Dengue Fever and Mosquito Repellent Lotion

Dengue is an infection caused by a virus. You can get it if an infected mosquito bites you. It does not spread from person to person. It is a tropical disease and is commonly spread during rainy seasons. In the Philippine, dengue is reported as one of the leading causes of childhood hospitalizations. And even Adults with weak immune system are not safe with this virus. Different researches were already conducted and are still on process to find new ways on how to completely solve this dreadful virus. Some researchers are working on making a vaccine that would immune the body against it.Insect repellent on the other hand are one of the preventive measures that would decrease the risk of getting insect-bourne diseases such as malaria and dengue which are brought about by mosquitos. An insect repellent is a substance applied to skin, clothing, or other surfaces which discourages insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. They are commercially sold and used. Mosquito repellent may come in the form of Lotion, Oil, bar, soap, fabric conditioner, spray and the like.Some are chemically made and the others are made out of organic materials that possesses insect repellent properties like Lemon grass, orange and rosemary to name a few. They are all garden plants and most likely available in every garden settings. This study is focused on the use of Calendula officinalis or commonly known as â€Å"Marigold† and Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) in the form of insect repellent lotion, specifically, against the harmful bite of the known specie of mosquito within the genus Aedes, or principally known as Aedes aegypti which are the dengue virus carrier.Why lotion? Lotion is medicated ointment which is spread on the skin(Pharmacology); cream, liquid preparation for beautifying or soothing the skin (Wikipedia English ). Lotion are widely used for cosmetics and even medicinal purposes. Someone can actually wear it throughout the day leavi ng the skin protected from different harmful factors. Skin is the only part of the body that is most vulnerable to mosquito exposure. If a mosquito repellent is applied on skin, it will discourage mosquitos and bugs from landing on it, making the person at low risk of getting the dengue virus.Statement of the Problem The main objective of this investigatory project is to produce an Insect repellent lotion, specifically, Mosquito repellent lotion made from the combination of infused Marigold and rosemary oil mixed with base lotion with the same effectiveness compare to over the counter Mosquito repellent lotion. Specifically it sought to meet the following objectives:To test the effectiveness of Marigold, Rosemary infused Mosquito repellent lotion in terms of:Mosquito repellent effectiveness.Odour †¢Moisturizing effect.Lasting effect ( including the number of mosquito bite after application).Texture on the skin Significance of the studyThere is nothing we can do to stop mosquito from sucking onto their prey. This is their only way of survival. They carry insect Bourne diseases like malaria and dengue virus which are very dangerous once they have passed it to human body. Dengue Symptoms include a high fever, headaches, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, and a rash. In some cases, dengue turns into dengue haemorrhagic fever, which causes bleeding from your nose, gums, or under your skin.It can also become dengue shock syndrome, which causes massive bleeding and shock. These forms of dengue are life-threatening. There is no specific treatment. Most people with dengue recover within 2 weeks. Until then, drinking lots of fluids, resting and taking non-aspirin fever-reducing medicines might help. People with the more severe forms of dengue usually need to go to the hospital and get fluids. In our country, everyone is familiar with this kind of disease. Most of its victims are children from schools or houses from rural to urban places being exposed to mosquito carr ying dengue.It has already taken many lives which might have been prevented if most people were properly oriented bout mosquitos’ behaviour and on how they could destroy and eliminate them for the safety of everyone. There are lots of preventive measures which are effective and safe like using mosquito repellen lotion that makes mosquitoes repel on your skin taking you out from the high risk of dengue infection. The feasibility of plant material specifically â€Å"marigold† and â€Å"rosemary† as an effective Mosquito repellent lotion is safe, easy to prepare, timely and economically.Scope and LimitationThis study is particular with the use and effects of Marigold and Rosemary which are readily available in the community or any part of the country because they are widely use as farm plants or companion plants for growing crops. The investigatory project was done at Pampanga Agricultural College. Tests, experimentations and discussions were under the supervision of PROF. REGINA D. LORIA. Questionnaires were used and answered to get the survey of the effectiveness of the study. Review of Related Literature Extracts from In a Nutshell ‘Marigold' by Jill Rosemary DaviesA popular garden plant, Marigold has been valued for many centuries for its' exceptional healing powers and is particularly remarkable in the treatment of wounds. When used for medicinal purposes, it is commonly referred to as ‘Calendula'. In appearance, Marigold looks like a large yellow or orange coloured daisy, each floret being about ?