Community College Essay

Community college is made up of an atmosphere of many di? erent categories. We have your tradi? onal, untradi? onal, veterans, and single parents. Some are there to transfer and some to get an associate’s degree while one of the biggest reasons is because they simply cannot a? ord the university price. â€Å"John Holt† (Three Kinds of Discipline) is very compliable with the categories in a community college. You need a great deal of discipline to succeed here reality sets in and if you are not disciplined then you will fail out and waste a lot of money. You  will always make mistakes while being here but learning from those mistakes is what will make you a be*er student. While you a*end you will create a lot of friendships and several kinds of them. â€Å"Judith Viorst† (Friends, Good Friends, and Such Good Friends) you will have your convenience friends, your historical friends, opposite sex friends, and in? mate friends. Your tradi? onal students are the students that a*end college right a/er they get out of high school or are under the age of 25. untradi? onal students are your students that are above the age of 25 and are a*ending college to move up in their job or just wan? ng a career the  needs a type of degree so they go to school. Veterans are a*ending the school to become a higher rank in the military or because they are searching for a new career a/er they 3nish there term. There are also single parents that work a full ? me who a*end the school at night while there kids are at a babysi*ers house or with a friend they go to be promoted in their job the job sends them to get a degree or they could be a young parent who needs to get credits so that they can get a good job to provide for their family. To be disciplined at college could poten? ally be the most important aspect to be a successful student. The reality sets in and students quickly realize they need to discipline themselves to study, do homework, and write essays. Discipline of a superior force is another way students can succeed as well. This may help because fear of disappoin? ng an instructor or a parent. A lot of friends will be made as you a*end college you will have di? erent groups of friends as well. You will have your convenience friends who you see as you are wai? ng in between classes and small talk about li*le things some of them you get along with and talk every day and others you’ll talk with once a week and possibly never even get their name. You  have your historical friends who you have grown up with since elementary school and can talk about anything with these are the friends you hand out with out of school with you go out to par? es with, watch spor? ng events and 7at out just hang out with. You meet some friends that are the opposite sex as you these are the ones who you may try a li*le too hard to impress or you might get along great with them great you may even become in? mate friends which is being in a rela? onship with them you could even possibly marry them. These are the categories that make up the atmosphere of community college and the kinds of students that make it up.

A Little Bit of Stress Is Useful

â€Å"A little bit of stress is useful – it keeps people in their toes. † Discuss. In order to answer this question one must first define the various elements in the question. Stress can be defined as ‘The harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker’ . One can define useful, as stress making a person happy, productive and efficient. Also in terms of an organisation making it successful, efficient and effective. You should use more industrial words here eg producing more units Millions of people suffer from stress on a daily basis. Stress can affect a person’s physical health such as increased heart rate and rise in blood pressure, and can affect a person mentally such as depression. This in turn for organisations can be devastating and potentially detrimental, as this can lead to poor industrial relations and high absenteeism, ‘IHC estimates that 13. 4 million working days a year are lost to stress’. On the face of it this would suggest that stress is indeed a bad thing. Indeed a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that those participants who experienced chronic high stress on the job had a considerably greater chance of suffering another heart attack than did those in less stressful jobs. Furthermore there were many cases in world war one of sudden deaths to soldiers who had not endured any wounds, these men probably died of shock when responding to stress. In 1967 Holmes and Rahe carried out a study now called the stress scale where they looked at 5,000 medical patients’ medical records as a way to determine specifically which stressful events caused illnesses, in hierarchical order from the most stressful events to the least. Death of a spouse topped the list followed by, divorce, martial separation and a jail sentence. All these events are intrinsically negative and as such it would be easy to conclude that stress is bad for anyone as it is caused by bad events. However Hooshmand conversely states that ‘stress is just another misunderstood term in the medical practice’ he goes on to say that ‘the phrase any stress is bad (is) nothing further from the truth’. Indeed Lazarus mentions how ‘Hans Selyve suggested two types (of stress) distress and eustress. Distress is the destructive stress illustrated by anger and aggression and it is said to damage health. Eustress is the constructive type, illustrated by emotions associated with emphatic concerns for others†¦ ompatible with or protective of good health’ This is significant, according to Selyve and Lazarus there is, as mentioned above, a ‘distress’ type of stress which is bad- this is where there is too much stress. For example if a manager were to give a deadline which was impossible this may over stimulate and de motivate an employee causing them to do no work. But also mentioned is a ‘eustress’ type of stress which can be seen as ‘useful’ and healthy ‘keeping people on their toes’. This would be where there are small amounts of stress for example if a manager was to set a strict but reasonable deadline it may push the employee on to work harder, stimulating an increasing the employees energy levels to meet the challenge . This shall be mentioned in more detail later on in the essay. Although Lazarus goes on to mention that this hypothesis ‘has not been adequately supported†¦. by empirical research’ there is other evidence to support this claim of eustress. In 1908 Robert M. Yerkes and J. D. Dodson created an experiential relationship between performance and pressure, now known as ‘Yerkes-Dodson Law ’. The law shows that performance actually increases with pressure i. e. stress: the eustress that Selyve went on about, but only up to a point. When levels of pressure become too high, performance decreases, this is known as distress. The process is illustrated graphically as a rounded, inverted U-shaped curve which increases and then decreases with higher levels of pressure. Clearly according to this law one wants to reach the optimum stress levels which is small amounts of stress to keep one on its toes but not too much as this could lead to depression and potentially heart problems. It is now important to look at specifically how eustress can help and be healthy for you. From ‘Yerkes-Dodson Law’ it would not be unreasonable to suggest that eustress is basically stress in small, not large amounts. Leitnerpg states that ‘according to Allen 1983 eustress represents challenge and stimulation for healthy growth and development’ this would suggest that eustress stress gives you the competitive edge roviding you with focus and determination. There are many examples above of stressors likely to produce distress such as divorce but Leitner mentions stressors which produce eustress such as ‘roller coasters and skiing’ It is important to note that people are actually paying for these stressors, thus they can be considered us eful stresses. Some people even thrive on the excitement of stresses this can be best shown in adrenaline junkies, as they seek activities that increase their hormone adrenaline production. Examples of these stress seekers include racing car drivers, politicians and bungee jumpers. It is well known that many employees will leave there work to the last minute they need the stress and adrenaline to get their work done, if there is no stress it is probable this work would never be done. Indeed it is possible to have stressors which can cause both eustress and distress such as exercise, which can be considered a eustress, but when overdone can lead to injuries and illness. Selye points out that ‘whether an activity produces eustress or distress depends on the participant’s perception of the activity’ this can be supported by a quote from Shakespeare ‘things are neither good nor bad, but thinking makes them so’ . Indeed everyone is different when dealing with stress whether stress is good or bad for someone depends on that person. This can be supported by Type A and B personality theory created in the 1950’s . This puts people into two groups . Type A people are according to Friedman, M. & Rosenman ‘impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about their status, highly competitive, hostile aggressive, and incapable of relaxation’ . They established a link between type A people and coronary heart disease after analysing data from thousands of people who had beforehand been placed into either type A or Type B group. Whilst type B people are almost the opposite of type A people, relaxed in nature with no sense of time urgency and less easily stressed. Quote The above evidence would suggest that the amount of stress does not matter to a great extent but what does is the type of person as, according to this theory there are two types of people, type A personalities will deal worse with stress than type B personalities. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that a small amount of stress for type B personalities maybe good for that person ensuring they are focused and have more of a sense of time urgency, however the same amount of stress mposed on a type A personality could caused aggravation, anxiety and maybe even heart problems. Indeed some employers will look for employees who not only can naturally deal with stress but actually thrive on it. An example of this can be given of Alan Sugar who makes it clear in the program the apprentice that he is looking for people who can deal with stressful situations by testing them as part of the recruitment process . An essential part of the recruitment procedure is to be able to keep your nerve and defend yourself in the public forum of the board room, an artificially created stressful environment. In this day and age there is bound to be stress due to the nature of work and the fast moving environment around us, it is how we deal with this stress which can determine whether this stress is useful or not. ‘Yerkes-Dodson Law’ dictates that if there is too much stress this can reduce the performance of the individual, thus it is sometimes important for the individual to be able to reduce this stress in order to produce optimal performance. Indeed Ward states that ‘in learning to manage stress effectively you may come to believe that the experiences of stressful periods may become beneficial to you. There are many different ways of dealing with stress and how well you deal with stress will determine how it affects you. A person can exercise to help reduce stress, ‘exercise creates a sense of confidence and control, which reduces stress’ this does not mean just occasional exercise but exercise on a daily basis if possible. Exercise also directly leads to relaxation of the body which can help reduce stress. Having the required sleeping hours is also vital, this will refresh yourself making you feel better the next morning and ready for work. If one does not have the required sleeping hours necessary it can lead to tiredness which can lead directly to stress. So far mainly people and employees have been looked upon, it is important to look at how organisations as a whole deal with stress and if they find it useful or not. Organisations are becoming more and more aware of the importance of stress and its impact on employees. Ward mentions some ways in which companies are taking action to combat stress ‘more are referring employees for health and fitness tests. Others are running stress management courses and providing stress counselling for employees’ . In view of this one can clearly see how important stress is in organisations. Some company’s thrive on stress these mainly seem to be financial orientated organisations. Who are and need to be extremely competitive with other similar organisations, this stress pushes the organisation on to its limits increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the company. It is not uncommon nowadays for organisations to deliberately impose stress on employees; this can be done by paying employees with high commissions, meaning they are not guaranteed money at all. Some employees actually enjoy this stress, they enjoy the challenge and the buzz. Indeed this can be directly linked to job satisfaction. Other organisations in the health field such as hospitals try to reduce stress, as they feel any stress imposed on patients could be dangerous, one of the things they do to reduce stress is painting the hospital walls green as it is proven that green is a low stress colour can decrease stress. Clearly in the health field stress is deemed as bad but maybe in the financial field stress is seen as useful pushing on the company to success. Thus the usefulness of stress depends upon which type of organisation it’s for. Obviously though too much stress in a financial organisation can cause absenteeism which will ultimately lose the company money. To conclude with regards to organisations as a whole, it just depends on the type of organisation to how useful stress is. In terms of individuals, small amounts of stress which Selye describes as eustress can help keep people on their toes, keeping them focused and acting as a stimulant, pushing them on to work. However it can completely depend on the person. A Type A person may not be able to take that stress and instead of ‘keeping them on their toes’ may cause panic and anxiety. Nonetheless, in saying this, as Yerkes-Dodson law dictates some stress is needed to achieve optimum performance and give people a challenge, which increases job satisfaction. Thus it would be accurate to conclude that ‘a little bit of stress is useful – it keeps people on their toes’. You would improve the structure if you cross reference more eg when you are talking about how stress needs to be in the right quantity, it might be helpful if you mention that later on you will be talking about how stress an be controlled. If you need to add any more – you could talk further about the work life balance – ie however stressful the job – outside activities are essential A further element you could talk about – when discussing different personalities – is that what is stressful for some is not for oth ers. A good example might be of mothers who stay at home and look after children – for some this is v stressful and for others it is an ideal environment. You could also add an international dimension eg in France there is huge job security and longer holidays (I think) in America holidays are short and there is v little job security

