The importance of logistics to the operation of supermarkets Essay

The importance of logistics to the operation of supermarkets - Essay Example This is because if the products are not made available to these supermarkets, there would be no customers who will visit them in the first place. What this means in essence is the need to realize that supermarkets of today have to rely a great deal on how these logistics shape up the related avenues and how the same will mean success for the related domains. Internationally, logistics and transportation play a vital role in forecasting, production planning and materials planning as it is the bridge for all these things to occur in the first place within any supermarket chain. If any of these supply chain processes need to occur and that too in a quick manner, the need of the hour is to devise ways and means through which the logistics amongst the channel members speeds up and this is only possible if there is goodwill and understanding between the different parties who are at varied levels of the trade structure (Levy, 1995). They have to comprehend that the other party will profit t hem and thus the whole logistics process would automatically fasten up as a result within the supermarkets. ... drastically cut and there is a huge benefit for all the parties concerned and more than that the customers themselves as they are the ones who get the best value for money within the supermarkets. If they receive a competing product with the same quality and value levels but at a low price, they will definitely go for it and make it their habit to buy it from some other supermarket chain (Ebert, 1990). This would reduce costs as well as improve customer service because then this supermarket would think that if it provides better value for money, people will throng the supermarket for the goods offered by it and hence more sale will be made, both in the short term as well as in the long run. Thus it benefits both the parties – at the logistics level and the customers who come back and forth to buy the products offered by the supermarkets. A Rundown on Logistics and Different Activities The question here is as to how logistic activities could benefit the supermarket in the long run, we find that high level of service for the international logistic supermarkets needs to focus on the aspects related with doing the things right rather than just devising what has to be done. Onus should be on doing what exactly needs to be done for the betterment of the trade activities. They must build strong and solid relationships with the different channel members that include the distributors, wholesalers, retailers and other third party vendors. In doing so they ensure that they build strong rapport with them and all of them are linked in a web with each other (Varey, 2001). The support for each other stems from the fact that one party understands the concerns of the other one and hence tries to do its best to make the goods available within the supermarkets as and when the need

Helping Parents and Caregivers Fight Chilhood Obesity Essay Example for Free

Helping Parents and Caregivers Fight Chilhood Obesity Essay Helping Parents and Caregivers in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity Young children acquire their knowledge through direct instruction, modeling, and experiences within their environment (Lanigan, 2010, p. # 369). Children who are obese are known to have lower self-esteem, and a higher risk of becoming drinkers, smokers, and/or socially isolated as they mature. Health concerns such as Cardiovascular Disease; Gall Bladder problems; Hypertension; and Sleep Apnea have all been associated with childhood obesity (Robinson; Geier; Rizzolo; Sedrak, 2011). Teaching portion control, implementing a healthy balanced diet, and adding in daily physical activities can help parents and caregivers in the fight against childhood obesity. Portion control is something that has to be developed from within a person. By introducing and practicing the use of healthy eating habits early in life, parents and caregivers are increasing the opportunities for a child to learn behaviors that can help them to develop a healthy life style. This type of life style can in turn increase the child’s chances of reversing or even preventing obesity. Teaching children to recognize what it feels like in their bodies when they are hungry or what could be called their hunger signals, while encouraging them to eat their food more slowly, and persuading them to stop eating when they feel they have had enough, even though they may still have food left over, are all ways of promoting healthy eating habits in children. The practice and observation of these skills will benefit children in their journey to a healthy life. Creating a healthy balanced diet can be a challenge for families. The convenience of the fast food industry has increased the challenge for families. Most families have parents or caregivers who work long hours and have little down time, causing them to â€Å"grab† dinner verses preparing it as was once the norm. In a balanced diet, the recommendation of carbohydrates is 45% to 50% of the total daily calories, while fat intake is at 30% to 35% (Philippas; Lo, 2005). Focusing on the right fats and carbs are of extreme importance. Making choices with fruits, vegetables, legumes, and healthier poly- and  monounsaturated fats, verses saturated fats and refined carbohydrates like white bread, refined sugar, soft drinks, cakes and candies, can dramatically assist in the battle against childhood obesity. While portion control and a healthy balanced diet are essential in the fight against childhood obesity, the benefits of physical activity should not be ignored. Exercise is a key component in the treatment and prevention of obesity in children (Robinson; Geier; Rizzolo; Sedrak, 2011). Exercise will assist in weight loss as well as improve metabolic risk factors such as hypertension, and has been known to have led to the lowering of blood pressure, along with reducing in depression, anxiety, and improvement of self-esteem (Robinson; Geier; Rizzolo; Sedrak, 2011). The obesity epidemic is being blamed for the rise in serious diseases and disorders (Robinson; Geier; Rizzolo; Sedrak, 2011). With this information of the multiple health concerns that have been associated with childhood obesity, parents and caregivers must be armed with education and resources to fight against this disease. Teaching portion control, implementing a healthy balanced diet, and adding in daily physical activities can help parents and caregivers in the fight against the disease known as childhood obesity.

Social and Economic Conditions of the Northern and Southern states in t

Social and Economic Conditions of the Northern and Southern states in the years 1820-1850   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the early to mid 1800s the United States seemed to be split into two sections, the Northern states and the Southern states. Although they had the same flag, spoke the same language, and had the same president, the two regions seemed to be two separate countries, each one having different views and political opinions. But, because they were the same country, there were also many similarities. This mostly showed in the social and economic conditions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The economies of each region at the time where really only similar in that they were expanding and growing stronger. One way the two regions differed in economics was in the base of the economy. For example, the South’s economy was based on cotton farming, while the North’s economy was based on manufacturing. Because the South did not manufacture goods, they were forced to purchase finished products from the North- thus adding to the North’s economy. With the South’s money they would purchase cotton from the southern states. Also, in the South, there were little job opportunities for whites since slaves had the jobs in the field, unlike the North where jobs were abundant in factories for the unskilled workers. Many of these unskilled workers were immigrants from Ireland and Germany.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While on the topic of immigrants, this brings me to how the to areas compared and contrasted in their social conditions. In compariso...

Business Research Terms and Concepts Essay

Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 3 A. Determine which level of measurement— nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio—is used in the following examples. 1. The Association of Accountants is conducting a survey to determine the ranking of the top 100 accounting firms in the world. Ordinal 2. How many years did it take you to earn your college degree? Ratio 3. On a questionnaire which asks for gender, males are coded as 1 and females are coded as 2. Nominal 4. Respondents are asked to rate a list of high-tech companies as excellent, good, fair, or poor in terms of their service delivery. Ordinal 5. Cereal brands are arranged in an ordered sequence in which an equal interval exists between each point. Interval 6. Jake Locker averages 350 yards per game passing. Interval 7. The length of time it takes the winner of a marathon to cross the finish line. Ratio 8. Students are asked to rank computer manufacturers. Ordinal 9. The brand of charge card used by a customer. Nominal B. Which sampling method—simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster, convenience, judgment, quota, or snowball—is most appropriate for the following examples? Explain why. 1. The unemployment rate is calculated each month by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey consists of 50,000 households in about 2,000 counties and cities in all 50 states. Stratified. Because you are dividing into subgroups prior to sampling. 2. A researcher for Kraft Foods selects five states randomly, and then selects 10 supermarkets chains within each state to call for a phone survey as test markets for a new cookie. Cluster. You are dividing into groups or cluster then taking a random sample. 3. A new product researcher would like to investigate the use of virtual teams. After conducting an interview with a manager, she asks for the names of other managers that use virtual teams. Snowball. You are using a small pool of subjects and generating more from them. 4. A news reporter asks people on the street their opinion about the president’s new bill. Convenience. There are some members of the population that have no chance of being selected and you are using readily available subjects. 5. Jamie select Denver, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; and San Diego, California as test markets for a potato chip line base on her experience with these markets. Judgment. Because Jamie has used his or her own judgment to select the appropriate sample. 6. A researcher instructs field interviewers to interview customers of different cell phone companies in a nearby shopping mall so that they each interview 10 AT&T, 8 T Mobile, 6 Verizon, and 4 owners of other cell phone providers. Quota. Because there is a set requirement of the sampling pool. 7. The Consumer Price Index represents a sampling of 90,000 items from 364 categories, chosen from 20,000 retail stores in 85 geographically distributed areas that are chosen to be as similar as possible. Stratified. Because you are dividing into subgroups prior to sampling. 8. A finance professor wants to know how many MBA students would be willing to take a course in international finance this summer. She surveys students in the class she is currently teaching. Cluster because she is dividing all MBA students into a group and sampling her class. It could also be seen as Convenience because she is sampling a group that is on hand and there is a set that doesn’t have a chance to be selected (anyone not in her class).

Investigatory Projects

The problem, however, is that these chemicals are expensive and pose harm to the environment. This study aims to develop an environment friendly, safe, and effective yet cheap mosquito repellent by using weeping pillow leaves and pine cones. The activity is not success but it shows the different scientific processes to be followed in doing an experiment. Mosquitoes are one of the most harmful creatures In the world, not only to humans but also to other land vertebrates as well. They carry viruses that are sometimes fatal when transmitted to humans.Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are common In are tropics (Merit Encyclopedia, 1969). Mosquito-borne diseases are transmitted to the body of the host through mosquito bites and contaminated food. The saliva of the mosquito is sometimes infected with pathogens. These pathogens are transmitted to the hosts when they are bitten by the mosquitoes. Common viral infections caused by Mosquitoes are more pronounced in the larval stages and can r esult from the ingestion of contaminated food. Mosquito- borne diseases include malaria, dengue or break bone fever, fallacies, yellow fever, and H- fever (Melts, et.AI,. 1971 Insecticides are recommended to combat these disease -carrying pests and â€Å"trouble makers. † Insecticides are widely used as chemicals In controlling pests, which are either organic or chemically synthesized. The plant kingdom is a vast source of naturally occurring and selective insecticides portions of plants such as the flower, leaves, steam, or roots (Colliers, 1972). Insecticides include nicotine, rotenone, preterits, and sabbatical. Some have been used by humans for a long time. As early assess, nicotine was used as an insecticide in the form of a crude extract from tobacco.Nicotine's alkaloid can be obtained from the leaves and stems of Nicotine Tobacco (Inupiat, 1976). Nicotine is harmful to humans though it doesn't effect the plants when applied . Rotenone, the most active of the six alkalo ids , is harmful to man but a very effective poison against various insects (Abbey, 1972). On the other hand , essential oils from eucalyptus and psychophysical were use as effective mosquito insecticide or repellent (Smith. 1996). A research made on the subject found that weeping willow (Saliva Babylonian) leaves contain essential oils similarly found in eucalyptus (Antonio, 1984).Pinups Insular, commonly known as Shaky pine, is found in Khakis hills and Motorman, in the hills of Burma and in Central Luzon. It is a valuable source of resin turpentine. It grows up to 15 m (1 50 feet) and has very fine, grass-like needles (Tree of the World). It contains alkaloid, which is an ingredient in most insecticides. A. Materials Half a kilogram of weeping willow leaves were gathered from the Philippine Science High School (SSH) campus. Two and Half kilograms of pine cones came from Baggie. B. Methods 1. Extraction and DistillationForty grams of weeping willow leaves were extracted five times for 10 hours using the sloshes apparatus and titleholder as the solvent. Then two kilograms were extracted in five occasions for 10 hours each using the same apparatus and Covent as the extraction for the weeping willow leaves. After each extraction, the solution was gathered, and distilled for an hour to obtain the extract. The extract was then stored in a cold place. 2. Culture of Wriggler Stagnant water was collected from the creek and from the SSH fish pond. The water was placed in basins and was left for two to three weeks.

Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Blog Traffic

Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Blog Traffic Its a little bold to say that publishing more content wont grow your blog traffic. I mean, more content + more social shares = more blog traffic Right? But this comes  from experience of what happened to us at when we published more content recently. Our social shares dropped  and our blog traffic wasnt too impressive either. And thats happened to us twice after we increased our publishing frequency. So I had to ask myself, Hey Nathan, could there really be a sweet spot for how many posts we should  publish a week to get the most social shares and blog traffic? After all, the answer may not be a lot of blog posts a week, but only a couple. And thats exactly what I found out. How To Publish More Content (And Get Less Blog Traffic) #blogging #contentmarketingWhy Publishing More Content Wont (Necessarily) Grow Your Blog Traffic Well- to be clear- it might but it also might not be worth your effort. Four weeks ago, we switched from publishing two posts a week to three. Thats a lot more content to create (especially considering our posts average 2,000 words and have about 8 graphics in them). So we really wanted to make sure the payoff was worth our time. This is what publishing 2 posts a week looked like. Before we made the switch to publish more content, 4 blog posts (2 a week)  averaged these stats within 2 weeks of being published: Social shares averaged 561 per post. Pageviews averaged 6,074 per post. Comments from readers averaged 6.5 per post. Not bad. So we should have been  able to get a  lot more results with 3  posts a week, right? This is what publishing 3 posts a week looked like. This is what our stats looks like for 6 blog posts (3 a week) within 2 weeks of being published: Social shares averaged 325  per post. Pageviews averaged 4,367  per post. Comments from readers averaged 3 per post. Not so good. This is what it looks like when you compare the  data. So whatever, right? I mean, thats not so bad. In fact, didnt blog traffic increase because we published more content? When you compare the data, switching from publishing 2  blog posts a week to 3: Decreased social shares an average of 236 per post. Thats a grand total of 1,950  which was 294  less than the previous average of 2,244. Yikes. Increased pageviews by 317.5 per post. Yes, that is an increase. It makes a total of 26,204 pageviews compared to 24,299. Thats an increase of only 1,905 pageviews to publish 2 more blog posts in a 2-week period. Decreased comments by 4 per post. So thats 17 compared to the previous 26. So Im kind of full of crap, right? I mean, we did increase our blog traffic. But to me, its not worth publishing two more posts to get fewer than a thousand pageviews per post. But was it really the publishing frequency? Now, there are a ton of outliers to consider into this: Who were the authors and did they have lots of followers? Were the topics we chose to cover not quite right for our audience? Should  we have experimented more with different publish days and times? Should we have shared our content differently with social media? Did we mess up when we emailed our subscribers (aka, you guys)? Did we give this study enough time for our audience to get used to the change? Not to mention: All of these posts target specific keywords that should help us grow our blog traffic in the long term. The posts published in the 3-a-week periods have been gaining a lot of  social shares just this week. Blog traffic has increased for all 10 posts in this study. And Im sure there were a billion other things on my mind once I realized our posts werent performing as well as they used to. Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Your #Blog Traffic (And How To Do That)So I became Sherlock Holmes. The thing was our samples from each data set (2 posts a week,  3 posts a week) were very average for our content (no outliers to throw off the data I analyzed). I even looked at our email open rates: They were nearly the same as always. And during the testing time when we published 3 blog posts a week, we grew our  number of email subscribers. But the moment  our social media shares dropped, so did our blog traffic. My biggest conjecture on this: We gave our audience (you guys) so much content to share that you had to pick and choose what was worthy enough for you to share.  Even if we published 3  awesome posts a week, you needed a little diversity in your social shares- not all from one source. So when social shares drop, so does blog traffic. And that, my dear  Watson, is a complete guess. What do you think? Id love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments. 10 Things You Should Learn From Publishing More Content Honestly, it could have been a dozen things that led to a bit less blog traffic than I was hoping for. So here are my lessons learned from this experiment that will help you choose the right publishing frequency for your blog: 1. Dont be afraid to try new things. While this analysis is a bit young (it happened with content we published in February), I learned a lot by publishing more content. The entire team here at worked hard to mature our processes to create content super efficiently. That is a huge win well keep with us as we continue to create content our readers should really love. And we would have never known that publishing more might not be what our audience wants until we did it. And you can bet that Ill continue to look at the results of those posts to see if my thoughts about this change in a couple months. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. - Warren Bennis Should the drop in blog traffic prevent us from publishing more content? This experiment- though ultimately not resulting in  the blog traffic I wanted- didnt impact our email subscribers, let alone product signups. Both of those figures were the highest theyve ever been at this time. So that is definitely something to consider for this: Should we really publish less content if stats like new signups are so high? Never be satisfied with status quo. Youll never know if you could be doing something that ends with much higher results. 2. Base your publishing decisions on data. I mentioned that weve bounced around with our publishing frequency a lot at . Thats a little funny coming from the guys who preach how to publish more consistent content, right? This is what our publishing frequency looked like for a couple months in 2014: The point is, we were testing to figure out what would work best for us. We were publishing the content we had. And we werent afraid to get scrappy to get things done. But in the end, we started focusing on publishing the right amount of times to get the most out of our content. By the time November rolled around last year, that right amount for us was twice a week. And hey, at the time, we saw blog traffic increase as we published less content. We published that way to create our own data. But, whats really ironic about this, is that theres already some data that basically says companies  that increase their publishing frequency from 3–5 times a month to 6–8 nearly double their leads.  So while this data is about leads and not blog traffic, publishing 2 posts a week should be a sweet spot. If there isnt any data, make your own. #contentmarketingIt would have been cool to know that information before we started just to measure that even better! 3. Plan  your publishing frequency to  achieve your marketing goals. I would have never cared about these slight changes- or added up the totals for this study- if I wasnt counting on every single blog post to contribute to a much larger goal. For every post we publish at , I measure initial success by the number of social shares and pageviews. For the special posts when we create free blog giveaways, I also monitor how many times you guys download those resources (infographics, checklists, templates, e-books, and more). Every post must contribute to our overall marketing goals to increase: Social media shares. Traffic in general. Email subscribers. signups. Doing the math, its easy to see how publishing more content may help us achieve our goals: Just divide your metrics goal by what an average blog post contributes to that goal. Thats a really rough estimate of how many posts you need to write to hit that goal. 4. Build momentum as you establish your publishing frequency. You shouldnt just rush in to publishing  more content. When we went from publishing 2 posts a week to publishing 3, we just switched to 3 and kept going. In hindsight, I wish I had given the team a bit of breathing room to build up our momentum by staggering several weeks  of publishing 2 posts then 3 posts. That would have helped us work through our processes with a bit less runaround.  But we  got it done because the entire team  had the ambition  to do it (and thanks for helping me out, Ashton and Krista!). Even for the pros, we still need to understand that running a marathon without training ends in fatigue. 5. Test the best days and times for publishing and sharing. A year ago,  we would literally publish new posts every single day of the work week. Then wed publish 3  posts the next week, and 4  the following. Were no strangers to testing what will work for us to achieve our marketing goals. But we needed to do that to know what would work for us. So when we decided to bump our frequency up to 3 posts a week, we used data from the best times to publish and  chose Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday since blog posts published later in the week tend to perform a bit lower. We also bounced this idea off a few of our friends in a content marketing community to get their opinions on the best times to publish. Sometimes its worth it to publish on different days and times to understand how that impacts your blogs performance. 6. Analyze your data to actually know if youre reaching your goals. There is no way Id be writing this post if I didnt plan time to analyze our data. You write every post for a reason. Measure its success against that metric. Here is an easy way to do it: Divide your overarching goal by the number of posts you want to publish. That will give you a rough estimate for your goal per post. Tip: This is  similar to what you did in lesson #3. But its not the same. If you want to hit a marketing goal by maintaining the amount your  current posts contribute to that goal, go with lesson #3. The algorithm shared here actually gives you something to shoot for to  improve every post to hit your goal. From here, you can determine new ways to promote your content to get the blog traffic (among other goals) your content deserves. You write every post for a reason. Measure every posts  success. #blogging7. Dont believe what they say about vanity metrics. unless they say that vanity metrics like social shares matter. There is so much to learn by understanding how people share your content. For example: People read what they know is popular. People share what they know is popular. People subscribe to what they know is popular. And beyond that- social shares provide a solid gauge on how your content is performing. I noticed something was strange with our content when we started publishing 3 posts a week because our social shares count was lower than it had been in a long time. From there, I completely analyzed our blog traffic patterns to gather the data in this post. And that ultimately helped me make the decision to publish only 2 posts a week. 8. Understand the trade-off for quality versus quantity (and go for quality). Yeah, yeah. You already know this. But here is what we did to be able to publish more content: Free blog giveaways dropped from being in 3 of 4 posts to 2 of 6 posts. Thats a bit of a hit for additional resources that we know you guys find super helpful. And thats how we also get a lot of new email subscribers for our content. Graphics per post on average fell from an average of 7.5 to 6. Content length also dropped slightly  (with a couple outliers). While we made sure the topics were awesome- and the content was  great stuff you should have really liked- we did sacrifice a few bonuses we usually had in our content to be able to publish more. So, once again, someone just told  you that sacrificing content quality for quantity takes a hit on your social shares and blog traffic. But this time you  can actually see the data that backs up that claim.

Roe vs. Wade essays

Roe vs. Wade essays Roe vs. Wade was a very controversial issue for its time, and today. Roe vs. Wade was a landmark case for womens rights. Roes case required states to allow women to have an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. This allowed women a choice if they would like to keep a child. Roe vs. Wade was so controversial because it dealt with the topic of abortion. To many people abortion is killing an unborn child, or child. Abortion is more than a political issue it is also a moral issue. Is it right to abort a fetus or baby? Roe, an unmarried, pregnant woman from Texas wanted an abortion, but an existing statute prevented her from doing so. The Texas statute, originally passed in 1857, outlawed abortions except to save the life of the life of the mother. Roe filed a lawsuit in the federal district court on behalf of herself and all other pregnant women. Roe wanted to have an abortion statute declared because the 1857 statute passed in Texas was unconstitutional. Roe stated it was an invasion of her right to privacy guaranteed by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. At the same time Roe sought an injunction, or court order, issue against the statutes enforcement so that she might go forward with the abortion. The district courts agreed with Roe that the law was unconstitutionally vague and violated her right privacy under the Ninth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment. The Ninth Amendment allows for the existence of the rights, like that of privacy grant the injunction allowing her to go ahead with the abortion. Roe then appealed the denial to the injunction to the United States Supreme Court. Around that same time a woman named Mary Doe sought an abortion but a 1968 Georgia statute, only allowing abortion if necessary to save the life of the mother, in the case of pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, or if the baby was likely to be born with defects. ...

