Family Stress and Their Relation to Academic Performance

Chapter I The Problem and Its Background Introduction The term stress had none of its contemporary connotations before the 1920s. It is a form of the Middle English destresse, derived via Old French from the Latin stringere, â€Å"to draw tight. † It had long been in use in physics to refer to the internal distribution of a force exerted on a material body, resulting in strain. In the 1920s and 1930s, the term was occasionally being used in biological and psychological circles to refer to a mental strain, unwelcome happening, or, more medically, a harmful environmental agent that could cause illness.Stress plays a role in the body, behavior and feelings of people. Stress comes in many forms. Things like our environment, physiological well being, thoughts and social stresses and stress inside our homes can have an effect on learning Stress, particularly family related stress can have an impact on a student’s academic performance. College students have many obstacles to o vercome in order to achieve their finest academic performance. Different stressors such as time management, financial problems, sleep deprivation; social activities can all pose their own threat to a student’s academic performance.The way that academic performance is measured is through the ordinal scale of general weighted average (GWA). A student’s GWA determines many things such as class rank. Much research has been done looking at the correlation of many stress factors that college students’ experience and the effects of stress on their GWA. There are many factors that can cause stress and influence a student’s academic performance and therefore affect his or her overall GWA.A college student may find him or herself in a juggling act, trying to support a family, taking care of job responsibilities, and at the same time trying to make the most of the college career. All of these factors can affect the grades of students, which ultimately affect the res t of their lives. Conceptual Framework Stress is a large part of everyday life. Most stress occurs at busiest moment like at home. It’s one of the most common places for stress to build. Nevertheless stress is unavoidable.According to Marilyn Wedge, a family therapist, stressful situations at home like a parent losing a job, an illness, marital discord, or even conflicts about day-to-day issues may be troubling to a child without the parents even being aware of it. And often children go about trying to solve the family problem in the only way they know which may the cause of stress and, subconsciously or not, the children tend to bring the family problem outside home making the situation worst. These changes can cause health problems if experienced to frequently. If a child is stress the body responds negatively to it.The body often becomes worn down making it more susceptible to becoming sick. Depending on how serious the stress, can determine the severity of its impact. The brain, nerves, and central nervous system interpret stress. There are several side effects that occur from stress. Insomnia is another factor that stress may bring on. This occurs when a child is disrupted with thoughts and questions that drive them crazy and cause an inability to sleep. Chronic pain, headaches and backaches can be stress induced when under pressure. The muscles in these areas become tense under stress.Heart problems are the most common side effect. The pain felt in the chest is tension caused by an oxygen shortage to the heart. Heart attacks occur due to high blood pressure and can be fatal. Some behaviors that child takes part in to reduce or cope with stress may also bring on heart problems. Stress can also hurt emotionally as with depression. Research paradigm is shown on Figure 1. This included the input, the process, and the output. The input contains the profile of the 2nd year Accountancy students of De La Salle Araneta University, the family stress they en counter, and their academic performance.In the process, questionnaires were distributed and observations were conducted to gather relevant information from the respondents. It also included the analy -sis and evaluation of the gathered data and information from the respondents. The output consists of the findings about the effect of family stress to academic performance of the respondents. Figure 1: The schematic paradigm used in the study. Statement of the Problem The purpose of the study was to identify the effects of family stress to the second year accountancy students of De La Salle Araneta University regards to their academic performance.Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions: a. How may the profile of the second year accountancy students of De La Salle Araneta University be described in terms of gender? b. What are the family experiences/stress and the academic performance base on GWA of the respondents? c. Is there a significant difference between mal e and female students in handling family stress? d. Is there any relationship between family stress and the academic performance of the respondents? HypothesisFamily-related stress has no significant effect on the academic performance of second year Accountancy students at De La Salle Araneta University. Scope and Delimitation This research is delimited only to preparation and evaluation of stress level aimed at correlating the family related stress and academic performance of students through their GWA. The students were asked to complete a survey, including the perceived stress scale. Along with this test the students were asked to complete a demographic data sheet that asked questions such as age and gender, and also their classes and grades the prior semester.The respondents are thirty college Accountancy sophomore students of De La Salle Araneta University (which includes 8 boys and 22 girls) during the 1st semester of academic year 2012-2013. The respondents are chosen randoml y from a block section of Accountancy. Significance of the Study The researchers intend to show the impact of family related stress in the academic performance of second year Accountancy students of De La Salle Araneta University through their General Weighted Average (GWA).Moreover this study, address itself to: the students that they may understand the impact of family related stress in their academic performance and eventually help themselves , to the professors that they may observe the behavior of students and help them through guidance and referral to the University Guidance Office for help, to families, specially the parents and the guardians that they may help their family member cope with stress from its roots (family related stress) and bring out their optimum academic performance, and to interested people in the academe and community that they may gain insights on this research to help people around them understand the possible impact of family-related stress to the acade mic performance of a student, and to other interested individuals that they may find knowledge on this research. Definition of Terms To further understand this research, below are terms used in the research.GWA (General Weighted Average). It is a term that refers to the average of grades in all subjects taken, whether passed or failed. It is the result of combining the performance rating based on the screening criteria or subject. It serves as the indicator of a student's academic performance in a given semester or school year. Stress. It is a term that defined as an organism's total response to environmental demands or pressures. When stress was first studied in the 1950s, the term was used to denote both the causes and the experienced effects of these pressures. More recently, however, the word stressor has been used for the stimulus that provokes a stress response.

Economic Problems of US

Most of the problems of the United States are related to the economy. One of the major issues facing the country today is social security. The United States was one of the last major industrialized nations to establish a social security system. In 1911, Wisconsin passed the first state workers compensation law to be held constitutional. At that time, most Americans believed the government should not have care for the aged, disabled or needy. But such attitudes changed during the Great Depression in the 1930's. In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act. This aw became the basis of the U. S. social insurance system. It provided cash benefits to only retired workers in commerce or industry. In 1939, Congress amended the act benefit and dependent children of retired workers and widows and children of deceased workers. In 1950, the act began to cover many farm and domestic workers, non professional self employed workers, and many state and municipal employees. Coverage became nearly universal in 1956, when lawyers and other professional workers came under the system. Social security is a government program that helps workers and retired orkers and their families achieve a degree of economic security. Social security also called social insurance (Robertson p. 33), provides cash payments to help replace income lost as a result of retirement,unemployment, disability, or death. The program also helps pay the cost of medical care for people age 65 or older and for some disabled workers. About one-sixth of the people in the United States receive social security benefits. People become eligible to receive benefits by working in a certain period in a job covered by social security. Employers and workers finance the program through payroll taxes. Participation in the social security system is required for about 95percent of all U. S. workers. Social security differs from public assistance. Social security paysbenefits to individuals, and their families, largely on the basis of work histories. Public assistance, or welfare, aids the needy,regardless of their work records. All industrialized countries as well as many developing nations have a social security system. The social security program in the United states has three main parts. They are (1) old-aged, survivors, disability, and hospital insurance (OASDHI), (2) unemployment insurance; and (3) workers' compensation. This tax was to be taken from the payrolls of the nation's employers and employees. The government felt that, like unemployment benefits, the social security should be financed by those who got the greatest benefit, those who worked, and were liable to need those benefits in the A plan that would affect those only who had paid such a tax for a number of years would have done those who were currently suffering under the Depression no good at all. As a result, the social security plan began paying out benefits almost immediately to those who had been etired, or elderly and out of work, and who were unable, primarily because of the depressed economic conditions, to retire comfortably. In this way, the government was able to accomplish two objectives: first, it helped the economy pull out of the depression, by providing a means by which old people could support themselves and, by buying goods and services, support others in the community ; and second, it showed the younger workers of that time that they no longer had to fear living out their retirement years in fear of poverty. Therefore, the social security payroll tax has been used to provide enefits to those who otherwise would have little means of support, and as of this writing, there has never been a year when Social Security benefits were not paid due to lack of Social Security income. (Boskinp. 122) Social Security benefits increased 142% in the period between 1950-1972. not only the elderly, but many of the survivers, the widows and children, of those who paid into the Social Security system, have received social security checks. These checks have paid for the food shelters, and in many instances the college education of the recipients. Unlike private insurance firms, the United States Government does not have to worry about financial failure. Government bonds are considered the safest investment money can buy-so safe, they are considered â€Å"risk free† by many financial scholars. (Stein p. 198) The ability of the United States Government to raise money to meet the requirements of the social security should be no more in doubt than the governments ability to finance the national defense, the housing programs, the State Department, or any of the other activities that the federal governmentgets involved in. By paying out benefits equally to all participate in Social Security- that is by not relying so heavily on total payments in making the decision to pay out benefits, the system is able to pay benefits to people who otherwise may not be able to afford an insurance program that would provide them with as much protection. One of the main reasons for the government's involvement in this program, is its ability and its desire to provide insurance benefits or the poor and widowed, who under the private market, might not be able to acquire the insurance to continue on a financially steady course. The government, then, is in a totally unique position to pay outbenefits that would be out of the reach of many American families. Another great advantage of this system, is the ability of the government to adjust the benefits for the effects of inflation(Robertson p. 134) Private insurance plans are totally unable to adjust for the effects of inflation with complete accuracy. In order for an insurance company to make this adjustment, they would have to be able to see forty-five years into the future, with twenty-twenty vision. When a private pensionplan currently insures the twenty-year-old worker, it can only guarantee a fixed income when the worker reaches sixty-five and a fixed income is a prime victim of inflation (Robertson p. 332) In order to adjust for that inflation, the private insurance firm would have to be able to predict what the inflation rate will be from the moment the worker is insured until the day he dies, and then make the complexadjustments necessary to reflect this in the pension plan. An inflation estimate that is too small will result in the erosion of the workers retirement benefits. Because the government, unlike the private insurance firm, can guarantee that it will exist well into the future, and will have the continued income of the Social Security tax to draw upon, it can make on-the-spot adjustments for changes in the inflation rate. Some adjustments, in fact, have been automatic in the recent years, therefore relieving the pensioners of the periodic worry of whether this years benefits would be adjusted, or whether the level of payments would remain stable, thereby, relative to the cost of living, making them poorer that ever before(Stein p. ). In the face of the government's ability to make those necessary adjustments and to continually finance the Social Security program, many opponents of the system argue that the government programs are driving out the private insurance industry. The statistics remain otherwise. The social security tax is one of the fewest taxes in the United States, and the only federal tax in the country, that is given for a specific purpose. All other taxes are put into another fund, so that welfare programs, defense, pace projects, and the other categories of government spending are all financed from one giant, uncategorized bowl of tax revenues(boskin p. 62). When the Social Security system was first established, it was felt that a direct payroll tax, based on the pay of the worker and paid both by employer and employee, would be the fairest way for the people that were currently working to pay benefits to those who weren't working, as well as to provide for some future requirements and disabilities. Therefore, a specially constructed payroll tax was used to fund the program. By measuring the amount taken in by the tax to the amount, not only that is taken out, but to the amount that will be taken out in future years, opponents of the Social security system make the case that the system will be unable to keep itself in such a manner indefinitely. And, if Social Security were a private insurance program, it wouldn't. But the fact is that Social Security is not a private program. it is funded by the government. Further, the government is in a unique position to change the laws of commerce and contract to adjust the system, making it more responsive to the needs of the retired, which, in turn, would reduce their need for the Social Security benefits. For example, the United states Government should raise the mandatory retirement age. By raising the age to sixty-eight, the Social Security System could delay paying out benefits for several years to thousands of people, saving the system a significant amount of money in benefits. For these reasons, the government is in a position which cannot be compared to private industry. In this sense, looking at social security as an insurance program and comparing it to other insurance programs in the private system could easily give the impression that the system is gong bankrupt, when in the reality it isn't. The thing to keep in mind about the Social Security system, then, is this: the system itself is in no fundamental danger of collapse. There is only temporary, cash flow situation that must be carefully looked at. The federal government pays out 4. 5 billion more in Social Security benefits as it collects in taxes every year. In fact, $4. 5 billion is a small price, compared to the other programs the federal government now finances from general revenue. Besides tapping the general revenue fund and raising the retirement limit to 68 or even 70,the government has the option of raising the Social Security tax or even reducing the benefits slightly. The government has so many options with regard to financing the benefits that the question becomes of the cash management, not quite as significant as the huge deficits that the Social Security has been accused of having. The government is already under way to help alleviate this cash flow problem. Public officials have debated which of the various ways would help best serve the public interest, and legislative action has been taken that would ultimately result of the Social Security system to a positive cash base. This shift would provide the workers of America with the same benefits they have been guaranteed since 1935- and have been paid, and expanded ever since. The social security system has withstood forty years of changing economic conditions and greater concern of public welfare. What would replace the system, if the critics had their way? The social security system has saved an untold number of people from disaster throughout many years. Many of the nations old people- some as young as sixty-two, a few over a hundred, live from Social Security paycheck to Social security paycheck, with this government program as their livelihood.