† (1. 25cm) long. A hardy annual, the plant produces its' bright flowers throughout the summer and the flower heads may grow up to 3†³ (7cm) in diameter. Marigolds' simple fruits are closely curled in the middle of the flower head, almost in the form of a ring.Hence in Germany, its' common name is ringelblume, meaning ringed flower. The plant grows to a height of approximately 20-28†³ (50-70cm). The stem is erect and branched, bearing alternate, light green, lance-shaped leaves and both stem and leaves are covered with fine hair. Marigold is described by some as without a marked scent, but others find its' odour rather heavy, while its' taste is bitter. Calendula officinalis, the botanical name, originates from the Latin word calends (which comes from calare, to call). A History of HealingMarigold has a long history of medicinal use, stretching back to the Roman's and the ancient Greeks, who drank Marigold tea to relieve nervous tension and sleeplessness. It has also been used in cooking, dying cloth and skin care and was a well-known symbol of good luck. Ancient Uses and Folklore Originally a native plant of ancient Egypt, and first introduced into Britain by the Romans, Marigold is one of the earliest cultivated flowers. It was also known to the ancient Greeks, who used it's petals for decoration, to colour foods and cosmetics and as a material dye, in addition to its medicinal uses.An infusi on of the herb was drunk to alleviate the symptoms of nervous tension and to prevent sleepless nights. Marigold has been cultivated in European gardens since about the 12th century. By the 14th century, the plant had become endowed with almost magical powers. A medieval author called Macer, who described Marigold in his Herbal, thought that merely to look at it would improve eyesight and draw out evil ‘humours' from the head:How Marigold can help:Ideal of healing cuts, scrapes, lacerations, surgical wounds and scars, small infected wounds, animal bites and scratches.Useful for skin conditions such as acne, shingles, chickenpox, dermatitis, eczema sores, impetigo spots and other systemic fungal, bacterial and viral conditions.An effective aid to healing minor first degree burns, such as sunburn.Helps to soothe bee, wasp and insect stings.An aid to healing cold sores.An antiseptic remedy for mouth and throat infections.Soothes toothache.Has a wide number of uses in childbirth, i ncluding the healing of episiotomies. Relieves sore nipples in nursing mothers.Ideal for complaints such as candida, leucorrhea and trichomoniasis.A safe remedy for babies' complaints, such as diaper rash or an inflamed navel or penis. †¢Antiseptic action helps speed children's recovery from mumps and measles. †¢A useful remedy for bruises.An excellent treatment for varicose veins and ulcers. (http://www. herbs-hands-healing. co. uk/books/online-books/in-a-nutshell-marigold-calendula-officinalis) Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Linn. ) is a common dense, evergreen, aromatic shrub grown in many parts of the world. Historically, rosemary has been used as a medicinal agent to treat renal colic and dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation).It has also been used to relieve symptoms caused by respiratory disorders and to stimulate the growth of hair. Traditionally, rosemary has been used for improving memory, and has been a symbol of remembrance and friendship for centuries. In Moroc co, rosemary has been used to treat diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure). The most researched constituents of rosemary are caffeic acid and its derivative rosmarinic acid. These compounds are thought to have antioxidant effects and are being studied as potential therapies for cancer, hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity), and inflammatory conditions.Currently, available studies show some promise for rosemary in the treatment of anxiety/stress (aromatherapy) and alopecia (hair loss). Current cosmetic uses of rosemary include treating cellulite and wrinkles, and normalizing excessive oil secretion of the skin. Germany's Commission E has approved rosemary leaf for treatment of dyspepsia and rosemary oil (used externally) for joint pain and