Sex Ratio by Geography

Sex Ratio by Geography Sex ratio is the demographic concept that measures the proportion of males to females in a given population. It is usually measured as the number of males per 100 females. The ratio is expressed as in the form of 105:100, where in this example there would be 105 males for every 100 females in a population. Sex Ratio at Birth The average natural sex ratio for humans from birth is approximately 105:100. Scientists are not sure why there are 105 males born for every 100 females around the world. Some suggestions for this discrepancy are given as: It is possible that over time, nature has compensated for males lost in war and other dangerous activities to better balance the sexes. A more sexually active gender is more likely to produce offspring of their own gender. Thus, in a polygamous society (polygamy where one man has multiple wives), he is likely to have a greater proportion of offspring that are male. It is possible that female infants are under-reported and not registered with the government as often as male babies. Scientists also say that a woman with a slightly over average amount of testosterone is more likely to conceive a male. Female infanticide or the abandonment, neglect, or malnutrition of female infants in cultures where males are favored may occur. Today, sex-selective abortions are unfortunately common in countries like India and China. The introduction of ultrasound machines throughout China in the 1990s led to a sex ratio of up to 120:100 at birth due to familial and cultural pressure to have ones only child as a male. Shortly after these facts became known, it became illegal for expectant couples to know the gender of their fetus. Now, the sex ratio at birth in China has been reduced to 111:100. The worlds current sex ratio is somewhat on the high side – 107:100. Extreme Sex Ratios The countries that have the highest proportion of males to females are... Armenia – 115:100Azerbaijan – 114:100Georgia – 113:100India – 112:100China – 111:100Albania – 110:100 The United Kingdom and United States have a sex ratio of 105:100 while Canada has a sex ratio of 106:100. The countries with the lowest proportion of males to females are... Grenada and Liechtenstein – 100:100Malawi and Barbados – 101:100 Adult Sex Ratio The sex ratio among adults (ages 15-64) can be highly variable and is based on migration and death rates (especially due to war). Into late adulthood and old age, the sex ratio is often highly skewed toward females. Some countries with very high proportions of males to females include... United Arab Emirates – 274:100Qatar – 218:100Kuwait – 178:100Oman – 140:100Bahrain – 136:100Saudi Arabia – 130:100 These oil-rich countries import many men to work and thus the ratio of males to females is highly disproportionate. On the other hand, quite a few countries have far more females than males... Chad - 84:100Armenia – 88:100El Salvador, Estonia, and Macau – 91:100Lebanon – 92:100 Senior Sex Ratios In later life, the life expectancy of men tends to be shorter than women and thus men die earlier in life. Thus, many countries have a very high proportion of women to men in the over age 65 range... Russia – 45:100Seychelles – 46:100Belarus – 48:100Latvia – 49:100 On the other extreme, Qatar has a 65 sex ratio of 292 men to 100 women. That is the most extreme sex ratio currently experienced. There are nearly three old men for every old woman. Maybe countries should begin to trade an over-abundance of elderly of one gender?

Impact of death and dying on the personal lives and practices Research Paper

Impact of death and dying on the personal lives and practices - Research Paper Example The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate my scholarly skills in critically analysing an article that has attempted to bridge the identified gap in knowledge. This article, by Sinclair, seeks to provide a deeper insight into the impact that death and experiences with the dying have on the personal and professional lives of those working in the palliative and hospice care environments. My critical analysis will focus on the purpose of the article, the methodology and research design used as well as the study population. The article is focused on bridging the identified gap in research and hence contributing to the body of knowledge in the profession. The purpose of this article is to sensitise the nursing professionals and scholars on the psychological needs of the practitioners working in an environment where the thoughts of death, dying and grieving are normal experiences. The topic is very significant at a time when palliative and hospice care are gaining increased attention in the healthcare field (Sinclair, 2011). This means that the psychological health of the practitioners becomes a burning issue that require equal attention. I strongly believe that this purpose is not just worthwhile as a contributor to the body of knowledge, but it has also come out clearly in the article. The researcher, in this article, has made use of a rather rare method in research. First, Sinclair has made use of ethnographic enquiry in which the participants are selected and observed in their normal working environment. It is from these observations that the researcher obtains the results to make a conclusion of the study. The ethnographic enquiry method has been enriched by the use of conveniently selected participants for the study (Sinclair, 2011). To study the participants effectively, the researcher conducted observations on a variety of healthcare professionals in different fields within the palliative and hospice departments. The collected information was analysed through

Global strategy of Netflix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global strategy of Netflix - Essay Example An evaluation of the environment of Netflix’s business is essential in order to undertake suitable strategies for the growth of internet based entertainment services of Netflix. Netflix’s business required the company to expand to international markets to take advantage of the change in lifestyle and entertainment of the households. The political environment and the state laws were important considerations for Netflix as they had to acquire licenses from the owners of TV shows as well as movie studios for streaming their services through the internet. The environment in the industry underwent technological advancement as increasing number of electronic devices like the cables; fiber optics appeared in the stores. This allowed the households to connect the internet to the household TVs for the purpose of viewing. The social changes also showed inclination of the customers towards easy access to the streaming movies and TV shows on the internet rather and reduced the crow d of the theaters (Fitzroy and Herbert, 2007, p.47). The internet based entertainment industry witnessed intense rivalry between the several players as they launched their services on unlimited streaming of videos, TV shows and movies to be watched by the customers. Netflix had to adopt business strategies keeping their competitive position in mind. There were new entrants in the industry looking to capture the market. Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video are the products of the new entrants that challenged the business of Netflix with similar services.

Post-Partum Depression in Latin American Women in the South Bronx Research Paper

Post-Partum Depression in Latin American Women in the South Bronx (Ages 20-25) - Research Paper Example South Bronx is an area well known in United States that was heavily crashed by the Second World War. The war affected all sectors of life, economic, social, political, and cultural and employment. Due to the impact of the war, people in this area live in great poverty and under poor conditions (Sierra, 2008). Q. 2. Since many centuries back, there was a relationship between depression and childbirth. Nowadays, researches have been done and clear evidence that many depression and other mental conditions are as a result of pregnancy. This is in accordance with Latin American Researchers who found out that mood turmoil in women especially depression are related to pregnancy. South Bronx is the poorest district in the United States. Additionally, it is the district that reports many cases of women ailing postpartum depression. Of the total population, 256,544 which represent 38% live below the poverty line. This is in accordance with a report issued by US census Bureau (Sierra, 2008). Re ports show that approximately 61% of women experience anxiety after birth and later reduces during the fifth week after childbirth. An average of 13% of women experience PPD which may last for months after delivery Chances of a woman experiencing PPD vary depending with age, background, level of education, history of depression among others. ... Many people living in South America are Latin and black Americans. Majority of Latinos’ and black Americans live in South Bronx, a district known to be lived by people with no prospect of employment (Sierra, 2008). A large population of people has low income while the rest are unemployed. In 2005, 205,000 middle age women were treated with PPD in the United States. The cause of the high rise of postpartum depression in this area in young women is due to lack of financial support, unexpected pregnancies and abandonment (Sierra, 2008). Many young women in south Bronx engage in illegal activities like prostitution, drug trafficking, alcoholism and robbery to earn a living. These are some of the risk factors causing depression which is the cause of PPD. Additionally, poor health conditions is another factor leading to postpartum depression in Latin Americans living in south Bronx. Due to poverty, many women do not receive health assistance during pregnancy and after birth. For tho se who seek medical assistance, chances are that they receive low quality services due to lack of enough finances. It is normal that during the first few weeks many women experience moody feelings, lose appetite, hopelessness, difficulty in sleeping due to hormonal changes during pregnancy and after birth (Rosenfield, 2006). These feelings are called baby blues which are normal feeling to almost 80% of new mothers. In some cases, these feelings can be persistence leading to serious mental disorders like postpartum depression (PPD) or postpartum psychosis. This condition may affect women in their early years (20-30) of reproduction than during the late years. The main reason is unwanted pregnancies, poverty, abortion, complications during

Hospital Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hospital Financial Management - Essay Example By developing fixed and variable expenses PPD strategies they find it efficient in paying long-term expenses without running out of all the operational cash. During their 1st Qrt, they expected a fixed cost structure of 20% which in actual budget shifted to 19% making a point value of 1. The same way by budgeting for variable cost structure of 80% and gaining an actual of 81% giving them a point value of 1, it means that the operation of the hospital is very strategically planned. The other reason for the better financial performance of the hospital is because of the better turn out of patients both in and outpatient, the benefits are given to them and the services performed. Despite good profit generation from the hospital, it is still advisable that they develop the good strategy based on the indicators shown by the office of the statewide health planning development (OSHPD). The indicators require the hospital financial management to develop corrective measures such as volunteer t ime so that the salaries benefit can be reduced by at least 10%, the need also to give professional training to lower the professional fee they provide for. The hospital management should be determined in developing ways of reducing their supplies from 15% to some reasonable percentage. The main issue the hospital management should focus on to help their performance is the salaries, variable patients benefit, and the supplies they receive. They should develop strategies that enable them to reduce the cost of professionals pays.

Computer utilization in ONE African or Mid-Eastern country as compared Essay

Computer utilization in ONE African or Mid-Eastern country as compared with computer utilization in the United States - Essay Example these social differences at the cultural level, the UAE is quickly becoming one of the most progressive users of computers in the world in areas of business, education, and general consumer society. In the United States, it is quite common to find people of varying demographics using the Internet for personal needs, varying from social networking sites, to online shopping, to even education by attending distance learning universities. There is no specific user profile for the Internet in the United States simply because it is quite common for people of all age and educational demographics to have a personal computer in their households. However, in the United Arab Emirates, the Internet user profile is typically a younger and professional male compared to the United States (Shen & Shakir, 2009). Where in the U.S. it is common to find a young male or female visiting social networking sites such as YouTube or Facebook, this goes against the traditional collectivist principles that founded the UAE regarding what is considered acceptable for gender roles. Many Arab youth females cannot show their faces to anyone unless they are in their close family and because of this they often d o not play online games, visit chat rooms, or even send emails (Shen & Shakir). This cultural difference tends to limit the Internet user profile to mostly professional and educated young men. Yahoo! Is becoming the number one Internet website in the UAE, where this is not especially true in the United States. Regular Yahoo! users in the UAE have crossed 1.5 million (ameinfo.com, 2006). In the U.S., it is common to have youths visiting Yahoo! for its Chat, Games and Music options. However, the UAE commonly finds people over the age of 30 on Yahoo! utilizing its more professional services such as Yahoo! News and Finance (ameinfo.com). This is a demographic difference in computer utilization between the UAE and the U.S. where in the West sites like Yahoo! are more for recreation where in the

External and Internal Environments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

External and Internal Environments - Essay Example The Company ranks 59 in the list of Fortune 500 companies. Total revenue earned by the company in the last year (2012) was 46,542 USD and profit was 8,572 USD (CNN, 2013). According to some reliable news reporting agency, the Coca Cola Company is one of the biggest public companies in the world at present (Forbes, 2013b). This paper aims at studying the environment in which the company operates, evaluating its core competencies. Recommendations have been made on the basis of the results obtained from the study. General environment The macro environment in which a company operates puts significant effect on the company’s management and its performance in the market. It is external to the company and refers to the forces that influence the organization from outside. External environment is of two types; specific environment and general environment. While specific environment is directly related to the goals and business objectives of the organization, general environment affects the organization on a broader aspect, such as its economic, political or legal, technical, socio-cultural points of view and the environmental or natural conditions that are related to the activities of the company (Daft, 2011, p. 71). Economic factors Economic factor is one of the most important factors that influence business enterprises. On one hand it affects business decisions, while, on the other hand it affects performance level of the company in the local and international market. The global economic slowdown has not left Coca Cola untouched. The developed market in the United States is recovering slowly. The company has followed positive pricing strategy in this scenario. This has lead to rise in revenue in the North American segment. However, due to appreciation of dollar, there has been fall in exports to the other international operating groups of the company, such as, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific region. It has cast a negative impact on the net o perating revenue for the country (Coca-Cola Company, 2012a). In the last quarter of 2012 the company shares incurred loss of 2 percent (The value investor, 2012). Socio cultural aspects Sales and revenue is affected significantly by the socio cultural conditions prevailing in the society in which the product is sold. The lives of the people in the developed country like the United States is fast paced and hectic. Hence carbonated drinks, such as the Coca Cola products, are well accepted within the population in both the young population and the older generation. However, in recent times, health conscious of the common mass is rising. Sugar-sweetened drinks are considered to be the cause of health problems, such as obesity (Coca-Cola Company, 2012a). People, particularly, youngsters are becoming concerned of these issues, which is in turn affecting their consumption rate. Reduction in consumption is leading to drop in revenue. Forces of competition There are five forces of competitio n that helps in making industry analysis. The most important forces of competition that affect Coca Cola Company have been described below: Bargaining power of suppliers The basic ingredients used for the manufacturing of the beverages by the Coca Cola Company are sugar, water, caramel and fruit juice and essence. In the USA there are many suppliers of these raw materials. Hence the company can choose the best supplier for each product and make a tie up with that company. Bargaining power

