Action, Goals and Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Action, Goals and Benefits - Essay Example It is our most valued possession. While pursuing an education, we will certainly run into obstacles along the way. However, by having a clear vision of our goals and a well-developed habit of study we can clear any hurdles that are placed in our path. Though the pace of today's world makes an education seem difficult, it can be made easier by following some simple rules. One of the first things we realize when we begin an education is that there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. It's important to recognize that education is the priority. An awareness of my goals can be the best aide in setting a schedule for my activities (Managing Your Time). It may mean giving up a Sunday football game. I may have to suffer with a couple less hours of sleep now and then. Managing my time will require me to make a schedule that will take priority over most of the other events in my life. Sticking to my schedule will be easier if I concentrate on my goals and my reasons for getting an education. I hope to improve my writing skills in this class and become a better communicator. The ability to write successfully will enhance my professional opportunities as well as give me a sense of personal accomplishment. My current lifestyle and schedule is an obstacle that I need to work around. I work 12 hours a day and set aside Sunday for church. At first glance, it seems that I only have Gen 101: Action, Goals and Benefits Saturdays to study. However, I can read during my lunch breaks at work. I can set aside an hour each night dedicated to my studies. Vince Lombardi once said that hard work is the price we pay to achieve our goals (cited in Determination Quotations). I can extend my study period on Saturday by 2 hours and work in an additional 2 hours on Sunday. This will give me an additional 14 hours of study time each week. It may mean some personal sacrifice, but eventually it will become a habit and will be almost unnoticed. By applying myself to my studies and keeping to my schedule I should see considerable progress throughout the course. I expect my writing to become easier and clearer. The library will open my mind to new opportunities and interests. I expect that my schedule and study routine will become a habit that will transfer to my other courses in the future. I plan to continue my education at the University of Phoenix after I finish this course on March 7, 2007. The path to a degree will also bring about increased opportunities and positions in my employment. Aside from benefiting from an increase in salary, it will also give me greater self-esteem. Education is a continual process of self-improvement and that improvement will show in every part of my life. Whether at work, at home, or in a social situation, an education shines through and makes the whole world a little brighter. To sum it all up, my education is important to me and it is a crucial step on my path to self-improvement. This course will give me the tools to write better, read better, Gen 101: Action, Goals and Benefits study better, and develop a greater sense of personal management. Though my schedule may be packed, I can find ways to set aside the time I need to study. By keeping my goals on my mind, it's easy to make education a priority. Small sacrifices now can realize big rewards later. My plan is to focus on this program and continue to study at UOP. It will give me a greater chance for career advancement and offer me better economic opportunities. Education is the one thing you always carry with you and no one can take from you. This course is a step in acquiring that very valuable

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay Example for Free

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay The word ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment; these organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing naturally, and they’ve got a specific and stable climax, equilibrium. Living as well as non-living factors may have an impact in an ecosystem such as the impact of humans in ecosystems by hunting, fishing, agriculture etc. r climate change may affect an ecosystem and dare it to adapt to the conditions. Will human’s activity affect the equilibrium of the arctic wolves ecosystem? Equilibrium refers to balance, so†¦ will human’s activities affect the balance of the physical and biological components of the tundra? Human activities, which affect the arctic wolf’s ecosystem, the tundra, are pollution, chemical contamination and overdevelopment. All of them are harmful to the ecosystem. Pollution affects indirectly the tundra, habitat of the Arctic wolf. Pollution leads to Global Warming and this affect the global temperature, as a result ice melts and the tundra is affected because its an ecosystem nearly made up on ice, so eventually the ecosystem would be endangered and also the species that are contained in the ecosystem. Lately, thousands of â€Å"green† organizations have been generated to promote the green habits and to try to reduce pollution worldwide, reducing also the vulnerability of the tundra biome. Their projects consist in reducing wastes of any kind of energy source and saving any resource we get. This will involve social aspects also in the way that our society must take part and have an impact into world pollution, which will finally affect the tundra ecosystem; it has lately become popular to be ecofriendly. This ecologic movement has also affected the fashion industry which lately looks for looks with more pure materials, not much synthetic ones, also they’ve preferred clothing with pure cotton, even not only the materials of clothing are involved but the message in the clothing’s have taken a very special impact in the society. Hunting, affects directly and indirectly to the ecosystem of the Arctic wolf, it affects the interaction of living organisms by hunting the animals. The overhunting of species such as the musk ox and caribou in Alaska and North America were even near of extinction. This would create unsustainability on the ecosystem because there would not be equilibrium in the food chain and all the animals that have any relationship with the specie would me affected by don’t having a predator or a prey. Hunting in the tundra has had a very negative effect because important species suck as the musk ox have nearly got to extinction. By 1950, herds in North America were reduced by ninety percent, so this made the American population realize what was really going on in their country. They were loosing biodiversity and so laws were created to protect animals. This had an economic impact, because musk ox’s (prey of the arctic wolf) leather was part of the market so it has also a social impact, not only from for hunters but for the fashion industry which had a relation with musk ox’s fur and leather. Chemical contamination also affects the Arctic Wolf’s ecosystem. Lately, Petroleum and Coal or Natural Gas, Iron, Lead or Zinc mines and mineral exploration and exploitation and extraction are increasing worldwide especially in the Arctic. The development affects the Caribou, which are one of the main species present in the Arctic wolf habitat. Overdevelopment indicates to the building of roads and buildings in the tundra, this lead to more circulation. Fragile tundra areas of plants are taken out for the creation of these roads. Without plants to give nutrients to the soil, earth will stop being rich and will abolish the community of flora in the tundra. After discussing all the direct and indirect human impact in the environment, hunting, chemical contamination and overdevelopment are certainly harmful for the ecosystem. These activities attempt to the balance of the ecosystem by attempting against the living organisms that live in the tundra, ecosystem of the arctic wolf and by attempting against the non-living factors in the ecosystem such as climate. Even tough there are solutions for these activities to reduce or to stop, they are not completely efficient. In my opinion after all my investigation, apart from the pollution affecting indirectly to the tundra, the other activities are not a major concern for the arctic wolf’s ecosystem. As seen, human activities impact in the arctic wolf’s ecosystem is not positive (although they don’t damage much the tundra) toward the ecosystem. My final conclusion will be that external factors are definitely against the equilibrium of the arctic wolf’s ecosystem.

