Is Globalization Americanization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is Globalization Americanization - Essay Example Contradictory to the various claims that American culture is being adopted by many countries around the world, it should be emphasized that many of these practices did not originate in the US. Beginning with the spread of the English language, the television and music industry and reality programs many of these have in fact originated from outside the US. However, despite the lack of an inherent culture in the US, one cannot neglect the fact that events taking place in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood are having an upper hand in this globalization drive (Nye, 2002). But, most importantly as many people have argued, Americans lack their own culture and have only imbibed various cultures from other countries. However, sociologists believe that such a cultureless state is also a form of culture. The various immigrants who had settled in the US brought and practiced their culture and this multicultural cohabitation has created a new culture which is now being increasingly adopte d by many countries (Ssenyonga, 2006). ... The fast food industry which has been hugely popularized in the US by food chains such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King which sell pre-prepared foods such as burgers and French fries has now opened its base in many other countries. Though they are being widely discouraged by dieticians across the world by associating its consumption to the rise of obesity among children and adults, it has not deterred the people from eating such foods. Hence American cuisine is becoming synonymous with junk food and obesity (Ssenyonga, 2006). However, even these fast foods are changed to reflect the tastes and needs of people in other countries; a good example being the McDonald’s menu which is different in China. Thus though the concept of fast foods has been adapted from the US, it is delivered in a manner which is acceptable by the people of other countries (Nye, 2002). Apart from fast foods, other cultural influences from the US which have migrated to other coun tries include music and television. The music industry in the US which is driven to a large extent by rap artists such as Eminem and Snoop Dogg has had a huge impact globally both musically and on the dress culture. People around the world were exposed to hip-hop, jazz and country music which originated in the US (Ssenyonga, 2006). However, it is only the music which is inherently American, as the top three leading music companies in the US are owned by British, German and Japanese and not by Americans (Nye, 2002). The television media has also contributed to the spread of American culture. Hollywood has changed the face of movies across the world with its

Improving the Performance of Overbooking

Improving the Performance of Overbooking Improving the Performance of Overbooking by Application Collocate Using Affinity Function ABSTRACT: One of the main features provided by clouds is elasticity, which allows users to dynamically adjust resource allocations depending on their current needs. Overbooking describes resource management in any manner where the total available capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a well-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since long ago. The main challenge is how to decide the appropriate level of overbooking that can be achieved without impacting the performance of the cloud services. This paper focuses on utilizing the Overbooking framework that performs admission control decisions based on fuzzy logic risk assessments of each incoming service request. This paper utilizes the collocation function (affinity) to define the similarity between applications. The similar applications are then collocated for better resource scheduling. I. INTRODUCTION Scheduling, or placement, of services is the process of deciding where services should be hosted. Scheduling is a part of the service deployment process and can take place both externally to the cloud, i.e., deciding on which cloud provide the service should be hosted, and internally, i.e., deciding which PM in a datacenter a VM should be run on. For external placement, the decision on where to host a service can be taken either by the owner of the service, or a third-party brokering service. In the first case, the service owner maintains a catalog of cloud providers and performs the negotiation with them for terms and costs of hosting the service. In the later case, the brokering service takes responsibility for both discovery of cloud providers and the negotiation process. Regarding internal placement, the decision of which PMs in the datacenter a service should be hosted by is taken when the service is admitted into the infrastructure. Depending on criteria such as the current loa d of the PMs, the size of the service and any affinity or anti-affinity constraints [23], i.e., rules for co-location of service components, one or more PMs are selected to run the VMs that constitute the service. Figure 1 illustrates a scenario with new services of different sizes (small, medium, and large) arriving into a datacenter where a number of services are already running. Figure 1: Scheduling in VMs Overload can happen in an oversubscribed cloud. Conceptually, there are two steps for handling overload, namely, detection and mitigation, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Oversubscription view A physical machine has CPU, memory, disk, and network resources. Overload on an oversubscribed host can manifest for each of these resources. When there is memory overload, the hyper visor swaps pages from its physical memory to disk to make room for new memory allocations requested by VMs (Virtual Machines). The swapping process increases disk read and write traffic and latency, causing the programs to thrash. Similarly, when there is CPU overload, VMs and the monitoring agents running with VMs may not get a chance to run, thereby increasing the number of processes waiting in the VMs CPU run queue. Consequently, any monitoring agents running inside the VM also may not get a chance to run, rendering inaccurate the cloud providers view of VMs. Disk overload in shared SAN storage environment can increase the network traffic, where as in local storage it can degrade the performance of applications running in VMs. Lastly, network overload may result in an under utilization of CPU, disk, and memory resources, rendering ineffective any gains from oversubscription. Overload can be detected by applications running on top of VMs, or by the physical host running the VMs. Each approach has its pros and cons. The applications know their performance best, so when they cannot obtain the provisioned resources of a VM, it is an indication of overload. The applications running on VMs can then funnel this information to the management infrastructure of cloud. However, this approach requires modification of applications. In the overload detection within physical host, the host can infer overload by monitoring CPU, disk, memory, and network utilizations of each VM process, and by monitoring the usage of each of its resources. The benefit of this approach is that no modification to the applications running on VMs is required. However, overload detection may not be fully accurate. II. RELATED WORK The scheduling of services in a datacenter is often performed with respect to some high-level goal [36], like reducing energy consumption, increasing utilization [37] and performance [27] or maximizing revenue [17, 38]. However, during operation of the datacenter, the initial placement of a service might no longer be suitable, due to variations in application and PM load. Events like arrival of new services, existing services being shut down or services being migrated out of the datacenter can also affect the quality of the initial placement. To avoid drifting too far from an optimal placement, thus reducing efficiency and utilization of the datacenter, scheduling should be performed repeatedly during operation. Information from monitoring probes [23], and events such as timers, arrival of new services, or startup and shutdown of PMs can be used to determine when to update the mapping between VMs and PMs. Scheduling of VMs can be considered as a multi-dimensional type of the Bin Packing [10] problem, where VMs with varying CPU, I/O, and memory requirements are placed on PMs in such a way that resource utilization and/or other objectives are maximized. The problem can be addressed, e.g., by using integer linear programming [52] or by performing an exhaustive search of all possible solutions. However, as the problem is complex and the number of possible solutions grow rapidly with the amount of PMs and VMs, such approaches can be both time and resource consuming. A more resource efficient, and faster, way is the use of greedy approaches like the First-Fit algorithm that places a VM on the first available PM that can accommodate it. However, such approximation algorithms do not normally generate optimal solutions. All in all, approaches to solving the scheduling problem often lead to a trade-o↠µ between the time to find a solution and the quality of the solution found. Hosting a ser vice in the cloud comes at a cost, as most cloud providers are driven by economical incentives. However, the service workload and the available capacity in a datacenter can vary heavily over time, e.g., cyclic during the week but also more randomly [5]. It is therefore beneficial for providers to be able to dynamically adjust prices over time to match the variation in supply and demand. Cloud providers typically offer a wide variety of compute instances, differing in the speed and number of CPUs available to the virtual machine, the type of local storage system used (e.g. single hard disk, disk array, SSD storage), whether the virtual machine may be sharing physical resources with other virtual machines (possibly belonging to different users), the amount of RAM, network bandwidth, etc. In addition, the user must decide how many instances of each type to provision. In the ideal case, more nodes means faster execution, but issues of heterogeneity, performance unpredictability, network overhead, and data skew mean that the actual benefit of utilizing more instances can be less than expected, leading to a higher cost per work unit. These issues also mean that not all the provisioned resources may be optimally used for the duration of the application. Workload skew may mean that some of the provisioned resources are (partially) idle and therefore do no contribute to the performance during those periods, but still contribute to cost. Provisioning larger or higher performance instances is similarly not always able to yield a proportional benefit. Because of these factors, it can be very difficult for a user to translate their performance requirements or objectives into concrete resource specifications for the cloud. There have been several works that attempt to bridge this gap, which mostly focus on VM allocation [HDB11, VCC11a, FBK+12, WBPR12] and d etermining good configuration parameters [KPP09, JCR11, HDB11]. Some more recent work also considers shared resources such as network or data storage [JBC+12], which is especially relevant in multi-tenant scenarios. Other approaches consider the provider side of things, because it can be equally difficult for a provider to determine how to optimally service resource requests [RBG12]. Resource provisioning is complicated further because performance in the cloud is not always predictable, and known to vary even among seemingly identical instances [SDQR10, LYKZ10]. There have been attempts to address this by extending resource provisioning to include requirement specifications for things such as network performance rather than just the number and type of VMs in an attempt to make the performance more predictable [GAW09, GLW+10, BCKR11, SSGW11]. Others try to explicitly exploit this variance to improve application performance [FJV+12]. Accurate provisioning based on application requirements also requires the ability to understand and predict application performance. There are a number of approaches towards estimating performance: some are based on simulation [Apad, WBPG09], while others use information based on workload statistics derived from debug execution [GCF+10, MBG10] or profiling sample data [TC11, HDB11]. Most of these approaches still have limited accuracy, especially when it comes to I/O performance. Cloud platforms run a wide array of heterogeneous workloads which further complicates this issue [RTG+12]. Related to provisioning is elasticity, which means that it is not always necessary to determine the optimal resource allocation beforehand, since it is possible to dynamically acquire or release resources during execution based on observed performance. This suffers from many of the same problems as provisioning, as it can be difficult to accurately estimate the impact of changing the resources at runtime, and therefore to decide when to acquire or release resources, and which ones. Exploiting elasticity is also further complicated when workloads are statically divided into tasks, as it is not always possible to preempt those tasks [ADR+12]. Some approaches for improving workload elasticity depend on the characteristics of certain workloads [ZBSS+10, AAK+11, CZB11], but these characteristics may not generally apply. It is therefore clear that it can be very difficult to decide, f or either the user or the provider, how to optimally provision resources and to ensure that those resources that are provisioned are utilized fully. Their is a very active interest in improving this situation, and the approaches proposed in this thesis similarly aim to improve provisioning and elasticity by mitigating common causes of inefficient resource utilization. III. PROPOSED OVERBOOKING METHOD The proposed model utilizes the concept of overbooking introduced in [1] and schedules the services using the collocation function. 3.1 Overbooking: The Overbooking is to exploit overestimation of required job execution time. The main notion of overbooking is to schedule more number of additional jobs. Overbooking strategy used in economic model can improve system utilization rate and occupancy. In overbooking strategy every job is associated with release time and finishing deadline, as shown in Fig 3. Here successful execution will be given with fee and penalty for violating the deadline. Figure 3: Strategy of Overbooking Data centers can also take advantage of those characteristics to accept more VMs than the number of physical resources the data center allows. This is known as resource overbooking or resource over commitment. More formally, overbooking describes resource management in any manner where the total available capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a well-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since long ago. Figure 4: Overview of Overbooking The above Figure shows a conceptual overview of cloud overbooking, depicting how two virtual machines (gray boxes) running one application each (red boxes) can be collocated together inside the same physical resource (Server 1) without (noticeable) performance degradation. The overall components of the proposed system are depicted in figure 5. Figure 5: Components of the proposed model The complete process of the proposed model is explained below: The user requests the scheduler for the services The scheduler first verifies the AC and then calculates the Risk of that service. Then already a running service is scheduling then the request is stored in a queue. The process of FIFO is used to schedule the tasks. To complete the scheduling the collocation function keeps the intermediate data nodes side by side and based on the resource provision capacity the node is selected. If the first node doesn’t have the capacity to complete the task then the collocation searches the next node until the capacity node is found. The Admission Control (AC) module is the cornerstone in the overbooking framework. It decides whether a new cloud application should be accepted or not, by taking into accounts the current and predicted status of the system and by assessing the long term impact, weighting improved utilization against the risk of performance degradation. To make this assessment, the AC needs the information provided by the Knowledge DB, regarding predicted data center status and, if available, predicted application behavior. The Knowledge DB (KOB) module measures and profiles the different applications’ behavior, as well as the resources’ status over time. This module gathers information regarding CPU, memory, and I/O utilization of both virtual and physical resources. The KOB module has a plug-in architectural model that can use existing infrastructure monitoring tools, as well as shell scripts. These are interfaced with a wrapper that stores information in the KOB. The Smart Overbooking Scheduler (SOS) allocates both the new services accepted by the AC and the extra VMs added to deployed services by scale-up, also de-allocating the ones that are not needed. Basically, the SOS module selects the best node and core(s) to allocate the new VMs based on the established policies. These decisions have to be carefully planned, especially when performing resource overbooking, as physical servers have limited CPU, memory, and I/O capabilities. The risk assessment module provides the Admission Control with the information needed to take the final decision of accepting or rejecting the service request, as a new request is only admitted if the final risk is bellow a pre-defined level (risk threshold). The inputs for this risk assessment module are: Req CPU, memory, and I/O capacity required by the new incoming service. UnReq The difference between total data center capacity and the capacity requested by all running services. Free the difference between total data center capacity and the capacity used by all running services. Calculating the risk of admitting a new service includes many uncertainties. Furthermore, choosing an acceptable risk threshold has an impact on data center utilization and performance. High thresholds result in higher utilization but the expense of exposing the system to performance degradation, whilst using lower values leads to lower but safer resource utilization. The main aim of this system is to use the affinity function that aid the scheduling system to decide which applications are to be placed side by side (collocate). Affinity function utilizes the threshold properties for defining the similarity between the applications. The similar applications are then collocated for better resource scheduling. IV. ANALYSIS: The proposed system is tested for time taken to search and schedule the resources using the collocation the proposed system is compared with the system developed in [1]. The system in [1] doesn’t contain a collocation function so the scheduling process takes more time compared to the existing system. The comparison results are depicted in figure 6. Figure 6: Time taken to Complete Scheduling The graphs clearly depict that the modified (Proposed overbooking takes equal time to complete the scheduling irrespective of the requests.

