,000 employees worldwide. Hilton Hotels Corporation has been very successful since they were established in 1946. Their diversification profile is significant and ambitious; no matter where you go, there are Hilton hotels there. In addition, Hilton Corporation has been leading in customer service and efficient staffing by utilizing a call center to help them maintain their reputation for hospitality. Hilton Reservations Worldwide handles reservations and information requests for thousands of hotel properties, under their various brands, positioning the company on the top of: †¢ Accurate intraday forecasts†¢ Reduced management costs†¢ Excellent customer service †¢ An edge over the competitionA companys strength does not solely lie in the size of the company but in the management of the company, the employees and their commitment to their customers. Hiltons management promoted brand relevancy within minority markets. Their sales team strategic initiatives are to target the multicultural market. In relation to their employees, Hiltons are some of the finest. They are trained to do their jobs with care and make sure the customers are comfortable and happy. The customer personal profile allows the Hilton employees to treat each customer as a unique and special individual. WeaknessEvery company has weaknesses; Hilton Hotels weakness lied in its inability to recover quickly from the attacks on America in 2001. Although Hilton Hotels is a large company in many locations across the country, they had to reduce their manpower due to the decline in business. Matthew J. Hart (president and CEO) said; we have had a lot of job losses about 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs out of a worldwide workforce of 100,000. But we have no plans for any more, unless business gets worse (Finch, 2001, p.1). The September 11th attacks left the whole nation in awe, in grief, and for many New Yorkers, jobless. The attacks left the airline and hotel industry to recover from lost sales. Another weakness the hotel industry is facing is the evident decline in supply. The below chart shows how the demand to occupy the Hilton hotels has been a declining behavior during the last years:A closer examination of the demand cycle for economy hotels during the past several years reveals a pattern that is not consistent with other hotels. The rate of demand growth in this segment began declining during mid-2000, about nine months before a similar effect was felt industry-wide. In addition, as the industrys demand recovery has begun to accelerate the rate of demand growth, the economy segment has plateaud. Of even more concern is that the number of rooms currently being purchased in this segment is still declining when compared to previous-years levels. (Look Smart Articles, 2004, p.1)OpportunitiesAs mentioned earlier, Hilton Hotels Corporation is known worldwide; with this notoriety their reputation will carry them to expand their hotel empire even further. Their opportunity lies in the growing international market. The company is expecting 4-5% fee growth in 2004 within; new management contracts in Austin, Houston, Omaha and Conrad Miami. The company market overview reveals that recent trends in major markets are:†¢ Strong in New York, D.C., Hawaii†¢ Stable in New Orleans, Boston†¢ Weak in San Francisco, ChicagoThere will always be a demand for hotels and resorts. Currently, Hilton Hotels are working on more room availability; 80% of rooms have been renovated within last five years, and they are expanding into new markets. They also have Best Rates. Guaranteed, Internet easy access with a success rate of utilization from the customers:†¢ 13% of all reservations†¢ 85% through proprietary websites†¢ Self-service kiosksThis kind of service assists in making the experience convenient for the customer. Along with the convenience, Hilton Corporation and their six divisions take pride in making every building fee l like home and ensuring the customer is satisfied and pleased with their accommodations (Hilton Hotels Corporation, 2003, s.3-5). ThreatsA few of the threats for The Hilton are competition, and a declining economy. The competition for The Hilton is not only other hotel companies, but restaurants and other service centers as well. Marriott is the main competitor of The Hilton amongst other hospitality companies. Because Hilton is so grand and reputable, they have more room for error, which also makes them vulnerable. As time passes, the Hilton Hotels continue to strive for excellence and perfection. They make each new hotel or resort better than the last. Because of the continuous growth of this company, it has dealt  with its competition head on (Nairn, 2001, p.3). The second threat is the economic decline of this century. Since the September 11th attacks in New York City, the American economy has been declining in all service industry areas. There was an ominous fear of flying and for quite some time, many people chose not to travel for vacations or long-distance business trips. This reaction to the events of 2001 hurt the hospitality industry, and made difficult rebuilding what they lost in revenue. Fortunately, this trend has started to change and the industry will soon recover from their losses. This is an area that still needs close monitoring from the executives of the corporation. References Datamonitor Hilton Hotels Company Overview August 2004. Datamonitor Marriott International Inc. Overview August 2004. Finch, J. (2001, November 16). Hilton reports impact of September 11. Retrieved October 26, 2004, http://www.union-network.org/unitourism.nsf/2c89b80c011f2519c1256b06002163c2?OpenDocumentHotels Hilton Hotels Corporation. (1998, Fall 1998). Corporate History. Retrieved October 26, 2004, Http://hiltonworldwide.hilton.com/en/ww/company-_info/corporate_history.jhtml;jsessionid=FGTDSXUCGXCGSCSGBIX222QKIYFCXUUCHilton Case Study. https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp Retrieved October 23, 2004. Hilton Hotels Corporation (2003, July). Hilton: Great Brands and a Balanced Business Model (presentation). Retrieved October 26, 2004, http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/NYS/HLT/Hilton%20Presentation%20February%202004/tsld002.htmhttp://www.lakelasvegas.com/http://www.lv-hilton.com/http://www.vacationclub.com/en-us/vc/about/marriottworld/lasvegas.asp?cookies=trueLook Smart Articles (2004, January 14). Economy segment lags industry in key performance measures Trends Stats. Retrieved October 26, 2004,

Saturday, October 26, 2019

What Ads Say Essay -- essays research papers

Effective Writing Muthyala What Ads Say/What We Remember   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"After all, advertisements are purely functional things, and therefore the criterion is their success as advertisements and not as works of art.† - H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well, yes. Although recognizable works of art are commonly used in advertisements, the ads themselves will most likely never end up in the louver. With both of those mediums, though, you will notice that an individual’s retention level will be remarkably similar. Most people could identify Whistler’s Mother, although they could not cite any gender inequality issues concerning the painting. Similarly, people could remember that people say â€Å"Wazzuuup!† in Budweiser commercials even if they did not know who was saying it to whom, or how often. The strength of ads like these, then, is the staying power of any or all aspects of their message, no matter how much it has to do with the actual product. Example: ‘Hey man, what do you think of Budweiser beer?’ ‘WAZZUUUP!’ This makes absolutely no sense, but it would be a surprisingly common response, based solely on the public’s retention of the advertisement. No matt er what methods or messages an ad uses to promote it’s product, what people remember from it is very arbitrary.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the Ben Sherman ad, three men and a woman are enjoying a picnic. There seems, however, to be no interaction at all between the men and the woman. The guys Lively 2 are interested in everything but the woman, and are spaced out around the blanket at a good distance from her, not even looking in her direction. The two in the back seem to be having some sort of exchange judging from their expressions, and the third is simply gazing off into the fire. There is food at the picnic, but so far no one is eating, they are just drinking. There is a definite difference in alcoholic preference, though, as the three men are enjoying bottles of beer, and the woman has chosen champagne. There is no need to go into the inherent maleness of beer, so the woman is being classy and feminine by opting for the bubbly. So, while being ignored by the men and drinking her champagne, the woman uses the fiery environment to cook. As Susan Bordo said in her essay â€Å"Hunger as Ideology†, â€Å"Despite the increasing participation of women of all ages a... ...e aggression, Lively 4 female submission, and physical beauty are intrinsic to great lovemaking. The assumption that all these go hand in hand disqualifies a very large portion of the ad’s potential clients. Despite the qualities of this ad that would disgust a lot of people, ten pages after you read it you would be more likely to simply remember that ‘It was about sex and it turned me on’. The way the ad plays on its strengths – the overwhelming popularity of sex – assists the reader in forgetting, or overlooking completely, it’s weaknesses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beyond the obvious messages in most advertising, it is important to pay attention to the aspects of the ad that stick out, the parts that you will be repeating to yourself for the next couple of days and you will not know why. There is so much emphasis on the catchy parts of ads that whatever gender or culture bias they may contain gets covered up and forgotten. An ad may be the most unique, creative piece of unbiased work ever created, but if it is not remembered, then it is a failure. Only when society starts remembering the good things about ads will the message of them take precedence over the catchiness.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Alcohol and College Students Essay examples -- Drinking Research Under

Alcohol and College Students Introduction:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I decided to research alcohol, because of the large numbers of lives that alcohol ruins not only in the short run but also for the rest of peoples lives. Growing up I have witnessed many people who have developed alcohol problems at a young age and allowed it to take control of the way that they live their lives. It is obvious that alcohol has become a dangerous problem for college students in and out of the classroom. Research Methods:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To understand why alcohol is a problem for college students, I decided to survey a random sample of 26 students here at State U. I designed the survey to be a quick and effective way to obtain the drinking habits of college students in order to discover where possible alcohol problems may arise. I chose to survey a random sample of students in order to get a complete response from older students as well as some of the younger students.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first questions I asked in my survey where how many days of the week do you drink, and what is your favorite drink. I asked these 2 simple questions just to get a feel for how often this person goes out and what this person usually drinks. I then wanted to find out whether or not students pre-game before they go out and party, so that was my next question. This will be an important question, because when students pre-game, they usually get hammered, then they will go out to a party and drink even more. In order to find out if students are also getting into drugs, I asked if a student has ever mixed alcohol with drugs. This question will be helpful in showing why students become attached to alcohol easily. Drugs will only make the need for alcohol increase. Drinking to relieve depression and to relax are also key points that go along with alcoholism, so it was almost necessary to ask those questions as well. Once a person begins to drink because of depression, it can swallow him/her right up, because alcohol will seem like the only way out for a person who is depressed. When students want to get drunk quick, they will usually use a beer bong to drink as many as 2 beers at a time. In order to find out which students do this, I asked how many students have ever used a beer bong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Finally, my last 2 questions involve drinking and driving as well as receiving an underage. As everybody knows, drinking and driving... ...nses as well as the responses to my interview, I?ve decided that there are 2 main reasons why students develop dependence towards alcohol. The first and probably most important reason is that people start drinking extremely too early in their lives. As stated previously from the interview, the average person starts drinking at age 13. If a person starts drinking at age 13 then they most likely will revert to alcohol to help solve their problems. When students get older and are in college, the stress level increases. If a student is stressed out and has been drinking since age 13 then obviously the problem will only get worse from here. My research has showed that students do drink when they are depressed or stressed out, so I believe that keeping kids away from alcohol at a young age is the first step in solving alcoholic problems in college students. Conclusion:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To conclude, I?ve decided that no matter what, students will drink. The problem cannot be solved overnight either. However, we need to be able to recognize when a friend has a problem. If dependence does occur then it needs to be taken care of immediately. Alcohol is never the answer, nor is it ever going to be.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Summary of Rizal

