Geographic Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Geographic Information Systems - Essay Example Natural catastrophes such as hurricanes can have devastating effects on the life and economic stability of any area hit. This has been experiencing more than once in America where lives and property have been lost and the government forced to spend so much on rescue and restoration mission. It is, therefore, a big relief that such a problem can be effectively solved through GIS and thus reduce the loss or avert the danger as a whole. As mentioned earlier, GIS is all about collection and use of date. To solve the problem of the hurricane, several sets of data are necessary. First, the system must indicate the kind of problem expected, the specific time and region of the target and the population involved (Fu & Sun, 2011). This information will help in setting up a response plan and help evacuate the area if possible before the problem hits. The information will also help in alerting the authorities in time for mitigation measures (Singhroy, 2003). Secondly, the problem will also require information on the accessibility of the area, geological structure, weather pattern and hence the possible route of the hurricane in relation to the prevailing winds (Goodchild, 1996). In all these situations, the GIS provided vital information on the location, scale and possible effects of the hurricane on the people and the structures. Using the maps, the rescuers can locate the problem and even trace a safer route to evacuate the people and reach to them during the rescue operations (Goodchild, 1996). Further, the information also notifies the authority on the crisis that can result from the hurricane if it reaches the power plants. I believe that the development of the GIS is a welcome technological input to solving both natural and manmade problems. Using the information so developed, the danger is either evaded or the destruction

The Evolution of British Tea Traditions in the 18-19th Centuries Essay Example for Free

The Evolution of British Tea Traditions in the 18-19th Centuries Essay Foreigners have many ideas about what the English like. I can say that a nation is born from its land, its history, its art, its institutions and its traditions. Britain is famous for its immutable traditions. The traditional love of English people for tea is well known by all over the world. The English have always drunk tea as a nation. And I understand their love for tea: it’s good any time of day, it’s very refreshing, and it can restore you, when you are tired. But it’ll be better to notice, that time is changing everything. It’s changing the style of our life. It’s becoming faster and faster every year. Different life – different traditions! Certainly tea-drinking, as a part of the English tradition, changed. Nowadays, unlike food, tea could be offered to anyone at any time without inconvenience and without breaking any of the rules of decorum. Its service provided a focal point for social activities, enabling people of differing rank to meet and converse, and helping to spread the polite values of refinement, gentility and sociability. More than two centuries ago, in early eighteenth century Britain tea was usually prepared by the lady of the house in front of her guests. It was habitually taken in the mid-afternoon, after dinner, but as the century progressed, it was also more often drunk at breakfast. According to Likhachev D.S., who worked on the analysis of the Nature of cultural traditions, Each generation, in its activities, makes the choice of existing traditions (taking some tradition or aspects of them and at the same time rejecting others), and gives them their own interpretation. And so, most likely, the tea-drinking tradition was changed by the generations, the slaves of time in manifest error of what a real tradition is.

Media Comparison Research :: Compare Contrast Research Papers

Media Comparison Research There have been considerable debate on research of media comparison as it relates to education over the past few years. According to Richard Clark, there has been a "paradigm shift" that occurred in instructional media research during the past decade from a behavioral to a more cognitive approach. (Anglin 348). Clark felt that there was "consistent evidence found that there are no learning benefits to be gained from employing any specific medium to deliver instruction. Research showing performance on time saving gains from one or another medium is shown to be vulnerable to compelling rival hypothesis concerning the uncontrolled effects of instructional method and novelty. (Clark 445) Media Defined: Media refers to a class of instructional resources and representing all aspects of the mediation of instruction through the agency of reproducible events. It includes the materials themselves, the instruments used to deliver the materials to learners and the techniques or methods employed. (Allen 1) Media can be defined by its technology, symbol systems and processing capabilities. The most obvious characteristics of a medium are its technology: the mechanical and electronic aspects that determine its function and, to some extent, its shape and other physical features. (Kozma 180) Basics of Media Research There are three major objectives of media research: (1) obtain knowledge about the educational or instructional effectiveness of a chosen medium; (2) increase understanding of how media and technology function and what psychological effects they have on a learner; (3) improve the practice of education through the provision and evaluation of better materials, media, procedures and technologies (Salomon, Clark 1-2). Schramm, as cited by Salomon, stated that while all media can teach very effectively, "learning seem to be affected more by what is delivered than by the delivery system." (Schramm, 1977) (Salomon 1). This has become the basis of disagreement among experts. Discussion Clark’s article argued that most current summaries and meta-analyses of media comparison studies clearly suggest that media do not influence learning under any conditions. In El Salvador (Schramm, 1977), it was not the medium that caused a change in achievement, but rather a curricular reform that accompanied the change. The best current evidence is that media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition.

Leadership Challenges Of Today Essay

The role of leaders today has become increasingly easier and yet more challenging at the same time.   With the level of technology that is available today as opposed to what was previously available, a leader is able to communicate much faster with the other members of the team and coordinate the work within large teams more effectively and efficiently (Bennis, 2001).    With the advances in communication technologies and all the new gadgets designed to ease to work load and make people function for efficiently, there are more and more demands of a leader today.   Factor in the fact that there are an increasing number of multi-cultural working environments today and it becomes apparent just how much more different the leadership scene is today from previous years (Bennis, 2001).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the main challenges of a leader today that has been brought about by the development of technology is that a leader is now expected to do more.   A leader is always expected to make the most of whatever resources are available (Covey, 1999).   In previous years, the constraints of communication problems made the expectation much lower than it is today.   With the relative ease in communication and the devices that are currently available, more output is expected from a leader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another challenge which was not present in the leadership scene in previous years is the existence of a growing number of multi-cultural teams in the work place.   The diverse environments in the work place today demand that a leader be able to cope with the different cultural background and communication skills of his team members (Bennis, 2001).   This creates a more challenging working environment as leaders must try to adjust to the needs of working in a multi-cultural environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, with the level of competition brought about by globalization, it is becoming increasingly difficult for leaders to cultivate a company culture that promotes job satisfaction and reduces the turnover rate of employees.   The relative ease of finding other jobs in other companies and markets and the level of competition demands that a leader must be able to play a critical role in keeping the team members happy as well as ensuring a certain level of productivity to remain competitive (Covey, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While it may be argued that these leadership challenges were already present in the workplace before, it must be pointed out that these challenges only existed to a minimal extent and were not a major factor until now.   It is expected that as the world markets expand and the level of competition increases, the role of a leader today will only become more challenging and stressful. References: Bennis, W., Spreitzer, G. and Cummings, T. (2001) The Future of Leadership: Today’s Top Leadership Thinkers Speak to Tomorrow’s Leaders Jossey-Bass Publishing Company Covey, S. (1999) Principle-centered Leadership Simon & Schuster Ltd

Animal Farm Equality

The novel being discussed is called â€Å"Animal Farm† by George Orwell. He is an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is well known around the world for his, awareness of Social Injustice, opposition to Totalitarianism, and his commitment to Democratic Socialism. The book â€Å"Animal Farm† reflects the events that occur in real life, which leads up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. This novel is about animals throwing over the humans and ruling themselves. Napoleon and Boxer are good examples of a Leader and Follower.Napoleon is a manipulative and power Hungry leader who takes away the animal’s rights while his follower Boxer is hard working and a true believer of his leader but at the end his precious life is lost from overworking. The leader chosen to be discussed is Napoleon and according to the novel Napoleon is doing a good job but his manipulative ways is destroying the equality in the Animal Farm. He raised Jesse and Bluebells pup pies into vicious attack dogs which will help him keep power over the other animals in the farm.An example of destroying the equality in the farm is when he trades with the humans when it clearly said in the commandments that no animal shall ever trade with any human. Furthermore, according to Orwell another Commandment said that â€Å"No animal shall kill another animal† (Page 17), but Napoleon changed that to â€Å"No animal shall kill another animal without any cause. † These changes that he makes to the Commandments clearly prove that Napoleon is taking the animals equality rights away. The follower chosen to be discussed is Boxer and according to the novel Boxer is the animal that works the hardest in the farm.His motto is â€Å"I will work harder,† and he is the animal that contributes the most to all the success of the farm. He does never for even a second realize that he is being deprived of his equality by Napoleon because he always believes that Napole on is their leader and that he will never be wrong. Towards the end of the novel his lungs give in from working too hard and all the other animals watch helplessly as he is sent to his death. Boxer never realizes that his freedom is being taken away and his beliefs influence everyone else that Boxer is right and they never realize the truth.In conclusion, the power greedy leader Napoleon still rules the Animal farm with more revised commandments which take away the animal’s freedom and equality rights. According to the novel Boxer’s innocent soul is up in heaven and the Animal Farm is actually in even worse condition than it was when Mr. Jones was their master. Napoleon and his so called commanders gained so much power over the working animals that they started to misuse it and the cause to overthrow the humans and rule themselves really is for nothing because there is one leader who ruled over everyone and took their freedom from them.