Shipping and the Great Barrier Reef Essay -- Trade Nature Conservation

Shipping and the Great Barrier Reef Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an unparalleled marine ecosystem that holds rank as one of the world’s most valuable natural wonders. The abundance of sea life offers both intrinsic and physical benefits, but unfortunately this extraordinary habitat is now threatened from several different angles. One of the greatest threats to the GBR is the presence of popular shipping routes which surround and penetrate the reef. These ships naturally pollute the GBR, but the severest danger lies in the possibility of wrecks spilling oil or other hazardous cargos. History offers many examples of shipwrecks with outcomes that could have been devastating although there has not yet been a major disaster. These events have helped to inspire various regulations aiming to curb the risk of any major incident. Nevertheless, there still remains more room for protective measures in order to insure the safety of such an irreplaceable treasure. The Great Barrier Reef The GBR formed about 9,000 years ago during the last interglacial period. As with other coral reefs, it is based upon the structure of billions of coral polyps, and the GBR is the longest coral reef system ever to exist. It is consequently the largest structure created by living creatures and so massive that it can be viewed from outer space (Guynup p.22). The GBR includes 2,900 separate reefs and hundreds various islands and cays. The GBR stretches over 2,000 kilometers up the coast of Queensland. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), established in 1975, includes nearly 350,000 square kilometers, which is over half the area covered by all of the protected areas in mainland Australia (Chadwick and Storrie p.1, CRC p.1).... ...w.gbrmpa.gov.au/ Guynup, Sharon. 2000. â€Å"Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.† Science World, 57(1): 22-23. Johns, Gary. 2002. â€Å"The Four Corners of the Reef: Investigative Journalism or Environmental Activism.† Institute of Public Affairs, 54(2): 10-11. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Protection of the Great Barrier Reef: Report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Conservation, November 1985. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra: 1985. Queensland Transport – News: â€Å"Maritime Safety Legislation Passed by Parliament,† 31 July 2002. Queensland Transport & the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, â€Å"Oil Spill Risk Assessment for the Coastal Waters of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park†: August 2000. Wright, Judith, The Coral Battleground. Thomas Nelson, Melbourne: 1977.