Republic Act No. 1425, known as the  Rizal Law, mandates all educational institutions in the  Philippines  to offer courses about  Jose Rizal. The full name of the law is  An Act to Include in the Curricula of All Public and Private Schools, Colleges and Universities Courses On the Life, Works and Writings of  Jose Rizal, Particularly His Novels  Noli Me Tangere  and  El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and Distribution Thereof, and for Other Purposes.The measure was strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines due to the anti-clerical themes in  Noli Me Tangere  andEl Filibusterismo. Senator  Claro M. Recto  was the main proponent of the then Rizal Bill. He sought to sponsor the bill at Congress. However, this was met with stiff opposition from the Catholic Church. During the  1955 Senate election, the church charged Recto with being a communist and an anti-Catholic.After Recto's election, the Church continued to oppose the bil l mandating the reading of Rizal's novels  Noli Me Tangere  and  El Filibusterismo, claiming it would violate  freedom of conscience  and  religion. [1] In the campaign to oppose the Rizal bill, the Catholic Church urged its adherents to write to their congressmen and senators showing their opposition to the bill; later, it organized symposiums. In one of these symposiums, Fr. Jesus Cavanna argued that the novels belonged to the past and that teaching them would misrepresent current conditions.Radio commentator Jesus Paredes also said that Catholics had the right to refuse to read them as it would â€Å"endanger their salvation†. [1] Groups such as Catholic Action of the Philippines, the  Congregation of the Mission, the  Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Teachers Guild organized opposition to the bill; they were countered by Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896), Alagad in Rizal, the Freemasons, and the  Knights of Rizal. The Senate Committee on E ducation sponsored a bill co-written by both  Jose P.Laurel  and Recto, with the only opposition coming from  Francisco Soc Rodrigo,  Mariano Jesus Cuenco, and  Decoroso Rosales. [2] The  Archbishop of Manila,  Rufino Santos, protested in a  pastoral letter  that Catholic students would be affected if compulsory reading of the unexpurgated version were pushed through. [3]  Arsenio Lacson, Manila's mayor, who supported the bill, walked out of Mass when the priest read a circular from the archbishop denouncing the bill. [4] Rizal, according to  Cuenco, â€Å"attack[ed] dogmas, beliefs and practices of the Church.The assertion that Rizal limited himself to castigating undeserving priests and refrained from criticizing, ridiculing or putting in doubt dogmas of the Catholic Church, is absolutely gratuitous and misleading. † Cuenco touched on Rizal's denial of the existence of  purgatory, as it was not found in the Bible, and that Moses and Jesus Christ did not mention its existence; Cuenco concluded that a â€Å"majority of the Members of this Chamber, if not all [including] our good friend, the gentleman from Sulu† believed in purgatory. 5]  The senator from Sulu, Domocao Alonto, attacked Filipinos who proclaimed Rizal as â€Å"their national hero but seemed to despise what he had written†, saying that theIndonesians  used Rizal's books as their Bible on their independence movement;  Pedro Lopez, who hails from Cebu, Cuenco's province, in his support for the bill, reasoned out that it was in their province the independence movement started, when  Lapu-Lapu  fought  Ferdinand Magellan. [3] Outside the Senate, the Catholic schools threatened to close down if the bill was passed; Recto countered that if that happened, the schools would be nationalized.Recto did not believe the threat, stating that the schools were too profitable to be closed. [1]  The schools gave up the threat, but threatened to â€Å"punis h† legislators in favor of the law in future elections. A compromise was suggested, to use the expurgated version; Recto, who had supported the required reading of the unexpurgated version, declared: â€Å"The people who would eliminate the books of Rizal from the schools would blot out from our minds the memory of the national hero. This is not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal,† adding that since Rizal is dead, they are attempting to suppress his memory. 6] On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by Committee on Education chairman Laurel that accommodated the objections of the Catholic Church was approved unanimously. The bill specified that only college (university) students would have the option of reading unexpurgated versions of clerically-contested reading material, such as  Noli Me Tangere  and  El Filibusterismo. [1][3][6]  The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956,[3]  Flag Day. ——————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- [edit]Content | | | The  Noli  and  Fili  were required readings for college students. Section 1 mandated that the students were to read the novels as they were written in  Spanish, although a provision ordered that the Board of National Education create rules on how these should be applied. [5]  The last two sections were focused on making Rizal's works accessible to the general public: the second section mandated the schools to have â€Å"an adequate number† of copies in their libraries, while the third ordered the board to publish the works in major  Philippine languages. [5] ————————————————- edit]Aftermath After the bill was enacted into law, there were no recorded instances of students applying for exemption from reading the novels, and no known procedure for such exemptions. [6]à ‚  In 1994, President  Fidel V. Ramos  ordered the  Department of Education, Culture and Sports  to fully implement the law as there had been reports that it has still not been fully implemented. [7] The debate during the enactment of the Rizal Law has been compared to the  Reproductive Health bill  (RH bill) debate of 2011. 8]  Akbayan  representativeKaka Bag-ao, one of the proponents of the RH bill, said, quoting the Catholic hierarchy, that â€Å"More than 50 years ago, they said the Rizal Law violates the Catholic's right to conscience and religion, interestingly, the same line of reasoning they use to oppose the RH bill. â€Å"[9] ————————————————- [edit]References 1. ^  a  b  c  d  Abinales, Patricio N. ; Amoroso, Donna J. (2005). State and society in the Philippines. Lanham, Maryland:  Rowman & Littlefield. p. 187. ISBN  978-0-742 5-1024-1. 2.   Cruz-Araneta, Gemma  (2010-12-29). â€Å"Legislating Rizal, 1†. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 3. ^  a  b  c  d  Cruz-Araneta, Gemma  (2010-12-29). â€Å"Legislating Rizal, 2†. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 4. ^  Rodis, Rodel (2010-01-07). â€Å"Global Networking  : The Rizal bill†. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2011-06-12. 5. ^  a  b  c  Pangalangan, Raul (2010-12-31). â€Å"The intense debate on the Rizal Law†. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 6. ^  a  b  c  Ocampo, Ambeth  (2007-05-04). â€Å"The fight over the Rizal Law†. Philippine Daily Inquirer.Retrieved 2011-05-24. 7. ^  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Mr. Ramos leads Rizal Day rites†. Manila Standard. 1994-12-29. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 8. ^  Mendez, Christina (2011-05-23). â€Å"JPE, Joker confident of compromise on RH bill†. Philippine Star. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 9. ^  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Jose Rizal: new symbol of re productive health rights? â€Å". ABS-CBNnews. com. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2011-06-01. Jose Rizal: A Biographical Sketch BY TEOFILO H. MONTEMAYOR| | JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna.He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families. His father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal called â€Å"a model of fathers,† came from Binan, Laguna; while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured and accomplished woman whom Rizal called â€Å"loving and prudent mother,† was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. At the age of 3, he learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist.He astounded his family and relatives by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay . At the age 8, he wrote a Tagalog poem, â€Å"Sa Aking Mga Kabata,† the theme of which revolves on the love of one’s language. In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of â€Å"excellent† from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. In the same year, he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the same time took courses leading to the degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the Ateneo.He finished the latter course on March 21, 1877 and passed the Surveyor’s examination on May 21, 1878; but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881. In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid .On June 21, 1884, at the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and on June 19,1885, at the age of 24, he finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of â€Å"excellent. †Ã‚  Having traveled extensively in Europe, America and Asia, he mastered 22 languages. These include Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects.A versatile genius, he was an architect, artists, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist, opthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, and theologian. He was an expert swordsman and a good shot. In the hope of securing political and social reforms for his country and at the same time educate his countrymen, Rizal, the greatest apostle of Filipino nationalism, published, while in Europe, several works with highly nationalistic and revolutionary tendencies.In March 1887, his daring book, NOLI ME TANGERE, a satirical novel exposing the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy, was published in Berlin; in 1890 he reprinted in Paris, Morga’s SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS with his annotations to prove that the Filipinos had a civilization worthy to be proud of even long before the Spaniards set foot on Philippine soil; on September 18, 1891, EL FILIBUSTERISMO, his second novel and a sequel to the NOLI and more revolutionary and tragic than the latter, was printed in Ghent.Because of his fearless exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and clerical officials, Rizal provoked the animosity of those in power. This led himself, his relatives and countrymen into trouble with the Spanish officials of the country. As a consequence, he and those who had contacts with him, were shadowe d; the authorities were not only finding faults but even fabricating charges to pin him down. Thus, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago from July 6, 1892 to July 15, 1892 on a charge that anti-friar pamphlets were found in the luggage of his sister Lucia who arrive with him from Hong Kong.While a political exile in Dapitan, he engaged in agriculture, fishing and business; he maintained and operated a hospital; he conducted classes- taught his pupils the English and Spanish languages, the arts. The sciences, vocational courses including agriculture, surveying, sculpturing, and painting, as well as the art of self defense; he did some researches and collected specimens; he entered into correspondence with renowned men of letters and sciences abroad; and with the help of his pupils, he constructed water dam and a relief map of Mindanao – both considered remarkable engineering feats.His sincerity and friendliness won for him the trust and confidence of even those assigned to guard him; his good manners and warm personality were found irresistible by women of all races with whom he had personal contacts; his intelligence and humility gained for him the respect and admiration of prominent men of other nations; while his undaunted courage and determination to uplift the welfare of his people were feared by his enemies.When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no time in pressing him down. They were able to enlist witnesses that linked him with the revolt and these were never allowed to be confronted by him. Thus, from November 3, 1986, to the date of his execution, he was again committed to Fort Santiago. In his prison cell, he wrote an untitled poem, now known as â€Å"Ultimo Adios† which is considered a masterpiece and a living document expressing not only the hero’s great love of country but also that of all Filipinos.After a mock trial, he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association . In the cold morning of December 30, 1896, Rizal, a man whose 35 years of life had been packed with varied activities which proved that the Filipino has capacity to equal if not excel even those who treat him as a slave, was shot at Bagumbayan Field. |

