Bullying Research Paper Essay

Abstract Every day across America, children are being sent to school with the mindset that they are safe as they head to an environment that is intended to support a positive atmosphere of learning and socialization. However, schools across America are plagued with the continuous and aggressive problem of bullying that is effecting our society as a whole. Our children’s physical and emotional well-being is at risk because of the act of bullying. Without proper education, identification, and prevention to promote awareness, bullying will continue to be a major issue. The following research paper is intended to focus on the effects of school bullying and what society can do to help prevent future bullying from occurring. I aspire to learn the different forms of bullying, while learning what I can do to identify the problem and what the possible solutions to preventing future occurrence are. Keywords: Bullying,Cyberbullying, School Bullying School Bullying Over the years, bullying has become more prominent in our society. In the past, many adults and educators perceive bullying as something that all children go through; just kids being kids. Children are all effected differently depending on the degree of the bullying, some even ending in tragic events. Being proactive in recognizing bullying can lead to a drastic decrease in bullying cases. Educated professionals are being trained in order to pick up on signs that an act of bullying is happening and how to address and resolve the situation. Thankfully, more and more states are issuing laws to protect the schools and the students against bullying. As a result, anti-bullying programs were created to provide a safe learning environment for students and have been effective all over the world. In order for us to better understand bullying, we must know what bullying is. The simple word â€Å"bully† can be referred back to as early as the 1500’s. In order to learn exactly what a bully is, you must first break down what a bully is in its simplest form. The act of bullying requires two people, the bully and the person being bullied. By definition, â€Å"Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose (stopbullying.org).† The entire act is dependent upon a disparity of power, the aggressor exhibits that they have more power than the person being targeted. The act of bullying can be separated into three categories: verbal (name calling, teasing), social (ignoring or isolating), and physical bullying (hitting, kicking). Now with the recent boom in technology, a new form of bullying has now emerged- cyber bullying. In any event, all forms of bullying have a direct result on the victim. Bullying is a form of abuse that carries on over the course of time. â€Å"At first one may believe that the effects of bullying is limited to initial responses that tend to fade within a few days or a week, at most. However, research indicates that the harm inflicted by bullying, whether physical or psychological, has implications and can result in a snowball effect of lasting and painful emotions and negative impacts.† (Donegan, 2008). Although bullying consists of two core components, the bully and the person being bullied, the difference in the type of bullying differs greatly. The person who plays the part of the bully is acting in a conscious, willful, and deliberate activity where the primary purpose is to generate fear through the threat of additional aggressive acts. This further act of aggression and creation of terror creates the lasting impression of intimidation and an uncomfortable emotional sense that the bully uses to maintain power. Once a bully has created this superiority, the bully will continue to victimize their offender. These actions define the most common and obvious form of bullying, physical bullying. In this instance, the aggressor is most often portrayed punching, kicking, throwing objects, or  participating in some form of destructive behavior that is both observable and physical. The intimidated victim will most likely dismiss any injuries received to avoid any further incidents. At t his point, the bully has already established their control and will continue to exercise their power over the victim. In many instances, victims have been found to report a combination of physical and verbal bullying. The verbal threatening, taunting, and name calling has been found to be a commonality with physical bullying. â€Å"In a survey of big school students, a third of students who were bullied experienced symptoms that sound much like post-traumatic stress disorder: Feelings of panic, repeatedly thinking about past bullying episodes, and inability to concentrate at school. Unfortunately, these feelings of anxiety and distress tend to linger after graduation and into adulthood† (Sharp, 1995). â€Å"The adverse impact of school bullying is often exacerbated by the fact that many pupils do not tell of their experience and therefore do not receive appropriate help and support (Oliver & Candappa, 2003). With our society constantly evolving, so has the manner in which individuals are bullied. Since the emergence of the internet, social media, and the technological advancements of telecommunications, the ease and the way people communicate has created a breeding ground for young adults to bully one another. Cyber bullying has now transcended the traditional sense of bullying and evolved into a form that allows a person to hide their identity behind a computer. â€Å"This anonymity makes it easier for the offender to strike blows against a victim without having to see the victim’s physical response. The distancing effect that technological devices have on today’s youth often leads them to say and do crueler things compared to what is typical in a traditional face-to-face bullying situation† (Donegan, 2012). Cyber bullying has been defined as â€Å"an aggressive act or behavior that is carried out using electronic means by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself† (Smith, e.t.,al 2008). Examples of cyber bullying include malicious text messages or emails, rumors posted on social networking sites, and  embarrassing photos, videos, or fake profiles. Although cyber bullying is often experienced indirectly, as opposed to a face to face confrontation with traditional bullying, the potential for reaching a larger audience is greater. A form of cyber bullying would be posting a status that is intended to be vague, however, is specifically directed towards someone using an insignificant clue that the victim would know is directed at them. Once a publication is made through a social media network, the potential for further sharing increases exponentially. At this point, the repetitiveness for the bullying to continue can c arry on by other people, causing a snowball effect. That single act creates a vicious circle that the victim may experience over and over. Regardless if it is traditional bullying or cyber bullying, a significant amount of research has documented the long lasting impact of bullying on a person’s mental health and academic performance. In many instances, an entire school’s student body is capable of being affected by bullying. A school is intended to design an atmosphere where children experience a positive and inviting environment, where growth and individuality is welcomed and encouraged. However, when a school’s climate is plagued by bullying, there is an inherent fear and intimidation within the school that causes the victim and others to disassociate and reject the notion of a positive atmosphere. The fear of being harassed or excluded by peers in school contributes to dropout rates and poor academic achievement, causing additional victimization. In order to implement a strategy to combat bullying, â€Å"schools must include school-level interventions designed to change the overall culture and climate of the school: class room interventions targeting teachers and other adults in the school; and student-level interventions that target individual or small groups of victims and bullies.† (Whitted, 2005). Strategies like this help to revert the power imbalance that a bully thrives on to gain power. Research on anti-bullying programs have shown that information provided for parents through newsletters and parent meetings proved to be successful. A school atmosphere with a positive line of communication between school administration and the student’s parents helps to raise the awareness of  bullying encouraging a drastic reduction in bullying incidents. Other common ways to help combat the effects of bullying included more social interactions for the victim. Educators and parents are urged to have the child participate in organized social activities to initiate new friendships and build confidence with other children for a feeling of belonging. If the child is interested in music, art, or sports, they are encouraged to develop and practice that talent to reinforce confidence and self-esteem. A controlled system with peer support helps victims deal with the interpersonal conflicts of bullying in a pro-active and non-violent way. By being positive, supportive, and embracin g the child and what he/she is going through at all times, he will come to respect and cherish himself as an individual and overcome any negative effects bullying may have caused. Conclusion When someone thinks back to their days of elementary school through high school, most of us think about â€Å"normal† school images- classes, homeroom, and friends. We can all recall some of the struggles; studying for the big test, getting homework completed, making new friends. To me, school was just school. It was something I had to do to become a successful adult. For those victims of school bullying, school is a living nightmare. The harassment, pain, and the series of struggles a bullied person experiences is too much for any normal person to comprehend, especially if they were not bullied personally. School becomes a burden and something that is avoided as much as possible. The victims become stressed with their overflowing insecurities. School work no longer is a priority, avoiding the harassment and humility becomes a primary concern. Prior to conducting this research project, my knowledge of bullying was very limited. Having not been bullied as a child, my image was simple. The biggest kid in the class would push the scrawny â€Å"weird† kid against his locker, and that was the end of it. Now, after reading the numerous studies done on this terrible â€Å"epidemic†, I have realized that this is a problem that causes more damage long term than what society thinks- and it effects everyone! My daughter will be entering elementary school in a few years, and as her father I feel that it is important to explain bullying and the  effects it has on individuals. No matter if it is verbal, emotional, physical or occurring on social media sites, I feel it is my job, as well as the school’s guidance team to educate and inform my daughter on this serious topic. If we can properly educate people, hopefully someday the negative domino effect of bullying can be reversed to be a positive outcome of the popu lar plan to â€Å"pay it forward†. For someone who was taught â€Å"The Golden Rule† as a young boy, it seems simple to me. Treat others the way you want to be treated, and if you don’t have anything nice to say to someone- don’t say it at all. This is something I plan to teach my daughter, and maybe if more people believe and teach this golden rule, bullying will be a thing of the past. References Donegan, R. (2012). Bullying and Cyberbullying: History, Statistics, Law, Prevention and Analysis. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 3(1), 33-42. McElearney, A., Adamson, G., Shevlin, M., & Bunting, B. (2013). Impact Evaluation of a School-based Counselling Intervention in Northern Ireland: Is it Effective for Pupils Who Have Been Bullied?. Child Care In Practice, 19(1), 4-22. doi:10.1080/13575279.2012.732557 Ockerman, M. S., Kramer, C., & Bruno, M. (2014). From the School Yard to Cyber Space: A Pilot Study of Bullying Behaviors Among Middle School Students. Research In Middle Level Education Online, 37(6), 1-18. Oliver, C., & Candappa, M. (2003). Summary report Tackling bullying: Listening to the views of children and young people. London: ChildLine and Thomas Coram Research Unit. Sharp, S. (1995). How much does bullying hurt? The effects of bullying on the personal wellbeing and educational progress of secondary aged students. Educational and Child Psychology, 12, 81–88. Smith, P.K., J. Mahdavi, M. Carvalho, S. Fisher, N. Russell, and N. Tippett (2008), â€Å"Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils†, Journal of Chil Psycology & Psychiartry, 49. pp 376-385 What is Bullying | StopBullying.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/index.html Whitted, K., & Dupper, D. (2005). Best practices for preventing or reducing bullying in schools. Children & Schools, 27(3), 167-175.