AIDS on Family care givers in a Home Setup The WritePass Journal

The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Family care givers in a Home Setup Abstract The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Family care givers in a Home Setup ) Zimbabwe, in particular, has been worst hit by the HIV epidemic with more than 27% of the adult population diagnosed with HIV in 1997. Currently though, the prevalence rates have reduced significantly to 14% of the adult population (National AIDS Council, 2012). However, this decline is largely attributed to the significant number of deaths of people with HIV. Persistent political turmoil and the resultant economic decline have further contributed to the literal collapse of the Zimbabwean health care system. The failure of the Public health care system has cast the major burden of health care provision to private agencies, NGOs and Home based care has become the indispensible and only feasible model under the prevailing circumstances. Statistics suggest that of the 35,000 children in the country that needed ‘Antiretroviral Therapy’ (ART) only 17,000 have had access to the drugs (UNICEF, 2009). Though the availability of ART has vastly improved from just 15% in 2007 to around 80% by 2010, (National AIDS Council, 2011) there is still a huge unmet demand. Zimbabwean government’s opposing attitude towards NGOs and its accusations about the NGO funds being used for anti governmental activities has further limited the already strained financial aid flowing into the country for AIDS care.   Amidst these tiring circumstances, family based care giving has become the central strategy for the national HIV/AIDS management programs.   This paper attempts to study the impact of HIV/AIDS care delivered in the family based setting and how such care provision affects the care giver.   In particular, this paper strives to highlight the issues such as the psychosocial impact on caregivers and using the caregiver’s views assesses their coping and support mechanisms. Home Based Care A brief outlook into what constitutes home based care is appropriate before we proceed further. The World Health Organization defines home based care as â€Å" a programme that through regular visits, offers health care services to support the care process in the home environment of the person with HIV infection. Home visits may be the only service provided or be part of an integrated programme which offers the patient and his/her family services in the home, hospital and community†. Ministry of Health and Child Welfare,(2004). From the definition it is clear that home based care is considered a holistic care solution that addresses the needs of both the care receiver as well as the care giver. This understanding is crucial for the successful implementation of the home based care delivery model. Literature Review Family based care provision is proving to be the important model in the delivery of care to chronic illnesses such as AIDS. Particularly in Zimbabwe, where decades of political and economic turmoil have weakened the health care system, the role of family based care provision could not be more emphasized. The political friction between the West and the Mugabe government, and the accusations about the political motives of the NGO operations in the country, led to a sharp decline in the active healthcare interventions in the country.   NGO funding to Zimbabwe for its healthcare programmes reached a record low in 2006. During this year, the average aid money for HIV care per person in Zimbabwe was limited to $ 4 which when compared to the average aid money allotted per person in Zambia ($184) is a meager amount (Matimba, 2010). However, since 2008, the aid to Zimbabwe is again on the rise with the USAID and DFID being the two key contributors. The USAID contributed 26.4 million in 2008 while the DFID pledged in 2010 to contribute $40 million over a five year period. Despite this the total aid money that Zimbabwe received for its HIV healthcare operations during this period is just one tenth of the aid money received by neighboring Zambia and one fourth that of the aid amount received by Namibia in the corresponding periods (AVERT, 2012). These statistics project the grim scenario from the financial standpoint in delivering HIV care in Zimbabwe where HIV has assumed endemic proportions. HIV being a chronic condition, patients have to undergo continuous care for a protracted period of time and the hospital setting cannot handle the enormous demand. Statistics suggest that in Zimbabwe roughly 70% of all hospital admissions are connected to HIV care.   Statistics also suggest that even a 5% increase in the number of HIV patients would result in a 25% increased demand for hospital beds. The figures indicate that hospitals, as care provision centers, for a country such as Zimbabwe where there is a swelling HIV population, is a highly unviable model and therefore community and home based care provision assume great significance.   The policy stance of the Zimbabwean government to promote home based care provision could be understood based on these ground realities. The Zimbabwean government has been actively promoting care giver training by employing community nurses as trainers for these family care givers. With funding limitations, even the training and support prov ided by the community nurses to the family care givers has been affected making them vulnerable to the enormous pressure of managing the care provision all by themselves (Matimba, 2010). National Community Home-Based Care Standards (2004)   The enormity of the HIV problem and the limited nature of the government health care resources forced the home care system of care delivery in Zimbabwe. However, the quality of life of the HIV infected patient depends a lot on quality of the home care givers. In most cases these home based care providers have absolutely no training at all and even lack the knowledge to protect themselves from accidental exposure to HIV infection. To improve the quality of home based care delivery, support services must also be improved. With this in view the government of Zimbabwe set up the ‘National Community Home-Based Care Standards’ in 2004 that included the following important features Care and Support for patients and Family Team Service Provision Governance and Management Training , information and Education Monitoring and evaluation The main objective of establishing the standards for home based care delivery is to change home care from being perceived as a third rate care provision by improving its overall quality. It should be noted that Home care is not just about the patients but also about the care giver. The national standards for Home care therefore lay this stress on providing holistic care support through an established standard. The process involves training, education, monitoring and continuous evaluation.   The National Community Home-Based Care Standards (2004)  neatly defines its purpose as â€Å"Provision of a support system through the development of strong partnerships with the community, family and patient, home-based caregivers, and the health system, thus assuring patients an acceptable quality of life until death†. (Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, 2004). The definition also considers the aspects of support provided for the carer and other family members including   † emotional, spiritual and other psychosocial support, bereavement counseling, and other appropriate assistance that meets their special needs† (Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, 2004).   Psychosocial Impact of Caregiving Literature is abound with studies that analyze the impact of care giving for a HIV patient, on the care-giver. Almost all of these studies indicate that care giving results in enormous psycho social impact on the provider. Typically, the family care giver maybe overcome with emotions ranging from , depression, anxiety, fear, anger , helplessness along with the overwhelming financial burden that is involved with HIV care provision. Lindsey et al., (2003) explored the effects of care giving on older and younger women in Botswana who were caring for family members with chronic HIV. The authors of the study identified that older women, in particular, were overwhelmed with the physical and mental demands of care giving. These women had to manage demanding tasks such as caring for the patient with frequent episodes of vomiting, incontinence and confusion. Care giving family women had to do all this along with their household chores and this creates enormous physical hardships not to mentio n the emotional drain. Furthermore, in many cases, care providing women are subjected to economic strains when the productive member of their family is affected by HIV (Lindsey et al., 2003). Another study by Ssengonzi (2007) explored the impact of care giving on Ugandan older women. The results of this study also chimed in with the findings of the previous study with the elderly Ugandan women reporting that care giving left them financially affected due to three main reasons The ill relatives and the consequent loss of family income the negative effect of care giving on the employment opportunities of the care provider Expenses incurred on procuring medicine for the patient under their care The care giving women also expressed social isolation as a result of their inability to participate in the usual social activities (Ssengonzi,2007). One study by Thomas F (2006) that assessed the impact of home based care giving for HIV patients in Namibia again reported that financial constraints due to care giving is a serious problem. This study collected information from both the patient as well as the care giver in the form of solicited diaries. The study found that the inability to provide for family created severe emotional strain for the care giver.   Significantly, the study also reported that the quality of care provision is affected over time when the worsening financial situation in the household coupled with the lack of recovery of the patient lead to escalating tensions and emotional upheavals in the house (Thomas F (2006). One urban study conducted in Kinshasa, the capital of the republic of Congo, involved self reported health and emotional status of 80 spouses and caregivers of HIV infected men in the region. What surprised the researchers was that despite this being an urban study with better hospitals and home care support networks, around 94% of the women caregivers expressed that care-giving was very difficult for them and 99% reported that it affected their social lives. Importantly, 90% of these women care givers stated that they were stigmatized by friends and their husband’s employers. This study clearly highlights that the stigma of AIDS care could further contribute to the emotional strain of HIV care.   As a revealing study on the psychosocial impact of care giving, this research found that 48% of these care providing women were so unhappy with their circumstances that they lost interest in their life and expressed the lack of interest and energy to continue. Furthermore, 94% of t hese women had some form of physical ailment including frequent headaches, fatigue, body pain, lack of appetite, anorexia, etc (Kipp et al., 2006). Studies done elsewhere in the developed countries also reflect similar feelings from the care givers. For instance one earlier study by Flaskerud Tabora (1998) based on low income female care givers in California who provided care for heterosexual and homosexual HIV patients attested to the findings from the African studies. These women expressed the same concerns as the previously listed studies including depression due to poor functional outcome of the patient, loneliness due to uncooperative and unsupportive friends and relatives, etc. Around 59% of the care giving women also reported that their physical health was affected considerably due to the prolonged period of care giving. Worn out by their care-giving duties these women were moody and even expressed their anger at the patients as their irresponsible behavior put them in this place. Last but not the least, the women subjects of this study welcomed being interviewed for the study as it provided an emotional vent for them to lay out their feelings which they could not so far share with anyone due to the absence of an appropriate support network. (Flaskerud Tabora, 1998). One recent South African study by Hlabyago et al. (2009) focused on one of the important problems faced by care givers of terminally ill HIV/AIDS patients. This problem is the caring for the orphaned children of the parents who succumbed to HIV. As per 2010 data, more than a third of the 50 million or more orphaned children in Sub Saharan Africa lost either one or both their parents to HIV.   