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Peach Butter Essays

Peach Butter Essays Peach Butter Essays roasted eggplant with tomatoes and mint One of the things I’ve been fiddling around with last year is the idea of making bruschetta without, you know, bread. I shared a Thanksgiving-inspired version last November, but was itching for a late summer spin on it when I created this. I’m the kind of person who would happily eat appetizers for dinner any day - I’m pretty sure if I had nobody else to feed, I’d have subsisted on nothing but pan con tomate, blistered padrons, pink wine and Gossip Girl season one reruns the entire month of August - but it doesn’t really cut it with a family of three. Instead, I spend a lot of time throwing things together for the sake of being a grown-up, a grown-up who doesn’t really have an excuse (such as, she hates cooking or doesn’t know how to cook, etc.) not to make dinner but still forgot to make it again, and quite often, these meals involve some element of roasting the bleep out of well-seasoned vegetables high heat cookery. For the kid, that usually suffices but we grownups get bored more easily, and it’s from that boredom that I started making small, finely chopped and loudly flavored salads and spooning them on top of my roasted vegetable du jour. In this case, it’s eggplant with a Mediterranean-ish topping. We found it completely addictive and less heavy somehow than eating the same on pieces of toast. This recipe also shows up in the September issue of Everyday Food magazine. One sweltering morning in July, a team of people showed up to my apartment to take pictures of me making this dish. It was kind of an unusual experience, to say the least, as my apartment is tiny, my kitchen is tinier and while the sum total of things I use to take pictures for this site are 1. A counter. 2. A window. 3. A camera, it turns out things are a tad more elaborate among professionals. This probably explains why magazine photos are consistently shiny, pretty and well-executed and I get away with ones that are more†¦ â€Å"rustic†! So I thought I’d share some neurotic drivel stories about that day, and please, please feel free to skip this part if you understandably never wanted to hear about my lack of fashion sense. First, I should probably explain something that might already be obvious from the lack of photos of me on this site: man, do I hate having my picture taken! I totally panic. â€Å"Cameras steal souls, don’t they?† my face always appears to say as I smiled awkwardly. They offered to send over hair and makeup people and I was like, â€Å"Oh, ha ha, that’s too high maintenance for me.† [You know, because having your photo in a hugely circulated magazine is a great time to show off how low-maintenance you can be!] I vow to be nothing but high-maintenance from this point forward in fact, I’d like someone to come over right now and make my hair look pretty. Wait, it doesn’t work like that? Drat. The second thing I should probably explain is that [shockingly] I’m also not exactly a fashion plate. Sometimes I dream about hiring a stylist because I’m so bad at shopping for myself (the last time I counted, had six denim and four corduroy skirts in my closet) but then I realized they’d probably talk me into buying a ridiculously overpriced orange shawl that I’d never actually wear, and I go back to shopping for myself, likely for more denim skirts. Why am I sharing this sad tidbit? Because the day of the shoot, I wore one of my typically innovative outfits (ha) to greet the team at the door and was met with a â€Å"So! Let’s go to your closet and pick out an outfit for the shoot, something colorful.† I nervously led them to my closet where they, to their credit, didn’t say a word about the corduroy skirt situation but picked out the one single solitary bright, colorful item within (a dress) and then asked which apron I wanted to we ar. It turned out that I also do not own an apron, or I do, but I didn’t know where it was because I hadn’t used it in so many years which sent this team on a 9 a.m apron hunt through Lower

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Importance of following Orders Essays

The Importance of following Orders Essays The Importance of following Orders Essay The Importance of following Orders Essay The importance of following a direct order Last night at final formation the company was directly told from, The BAD GUY to put our phones up before we went to sleep. This was Just a simple task that should have been too easy to follow, right, wrong after lights out I was laying in bed not talking on my phone but I was still fumbling around with my phone trying to set my alarm, which was wrong because in the back of my mind I knew all I had to do was just leave the phone alone. Now this order was Just something that could have been voided by Just putting my phone in my locker. Although this situation leading up to being as sensitive as disobeying a direct order was not that major of a problem it would have been too easy to Just put the phone up and go to sleep. I understand that if we were in a combat situation and I was given a direct and I broke it being a part of the regular army would get somebody foot broken off in your ass. Like in the situation of being in the FAA twenty minutes away from an Iraqi strip club and the owner there has been letting your team come in and drink cheap all night, but your Platoon SST gave the direct order to stay away from the club and not to drink while on duty, because of possible Deeds that would be on the way And what the team didnt know is that a few days earlier that same owner was visually caught from a recon stashing possible explosives In his 97 diesel Mercedes. So now a few days later. Its the weekend baby, the team is getting restless and want to get out the FOB even if it was Just for a few hours. One of the privates decides to get his boys from the team and go anyway even thought his Platoon SST said not to leave the FAA thou permission! So during his six hour fire guard he and his team dip off and go to the club anyway. Now the team Is In the club getting drunk partying have a good time not really being able to pay attention to everything thats going on and they start to lose their edge. The owner see that their too messed up to control themselves Blame It on the alcohol I guess you could say, but while they stagger back to the FOB the owner fallows the soldiers back to the FOB takes them out about a mile out before they get back and rams his 97 diesel Mercedes straight Into the middle of the FOB and took out half the unit. If the soldiers would have Just been on duty they would have seen the car trying come up to the FAA and would have been gunned down before they even knew what hit them. This Is Just an example of why you should follow orders even though It was Just a simple order that was disobeyed It got everybody around the soldiers killed. The Importance of following Orders By sharks Last night at final formation the company was directly told from, The BAD GIG-JP to on duty, because of possible Deeds that would be on the way ND what the team icon stashing possible explosives in his 97 diesel Mercedes. So now a few days later. Its the weekend baby, the team is getting restless and want to get out the to the club anyway. Now the team is in the club getting drunk partying have a good blame it on the alcohol I guess you could say, but while they stagger back to the FOB before they get back and rams his 97 diesel Mercedes straight into the middle of the down before they even knew what hit them.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Importance of Business Ethics Essay Essays

The Importance of Business Ethics Essay Essays The Importance of Business Ethics Essay Paper The Importance of Business Ethics Essay Paper Under the term business ethics essay, we understand the system of beliefs and moral values, which guide the entrepreneur. Organization or company. These rules guide their decisions, influence their policy as well as have an impact on their activity in general. Exist business requirements, which are mentioned in the company or organization statute, while the law dictates the others. To the list of requirements of business ethics statute, it is possible to include various issues. They depend on the type of the organization and the direction of its activity. It can be environmental regulations, restrictions against trading, government settings, etc. In the company, the management plays a crucial role. It should compulsorily be guided by a specific set of regulations, which will dictate the decisions and serves as a guide for company behavior. Leadership departments rule the employees of the whole company, and they have to stick to specific rules and norms to avoid chaos. If they base the activity of the company or organization on the appropriate business ethics policy, it raises the status of the organization in general. It will also create a long-lasting positive effect. In the future, it will help to attract many clients and earn their credit. Concerning the business ethics for employees, a chief executive officer of the organization has to realize the fact that they will follow the established statute. The behavior of the workers depends directly on the policy implemented by their employers. Workers make better decisions and behave better under the guidance of proper ethical rules. The company has to cultivate such values as honesty and integrity. It helps to increase the productivity of a person and contributes to the overall development of the company. It also helps the managers team to solve ethical dilemmas or biased situations. Specificities of business ethics essay The importance of business ethics policy in the company is undoubtful. It not only influences the overall status of the company but also has a direct impact on its developments and profitability. It controls the reputation of the organization and serves as a critical factor in helping to attract the potential investing bodies. If the company operates in accordance with the ethical principles, its chances to succeed in the market are much higher. Serious and prosperous nowadays are striving to be socially responsible. A smaller organization striving to succeed need to follow this example and attempt to implement and cultivate ethical policies. Each young entrepreneur has to create a business ethics essay to build a solid ground for one’s company. Influential investors and reputable funding bodies rather will choose the company that operates ethical beliefs and rules rather than organization, which ignores them. Following and cultivating a specific rules helps to attract a more significant number of clients as well. The concept of business ethics essay presupposes the discussion of the necessity of sticking to the moral principles and taking responsibility for one’s actions. It should be preserved both by small business spots as well as by big influential companies. To earn the respect of the users, your counterparts and get the support of the prominent investors, one has to stick to norms and moral principles. Business ethics essay discusses the factors that directly influence the developments and reputation of a particular entrepreneur’s organization. Business ethics play in this list one of the most crucial roles. Behavior, policy, decision-making process, traditional customs, and expectations govern ethics. Sticking to proper etiquette and cultivating high moral values helps to create productivity and attract the attention to one’s company. How to create a business ethics essay The creation of the ethics business plan outline is essential. To create an effective business ethics essay one has to stick to specific standards. It will allow forming an active and sense-loaded composition. Primarily, one has to stick to the structure, which includes the introductory part, main body, and conclusion. In the intro, one has to familiarize the target reader with the topic. The author has to provide general material describing the issue and setting the tone for the whole writing. The last sentence of the introduction is the thesis. The thesis is the skeleton of the business ethics essay, which will enable the target reader to get the main point of the writer. The next section is the main body. It has to comprise many supportive arguments related to the thesis. You have to enhance the arguments with compelling examples. The last structural part is the conclusion. It should comprise the generalization of all info presented in the text. It also has to contain the reference to a thesis. One can paraphrase it and add a short comment. The last sentence of the conclusion has to comprise the call to actions sentence. Generally, business ethics essay has to be sense-loaded and informative. It has to describe the necessity of the creation of the business ethics essay. Â  It can also specify all the necessary nuances connected to the notion of business ethics. The text has to include the real-life examples and comprises all the info that will enable the target reader to see the clear picture. Try to make the text maximally sense loaded. Present the information in a clear and condensed way. Implement useful for the reader info. Order business ethics essay on paperap.com To write a business ethics essay, one has to possess a certain level of writing skills and have the experience of creation of a business plan model. For some writers, having no experience, it may be challenging. paperap.com is one of professional business plan writing services, which can provide quick and efficient assistance with the delivery of this type of academic assignment. We hire a crew of advanced authors, who can cope with the task of any level of complexity. To get business plan help from our specialists, one has to enter the website, make an order, mention the deadline and wait until the crew of specialist prepares a premium quality assignment. We offer the best conditions for the clients. The service works 24/7. You can access it at any time and make an order. We hire a crew of advanced experts who can cope with the task of any level of complexity. They are familiar with all the standards and requirements. Our experts take into account all the demands of the customers. We cultivate the client-oriented approach and allow clients to apply for the unlimited number of revisions. We also offer flexible pricing policy for permanent customers as well as regular discounts. Stop looking for unreliable platforms, which will spoil your nerves and reputation. On our service works the customers support department. You can turn to our specialists at any time and get a consultation. You can ask any questions. These specialists will also help you to communicate with the experts working on your order. They can quickly and easily solve all the issues that you worry about. If you have an urgent need to get your business ethics essay ready contact paperap.com! Here you will get the best business ethics essay!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