Regulation and Criminal Liability Essay

Currently in the United States, the Americans continue to face unfair treatments of health care professionals within the work place. Regulates and laws have been created and set forth to help individuals’ feel protected and to know their rights as a victim of such criminal acts. People deserve to be treated with respect, especially in the care of health professionals. In this paper will contain information on criminal liabilities of health professionals and show people who may have been violated by health care providers the steps of filing a civil complaint. In addition, the paper will go into investigating allegations and disciplinary actions. Up-to-date regulatory policy regarding health care professionals is based on the speculation that the market for resources in health care is unsuccessful because consumers do not have complete facts about the nature of services these professionals offer. The outcome of some professionals possibly will exploit consumers on the condition lesser-quality services. The theory of economics proposes that in the absence of order, many health care professionals might offer minimum quality services at expensive quality prices to uneducated consumers. Therefore, the main justification for managing health professionals is to expand the quality of their services and to guard the interests of unaware health care consumers. Health care professional guidelines restrict access into the profession by setting the least possible measures of education and experience mandatory to practice. Furthermore, those regulations identify the legal acceptable boundaries of training for the health care provider or the permissible scope of health care professionals’ training and state the permitted business training of health care professionals. In the United States the federal system of government, regulates every states health care professional practice. Health professional training performances are statutory laws that create regulatory or licensing agencies or boarding to promote rules that order medical  practice. State licensing laws initiating the lesser level of education and experience needed to practice, explain the roles of the profession and bound the act of these roles to licensed individuals. State occupation practice limits restrictions on the services of professionals by for-profit firms, limitations on the operation of trade names, restrictions on the process of numerous workplaces, and boundaries on the place of health care professionals’ workplaces. Earlier in 1977 state companies practice limitations on frequently incorporated restrictions on marketing by professionals. Principles of Medical Ethics, the American Medical Association (AMA) declare a physician shall obey the law† and â€Å"record doctors’ insufficient in character or ability, or engaging in deception or fraud. AMA could refuse mem bership to doctors guilty of criminal activity, in addition to physicians charged with crimes in different countries. Reference to petition for licensure, the Federation of State Medical Boards, in connection of state medical boards’ responsibility for punishing physicians, suggests that every state medical board run criminal record review as part of licensure application practice and all candidates with a criminal background, comes before the committee for questioning to examine the candidates ability for licensure. AMA recognizes that doctors can be criminally arraigned merely to the degree of statue, and these regulations unlike state to state. Although illustrations from our data demonstrate the regular ordinary sanctions by state medical boards after the doctors have been criminally found guilty. According to AMA recent data less than 80 percent of doctors who carried out sexual acts offenses the physicians’ licenses would be revoked, suspended, or surrendered. Merely 53 % of doctors convicted of criminally possessing, using, or prescribing controlled substances and only 40% of doctors were guilty of criminal wrongdoing connected to the practice of medicine had their licenses surrendered, revoked, or suspended. The statistics show a system that permits questionable physicians to remain practicing medicine after displaying clear unethical and risky behavior. If an individual thinks that a health care provider, local or state government agency, has discriminated against he/she based on national origin, race, age, or disability, one can file a civil rights complaint. OCR can examine disability-based discrimination complaints against programs ran by HHS. Below certain regulations and statue, OCR has  slight authority to explore complaints of discrimination based on religion and sex. If an individual believe his/her health care provider moral safety rights have been breached, individuals can file a complaint with OCR. The Case Resolution Manual for Civil Rights Investigations (CRM) offers OCR managers and staff with the strategies and process designed to effectively and promptly investigate, evaluate and settle compliance and complaint evaluation, and to implement violation locations where guaranteed. When filling a complaint an individual have to follow the complaint requirements and that is followed by: (http://www.hhs.gov) Be filed in writing, either electronically via or paper the OCR Complaint Portal, by email, fax, or mail. Social service provider or health care provider involved, and describe the acts or omissions, that one believed over stepped the civil rights regulations or law. Must be filed in 180 days of when the omission complained of or act occurred. OCR could prolong the 180-day period if individual can provide a worthy reason. In conclusion individuals need to educate themselves on the laws which supposed to protect them from mistreatment of any health care provider and learn the appropriate ways to handle the situation in case of becoming a victim to any type of neglect or abuse. Physicians’ and nurses should follow the quality standards. Patients are treated with kindness, dignity, compassion, respect, honesty and understanding. References Article in Health Matrix: United States Physicians’ Disciplined for Criminal Activity, Retrieved on April 22, 2014 from: http://www.citizen.org/page.aspx?pid=696 Principles of Medical Ethics, Retrieved on April 22, 2014 from; http:// http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/code-medical-ethics/principles-medical-ethics.page United States Department of Health and Human Resources, Retrieved on April 22, 2014 from: http://www. hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/complaints/index.html#file Wilson,D., The Regulation of Health Care professionals other than Physicians, Retrieved on April 22, 2014 from;

Housing segregation by gentrification in US Research Paper

Housing segregation by gentrification in US - Research Paper Example d the gentrification displaced low-income residents and forced them into even worse housing thus, reversing white-flight while having no impact at all, or an even further negative impact on segregated neighborhoods. However, recent research has indicated that this simple explanation of the impacts of gentrification on segregation is inadequate and the impacts of gentrification on segregation are actually more varied. The term segregation, in terms of housing, refers to residential enclaves that are defined by ethnicity and possibly some other socio-economic indicators. Hyper-segregated neighborhoods are residential areas that are defined by multiple indicators of segregation. Massey asserts that five key dimensions indicate residential segregation. The degree to which the percentage of minority members within a residential area diverges from the metropolitan average indicates segregation on the evenness scale. Lack of opportunities for potential contact with non-minority individuals indicates segregation on the exposure scale. The degree to which minority neighbourhoods are adjacent indicates clustering. The degree to which these areas are focused in the urban core indicates centralization while increasing population density indicates concentration. (Massey and Denton, 1993, p 373) Massey and Denton employ these five indicators--evenness, exposure, clustering, centralization and concentration--to measure segregation. They describe high scores in at least four of these categories as hyper-segregation or extreme, multidimensional segregation. They conclude that multidimensional hyper-segregation is evident in at least ten metropolitan areas and affects at least 30% of all urban blacks. Denton and Massey focus on residential segregation alone, they do not directly investigate its inks to economic factors. However, in conclusion, they state that "our results suggest that the extremity of black residential segregation and its unique multidimensional character may

Harvard Business Review Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Harvard Business Review Article - Essay Example Following seven key lessons will emphasize on the significant aspects of effective strategic leadership as learnt and comprehended by a student. Key Lesson 1: Maintaining Effective Communication Communication of the organization's purpose is one of the most vital aspects to be considered. A corporate organization's purpose of being is what it stands for and gives an overview of the main aims it wants to achieve. So, it is essential for effective strategic leadership of a corporate organization to state clearly its mission and vision. This can be explained lucidly by the mission statement of Google, which is to organize all the information in the world in a systematic manner so that it can be accessed and utilized universally. Moreover, the brand name of a company should be a direct reflection of its core values, so that the customers would be aware of the services being provided and being attracted to avail them at the same time. Richard Reed, Co-founder of Innocent, did an exceptional job at coming up with the brand name. Innocent; which is one of the most recognized and acclaimed brand in the UK, produces healthy fruit juices and food items only. The company's name, Innoce nt goes hand in hand with the word natural, which depicts the very nature of innocent products. Key Lesson 2: Sustaining Competitive Market Advantage Another important lesson is to sustain competitive advantage in the market over the passage of time. Skimming, price war, and predatory pricing etc. are some of the marketing techniques which could be utilized by the company to sustain the advantage or to drive their competitors out of the market completely. If this upper-hand advantage is not achieved and sustained, a company could face serious consequences, which reflect adversely on its strategic leadership policies. The downfall of PepsiCo is one of the examples of this scenario as Indra Nooyi, the current chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, is facing a loss of market shares and decreasing stock values due to failure at sustaining competitive advantage with rival beverage company Coca Cola. In an announcement made in February, 2012, it was revealed that due to its financial concerns, PepsiCo is cutting down 8,700 employees. The company is starting new lines of diet soda and sugar free products to increase the customer interest but this strategy has not been very successful due to the launch of similar product lines from rival companies. PepsiCo is trying to devise new product lines in order to obtain competitive market advantage so that it can be successful in the market again. Indra Noooyi is also feared to be terminated from her current position of the CEO of the company if the financial position of the company does not stabilize. Key Lesson 3: Effective Change Management Faslane Naval Base was run entirely by the Ministry of Defence of UK and the Royal Navy up until 2002. Afterwards, a contract was signed with Babcock Marine to reduce the cost and to improve operational efficiency. The staff had to work under a different managing authority with new aims and futuristic goals. John Howie, director of Babcock Marine, set forth the emphasis on delivering services to the Navy, eradicating the previous goals of focusing on building infrastructures. Effective strategic leadership could never be achieved without effic ient and timely change management in the organization. Faslane is an organization where the only assets are the people, so to implement change, the shackles which bound the workers, had to be eliminated. Starting with low level managerial changes, the company moved towards gaining efficiency by re-engineering fundamental processes to

Analyze, Compare and Contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analyze, Compare and Contrast - Essay Example When Dexter Filkins Realized what had happened the initial thought she had was that she was in the third world. Dexter Filkins thought that people in the United States would think that it was the end of civilization as the worst has happened. However, Dexter Filkins understood that such things happened in the third world occasionally. In the third world cases such as earthquakes, plagues and famine were common where thousands of people would die. Dexter Filkins also had a similar experience on a bomb attack in Tel Aviv (Hampton, 2007). On the other hand, Katherine Finkelstein experienced the attacks. During the attack, she was in her gym and after the attack she moved to the scene of the attack. She got involved with the some of the survivors and interviewed them. She was scared and at some point she was screaming. Katherine Finkelstein was present when the building collapsed and at some point she was not able to tell what she saw or heard. Her situation was different from Dexter Filkins as things were hectic, and people were running away from the scene. However, she managed to get out of the scene alive and made the effort of writing small notes in her notebook about the events that happened. Her perception was either the world has ended or has changed. Later on Katherine Finkelstein was involved in the rescue operation of the individuals injured at the scene (Roleff, 2003). Both Katherine Finkelstein and Dexter Filkins were journalists. Dexter Filkins indicates that she realized she was not alone in the building as there was a photographer at the scene taking photos. She also indicates that she at one moment thought of the battery of the cell phone as she used to call the station frequently. Both of the journalists also had encounters with the police as there were restricted areas where they could not access. On the case of Katherine Finkelstein she was personally rescued by an FBI agent from the collapsing building (Hampton,