Report of cyclone efficiency method

Report of cyclone efficiency method Abstract:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This report is concerned about cyclone efficiency. The method cyclone is used to remove particles from gaseous waste streams in the experiment. Based on the literature search, more knowledge has been known about particle collecting and particle sizing. Qualitative method is used to describe the particle size distribution using the ELPI device. The cyclone efficiency results are analyzed with graphs and discussion. Comments on the most appropriate methods of control of particles of the size are given at last in the section of discussion. Introduction: Background: Air pollution is man-made harmful materials and particulars in the air, which produce disadvantageous effects to peoples health. It is a big problem, however, public was not focused on air pollution until 1969. Before that time, the air pollution increased dramatically. We impossibly solve the air pollution problems by blowing away the poisonous air and the particles in the air. The most important thing is whether we could control them by reducing pollutant emissions. Air pollution problem is not a single problem, but a series of related problems. The overall air problem basically includes the following form, emissions, transport, dilution, and modification in the atmosphere, which effects on people, property, and the environment. We are unlikely to find a good and easy way to solve all these problems. Instead, we will have to make some steps to achieve the goals such as doing some research on particulate removal from gaseous waste streams so that we can improve the air quality. Name of Technology: Cyclones This type of technology is a part of the group of air pollution controls collectively referred to as pre-cleaners, because they are oftentimes used to reduce the inlet loading of particulate matter (PM) to downstream collection devices by removing larger, abrasive particles. Cyclones are also referred to as cyclone collectors, cyclone separators, centrifugal separators, and inertial separators. In applications where many small cyclones are operating in parallel, the entire system is called a multiple tube cyclone, multi-cyclone, or multi-clone. Type of Technology: Removals of PM by centrifugal and inertial forces are induced by forcing particulate-laden gas to change direction. Applicable Pollutants: Cyclones are used to control PM, and primarily PM greater than 10 micrometers (Fm) in aerodynamic diameter. However, there are high efficiency cyclones designed to be effective for PM less than or equal to 10 Fm and less than or equal to 2.5 Fm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10 and PM2.5). Although cyclones may be used to collect particles larger than 200 Fm, gravity settling chambers or simple momentum separators is usually satisfactory and less subject to abrasion. Achievable Emission Limits/Reductions: The collection efficiency of cyclones varies as a function of particle size and cyclone design. Cyclone efficiency generally increases with particle size and/or density, inlet duct velocity, cyclone body length, number of gas revolutions in the cyclone, ratio of cyclone body diameter to gas exit diameter, dust loading, and smoothness of the cyclone inner wall. Cyclone efficiency will decrease with increases in gas viscosity, body diameter, gas exit diameter, gas inlet duct area, and gas density. A common factor contributing to decreased control efficiencies in cyclones is leakage of air into the dust outlet. Control efficiency ranges for single cyclones are often based on three classifications of cyclone, i.e., conventional, high-efficiency, and high-throughput. The control efficiency range for conventional single cyclones is estimated to be 70 to 90 percent for PM, 30 to 90 percent for PM10, and 0 to 40 percent for PM2.5. High efficiency single cyclones are designed to achieve higher control of smaller particles than conventional cyclones. Summary: This experiment is focused on the sizing of airborne dust or sprays and with one specific method of particulate removal from gas streams (a cyclone). Our major aims are to assess possible dust hazards when handling powders, the efficiency of filters and other arresters and assess the properties of aerosol. Literature Search: Control of primary particulates:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the fine particles in the air are secondary particles. Many of the primary particles are more toxic than most secondary particles. Though primary particles are generally larger than secondary particles, many primary particles are small enough to be respirable and are thus of health concern.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first three kinds of control devices are gravity settlers, cyclone separators, and electrostatic precipitators. All function is driving the particles to a solid wall, where they adhere to each other to form agglomerates that can be removed from the collection device and disposed of. Choosing a Collector: Gravity settling chambers, cyclones, and ESPs work by driving the particles to a solid wall where they form agglomerates that can be collected. These three devices have similar design equations. Filters and scrubbers divide the flow. They have different design equations from wall collection devices and from each other. Both surface and depth filters are used for particle collection. Surface filters are used to collect most of the particles in a heavily laden gas stream. Depth filters are mostly used for the final cleanup of air or gas that must be very clean or for fine liquid drops, which coalesce on them and then drop off. To collect small particles, a scrubber must have a very large relative velocity between the gas being cleaned and the liquid drops. For this reason co-flow scrubbers are most often used. The venture scrubber is the most widely used type of co-flow scrubber. Particle Size Analysis: In many powder and material processing operations, particle size and size distribution play an important role in determining the bulk properties. Describing the size distribution of the particles which make up a powder is therefore central in characterizing the powder. In a number of industrial applications, a single number will be required to characterize the particle size. This can only be done accurately and easily with a mono-sized distribution of spheres or cubes. Real particles with shapes which require more than one dimension to describe and real powders with particles in a range of sizes mean that in practice the identification of single number to describe the size of the particles is far from straightforward. Separation of Particles from a Gas: Gas Cyclones Gas Cyclones Description: Cyclones are extensively used for removing particles from gas stream. The most common type of cyclone is the reverse flow type. Inlet gas is brought tangentially into the cylindrical section and a strong vortex is created inside the cyclone body. Particles in the gas are subjected to centrifugal forces which move them radially outwards, against the inward flow of gas and towards the inside surface of the cyclone on which the solids separate. The direction of flow of the vortex reverses near the bottom of the cylindrical section and the gas leaves the cyclone via the outlet in the top. The solids at the wall of the cyclone are pushed downwards by the outer vortex and out of the solids exit. Gravity has little effect on the operation of the cyclone. Efficiency of Separation:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consider a cyclone to which the solids mass flow rate is M, the mass flow discharged from the solids exit orifice is Mc (known as the fine product). The total material balance on the solids over this cyclone may be written: Total: M=Mf+Mc and the ‘component material balance for each particle size x (assuming no breakage or growth or particles within the cyclone) is: Component: M (dF/dx) = Mf (dFf/dx) + Mc (dFc/dx) where, dF/dx, dFf /dx and dFc/dx are the differential frequency size distributions by mass (i.e. mass fraction of size x) for the feed, fine product and coarse product respectively. F, Ff and Fc are the cumulative frequency size distributions by mass (mass fraction less than size x) for the feed, fine product and coarse product respectively. Experimental:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Remove and reweigh the filter and the hopper. Calculate the efficiency of cyclone. The instrument EPLI which is widely used for determining near real-time measurements was used to do this experiment. It can measure particles within the size range 30nm up to 10um on the basis of their aerodynamic diameter. In this experiment, two kinds of particles, MgO, and fly ash particles were measured by the demonstrator. And four groups of data were obtained in this experiment, the first two groups are for fly ash particles and the second two groups are for MgO. Results: During operation particles are drawn through a charger where they will receive a charge, before passing into the impactor which contains a number of stages, each one connected to a multi-channel electrometer. Depending on the aerodynamic size of the particles they will be impacted on the different stages. The current values obtained from the different stages are converted to a size distribution, a graph of which is shown in Figure 1. Three kinds of particle have different peak value of number concentration. The peak value of MgO is around 2000 particles/cm3, fly ash particle is about 1500 particles/cm3, and Atmospheric particle is above 2500 particles/cm3. The peak of fly ash particles is lower than MgO particles. Discussion: It can be seen from Figure 1 that there are clearly overlapping size distributions present in the sample of Atmospheric particles, MgO particles and fly ash particles. Real samples always contain particles with more than one source. Atmospheric dust might for example contain pollen as well as pollutants. The size distribution will then have two peak values. In this experiment, fly ash particles can be found a bit larger than MgO particles. And the color of fly ash is darker than MgO, MgO is white. In addition, it can be seen in figure 1 that the start point of MgO particles is much higher than fly ash particles. Because of influence of the distribution and size, the cyclone efficiency of fly ash particles is a little bit higher than MgO particles in average. From Figure 1, it also can be seen that the number concentration of MgO particles firstly reach its peek value, and then the fly ash particles get its peak. Atmospheric particles obtain its peak value at almost the same time as fly ash particles. In the other hand, the distribution of the total number of MgO and fly ash particles is different, it can be seen from Figure 1 that as the diameter of MgO increase, the total number firstly increase, then go down, and then go up again. But the curve of fly ash does not have this phenomenon. Its curve only has one wave crest and compared with MgO, the number concentration of fly ash first get the value 0. In addition, it is worthy to note that the atmospheric particles curve almost has the same shape as fly ashs curve. The only big difference is that the atmospheric particles curve has a much higher peak value of number concentration. In the experiment, the particles escaping from the cyclone in the process might lose, which could influence the cyclone efficiency. Also, from this experiment, it can be found that there are some advantages of using cyclone method to calculate the efficiency. The first one is that temperature and pressure limitations are only dependent on the materials of construction; the second one, dry collection and disposal; and the third one is relatively small space requirements. However, there are some disadvantages of using cyclone. Firstly, it is unable to handle sticky or tacky materials. Secondly, high efficiency units might experience high pressure drops. In the industry, cyclone is normally for relatively big particles, and ESP or fabric filter is for smaller particles. Because in the atmosphere the toxic particles are generally smaller than fine particles, ESP and fabric filter should be used more than other instrument. The electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is like a gravity settler or centrifugal separator, but electrostatic force drives the particles to the wall. It is effective on much smaller particles than the previous two devices.

USA: Future Home of the Latino? :: Minority Politics Essays

USA: Future Home of the Latino? Imagine an America completely different than what we have now. Imagine an America where white is not the majority; an America where every race that whites have had such a bad history with (and that includes the majority of the races on the planet) suddenly run the country. Minorities are everywhere in this imaginary America, and in a place where minority used to mean everything-but-white, it now means the exact opposite. This America could be our reality soon. Now, I’m not making this out to be a bad thing, considering this is nearly exactly what the old dead guys who founded this country wanted in the first place. But that’s a whole other essay in itself. In his essay, "The Big New Mix," Renee Loth quotes Leon Bouvier, a demographer from Tulane University. Bouvier claims that "...America will become ‘a majority minority’ nation by 2050...." If this comes true, sure the American culture might be wiped out. But couldn’t you consider the richest part o f American culture the amount of minority people in our country? If, by 2050, America is "a majority minority" as Leon Bouvier predicts, it will affect everything, including politics, business, entertainment, and education. And it won’t all change necessarily for the bad, either. Perhaps the most noticeable change in this imaginary America would be the political scene. For years, women and minorities have sat somewhat silent while the majority whites elect white president after white president. Even some of us white people who don’t hate any races (no, really, there are some of us out there!) think there should be a black president, a Latino president, or a woman president. If Bouvier’s 2050 America is as he says it will be, this might come true. We might even end up with a Black-Latino-American woman president! What would the KKK do then? With a president representing what is now the minority, obviously there would be greater representation of minorities in the government. But, with a "majority minority" running the country, this representation would occur in congress as well. There would be more minority* input to their Congressmen and women (who might also be minorities) as to what laws need to be passed not to mention a greater minority representation at the voting booths. American business will be an aspect of our lives that will change right under our noses.