What is a Nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is a Nation - Essay Example People intending to become a nation have to consent to a government that will lead them. This research describes the meaning of a common past and historical experience, that the Europeans shared. And that was particulary what brought the idea of a national sensibility for people across Central Europe. A nation can therefore be defined as one comprising of people who have made a lot of sacrifices and are willing to make more of them in future just to see that they can chose who leads them. This essay focuses on the history of Europeans in the 19th century. Mainly because in the nineteenth century, Europeans used ideologies that united them, such as nationalism. According to Hunt, many of them, especially liberals and nationalists, wanted independence from the rule of old monarchies and form their own nations. With the ideology of nationalism, they were able to fight for what they wanted and therefore, they got to share a rich history together because of their solidarity towards a common cause. Researcher Hunt stated, that people who believed in nationalism used the notion of consent to start significant political disruptions that troubled the foundations of European monarchies. For instance, the French united in nationalism as they engaged in their revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Many nationalist leaders lost their lives and this only strengthened the will of the people to unite. This gave the people a history which bound them to one cause of creating their own nation. Nations such as Italy, Turkey, France, Russia and Germany are mentioned in this essay.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Training and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Training and Development - Essay Example Re-training is crucial for baby boomers, because it will help to avoid labour market crisis and slow growth. Following Dohm, "The current tight labor market situation could be exacerbated, hindering prospects for economic growth and putting a greater burden on those remaining in the workforce, perhaps forcing them to work longer hours" (Dohm, 2000, p. 17). There is, therefore, a continual need for the process of staff development, and training fulfils an important part of this process. Retraining should be viewed, therefore, as an integral pan of the process of social policy. Critics point out that many unions are recognising the importance of training in relevant skills for baby boomers to sustaining the job security of their members. As a result they are seeking to bring training more centrally into the collective bargaining arena, with the setting up of joint training agreements. For some employers this may be an important route to developing a joint approach to managing change. Among the recommendations is that public and private sectors should develop the line managers' contribution to training. Without re-training an... Training and development activities are important to both public and private sectors, but which may not arise as a development need because public and private sectors have been attending to it rather well. The need for re-training might only show up in the assessments if organizations stopped doing it. These may be in part things that individuals believe are desirable for the development of their own careers, routine things which line managers see as important to improve an individual's performance, and in some cases perceptions of needs which do not really exist, because of a change in the situation that neither the individual nor the line manager knew about. Today, the main task of federal agencies is to identify the gap in training and technological changes, to classify it by level and category, and to attach estimates of the numbers of people involved. Categories might include: Immediate requirements driven by organizational needs; Longer-term organizational needs (including such things as induction initiatives); Short-term remedial needs of individuals; Career development needs of individuals; Things individuals would like to do, but which have no direct corporate benefit. It is predicted that: "there will also be an increased need for employment-related services by persons between the ages of 45 and 54, below the SCSEP age level of 55" (Poulos, Nightingale, 2005). These suggestions can help to identify some of the issues that should be considered by public and private sectors when making their own policies. Economists mention that it is difficult to provide and develop a universal solution which will immediately fit every organization, but re-training policies is the best way to overcome labour shortage

The American Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The American Civil War - Essay Example According to the Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference, page 53, â€Å"Long before the Civil War, the terms â€Å"North† and â€Å"South† had acquired fixed geographic and cultural certainty for Americans. In 1767, two English astronomers, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, completed a survey that marked what had been a disputed boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. By the early nineteenth century, the line of demarcation had become more significant; most free states were entirely north of the Mason-Dixon line (parts of Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, and Ohio fell below it) and most slave states were entirely to the south of it. Although this remains to a large extent accurate, there were some deviations from it during the war.†2 The two sections of the United States, the North and the South, were very different geographically, economically, culturally and to a large part, politically. Yet they shared many commonalities. Both spoke the same English la nguage. Both had gone through the Revolutionary War. Both groups were predominately Protestant. Both were fiercely independent. However, there were stark differences as well. Again, to quote from The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference, â€Å"the regional differences were striking and had become the subject of frequent comment. The ethnic diversity of New York and Pennsylvania contrasted with the ethnic homogeneity in most of the white south; the religious practices of the Puritan in New England differed greatly from those of the Anglicans in Virginia. Some 1,200 miles separated Maine in the North from Florida in the South, but slavery could make the two sections appear worlds apart. The slave system in the South and the free labor capitalism of the North produced two distinct economic philosophies that shaded Americans’ views of those living on the opposite side of the Mason-Dixon Line†.3 Some say that lack of understanding from either side caused men to will ing take up arms against each other, even against family members. Many argue that cultural and political issues propelled the nation into civil war. Indeed they certainly had their part. Politically the North was predominately Republican while the South was predominately Democrat. But as Page Smith said in his book, Trial by Fire, â€Å"The civil war took place because the Southern states felt that they could no longer tolerate their status as members of the Union.† (pg1)4 Smith goes on to discard any suggestion that economy, sectionalism or politics, had any legitimate influence on launching the bloodiest conflict in our nation’s history. He emphatically claims that the institution of slavery and, more specifically, the determination of the North to limit it and the South to extend it were the exact and specific cause of the war. In determining whether or not the Civil War was repressible this question must be asked. Would there have been a Civil War if slavery had no t existed in the United States? Stephen Oakes, in his The Approaching Fury, speaks of a major issue regarding slaves and slave states which was current

Thursday, October 17, 2019

A series suggestion of principles and strategies that could be Essay

A series suggestion of principles and strategies that could be employed to create more urban ecovillages and sustainable urban n - Essay Example The explosion of technologies of the 1700s caused by the unbridled combustion of fossil fuels and a greater than seven fold increase in human numbers has put at risk the very basis of the earth’s social and institutional resiliencies. The beginnings of the perception of the changing natural environment and its repercussions were felt in the early 19th century itself when Henry David Thoreau (1854) published his book Walden. The movement to preserve the environment started in the 1960s in the form of the Green Anarchist movements. Murray Bookchin also in the 1960s put forward the social issues effecting the environment at the time and went on to coin the term social ecology in 1974. His belief was that all environmental problems were rooted in deep- seated social problems. Ecovillage Concept and Sustainability Over the years that followed ecology and conservation gained momentum as the period of industrialisation and economic development in terms of productivity and cost- benef it ratios grew. Urban areas expanded exponentially with little or no concern for the ecological quotient. Concern for the environment brought interest in the study on environmental mapping along with the growing realization that the parameters that determine the quantity of industrial productivity and economics don’t add up to an increased happiness quotient or quality of life for humans and the biodiversity. The realisation that the environment was reaching appoint of no return gave way to the ethos of sustainable development and a quest to achieve sustainability through judicious use of resources. The advent of the ecovillage concept or the sustainable neighbourhood initiative was one such effort to mitigate and arrest the loss of habitat and to take nature as a component in the economics and ecology of human living. Hildur and Ross Jackson the pioneers in this field, set up the Gaia Trust In 1987. Their 20 years experience in cohousing gave a head start to the Danish ecovi llage network. The ecovillage concept continued without any set definition or principles until 1991 when The Gaia Trust entrusted Diane and Robert Gilman to identify and report on the best ecovillages. The report Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities carried the definition of an ecovillage as stated by Gilman as â€Å"a human scale, full-featured settlement, in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world, in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.† In 1993 Gaia Trust also took the initiative to form the Danish Ecovillage Network and in 1995 at the fall conference of the Gaia Trust at Findhorn Where 400 people from ecovillages from across the world participated the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) was launched. This global ecovillage concept has now come to transcend the urban-rural dichotomy and is fast becoming the post industrial way of organizing society at the grassroo ts level. Principles Successful neighbourhood initiatives are being based on certain universal principles of sustainability, self reliance and social integrity. These are broadly classified into four components- the social, ecological, economical and spiritual/cultural components. Hildur Jackson (1998) on the other hand visualized the elements in an ecovillage in the form of 4 dimensions-earth, air, fire and water. In each she placed another set of 4 categories of determinants that would