Indian Education Essay

A strong education system is the cornerstone of any country’s growth and prosperity. Over the last decade, India has made great strides in strengthening its primary education system. The District Information System for Education (DISE) reported in 2012 that 95% of India’s rural populations are within one kilometer of primary schools. The 2011 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which tracks trends in rural education, indicated that enrollment rates among primary-school-aged children were about 93%, with little difference by gender. However, behind the veil of such promising statistics, the learning outcomes of India’s children show little progress. The country ranked 63 out of 64 in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, with some of its best schools ranked about average among those surveyed. The 2011 ASER stated that only 48. 2% of students in the fifth grade can read at the second grade level. The number of students completing their primary education with inadequate numeracy and literacy skills is startling. To see this manifest in an economic sense, one may attribute India’s productivity growth — lagging behind that of East Asian economies — to a lack of progress in the foundational elements of countrywide, high-quality education. India’s private-schooled, English-speaking urban elite may attract global attention, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of Indian children attend government-run primary schools in rural areas. In 2008-2009, rural India accounted for more than 88% of India’s primary-school students, of whom over 87% were enrolled in government-run schools. This is where we see some of the nation’s toughest challenges. A Diverse Set of Problems India’s education system has not achieved strong learning outcomes for reasons that are as diverse and nuanced as the country itself. Key among these reasons is poor teaching quality, which results from a multitude of factors. Inadequate Teacher Qualification and Support: Teachers working in primary schools across rural India have a difficult job. Dhir Jhingran, a senior civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, with more than two decades of experience in rural primary education, explained the multiple challenges they face: â€Å"Teachers have to teach multiple grades, textbooks are pitched far above the comprehension level of students, and each classroom has children with different levels of learning achievements. † Anurag Behar, CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation, an education non-profit, noted that â€Å"the average school teacher in India does not get adequate pre-service or in-service education, nor does she get the support to overcome these problems. † Compounding this is the relatively low educational qualifications of many teachers themselves. In 2008-2009, on average, 45% of these teachers had not studied beyond the 12th grade. Low Teacher Motivation and High Absenteeism: A key factor affecting the quality of primary education appears to be low levels of teacher motivation. In 2002-2003, 25% of primary-school teachers in rural India were absent on any given day. The impact of absenteeism is exacerbated by the fact that the average primary school in India has a workforce of no more than three teachers. At a school for girls in rural Rajasthan, we observed this problem first hand: Of the eight teachers assigned, only five were present. The three who were actually teaching were juggling eight different grades. The obvious reason — remuneration — does not appear to be a driver. In fact, both education experts and ordinary citizens argue that government-employed school teachers are paid relatively well. UNESCO surveys from as early as 2004 indicated that the annual statutory salary of primary school teachers in India with 15 years’ experience was more than $14,000, adjusted for purchasing power. This was significantly higher than the then-statutory salaries of $3,000 in China and Indonesia, and the Indian GDP per capita in 2004, which was $3,100. Indian primary-school teachers may not be underpaid, but some argue that they may be overworked. For Vivekanand Upadhyay, a seasoned educator and language professor at a leading national University, one reason for the lack of motivation is that â€Å"primary school teachers employed by the government, particularly in rural India, are required to perform a wide range of duties completely unrelated to imparting education. † These duties — including administering government programs such as immunization clinics, assisting with data-collection for the national census, and staffing polling stations during elections — in addition to their teaching responsibilities, place significant demands on teachers’ time. Another disheartening factor has been a highly bureaucratic administrative system that discourages bold decision making and makes implementation difficult. For example, as Jhingran observed, â€Å"it is difficult to test new practices on a small scale before rolling them out: If a new program has been developed, the philosophy is that every school must have it. † Such indiscriminate application often means that teachers are implementing programs without understanding their key principles and ultimate goals. Flawed Teaching Methodology: In India, rote learning has been institutionalized as a teaching methodology. â€Å"Primary school teachers in rural India often try to educate students by making them repeat sections of text over and over again,† said Jhingran. Often they do not explain the meaning of the text, which results in stunted reading comprehension skills over the course of the children’s education. For example, many students in grades two and three in one particular school struggle to read individual words, but can neatly copy entire paragraphs from their textbooks into their notebooks as though they were drawing pictures. Linguistic Diversity: Finally, India’s linguistic diversity creates unique challenges for the nation’s education system. The country’s 22 official languages and hundreds of spoken dialects often differ considerably from the official language of the state or region. Jhingran commented that â€Å"the teacher not only has to account for varying learning abilities within the classroom, but also dialectic nuances which affect students’ comprehension of the subject matter. † Government-school-educated children from rural India struggle to speak even basic sentences in English. â€Å"Students with rural primary schooling are at a significant disadvantage as they transition to higher education, because India’s best universities teach exclusively in English,† said Upadhyay. Part of the problem is that there is no one to teach them. As Chandrakanta Khatwar, an experienced middle school teacher in a rural government-run school in Rajasthan, asked: â€Å"When teachers themselves know little English, especially spoken English, how will students learn? † A Parallel, Non-governmental Education Universe Since the late 1980s, government efforts to augment rural primary education have been supplemented by the emergence of an intervention-based non-governmental system that spans multiple institutional types. While private schools have emerged as a parallel system over the last two decades, their impact is limited because they serve less than 13% of India’s rural primary-school children. However, do private schools really make a difference? Some studies have found a small, but statistically significant, â€Å"private school advantage† in rural India. Behar was skeptical about the superiority of private rural schools over their government-run counterparts, noting, â€Å"Once we control for a child’s socioeconomic background, private schools add little-to-no value. In many ways, private schools are in much worse shape. † However, according to Khatwar, â€Å"more and more parents in small towns are choosing to send their children to private schools if they can afford it† — perhaps with good reason, because, on average, the number of students in each classroom in private schools is often smaller and school heads exert greater control over teachers. Some organizations are attempting to innovate with new formats and systems of education. Avasara Academy, a new school for girls, is a private institution whose mission is to mold leaders from among the best and brightest girls in India, regardless of their background. While admission is merit-based, the school intends to draw half its students from disadvantaged rural and urban backgrounds, awarding them full scholarships. In addition, it is developing a special curriculum that encourages excellence beyond academics. â€Å"Avasara seeks to identify high potential young women and guide them along a powerful journey of leadership development. We expect that our graduates will form a network of leaders who will collaborate to drive positive change across the country,† explained Mangala Nanda, humanities department chair for Avasara. While still in the early stages of its development, Avasara’s successful implementation would provide a viable model for high-quality, accessible education and integration across socioeconomic boundaries. Governmental Efforts The Indian government at every level recognizes the need for educational reform and has made a conscientious effort to achieve it. The midday-meal plan, for example, is a highly publicized nationwide program through which government school children across India are provided with a midday meal every day of the school week. The program is largely considered a success. A study in 2011 by Rajshri Jayaraman and Dora Simroth found that grade one enrollment increased by 20. 8% simply if a midday meal was offered. According to Behar, â€Å"The Indian government has worked very hard to provide rural schools with adequate infrastructure, something that was critically lacking a few decades ago. † For instance, DISE reported in 2012 that more than 91% of primary schools have drinking-water facilities and 86% of schools built in the last 10 years have a school building. However, there is still a long way to go: Only 52% of primary schools have a girls’ toilet, and just 32% are connected to the electricity grid. In 2012, the Central Government enacted the Right to Education (RTE) Act, under which every child between the ages of six and 14 receives a free and compulsory education. In addition to regulating access to education, the act contains certain provisions that could positively impact the quality of education. According to Jhingran, one of its major achievements has been â€Å"the dramatic reduction of non-teaching duties assigned to government school teachers, freeing up valuable time and lowering absenteeism. † Partnering with the Government Over the past few decades, many organizations have begun working with government schools and teachers to improve learning outcomes. Pratham, a joint venture between UNICEF and the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai, runs multiple programs to supplement school education, such as learning support classes, libraries and additional learning resources. A hallmark of these initiatives is that Pratham engages volunteers from local communities and trains them to run these programs. Another important initiative that has resulted from Pratham is the annual ASER, an assessment that measures reading and arithmetic abilities by surveying more than 600,000 children across 16,000 villages in India. This remarkable exercise in data-gathering constitutes the foundation for informed decision-making and benchmarking. Other initiatives address teaching quality by placing specially trained teachers in government schools. Teach for India, modeled after the Teach for America program, was introduced in 2006. Young, motivated Indian college graduates and professionals apply for two-year fellowships to teach at government-run and low-income private schools that lack sufficient resources. An important distinction of Teach for India is that instruction is, by design, always in English. As Mohit Arora, fellowship recruitment manager for Teach for India, noted, the organization’s philosophy on this point is that â€Å"learning English is essential to future success, as English in today’s world is more than just a language. It is a skill set. † Students who do not speak English may have some difficulty initially, but the organization has made learning at these schools experiential and therefore engaging. The dynamics of one particular grade 3 Teach for India classroom were in stark contrast to other classrooms at the same school — students were listening intently, contributing in class, answering questions beyond the textbook and demonstrating a strong command over English. The challenge is scaling this model to rural India. Still other organizations focus on capacity development of teachers in government schools, such as the Azim Premji Foundation. As CEO, Behar is categorical in his view that the foundation â€Å"works in partnership with the government,† and that it â€Å"does not believe in supplanting the government school system. † The foundation has established scores of institutes at the district level that provide in-service education and also empower teachers to learn from each other. For example, Behar described a voluntary teacher forum in a district of Rajasthan, initially organized by the Azim Premji Foundation, but now being run increasingly independently by teachers in the district. The Future of Primary Education in India Education in India has improved dramatically over the last three decades. Schools are accessible to most children, both student enrollment and attendance are at their highest level, and teachers are adequately remunerated. The RTE Act guarantees a quality education to a wider range of students than ever before. However, challenges in implementing and monitoring high standards in teaching and learning outcomes across regional, cultural and socioeconomic subsets prevent India from fully achieving this goal. In addition, teacher support and scalability of high-performing teaching professionals in disparate areas, funding allocation for schools in remote districts and limited use of technology in the classroom remain barriers to reforming primary education. India’s growth story remains one of the most anticipated global economic trends, and its fulfillment relies on a well-educated and skilled workforce. Improving education is a critical area of investment and focus if the country wants to sustain economic growth and harness its young workforce. A weak foundation in primary education can derail the lives, careers and productivity of tens of millions of its citizens. Already, a significant proportion of the adult workforce in India is severely under-equipped to perform skilled and semi-skilled jobs. As Rajesh Sawhney, former president of Reliance Entertainment and founder of GSF Superangels, noted, â€Å"No one is unemployed in India; there are just a lot of people who are unemployable. † Furthermore, in order to develop India as a consumer market of global standards, it is imperative that all of its children reap the full benefits of a high-quality education. Otherwise, large segments of the population in rural India will continue to have low purchasing power, find themselves in highly leveraged scenarios and, more often than not, continue to make a living through agricultural means. While some of this can be attributed to deficiencies in secondary and tertiary education, the root of these issues lies in low-quality primary education.