Modern Life of Computers

The computer has changed the modern lives of many. It is very common for a household to at least have one computer. In addition, computers are essential tools that help ease daily life. Also, computer comes in Various sizes and has many different types of applications. Computers can affect ones daily tasks, finances, and time. To begin with, computers can change ones daily tasks. Programs can do various functions and ease the process of doing it manually without a computer. For instance, a student may finish most of their assignments online with more accurate answers. In fact, there is a well known program called,† Microsoft Word,† that actually corrects many grammatical errors such as punctuations, capitalization, and the most common sentence fragments. Thus, ones essay or report can be done at home, which is more convenient. Since there is a program like the one mentioned it actually reduces errors and makes ones daily task much easier. Finances can be very difficult without any tools, but when you have access to a computer you can do it virtually online without having to go through the hassle of filling out paperwork and using stamps. For example, one may pay their bills online with a credit card in a few clicks. Usually a bill would have the option for the customer to go through their webpage and log in to their account. After, the customer would then go through a process in which he or she would enter the confidential information into the website which would then make the transaction successful. Next, he or she would have the chance to look at the account balance and statement which would then show the mathematics without actually having to go through a calculator. Using a computer to do finances is a very beneficial way for the consumer and the service provider. Computers can dramatically decrease the amount of time necessary to get the job done. For example, it may take a person five hours to finish their shopping needs excluding the time to get to the destination and the time to get back home, but if the person shops online the item may be a click away and be at the door within a few days. In order for a person to shop online they would need to have a credit card and be able to confirm their address. Next, he or she would then go to a reliable website and purchase the items desired for the cheapest amount possible with a few clicks, beats going to the mall for hours and not getting what you desire. As mentioned before, one may pay the bills online which saves time for the mail carrier to actually ship the documentations the destination. This is very beneficial if your bills are on the verge of being late. Finally, having a computer is a very spectacular tool that has many functions that can change the way a person lives. In almost every way the computer is a very beneficial electronic device to have. The computers affected many by reducing daily task, changing the perspective of finances, and decrease the amount of time a person would need to spend.

Family Value Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Family Value Paper - Essay Example In this essay I will examine how families promote the health of their members and how nurses can use families to help improve the health of hospital-bound patients. Family can have many definitions but it usually refers to immediate relations such as a mother, father, brother, sister, spouse or child. All of the individuals through their love of one another can provide maximum support and encouragement to a patient. They can also provide a standard of care that it may not be possible for even the most well-trained nurse to provide. Because of this important fact and because of the role of nurses in coordinating a patient’s care, it is important for nurses to communicate clearly and compassionately to family members. But there is more a nurse can do. Nurses can actually train family members to provide basic care to patients and to provide help to nursing staff at difficult times. Although a nurse will have the final responsibility for the care a patient gets from the hospital—and it is important for nurses to stay at the centre of this web—by communicating and â€Å"deputizing† family members, nurses can maximize the quality of care a patient receives. While doing this, it is important to always keep the patient’s best interests at heart. Although the majority of family members are caring and have good intentions towards their relations it is also possible some family members may increase a patient’s stress levels or be generally detrimental to a patient’s health. This is surely one of the most difficult situations for a nurse: deciding who can and can’t see a patient. Although some family members will claim unlimited access to a patient, nurses must decide what is appropriate and what is not. They perceived nurses as providers of technical care and they perceived themselves as having an important role in providing social and emotional care. Families

RESEARCH PROPOSAL TOPIC Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

TOPIC - Research Proposal Example It also breaks the monotonous classroom and office set up thereby bringing change to the learning environment resulting in close attention to class work. A number of students fail in their exams not because intelligence quotient, but because of the approach used that makes learning boring, which ends in low grades and therefore, incorporating visual aids in the learning process improves student’s performance. Various software packages and tools like power point are used to enhance learning, thus making learning very interactive. Customization of effects that include color, give the audience a better understanding of what is under discussion, giving visual learning an edge over other traditional learning methods. Through this, it’s very easy for students to recall what they have been taught through the use of images, the same effects are employed in early childhood education. Visual Learning provides certain elements that notes or texts cannot provide. The use of elements like graphs, charts, images and slide-shows give students the ability to retain most of the things learnt, than they would otherwise retain through the normal classroom lessons. It is therefore important to study how these tools improve performance among students and their relationships with similar tools used in early childhood. It’s of significance to know changes, if any, in the learning process as one begins at kindergarten through to institutions of higher learning by undertaking further research on this topic (Salkind,

The Management of Change in the Pharmaceutical Industry Research Paper

The Management of Change in the Pharmaceutical Industry - Research Paper Example According to Lerer and Piper (2003, 201) ‘digital technologies have offered new opportunities to pharmaceutical firms’; it is further explained that using these technologies pharmaceutical firms have been able to cooperate more effectively with patients and physicians. Moreover, Bakeev (2010) notes that the continuous improvement of knowledge management in the pharmaceutical industry would allow the industry’s firms to become more effective in supporting patients and healthcare professionals. Online tools have a series of advantages, including the increased potentials of firms involved in managing knowledge. At the same time, the costs of representatives in the pharmaceutical industry are quite high; a research developed in 2007 showed that ‘in 2006 the pharmaceutical firms spent approximately $150,000 for each representative in primary care and $330,000 for each representative in specialty drug’ (Bak and Stair 2011, p.137). The use of online tools wo uld help pharmaceutical firms to resolve a series of operational problems and to decrease the costs of representatives, a practice followed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as explained below. 1.2 Diagnosis of change The implementation of change in pharmaceutical firms is unavoidable, in the context described earlier. ... scribed as follows: a) to check the level at which online tools are used in the pharmaceutical industry, b) to identify the benefits and weaknesses of these tools, as reported by the industry’s firms, c) to check the effects of online tools on the operations of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., d) to identify the strategies used by the above organization for implementing change, as related to these tools, and to evaluate these strategies’ requirements, implications and risks, and e) to identify the potential long-term benefits and consequences of online tools in the pharmaceutical industry. 1.3 Implementation of change Under the pressures of the rapid development of technology globally, especially in regard to the involvement of the WWW in organizational activities, the pharmaceutical industry had to face the following dilemma: should its operations be transformed meeting the global trends in regard to the use of online tools in prescribing and informing customers on the d rugs’ use and implications? This issue is made clear in the case of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2010 the firm launched Prescribe Responsibly, ‘an online system for supporting appropriate treatment of pain’ (Johnson & Johnson 2011). In August of 2011, the firm updated the specific system adding new tools and features so that the support provided to health care professionals to be increased (Johnson & Johnson 2011). This initiative has resulted because of the failures and the delays that the company had to face in regard to the support provided to the physicians for handling pain. 2. Literature review The efforts of continuous improvement of operations are often related to the appearance of Taylorism, a trend that changed the manufacturing processes in the automotive industry in the USA.