The Movie From Earth To Moon And Back Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Movie From Earth To Moon And Back - Essay Example If someone is looking for a big entertainment in the classical style, Georges Mà ©lià ¨s 1902 science fiction film, â€Å"A Trip to the Moon† is certainly the most appropriate option. The movie is based on a group of astronauts who went on the moon. The clip of movie is available online at Youtube the link to which is mentioned at the end. It starts with the scene of a hall filled with several astronauts wearing wizard-like gowns and long pointed hats. Their leader shows them how they can make a trip to the moon by drawing a picture on the blackboard which shows a shuttle moving toward the moon from the earth. The idea gains appreciation and they immediately put on their astronauts’ uniform. They fill in the shuttle and a group of young and beautiful lasses closes the shuttle, and the shuttle is thrown into space with a power gun. The moon shows a man’s face who seems angry to see the approaching shuttle, and to his dismay, the shuttle hits him in the eye. Astronauts come out of the shuttle. Tired after a long journey, they cover themselves with their gowns and sleep at a calm place on the moon. The movie shows human faced-stars and planets watch the group of sleeping astronauts and wonder. The queen of the moon appears sitting on a crescent and she calls for the snowfall. The snowfall wakes the astronauts up who seek refuge in a cave. The cave grows a lot of mushrooms. One of the astronauts stands his umbrella on the moon floor and to his wonder, the umbrella grows into a big mushroom. Then the story gains an action theme. A moon alien appears from somewhere and tries to scare away the astronauts who beat him dead. He vanishes into the air like smoke. After that, more and more moon-aliens emerge and attack the astronauts. They overpower the astronauts and take them to the king alien. The rest of the astronauts run their way back to the shuttle, while a lot of moon-aliens chase them holding arrows to kill them.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

A series suggestion of principles and strategies that could be Essay

A series suggestion of principles and strategies that could be employed to create more urban ecovillages and sustainable urban n - Essay Example The explosion of technologies of the 1700s caused by the unbridled combustion of fossil fuels and a greater than seven fold increase in human numbers has put at risk the very basis of the earth’s social and institutional resiliencies. The beginnings of the perception of the changing natural environment and its repercussions were felt in the early 19th century itself when Henry David Thoreau (1854) published his book Walden. The movement to preserve the environment started in the 1960s in the form of the Green Anarchist movements. Murray Bookchin also in the 1960s put forward the social issues effecting the environment at the time and went on to coin the term social ecology in 1974. His belief was that all environmental problems were rooted in deep- seated social problems. Ecovillage Concept and Sustainability Over the years that followed ecology and conservation gained momentum as the period of industrialisation and economic development in terms of productivity and cost- benef it ratios grew. Urban areas expanded exponentially with little or no concern for the ecological quotient. Concern for the environment brought interest in the study on environmental mapping along with the growing realization that the parameters that determine the quantity of industrial productivity and economics don’t add up to an increased happiness quotient or quality of life for humans and the biodiversity. The realisation that the environment was reaching appoint of no return gave way to the ethos of sustainable development and a quest to achieve sustainability through judicious use of resources. The advent of the ecovillage concept or the sustainable neighbourhood initiative was one such effort to mitigate and arrest the loss of habitat and to take nature as a component in the economics and ecology of human living. Hildur and Ross Jackson the pioneers in this field, set up the Gaia Trust In 1987. Their 20 years experience in cohousing gave a head start to the Danish ecovi llage network. The ecovillage concept continued without any set definition or principles until 1991 when The Gaia Trust entrusted Diane and Robert Gilman to identify and report on the best ecovillages. The report Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities carried the definition of an ecovillage as stated by Gilman as â€Å"a human scale, full-featured settlement, in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world, in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.† In 1993 Gaia Trust also took the initiative to form the Danish Ecovillage Network and in 1995 at the fall conference of the Gaia Trust at Findhorn Where 400 people from ecovillages from across the world participated the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) was launched. This global ecovillage concept has now come to transcend the urban-rural dichotomy and is fast becoming the post industrial way of organizing society at the grassroo ts level. Principles Successful neighbourhood initiatives are being based on certain universal principles of sustainability, self reliance and social integrity. These are broadly classified into four components- the social, ecological, economical and spiritual/cultural components. Hildur Jackson (1998) on the other hand visualized the elements in an ecovillage in the form of 4 dimensions-earth, air, fire and water. In each she placed another set of 4 categories of determinants that would

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Biology 2 (plant and society) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biology 2 (plant and society) - Essay Example Sago palm flowers after 12-15 years and rarely produces fertile seeds. Vegetative propagation takes a long time and involves a lengthy process. Therefore, it is unreliable in meeting the dietary needs of the worlds growing population. Traditional agriculture is seasonal and ensures that sources of starch are planted and harvested all seasons. In this regard, starch requirement can be met by traditional means of agriculture (Wickens, 2001). This does not make the extraction of starch from sago palm an easier alternative to traditional agriculture. Sago palm flourishes in wet conditions. Fresh water swamps are the natural habitat for the plant. In dry conditions, the plant would not do well. Some of the world’s populations live in arid or semi arid conditions. Therefore, if sago palm was to be their primary source of starch, people would experience starch deficiencies. Traditional sources of starch such as sorghum do well in dry conditions. These plants rich in starch but are no t cultivated in such areas could be produced by irrigation and made available through trade (Elevitch, 2006). It would be difficult to argue that producing starch from sago palm is an easy task. The process of obtaining starch is tasking and challenging. Chopping down the plant is dangerous because the plant has thorns that are almost one inch in length. Starch is obtained from the pith. Scraping the plant is an energy consuming task and starch can only be obtained through the use hand- made tools. This makes the task even harder. It is then soaked to separate the starch from the non-starch part of the pith. The Salient parts are then dried and carried using bags. Men only chop down the tree, whereas women process the plant to produce the end product. This raises the question of gender inequality. It would be unfair to let women do difficult chores, yet they are fending for the same families. Traditional agriculture ensured that both men and women participated in the production proc ess of food. The work done did not favor one gender over the other. The amount of energy employed in producing sago starch is intensive. It could be used in other economic activities. Traditional agriculture ensured an even distribution of energy. This ensured that tasks were lighter and time conscious. This ensured that other economic activities did not stall (Elevitch, 2006). The means of cooking the sago starch prove to be also hectic. The starch powder is mixed with water to make a sticky dough It is pushed into a single section of a green bamboo. When the freshly cut green bamboo is almost full it is covered with green leaves. This means off cooking is not friendly to the environment. Needless to say, it involves cutting down of bamboo plants, which is a form of deforestation. Cooked sago starch has no taste hence its palatability comes into question. Majority of the world population would not enjoy this meal. This would prove it inappropriate as a reliable source of starch. Tr aditional agriculture produced meals that are easy to prepare and are palatable (Brown, 2007). Sago palm starch is almost a pure carbohydrate. It contains little traces of proteins, minerals and vitamins. It would not be an ideal source of nutrients. Other sources of starch also supply human beings with other nutritional value. For example, maize contains proteins, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber. It makes up