Computer utilization in ONE African or Mid-Eastern country as compared Essay

Computer utilization in ONE African or Mid-Eastern country as compared with computer utilization in the United States - Essay Example these social differences at the cultural level, the UAE is quickly becoming one of the most progressive users of computers in the world in areas of business, education, and general consumer society. In the United States, it is quite common to find people of varying demographics using the Internet for personal needs, varying from social networking sites, to online shopping, to even education by attending distance learning universities. There is no specific user profile for the Internet in the United States simply because it is quite common for people of all age and educational demographics to have a personal computer in their households. However, in the United Arab Emirates, the Internet user profile is typically a younger and professional male compared to the United States (Shen & Shakir, 2009). Where in the U.S. it is common to find a young male or female visiting social networking sites such as YouTube or Facebook, this goes against the traditional collectivist principles that founded the UAE regarding what is considered acceptable for gender roles. Many Arab youth females cannot show their faces to anyone unless they are in their close family and because of this they often d o not play online games, visit chat rooms, or even send emails (Shen & Shakir). This cultural difference tends to limit the Internet user profile to mostly professional and educated young men. Yahoo! Is becoming the number one Internet website in the UAE, where this is not especially true in the United States. Regular Yahoo! users in the UAE have crossed 1.5 million (ameinfo.com, 2006). In the U.S., it is common to have youths visiting Yahoo! for its Chat, Games and Music options. However, the UAE commonly finds people over the age of 30 on Yahoo! utilizing its more professional services such as Yahoo! News and Finance (ameinfo.com). This is a demographic difference in computer utilization between the UAE and the U.S. where in the West sites like Yahoo! are more for recreation where in the

Banks Deal with Documents and Not with Goods, Services or Performance Essay

Banks Deal with Documents and Not with Goods, Services or Performance to Which the Documents May Relate' (UCP 600, Article 5) - Essay Example Further risks are the economic climate in both the importing and exporting countries and the political stability of the countries, which affects the sale transaction and the degree of trust and confidence of each party in the other. As a result, banking regulations serve to lower or alleviate the risks that banks are exposed to and any disruptions and interruptions emanating from adverse economic and banking conditions. Additionally, banking regulations reduce the criminal risks to which banks are exposed, not to mention promoting and ensuring the confidentiality of banks.4 To reduce risks in international sales, in terms of the payment issue, the seller and buyer usually agree to settle through letters of credit. This essay seeks to explore Article 5 of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600) 2007, which reads as follows: â€Å"Banks deal with documents and not with goods, services or performance to which the documents may relate†. In fact, this Art icle is usually explored in regard to the letters of credit principles. Thereby, in the first part of this essay, the concept of letters of credit in the light of the UCP 600 will be revealed. Subsequently to that, the principles of letters of credit, which are autonomous and conform to strict compliance, will be discussed in the light of relevant cases. Finally, the way that fraud affects letters of credit will be examined in the light of relevant cases. 1. Letter of Credit and the UCP The importance of letters of credit to the current commercial society is evidenced by the many rules established to regulate and control its usage. These rules are called the Uniform Customs and Practice of Documentary Credits (UCP), which were created by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).5 Several commentators tend to accept this unification, such as Royston Goode, who describes it as â€Å"the most successful harmonizing measure in the history of international commerce†.6 In fact, the first version of these rules was drafted by the ICC in 1929. The rules were revised many times until the last version, UCP 600, was issued in 2007 and came into force on 1 July, 2007.7 Even though the UCP 600 regulates letters of credit, the legal status of these rules will not be considered binding until they are incorporated into the two parties’ contract, as it is mentioned in Article 1 of the UCP 600.8 Letters of credit, which are also known as documentary credit or banker’s commercial credit, is defined in Article 2 of the UCP 600 as â€Å"any arrangement, however named or described, that is irrevocable and thereby constitutes a definite undertaking of the issuing bank to honour a complying presentation†. According to this definition, a letter of credit has two characteristics. First, it is an irrevocable credit, which means that it cannot be amended or cancelled when it has already been communicated to the seller; under the previous UCP 500, credits co uld be

Students Essay Example for Free

Students Essay A students life is often plagued by examination. The demand to do well is further increased as good grades woud lead one to secure entry to a good grades would lead one to secure entry to a good university and consequently to a good job and future. Hence,there is no surprise and mentel health problems among school-going children. The Befriends Malaysia,a voluntary organization located in the klang valley,pointed out that they receive approximately 60 calls per day and from these 10 per cent are from student under the age of 20. The examination pressure experienced among students has also seen the rise in suicides and deaths among school students. In 2007,a young 12-year0old s. subashini ,hanged herself in her room after receiving her upsr results. In 2005,Matthew Vinesh a teenager in the prime of his life at 17,hanged himself at home just completing his trial spm examination. The year 2004 recorded 3 suicides due to examination pressure. The alarming number of students experiencing strees,mental and health problems as a result of examination pressure calls for measures to be taken . For starters ,the Malaysian Examination Syndicate (MES) has proposed that more school-based assemenst replace the many public examinations. Furtheromore,school-based assessments are continuous,ongoing and formative in nature . This will not only help reduce pressure from summative exams but also help both teachers and students work on their strengths and weekness in the teaching and learning process. School –based assessments will also bring about abolishment of some public examination. The MES proposes to abolish the Primary Year Six UPSR and the secondary There PMR public examination. Besides MES,the Ministry of Education (MOE) is also planning to take a number of measures to curb the stress and pressure school students have to undergo. The large class enrolments hinder the care and attention teacher can give to help students cope wit their studies. Therefore,teachers do not have time to cater to the different problems faced by the large number of students in each class. Thus,steps have to be taken to reduce class enrolments so that teachers can give quality attention to students learning in their classroom. There should also be more school counselors that students can go to when facing problems. Besides counseling ,students should also be exposed to motivational talks that include strees managements strategies. Finally,the MOE should conduct clinics or seminars for both teachers and parents to help them identify students for both teachers and parents to help them identify students that display suicidal or other forms of negative behavior. Since examination are one of the main cause of increasing number of students facing pressure ,mental and health problems,it is important that this issue be addressed. Steps and immediate measures must be taken to help overcome or curb this problem. What is needed is a concerted effort by all parties concerned to work together collaborativrly to help reduce pressure and stress as a result of public examination.

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Essay -- Essays Papers US Civil War Es

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Most people think of the Civil War as a military battle between the North and South. Without studying the subject, they do not appreciate the facts that make up this historical event. When one reads the novel, Killer Angels, the reader is given a much better perception and understanding of what actually happened during the war. Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, is a realistic historical depiction of the great battle of Gettysburg, which left 50,000 Confederate and Union soldiers dead, wounded, or missing. The novel is set up in chronological order of events that took place during the four days of the bloody and decisive battle of the Civil War. The tale is told from an alternating north and south perspective. In this manner, readers can have a good mental picture of how each event came about. It even shows maps for a better understanding of each step the North and South took. It is clear where each of the battles were taking place and why the generals try to use the land for their own advantage. It was very interesting to read about the different strategies and tactics the generals utilized in the attempted destruction of their enemies. The well-deserved rave reviews that litter the front and back covers drew me to it, but Shaara's powerful writing style and stunningly human characters drew me into it. Shaara has an amazing ability to portray the major players of the battle, whose real personalities must have since been lost over a...

The Old Soldiers Home Essay examples -- Military

The Old Soldiers’ Home â€Å"They freely risked life and limb to protect the nation, and it seems but simple justice for the nation to care for them when unable to care for themselves† (Guide Publishing 1) was a shared opinion of many by the end of the Civil War. After these men have put their life on the line for the nation, any train of thought opposite of this would be absurd. Injury from the war is expected, but unfortunately, some of the blows these vets received were too harsh to bounce back from. Over 100,000 men from the Union Army would not be able to return to civilian employment, due to injuries or disabilities received in the line of duty. The United States would not let these war vets and their hard work and dedication go unnoticed, unrewarded, or unappreciated and action was taken as soon as possible. To care for these disabled veterans, â€Å"on March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of congress establishing the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiersà ¢â‚¬  (Burns 1). With the signing of this act of congress, the idea of Soldiers’ homes had officially been mapped out and put into full effect. The Old Soldiers’ Home, now known as The VA Medical Center, was established to ensure that war vets were taken care of, out of respect for their loyalty to the nation. It was inevitable that there were veterans all over the United States who indeed needed government assistance, which is why more than one branch of the Soldiers’ Homes was established, making sure that as many of these war vets were taken care of as possible. The Central Branch, which is located in Dayton, OH, the Eastern Branch near Augusta, Maine, the North-Western Branch near Milwaukee, and the Southern Branch near Fortress Monroe, Virgin... ..., happy, and giving them another chance to live is the truest and most noteworthy accomplishment for the founders of the Old Soldiers’ Home. The Old Soldiers’ Home was established to ensure that war vets were taken care of, out of respect for their loyalty and its goal was reached. Thanks to this home in Dayton, OH and others, no soldier will go unnoticed. Works Cited Burns, Carolyn. Soldiers’ Home of Dayton, Ohio. Web. 16 Aug. 2009 http://www.carolynjburns.com/soldiers United States Department of Affairs. Dayton VA Medical Center, Ohio. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. http://www.dayton.va.gov The Guide Publishing Company. Guide to the National Soldiers’ Home for Visitors and Citizens: With Sketches of Dayton. Dayton, OH: The Guide Publishing Company, 1891. Print. Earnshaw, William. History of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers. 1875. Print.

Globalization process Essay

Due to the emergence of globalization process, many changes are taking place within the mainstream business activity. As the organizations becoming to more and more globalized, the need to have a uniform set of international standards is strongly felt. This argument is based on the fact that since organizations are becoming global and have to face the different legal as well as cultural environments therefore in a bid to reduce the bottlenecks for the international firms as well as creating a uniform set of accounting rules and regulations, it is critical that a convergence shall be made to the international accounting standards so that a uniformity can be achieved. The experience of EU and Canada has been successful so as those of other countries who are making a transition to the international accounting standards. This experience is also considered as a strong signal for the US to adapt to the new standards because it is connected with the global world. The complexities of the international trade have led much international business to remove the conflict between the different standards in place and as such the effort from the US is one of the attempts to converge to the International standards to achieve the desired results. However, it is also critical to note that many argue that such transition will be costly for the American firms because an earlier transition to Sarbanes Oxley has been a costly proposition for the many companies and most of them may be reluctant to adapt to the new standards. The costs, however, may be relatively high but the added benefits which US firms may enjoy after this convergence may greatly outweigh the benefits. The uniformity of the standards will allow international firms, especially to be more flexible and support the initiatives taken by the Security and Exchange Commission to make a phased transition to the adaptation of the IFRS. The process of this convergence can be difficult to assess as it is a phased process however, given the fact that more than 85 countries have adapted the IFRS itself indicate that more and more countries are now willing to adapt to the international standards in order to facilitate the businesses to adapt a uniform set of standards. Such large scale adaptation of the standards however, also creates cultural as well language problems as the correct and accurate interpretation of the standards itself is an issue to deal with. Language and culture therefore are two of the potential impediments which can restrict the true applicability of the standards even if the standards are fully implemented and adapted by the countries. If we assess the globalization of accounting standards with special reference to US, we will also come to know that few of the international firms in US have already adopted the standards for their foreign subsidiaries and as such this process may not be as complicated to them as they may perceive it. However, what is also critical to note that those firms which have only the domestic presence within the US market may find it difficult to cope with the increasing costs as well as adapting to the new standards? This will not only require investment into improving the skill level of the employees as well as would require additional funds to implement the new system.