Consumers' experiences of stigma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Consumers' experiences of stigma - Essay Example The same research also found out that at least 450 million people in the world suffer from mental health problems (Thompson and Thompson 1997, p.6). Another research also established that at least one in every 12 people suffer from depressive disorders. Like any other disease, a majority of those suffering from mental health disorders are capable of recovering fully when subjected to the right treatment and management and live a normal life like any other person. However, this is only possible when such people are helped at early stages. However, since people with mental illnesses cannot make rational decisions regarding their life, it is important that they receive the best care and physical and moral support from friends and families to enable them manage their health conditions. Nevertheless, research indicates that a majority of those experiencing mental health problems tend to experience strong social stigmatization from those who help them manage their health conditions because of their mental status. Byrne (2000) defines stigma as a sign, discredit, or disgrace, which separates a person from the rest. In other words, stigma is the negative view of someone based on his or her condition or status. Stigma is always accompanied by discrimination, since those who are experiencing stigma experience discrimination at the same time. Stigmatization is not good as everyone irrespective of mental status need equal treatment from others (Pande 2009). This is because stigmatization is likely to worsen the condition of the person thereby hindering recovery. Research has also shown that stigmatization of people with mental illness has many effects on the person being stigmatized (Thompson and Thompson 1997, p.8). This paper will explore the sources and effects of stigma for people experiencing mental health problems. To begin with, Corrigan and Watson (2002, p.16) argues that patients with mental disorders suffer doubly. This is because whereas they struggle to cope wi th the symptoms and disabilities occasioned by their health status, they also face the challenge of stigmatization that results from misconception regarding their mental illnesses. Research indicates that stigmatization effects adversely affects people with mental illness and acts as one of the chief barriers to their recovery process. Study has also shown that stigmatization against people with mental illnesses is real in the society (Thompson and Thompson 1997, p.6). This is after a research found out that millions of people with mental disorders experience stigmatization. The research found out that close to nine out of ten individuals with mental health disorders reported having been stigmatized and discriminated because of their mental health problems. Such people also reports having suffered negative consequences as a result of stigma and discrimination. To make matters worse, Coubrough (2008) also found out that stigma is being extended even to those taking care of people wit h mental health problems. As a result, this has made people shy away from taking care of people with mental health disorders. During the research, Coubrough (2008) noted that stigma originated mainly from immediate family members of the mentally challenged, which stood at 36%. This was followed by employers at 35%, 31% from neighbors while friends posted the least at 25% (Coubrough 2008). This is a clear indication that the mentally chal

Critical Assessment of a published qualitative research article Essay

Critical Assessment of a published qualitative research article - Essay Example The realities in Morgan’s stories are uncommon because what he writes is also common for students who have little or no English background with the English language. The only difference is the style through, which they approach their realities. In the case study, it is clear that the teachers are in denial to accept the validity of the student’s realities and experiences and existence of previous learning experiences, whether home based or school based. To understand the concept of the teacher’s refusal to accept the student’s reality, the author explores the English learning experience of two Bangladeshi children who attend mainstream English lessons. The study was conducted at an inner city school because it was public and had multicultural policy settings. The first study indicated that the teachers’ approach to Abdul made him weak, in that, instead of bilingualism being beneficial to him; it became a challenge because his teacher made it difficult to accept his realities. The first study was supported by the Cummins’ theory of Common Underlying Proficiency. The second study showed that the teacher can make the student learn better if they understand and accept their realities. â€Å" It was noticed that in subsequent work an= number of changes occurred to the student’s writing† (Hammersley & Woods, 2014, 187). In the case of Mashud, he learnt bilingualism fast, because his teacher was willing to accept his reality and help him correct grammar and make the relevant changes in his composition. The study concludes with the reflections of Ms. Montgomery, where it is seen that although she does not understand the cultural diversity of the student, it does not hinder her from dealing with the realities of his student. â€Å"These doubts led Ms Montgomery to think carefully on broad issues related to cultural reproduction† (Hammersley & Woods, 2014, 188). By so doing, she achieves to hasten a

Traditions of Islam Faith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Traditions of Islam Faith - Essay Example In this way, a wider perspective can be achieved on what makes Islam a successful religion globally. Islam possesses a rich historical background. With this, one article presented various views on the origins of Islam: â€Å"secular perspective, according to Muslim community itself, and based from previous scripts† (â€Å"Origin of Islam - Quranic,† n.d.). In accordance with secular history, it disclosed that Islam started along the 7th century. It was created in Saudi Arabia by Muhammad in 610 A.D.--when he supposedly experienced a heavenly vision. On the other hand, the Muslims’ version asserts that Islam already existed prior to Muhammad’s angelic visitation and that even though this particular â€Å"prophet† dictates the Quran (their version of Holy Scripture); the said book was created first. Based on the scriptures, â€Å"Quran was given by God through the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad.† Hence, the prophet more or less served as an instrument in the realization of Islam as a holy faith. On scriptural perspectives, several quot es from the Bible confirmed Islam’s origins. On the Catholic’s Holy Bible, it stated that God promised Sarah a child, but because of the delay, Sarah offered Hagar (servant) the chance to lay with her husband—an act in hope of the servant conceiving. Ishmael was later born. In later part of the story, Sarah gave birth to the â€Å"promise child†--Isaac. Isaac was the ascendant of Jesus Christ while Ishmael was Muhammad’s forefathers† (â€Å"Origin of Islam - Quranic,† n.d.). In this sense, there is a valid affirmation of the religion as based on man’s written scripts. Part of Islam’s creation, then, is attributed to Muhammad. He â€Å"lived from 570 to 632 CE† (Robinson, 2007). Islam was first established in Mecca, while Muhammad was â€Å"meditating alone inside a cave in the hills above Mecca† (â€Å"Origin of Islam,† n.d.). After that incident, it was set