Manage Operational Plan Essay Example for Free

Manage Operational Plan Essay 1. The Types of Matters in a Human Resource Plan Human resources is directly related to the performance of the organisation identifying and planning for training can be linked to many corporate processes performance as the underlying basis of many organisational and human resources programs. 1.1 Some matters of the human resource and their solutions 1.1.1 Human resource issues in counsel and the possible solution Counselling is definitely one service that can help to manage themselves manager should be trained in same basic counselling skills a counsellor can in sever age core capacities of employees. It can help employees increase their self-awareness regarding their thinking patterns and behavioural tendencies. 1.1.2 Human resource issues in employment management and the possible solution The sources of training need provide a diversity and complexity of training requirements to be at practice level you should be managing coordinating the training necessary to satisfy all the needs all the personnel in training should be skilled. 1.1.3 Human resource issues in Administration and the possible solution Recruitment is another traditional area high quality candidate’s should be attracted to the positions the person and position requirements should clearly established. A variety of selection methods appropriate to the situation should be used like entrance tests an interview. 1.1.4 Human resource issues in training and the possible solution Administration is function of human resource management is to be provide the employees with the capability to manage healthcare, record,à ‚  keeping, promotion, benefits etc. the function in terms of employes benefit is to create management system to achieve long term goals plans it requires the exercise of analytic ability and application of substantial knowledge of principals. 2. Job Description of Human Resource Plan Duties and Responsibilities; * Recruiting and staffing logistics * Performance management and improvement tracking system * Record keeping * Assisting with employees relationship * Employee safety and so many- prepare sales action plans and schedules assist, develop and maintain sales and promotional materials make sales calls to new and existing clients assist, develop and make presentations of company products and services to current and potential clients negotiate with clients maintain sales activity records and reports ensure customer service satisfaction and good client relationships follow up on sales activity assist, conduct market research and surveys Skills and Abilities; Excellent computer skills including word and excel Effective oral and written communications skills knowledge of employment laws good interpersonal skills skills in database management Be ready and able to work within a team. Have a polite, helpful manner Education bachelor degree Experience 1 or 2 years of general business 3. Preparing a Job Advertisement A job advertisement should be contained various information these can include; Job title Wage Working area, place Working hours Skills, knowledge and attitude we needed Qualifications and experience we needed Contact name and number of someone who is from our Human Resource Department. 3.1 Job Advertisement for tycoon Company Tycoon Trading Company Sales Department; Salary: $ 55.000 annual Working hours: 9:00 am-5:00 pm (Monday to Friday) Our company is located in western suburb close to city and all public transport. As a small business company we are looking for an intellectual, a creative, qualified and at least two years sales experienced person who must use all office programs professionally especially MS Excel, provide good communication with customers and also must assist to someone else about one of our new product in our company. A person who can enjoy challenges and working towards targets has ability to exceed customers expectation Contact no. 02345678(aren) 4. Detail the Cost of Hiring an Employee Cost of detail of our office person contains; Employee background screening Advertising Relocation pay Time for interviewing Travel expenses Training costs Taxation and wages Human resources paperwork about employee Survey and monitoring processes’ cost for employee Job offer calls by phone or job offer letter by mail Employee back ground investigation and make phone calls to its former company 5. Selection Criteria and interview Questions 5.1 Selection criteria from the sales position Understanding of the role Qualities and Quantities research skills Communication and negotiation skills Organisation and Planning Confidence and presentation skills Decision making 5.2 Interview Questions 1. Tell me who are the main stakeholders in our business and describe the task of job that you understand? 2. How can use the qualities and quantities research skills in this position? Can you give me an example about these skills which you have used before in former job? 3. How will you build good relationships with your team members? 4. How will you satisfy dissatisfied customers? 5. Tell me what is your daily schedule position in job? 6. Now I want you to try to sell me something. Try to convince me to buy this coffee to drink. 7. Which advertising methods do you use to present a new product to create an attract attention for our customers. 8. Can you give me a specific example of an occasion when you took on extra responsibility or showed initiative in improving an aspect of work? 9. Describe the most challenging problem that you have had to solve, and what you took into account. 6. Reference Checking It is a process of authenticating the information supplied to potential employer by a job applicant in his resume, application and interviews it ensure the employer that the candidate has background and experience as he claims it includes and takes usually 20 or 30 minutes to complete. It is a control process provides past information of employee and asks questions two or three people who directly managed the candidate about employees’ skill and knowledge for requested position, relationship with other team members it includes verification of academic credentials ,verification of prior employment, testing to confirm skill, criminal background check To make a reference checking about regarding person will be good in term of employer. For this reason the human resource department of tycoon International Trading Company prepares some questions to make a reference checking on former jobs and positions of regarding person on the its ex-companies. Our reference checking questions are generally consisting of; When did related person work for your company? Could you confirm starting and ending employment dates? When did s/he leave the company? Why did related person leave the company? What was her/his starting and ending salary? What was her/his position? Can you describe the job responsibilities? Did person supervise other employees? How effectively? If I spoke to those employees, how do you think they would describe person’s management style? How did person handle conflict? How about pressure? Stress ? Did you evaluate person’s performance? Can you speak to his/her strong and weak points? What was person’s biggest accomplishment while working for your company? If I describe the position we are hiring for what, could you describe how good a fit you think person would be for the position? Can you describe this persons experience working as a member of a team? Is there anything I havent asked that you would like to share with me? 7. Preparing a Job Offer Date 03/08/2011 Tina Odett and 1/48 Ambrie Crt.Noble Park 3174 Melbourne/Australia Dear Mrs raj It is my pleasure to extend the following offer of employment to you on behalf of tycoon trading company the offer is contingent upon your passing of requirements. The position we are offering is that of Sales Assistant at a salary of $55,000 per year This position reports to Mrs Lela who is a supervisor. Your working hours will be from 08:30 am to 05:30 pm on normal workdays. This is a permanent position. Benefits Information if relevant to the position: Working hours 9:00 to 5:00pm Position – permanent Salary- paid fortnight Bonus- on satisfaction completion of first 90 days of employment Vacation _2_ weeks per annum Probation Period from 15/08/2011 to 15/11/2011 Employee Benefits Include: Group Insurance Short/Long Term Disability Dental Care Health care Your employment with tycoon trading company is at will and either party can terminate the relationship at any time with or without cause and notice if you are in agreement with the above outline please sign. We are confident you will be able to make a significant contribution to the success of our Sales Department and look forward to working with you. Signature Date.. For company manager name. Date. Human resources Date.. I accept the offer as outlined above this 8 day of August,2011. Tina Odett 8. Mentoring and Coaching Program for the New Staff Member A mentor helps employee’s development and also provides some advices on  career path. On the other hand a coach observes employee’s work and actions, and provides related teaching skills. A coach can come from same division in a work place for example from company’s personnel or manager. As a manager, I can also be a coach for my new and current employees. And as a coach, I can give my time and attention to my employees and I can help them master their work and grow their own knowledge and skills. Also, I can ensure them extend their learning capabilities and improve their self-development. On the other hand, for the role of the mentor I can provide my new employees to reach their highest potential in the business. I can arrange for them individual or organizational group mentoring programs. 9. Three months’ probation review It is a 3 month period from the date of commencement of employment whether the employer assesses suitability of employee for the role and employee has an opportunity to determine if the role meets their needs. Probation period has been formed as 3 months in our Human Resources Plan to provide a review and recording about newly hired personnel. Review will be made to the Human Resources Department end of the each month during the three months. First two months will contain initial reviews, and last month will be taken final reviews for employees. Employee assessment Company name Employee name Identification Date/period Position 9.1 Records of Review Importing point in a review report is that it gives healthy and true decisions about newly chosen personnel and provides much strangest workforce for the organisation in the future. Following things should be recorded Attendance Punctuality Appearance dress code Attitude-positive, cooperative Work quality Workplace-care of company equipment Team work skills 10. Monitoring and Review of a Human Resource Plan Human resources plan provide a framework for a company for that as a Human resource manager of the related company I can follow companys missions and daily operations by regarding plan and also I can understand what priorities I need to know as I guide the employees to help the company succeed as well I can be sure whether all staffing needs are met or not. According to the topic, firstly I have to thing about new product in the organization and sales staff that has also employed newly. For example as a human resource manager I arranged a staff training program for related person and also I chose another person who will be responsible for monitoring system. By this responsible person I will follow all performance and capabilities of new staff and also I will be reported about the all situations among the training such as staff training has been completed by a certain date or not. After this training process I can manage a survey which indicates the results of customer satisfaction an d therefore I can make a review about my resources plan which has achieved to present new product by my new training staff or not. PART B According to case study, Sports Gear that is a medium size company will need to increase its production for the Australian Team in the World Cup within 6 weeks which needs to be more than the current level in order to meet the expected demand. 1. Expenses for the new operational plan To increase productivity we need following things, More stafff for night shift More machinery. Time schedule should be extended to 24hrs and 5 days a week for next 6 weeks. Organize extra arrangements for catering and refreshments for the working staff. 2 extra supervisors for night shifts. Ordering extra raw material. Extra room for storage and vehicles for distribution. All of the above will lead to increase the company’s current expenses. For that Sports Gear need to extend their company’s budget. For example, company need to provide more wages for more staff and extra supervisors, more usage for more electrical expenses, more budget for extra order for raw material, more requirement of fuel oil for distribution during the 6 weeks, etc. 2. Monitor performance of the staff to increase productivity Garry can monitor his staff performance by:- Establishing cctv cameras and recording and viewing all the staff members while working. Setting daily targets for each supervisor and each staff. Staff attendance records. Amount of waste production for each staff which shows they are doing their responsibility in right way or not. 3. Budget of the company and its use Budget is a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A reasonable budget allow you to do what you want it helps to be business in right direction The company uses the budget because it provides:- Planning, Set expectations, Consideration, and Guidance Control finances Help to achieve target Helps to prevent loss. 4. Documentation used for developing a business budget Budgeting is the basis for developing supportable financial plans. The documents developed by the company as a result of these instructions are a normal part of the annual budget effort. provide a consistent basis for business planning and budget reviews, facilitate any necessary budget adjustments, provide transparency and a clear audit trail, support rate case filings, assist external reporting with their communication to the investment community, and Keeping the record of budget and getting it checked by the senior personnel.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Health Promotion And HIV