4 Marks of the Church

â€Å"A reaction paper on the four marks of the Church† There are a lot of different existing Churches worshiping the same God, who are trying to follow the way that Christ lived. But for the people to distinguish the Roman Catholic Church from all the other Churches there are these four marks of the Roman Catholic Church that was given so that the distinct characteristics of the Church would be evident to the people.These characteristics are, the Church is One, the Church is Catholic, the Church is Holy and the last one is the Church being Apostolic. As we progress through this paper, each of these four would be discussed based on how I have understood about this topic which was discussed in our class. Some additional information based on my further research regarding the topic may also be injected to further enhance my reaction regarding the topic.The first mark that distinguishes the Roman Catholic Church from other Churches is the Church being one. The Church being one per tains to being a unified community. The Church being one means that the Roman Catholic Church is one body of Christ that functions as a unit, which means, that if one does not do its function, all the other people of the Church would fail to function properly because they all belong to a single body. It also means that the Church believes in one God, and that there is one Lord, one faith and one baptism.Though people belonging to the Roman Catholic Church belongs to different nations, are of different vocations, have different talents and follows different cultures, the diversity found in this church does not prevent the people to act as one community where there is harmonious unity. This oneness is also visible in the Church’s creed and other teachings, and so as in the celebration of the sacraments. Basically the Roman Catholic Church is considered one because of three reasons, namely, its source, its founder, and because of its soul.The Church is said to be one because of its source which is the Holy Trinity, which is a perfect unity of three divine persons, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The next reason is because of its founder, who is no other than Jesus Christ, who gathered and united the people through salvation from sin. And the third reason is because of its soul, which is the Holy Spirit, who resides in the souls of the faithful and unites them in communion. The Church being Catholic is the next characteristic that was given to the Roman Catholic Church.The term â€Å"Catholic† which means Universal could actually explain this trait by the word itself. It simply says that being one body of Christ is nit limited by race, culture, and not even by time. It means that anybody could become a part of the Church at any given time. This also states that the Church here on earth is also one with the Church in heaven and also the Church in purgatory. This is where the understanding about the communion of saints came from.It shows the union of the faithful here on earth to the union to the faithful in purgatory and those who are faithful in heaven, thus, making the Roman Catholic Church, universal. The third mark, which is the Church is Holy signifies the Church being special. The word â€Å"holy† means set apart which only shows that the Church has a special purpose by and for God. The Church is also marked as holy because people are freed from original sin through baptism. The church is also marked by outstanding holiness shown in the lives of saints.Since the members of the church are human beings, it is only normal that they would sin due to their human nature, which is the opposite of being holy. But, people who are faithful who sin would repent whenever they sin which is the path through holiness. The Church is also holy because of its source who is the Lord who is holy. Through the Church’s teachings, worship and prayer, and good works, the Church is a visible sign of Holiness. The last mar is the fou rth mark of the Roman Catholic Church which is the Church is Apostolic.From its root word â€Å"apostle† we could derive that the Church was entrusted by its founder (Jesus Christ) to the apostles who served as the first bishops and entrusted special authority to St. Peter, who is the first pope and bishop of Rome. Through the apostles, the Church continued on and this authority over the church was handed down to each generation through what we call the apostolic succession. There are no bishop, priest, or deacon in the Church that was self ordained.Each one of them was called by the Church and ordained into what we call apostolic ministry which is given to us by the Lord to be exercised by the Church in one with the Pope. The Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture of the Church was also passed down and preserved by apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These four marks, namely, the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic are indicators that the Church is the Rom an Catholic Church. Other churches may also reflect some of these marks but it is only the Roman Catholic Church who fully professes these marks.Though the four marks are different, they are all interconnected to one another. The Church is catholic because it is universal, that is the reason why it is also one. The church acts as a community that is why it acts in unison, but, its actions are all based on holiness because the Church being one shows that it is the one body of Christ which follows one head who is also the founder of the Church who is Christ. The people of the Church know the responsibilities that Christ left them because of the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Traditions which was passed down by the apostles.To lead the people, Christ also entrusted the authority to His apostles and entrusted St. Peter special authority over the Church. This said authority is followed and passed down to the future generations through what we call apostolic succession. This said example is only one of the many ways on how these four marks are interrelated to each other. And the full work and manifestation of these marks as a mission sets the Roman Catholic Church apart and identifies them from the other Churches.

Comparison of Past and Present Students Essay

I. Introduction People often remark how different the students of today are to those in the past. Each generation claim that those who come after them are getting worse, while those who came before them are much better than they were when they were students. Are students really all that different â€Å"Now† than they were â€Å"Before†? It’s been said that with every batch, with every generation, students are slowly degrading, that you could count with your fingers, those student who truly excel nowadays. It is a very common proclamation that young people now are disrespectful, unmotivated and without problem solving ability. Most people say that â€Å"compared to when we were in high school† the students are very different, incompetent. This is a common perception today, from non teachers and teachers alike, but is this true? II. Context Of course, each generation is different; technology and culture change forces us to think and act differently, use different tools. The increase in population and politics also contribute to the differences between the students of the past and present. Advanced technology, computer and other gadgets like cell phones and scientific calculator enabled the students do their task quicker and easier, tools that help them to be more efficient. In the past students had to handwrite or use a typewriter for their reports, one mistake and you’ll have to repeat it. Now with computer, to matter how many mistake you make with your grammar and spelling the computer will detect your errors so you can make corrections before printing. With computers, you can edit reports or write additional data without doing it over again. Solving mathematical problem became easier too, with the use of calculators. Students in the past have to manually calculate before arriving with the answer, now with just pushing a few buttons, you’ll get the answer. One can find and download anything that is needed in the internet, without sifting through pages and volumes of books in the library. The printed books are almost phase-out as students now prefer ebooks they can read using their cell phones and tablets. There are various mode of transportation, to take students from one place to another faster. Even the method of teaching had change with technology; PowerPoint presentations are often used, and there are even subjects where students learn about information technology and computers. As a result students of the present tend to be lazy and arrogant, and most of the time the equipments technology brings are taken for granted, and are used for fun and games. Then, they have to go without these gadgets, so students then needed to be precise, not make errors. They learned to concentrate, to go slow but sure not to make mistakes. They are more organized and had more focus on whatever task they are doing. Our culture is constantly changing as we continue to grow, being influence by other culture and with the advancement of technology. We are becoming more materialistic, values and social norms changed brought by the influence we see on televisions or by surfing the internet. Because of these changes it is only natural to observe a difference on the behavior and attitudes of today’s students from students of yesteryears. In the past students are more respectful, industrious, punctual and obedient. Girls are demure and boys gallant; public display of affection is not allowed; teachers are more strict and can use corporal punishment on those who misbehave. The presentation of oneself is very important, having a suitable hairstyle and wearing the proper uniform or appropriate attire is rigidly observed. Today’s student think that they are superior to their teachers as they think they can learn everything they need to know from the internet; they are lacking in their attention span and tend to be irresponsible; having a weird hairstyle and adding unnecessary accessories to their uniform is perceived as being cool. Now it is almost a requirement to have the latest gadgets, fashionable clothes and a boyfriend/girlfriend to be accepted in a clique, to belong. The increase in population and politics also play a part in making a difference between the students today from students who came before them. Then, there are a lot less students and the teacher can pay closer attention to each of them. But with the increase of population more schools are being established especially for those places like in the rural area where the school is so far away a student has to travel several miles just to go to school. When the people in the administration of organization like DepEd and Ched, changes are bound to happen. In the past decade the curriculum is changed several times when the people in the administration changed, teachers and students alike adjust had to a new curriculum before they were used to the previous one. Politicians are also known for passing provisions that could affect the education system of our country; K to 12 is an example. III. Summary Students of the present largely differ from students in the past, from the way they think, act and with the tools that they use. Their motivation, organization and efficiency have also changed. Technology, culture change, increase in population and politics all contribute in making these differences. Technology provides the new tools and gadget that students enjoy today. When culture changes the social norms and values also change, in turn there would be an alteration in the behavior and attitudes of the students, our youth. The increase in population and politics create circumstances such as different education system and curriculum, where teachers and students alike have no choice but to make adjustments. IV. Conclusion Change is inevitable with the passage of time, changes that are caused by different things. Students and teacher alike have to adapt to these changes, it can make a task more efficient, it can make learning more exciting or it can become a distraction. The change affects the motivation and attitude of the students. It must be considered before a comparison is made that every batch, every generation have their own way, leave their own marks, it would be unfair to say that students today are becoming worse for they are only responding to the situations created by these changes.