Ecological Evaluation of Environmental Problems Essay

Biodiversity refers to the abundance of life forms (bio means life, diversity means variety or assortment). This includes different animals, plants and micro-organisms. The ecosystem where these living organisms belong, as well as their genetic make-up, is also part of biodiversity. Wide biodiversity is advantageous to species development as there will be various interactions going on among the different species. Among the most bio-diverse ecosystems are rainforests and aquatic ecosystems. Both land and water species can be found in these habitats. The existence, however, of these ecosystems are becoming endangered as a lot of human activities negatively impact these ecosystems. Forest destruction has been an existing issue for the longest time. Pollution – air and water – is also one of the most common problems different ecosystems and the environment itself are facing. Human activities also cause global warming which is not healthy for all living creatures. These things that people do to our environment can definitely be prevented and avoided. We can start by stopping the use of substances with chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were identified as harmful to the ozone layer. This simple deed can help decrease the effects of global warming to the environment. Local governments should also enforce strict laws against forest destruction. Environmentalists can also start a campaign on reforestation to help rebuild destroyed forests and natural habitats. Maintaining biodiversity is important in human sustainability. Each life form is beneficial to one another. Plants are the producers in the food chain. Some primary and secondary consumers are also taken by humans as food, which is our main source of energy. Continuous destruction of the ecosystems leads to the decrease in these food sources. Thus, preserving the ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity should be seriously considered by everyone. Acid deposition starts with the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Burning of these fuels produces nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide which are considered air pollutants. Volcanic eruptions can also emit these pollutants. When the nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides get released to the atmosphere, chemical transformation happens and sulfuric and nitric acid compounds are produced. These compounds make the air acidic. Eventually, these acidic compounds fall to the surface of the Earth – the process called â€Å"acid deposition†. Deposition can happen in wet or dry form. Wet deposition occurs when the nitric acid and sulfuric acid compounds are transported with rain, fog, or snow. When these compounds are carried as fine particles by the wind, it is called dry deposition. Acid deposition cause severe damages to the ecosystem. Fish species found in lakes affected by acid deposition tend to disappear. Other aquatic resources in lakes and rivers tend to either disappear or die which creates an imbalance to aquatic ecosystems. Acidification also changes phytoplankton composition. Likewise, acid deposition also affects forests by killing a lot of trees due to the acidic compounds settling onto these life forms. This is evident in most forests where there are copper and nickel refineries nearby. This environmental problem can also trigger asthma and some bronchial infections to humans. The effect may not be seen immediately and may take years before it can be realized. In order for us to minimize the cases of acid deposition is to have a global initiative of reducing emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which cause air pollution. Educating the entire world population of this phenomenon can be a good start. Factories and industrial plants burning fossil fuels should try to research and find other earth-friendly alternatives to those harmful chemicals. Cultural eutrophication is the accelerated aging of aquatic ecosystems, especially lakes, through man-made activities. Eutrophication is the natural process of aging of lakes which is characterized by an increase in the growth of algae and aquatic weeds. Eutrophication rate is determined by how fast the lake gets sediments and nutrients from the watershed, and this naturally occurs over a long period of time. However, if the lake is located in an urbanized area or developed region, eutrophication speeds as there is definitely higher number of sediments and nutrients getting into the lake. This is when natural eutrophication becomes cultural eutrophication. The increased sediments and nutrients, which are mainly phosphorous, usually come from road sand, oil, lawn fertilizers, gas, salt and organic matter being transported to the lake through stormwater or groundwater. Inefficient septic systems can also cause cultural eutrophication. This environmental phenomenon can be prevented through continuous monitoring of the local government. Environmental officials should identify the cause of the cultural eutrophication and determine where the increased sediments are coming from. Once this is identified, measures to prevent these nutrients and sediments from getting into the lake could be placed and enforced. Global warming, from the term itself, is the continuous increase in the temperature of our planet. Global warming is mainly caused by increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone and methane forms a gaseous blanket around the Earth. This blanket traps the heat which is responsible for making the Earth warm; else our planet’s temperature would be well over 60 degrees colder. Global warming becomes an environmental issue because the gaseous blanket is getting thicker and thicker over the years which make the Earth’s temperature extra hot. The increase in greenhouse gases which causes global warming is due to burning of fossil fuels, agricultural byproducts, industrial processes, waste disposal and treatment among others. By the year 2100, Earth’s temperature will rise by 3 °C to 5 °C and sea levels will rise by 25 meters, at least, because of global warming. This would mean an increase in the occurrence of heat waves, floods, tornadoes and drought. Agricultural yields will be low due to these extreme weather conditions. Diseases will also spread easily. Global warming is already a known issue. The only thing that we have to do is to make significant changes in the way we do things like the use of fuels contributing to the increase of greenhouse gases. Little things can help curtail the effects of global warming such as changing filament light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, making sure the refrigerator and freezer doors are always shut properly, and other measures of conserving electricity. This will not only help save the Earth from global warming, it will also help you save money due to less electricity consumption. Electricity is the most common form of energy people use daily. Currently, electricity is being generated mainly by burning fossil fuels. We all know from the above discussions that fossil fuel combustion creates air pollutants that contribute to acid deposition and global warming – in short, environmental destruction. If this way of using energy continuous, we would be in danger of losing a healthy planet to live in a hundred years. Another danger of this is not having enough fossil fuels to use in the future as this is not a renewable source of energy. Fossil fuels such as coal and oil can be depleted because there can only be as much of them in our planet. In order for us to prevent global environmental destruction, we should all try to use sustainable energy in order for us to have reserves in the future. Examples of sustainable energy are renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave power among others. Power plants and electric companies should slowly convert their electricity generating processes to one of these in order to lessen the waste pollutants of fuel combustion. Big companies may also want to initiate a study if its facilities and offices would run on self-built solar power. Other than the big savings, it will definitely help in reducing the number of fossil fuel electricity consumers.

Food Truck

Jennifer Collins Ent 1000 3-20-2013 Industry Paper Food Truck vs. Organic Trucks The street food trend has been a growing industry nationwide. According to American City Business Journal of Orlando, Fl. , â€Å"more than 3,000 street vendors made $1. 3 billion in revenue in 2010, a 12. 7% jump from the revenue from the prior year. The average startup cost of a food truck is only about $5,000-50,000 and the yearly profit potential can be anywhere from $100-250,000 per year. The list of costs for startup include fuel, maintenance, business permits, equipment, supplies, insurance, marketing and is still minimal in contrast to the fees required for a stand-alone cafe spot in a busy business area. This is good news. Organic food trucks have almost no competitive market compared to the food trucks that provide fan fair (unhealthy) fast foods. The mobility of this business provides a wider profit gross than a stand-alone brick and mortar business and the flexibility to drive wherever the c ustomers are can be a competitive advantage.I wanted to start an Organic Food truck business first rather than open a small restaurant for a few simple reasons. Startup costs are considerably less, and profit margins can be more. During my research of looking up for sale ads, I found that a used truck right now can be as low as $15,000 or a new one at $30-50,000. According to Forbes. com, I can move towards my market selling in more populated areas, whereas, â€Å"Purchasing a small cafe in my local area with twenty seats, around 2,000 square feet in size can cost upwards of $175- 300,000,† and then I am stuck in the same community for years.The basic food truck concept started way back in 1961 when New York began to regulate vendors selling food from push carts. Mobilecuisine. com- the History of American Food Truck article says, â€Å"Horse drawn chuck wagons started in 1866, sausage vendors sold quick hot foods to students at their dorms at Yale, Harvard and Princeton in 1974 and the first Taco truck in 2008 was regulated to sell food in a highly populated in Los Angeles, California. † The National Restaurant Association said, â€Å"The category tops $630 million in nationwide revenue in 2011. But when first introduced, a regular food truck selling the typical burger, taco or BBQ made about a third of that ten years ago. Currently there is no confirmed market spot for the vegetarian or organic food truck but this area is undefined. In the Western part of the U. S. , vendors who sold Asian, BBQ, or fair food sell the most products compared to the healthy foods that may be sold on a vegetarian or organic cart, yet there is a rise and a need lately in the health food industry with people trying to lose weight and eat better.Working in a health food kitchen for the past two years, I have realized how consumers have few choices in this area of eating out. Having the convenience of a healthy food truck alternative parked in â€Å"your area† is a perfect idea. Certain health risks and disease are on the rise and people love the idea now of having a gluten-free, soy or dairy-free, vegan or locally grown food choice in their own back yard where they can feel good about what they eat. Someone is looking out for them. According to Wikipedia. rg 2013, locally here in downtown Tampa; Mayor Bob Buckhorn organized a monthly food truck rally drawing thousands of coinsures. Saint Pete followed suit in 2011. â€Å"The biggest buyers of foods from mobile vendors are adults age 25-34 spending an average of $44 per month. † In Theresa Ehrlichs online article, she also ads, â€Å"major market area analysis shows that 55% of trucks park at a street corner, other venues or events such as rally’s are 18%, construction work sites 15% and shopping malls contribute to 12% of locations served. Right now, the phenomenon is gained so much buzz, that it’s difficult to accurately track the national sales. Yet as should be a ssumed with any business the first year, there are political, environmental, social-cultural, technological and competitive threats. Upon further analysis of my industry (Industry code #722211 mobile ready to eat pay first food service), and my industries trade associations (mymfva. org. Mobile Food Vendor Association MFVA or The NAC National Association of Concessionaires at naconline. org. , they outline a more extensive overview of the PESTC for further forecasting. POLITICAL: Some of my industries opportunities say that you will not have to purchase a separate kitchen to cook food in, as all the cooking can be done on the truck. There are rumors though, that these laws may change in the near future. Many truck owners may see parking tickets an s apart of an overhead cost. Parking at a free event saves cost of such fees. Permits to operate in the city are often affordable and I already possess a National Food Management License that is required by the state.I’m personally not ready to open a food truck but a few years from now when I am, permits and standards may change. ENVIRONMENTAL: Recently the economic state has plummeted and consumers are watching there money. They may not be able to afford eating out at ritzy cafes. A food truck offers unique food concepts at a more affordable price. Currently 70% of Americans are too busy to cook at home so they eat outside. On the other hand, if food truck owners do not keep up with trends and good locations in local areas to sell, consumers may not be aware of new foods.They would have to keep up with social media and marketing to promote themselves properly. Some vendors say they are using Twitter and Facebook to let customers know which location they will be serving next. SOCIO-CULTURAL: In my own experience with eating from a food truck, I see street vendors as fun and find the process is much like a â€Å"foodie groupie† in the game of searching out the locations where they may be this week. It b ecomes a fun weekend hobby. In the past Trucks were called â€Å"roach coaches. † I suspect that this stereotype deters some people from trying out a food truck.Owners must work extra hard to gain a positive reputation. TECHNILOGICAL: Technology is always changing and the prices increase for such equipment that may be needed to keep up with the times and customer demands. A food truck only has enough room for so much food, storage and equipment which is made to travel as simple as possible. Basic kitchen equipment based off of a standard menu is only required yet there may not be room for high tech registers or credit machines. Most food trucks use â€Å"Square†, with their mobile phone to process credit card payments.You won’t waste time counting cash or change for the customers and it works out just as quickly as any other process. COMPETITIVE: A competitive threat the local community might include a copy cat food truck that would force a new truck to step up his game, but as far as the threats of the environment in a competitive nature, I don’t see a lot. On contrary, the niche of having healthy food services is that it’s probably in no league of high competition with an actual restaurant. Because it’s mobile, this provides a direct link to the customer and find the most profitable areas to work in.If one area isn’t great, they can simply move on. Strengths within the food truck industry of â€Å"ready to eat foods†, I include lower overhead, creative menu options that can be changed, high brand recognition and lower start up costs that would also be affordable to maintain. Opportunities, I feel, are based on the individual business owners’ future goals. Moving into a tourist town where there are few trucks and less competition, offering something unique or replacing a truck spot that has just closed could bring more customers.Rising food costs or lack of expertise in financing or managing could pose as a Weakness. Rising gas prices, traveling expenses and county changes or restrictions could also become a Threat in the food truck business. On a better note, trends right now in the street food vendor industry are growing in our local area and are all the rage in western states. It is a competitive yet fun concept. In my personal opinion, the opportunities out weight the threats in this field so I look forward in learning more and producing a creative aspect to the ideas I already have in place.With the reputation that this concept first started with compared to the revenue its generated in the past recent years, the potential seems profitable enough and worthwhile. Food trucks have been around since 1866 selling ground chuck burgers and sausages but the vegan, vegetarian, organic trend has not been around too long making the potential gross profit almost unknown. I think this concept is a good thing to risk moving forward with. I see it as a win! BIBLIOGRAPHY â€Å"The co st of starting a food truck. † Forbes. com. Web. 27, September. 2012. Investopedia. Anjail, Fluker. Orlando Commisary Forms Association for Food trucks.Orlando American City Business Journal. Web. 14, March. 2012. Myrick, Richard. The history of American Food Trucks. Mobile Cuisine magazine. Take the Cannoli Productions L. L. C. MCM 2010-2013. Web. 2, July, 2010. Theresa, Ehrlich. Best Customers: Demographics of Customer Demand. 2008. Web. SBCC. net Pon, Jackie. 5 Things you should know About Starting Your Own Food Truck. Pbs. org. 2013 WNET. org. Web. 15, October. 2010. Myrick, Richard. Running a Food Truck for Dummies. Dummies. com. 2013 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Web. Wikipedia. com. Food trucks in Tampa. 14 February 2013. Web.