Feminist Perspective in Sociology Essay

â€Å"If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will find a fitting place. † — Margaret Mead I. Prologue At present, it is quite difficult to imagine how there was a time when women were not afforded the same rights and opportunities as men. Some of these rights and opportunities include the right and opportunity to pursue a college diploma and a career, and the right to vote. At present, it is quite revolting to think how women were tagged and branded to remain at home and pursue the best interests of her family members, but not hers. It is quite difficult to imagine, but the truth of the matter is that there was such a time that all these unimaginable things and revolting things were happening, when women were to take the backseat to the men and when they were not regarded as equals. The goal of the first wave feminism was to correct all these notions and to try to achieve a position for the women when they do not take the backseat to the men, but stay beside the men as their equals. Slowly, this was achieved. Hence, women were then are given the right and opportunity to pursue a college diploma and a career, and the right to vote, among all others. All of these things are remarkable achievements and should in and by themselves, be commended. However, it cannot be denied once again, that the struggle of women does not end with the first wave feminism, after all its not apt to call it the first wave if there is no second wave. The second wave devolved around the problems that the achievements of the first wave put to fore. The sum of all these goals is ultimately for society treat woman not just as an object but as a subject — who has her own thoughts and who can speak through her own mind and with her own voice (Delmar, 2005, p. 32). The ultimate goal was to liberate woman from her reification. Thus, MacKinnon remarked: I say, give women equal power in social life. Let what we say matter, then we will discourse on questions of morality. Take your foot off our necks, then we will hear in what tongue women speak. So long as sex equality is limited by â€Å"sex difference† whether you like it or don’t like it, whether you value it or seek to negate it, whether you stake it out as a grounds for feminism or occupy it as the terrain of misogyny, women will be born, degraded and die. We would still settle for that equal protection of the laws under which one would be born, live and die, in a country where protection is not a dirty word and equality is not a special privilege (1987, p. 45). The issues and problems created by the first wave as manifested in the second wave led Bell Hooks to assert that [a]ll women are oppressed, and being oppressed means the absence of choices. The goal of this Paper then is to try to explain in a simplified but not in a simplistic manner what Bell Hooks meant when she cited the above-mentioned assertion through an exposition of some the writings during the second wave feminism. The Paper shall be divided into four parts. The first part is the Prologue, where these paragraphs fall under, which shall discuss in general the background and the goal of the Paper. The second part shall discuss in general what Bell Hooks asserted through the reference materials. The third part shall discuss in specific detail how all women are oppressed, once again through the reading materials. The fourth part is the epilogue, which shall present the conclusion and personal thoughts of the writer of this Paper. II. The New Face of Oppression Oppression presupposes two parties, one is the oppressor and the other is the object of the oppression, or oppressee, so to speak. During the first wave it is quite apparent that the oppressor is the patriarchal and machismo characteristic of society, or men in short, and the object of the oppression are women. In the second wave, one wonders how Hooks made this assertion given the fact that the men and women dichotomy and oppression were no longer as manifest. The answer is simple, while the first wave may have achieved equal rights and opportunities for women and men, there is still oppression. It is only that the faces of the oppressor and the oppressee have changed. With the second wave, other women became the oppressors. According to most critics, this was an inevitable consequence of setting equality with males as the primary goal of feminism (Jhappan, 1996, p. 25). Jhappan expounds: [i]n reality, the positions of power and privileges enjoyed by white men have only been made possible by racism and sexism, they require hierarchy, skewed power relations, inequality and the subjugation of the majority (white women and people of colour). It seems to me that white women’s â€Å"equality† with white men would only be possible of the race hierarchy were kept substantially intact since the privileges that white men enjoy depend upon a racially satisfied social system (p. 25). Simply, this means that with the goal of equality with men, women aimed for an equally oppressing position, where they are now the oppressors. While men were no longer tagged as the oppressors of all women, within the circle of women rose other oppressors in the face of fellow women who are of a different color. This is what Angela P. Harrris discusses in her article, in relation to what Catharine MacKinnon discusses in hers. Generally, the idea of the latter is that there is a universal concept of a woman so to speak. This universal concept of a woman is what was oppressed by society through male domination and supremacy before. For MacKinnon, there is just one experience, culture, heritage, needs for all women, thus, their needs are all alike. As most feminists then were white women, most of what was pushed for were for the needs of the white women. This is also known as the notion of a monolithic women experience (Harris, 2002, p. 384). Through this gender essentialism and worse, racial essentialism was likewise furthered (Harris, 2002, p. 384). Thus according to Harris, they reduce the lives of people who experience multiple forms of oppression to additional problems: â€Å"racism + sexism = straight black woman’s experience† or â€Å"racism + sexism + homophobia = black lesbian experience. † Thus, in an essentialist world, black women’s experience is always forcibly fragmented before being subjected to analysis, as those who are â€Å"only interested in race† and those who are â€Å"only interested in gender† take their separate slices of our lives (p. 384). An example for Harris is what MacKinnon does when she reduces Black women to just worse forms of white women, and not as a separate and diverse woman apart from the white woman, but not an aggravation. MacKinnon imparts: [b]lack is not merely a color of skin pigmentation, but a heritage, an experience, a cultural and personal identity, the meaning of which becomes specifically†¦ and glorious and/or ordinary under specific social conditions. It is as much socially created as, and at least in the American context no less specifically meaningful or defective than any linguistic, tribal, or religious ethnicity, all of whom are conventionally recognized by capitalization. While women on paper, were liberated from their reification, what happened really was that white women were liberated from reification. White women were no longer considered as objects —they became subjects. Black women, though they were women but because they were black, were not similarly liberated. This is because [w]hite feminists have exposed male essentialism only to replace it with another essentialism based on the notion of an essential woman. However, as it turns out, this generic â€Å"woman† is not only white, but middle class, and also able-bodied†¦Over the last couple of decades people of color have highlighted the silences of racists Eurocentric history and discourses which render all â€Å"others† invisible (Jhappan, 1996, p. 22). By virtue of the monolithic experience of women, women who did not fit the mold of the monolithic experience were oppressed in the sense that they were left with no choice. The choice was already made for them by the systems that were built in place respecting such monolithic experience. They were left with no choices as their needs were not addressed. The needs that were addressed were the needs of those who fit the monolithic experience of women. III. The Specific Instances of Oppression The specific instances of oppression that are discussed in the reference materials are enumerated below. a. Oppression in Relation to the Family Through the idea of the family wage, women were oppressed with the fact that they were made dependent on the wage of their husbands. They were made dependent with the notion that â€Å"a working man should earn enough to support his family† (Gavigan, 1996, p. 237), and consequently, the place of the woman or the wife is at home (Gavigan, 1996, p. 237). As the husband already earns enough to support the family, there is no more need for the woman to earn and augment the budget for the family. Thus, she is tasked by society to stay at home and address the needs of her family members. Such admittedly, does not require professional and personal growth. Thus, while the members of the family pursue different goals in their lives, the woman is stuck at home looking after the family members, sending them off to reach their dreams, while she stays in her place. In addition, if and when a woman earns, she is given minimum wage. The notion of minimum wage was put in place to accommodate individuals who were single and who did not have dependents to support (Gavigan, 1996, p. 238). In this wise, women were oppressed with the fact that when they earn, what they earn is not even enough to provide for their dependents, if any. b. Oppression under the Law Under the law, heterosexual relationships are afforded more advantages and privileges, in terms of â€Å"tax benefits, standing to recover damages for certain torts committed against spouses, and rights to succession and insurance benefits† (Gavigan, 1996, p. 263). The same are not afforded to homosexual relationships; thus women are oppressed. Oppression of women under the law is manifested explicitly in Welfare Law. When women seek assistance under the welfare law, especially the solo parents, they have a hard time obtaining the assistance that the law provides because of the very stiff and stringent definition of â€Å"spouse† under the laws such as the Family Law Act, RSO 1990 and Canada Pension Plan Act : â€Å"spouse† means either of a man and a woman who (a) are married to each other or (b) have together entered into, a marriage that is voidable or void, in good faith on the part of the person asserting a right under the Act x x x â€Å"spouses† means a spouse as defined in subsection 1 (1), and in addition includes either of a man and woman who are not married to each other and have cohabited (a) continuously or (b) in relationship of some permanence, if they are natural or adoptive parents if a child x x x â€Å"spouses: in relation to a contributor means’ (i) if there is no person described in subparagraph (ii), a person who is married to the contributor at the relevant time or (ii) a person of the opposite sex who is cohabiting with the contributor in a conjugal relationship at the relevant time, having so cohabited with the contributor for a continuous period of at least one year (Gavigan, 1996, p. 266) When solo parents seek social welfare assistance, there were always resort to the courts in order to determine whether or not a particular relationship was sufficiently conjugal to warrant the characteristic as spousal and consequently to warrant the benefits provided by the social services (Gavigan, 1996, p. 266). Also, the definition of the term â€Å"spouse† was too technical such that even in heterosexual relationships, there were always doubt as to whether a relationship is sufficiently conjugal to warrant the benefits granted by social services (Gavigan, 1996, p. 267). An example of the ill-effect of this law is the requirement that the spouse who should support the spouse (wife) and the children, must not live in a certain proximity; otherwise the latter cannot receive the benefits under the Welfare Law (Gavigan, 1996, p. 269). c. Oppression by Virtue of Race or Color This form was already discussed in part two. However, in addition Jhappan tells us that for colored women, race rather gender has been the primary source of oppression. †¦while white feminists have theorized the male breadwinner dependent-female, post-Industrial Revolution family form of the West as a source of women’s oppression, different family forms persist in other culture even among those living in the diasporas, For many women of colour, in fact, state actions such as iimmigration and labour policies that have separated and distorted families have oppressed them more than gender relations (p. 23). d. Oppression of Oneself by Oneself Women also admit that in and by themselves, they are oppressed. As there are women who are of different cultures, there are certain aspects of their identity that is rejected by another aspect, but which they ultimately have to deal with. For instance a woman who has both black and Caucasian heritage, the black heritage forsakes slavery while the Caucasian heritage promoted the same. There may be instances in the life of such person when decisions have to be made favoring one aspect over the other, and in such instance, the woman is the oppressor of her own self as she is left with no choice but to decide in such manner, although contrary to an aspect of her identity. IV. Epilogue Delmar has pointed out that the problem of oppression within the circle of feminism is rooted on the fact that the very definition of feminism is monolithic and abstracted. The very definition of feminism forgets or averts from the reality that there exists a multiple consciousness of women. With the realization that a multiple consciousness of women exists, then there may be the realization that there are various facets of oppression. Consequently, solutions may be afforded to these various facets in order to abolish, if not minimize the same. This is why at the beginning of this Paper a quote from Margaret Mead was stated. â€Å"If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will find a fitting place. † With the realization that women are rich in culture, in contrasting values, then we can realize that there is a whole gamut of potentialities. With such variety, a less arbitrary social fabric may be established, and through such less arbitrary social fabric, each and every individual may find his or her own place without necessarily fitting into a monolithic mold. References Delmar, Rosalind. (2005). What is Feminism? Feminist Theory: A reader, 27-36. New York: McGraw-Hill. Gavigan, Shelley. (1996). Familial Ideology & the Limits of Difference. Women and Canadian Public Policy, 225-78. Toronto: Harcourt Brace. Harris, Angela. (2002). Race and Essentialism in Legal Theory. Women, Law and Social Change, 4th ed. , 383-92. Concord, ON: Captus Press. Jhappan, Raddha. (1996). Post-Modern Race and Gender Essentialism or a Post-Mortem of Scholarship. Studies in Political Economy 51:15-58. MacKinnon, Catharine. (1987). Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination. Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law, 32-45, 240-45. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Free Essays on AS Islam