Overpopulation in China Essays

Overpopulation in China Essays Overpopulation in China Paper Overpopulation in China Paper This rapid growth of the worlds population can be seen extensively in high density actions such as India, USA and particularly, China. However, there is much debate concerning the nature of the fast expanding populace of China and its impact on not only the Chinese society but also the global community. In last 50 years, China has seen the most significant increase in population growth due to medical advancements and increases in agricultural productivity. This growth has also been attributed to a number of factors such as, an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration and depletion of resources. If fertility remained at current levels, the population loud reach the absurd figure of 296 billion in just 1 50 years (McKinney 1998). In 2010 over half of the worlds total population (3. 5 billion people) lived in cities and that percentage is expected to reach 70% (6. 2 billion people) or more by 2050. Today, there are 1 80,21 8 people (almost 4 billion) currently living in China alone, accounting for 60% of the worlds population. Thus, it has the largest population in Asia and the world as a whole. However, the immense number of people residing in cities like Beijing is creating an employment crisis in China where there are too many people ND not enough jobs. The current Chinese unemployment rate was last reported at 4. 1 % in the second quarter of 2012. Historically, from 2002 until 201 2, China unemployment Rate averaged 4. 15%reaching an all-time high of 4. 3% in December of 2003 and a record low of 3. 9% in September of 2002 (Trading Economics, 2012). Chinas job market could suffer a downturn and the government needs to step up efforts to create more positions Cabot, The Telegraph, Friday 28 September 2012). If predictions for a further increase in the population are accurate then Chinas employment situation ill become more complex and more severe, (Went, 201 2, The Official China Securities Journal). Many tactics are currently in action to decrease the population, such as Chinas One Child Policy. The one-child limitation is part of the population control policy of the Peoples Republic of China (PR). It officially restricts couples to having only one child, while allowing exemptions for several cases, including davits, rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings themselves. Approximately 35. 9% of Chinas population is currently subject to the one-child restriction. The policy was introduced in 1978 by the Chinese government to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China and authorities claim that the policy has prevented more than 250 million births from 1980-2000 and 400 million between 1979-2011 (Roach dad Silva, Pascal 2006). The Chinese government and many environmentalists claim that population control is essential if humanity is to move on to a more sustainable track (Watts, 2011 In contrast, an article in The Age written by Peter CIA in July 2012 claims that the one child policy will not reap the desired benefits that the people of China are anticipating. He claims that the Chinese Government needs to take immediate action to change its controversial one-child policy, or face the consequences of economic and social catastrophes in the near future (CIA, 2012). Ghana Earlier (a former senior official from the Family Planning Commission) further claims that If the current policy is not changed immediately, China will face an extremely serious labor shortage and ageing problems in 20 years time. The pressure on society will be unbearable (Earlier, 2012). In contrast, an article in The Age (published 2008) states that 25 years go, China was concerned it had too many children to support. Today, however, China faces the opposite problem: as a result of the success of its One-child policy, the Country faces the prospect of having too few children to support a rapidly aging population (Kane, 2008). Thus, there is much controversy surrounding the policy in regards to its impact on overpopulation. What is more, recently in China, there has been not only a focus on the one child policy but also on smart growth, containment, urban growth boundaries, compactness, density and many other concerns. The big encores in regards to overpopulation are the size and density of a population; the ratio of population to resources; whether these resources are available and sustainable and how resources get distributed -? and these concerns are inevitably creating a real world crisis. However, overpopulation is causing a negative impact beyond just the availability of resources. It is forcing China into a State where there is a lack of renewable and non- renewable resources; diminishing sustainable food and fresh water supply; growing disease; epidemics; overcrowding and environmental pollution. Population densities are four times greater in the developing world than in the developed world. Developing nations are likely to more than triple their developed land areas by 2050 (Bee, 2012). However, because China is a developed nation yet still so heavily populated, the carbon footprint of China is even greater. The three main causes of pollution in China are industrialization; increased vehicle use and population growth. Recent statistics show that 656,000 people die per year in China from air pollution, that 50% of the earths tropical rainforests have been lost since 1947 and 88,000,000 barrels of oil are used per year for fuel, food production and the manufacturing of plastic products. An article in The Age by Matt Wade claims that China has become the largest contributor to the global increase in greenhouse gas emissions thus, causing massive air pollution. The more people consuming, the more waste results and more waste means more stress endured on the environment. Water supplies that are contaminated because of the mass amounts of waste continue to be consumed because of the human need for water to survive. Hazardous waste is also causing major lath problems which are contributing to the many diseases and illnesses affecting humans. Pollution is blamed for 300,000 deaths and 20 million cases of respiratory illness a yea (Wade, 2011) and has a direct link to overpopulation. Overpopulation and the pollution that comes as a result of it, has an impact not only on quality and quantity of human life, but also on the worlds already diminishing sustainable food supply. We are five years into a severe global food crisis that is not likely to ease until the global population has considerably declined from its likely peak of over nine billion people in 2050. One billion people were classified as undernourished by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009, and nearly a billion undernourished in each of 2007, 2008, and 201 1. 3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on IIS$2/day, and food prices are rising. Experts seem to agree that we need to increase food production by somewhere between 60 100% by 2050 to sufficiently feed this many people (Granting, 2012). Food shortages are the major cause of malnutrition, susceptibility to disease, stunted growth, stunted brain power and starvation ND Chinas current situation will only get worse unless the population is quickly stabilized and an agricultural advancement is discovered. Fifth one child policy was to be relaxed, only a slight increase in average fertility would increase Chinas population and mouths to feed by hundreds of millions. Olivier De Schuster, a UN expert, argues in an article published in The Guardian that the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure the worlds biggest population has enough to eat, however the countries ability to feed a fifth Of the worlds population will become tougher because f land degradation, arbitration and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertilizer (De Schuster, 2011 The widening rural-urban gap has hit supply and demand of food with nationwide nutrition levels rising and the growing income disparity has left sharp discrepancies in access to food. China is running out of arable farmland and water resources necessary to feed its massive population. The nation has one of the lowest ratios of arable land relative to population, and the situation has been exacerbated as industries consume scarce water resources necessary for farming. Government officials re warning that that situation is getting worse, not better (Fernando, 201 0, The Business Insider). Ghana Ping, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission claims that acute shortages of reserve farmland and water resources are now the main restraints for the country to ensure its food security.

A Guide to Conjugating Battre (to Beat)

A Guide to Conjugating Battre (to Beat) The French word battre means to beat. (The reflexive se battre means to fight, as does the verb combattre.) It is an irregular -re verb, meaning youll have to memorize the conjugations, rather than rely knowing on the regular -re conjugation pattern. How to Conjugate the French Verb Battre You can start as you would when conjugating a regular -re verb and determine the stem by dropping the -re (batt-). Heres where things deviate from a regular verb: In the present tense, the singular forms also drop the second t. These charts show you how to conjugate this irregular verb. (Other verbs that include battre, like  abattre, combattre  and dà ©battre, also follow this irregular pattern.) Present Future Imperfect Present Participle je bats battrai battais battant tu bats battras battais il bat battra battait nous battons battrons battions vous battez battrez battiez ils battent battront battaient Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive je batte battrais battis battisse tu battes battrais battis battisses il batte battrait battit battt nous battions battrions battmes battissons vous battiez battriez batttes battissiez ils battent battraient battirent battissent   Ã‚  Imperative(tu)bats(nous)battons(vous)battez How to Use  Battre  in the Past Tense Though this is a lesson about simple conjugation, its important to touch on the compound tense passà © composà ©, as it is the most common way to put something in the past tense in French. For battre, the auxiliary verb is avoir and the past participle is battu. For example: Il a battu les oeufs avec une fourchette.He beat the eggs with a fork.

Network Security & Applications Research Proposal

Network Security & Applications - Research Proposal Example Thus, this is very important to train the basic computer users and information systems manager in mind, teaching the ideas required to read through the hype in the marketplace and recognize threats associated with the computer security and how to cope with them (Network Security, 2010; Curtin, 1997). In addition, the network security is turning out to be more and more significant in view of the fact that people spend more and more time connected. In this scenario, compromise on network security is frequently much easier than compromise on physical or local security, and is much more frequent. However, there are numerous good tools available to help improve network security, as well as majority of them are shipping with Windows features (The Linux Documentation Project, 2010). The new web based or web-supported tools offer a range of effective software features and services to the consumers, workers and business associates. These services could be easily managed and handled. Additiona lly, the new information technology offers access to a major business resource such as the web server, which gives the capability to access various other useful information resources, for instance database servers (ITSecurity).

Chronic Kidney disease with Hemodialyis Case Study

Chronic Kidney disease with Hemodialyis - Case Study Example The primary reason for her renal failure is obstructive uropathy which has been further complicated by hypertension and diabetes. Hydronephrosis is a condition that is caused by urine filled dilation of the renal pelvis which is then associated with progressive atrophy of the kidneys due to an obstruction of the urine outflow. The kidney eventually becomes a thin walled cystic structure with parenchymal atrophy, complete obliteration of the pyramids and cortex thinning. Bilateral obstruction will lead to renal failure. Hypertension is one of the major diseases that cause CKD. That is often related to poor control caused because of poor education of the patient and their family. One in three adults in the US and one billion people worldwide have hypertension and 26 million adults in the US have chronic kidney disease (Eskridge, 2010)." The National Committee on Prevention Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure describes the relationship between blood pressure and DVD as continuous, consistent, and independent of other risk factors" (Eskridge, 2010. pg. 55). Hypertension damages the kidneys in a couple of ways. Renal damage causes the activation of the renin-angiotensin system. This can happen from the beginning and then the sympathetic nervous system is activated. As this system continues to be damaged, the damage is measured by the change in the GFR or the serum creatinine. As capillary pressure increases, the endothelial cells are damaged which then activates platelets and in terglomerular coagulation (Eskridge, 2010). All of this chronically leads to neprosclerosis. It also accelerates kidney disease caused by other chronic problems such as diabetes. People with diabetes are recommended to keep their blood pressure at 130/80 or below (Porth & Matfin, 2007). In the case of diabetes, diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease and probably accounts of 40% of all new cases. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause this type of renal failure. Diabetic neuropathy points to lesions in the kidney that are created in the diabetic kidney. The glomeruli are affected more than any other structure and there are some other problems such as capillary basement membrane thickening, diffuse glomerular sclerosis and nodular glomerulosclerosis (Porth & Marfin, 2007 pg. 1072). Renal enlargement as well as nephron hypertrophy and hyperfiltration occur early in the disease. This occurs because of the increased work that the kidneys must go through to pick up the excessive glucose . One of the firs t things that will be seen in diabetic renal failure is albumin in the urine. Hypertension as noted before push this disease forward and the symptoms manifest faster. Treatment Grace is being treated with Dialyzer-Revaclear with treatment time of 4 hours, a blood flow of 350ml/min, Dialysate K 1.5/Ca 1.25/Na (initial Cond 150-Final Cond 135)/ Bicarb 40, Dialysate flow 500ml/min, Dialysate temp 35.5 C, Heparin bolus 1.5u, heparin rate 0.8u/hr, ideal weight 78.5kg, pre weight 79kg, Target wt. 1.0kg. She is being dialyzed three times per week. Though hemodialysis has its own set of problems peritoneal dialysis would not be a good choice for Grace. Grace has a history of infections, she does not get around well, and lives in a retirement

Business Plan - Major Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Plan - Major Assignment - Essay Example The reason for picking this line of business was due to the nature of the service sector in returning profits on investment. However, the investment has to undergo intense planning in order to ensure that the factors that guided the operations and running of the restaurant will ensure returns on investment. The main reason of picking the Montclair region is due to the availability of a facility that the owner of the business inherited from their father. In effect, this facility shoulders some of the burden that comes with leasing property to conduct business. The company venture into this area due to the lack of another restaurant to offer two differentiated products at the same time. In this case, the restaurants, fast foods, and other franchises operating in this area operated along one segment without considering combining two segments in order to offer differentiated products. Company Profile This new company will be unique from any other restaurant in the area chosen to establis h the restaurant. In addition, the restaurant is going to be a sole proprietorship, which means that the owner will own the facility and be responsible of any profits and losses or profits that the business might incur. The idea to start the idea was born when the facility to establish the restaurant was offered to the owner by his father who operated a restaurant in the same location. Tentatively named, Eagle Group Restaurant, the restaurant will serve a dual service role in that it aims at providing families dining services as well as provide these families with an experience of intimacy. To achieve this, the restaurant will offer customers a diverse menu that will come along with portions that were generous at reasonable prices while adopting a Texan Midwestern theme. In order to recreate this theme, the restaurant will provide the dining area with a smaller unique menu that will continuously be changing depending on the season in time. The decor of the restaurant will include be ige colors, tubing made of black metal, and a fountain garden styling with the walls constructed of bricks. In order to ensure that the decor remained unique in nature, the restaurant will feature an entertainment platform that focused on live cooking for a section of the clientele. Mission Statement The mission of the company will be to aim at exceeding the expectations of a customer by providing the appropriate ambience for the perception of all their senses. In order to achieve this mission, the restaurant will ensure that the atmosphere was pleasing to their senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and tasting by being provided with an exciting environment that was creative in nature. In addition, the restaurant will train their employees and equip them with the exceptional skills for customer service that will ensure that they made decisions based on business philosophies. Market Research Montclair, New Jersey has recently witnessed an influx of restaurants with many of these re staurants being franchise operations such as the Acappello (Acappello). However, the industry appears to be stable, which indicates that there is room for growth in the future with the economy of the area set to be maintained