Research Paradigms, Knowledge and Practice Essay

Research Paradigms, Knowledge and Practice - Essay Example 5). This essay identifies and critically discusses the research paradigms to be the most relevant to the development of nursing knowledge: positivism/empiricism and phenomenology/interpretivism. Nursing has progressed as a unique discipline through the application of theories from other academic fields and the advancement of clinical research. The discipline of nursing focuses on the personal circumstances of individual patients. In essence, this suggests that research to enhance the clinical practice of nursing should focus on environmental factors and individual attributes that are not open to plain quantitative approach. Nursing has formulated research paradigms to address these challenging issues. The discipline of nursing revealed that there is a need to expand the foundation of nursing knowledge, and research is the best way to accomplish such goal. Focus of the Discipline of Nursing The discipline of nursing gradually grew from established theories, intuition, religious belief s, apprenticeship, philanthropic intentions, and traditional women’s role, as well as diverse impact of feminism, economics, politics, technology, and medicine (Shaw, 1993). Florence Nightingale, the first practitioner of nursing, described nursing as a field of study that has social relevance and structured concepts different from the field of medicine. However, M.E. Roger’s (1970 as cited in Shaw, 1993, p. 1651) more recent holistic perspective of individuals have become an important foundation in developing theory by characterizing nursing as ‘an art and a science’ and by creating a concrete starting point for testing theories. Donaldson and Crowley (1978), in their seminal work, identify a discipline as â€Å"a unique perspective, a distinct way of viewing all phenomena, which ultimately defines the limits and nature of its inquiry† (as cited in Rich, 2010, p. 26). Nursing practitioners have long tried to identify, investigate, understand, and e xplain the concepts fundamental to the discipline of nursing—nursing, environment, health, and person. Issues defining the limits for nursing research and practice involve (Shaw, 1993, p. 1651): (a) laws and principles governing life processes and well-being of humans, (b) influences of the environment on human behavior, (c) processes whereby nursing positively affects health, and (d) families and communities as a focus of nursing practice. Several researchers found out an agreement on the frequent topics and similarities fundamental to nursing research and inquiry. Development of knowledge in a discipline could progress from a number of scientific and philosophic worldviews. The focus of nursing as a discipline has developed most significantly over the recent decades. Several concepts have been determined as fundamental to the discipline of nursing. A case in point is the often mentioned tetralogy, namely, ‘person, environment, nursing, and health’ (Polifroni & Welch, 1999, p. 20). Although recognition of these concepts helps simplify the focus of nursing, there is still the importance of social relevance and apparent interrelatedness to define the discipline that makes up nursing (Keele, 2010). Unrelated concepts do not create the scientific or philosophic questions that encourage inquiry. The discipline of n

The Civil War in Syria Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Civil War in Syria - Coursework Example The current issue or trend to write about is the revolution in Syria that would help bring peace and reduces the mass casualties of innocent citizens due to increased civil war. The audience for my commentary includes but not limited to the course instructor, the students, peer counselors, the institution management team and other nations involved in the civil war at large. 1. Through revolution, a country like Somalia in East Africa has stabilized its government with a reduction in the number of al-Qaeda. Therefore, the revolution in Syria is no exception to a possibility. 2. Syria is one of the most oil productive nation worldwide and with the existence of civil war, it cannot be able to enjoy its absolute and comparative advantages of the other countries in oil production. 3. The political instability of a nation leads to poor economic performance, lack of democracy, the high number of refugees and increased number of civil war that rise number of casualties hence the need for the revolution in Syria. 4. A country in war can be described as a fallen country as people are divided, however, the revolution will help to unite people together. This can be summarized as, â€Å"together we are united, divided we fall.† 5. There is need to have effective rules and regulations governing people and this can only be possible via revolution where the amendment can be made. However, with existence of civil war, this cannot be achievable hence the need for revolution

Correlation between Self-Esteem and Memory Research Proposal

Correlation between Self-Esteem and Memory - Research Proposal Example The study employed standardized measures constituting a Rosenberg Self-Esteem questionnaire given to participants to be completed in class; followed by a series of fifteen words read aloud to them and to be written down on a sheet of paper shortly afterward to test their memory. This experiment used a within-subject design where the researcher tested the participants independently and analyzed their results in SPSS, running a Pearson Correlation Test to find any correlation. Several specific studies have highlighted many cases that demonstrate how memories affect self-esteem both positively and negatively. Psychologists have long been studying "Self-esteem" as an independent concept in cognitive-behavioral therapy, mistaking it as something characteristic of maladjustment in one's social environment. It was until only recently that Social Scientists like Rubenstein (1999) defined self-esteem as the "belief" that one is capable of making competent and appropriate decisions about his life. (p. 76) This belief, Rubenstein explains, is based on how we evaluate our actions where such evaluation is, in turn, driven by concepts such as memory and self-concept. Healthy self-esteem is achieved when people are able to validate their actions positively. (p. 76) Constituting one of the four components of self-concept, Carpenito-Moyet (2007) state that self-esteem has many types and kinds depending on several factors that are driven by experiences and memory (p. 563). Psychologists have discovered that self-esteem fluctuates as life events range from positive to negative incidents, where negative life events predict lower self-esteem (e.g., Lakey, Tardiff, & Drew, 1994). Sternberg and Mio, discussing autobiographical memory; which is the memory of an individual's history, state that experiences in the life of an individual are constructive, wherein one does not recall exactly what happened but one's own construction or reconstruction of what happened. (p. 237) Which brings us to the concept of what one "believes" to be true about himself. These investigations about autobiographical memory show that memories affect self-esteem especially when the individual has a distorted recall. There are several studies highlighting many cases that demonstrate how memories affect self-esteem both positively and negatively. One such study is that of Uttl, Ohta and Siegenthaler's (2006) introduction and study of the so-called "self-defining memories". Their study showed that, in the case of mother-daughter bonding, daughters that were narrated more positive birth narratives showed higher self-esteem and those, with more frequently told and descriptive stories were closer to their mothers than those who weren't told any positive birth narratives. Uttl, Ohta and Siegenthaler found support from a similar research on SDMs conducted by Cohen and Conway. Their studies led them to the finding that these memories have links to personality styles. For instance, there was the case that reported the way students at the end of their third year of college have described and evaluated a significant life experience from the preceding 3 years and how these correlated with their personality,

Innocent smoothies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Innocent smoothies - Assignment Example Innocent’s mini-kiosks were some of the few food outlets in the Olympic park offering healthy food alternatives to the millions of attendees. The company also ran a two-week campaign called ‘Tweet for A seat’ prior to the start of the Olympics (Eleftheriou-Smith, 2012). This was intended to have the fans regenerate the advertisements by tweeting pictures of the company’s products to their followers. In the campaign, Innocent called on its Twitter followers to suggest whom they wanted to take with them to the Olympics and the reason for a chance to win a seat for two. The campaign followed a decision by the company to scrap off its scheduled promotion through which it aimed to improve the sale of Olympic tickets. Smoothie had worked to be the official smoothie and juice sponsor of the Olympics. Before the start of 2012 Olympic, Innocent launched a healthy living campaign, which encouraged people to kick off the year with healthy lifestyles (Eleftheriou-Smith, 2011). The company features one retired athlete, Kris Akabusi in its video advert clips and billboards with a message to encourage people to get back into fitness through exercising. It gave away free day passes to the gyms of virgin active all over Europe (OReilly, 2014). Although this campaign was not geared to promoting the Olympics, it helped the company generate more revenue clocking 200 million pounds the following year. The company’s promotional campaigns have always focused on marketing its products as the best alternative healthy foods in Europe. It prompts people to focus on their health and watch their diet. Its tagline ‘tastes good, does good’ is meant to appeal to the buyers to buy the products and feel the tastes and effects of the product. By appealing to the healthy lifestyle, the company brands itself as the only one offering alternatives to longer living. This is a moral appeal