poor circulation. Evidence These uses have been tested in humans or animals. Safety and effectiveness have not always been proven.Some of these conditions are potentially serious, and should be evaluated by a qualified healthcare provider. Alope cia areata (hair loss): Rosemary oil is reported to increase circulation and possibly promote hair growth in patients with alopecia areata. Additional study is warranted to confirm these findings. Anxiety/stress: Rosemary extract is frequently used in aromatherapy for treatment of a variety of conditions, including anxiety, mood enhancement, alteration of pain perception, and to increase alertness.Early study has shown benefit in reducing stress levels and increasing alertness. More study is needed to draw a firm recommendation. Tradition The below uses are based on tradition, scientific theories, or limited research. They often have not been thoroughly tested in humans, and safety and effectiveness have not always been proven. Some of these conditions are potentially serious, and should be evaluated by a qualified healthcare provider. There may be other proposed uses that are not listed below.Abortifacient, air purifier, analgesic (pain reliever), anthelmintic (expels worms), antia ging, antibacterial, anticoagulant (blood-thinning), antifungal, antioxidant, antispasmodic, appetite stimulation, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), baldness, bronchial asthma, cancer prevention, cataracts, colic, dandruff, diaphoretic (promotes sweating), diuretic, drug withdrawal (morphine), dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), dyspepsia (upset stomach), gout, hepatoprotection (liver protection), HIV infection, hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), hyperglycemia, hypertension (high blood pressure), immunostimulation, inflammation, ischemic heart disease, joint pain, lice, liver cirrhosis, memory enhancement, muscle relaxant (smooth muscle), nerve regeneration, osteoporosis, paralysis, peptic ulcer disease, peripheral vascular disease, photoprotection, poor circulation, preservative, quality of life, renal colic, respiratory disorders, rheumatism, skin care (cosmetic), skin conditions (excessive oil secretion of the skin, cellulite), sperm motility, tonic, wound heali ng, wrinkle preventionCatnip, marigolds, and rosemary are other popular and familiar mosquito repellent plants. These herbs are scented with oils that mosquitoes and other bugs find unattractive. The insects avoid the plants, which hopefully translates to a reduced mosquito population in the immediate area. Catnip is a perennial herb that will come back year after year, while marigolds are annual and must be planted fresh each spring. Rosemary is a tropical plant, and it must be brought indoors during the cooler weather. The mosquito plant was designed by a Dutch botanist, who combined the mosquito repellent properties of citronella with a geranium.The result was a compact, easy to grow indoor/outdoor plant that smells of citronella, yet is ideal for the home garden. The mosquito plant requires full sun and well-drained soil. Like rosemary, it must be brought indoors during the winter, as it cannot tolerate frost and low temperatures. In addition to providing a barrier outdoors in t he garden or patio, mosquito repellent plants can also be turned into a natural bug spray. An individual can pick the leaves, flowers, and stems of the plants and crush them to release the oils. The foliage can then be mixed with alcohol, body oil, or rice vinegar, and applied to the skin. (Piontek A. 2013 What Are the Different Types of Mosquito Repellent Plants?Definition of Terms 1. Marigold-Any of about 30 species of annual herbaceous plants that make up the genus Tagetes in the composite family, native to southwestern North America. -The name also refers to the pot marigold (calendula) and unrelated plants of several families. Marigolds include popular garden ornamentals such as African marigold (T. erecta) and French marigold (T. patula), which have solitary or clustered red, orange, and yellow flowers and usually finely cut leaves. Because the strongly scented leaves discourage insect pests, marigolds are often planted among vegetable crops. 2.Rosemary-Small perennial evergre en shrub (Rosmarinus officinalis) of the mint family whose leaves are used to flavour a wide variety of food. -The bush grows 3–7. 5 ft (1–2. 3 m) tall and has short linear leaves that resemble curved pine needles, dark green and shiny above, white beneath. Bluish flowers grow in small clusters. Bees are particularly fond of rosemary. In ancient times rosemary was believed to strengthen memory; in literature and folklore it is an emblem of remembrance and fidelity. Native to the Mediterranean, it has been naturalized throughout Europe and temperate America.  © 2007 Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc. 3. Virus-Microscopic, simple infectious agent that can multiply only in living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria.Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and consist of a single-or double-stranded nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein shell called a capsid; some viruses also have an outer envelope composed of lipids and proteins. They vary in shape. The two main classes are RNA viruses (see retrovirus) and DNA viruses. Outside of a living cell, a virus is an inactive particle, but within an appropriate host cell it becomes active, capable of taking over the cell's metabolic machinery for the production of new virus particles (virions). Some animal viruses produce latent infections, in which the virus persists in a quiet state, becoming periodically active in acute episodes, as in the case of the herpes simplex virus.An animal can respond to a viral infection in various ways, including fever, secretion of interferon, and attack by the immune system. Many human diseases, including influenza, the common cold, and AIDS, as well as many economically important plant and animal diseases, are caused by viruses. Successful vaccines have been developed to combat such viral diseases as measles, mumps, poliomyelitis, smallpox, and rubella. Drug therapy is generally not useful in controlling established viral infections, since drugs that inhibit viral d evelopment also inhibit the functions of the host cell. See also adenovirus; arbovirus; bacteriophage; picornavirus; plant virus; poxvirus.Dengue-or breakbone fever or dandy feverInfectious, disabling mosquito-borne fever. Other symptoms include extreme joint pain and stiffness, intense pain behind the eyes, a return of fever after brief pause, and a characteristic rash. Dengue is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, usually A. aegypti, which also carries yellow fever. There are four strains of virus; infection with one type does not confer immunity to the remaining three. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms. Patients should be isolated during the first three days, when mosquitoes can pick up the disease from them. Prevention relies on mosquito control.Malaria-A serious relapsing infection caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium (see plasmodium), transmitted by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Known since before the 5th century BC, it occurs in tropi cal and subtropical regions near swamps. The roles of the mosquito and the parasite were proved in the early 20th century. Annual cases worldwide are estimated at 250 million and deaths at 2 million. Malaria from different Plasmodium species differs in severity, mortality, and geographic distribution. The parasites have an extremely complex life cycle; in one stage they develop synchronously inside red blood cells. Their mass fissions at 48-or 72-hour intervals cause attacks lasting 4–10 hours.Shaking and chills are followed by fever of up to 105  °F (40.  6  °C), with severe headache and then profuse sweating as temperature returns to normal. Patients often have anemia, spleen enlargement, and general weakness. Complications can be fatal. Malaria is diagnosed by detecting the parasites in blood. Quinine was long used to alleviate the fevers. Synthetic drugs, such as chloroquine, destroy the parasites in blood cells, but many strains are now resistant. Carriers of a gen e for a hemoglobinopathy have natural resistance. Malaria prevention requires preventing mosquito bites: eliminating mosquito breeding places and using insecticides or natural predators, window screens, netting, and insect repellent. See also protozoal disease.Mosquito-two-winged insect whose female has a long proboscis to pierce the skin and suck the blood of humans and animals(hypernym) dipterous insect, two-winged insects, dipteran, dipteron(hyponym) gnat(member-holonym) Culicidae, family Culicidae © 2007 Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc. 7. Lotion-medicated ointment which is spread on the skin (Pharmacology); cream, liquid preparation for beautifying or soothing the skin Wikipedia English – The Free Encyclopedia. Methodology Collection of Plant Materials Sample plant materials were gathered at Alternative Low Input agricultural System(ALIAS) at Pampanga Agricultural College, Magalang Pampanga.Quality leaves of Marigold and Rosemary were cut from the area to be used for the making of Mosquito repellent. Plant samples were thoroughly washed with distilled water and air dried. Preparation of the Marigold-Rosemary Mosquito Repellent Lotion 20 grams of air dried Rosemary leaves (Rosmarinus officinalis) and 20 grams of air dried Marigold leaves (Calendula officinalis) were separately diffused using two beakers each containing 100 ml of Mineral oil (one of the processes of extracting Essential oils