Mission, Vision, and Stakeholders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mission, Vision, and Stakeholders - Essay Example This same view was earlier aired by Raynor (1988) where the researcher refers to mission and vision statement as an organisation cornerstone that guide and provide actions, directions and aspirations for the future. Vision statement refers to the desirable (O'Brien & Meadows 2001). In other words, a vision is the articulated goal for the organisation. Unlike mission statement, vision statement is a core goal. Once this is achieved, a direction will be set for the next vision (Soyer & Asan 2007, O'Brien & Meadows 2001, Thomas et.al., 1993). Forman & Camponovo (2004:1) referred to mission statement "as the most basic embodiment of business strategy.. for mission statement is often at the heart of strategy formulation for successful organisation. Raynor (1998) further outlined the role of vision and mission statement which include In addition, Mission and vision statement by defining an organisations' boundaries draw demarcation between one organisation and the other by exhibiting the organisations salient features (Soyer & Asan 2007, O'Brien & Meadows 2001, Forman & Componova 2004). In all, in an organisation the creation of its mission and vision is an important first step in the development of modern, strategic management (Forman & Componova 2004). ... t some carefully crafted and publicly promulgated statement of an organization' s mission, purpose, values, goals, and vision" (Forman & Componova 2004:10) In Wal-mart, the mission and vision statements are defined within five core business principles which include, outstanding customer service, effective and efficient operations, strong capital and liquidity, prudent lending policy and strict expense discipline. However, vision and mission statement are frequently abused by the people trusted to implement it. According to Fama & Jensen (1983) managers of organisations will always act at the expense of the institution because of their personal interest. This is true because bonuses have become a thing of the past (Forman & Componova 2004). Mission and vision statements message must be communicated in precise simple and clear language supported through out the organisation. In today's organisation, this is not often the case due to misalignments; the mission and vision were overstated. Forman & Componova (2004) argued that misuse of this statement is so common and over time hard work is necessary for revival. They caution that, "Unless mission and vision reflect the core values, capabilities, and goals of individual organisations, they cannot shape current and future operations and therefore soon become clichs" (Forman & Componova 2004:7) References Fama, F.E., & Jensen, C.M. (1983). Separation of Ownership and Control. Forman, P.H., & Componovo, J. E. (2004). The business Radiology and the Mission Statement. Journal of American college of Radiology. Volume1, Issue 2, Feb. 2004 Pp.108-112 O'Brien, F., & Meadows, M. (2001). How to develop visions: A literature review, and a revised CHOICES approach for an uncertain world, Journal

Reading response of the reading women's Sexuality Essay

Reading response of the reading women's Sexuality - Essay Example The societal forces vary from distorting the possible options to the significant physical enslavement. Lesbian existence cannot be exclusively blamed on the mothering role of women. The forces tend to dispute the fact that compulsory heterosexuality is just but a phenomenon. The societal forces gain their ground from the male-identified society. Male power in the modern society enforces heterosexuality and result to sexual inequality. The power of men in the society has the ability to; Male power is able to manifest itself through the societal forces to restrain a significant counter-force. Lesbianism would sprout from women’s innate reproductive orientation towards their young. Male power is able to counter acts of lesbianism; to ensure that men are viewed as the appropriate partners. The dominance of male power provides the foundation towards morals of sexuality. Young boys and girls are taught to honour their roles in the society. There is a clear demarcation between their roles as future elders. They should respect their innate orientations. High school students are mature enough to recognize their reproductive functions. They ought to respect that a family consists of a father, mother and children. Two people of the same sex cannot bring forth a child. In as much as there are calls for gender equality in the contemporary world, societal forces should never be distorted to allow for sexual

Human Factors and Team Resource Management Essay

Human Factors and Team Resource Management - Essay Example However, the accident experienced by United Airlines Flight 173 brought the need to change the cockpit culture. The Crew Resource Management was, therefore, introduced as a new way of cockpit management. It was meant to improve the ability of crew members in handling complex flight situations that require emergency response (U.S. Dept. of Transportation, FAA, 2013). Latest findings by â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board† in the commercial aviation sector show that human error attributed to the occurrence of flight accidents rather than mechanical failure. A good example is United Airlines flight 173, which crashed and killed 8 passengers and 2 crew members out of the 189 passengers on board. The rest suffered serious injuries. The accident occurred in December 28, 1978 about 1815 Pacific Standard Time within a populated area of suburban Portland, Oregon (Wiener, 1993). Most of the human errors, during a flight, happen due to poor human resource management. Often, this happens due to poor training, especially, on how to make proper decision in a given flight situation. The â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board† realized that the probable cause of the flight 173 crash was the captain’s failure to monitor aircraft fuel state (National Transportation Safety Board, 1978). Furthermore, he did not respond properly to the low fuel state and advice given to him by fellow crew members. His attention was rather directed towards the malfunction of a landing gear and preparations for a landing emergency. A workshop held in 1979 by â€Å"national aeronautics and space administration† also arrived at the same conclusion made by â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board†. The research presented, placed human error as the major cause of accidents. It was discovered that there was poor communication and lack of leadership, among the crew members, in making proper decisions (U.S. Dept. of Transportation, FAA, 2004). After such loss of life caused by

Mission, Vision, and Stakeholders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mission, Vision, and Stakeholders - Essay Example This same view was earlier aired by Raynor (1988) where the researcher refers to mission and vision statement as an organisation cornerstone that guide and provide actions, directions and aspirations for the future. Vision statement refers to the desirable (O'Brien & Meadows 2001). In other words, a vision is the articulated goal for the organisation. Unlike mission statement, vision statement is a core goal. Once this is achieved, a direction will be set for the next vision (Soyer & Asan 2007, O'Brien & Meadows 2001, Thomas et.al., 1993). Forman & Camponovo (2004:1) referred to mission statement "as the most basic embodiment of business strategy.. for mission statement is often at the heart of strategy formulation for successful organisation. Raynor (1998) further outlined the role of vision and mission statement which include In addition, Mission and vision statement by defining an organisations' boundaries draw demarcation between one organisation and the other by exhibiting the organisations salient features (Soyer & Asan 2007, O'Brien & Meadows 2001, Forman & Componova 2004). In all, in an organisation the creation of its mission and vision is an important first step in the development of modern, strategic management (Forman & Componova 2004). ... t some carefully crafted and publicly promulgated statement of an organization' s mission, purpose, values, goals, and vision" (Forman & Componova 2004:10) In Wal-mart, the mission and vision statements are defined within five core business principles which include, outstanding customer service, effective and efficient operations, strong capital and liquidity, prudent lending policy and strict expense discipline. However, vision and mission statement are frequently abused by the people trusted to implement it. According to Fama & Jensen (1983) managers of organisations will always act at the expense of the institution because of their personal interest. This is true because bonuses have become a thing of the past (Forman & Componova 2004). Mission and vision statements message must be communicated in precise simple and clear language supported through out the organisation. In today's organisation, this is not often the case due to misalignments; the mission and vision were overstated. Forman & Componova (2004) argued that misuse of this statement is so common and over time hard work is necessary for revival. They caution that, "Unless mission and vision reflect the core values, capabilities, and goals of individual organisations, they cannot shape current and future operations and therefore soon become clichs" (Forman & Componova 2004:7) References Fama, F.E., & Jensen, C.M. (1983). Separation of Ownership and Control. Forman, P.H., & Componovo, J. E. (2004). The business Radiology and the Mission Statement. Journal of American college of Radiology. Volume1, Issue 2, Feb. 2004 Pp.108-112 O'Brien, F., & Meadows, M. (2001). How to develop visions: A literature review, and a revised CHOICES approach for an uncertain world, Journal

Human Factors and Team Resource Management Essay

Human Factors and Team Resource Management - Essay Example However, the accident experienced by United Airlines Flight 173 brought the need to change the cockpit culture. The Crew Resource Management was, therefore, introduced as a new way of cockpit management. It was meant to improve the ability of crew members in handling complex flight situations that require emergency response (U.S. Dept. of Transportation, FAA, 2013). Latest findings by â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board† in the commercial aviation sector show that human error attributed to the occurrence of flight accidents rather than mechanical failure. A good example is United Airlines flight 173, which crashed and killed 8 passengers and 2 crew members out of the 189 passengers on board. The rest suffered serious injuries. The accident occurred in December 28, 1978 about 1815 Pacific Standard Time within a populated area of suburban Portland, Oregon (Wiener, 1993). Most of the human errors, during a flight, happen due to poor human resource management. Often, this happens due to poor training, especially, on how to make proper decision in a given flight situation. The â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board† realized that the probable cause of the flight 173 crash was the captain’s failure to monitor aircraft fuel state (National Transportation Safety Board, 1978). Furthermore, he did not respond properly to the low fuel state and advice given to him by fellow crew members. His attention was rather directed towards the malfunction of a landing gear and preparations for a landing emergency. A workshop held in 1979 by â€Å"national aeronautics and space administration† also arrived at the same conclusion made by â€Å"National Transportation Safety Board†. The research presented, placed human error as the major cause of accidents. It was discovered that there was poor communication and lack of leadership, among the crew members, in making proper decisions (U.S. Dept. of Transportation, FAA, 2004). After such loss of life caused by

