Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Do not lose family in times of unemployment and finalcial loss

The money related emergency enthusiastic help hotline set up by volunteer associations with government subsidizing got in excess of 1,000 calls for help in its initial fourteen days of administration. Social issues brought about by the worldwide monetary wave have kept on surfacing. Hong kong individuals need to comprehend that the difficulty is a worldwide marvel. Further, regardless of how frantic the circumstance is today, there will be daylight after downpour. Other than cash and riches, there is a lot to respect and fortune around us. The brunt of the money related tidal wave has been borne by speculators who endured extraordinary misfortunes in the stock and monetary subordinate markets. Of them, Lehman small scale bond financial specialists stirred most concern, in spite of the fact that the misfortunes endured by individuals who brought stocks during the pinnacle of the hang seng list a year ago have been no not as much as that endured by the lehman smaller than normal bond speculators. On Monday, the HIS fell 1600 focuses, losing 15 trillion in showcase esteem over a year ago's high. It included the capital of numerous little speculators. Indeed, even residents who have not straightforwardly exchanged stocks yet who hold obligatory fortunate assets and childern's instructive supports will find that their riches has reduced extensively. Toward the start of the monetary tempest, little financial specialists endured misfortunes they despite everything had any expectations of recapturing their cash. In any case, the financial exchange kept on falling. Until the money related torrent this month, the HIS had dropped in excess of 60 percent from its recorded high. A significant number of the stocks fell radically. Indeed, even the generally solid great quality stocks endured a similar destiny. Some little speculators started to call it an endless chasm. They not, at this point needed to recapture their cash. What's more, they likewise would not like to keep on losing cash, or lose somewhat more. Tragically, as they haul themselves out of the market, they are paying for their costly exercises. During the 70s, the HSI dropped by in excess of 90 percent, from 1700 focuses to a little more than 100 focuses, transforming stocks into backdrop. The fall made some little financial specialists end it all. In spite of the fact that the current budgetary tidal wave isn't as serious, it has been an in the quantity of individuals sincerely upset by their money related misfortunes. The individuals who called the hotline for help incorporate the working class and proprietors of little and medium-sized endeavors. Some have even lost the reserve funds of their relatives. These pesple are neither expert theorists nor card sharks, but then the impacts of the money related emergency have spread to them, causing family and social difficulties. Indication of life after decimation Indication of life after decimation Contrasted with the SARS time frame five years prior, the current emergency has hit the working class a lot harder than it has the grassroots. The spate of terminations brought about by the contracting market and the credit mash in banking under the budgetary tidal wave has made joblessness, which will in future influence individuals. At the point when credit freezes up at the year end, endeavors will discover the remainder of the year particularly difficult to pass. On the off chance that the conditions intensified with rising joblessness and contracting openings for work, everything can turn out badly for the poor couple. Family debates and viciousness may rise.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Chapter Summarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Part Summarize - Essay Example The medicinal services proficient must achieve a consistency between their responsibility and activities. This will teach in the patient a sentiment of trust. Every single individual from the group must perform with a similar degree of trustworthiness. Individualizing your methodology The expert should initially comprehend the methodology and afterward act as per the circumstance. Rather than being a captive to the clock he should be adaptable enough to treat the patient as indicated by the circumstance. The specialist should oppose receiving an easy route and on the off chance that it is truly required, at that point an exhaustive clarification ought to be given to the patient. Additionally the holding up patients ought to be dealt with suitably so they don’t lose certainty. Seemingly insignificant details mean a ton †Practitioner’s individualized consideration on a patient even on little issues can manufacture a solid expert bond. These may incorporate creation a patient agreeable cleanly (furnishing with a tissue or a glass of water when out of luck) , recollecting patient’s interests (films, matches and so on.) or extending patient’s mindfulness (causing a patient to feel near and dear ). Reacting to endowments Patients and their particular relatives frequently offer blessings to medicinal services experts. This makes a situation for these experts , whether to acknowledge them or not. Before concluding specialists ought to think about the money related worth, patient’s expectation , nature of expert closeness .