from plants, known as Oil Diffusion Method. ) with the use of heat source, so as to my experiment I used oil lamp and tripod. Oil solutions obtain from both processes were filtered using filter paper and left alone to cool.To make the obtained oils from the extraction a material that can be used for the application for skin, I used base lotion that would carry out the active components of marigold and rosemary extracts with it, making it a mosquito repellent Lotion. Base lotions are sold on the market. Commercial fragrance free lotions are also possible to be used as base lotion. Extracted oils from the sample plants were gently and slowly added with continuous stirring to a 600 ml Base lotion. After the extracted essential oils and base lotion were completely mixed, they were put to clean containers and were labelled as â€Å" Marigold-Rosemary Mosquito Repellent Lotion† Determination of its Effectiveness.To determine the effectiveness of the Marigold-Rosemary Mosquito Repellent Lotion, volunteers were asked to test the product . Five to ten (5-10) respondents, each will be given Marigold-Rosemary Mosquito Repellent Lotion that they will use for its purpose and a table/questionnaire to be answered by the respondents concerning about the effectiveness of it. The questionnaire comprised the questions pertaining to its; odour; lasting power or time of reapplications; mosquito repellent effects and other relative observations which are not related to its main purpose; its texture as applied to skin; and personal comments. All results and answer will be treated fairly and will be accepted as part of the general result and experiment.Analysis and observation of data will be the main priority. Results and Discussion 1-Very not satisfied/effective2- Not Satisfied/effective3- Satisfied/effective4- Very Satisfied/effective By average: 1-Very not satisfied/effective2- Not Satisfied/effective3- Satisfied/effective4- Very Satisfied/effective The data gathered shows that by average Rosemary-Marigold mosquito repellent Lotion obtained a satisfactory rate with regards to its overall effectiveness. Nine respondents tested the products and by analysing the data- its odor, lasting effect, mosquito repellent effect and Texture to the skin got mean average of ;2. 57, 3. 28, 3. 20 and 3. 11 respectively.Conclusion and RecommendationFrom the light of the findings, data proved that the infusion of Rosemary and Marigold oil to be used as lotion is effective as mosquito repellent. From the overall average it got a satisfactory rate as t o its effectiveness. The statements above are the bases of recommending the following suggestions: 1. Other plants that display the same characteristics of Marigold and Rosemary might also be tested. 2. A comparative test shall be used to distinguish its effects from the commercial products, 3. Laboratory test shall be conducted to accurately determine its potentials. 4. Propagation of marigold and Rosemary shall be considered.

Over Population in the Philippines Essay

1.Introduction 1.1Purpose of the study: to discuss and cite ways on how to prevent overpopulation in the Philippines. 1.2Significance of the study: to make people realize how alarming is overpopulation. 2.Meaning of Overpopulation 3.Overpopulation facts 3.1Causes of Overpopulation 3.2Effects of Overpopulation 3.3Solutions to Overpopulation 4.Manila: A megacity where the living must share with the dead ( Jenny Kleeman’s Article ) 5.Conclusion 1.Introduction The purpose of the study is to discuss about overpopulation in our country. Using library research and internet. I will elaborate the causes and effects, as well as the possible solutions to this social phenomenon. I will also include in my studies about the article of Jenny Kleeman, his point of view on Manila. A presentation such as this is important for us to realize that our country being overpopulated is alarming. I believe that behind this studies, I can help about this problem that not only the Philippines are facing, but also the world. 2.Meaning of Overpopulation The term â€Å"Overpopulation† is the condition where the number of organisms  exceeds the carrying capacity of their habitat. It has impacted the life of common man and has proved to be one of the gravest difficulties that have to be fought. It implies scarcity of resources and economic inflation; these are the monsters which can make life miserable. (The Threat of Overpopulation (Earth Issues) pp. 177-179) Defined by those books that I’ve read, truly Overpopulation is a serious problem. As I search for more meanings about it, this come out: Overpopulation is the condition of having a population so dense as to cause environmental deterioration, an impaired quality life, or a population crash. It is A situation which occurs when the number of occupants of an area exceeds the ability of that area to provide for those.