Choosing Fresno State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Choosing Fresno State - Essay Example It is in such countries that the rate of students seeking international education and training is relatively high as they seek countries whose education standards are internationally recognizable and accepted. Fresno is such a state, with its education and training being internationally recognized and accepted. It is a country with many international students who mostly cannot receive the kind of training they receive here back in their countries. Apart from the high education standards of the country, other factors attract international students to the country. Fresno is not the only country in the world that offers quality education for it to be a choice of the thousands of students who come to seek for education. Certain distinct characteristics make it qualify as a destination for these education seekers. These factors are the very factors that I put into consideration before settling for the country. The factors include favourable climate, people who are culturally friendly, hig h education standards, natural attraction sites and security. Fresno state universities are known all over the world, making its education system recognized internationally. Some of the universities that are internationally known and recognized are Fresno State University and the California State University, Fresno. The courses offered in these universities are globally recognized, with the universities equipping their students with the best skills to be highly competitive in the global market (Correa 1). A student with training from an internationally recognized university is likely to have a higher competitive advantage over other students from local universities. Since my country has no internationally recognized universities, yet international firms keep setting camp in the country, the demand for quality skills has increased raising the standards of personnel recruiting in jobs, and this has made it necessary for people to seek education elsewhere. International financial firms such as banks and investment banks, hospitals, manufacturing companies and construction companies are increasingly opening branches in the country, as local businesses try to expand regionally. It is due to these reasons that I made a decision to seek international education and training and settled for Fresno state. Some of American and European countries are known to be hostile to other nationals present in the country. For example, the issue of racism scares many people from countries and states known to practice the social vice. Such countries rarely receive international students including tourists, regardless of the status of their universities or tourists attraction sites. Fresno state is different and has minimal cases of racial discrimination, with its local people being hospitable. Its history is associated with kind people who do not consider the race of a particular person they associate. Weather is another reason why I chose Fresno state. Different countries in the wor ld have different weather patterns, which at times make it hard for international students to coupe. Variations in weather patterns between different countries can affect a persons’ level of concentration, and in case the weather patterns are very adverse, students would find it very difficult to adapt to the change. Fresno has favourable weather conditions, and its climate is quite similar to that of my home

The Guest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Guest - Essay Example In this case, the French did not consider the conflict created by ordering Daru to bring a fellow countryman, albeit an alleged criminal, to French authorities. Desolation is symbolized by Daru's character. He is from the impoverished region, and as a school teacher there, he was ". . . satisfied with the little he had . . ." (373) and, "Everywhere else, he felt exiled" (373). Camus closes the story saying, "In this vast landscape he had loved so much, he was alone" (383) A greater meaning was that Daru followed his conscience, instead of following orders, by not delivering the Arab to the authorities. This reflects his contempt for being under the French government's authority; he made it clear to Balducci by saying, "I won't hand him over" (376). However, it was "with heavy heart" (383) that he sees the Arab walking in the direction of prison instead of possible freedom, after Daru shows him the two different directions, gives him provisions for two days and leaves him. This, according to Thomas Arp, is a demonstration of ". . . the unpredictability of the consequences of human choices in unfriendly conditions" (386). Overall, the characters are believable and the plot is realistic; it is well crafted fiction. Its success stems from its historical setting, just before the Algerian War, 1954-1962, when Algeria rebelled against French rule and won independence.

Gender differences in entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gender differences in entrepreneurship - Essay Example Men expect women to put family handling as their top priority and preference. However, gradually women are combating this prevalence of bigotry in the society created by their counterparts. Many studies show that level of women entrepreneurship is less than men’s in many countries, however, there is a high rate of women entrepreneurship where women have no alternatives to earn for a living. Many researches and studies conducted portray that women enter into entrepreneurship as a necessity and not responding to opportunities. Entrepreneurship is a mean to culminate the skills and potential which women possess, and also it can bring forward to the world’s attention that women do not harbor less potential or competition, instead they may create healthy competition for the men too and result in economic prosperity. Entrepreneurship was once a kingdom ruled by men, but it seems that women are pacing into this kingdom too. Ayala Malach Pines, Miri Lerner, Dafna Schwartz, (2010) "Gender differences in entrepreneurship: Equality, diversity and inclusion in times of global crisis", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Vol. 29 Iss: 2, pp.186 -

Human resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Human resources - Essay Example The use of effective performance management could somehow contribute to the overall success of a business organization. Implemented by the line managers, performance management is valuable to corporate managers and employees in the sense that the organizational competencies are aligned with the organizational core values (Armstrong and Baron 20). Through the use of proper coaching and guiding techniques, the line managers are expected to be able to effectively motivate employees to unleash their potentials which are necessary in improving the overall performance of the group as a team (ibid). Considering the advantages of having effective performance management, improving the overall organizational performance of a business group is equally beneficial on the part of the public shareholders and the business owners. Basically, improving the overall business performance of an organization increases its profit earnings. Therefore, the public shareholders are expected to receive higher di vidends whereas the business owners are expected to receive more financial gains. ... hat is taking place within a business organization, it becomes a challenge on the part of the HR managers to establish organizational culture that promotes organizational behaviors that are more flexible and open to changes (Rahim and Rahim 227). For this reason, positive reinforcement on employees is necessary from time to time. Within a business organization, the unbreakable behavior laws are referring to the act of making accepted behavioral practices a significant part of the organizational culture. By making positive behavior a part of the organizational culture, the practice of positive behavior within the business organization can become a norm. This makes the development of positive behaviors more difficult to break. Organizational behavior is considered the key factor that could effectively improve the quality products and services being delivered by employees. Given that the HR manager is able to reinforce positive behaviors among its employees, the organizational managers will be able to effectively motive the workers into working as a team in order to reach the organizational goal. It is also possible to make employees become more self-sufficient as a worker. By making employees learn to embrace the importance of self learning, employees could contribute more in terms of improving the overall business performance. Q.3 What is pinpointing? As explained by Axson Pinpointing in performance management is pertaining to organizational behavior that indicates relevant business information that can be used by the organizational leaders when making important business decisions (216). By pinpointing parts of the faulty production process or negative human behavior that could hinder the operational success within a business organization, the organizational managers

What colleges should teach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What colleges should teach - Essay Example Burke-Vigeland concluded that the current fixed forward step-sitting arrangement of lecture halls is unsuitable for interactive learning as it prevents students from expressing their individuality. He advocates for a flexible classroom which allows professors and students to restructure the classroom to allow team discussions, reversible writing on the walls, incorporation of technology that enables communication with other students around the world, and adaptation of the room for different course work (Burke-Vigeland, n. p.). In the article, What Should Colleges Teach? Stanley Fish raises concern regarding a recent trend whereby college courses are increasingly diverting from their main discipline of focus into other unrelated disciplines. He focuses on the discipline which he teaches, literature, and points out an observation he made whereby writing courses in colleges nowadays tend to focus on analysis of various social issues such as globalization, racism, and sexism instead of f ocusing on writing. As a result, few students taking writing courses in college are able to write a clean English sentence. The author asserts that writing courses should focus exclusively on writing and teach nothing other than grammar and rhetoric (Fish, n. p.). In the article, Rethinking the Way College Students are Taught, Emily Hanford asserts that the traditional method of teaching in colleges whereby students learn through non-interactive lectures is no longer effective since most students are not able to absorb most of the information that is usually disseminated in a single lecture. The author advocates for the peer-instruction method of teaching in colleges and provides proof of its effectiveness by referring to the success of a number of professors who use this method to teach their students. These include Joe Redish, a physics professor at the University of Maryland, Brian Lukoff, a researcher in education at Harvard University, and Eric Mazur, a professor of physics at Harvard University (Hanford, n. p.). In Rethinking the Way Colleges Teach Critical Thinking, Scott Johnson laments the way through which colleges teach critical thinking. He asserts that current practices whereby students are taught through lectures to memorize information is not achieving one of its aims of developing student critical thinking skills. He uses his specialty discipline of instruction, Earth Science, as an example to demonstrate how students can be taught facts while simultaneously gaining crucial critical thinking skills. Johnson asserts that the best way to achieve this purpose is to dedicate a significant portion of the course teaching students how the factual information of the course was gathered through logical and critical evaluation of available information (Johnson, n. p.). In the article, Colleges Should Teach Intellectual Virtues, Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe underline the importance of helping college students develop intellectual virtues in addition to the traditional roles of teaching them the skills of their discipline, literacy skills, and critical thinking. The authors assert that colleges should help students develop intellectual virtues so as to mold them into all-rounded human beings (Schwartz and Sharpe, n. p.). From the five articles analyzed, it is evident that the education students acquire in colleges does not completely suit their needs and requirements for both professional and personal development. Technology and globalization have