, that it is perfectly true, that every word of it is p... Free Essays on AS Islam Free Essays on AS Islam AS Islam: The Quran and Religious leaders. Q â€Å"In Religion today, the authority of religious leaders is more important than the authority of scriptures† Explain and assess this view (20 marks) A The word â€Å"religious authority† means a source of leadership, control that governs and teaches its followers, in a manner, which is acceptable for that particular religion. In Islam, this is Allah, the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and the Hadith of the Prophet (S), as well as the Prophet himself, and in today’s society, the masjids and the imams etc†¦ According to many Muslims the Quran is the primary source of authority. The Quran is the mainstay of Islamic life and culture. It transformed people from a set of warring tribes into a civilised international community. It gave Muslims a distinct identity and fashioned their history and continued to be a source of inspiration for over 1000 years. The Quran itself says that it is a revelation from God which, sums up all the people need to know about God and religion, â€Å"This is a book, in it guidance sure without doubt to those who fear God (surah 2 v2.)†The Quran is exactly the same as in its present version as it was in the time it was revealed. So it contains Allah’s exact words and this shows that it has more authority. Also it was given to Muhammad (S) in such a way that it can never be distorted, â€Å"He sent among them an Apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the signs of God, sanctifying them and instructing them in scripture and wisdom, while before that they had been in manifest error (Surah 3 v 164).† The Prophet Muhammad (S) was illiterate when he received the first revelation in the year 610, in Cave Hira. This further provides authority for the Quran. As Abul Ala Mawdudi said, â€Å"Belief in the Quran should be of the nature that it is purely and absolutely God’s own words, that it is perfectly true, that every word of it is p...

Music and the Renaissance Period essays

Music and the Renaissance Period essays The word "renaissance" means "rebirth" in French. It is an ideal selection of word choice used to describe the period in [European] history dated 1450-1600. This era was preceded by the economic, social and cultural stagnation of the Middle Ages. It was during the Renaissance period that artistic, social, scientific and political thought turned from one of religious orientation to that of a secular one. Momentous circumstances such as the invention of gunpowder and the development of the compass contributed greatly to the spread of the spirit of adventure and change. The proliferating economy allowed for the merchant class to be patrons to music and thereby increases the opportunities for playing for the musicians. The greatest Renaissance contribution, however, was due to the introduction of the printing press. This single event allowed for a musical explosion and a flourishing for musicians of this time! This era created a variety of musical styles for sacred and secular music; a cappella is a type of vocal music without instrumental accompaniment. The method used to engage this style in polyphony is known as continuous imitation. The majority of church music was written this way because instruments were not allowed these sacred houses. Secular music contained an expressive method known as word painting. This is best described as music that reflects the meaning of the word (e.g. up and down in the written piece would be sounded in the high and low sounds). Cantus firmus, or fixed melody, combined with polyphonic writing offered the composers many possibilities to create elaborate vocal music. Thus numerous motets, polyphonic works with four or five voice parts singing one religious text, became popular in the sacred arena. The composers of the early Renaissance included Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, and Josquin des Prez. All of them produced numerous glorious masses, motets, and hymns. Josquin des Prez comp...

Reagan and the 1983 Marines Barracks Massacre in Beirut

Reagan and the 1983 Marines Barracks Massacre in Beirut In 2002, the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs interviewed Caspar Weinberger about the six years (1981-1987) he spent as Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Defense. Stephen Knott, the interviewer, asked him about the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983, which killed 241 Marines. Here’s his answer: Weinberger: Well, that’s one of my saddest memories. I was not persuasive enough to persuade the President that the Marines were there on an impossible mission. They were very lightly armed. They were not permitted to take the high ground in front of them or the flanks on either side. They had no mission except to sit at the airport, which is just like sitting in a bull’s eye. Theoretically, their presence was supposed to support the idea of disengagement and ultimate peace. I said, â€Å"They’re in a position of extraordinary danger. They have no mission. They have no capability of carrying out a mission, and they’re terribly vulnerable.† It didn’t take any gift of prophecy or anything to see how vulnerable they were. When that horrible tragedy came, why, as I say, I took it very personally and still feel responsible in not having been persuasive enough to overcome the arguments that â€Å"Marines don’t cut and run,† and â€Å"We can’t leave because we’re there,† and all of that. I begged the President at least to pull them back and put them back on their transports as a more defensible position. That ultimately, of course, was done after the tragedy. Knott also asked Weinberger about â€Å"the impact that the tragedy had on President Reagan.† Weinberger: Well, it was very, very marked, there was no question about it. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. We were planning that very weekend for the actions in Grenada to overcome the anarchy that was down there and the potential seizure of American students, and all the memories of the Iranian hostages. We had planned that for Monday morning, and this terrible event occurred on Saturday night. Yes, it had a very deep effect. We talked a few minutes ago about the strategic defense. One of the other things that had a tremendous effect on him was the necessity of playing these war games and rehearsing, in which we went over the role of the President. The standard scenario was that â€Å"the Soviets had launched a missile. You have eighteen minutes, Mr. President. What are we going to do?† He said, â€Å"Almost any target we attack will have huge collateral damage.† Collateral damage is the polite way of phrasing the number of innocent women and children who are killed because you’re engaging in a war, and it was up in the hundreds of thousands. That is one of the things, I think, that convinced him that we not only had to have a strategic defense, but we should offer to share it. That was another of the things that was quite unusual about our acquiring strategic defense, and which now seems largely forgotten. When we got it, we said he would share it with the world, so as to render all of these weapons useless. He insisted on that kind of proposal. And as it turned out, with this cold war ending and all, it didn’t become necessary. One thing that disappointed him most was the reaction of the academic and the so-called defense expert community to this proposal. They were horrified. They threw up their hands. It was worse than talking about evil empire. Here you were undermining the years and years of academic discipline that you shouldn’t have any defense. He said he simply did not want to trust the future of the world to philosophic assumptions. And all the evidence was that the Soviets were preparing for a nuclear war. They had these huge underground cities and underground communications. They were setting up environments in which they could live for a long time and keep their command and control communications capabilities. But people didn’t want to believe that and therefore didn’t believe it. Read the full interview at the Miller Center for Public Affairs.