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

How to Keep Your Top Talent from Churning - Focus

How to Keep Your Top Talent from Churning - Focus I work in an industry where “startup” is a daily word, everyone’s fantasies seem to involve a “unicorn”, and “office perks” are the currency. The resource we seek  is a team of efficient, dedicated, employees. But when so many startups focus on acquisition and the resource is limited, shouldn’t we focus more on reducing our top talent churn? Reducing Churn They say in growth, it’s easier to stop your already invested customers from leaving than to acquire new ones. Things are no different when it comes to HR. An existing employee has already seen enough value in your company to seek a job, is (hopefully) motivated enough to produce good work, and is invested in the product that you’re building together. This makes them a lot more likely to stay with you than the employee who is just learning about you, along with the other 50 tech companies looking to hire them. If you want to build a team of top tech talent, its better to invest in developing the talented  employees you already have in-house.  Here are 5 tips that will help you retain your top talent, based on what others say and on what we’ve discovered at our own company, MeisterLabs. 1. Find out what motivates your high performers The first step in retaining your high performers is finding out what motivates and engages them. This is not something that you should take for granted. Even if they seem happy and productive you might find out the truth when it’s already too late. Potentially when they’re handing you their resignation letter. That’s why it’s crucial you don’t skip your yearly (or even more often) evaluations and that you do them thoroughly. Asking your employees if they’re satisfied in their job isn’t enough. Instead, ask “What would cause you to take a job with another company tomorrow?” This query prompts people to share their underlying criteria for job satisfaction and to list which of those elements are missing. Surprisingly enough, we have never run a proper employee satisfaction questionnaire or discussion at MeisterLabs. But as they say, better late than never. We ran our questionnaire anonymously, but the general results gave us a much clearer view of what’s important for our employees, or as we like to call it in growth, their AHA! Moment. Product is king Somehow unsurprisingly, after the monetary factor, working on a meaningful product (one that they would use, believe in, etc.) ranked highest within our company. Your product is the most important thing to your customers, to your users, and to your employees. People want to work on something close to their heart and a product thats useful. 2. Focus on training and transforming your managers into coaches They say in HR that employees don’t quit jobs or companies, they quit managers. And we’ve confirmed this in our company when we saw in our questionnaire that “Knowledgeable managers and colleagues” came in very close after working on a meaningful product. Our team also rated constant feedback and recognition highly. It’s no surprise that people want to learn from each other, want to know they work with someone they can trust, and want to keep growing professionally. To help your managers be the kinds of leaders that people want to work hard for, transform them into coaches. “A manager shows someone how to do something, such as the day-to-day tasks for his job, and a coach goes a step further to help an individual realize his full potential and maximize positive outcomes,” says Clifton Harski, the director of training and national head coach at Fitwall. If you feel your team leaders arent providing this yet, its worth investing in managerial training. A good training course will help  your managerial team to better support their teams to grow, perform and stay in their roles. In short, theyre worth the investment. Team management made simple Discover MeisterTask Its free! Discover MeisterTask 3. Offer remote working options In our internal questionnaire, 50% of my colleagues rated remote working and flexible hours as very important requirements. And its not just internal.  Were asked a lot during job interviews whether we offer these kinds of working arrangements. Intuit also found that 79 percent of full-time workers want to work from home at least part of the time.   Luckily we already offer flexible hours, but the options for remote working are still limited.  In our industry, remote work is not so much a perk anymore  but is closer to becoming standard procedure. This has, of course, been facilitated by the many tools that help us to do so: Slack, UberConference, MeisterTask, GitHub, Dropbox, Harvest, just to name a few. To retain top talent, it’s important that you enable your team to work wherever they work best. If this means establishing procedures and tools for remote working, itll likely to be worth the effort. 4. Allow your top talent to fail In many top talent development programs and companies, one of the concerns of top executives is the possibility of derailment or the failure/underperformance of a candidate at the next level. Usually, when a promotion is planned or a top position opens up, promising employees are offered training assignments that provide very little risk of failure. But by being too cautious you risk never allowing emerging top talent to develop. True leadership and professional development take  place under conditions of real stress. We’ve become aware of this quite recently ourselves so amended our development process, creating the role of a feature owner. This puts responsibility in the hands of our developers as they have to go through all of the required steps. Writing specification documents; holding departmental design meetings; coordinating the development team; communicating with the QA team; its all down to them. Feature owners need to ensure that high-quality code is being produced and that their feature is delivered on time. It sounds like a lot and it has put considerable pressure on some of our developers. But with help from managers and colleagues, they’ve learned from their occasional failures and emerged with more knowledge and confidence. Assigning feature owners has helped us to identify management talent within our developer ranks. Weve also demonstrated that we trust our team and will recognize their good work, motivating them to keep it up. 5. Share your corporate  strategy with your high performers In the traditional working environment, meetings happened behind closed doors. Whispers were everywhere and employees lived in fear of being fired at any moment. I remember vividly my mother telling me about her workplace scare stories. Luckily for me, and hopefully everyone else working in a modern company, this is not the case anymore. Honesty and transparency  have become so much more important, not only to employees  but also to top management. Make sure you make these values part of your company culture too. High performers and potentials are acutely aware of your company’s health and are focused on the senior team’s strategy. The same way they want to work for knowledgeable managers, they also need to trust their top executives. With 90% of startups  reportedly  failing, you can’t blame them. There are many ways in which you can involve your high potentials in your company strategy. Some companies send out email updates detailing company performance and strategic shifts; some invite top performers to quarterly meetings; others even invite them to attend closed-door briefings on important strategic updates. Which path(s) you choose is up to you, as long as honesty and transparency are central to those decisions. Don’t wait for your top talent to start churning for you to create a company that everyone loves. Start by looking inside. Identify your high performers, and start creating a company culture that aligns their highest values with yours. Have any questions or tips of your own, on how to hold on to top talent? Wed love to hear from you in the comment section below. Team management made simple Discover MeisterTask Its free! Discover MeisterTask How to Keep Your Top Talent from Churning - Focus I work in an industry where “startup” is a daily word, everyone’s fantasies seem to involve a “unicorn”, and “office perks” are the currency. The resource we seek  is a team of efficient, dedicated, employees. But when so many startups focus on acquisition and the resource is limited, shouldn’t we focus more on reducing our top talent churn? Reducing Churn They say in growth, it’s easier to stop your already invested customers from leaving than to acquire new ones. Things are no different when it comes to HR. An existing employee has already seen enough value in your company to seek a job, is (hopefully) motivated enough to produce good work, and is invested in the product that you’re building together. This makes them a lot more likely to stay with you than the employee who is just learning about you, along with the other 50 tech companies looking to hire them. If you want to build a team of top tech talent, its better to invest in developing the talented  employees you already have in-house.  Here are 5 tips that will help you retain your top talent, based on what others say and on what we’ve discovered at our own company, MeisterLabs. 1. Find out what motivates your high performers The first step in retaining your high performers is finding out what motivates and engages them. This is not something that you should take for granted. Even if they seem happy and productive you might find out the truth when it’s already too late. Potentially when they’re handing you their resignation letter. That’s why it’s crucial you don’t skip your yearly (or even more often) evaluations and that you do them thoroughly. Asking your employees if they’re satisfied in their job isn’t enough. Instead, ask “What would cause you to take a job with another company tomorrow?” This query prompts people to share their underlying criteria for job satisfaction and to list which of those elements are missing. Surprisingly enough, we have never run a proper employee satisfaction questionnaire or discussion at MeisterLabs. But as they say, better late than never. We ran our questionnaire anonymously, but the general results gave us a much clearer view of what’s important for our employees, or as we like to call it in growth, their AHA! Moment. Product is king Somehow unsurprisingly, after the monetary factor, working on a meaningful product (one that they would use, believe in, etc.) ranked highest within our company. Your product is the most important thing to your customers, to your users, and to your employees. People want to work on something close to their heart and a product thats useful. 2. Focus on training and transforming your managers into coaches They say in HR that employees don’t quit jobs or companies, they quit managers. And we’ve confirmed this in our company when we saw in our questionnaire that “Knowledgeable managers and colleagues” came in very close after working on a meaningful product. Our team also rated constant feedback and recognition highly. It’s no surprise that people want to learn from each other, want to know they work with someone they can trust, and want to keep growing professionally. To help your managers be the kinds of leaders that people want to work hard for, transform them into coaches. “A manager shows someone how to do something, such as the day-to-day tasks for his job, and a coach goes a step further to help an individual realize his full potential and maximize positive outcomes,” says Clifton Harski, the director of training and national head coach at Fitwall. If you feel your team leaders arent providing this yet, its worth investing in managerial training. A good training course will help  your managerial team to better support their teams to grow, perform and stay in their roles. In short, theyre worth the investment. Team management made simple Discover MeisterTask Its free! Discover MeisterTask 3. Offer remote working options In our internal questionnaire, 50% of my colleagues rated remote working and flexible hours as very important requirements. And its not just internal.  Were asked a lot during job interviews whether we offer these kinds of working arrangements. Intuit also found that 79 percent of full-time workers want to work from home at least part of the time.   Luckily we already offer flexible hours, but the options for remote working are still limited.  In our industry, remote work is not so much a perk anymore  but is closer to becoming standard procedure. This has, of course, been facilitated by the many tools that help us to do so: Slack, UberConference, MeisterTask, GitHub, Dropbox, Harvest, just to name a few. To retain top talent, it’s important that you enable your team to work wherever they work best. If this means establishing procedures and tools for remote working, itll likely to be worth the effort. 4. Allow your top talent to fail In many top talent development programs and companies, one of the concerns of top executives is the possibility of derailment or the failure/underperformance of a candidate at the next level. Usually, when a promotion is planned or a top position opens up, promising employees are offered training assignments that provide very little risk of failure. But by being too cautious you risk never allowing emerging top talent to develop. True leadership and professional development take  place under conditions of real stress. We’ve become aware of this quite recently ourselves so amended our development process, creating the role of a feature owner. This puts responsibility in the hands of our developers as they have to go through all of the required steps. Writing specification documents; holding departmental design meetings; coordinating the development team; communicating with the QA team; its all down to them. Feature owners need to ensure that high-quality code is being produced and that their feature is delivered on time. It sounds like a lot and it has put considerable pressure on some of our developers. But with help from managers and colleagues, they’ve learned from their occasional failures and emerged with more knowledge and confidence. Assigning feature owners has helped us to identify management talent within our developer ranks. Weve also demonstrated that we trust our team and will recognize their good work, motivating them to keep it up. 5. Share your corporate  strategy with your high performers In the traditional working environment, meetings happened behind closed doors. Whispers were everywhere and employees lived in fear of being fired at any moment. I remember vividly my mother telling me about her workplace scare stories. Luckily for me, and hopefully everyone else working in a modern company, this is not the case anymore. Honesty and transparency  have become so much more important, not only to employees  but also to top management. Make sure you make these values part of your company culture too. High performers and potentials are acutely aware of your company’s health and are focused on the senior team’s strategy. The same way they want to work for knowledgeable managers, they also need to trust their top executives. With 90% of startups  reportedly  failing, you can’t blame them. There are many ways in which you can involve your high potentials in your company strategy. Some companies send out email updates detailing company performance and strategic shifts; some invite top performers to quarterly meetings; others even invite them to attend closed-door briefings on important strategic updates. Which path(s) you choose is up to you, as long as honesty and transparency are central to those decisions. Don’t wait for your top talent to start churning for you to create a company that everyone loves. Start by looking inside. Identify your high performers, and start creating a company culture that aligns their highest values with yours. Have any questions or tips of your own, on how to hold on to top talent? Wed love to hear from you in the comment section below. Team management made simple Discover MeisterTask Its free! Discover MeisterTask

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Louisa May Alcott - Author of Little Women

Louisa May Alcott is known for writing  Little Women  and other childrens stories,  connections to other Transcendentalist thinkers and writers.   She was briefly a  tutor of Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, nurse, and was a Civil War nurse.   She lived from November 29, 1832 to March 6, 1888. Early Life Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, but the family quickly moved to Massachusetts, a location with which Alcott and her father are usually associated. As was common at the time, she had little formal education, taught mainly by her father using his unconventional ideas about education. She read from the library of neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson and learned botany from Henry David Thoreau. She associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Parker, Julia Ward Howe, Lydia Maria Child. The familys experience when her father founded a utopian community, Fruitlands, is satirized in Louisa May Alcotts later story, Transcendental Wild Oats. The descriptions of a flighty father and down-to-earth mother probably reflect well the family life of Louisa May Alcotts childhood. She early realized that her fathers flighty educational and philosophical ventures could not adequately support the family, and she sought ways to provide financial stability. She wrote short stories for magazines and published a collection of fables shed originally written as tutor for Ellen Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emersons daughter. Civil War During the Civil War, Louisa May Alcott tried her hand at nursing, going to Washington, DC, to work with Dorothea Dix and the U.S. Sanitary Commission. She wrote in her journal, I want new experiences, and am sure to get em if I go. She became ill with typhoid fever and was affected for the rest of her life with mercury poisoning, the result of the treatment for that illness. When she returned to Massachusetts, she published a memoir of her time as a nurse, Hospital Sketches, which was a commercial success. Becoming a Writer She published her first novel, Moods, in 1864, traveled to Europe in 1865, and in 1867 began editing a childrens magazine. In 1868, Louisa May Alcott wrote a book about four sisters, published in September as Little Women, based on an idealized version of her own family. The book was successful quickly, and Louisa followed it a few months later with a sequel, Good Wives, published as Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, Part Second. The naturalism of the characterizations and the non-traditional marriage of Jo were unusual and reflected the Alcott and May families interest in Transcendentalism and social reform, including womens rights. Louisa May Alcotts other books never matched the lasting popularity of Little Women. Her Little Men not only continues the story of Jo and her husband, but also reflects the educational ideas of her father, which he was never able to communicate effectively in writing. Illness Louisa May Alcott nursed her mother through her final illness, while continuing to write short stories and some books. Louisas income financed the move from the Orchard House to the Thoreau house, more central in Concord. Her sister May died of complications of childbirth, and assigned guardianship of her child to Louisa. She also adopted her nephew John Sewell Pratt, who changed his name to Alcott. Louisa May Alcott had been ill since her Civil War nursing work, but she became worse. She hired assistants to care for her niece, and moved to Boston to be near her doctors. She wrote Jos Boys which neatly detailed the fates of her characters from her most popular fiction series. She also included the strongest feminist sentiments in this final book. By this time, Louisa had retired to a rest home. Visiting her fathers deathbed on March 4, she returned to die in her sleep on March 6. A joint funeral was held, and they were both buried in the family cemetery plot. While she is best known for her writings, and is sometimes a source of quotations, Louisa May Alcott was also a supporter of reform movements including antislavery, temperance, womens education, and womens suffrage. Also known as:  L. M. Alcott, Louisa M. Alcott, A. M. Barnard, Flora Fairchild, Flora Fairfield Family: Father: Amos Bronson Alcott, Transcendentalist, philosopher and educational experimenter, founder of Fruitlands, a utopian community which failedMother: Abigail May, relative of abolitionist Samuel MayLouisa was the second of four daughtersLouisa May Alcott never married. She was a guardian for her sisters daughter and adopted a nephew.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Taj Mahal Free Essays