Impact of New Technology on Lifestyle and Health Essay Example for Free

Impact of New Technology on Lifestyle and Health Essay As a start I would like to give a short and simple definition of the concept â€Å"technology†. Technology will, in this case and this paper, refer to any physical object, product, environment, or symbol that has been created by human beings. Another frequently used concept with the same meaning is â€Å"artifact† (Simon, 1969). Technology has had a great impact upon the living conditions of people all over the world. Technology has helped us to perform many tasks safer, faster, and with higher precision than would be possible without its help. Technology has also made us stronger, helped us to travel faster, and made it possible for us to perform tasks that otherwise would be impossible to perform. With the help of technology we can perform many tasks that are dangerous for people to perform, like working in a hostile physical environment, for instance in a contaminated or radioactive environment. Technology has helped us to perform boring manual tasks day and night, every day in the week, even without a coffee brake. Technology has made it possible for us to travel all over the world and reach new destinations, quicker than ever. Soon we might even travel to other planets in our Solar system. The invention of machines, computers and other technological artefacts has improved our mental abilities too. Technology can make us smart (Norman, 1993) by increasing our abilities to remember better, by storing information in different formats, and support our reasoning activities. Thanks to computers we can perform complex calculations quickly, simulate processes of different kind, create art and music, and so on. Technology has also helped us to pick up information that earlier was impossible to pick up. Microscopes and telescopes, only to mention a few technological devices, have made it possible for us to look into worlds that we otherwise would not have any access to. New intelligent hearing aids have helped people with hearing deficits to pick up auditory information better and improved the possibilities to communicate with other people. Technology can improve our abilities to control vehicles of different kind, for instance to improve the ability to steer, brake and shift gears in the car. New technology has been used to create systems that can help drivers to find new destinations, or find the quickest route to known destinations. New technology has also been developed for helping drivers to avoid collisions and other dangerous situations. Technology has made it possible to adapt cars to drivers with functional handicap so that they can drive (nearly?) as safely as drivers without these problems. Technology can help mariners to navigate ships across the Atlantic with high precision, to assist pilots in their task of flying to selected destinations, avoid collisions in the air, control the aircraft, and so on. Process industries, manufacturing industries, energy producing industries can today be controlled with the help of new advanced technology. Technology has had an impact on the way we live, work, enjoy ourselves, and communicate with each other. Thanks to improved transportation systems we can now live at a distance from our working place, and commute to our job. Some of us can work from home thanks to the computer and the ability to send digital messages to different destinations. Thanks to the World Wide Web we can communicate with people at very distant places and arrange virtual meetings. We also have new ways of entertaining ourselves. Technology in the Health sector has made important contributions to the treatment of diseases and with the help of advanced technology it is now possible to save lives in a way that was not possible only a few decades ago. In her key note, professor Axelsson has shown how technology can be used in health care. Soon it may be possible to replace missing limbs with artifacts that can perform the tasks the missing limb should have performed. Changes in lifestyle? I believe we can identify some important changes in our lifestyles that are, at least partly, caused by the technological development. With the focus on human work I believe we can identify the following, and many more changes. A shift from physical to mental workload One important trend in our working life is a shift from physically demanding tasks to mentally demanding tasks. Human work has for a long time been more or less dominated by tasks that were physically demanding. Some of these tasks are still with us, but in many cases new technology can help us to perform them with less physical effort. A farmer, say 150 years ago, performed many manual tasks. Today there exist machines that can help the farmer to perform many of the tasks. A miner used to perform many heavy manual tasks when my father was working as a miner. Today trucks are doing the job, quicker and faster. Instead of performing the physically demanding tasks an operator of a machine has to control the machine and supervise its performance, indicating a shift to a mentally demanding task. A task is mentally demanding if it imposes a workload on our abilities to search for and pick up relevant information, store information, use information to make decisions, solve problems, develop action plans and supervise the performance of action plans. Many working tasks today have the character of being more mentally demanding than physically demanding. A shift towards supervising processes The condition for workers has, in many cases, changed from being in direct contact with the working task to using some kind of technological device to perform the task. This has quite often resulted in a new role for the worker. The new role is more of a supervisor of a process. Examples may be found among pilots who are interacting with a computer, the flight management system, which is performing part of the flying task. Another example can be found among workers in highly automated industrial processes, where an automated system is controlling a large part of the process. Increased complexity The introduction of computers has increased the complexity of many tasks. The amount of information we are forced to process in working life has increased. As a result is it has become harder to understand the way different systems are working. The logic of many systems is hidden in the computer and not possible to inspect directly. Negative impact of technology There are some psychological consequences of the changes that has occurred as a result of new technology. In some cases technology can make us stupid, confused and disoriented. Please let me illustrate this statement by giving a few examples on how technology can confuse us and make us look stupid. Technology that may make us stupid Doors are equipped with some kind of device to open and close them. In some cases it is perfectly obvious how the device works by looking at it. In other cases it might be confusing. There exist doors where the device to open and close the doors are identical in shape, but works completely different. A good design should make it obvious how a door should be opened and the principle of consistency should be used. In some cases it may be extremely important to be able to open doors quickly and without involving higher mental processes. Another example of a violation of the principle of consistency is when you have a door with two locks, and to open the door you must turn the key in different directions in each lock. Still another example can be taken from the medical sector. A number of studies have shown that errors are made in this sector, and that errors tend to occur when patients are given their medicine. One possible explanation to this is that different medicines may be stored in bottles that look very much like each other. An interesting question is how the container for different medicines should be physically designed so that it is easy to distinguish different drugs. An example from the automobile industry has to do with the relationship between controls and, in this case, windows. A good principle, stemming from Gestalt psychology, is that you should place a control of a certain device close to that device. This is called the â€Å"proximity principle†. In some cases this is not done, and controls for the windows in a car might be located far away from the windows. The design of the physical environment is also of interest. When a new living area is created and houses and paths are designed, it is common to find that people living there are not walking on the paths that have been so nicely designed. Instead they quite often are using the shortest route across some sensitive area(s). A simple solution here would be to wait and see where people are walking, and after that decide the paths should be located. In some hotel rooms you must use most of your brain power to figure out how the shower works. The problem in many cases is that the function is hidden, and it is not possible to directly see how the shower must be operated. Technology can be used to supervise people – Big Brother can see you In some cases technology is used to supervise worker’s performance at workplaces. This may increase the stress level of the involved workers, and in some cases increase their stress level, and make them sick. On example comes from call centres. The number of call centres has increased rapidly in Sweden. A common definition of a call centre is a working place where people are engaged in telephone communication with customers and are doing that with the help of computer support. In a call centre the operator’s performance can be effectively supervised with the help of computers. It is possible to measure the number of telephone calls each employee is performing during the working day, and also measure the number of breaks that occur during a working day. A psychological effect of this registration is, sometimes, an increased stress level among the workers. Big Brother can see you! Technology can be used to supervise traffic streams, control traffic streams, and identify speeding drivers. Cameras on the road side are being more and more common in Sweden. Some drivers don’t like being supervised by â€Å"Big Brother† and one solution seems to be the destruction of cameras. Technology can also be used to prevent drunken drivers from using their car. Before the car can be started the driver must exhale (breathe) into a measuring device. If the device detects alcohol in the air then the car will not be possible to start. Some drivers which have been found guilty of driving when intoxicated by alcohol have, as a part of their treatment, accepted to install this kind of device in their car. A follow up study has shown that many of these convicted drivers have stopped using this device. Technology can give an invitation to â€Å"Human Error† Besides making us feel stupid, improper design of technology can cause incidents, accidents, and in the worst case kill people. Please let me illustrate this by using some well known accidents as examples. Three Mile Island, USA. This accident happened in the USA 1971. A problem occurred in the Nuclear Power Plant and the situation gradually developed into something problematic. One, out of many, aspects of this accident is that the alarm systems in the Power Plant were activated, and very soon a large number of alarms and warnings were sounding. This probably increased the stress level of the operators who were trying to understand the problem and what to do with it. A high level of stress is not an optimal condition for solving a complex problem. One problem here was that instead of helping the operators to solve the problem the alarm systems made the situation worse. The crash in Gottrà ¶ra, Sweden. A certain similarity can be found in an accident with a passenger plane in Sweden, 1991. A plane (MD 81) started from Arlanda airport (Stockholm) and soon after the start it lost the power of one engine and shortly thereafter the power of the other engine. The captain’s plan was to fly the plane without the help of the engines (basic flying) and perform an emergency landing on an empty field at a distance from the airport. During the four minutes, from the moment the engines had stopped until the aircraft landed safely (!), the plane was shaking and the instrument panel were blinking. Auditory warnings were activated and a female warning voice was talking continuously. The information from the plane to the captain was chaotic and did not offer any useful help to him. In one interview after the accident the captain stated that on the wish list was a warning system that can offer help in situations of this kind. Not a system that distracts and increases the pilots stress level. In Linkà ¶ping, Sweden, a number of patients were treated with the help of a machine that should purify their blood. A nurse misjudged the information from the machine and by mistake turned the machine off. A number of patients died as a result. The machine was built by some technicians and when it was working correctly a number of indicators (lamps) showed the colour red. Normally red is a colour that is used for warnings of different kind. There are also a number of accidents that have occurred as a result of automation. Automation of some tasks may solve some problems, but can also create new possibilities for errors (Bainbridge, 1987). It has been found that people may have an over trust in automation and believe that an automated system takes care of more that it actually can take care of. Automation can also have the effect that an operator becomes less involved in the control of a system and has a problem to take the control back when so needed. What can we do to avoid the negative sides of technology? In the cases where technology is used to supervise people and this is not totally accepted by people this may be regarded as a political question and should be treated as such. This case will not be discussed further in this paper. In cases where the design of technology has caused problems it is possible to provide some guidelines. Improper design of technology is common when technology is designed without consideration of the user’s needs, abilities and limitations. The following advices can be given: Start the development process of new technology by investigating the needs of the intended users! Perform a task analysis (see for instance Kirwan and Ainsworth, 1993) and try to understand what the users need are in order to perform the task efficiently and safely. Involve the intended users early in the design process! Remember that they have a lot of valuable knowledge concerning the task and how it may be performed. Respect individual differences! There are sometimes large individual variations among users of a technological device and the design should be flexible enough to take care of this variation. Make it possible for users to understand the technical device. If users can understand the way a technical device works (if I push this button, then that will happen) the risk for so called â€Å"human error† will most likely decrease. Use the scientific method – test and test again, until you have eliminated the worst problems. The empirical testing of a technical device should have a high priority. Design for human error! People will, in the long run, get tired, distracted or anything else and make an error. This is sometimes called Murphy’s law – if anything can go wrong then it will, sooner or later. Human beings are not like machines and we have to design with that in mind. A technical device should be designed to make it possible to escape the error that sooner or later will be made. Provide feedback (this happened) and feedforward (that will happen). Feedback and feedforward from a technical device should be clear and easy to understand. This will give the user a possibility to understand the system. If possible introduce an undo function! As mentioned earlier people will make errors and this is an error correcting possibility. Use a system perspective! Any kind of technological equipment will be used in a certain context. Analyse the context and see whether the new artefact can successfully be mixed into the context. These are general rules to follow, and by following them I strongly believe that we can influence the design of technology in such a way that our lifestyles and health will be improved. References Bainbridge, L. (1987). Ironies of Automation. In J. Rasmussen, K. Duncan and J. Leplat (Eds.) New Technology and Human Error, John Wiley Sons Ltd Kirwan, B., and Ainsworth, L.K. (Eds.) (1993). A guide to task analysis. Taylor Francis Norman, D.A. (1993). Things that make us smart. PERSEUS BOOKS, USA Reason, J. (1990). Human error. Cambridge university press, USA Simon, H. (1969). The Science of the Artificial. The M.I.T. PRESS