Given the huge scale of the problem, this study by Hlabyago assumes great significance in terms of policy formulations and also with respect to assessing the impact on family caregivers. The researchers of this study employed one on one interview technique which sought answers to the following important question from the care givers – â€Å"Would you please tell me your experiences as a family caregiver concerning your care of the orphans?† (Hlabyago et al., 2009). The Interviews were conducted for nine subjects who were home caregivers recruited from the Hoekfontein Clinic in So uth Africa. The demographic details of the subjects were noted down.   Six out of the 9 (63%) care givers were grand mothers, 2 of them were aunties and one of them sister to the orphaned children. Thematic analysis of the data resulted in the observations that are listed in the following table. As could be inferred from the above results table, financial constrain is a major problem for care givers affecting 77% (7 out of 9) of the study subjects.   However, one concern that is uniformly expressed by all the care givers involved in the study was that of the existence of Bureaucratic difficulties and the lack of social support services. Though the government has programs to support orphans in the form of orphan grants, accessibility problems and processing delays and the lack of proactive approach within the social works departments hinder the outreach of such programs to the people. For instance, one of the caregiver, who was the grand mother of the orphaned child, expressed her helplessness stating, â€Å"I got the heart to help this child by applying for this orphan grant. I am still waiting for the money because it is not yet released. I sent the documents a long time ago. The social worker has since told me that they will send someone at home and I am still waiting. I wish that money can come so that I can save some for him (the orphan) because I am old – anytime I can die, you see†. (Hlabyago et al., 2009). The study also revealed that lack of support from family members is a pressing issue. One of the care giver subjects who were interviewed for the study reported that she received little support from her husband in taking care of the orphaned Children. â€Å"The day Johanna died he came and found me struggling with her, he came into the room and walked out, and when he came back again the child was already dead† (Hlabyago et al., 2009). Some of the care givers expressed concern about the rebellious attitude of the orphaned kids while some of them expressed concerns about the growing family conflicts due to the care giving. â€Å"I decided to take him in and care for him. I think that she (the orphan’s biological grandmother) is thinking that because I am receiving this child’s orphan grant, she is not sending anything for this child who is basically her responsibility† (Hlabyago et al., 2009).   The literature reviewed so far clearly highlighted that care giving for HIV patients could be a stressful event and debilitate the care giver in the absence of suitable support mechanisms. Methodology The following sections will revolve around a questionnaire based primary study in which 15 subjects who were care providers for HIV patients in Zimbabwe were provided with 6 questions with various choices and their answers analyzed for themes.   The choice of questionnaire was due to its informal nature and usefulness in gaining valuable data. The use of open ended questions helps in ascertaining more information from the subject whenever appropriate.   Though initially I had sent my questionnaires to 15 recipients only 10 of them returned the completed information. All the 10 subjects were properly apprised of the nature of the study. Though the respondents knew that the study was purely for academic purposes they were delighted in providing the valuable information for the study. All the subjects were assured of the confidentiality of their responses and that their responses would be used purely for academic knowledge improvement purposes. Thematic analysis was employed to disc ern useful themes and patterns about the various aspects of caregiving. Results The data from the questionnaires answered by the 10 subjects who participated in the study were analyzed to identify the emergent themes. In all, six questions with varied responses to each question were provided to the subjects. These questions were particularly relevant to understanding the wide impact that care giving has on the home based care providers. The results revealed some of the important psychosocial aspects of caregiving. The repetitive themes that were identified from the data attested to the key findings reported in the literature review early in this paper. These common themes suggest the need for urgent action. Care giving challenges The data from the questionnaires revealed some demographic profile about the subjects. Most of the carergivers in the study were relatives of the HIV Patient and on an average care provision period lasted between 2 and 3 years. 80% of the caregivers were elderly females. Economic difficulties dominated the challenges that were reported by the caregivers with almost 90% of the subjects reporting financial constrains as a serious issue involved in prolonged caregiving for the HIV patient.   As discussed earlier in the paper this may stem from loss of income if the patient was a productive member of the family. Caregivers are also constrained by the fact that they could not be gainfully employed when they are tied down with caring for the patient. One other important aspect pertaining to caregiving at home was the lack of adequate transport services. 80% of the caregivers opined that they find transporting the patient to the hospital during times of emergency a huge problem as the Ambulance services are not prompt. Subjects also complained that the ambulance services charge them for the fuel costs.  Ã‚   Most of the subjects stated that they took the responsibility of caregiving out of love and compassion to the patients. When asked about the support services that could have helped them a lot with their care giving almost all the subjects mentioned transportation as an important feature. 30% of the subjects felt that providing food care for the patients and opportunities for part time employment for themselves would have been greatly helpful.   40% of the caregivers also expressed their concern that the scarcity of water in rural Zimbabwe added more problems to them as they could not walk several kilometers to fetch water leaving their sick patients at home. This is a very relevant issue as Zimbabwe is one of the African countries that is hard hit by water crisis, and more often than not, functional borewells that are the only nearby sources of water would be several kilometers away. There were also concerns about the medication supply with 40% of the caregivers complaining about shortage and availability of ‘Anti retroviral Drugs’ at the local dispensary. The continuous availability of ART is critical for HIV patients in order to prolong their life. It was also interesting and informative to note down that 7 out of the 10 subjects felt that this small questionnaire project, though it was done for educational purposes, provided them with an opportunity to discuss the problems involved in care giving.   The seven care providers felt that the questionnaire provided them an emotional purge as they hsd not had a chance to discuss their difficulties with anyone else. They all felt that there was a complete lack of support mechanisms available for carers and that this made them feel helpless and emotionally dissipated time to time.   Conclusion Caregivers undergo enormous stress during the protracted period of care giving that is involved in managing a chronic HIV patient. Just as care givers provide so much of love, effort and care to the patients they look after, their needs should also be looked after. The psychological, spiritual and financial support that caregivers require are however largely unfulfilled. Especially when there is political and economical turmoil in a country, such as that seen in Zimbabwe, the needs of the home based care provider is more likely to be ignored. As the numerous studies that were discussed in the paper reported care givers are mostly women and predominantly elderly women. Reeling under enormous financial strain, compounded by the lack of support network, African women are forced to singlehandedly manage care delivery for the HIV patient and are stretched to breaking points. Stigmatization and social isolation that arise out of HIV care giving make them even more isolated and overwhelmed. The present study based on the information gathered from caregivers in Zimbabwe clearly highlights the plight of the caregivers. It is very clear that financial woes are among the most important to the caregiver, followed by the lack of support services. Zimbabwean government is unstable and social welfare programs are hardly functioning. Even for those support services that are maintained and run by the Government, bureaucratic difficulties have made them inaccessible and out of reach of the poor caregiver. Counseling support services for caregivers are distinctly lacking. Based on the opinion gathered from the study and other relevant literature, it is clear that holistic care as advocated in the National Community Home-Based Care Standards (2004) is still far from reality.   There is clear indication that support networks do not exist or are inaccessible. Based on these findings this paper concludes that family based care givers are struggling without access to support services. A collaborative action involving government, NGOs and other health agencies is required to correct the defects. Home based carers should be trained, supported and counseled, and policy level initiative must be practically implemented. Only then could the quality of life for the patients as well as for the carers improve. Bibliography AVERT, (2012), HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe, viewed Jan 1st 2012, avert.org/aids-zimbabwe.htm#contentTable5 amfAR, (2012), Statistics Worldwide, viewed January 1st 2012 amfar.org/about_hiv_and_aids/facts_and_stats/statistics__worldwide/ Hlabyago KE Ogunbanjo GA (2009), The experiences of family care givers concerning their care of HIV/AIDS Orphans, SA FAM PRACT Vol 51, no 6 pg 506-511. Kipp W, Matakula Nkosi T, Laing L, Jhangri GS, (2006), Care burden and self-reported health status of informal women caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. AIDS Care, Oct; 18(7):694-7 Lindsey E, Hirschfelf M, Tlou S, Ncube E. (2003), Home based care in Botswana: experiences of older women and young girls. Health Care for Women International; 24: 486-501 Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, (2004), National Community Home based Care Standards, viewed Jan 1st 2012, jsieurope.org/docs/national_community_hbc_standard.pdf Natsayi Matinba, (2010), The Psycho Social impact of Care-Giving on the Family Care-Givers of Chronically ill AIDS/HIV Patients in Home based Care. Research Report, University of Witwatersrand, SA. National AIDS Council, (2011), UNAIDS highlights Zimbabwes progress in response to AIDS, viewed January 1st 2012, nac.org.zw/news/unaids-highlights-zimbabwe%E2%80%99s-progress-responding-aids-0 Ssengonzi R. J. (2007), The plight of older persons as caregivers to people infected/affected by HIV/AIDS: evidence from Uganda. J Cross Cult Gerontol; 22: 339-353 Thomas F. (2006), Stigma, fatigue and social breakdown: Exploring the impacts of HIV/AIDS on patient and carer well-being in the Caprivi Region, Namibia. Social Science and Medicine 63: 3174-3187 UNICEF, (2009), HIV and AIDS Issues, viewed January 1st 2012, unicef.org/zimbabwe/hiv_aids.html