string(216) " is of the opinion that till such time this problem is studies in depth and suitable technologies have been found to be satisfactorily in use elsewhere the use of coal in the refinery power plant should be deferred\." Taj Mahal – The Taj – is the â€Å"King Emperor† amongst the World Wonders. The Taj is the final achievement and acme of the Mughal Art. It represents the most refined aesthetic values. We will write a custom essay sample on The Taj Mahal or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is a fantasy-like grandeur. It is the perfect culmination and artistic interplay of the architects’ skill the jewellers’ inspiration. The marble in-lay walls of the Taj are amongst the most outstanding examples of decorative workmanship. The elegant symmetry of its exterior and the aerial grace of its domes and minarets impress the beholder in a manner never to be forgotten. It stands out as one of the most priceless national monuments, of surpassing beauty and worth, a glorious tribute to man’s achievement in Architecture and Engineering. The Taj is threatened with deterioration and damage not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of damage or destruction. A private sector preservation organization called â€Å"World Monuments Fund† (American Express Company) has published a list of 100 most endangered sites (1996) in the World. The environment of Agra is today beset with problems relating to the inadequacy of its urban infrastructure for transportation, water and electricity. Residential fuel combustion, diesel trains and buses, and back-up generators cause the densest pollution near the Taj Mahal. Constitution of the proposed Agra Ring Road and Bypass that would divert the estimated daily 6,50,000 tons of trans-India truck traffic financing. Strict controls on industrial pollution established in 1982 are being intensively enforced following a 1993 Supreme Court Order. The Asian Development Bank’s proposed $300 million loan to the Indian Government to finance infrastructure improvements would provide the opportunity to solve the chronic problems. Agra contains three World Heritage Sites, including the Taj Mahal. † According to the petitioner, the foundries, chemical/hazardous industries and the refinery at Mathura are the major sources of damages to the Taj. The Sulphur Dioxide emitted by the Mathura Refinery and the industries when combined with Oxygen – with the aid of moisture – in the atmosphere forms sulphuric acid called â€Å"Acid rain† which has a corroding effect on the gleaming white marble. Industrial/Refinery emissions, brick-kilns, vehicular traffic and generator-sets are primarily responsible for polluting the ambient air around Taj Trapezium (TTZ). The petition states that the white marble has yellowed and blackened in places. It is inside the Taj that the decay is more apparent. Yellow pallor pervades the entire monument. In places ugly brown and black spots magnify the yellow hue. Fungal deterioration is worst in the inner chamber where the original graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal lie. According to the petitioner the Taj – a monument of international repute – is no its way to degradation due to atmosphere pollution and it is imperative that preventive steps are taken and soon. The petitioner has finally sought appropriate directions to the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to stop air pollution in the TTZ and save the Taj. The court considered the affidavit filed by the board and directed the board to issue a public notice. Pursuant to the courts order, the board filed affidavit (5. 8. 93), wherein it stated that public notice was published in two national newspapers calling upon the industries to file their replies during the extended time. The affidavit also states that all listed industries were polluting industries and 507 out of them had not even installed any air pollution control device. The 212industries that did not respond to the notice and failed to take any steps towards installing the pollution control devices were closed by order-dated 27. 8. 93. The court was assisted in its efforts to improve air quality in the TTZ by the reports prepared by the NEERI (National Environment Engineering Research Institute), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) on the supply of fuel gas to industries in the area and the study conducted by the Vardharajan Committee, which was constituted in May 1994, by the MoEF. Varadharajan Committee made, among others, the following recommendations: â€Å"Steps may be taken to ensure that no new industry including small industries or other units which can cause pollution are located north-west of the Taj Mahal. Efforts may be made to relocate the existing small industries particularly the foundries, in an area southeast of Agra beyond the Taj Mahal so that emissions from these industries will not be in the direction of the monuments. Similar considerations may apply to large industries such as Fertilizer and Petrochemicals. Such industries, which are likely to cause environmental pollution, may not be located in the neighbourhood of the refinery. The Committee further recommends that no large industry in the Agra region and its neighbourhood be established without conducting appropriate detailed studies to assess the environmental effect of such industries on the monuments. Location should be so chosen as to exclude any increase in environmental pollution in the area. †¦ The Committee wishes to record its deep concern regarding the existing level of pollution in Agra. It recommends that an appropriate authority be created which could monitor emissions by industries as well as air quality at Agra on a continuous basis. This authority should be vested with powers to direct industries causing pollution to limit the level of emission and specify such measures as are necessary to reduce the emissions whenever the pollutant level at the monuments exceeds acceptable limits. The Committee particularly desires that recommendations made in regard to reduction of existing pollution levels at Agra should be covered to a time-bound programme and should be implemented with utmost speed. The Committee also recommends that studies should be undertaken by competent agencies to explore the possibility of protecting the monuments by measures such as provision of a green belt around Agra in the region between Mathura and Agra. Even though assurances have been obtained from IOC that adequate precautions would be taken to contain the pollution on account of using coal in the power plant, the Committee is of the opinion that till such time this problem is studies in depth and suitable technologies have been found to be satisfactorily in use elsewhere the use of coal in the refinery power plant should be deferred. You read "The Taj Mahal" in category "Papers" The National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) gave an â€Å"Overview Report† regarding status of air pollution around the Taj in 1990. â€Å"The sources of pollution, including small and medium-scale industrial units, are scattered all around Taj Mahal. High air pollution load is thus pumped int o the Taj air shed. Sudden rises in concentration level are often recorded in all directions in gaseous as well as particulate pollutant depending upon the local micro climatic conditions. On four occasions during the five-year air quality monitoring, the 4 hrly average values of SO2 at Taj Mahal were observed to be higher than 300 ug/m3, i. e. 10 folds of the promulgated CPCB standard of 30 ug/m3 for sensitive areas. The values exceeded even the standard of 120-ug/m3 set for industrial zones. Statistical analysis of the recorded data indicate that 40% (cumulative percentage level) has crossed the standard set for sensitive receptors/zones. The SPM levels at Taj Mahal were invariably high (more than 200 ug/m3) and exceeded the national ambient air quality standard of 100 ug/m3 for SPM for sensitive locations barring a few days in monsoon months. Another study during 1985-87 brought to fore that the overall status of the ambient air quality within the trapezium has significantly deteriorated over this period. â€Å"The Taj Mahal marble samples analyzed by NEERI in 1993 reveal that the black soot on certain protected surfaces contains 0. 6% Calcium and traces of Sulphate. X-ray diffraction studies indicated that soot and quartz (Silicon Dioxide) and the major constituents of the black coating at Taj Mahal (Lal and Holden, ES T, April 1981). The origin of soot can be traced back to the fuel consumption around the sensitive receptor, while quartz is derived from geocrustal origin and causes surface abrasion. Soot in itself is not chemically destructive, but with tar it acts as a soiling agent. Absorption of the acidic gases is enhanced due to the presence of soot/smoky matter resulting in long-term effects. Further, the presence of soot reduces the aesthetic value of the monument. Ambient air around Taj Mahal is polluted primarily from point/line sources and has adverse impacts on building material by alteration of marble and sandstone structures at microcrystalline level. The earlier studies have revealed that the concentrations of gaseous pollutants and SPM (predominantly soot and carbon particles) are relatively high during winter months due to the frequent inversion conditions restricting vertical dispersion. During monsoon seasons, suspended particles are washed away and this cycle of pollutant builds up and subsequent removal continues exposing fresh surface of the monument to the pollutant. The period industrial development of Agra-Mathura region has resulted in acidic emissions into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. This causes serious concern on the well being of Taj Mahal. †¦ The gaseous pollutants being acidic in nature, significantly both the as well as the biotic components of the ecosystem like plants and building material like marble and red stone. The sources of pollution in Agra region as per the report of the Central Pollution Control Board are iron foundries, Ferro-alloyed industries, rubber processing, lime processing, engineering, chemical industry, brick refractory and vehicles, Mathura Refinery and Ferozabad Glass Industry. On 3 August 1995, the court formed a tentative view that polluting industries in the TTZ would have to be relocated and sought the assistance of the Union Government to device an appropriate solution. Taj, being a cultural heritage is an industry by itself. More than two million tourists visit Taj every year and this is a good source of revenue for the country. The court had monitored this petition for over three years with the objective of preventing and protecting the Taj from deterioration and damage due to atmosphere and environmental pollution. It cannot be disputed that the use of coal/coke by the industries emits pollution in the ambient air. The objective behind this litigation is to stop pollution while encouraging development of the industries. The old concept that development and ecology cannot go hand in hand is no longer acceptable. The development of the industries is essential but not at the cost of the environment. Orders passed by the court time to time indicate that the relocation of the industries from TTZ is to be resorted to only if the Natural Gas, which has been brought at the doorstep of TTZ is not acceptable/ available by/to the industries as a substitute for coal/coke. The GAIL has already invited the industries in the TTZ to apply for gas connections and industries operating in TTZ with the gas connections need not relocate. The atmospheric pollution in the TTZ has to be eliminated at any cost as it’s not just the preservation of monument, which is essential, but also the human life. In August 1999, the Supreme Court struck again, ordering the closure of 53 iron foundries and 107 other factories in Agra that had not cleaned up their act. The order has become a call to arms for foundry owners, workers, trade union representatives and small-scale industry. However, industry is buying time: it filed a review petition through the Uttar Pradesh State government and obtained a reprieve on the court order’s implementation. The matter comes again before the Supreme Court this summer. In the meantime, Agra’s Iron Founders’ Association is building up their case. They argue that 3,000 cottage and engineering units depend on the foundries, and that they directly or indirectly employ about 300,000 workers. They hold that the technology for using natural gas in their industries is not yet ready. Taj trapezium project’s phase II gets green signal Buoyed by a decline in the pollution levels around the Taj trapezium with the successful implementation of the first phase of the afforestation project, the state administration has okayed the Rs 15. 0-crore second phase. The success of the plantation scheme assumes significance since a report prepared by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, had pointed out how â€Å"pollution inventory of Agra reflected high concentration of NO2, SO2 and CO2†. Apart from a vigorous re-run of the plantation campaign in the Taj city, this phase envisages greening of â€Å"sensitive receptors† of pollution like the heritage monuments and the 42-hectare land strip along the NH-2 (Delhi-Agra-Kanpur), NH-3 (Delhi-Agra-Mumbai) and NH-11 (Jaipur-Agra) highways. A 3 How to cite The Taj Mahal, Papers