Social Aspects of Marketing Essay Example for Free

Social Aspects of Marketing Essay The market economy is a faceless system that is run by competition, and the means to achieve and succeed may not always be ethical or acceptable. Marketers have been accused for deceptive practices, such as deceptive pricing, promotion and packaging. Deceptive practices lead the consumer to believe they get more value to their money than they actually do. Marketers have also been accused for creating needs that would not exist without heavy advertising. For example, people can be made to believe that they might need a certain medicine for a condition that actually does not require medical treatment. Due to these faults marketing practises have changed in the previous years to be more socially and environmentally responsible, and movements such as consumerism and environmentalism have developed. We will now shortly go through these concepts. Societal Marketing Resent environmental problems, resource shortages, worldwide economic problems and neglected social services have led to a birth of a new marketing concept, Societal Marketing. Societal marketing concept is a marketing management philosophy that underlines that satisfying customer needs effectively and efficiently while achieving organisational goals is not enough. â€Å"The idea [of societal marketing concept] is that the organisation should determine the needs, wants and interest of target markets and deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that maintains or improves both the consumer’s and society’s well-being.† (Kotler et al. 2005) Consumerism Consumerism stems from the idea that the marketing system should be efficiently serving consumer wants. Consumerism is â€Å"an organized movement of citizens and government agencies to improve the rights and power of buyers in relation to sellers.† (Kotler et al. 2005) Consumerism underlines that the buyer has the right to be well informed of the product, protected against questionable products and marketing practises, and the right to influence products and marketing practises, for example by being able to propose ingredients to products. Environmentalism Environmentalism is a movement that is concerned with the effects of  marketing systems to environment. Environmentalism is â€Å"an organized movement of concerned citizens and government agencies to protect and improve people’s living environment†. (Kotler et al. 2005) Environmentalism questions whether the costs of serving consumer needs and wants are too high. The latest environmentalism wave is â€Å"environmental sustainability† which refers to the idea that companies should seek sustainable ways of producing profits. This could be achieved by utilizing new environmental technology, preventing pollution, underlining sustainability in strategy, and by product stewardship; expanding the company responsibility of the product to its whole life cycle. (Kotler et al. 2005)

Market Segmentation of the Nike Company

Market Segmentation of the Nike Company Demographic  Segmentation Demography segmentation they include age, race, family income, and education level, among others. Besides, it was observed that the majority of the respondents consist of professional from various fields like engineers, software professionals, working executive etc. who effective form 38% of our database. While 36% were students from various fields. Others constitute designers and athletes etc. the further study is carried on the buying behavior of the above mentioned categories of consumer, which shows that our consumer is well educated and is very well informed about the product. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/34735893/A-Summer-Training-Report-on-Nike) Furthermore, in the survey conducted a direct relation between the income level and the spending capacity was observed. Also it was found that students were spending in the range of $1000 -$ 3000 as compared to the working class professionals who were ready to spend between $ 3000 $ 6000, since they have higher spending power because of higher income levels.  (http://www.scribd.com/doc/34735893/A-Summer-Training-Report-on-Nike) Geodemographic Segmentation The second segmentation are focuses on geodemographics and proximity. The premise behind geodemographics is that people who are similar in income, culture, and perspectives naturally gravitate toward one another. Once these people move to their neighborhoods, they become even more alike and share similar consumer behaviors. When a store asks for your zip code when you make a purchase, its using geodemographics as a segmentation technique. Furthermore, the characteristic if the consumer is depends on their income. For example, the Nike Shoes has been done an analysis the respondent of buying for the Nike shoes is RMB597 for average of the total.(App.1) Personality Traits Personality traits are people often do not identify these traits because they are guarded or not consciously recognize. For example, some of the consumer can accept new thing and some perceive less risk in trying new thing. Lifestyle A third base of segmentation is psychographics. Psychographics are lifestyle and personality descriptors. There is a relationship between lifestyle and consumer behavior, so people with similar lifestyles buy similar products. Lifestyle descriptors are often categorized as activities, interests, and opinions. The brand is fiercely defended by its owners whom truly believe that Nike is not a fashion brand but a shoes for sport lifestyle consumer that mean mostly people who active in sport such as football player or basketball player would purchase it. Meanwhile there was also consumers that wear Nike just want to build confident or make other feel they wearing a branded shoes but not ordinary shoes but not for sport purpose. For youth, they think Nike shoes is a fashion lifestyle and they wear it just to follow fashion trend. For example, since Michael Jordan wear Nike shoes, consumer will follow him step as a fashion trend.(App.3) Benefits segmentation Benefits sought represent consumer needs and important for positioning.(App.4) Critiral for Effective Targeting Identifiable Nike have been divide the market into separate segments on the basis of series that relevant to the characteristic such as demographics have age, gender, family life cycle and others.(App.2) Besides, they target in different identifiable such as men sports running shoes and women sport running shoes. Nike target on different type of segment that to fulfill customers need. (App.6) Sufficiency Nike is a worthwhile target, they target on the needs and they undertake probability survey to whose finding project to the total market. They will have clearance stock or promotion through on or sell on shops. (App.7) Stability Nike marketers prefer to target consumer segment that are relatively stable in demographic factors are likely growth larger time.(App.2) Besides, consumer can buy through online or any shopping complex. That was easy for consumer to purchase anywhere. (App.8) Accessibility Nike has been accessibility in any market segmentation through advertisement.(App.9) Profitability segmentation Overall the past two years (App.5) Sales Group sales decreased by 8% and amounted to $572.5 million in 2009, compared to $622.8 million in 2008. The decrease in sales matched the Companys expectations and was due to the recession of all sales markets as realized as part of the financial and economic crisis which started at the end of 2008. The recession mentioned lead to conservative inventory policy adopted by most Companys customers which also contributed to the decrease in sales.   Gross profit   The gross profit in 2009 amounted to $103.7 million (18.1% from sales), compared to $105.7 million in 2008 (17.0% of sales). The improvement in gross margin in 2009 compared to 2008 was due to efficiency steps taken by the Company and the implementation of the restructuring plan which was declared by the Company at the end of 2008 and was achieved despite the decrease in sales. A global slowdown in  retail  sales and consumption, has hit Nike hard. In fiscal 2009 (ending May 31, 2009), Nikes revenue grew only 3% to $19.2 billion, with net income falling 21% to $1.5 billion, and the company expects lower revenues in the first half of 2010.  Despite the overall struggles in 2009, Nike posted two straight quarters from Q3 2010 to Q1 2011. In Q2 2011, the company posted a profit of $457 million, up 22% from the same quarter of the previous year. Revenues hit $4.8 billion, up 10 percent over the same period last year. Analysts point to the trend of four straight strong quarters as a sign that the company and perhaps the financial world is finally beginning to rebound from the recession. However, company analysts believe that Nike will struggle against the challenges of a larger economy for the rest of the fiscal year, which it plans to combat through a selective rise of prices. Consumer Environment As consumer can see, Nike have been promise to improve their shoes in newspaper in long time. When 2009, Nike haven been improve in their shoes thats call Newton Running. Its developed a whole range of shoes that encourages running on your midfoot/forefoot, a technique and position that helps keep you running more efficiently, injury-free and faster. According to Nike, cushioning and support are needed in order to avoid injuries but, at the same time, all the cushioning and support that modern running shoes provide are making our foots muscles lazy. Therefore the Free is created as a  training  shoe, with which to run a limited number of miles amid your normal running schedule in order to specially train the muscles that are not activated while running with normal running shoes. Furthermore

Essay --

These days, all the new technologies and new media made people’s life easier but also it made it stressful so before we define happiness we need to understand the actual situation of our modern life. Researchers agreed that modern life especially in big cities such as London or New York has created a new type of living and working. However, this new lifestyle brought stress as well, due to long working hours, traffic jams and fewer hours to relax. Psychologists admit that in recent years more people living in big cities are taking anti-stress medication. Furthermore, the number of depressed, unhappy and anxious people has multiplied. So making people find happiness became an important task in our modern life. So at first, what is happiness? All the great thinkers and philosophers throughout history have debated about the meaning of happiness. Moreover, psychologists have effectively advanced to this debate by analyzing numerous of researches to determine happiness. In spite of these efforts made until this day, we do not have a proper definition of happiness. Aristotle (2011, 1098a13...

post colonial :: essays research papers fc

George, Rosemary Marangoly, and Helen Scott. "An Interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga." Novel (Spring 1993):309-319. [This interview was conducted at the African Writers Festival, Brown Univ., Nov. 1991] Excerpt from Introduction: "Written when the author was twenty-five, Nervous Conditions put Dangarembga at the forefront of the younger generation of African writers producing literature in English today....Nervous Conditions highlights that which is often effaced in postcolonial African literature in English--the representation of young African girls and women as worthy subjects of literature....While the critical reception of this novel has focused mainly on the author's feminist agenda, in [this] interview...Dangarembga stresses that she has moved from a somewhat singular consideration of gender politics to an appreciation of the complexities of the politics of postcolonial subjecthood" (309). Full text also available from EBSCOHost Academic Search Elite, Article No. 9312270407. Veit-Wild, Flora. [Interview with Dangarembga] "Women Write about Things that Move Them." Matatu: Zeitschrift fur afrikanische Kultur und Gesellschaft 3.6(1989): 101-108. Wilkinson, Jane. "Tsitsi Dangarembga." Talking with African Writers: Interviews with African Poets, Playwrights and Novelists. London: James Currey, 1992. 189-198. Tsitsi Dangarembga (b. 1959) was interviewed 4 Sept. 1989 in London by Jane Wilkinson, and I here highlight some points made in that interview. There seem to be many autobiographical parallels between Tsitsi’s and Tambu’s lives, although Tambudzai (supposed to be 13 in 1968 in the novel) would be slightly older than Dangarembga (who was 9 in 1968). Dangarembga says that she wrote of "things I had observed and had had direct experience with," but "larger than any one person’s own tragedies†¦[with] a wider implication and origin and therefore were things that needed to be told" (190). One important theme in Nervous Conditions is that of remembering and forgetting—especially the danger of Tambu’s forgetting who she is, where she came from—as her brother Nhamo did. Dangarembga acknowledges this in the interview (191). "I personally do not have a fund of our cultural tradition or oral history to draw from, but I really did feel that if I am able to put down the little I know then it’s a start" (191). Nyasha, the author says, doesn’t have anything to forget, for she never knew, was never taught her culture and origins—and this forms "some great big gap inside her." "Tambudzai, on the other hand is quite valid in saying that she can’t forget because she has that kind of experience. Nyasha is so worried about forgetting because it’s not there for her to remember.