Religion: is it a Force For Good in the Modern World? Essay

What is religion, and can it ever be a force for good? Religion is a notional series of beliefs that make sense of the world. For some people, it can help to answer questions about creation, life and death, and provides comfort and a system of belief in and worship of a supernatural power or god. Religion in the West (mainly Christianity) is now not what it once was, and in the East (for example Islam) has become rather distorted due to fundamentalism. Nevertheless, most of us would like to think that religion is a force for good. The basic nature of most religions should make them so, but when people abuse religions and use them as an excuse to make money, exert power, or even to wage war, they turn into a force for bad. The Christianity of the past has sometimes seemed horrific to our eyes, but within the context of the times for many a Christian it was a force for good. We can see now that Christianity was good in the sense that it helped to inspire many good things in education, the rule of law, and culture generally – many paintings and musical compositions were enthused by the Christian religion, because people wanted to have illustrations of their belief in the transcendent. The Ten Commandments were and still are a good way for people and groups to control their behaviour and have a clear moral framework. (It is interesting to note that the Christian idea of turning the other cheek is not what the Christian Americans will be doing if they decide to attack Afghanistan.) There were several things about Christianity in the past that nowadays we consider to be morally wrong, but the Christians at the time thought that what they were doing was right: the crusades, for example, where the European crusaders wandered around the middle east attacking Muslims, sometimes even mistaking Christian villagers for Muslims and slaughtering their families. This would be considered as anything but morally right nowadays. The crusaders, though, thought that it was God’s will that they should slaughter those people, just as was the case was with dogmatic disputes within Christianity, with Christians fighting each other – the Christians thought that they were doing these terrible things for a just cause, just as bigoted and ignorant people in Northern Ireland still do. The good thing about Christianity these days is that the majority of Christian churches are benign give hope and something to rely on (for instance, the disaster in New York attracted many people to come to church to pray, even some non-religious people). Churches provide a focus in the community, and sometimes religious groups can act as a force to counteract bad elements in governments and societies. In the western world nowadays, Christianity is being overtaken by materialism; learning and compassion associated with the Christian religion are being undermined, and in the Middle East and in Africa, fundamentalism, (which takes the words of sacred texts literally), is coming into play. There is the danger for examples of clashes between Protestantism and Catholicism, and between other groups, in particular, evangelical churches, which are fundamentalist in tone, and display for example narrow-mindedness over abortion. There is also a danger from semi-religious cults, which like sects in religion emphasize a few aspects, which are often of benefit financially to themselves, or at least to their leaders. It cannot be very religious that in these money-based cults, there is a wish to dominate financially as well as ideologically. The Islamic religion was like the Christian religion in many respects – it was charitable, respected the individual and also helped to provide the foundations for things like education, law and the arts. However, the Islamic religion expanded too quickly over a wide geographical area, and could not keep up with the development of society, and there began conflicts within itself, and with Christianity. Jihads, (or Holy Wars, similar to crusades), were probably fundamentally more concerned with political and economical aims than with religious ones. Today, when it is part of more open and tolerant Muslim societies, such as Turkey or Pakistan, the Islamic religion does not present a major threat, and it is clear in these countries that there are a lot of similarities between Islamic and Christian principles. But because it has failed overall to adapt and find a place in the modern world, and there has tended to be a large gap between the rich and poor in Muslim societies, then fundamentalism has taken hold among the more ignorant or manipulative elements, and often has strong nationalist connections, as in the Taliban. This is a reaction by the clerics and their associates against a pluralistic society, away from individual rights and especially those of women to the supposedly core beliefs of the religion. In most cases the more tolerant and benevolent aspects of the religion are ignored, and even the strictest are seen to be corrupt: the Taliban’s religious police can be bribed, and often loot the televisions etc that they confiscate. An example of the difficulty that some modern day religions face is the idea of a holy or a just war. Most religions say that you should not commit murder, and should respect the individual, and it is often not easy to see why or how this can be overruled so that churches can justify a war, but the fact is that war is justified by different religions whether we like it or not. Generally a just or holy war should involve clear identification of an enemy, clear reasons for attacking the enemy, and some idea of what the outcome will achieve, even if it is only to the attacker’s benefit. The CIA supported and trained Bin Laden and his followers in Afghanistan when it suited the USA to use him against the Soviet invaders. Now they have to face him as a dangerous enemy. An ex-Soviet general said recently that four soldiers in a tank were no match for an Al-Qaeda follower on a donkey. Bin Laden is now the arch-enemy of the USA. Because he is sheltered in Afghanistan, that country, which has suffered 20 years of terrible war, is likely to be attacked again. The Taliban, however, feels that they have reason to view the USA as the enemy. Is this to do with religion, a real jihad, or is it that because everybody in poor Muslim countries that have suffered a lot of war feel envious of the power and wealth of the world’s only remaining superpower? If President Bush can talk carelessly (or was it carelessly?) about a crusade, is it not understandable that many Muslims feel that this is anti-Islamic in general and not just anti-Bin Laden? There is really no such thing as a justifiable holy war because no one should attack anyone else simply because they have different religious beliefs: the background to any war is always far more complicated than matters of doctrine – it is usually a power game and/or an economics game. Whether we are believers or not, we all have to hope that if used properly and in the right hands, religion can still be a force for good. In bad hands such as those of religious fundamentalists of an extreme kind it can be very dangerous. It is difficult for us to enter the minds of extremists partly because their motives often seem mixed: for example, it is said that the night before the attack on the World Trade Centre a lot of shares were bought and sold by people with connections to Bin Laden, and he seems to be a rich man already. The West has not yet come to terms with what these types of religion can mean and that is why it was taken by surprise on September 11. Until we understand what lies behind the sectarianism of religious extremists we will not be able to deal with these forces which bring what can only be called evil in their wake.

How does the use of Multimedia and virtual learning environments Essay

How does the use of Multimedia and virtual learning environments increase adult learners ability to learn chemistry - Essay Example The purpose of the study is to evaluate the suitability of a series of IMM pre-laboratory lessons at a secondary school, to support laboratory practical and training of chemistry students. The IMM tutorials incorporate text, graphics and video images to demonstrate technique and procedures and explain relevant concepts subsequently encountered in the laboratory. The lessons also contain pre-laboratory quizzes and the program that is used to record the results obtained by the students. Laboratory experience has always been an essential part of learning chemistry as it is a practical science. Longstanding arguments in favour of practical include the acquisition of cognitive and manipulative skills, acquisition of an academic attitude to working, and gaining of practical experience of phenomena. Theory and experiment have an interdependent relationship. It is theory and not experimentation that opens up the way to new knowledge. The curriculum and instructional strategies used in the laboratory have, however, changed during the years as instructional approaches changed from pragmatic to constructivist. There was a strong move away from the ‘cook-book’ approach, and from the teaching of laboratory skills. More emphasis was placed on problem solving, hypothesis formulation, interpretation of data, experimental design and reporting. According to a survey of 39 secondary schools in the UK, the majority of schools still offer traditional laboratory courses and in addition learners are often expected to learn skills aid techniques by ‘doing’, without being exposed to a course on techniques. Since practical are expensive and time intensive, and as alternative ways of achieving instructional goals have become available, educators are again questioning the effectiveness and efficiency of traditional laboratory work. (G.P.

Fill out Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Fill out - Assignment Example Even, I am more stressed out and mentally fatigued. For controlling this stress, I feel that I should give some time to myself and my friends because giving all the time to studies is making me more stressed. I can do some exercises for mental relaxation; I can also make a schedule giving time to exercise, studies, family time and much more. I should take enough sleep to relax my mind. I should set my preferences and list them out number-wise. Previously, I adopted an extreme side that made me tenser and I was unable to give required results. I worry about a number of things in my life. I am quite aware that this worrying is useless, but I am somewhat habitual. For example, I worry about diseases especially the viral ones; I also worry about my studies that make me much stressed. I worry about people and their comments on any of my actions. I worry about my parents’ anger and much more. What are some ways that this worrying behavior might be useful for you? Think in terms of its distractive value, the self-pity and sympathy that you might enjoy, or even the magical belief that you might somehow prevent disaster through magical thinking. My concern about diseases makes me to take precautionary measures beforehand. My worry about studies makes me to devise strategies to appear better in exams. I also enjoy self-pity when I analyze the amount of workload on me. My stress about people’s perceptions and beliefs regarding my behavior and personality make me stand by and on my guard. My worry about my parents’ anger allows me to keep away from such actions that can cause this anger. Directions: Sometimes the inability to separate a problem from how you feel about the situation may impede your progress in obtaining solutions. The following is an exercise that is designed to help you separate the two.   I am sometimes unable to control my anger that is a big problem. Anger is an emotional outburst that is mostly bad for human health

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock - Essay Example As with the lipstick-stained handkerchief, the articles in Rebecca’s bedroom provide an ominous presentation of her lingering presence in Cornwall. Here, Rebecca’s room space depicts that her presence is represented in her bedroom. Because of this, the new Mrs. de Winter is overwhelmed by the sheer strength of Rebecca’s spirit, as she cannot escape her signs whenever she turns in the house (8). The continuous remain of Rebecca’s presence overwhelms her, thus believing that her husband is still in love with Rebecca. Even Mrs. Danvers suggests that Rebecca wanders the hall of the apartment and watches the second wife when she is with Maxim. These mansion settings turn into haunted houses since the inhabitants are preyed upon, stalked, and often eventually killed in them. In Notorious (1946), Hitchcock explores the meanings of familiar domestic and architectural spaces. Observe, for example, what the film is doing with the balcony in the apartment scenes. Initially, the balcony provides a view for which back-projected picture-postcard of exotic romance; subsequently, it virtually disappears, dissolves, as we draw towards, gets absorbed in the lovers. In other words, Hitchcock depicts that it is a private space, a place for intimacy (Brandt 13). Later, the balcony is represented as cold and dark as well as airy. It mirrors the mismatches and distances between the characters as they squabble. In Alicia’s apartment in the first scene is the perfect, blissful moment of love. The space of the apartment is depicted as everything in it. Starting from the level of staging, cutting, framing, and lighting. It creates that sense and sensation of perfect union, which is of the oneness of the lovers (Brandt 13). Both the outer and inner parts of the house are joined, opening in one continuous strip of space that is bound by a firm sensual luminosity. In the film, Psycho (1960), Hitchcock