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Strength and Weakness of IKEA-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss two Strength and two Weakness of IKEA in Singapore. Answer: Strength of IKEA The strength of the lies in the variety of products that are manufactured and designed by the company. The products of the company are famous among the customers and also the products that are introduced by the company are cost effective. Customers get value for money and also high ROI on the money they spend on the furniture. Ikea is one of the strong global brands which attract the consumer groups towards the products offered by the company. The company promises the same quality and range of well designed, functional products at low prices globally. The quality of the product that is offered by the company is the major strength of the company (UA little Rock, 2017). Weakness of IKEA IKEA requires good communication with its consumers and also with the stakeholders about the environmental activities. The size of the business creates difficulty for the company. There are various environmental concerns that are related to the operations of the company. IKEA goes through various challenges in communicating the policies to the customers and shareholders. With the motive of profit maximization, the company at times focuses on the cost leadership that gives adverse impact on the quality of the products that are offered by the company. By taking into consideration the recent scenario, it is seen that the company face difficulty to maintain the quality of the products in context with the enhancement of the cost (Pratap, 2016). References Pratap.A. (2016). IKEA SWOT Analysis. Viewed on 17th November 2017. https://www.cheshnotes.com/2016/09/ikea-swot-analysis-2016/. UA little Rock.(2017). Strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. Viewed on 17th November 2017. https://ualr.edu/about/home/strategicplan/chancellor/planning-environment/7-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats /

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Is the attempt to manage employees cultural values and emotions perfectly reasonable or a step too far

Introduction This paper is aimed at showing that in most cases, the management of employees’ emotions and cultural values is ineffective and unethical even despite the fact that this idea appeals to many business administrators. In order to elaborate this argument, it is first necessary to discuss the concept of organizational culture and explain how the values of employees are formed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is the attempt to manage employees’ cultural values and emotions perfectly reasonable or a step too far? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In particular, I will try to demonstrate that people’s attitudes toward an organization depend mostly on the nature of their work and their long-term experiences with the company. Moreover, they are dependent on their cultural background. The main task is to show that they cannot be shaped through a planned initiative. These issues will be disc ussed in Section One. Furthermore, in Section Two, I will try to show that the management of workers’ values and emotions can result in conformist thinking in the organization and inability to critique other people. Finally, Section Three will be aimed at examining the ethical aspects of managing cultural values and emotions of employees. In particular, I will try to demonstrate such attempts can encroach on the ethical integrity of a person. These are the issues that I would like to address in this paper. Factors influencing cultural values and emotions of employees Overall, organizational culture is one of the first concepts that should be discussed. In their article, Shahzad et al. (2012) provide several definitions of this notion. First, they define culture as a set of assumptions or values that differentiate a particular organization (Shahzad et al. 2012, p. 976). Moreover, in this context, this term can be understood as beliefs and feelings that employees have about the ir job, the company in which they work, its goals, and its principles (Shahzad et al. 2012, p. 976). These attitudes depend on a variety of factors, for instance, the nature of work, the rewards that employees receive, the relations between managers and employees, career prospects and the social status that a person receive due to his/her work.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, a manager who strives to change organizational culture will have to manipulate these factors. The problem is that this task is hardly possible. This person would have to change the compensational policies of the company, its structure, and probably the attitude of the community toward a certain profession. For example, the study carried out by Stephen Ackroyd and Phillip Crowdy (1990) shows that the values and behaviour of workers often depend not on organizational, but occupational culture ( p. 4). These authors examined the behaviour of those people who worked in slaughter houses (Ackroyd Crowdy 1990, p. 3). Many of these people viewed their job as a necessary evil, but they did not take much pride in it (Ackroyd Crowdy 1990, p. 3). This example is important because it illustrates that the values and emotions of workers are not dependent on the actions of managers. In some cases, their attempts to manage the values and emotions of workers are not feasible. The advocates of cultural management can say that in some companies workers identify themselves with the organization, for instance, one can mention such corporations as Honda or Toyota (Wilmott 1993, p. 545). Nevertheless, one should take into account that this loyalty to the group can be explained by social and cultural development of Japanese society (Wilmott 1993, p. 545). It cannot be fully attributed to the actions of managers. These are some of the objections to the management of a person’s values or emotions in the workplace. The second issue that should be discussed is how to demonstrate that the change in cultural values has really been made. The first argument that scholars put forward is that there is no theory that describe the construction of personal or group values (Fitzgerald 1988, p. 5). Additionally, Thomas Fitzgerald points out that it is necessary to explain how the values of employees can be replaced or modified and how this change can be measured (1988, p. 9). Yet, this question still has not been examined by psychologists or social scientists. Secondly, managers have to compare old cultural values or emotions of employees with new ones.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is the attempt to manage employees’ cultural values and emotions perfectly reasonable or a step too far? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In order to do it, a person should conduct a serious of interviews with employees for several times. Even if a company chooses to conduct such interviews, it is quite possible that workers will give responses that management expects from them. In other words, one cannot ensure the validity of such results. Again the problem of measuring values and attitudes can undermine the very idea of managing the employees’ values, feelings, or emotions. Admittedly, there are some ways in which managers can change the attitudes of workers. For instance, in those companies where leaders encourage workers to take in decision-making, people are more likely to have positive experiences. However, these experiences are the result of long-term effort of the leaders. They cannot be attributed to a short-term planned initiative. For instance, in his article, Michael Rosen (1988) describes a Christmas party that was organized to improve the relations among employees (p. 478). Yet, one cannot ensure that such parties can improve the atmosphere in the workplace. Thus, administrato rs cannot always provide convincing empirical evidence proving that they did change the worker’s values and that this change positively affected the productivity of the company. This methodology has not been fully developed. Apart from that, one can refer to the research conducted by Emmanuel Ogbonna and Barry Wilkninson (2003) who demonstrated that the so-called cultural shift in many companies can be better explained by structural changes, job insecurity, or the threat of punishment (p. 1151). Studies suggest that in most cases, culture change initiatives do not help to internalize the values advocated by the management (Ogbonna Harris, 1998, p. 286). In other words, they may follow the principles or rules that are imposed on them, but they do not see them as internal obligations.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, people who claim to produce a cultural change in an organization will have to provide evidence showing that this goal has really been achieved. Currently, psychology or social sciences cannot provide methods for measuring the achievement of this goal. This is one of the main issues that business administrators should take into account. Groupthink and Conformism Many business administrators regard the management of employee’s culture as a positive phenomenon. They believe that this strategy can increase workers’ loyalty to the company, and its goals. Assuming that this goal can be attained, there are many potential problems, and one of them is conformist thinking (Won-Woo 2000, p. 873). It should be noted that very often managers attempt to make workers think and act in a similar way. In their opinion, the adherence to the rules of the company has to be the top priority for an employee. In many cases, such a requirement is quite understandable; moreover, good coordination is necessary for any organization. However, business administrators should remember about the dangers of groupthink. This is a situation when employees cannot critique or question the decisions of top management only because they take their opinion of these managers for granted (Won-Woo 2000, p. 882). Corporate leaders should put more value in individuality to ensure the diversity of opinions in the workplace. Without this diversity of opinion, they companies can become stagnated. As it has been said before the very concept of organizational culture suggest that employees have a shared set of beliefs, feelings, and emotions. Thus, managers attach more importance to collectivism and attachment to the group. This strategy can include to some of the following outcomes: 1) self-censorship or unwillingness to contradict the group; 2) the belief in the infallibility of the group; 3) lack of attention to the details which contradict the dominant views; 4) failure to evaluate and critique the decisions of the organization; 5) poor assessment of risks (Won-Woo 2000, p. 882). Therefore, business administrators should remember that decision-making in their organizations can decline because of their attempts to manage the emotions and cultural values of workers. They can reach a situation when employees will be unwilling or unable to think critically. One can easily assume that the performance of such a company may soon decline. This is the risks that managers should be aware of. Ethical aspects of managing cultural values and emotions Another issue that should be discussed is the ethical aspects of emotions and cultural values of workers. Even it is possible to manipulate the values and emotions of a worker, one can still ask a question whether this activity can be acceptable from an ethical point of view. The thing is that every employee is a unique individual who has a distinct set of goals, beliefs, or principles. In his article, Hugh Willmott (1993) arg ues that companies that try to manipulate the values and emotions of workers closely resemble totalitarian societies (p. 523). He points out that these attempts completely contradict some liberal values of freedom of expression or privacy (Willmott 1993, p. 523). Moreover, a worker might be reduced to a mere cog in the machine. This is one way of looking at this problem and it does not support the idea of creating specific cultural values that should be shared by every employee. Additionally, employees themselves can reject any attempt to influence his/her emotions or values. The problem is that many managers want their employees to be completely loyal to the company. Its needs and goals have to be the top-most priority for them. However, these goals can be achieved in different ways, and some of them may not be ethical. Thus, a question arises as to how an employee should act when the strategies of the company contradict his/her ethical principles. In companies, in which the loyalt y to group is viewed as an obligation, a person can be afraid of acting in an ethical way (Maharaj 2008, p 68). The thing is that in the long-term, this lack of moral independence can eventually produce catastrophic effects on a company. Many of the corporate scandals that broke out during the last decade can be explained by the fact that many people did not try to evaluate the morality of the decisions taken by corporate leaders. For example, one can refer to the well-known Enron scandal which can be partly explained by the firm belief in the morality of the group (Gini 2004, p. 9). Thus, managers should consider how the management of cultural values or emotions can eventually affect the reputation of the company and its public image. Moreover, these initiatives can create a gap between corporate leaders and workers who will believe that they are manipulated. Conclusion Overall, these examples show that the attempts to manage cultural values and emotions of workers can be questione d from ethical and scientific points of view. As it has been shown there is not clear method explaining how business administrators can actually affect the attitudes, goals, feelings, or principles of employees. One of the main problems is that there are no theoretical frameworks that can accurately describe the process of changing or influencing the emotions and values of workers. Secondly, it has been shown that the attitudes of an employee are dependent on many factors like the nature of work, cultural background, his/her social status, and so forth. Not all of these factors can be manipulated or altered by the organization. Additionally, managers should remember that these attempts can compromise ethical principles within the company and impoverish its decision-making. Managers or corporate leaders may like the idea that they can affect employees’ inner world, but at this point this task cannot be done. References Ackroyd, S. Crowdy P 1990 ‘Can Culture be Managed? Working with â€Å"Raw’ Material: The Case of the English Slaughtermen†, Personnel Review, vol. 19 no. 5, pp.3 – 13. Fitzgerald, T 1988, ‘Can Change in Organizational Culture Really Be Managed?’, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 17 no. 2, pp. 5-15. Gini, A 2004, ‘Business, Ethics, and Leadership in a Post Enron Era’, Journal Of Leadership Organizational Studies, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 9-15. Maharaj, R 2008, ‘Corporate governance, groupthink and bullies in the boardroom’, International Journal Of Disclosure Governance, vol. 5 no. 1, pp. 68-92. Ogbonna, E, Harris, L 1998, ‘Managing Organizational Culture: Compliance or Genuine Change?’, British Journal Of Management, vol. 9 no. 4, p. 273-288. Ogbonna, E, Wilkinson, B 2003, ‘The False Promise of Organizational Culture Change: A Case Study of Middle Managers in Grocery Retailing’, Journal Of Management Studies, vol. 40 no. 5, pp. 1151-1178. Rosen, M 1988, ‘You Asked for It: Christmas at the Bosses’ Expense’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 25 no. 5, pp. 465-480. Shahzad, F, Luqman, R, Khan, A, Shabbir, L 2012, ‘Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Performance: An Overview’, Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, vol. 3 no. 9, pp. 975-985. Won-Woo, P 2000, ‘A comprehensive empirical investigation of the relationships among variables of the groupthink..’, Journal Of Organizational Behavior, vol. 21 no 8, pp. 873-887. Wilmott, H 1993, ‘Strength Is Ignorance; Slavery Is Freedom: Managing Culture in Modern Organizations’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 30 no. 4, pp. 515-552. This essay on Is the attempt to manage employees’ cultural values and emotions perfectly reasonable or a step too far? was written and submitted by user Kristen Knight to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Friday, March 6, 2020