Natural Grocers Essay Example

Natural Grocers Essay Example Natural Grocers Essay Natural Grocers Essay Name: Course: Lecturer: Date: Natural grocers The grocery store started in the 1955 as a family venture offering door-to-door services to people in Golden, Colorado. They sold whole grain bread and offered educational books on nutrition to the people. The family knew that as people were increasingly being informed about nutritious food there would be an increase in their sales. This venture was so successful that the family started a retail store within six months. Various strategies were employed to achieve this fit (Natural Products, 2001). Grand strategy Natural Grocers came up with several strategies that have enabled them to be the leaders in the produce market. This include; Specialization, the company has, over the years specialized in specific areas of providing there consumers with only organic food and thus have gained a wealth of experience in as far as organic food is concerned. The company has also positioned itself near to stores whereby the consumers can access other goods that they do not offer. The other very important aspect is that the company always buys straight from the producers and this makes sure that they cut the intermediaries and boosts their profits. It is also a fact that the company also is very willing to open up new branches in other towns to increase their sales. The biggest strategy that is employed by the company is that of education, the company is able to boost their sales by making sure that more people are informed about nutrition and so they gain new customers, at the same time they retain their customers by proving them with healthy recipes, nutrition seminars, cooking demonstrations and pet care. How does the company implement its long-term goals? The long-term objectives of the firm include continued provision of organic food and nutritional help, as well as being involved to a big extent in the conservation of the environment. Ultimately, also the biggest long-term objective is continued profits and expansion of its operations throughout the states. This will be achieved by strictly adhering to the strict selection process, maintaining a good rapport with the customers and the general population, through aspects such as corporate social responsibility (Hansen M, 2002). Short-term objectives and action plans that allow the company to achieve the goals The short-term objectives of the firm involve the day-to-day running of the activities of the firm. This is achieved in a great sense by maintaining a good management team and adhering strictly to the clearly spelt out code of conduct. The other action plans includes; embracing technology and thus can be able to advertise themselves more, while on the hand the company has set enlisted its shares in the stock market to be able to increase their profits but also to be more competitive ( George S, 2002). Firm’s functional tactics, how does the firm gain a competitive advantage? The firm has been able to maintain a competitive edge in the area of grocery for many years. The biggest functional tactic is that the company maintains a personal appeal to every customer, such that it is not just a store but also more like a local corner shop where the attendant knows the customer. The biggest tactic is that of being able to identify new areas for expansion and ultimately advertisement. Hansen, Maren. Increasing Organic Agriculture at the Local Level: A Manual for Consumers, Grocers, Farmers Policy Makers. Santa Barbara, Calif: Community Environmental Council, Gildea Resource Center, 2002. Print. Natural Products. Auckland, N.Z: Slice Publications, 2001. Print. Parker, Philip M. 2007-2012 World Outlook for Independent Grocers, the. ICON Group, 2006. Swinnock, George. The Christian-Man’s Calling: Or, a Treatise of Making Religion Ones Business: Wherein the Nature and Necessity of It Is Discovered. : As Also the Christian Directed How He May Perform It in [brace] Religious Duties, Natural Actions, His Particular Vocation, His Family Directions, and His Own Recreations. London: Printed for T.P. and are to be sold by Dorman Newman, at the Kings Arms in the Poultry, next Grocers-Alley, 2002. Print. The Grocer’s Companion and Merchant’s Handbook: Containing a Comprehensive Account of the Growth, Manufacture and Qualities of Every Article Sold by Grocers. Also, Tables of Weights and Measures, and Information of a General Nature of Value to Grocers and Country Merchants. Boston: B. Johnson, 2003. Print.