Health Promotion And HIV The origins of health promotion lie in the 19th century when epidemic disease eventually led to pressure for sanitary reform for the overcrowded industrial towns. Alongside the health movement emerged the idea of educating the public for the good of its health (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). In 1977 the World health Assembly at Alma Ata committed all member countries to the principles of Health for all 2000 (HFA 2000) that there should be the attainment by all the people of the world by the tear 2000 of a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life Naidoo and Wills, 2000). The Ottawa charter held on the 21st of November 1986 was the first international conference on health promotion and provided the basis for the current practice of health promotion. It defined health promotion as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individ ual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment (WHO, 1986). Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life-styles to well-being. It went ahead to identify strategies for health promotion namely; build healthy public policy, create supportive environment, strengthen community actions, develop personal skill and reorient health services (WHO, 1986). HIV/AIDS BACKGROUND AND ZIMBABWE The HIV virus is the cause of the Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). All countries of the world are now affected with about 39.5million people living with the disease globally. 2.1million of the global 2.9million deaths due to AIDS in 2006 occurred in Africa ( UNAIDS/WHO, 2007). The extent of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic in Africa makes it qualitatively different from other regions. According to UNICEF (2005), the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has already orphaned a generation of children and it projected that by 2010, 18 million African children less than 18 years are likely to be orphaned by HIV. Africa has the worlds youngest population, with the youth constituting 33% of the total population. Subà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Sahara Africa is home to 70% of young people living with HIV/AIDS and 90% of the AIDS orphans in the world. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is compounded by gender and age, making young people and women in particular more likely to contract the virus than others. The age distribution of HIV infection in Africa is skewed towards younger females, with infection rates among teenage girls five times higher than teenage boys in some countries.Zimbabwe is not spared this burden. One in six African is a Zimbabwe which has a population of about estimate of 140 million people. The first case of the Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was identified in Zimbabwe in 1986. HIV prevalence then rose steadily from 1.8% in 1998 to 5.8% in 2001. However, in the 2003 survey, the National HIV prevalence had dropped to 5%. At a current level of 5.6%, HIV/AIDS prevalence is highest amongst young people less than 30 years (World Bank, 2006). Several factors have been identified as the most important in driving the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe. These include; early marriage of females and inadequate access to condoms and contraceptives particularly for young people. Young peoples lack of access to contraceptives is exacerbated by the age-structured society where children and young people have little or no control over their health, especially sexual health. There is also inadequate sexual education in schools as well as a restricted discussion of sexual health matters in public and even in families. Zimbabweans can have multiple wives as they think they can afford to take care of. This is very ambiguous and the result is that a lot of women are mistreated and left to take care of themselves without actually being empowered to do so. Other factors implicated are the presence of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), stigmatization and the inadequacy of health care systems (APIN, 2006). In addition, various cultural prac tices and values influence the health practices and sexual behaviour of our focus group. This makes them particularly vulnerable. Vulnerability can be defined as the degree to which an individual or a population has control over their risk of acquiring HIV, or the degree to which those people who are infected an affected by HIV are able to access appropriate care and support. (AIDS Vancouver, 2005) Zimbabwe being a male-dominated society, women are viewed as inferior to men, in some areas in particular in rural areas and some townships. Womens traditional role is to have children and be responsible for the home. Their low status, lack of access to education, and certain social and cultural practices increase their vulnerability to HIV infection. Many marriage practices violate womens human rights and contribute to increasing HIV rates among women and girls. Zimbabwe has legal minimum age for marriage, however in some areas early marriage is known to be allowed by parents, as they consider it a way to protect their young daughters from the outside world and maintain their chastity. Girls may get married between the ages of 14 and 15, and a large age gap usually exists between husbands and wives. Young married girls are at risk of contracting HIV from their husbands because it is considered acceptable for men to have sexual partners outside of marriage and even for some men to have more than one wife. Because of their age, lack of education, and low status, young married girls cannot negotiate condom use to protect th emselves against HIV and other STIs. Practices such as female genital mutilation also contribute to the scourge (APIN, 2006). COMPARATIVE STATISTICS From Appendix 1(behind), the tables show WHO statistics (2007) and compares different parameters from Zimbabwe, Brazil and South-Africa. It estimates Zimbabwes population, for 2005, at 131.5 million. This is compared to South Africas figure of 47.4 million and 186.4 million for Brazil. Zimbabwe and Brazil are classed as developing countries while South Africa is a middle-income African country. All these countries have achieved varying degrees of success in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Deaths due to HIV (per 100,000) are 8 for Brazil, 167 for Zimbawe and 675 for South Africa. Figures for HIV prevalence in adults aged 15 years and above show that the prevalence is reduced in Brazil (454 per 100,000 people), but Zimbabwe (3,547 per 100,000 population) and South Africa (16,579 per 100,000 population) still have very high numbers. This buttresses the fact that Africa still has major problems in the fight against HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS POLICY IN ZIMBABWE According to the Federal Government of Zimbabwe, the overall goal of the HIV/AIDS Policy is to control the spread of HIV, to provide equitable care and support for those infected by HIV and to mitigate its impact to the point where it is no longer of public health, social and economic concern, such that all Zimbabweans will be able to achieve socially and economically productive lives free of the disease and its effects. (Federal Government of Zimbabwe, National Policy on HIV/AIDS, 2003; pp. 13-14). The objectives of the policy include, among others to foster behaviour change as the main means of controlling the epidemic and to ensure that prevention programmes are developed and targeted at vulnerable groups such as women and children, adolescents and young adults, sex workers, long distance commercial vehicle drivers, prison inmates and migrant labour. The target is to improve the knowledge, attitude, behaviour and practices of high-risk populations, including youths and adolescents , to HIV/AIDS by 20 percent by the year 2005 and 40% by 2010. With the WHO statistics, there seem to be a lot of work to be done in achieving the above target. YOUTH EMPOWERMENT MODEL THE INTERVENTION The model was developed by a combination of two existing models of health promotion namely Caplan Holland (1990) and Beattie (1991) (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). Beatties model uses criteria of mode of intervention (authoritative-negotiated) and focus of intervention (individual-collective) whereas Caplan and Holland use theories of knowledge and theories of society (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). From Caplan Holland (1990) the following components were taken: radical humanistic perspective (empowerment approach) and humanistic perspective (educational approach). From Beattie (1991) were taken; health Persuasion (educational approach) and personal counselling (behavioural approach). This model thus comprises of the 4 components namely; Radical Humanist/Empowerment approach where individuals are encouraged to form social and organizational networks including self-help groups, Humanist/Health Education approach this involves peer education and awareness campaigns, including activities such as dramas, role plays and debates, Health Persuasion which is essentially behaviour modification and life skills, Personal counselling which is client led and focus on personal development. The health promoter is a facilitator rather than an expert. (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). APPROACHES The components of this model made use of three main approaches to health promotion: behavioural, educational and empowerment approaches. The empowerment approach is based mainly on the formation of social and organisational networks including self-help groups, peer groups, abstinence clubs etc. The emphasis of this approach is to help people to identify their own concerns and gain the skill and confidence to act upon them Naidoo and Wills, (2000), and the behavioural approach aims at behaviour modification. It also uses personal counselling as a means of promoting healthy sexual behaviour, therefore aiming to impart life skills to the students, which would teach them to communicate, to learn to say no to casual sex, to wait till the right time and to make the right decisions. The educational approach aims to provide knowledge and information with the hope that this information would enable the students to make the right and informed choices (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). This would be achieved by means of awareness campaigns, debates, lectures, dramas, role plays, posters and other information, education and communication (IEC) materials. A key part of the education of these students would be peer education. Over the years, there have been various studies and theories supporting the use of peer education as a successful health promotion strategy. Peer pressure can be quite enormous and influential particularly in the focus age group. APPLYING THE COMPONENTS OF THE MODEL DISCUSSION As earlier mentioned, there are four main components of this health promotion model: health education, health persuasion, empowerment and personal counselling. EMPOWERMENT Empowerment in the broadest sense is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.the process by which disadvantaged people work together to increase control over events that determine their lives'(Laverack, 2004). This entails raising consciousness of both the primary and secondary audiences; emphasis is on the exploration of personal responses to health issues. The students are encouraged to form social networks such as self-help groups and peer-educator-led groups. These social networks can lead to self-empowerment. The WHOs definition of health promotion as increasing peoples control over their health places it alongside the key concept of community empowerment (Laverack, 2004). Community empowerment can be viewed as both a process (something used to accomplish a particular goal or objective) and an outcome (in which empowerment is the goal or objective itself). There is considerable overlap between community empowerment and other concepts such as community participation and community development. Community empowerment builds from the individual to the group to the broader community (Laverack, 2004). Health promoters have conventionally viewed community empowerment as a part of bottom-up approached. In this the outside agent act to support the community in the identification of issues which are important and relevant to their lives, and to enable them to develop strategies to resolve these issues. Community empowerment includes personal (psychological) empowerment, organizational empowerment and broader social and political changes. Community empowerment has been viewed in health promotion literature as a five-point continuum model comprising the following elements; personal action, the development of small mutual groups, community organizations, partnership, social and political action. Each point on the continuum can be viewed as an outcome in itself, as well as a progression onto the next point. If not achieved the outcome is stasis or even a move back to the preceding point on the continuum (Laverack, 2004). The latter goes on to say the dichotomy between top-down disease prevention and lifestyle change and bottom-up community empowerment approaches is not as fixed as it is sometimes portrayed. As applied in this youth empowerment model, both approaches were used. HEALTH EDUCATION Health promotion is rooted in the narrower, more established field of health education. Health education is communication activity aimed at enhancing positive health and preventing or diminishing ill-health in individuals and groups, through influencing the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour of those with power and of the community at large (Downie et al, 2006). Use of education in health promotion has to do with communication aimed at enhancing well-being and preventing ill-health through influencing knowledge and attitudes. The purpose is to provide knowledge and information, and to develop the necessary skills so that a person can make informed choice about their health behaviour (Naidoo and Wills, 2005). Health education interventions are valued because they empower people, enabling them to make desired changes and increase their control over their health. It involves working directly with them, enabling communication and feedback that in turn can be used to fine-tune the intervention, enhancing its effectiveness (Naidoo and Wills, 2009). This can be carried out in classrooms, and clubs aiming to empower the students. The peer educators will also be used at this stage as well as PLWHA. The contents for education in HIV prevention will include issues such as meaning and cause of HIV/AIDS, means of transmission non-transmission, modes of prevention, available treatment and management for PLWHA. HEALTH PERSUASION Health persuasion in this initiative forms a part of the Prevention Education. These are intentions directed at individuals and involve mainly health professionals, trained counsellors and peer educators, all acting as facilitators. The aim of this is to influence the development of positive health behaviour in the students, so that as they grow older, they can have good sexual health. People Living with HIV/AIDS are also involved as they are some of the greatest champions of HIV prevention as earlier mentioned. The ultimate aim of health persuasion is encouraging people to adopt healthy and careful lifestyles. The emphasis is on abstinence, safer sex and faithful partnership. The avenues included: classrooms and School HIV/AIDS prevention clubs, distribution of fliers and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials and involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS. PERSONAL COUNSELLING