mbar to atm - Converting Millibars to Atmospheres

mbar to atm - Converting Millibars to Atmospheres This example problem demonstrates how to convert the pressure units millibar (mbar) to atmospheres (atm). Atmosphere originally was a unit related to the air pressure at sea level. It was later defined as 1.01325 x 105 pascals. A bar is a pressure unit defined as 100 kilopascals and 1 millibar is 1/1000 bar. Combining these factors gives a conversion factor of 1 atm 1013.25 mbar. Key Takeaways: Millibars to Atmospheres Pressure Conversion Millibars (mbar) and atmospheres (atm) are two common units of pressure.You can use either of two conversion formulas to convert between millibars and atmospheres.1 millibar 9.869x10-4 atm1 atm 1013.25 mbarRemember, the number in mbar will be about a thousand times larger than the equivalent value in atm. Alternatively, converting from mbar to atm will yield a number about a thousand times smaller.When performing unit conversions, check your answer to make sure it makes sense, convert it to scientific notation if practical, and use the same number of significant digits as the original value. mbar to atm Conversion Problem #1 The air pressure outside a cruising jetliner is approximately 230 mbar. What is this pressure in atmospheres? Solution: 1 atm 1013.25 mbarSet up the conversion so the desired unit will be canceled out. In this case, we want atm to be the remaining unit.pressure in atm (pressure in mbar) x (1 atm/1013.25 mbar)pressure in atm (230/1013.25) atmpressure in atm 0.227 atmAnswer: The air pressure at cruising altitude is 0.227 atm. mbar to atm Conversion Problem #2 A gauge reads 4500 mbar. Convert this pressure into atm. Solution: Again, use the conversion: 1 atm 1013.25 mbar Set up the equation to cancel out the mbar units, leaving atm: pressure in atm (pressure in mbar) x (1 atm/1013.25 mbar)pressure in atm (4500/1013.25) atmpressure 4.44 atm mbar to atm Conversion Problem #3 Of course, you can use the millibar to atmosphere conversion, too: 1 mbar 0.000986923267 atm This may also be written using scientific notation: 1 mbar 9.869 x 10-4 atm Convert 3.98 x 105 mbar into atm. Solution: Set up the problem to cancel out the millibar units, leaving the answer in atmospheres: pressure in atm pressure in mbar x 9.869 x 10-4 atm/mbarpressure in atm 3.98 x 105  mbar x 9.869 x 10-4 atm/mbarpressure in atm 3.9279 x 102 atmpressure in atm 39.28 atm or pressure in atm pressure in mbar x 0.000986923267  atm/mbarpressure in atm 398000 x 0.000986923267 atm/mbarpressure in atm 39.28 atm Need to work the conversion the other way? Here is how to convert atm to mbar About Pressure Conversions Pressure unit conversions are one of the most common types of conversions because barometers (the instruments used to measure pressure) use any of a number of units, depending on their country of manufacture, the  method used to measure pressure, and intended use. Beside mbar and atm, units you may encounter include torr (1/760 atm), millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), centimeters of water (cm H2O), bars, foot sea water (FSW), meter sea water (MSW), Pascal (Pa), newtons per square meter (which is also a Pascal), hectopascal (hPa), ounce-force, pound-force, and pounds per square inch (PSI). A system that is under pressure has the ability to do work, so another way to express pressure is in terms of stored potential energy per unit volume. Thus, there are also units of pressure relating to energy density, such as joules per cubic meter. The formula for pressure is force per area: P F/A where P is pressure, F is force, and A is area. Pressure is a scalar quantity, meaning it has a magnitude, but not a direction. Make Your Own Homemade Barometer Sources Giancoli, Douglas G. (2004). Physics: principles with applications. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-13-060620-4.International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006). The International System of Units (SI), 8th ed. p. 127. ISBN 92-822-2213-6.Klein, Herbert Arthur. (1988).  The Science of Measurement: a Historical Survey. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications 0-4862-5839-4.McNaught, A. D.; Wilkinson, A.; Nic, M.; Jirat, J.; Kosata, B.; Jenkins, A. (2014). IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the Gold Book). 2.3.3. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. doi:10.1351/goldbook.P04819Resnick, Robert; Halliday, David (1960).  Physics for Students of Science and Engineering Part 1. New York: Wiley. p.  364.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

F.B.I. Says Records Demands Are Curbed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