Planet of Life: Apes to Man

ROSE ANN A. ORATE No. 5026 Purok 5, Brgy. Kias Baguio City Contact nos. : 09174233048/ (074) 442-00-03 CAREER OBJECTIVES * To obtain a position as an online ESL teacher and help students learn English in an informative and interesting manner. * To improve a student’s standards of English so that he/ she will be able to socialize easily in a foreign country. SEMINARS/TRAININGS ATTENDED 2006 Peace Tech conference: Overcoming prejudice towards young Muslims, indigenous peoples and Christians Saint Louis University Bonifacio Street, Baguio CityTraining on Basic Life Support: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Foreign Airway Obstruction Management NC-CLEX. INC (American Safety and Health Institute Accredited) CAP Building, Upper Session Road, Baguio City Training on Advanced Cardiac Life Support NC-CLEX. INC (American Safety and Health Institute Accredited) CAP Building, Upper Session Road, Baguio City Training on Basic Electrocardiography: Introduction to Arrhythmia Recognition NC- CLEX. INC (American Safety and Health Institute Accredited) CAP Building, Upper Session Road, Baguio CitySeminar on the Clinical Updates on: Acute Coronary Syndromes NC-CLEX. INC (American Safety and Health Institute Accredited) CAP Building, Upper Session Road, Baguio City Seminar on the 6th Regional Nursing Research Congress with the theme: â€Å"Exploring Professional Nursing Career: Opportunities and Directions† Saint Louis University Bonifacio Street, Baguio City Seminar on the 12th Regional Nursing Research Congress Saint Louis UniversityBonifacio Street, Baguio City Seminar on â€Å"Understanding Specialization in Nursing† Saint Louis University Bonifacio Street, Baguio CitySeminar on â€Å"Conquering the Master Controller: Neurology Basics† Cooledge Review Center Romulo Hall, Teacher’s Camp, Baguio City Seminar on â€Å"The Art of Psychiatry: The Beautiful Mind† Cooledge Review Center Romulo Hall, Teacher’s Camp, Baguio City SKILLS I nterpersonal Skills: * Personable worker whose strengths include cultural sensitivity and an ability to build rapport with a diverse workforce in multicultural settings. * Empathetic to student’s situation * Caring to student's needs * A good student’s advocate * Good interfacing skills * Attentive to details Patient, committed, responsible and dependable Other Relevant Skills: * Ability to work under pressure without affecting performance * Adaptable to any kind of environment * Computer- literate: having a knowledge on variety of applications * Highly motivated self-starter who takes initiative with minimal supervision. * Resourceful team player who excels at building trusting relationships * Productive worker with solid work ethic who exerts optimal effort in successfully completing tasks. * Competent and works efficiently * Honest and dedicated to work PERSONAL DATADate of Birth: April 5, 1991 Place of Birth: Baguio City Civil Status: Single Height: 5’1† Weight: 45 kg Citizenship: Filipino Religion: Roman Catholic Father: Reenan R. Orate Mother: Rosemarie A. Orate EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Elementary: Mary Immaculate School Baguio City Inc. and High School Department (MISBCI) General Luna Road, Baguio City Year Graduated: 2004 Achievements: Grade 3: 2nd place-Declamation Contest Honor pupil Grade6: 1st place- Tula Competition held at YMCA 3rd place- Gantimpala ng Sabayang Pag-awit President of the Dramatic Club GSP Troop LeaderHigh School: Saint Louis University Laboratory High School (SLU-LHS) Navy Base Road, Baguio City Year Graduated: 2007 Achievements: 1st year: 2nd place- Declamation Contest 2nd year: 1st honorable mention 3rd year: 5th honorable mention 4th year: Graduated with honors College: Saint Louis University (SLU) Bonifacio Road, Baguio City Course/ Degree: Bachelor of Science in Nursing Year Graduated: 2011 Achievements: Dean’s list from 1st year (1st semester and 2nd semester), 2nd year (1st semester and 2nd s emester) and 3rd year (2nd semester) CHARACTER REFERENCES Mrs. Ria Joy PadillaClinical Instructor Saint Louis University Contact no. : 09287872862 Mr. Mark Kimo Jr. Clinical Instructor Saint Louis University Contact no. : 09275082744 Mr. KB de Ocampo Clinical Instructor Saint Louis University Contact no. : 09228150211 Mr. Red Capuyan Clinical Instructor Saint Louis University Contact no. : 09159153012 I would be willing to work for your institution and I will do my best to support and give my service to people. I shall be available for a personal interview at your most convenient time. I hope for your kind consideration. Thank you. ___________________ ROSE ANN A. ORATE