Literature - I stand here ironing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literature - I stand here ironing - Essay Example As mother goes back to fetch her past life, we as readers get a glimpse of Emily’s childhood. There are few intrusions that bring her back to the present like "I put the iron down" (p. 12); "Ronnie is calling. He is wet and I change him" (p. 17); "She is coming.† (p. 19). But this journey of recollection ends on a positive note, â€Å"At the end she comes to understand that shed done the best she could, given the circumstances—but this simple insight, and her journey toward it, are quietly devastating.† (Disher, 2001: 91) Emily is a nineteen year old in the present. She is confident woman and has found the art of self-expression through mime. But occasionally she can behave erratically and her sense of self-worth gets dented. That is when she wants to be assured of her beauty and her attractiveness. Emily would insist on being told, "over and over how beautiful she had been--and would be, I would tell her--and was now, to the seeing eye. But the seeing eyes were few or non-existent. Including mine" (p. 10). That was when her alienation, her isolation and her mother’s helplessness and guilt became obvious and grew more intense: "the unsureness, the having to be conscious of words before you speak, the constant caring--what are they thinking of me? . . ." (p. 17). But Emily has found self-worth, expression and confidence as a skilled performer of pantomime. As happy as her mother is of her achievement, it cannot acquit her completely. She is still haunted by her own past, by her pained alienation from a daughter for few months, and by Emily’s failure to adjust in the new family. Emily’s counselor insists she ‘needs help’ but her mother acknowledges Emily’s skill as a mime artist and knows that she has found an inner strength through this art. The counselor is possibly worried about Emily’s alienation and isolation. Her mother goes

Napoleon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Napoleon - Essay Example For example, in military affairs, he managed military inventions, which were necessary for the French revolution. This included the use of mass conscription enabling the use of block tactics to enhance attacks in columns. This also helped in the elimination of supply lines enabling the French armies to be mobile (Lyons, 25). History depicts that, before the reign of napoleon, France had undergone revolutionary turmoil for over a decade. Causing instability in the government and increasing incidents of corruption. It is evident that during this period church policies were rare because they triggered inflation. The citizens of France were tired of the situation, and they desired for a stable government that would ensure the stability of their lives. These changes were brought about by napoleons reign because it is his military innovations that helped the French in to secure their government. The success of the military forces established by napoleon helped him to consolidate and hold o n to power. This led to his declaration as the French emperor in the year 1804 (Lyons, 33). Politically it is evident that Napoleon was an active administrator. History depicts that the internal reforms that were put in place by Napoleon helped France in consolidating some achievements during the French revolution, enhancing the suppression of others. ... The political impact during his reign in France is also depicted from his introduction of equality as one of the essential factors in politics. This is because he thought that by introducing the concept, he would have stayed in his position with little threat. This changed the political situation in France because all men were considered equal under his power. Some of his main accomplishments in ensuring equality in the political system are evident from the establishment of Napoleonic civil codes. This made all the men equal, however; the law despised the women because the men maintained their legal powers over the women. This had an impact on the political structure of France because the hopes that the women had towards the revolution as an improvement of their legal positions were frustrated by Napoleon (Lyons, 55). Napoleon is also seen to have made a contribution to the political structure of the French government through his introduction of nationalism. History depicts that he i s one of the French leaders, who believed in nationalism as a tool that would help him obtain the loyalty of the French people during his reign. It is evident that it is this spirit of nationalism that enhanced the inspiration of the armies of the French government enabling the government to attain a remarkable series of victories. These were of enormous benefit to him as he obtained a chance to rise to power. However, this interfered with the political structure of France as it was thought to be a trick that was used, by the leader, to establish a personality cult making the French people identify him with France. This meant that by the citizens being loyal to their country France they were also being loyal to him. It is evident that

Business Environment Analysis of British Airways Essay - 1

Business Environment Analysis of British Airways - Essay Example The assessment of the external environment is conducted in reference to its impact on British Airways. For the purpose, the range of strategic management tools has been employed. British Airways (BA) is a private limited company is renowned airline that has recently celebrated 90 years of existence in the year 2009. It is one the leading premium airlines of the world and the largest airline of UK and covers around 400 destinations across the world (British Airways, 2013). The business model of BA is based on the revenue generation from the passenger as well as cargo delivery services. With the long rich history and experience, BA has become one of the leading airlines that have extensive scheduled flights and network of airline. Additionally, it is a comprehensive list of joint agreements, franchise partners and other defined codes that enables it to service wide network of stations (airports). Importantly, in the year 2010, BA merged into Iberia which is the largest airline of Spain (British Airways, n.d.). British Airways generate its revenue from the two basic sources including passenger revenue and the cargo revenue. For the year 2013, BA generated revenue of around  £ 10,129 million from the passenger revenue with the growth of 6.6% while the cargo revenue declined by 6.5% and generated  £ 689 million in 2013 as compared to 2012. The year 2013 was driven by considerable investment in the airline with constant focus on expanding customer base along with the cost reduction measure at effect (British Airways, 2013). This section of the report will produce the information related to the British Airways. The information will be specific to the business direction and future vision of the business along with impact of the external environment on BA and its response. The mission of British Airways, as reported in the marketing in magazine, is â€Å"to serve† (Eleftheriou-Smith, 2011).

FEMA, CDC and DHS Essay Example for Free

FEMA, CDC and DHS Essay Another example of disaster management through interagency methods include the co-ordination between the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These two have been working closely with state and local governments and relief organizations to remind residents and businesses in coastal areas to counter hurricane disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency a former independent agency that became part of the new Department of Homeland Security in March 2003 is specifically tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from and mitigating against disasters. FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U. S. Fire Administration. The 1960s and early 1970s brought massive disasters requiring major federal response and recovery operations by the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration, established within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There were hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. In 1968, the National Flood Insurance Act offered new flood protection to homeowners, and in 1974 the Disaster Relief Act firmly established the process of Presidential disaster declarations. When hazards associated with nuclear power plants and the transportation of hazardous substances were added to natural disasters, more than 100 federal agencies were involved in some aspect of disasters, hazards and emergencies. To reduce the complexity of disaster relief work, these agencies asked President Jimmy Carter to centralize federal emergency functions. President Carters 1979 executive order merged many of the separate disaster-related responsibilities into a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA began development of an Integrated Emergency Management System with an all-hazards approach that included direction, control and warning systems which are common to the full range of emergencies from small isolated events to the ultimate emergency war. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland security, and tested the agency in unprecedented ways. The agency coordinated its activities with the newly formed Office of Homeland Security. Today, FEMA is one of four major branches of DHS. About 2,500 full-time employees in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate are supplemented by more than 5,000 stand-by disaster reservists. FEMAs mission remains: to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of A Nation Prepared. FEMA works in partnership with CDC. Together, they offer the Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) which is a 4? -day exercise-based training activity that places public officials and emergency personnel in a realistic crisis situation within a structured learning environment. The course has been sponsored and conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since 1982. In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) incorporated a bioterrorism component into the IEMC. In 2005, CDC’s Coordinating Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response allocated funding to the National Center for Environmental Health to add environmental public health elements to the course. Six FEMA/CDC IEMCs for Communities are currently being scheduled as part of a fully integrated partnership between CDC and FEMA. The course builds the awareness and skills needed to develop and implement policies, plans, and procedures to protect life and property by applying sound emergency management principles in all phases of emergency management. The course will increase the level of overall preparedness of participants by helping them understand the roles of environmental public health and other disciplines in an integrated emergency response framework. Additionally, the course will provide chemical, radiological, and natural hazard training modules and interactive exercises for state and local communities. The training program is meant for State, local, and tribal officials from various disciplines; public health practitioners; hospital staff and other health care providers; elected/appointed officials; management personnel; and media representatives. Here is an example of how FEMA(branch of DHS) and CDC are working together in disaster Management: When many victims of Hurricane Katrina returned to their homes they found themselves without electrical power. For residents purchasing generators to provide heat and electricity, the Department of Homeland Securitys Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned of the danger of running the generator inside the house or an attached garage or carport. Bill Lokey, FEMAs federal coordinating officer and Jeff Smith, state coordinating officer for the Louisiana disaster recovery effort, advised residents that the improper use of generators, other gas-powered tools and pressure washers can have serious results. The CDC offers the following cautions on the use of gas-powered generators: Never use generators, grills, camp stoves or other gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning devices inside, or even outside near an open window. If you must use one of these devices, use it only outside and away from open windows. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas you cant smell or see that comes from these items. It can build up inside your home or enclosed space and poison the people and animals inside. Exposure to CO can cause you to pass out or die. The most common symptoms of exposure are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. In addition, residents should make certain that their homes have a carbon monoxide alarm that meets current safety Underwriters Laboratories standards. FEMA and CDC warn that there is also a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if gas ranges are used to heat homes.