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Another new assignment - Essay Example According to the Big Five Taxonomy of personality, Arnold fits in the categories of extroversion (being an extrovert), highly agreeable and highly conscientious. People exhibiting these personality traits are proven to have high job performance in most, if not all occupations, and endeavors (in Arnold’s case). They conform to exhibiting enhanced leadership style, as well as higher job and life satisfaction. This can be exemplified by the number of times he set his mind and heart to pursue clearly defined goals and was able to reach or attain these goals (as a bodybuilder, an actor, and now, a governor). His personality traits such as his being goal-oriented, focused, driven, hardworking, thorough, organized, persistent and achievement oriented exemplify These traits, especially, his clear vision of how he wants to improve things (goal and achievement oriented) as well as his charismatic personality (conscientious, agreeable and being an extrovert) gave him the drive, determination and inner strength to get to where he is now. Arnold is also exhibiting a proactive personality which identifies opportunities, show initiative, take action and persevere until meaningful changes occur. Actually, his childhood experience of being treated harshly by his parents provided the impetus for him to strive and leave the environment where he experienced hardships. This experience challenged Arnold to go beyond his dreams and expectations in life. As governor, Arnold is already exhibiting Machiavellian style in his desire to win his constituents and persuade others to conform to his reforms and economic plans. He employs both referent powers, which is based on his charisma. With referent power comes personal power due to his sources of potential influences. In the case, it was stipulated that due to his being an actor, he was able to form a network of powerful friends and advisors, who he constantly seeks advice

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Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social Essay

Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social responsibility makes businesses more successful - Essay Example It encompasses two broad views in general. The first one is that the companies share the wealth they create with either the society they operate in or other under privileged societies. The other is managing their activities in a more ethically and morally responsible way. It is the voluntary exceeding of the society's expectations of the business and it is agreed that it is majorly affected by how the company manages its core businesses. (Baker) Corporate Social responsibility is extremely important to a company's business. According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Corporate responsibility is affecting the relationship between companies and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and governments. (Doebele, 2005) Underlying principles The Corporate responsibility trend is being driven by a large number of factors. Companies which do not engage in social responsibility might be viewed as unethical as peoples t rust in large organizations is already waning. The rise in the corporate governance movement, globalization of businesses and the competition presented by rivals all contribute to a firms increasing interest in corporate responsibility. The benefits of corporate responsibility may prove never ending for an organization. ... They include environmental management, issues management and stake holder's management. There will be times when two or more of these management areas will be integrated to form one areas of concern. Foreg in 1994 BHP Billton's shareholders were concerned about the company causing environmental damage in Papua New Guinea. (Gail Thomas, 2006) There have been multiple arguments in favor of supporting corporate social responsibilities for businesses. It has been said that practicing a business enables many things in the society and businesses are dependent upon a healthy, well-developed and economically sound society for its proper functioning. Improved quality of life for employees and citizens should be one of the top priority for all ethical businesses and this is only fulfilled if they practice giving back to the society or caring capitalism as Niall Fitzgerland, chairman Unilever calls it. Since the main responsibility that the company owes is towards itself, the company has to ens ure that fulfilling responsibility is both beneficial to itself and the society, but ensures that the company survives in the long run. People in favor of corporate social responsibility clearly state that CSR enhances the view of the company in the eyes of the customers and generates a loyal customer base. Others state that fulfilling CSR also provides unmatched promotion and publicity for the company which is again very necessary for the success of the company. Last but not the least practicing social responsibility raises the morale and self esteem of the employees of the company and they feel good about the contributions and are more likely to work efficiently and develop into diligent workers. Boyle and Boguslaw (Boyle, 2007,

Motivational Interviewing Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Motivational Interviewing - Article Example Their follow-up is also easier as they are closely monitored in the clinic. The next article by Cummings, Cooper & McClure (2009) focuses on the older generation of adults who are being encountered with serious health problems ranging from acute to chronic illnesses. The population comprised of people with diabetes, risk if heart disease and cancer survivors. There were two groups in this research: the control group and the intervention group and the two were being monitored in order to verify the changes brought about by application of the motivational intervention. The older generation adults were in no specific location but they were being monitored in their different locations for any physical changes once the intervention started to be administered on them. The results in this population also factored in the age and the conditions that come with old age such as the mental illnesses. In the first research about teens with substance abuse problem, the main point is on ensuring that this population by the end of the 3 month period of research and follow up will not relapse once they leave the primary care clinic where they are under close observation. There is also the issue of ensuring that they will be well educated enough to avoid the friends that use the drugs and evade their company as they are likely to be influenced back into using the drugs and alcohol. Working with teens is also not an easy affair especially because they are in the adolescence age where they are trying to find their loci in life and think they know everything as well as thinking no one understands them including their reason for engaging in the drugs and alcohol. The main point in the article about older adults and their health issue is the fact that they are needed physical exercise to deal with some of their health complications and ensue that they are healthy but resistance is very high. Many do not believe

Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social Essay

Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social responsibility makes businesses more successful - Essay Example It encompasses two broad views in general. The first one is that the companies share the wealth they create with either the society they operate in or other under privileged societies. The other is managing their activities in a more ethically and morally responsible way. It is the voluntary exceeding of the society's expectations of the business and it is agreed that it is majorly affected by how the company manages its core businesses. (Baker) Corporate Social responsibility is extremely important to a company's business. According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Corporate responsibility is affecting the relationship between companies and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and governments. (Doebele, 2005) Underlying principles The Corporate responsibility trend is being driven by a large number of factors. Companies which do not engage in social responsibility might be viewed as unethical as peoples t rust in large organizations is already waning. The rise in the corporate governance movement, globalization of businesses and the competition presented by rivals all contribute to a firms increasing interest in corporate responsibility. The benefits of corporate responsibility may prove never ending for an organization. ... They include environmental management, issues management and stake holder's management. There will be times when two or more of these management areas will be integrated to form one areas of concern. Foreg in 1994 BHP Billton's shareholders were concerned about the company causing environmental damage in Papua New Guinea. (Gail Thomas, 2006) There have been multiple arguments in favor of supporting corporate social responsibilities for businesses. It has been said that practicing a business enables many things in the society and businesses are dependent upon a healthy, well-developed and economically sound society for its proper functioning. Improved quality of life for employees and citizens should be one of the top priority for all ethical businesses and this is only fulfilled if they practice giving back to the society or caring capitalism as Niall Fitzgerland, chairman Unilever calls it. Since the main responsibility that the company owes is towards itself, the company has to ens ure that fulfilling responsibility is both beneficial to itself and the society, but ensures that the company survives in the long run. People in favor of corporate social responsibility clearly state that CSR enhances the view of the company in the eyes of the customers and generates a loyal customer base. Others state that fulfilling CSR also provides unmatched promotion and publicity for the company which is again very necessary for the success of the company. Last but not the least practicing social responsibility raises the morale and self esteem of the employees of the company and they feel good about the contributions and are more likely to work efficiently and develop into diligent workers. Boyle and Boguslaw (Boyle, 2007,