Borax Crystal Star - How to Grow a Star Crystal

Borax Crystal Star - How to Grow a Star Crystal Grow borax crystals around a star shape to produce a crystal star that also makes a beautiful holiday ornament or decoration. Materials: Borax Crystal Star BoraxWaterPipe cleaner (chenille craft stick)Food coloring (optional) Process Shape a pipe cleaner into a star. Its a good idea to leave one end long so you can hang the star in the crystal growing solution.Prepare a saturated borax solution by dissolving as much borax as possible into boiling hot water. Youll know you have a saturated solution when borax powder starts to accumulate on the bottom of the container.Stir in food coloring, if desired.Hang the star in a clean container (such as a coffee mug or glass) and pour the borax crystal growing solution into the container so that the star is covered. Try to avoid touching the star to the sides or bottom of the container. Crystals will grow on the star even if it is touching the container, but it is much harder to remove the star without damaging it.Allow the crystals to grow until you are satisfied with them. This is usually anywhere from 2-10 hours. Remove the star and allow it to dry.The star may be stored wrapped in tissue paper, kept away from humidity. Other Star Crystals If you dont have borax you can use alum, table salt, or epsom salts. As with the borax, be sure the solution is fully saturated before adding the star shape. Table salt will produce pretty small cubic crystals, while alum will grow large crystals, and epsom salts will grow needle-shaped crystals.

Topic will be included in my attachments Research Paper

Topic will be included in my attachments - Research Paper Example The rise of China has raised effect on the core interest of India. Delhi has started inclining towards the US in the Asian policy articulation. While Washington and Delhi are not allied in the conventional sense, the pressures between them in coordination their Asian strategies are believed to mount amidst the assertive rise of China (Sood, 28 Feb. 2015). During early 1960s, there was a tilt between United States and India the conflict between Sino and India. The relationship continued until recently when there was a slight foundation from the emrging triangular relationship between the three countries. Basically, the better part of the cold war, the triangular relationship between Delhi, Beijing, and Moscow that possessed a greater share for the power balanced in south Asia. This continued until George W. Bush entered power especially during his second term that started in 2005 and ended in 2009. Indeed, Washington factored India its plans about China (Sood, 28 Feb. 2015). The interlocutors of India and Bush were extra-careful not to parade their relations based on the opposition that it has against China. The surprising warmth of Bush to India was his desire to invest huge political fund in order to transform their relationship. Additionally his controversial stance in facilitating the trade of nuclear energy with India, were hugely taken to make India one of the counterweight to make China rise. The official proclamations to this decision were not documented, therefore, a senior architect of US’ Indian policy later revealed the core of the Chinese factor. The president advocates his transformation of the relation between US and India on the main strategic principle of a sovereign India as a crucial factor in balancing the power of the Chinese. George Bush made it clear that the whole issue was not based on containing China. Nevertheless, the senior architect said that without the influence of China at the administration of Bush there

SUMMARY Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

SUMMARY - Article Example Opinions may also be contradictory such as those on needs for high-quality social services and lower tax is an example. Public opinions may call for better quality of care but oppose tax increment that is necessary for the improvements. Misinformation is another limitation to governance by public opinion. People either lack facts on issues of moderate facts to suit their values and beliefs and these misinform opinions. Another factor to misinformation is lack of attention to available information. A significant percentage of American students, for example, do not know popular facts as British prime minister. Public opinion may however be valid without knowledge but knowledge of consequences is important. The author concludes by arguing that being informed is a necessity for better ability to solve problems and influence developments in the society. He notes availability of sources of information and advocates for dedication of time to these sources for informed public

Police statics discussion 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Police statics discussion 2 - Assignment Example 1). Finally, the data published by the US Department of Health and Human Services focus on drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, substance abuse, among others (US DHHS, 2010). What are the major strengths and weaknesses of each? The strengths of the FBI reports are the availability and accessibility to crime reports on the most updated manner, where the latest statistics provided is for the year 2013. The weakness is that some data are not provided; for instance, the site disclosed that in violent crimes, clearance and arrest data are not available (FBI, n.d.). For the NCVS, the strength is the clear structure of the reports; while the weakness is that the latest information available is 2012 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). Finally, the information provided by the DHHS is also comprehensive in the area of drug use; however, the weakness is that the latest available statistics pertain to the year 2010 (US DHHS, 2010). Which of the three different examples do you think is the most useful from a practitioners perspective and why? From a practitioner’s perspective, the most useful would depend on the statistics needed as well as the information on the type of crime that the practitioner needs. Yet, the most current and updated statistics provided by the FBI is deemed to be most relevant since it provides the most updated information that reveals current and historical patterns. US DHHS. (2010). Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. Retrieved December 16, 2014, from oas.samsha.gov:

Homework 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Homework 4 - Essay Example The US supports the Jewish Israelites against the Christian Palestinians who do not believe in Jesus and Muslims as they support the expulsion of the all Israel citizens living in Palestine. The Americans have embraced the perverted interpretation of Christianity that ignores the humane message of Jesus Christ which is the same view held by the non-Christians in Palestine. The mainline Christians in Palestine usually question about the legitimacy of the Jewish faith while some evangelical Christians back Israelites hence the reason why the US is against the Christians. The Palestine-Israel conflict for the US economy and diplomacy has huge consequences on the economy and security of the US. The passionate attachment that US have with Palestine has produced numerous evils in their country (Green 120). The conflict between the two countries has highly jeopardized the security in the US and that the conflict is responsible for the economic, moral and social

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry Assignment

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example Any part of hospitality industry such as theme parks, hotels regardless of its status and restaurants try to maximize the number of visitors and the turnover of the business. Almost all businesses in this line use various avenues for increasing their business and sales. One of these ways  is  eWOM.   The full form of eWOM is Electronic word of mouth and can be defined as the customer reviews that are posted on Social Media as well as other websites. The marketing experts have studied the importance and relation of eWOM with existing and future paying customers and the relation between content of  eWOMand increase in sales volume.   The main mediums of eWOM include blogs, social media sites such as facebook, pintereste, Twitter and others. This medium also includes various popular travel websites where most of the people do their bookings, chat rooms and other user-generated websites in this field. It is a fact that the hospitality business in UK must pay attention to these online reviews, as most of the potential customers prefer to check the reviews before booking of the room in any UK Hotel (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel, Beatriz (2013)). Due to this, the hospitality industry should keep the  negative  reviews at minimum and positive reviews at the maximum. One way with which this can be done is to contact the person who  has  posted  negative  reviews and sort out the issue.   These studies also consider some factors such as the role of volume and valence of eWOM  for  an increase  in sales for future. The volume of reviews of any hotel affects the (RevPAR  revenue per room.  The valance refers to the ratio of positive review vs the negative review and has  a lot of effect over business of luxury hotels. The volume refers to the number of reviews posted on relevant websites, blogs and other social media (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel,

Ethical Behavior and Ethical Lenses Of Baird Essay

Ethical Behavior and Ethical Lenses Of Baird - Essay Example The ELI is sure to facilitate the self-discovery of one’s underlying values which help individuals to identify their preferred approach to solving ethical dilemmas. One’s personal code of ethics is shaped by one’s family members, teachers, norms and regulations of the community, formal and informal education, philosophy, morality and religion. Similarly, each profession and organization has its own ethical codes (values, expectations and set of preferences) which the employees have to follow. It is also important for individuals to identify the values in conflict through greater self-knowledge. These values in conflict are the result of differences between one’s personal and community values, conflicts as to which personal value should take priority in a given situation, and the disparity between one’s best and worst selves. The ELI will also equip one to identify one’s values in conflict and as such this paper seeks to address my personal et hics statement based on Baird’s ethical decision model. For Baird, the four basic values that form one’s ethical behavior and determine one’s primary ethical lens are rationality, sensibility, autonomy and equality. Among these, rationality stresses on reason, principles, critical thinking and analysis; sensibility emphasizes empathy and compassion where the individual follows his heart or intuition in ethical decisions; autonomy favors personal rights and responsibilities in ethical behavior whereas equality takes into account the needs of the community in ethical choices (Baird & Niacaris 11). Analyzing my own ethical values it is evident that rationality stands at the core of my ethical statement. I strongly believe in the power of reason, principles, critical thinking and analysis in making ethical choices. However, regarding the priority of values to be undertaken in various situations I stand divided between autonomy and equality. Even though I am a strong advocate of equality and value the needs of the community I favor my personal rights and responsibilities as well in many instances. Therefore, I realize that there are certain conflicts of values with regard to my ethical decisions which I need to sort out carefully. It is also worthwhile to analyze the four ethical lenses of Baird to have a thorough understanding regarding my own ethical perspectives. For Baird, one’s value preferences determine one’s ethical lens and therefore it is significant to identify my own core values and the corresponding ethical lens. Baird categorizes the ethical lenses into four: rights and responsibility lens, results lens, relationship lens, and reputation lens. The Rights and Responsibility Lens emphasizes the core values of autonomy and rationality and it holds that the individual is capable of making his own ethical choices through critical thinking and analysis. On the other hand, the Results Lens emphasizes the core values of auto nomy and sensibility and the focus of the individual is on the results or consequences of his actions. As such the ethical perspective has its roots in the teleological tradition which stresses on utilitarianism. The third ethical perspective is the Relationship Lens that emphasizes the core values of equality and rationality, traditionally known as theories of justice and it has its roots in the deontological tradition. This ethical perspective exhorts one to treat everyone in the community with respect and dignity. On the other hand, the Reputation Lens emphasizes the values of equality and sensibility and the lens focuses on what virtues the community believes should be cultivated by those in positions of responsibility. With regard to my e