Fast Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Nation Essay As American as a small, rectangular, hand-held, frozen, and reheated apple pie.? (p. 3) Far from being a run of the mill expose on calories and fat grams in fast food, Fast Food Nation is a hard-hitting critique of the industrialization of America? s and, later, the world? s food supply. The consequences of this industrialization have far-reaching effects on working people around the world. Fast food chains are at the pinnacle of a giant food-industrial complex that controls the nation? s food supply. Schlosser begins with some thumb nail sketches of fast food?s ? founding fathers.? None of today? s fast food giants were started by large corporations. They were all started by people of very modest means. Harland Sanders is a good example. He ? left school at the age of twelve, worked as a farm hand, a mule tender, and a railway fireman. At various times he worked as a lawyer without having a law degree, delivered babies as a part-time obstetrician without having a medical degree, sold insurance door to door, sold Michelin tires, and operated a gas station . . .. and at the age of sixty-five became a traveling salesman once again, offering restaurant owners the secret recipe? for his fried chicken. The first Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant opened in 1952 . . . . Lacking money to promote the new chain, Sanders dressed up like a Kentucky colonel? (p. 23). But despite the modest beginnings of Harland Sanders, William Rosenberg (Dunkin? Donuts), Dave Thomas (Wendy? s), Thomas S. Monaghan (Domino? s) and others, they have created giant empires that brutally exploit millions of underpaid workers across the globe. Next, Eric Schlosser describes how McDonald? s and others market to children. Many of these companies have cradle-to-grave? advertising strategies.? Apparently, brand loyalty? may begin as early as age two. Indeed, market research has found that children often recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name? (p. 43). Under the heading ? mcteachers and coke dudes,? Schlosser describes the cradle-to-grave strategy that fast food chains use to market to children. This strategy reaches new highs (or lows) all the time. Not content to market ?to children through playgrounds, toys, cartoons, movies, videos, charities, and amusement parks, through contests, sweepstakes, games, and clubs, via television, radio, magazines, and the Internet, fast food chains are gaining access to the last advertising free outposts of American life? ( p. 51) public schools. In 1993, District 11 in Colorado Springs became the first school district in the U. S. to have ads for Burger King inside their schools and on their school buses. However, the school district netted little from this, gaining only $1 per student. In his next chapter, entitled ? Behind the Counter,? Schlosser describes the life of a young woman of sixteen by the name of Elisa, who gets up at 5:15 in the morning to get out the door by 5:30. She and the manager arrive at work, and for the next hour or two, they get the place ready. The two of them turn on the ovens and grills and get the food and supplies, cups, wrappers, styrofoam containers, and condiments, for the morning shift. They get frozen bacon, frozen pancakes, and frozen cinnamon rolls from the freezer. Plus, they bring out frozen hash browns, frozen biscuits, and frozen McMuffins. Then they get packages of orange juice mix and scrambled egg mix. The restaurant opens at seven and for the next couple of hours Elisa and the manager work alone, taking all the orders. Later, as more customers arrive, so do more employees. Elisa works the counter from breakfast through lunch. She then walks home after standing for seven hours at the cash register. Totally wiped out, her feet hurting, she plops in front of the tv and gets up the next morning at 5:15. The entire fast food industry seeks out teenage, part-time (no overtime, please), unskilled workers like Elisa, because they? re willing to accept low pay, are cheaper than adults, and are easier to control due to their inexperience. Although recently, middle class teenagers are shunning jobs at McDonalds and Burger King and are being replaced by poor immigrants and the elderly (The New York Times, January 8, 2001). ?The labor practices of the fast food industry have their origins in the assembly line systems adopted by American manufacturers in the early twentieth century? (p. 68). In a restaurant assembly line, tasks are broken up into small, repetitive bits requiring little or no skill, while machines and operating systems do the things that require timing and training (p. 69). In addition, the fast food industry generally pays minimum wage, moreso than any other industry. The result has been that the real value of laborers? wages have fallen for the last three decades. Worse yet, the industry almost never pays overtime. Bonuses for managers at many fast food restaurants are tied to holding down labor costs. The result being that many workers are forced to wait until the restaurant gets busy before punching in. Workers are forced to do clean-up after they? ve punched out. One Taco Bell employee ? regularly worked seventy to eighty hours a week but was paid for only forty? (p. 75). Taco Bell has been sued for this in a number of states. The fast food industry is not alone in doing this kind of thing. Wal-Mart is being sued in 28 states for forcing workers to work off the clock, as reported by Steven Greenhouse in his expose ? Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock,? in the June 25, 2002, New York Times. To add insult to injury, the status of fast food workers is so low that customers feel justified in heaping abuse on them. This writer was once told to his face that ? Your job is so simple that a monkey could do it.? Another customer grabbed me and ripped my shirt when he didn? t get a ? Jimmy Special.? There was no ? Jimmy Special? on the menu, nor did I know it was a sandwich. Incidents like this are so common that web sites are devoted to them. If low wages, no benefits, low status, and hard work are not bad enough, more restaurant workers are murdered on the job in the U. S. than are. police officers. Most restaurant crime is committed by current or former disgruntled employees. Out of the frying pan and into the fire If the life of a fast food worker is bad, workers in the meatpacking industry have it much worse. In 1961, two former Swift Co. executives, Currier Holman and A. D. Anderson, started Iowa Beef Packers better known as IBP. Over the course of twenty years, these two lead the meatpacking industry back to the days of Upton Sinclair? s The Jungle. IBP created ? a mass production system that employed a de-skilled workforce, . . . put its new slaughterhouses in rural areas . . . far away from the urban strongholds of the nation? s labor unions? (p 154). In 1970, the IBP broke its labor unions with the help of La Cosa Nostra, and the stage was set for sweatshop heaven. At a ConAgra slaughterhouse in Greeley , Colorado, the workers mainly come from Mexico, Central America, and Southeast Asia. Base pay is $9. 25 per hour; when adjusted for inflation, thats one-third lower than the same plant paid forty years ago (p. 160). The annual turnover rate is 400%. On average, a worker quits or is fired every three months. But ? far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meatpacking industryas in the fast food industry also helps maintain a workforce that is harder to unionize and much easier to control? (p161). Meatpacking is now the most dangerous job in the United States. The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate in a typical American factory. Every year, more than one quarter of the meatpacking workers in this countryroughly forty thousand men and womensuffer an injury or a work related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid? (p172). However, there are big incentives not to report injuries. ?The annual bonuses of plant foremen and supervisors are often based in part on the injury rate of their workers? (p175). The main cause of the high injury rate is the speed of the disassembly line. The list of the injuries is long and bloody. But, speaking of speed, it? s the speed of the disassembly line that? s one of the major causes of food borne illness from E. coli 0157:H7. The other major causes are crowded feedlots and industrial-size hamburger grinders. The stomachs and intestines of cattle, where the E. coli 0157:H7 live, are still removed by hand. This job takes about six months? practice to do well. But with high turnover and the high speed of the line, it? s not done well. Twenty percent of cattle can have their guts spilled onto the carcasses being processed on the line, which can then contaminate many others (p. 203). This willful disregard for the consumer? s health is all done in the name of profits. But, because capitalism lives by the profit, for the profit, and of the profit, decades go by, Republicans then Democrats rule, but still little or nothing gets done. However, if not for the sake of profit, the whole meatpacking industry could be cleaned up in just six months, yes, just six months! This according to David M. Theno, the man who cleaned up Jack in the Box after its outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 in 1993 (p. 210). If there? s one big weakness in Fast Food Nation, its while correctly criticizing the Republican? s support for agribusiness, he seldom attacks the Democrats. Eric Schlosser acknowledges this himself in an afterword. ?In retrospect, I could have been more critical of the Clinton administration? s ties to agribusiness. Had I devoted more space to the poultry industry, for example, I would have examined the close links between Bill Clinton and the Tyson family? (p. 277). Both the Democrats and Republicans are tools of big business. Only a system based on human need, and not on profit, can clean up our food supply and guarantee the well-being of workers. And that system is socialism! I strongly recommend that everyone who is for social justice read this book. It? s an eye-opener even for someone like me who? s worked in restaurants for 23 years. The article above was written by John Pottinger, and first appeared in the October issue of Socialist Action newspaper.

Heat combustion of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

Heat combustion of Alcohol Essay Background Information Alcohols are used as a source of fuel in many countries. For it to turn into fuel, alcohol must be burnt. Alcohol is also a good clean source of energy and heat. In this experiment I will be trying to find out the amount of energy produced when different alcohols are burned. In this experiment, the type of alcohol will be tested is Ethanol. Ethanol is a colourless liquid and is sometimes referred simply as alcohol or spirits. Carbon chains with a hydroxide molecule at the end of the chain make up an alcohol. Ethanol is a straight-chain alcohol and its molecular formula is C2H5OH. Its empirical formula however is C2H6O The heat of combustion of any substance is the amount of heat energy given out when 1 mole of that substance burns completely in air. Every covalent bond existing in the molecule has a bond energy. This bond energy is the amount of energy needed to break the bond or the amount of energy given out as a bond is formed. Concentration of an alcohol is related to the number of moles per decimetre cubed of the substance. The more concentrated the substance the more the substance will burn thus more heat energy is given out. Research Question Will increasing the concentration of ethanol affect the heat of combustion of the alcohol? Hypothesis It is hypothesised that increasing the concentration of ethanol will increase the heat of combustion of the alcohol. Variables Independent The concentration of ethanol (Molar) * 0.5 Molar ethanol * 1.0 Molar ethanol * 1.5 Molar ethanol * 2.0 Molar ethanol * 2.5 Molar ethanol Dependent * Heat combustion of the alcohol (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Controlled What will be controlled How it will be controlled Method of taking the temperature of water The thermometer will be placed in the middle of the conical flask and the tip of the thermometer will be touching the bottom of the flask. The conditions of the surrounding area The experiment will be carried out in standard lab conditions. Avoid contamination and residue to the next experiment when using the thermometer Distilled water will be used to thoroughly clean out the equipments before experiment. Equipments will not be reused for the next experiments. Method Drawing up data tables Molar of Ethanol Trials Initial temp (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Final temp (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Temp change (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Initial mass (g) Final mass (g) Mass used (g) Qualitative Data Getting apparatus ready 1. Set up the electronic scale and attach the metal clamp to the retort stand 2. Using the label stickers and permanent pen, label the beakers that contain the different molar concentration of ethanol accordingly 0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0; 2.5 3. Label the beaker containing water 4. Using the distilled water, thoroughly clean out the conical flasks and measuring cylinders Carrying out experiment 1. During the experiment, record any smell or colour of alcohol and any observation in the Qualitative Data table 2. Fill the conical flask with 100mL of water. 3. Place the thermometer inside the conical flask and record the initial temperature of the water 4. Keep the thermometer inside the conical flask 5. Clamp the flask at a height approximately 2cm from where the spirit burner will be placed below 6. Fill the spirit burner with just enough 0.5 Molar of ethanol so that the wick is half soaked in alcohol 7. Weigh the spirit burner attached with the lid containing the alcohol and record the initial mass 8. Place the spirit burner under the conical flask and use the matched to light the wick 9. When the water temperature reaches approximately 40à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C, blow out and extinguish the flame 10. Record the exact temperature reached when flames were extinguished 11. Using the tongs, move the spirit burner and lid to the electronic scale and weigh the final mass 12. Dispose the water and alcohol inside the spirit burner 13. Repeat steps 1 11, but change the type of ethanol in respect to independent variables 1.0 Molar, 1.5 Molar, 2.0 Molar and 2.5 Molar of ethanol 14. When repeating steps 1 11, make sure a new conical flask and water is used and also a new spirit burner is used 15. When all five experiments of the different molar concentration of ethanol is completed, repeat the experiment another two times for each molar concentration of ethanol in reference to the data table Calculations 1. Final temp Initial temp = Temp change (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) 2. Final mass Initial mass = Mass used (g)