Evaluation of Barclays Bank in india Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Evaluation of Barclays Bank in india - Essay Example Due to the high interest rate and the increasing purchasing power of the Indian economy, the banking sector is on high demand. During this period, many foreign banks expanded their business to India as the economy of the country was growing at a very high rate of 8% per annum. The country provides ample opportunity for corporate banking, retail banking, micro finance and consumer financial banking sector (Bosworth, Collins & Virmani, 2007, p.23). Barclays took the opportunity of the growing economy in India and adopted the expansion strategy by introducing retail banking in the country. India is expected to grow massively in the coming years and since the bank has started from scratch, it has a big advantage as it does not have any legacy systems. In retail sector, the bank has introduced personal loans and cards business and also NRI business plans within few days of launch. Though the bank doesn’t have many branches in India with the advancement of technology like internet b anking, the Indian customers are ready to operate with the branchless foreign banks which helped Barclays to explore more and more (Sciglimpaglia & Ely, 2010). 2. Analysis of environment 2.1 PESTLE Analysis The Pestle analysis is mainly done by the companies in order to find the environmental influence of the country on a business sector. Indian Banking sector is not much affected by the political government policies as compared to other developing countries because of the robust framework policy of free trade of the Reserve Bank of India. Indian economy has had a growth rate of around 8-9% during the last 3 years. 54% of the GDP of India was contributed by the service sector during 2006-2007 (Cetorelli & Gambera, 2002, p.617-648). The socio-cultural factors are also changing people’s lifestyle and their behavior continuously. The people of any developing country often demand high class products leading to the requirement of money from banks, thus ensuring a good prospect for Barclays bank. India with second highest population (1.17 billion) with literacy rate of 61% is very advanced technologically thus giving a great opportunity for Barclays to implement core banking system in India (Kamath et. al, 2003, p.84). Barclays use latest technologies like internet & mobile banking, CMA, NEFT, RTGS, INFINET, and Core Banking to get an extra edge over its competitors (IDRBT, 2004). But the Indian Government’s legislature and the farming policy for providing short term agricultural loans affects the banking sector on its profit in India. Indian environmental factor is very favorable for the agricultural development and thus the farmers’ needs are provided by Barclays through several customer centric schemes (Mohan, 2005, p.1106). 2.2 Industry life cycle The Indian banking sector can be broadly divided into two major categories i.e. nationalized and privatized bank. With the development in technology and product the nationalized bank are currently in transition stage while on the other hand the privatized bank like Barclays have crossed the transition phase with the implementation of technologies into their system. Since there is constant growth in technological and product it’s very difficult to determine a specific industry life cycle in banking sector. Thus taking into consideration the major areas of advancements, Roussakis