F.B.I. Says Records Demands Are Curbed - Essay Example Among its many extraordinary provisions, the law canceled habeas corpus rights for non-citizens (which amounted to twenty million people in the United States). According to the New York Times article, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly obtained personal information on Americans in numerous terrorism investigations in 2006, but internal practices put in place since then appear to have helped curtail the problems, Bush administration officials said Wednesday. The US government was unable to identify and to directly attack the enemies. Because of the strengthened paranoia of terrorist attacks, every person is considered a potential suspect. With the goal of ending international terrorism, civilians are also affected. The ethical issue that may be considered relevant to the topic is terrorism and double standards My concern is that if we don't have a good answer we may not have a justification to accept, or even promote, one country's "war on terrorism" while rejecting another's. And nobody likes double-standards when it comes to the justification of international policies.. There was no assurance that there should be no detention-without-trial, no suppression of free speech and there should be increased checks or evaluations on police power. There should be no double-standards and all countries will receive equal treatment. This means Pakistan and Ira... Military troops should be sent to both countries in search for these alleged terrorists. There should be no hesitation with investigating Pakistan regardless of Pakistan's exportation of nuclear technology in North Korea. There should also be no indecision with challenging the sovereignty of Pakistan as well as with Iraq. It isn't surprising, then, that one wonders whether "terrorism" names a definite and identifiable kind of act, or if it is a politically charged term used selectively to capture an arbitrary set of events. In the Fatosphere, Big Is In, or at Least Accepted By RONI CARYN RABIN Published: January 22, 2008 Recent studies show that the consumers have also considered skipping fast-food eating for this can be a reason for gaining more calories due to the fat content as well as less availability of healthier food options. Almost every magazine or book that talks about losing weight or maintaining healthy lifestyle advice readers to eat at home instead of eating at fast-food restaurants for this can give them the opportunity to prepare nutritious and healthy meals for the family as well as save money. There have been some notions that fast-food meal tends to have more fat than home-cooked meal and that you can gain more calories just by eating out. Dining at fast-foods can be healthy as long as we prepare ahead as to what food we want to order and consider its nutritional value as well. In the book entitled Competitive Advantage by Jaynie Smith, she stated that there is an increasing need for Americans to eat healthy food. Since fast-foods are their usual first option for getting access to ready food, the fast foods have to think of new ways and strategies to offer healthy

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Recommendation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Recommendation - Essay Example Segmentation helps in the development of a sound, competitive advantage. Therefore, a better market positioning strategy can be developed through proper market segmentation. Market positioning involves building of a long-term impact on the minds of the consumers through differentiation of its commodities from rest. Market positioning utilizes physical attributes and promotion to build a clear distinction of a company’s product from the rest (Wang 38, 2009). Stirling Hotel ought to concentrate on the strengths and opportunities instead of concentrating on drawbacks and threats that may bring the business down. Therefore, the hotel’s weaknesses and threats become paramount in the establishments. The hotel is better achieved by looking at the threats and flaws than utilizing the strengths and opportunities. Converting threats and opportunities into strong points can serve as the competitive advantage of the hotel since several hotels can also be established on the same strengths and opportunities. The hotel managements ought to create outstanding features or characteristics that are more attractive than from other hotels. Therefore, the management will be required to employ innovativeness in the generation of marketing strategies and competitive advantage. The management should also develop suitable promotion strategies through utilization of the promotional mixes or

Monday, January 27, 2020

Costing a Building Construction Project

Costing a Building Construction Project SALUM NASSOR MOHAMED Task 1 Identify and further describe any five (3) components of cost in the building construction? Cost is a calculation which can be calculated by evaluating the actual cost which is paid by the client or the contraction industries. The cost of building construction is the process of adding structure to real property. All building construction projects include some elements in common – design, financial, estimating and legal considerations. However, the commercial of building construction is procured privately by various delivery methodologies, including cost estimating, profit, price and management contracting, In addition, there are some components of cost in the building construction. These are; Cost of profit. Cost of overheard. Cost of material. COST OF PROFIT. Profit is the amount of financial reward which base on the contractor aim that achieves the risk which take during the meeting of construction work. Example, Profit = Total sales – Total cost. Perhaps, cost of profit can be define as the major component of cost which variable change during in work or in discussion of the cost between the client and contractor. However, this component of cost is important source of finance for business like; construction work, which earned amount of financial in a company. This is known as retained profit. For example, the higher the risk the more profit is needed, this profit is varies according to the types of construction risk and the time of construction, therefore when the contractor take a more risk in the work and time the cost of profit will be needed to the construction work. COST OF OVERHEAD. One among the component of cost in a building construction are cost of overhear, which can be define as the cost of resources which is used by an organization just to maintain its existence. Although, the awareness of cost overhead is important for more than just knowing how much profit is being made. Usually, cost of overhead is measured in monetary terms, but non-monetary overhead is possible in the form of time required to accomplish tasks. For examples, salaries, maintenance, utility, rent and production expenses. In addition, the total overhead is calculated by % basic and as lump sum between 5 – 10% of total component of cost. Furthermore, the cost of overhead is divided into two categories. These are Fixed cost. Variable cost. Fixed cost. Fixed cost is the one among the categories of overhead cost which deals in a salary of administrative staff which is include the contribution and allowance, rent and taxes on the office. This is usually occurring in short period time. Variable cost. This variable cost is the categories of overhead cost that change according to a crease or decrease in the work. For example, interest, rate, loans, and director’s salary which is based on rate of profit. COST OF MATERIAL. Cost of material is the amount of money invested in the production of a product. Also it can be define as the cost of materials which can be easily identified with the unit of production. A contractor must submit his own material cost in the measured rate analysis. For example, the cost of glass is a pure materials cost in light bulb manufacturing. This manufacturing’s of products are good required material as the prime element. In general, these materials are divided into two categories. These categories are; Direct materials. Indirect materials. In addition, material cost includes this cost; Basic cost of material which is bought by manufacturer or supplier. Transportation, which deals about the cost of transport material to site, and some time it’s depend on how long will take to there (distance and time). Unloading and storage of material, the cost must be taken into consideration in overall cost. For example, if the site is inaccessible, the contractor will incur additional cost of material and send to the site. (b) There are many sources of cost data in construction industry. Do some research and identify the main sources of cost data that available in Malaysia. Cost data is every important in control construction activities, this is critical data which is used to establish whether the estimate is reasonable or not. The main sources of cost data are; Cost planning during design. Contract estimating for tendering purpose. Cost planning during design. Cost planning is mostly referred to the designing to a cost or target cost planning since a cost limit is fixed for the scheme and the architect must then prepare a design not to exceed this cost. ‘’Is a typically for buildings, which enables the cost of a scheme to be monitored during design development’’ this known as cost planning during design. Cost planning ensures the amount of money which including the requirement for the building and construction industry. During the design cost planning is allow the options to be analysed and may be required to determine best value for money by assessing recurrent costs. The cost planning and analysis may include a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis or cost-effectiveness analysis for the contractor and client requirements. For example, when the contractor and architect are determine the total cost of the project and design that ensure the estimated cost produce are close. Contract estimating for tendering purpose. Contract estimating for tendering purpose are the one of the purposes of cost data in construction industry which is control a contract operation especially in the interim payment and final accounting procedure. A full Estimating and Tendering solutions to all of the client in a construction industry including Main Contractors, Sub-Contractors and Private Clients, can be provide by Quantity Surveyors. For example, a cost reconciliation and speed up tender submission. In addition the purpose of producing a contract estimating tendering for the client can be classified into two (2) categories. These are; Budgeting This decides whether the project should proceed as envisaged. Controlling This uses the estimate as a control mechanism throughout (c) Discuss on the precautions should be adopted before attempting to use existing Cost Data and applying that to the new projects. Cost data are needed in the construction industries at different stages of sophistication for the theory and practice of building economics. For example, a contractor’s are required during the inception levels of the design process, so that they can provide clients with an indication of possible cost associated with a correct proposed construction project. These are precautions of cost data. These are; Prediction of cost. The prediction of cost can show both time and hourly rate that would be supplied to the other side at the first opportunity. Thus it would be sent with the letter of claim or with the defendant’s response to the letter of claim. Also this use of cost data (Prediction of cost) can be used to predict cost of information for example, cost of various buildings, element unit rate, equipment and schedule of rate in the bill of quantities. In this case the contractor can be use this form in order to estimate the whole cost of the project in a construction industries and he can also save in word excel. Comparison of cost. Comparison of cost is the ways which help a contractor and engineer to identify the correct cost of the project in construction industries. Also, this use of cost data is used to compare the cost of different building. In addition, the aim of the constructors when they applied this use of cost data is to make the best and beneficial comparison of a various item, element, tools and equipment of the building in different design. For example, this use of cost data, occur when the contractor is calculate the total cost of the building includes all the function, element, design and payment of all engineering, Architect, survey and etc. in last year and total cost of the building in this year, in order to compare the cost of the building. In this case the contractor can save the money in the next building. TASK 2 MR Ahmed is a project manager at GEDS Developer Sdn Bhd just realizes about the construction cost database is an importance sources of information for those who are directly or indirectly involved in the building industry. It is not only important to quality surveyors but also other disciplines such as architects, engineers, accountants, administrators, amongst other. He is seeking for your help to construct their own construction cost database. Define Gross Floor Area (GFA) and explain how the GFA is used to organize the construction cost database. Gross Floor Area (GFA) is the total amount of floor space in a building, â€Å"Gross Floor Area (GFA) is a real estate term referring to the total floor area inside the building envelope. Including the external walls and excluding the roof†. In the construction work Gross Floor Area is very important for determining rent and advertising with real estate companies and the acquiring building permits. For example, the area within the perimeter of the outside walls of a building can be measured from the inside surface of the exterior walls, with no designed for hallways, stairs, closets, thickness of walls, columns, or other interior features. Gross Floor Area (GFA) is a real estate term referring to the total floor area inside the building envelope. Including the external walls and excluding the roof. In addition, databases may exist in the form of physical files folders, documents, or formatted automated data processing system data files. According to the above scenario the main uses of Gross Floor Area (GFA) in a construction of cost database are shown as follow; Gross Floor Area (GFA) can be used as GLA, even though GLA usually excludes corridors and other public areas inside the development, while both figures include areas occupied by structure, like walls and columns. Gross Floor Area (GFA) in a construction of cost database is used to measure the length of the surface area or wall area, for example Balconies, this are intended to be covered semi-outdoor spaces. Covered balconies constitute gross floor area (GFA). Also the provision of balconies is encouraged to achieve the planning objective of enhancing the garden city ambience and promote greenery in the sky. The GFA of the balconies is allowed to be computed over and above the Master Plan control, However, this would not apply to existing developments whose building form, height or use are not in accordance with the planning intention as indicated in the Master Plan, Building Height Plan or Special and Detailed Control Plan. Suggest and display the format and the construction cost database. Cost database is an organization or collection of cost data. In addition, database means a collection of data fields that make up a record. This information is easily updated and edited. A contractor can create charts for the construction work using the records of a database. The term database is correctly applied to the data and their supporting data structures, and not to the database management system (DBMS). The database data collection with DBMS is called a database system. Although, a database can provide the ITS professional community with quick and easy access to costs data to be used in developing cost estimates of ITS deployments. For example; entries of unit cost components have been compiled from available sources and provided in table format. Perhaps, when you base the above scenario there are so many format of cost database in a construction industry. One among those is; Bill of Quantities (BOQ). Bill of quantities (BOQ) is a document which is used in tendering in the construction industry in which materials, parts, and labour and their costs are itemized. Also it (BOQ) can be define as â€Å"the major source of cost information that must be used with the great care as the rates between 2 BQ for the same project that will show a considerable variation for may item†. This bill of quantities can be proceed and prepare by the quantity surveyors and is the one among the source of development of Quantities surveyor’s as a separate profession. Bills of quantities may prevent contractors from developing effective cost control systems. However bill of quantities can be prepare by a taking of process in which the cost of building and the structure of the building are estimated for measurement in the structural engineer drawing, this form can be used to create a cost estimate, for example in regard to the square are in meter of wall and roofs. TASK 3 Define Price Analysis Cost Analysis Elemental cost analysis Price Analysis Price analysis is an evaluation of a proposed price without analysing any of the separation of the cost element. Also this is essentially price comparison. In addition this price analysis is used or applied whenever the estimator comparing lump sum price. Example of price analysis, comparisons of prospective bidders in the current procurement. Cost Analysis Cost analysis is an evaluation of a separate material that make up a contractor’s total cost proposal or price to determine if they are allowable, directed related to the requirement and ultimately, reasonable. For example, labour and material cost. This cost analysis is needed by using a competitive proposal method of contracting like Survey, Engineering or Architect services, also this method are required to submit a cost proposal that identify all element of cost, example, material, labour, profit and overheard cost. Elemental cost analysis: is an arrangement of Cost analysis and Cost control, commonly for structures, which empowers the expense of a plan to be checked throughout outline improvement. Describe the FIVE (5) principle of cost analysis The main aim of cost analysis is to provide cost centers for the work under examination. The Standard Form of Cost Analysis for building projects is used throughout the UK to provide data which allows comparisons to be made between the costs of achieving various building functions in one project with that of achieving equivalent functions in other projects. In addition the standard forms of cost analysis to identify the major cost items for the project cost manager to address himself. There are 5 principles of cost analysis Building within a project shall be analyzed separately. Analysis should be in stages with each stage giving progressively more details; the total detailed costs in each stage should equally the cost the relevant group in the proceeding stage. Information shall be provided to facilitate the preparation of estimates based on abbreviated. Preliminaries shall be dealt with as a separate item (not apportioned amongst elements). Lump sum adjustment shall be spread pro-rate amongst all elements if the buildings and external works, excluding prime cost sum and the provisional sum contained within the elements. In addition the principle of cost analysis is; â€Å"if the material increase also the cost will be increase†. This show that cost is increase when the material are high quality. Also â€Å"An element should be easy definable and capable of having the appropriate costs allocated against it with a minimum of effort on the part of the user†. However the analysis of cost should bring out those features in different building which bear most heavily upon cost, also the qualitative aspect of the project should be expressed by means of reference to accompanying specification notes. For example, after soliciting competitive sealed bids, one receives only on bid, and it differs substantially from one independent estimate of the contract price. In that case, one must obtain a cost breakdown of the single bid price and use cost principle to determine if that price is reasonable. (C) Describe the contents of cost analysis. (i) Complete contract document: in order for the cost to be analysed it must be prepared in the form of full document. (ii) Quantity factors and other working drawings and specification to calculate the quantity: if we want to make this cost analysis we in order for it to be done we must sketch first and we must calculate Tender report- in the cost analysis we must have a special report we it can show the information regarding the market, and the numbers of tenders etc. Manual for preparing cost analysis. Cost analysis if its prepared by manually it will be good because someone concentrate on doing it Standard form of cost analysis: in making the cost analysis everything in the project must be standard. References Ashworth, A. (2004).Cost studies of buildings. 1st ed. Harlow, England: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Hillebrandt, P. (1974).Economic theory and the construction industry. 1st ed. [London]: Macmillan [Distributed in the U.S. by Halsted Press, New York. Langston, C. (2005).Life-cost approach to building evaluation. 1st ed. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Myers, D. (2004).Construction economics. 1st ed. New York: Spon Press. Smith, J. and Jaggar, D. (2007).Building cost planning for the design team. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Oral Language and Reading Comprehension Essay