Israeli Targeted Killings against HAMAS: Legality

Israeli Targeted Killings against HAMAS: Legality The Legality and Efficacy of Israeli Targeted Killings against HAMAS Extra-judicial killing is often referred to by the United States in the case of its enemies as â€Å"exporting terrorism,† and has gained special notoriety since its employment by the State of Israel in the years of the two Palestinian intifadas, or â€Å"uprisings.† The political assassinations and recent attempts by the Israeli government, disputed by many in the international community, are argued by Israel and the United States as legally sanctioned by Articles 2 and 51 of the United Nations Charter. Israel claims suicide bombings against its civilians have been curbed significantly by successful assassinations to which it fully admits, albeit each of these assassinations has resulted in â€Å"collateral damage† in the form of innocent bystander casualties. Others, such as Member States of the EU and the Arab League, have denounced Israeli assassinations as illegal. Whether or not the targeted killings were the factor behind the drastic reduction in suicide b omb and other terrorist attacks on Israeli citizenry is a point of major contention; several other factors including HAMAS’ calling of a hudna, or ten-year truce, in hostility and the construction of the separation wall along the UN-recognized â€Å"Green Line† demarcating Israeli from Palestinian land should be taken into consideration. One of Israel’s most impenetrable arguments in favor of the practice of targeted assassination is not deterrence, but rather preemption: â€Å"On November 9, 2000, Fatah leader Hussein Abayat was assassinated by fire from a helicopter, along with two women who were walking nearby. The killing initiated a new Israeli policy of publicly acknowledging assassinations—officially termed ‘targeted killings,’ ‘liquidations,’ and ‘pre-emptive strikes.’ This policy was premised on a set of interconnected justifications: 1) that Palestinians were to blame for the hostilities, which constituted a war of terror against Israel; 2) that the laws of war permit states to kill their enemies; 3) that targeted individuals were ‘ticking bombs’ who had to be killed because they could not be arrested by Israeli soldiers; and 4) that killing terrorists by means of assassination was a lawful form of national defense†[1]. The legality of Israeli targeted killings relies on a fine balance of situational interpretation of international law; while the Israelis never argue the validity of a law in the UN Charter, their political stance on the Palestinian territories often contrasts their approach in dealing with the Palestinians as a sovereign entity. Lisa Hajjar dissects the varied Israeli responses to intifada in her Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza, noting Israel’s relative position of morality and transparency in comparison to nations in similarly enduring conflicts. Hajjar notes that â€Å"what distinguishes the Israeli model from many other states embroiled in protracted conflict is that Israel does not repudiate or ignore international law†; â€Å"rather, it ‘domesticates’ international law by forging interpretations of its rights and duties in the West Bank and Gaza to accommodate state practices and domestic agendas†[ 2]. The Israeli government currently administers authority over the West Bank (referred to as â€Å"Judea† and â€Å"Samaria† in Israeli political circles), and since it controls Palestinian air space, borders, natural resources, and collects taxes from the Palestinian people, both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would erstwhile be considered under Israeli sovereignty. However, the international community (which includes the UN) does not recognize the Israeli occupation, leaving the Palestinian situation somewhat in political limbo. The UN Charter, in Article Two, states â€Å"all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state†; since â€Å"Palestine† is not a state under international law, this aspect of Article 2 does not apply. However, the simultaneous objections by the UN in the past, including the passing of more than sixty resolutions of which Israel is currently in violation[3], do not apply as according to the same Article, nothing â€Å"shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement,† including the â€Å"application of enforcement measures† taken by any given member state. By these technicalities, Israel is not breach of international law, since few international laws can apply to the occupied territories (OT) which have yet to be recognized as a sovereign state. Article 51 adds that â€Å"nothing in the present charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security†; moreover, â€Å"measures taken by members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council† in order to â€Å"maintain or restore international peace and security.† Israel is transparent regarding its attacks and since the Jewish state technically is not attacking the Palestinians as a whole (hence the phrase â€Å"targeted assassinations†), it is not in breach of the UN Charter. Given Israel’s membership in the UN and the absence of sovereignty on behalf of the Palestinians, no claim can be made to the contrary vis-à  -vis international law. According to Hajj ar: â€Å"Many states engage in practices that deviate from and thus challenge prevailing interpretations of international law. However, when powerful and dominant states like the US and Israel do so, this cannot simply be written off or criticized as â€Å"violations† because it produces an alternative legality. Contrary to the claims of both critics who take prevailing interpretations of international law as their point of reference and political realists who disparage the relevance of law, neither state ignores the law. Rather, both use laws and legal discourse to authorize and defend the legality of policies such as military pre-emption, indefinite incommunicado detention, abusive interrogation tactics, assassinations, and targeting of areas dense with civilians†[4]. The efficacy of the targeted killings is disputed from a purely number-oriented statistical study. According to The Alternative Information Center on Palestine/Israel and the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, Israeli deaths spiked in mid-2002, decreasing steadily through 2006[5]. Three cases of successful targeted assassinations on HAMAS (an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or â€Å"Islamic Resistance Movement†) to consider are those of former Izzedine al-Qassam (the militant wing of HAMAS) leader Salah Shehade in 2002, HAMAS spiritual founder and figurehead Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin, and HAMAS co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, who was killed within months of replacing Sheikh Yassin as the organization’s head. Between the established spike in violence in 2002 and the assassination of both Rantisi and Yassin in 2004, several events transpired. Between the assassinations of Shehade in 2002 and al-Rantisi in 2004, the Israeli army engaged the Palestinians with an incursion into the intifada stronghold of Jenin and began the construction of the West Bank separation barrier. Though the physical number of casualties decreased, the number of attempted attacks did not subside until as recently as December 2006[6]. While the execution of figureheads such as those named above are undoubtedly a positive force in the dissembling of HAMAS and other terrorist organizations’ leadership, the question of whether they are an effective means of deterrence and prevention is another issue, especially given the religious component of suicide bombing in the OT and its culture of martyrdom. To some extent, the system of targeted assassinations has been â€Å"marginalized as extrajudicial executions (i.e. assassinations) have come to vie with prosecutions as means of punishment and deterrence for suicide bombings by Palestinian militants†; both â€Å"suicide bombings and assassinations have a history that predates the second in tifada, and both emanate from human rights claims—dystopian in the extreme—to kill to survive†[7]. Perhaps more contested from a legal standpoint than the act of targeted assassinations is the factor of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. The area most targeted by Israeli assassinations, especially by aircraft, is the densely-populated Gaza Strip whose population of approximately 1.3 million is estimated by many to be the most densely-populated region in the world. The case of Shehade is one of the more notorious in recent Israeli history, whose death sparked the protests of â€Å"tens of thousands vowing revenge†[8]. According to CNN and other sources, a squadron of F-16 jets dropped an armament of significant magnitude on the apartment building in which Shehade lived; sources claim the armament deployed weighed nearly a metric ton. As a corollary of the attack on the â€Å"three story building in which Shehade lived,† fifteen other people, including women and children, were killed in the residential complex[9]. Justifying the attack that killed the archite ct of attacks that resulted in the murder of â€Å"hundreds of Israelis,† the assassination of Shehade prompted speculation that Israel had to have been cognizant that an attack of such magnitude would certainly result in â€Å"collateral damage†[10]. Active awareness of civilian death as a measured loss in such an action prompts the question as to whether or not Israel should have been held accountable on the same counts as groups like HAMAS, despite the difference in the nature of the attacks. Hajjar, whose writings lean toward the side of the Palestinian cause, nevertheless concedes unconditionally that â€Å"suicide bombings and assassinations can by no means be considered equivalent except in their effects (death)†; while the two are not the â€Å"only forms of violence that characterize the exchanges during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, â€Å"together they illustrate with brutal clarity the human costs of unbearable justice and intractable conflict†[11]. I n order to adequately address Israeli culpability in targeted attacks, one must first put into larger context the timing of such attacks. Unlike the first intifada, the roots of the second are â€Å"entwined in the military court system, which has been a central setting for the conflict†[12]. The second intifada in particular marked the change in Israeli occupation of the OT, an expansion from a predominantly â€Å"law enforcement model to a war model†[13]. Since the attacks on both sides escalated in both nature and cost, the Israeli retaliatory actions also warranted a change in their degree of severity. The deterrent component of Israeli retaliation to the first intifada was surmised to have failed, given the reorganization of additional terrorist organizations that despite their political competition inside the framework of Palestinian government collaborated in their attacks on Israeli citizenry. There existed a perception that â€Å"the duration of the first int ifada had forced the Israeli government to make concessions to Palestinians and that these concessions, namely the redeployment from Palestinian population centers, had weakened the military’s ability to provide for Israeli security, creating a reliance on the Palestinian Authority that was ineffective in preventing suicide bombings and other types of attacks on Israelis†[14]. A low-intensity, small-arms confrontation, the first intifada was dwarfed by the weaponry and frequency of attacks inside Israel proper. Where the first intifada was characterized by stone-throwing at tanks, the second is today notorious for suicide bombs and gruesome lynching of Israeli settlers and soldiers. While deterrence may not have been achieved, the escalation in the degree of Israeli retaliatory measures and those of pre-emption undoubtedly carried with it the intent to assert Israeli military dominance. Targeted assassinations took place long before the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000. While the legal ramifications of such assassinations are as yet to be officially disputed, the moral indignation inside Israel and abroad has been considerable. Opinions clash over the morality of such assassinations, even among Israel’s populace. Detailed by Nachman Ben-Yehuda in Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice, targeted assassinations should hardly be a significant point of contention in the international community. Though assassinations may be equated with executions (albeit doled out without formal trials), targeted attacks are not murder. Ben-Yehuda points out that â€Å"a political assassination event is typically carefully planned and cold bloodedly executed,† despite the large numbers of â€Å"collateral damage† as previously mentioned[15]. Israel has done well in the past to point to its critics the fact that â€Å"at the risk of seeming to provide a ‘justification’ for political assassination events in the form of executions, one must be reminded that selecting the route of political executions was in fact taken by governments in different cultures as a useful and pragmatic tool†[16]. Unlike Syria’s Asad regime, which in 1982 massacred nearly 40,000 members of the Islamic Brothers following an assassination attempt on then-President Hafiz al-Asad, Ben-Yehuda is careful to make note of Israel’s use of targeted assassination in specific cases when no other course of action will spare its soldiers’ lives. He makes a point to note that â€Å"while it is inaccurate to assert that political executions were a major tool used by Israel, it was used whenever the decision makers felt that executions could achieve specific goals like revenge, or in preventing future occurrences of aggres sion and violence against Israel†[17] . Ben-Yehuda also observes how some equate â€Å"a government’s reliance on assassinations to a ‘desperate gambler’s stroke’†; political analysts have speculated that â€Å"assassination is the tactic of the resource-less† and that â€Å"a government which cannot pursue foreign policy by conventional means and uses assassins instead is likely to be a government so vulnerable that its weapons perform like boomerangs in the hands of the inexperienced†[18]. America has recently endeavored to use the Israeli model of late, adopting the tactic of assassination in 2002 â€Å"which had been prohibited by executive orders since 1977†[19]. Studying Israeli legal arguments, the US militarily justified its assassination of suspected al-Qaeda member â€Å"Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harithi and five others (including a US citizen) in Yemen by a pilotless drone†[20]. Unlike, Israel, however, the US violated Yemeni airspace, a questionable act given distinction in its targeting of an American citizen. Targeted assassinations executed by the United States should not be conflated as a purely Israeli export, however; missions that transpired in the Vietnam conflict’s notorious Project Phoenix â€Å"neutralized 8,104 Viet Cong cadres† and was considered so potent a practice that the â€Å"Saigon interior minister set goals for 1969 noting the United States’ hope for 33,000 neutralizations through the rest of the year†[2 1]. While Israel used assassinations as a relatively domestic tool and was met with criticism, the majority of the world remained silent for several reasons in the case of America’s Project Phoenix. First, Israel has yet to officially declare war, as such a declaration would imply the sovereignty of Palestine as a nation. Second, the US was embroiled in a conflict that would later claim in excess of 50,000 soldiers and countless hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. As a preemptive measure, Phoenix was morally admissible due to the magnitude of the conflict and the fact that Vietnam, official or not, was a multi-national, regional conflict and full-blown war. It should be noted that even in war, however, â€Å"Phoenix had become known and increasingly controversial in the US, a problem that would never cease† and added to the long list of grievances the American public would take with the war in general[22]. Robert Freedman recalls the Israeli public opinion of targeted assassination, stating â€Å"public opinion in Israel is characterized by high levels of knowledge and personal involvement regarding issues of security and by low levels of perceived influence†; â€Å"the public relies on the leadership and is aware of its own ineffectiveness† despite such reliance[23]. An open society, Israel’s actions are not only carried out on behalf of the people, but are approved by the people. As per the international outcry abroad, those who defend Israel’s actions—namely states embroiled in similar conflicts such as Serbia, Cyprus, and Russia—remained staunch allies and knew the endorsement of Israel’s actions would lessen international reaction to their own respective situations. Among Israel’s political adversaries, however, the escalation of the violence in the second intifada, along with well-documented media coverage of bus and cafà © bombings, changed the character of international outcry significantly. Unlike the PLO’s activities in the late 1960s through 1980, HAMAS and its extreme tactics of suicide bombing after 2000 earned the Palestinian cause worldwide antipathy as well as scorn directed at the Israeli state. Such changes in threats, Freedman argues, precipitated changes in responses which varied in intensity. The escalation of targeted assassinations was a two-fold public relations strategy. On the one hand, it showed a change from the popular perception of Israeli indiscriminate fire on the Palestinian population, and on the other, it showed a general concern for IDF soldiers and law enforcement, starkly contrasting the willingness of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad to knowingly detonate and kill its own members. Freedman notes how â€Å"the Israeli response to the threats posed by the PLO, particularly during the height of its armed struggle in the 1968-1971 period, was based on a combination of admin istrative, economic, and military actions†[24]. The military component and predominance of assassinations reflects the difference between PLO secularist attacks and HAMAS-style religious branding, adding more weight to the conflict and another dimension of severity. To date, the Israelis have been able to continue in their targeted assassinations, owing to a combination of brutal Palestinian aggression as well as the language of ambiguity adhered to in the UN Charter. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. (1993) Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device forJustice. Albany: State U of New York P. Freedman, Robert Owen. (1991) The Intifada: Its Impact on Israel, the Arab World, andthe Superpowers. Miami: U of Florida P. Hajjar, Lisa. (2005) Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the WestBank and Gaza. Berkeley: U of California P. Hirst, David. (2004) â€Å"Obituary: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.† [Online Resource] Available at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1175854,00.html. Prados, John. (2003) Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby.New York: Oxford U P. Rice, Edward E. (1988) Wars of the Third Kind: Conflict in Underdeveloped Countries.Berkeley: U of California P. Various. (2007) â€Å"Al-Aqsa Intifada Enters Sixth Year.† [Online Resource] Available at:http://www.alternativenews.org/aic-publications/other-publications/al-aqsa intifada-enters-sixth-year-20050929.html. Vause, John. (2002) â€Å"Israel Takes Heat for Gaza Airstrike.† [Online Resource] Availableat: http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/07/23/mideast/index.html. Various. (2004) â€Å"Hamas Chief Killed in Air Strike.† [Online Resource] Available at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3635755.stm Watson, Geoffrey R. (2000) The Oslo Accords: International Law and the IsraeliPalestinian Peace Agreements. Oxford: Oxford U P. Note: UN Charter available at: www.un.org/aboutun/charter Footnotes [1] Hajjar 2006, p. 238 [2] Hajjar 2006, p. 243 [3] Hajjar 2006, p. ix [4] Hajjar 2006, p. 246 [5] http://www.alternativenews.org/aic-publications/other-publications/al-aqsa-intifada-enters-sixth-year-20050929.html [6] Hajjar 2005, p. 244 [7] Hajjar 2006, p. 236 [8] CNN 2002 [9] Ibid [10] Ibid [11] Hajjar 2006, p. 36 [12] Hajjar 2006, p. 235 [13] Hajjar 2006, p. 236 [14] Hajjar 2006, p .237 [15]s Ben-Yehuda 1993, p. 354 [16] Ben-Yehuda 1993, p. 318 [17] Ben-Yehuda 1993, p. 354 [18] Ibid [19] Hajjar 2006, p. 246 [20] Ibid [21] Prados 2003, p. 210 [22] Prados 2003, p. 214 [23] Freedman 1991, p. 269 [24] Freedman 1991, p. 47