Analysis Of Lolitas Enslavement To Humbert English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Lolitas Enslavement To Humbert English Literature Essay Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita depicts the relationship between a young girl and a much older3333 man. Humbert Humbert is in his late thirties and forties throughout the book and he talks the reader through how this relationship with Lolita made him feel and how it progressed as she got older and they moved around becoming closer as the months went on. Humbert Humbert narrates the entire book and he expresses to us how Lolita was in his words, but we never hear how it was for her, her side of the story, and how she felt in reality and not just how Humber Humbert thought she felt and was. It can be seen as how he wanted to ensure the reader believed him, about how he didn’t approve himself of the relationship he had and longed for with Lolita. It also however, makes the reader wonder was Lolita in one sense a slave to Humbert in that she was trapped as his daughter and lover because she had nobody else, the novel only gives Humbert’s point of view so there is no thing saying he isn’t making up Lolita’s personality to make himself look better to the reader. Humbert Humbert begins the book with a short chapter one his love for Lolita. He claims that his love for Lolita was only so strong because he had once loved a young girl before her for one summer, Annabel. He initially comes to meet Lolita when in chapter ten he moves to New England, to the house if Mrs Haze, 342 lawn street as she extended an invitation to him when he was stuck unsure of where he’d b going   [ 1 ]   . He sees Lolita for the first time in the garden and he describes her as if she was the young girl from his past, Annabel, and in doing this he seems to of immediately fallen for Lolita. Seeing Lolita was so much like Annabel, Humbert decides to accept Mrs. Haze’s invitation to stay on at the house. As the novel progresses we learn hoe Humbert’s ‘fondness’ for Lolita grew. He describes how he used to look at her and watch her sometimes. The reader quickly learns how fascinated he was becoming with Lolita, he would go into her bedroom from time to time and touch her things to be near her, â€Å"My heart seemed everywhere at once. Never in my life – not even when fondling my child – love in France – never†Ã‚   [ 2 ]   . Lolita it seems had no idea as to what Humbert was doing. It is during this part of the book that Humber first kisses Lolita, it was just on her eyelid but to him this created agony, when describing it in the book Humbert says â€Å"never have I experienced such agony†Ã‚   [ 3 ]   . Humbert becomes increasingly close to Lolita and her mother, mainly so he can continue being around the â€Å"hot little haze†. Even though he continually tries to justify his actions the reader still has no reason to trust him because he clearly tells of his deceit and the feelings he should not be having. After Lolita leaves for camp, Humbert and Charlotte Haze get engaged, this is purely from Humbert’s point of view just another way to stay in the house without question. However while Lolita is still at camp her mother gets run over by a car swerving from a dog and she is killed. Humbert now has to go and get Lolita from camp and tell her about her mother. They go to stay in a hotel and on the way she kisses him and again in the hotel. Humbert realises he still loves her and thought of being a good father figure leaves him. Also in the novel, towards the end or Part One, Humbert and Lolita’s relationship turns clearly sexual and it makes the reader question him, and whether we can trust how he describes the affair and how he says the Lolita seduced him in the hotel and not the other way around. Could Lolita of been too young to understand what was going on, the initial advance she makes on Humbert while she was so young is also questionable, Humbert was the only one she had at this point in her life, Humbert himself says ho w it was probably nothing huge for her, just exploring and living her adolescent life. And as Simone de Beauvoir says â€Å"She is already free of her childish past, and the present seems but a time of transition; it contains no valid aims, only occupations†Ã‚   [ 4 ]   .He also tells her at the end of Part One the truth about her mother and this upsets Lolita, drawing her closer and closer to Humbert, â€Å"in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go†Ã‚   [ 5 ]   .