This paper is intentionally made to show the comparison between oral language and reading comprehension. Oral language and reading comprehension are both essential to every individual. All of us had undergone oral language when we are still young and as it develops and as we grow and mature, it enables us to be more knowledgeable and prepares us to a more needed comprehension in reading. This two are significant and are interrelated to each other. As a parent, talking to the child helps expands vocabulary, develop background knowledge, and inspire a curiosity about the world. The more a child engages into certain experiences and more learning that starts from parents and then to teachers, it will widen their minds and permits them into a more broad understanding of different things. Oral language is the very learning that each of us has gone through and we still have it up to now. This paper will broaden your knowledge with regards to the comparison between oral language and reading comprehension. Background of the Study: Oral language means communicating with other people. On the other hand, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. The definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing. Oral language and reading comprehension are both essential because in oral language we are trained on how to communicate well with other people. Reading comprehension, on the other hand, is also a way of understanding the book that we read; it could be just a simple magazine, newspaper, or even the books we used in school. A person must be able to understand what he or she is reading. It is necessary that we know how to talk or communicate but one thing that is very useful as well in our everyday lives is the ability to read and understand what we read. There is a complete difference between â€Å"reading† and â€Å"reading with comprehension†. Now, as you go and read this paper, you will be fed with more ideas with the comparison between spoken language and reading comprehension and how these two work together for a more fluent practice of communication. It will develop your communication and reading skills; that it is not enough to know how to speak and read but being able to speak and at the same time realize what you are reading and even apply these in real life situations. Related Study: Oral language A great deal of research has been done in the field of oral language acquisition. As a means of attempting to negotiate their environment children actively construct language (Dyson, 1983; Halliday, 1994; Sulzby,1985). From a child’s earliest experience with personal narrative development, oral language acquisition must be continually fostered. (IRA and NAEYC, 1998). This becomes the building block for establishing success in all areas of literacy. Oral language begins to develop at a very young age as children and parents interact with one another in the natural surroundings of the home environment (Teale, 1978; Yaden, 1988). A child’s home environment greatly impacts the rate, quality and ability to communicate with others (MacLean, Bryant and Bradley, 1987; Martinez, 1983; National Research Council 1999). Factors related to language growth in the home environment include parent interaction, books, being read to, modeling; home language and literacy routines all closely parallel those of the classroom and school. The development of oral language is an ongoing natural learning process. Children observe oral communication in many contexts – home, preschool, prekindergarten, and begin to develop concepts about its purposes (Dyson, 1983; Halliday,1994;Martinez, 1983). Target skill areas such as sequencing, classification, and letter sounds oral language skills are all components of early childhood educational programs (Kelley and Zamar, 1994). Meaning is a social and cultural phenomenon and all construction of meaning is a social process. Developmental stages of child language development: Phase I – Protolinguistic or â€Å"Protolanguage†, Phase II – Transition, Phase III – Language. The Protolanguage Stage (which is associated with the crawling stage) includes noises and intonation, physical movement, adult/infant interaction – this exchange of attention is the beginning of language. During the Transition Stage (which is associated with the developmental stage of walking) there is a transition from child tongue to mother tongue. During this stage the â€Å"pragmatic† mode develops; a demand for goods and services that seeks a response in the form of an action. In Phase III – Language Stage, the child moves from talking about shared experience to sharing information with a third person. The child realizes that reality is beyond their own experience; they invite confirmation, enjoy shared experience. From the ontogenesis of conversation we are able to gain insight into human learning and human understanding. Meaning is created at the intersection of two contradictions – the experiential one, between the material and the conscious modes of experience, and the interpersonal one, between different personal histories of the interacting taking part (Halliday,1994). Properly developed oral language enables a child to effectively communicate their thoughts and viewpoints with others. It is also important for young children to have developed listening skills as they begin to experience the power of communication. The environment influences ones desire to communicate as well as the frequency of communication. Oral language develops through authentic experiences (Harste, Burke and Woodward, 1994). Kindergarten classroom environments that are alive with social interaction are ideal environments for nourishing speaking and listening skills. As children participate in communicative events, they slowly acquire an understanding of the relevance of these forms. Students need to be provided and encouraged to participate in environmental literacy activities, as those experiences are indispensable to language development (Brown and Briggs, 1987). Development of oral language skills must be addressed in Kindergarten as an integral part of the daily curriculum in order for students to be able to succeed throughout schooling and in today’s society (Goodman, 1992; IRI and NAEYC,1998). Kindergarten programs need to be structured but not formal. Classrooms that are carefully structured allow for maximum oral language acquisition through authentic literacy activities that take place in natural ways during a school day (Ellermeyer, 1988). Education is inquiry based, and as such the focus with education becomes learning, and the task of teaching becomes the inquiry process. The learner is central, in the process of the learning-inquiry cycle (Harste, Burke and Woodward,1994). Students need to be provided and encouraged to participate in environmental literacy activities, as these experiences are indispensable to language development. Dyson (1983) conducted a study of the role early language plays in early writing. Through observations of children at a Kindergarten writing center she concluded that oral language is an integral part of the early writing process. Talk provided both meaning and for some children the systematic means for getting that meaning on paper. The child as a language learner progresses along a developmental continuum. Language acquisition is fundamentally a social process in which language is used to make and share meaning of experience (Corter and Park, 1993). Children require opportunities to interact with both peers and adults in a wide variety of settings as they learning and practice language and literacy knowledge, skills, and strategies (Brown and Briggs 1987; Coohn, 1981; Dyson, 1983; Ellermeyer, 1988). Children like to talk about themselves, their friends, their families, their pets, their hobbies, etc. Engaging young children in conversation about things with which they are familiar affords them a comfort level to experiment with ways to express themselves. Opportunities to increase oral language abilities and applications are embedded within the literacy program. Conversation, collaboration, and learning through others are integral to learning. A child’s oral language ability is the basis for beginning literacy instruction, and as such initial informal assessments as well as ongoing assessment during the school year would provide key information regarding a child’s oral language abilities.