Methods in Carrying Out A Research Project

Methods in Carrying Out A Research Project Part one of this module was to highlight the research methods needed to carry out a Work Based Research Project. The research used aimed to demonstrate the different types of research methods available, evaluate them and determine the appropriate form of method to use that was relevant to the chosen topic. In carrying out this research procedure various existing literature that gives a clear insight into this topic was analysed and a review of these was written to form a critical and objectional opinion on the subject. The first module enabled me to decide on the appropriate type of research most relevant to the subject chosen. My chosen topic for research was regarding the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment P.P.E. within the steel-fixing industry and the title of this project is; The wearing of light eye protection and gloves for steel fixing Is it always practical and do the benefits exceed the risks? Background of the need for this particular subject Having worked for many years within the steel-fixing industry I have witnessed many changes especially on the larger civil engineering sites. The introduction of gloves and light eye protection is by many an issue that needs to be addressed because by many they are deemed unnecessary, uncomfortable and are just seen as a way of satisfying the main contractors insurance policy needs when tendering for work. With this in mind it was deemed necessary to bring into force new legislation and this was when The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPEW Regulations),were implemented with them taking effect on 1 January 1993. The PPEW Regulations were able to make clear the regulations on the Use of PPE in the Workplace. (www.hse.gov.uk) this new legislation was needed to enforce the wearing of P.P.E. in the workplace and it also highlighted the directives for the new regulations both the employer and employee were expected to adhere to. In section four of the regulations i t highlights the duties of the employer to provide suitable P.P.E. for all of their employees said to be at risk unless the risk considered to be adequately controlled at source by other means. If it was deemed necessary for the wearing of certain types of P.P.E. the employers were expected to abide by certain rules when being asked to supply the equipment. It had to be appropriate for the risks involved the work conditions and the place it was being expected to be worn. The health of workers would also need to be considered along with the comfort, efficiency, safety, and ease of use for the workers it needed to be effective in controlling the risks but still had to fall in line with the current EC requirement for P.P.E. . Although the directives within these new regulations were supposed to be beneficial to employers and employees alike they are still by some considered to being used too generic. Compatibility was the next issue concerning the new rules. It was alright to supply P.P.E. to the workers but if it was not compatible with other forms of P.P.E. it could compromise the health and safety of said workers. With the shifting tide towards added health and safety more and more products were become available on the market. With the use of eye and hand protection being the subject of this topic a look into the different types of products available has been researched and the findings highlight a very extensive range of products on offer. Safety goggles have always been an almost daily used piece of protective equipment used in the cutting of steel with abrasive wheels, which is a wheel made of abrasive particles stuck together with various substances. Serious friction burns, crushed fingers and loss of eyesight are common injuries arising from accidents which happen when people are using abrasive wheels due to small shards of the blade disintegrating throughout the cutting process. (www.hseni.gov.uk) The need to were goggles has always been considered to be a necessity in steel fixing, however with the old types of goggles available and the tendency for them to steam up especially under extremes of heat people would often neglect their duty to were them and take a chance without them. Current types of goggles are much better designed to combat this problem. While examining suppliers of protective products it was realized what exactly was on offer, however even following the EU directives cost could be an issue to employers because the need for the appropriate glasses for the type of work being undertaken could lead to higher costs. Other issues arising seem to be with the wearing of protective eye equipment for those who need prescription glasses. Solutions to this have been found with the introduction of impact resistant safety glasses, this is good for the directly employed but not for the sub-contractor/self-employed as the contractor only supplies the minimum required P.P.E. and with prescription safety glasses potentially costing in excess of thirty pounds (www.protecdirect.co.uk) The contractor seems again reluctant to supply them. Many suppliers to the construction industry of P.P.E. are plugging the idea of cool or designer safety glasses (www.elvex.com) which although still made from the product this being a poly-carbonate compound and conforming to EU legislation, the necessity for this type of eyewear is not essential only adding to the cost of already expensive P.P.E. for contractors particularly when purchased in the large quantities they have to especially when servicing some of the bigger contracts. The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPEW Regulations), state in regulation 6 that an assessment in which P.P.E. is suitable and does not cause risk to the employee in wearing it which if carried out properly would work, but in reality when the health and safety personal still insist on workers wearing eye protection in wet or extreme conditions it could lead to a compromise in the workers safety. It also states that the equipment needed matches the equipment to be supplied and not only the cheapest option available . Regulation 7 of the(PPEW Regulations), say that every employer shall ensure that any personal protective equipment provided to his employees is maintained (including replaced or cleaned as appropriate) in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. And that every self-employed person shall ensure that any personal protective equipment provided to him is maintained (including replaced or cleaned as appropriate) in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair (www.opsi.gov.uk). This works in practice when however employees inform their supervisors of the need for more glasses due to scratched lenses it is often frowned upon leading to the employees sometimes continuing to use inferior equipment a simple solution to this might be to provide some sort of inexpensive carry case to use to help alleviate the problem. The wearing of glasses is fairly straight forward with no real training necessary but employees should be made more aware of the different types of product available to them. (www.opsi.gov.uk) With the literature researched in the first part of this module coupled with the statistics gathered I thought that the need for the wearing of safety glasses did seem to be apparent however with the aid of case studies and some short informal interviews the pros and cons along with the possible benefits from the wearing of such items should become more obvious. From a personal stand point I think that a slightly less stringent approach could be taken to still adhere to the EU directives. It has to be emphasised that this is only a personal view and that the legislation quoted at the beginning of this essay would need to be adhered to at all times to fulfil the obligation to both the employer and the employee. From the previous developing a work based project assignment I found that statistics showed injuries to hand/arm are the second most common type of injury in the construction industry. Sites now are also adopting a blanket gloves policy to coincide with the wearing of glasses a s already fore mentioned the need seems to be apparent but for many workers they still feel that they should have a freedom of choice. After completing the research and having gathered and analysed the various forms of data available It was apparent that the most appropriate methods for gathering of data for this particular subject would be case studies along with some short informal interviews. These methods are particularly relevant because I can draw upon real life case studies I have personally had some dealings with, and with the aid of some short informal interviews with the individuals involved the findings will show whether the wearing of said types of P.P.E. would benefit everyone asked to wear it or whether it should be made more specific to certain types of trades as opposed to a total generic site policy. Also with the gathered information, case studies and the interviews it should show the relevance of the two types of equipment being asked to be worn both from the pers pective of the employer and that of the employee. This first case study being observed concerns the wearing of light eye protection and perhaps reiterates most from the employers point of view the relevance and need to rigorously enforce the wearing of such items. A Steel fixer I was working with was fixing steel on a large roof slab of a communications building on a well known local American air force base. This type of work is always heavily reinforced with many intricate design issues arising because of the specifications of the contract due to the security and the strength needed to be achieved not only for the longevity of the building but also the need to withstand potential attack from intruders, terrorists etc. Because of this conventional ways of steel fixing do not always apply in that it is sometimes not always possible to fix the steel in the usual way of placing the bottom mat then placing the support chairs then finish with the fixing of the top mat. That is partly the reason for the occurrence happening in this instance. The procedure for the work to be carried out was in many ways different to the Norm in that in this particular case the top mat of the slab had to be fixed before the bottom mat was slid into position though a design called blast links (a common design on sensitive air base projects). The steel fixer in question needed to access the underside of the top mat reinforcing to place these links prior to the fixing of the bottom mat reinforcing, he did this and by wearing his safety helmet thought the risks of injury would be minimised by. Whilst inside he was carrying out his duties safely as he thought for sometime but he failed to notice a previously fixed cranked bar protruding into the underside of the roof slab and on reaching out to obtain some more links to place he turned sharply with the result being that he turned directly onto the fore mentioned T25 mm piece of previously placed reinforcing. The consequences of the steel fixers actions resulted in a visit to the local hospital to undergo some quite lengthy examinations on his eye and it was discovered that he had pushed the eye ball back into his socket with the resulting injury being the focal muscles in the back of his eye along with the eye socket itself were both extremely badly bruised which resulted with the steel fixer having to wear dark glasses for some time afterwards to help with the sensitivity of the injured eye. Another complication from the injury was that reasonably shortly afterwards the steel fixer in question was on visiting the optician prescribed glasses, and although it was never proved for sure it was said that it was a possibility that it could have been a major contributory factor. On speaking to the said steel fixer I asked him in view of what had happened to him did he think that the wearing of glasses should be mandatory across all trades within Civil Engineering and Construction or did he think it should be for specific trades such as those using wet products like concrete or hazardous substances. The feedback I obtained was that in this instance the wearing of light eye protection would have stopped the injury and alleviated the discomfort he suffered after the accident. He did make the point that at the time of the accident light eye protection was not so readily available and it was the duty of the contractor to only supply protective goggles for cutting and grinding. Also the types of products available were not of the same quality that now seem to be more common place so even if the choice was there to wear protection he probably would not have because they were uncomfortable and because of the confined situation he was in they would have been not appr opriate because they would have kept misting up. Another issue that was raised was the fact that a proper risk assessment should have been carried out and if it was it may have been able to have stopped the incident occurring by placing some form of protection onto the ends of the bars in the first place. End of Rebar protection Although my original research project was to look at the wearing of gloves and light eye protection after talking to the steel fixer in question I decided to look at the possible solution to end of Re-bar protection also. I found many types of products available for the protection of the ends of Re-bar with the most popular form seeming to be the end cap type. This type of design protects the user from scratches but on further investigation I was to find out that to protect workers from impalement a different product is required not always realised by both the workers and the contractor. I was to look at a system called The Carnie Cap System which was specifically designed for the purpose of impalement protection. It can withstand a 250 pound weight dropped from 10 feet without the rebar protruding and is also less expensive than troughs. In fact, only two Carnie Caps are needed per each eight foot section. Making it quick and easy to install. (www.carniecap.com) Wire hazards in steel fixing The case study I have just highlighted has just raise one issue with regards to steel fixers walking into protruding objects but another problem is flying end on the tie wire used to tie the re-bar into position. Dragging lengths of tying wire around while tying rebar is hazardous to steel fixers and those working around them. The steel fixer has one end of wire in his hand and under control, but the other end is free to fly around, being the flying end. The wire end snags easily and the natural reaction is to give it a tug. The result is a razor sharp wire end travelling at high speed towards the steel fixer with the potential to cause serious face or eye injuries and in some cases, complete eye loss. A product I found that could protect against a situation like this is system called reel-fix Rapid Reel which is a lightweight, refillable wire dispensing unit designed to be worn in conjunction with the Reel fix belt and comfort pad. ( www.reelfix.com) In using this product one end of the tie wire is clipped into the reel using a refill spool thus eliminating the flying end scenario making it less likely to obtain the serious type of injury shown above. Working on a major project in East London we were given a comprehensive induction in which we were informed that the wearing of gloves and glasses were mandatory, and that any person caught without these items would be given a yellow card. A second offence would be another yellow card resulting in expulsion from site. After receiving this information most of the workers adhered to this policy not wanting to be dismissed for something as trivial as not wearing gloves or glasses. One particular colleague chose to ignore the instructions given and carry on fixing steel without gloves on Ill put them in my pocket and if anybody turns up then I will put them on was his attitude. He was carrying out a task on an abutment wall when his accident happened. On completion of the abutment wall being fixed it was his job to fix some bars required into the wall to hold the wall at the desired spacing prior to concreting, he was placing the necessary bars into place and was not giving full attention to what he was doing, spending time talking to the other trades as he was carrying out his own duties, which every trades man working is probably guilty of having carried out these sort of tasks many times over. This particular day was to be very unfortunate for the steel fixer in question because as he was sliding the second from last bar into place he took his eye off what he was doing and ran the fleshy part of his thumb on the inside of his hand along a tie that was holding the main wall bars in place. The result of his actions was quite a severe cut to his right hand and this was also the hand he used for his end cutters. Because of the severity of the incident he was taken to the site nurse who cleaned and covered the cut and sent him to hospital where he was to have seven stitches to his hand and because of this being the hand he used for he used for his end cutters it resulted in him having to have two weeks off work until the stitches were removed losing him quite a substantial amount of money as he had been working twelve hour shifts and seven days a week for an extremely busy part of the contract. The man had to return to site briefly to fill an accident report for the incident to also be told he was being given an official warning for not wearing the P.P.E. he was instructed to as stipulated in the site induction. I spoke with the individual about what had happened and asked if he would now reconsider as to whether he would be wearing gloves in the future or not but he just illustrated that it was an occupational hazard of steel fixing and he would still rather not wear them given the choice. When I made him aware of the different types of gloves available and to the fact you can now obtain The Sperian (www.sba.co.uk) cut resistant gloves for use in steel fixing he did agree that there could be a use for these but he would still choose not to wear them given the choice as he still finds them cumbersome and in the warmer weather they make the hands overheat when worn for long periods. As a supervisor I had to have some dealings with the main contractor over the incident that had occurred and they stressed that it was part of my duty to make sure the men were wearing the correct P.P.E. I agreed to this but did stress the views from the men about the quality of the products on offer to which I was told that they would supply the basic minimum P.P.E. and that if the men wanted any other type of equipment then they would have to supply their own as the main contractor was not prepared to carry the cost of this. With the research complete and the information gathered in the form of case studies/interviews it was clear that there did seem to be a strong need for the wearing of the fore mentioned equipment, it did also become clear that as the project develop however that the research needed to be on going not only because new products are becoming more readily available all the time with regards to the chosen topic but of the constant changing regulations on Health and Safety and the policies the main contractors need to put into place to satisfy their insurers that they are doing their upmost for the health and safety of their employees when tendering for contracts. Another conclusion drawn from the project was that until a case study was carried out the findings and recommendations were mainly of my opinion but with the case studies/interviews complete it drew on the experiences of others who had their own ideas having been the victims of the events highlighted. Conclusion Having completed the Work Based Project I was able to draw some interesting conclusions from it. I found that the research I had previously carried out in the developing a research assignment gave me the opportunity to gather some good relevant information to co-inside with the work based project, it was however only the beginnings of the project and I found that through observing the case studies and from gathering information from the short informal interviews I gave it was to broaden the scope of the research. The attitude towards the wearing of gloves and light eye protection also seems to be changing from not only the employers perspective but also from the employees stand. When something new is introduced it always takes time for people to recognise the benefits and to adjust to the new system, people get set in their ways and find it not only hard to adapt but also do not see the reasons or benefits they may gain from this. It has been a general opinion for a long time that th e reason the main contractors want us to wear the fore mentioned P.P.E. is only to fulfil the obligation to their insurers and that if they do not put these measures into place then they will not be able to tender for contracts. Although this is partly true it has to be recognised that these companies are a business and as so they have to move with an ever changing construction environment to succeed. The representatives on site are just that, with the decisions over these matters being made from much higher authorities with the employees sometimes neglecting this fact leading people on site feeling that they are being persecuted and that they are having their freedom of choice taken from them. With the case studies highlighted and the other information I have gathered I think that there is a definite need for the wearing of gloves and light eye protection with the benefits definitely exceeding the risks it will however take time to adjust to the new procedures and an alliance between the main contractors and their workers could be put into place to aid communication in these matters to stop the workers feeling potentially alienated in these matters.