This focused on personal development and students (one-on-one or in groups) are helped by a facilitator to identify their health needs to increase their confidence and life skills. Peer Education This is the teaching or sharing of information, values and behaviours between individuals with shared characteristics such as behaviour, experience, status or social and cultural backgrounds (Macdowall et al, 2006). It is a prevention strategy for reaching youth either in school settings or for marginalized out of school youth, mainly through community based out reach programmes. Approaches to recruiting peer educators have included; providing information about a project and then asking for volunteers (Macdowall et al, 2006) identifying and approaching popular opinion leaders from among target groups; and asking members of the target groups to nominate peers. HEALTH PROMOTION RATIONALE Zimbabwe for obvious reasons stated above has a problem in tackling the scourge of HIV/AIDS and this required a multi-pronged approach in order to make an impact. Thus, developing a health promotion model targeted at the youth is in place. According to WHO, it is imperative to focus on young people because they have a high risk of contracting HIV since once they become sexually active, they often have several, usually consecutive, short-term sexual relationships and do not consistently use condoms. Likewise, IV drug use spreads at an alarming rate in this age group. Furthermore, young people often have insufficient information and understanding about HIV/AIDS; they may not be aware of their vulnerability to it or how best to prevent it. They also often lack access to the means of protecting themselves (WHO, 2004). The National HIV/AIDS policy specifically focuses on adolescents and youths, with a view to changing their sexual behaviour and practices, particularly before they become s exually active. School based programmes are logical avenues to provide most youth with preventive health education which should include helping the youth to identify their personal values and to promote positive self -esteem to enable them to resist pressure to engage in risky sexual behaviour. Zimbabwe practices a 7-2-3 system of education. Here individuals are expected to spend 7 years in the primary school, 2 years in sixth form 3-4 years in the University. The secondary school age in Zimbabwe is between 12-18 years. The focus for the model is in high school students aged 12 to 18. There were several reasons why the school is a key arena for health promotion. First, in accordance with a prevention is better than cure philosophy, it is better to encourage young people to adopt healthful lifestyles than to try to change unhealthful behaviour patterns in adulthood. Secondly, there is evidence that risk factors for disease in adulthood often originate early in life. Thirdly, schools provides a unique opportunity to augment other influences on health-related behaviour with properly planned programmes of health education (Downie et al, 2006). As early as 1982, it was reported that the age of first sexual intercourse had continued to drop in Zimbabwe and was then such that 50% of 16 year kids were already sexually active (Nwokocha and Nwakoby, 2002). Thus, the age range for the study is appropriate to equip them before they become sexually active. Mzikazi High School Bulawayo, Zimbabwe was the chosen high school. Mzilikazi is in Matebelaland, second capital city of Zimbabwe with an estimated population of 1.2 million residents. The city has a rich tourism culture and hospitality. Current research estimates the prevalence of HIV in Bulawayo at 6.19% , making it the second highest of all the states in Zimbabwe (The Herald News, 2006). Its easy access to Victoria Falls makes it a centre for visitors from different parts of the world. All these aid the sex trade in a country so rich yet poverty is the order of the day. People who do possess some knowledge about HIV often do not protect themselves because they lack the skills, support or incentives to adopt safe behaviours. High levels of awareness among the youth, a population group particularly vulnerable and significant as regards the spread of HIV/Aids, have not led, in many cases, to sufficient behavioural change. Young people may lack the skills to negotiate abstinence or condom use, or be fearful or embarrassed to talk with their partner about sex. Lack of open discussion and guidance about sexuality is often lacking in the home, and many young people pick up misinformation from their peers instead. PARTNERS IN THIS HEALTH PROMOTION The key partners in this initiative were the primary the students, and the secondary parents, teachers, school nurse and other members of the school community including staff. Other partners included professionals such as all clinical health practitioners such as doctors, nurses, and others health professionals who will act as facilitators, the local School Authorities, and donor agencies that are focused on HIV/AIDS issues they play a very crucial roles in community HIV prevention programmes. Donor agencies were involved in the provision of funds that were used in executing the project. PLWHA (People living with HIV/AIDS) have very important impact as people see for themselves living testimonies of the HIV scourge. It must be stated that stigmatization and discrimination against PLWHA are common in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, some progress has been made more recently because of increased national campaigns and more visible and vocal societies and support groups for people infected with or affected by HIV. Their efforts have helped educate the public about HIV/AIDS, dispelling myths and giving the disease a human face (APIN, 2006). A potential reason for failure of school health promotion is that of culture clash between the school and the home and elsewhere (Downie et al, 2006) hence the inclusion of the parents in the secondary audience. However while the concepts of outcome succees were addressed to some degree in the study, there was nevertheless, a lack of firm and consistent evidence that positive outcomes had been achieved by the partnership concerned. Partnership working is seen as providing benefits that are achievable, improve health of whole population through working in partnerships with groups and individual to systematically address health needs within a community, (Coles and Porter, 2009). The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts of society, (Achenson, 1998). Wilson and Charlton (2004), claim that culture clashes in partnership working can often expected between people from different social background. In this study the barrier between the partners was the cultural background for the children , parents and the leaders. In this instance the NGOs were the leaders of the health promotion. The break down in communication and understanding of the intended education started when the educators told the students it is advisable to use condoms whenever you have sex. In Zimbabwe there is a deep-seated unwillingness to talk openly about sex, partly due to rules of re spect that lie at the heart of family and kinship structures, which limit communication across generation and sexual divides. Certain prevalent cultural norms and practices related to sexuality contribute to the risk of HIV infection. Negative attitudes towards condoms, as well as difficulties negotiating and following through with their use. Men in southern Africa regularly do not want to use condoms, because of beliefs such that flesh to flesh sex is equated with masculinity and is necessary for male health. Condoms also have strong associations of unfaithfulness, lack of trust and love, and disease. Certain sexual practices, such as dry sex (where the vagina is expected to be small and dry), and unprotected anal sex, carry a high risk of HIV because they cause abrasions to the lining of the vagina or anus. In cultures where virginity is a condition for marriage, girls may protect their virginity by engaging in unprotected anal sex. The importance of fertility in African communities may hinder the practice of safer sex. Young women under pressure to prove their fertility prior to marriage may try to fall pregnant, and therefore do not use condoms or abstain from sex. Fathering many children is also seen as a sign of virile masculinity. Polygamy is practised in some parts of southern Africa. Even where traditional polygamy is no longer the norm, men tend to have more sexual partners and to use the services of sex workers. This is condoned by the widespread belief that males are biologically programmed to need sex with more than one woman, ( ). Urbanisation and migrant labour expose people to a variety of new cultural influences, with the result that traditional and modern values often co-exist. Certain traditional values that could serve to protect people from HIV infection, such as abstinence from sex before marriage, are being eroded by cultural modernisation. ( ). However the NGOs wanted to continue with this education even the other secondary partners could tell it is affecting the whole process, with advice to first stop teaching the children, educate the parents first so when the children are taught it does not cause conflict. This dilemma here appears largely about power who has it, who needs it, and how much? Successful partnership requires leaders to redefine the boundaries of power in the organisation, and this can prove challenging, ( ). Careful design of the organisations decision-making processes and the setting of clear boundaries can help you tackle the leadership dilemma. Therefore with partnership, effective communication enables us to discuss each others concerns, acknowledge our different points of view and strive to understand those views. Good communication is especially important when there are strong views or feelings about an issue. The key thing to remember is that communication goes in all directions. Effective communic ation isnt just about telling people things. Its mostly about listening to each other. Consequently good communication is crucial to partnership. Lack of communication often creates an information vacuum. This vacuum is sometimes filled with rumour and speculation. . Evaluation Two different views of evaluation pervade the literature on health promotion. From the first view point, evaluation involves assessing an activity in terms of the aims or specific objectives of that activity. William (1987) has written as follows: .the purpose of evaluation is that it should demonstrate whether an activity has been successful or to what degree it has failed to achievee some stated aims. Before we can evaluate, then, we need to be clear about the aims of the activity in relation to the degree of attainment of these aims. From the second view point, evaluation is a broader process. It involves assessing an activity by measuring it against a standard which is not necessarily related to the specific objectives or purpose of the activity. This approach has been advocated by Green et al. (1980). From the second view point, evaluation is a broader process (Downie et al, 1996). Evaluation can be defined as the critical assessment of the value of an activity (Macdowall et al, 2006). Evaluation is needed to ensure that health promotion activities are having the intended effects. Evaluating activities helps inform future plans and contributes to the building up of a knowledge base for health promotion. It also helps prevent the reinvention of the wheel, by informing other health promoters of the effectiveness of different methods and strategies (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). Downie et al (1996) identifies reasons for evaluating health promotion activities. These are to assess the extent to which projects are achieving their stated objectives, to inform the development of materials and methods, to ensure ethical practice, to optimize use of resources and to assess the place of health promotion within overall efforts to achieve health gain. Evaluation includes assessments of different kinds of events at varying time periods. A distinction is often made between process, impact and outcome evaluation. Process evaluation: this involves assessing the process programme implementation. It addresses participants perceptions and reactions to health promotion interventions. It is therefore a useful means to assess acceptability and may assess the appropriateness and equity of a health promotion intervention (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). In doing this in our health promotion study, inputs (time, IEC materials, money); self-evaluation (self-reflection); feedback from primary and secondary audience (using questionnaires, question and answer sessions, individual discussions) will be used. Impact and Outcome evaluation: Evaluation of health promotion programmes is usually concerned to identify their effects. The effects of an intervention may be evaluated according to its impact ( the immediate effects such as increased knowledge or shifts in attitude) and outcome ( the longer-term effects such as changes in lifestyle). Impact evaluation tends to be more popular because it is easier to do. Outcome evaluation more difficult because it involves an assessment of long-term effects (Naidoo and Wills, 2000). Evaluation of the impact could be planned or unplanned. Planned impact can be assessed using pre-session and post-session questionnaires or a review session with the target audience. Some of the planned impact/outcomes would include increasing attendance to activities, increase in the number of people taking part in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), increase in age of first sexual encounter and reduction in HIV prevalence rate. Unplanned impact/outcome will include counselling for other issues such as drugs and alcohol use, provision of support for PLWHA within the school community by referrals to NGOs and other support groups that can provide treatment and help them cope with other effects of living with HIV/AIDS. Limitations There are limitations to the implementation of this health promotion model. There is an ethical dilemma with regards what will be too much sexual information for the teenagers considering the cultural background. Many parents will object to some information given to their children. Issues pertaining to funds for running and sustaining the programme need to be considered. There could also be some logistics problems in terms of accessing rural areas: power, security, mobility and communication facilities all have to be provided and these are all functions of funds. Acceptability of the programme by the primary audience may be in question. The students may view the activities as being prescriptive rather than participatory, also, they may view the health professionals and facilitators as being old school in terms of age or social background or socioeconomic status and this could be a barrier which might face the programme. This is where the peer educators come in and may go a long way in overcoming this problem. If the students are able to see the project/activities as theirs, it would help to sustain the efforts after the health professionals may have left. Such continuity could be anchored on peer educator groups, abstinence clubs and other social networks. Long-term assessment of empowerment and change in behaviour is difficult. Is there any behaviour change? If so, is the behaviour change due to this Health Promotion activity alone?. These are pertinent questions which will need to be addressed at the long run. The model focuses mainly on empowerment without addressing other socio-economic determinants of sexual hea