Pepsi Co and Coca Cola Stock Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pepsi Co and Coca Cola Stock Analysis - Essay Example The report at the end presents the summary of what has been learnt in the report. COMPARING THE STOCK PERFORMANCE OF TWO FIRMS Historical prices of Pepsi co Adjusted closing price has been taken for the calculation of returns and risk. The average stock returns are found to be negative (-0.08) (Yahoo! Finance, 2013a) Historical Prices of Coca Cola Company STDEV 0.0101 The Adjusting closing has been taken for calculating returns and risk. The average returns are negative (-0.15) (Yahoo! Finance, 2013b). Dow Jones Industrial Average NASDAQ Composite Index The latest price at which the Pepsi co Philippines traded is 6.19, it is 10.03% below its high 52 week of 6.88. The listing of Pepsi co products are primarily on Philippines Stock Exchange (Financial Times, 2013). (Financial Times, 2013) Market closed at 40.81, which is 6.03% below its high 52 week of 43.43. The listing of Coca Cola Company products are primarily on NYQ. Interest Rates: For the last four years wages are being flat and there is no hint of an increase in inflation rate. In 1980s, women began to enter labor force, but still the work force participation is at its low rate. After the financial crisis the financial system has improved a lot, capitalization of the banks are managed in a better way, balance sheets are being improved by both the corporations and households and all these factors can positively impact not only the two companies but Dow Jones index as well as NASDAQ. Industry News: Despite the continuation of Fed with the policy of buying bonds and accommodation, stocks were more than expected rallied on Monday. The Dow industrials were at a positive sign for the whole day despite the sharp rise in Intel and Merck. With a success of key drug trial, Merck was up 3.8% while with the introduction of new processors of fourth generation, Intel was up to 4 %. The Dow industrial average was increased by 138 points at the closing with 15,254 and NASDAQ was up to 9 points with 3465. 545 million shar es were traded by NASDAQ; there was an increase in the volume on NYSE with 879 million shares being traded. Dow Jones industrials violated the moving average of 20 day. The support zone focused concentration on Monday with 15,115 from 15,000. The index of Dow Jones was on a lead till March. Therefore such factors can also impact companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi as they are also traded on similar stock exchange. Company News The Coca Cola Company has announced its investment in Myanmar on Tuesday 4th June. The production of the company will be in Myanmar with an investment of $200 million. This investment will lift its shares in the market and profits will be enormous. The coca cola company was given the investment permit for the foreign investment Law by Myanmar. It is the first production of Coca Cola in decades. The Dow Industrial Average secured an uneven recovery has led the 30 giants of America which includes Coca Cola Company, Microsoft etc to the most comprehensive event (E avis, 2013) PepsiCo has started its joint venture with the Theo Muller Group, established a new art-state manufacturing of yogurt plant in Batavia, New York. There’s an employment capacity of around 180 people. PepsiCo is the leader in food and beverages it has no less than $65 billion of net revenues. With twenty two brands in the portfolio PepsiCo enjoys over $1 billion to in each brand in a result of its annual sales. With the joint venture with the Theo Muller group Pepsi co enjoys expansion in stocks. PepsiCo due to increasing its price on Feb. 2013,

History of Caloocan Essay Example for Free

History of Caloocan Essay The residents of Caloocan must have been proud of its city. Other than a thriving past, the city had somehow dramatic toss with times then. Now, it continues to set ground-breaking achievements for its people and visitors. Caloocan had its famous episode in 1896 when Filipino troops fought against Spanish tyrants and advocates. The world was stirred by it. The city’s name derivation has a story behind. It’s said to have come from the Tagalog term â€Å"lo-ok†, which means â€Å"bay†, as Caloocan is just close to the Manila Bay. Others followed another version that â€Å"lo-ok† referred to â€Å"corner† because the town was concretely located â€Å"at the corner† in early days. Historical accounts tell us that Chinese and Indians were the first settlers of Caloocan. Their features are mostly dull-colored with slim beard, flat nose and black eyes. Most dwellers in the past worked as fishermen especially those residing in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas and Manila Bay areas. Those huge rural areas like Maysilo Estate were possessed by the Jesuits while Piedad was owned by Don Pedro de Galarraga. Cruz and Naligas Estates were possessed by the friars. The first terrain of Caloocan stretched up to the foothills of Marikina, Tala Rivers, San Francisco del Monte, Sampalok, Sta. Cruz, Tondo and Tanza. The first Catholic Church in Caloocan was erected in 1765 by the Spanish Augustinian scholars who made it to â€Å"lo-ok† in 1762, but in 1814, religious governance was assumed by the Recollects. Caloocan started to grow in 1802 that led to its becoming a municipality in 1815. The door for economic progress opened when the railroad project connecting Manila and Dagupan was fulfilled in 1892. It made business transactions quicker and brought Caloocan closer to the bustling Metro Manila. In 1896, however, the people of Caloocan with the leadership of Andres Bonifacio rebelled against the Spaniards. It resulted in numerous revolutions one after another in all provinces of the Philippines. Eventually, Spain ceded the nation in 1898, but the Americans arrived. It was another test for Caloocan to get through. Periods of reconstruction were experienced. New roads, public schools and railways were erected. Later, Caloocan had to endure three years of Japanese invasion. When Philippine Independence was proclaimed in 1946, Caloocan gained its authentic freedom after all. It’s also important to note that the galleon trade history in Caloocan contributed to its growth. The export and import of products resulted to the coming in of Mexican money. It mutually improved the economies of Manila and Acapulco. Export products generated by Caloocan businessmen were in great demand for this trade. This growth continued as years went by, and now, Caloocan is harvesting the fruits of its labor.