My Antonia :: essays research papers

Book 3, "Lena Lingard," is set in Lincoln, Nebraska where Jim studies under the instruction of an admired scholar Gaston Cleric. Lena Lingard moves to Lincoln to set up a tailoring business and visits Jim. They start seeing each other regularly, going to the theater, and spending Sunday mornings together. He enjoys her company much more than that of the women of his own class who are so interested in socializing that they seem to have no life in them. Lena’s shop is very successful. She tells Jim she plans never to marry, having seen enough of marriages to know that it is not for her. She wants to be able to determine her own choices in life. Her plan is to make enough money to set her mother and younger siblings up in a comfortable house. From Lena, Jim hears about Antonia’s boyfriend, Larry Donovan, a railroad conductor who puts on airs above his status. No one likes Larry, but Antonia will not hear anything bad said of him. One day, Gaston Cleric comes to see Jim and tells him he will be teaching at Harvard. He invites Jim to come with him. Jim reluctantly says good-bye to Lena and then goes home for a visit before leaving. Book 4, "The Pioneer Woman’s Story," takes place two years later when Jim has finished his college courses and comes home to visit before continuing on to law school. Antonia is now twenty-four years old and has had a baby outside of marriage. Jim is disgusted with her and doesn’t plan to go see her where she is living with her family again. However, one day he is in the photography shop and sees a large picture of Antonia’s baby. The photographer says she is extremely proud of her baby. Jim decides to go out and talk to the Widow Steavens, a woman who has been renting his grandparents’ farm and who helped Antonia throughout the preparations for her wedding and who helped her after her child was born. Mrs. Steavens tells him that Antonia and Larry Donovan got engaged and Antonia set to work on her linens and her trousseau. She came to Mrs. Steavens’ house every day to sew. Larry Donovan was in Denver working. He took a long time to send for her and when he did he said they would be living in Denver instead of Black Hawk.

Money Can Buy Happiness! :: Happiness Essays

What is happiness? According to the dictionary, happiness is a mental or emotional state of positive or pleasant emotions. Now think closely, what does happiness mean to you? Many people say money can’t buy you happiness, some people say it can. People say, â€Å"How can you not be happy when you have a ton of money?† But people also say, â€Å"Having too much money can get in the way of happiness.† To me money is just green paper that lets you buy things you want and need. But can this green paper really buy you happiness? After reading this paper of mine, think about the question again and what do you believe is true. I am going to share with you a little story about someone that thinks money can’t buy happiness. This story is written by a seventeen year old girl named Michelle who was asked this question for an interview for New York Daily News, so read and think about her story: I never really thought the expression, â€Å"money can’t buy happiness†, was true. As an infant, just by observing the people around me, I observed when they would obtain money and a huge grin would spread across their face, the corners of their smile spreading from ear to ear. Whenever I would see that grin and a person’s face light up at the sight of a crisp, green bill it would make me believe that I had proved the famous expression wrong. Now that I’ve grown up and matured, my idea of that expression has changed. As of now, I am able to reflect on life more and look deeper into things and particularly into people more than I was able to do years ago. My ideas about this expression changed the most though because of the money situation my family had stumbled upon because of the failing economy. I remember being younger when the economy was doing well and waking up to twenty gifts for each of my three sisters and I. We used to believe that all of those presents, brought in because of money of course, were the best part of waking up on Christmas. Of course all of those toys and material items would make a child happy; however looking back it would only make them happy if it was given to them by somebody who bought it for them with love.

Loss of Opportunity for Higher Education

A profession that most of us choose to follow will vary in many ways. Most people would follow a path that would entail penetrating the business world, while some would focus on other undertakings that include government related duties, medical professions and legal professions.   In my case, initially pursuing a career by defending and serving the country through using service for the flag by offering labor and passion for the country were my initial steps. Many people view joining the military as a waste of time, but in my case, serving the flag above anything else was main prerogative. This is perhaps one reason that what many would call as a deprivation of gaining higher education and exploring other opportunities that can eventually help out my tenure of service towards my country. Military occupations are known to end somewhere along the line and once this happens, a secure future may not be clear when it comes to depending on pensions as the main source of living later on. The basic business knowledge, strategies and management styles are definitely something that is not present or available at this time. While I am serving my country, participating in the on-going crisis that needs my attention, the desire and need to gain the necessary business knowledge needs more time to focus on. Being said, such events prevent me from attending to the needs of my family and dependents. Education is a very important investment, a choice that I had foregone, but given the opportunity to grab a decent education at any point will surely be something that I will not allow to pass. Such has become a hindrance in allowing my wife to gain better ground as far as opportunities. Understanding my current profession is not so easy to do. While I would have avoided the matter had I been chosen to pursue a degree of relative education, then perhaps this matter of attaining the proper educational level instead of serving my country was the purpose I had undoubtedly chosen. While there are no regrets on my part for being where I am now, the opportunity lost is quite devastating as  people would consider it. Providing a better future for my family was evidently set aside, and this is something that was a gamble on my part as far as life’s decisions are concerned. Taking the initiative of placing my country in lieu of my personal security for me and my family is clearly something that will deprive me of planning and preparing for the future once I have ended my years of service. However, hope still floats and even though time is a key element in investing in education has been lost, pardon or assistance to my dependents is something that I am really praying for. Due consideration in exchange for placing practically my life for a country I love dearly in exchange for the security and future of my wife and dependents is the only recourse I see to offset the loss from the educational benefits I have given up. But once time permits, pursuing education to whichever level suitable and to my abilities will remain to be my battle cry. There is no turning back to where I am now, but only time to adjust and look forward to being given the chance to undertake new and different challenges and seek education upon the remaining educational opportunity once given and allowed.