The Green Revolution A Glorious Success History Essay

The Green Revolution A Glorious Success History Essay The term Green Revolution was first coined by the USAID United States Agency for International Development in 1968. It all started in Mexico with US aid and backed by the support of giants like Ford and Rockfeller Corporation way back in the 1940s. It was the initiative of a man named Norman Borlough who developed a strain of rice and wheat which yielded an output (under optimal conditions) so far only dreamt off. These strains of cereals were termed as HYV (High Yielding Variety). Norman Borlough is considered to be the father of the Green Revolution. He played a very instrumental role along with M.S. Swaminathan who was our minister for Agriculture in bringing Green Revolution to India. The G R was considered as the solution to feed the worlds growing population, it very well may have been. [J R McNeill] In India alone the astounding agricultural growth in Punjab is exemplified by the increase in Punjabi wheat production from 1.9 to 5.6 million tons during the years 1965 through 1972.  [1]  The production of rice also increased greatly. India soon adopted IR8 a semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) that could produce more grains of rice per plant when grown with certain fertilizers and irrigation. In 1968, Indian agronomist S.K. De Datta published his findings that IR8 rice yielded about 5 tons per hectare with no fertilizer, and almost 10 tons per hectare under optimal conditions. This was 10 times the yield of traditional rice. IR8 was a success throughout Asia, and dubbed the Miracle Rice. IR8 was also developed into Semi-dwarf IR36.  [2]  India was on the brink of a famine in 1961, but with the introductio n of G R we became an exporter of food grains within a very short period of time. G R was a gift of the developed nations to the third world countries. It was a package deal promoted by the World Bank to help them get out of their debt traps. The G R was accepted with open arms with little or no thought about its viability or sustainability. It was looked on as a one stop shop to their economic and demographic problems. The green revolution- the US-sponsored technological package for agricultural development-was accepted in India some-what over-enthusiastically and also un- critically. It was hoped that with improved farm production, not only a lasting solution would be found for the perpetual problems of rural poverty and hunger but also it would generate a new resource base-a launching pad for rural industrialisation that would create new employment opportunities and would improve the quality of life at the grassroots in an appreciable measure. [Dhanagare 1987] Rather than Why was the Green Revolution such a great success? I would like to argue from the point of view of Was the Green Revolution such a great success? I would like to consider the viewpoints of some scholars which may be quite contrary to what the advocators and promoters of Green Revolution would like to believe. The G R as already mentioned earlier was a package deal it came along with certain factors like irrigation, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and mechanization and large size holdings without which the success of G R would not be dramatic. These are factors that India did not and could not afford at all levels. Apart from this G R was not all positive it looked like it came in with more negative as time passed on. Through different case studies I would like to present my argument. Endosulfan Poisoning in Kasargoad, Kerala, India This is the story of a small village in the state of Kerala a village named Swarga literally meaning heaven. A village untouched by industrialization and people depended on plantation farming. A typical Indian village until suddenly people found things going wrong, Calves dying honeybees disappearing, wildlife being affected and then slowly the people being affected by a strange illness. The cause, unknown. The Kerala state government decided to spray its cashew plantations with ariel pesticide. It was a sight to see a helicopter hovering over the village and it attracted a lot of attention. Little did the people know what the aftermath of this would be. Even when a sudden and strange kind of illness hit little did they associate it with the helicopter, they believed that it was some kind of a curse. Until one farmer noticed a strange coincidence in the death of his three calves and raised up an issue. This interested a journalist who began to probe into this situation. A local doctor who began to see a strange pattern of new diseases in his patients added value to the work of the journalist. It was not an easy path to travel and prove their stand as they had to fight capitalist giants whos stakes were high in the manufacture of the deadly chemical. The help of an international organization was sought. A fact finding team of PAN(Pesticide Action Network) AP headed by Dr Romeo F Quijango was formed. The objective of the mission was: To find out the veracity of the reports that there have incidents of illness since the cashew nut plantations started their operations The extent to which these aerial sprayings have affected the people and the environment After detailed inspection of the surroundings, physical examination of the affected people and a wide range of interviews with both the local people and authorities the reports of poisoning were confirmed. The findings stated The cause for the illness was intrinsic toxicology properties of endosulfan There seems to exist no other probable causes other than endosulfan for the occurrence of illness There is a clear time and geographical association between the occurrence of illness and the aerial spraying There is a corroborated effect on both the environment and the animals which are related to endosulfan poisoning. Medical reports of the victims as recorded by the local physicians confirmed the poisoning Biological and environmental samples analyzed at laboratories confirmed the presence of endosulfan. The findings confirmed the poisoning and a permanent ban on the spray of endosulfan was placed. The extent of damage cannot be undone. Most of the cases of poisoning described in the report are of young children born with cerebral palsy due to the poisoning. Though this report was confined to Kasargod there are wide spread use and effects felt in the neighboring states as well. Here I would like to include an article from the newspaper that report cases of endosulfan poisoning from Karnataka Gowda was born in 1977. To his chagrin through RTI he found that 92 villages were sprayed with endosulfan in the four taluks of the district. He visited 82 villages and found that horrifying cases of disabilities, especially cerebral palsy affecting adults and children. I have decided not to get married -firstly to carry this fights forward and secondly to see that my children dont live like me. I may get married if I can afford to do a gene test which proves everything is alright with me, he adds. Gowda says: In some places the situation is too horrible to describe. A mother who is an anganwadi teacher has two children one of them is affected with this type of poisoning. She gives him food at 9 am locks the door and goes for work. When she returns, the boy will be rolling in his own fecal matter. This is an everyday story. The government officials, if they visit each and every home, they will understand the gravity of the problem. But they dont, hence dont understand our situation  [3]  This has been the effect of the indiscriminate use of pesticides and insecticides on the unaware and innocent lives. Rachel Carson dedicated her entire book The Silent Spring to bring awareness to the effects of insecticides and pesticides on man and his environment. Though she did succeed to large extent on banning their indiscriminate use still continues in the third world countries. This according to Clevo Wilson Clem Tisdell are due to varied economic reasons and also due to lack of knowledge. Farmers continue to use pesticides if their net discounted rate of return is greater in the present. This happens much more in less developed countries than in more developed countries. To make themselves economically viable farmers are forced to use pesticides because it causes an increase in the production in the short run, though the cost will increase in the long run which they are unaware of, and also once a new technique is used the cost of reverting back maybe very high. Further it may be due to a lack of knowledge on the part of farmers. It may also be that use of pesticides and fertilizers are considered to be an integral part of commercialized agriculture. To add to this would be the pressure the farmers may face from advertisements and sales schemes of companies manufacturing insecticides and fertilisers. It has also been found that though farmers may be aware of Integrated Pest Management systems they may not be easily accessible, as seen in the case of farmers in Sri Lanka.  [4]   Our next case study is based in Punjab that highlights the negative effect that G R has had on the employment of the youth. Punjab agriculture has been known for the green revolution of the late 1960s and the 1970s. Not only has it achieved an irrigation coverage of 95 per cent of the net sown area, cropping intensity of 185, and 98 per cent HYV coverage which are all the highest among the Indian states, but even the yields of major crops wheat and paddy are of a very high order, i e, 3,941 kgs and 3,393 kgs per hectare respectively [CACP 1997] The agricultural sector in Punjab is very capital intensive with the highest number of tubewells and tractors in the country and the highest consumer of electricity, 21% of wheat, 9% of rice and 21% of cotton produced in India came from Punjab. In the 1980s the scene began to change, the same level of production could not be maintained. The net costs began to increase mainly due to over mechanization and small holdings were no longer profitable to cultivate. This became apparent in the rise in tenancy of small farms and another evidence of this was an increase in the market for second hand tractors. The proportion of marginal holdings in total decreased from 37 per cent to 26 per cent during 1970-71 to 1990-91 and those above 10 hectares increased significantly [GoP 1997] The unemployment rates increased The proportion of agricultural labour in total rural male workers went up by 2.2 per cent during the 1980s and that of cultivators went down by 2.7 per cent. The unemployment rate among rural males (2.9 per cent) in the late 1980s was marginally above that at the national level (2.8 per cent) and that among rural females more than double (7.4 per cent) that of the national level (3.5 per cent) [Chand 1999a]. To add to this were the problems of monoculture and lack of diversification, increased attack of pests due to increased resistance to insecticides decreasing water levels. Thus based on the Jhol committee agriculture was diversified to include horticultural crops leading to the opening of food processing industries.This did not seem to make much of a difference as the three industries could work only with a small number of farmers and this did not make much of a difference to the rest. The high mechanisation of agricultural operations had added to the problem of rural un- employment. Now, combine harvesters could do the entire harvesting of paddy and a large proportion of wheat crop, which had cut down the number of days a farm worker could be gainfully employed in the farm sector. The labour requirements were also increasingly met from migrant labour. On the other hand, educated rural youth did not find farming profitable enough as an occupation. Unemployment of youth in Punjab was not due to lack of work opportunities in the farm sector per se, but due to the strong preference of these youth for non-farm jobs. But the industrial sector of the state which was dominated by small-scale industry did not offer many skilled jobs and depended on migrant labour for manual work as these workers were available for lower wages, did not create trouble as they had less political clout and bargaining power. On the other hand, urban people were preferred for skilled jobs as they are more tuned to industrial or corporate work culture [Chand 1999b]. The problem of rural unemployment was compounded by the fact that rural youth did not possess any specia l skills and did not have an aptitude to work in conventional industries owned by local capital. The only industries they were more familiar with were agro-processing ones which had recently roped in some rural youth but the jobs were few as the operations were highly mechanised and few manual jobs remained.  [5]   The very purpose of G R was to improve agriculture and reduce the income disparities but that very purpose was defeated. Through our next paper Green revolution and increase in social inequalities in India D.N. Dhanagre  [6]  we are going to see how social inequalities have increased. The effects of G R were assessed within five years of its initiation into India through a symposium organised by the Centre for the Study of Social Change in 1973. Where both, the positive side and the negative side were highlighted. On the positive side the increase in crop production was stressed on. This increase was 87.2 per cent in Punjab, and 64.90 per cent in Haryana where the gains in production performance were impressive'[Vyas, 1974: 67-70], and hence there was no alternative to G R to develop the backward regions of our country. The green revolution was distributed differentially to different categories of farmers putting the small and marginal farmers at a relative disadvantage. The reasons for differential distribution were obvious. The high cost/high yield cereal technology of the green revolution called for substantial capital investments generally beyond the means of a majority of small and marginal farmers.'[CSSC 1984]. To add to this the Indian Government was criticized by the Halselemere Group of favouring the rich and large land owning farmers in distribution of cheap credit and subsidies rather than the poorer ones. Size and nature of land holdings- Initially it was believed that the size of the holding did not matter in G R practices, but when it came to the reality of implementation it was found not to be true. The agricultural development bureaucracy working at the grass root level that scale neutrality was not true, the larger holdings were at an advantage. According to Danagare even the introduction of HYV seeds there was a pro rich bias seen. The requirement of each farmer to buy two shares of seed worth Rs 100/- each per acre was again to the advantage of the larger land holding farmers. Since the G R package was created with the perennially irrigated land in mind the government favoured them rather than farming in semi-arid and dry areas again leading to disparity in the distribution of income regionally. Further it has been found that while poor farmers own only 21% of land in wet regions almost 50% of the land was owned by poor farmers in the dry regions,[Atherya et,al 1983]. The polarisation process that accentuates the rural class differences has been further intensified by the green revolution. In a survey done by Bhalla and Chada in Punjab its been found that farmers with land holdings less than 2.5acres earned Rs1231/- while those with land holdings 25acres or more earned Rs24,283/- annually. In other words a rich farmer without putting in any physical effort was earning much more than a poor farmer, where he and his entire family would have had to work. Use of mechanization- as very apparent mechanization of farming was to the advantage of the rich and large land holding farmers. It not only increased disparity among the farmers but also hit hard on the labourers. Billings and Singh have discovered that in Punjab the demand for agricultural labour went up from 51 mandays to 60.1 mandays with the introduction of the persian wheel as a means of irrigation and of fertilisers and pesticides. However, when pump-sets, wheat-threshers, corn-shellers and tractors are introduced the average demand for labour drops down to 25.6 mandays (1969: A 221-24) It was found through surveys both in Punjab and in Chengilpet TN that the poorer farmers did not hesitate to invest and compete with the rich farmers though it was an uphill task for them but they did not benefit. In fact, all available statistics indicate greater and greater immiseration and pauperisation as the green revolution technology package has spread in diffierent parts of India. [Dhanagare 1978] I would like to conclude by mentioning Vandana Shivas view as expressed in her book The violence of the Green Revolution Third world agriculture, ecology and politics in the western view our system of agriculture was primitive and they wanted to thrust upon us their modern scientific view, as a socio political solution to our problems which only created more problems. In the traditional agricultural systems Shiva believes that people used their knowledge and experience to create a balance between the resources and their uses. Cropping systems include a symbiotic relationship between soil, water, farm animals and plants. They were preserving and building on natures process and natures patterns. This system was based on sustainability and made the farmers self- reliant as advocated by Gandhiji. As Rachel Carson puts it In nature nothing exists alone'[ Silent Spring] and if we dont recognize this and awake to the fact that we are a part of the nature we are destroying we may be too late.