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation Many health promotion initiatives had been undertaken everywhere. However, the most important is that such initiatives should establish certain aspects of characteristics based on best practice in order to be described as successful. This means that the initiative must be consistent with health promotion values, theories, evidence and understating of the environment (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Although the definition of health promotion practice is broadly accepted, it is not fixed to any rigorously defined discipline, and is said to be practised by individuals in diverse organizations, trained in a multiplicity of disciplines (Boutilier et al. 2000). Generally speaking, health promotion initiatives emphasize elements of empowerment, participation, multidisciplinary collaboration, capacity building, equity and sustainable development (Judd et al. 2001). The Ottawa Charter is considered to be the backbone of any health promotion practice and it is acting as the wheel that guides all heal th professionals into an ideal and best practice of health promotion related issues. In addition, the best practice is provided through effective planning and evaluation. A working guide to help in successfully achieving the goal is by an approach focusing on the following points: identifying the issue, gaining support and forming a working group, conducting a needs assessment and get to knowing your community, developing an action plan, encouraging participation, communicating with the public through the media, implementing change, monitoring, evaluation and adjustments (NLHHP 2003). In this assay, I will critically review a health promotion initiative by comparing the characteristics of this initiative against the principles of best practice. The initiative example: (Attention: the abstract is attached at the end of the assignment). Secker-Walker, Roger H ; Flynn, Brian S. ; Solomon, Laura J. ; Skelly, Joan M. ; Dorwaldt, Anne L.; Ashikaga, Takamaru (2000) Helping Women Quit Smoking: Results of a Community Intervention Program, American Public Health Association, Inc. Volume 90(6), June 2000, pp 940-946. Smoking lends to health promotion solution: Smoking is a challenging health problem world-wide and it is considered to be the second major cause of death. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults (WHO 2005). It is clear that smoking cessation is a priority for preventing many diseases and reducing their burden. There is a real need to expand the implementation of strategies to reduce tobacco use such as increasing the cost of cigarettes and implementing comprehensive tobacco-useprevention and cessation programs. (CDC 2003). Consequently, promoting smoking cessation can have a great impact in reducing the burden of diseases and improving the population health (Ezzati Lopez 2003). However, the health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life styles to well being (WHO 2005). As a result, a lot of efforts at different levels are needed in order to control smoking. This could be achieved well only through proper health promotion intervention. Moreover, the hea lth promotion is defined as a set of activities designed to achieve optimal health for all by monitoring and enhancing the heath of everyone and facilitating individual control over the determinants of health (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The definition itself sounds a logical solution for the high smoking prevalence among women. This is because of that in order to solve such problem, the women themselves should be actively involved and the community should be empowered. In addition, the physical and social supportive environment should be ensured in order to maintain smoking cessation. This is only ensured through a health promotion initiative. The best way to reduce the prevalence of smoking may be to use community-wide programs because smoking behavior is determined by social context. A community approach will remain an important part of health promotion activities (Secker-Walker et al. 2002). It has been proved that health promotion initiative will encourage smoking cessation and could prevent substantial numbers of deaths in the UK (Lewis et al. 2005). Needs assessment and its accountability for population wishes: It is crucial, first of all, to identify the issue through the need assessment. This is done by collecting the necessary information that specifies the needs that are considered as priority by the community. This provides an opportunity for the community to become involved in the planning from the beginning (Territory Health Services 2005). The health needs are defined as those states, conditions or factors in the community that, if absent, will prevent people from achieving complete physical, mental and social health (Ritchie et al. 2004). In this project, the need assessment is not well conducted and the different needs were not well assessed. It is not mentioned in this article whether the community profile was analyzed or not. However, the project investigators sat with local people, conducted interviews with key informants and shared information with them. Nevertheless, the following needs could be figured out: The decline in smoking prevalence among United States women was lagging behind that of men. This necessities the need of research on strategies to accomplish smoking cessation among women. There is real womens needs for social support while quitting In addition, their need for assistance with coping with negative affect in the absence of smoking, and their concerns about weight gain following quitting. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The smoking is a major health problem that can cause death. Many community based programs have been conducted to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, including cigarette smoking. Some of these programs showed the intervention effects on smoking behavior are effective. After analyzing this article, it is obvious that the need assessment indicates that smoking reduction among women is a priority public health in United States. This is a normative need. The best practice of health promotion emphasizing the sharing of need assessment with local people in order to improve the chance of success of any intervention. In this way, the success is ensured because sharing the results of the needs assessment will raise community awareness about the issues and possible underlying causes, stimulate discussion about ways to address the issues and get the community more involved in planning and decision-making (Territory Health Services 2005). There is clear information in the article that the community members were involved in the planning and implementation of the intervention throughout the five years period. On the other hand, it is not mentioned clearly how they assess the felt needs (i.e. whether the community groups say what they want, or address the proble ms that they think are important (Territory Health Services 2005)). Nevertheless, the participatory community organization was used to plan and provide widespread support to women smokers as they tried to change their smoking behavior. The comparative and expressed needs were not assessed. Goals and objectives of the initiative: It is essential after the needs assessment is over, to set up appropriate goals and objectives. The first step in critical analysis of goal and objectives is whether these had been stated clearly. The goal of this intervention was to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable and includes the nature of change expected. It will be more comprehensive if it was mentioned that it was limited to five years, which is the duration of the project and to specify the amount of smoking prevalence reduction in order to know exactly what intervention success means. However, this goal does identify the broad long term changed that was expected to be achieved ultimately (Hawe et al. 1990). The objective is not mentioned in this article. Instead they mentioned the sub-objectives. However, by analyzing the article I feel the objective should closely serve the goal. This means that achieving reduction in the smoking prevalence through a positive change in the women smoking behavior. As a result, the objective should be stated as to increase the number of serious quit attempts among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire by 20% for example. So the objectives will be also specific, measurable, achievable, includes the nature of change expected and time limited (SACHRU 2005). The sub-objectives were clearly mentioned. These were to increase motivation and intention to quit smoking and confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect, to increase awareness of cessation activities and to strengthen perceived norms and available support to help women quit smoking. It is known that a sub-objective should happen before the objective in the pathway and it might create a change in favour of the objective (Hawe et al. 1990). Keeping this in mind, there is a clear description task of these sub-objectives and they closely serve the objective by taking in account how to overcome womens negative feeling affect and thus create a change in the behavior. On the contrary, they were not time limited and some of them seems be difficult to be measured like increase confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect and also perceptions of norms. It is essential for any good health promotion planning to focus on underlying causes and factors that could possibly contribute or lead to the problem (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Therefore, development of clear and organized goal and objectives based on a critical analysis of the problem in terms of contributing and risk factors is essential (Territory Health Services 2005). It is not mentioned clearly in this article about the underlying causes of or contributing factors to smoking among women. However, specific health related behavioral and environmental factors linked to smoking were mentioned. It was stated that the smoking was most prevalent among lower income class. This implicates that poverty play an important role as an underlying cause of smoking. It sound logic that one of the sub-objectives should be stated clearly to take care of improving socio-economic situation or more accurately to tackle poverty related issues. It is also mentioned that the womens concerns about weight gain following quitting act as a barrier to stop smoking. Luckily, More than one sub-objective took care of this factor. Description of the intervention: A good description of the intervention is provided in the article under specific headings. It was directed to two pairs of demographically matched counties in Vermont and New Hampshire in United States which were assessed preintervention and postintervention during the period 1989 to 1994. The project was initiated by organizing community planning groups and the program was called Breath Easy. Each countys planning group formed a coalition, and each coalition formed 5 working groups. The planning process was taken up by the local planning group along with its coalition with very little input from the investigators except for the first year. Different activities were conducted during each year after the starting of the program. In the first year, the focus was to develop support systems to help women quit smoking through individual proactive telephone peer support. During the second year, videotape showing the process of quitting smoking was produced and distributed at no cost. In the third year, free smoking cessation classes were organized with a focus on dealing with negative affect. Later, the health professionals were involved in the Breath Easy program. Also, workplaces initiatives included presentations to businesses and worksites and assistance with smoking policies were started. Moreover, there was involvement of media initiatives included newsprint and radio (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). The conceptual frame work and underlying theories and values: The conceptual framework and underlying theories are not described in details in this article. It is only mentioned that they used social cognitive theory, the transtheoretical model of behavior change, diffusion of innovation theory, and communications theory. It was stated in the article that the project intervention was based on the proven effectiveness of this type of community intervention in promoting smoking cessation among women in Smoke Free North Side study. However, as I am reading the article it becomes clearer to me how well these theories could be fit into a community based health promotion project. The five basic stages of a behavior change as identified by the transtheoretical model of behavior change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, determination or preparation, action and maintenance (Nutbeam Harris 2004). These stages could be applied to explain the change of smoking behavior among women especially ensuring maintenance through peer support. According to the social cognitive theory an individual, the environment and behavior are continuously interacting and influence each other (Nutbeam Harris 2004). This is clearly noticed in the modifications of community norms concerning women smoking. The people decision to smoke is made within a broad context and influence by the surrounding environment which shapes the health behaviors such as smoking. In addition, diffusion of innovations refers to the spread of new ideas, techniques, behaviors or products throughout a population (Ferrence 1996) and this is exactly what had happened in this project where the message of smoking cessation was spread through mass media, videos and classes. Lastly, the communications theory is also applicable to this project. The values are important things because they affect which issues we choose to address and how we are going to address them (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The values of community intervention and development were not mentioned in this article. After literature review, it became obvious that some of these values are respect, equity, participation and meaningful process (http://www.wrha.mb.ca/howcare/commdev/). The process of community participation allows removal of inequality barrier and ensures fair distribution of resources. Moreover, respecting of local people and their involvement in determining their own health problems resulted in a positive outcome of this project. Application of Ottawa Charter action areas: There are many social factors that affect the diseases risk factors such as smoking and thus affecting the health. This includes low levels of social support and lack of personal control. These issues were well addressed in this initiative through the proper applications of Ottawa charter action areas. It is well stated that the achievement of the project objectives is through community members participation in planning and implementation. The community action is strengthened by involving local people to participate actively in order to improve their own health. The community organization is set up by forming local planning groups and from each group, the annual plans are drawn up. The supportive environment is provided through the supportive telephone communications networks which were arranged to encourage women to stop smoking. In addition, a healthy and supportive environment was ensured in workplaces, community college and high schools. Moreover, the organization of free smoking classes that focus on dealing with negative affect following quitting played an important role to maintain the quitting process. Healthy public policies were built in the community. An example is that smoking cessation policies were introduced into the workplaces. Another example was the active involvement of media which included newsprint and radio and made use of paid advertisements and thus information for quitting were available in each community. The personal skills of targeted females were developed. This was by training the female ex-smokers to provide support to current smokers to quit smoking through proactive telephone support. In addition, they were involved in the production of videos showing their own process of quitting smoking. Re-orientation of health services took place to some extent. This was by mobilizing the health workers towards focusing on smoking cessation activities rather than providing the medical care only. This was through making referrals to the telephone peer support system and they were trained in a brief smoking cessation protocol. It is quit obvious that by analyzing the interventions of the project, the Ottawa charter definition of health promotion is clear. This is because the project interventions could be understood as a process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health (WHO 2005). Evaluation: The evaluation process plays an essential role in ensuring the best achievement of any given program as it will affect the way in which the program will be conducted and the amount of effort needed (Ewles Simnett 1999). For the evaluation to be accepted, it should consist of process, impact and outcome evaluation. It is important to have the three parts otherwise it will be difficult to understand how the evaluation took place (Springett et al. 1995). The evaluation starts by evaluating the process including measuring the strategies, the activities and the quality of the project. Then, measuring the immediate effect of the project and this is called impact evaluation. At the end, it should measure the outcome or long term effect (Territory Health Services 2005). The evaluation was well planned and was well in place for this project. They used PRECEDE frame work to integrate the overall objectives of the program with the evaluation plan. This model takes into account multiple factors that determine health and quality of life and generates specific objectives and criteria for evaluation (Green Kreuter 1999). The design of the study was non-randomized with two pairs of demographically matched countries assessed peintervention and postintervension. This established a relationship between the intervention and observed outcome by comparing the situation before and after the intervention. In addition, they have set specific measurable objectives for each working group to be accomplished or initiated during the following 12 months. The stages of evaluation were done as follows: Process evaluation: Specific factors were set to evaluate predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors. These includes attitudes and beliefs towards quitting smoking, perceptions of norms and social supports, availability of smoking cessation materials and services, program recognition and media coverage. Suitable indicators were used to measure the above factors such as social support scale, measures of confidence in being able to stop smoking and confidence in being able to control weight gain after quitting smoking and measures for availability of smoking cessation resources. Impact evaluation: The impact was evaluated through a change in the smokers behavior. The indicators which were used are average daily cigarette consumption and average number of serious quit attempts. Outcome evaluation: This was evaluated by measuring the smoking prevalence among women aged 18 to 46 years old. It was found that the prevalence had declined significantly. This indicates the effectiveness of this project through achieving its main goal. Summative evaluation: It is the last step to be done and it involves considering the project as a whole, from beginning to end (SACHRU 2005). The investigators did not evaluate all different aspects of the project. However, they mentioned about strengths, limitations, response rate and their recommendations. The strengths of the study were small size and rural nature of these communities. On the other hand, the major limitations were nonrandomized design, the inclusion of only two counties in each condition, lack of prior measures of smoking prevalence in these counties and lack of ethnic diversity in the study population which limit the generalizability of the results. The overall sample size was 6436 with response rates of 89.9%. Their recommendations were that any future community interventions designed to effect reductions in smoking should place greater emphasis on the provision of a broad range of support for quitting smoking that is readily accessible to all smokers (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). Conclusion: Adoption of health promotion best practice is the only way to ensure effective and successful results of any intervention. However, this practice is not an easy mission. It requires a lot of augmentive efforts. The application of Ottawa charter and the reliance on justifying theories and values is essential. Moreover, the quality of the initiative is based on effective planning and evaluation from the initial stages. The community involvement in promoting smoking cessation was ensured in this project from the initial stages. Also, the evaluation process was proceeding well with PRECEDE framework. In conclusion, this initiative was about to be an excellent example of best practice except improper statement of objective, values behind the intervention and insufficient statement of needs assessment