Canadian Confectionery Market

Within the confectionery industry, the chewing gum segment (Standard Industrial Classification 1082) consists of establishments primarily engaged in the manufacture of chewing gum and candy gum preparations. The sugar and chocolate confectionery segment (Standard Industrial Classification 1083) consists primarily of firms engaged in caramelizing, syrup kneading, extruding, compressing, stamping or otherwise manufacturing starch goods (jelly candies of all kinds); hard sugar candy; cocoa powder; and chocolate confectionery and cooking chocolate products, unsweetened and sweetened. Introduction Prior to the mid 1980s, the confectionery sub-sector had, primarily, focussed on serving the domestic market. In 1988, less than 12% of shipments were exported, whereas imports accounted for about 24% of the domestic market (see table). However, changes in the structure and performance of the Canadian confectionery industry occurred with the global integration of economies that began to intensify in the late 1980s. These changes, stimulated by global trade liberalization, were formalized in the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and multilateral negotiations that led to the formation of the new World Trade Organization (WTO). The initial impetus for change came in response to escalating competition from imports (particularly European chocolates and hard candies), but the industry also became more aware of the potential for exploiting emerging export opportunities. At the same time, the domestic market was exhibiting limited growth. By 1997, exports represented about 32% of confectionery shipments. Historically, many Canadian confectionery manufacturers have faced scale disadvantages compared with American and European firms. At the same time, Canadian exporters, including subsidiary operations of multinational enterprises with product â€Å"mandates† for the U. S. market, have enjoyed a relative production-cost advantage in a key ingredient, sugar. Canadian sugar refiners are unique among those of other industrialized countries in that they purchase most of their raw sugar on the world market. Prices on the world market are normally low and are reflected in lower prices for refined sugar in Canada. Other competitiveness factors relate to global brand-ownership rights and taste differences that necessitate special formulations for the domestic market. These characteristics have helped separate the U. S. and Canadian markets to some extent. The growth of retail gourmet candy shops, such as Laura Secord in the late 1980s pointed to a new consumer trend toward purchasing high-quality, specialty products at premium prices. Many retail shops sell imported merchandise; however, domestic producers also began to supply the market for quality chocolates and their products, too, have been accepted by consumers. Overall, the confectionery industry has adapted well to the more open global trading environment through a series of rationalizations which have resulted in more efficient and specialized operations. Significance As with many other industries in the Canadian food and beverage processing sector, the manufacturing of confectionery products progressed from what was, essentially, a cottage industry in the 19th century to a modern, concentrated industry by the middle of this century. Today, confectionery manufacturing is a growing and dynamic segment of the food and beverage processing sector, representing 3-4% of the total value of shipments, number of establishments and number of employees. The confectionery industry shipped product valued at more than $1. 9 billion in 1997. About $1. billion of this was sugar and chocolate confections (25% sugar and 75% chocolate) and about $0. 37 billion was chewing gum. Value-added in confectionery manufacturing is approximately 51% of the total value of shipments, considerably higher than the food processing sector average of 36%. Structure There are 106 establishments (plants) in the sugar and chocolate industry and in the chewing gum segment, employing app roximately 10,411 people, (latest statistics, 1997). Confectionery production is located mainly in Ontario, but the industry has representation in all regions of Canada. Production facilities range in size from small, one- or two-person, seasonal operations, to large plants employing up to 1,000 people. The confectionery industry in Canada is highly concentrated. The leading eight enterprises produce close to 87% of the value of shipments. Foreign ownership of the confectionery industry is high since multi-national enterprises have a major position in the industry. An estimated 60% of industry shipments are accounted for by foreign-controlled enterprises located in Canada. Within the confectionery industry, characteristic distinctions can be made between sugar candy operations and chocolate operations. Most sugar confectionery companies are small or medium in size and produce a wide variety of products, such as hard candy, gummy bears, licorice, jujubes and toffee, as well as an assortment of hard and soft candies for specialty and novelty markets. Most chocolate operations, on the other hand, are larger and dedicated to three product categories: boxed chocolates, chocolate bars and/or seasonal novelties. Boxed or novelty chocolates are sold, primarily, as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter. The chocolate bar market tends to be steady year-round, but is highly fragmented – a bar that can capture 4 or 5% of the market is considered successful. Gaps between the top-selling bars are measured in tenths of a share point. Packaging materials represent a significant input cost in the confectionery industry, estimated at 20% of the cost of raw materials (1998). The primary ingredients used and their approximate percentage of the overall cost of raw materials are cocoa products (20%), sugar (5%), dairy products (7%) and nuts (6%). Firms in the confectionery industry compete on the basis of brand name, advertising and promotion, specialty products, quality and cost. Because confectionery products are usually discretionary and high-impulse purchases, promotion plays a significant role in establishing brand presence in the various regional markets of Canada. In 1998, the Confectionery Manufacturers Association of Canada (CMAC) estimated that advertising and trade-promotion costs for its member companies totalled $55 million, or 2. 6% of sales. In years when there are many new product launches, confectionery firms spend more on advertising and promotion. In 1997, for example, advertising expenditures for CMAC firms were $57 million. The chocolate and chewing gum components of the confectionery sub-sector tend to be more highly brand-sensitive and advertising-oriented than the sugar confectionery component. The medium- and large-sized firms in the confectionery industry are generally considered to be capital-intensive, technologically modern and efficient. Entry into the sub-sector, however, can be gained by firms with low levels of technical sophistication. Smaller firms making niche products often use older equipment and run labor-intensive operations because they do not have sufficient sales volumes to warrant investment in some of the newer, high-speed, high-capacity machinery. Performance Performance in the confectionery industry is influenced by a number of factors, including market conditions that compromise the ability to maintain high rates of capacity utilization, competition from imports, the fluctuating cost of some imported raw materials, the value of the Canadian dollar and brand name rivalry. Throughout the 1990s, as part of its adaptation to various international trade agreements, the confectionery manufacturing industry has continued to undergo rationalization while making needed investment, particularly in new machinery and equipment ($105 million in 1997). The number of manufacturing establishments decreased from 110 in 1988 to 87 in 1994, but rose again to 106 in 1997. Commensurate with plant rationalization, the value of confectionery shipments increased 24% between 1992 and 1997. (see Figure 1) Correspondingly, employment increased by about 5% between 1992 and 1997. During the same period, labor productivity, measured by real sales per employee, also improved substantially, rising about 24%. Approximately 32% of the growth in shipments was attributable to exports, which increased 390% between 1988 and 1997. Figure 1. Total Shipments and Employment, 1988-1997 In 1997, $599 million in confectionery shipments were exported (Figure 2). Ninety-five percent of exports go to the U. S. A significant part of Canadian international trade relates to product mandates achieved by Canadian operations of multinational enterprises headquartered in the U. S. Canada's confectionery exports comprise about 69% chocolate, 27% candy and 4% gum, by value. In 1998, 95% of Canada's sugar candy and chocolate exports went to the U. S. and about 5% to Japan, Australia, Mexico, the U. K. Hong Kong, the Philippines and South Korea. Figure 2. Imports, Exports and Domestic Shipments, 1997 The majority of chewing gum exports (83%) also go to the U. S. , based on multinational corporate trade. However, the U. K. , Chile, Belgium, France, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and South Korea represent other export markets for chewing gum, each accounting for roughly 1-3% of exports in this category. In 1997, Canad a imported about $766 million in confectionery products; this comprised $742 million in sugar and chocolate confectionery products and $23. million in chewing gum (Figure 2). Canada's confectionery imports are made up of approximately 74% chocolate, 23% candy and 3% gum, by value. About 54% of sugar and chocolate confectionery imports are from the U. S. , a further 46% from the U. K. , Germany and Italy. A good deal of this trade is in branded products that are globally recognized. These goods are imported by brokers or retailers, or directly by Canadian-based operations of multinationals to round out their product lines in the Canadian market. In the chewing gum category, approximately 60% of imports are from the U. S. , about 40% from Mexico, Brazil and Japan. The confectionery industry's export orientation increased from 12% of factory shipments in 1988 to 32% in 1997, while import penetration increased from 24% of the domestic market to 37% during the same period. Overall, the negative trade balance, measured in current dollars, has changed dramatically since 1988, from a negative trade balance of $166 million in 1988 to $0. 1 million in 1999 (see table on page 11). Figure 3 also indicates that the gap between exports and imports narrowed significantly in 1998 and 1999. Figure 3. Trade Performance, 1988-1999 It is estimated that the confectionery industry operates at about 75% of full production capacity. This is partly because, in some segments of the industry, specialized equipment is only used for seasonal product lines. While the rates of capacity utilization may vary among countries, the same impediments are faced in varying degrees by all global competitors. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, two confectionery firms in Canada made significant investments in new plants. Generally, investment in buildings and construction has been less intensive since then. In the sugar and chocolate segment, consistent with cost-cutting and rationalization efforts, gross margins (value-added less wages) rose steadily from an average of 37% in 1988 to 41% in 1992, but by 1997 declined to 37% (margins in the chewing segment are somewhat higher). In 1995, confectionery companies engaged in fierce rivalry for market share – many promotional deals were evident in reduced prices at the retail level. Nevertheless, gross margins in both the chewing gum and the sugar and chocolate confectionery segments are higher than in the food and beverage processing sector overall (27% in 1997). Figure 4. Capital Investment, 1992-1997 Profits tend to be higher in the sugar confectionery industry than in the chocolate industry. Return on sales in the chocolate bar industry in Canada is less than that in the U. S. and U. K. , for example. Canada is the only country in which the four major multinational chocolate bar companies, all essentially equal in size, co-exist in the same market. The intensely competitive market conditions caused by this unique situation keep profits low. In recent years, the confectionery industry has demonstrated significant real growth in shipments, employment and productivity since 1988. Furthermore, sustained growth in exports is an encouraging sign that Canadian firms can compete in the global market. Issues, Challenges and Opportunities – Toward the Next Century As the confectionery industry adjusts to market drivers, such as globalization, demographic changes and general economic conditions, it must address a number of issues to remain viable and enhance its competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. Functioning within a globalized environment Globalization is an economic phenomenon driven by a range of influences, including the development of more efficient means of transporting goods, the internationalization of food product demand, the establishment of information networks that facilitate trade in goods, services and capital, and a more international perspective in marketing and investment activities by industry. To a great extent, globalization has already reshaped the structure and attitude of the Canadian confectionery sub-sector, as noted earlier. However, many issues must be addressed to keep pace with change. Cost and competitiveness Confectionery companies in Canada are in a somewhat unique position among food processors in that they use only small quantities of Canadian agricultural inputs (other than dairy). Production costs in the confectionery sub-sector are sensitive to even small increases in world sugar, cocoa, raisin or nut prices. The prices of these globally traded commodities are often volatile. When prices increase significantly, processors have no easy way of passing them along to consumers while retaining their traditional share of the snack market. Canadian firms that export products are less competitive when world commodity prices, particularly for sugar, rise. Generally, Canadian confectionery manufacturers enjoy a cost advantage over American manufacturers when they export to the U. S. The U. S. maintains a high domestic price for sugar, while Canadian processors derive a significant benefit from their ability to purchase refined sugar at world prices, which are normally about 25-30% lower. Some of this benefit is, however, offset by transportation costs incurred by Canadian firms in getting their products to the U. S. market. The playing field is levelled for U. S. processors that export their products (to Canada). Refined sugar at the world price is available to U. S. industrial sugar users under the U. S. Sugar Re-Export Program. Canada and the U. S. had a difference of view over the validity of the application of this program to Canada because of conditions that were negotiated under the NAFTA. However, an agreement (effective October 1, 1997) was reached which took into account Canada's concerns about the substantial U. S. reductions in market access for sugar and sugar-containing products when the U. S. implemented its WTO commitments in 1995. In return, Canada agreed not to pursue NAFTA dispute settlement procedures with respect to the U. S. Sugar Re-Export Program, but will monitor the use of the program in Canada for changes that may have an impact on Canadian interests. For confectioners making chocolate, another important competitiveness issue is the price of dairy ingredients. Canadian dairy prices are considerably higher than those in most other developed countries. Until recently, this situation put milk-chocolate producers at a cost disadvantage relative to imports. Competitive dairy prices have now been negotiated with the Canadian Dairy Commission for confectionery products destined for both domestic and export markets. It is hoped that this initiative will encourage investment in the construction of new facilities in Canada for manufacturing milk-chocolate ingredients such as chocolate crumb, which are now predominantly imported. Managing costs and other factors related to competitiveness, as well as taking advantage of export opportunities, are often easier for larger companies than for smaller ones. Larger firms are more adept at purchasing commodity ingredients and can afford to dedicate personnel to monitoring markets from which they purchase in large volumes. For small- and medium-sized confectionery companies, managing ingredient costs, competing with branded products and gaining access to high-caliber distribution channels are often the toughest hurdles to overcome. Access to a large number of retail locations is a key advantage of global firms. Their distribution networks can carry many related products to both central and outlying stores. Some high-quality chocolate and novelty products are sold, primarily, at a few special times during the year. Managing production, full-time employees, inventory, marketing and cash flow (on a yearly basis) can thus be particularly challenging, especially for smaller firms. Finally, participating in the export market is often a more difficult option for smaller firms, which