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry Assignment

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example Any part of hospitality industry such as theme parks, hotels regardless of its status and restaurants try to maximize the number of visitors and the turnover of the business. Almost all businesses in this line use various avenues for increasing their business and sales. One of these ways  is  eWOM.   The full form of eWOM is Electronic word of mouth and can be defined as the customer reviews that are posted on Social Media as well as other websites. The marketing experts have studied the importance and relation of eWOM with existing and future paying customers and the relation between content of  eWOMand increase in sales volume.   The main mediums of eWOM include blogs, social media sites such as facebook, pintereste, Twitter and others. This medium also includes various popular travel websites where most of the people do their bookings, chat rooms and other user-generated websites in this field. It is a fact that the hospitality business in UK must pay attention to these online reviews, as most of the potential customers prefer to check the reviews before booking of the room in any UK Hotel (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel, Beatriz (2013)). Due to this, the hospitality industry should keep the  negative  reviews at minimum and positive reviews at the maximum. One way with which this can be done is to contact the person who  has  posted  negative  reviews and sort out the issue.   These studies also consider some factors such as the role of volume and valence of eWOM  for  an increase  in sales for future. The volume of reviews of any hotel affects the (RevPAR  revenue per room.  The valance refers to the ratio of positive review vs the negative review and has  a lot of effect over business of luxury hotels. The volume refers to the number of reviews posted on relevant websites, blogs and other social media (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel,

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journal - Essay Example Despite years have passed since the Cold War ended, the hidden ambivalence and suspicions between the two world powers remain. The Russian conflict in Chechnya has been denounced vocally by the US, while its president, former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, has been viewed with suspicion due to his hard-hand methods. However, the world being under the threat of global terrorism, the United States would be willing to overlook those matters for much more pressing concerns. Given Russia's cooperation so far in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, including its sharing intelligence about al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Bush is apt to comply (James Carney, Our New Best Friend, time.com). Russian support to the American global war against terrorism would be looked with both the Russians and the Americans looking at the advantages of such agreements. The Americans gain better assets in their campaign while the Russians gain better favor and image in the eyes of the Western world. Source cited Carney, J. â₠¬Å"Our New Best Friend?† Time Magazine. 12 Nov 2012. Web. 27 May 2002. World Politics Journal Entry 2 Issue: Military Intervention In the year 2008, the Georgian-South Ossetian War broke-out with Georgian forces breaking through the South Ossetian border while the two regions exchanged fierce artillery firing. The involvement of Russia in this conflict caught the world’s attention more closely. For one, South Ossetia is considered to be one of the sub-republics of the Russian Federation. Any attack on a territory under the Russian Federation would lead to a very forceful reprisal. This, unfortunately, happened to the Georgians who faced a terrific defeat by Russian forces. A year afterwards, ready, and waiting. Georgia and Russia have traded increasingly belligerent accusations against the other as the anniversary of last year's five-day war has approached in recent weeks; these soldiers, sent by Moscow to guard the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, are on the front line of that war of words (John Wendle, A Year After War, S.Ossetia More Dependent on Russia, time.com). As the region of South Ossetia still reels and remembers from the attack made by the Georgians, it is only logical for South Ossetia to look on to Russia for aid. The Russians also see this as a matter and opportunity that they cannot let slide. It has been the goal of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and also noticed by the rest of the world powers, to expand Russian influence towards the territories it once held during the Cold War. This could be seen as Russia’s attempt to restore its Cold War era status as a superpower in par with its Western rivals such as the United States. Source Cited Wendle, J. â€Å"A Year After War, S.Ossetia More Dependent on Russia†. Time Magazine. 12 Nov 2012. Web. 10 Aug 2009. World Politics Journal 3 Issue: Military Rearmament During the Cold War, the United States considered the former Soviet Russia as such a powerful force to reckon with that it led to a full-scale arms race. By the end of the Cold War, however, Russia lost due to not having the sufficient economy to support its staggering military expenditure. It did not help either that the first administration of the Russian Federation under the late President Boris Yeltsin was rampant with corruption and inflation. The Russian military at this time was at a point of slow decline. Come the term of the new Russian leader Vl

Existentialism is a Humanism Essay Example for Free

Existentialism is a Humanism Essay In Existentialism is a Humanism, Sartre explains that in human beings, â€Å"existence precedes essence. † Meaning, humans are created without any purpose, but with growth and maturing they find their purpose. J. P. Sartre gives the example of the paper clip, noting that this inanimate object was created with the intent of a purpose. Therefore, that idea lead to it’s creation. He uses this example to demonstrate â€Å" essence precedes existence. † He states, â€Å" man is nothing else, but what he makes of himself. † Simply put, us as humans are first born than we create our own paths in our lives and who we shall be in life. This explains that through our actions and decisions we make in our lives, molds us into the beings we become. Further mentioning that we are the choices we make, are we responsible for who are as individuals because of that. Sartre goes on to say there are two kinds of existentialists. One of them being Christians, Catholics, or people who believe in God. As well as atheistic existentialists who do not believe in God such as himself. However, one thing they share is both groups believe in the idea of â€Å" existence precedes essence. † But, those who believe in God believes God was a superior power who created people with a purpose, which ties into the idea of the paper clip. With that being said, though men has diverse traits and characteristics, they share the same basic qualities because if human nature. On the other hand, the atheistic view believes God is nonexistent and a man starts as nothing and later defines himself. Therefore, Sartre states, â€Å"There is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom†¦. We have no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct. † In other words, we have no excuses, and we are entirely responsible for our decisions. Therefore, there is no God to provide guidance on the proper way to live and we must find that out through our choices. He goes on the idea of subjectivism, saying that one man’s acts creates the image of every man as a whole. Which, develops the idea of what men ought to be as individuals. Sartre also replies that, â€Å"it is impossible for man to transcend human subjectivity. † He isn’t saying â€Å"I prefer subjectivity over objectivity,† he’s asking, â€Å"how can we possibly not be subjective? † Even the religious individual who believes that morality is absolute and comes from God must, at some point, choose to believe that this is the case. Our responsibility is a blessing and a curse. It leads us to feel things like anguish and despair. We experience anguish in the face of our subjectivity, because by choosing what we are to do, we â€Å"choose for everyone†. When you make a decision you are saying â€Å"this is how anyone ought to behave given these circumstances. † Many people don’t feel anguish, but this is because they are â€Å"fleeing from it. † If you don’t feel a sense of anxiety when you make decisions, it’s because you are forgetting about your â€Å"total and deep responsibility† toward yourself and all of humanity. Despair arises because we only have power to change things that are within our power to change, and there is a lot we cannot change. With that being said, reality is unbiased and out of our control, except for small aspects of it here and there. We despair because we can never have full control of the future. However, we are the rulers of our lives, we take the responsibility of our actions and ourselves in general. Regardless of what you believe, this cannot be any other way.

The Culture Of Japan And The Effects On Business Marketing Essay

The Culture Of Japan And The Effects On Business Marketing Essay Enclosed is the report about the culture of Japan and the effects of its culture on our business communications and sales materials. In this report, you will find information about what the Japanese finds important to them when conducting business. For this project, we have had the full cooperation of the team and it is as follows: Audrey Hughes: Introduction conclusion, section on gender roles, proof reading and APA documentation Chris Stover: Section on etiquette and work ethics, proof reading and APA documentation Justin Strayhorn: Section on dominant religious values, proof reading and APA documentation. Syamak Tabrizi: Report format , research on all topics, introduction and conclusion, proof reading and APA documentation Tia Taylor: Introduction conclusion, section on importance of color, proofreading and APA documentation. The Japanese are a proud culture with a history spanning thousands of years. Status is very important to them. Therefore, by extension etiquette is important. Japans culture is very different from the west. Decision making is a lot slower, because people tend to seek approval from everyone in the group, especially the elders (Ghimire, 2006). Japan is a high context culture, meaning less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information, and more internalized understandings of what is communicated. Our company needs to be indirect since more is implied than said. In Japan, business cards are of great importance. Great deal of care should be given when handling these cards. We cannot write on them, or put them in a pocket or wallet, since either of these actions will be viewed as defacing it. Furthermore, business cannot begin until business cards are exchanged. In addition, Japanese do not like use the word no, realizing this is very important when dealing in negotiations with them. In Japan, whether doing business or at a social gathering individuals greet one another with bowing. Not following this rule is considered rude in Japanese culture, thus whenever cash is exchanged at a business it is placed onto a small tray. Our company needs to understand they way they communicate. In order to be successful we need to train employees how to communicate or business deal will fail. Communication with customers is of great importance, because no business is successful without repeat customers, and good reputation. Communication is very important to Japanese. The Japanese have traditional gender roles, similar to those of the U.S., with men being the breadwinners, and women being homemakers. In addition, childcare is regarded as the mothers responsibility, thus, full-time working wives have are also responsible for housekeeping and childcare without help. The traditional gender roles-men as breadwinners and women as homemakers-are supported by 40 to 50 percent of people (NHK 1994; Ministry of Public Management 1995). Gender roles dont affect business a great deal However, reach the right demographic certain specialty items needs to be advertised correctly. For example, items used for childcare and homemaking need to be geared towards the mom. The use of color in the market place can be overlooked. In Japan color is crucial to the success of a product, advertisement or proposal. Color is used to express emotion and symbolizes different things in different cultures. In Japan, red represents a state of being; yellow is used to show courage; green is for the future or positive energy; pink means dedication, and black symbolizes age, experience or nobility. However, the combination of two colors may change the meaning all together. For example, red and white combined represent a celebration. In Japan great weight is attached to seasons. (Hall, 2000, p.41) Thus, a great marketing technique would be to change the color of web pages, flyers and other print to match the season. Furthermore, the use of colors on billboards and store signage is of importance. Garish signage that is visible and eye catching from a distance is becoming the norm (Hall, 2000, p.41) Not only is color important in advertisement, but product packaging can also be a factor in the success of the product in Japan. Therefore, our company needs to pay close attention to our color choices, and tailor our sales campaign to the color scheme that will be appropriate to the season of the Japanese culture. Japan is the worlds second largest advertising market due to its 127 million people. Japan is the worlds second largest advertising market, only second to the United States (Gohil, 2006). Japan advertising uses mass media, transit, cinema, postcards, online, cell phones, billboards and more. Foreign companies have difficulties when advertising their products and services in Japan, because Japanese advertising is different than the traditional sense. Japanese television advertising is dominated by 15-second spots; therefore long narrative stories are not used. In addition, many times the commercials will leave the viewer hanging on the punch-line (Gohil, 2006). Basically, the Japanese rely on the presentation over message. Since advertising is so different than west and most fail, the logical choice would be to use a local advertising firm. Sales Structure Recommendations Our sales force should focus capturing the audiences attention with an entertaining appealing ad that does not focus completely on message. It should appeal more to their curiosity where they will want to seek out our companys product rather that needing us to court them more than is needed. We should appeal to their culture and social structure. In addition, the message should use the indirect approach. Understanding all aspects of the Japanese market is vital to our success in this country. We must understand the market place and what will appeal to this market and its consumers. We need to appeal to Japanese etiquettes. Therefore, all out-of-country employees need to be trained in Japanese etiquette. As employees of the Kelly Agency we are both excited and optimistic for our expansion into the Japanese business market. As listed above we have researched many aspects of the Japanese culture we feel will make the transition a positive experience for all parties involved. We welcome the opportunity to interact and practice these new cultural techniques as we move into this anticipated partnership.