Methods of Social Investigation :: essays research papers fc

Methods of Social Investigation Emma Woodmansee 'Describe how you would plan and undertake an investigation into why some of this College's students do not complete their degree courses.' (You have been given only 100 to finance the study; and one term's sabbatical.) Define the variables in the given title After a Research Statement has been formulated it is very important that the researcher defines any variables within it. A variable is any word whose meaning may be ambiguous or which could have several different meanings. This is a crucial stage in the planning process as a vague title renders any results at the end of the research without true meaning. In this case, the Research Statement is the given title ‘Describe how you would plan and undertake an investigation into why some of this College's students do not complete their degree courses.' Within this Research Statement there are several variables : ‘college's', ‘students', ‘complete' and ‘degree courses'. These variables will be defined as follows: `College's' We will take this to mean students at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. `Students' Undergraduates on a first degree (excluding post graduates and so on). `Complete' Graduate `Degree courses' The course for which the student originally registered. By defining the variables above there can be no confusion as to the meaning of the Research Statement. This process also helps the researcher to focus on the group of people that he wishes to study. Decide on the purpose of the research Having defined the variables in the Research Statement, the researcher now needs to focus his attention on the purpose of the research, and consequently lay down the Research Objectives. This part of the planning process allows the researcher time to consider what he hopes to achieve from the research and ensures that the research represents his objectives. The purpose of our research is to identify the reasons for students failing to complete the degree course for which they were originally admitted (variables already identified). The results of the research would allow the college to take action to encourage students to continue their studies and could even be used to aid the selection process and perhaps prevent problems from the outset. This is the final purpose of the research. Who is to be studied The researcher needs to identify the group of people upon which to base the study. The process is made easier by the fact that we have already defined the variables in the Research Statement. The research group has been thus so far defined as those students of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London who did not graduate from the first degree course for which they

The King Must Die: Is Theseus To Perfect To Be A Human Being? Essay

The King Must Die: Is Theseus to Perfect to be a Human Being?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To be considered a human being one must be subject to or indicative of the weakness, imperfections, and fragility associated with human beings. This definition separates us from any lower being, or for this book's concern separates us from any higher being. Theseus had endured a life that during some times showed to be like that of any human. Yet, there were numerous occasions that proved Theseus to be not of human flesh and blood, but that of a god.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most compelling event of the book, in my mind, that would define Theseus to be more than a human being took place under the strength of the Isthmus' current between Athens and Troizen. Theseus was losing strength and falling deeper into his coffin. Theseus had not sooner lost the struggle against the angry current as Poseidon lifted his body, in an invisible form, and carried him to shore safely. Theseus had been looking for a sign from a god. He had been looking for one all his life. When he was old enough his mother told him that he could have been born of a Greek god. Voluntarily or not, his life would become a search for the truth. This sign proved him to be more than human.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A hard challenge was brought onto to a younger Theseus' shoulders when he worked under his grandfather at the tender age of eight. Theseus was to teach the inner workings of his job that was soon ...