Myphone Business Plan For Mobile Phone Shop

Myphone Business Plan For Mobile Phone Shop The purpose for this business plan to study the feasibility to establish a mobile phone showroom in Abu Dhabi City, the capital of United Arab Emirates. The showroom will offer Nokia mobile phones as main product. Along with that we will offer a wide range of accessories and relevant spare parts. MyPhone provides both mobile phones products and services to make them useful to private users. We are especially focused on providing customer satisfaction to our esteemed customers. The products include both hand held mobile telephone sets and servicing the products after sales along with giving the necessary training and support. The only way we can hope to differentiate well is to define the vision of the company to be a technology ally to our clients. We will not be able to compete in any effective way with the chains using boxes or products as appliances. We need to offer a real alliance. The benefits we sell include many intangibles: confidence, reliability, knowing that somebody will be there to answer questions and help at the important times. The definitive worldwide standard for wireless communications has just broken through the 200 million-customer barriers. However, the GSM industry is one of the most impressive success stories of the 1990s and currently generates more than $100 Billion a year in subscriber revenues alone. We have some major mobile phone distributors in the city, such like Emirates Computers, Juma Al-Majed and Jumbo Electronics. If our strategy works, we will have differentiated ourselves sufficiently to not have to compete against these stores. Our strategy hinges on providing excellent service and support. This is critical. We need to differentiate on service and support, and to therefore deliver as well. Our business is a retail store. The ideal place for the prospected Showroom will be at the new constructed shopping center in Tourist Club Area at East Side of Abu Dhabi City. In order to hold costs down as much as possible, we concentrate our purchasing with Nokia Regional Office in Jabel Ali at Dubai. We are going to have four major employees: Manger, Sales Lady, Technician and accountant. There are some factors that will affect severely on the growing of our proposed business, such like: Customer is looking into factory guarantee for replacement the defected sets. Nokia corporation will grant us immediately this kind of warranty. Usually customers are insisting in buying only the original spare parts and accessories. Therefore we are going to offer only original spare parts and accessories to gain the customer satisfaction. Index Business Overview: Vision Statement: Products: Key Features of Products: Production of Product: Company Industry: Overview of the Industry Community: Major Competitors: Comparative Advantages: Future Products Services: Operations: Location Premises: Purchase: Resources: Management: Management Structure: Professional Services Employee Training: Risks Plans to Minimize: Implementation Schedule: 1) Business Overview: 1.1 Vision Statement: MyPhone is such a vendor. It serves its clients as a trusted ally, providing them with the loyalty of a business partner and the economics of an outside vendor. We make sure that our clients have what they need to run their private and business life as well as possible, with maximum efficiency and reliability. Our ambitious is mission critical, so we give our clients the assurance that we will be there when they need us. 1.2 Products: MyPhone provides both mobile phones products and services to make them useful to private users. We are especially focused on providing customer satisfaction to our esteemed customers. The products include both hand held mobile telephone sets and servicing the products after sales along with giving the necessary training and support. In mobile phones, we support three main lines: The less feature mobile telephone set, which is our smallest and least expensive line, initially positioned by its manufacturer as low-income users. We use it mainly as a cheap mobile phone for workers and non- professional people. The Power User is our main up-scale line. It is our most important mobile telephone set for high-end individual as classified for medium range of income, because of they are the majority of the users, and they are requiring sets with more features and large capacity batteries. However, we will offer a luxury type of mobile telephone set with extreme fancy looking and elegant design, for the upper class of the society and manly for the Ladies who are impressed for such model as part of their prestige in the society. In service and support, we offer a range of walk-in service and guarantees through our well capable workshop and professional technician. 1.3 Key Features of Products: The only way we can hope to differentiate well is to define the vision of the company to be a technology ally to our clients. We will not be able to compete in any effective way with the chains using boxes or products as appliances. We need to offer a real alliance. The benefits we sell include many intangibles: confidence, reliability, knowing that somebody will be there to answer questions and help at the important times. These are complex products, products that require serious knowledge and experience to use, and our competitors sell only the products themselves. Unfortunately, we cannot sell the products at a higher price just because we offer services; the market has shown that it will not support that concept. We have to also sell the service and charge for it separately. 1.4 Production of Product: As we are attending to be as a distributor only for one of the major brand of Mobile Phone in the market Nokia. Therefore we will import or stock directly, and it will not be any kind of production in our firm. Moreover, our business will depend on retailing and not on production. 2) Company Industry: 2.1 Overview of the Industry Community: The Industry: GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications): The definitive worldwide standard for wireless communications has just broken through the 200 million-customer barriers. Achieving this milestone of 200 million subscribers to GSM services is the powerful result of the continuing need for people to communicate and access information on the move. With four new customers every second, the latest figures exceed, yet again, all industry predictions and demonstrate the persistently dramatic growth of GSM throughout the world. As at the end of 1997, there were more than 200 million mobile phone subscribers worldwide and the global sales volume was over 100 million units, an increase of about 50% from the previous year. By the end of the year 2001, it is believed that the global subscriber base will have grown to approximately 600 million. Coupled with the subscriber increase, the mobile phone sales volumes are growing due to the rise of the replacement market. GSM has established itself as the worlds leading digital wireless standard, and it is believed that the current growth rates will continue for the foreseeable future. At present levels, it is confident in the predictions that by the year 2005, it will have achieved between 700 million and One Billion GSM customers worldwide. The GSM industry is one of the most impressive success stories of the 1990s and currently generates more than $100 Billion a year in subscriber revenues alone. Its impressive growth rates are once again attributed to soaring global markets and the sustained penetration of new emerging markets. In all the markets it has been starting to see a widespread take-up of a host of GSM value added services, beyond voice usage, including data and text applications. This demonstrates how GSM is an evolving technology that offers exciting new services and opportunities for subscribers. The future is even more exciting, as the development path for the GSM standard is clearly mapped out and presents an exciting era of applications and services that will stretch the bounds of the imagination. It is moving closer and closer to the delivery of third generation services, which will see multi-media applications, internet access and access to real-time video, via GSM-based networks and handsets. This will ensure that GSM continues to be the standard of choice and heralds continued massive customer growth in the years to come. The Emirates Telecommunication Corporation Etisalat: The UAE has a prominent status in the field of telecommunications as its achievements are reaching the quality and standards of the developed countries. The demands for telecommunications facilities in the UAE are growing at a phenomenal rate. The local Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (ETISALAT) which is 60% state-owned controls this sector and 40% owned by private UAE investors. Since its creation in 1976, Etisalat has increased the number of telephone lines from 50,000 to over 850,000 and plans to raise switching capacity by an annual rate of 100,000. In the UAE, demand for new lines is growing at about 12% per year. Etisalat, motivated by the realization that attractive infrastructure would encourage many businesses to locate in the UAE, has become one of the most profitable telecommunications organizations in the Gulf region and has joined in a number of projects, ranging from a 19,000 kilometers fiber-optic cable to link Europe with South-East Asia. The first stage of the cable link is to lay the so-called Fiber-Optic Gulf (FOG), which will use the most modern submarine technology and provide the UAE with links capable of carrying around 120,000 voice channels at any one time. Etisalat is the name that spells reliable communications in the UAE with global connectivity. Etisalat provides services on a par with the best in the world and has an advanced communications network, which is virtually fault free. All switching systems are digital, common channel signaling system number 7 (SS7) has been introduced, and an analog mobile radio network has been operating successfully for several years. Some of the state of the art services being offered by Etisalat: Telephone Service: This is done through public call offices, pay phones, smart card and credit card operated pay phones, smart card operated pay phones, and others. A report by the Etisalats director general showed that the direct telephone switchboard lines increased by (10 %) lines yearly and totaling 850,000 at the end of 1999. Telephone lines percentage also increased from 29 to 31 for each 100 people which places the UAE in the lead of the Gulf region. The report also indicated an increase of 27.9% in public phones with an amount of 20,000 at the end of 1999 compared to 12,078 in 1995. As far as mobile phones are concerned, the number of subscriptions reached 1.2 million in end of 1999 compared to 128,495 in 1995. As it is roughly one-in-two of the population and 30,000 to 40,000 new phones were being sold each month. Thus Etisalat maintained its leading position among the countries of the region by realizing the highest growth rates of mobile phones at 50 phones for every 100 people. The Global System for Mobile GSM Communication The digital mobile system which gives a new dimension to mobile communications has been in growing demand because of its satisfactory requirements for national mobile radio networks. These are high performance, international compatibility, fully digital operation, and encrypted air-interface. The UAE is one of the first countries in the Gulf region to introduce this service to serve the social and economic developments in the country. One of the main benefits of the GSM, is the ability to use the GSM service on most of the GSM networks around the world, Charges: GSM service connection Dhs 200 once only GSM service subscription Dhs 90 per quarter SIM card Dhs 30 Call charges (Normal Rate) Dhs 0.39/min. 7:00am to 2:00pm and 4:00pm to 12:00am, (For all days of the week) Call charges (Cheap Rate) Dhs 0.21/min. 2:00pm to 4:00pm and 12:00am to 7:00am, (on all days of the week) International Calls Normal IDD rates apply Emirates Internet: The UAEs window to the world offering connectivity to an unlimited number of network, computers, and users worldwide. The Emirates Internet was established in June 1995. The number of Internet subscribed reached over 25,000 by the end of November 1997. Fax Plus: A new fax plus state-of-the-art service with a host of advanced facilities which lets the person operate even without owning a fax machine. Paging Service: This radio paging service enables people on the move to be in touch in an easy and economical way almost anywhere in the UAE. According to Al Ittihad Newspaper, the UAE is ranked 7th worldwide, with 10% of the population using this service. Voice Mail Service: This includes videoconference service, consultation services, and interactive information service. ATM Service: The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a new service launched recently in order to speed up connections to customers. This is a broadband communications technology, which provides a way of transporting data from a wide range of applications using one seamless network. This service is being introduced to cater for the growing needs of education and business in the UAE and as part of Etisalats planning for the future. Satellite A new satellite company called Al-Thurayya Satellite Communications Organization was launched in January 1997. Its capital is worth $25 million and owned 26% by Etisalat, 20% by the Abu Dhabi Investments Company, 10% by the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat), and 10% by Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), and 44% is owned by other Arab government. The company was set up to own and operates the Thurayya satellite system, which will serve the rapidly expanding mobile phone sector. It will cover the Arab states and part of Europe and the Indian sub-continent. The Community: Abu Dhabi City: Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Its population was estimated 850,000 on 1998, with 70% males. The Gross National Product was estimated on the same fiscal year at Dhs. 65,850 per Capita which equivalent to U.S.