Robert Frost :: essays research papers

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. His father was William Frost, a Harvard graduate who was on his way westward when he stopped to teach at Bucknell Academy in Pennsylvania for extra money. His mother, Isabelle Moodie began teaching math at Bucknell while William was there, and they got married and moved to San Francisco. They were constantly changing houses, and William went from job to job as a journalist. About a year after moving to San Francisco, they had Robert. They named him Robert Lee Frost, after William's childhood hero, Robert E. Lee. Frost's father died from tuberculosis at age thirty-four, in 1885. Isabelle took Robert and his sister back east to Massachusetts. Soon they moved to Salem, New Hampshire, where there was a teaching opening. Robert began to go to school and sit in on his mother’s classes. He soon learned to love language, and eventually went to Lawrence High School, where he wrote the words to the school hymn, and graduated as c o-valedictorian. Frost read rabidly of Dickens, Tennyson, Longfellow, and many others. Frost was then sent to Dartmouth college by his controlling grandfather, who saw it as the proper place for him to train to become a businessman. Frost read even more in college, and learned that he loved poetry. His poetry had little success getting published, and he had to work various jobs to make a living, such as a shoemaker, a country schoolteacher, and a farmer. In 1912 Frost gave up his teaching job, sold his farm, and moved to England. He received aid from poets suck as Edward Thomas and Rupert Brooke, and published his first two volumes of poetry, A Boy's Will in 1913, and North of Boston in 1914. These works were well received not only in England, but also in America. Frost returned to America in 1915 and continued writing his poetry. He produced many volumes of poetry, among which are Mountain Interval (1916), West-Running Brook (1928), A Further Range (1936), A Masque of Reason (1945) , and In the Clearing (1962). Frost received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times (1924, 1931, 1937, 1943) and became the first poet to read a poem at the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy. His poetry was based mainly on life and scenery in rural New England, and reflected many values of American society.

Idi Amin

Born in 1925, Idi Amin was unquestionably one of the most significant leaders since 1971 to 1980. He had achieved a great deal and had had an extremely negative impact on his people, his country and the international community. During his reign, Idi Amin had managed to gain total control of Uganda and murder a ridiculous amount of people who opposed or challenged his view. Further, he used lies and deceit to get into power and then abuse the trust of his people. Finally, his actions in supporting Britain caused a famine in his country.Essentially, Idi Amin was a significant leader; however it was for all the wrong reasons. Throughout Idi Amin’s time as leader, he was able to commit a number of heinous acts towards his society and against the rights of humanity. One particular event of which was most significant during his time as leader was a mass murder of over 250,000 people in his country, which he holds responsible for. The mass murder primarily involved anyone in Uganda t hat opposed against his views and the expulsion of Asians. In 1975 the body of one of his four wives was delivered to Mulago hospital.It had been chopped into pieces by Idi Amin himself for reasons being that she had been impregnated by another man. This proves that Idi Amin will not stand by any person in his life that resists against his wishes and establishes the brutality from within his character. Amin was able to manipulate a large majority of his people to secure his place for leader of Uganda, only then to abuse the trust of his people once elected. These actions soon lead on to further corrupt movements that had a negative impact on the people of Uganda.When Idi Amin presented himself as the opposition leader for Uganda, he announced to the people that if he were selected as president he would turn their country into a democracy. This false statement had given him much popularity from his people, which then resulted in him becoming leader. Once in power Amin abused this tru st by cancelling elections and turning the country into a dictatorship. These events highlight that he was a negative ruler, but signify his importance. A further demonstration of his negative rule, Amin, through his relationship with Britain brought about a famine. Before Idi Amin became leader, Uganda as a part of the British colony. Idi Amin had never gotten a proper education, though was able to gain a name in society due to joining the British army and getting promoted to colonel after a short period of time. He had gained a very good reputation in the army and was seen to have excellent leadership qualities; for example, When Britain was going through a recession that later on lead to an extreme food shortage for their people, Idi Amin had collected a very large quantity of Uganda’s farm crops to support Britain during their hardship despite the fact that starvation was still a major concern for his people at the time.Idi Amin believed that putting aside the health of h is country In order to develop a good relationship with the leaders of Great Britain was much more vital at the time. The great challenges Amin had face during his lifetime such as the time he spent in the army and the difficulties he faced as leader of Uganda, eventually lead to his destructive behaviour towards his people, his country and the international community. Amin's rule was characterised by gross human rights abuse, political repression, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement, each of which all had an extremely negative influence towards his society during his reign.

Mli Case Study

The main problems facing Jamie Turner and MLI, Inc. as a whole are a lack of leadership, poor organization, poor planning and decision-making, and a lack of communication. The top executive of the organization did not display any of the managerial skills, except technical skills, needed to create a productive work environment. The organizational structure does not provide enough support for the diverse needs of MLI and created a power vacuum at the executive level of MLI. Different organizational cultures at MLI and Specialty Support Services (Triple S) created tension that made problem resolution difficult.The different cultures lead to ethically questionable decisions by MLI executives and staff. MLI, Inc. is an international lighting manufacturing organization that has suffered several financial setbacks after the death of the founder. MLI was acquired by a larger conglomerate, Specialty Support Services (Triple S) to provide alternative distributions channels for some of the Trip le S lighting products. The only Triple S executive to champion the MLI acquisition was Pat Cardullo. Cardullo, the president of The Triple S Mobile Systems/Support division would also serve as the MLI president.Jamie Turner was hired as the VP of sales and Marketing with the promise of future advancement in the organization. The nature of the MLI acquisition is the foundation of the issues confronting Jamie Turner. Pat Cardullo is the president of another successful Triple S division, and is in consideration of a major promotion. This fact left the organization without a workable plan to accomplish the unsustainable goals created by Cardullo. Cardullo was involved in details of the organization that would have been better handled by middle managers.Top managers focusing on implementation will leave an organization without the strategic planning needed to remain competitive. Cardullo also had an abrasive manner that was disruptive in the organization. Cardullo lacked the interperson al skills needed communicate, understand, or motivate the Sales and Marketing group at MLI. The personal views that Cardullo held about how employees should work left a team that was ambivalent about working with the organizations top executive. The focus on finding his replacement as quickly as possible, Cardullo did not exhibit the values of ethical leadership.Cardullo also failed to create proper chain of command and proper career paths for top managers at MLI. The power structure of the organization should not be left to a person sitting in a particular office. Cardullo’s and Jamie’s lack of management skill was apparent when Jamie changed prices to move old inventory. The fact that Jamie did not manage up created the space for real disagreement between the top managers. Without direction from Cardullo, Jamie was working under the assumption that margins could be lowered.Jamie also failed to communicate with the controller that has worked with Cardullo for many yea rs. Jamie demonstrated a lack of understanding as it relates to the controller when he presented negative information that would impact Cardullo. In another clear failure of leadership, Cardullo emphasized that Jamie was wrong in front of the rest of the management team. As the conflict between Cardullo and Jamie continued, more decisions were being consolidated in one office. Cardullo did not see the need to invite differing opinions on multiple issues that will negatively impact the organization.The decision to redesign a warehouse that creates inefficiency was a poor one. Cardullo made the decision over the objections of the managers that were assigned to make such decisions in the best interest of the organization. The ethical challenges around financial forecasting are very disturbing. Cardullo future with Triple S was at stake, so the need to be financially successful was paramount. The fact that the controller came over to MLI with Cardullo made the task of presenting alterna te forecasts unwelcome.The controller, who supported Cardullo without exception, allowed personal bias to affect her judgment. The dismissal of negative forecasts without investigation does not allow the organization the ability to correct potential problems. The consequence of an action that appears to be a cover-up, is other organizational members my also feel covering up decisions is acceptable. Jamie was rather upset that his decision to change pricing was not kept away from Cardullo. The issue created when Cardullo made the executive decision to change all pricing with the help of the controller was a serious misstep.Even in the face of serious disagreement by the senior staff, Cardullo made a unilateral decision that proved to be disastrous for the organization. Cardullo failed to account for the diversity in the market. Cardullo was dismissive of other’s ideas on creating additional revenue for MLI and would not communicate a strategy for the organization to follow. As Cardullo made more decisions about implementation, the other organizational leaders began to question their futures. The lack of leadership, organization, planning, and communication created a dysfunctional organization that continues to loose revenue.The seemingly unethical nature of how financials were being calculated erodes the organizational culture at MLI. The lack of strategic planning left the organization with goals other than hit a particular margin, but there was no leadership on how to reach the goal. Jamie tried to fill the vacuum left by Cardullo, but did not have a clear definition of what Cardullo wanted. The issues that MLI have exist at many different organizations but there are tools that can be utilized to minimize and/or eliminate the managerial missteps. The first tool is education.I would create a policy at MLI that requires all managers to take leadership training. It is vital that managers understand what is required when is comes to managing the human reso urces of the organization. Bad leadership can lead to resource shortages, loss of intellectual capital and well as institutional knowledge. I would include diversity training to help manager build the skills needs to understand the nuances that diverse employees and colleagues. Ethics policies would go into place to eliminate any misunderstanding about how the organization operates.Looking at the decisions made at MLI, I would remove Cardullo as president and hire a person that can be focused on MLI. Cardullo was a micro-manager that did not clearly communicate a strategy to the MLI team. The new president’s first task would be to create a formal reporting structure that defines how information should rollup within MLI. It is crucial that the organization have a clear picture of where it is at in order to make any shifts necessary to realize any potential opportunity.The formality of the reporting structure coupled with regular scheduled meetings with each senior manager and the entire senior management team will eliminate the rudderless feeling at MLI. In light of the acquisition, I would bring the senior management from MLI to Triple S and coordinate strategy sessions around the current and future goals for MLI. I would have the controller at MLI report through Triple S corporate finance. I believe this will help with corporate governance and eliminate the potential for mischief.The hiring and firing of employees would be done based on strict guidelines that is managed through HR. These changes will help MLI stabilize the current situation and plan a path to success for the organization. Cardullo did not gain the trust or loyalty of the management team of the staff at MLI. Jamie was working to accomplish different goals for the organization, but he failed to communicate his ideas and changes up the chain. In the absence of any defined direction and a boss that does not communicate effectively, Jamie was headed for trouble from the first day on the job .I would have Triple S create an ethics hotline to allow employees to communicate troubling issues within the organization and provide employee a mechanism to address issues they have unsuccessfully tried to communicate with their supervisor. Jamie needed a way to address difficult issues with Cardullo and has no idea what has been communicated to Triple S. The problems can be fixed, but it will require that Triple S and MLI assess the real issues presented in this case and put policies in place that remove as much ambiguity as possible.