Friday, January 10, 2020

College degree Essay

Like almost everyone already asked this question when they have finished high school. Where will I be in about 10, 20 or even more 40 years? . I do not think anyone would like to be a waiter or taxi driver the rest of life; hence, going to college is a good way to know what you will be. It will help you to develop your abilities, your skills, accomplish your goals. People with a higher education can make a difference in the world. My reason for going to college is because I want a better life for myself and it will open many doors in my future life. I graduated from high school in 2007, when I was 17 years old in Peru. My family always encouraged me to get higher education so I started thinking about what would I want to be? . I went to see many universities around my town in order to get more information about majors. I was confused between Hospitality Management and International Business but I decided to study Hospitality Management. It caught my attention because it deals with tourism and I love traveling. Besides hotels, I can get a job in many other places such restaurants, casinos, resorts and hospitals. I enrolled at San Ignacio de Loyola University because they have the best program in my major. It is  located an hour and a half from my house. When I was studying there, I learned a lot; especially, when I can deal for myself without my mom’s help because she did everything for me when I was at school. In Peru, there are many cases of delinquency and a few times robbers attacked me. The first occasion was a week of starting classes. I could remember that I spent a whole day at the college doing my assignment. It was a lot and I was very tired that day. When I was on my way home and got off the bus, someone stole my handbag. My first reaction was to go running after him because he had all my work with my effort in it, my new purchased  books. That was horrible. The other times, robbers just stole my phone. It was because of these facts that gradually I did not want to go anymore. I was very scared on the streets, looking around; I could not take out my phone from my pockets. Because of that, I decided to leave the university. One the day, I talked with my grandmother who lives in the USA. We were discussing about my life and I told her that I wanted to continue studying, so she asked me to move in with her. It was a very difficult decision for me because I would go to another country, starting a new life away from my  parents and friends, and also I was afraid because I did not speak English fluently. However, I had to think about my future so I decided to move to the USA, but the problem was that my parents disagreed about coming here illegal. I went to the University to see if they have any program to study outside the country. They have it but one of the requirements is to have 60 credits. Unfortunately, I did not have that amount. I checked on internet any other possibilities and I found out about the student visa. I did everything I needed to process the visa, such as translating my documents from high  school, filling some papers, looking for my sponsor, and medical examination. A few days later, I went to the USA embassy with my parents, I was so nervous because my dream of keep studying was depending of their answer. The counselor looked my documents and approved my student visa. I was so happy that day. In the first days of arriving in USA, I enrolled at Union County College. At the beginning, I took ESL classes since level 4th. Now, I am almost done with it. Moreover, I am taking other courses in the fields of hotel management. Therefore, I’m pretty sure that I will graduate in two  more years and get my associate degree in Applied Science Program in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management. However, getting a degree in USA and go back to my country will help me to get a more job opportunities since I’m bilingual. According to the article The Benefits of Earning a College Degree states, â€Å"One of the most important and obvious reasons to earn a college degree is to increase your earning potential†. Therefore, a good salary since people that have achieved a college degree are hired in at a higher pay and are considered to be much more employable. For the reason that I want  my own family, I would like to give them a good quality of life, and also provide inspiration to my children. In conclusion, I strongly believe that people should go to college. I feel good going to college because every time I learn something new. I am satisfied with every step I’m taking to get more knowledge and grow as a person. Also, see my parents feel proud of me is priceless. In fact, I recommend going to college is worth and it is not a waste of time because college will give a person the tools to succeed in the field of their choice. By graduating from college, everyone can get a dream job and start to make those dreams come true.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Do Objects Make Us - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 856 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/09/22 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Do Objects Make Us? Many people in todays society are distressed greatly with ones rank in the social hierarchy; material possessions of all sorts seem to construct, shape, and style the lives of consumers all over the world. Consumers all over the world are becoming more and more demanding as more and more is being advertised. Many companies, such as Apple, often advertise months in advance for products creating commotion, attentiveness, and desire among the world. Stores, such as Old Navy, inspire consumers to shop at stores like theirs to feel pleased and satisfied with how much can be bought with such small amounts of money; when in reality, the consumers are spending money on their identity. In â€Å"On sale at Old Navy: Cool clothes for identical zombies! †, Damien Cave uncovers the fact that retailers all over the world, especially in such establishments as Old Navy and Ikea, have began to take up the lives of consumers in todays society and have created a great deal of trickery for making consumers believe they need more than they actually do. Naomi Klein states that consumers are being scammed. Many consumers are being judged by what they buy and where they buy it. Many people, such as Thomas Frank feel that stores such as Old Navy create almost a â€Å"mass cloning masked in a carnival of diversity† (Cave). That analysis may seem true but consumers should take into account that they are letting objects define who they are leading to a materialistic lifestyle. Nowadays, people, especially teens, are very concerned with appearance, prestige, and social position. Malls all over the world are jam packed with a great quantity of stores with the same goal as stores like Old Navy and Ikea. Stores such as Old Navy and Gap often pressure and persuade teens to feel the need to purchase â€Å"the next big thing† in order for them to be viewed as â€Å"cool† by the rest of the society. Teens in todays society will p ay extra for clothes at one specific store to create a certain image for themselves. It is only human to want to feel accepted- and to even have the want to feel envied. Many people in todays world would rather be dressed nicely, put together and have some debt than wear shaggy, aged, out f date fashion. I am not excluding myself from this category, however; America has been shaped and molded to be consumers. This generation of american culture is letting the objects they buy define who they are as a person and citizen. In â€Å"iPad Envy†, Rob Walker argues that people are often obsessed with the thought of being the first to have new state-of-the-art technology. Technology-seeking people like this are the first ones to pre-order advertised products even though they at risk of many complications and uncertainty of perfect product performance. These â€Å"technology-seeking† are letting objects such as technology to define them. They will pay more for similar techno logy to get the brand they want others to associate them with. Although Rob Walker states that these people should be thanked for their ignorance; consumers need to take a step back and look at the situation they are in. Consumers should ask themselves, â€Å"Do I really need this? †. Walker also brings up the fact that they are often guinea pigs for buying this technology and that they are often getting ripped off. Rob Walker stated in his article that an estimate of 200,000 people pre-ordered the Apple iPad paying $500- $700. Many people believe that like the iPhone, once the glitches and flaws are fixed, the products price will decrease. This approach of marketing helps keep more and more people interested in the products. I once heard someone say, â€Å"You do not own an Apple iPad, it owns you†. This saying proves that people sometimes get so wrapped up in material possessions, they soon are too crazed that their life is slowly but surely evolving into a materi alistic lifestyle. The point of these articles is for consumers to ask themselves: â€Å"Why do I need the most expensive and newest product? † Eventually there will be a time when that product will be â€Å"out of style† and consumers will want the next best thing. These two articles are perfect examples of how the American society views â€Å"to need† versus â€Å"to want†. To earn respect one should be a hardworking and loyal individual. The materials you own mean nothing without respectable morals and ideals. Our generation is under the impression that they need to consume more and more expensive products in rder to define a lasting self-image. However, this mind set will eventually be the downfall to self realization. If one is unable to form opinions on their own, they will never become an individual and will ultimately fail to create a self-image. If our generation continues to let object define them, it we will remain ill-fated to live material istic and acquisitive lifestyles. Works Cited Cave, Damien. â€Å"On sale at Old Navy: Cool clothes for identical zombies! † Salon. com. Salon Media Group, 22 Nov. 2000. Web 7 June 2010. Walker, Rob. â€Å"iPad Envy† New York Times. New York Times, 5 April 2010. Web 30 June 2010. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Do Objects Make Us" essay for you Create order