$ 17,870. The Gross National Private Local Consumer was Dhs 25,040 per capita. The Gross National Government Consuming was Dhs 10,582 per capita. The Gross National Expenditure was Dhs 48,926 per capita. Which can be lead to be one of the highest per capita in the world. Abu Dhabi is very Modern City. Most of its constructions are less than 15 years old. Since it is the U.A.E. capital, it is containing all the headquarters of the Federal Ministries and other government departments and authorities, beside all the oil and gas companies headquarters, more than 63 local and international banks and many regional offices of the multinational companies. In addition to that, Abu Dhabi has One public women university Zayed University, two campuses of Higher Colleges of Technologies and several colleges branches. 2.2 Major Competitors: a) Major Distributors: We have some major mobile phone distributors in the city, such like Emirates Computers, Juma Al-Majed and Jumbo Electronics. If our strategy works, we will have differentiated ourselves sufficiently to not have to compete against these stores. Strengths: national image, high volume, aggressive pricing, and economies of scale. Weaknesses: lack of product, service and support knowledge, lack of personal attention. b) Other Local Stores: There are more than one hundred retail mobile phone Stores in Abu Dhabi city. These tend to be small businesses, owned by people who started them because they liked mobile phones. They are under-capitalized and under-managed. Margins are squeezed as they compete against the major distributors and against each other in an attempt to match prices. The competition based on price more than on service and support. When asked, the owners will complain that the major distributors squeeze margins and customers buy on price only. They say they tried offering services and that buyers didnt care, instead preferring lower prices. We think the problem is also that they didnt really offer good service, and also that they didnt differentiate from the major distributors. Moreover they are depending in the gray market. 2.3 Comparative Advantages: The marketing of mobile services to business users, and more recently to consumers, has resulted in spectacular growth in the number of subscribers in Gulf Area. Operators now face the challenges of rising customer quantity, the prospect of declining revenue per subscriber, and the scrutiny of performance by investors. Achieving success in these new market conditions calls for a change in strategy from mobile operators a fresh approach to marketing, distribution and customer service to attract more new customers whilst retaining existing customers and protecting future revenue. The buyers understand the concept of service and support, and are much more likely to pay for it when the offering is clearly stated. There is no doubt that we compete much more against all the box pushers than against other service providers. We need to effectively compete against the idea that businesses should buy mobile phones as easy and friendly appliances that dont need ongoing service, support, and training. Our focus group sessions indicated that our target professional users think about price but would buy based on quality service if the offering were properly presented. They think about price because thats all they ever see. We have very good indications that many would rather pay 10-20% more for a relationship with a long-term vendor providing back up and quality service and support; they end up in the box-pusher channels because they arent aware of the alternatives. Availability of the stock is also very important. The buyers tend to want immediate, local solutions to problems. However, our value proposition has to be different from the standard retail shops. We offer our target customer, who is service seeking and not self reliant, a vendor who acts as a strategic ally, at a premium price that reflects the value of reassurance that sets will work. Moreover, our competitive edge is our positioning as strategic ally with our clients, who are clients more than customers. By building a business based on long-standing relationships with satisfied clients, we simultaneously build defenses against competition. The longer the relationship stands, the more we help our clients understand what we offer them and why they need it. Service and Support Our strategy hinges on providing excellent service and support. This is critical. We need to differentiate on service and support, and to therefore deliver as well. 2.4 Future Products Services: We must remain on top of the new technologies, because this is our bread and butter. For telephone sets, we need to provide better knowledge of cross GSS and WAP technologies. Also, we are under pressure to improve our understanding of direct-connect Internet and related communications. Finally, although we have a good command of accessories, we are concerned about getting better at the integration of technologies that creates fax, WAP, E-mail, and voice mail as part of the mobile Telephone set. 3) Operations: 3.1 Location Premises: Our business is a retail store. Therefore in this type of business the customer will come to it, not the sales person has to go to the customer. It is kind of pulling sales strategy not pushing sales strategy. Thus, the physical location will be the key to success or failure to this business. However, the ideal place for the prospected Showroom, after taking in consideration the locations for the others competitors, will be at the new constructed shopping center in Tourist Club Area at East Side of Abu Dhabi City. As in new shopping center, we will enjoy the being in the summit reputation beside the advantage of parking lot availability, which has become a great problem in the city in these days. The shop will be at the ground floor. To grantee that all the visitors of this particular Shopping Center will have the chance to see the place and they will be aware that a new mobile showroom will be available for them. Furthermore, we can utilize the front of the showroom to demonstrating the products in front of the shoppers, They will see and know what kind of products we are offering before they have even entered to the showroom. The area for the place is suggested to be not less than 100 square meters that can be distributed as the following: Lounge with area of 50 square meter. Two small offices one for the showroom manager and the other for the accountant with area of 6 square meters for each of them. Store with an area of 5 square meters, for the products with necessary cabinets. Service Area of 20 square meters furnituing with necessary tables, counter and cabinets. 3.2 Purchase: Our costs are part of the margin squeeze. As competition on price increases, the squeeze between manufacturers price into channels and end-users ultimate buying price continues. With the mobile phone sets, our margins are declining steadily. It is being squeezed to more like 13-15% at present. In the main-line accessories a similar trend shows, with prices declining steadily. In order to hold costs down as much as possible, we concentrate our purchasing with Nokia Regional Office in Jabel Ali, which offers 30-day net terms and overnight shipping from the warehouse at Jabel Ali in Dubai. We need to concentrate on making sure our volume gives us negotiating strength. Moreover, In accessories and add-on we can still get decent margins, 25% to 40%. 3.3 Resources: a) We are going to have four major employees: Employee Responsibilities Manger Supervising and Purchasing affairs Sales Lady Sales Affairs Technician Workshop Affairs Accountant Accounts and Bookkeeping We are in need for very little equipment to run the project; this equipment will be bought. As no trend in United Arab Emirates to rent such equipment. 4) Management: The management in the our firm believes very strongly that relationships should be forthright, work should be structured with enough room for creativity, and pay should be commensurate with the amount and quality of work completed. 4.1 Management Structure: Owner Manager Accountant Sales Lady Technician 4.2 Professional Services Employee Training: A) Legal Affairs: Especially in the beginning, therefore we have already negotiated with a very respectful Advocate office in Abu Dhabi City, who is having a good experience in the commercial and civil affairs. He will take care for all the Legal Affairs, including Renting Contract, Maintenance Contract, and Labor/Employee Contracts, Revising the purchasing and banking agreements, etc. B) Accounting Procedures: The financial information is too essential for an well-organized business firm. Therefore a bookkeeping system has to be maintained to include all the account procedures. Moreover, all the payments to be made preferably by checks, and not by cash. The daily sales to be deposited in the bank next working day. However to organize the purchasing of the goods, They would be imported by the banks letter of credit (L.C.) only. C) Insurance Expenses: Our mobile phone showroom should insure the business along with its stock. As our business requires insurance for such robbery crimes or thefts. Further, we will insure our staff. We can estimate the insurance premium at Dhs. 6,000 for the First year. As revenue increases in the second and third year of Business. D) Banking Affairs: As the purchasing of the main product will be from Jabel Ali warehouse of regional company of Nokia, therefore the financing of such deals should be on Letter of Credit (LC). We will intend to open two current accounts with two different banks, which will give us more flexibility in the finance procedures. Employee Training: We will have only four staff. These staff will hire them, with sufficient experience in the relative field. Therefore, no training is mainly required at the beginning. However, the regional office of Nokia in Jabel Ali Free Zone, they are organizing such training session, whenever new product is introduce to the market. Therefore we are planning to send our technician to these training session whenever they will be made available. 4.3 Risks Plans to Minimize: There are some factors that will affect severely on the growing of our proposed business, such like: Customer is looking into factory guarantee for replacement the defected sets. Since we are purchasing directly from the regional office in Jabel Ali free zone. Therefore, Nokia corporation will grant us immediately this kind of warranty. However some other retail shops are buying their product from the gray market in Dubai. In this case, they can not offer any kind of grantee in their products. Moreover, we are attending to put this information on all of our advertising campaigns and sale brochures. Usually customers are insisting in buying only the original spare parts and accessories (which are coming from same manufacture). Therefore we are going to offer only original spare parts and accessories to gain the customer satisfaction.