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 17

He stared at her for an instant, his golden eyeswide. â€Å"Don't you believe me?† â€Å"I wouldn't put it past Sylvia to try,† he said. â€Å"ButI don't think she's strong enough.† â€Å"She said she got special ingredients. And shesaid that nobody else could take the spell off.†When he still looked doubtful, although a bit more grim, Maggie added, â€Å"Why don't youtry it?† He reached down with long, strong fingers to pullat the fastenings of his brace. It came off easily,and Maggie's eyebrows went up. She blinked. He extended his arm, pointing it at the wall, anddrew a dagger from his belt. Maggie had forgotten about the blood part. Shebit the inside of her cheek and didn't say anythingashe opened a small cut on his wrist. Blood welled up red, then flowed in a trickle. â€Å"Just a little blast,† Delos said, and looked calmlyat the wall. Nothing happened. He frowned, his golden eyes flaring dangerously. Maggie could see the concentration in his face. Hespread his fingers. Still nothing happened. Maggie let out her breath. I guess spells are invisible, she thought. The brace was just for show.Delos was looking at his armasif it didn't belong to him. â€Å"We're in trouble,† Maggie said, trying not tomake it sound like I told you so. â€Å"While they thought they were alone in here, they were talkingabout all kinds of things. All Hunter cares about is getting you to help him destroy the humans. Butthere's been some big split in the Night World, and the witches have seceded from it.† Delos went very still, and his eyes were distant.†That means war. Open war between witches and vampires.† â€Å"Probably,† Maggie said, waving a hand vaguely.†But, listen, Delos, the witches sent somebody here,an ambassador, to talk to you. To try to get you on their side. Hunter said they've got one of the Wild Powers on their side already-the witches, I mean.Are you getting this?† â€Å"Of course,† Delos said. But now his voice wasoddly distant, too. He was looking at something Maggie couldn't see. â€Å"But one out of four doesn'tmatter. Two out of four, three out of four-it's notgood enough.† â€Å"What are you talkingabout?† Maggie didn't waitfor him to answer. â€Å"But, look. I know the girl whocame to talk to you. It's the girl I was with on therocks, the other one you saved from Bern. She'sAradia, and she's Maiden of all the witches. And,Delos, they're looking for her right now. They wantto kill her to stop her from getting to you. And she's my friend.† â€Å"That's too bad.† â€Å"We've got to stopthem,† Maggie said, exasperated. â€Å"Wecan't.† That brought Maggie up short. She stared at him.†What are you talking about?† â€Å"I'm saying we can't stop them. They're toostrong. Maggie, listen to me,† he said calmly and clearly, when she began an incoherent protest. That's the first time he's said my name out loud, she thought dizzily, and then she focused on hiswords. â€Å"It's not just the spell they've put on me. And it'snot just that they control the castle. Oh, yes, theydo,† he said with a bitter laugh, cutting her off again. â€Å"You haven't been here very long; you don'tunderstand. The nobles here are centuries old,most of them. They don't like being ruled by a precocious child with uncanny powers. As soon asHunter showed up, they transferred their loyalty to him.† ‘BUt-â€Å"‘ â€Å"He's everything they admire. The perfect vampire, the ultimate predator. He's ruthless andbloodthirsty and he wants to give them the wholeworldas their hunting grounds. Do you really thinkany of them can resist that? After years of huntingmindless, bewildered animals that have to be rationed out one at a time? With maybe the oddcreaky slave for a special treat? Do you think any of them won't follow him willingly?† Maggie was silent. There was nothing she couldsay. He was right, and it was scary. â€Å"And that isn't all,† he continued remorselessly.†Do you want to hear a prophecy?† â€Å"Not really,† Maggie said. She'd heard more thanenough of those for one lifetime. He ignored her. â€Å"My old teacher used to tell methis,† he said. â€Å"‘Four to stand between the light and theshadow, Four of blue fire, power in their blood. Born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision;Four less one and darkness triumphs.'† â€Å"Uh huh,† Maggie said. To her it sounded likejust more of the same thing. The only interestingthing about it was that it mentioned the blindMaiden. That had to be Aradia, didn't it? She wasone famous witch. â€Å"What's `born in the year of the blind Maiden'svision?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ she asked. â€Å"It means all the Wild Powers are the same age,born seventeen years ago,† Delos said impatiently. `But that's not the point. The point is the last line,`Four less one and darkness triumphs.' That meansthat the darkness is going to win, Maggie.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"It's inevitable. There's no way that the humansand the witches can get all four Wild Powers ontheir side. And if there's even one less than four,the darkness is going to win. All the vampires need to do is kill one of the Wild Powers, and it's allover. Don't you see?† Maggie stared at him. She did see what he wassaying, and it was even scarier than what he'd saidbefore. â€Å"But that doesn't mean we can just give up,†she said, trying to puzzle out his expression. â€Å"If we do that, it will be all over. We can't just surrender and letthem win.† â€Å"Of course not,† he said harshly. â€Å"We have tojoin them.† There was a long silence. Maggie realized that her mouth had fallen open. â€Å"†¦ what?† â€Å"We have to be on the winning side, and that'sthe vampire side.† He looked at her with yelloweyes that seemed as remote and deathly calm as apanther's. â€Å"I'm sorry about your friends, but there's no chance for them. And the only chance for youis to become a vampire.† Maggie's brain suddenly surged into overdrive. All at once, she saw exactly what he was saying.And furygave her energy. He was lightning-fast, but she jumped up and out of the way before he could close his hands on her. â€Å"Are you out of your mind?† â€Å"No â€Å"You're going to killme?† â€Å"I'm going to save your life, the only way I can.†He stood up, following her with that same eerie calm. I can't believe this. I †¦really †¦can't †¦ believe this, Maggie thought. She circled around the bed, then stopped. It was pointless; he was going to get her eventually. She looked into his face one more time, and saw that he was completely serious. She dropped herarms and relaxed her shoulders, trying to slow herbreathing, meeting his eyes directly. â€Å"Delos, this isn't just about me, and it's not justabout my friends. It's about all the slaves here, andall the humans on the Outside. Turning me into a vampire isn't going to help them.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† he said again. â€Å"But you're all that really matters.† â€Å"No, I'm not,†Maggie said, and this time the hottears didn't stop at her eyes, but overflowed and rolled down her cheeks. She shook them off angrily, and took one last deep breath. â€Å"I won't let you,† she said. â€Å"You can't stop me.† â€Å"I can fight. I can make you kill me before youturn me into a vampire. If you want to try it thatway, come and take your best shot.† Delos's yellow eyes bored into hers-and thensuddenly shifted and dropped. He stepped back, hisface cold. â€Å"Fine,† he said. â€Å"If you won't cooperate, I'll putyou in the dungeon until you see what's best foryou. Maggie felt her mouth drop open again.†You wouldn't,† she said. â€Å"Watch me.† The dungeon, like everything else in the castle,was heart-stoppingly authentic. It had something that Maggie had read about in books but hadn't seen in the rooms above: rushesand straw on the floor. It also had a stone benchcarved directly into the stone wall and a narrow,barred window-slit about fifteen feet above Mag gie's head. And that was all it had. Once Maggie had poked into the straw enoughto discover that she didn't really wantto know whatwas down there and shaken the iron bars that made up the door and examined the stone slabs in the wall and stood on the bench to try to climb to the window, therewas nothing else to do. She sat on the bench and felt the true enormity of the situation trickle in on her. She was really stuck here. Delos was really serious. And the world, the actual, real world out there, could be affected as a consequence. It wasn't that she didn't understand his motivation. She had been in his mind; she'd felt thestrength of his protectiveness for her. And she wanted to protect him, too. But it wasn't possible to forget about everyoneelse. Her parents, her friends, her teachers, thepaper girl. If she let Delos give up, what happenedto them? Even the people in the Dark Kingdom. Laundressand Old Mender and Soaker and Chamber-pot Emptier and all the other slaves. She caredabout them. She admired their gritty determination to goon living, whatever the circumstances-and theircourage in risking their lives to help her. That's what Delosdoesn't understand, shethought. He doesn't see them as people, so he can'tcare about them. All his life he's only cared abouthimself, and now about me. He can't look beyondthat. If only she could think of a way to makehimsee-but she couldn't. As the hours passed and thesilence began to wear on her, she kept trying. No inspiration came. And finally the light outsideher cell began to fade and the cold started to settle in. She was half asleep, huddled on her chilly bench,when she heard the rattle of a key in a door. She jumped up and went to peer through the bars, hoping to see Delos. The door at the end of the narrow stone corridoropened and someone came in with a flare. But itwasn't Delos. It was a guard, and behind him wasanother guard, and this one had a prisoner. â€Å"Jeanne!† Maggie said in dismay. And then her heart plummeted further. A third guard was half marching, half supporting Aradia. Maggie looked at them wordlessly. It wasn't like Jeanne not to fight, she thought, asthe guards opened the cell door and shoved theother girls in. The door clanged shut again, and the guardsmarched back out without speaking. Almost as an afterthought, one of them stuck a flare in an ironring to give the prisoners some light. And then they were gone. Jeanne picked herself up off the floor, and thenhelped Aradia get up. â€Å"They've got P.J. upstairs,†she said to Maggie, who was still staring. â€Å"Theysaid they wouldn't hurt her if we went quietly.† Maggie opened her mouth, shut it again, andtried to swallow her heart, which was in her throat.At last she managed to speak. â€Å"Delos said that?† â€Å"Delos and Hunter Redfern and that witch.They're all very chummy.† Maggie sat down on the cold bench.†I'm sorry,† she said. â€Å"Why? Because you're too stupidly trusting?†Jeanne said. â€Å"You're not responsible for him.† â€Å"I think she means because she's his soulmate,†Aradia said softly. Jeanne stared at her as if she'd started speaking a foreign language. Maggie stared, too, feeling hereyes getting wider, trying to study the beautiful features in the semidarkness. She felt oddly shy of this girl whom she'd calledCady and who had turned out to be something shecould never have imagined. â€Å"How did you know that?† she asked, trying notto sound tongue-tied. â€Å"Can you justtell?† Asmile curved the perfect lips in the shadows.†I could tell before,† Aradia said gently, backing upquite accurately to sit on the bench. â€Å"When youcame back from seeing him the first time, but Iwas too foggy to really focus on anything then. I'veseen a lot of it in the last few years, though. Peoplefinding their soulmates, I mean.† â€Å"You're better, aren't you?† Maggie said. â€Å"Yousound lots moreawake.† It wasn't just that. Aradia had always had a quiet dignity, but now therewas an authority and confidence about her thatwas new. â€Å"The healing women helped me. I'm still weak,though,† Aradia said softly, looking around the cell. â€Å"I can't use any of my powers-not that breakingthrough walls is among them, anyway.† Maggie let her breath out. â€Å"Oh, well. I'm gladyou're awake, anyway.† She added, feeling shy again, â€Å"Um, I know your real name, now. Sorry about the misunderstanding before.† Aradia put a hand-again perfectly accuratelyon Maggie's. â€Å"Listen, my dear friend,† she said,startling Maggie with both the word and the intensity of her voice, â€Å"nobody has ever helped me more than you did, or with less reason. If you'd been oneof my people, and you'd known who I was, it wouldhave been amazing enough. But from a human, who didn't know anything about me †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Shestopped and shook her head. â€Å"I don't know if we'll even live through tonight,† she said. `But if we do,and if there's ever anything the witches can do foryou, all you have to do is ask.† Maggie blinked hard. â€Å"Thanks,† she whispered. â€Å"I meanyou know. I couldn't just leave you.† â€Å"I do know,† Aradia said. â€Å"And that's the amazingthing.† She squeezed Maggie's hand. â€Å"Whatever happens, I'll never forget you. And neither will theother witches, if I have anything to say about it.† Maggie gulped. She didn't want to get startedcrying. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop. Fortunately Jeanne was looking back and forthbetween them like someone at a tennis match.†What's all this sappy stuff?† she demanded. â€Å"Whatare you guys talking about?† Maggie told her. Not just about Aradia being Maiden of the witches, but about everything she'dlearned from listening to Hunter Redfern andSylvia. â€Å"So the witches have left the Night World,† Aradia said quietly, when she was finished. â€Å"They wereabout ready to when I left.† â€Å"You were coming here to talk to Delos,† Maggie said. Aradia nodded. â€Å"We heard that Hunter had gotten some lead about the next Wild Power. And weknew he wasn't goingto take any chances on letting Circle Daybreak get hold of this one.† Jeanne was rubbing her forehead. â€Å"What's Circle Daybreak? ‘It's the last circle of witches-but it isn't justwitches. It's for humans, too, and for shapeshiftersand vampires who want to live in peace with humans. And now it's for everybody who opposes the darkness.† She thought a moment and added, â€Å"I used to belong to Circle Twilight, the †¦not-so wicked witches.† She smiled, then it faded. â€Å"Butnow there are really only two sides to choose from.It's the Daylightorthe Darkness, and that's all.† â€Å"Delos really isn't on the side of the Darkness,†Maggie said, feeling the ache in her chest tighten.†He's just-confused. He'd join you if he didn'tthink it meant me getting killed.† Aradia squeezed her hand again. â€Å"I believe you,†she said gently. â€Å"So, you're some kind of bigwig of the witches,huh?† Jeanne said. Aradia turned toward her and laughed. â€Å"I'm theirMaiden, the representative of the young witches. If I live long enough, I'll be their Mother one day, and then their Crone.† â€Å"What fun. But with all that, you still can't thinkof any way to get us out of here?† Aradia sobered. â€Å"I can't. I'm sorry. If-this isn'tmuch use, but if I can do anything, it's only to givea prophecy.† Maggie made an involuntary noise in her throat. â€Å"It came while I was asleep in the healers hut,†Aradia said apologetically. â€Å"And it was just athought, a concept. That if there was to be any helpin this valley, it was through appealing to people's true hearts.† Jeanne made a much louder and ruder noisethan Maggie's. â€Å"There is one more thing,† Aradia said, turningher wide unfocused eyes toward Maggie and speaking as gently asever. â€Å"I should have mentioned thisearlier. I can tell you about your brother.†