face high entrance costs associated with advertising to establish brands, finding brokers and distributors and dealing with the risks involved in selling a product under special credit arrangements. Regulations There are two major issues that have been raised by the confectionery industry as concerns. One, which affects the relative cost of confectionery and other snacks, relates to the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). This tax applies to all single-serving snack products sold at retail. However, for multi-serving packages, the GST applies to confectionery products but not competing snack foods like cookies and donuts. This continues to be a serious concern of confectionery manufacturers. The confectionery and snack market is highly competitive and the industry contends that even small price differences â€Å"make† or â€Å"break† the consumer's choice. The equitable enforcement of Canadian labelling requirements on products that fall under the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and Food and Drugs Act is another issue of concern to confectionery manufacturers. The industry continues to view the problem of mislabelled imports as a threat to its overall competitiveness because firms that do not comply do not incur substantial labelling costs. Technology and innovation As with most segments of the food and beverage processing sector, technology is an issue that is extremely important to confectionery manufacturers. Most firms are well informed of international developments in processing equipment through industry journals or attendance at trade shows. The vast majority of new technology is available off the shelf, usually from machinery manufacturers in Germany and the U. S. Proprietary process improvements, new product formulations and ingredient improvements occur regularly, especially within larger multinationals. These advancements are often shared with Canadian subsidiaries. The manufacture of confectionery products can be highly technical, requiring considerable understanding of food technology, including hardware (processing machinery and computers), software and formulation technology. Technical know-how is required to integrate these elements in an effective production system that is efficient and results in a high-quality, innovative product. Artificial sweeteners and natural flavouring systems are fields in which technology advances at a rapid pace. Sugar-free confectionery is one of the fastest-growing market categories. Although still most popular in chewing gum products and mints, the trend is also growing somewhat toward sugar-free hard candies, as well as sugar- and fat-reduced chocolate products. Sugar-free gum now has a majority share of the chewing gum market. Candies are more difficult to manufacture in sugar-free form because sugar itself is the primary bulking ingredient. Chocolate products, which have both sugar and fat as main ingredients, are also difficult to manufacture in reduced-sugar or reduced-fat form without sacrificing quality and taste. New ingredients are key drivers in the innovation of sugar-free and fat-reduced confectionery formulations. While regulatory approvals for new ingredients can take time to obtain, many ingredients, particularly those for use in the manufacture of sugar-free candies, have been approved and are currently in use. Examples include low-calorie bulking agents, polyol sweeteners and high-intensity sweeteners. Investments We do not have a subject on â€Å"Investments†, our apologies. Employment We do not have a subject on â€Å"Employment†, our apologies. Capturing New Markets Opportunities in the domestic market The real value of the Canadian market for confectionery products rose approximately 24% between 1992 and 1997. In 1997, the average Canadian spent about $60 on confectionery items, purchasing about 10. 3 kg of products (6. 7 kg of chocolate, 2. 9 kg of candy and . 68 kg of other confectionery products, such as chewing gum). The chocolate category has shown the strongest performance in that period, growing from $1. 1 billion in 1993 to $1. 4 billion in 1997. The chocolate category is by far the largest category, over three times larger than the second largest category, sugar confectionery and nearly four times larger than the gum category. Consumer preferences are changing. Children nowadays have more disposable income. They like licensed products and interactive toys that are sold together with confectionery. Consumers are more indulgent and are willing to pay more. Baby boomers in particular want quality over quantity. Opportunities in international markets There are opportunities for firms to gain market share in response to changing consumer demands. The U. S. market continues to present opportunities for the confectionery industry. In 1997, U. S. per-capita consumption of confectionery products reached 12. kg, representing a . 8% increase over the previous year. A tariff-free environment and lower sugar costs help Canadian products compete in the U. S. market, particularly in the large urban markets close to the Canada-U. S. border, where distance and resulting transportation costs are less of a factor. Opportunities also still exist in the mature Western European market for confectionery products, where gum is th e fastest growing category. In 1998, the market for confectionery products in Asia-Pacific declined from $16. 5 billion in 1996 to $12. 9 billion in 1998. Japan and Australia are currently the two biggest markets, but the highest growth potential is expected in China. Medium-term growth in the Asian region is expected to be about 5-8% a year. Double-digit growth is expected in Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and China. Although massive in population and geographic size, the Asia-Pacific region has the smallest confectionery market of the world's three major regions. To succeed in the Asian marketplace, manufacturers may have to adapt their products to taste preferences and other consumer demands. For example, natural colours and flavours in hard and soft candies are popular with Asian consumers. Market growth has been stilted by the prevailing negative economic conditions in the Pacific Rim, especially the recessed economies of South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia. There were, however, two success stories in Asia-Pacific confectionery between 1994-1998. Both China and Vietnam experienced double digit growth. China's overall confectionery market grew from roughly $1. 7 billion to nearly $3. 0 billion from 1994 to 1998. The Chinese market, because of its sheer size, is becoming an increasingly important opportunity for Western confectionery products. Although per-capita consumption is still considerably lower than in Western countries, imports of confectionery products to China have increased dramatically in recent years, in relation to the growing disposable incomes and a general attraction to products that reflect Western culture. There is good potential for high-quality products. Brand image is important and there are opportunities for the establishment of new brands. Currently, retail distribution in China is inefficient because of a poorly developed system of roads, rail, telecommunications and refrigeration. Recently, however, there have been moves to allow commercial distributors (which have economies of scale and various subsidies), to compete with state operations. The distribution sector is thus starting to become more market-oriented and efficient. Manufacturers and importers are working together to set up their own networks, whereby they appoint a certain company to act as their sole distributor in a particular region. Exporters can penetrate the Chinese market by setting up a local office or by using the services of an agent in Hong Kong for advice on product positioning, navigating through the regulatory environment and bureaucracy, and avoiding misunderstandings due to cultural differences. Another important market in the region is Vietnam, whose overall confectionery market grew from $28 million in 1994 to $53 million in 1998. Consumption growth rates have been high especially in the chocolate category. Rising incomes and increased trade prospects under a potentially expanded NAFTA make Latin America another attractive market for confectionery products. There are notable growth opportunities in the Brazilian market for chocolate, the Chilean market for sugar confectionery and the Colombian market for chewing gum. Geographically, Brazil is the third largest country in the Americas, after Canada and the U. S. , and has the second largest population (160 million). Recent positive trends for business include economic stability, reduced inflation, privatization and freer trade. As the Brazilian economy moves forward, consumer demand for value-added products, including confectionery, is growing. The Brazilian chocolate products market is the largest and most dynamic in Latin America, and the sixth largest in the world, worth more than U. S. $4. 7 billion in 1998. The overall value of the Brazilian market is second only to the U. S. in North and South America. Challenges There are a number of challenges facing the confectionery industry in Canada if it is to continue growing, enhancing its competitiveness and taking advantage of new market opportunities. Multinational enterprises are expected to continue to have an increasingly important role. These firms establish a benchmark or standard against which smaller firms measure their success, both in relation to their ability to reduce costs and meet changing market requirements. Multinationals operating in Canada will have the challenge of maintaining or expanding their product mandates (mostly North American) within their corporate structures and seeking new export opportunities. Like all food processors, this industry is assessing how to deal with the emergence of E-commerce. The confectionery industry will have to determine if it can effectively use this medium to increase efficiencies through business-to-business solutions and the development of web-based marketing strategies. For small- and medium-sized enterprises, the challenge will be to exploit opportunities, particularly in areas where multinationals are not competitive and where flexibility and sensitivity to regional tastes may be important factors. Access to investment and the capital needed for technology and product development, as well as the ability to enter into strategic alliances (e. . , with other confectioners or distributors) in developing export markets will also be a challenge for these firms. More general challenges for the confectionery industry include: * developing a regulatory framework consistent with globalization (e. g. , working with government to address the issue of enforcing Canadian labelling requirements equally on domestic and imported products, and harmonizing standa rds with Canada's major trading partners); and * enhancing competitiveness through: * supply chain management (e. g. working with government and the dairy industry to ensure that the Special Milk Class Permit System for confectionery manufacturers keeps dairy input prices competitive); * fostering new product innovation (e. g. , sugar-free, low-fat and natural-flavouring technologies); and * enhancing technical, export and marketing skills. Industry Association Confectionery Manufacturers Association of Canada 885 Don Mills Road, Suite 301 Don Mills, Ontario M3C 1V9 Tel: 416-510-8034 Fax: 416-510-8044 E-mail: [email  protected] ca Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Contact Bill Goodman Food Bureau Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 930 Carling Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5 Telephone: 613-759-7548 Facsimile: 613-759-7480 E-mail: bill. [email  protected] gc. ca The Canadian Confectionery Industry SIC 1082/83, 1988-96: The Canadian Confectionery Industry http://www4. agr. gc. ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher. do? id=1171977485451&lang=eng Sample 2: http://www. canada. com/vancouversun/news/business/story. html? id=5f3e5232-fcad-4e6b-8c7f-1d62cb5dadd1 Chocolate market goes high-end OTTAWA — Last year, Gatineau chocolatier Gaetan Tessier turned 250 kilograms of raw, pure chocolate into delectable, high-end Easter treats. March 21, 2008Be the first to post a comment OTTAWA — Last year, Gatineau chocolatier Gaetan Tessier turned 250 kilograms of raw, pure chocolate into delectable, high-end Easter treats. This year, he figures he’ll be going through about three times that amount of chocolate, so strong is demand. â€Å"I’m afraid of running out,† he says. Chocolate has for decades been associated with Easter. But Easter chocolate is not just about creme-filled eggs and moulded bunnies anymore. Fancy chocolate confections aimed at adults represent a growing, and lucrative, market. The chocolate Easter bunnies are all still there (at least until their ears get nibbled off on Sunday), but all around the world, companies have realized there’s money to be made selling chocolate to adults year-round. Earlier this month, for example, international chocolate giant Nestle announced it was investing $20 million in a research centre in Switzerland that will develop new products to meet anticipated growth in demand for luxury and premium confections. Nestle said the $3. 7-billion market for luxury chocolate expanded by eight per cent annually between 2004 and 2006. The company added that it valued the potential premium chocolate market at about $14 billion and that it expects markets for luxury and premium chocolate to increase by more than 10 per cent in the next new years. â€Å"Premium chocolate continues to grow,† said Joan Steuer, the U. S. -based founder of founded Chocolate Marketing, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in the chocolate industry. Steuer says there are two sides to the growth. On the one hand, there’s the chocolate confections themselves — fancy artisan chocolates such as those produced by Tessier’s company, ChocoMotive. And then there’s there’s packaging. Steuer says she’s seeing chocolate confections being sold in â€Å"exquisite† packages that â€Å"push the envelope on pricing. † Steuer says the Easter holiday offers one example of how the chocolate market is becoming more adult-oriented. â€Å"I’ve seen a lot of really neat premium packaging that seems to be adult-oriented for Easter,† she said. But the fancy packaging is optional — people are more likely to buy it if the chocolate is a gift. A large part of the adult chocolate market is aimed at people who just want to indulge. It’s an accessible luxury item,† said Steuer, adding that chocolate is also a comfort food. â€Å"And targeting adults with some of these confections is really about the ‘time out,’ ‘escape,’ and ‘reward for me’ market,† she said. Tessier, a well-established chef and teacher based in Buckingham, Que. , said he’d been hearing for years that the Ottawa-Gatineau high-end chocolate market was under-served. His original intention was to create chocolate confections for bakeries, restaurants, hotels and pastry shops, but he figured he should have a retail outlet as well. He opened a first retail counter in Montebello, Que. , and demand led him to open a second counter in Gatineau last year. Now, he says, clients are urging him to set up shop in Ottawa, too. Tessier says he’s surprised not only by the demand, but also by how interested consumers are in the product. ChocoMotive uses fair trade chocolate from the La Siembra co-op. When he started out, Tessier said he thought fair trade chocolate would be a fad. Instead, it’s become such a hit that he stopped using regular chocolate. He said consumers are looking for high-end fair trade and organic products. From a macro point of view, there are some clouds on the horizon for chocolate, as there are for many agricultural commodities. All around the world, agricultural commodity prices are going up. That’s because of increasing global demand for food (people in newly industrializing countries are richer and are therefore eating better) and because more and more cropland is being used to grow biofuels instead of food. Cocoa prices, for example, have risen by 34 per cent in the last year. So have prices for such things as sugar and of course oil, which is used in transportation. Tessier says that so far, rising commodity price have not affected him greatly. He gets 100 pralines out of a kilo of chocolate, so even if the kilo costs more, the increase is spread broadly. Still, he says, not everyone is willing to pay premium prices for chocolate confections. He says he still has to explain why his treats cost so much more than, say, a moulded milk chocolate SpongeBob SquarePants at the local drug store. Tessier figures about half of his customers are regulars, coming back month after month for a chocolate fix. People come into the shop and they become like children,† said Tessier, adding that he’s had people ask â€Å"What can I get for $10? † in the same way a kid in a candy store might ask â€Å"What can I get for 50 cents? † Canwest News Service  © (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. http://companycheck. co. uk/company/00650747 Godiva data Employee 2200 https://www. sochoklat. com/difference. asp http://www. oppapers. com/es says/Case-Study-Roger-s-Chocolates/373894? read_essay http://www. allfreeessays. com/essays/Rogers-Chocolate-Case-Study/218642. html