Customer Involvement In The Selection Service Specifications Article

Customer Involvement In The Selection Service Specifications - Article Example Customers have expectations and those expectations can only be met if they are highly involved. High involvement allows them to specify what they really want and gives both servicer and customer the weaknesses and strengths of each specification. Providers should get customers more involved. The authors conclude that satisfaction can only be achieved if the customers get what they have specified. This can only happen if providers ask the customers what they want and do it. The main problem of this article is its language. Consider this statement: â€Å"Customers who attribute specification selection to their decisions assume responsibility for the specifications selected.† All it really says is that consumers feel responsible for the specifications they choose. Its vague wordiness defeats the purpose of publishing an article, which is to inform people. Also, the points are redundant. The authors keep restating that customers are most satisfied when they are highly involved. Then they repeat their arguments over again. The main strength is that the article provides graphs which make it easier to grasp abstract concepts. It is also helpful in summarizing their long arguments. Presenting numerous examples about customer-provider interaction was also helpful in making their points. It shows how applicable their findings are in different service situations. This article can be treated as a customer-provider interaction. Customers want to be informed but they do not want to waste time reading irrelevant or redundant data. This article can be shorted into a third of its length. Secondly, the data presented are either hypothetical or secondary which make them less predictive of actual cases. Authors should conduct their own studies in order to determine more definitely the most desirable level of customer

Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana Research Paper - 1

Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana - Research Paper Example The Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana is â€Å"critically important for maintaining the ecological processes which have resulted in Madagascar’s unique biodiversity† (African Natural Heritage, 2009). There is a high degree of endemism, that is 97% of the species of animals existing in these moist forests are found only in Madagascar, including 25 species of lemur. The national parks protect two-thirds of the island’s mammals. According to Ferguson (p.135), â€Å"80% of the fauna and 90% of the flora on the island are found nowhere else on earth†. Thus Madagascar’s label as a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ indicates its importance for conservation.    Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Madagascar’s Rainforest of Atsinanana, assess its ecological value, identify the ecological uniqueness of the plant and animal life, examine the rainforest’s biodiversity, the human intrusions threatening the area, identify the existing safeguards and further conservation and preservation efforts, determine how individuals can help preserve the diversity of the area, and the losses that would be incurred if intrusion were to go unchecked. Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island. The Rainforests of the Atsinanana are mainly related to the steeper terrain along the eastern escarpment and mountains of Madagascar. The relict Rainforests constitute a protected serial property composed of the six national parks distributed along the eastern side of the island. This property is composed of a representative selection of the most important habitats of the unique rainforest biota of Madagascar. These include several of the endangered and endemic plant and animal species (UNESCO, 2011). The region also has a distinctive cultural history and beautiful beaches (Ward, 2010). The relict rainforests are significant ecologically, maintaining biological process which are vital for the survival of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity. The country’s

Coca-Cola Company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Coca-Cola Company - Assignment Example The company produces ready to drink juices and teas in over 100 flavors. There has been a visible decline in the consumption of carbonated drinks as a result of the rising health concerns. Carbonated drinks make up a significant portion of Coca-Cola's sales. This is a good opportunity to increase sales of the non-carbonated drinks by entering into newer untapped markets. This document serves as a marketing plan for Minute Maid healthy beverages for the subsequent 12 month period. 