Strategic Resort Hotel Management

Strategic Resort Hotel Management Corporate Social Responsibility McWilliams et.al. (2006, pg. 4) defined CSR as situations where the firm goes beyond compliance and engages in actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law and state that CSR should be used as an element of corporate strategy. According to Fombrun and Shanley (1990) socially responsible behaviour can lead to improve firms image and reputation and therefore increase visitors number. However, Friedman (1970) argued that the motivation is to serve the bottom line and as Trexler (2008) stated ethics and moral values have no place in the business world; considering that CSR and green programmes can be strategic responses to market realities, such as the rising of fossil fuel. Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that some activities that are motivated by the bottom line may have social benefits. Sani green programme has 3 main objectives with a well-defined plan and measurable targets; Sustainable hotel operation, protection and enhancement of local biodiversity, local community support and human capital development. The green programme so far has excellent outcomes in all 3 objectives (Resort,2016) and as aforementioned promoting and demonstrating CSR results can be very beneficial for the image and reputation of the resort. CSR can be advertised through numerous channels; such as internet, sustainability reports and media (Danuta de Grosbois,2011). Despite image, measuring the economic benefits of this objectives is crucial for resorts financial sustainability. Energy and water consumptions can be easily measured and so calculate the ROI. McWilliams and Siegel (2001) suggested a model based on RBV to address optimal investment in CSR and stated that managers can determine the appropriate level of investment in CSR by conducting cost benefit analysis in the same way that th ey analyse other investments. In terms of CSR towards the employees, benefits or loyal bonuses can mitigate the effect of staff turnover, lowering the expenses for training new staff and provide a standardised customer service. Sani is already affiliated with some NGOs (Appendix) but it would be advisable to increase their number. In summary, Sani resort must set achievable goals for CSR and display them to the public in order to boost its reputation and attract more green costumers. The financial measurement of the outcomes in all CSR programmes must be calculated and measured. Life cycle Understanding the life cycle of a product,here sani resort, is an important principle in order to make more profit and stay in business (Day, 1981). It can also be applied in forecasting and developing appropriate marketing strategies, depending on what stage the product is. In order to identify the stage of a product in the life cycle Day (1981) suggested feutures and patterns at each stage. Identifyingfeatures Stages Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Sales Low High High Low Investment cost Very high High (lower than intro stage) Low Low Competition Low or no competition High Very high Very High Profit Low High High Low Table.1 According to the balance shits ( Appendix ) profit had a step increase in 2015 reaching almost 26mil (up from 5mil in 2011) and the total revenue reached 131,69mil (up from 2011 89,42mil). The competition is still on high levels and the resort keep investing money on their facilities. From these facts, an assumption that the resort is on the growth stage can be made (Product Life Cycle Stages, n.d.). Box (1983) claimed that there are 2 courses of action to extend the lifetime of a product; the technological which implies usage of modern technology to improve the product and consumer-orientated option, which lies in motivating the consumer for further usage of the product. Adjusting Boxs theory in the resort, it is recommended further usage of modern technology to address problems such as the restaurant booking app (look at TOWS), and eco technology to improve and make more efficient the CSR programme of the resort. In terms of the consumer-orientation actions, sani resort continuously invests money to its facilities, both new and existing ones, creating new features and adding value. Since the revenues are increasing and the costs are dropping it would be wise if not reduce the price of rooms to keep it steady to be more competitive. Furthermore, keep the same marketing strategy for the niche markets, i.e. Russia and green market, but further advertising in the regional market an d in social media would be suggested. According to MarketLines (2016) report for tourism in Greece, tourism shown an increase of 1.8% in 2015 to reach a value of 33.4 billion (table.1) and by 2020 is expected to be 37.1billion (11.4% up from 2015)(table.2). Â   Â   table.1 table.2 Accomodation providers accounting 38.8% of the total revenue generated by tourism (table.3). Table.3 According to sani resorts balance shits (appendix), sani increased its total revenues from almost 90mil in 2011to 131mil (47%) and its profits more than 5 times (5mil in 2011 26mil in 2015). Furthermore, the average daily price increased by 3%. Statistics from tripadvisor.com All 4 hotels of Sani resort are rated with 5 stars(table.4). The majority of comments are good and based on the staff willingness to help while providing excellent service, the location of the hotel; beautiful beaches, sun and close to nature, and the amenities provided; spas, activities and relaxation (Appendix) Name of hotel Total reviews 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* #1 Sani asterias 513 0 7 9 34 463 #2 Porto Sani 771 1 4 10 77 571 #3 Sani Club 1306 2 10 26 105 885 #4 Sani Beach 2625 8 16 74 315 2212 Sum 5215 11 37 119 531 4517 Table.4 Bad reviews were based on the prices, which they claimed the hotel rooms restaurants were too expensive (table.5), lack of privacy, noise by the children and not heated pools. Some of the customers were also unhappy with the smoking policy and the speed of their transportation, which in Greece this is considered as normal behaviour. (Appendix) Name of hotel Rooms total Lowest price room Highest price room Sani Beach 361 104 454 Sani Club 212 110 392 Sani Dunes 136 164 342 Porto Sani 109 148 520 Sani Asterias 57 234 867 Sum 825 (According to the month prices may change)Table.5 SPA Sani Beach MySpa Porto Sani The Spa Suite Sani Club The Club Spa Sani Asterias Spa Retreat Sani Dunes D-Spa In the early 1980s some resorts added spa facilities in order to attract more visitors (Monteson P.A., Singer J., 2004). Initially spas used as support facilities and if they didnt cause revenue loss, their ability to attract costumers was enough to justify their existence (Anderson, 2001). However, nowadays spas are considered profit centers and they are autonomous departments of hotels (Madanoglu M., Brezina S., 2008). In sani resort every hotel is equipped with its own spa, which is open for all guest. All spas include hairsallons, gyms, saunas, pools and the basic spa treatments. What differentiate them from other spas is that their special treatments where design by Anne Semonin, a French firm specialised in creating bespoke skincare treatments using natural ingredients. Even though some of the basic treatments are the same in all of them Anne also designed signature treatments for each one of these 5 spas. Furthermore, what also differs in each spa is the area of their specialism. MySpa is specialized in facial treatments, while the Spa Suite offers a wide range of massages. The Club Spa, which is the biggest of all, is inspired by thermal Roman baths and its equipped with Turkish Hammam, Bio sauna, plunge pool and heated recliners. Spa retreat is designed for couples and the modern D-Spa, which will open in July, is characterised as a state-of-art spa, supplied with Technogym, Hammam and new-a ge spa facilities. Sanis spas can offer more than 40 different treatments in each spa and their prices differ depending the duration of them and the ingredients used, providing genuine and life-enriching experiences (Zimmer R, Clarke A., 2006).They start from as little as 50 and they can reach to 255, which are normal prices for such treatments. Spa reservation is an option and they offer many discounts such as couples discounts, early booking discounts and multi treatment packages in which a customer can select many treatments and get a discount for them. Furthermore, many packages related to spa trends are available (Spafinder, 2016), like the junior spa, where children over 12 years old can enjoy their spa treatments and their parents can also enjoy a relaxing treatment without worrying about them, or the enjoy with mum spa. As in CSR, here measuring the outcomes is also of the utmost importance in order to evaluate and design next years strategies. As Madanoglu (2008) stated, spa benefits to resorts revenue can be classified as direct, revenue generating, and indirect, as a marketing tool. Direct benefits can be measured using the spa revenue per occupied room (SPOR) or the per available room (SPAR) figures. Moreover, keeping records of the results of dividing SPAR with RevPAR for a long time can be very useful tool to examine whether spa revenue is on the same level with the room revenue (Madanoglu M., Brezina S., 2008). In conclusion, sani should promote more the Greek culture in spa using treatments such as the thalassotherapy, which is also a trend (Greece spa guide, n.d.), and offer more packages utilizing the surrounding environment (The adrenaline Spa, n.d.). Emphasise on the pre-arrival process and separate spa reservations can also be a useful tool to increase profits (Madanoglu M., Brezina S., 2008), and it should be taken under consideration. Finally focusing more on the experience customers get, can increase their satisfaction and so the revenues (Singer, 2000). Generic strategies STRATEGIES Current Position Suggestions Marketing strategy based on the 4Ps Prise Product Place Promotion Focus Strategy Niche market (Russia) green market Expanding Strategies Affiliated with IKOS resorts (Oaktree Capital) Goldman Sachs Asset Management fund and Hermes GPE Cost Leadership Strategy Increase profits by increasing prices and lowering costs Examine occupancy ratios to decide whether further increase in price should be wise Marketing strategies: Based on the VRIN and TOWS frameworks it is possible to create and implement a successful marketing strategy utilizing McCarthys (1964) marketing mix. 4Ps framework refers to 4 broad concepts of marketing decision; i.e. price, product, place and promotion. The suggestions in each field, except place in which sani invest a lot by renovations and building new attractions ( Sani Dunes) and we strongly suggest to keep the existing strategy, are the following: PRICE: Introduce new offer packages, such as early booking discounts to increase occupancy, offers for offseason stays and conventions to mitigate the effects of seasonality and special offers for special occasion events; i.e. valentines day and womans day Reduce or keep current prices (3% up from 2015) to increase costumers satisfaction, decrease bad reviews in sites (tripadvisor.com, booking.com) and be more competitive PRODUCT: Escaping from the routine and leisure are the 2 main reasons for a visitor to go to resort (Faizan Alia, Kashif Hussainb, Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavanb , 2014). All hotels provide the same basic products the difference is how they provide it and with what quality (Bouncken, 2002). Product is the field that can differentiate sani resort from its competitors. According to Dunning (1981) there are 3 sectors to differ the product supplied; the on premises services which is the services received upon staying, the provision sector which is before the arrival stage and the deliver on the ground sector. Sani does an excellent job in their provision and delivering on the ground strategy and suggestion can be only made for the on premises services. For buildings and surrounding areas, since sani continuously invest in them (new hotel Sani Dunes) the suggestion is renovations where needed, so the resort will look more appealing Create more eco-activities to attract new customers Providing benefits, training and enhancing employees knowledge about customers preferences can offset the effects of staff turnover and lead to better and standardized service quality (Bouncken, 2002). PROMOTION: Promote sani resort more in the local community as a weekend escape option. Use social media to promote special events and offers ( facebook, twiter, Instagram) Promote sanis CSR and green programme even more Respond to criticisms in booking sites Focus Strategy: As Mr Andreadis, chief executive of the Sani, stated in FT they turn into the Russian market after the economic crisis in Greece and the worries that international tourism will decrease, as it did (Apendice) (Hope, 2015). The recommendation is to keep this strategy but also expand in the green (look at CSR) and purple (Appendice) market also. Expanding strategies: In 2016 Sani and Ikos resorts announced a merge, aiming in an investment plan worth 200mil(Akrivou, 2016);for buying new properties. Furthermore, funds from Oaktree Capital Management L.P., Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Hermes GPE, will also be involved it this investment plan (Kousounis, 2016). Cost Leadership Strategies: Since the costs are decreasing examine if a further increase in prices should be wise. Furthermore, investment in eco programmes can lead to an additional cost reduction and empower CSR programme. TOWS MATRIX A TOWS matrix is used by organisations in order to develop and implement their strategic plans, by matching its internal strengths and external opportunities (SO); to find its competitive advantages, as well as to identify and convert threats and weaknesses into opportunities and strengths (oxford college of marketing, 2016). SANI RESORT TOWS ANALYSIS External Opportunities External Threats Increase in tourism numbers in Greece Russian niche market Lack of competition in the area The green movement Experience over material trend technology and social medias takeover Economic crisis in Greece and unstable taxation model Instability in Turkey and refugee issue New competition in other municipalities in Greece Internal Strengths SO ST Excellent but transparent service Numerous amenities and activities Good reputation in social media and tourism websites Excellent environmental development and protection performance Location and geographic advantages Good relationship with local community and strong partnerships High tech convention facilities New hotel, Sani Dunes overflow budget Combine natural and cultural aspects with activities at the resort Use resorts good reputation to advertise sani in social media Due to eco-friendly image of resort, sani can promote it and attract more concern for environment visitors and introduce more eco-activities Considering the lack of competition in the area and the niche market, sani can promote its location advantages; sunny hot beaches, marina and walking trails, to attract more visitors Providing a peaceful and luxurious environment can mitigate the bad impression of Greece to visitors Promote the location of the resort to make it more competitive over other places in Greece Internal Weaknesses WO WT Seasonality High maintenance costs Staff turnover Restaurant bookings Utilize green programs to reduce maintenance cost and increase revenue Continuous development of programs and apps can contribute a lot in online booking and increasing revenues Aim in new markets for conventions to offset the effects of seasonality Provide training for staff and bonuses can mitigate staff turnover and hence improved service will increase relieving and decrease the worries of customers about political or social situations. SO Strategies: It is the desire of every firm to exploit the potential market opportunities by utilizing its resources. Sani should focus in 2 niche markets. The first one is the Russian market, worth mentioning that is a very rich market, which in the last 2 years Greece has become more popular as a destination for them. Sani has already turned to this market by opening a Branch office in Moscow and added Russian as an optional language in their site. Affiliations with big Russian tourism offices, creating packages especially for this market and hiring staff able to speak Russian are suggestions to be considered. The second is the green market, which consist of visitors who in order to choose their next destination they have the CSR programme of the firm as a criterion. Sani can use its surplus to create new eco-activities, develop and promote the Sani Green programme and invest in eco-tourism WÃŽÅ ¸ Strategies: When an organisation try to overcome its weaknesses, utilizing the external opportunities can become a very useful tool (Business Study Notes, 2016). Conventions from new markets can offset the effects of seasonality and by utilizing the sani green programme the maintenance costs can be reduced. ST Strategies: The unstable economy in Greece and the immigration problem have created a negative image of Greece to the visitors. Sani can overcome this issue by promoting its blessed location and its peaceful and relaxing environment by itself or take common action with the Greek National Tourism Organisation (visitGreece) to mitigate the effects of this image and promote a beautiful and attracting Greece. WT Strategies: This strategys goal is to remove sanis weaknesses which will overcome the external threats (Business Study Notes, 2016). By providing benefits and training to staff members the staff turnover can be mitigated and hence the service quality will be standardized and improved. As a result, customers can enjoy better service of pleased staff in a pleasant ambience away from Greek financial and political troubles. VRIN FRAMEWORK According to Barney (1991), in a business environment that the resources are heterogeneous in nature and not perfectly mobile, a resource can be characterised as sustainable competitive advantage if it fulfills the following 4 attributes: It must be valuable, in the sense that it can exploit opportunities It must be rare among firms current and potential competition It must be imperfectly imitable And it cannot be substituted The core competitive advantages for Sani resort, as mentioned and explained in the presentation, are the following. Sani Resort Valuable Rare Inimitable Non- Substitutable Size YES YES YES YES Marina YES YES YES YES SANI Festival YES YES YES YES Pase Dr. Blythe (2016,6th ed, pn.250), USP is the one feature of the product that most stands out as different from the competition, and is usually a feature that conveys unique benefits to the consumer. Even though the size and the marina are hard for competitive firms to imitate due to lack of resources in the area, SANI Festival is inimitable and therefore it can be characterised as a Unique Selling Point (USP) for the following reasons. For 25 years now SANI festival is connecting people from different cultures through music and art, attracting many international visitor and locals; providing high quality entertainment to its attenders and generates significant revenue for the resort. It is characterised as a USP for sani resort not only because of these 25 years of perfect organise, implementation and innovation, but also because there is no other art festival with the similar size, variety, glamour and reputation as SANI festival in Greece; which are the factors that makes it i nimitable, and not the cost of creating such an event. It is sure that there is room for more advertising in the social media, but since it is promoted and recognised as a refined art festival, there is a fine line between being an art festival and being a faceless attraction for many more visitors. Â