Decoding Apple’s Balance Sheet Apa Format Essay

Decoding Apple’s Balance Sheet In March of 2009, Apple had its best March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple history (Apple). In order to see how this occurred, it is important to look over the financial statements of Apple. There is a lot of information available to investors who are interested in investing in a company. By looking specifically at the balance sheet of Apple I am going to determine if investing in Apple is a good idea or a bad idea. Some things I am going to consider are Apple’s assets, liabilities, and shareholder’s equity. These areas should give me insight to how the best quarter in Apple history came to be. Looking at the current assets of Apple, cash and cash equivalents went down from 11. 8 billion dollars to 4. 4 billion dollars. This may look bad at first, but all of the other assets must be added to this in order to get an overall picture of the assets. Short-term marketable securities went up from 10. 2 billion dollars to 20. 5 billion dollars. This helped Apple’s assets grow tremendously. Accounts receivable fell to 1. 9 billion dollars from 2. 4 billion dollars. With the rest of the current assets figured in, inventories, deferred tax assets, and other current assets, the total current assets rose to 33. billion dollars from 32. 3 billion dollars. That was a rise of 1. 5 billion dollars (Apple). It is important to take into account the rest of the assets. For example, long-term marketable securities rose 1. 5 billion dollars, property, plant and equipment rose 0. 91 billion dollars, goodwill stayed the same, acquired intangible assets fell 0. 017 billion dollars, and othe r assets rose 0. 56 billion dollars. Now that we know how each asset was affected during this quarter, we come to the final numbers, which are total assets rose 3. 6 billion dollars. Apple grew its assets substantially during this quarter. I would think Apple would be a good company to invest in. Before I made any decisions I would investigate the balance sheet further in order to compare liabilities and shareholder’s equity with the previous quarter. This will give me a better understanding of the financial situation of the company (Apple). Current liabilities are in the first section of liabilities and shareholder’s equity. The following accounts are current liabilities and how they fared. Accounts payable went down from 5. 5 billion dollars to 3. 9 billion dollars. Accrued expenses went down 1 billion dollars. Deferred revenue went up from 4. 8 billion dollars to 7 billion dollars. The total change in current liabilities was a decrease of 0. 4 billion dollars. The other two liabilities categories, deferred revenue (non-current) and other non-current liabilities, rose collectively 0. 7 billion dollars. This gives the total liabilities a rise of 0. 3 billion dollars. This amount compared to current assets is not as significant. So far Apple is still looking like a good investment because the assets of Apple rose 1. 5 billion dollars whereas their liabilities only rose 0. 4 billion dollars. It is now time to take a look at the final category of the balance sheet, the shareholder’s equity (Apple). The value of shareholders equity, common stock, rose from 7. 1 billion dollars to 7. 6 billion dollars. Retained earnings also rose; it rose from 13. 8 billion dollars to 16. 6 billion dollars. Accumulated other comprehensive income rose . 07 billion dollars. Total shareholder’s equity rose 3. 3 billion dollars. So adding together the rise of 0. 4 billion dollars in liabilities with the 3. 3 billion dollar rise of the shareholder’s equity, we get the same amount, 3. 7 billion dollars, as we got for the rise in total assets.

Advance strategic management. Consumerism Essay

1. What is consumerism? DEFINITION Consumerism can be defined in two different ways; 1. Consumerism is a theory which states that buying and consuming goods and services in a large amount are more beneficial to the economy. Thus this theory appreciates gradually increased consumption of goods and services. 2. Consumerism means ‘consumer protection’. It is a movement or policy that protects the interests of consumers via truthful packaging, honest advertisement, improved safety standards and product guarantees. Consumerism involves policies that regulate methods, products and services, standards, selling and advertising in the interests of the consumers. These protect buyers from defective products, misleading advertising, unfair practices etc. Such policies can be mandatory, legislative, institutional or voluntarily accepted by the industry. e.g., consumers’ interests can be harmed by mispricing, adulteration, artificial demand etc. IMPORTANCE Consumerism encourages economic growth by providing good quality goods and services to the customers. Increased consumption by the customers shows the economic growth level. Increased demand would lead to increased production thus raising the gross domestic production. It helps to make informed decisions through truthful advertising, environmental and safety standard laws. Thus consumerism provides protection to buyers. Implementation of consumer protection laws shield consumers against exploitation, discourage anti-social activities and unfair trade practices, provide complete and latest information to the customer which aids in buying  decision making process. 2. What IS STRATEGY? Why it is important? Choose a company, study its strategy and then make its competitive analysis. DEFINITION 1. Strategy is business game plan used by management to stake out market position, conduct its operations, attract and please customers, compete successfully and achieve organizational objectives. 2. It is a process through which a company concentrated its resources on optimal opportunities to achieve short term and long term goals and other competitive advantages. IMPORTANCE Strategy answers three central questions about the company (i) where are we now? (ii) where do we want to go? (iii) how will we get there? Strategy tells about the current position of the company, its future plans and the approaches it will follow to achieve its objectives. Strategy encompasses actions to attract customers, actions to deliver value at optimal price and cost equilibrium, actions to respond to changing market environment, approaches to pursue available opportunities and plans to gain competitive edge. A powerful strategy makes a company distinctive and provides sustainable and durable competitive advantage in creating, producing, distributing and marketing the company’s products/services. An effective strategy results in best possible business performance in terms of financial profitability and market position. Strategies are desperately needed to direct the activities of the company in a way that its goals and objectives are achieved in a right way through right approaches and at the right time. An excellent strategy that is excellently implemented is a good measure to evaluate the management competencies and performance. A strategy-focused company has a strong performance, profitable earnings, revenue growth and favourable return on investment. COMPANY : COLGATE-PALMOLIVE Colgate Palmolive has $17.1 billion consumer products and serves people around the world with renowned brands by offering four types of products/services: oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition products. This company operates globally and approximately 75 percent of its sales are from outside the home country while majority of its products are manufactured in its own facilities. Colgate-Palmolive 2011 to 2015 Strategy The main focus of Colgate-Palmolive’s five year strategy is on people, performance and planet with measurable goals in accordance with the company’s business objectives. 1. Promoting Healthier Lives The objective was to promote health and wellness in order to minimize employee health risks by 15 percent, to achieve 5 percent reduced health costs by improving on time diagnosis and treatment of diseases and to focus on safety of employees. 2. Contributing to The Communities Where We Live and Work This parameter of the strategy aims to increase the impact of company on the community by $300 million. For this purpose five objectives were set which will provide greater focus to the company’s contribution towards the community. Partnership is done with dental professions to improve the oral care of the community. A program of â€Å"Bright Smiles, Bright Futures† is scheduled to contact 1 billion children by 2020. To provide hand-washing awareness to over 50 million households. To work with 250 thousand veterinarians to educate pet owners and provide over $100 million pet food. Continue to provide company’s products after natural disasters and to invite more  volunteers in this community program. 3. Delivering Products That Delight Consumers and Respect Our Planet The objective is to increase the sustainability of all the products by (i) ensuring that ingredients continue to meet the standards of safety, health and quality (ii) reducing the impact of environment on the products and packaging. This is achieved by increasing the use of recycled contents and more usage of sustainable materials. 4. Making Every Drop of Water Count The strategy aims to reduce the consumption of water during manufacturing by 24 percent. The objective also aims to take steps to promote access of clean water and water conversation awareness among over two billion consumers. 5. Reducing Our Impact on Climate and Environment The intention was to reduce energy consumption and carbon emission during the manufacturing process by 20 percent. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS The stated strategy of the company can be analysed on the bases of three broad terms. The following stated questions will determine the goodness of the strategy implemented by Colgate-Palmolive i.e. whether the strategy was able to improve the market position and financial performance of the company or not, how good was the company at handling the environmental dynamics and gaining competitive advantage. 1. How well does the strategy fits with the company’s situation? The main competitor of Colgate-Palmolive is Procter & Gamble with the same strategy of sustaining products and environmental safety but Colgate-Palmolive has got a competitive advantage in the year 2011 and 2012 by having strong presence in personal care products and emerging markets in different geographical areas. Due to broad operation bases globally the company has got the strength to lead the market. 2. Is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? Yes the strategy implemented by the company has made it to be a global leader in oral care. Colgate-Palmolive’s market is the single largest market by value shares and is insulated from the downturns. The company’s strategy focuses to meet market challenges, committed to increase product sustainability and focuses on segmentation by function. Colgate-Palmolive has improved sustainability profile in 24 percent of products. 3. Is the strategy helping in better company performance? The strategy has helped the company in attaining better financial and ethical performance. Colgate-Palmolive has shown best environmental performance in past years and is able to sustain its past competitive advantage. The company had $17.1 billion worldwide sales in 2012. Its gross profit margin was 58.4 percent in fourth quarter of 2012. Colgate-Palmolive won 100% Code of Conduct Certification, stood No. 1 in beauty and personal care products and was announced No. 1 at ‘Most Admired Companies in 2013’ by Fortune World. Colgate-Palmolive had operating profit of $4.02 million in 2012. 35 percent of its packaging material is from the recycled material thus fulfilling its goals of safeguarding the environment and reducing costs. Three different products of Colgate-Palmolive have won title of ‘Product of the Year 2012’ and Ethisphere magazine has given the company title of ‘ 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies’ US E.P.A declared the company to be ‘Designed for the Environment’ for many of its home care products. The above analysis shows the strengths and the competitive advantage earned by the company due to its best performance and leading activities. Surely the above mentioned performance is only attainable because of an excellent strategy and its excellent execution. _________________________________________