Indonesian Demographic Transition Essay -- Population Control

Introduction The effects of population control programs on demographic change were not instant, and it takes long serious effort to encourage the improvement of economic development in a country. According to Paul J. Gertler (1994, p. 33), â€Å"Population control is a key element in a country’s ability to maintain and improve its economic and social welfare†. Furthermore, this paper intends to explain why the change of population structure has an effect on the society’s economic condition in Indonesia with examining the demographic variables. This short paper is aimed to support the hypothesis that the demographic variables are important influential factors on the economic development and significantly affect on the social welfare in Indonesia. Therefore, the paper proceed with examining the demographic transition from 1970 to 2000 in the change of population structure, and also considering the population control program which enhances the economic development. In order to understand the relationship between population control program and the improvement of the social welfare, this paper will focus on how its relationship with the age structure, population density and the life expectancy. Background The population control program in Indonesia has come a long way since it was established by the Indonesian government in the late 1960s. The Indonesian family planning (FP) program which is held by the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) has implemented the concept of how to form happy and prosperous families as a means to improve family welfare. However, the concept was not separated from the main purpose of the population control program, which basically focuses on the contraceptives’ use in order to reduce the fe... ...e can understand the reason why the change of population structure has an effect on the society’s economic condition. The changes in age structure in Indonesia shows the significant increase in the productive age which leads to the increase of the labor force, and also shows the increase in women participation in labor force. The life expectancy can be used for evaluating the government performance (family planning program) in improving family resilience and institutionalizing quality of small family. Lastly, the population density is an important factor to evaluate the society's quality of live. Finally, this paper has shown that the society's welfare has generally placed on the role of demographic variables in economic growth and there is a significant relationship between population control program and the improvement of the society’s welfare in Indonesia.