Requirement I

G51REQ Coursework 1 REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION REPORT Group: Authors: Muhammad Khidhir Hein Min Htike Ang Rhu Zen Date: 10/11/2011 Part 1 Report Summary The report is about the activities done and observed before, while and after the trip to Zoo Negara. The main activities were deciding where and when to go, making the trip, arriving at the place and doing a visit, returning from the trip and activities after the visit. Initially, we were planning to visit A’ Famosa in Malacca, but it was canceled as Malacca was a big distance away from the campus, and the travelling will take most of our time.After searching on the internet about places to visit in Kuala Lumpur, we decided on visiting Zoo Negara on Saturday, which is much closer compared to Malacca and almost none of us had visited the place yet. On Saturday morning, we met at the SA building and drove to the zoo. Having a driver who knows the routes in Kuala Lumpur, we reached Zoo Negara in about an hour. However, we had a har d time finding parking spots as it was the eve of Hari Raya. In the end, we had to park our car a long distance away from the entrance, but at least we have arrived at the zoo.Inside the zoo, we saw different kinds of animals and there were several centers that function as a sanctuary for famous local birds, reptiles and fish. We collected data by taking pictures and interviewing a few individuals while having a break at one of the train stops. After we went to see the tigers and lions in the Mammal Kingdom, we finally left the zoo from another entrance, which was not far from where we parked. On the way back, we stopped at a Burger King in Damansara for late lunch before heading back to Nottingham. When we got back to our own home s, we saved the pictures hat were taken and started on writing the report. In the end, the problems we had on that trip was based on finding places within the zoo and wasting our time seeing some of the same attractions. Part 2 Approach to requirements el icitation Requirements elicitation is also known as requirements gathering, which is part of the process upon enquiring the requirements of a particular system from users, customers and stakeholders. In other words, it can also be considered as consul tation with the people who are involved in the process as mentioned above.Stages of elicitation include objective setting, background knowledge, knowledge organisation and stakeholder requirements collection. There is various specific approach of requirements elicitation which includes interviewing, soft systems methods, prototyping, scenarios, and requirements reuse and participant observation. These are some of the familiar approach to requirements elicitation. Firstly, the requirements engineer will talk about the system with numbers of stakeholders and boost the understanding of their requirements.Therefore, an interview will be conducted in order to get the necessary information. This can be done in two different ways, either thro ugh closed interviews or open interviews. Closed interviews will be conveyed by looking for answers from a pre-defined number of questions which has been set by the requirements engineer. Unlike closed interviews, open interviews let the requirements engineer to dispute with the stakeholders in an open-ended way about what they want from the system. Interviewers can never approach the interview with disapproving ideas about what is needed and must be open-minded.Besides that, stakeholders must be given an idea about the discussion by requirements proposal or show examples of an existing system. Secondly, scenarios technique is used for elicitation which explains the way a system is being used through stories description. It starts with an introduction of the system before the scenario starts, then the usual flow of events with some exception and information about coexisting activities. At the end of the scenario, a description of the system is being stated. Scenarios describe how a user communicates with a system.Participant observation is observing people at work because they find it difficult to tell what they do because it is normal to them. Moreover, ethnography method also has proved to be precious in understanding actual work processes. An ethnographer can observe people at work and create an image of how work is done. Furthermore, another method in requirements elicitation is requirements reuse. It involves taking a developed system and uses them in different system. These reused requirements have already been checked and validated in other system, thus saves time and effort.But, currently it is an informal process but through this, it could lead to bigger cost savings. By reusing, it could lead to a consistency of pattern through applications. While being at the zoo, we walked throughout the whole area of the zoo to get a better view and some first-hand experience on how things work there. We could see that, the signage doesn’t really give accur ate direction to the place we wanted to go. The signage tells us to go towards the direction they give but in the end we were in a different pathway from the one we were supposed to be at. They should provide a clearer signage for people to understand it better.Additionally, I think there should be more staffs in and around the zoo to explain further information on the kind of animals we are looking at and provide some interesting details on how they eat or the kind of food that they eat and many more. These are the things that they should focus more on, and who wouldn’t like list ening to interesting stories of animals? Likewise, I can also observe the backgrounds of people who were there, so that a wider view can be seen on the people who we can put more focus on. I must say that, most of the visitors were foreigners and only a nu mber of Malaysians were there.This might be because of the past experience they had at the zoo. Therefore, I conducted interviews and ask them a few questions related to the zoo to know exactly what they think of the place and get some opinions and ideas from them. In my opinion, the interview gave us a lot of useful information on what the zoo can improve on and the things that should be maintained for them to get a better experience of the zoo. And hopefully, this will result in an increase in the numbe r of visitors and a better review from everyone Part 3 Practicalities of field study Anonymous1 Nationality: Malaysian Age: 42Gender: Male Race: Malay Date of Birth: 12/05/1979 Occupation: Teacher Location: Ampang Marital Status: Married Anonymous2 Nationality: Malaysian Age: 18 Gender: Male Race: Chinese Date of Birth: 06/12/1993 Occupation: Student Location: Kampung Pandan Marital Status: Single Our group went to the National Zoo for up to almost 6 hours, including the journey of going to the zoo and coming back from the zoo. Later on, we went for a late lunch in Burger King which took us about half an hour to get there a nd left at approximately 30 minutes later. Then, we went back to our campus which took us another 40 minutes.In total, the duration of the whole trip was about 8 hours. There are a few data that we gathered which includes photos, informal interviews and field notes. From the informal interview, we interviewed two different people from completely different background, thus the answer from both of them gave us the idea of how people in their respective age think. When we did an interview with anonymous1, he complained about the number of staffs who were working in the zoo. It results in a poor service and maintenance of the place and also dirty cages and walkways that are fu ll of leaves.In addition, anonymous also complained about the lack of choices when it comes to food. There were only one restaurant inside the zoo and the price of the snacks is more expensive than outside. I think they should provide better facilities all around the zoo and increase the number of restaurants or j ust improve the quality of the restaurant that is inside there. There should be more places where people can sit and r elax in an airconditioning environment especially when time comes noon, it would be very hot in Malaysia nowadays.Other than that, we experienced the bad condition of the toilet where the water were flushing out from the floor and clogged sinks and toile t bowls. This issue should be resolve for it to be a better place. Part 4 Activities observed and their sequential orders The main activities involved in visiting places are finding a place to visit, planning the trip, performing the journey or going to the destination, doing the actual visiting, leaving and returning home, and after visit. The activity of finding a place to visit is composed of not only deciding where to go but also when to go. This activity is closely related to planning the trip.As a product of this activity, we will get a confirmed destination of visit and confirmed time-frame for the visit. The activity of performing journey is the process of actually going to the decided destination. This activity has to be carried out as planne d in the first activity. The product of this activity is that, we actually reach to planned destination. The processes in the activities of doing actual visiting are the processes carried out at the planned place. In our case, the processes like going ar ound and seeing the zoo and conducting the interviews are the processes that form the actual visiting activity.Data for ethnographic analysis can be obtained as the product of this activity. The activity of leaving and returning trip is the processes in volved in returning home from zoo. The product of is that, we get back home. The processes that made up the activity â€Å"after visit† are like transferring the pictures from cameras and writing the report base on the experiences from the above activities. T he products are saved pictures in pc and a report to submit. Sequential order of a ctivities –Deciding and planning the trip Performing Journey Doing the visit Leaving and returningAfter Visit Part 5 Work Practice 1 (Deciding where and when to go and planning the trip) The work of visiting places begins by deciding where to as a group. We sat down in SA and decided where to go by using information from the internet. The first suggestion by Khidhir to choose as a visiting place was â€Å"D-paradise and A’ Famosa in Malacca†. But we the main problem with going to Malacca was the distance from our places. Malacca is 130 km from our place and the driving time to get there is 2 hours with no heavy traffic . The round trip will take approximately 4 and half hours.So, with the time frame we got, we will not have much time to do the actual visiting in Malacca. So, we decided not to go to Malacca and the other option is to visit a place near Kuala Lumpur. We s earched on the internet for places to see in KL. We got 3 options to visit in KL, namely, Bat u Caves, Aquaria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, and Zoo Negara. We chose zoo Negara because two of the group members have not been there and thought it would be int eresting to see Malaysia major zoological park. We decided to go there on Saturday and to depart from Nottingham at around 9am.One of the group members own a car, so we decided to go with his car. Then, we discussed about the time allocation for the trip and what to do during the visit. Zoo Negara is only 43 km from Nottingham and can be reached within an hour drive. So, we will be at the zoo at around 10, and then we planned to do visiting and stay at zoo until after 3 pm because there is animal show at 3 pm. We planned to do some interviews at the zoo for the ethnographic analysis. We also discussed about what should be interview questions and we finally agreed for ten questions which will be stated in â€Å"Work Practice 3†.The products of this activity are that, we have definite idea of where to go and we have a plan for what to do during the trip. Work Practice 2 (Undertaking the journey) We met up on Saturday as planned and went on to have breakfast at the SA building. Then, we departed for zoo at 9:35 am. Khidhir was driving and Rhu Zen took the front seat beside him and Hein Min Htike was at the back seat. The driver knows KL routes insi de out, so, we didn’t need to any work of way-finding. We went to zoo directly except one pit -stop for fuel. It took us 50 minutes to get there and we were at zoo at 10:30.The problem when we reached zoo was that we could not find a parking space easily. Since we visited there on Saturday which was not only normal public but also eve of Hari Raya, there were so many visitors’ cars. We have had to park our car six streets away from entrance. The product of this activity is that, we really reached the zoo. Work Practice 3 (Arriving at the zoo and doing the visit) We took some photos at the entrance and then bought tickets and entered zoo. The ticket price for Malaysian is 20RM and for foreigner is 30RM. We first went to visit the â€Å"hornbill center† where they keep many hornbill species, monkeys and hippopotamus.Then, we visited the â€Å"bee museum†. Bee museum is a Kiosk selling honey and other bee related souvenirs. It also features displays of all the integrated honey industry activities from bee breeding to honey extracting. Then, we went on to see the Indian cows and the bears’ complex. Then, we took the Savannah Walk and saw a variety of African animals like Sable antelopes, Scimatar oryx, giraffes, ostriches, zebras, and white rhinoceroses. At the end of Savannah Walk road, we sat down at train stop 5 to give a rest to our legs and to make some interviews.We firstly interviewed â€Å"Anonymous1† from KL who was there with his family. Khidhir conducted the interview in Malay Language. We then interviewed â€Å"Anonymous2† who also lives in KL and he was there with his fri ends. We will write the main points of those interviews in â€Å"Question and Answer† format to save word count and to avoid repetition. Question: With whom you came here today and how many peop le are there with you? Is there any particular reason to come here? Anonymous1: I am visiting here with my family and there are total of 4 people with me, my wife and my two kids and myself. We are just having our week-end day out.Anonymous2: I am here with my friends and there are total of 5 people in my group. We have not been here for very long time, so we just wanted to see the changes inside the zoo. Question: How did you come here? Was there any problem getting here like parking problem? Anonymous 1: I drove here and there was not any particular problem to get here. We arrived here really early and so, we could manage to find a parking space easily. Anonymous 2: We came here with LRT and taxi. We reached Wangsa Maju station and we took taxi to get here. This place is easily acce ssible and there was no problem to get here.Question: Any comments about the animals in zoo? Anonymous1: Quite a lot of varieties of animals are kept in this zoo and the animals seem happy. Anonymous2: We have been walking around the zoo for only 2 hours and we have been to almost all the places inside the zoo. There are not much interesting animal in here except penguins. I have not seen penguins before. Question: How do you think of animal show available in this zoo? Anonymous1: The animal show at 11 am was quiet good, they spoke in Malay, so my kids could understand very well, and they really enjoyed it. Anonymous2: We arrived here at around 11 am.So we missed the morning show. But we really are not into seeing the animal show as there will be a lot of people at the show. Question: Any comments about staffs? Anonymous1: I didn’t see much of staffs. Only staffs I saw were at the entrances of zoo and aquarium world, and the staffs conducting the animal show. I th ink the num ber of staff is inadequate compare to the size of zoo because the animal cages are dirty and walkways are full of dry leaves and did not see anyone cleaning them. Anonymous2: I have nothing special to say about staffs from here. I rarely see the m inside the zoo.Question: How do you think of food shops and souvenir shops inside zoo? Anonymous1: As things inside the zoo are very expensive and I did not buy anything. Moreover, there is only one restaurant to have lunch or breakfast. Anonymous2: We were just discussing to go and have lunch. There are quite a lot of snack shops, but there is only one restaurant for lunch. I think there should be more restaurants, so that, visitors can choose their favorite meal. And drinks here at the snack shops are slightly expensive than outside. Question: Transportation inside zoo? Did you use it?Anonymous1: We preferred to walk to get closer look at the animals. Anonymous2: We planned to stay here until evening, so we are not in hurry. We decided t o walk around the zoo. Question: How do you describe your overall experience at zoo? Things you like most? Things you like least? Anonymous1: We are having a fun time; especially for my children. It has been a good day out so far. What we liked most is Savannah Walk, which is like a small version of African landscape with the animals roaming freely, especially giraffes. Anonymous2: There is nothing much for adults to do in zoo.For sure, this is not one of our best days out. The good point inside the zoo is the tall, shady trees which provide shade for leisure troll. Things I do not like here are that, animals are kept in very dirty environment. The worst thing is aquarium where you cannot even see the fish clearly because of the dirty water and grubby mirrors. Question: What should be done to improve the overall quality of zoo? Anonymous1: More staffs should be stationed inside the zoo, to p rovide information and interact with visitors. And they should also prioritize the cleanline ss of zoo.Anonymous2: There are so many rooms to improve in this zoo. Zoo maps are available for 2RM, which should be given free to every visitor. The signages ar e not around every corner, and even when you see them, they are not quite clear in their pointing direction. With no free map, and no clear signage, I am pretty sure that, visitors will get lost quite often. Moreover, there are no staffs to be seen inside the zoo to ask information or to ask direction. Another important thing there is that they should focus more on the cleanliness of environment. Everywhere inside the zoo is stinking.The toilets are very dirty. Question: Do you plan to visit the zoo again or would you recommend this to your friends? Any tips to organize a good day out to zoo? Anonymous1: My kids would like to come back here, so we might be coming again like 2, 3 months later. I would definitely recommend this place for a family day out fo r those with small kids. I would advise anyone to bring along their own food and drinks as things inside are twice the price outside. Anonymous2: No, we are not coming back here anytime in the future. And we will never recommend a friend to visit here.As a tip, don’t come here. Even when they come, come here early, to avoid extremely hot temperature inside zoo and to avoid heavy crowd. After the two interviews, we continued our visit inside the zoo. We went to mammal kingdom and then went on to see the tigers and lions. After that lion place, we went inside the reptile house and spent around thirty minutes inside. Then, we went inside bird house where so many species of birds are kept inside different compartments. We then sat bough some cold drink and sat down under the shade for about 15 minutes.Then, we went to see the aquarium world which is very dull and boring place. Fishes inside are nothing much interesting. Then we watched the animal show for a while because there were so many people and we could not see or hear the show very well fr om our place. We then went to penguin house and we have completed visiting the whole zoo. We made our way out from entrance B and found out that it was not far from the street where we parked our car. The products of this activity are that, we could enjoy the zoo, we could manage to finish the interviews and we got data for ethnography.Work Practice 4 (Return and getting home) We left zoo at around 3:50 pm and we drove to Damansara Burger King to have a late lunch. Damansara Burger king was 25 km far from zoo and it took us around 30 minutes to get there. Then, we have had lunch until around 4:50 and then we left for Nottingham University. It took us around 30 minutes to reach school and the distance was around 30 km. Once we reached Nottingham, we parted our ways to our houses. The products of this activity are having lunch, and getting back home. Work Practice 5 (After Visit)When reach our houses, we rested for some time. At night, we copied the pictures from camera memories cards to PCs. And we all started writing the report to submit. The products are the saved pictures and the report. Part 6 The Requirements Problem During our trip, we had a hard time navigating the zoo as we did not bring a map and also there were occasions that we had to use some of the facilities that were not well maintained. Another problem while doing the trip was that we may have missed some of the attractions because we did not have a map in the first place.We decided we need a system to be keeping track of what we had seen, what attractions we may have missed, and because there were not many staff members seen inside the zoo to maintain the facilities, which places to avoid. It should also update the group about any show times inside the zoo and keep a watch handy to check how long we were visiting some of the attractions. As a task scheduling system, it should be able to display some main attractions that we should see within the zoo itself, although the place itself is sm all, and not just simply walk around and attempt to understand what every animal is or does.Any group would definitely get bored walking under the hot sun only to see that the animals are sleeping during the mid-day. It should also be able to sort and notify the user or users of any events or shows that are going to start. That way, the group could plan on which places to visit in the zoo before walking back to see the animal show. This will also prevent the group from rushing around as the zoo has some very odd placement of some of the facilities, including toilets. Besides that, it hould have a mapping system so that it will display the locations of all the main attractions, the bus stops, resting spots and the toilets within the zoo as it was difficult to find a sign with the entire map of the zoo easily and therefore avoid wasting time going rounds inside the zoo. Other than that, because there were many places that had the same attractions, which eventually made one of our group mem bers bored, the ta sk scheduling system should also have a notepad for any individual in the group to write their own comments about the zoo.This is to avoid having to see the same attraction under the very hot sun the next time he visits the zoo. Lastly, for any group members who were not familiar with the animals and find the description beside the animal cages confuse them even further, there should be a translator or encyclopedia to make it more understandable. It will also help other tourists who were busy looking for directions from us as they could not read some of the signs.