Effect of the Inorganic Filler Contents on Polymer

Effect of the Inorganic Filler Contents on Polymer ANALYSIS OF ZIF 8/PAI AND CMS/PAI MEMBRANES FOR CO2/CH4 GAS SEPARATION Yohannan Subin Sabilon Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, India Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks 8 (ZIF 8) nanocrystals and Carbon Molecular Sieves (CMS) particles were prepared by using standard procedures. UV visible spectroscopy and XRD tests were done for the confirmation of the particles prepared and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis were done to study the morphology of the particles prepared. ZIF 8/PAI and CMS/PAI MMMs were successfully synthesized by using ZIF 8 and CMS inorganic fillers and Polyamideimide (PAI) polymer using phase inversion technique. Various weight contents (1%, 2% and 3%) of the inorganic fillers were incorporated in the polymer matrix. Reinforcing of the polymer matrix with inorganic fillers was done in the form of nano and micro particles respectively. The effect of the inorganic filler contents on the mechanical properties of the polymer was investigated. Hydrophilic nature and porosity determination test, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (F TIR) and SEM were done to study the hydrophilicity and morphology of the composite system. Keywords: Carbon dioxide, Methane, Mixed Matrix Membranes, Carbon Molecular Sieves,Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks INTRODUCTION Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the components of landfill gas, natural gas and biogas. It is also the main combustion product of fossil fuels and a leading contributor to global warming as its a greenhouse gas. In order to obtain fuel with enhanced energy content, to prevent corrosion problems in the gas transportation system and to reduce the climatic impact of CO2 gas it is quite essential to remove CO2 from those gas streams. This has driven the development of different technologies for CO2 gas separation. Among the different types of technologies being used membrane technology has experienced substantial growth, breakthroughs and advances during past decades [10]. Membrane technology offers high energy efficiency, simplicity in design and construction of membrane modules and environment compatibility. Although there are different types of membranes being used the combination of the superior performance of inorganic materials with the handling properties of the polymers is offered by Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs). Therefore in our study we will be using MMMs for CO2/CH4 gas separation. In the MMMs the inorganic fillers are added to the polymer matrix. Over the years different inorganic fillers have been used for preparing MMMs for CO2/CH4 gas separation out of which Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework 8 (ZIF 8) is known to show maximum selectivity while Carbon Molecular Sieves (CMS) is known to show maximum permeability [19]. In this study the preparation and characterization of these inorganic fillers is shown. These inorganic fillers were successfully incorporated in the Polyamideimide (PAI) polymer matrix and MMMs were prepared. The characterization and analysis of the ZIF 8/PAI and CMS/PAI MMMs have been done with different loading of inorganic fillers in order to choose the best possible membrane combination for CO2/CH4 gas separation. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Materials Zinc hydrate crystals and N-methyl 2-pyrrolidone (NMP) required in the preparation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were purchased from Merck Life Science Private Limited, Mumbai, India. Methanol used for washing during centrifugation was also bought from Titan Biotech Limited, Rajasthan, India. 2-methylimidazole and n-butylamine also required for the preparation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were bought from Otto Group Hamburg, Germany, Polyamidieimide polymer was also purchased from UTM, Malaysia. Acetone was purchased from Merck Specialities Private Limited, Mumbai, India. All reagents were used without any further purification. Synthesis of ZIF 8 nanocrystals ZIF 8 nanoparticles were synthesized based on the procedure reported by Cravillon et al[3]. The ZIF-8 nanocrystals so formed was sent for UV spectroscopy, XRD, HRTEM and SEM analysis. Synthesis of CMS particles CMS particles were synthesized based on the procedure reported by De. Q. Vu et al[8] The CMS particles were then sent for XRD analysis. Synthesis of ZIF 8/PAI membranes Membranes of 3 different concentrations i.e., 1%, 2% and 3% of ZIF 8 nanocrystals were prepared by solution casting method. 17wt% of polyamideimide polymer solution was prepared by dissolving exactly 5.274g mixture of polyamideimide polymer i.e., Torlon and ZIF 8 nanocrystals in 25ml of NMP solvent in a beaker. A magnetic bead was cleaned and dried using acetone and was placed in the beaker. The 3 beakers containing the 3 different concentration solutions were kept on 3 different magnetic stirrer for complete dissolution. The exact amount of polymer and inorganic filler taken for respective concentrations is given in the table below: Table 1 Composition of ZIF 8/PAI membranes Concentration of ZIF 8/PAI Amount of PAI (g) Amount of ZIF 8 membranes (wt %) nanocrystals (g) 1 5.116 0.158 2 5.169 0.105 3 5.221 0.053 Now 3 glass plates and casting rods were washed and kept for drying. After drying the glass plates and the casting rods were cleaned and dried by using acetone. After complete dissolution the polymer solution in the 3 beakers were casted on 3 different glass plates using casting rods of 750 ÂÂ µm thickness. The glass plates after casting were allowed to dry at room temperature overnight for all the NMP solvent to evaporate. After drying the polymer membrane so formed was peeled off the glass plate. The membrane samples were sent for SEM analysis. Synthesis of CMS/PAI membranes Membranes of 3 different concentrations i.e., 1%, 2% and 3% of CMS particles were prepared by solution casting method. 17wt% of polyamideimide polymer solution was prepared by dissolving exactly 5.274g mixture of polyamideimide polymer i.e., Torlon and CMS particles in 25ml of NMP solvent in a beaker. The exact amount of polymer and inorganic filler taken for respective concentrations is given in the table below: Table 2 Composition of CMS/PAI membranes Concentration of ZIF 8/PAI Amount of PAI (g) Amount of CMS particles membranes (wt %) (g) 1 5.116 0.158 2 5.169 0.105 3 5.221 0.053 A magnetic bead was cleaned and dried using acetone and was placed in the beaker. The 3 beakers containing the 3 different concentration solutions were kept on 3 different magnetic stirrer for complete dissolution. Now 3 glass plates and casting rods were washed and kept for drying. After drying the glass plates and the casting rods were cleaned and dried by using acetone. After complete dissolution the polymer solution in the 3 beakers were casted on 3 different glass plates using casting rods of 750 ÂÂ µm thickness. The glass plates after casting were allowed to dry at room temperature overnight for all the NMP solvent to evaporate. After drying the polymer membrane so formed was peeled off the glass plate. The membrane samples were sent for SEM analysis. TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION Confirmation tests for inorganic filers UV visible spectroscopy analysis. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis)utilizes light to determine the absorbance or transmission of a chemical species in either solid or aqueous state. The UV Visible Spectroscopy analysis was done for the confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. XRD analysis. XRD can be done on a number of different kinds of samples. Smallvolume of sample was tapped on microscope slide glass. The intensity of the beam used was 40 kV and 40 mA. The XRD analysis was done for the confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals and CMS particles. Morphological studies of Inorganic fillers and MMMs SEM with EDX analysis. The surface morphology of PAI polymer was observed usingthe JSM-6701F with high resolution field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with the magnification of 5000ÃÆ'-. For EDX analysis the acceleration voltage was set to 20kV and the working distance was set to 14mm. The detector was moved down to 45mm. The sample was scanned by X-rays for a time of 200s. The elemental analysis of film in order to confirm the presence of carbon was done using an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) with magnification of 3000ÃÆ'- and acceleration voltage of 15 kV. After the scan was completed the spectrum was plotted using the data obtained from the scan. SEM with EDX was done for the confirmation of the CMS polymer film. TEM analysis. The sample preparation was done by sputtering the same with gold.Then the chamber door was opened and the sample was placed in the sample holder. The chamber door was closed and the required input like voltage, acceleration and time for scan were given to the system connected to the TEM analyzer. The scan was started and the results were recorded. TEM analysis was done for the size determination of the ZIF 8 nanocrsytals. FTIR analysis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique whichis used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid or gas. An FTIR spectrometer simultaneously collects high spectral resolution data over a wide spectral range. Sulfonic acid group functionality of membrane was studied using attenuated -total-reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy (Thermo scientific Nicolet iS5 FTIR spectrometer). The spectra for all dried membranes were observed from the range from 4000 to 400 cm-1 wavelength. Mechanical strength test The material strength of the membranes prepared were studied by the performing Stress-Strain tests. The Universal Testing Machine was used to perform the tests. The samples of the membranes were cut into dimensions of height 30mm, width 10mm and thickness 0.45mm. The initial gauge length was set at 20mm. The samples were placed in a sample holder one at a time and the tests were performed. The data was recorded and the graphs were plotted for respective samples. Hydrophilic nature and Porosity determination test The hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the membranes were studied by immersing a 1cmx1cm membrane samples in different beakers each containing 20ml water. The beakers were kept on a rotary shaker for continuous mixing overnight. After 24 hours the membrane samples were taken out and the weight of the wet membranes were measured using a digital weighing balance. After that the membranes samples were dried in a vacuum oven at 60oC for 6 hours and then the weight of the dry membranes were measured similarly. The amount of water absorbed and the average porosity of the membranes were determined and the results were tabulated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Confirmation of ZIF 8 Nanocrystals The UV Visible Spectroscopy analysis was done for the primary confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. UV of ZIF 8 nanocrystals 12 10 Absorbance 8 6 4 2 0 200 212 224 236 248 260 272 284 296 308 320 332 344 356 368 380 392 404 416 428 440 452 464 476 488 500 512 524 536 548 560 572 584 596 Wavelength Series1 Figure 1 UV visible spectroscopy result of ZIF 8 nanocrystals The penetration depth was found to be directly proportional to the exciting wavelength i.e., 325nm because of decreased absorbance which is in accordance with the reference paper, Liu et aL, (2013)[1]. Therefore we can confirm that its ZIF 8 nanocrystals. The XRD analysis was done for the secondary confirmation of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. Figure 2 XRD result of ZIF 8 nanocrystals When n-butylamine is added as the modulating ligand, nearly instantaneous formation of a solid is observed upon combining the component solutions, and pure-phase ZIF-8 nanocrystals are recovered after 24 h (see XRD pattern in Figure 2). An average size of 18 nm is estimated from the broadening of the Bragg reflections. The XRD results were also in accordance with the reference paper Cravillon et aL, (2011). Hence we can confirm that the particles synthesized were ZIF 8 nanocrystals. Morphology of ZIF 8 Nanocrystals ZIF materials constitute a new distinctive, rapidly developing subclass of crystalline porous coordination polymers (PCPs) or metal organic frameworks (MOFs). The tetrahedral framework structures of ZIFs are constructed from bivalent metal cations and bridging substituted imidazolate anions and frequently possess a zeolite topology. Numerous ZIFs combine the attractive features of MOFs (diversity of framework structures and pore systems, large surface areas, post-synthetically modifiable organic bridging ligands) with high thermal and chemical stability. Figure 3 SEM image of ZIF 8 nanocrystals It is this combination of properties which makes ZIFs very promising candidate materials for many technological applications. Properties and performance of porous materials rely much on their supply as nano and microcrystals of well-defined size and shape, as is well-known for zeolites. SEM images (Figure 3) reveal that the well-defined nanocrystals have a rhombic dodecahedral shape crystal structure. Figure 4 TEM image of ZIF 8 nanocrystals TEM images (Figure 4) show roughly spherical particles being Confirmation of CMS Particles It is not possible to directly measure permeation properties of CMS particles as with CMS films, replicate mixed matrix films prepared with the two different sieves give very similar effective mixed matrix film permeation properties using powder-pyrolyzed sieves versus the film-pyrolyzed sieves. XRD was performed on the CMS films and powder, as shown in Fig. 5. The XRD diffractograms show very similar peaks and d-spacings, suggesting similar planar dimensions between the film-pyrolyzed CMS and the powder-pyrolyzed CMS, thereby confirming that the particles produced were CMS particles. CMS particles Polymer film Figure 5 XRD results of CMS particles and CMS polymer film Surface Morphology of CMS Polymer Film The CMS membrane films have an intrinsic CO2/CH4 selectivity of 200 with a CO2 permeability of 44 Barrers at 35oC. For UltemÂÂ ®-CMS mixed matrix membrane films, pure gas permeation tests show enhancements by as much as 40% in CO2/CH4 selectivity over the intrinsic CO2/CH4 selectivity of the pure UltemÂÂ ® polymer matrix. Likewise, for MatrimidÂÂ ®- CMS mixed matrix films, enhancements by as much as 45% in CO2/CH4 selectivity were observed. Effective permeabilities of the fast-gas penetrants (O2 and CO2) through the mixed matrix membranes were also significantly enhanced over the intrinsic permeabilities of the UltemÂÂ ® and MatrimidÂÂ ® polymer matrices. These encouraging selectivity and permeability enhancements confirm that mixed matrix membrane behaviour is achievable with CMS particles. Figure 6 SEM image of CMS polymer film Fig. 6 shows top surface SEM micrographs of a CMS polymer film. These micrographs show a smooth surface without any defects. Figure 7 EDX result of CMS polymer film The table below shows the EDX analysis of the CMS polymer film. The sharp Silicon peak is present due to the Silicon detector used during the EDX analysis. Table 3 EDX result of CMS polymer film Element Series unn. C norm. C Atom. C Error (3 [wt.%] [wt.%] [at.%] Sigma) [wt.%] Carbon K-series 8.50 23.61 36.45 4.40 Oxygen K-series 9.89 27.46 31.82 4.26 Sodium K-series 1.16 3.22 2.60 0.31 Aluminium K-series 4.56 12.67 8.70 0.74 Silicon K-series 9.37 26.03 17.19 1.28 Calcium K-series 2.52 7.01 3.24 0.31 Total: 36.01 100.00 100.00 The Oxygen peak is due to the oxygen present in the atmosphere during EDX analysis. The Carbon peak denotes the confirmation of the CMS polymer film prepared. As expected it shows a maximum wt % of 23.61. Cross Sectional Morphology of CMS/PAI Membranes Scanning electron micrographs of the CMS fibers are shown in figures 8, 9 and 10 Figure 4.8 SEM image of 1% CMS/PAI membrane Although asymmetry appeared to be present in the CMS fiber morphology, the thicknesses of the layers were markedly different from each other and from those of the precursor fibers (compare with those of the precursor fibers in Figure 6). The original polymeric precursor fibers consisted of a very thin dense skin (1000-2000 Ã…) on a porous core. This skin layer in polymeric fibers has been observed at very high resolution under SEM. In figure 8, high magnification of the wall in the cross section of the PAI CMS fiber reveals a gradual transition from the porous inner core to the denser outer micropore structure. In contrast, high magnification of the PAI CMS fiber shows a uniform dense micropore structure in figure 9. Figure 9 SEM image of 2% CMS/PAI membrane Figures 8, 9 and 10 show SEM micrographs of a mixed matrix film after these modifications. These micrographs demonstrate smaller CMS particles (mostly Figure 10 SEM image of 3% CMS/PAI membrane Cross Sectional Morphology of ZIF 8/PAI Membranes Figures 11, 12 and 13 shows SEM images of ZIF-8/PAI mixed matrix dense films, which indicates good contact of bare ZIF-8 to the PAI matrix without sieve-in-a-cage morphology at each loading. It is noteworthy that the good contact was achieved without any surface treatment of the sieve. This should be due to the hydrophobic nature of ZIF-8, proved by TGA measurements in reference paper Zhang et. al. (2012). Interestingly, in the SEM images of ZIF-8/PAI mixed matrix dense films, as shown in figures 11, 12 and 13, we observe a morphology that has not been previously reported in mixed matrix membranes prepared with other molecular sieves. Other than well-dispersed 10 nm ZIF-8 particles, there also exist many non-ideal large clusters of ZIF-8 with size ranging from 50 nm to several microns, which is more than an order of magnitude larger than single ZIF-8 particles. Also, volume fraction of large ZIF-8 clusters in the matrix increases with increasing ZIF-8 loading. Figure 11 SEM image of 1% ZIF 8/PAI membrane Unlike agglomerations of molecular sieve particles that have been previously reported in mixed matrix membranes prepared with other molecular sieves, the surface of these large ZIF-8 clusters as revealed in figures 11, 12 and 13 looks fairly smooth. Also, almost no defects were observed for these clusters among all the ZIF-8/PAI dense film samples. Since film samples were randomly fractured for SEM analysis, we believe that the mostly non-defective feature of these large ZIF-8 clusters shown in figures 11, 12 and 13 is representative of their interior structures. It is important to understand the formation mechanism of these large ZIF-8 clusters and their impacts on gas transport properties of the mixed matrix membrane to allow extension to practical asymmetric structures. By achieving the desired uniform distribution of individual ZIF-8 particles with the PAI matrix we can achieve outstanding gas separation results. Figure 12 SEM image of 2% ZIF 8/PAI membrane Figure 13 SEM image of 3% ZIF 8/PAI membrane The cross sectional view of the ZIF 8/PAI membranes shows good adhesion between the inorganic filler ZIF 8 and the polymeric membrane PAI. The figures show the SEM images of 1%, 2% and 3% ZIF 8/PAI membranes prepared respectively. FTIR Analysis of ZIF 8/PAI membranes The FTIR results shows that the aluminosilicates are present in the ZIF 8/PAI membranes prepared. The aluminosilicates are present due to the presence of ZIF 8 nanocrystals. FTIR Results Conjugated cyclic Aluminosilicates 120 100 %T 80 Unsaturated aromatic 60 40 20 ketoaldehydes or enols dimer esters and lactones 0 3691 2970 4000 3897 3794 3588 3485 3382 3279 3176 3073 2867 2764 2661 2558 2455 2352 2249 2146 2043 1940 1837 1734 1631 1528 1425 1322 1219 1116 1013 910 807 704 601 498 cm-1 Series1 Series2 Series3 FTIR Analysis of CMS/PAI membranes The FTIR results shows that the carbon bonds are present in the CMS/PAI membranes prepared. The carbon bonds are present due to the presence of CMS particles. FTIR Results Carbon bonds 120 100 %T 80 60 unsaturated aromatic 40 dimer ketoaldehydes or enols 20 0 Conjugated cyclic esters and lactones 3691 2970 4000 3897 3794 3588 3485 3382 3279 3176 3073 2867 2764 2661 2558 2455 2352 2249 2146 2043 1940 1837 1734 1631 1528 1425 1322 1219 1116