Minimum Wage and Nike Marketing Phrase

Nike is in many ways the quintessential global corporation. Established in 1972 by former University of Oregon track star Phil Knight, Nike is now one of the leading marketers of athletic shoes and apparel on the planet. In 2006, the company has $15 billion in annual revenues and sold its products in some 140 countries. Nike does not do any manufacturing. Rather, it designs and markets its products, while contracting for their manufacture from a global network of 600 factories scattered around the globe that employ some 650,000 people. This huge corporation has made Knight into one of the richest people in America. The Nike marketing phrase â€Å"Just Do It! † has become as recognizable in popular culture as its â€Å"swoosh† logo or the faces of its celebrity sponsors, such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. For all of its successes, the company has been dogged for more than a decade by repeated and persistent accusations that its products are made in sweatshops where workers, many of them children, slave away in hazardous conditions for less than subsistence wages. Nike's wealth, its detractors claim, has been built upon the backs of the world's poor. To many, Nike has become a symbol of the evils of globalization—a rich Western corporation exploiting the world's poor to provide expensive shoes and apparel to the pampered consumers of the developed world. Nike's â€Å"Niketown† stores have become standard targets for anti-globalization protesters. Several nongovernmental organizations, such as San Francisco–based Global Exchange, a human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political, and social justice around the world, have targeted Nike for repeated criticism and protests. News organizations such as CBS's â€Å"48 Hours† hosted by Dan Rather have run exposes on working conditions in foreign factories that supply Nike. Students on the campuses of several major U. S. universities with which Nike has lucrative sponsorship deals have protested against the ties, citing Nike's use of sweatshop labor. For its part, Nike has taken steps to counter the protests. Yes, it admits, there have been problems in some overseas factories. But the company has signaled a commitment to improving working conditions. It requires that foreign subcontractors meet minimum thresholds for working conditions and pay. It has arranged for factories to be examined by independent auditors. It has terminated contracts with factories that do not comply with its standards. But for all this effort, the company continues to be a target of protests and a symbol of dissent. The Case against Nike Typical of the exposes against Nike was a â€Å"48 Hours† report that aired October 17, 1996. 3 Reporter Roberta Baskin visited a Nike factory in Vietnam. With a shot of the factory, her commentary began: The signs are everywhere of an American invasion in search of cheap labor. Millions of people who are literate, disciplined, and desperate for jobs. This is Nike Town near what use to be called Saigon, one of four factories Nike doesn't own but subcontracts to make a million shoes a month. It takes 25,000 workers, mostly young women, to â€Å"Just Do It. † But the workers here don't share in Nike's huge profits. They work six days a week for only $40 a month, just 20 cents an hour. Baskin interviewed one factory worker, a young woman named Lap. Baskin told viewers: Her basic wage, even as sewing team leader, still doesn't amount to the minimum wage †¦ She's down to 85 pounds. Like most of the young women who make shoes, she has little choice but to accept the low wages and long hours. Nike says that it requires all subcontractors to obey local laws; but Lap has already put in much more overtime than the annual legal limit: 200 hours. Baskin then asked Lap what would happen if she was sick or had something she needed to take care of, such as a sick relative, and needed to leave the factory? Through a translator, Lap replied: It is not possible if you haven't made enough shoes. You have to meet the quota before you can go home. The clear implication of the story was that Nike was at fault here for allowing such working conditions to persist in the Vietnam factory, which was owned by a Korean company. Another attack on Nike's subcontracting practices came in June 1996 from Made in the USA, a foundation largely financed by labor unions and domestic apparel manufacturers that oppose free trade with low-wage countries. According to Joel Joseph, chairman of the foundation, a popular line of high-priced Nike sneakers, the â€Å"Air Jordans,† were put together by 11-year-olds in Indonesia making 14 cents per hour. A Nike spokeswoman, Donna Gibbs, countered that this was false. According to Gibbs, the average worker made 240,000 rupiah ($103) a month working a maximum 54-hour week, or about 45 cents per hour. Gibbs also noted that Nike had staff members in each factory monitoring conditions to make sure the factory obeyed local minimum wage and child labor laws. Another example of the criticism against Nike is the following extract from a newsletter published by Global Exchange:5 During the 1970s, most Nike shoes were made in South Korea and Taiwan. When workers there gained new freedom to organize and wages began to rise, Nike looked for â€Å"greener pastures. † It found them in Indonesia and China, where Nike started producing in the 1980s, and most recently in Vietnam. The majority of Nike shoes are made in Indonesia and China, countries with governments that prohibit independent unions and set the minimum wage at rock bottom. The Indonesian government admits that the minimum wage there does not provide enough to supply the basic needs of one person, let alone a family. In early 1997 the entry-level wage was a miserable $2. 46 a day. Labor groups estimate that a livable wage in Indonesia is about $4. 00 a day. In Vietnam the pay is even less—20 cents an hour, or a mere $1. 60 a day. But in urban Vietnam, three simple meals cost about $2. 10 a day, and then of course there is rent, transportation, clothing, health care, and much more. According to Thuyen Nguyen of Vietnam Labor Watch, a living wage in Vietnam is at least $3 a day. In another attack on Nike's practices, in September 1997 Global Exchange published a report on working conditions in four Nike and Reebok subcontractors in southern China. 6 Global Exchange, in conjunction with two Hong Kong human rights groups, had interviewed workers at the factories in 1995 and again in 1997. According to Global Exchange, in one factory, a Korean owned subcontractor for Nike, workers as young as 13 earning as little as 10 cents an hour toiled up to 17 hours daily in enforced silence. Talking during work was not allowed, with violators fined $1. 20 to $3. 0, according to the report. The practices were in violation of Chinese labor law, which states that no child under 16 may work in a factory, and the Chinese minimum wage requirement of $1. 90 for an eight-hour day. Nike condemned the study as erroneous, stating that the report incorrectly stated the wages of workers and made irresponsible accusations. Global Exchange, however, continued to be a major thorn in Nike's side. In November 1997, the organization obtained and then leaked a confidential report by Ernst & Young of an audit that Nike had commissioned of a factory in Vietnam owned by a  Nike subcontractor. 7 The factory had 9,200 workers and made 400,000 pairs of shoes a month. The Ernst & Young report painted a dismal picture of thousands of young women, most under age 25, laboring 10 1/2 hours a day, six days a week, in excessive heat and noise and in foul air, for slightly more than $10 a week. The report also found that workers with skin or breathing problems had not been transferred to departments free of chemicals and that more than half the workers who dealt with dangerous chemicals did not wear protective masks or gloves. It claimed workers were exposed to carcinogens that exceeded local legal standards by 177 times in parts of the plant and that 77 percent of the employees suffered from respiratory problems. Put on the defensive yet again, Nike called a news conference and pointed out that it had commissioned the report and had acted on it. 8 The company stated it had formulated an action plan to deal with the problems cited in the report, and had slashed overtime, improved safety and ventilation, and reduced the use of toxic chemicals. The company also asserted that the report showed that its internal monitoring system had performed exactly as it should have. According to one spokesman: This shows our system of monitoring works †¦ We have uncovered these issues clearly before anyone else, and we have moved fairly expeditiously to correct them. Nike's Responses Unaccustomed to playing defense, Nike formulated a number of strategies and tactics to deal with the problems of working conditions and pay at subcontractors. In 1996, Nike hired Andrew Young, onetime U. S. mbassador to the United Nations and former Atlanta mayor, to assess working conditions in subcontractors' plants around the world. Young released a mildly critical report of Nike in mid-1997. After completing a two-week tour that covered 15 factories in three countries, Young informed Nike it was doing a good job in treating workers, though it should do better. According to Young, he did not see sweatshops, or hostile conditions †¦ I saw crowded dorms †¦ but the workers were eating at least two meals a day on the job and making what I was told were subsistence wages in those cultures. Young was widely criticized by human rights and labor groups for not taking his own translators and for doing slipshod inspections, an assertion he repeatedly denied. In 1996, Nike joined a presidential task force designed to find a way of banishing sweatshops in the shoe and clothing industries. The task force included industry leaders such as Nike, representatives from human rights groups, and labor leaders. In April 1997, the task force announced an agreement for workers rights that U. S. companies could agree to when manufacturing abroad. The accord limited the work week to 60 hours and called for paying at least the local minimum wage in foreign factories. The task force also agreed to establish an independent monitoring association—later named the Fair Labor Association (FLA)—to assess whether companies are abiding by the code. 10 The FLA now includes among its members the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the National Council of Churches, the International Labor Rights Fund, some 135 universities (universities have extensive licensing agreements with sports apparel companies such as Nike), and companies such as Nike, Reebok, and Levi Strauss. In early 1997, Nike also began to commission independent organizations such as Ernst & Young to audit the factories of its subcontractors. In September 1997, Nike tried to show its critics that it was involved in more than just a public relations exercise when it terminated its relationship with four Indonesian subcontractors, stating that they had refused to comply with the company's standard for wage levels and working conditions. Nike identified one of the subcontractors, Seyon, which manufactured specialty sports gloves for Nike. Nike said that Seyon refused to meet a 10. 7 percent increase in the monthly wage, to $70. 0, declared by the Indonesian government in April 1997. 11 On May 12, 1998, in a speech given at the National Press Club, Phil Knight spelled out in detail a series of initiatives designed to improve working conditions for the 500,000 people that make products for Nike. 12 Among the initiatives Knight highlighted were the following: We have effectively changed our minimum age limits from the ILO (International Labor Organization) standards of 15 in most countries and 14 in developing countries to 18 in all footwear manufacturing and 16 in all other types of manufacturing (apparel, accessories, and equipment. . Existing workers legally employed under the former limits were grandfathered into the new requirements. During the past 13 months we have moved to a 100 percent factory audit scheme, where every Nike contract factory will receive an annual check by Pricewaterhouse Coopers teams who are specially trained on our Code of Conduct Owner's Manual and audit/monitoring procedures. To date they have performed about 300 such monitoring visits. In a few instances in apparel factories they have found workers under our age standards. Those factories have been required to raise their standards to 17 years of age, to require three documents certifying age, and to redouble their efforts to ensure workers meet those standards through interviews and records checks. Our goal was to ensure workers around the globe are protected by requiring factories to have no workers exposed to levels above those mandated by the permissible exposure limits (PELs) for chemicals prescribed in the OSHA indoor air quality standards. 3 These moves were applauded in the business press, but they were greeted with a skeptical response from Nike's long-term adversaries in the debate over the use of foreign labor. While conceding that Nike's policies were an improvement, one critic writing in the New York Times noted: Mr. Knight's child labor initiative is †¦ a smoke screen. Child labor has not been a big problem with Nike, and Philip Knight knows that better than anyone. But public relations is public relations. So he screen. Child labor has not been a big problem with Nike, and Philip Knight knows that better than anyone. But public relations is public relations. So he have to keep a close eye on him at all times. The biggest problem with Nike is that its overseas workers make wretched, below-subsistence wages. It's not the minimum age that needs raising, it's the minimum wage. Most of the workers in Nike factories in China and Vietnam make less than $2 a day, well below the subsistence levels in those countries. In Indonesia the pay is less than $1 a day. The company's current strategy is to reshape its public image while doing as little as possible for the workers. Does anyone think it was an accident that Nike set up shop in human rights sinkholes, where labor organizing was viewed as a criminal activity and deeply impoverished workers were willing, even eager, to take their places on assembly lines and work for next to nothing? 14 Other critics question the value of Nike's auditors, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). Dara O'Rourke, an assistant professor at MIT, followed the PwC auditors around several factories in China, Korea, and Vietnam. He concluded that although the auditors found minor violations of labor laws and codes of conduct, they missed major labor practice issues including hazardous working conditions, violations of overtime laws, and violation of wage laws. The problem, according to O'Rourke, was that the auditors had limited training and relied on factory managers for data and to set up worker interviews, all of which were performed in the factories. The auditors, in other words, were getting an incomplete and somewhat sanitized view of conditions in the factory. 5 The Controversy Continues Fueled perhaps by the unforgiving criticisms of Nike that continued after Phil Knight's May 1998 speech, beginning in 1998 and continuing into 2001, a wave of protests against Nike occurred on many university campuses. The moving force behind the protests was the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). The USAS argued that the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which grew out of the presidential task force on sweatshops , was an industry tool, and not a truly independent auditor of foreign factories. The USAS set up an alternative independent auditing organization, the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), which they charged with auditing factories that produce products under collegiate licensing programs (Nike is a high profile supplier of products under these programs). The WRC is backed, and partly funded, by labor unions and refuses to cooperate with companies, arguing that doing so would jeopardize its independence. By mid-2000, the WRC had persuaded some 48 universities to join the organization, including all nine calmpuses of the University of California system, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oregon, Phil Knight's alma mater. When Knight heard that the University of Oregon would join the WRC, as opposed to the FLA, he withdrew a planned $30 million donation to the university. 16 Despite this, in November 2000, the University of Washington announced it too would join the WRC, although it would also retain its membership in the FLA. 7 Nike continued to push forward with its own initiatives, updating progress on its website. In April 2000, in response to pressure that it was still hiding poor working conditions, Nike announced it would release the complete reports of all independent audits of its subcontractors' plants. Global Exchange continued to criticize the company, arguing in mid-2001 that the company was not living up to Knight's 1998 promises, and that it was intimidati ng workers from speaking out about abuses.