2. Situation Analysis 2.1 SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis is used to determine the internal strengths and weaknesses of an organization and the external opportunities and threats. The SWOT Analysis for Minute Maid is as follows: Strengths Weaknesses Strong brand with world wide recognition Strong supply chain Established distribution channels Excellent financial performance Quick response to market need Partnerships and licenses with other brands Standing out against competition in the saturated market More customer loyalty to the core the Coca-cola products Dormant market demand for soft drinks Opportunities Threats Changing consumer trends towards soft drinks Entering new market segments Developing further partnerships with other brands Competition Health concerns Risk of cannibalization Table 2.1 SWOT Analysis 2.2 FEPSOS Analysis Marketing Functions Marketing functions for Minute Maid include its strong branded high quality products which are designed around customer needs. The products are priced to deliver value and quality to the customers in monetary and non- monetary terms. The products are backed by and effective, extensive and result oriented marketing mix. Minute Maid also has a... Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of carbonated soft drinks and other beverages. The company was established in 1886 and has been successfully operating business over a span 123 years. Coca-Cola has established its presence in more than 200 countries and has 92,400 employees across the globe. The company boasts a product portfolio of over 3000 beverages and has a world wide market share of 47.2% with sales of 4107.1 million cases (1). There has been a visible decline in the consumption of carbonated drinks as a result of the rising health concerns. Carbonated drinks make up a significant portion of Coca-Cola's sales. This is a good opportunity to increase sales of the non-carbonated drinks by entering into newer untapped markets. Marketing functions for Minute Maid include its strong branded high quality products which are designed around customer needs. The products are priced to deliver value and quality to the customers in monetary and non- monetary terms. The products are backed by and effective, extensive and result oriented marketing mix. Minute Maid also has a strong distribution network which delivers its goods to the customers where and when they are needed. Porter's Five Forces Model can be used to analyze th

Find a web site about a vernacular dance forms. It could be anything Essay

Find a web site about a vernacular dance forms. It could be anything to do with ethnic, folk, ballroom, jazz, or tap dancing - Essay Example Shopping is divided into videos, music, books, gift cards, and customer service. The classifieds section offers a partner search and a dancewear section, while the directory offers teachers, studios, dance locations, vendors, services, clubs and teams, organizations, and other dance sites. The forum, or message board, is comprised of just about any topic that the reader may think of, as well as some others that may not be imagined. People can ask anything about anything related to dance. The site itself is full of a wide variety of information, and the information is arranged in a useful and easy to navigate manner. While the content provided is clear and concise, the site itself leaves much to be desired in terms of design. The site itself tried to appear fancy, though the colors, the fonts, and the attempts at adding sparkles to the fonts just end up making it look tacky. The videos themselves attempt to show the dances in a professional manner, however, the people look cheesy and fake, instead of like people who are genuinely interested in dancing; the overlaid text at the beginning of the videos is the same tacky fonts that are in use on the homepage of the site itself. If the site used something other than XHTML and javascript, the site could be done in a far more professional manner. Likewise, if the forum was to use phpBB instead of javascript, it would offer a far more professional look and feel. Overall, the site itself has a host of valuable information, and it is presented in an easy to use and easy to navigate manner, however, the style of the site leaves much to be desired. Ballroom dancing is supposed to be elegant and beautiful, and a poorly designed site tends to not only detract from that, but also shows disrespect to the art

Cultural Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Cultural Assessment - Essay Example Taking the stance of the security personnel, when a terrorist event occurs, the following response procedure should be applied, to wit: â€Å"four key actions typically occur in support of a response :( 1) gain and maintain situational awareness; (2) activate and deploy key resources and capabilities; (3) effectively coordinate response actions; then, as the situation permits, (4) demobilize.† (USDNS, 2008, 32) When reporting the incident, call 9-1-1 in times of disasters especially when it poses a threat to human life and to the property. All calls will require: (1) name of caller; (2) telephone number for call-backs at the scene or facility; (3) have local officials been notified of incident – Fire, Police, Sheriff; and (4) date, time and location of the incident. (Emergency Response) In addition, the security personnel and/or management of the subway should inform the National Response Center, the State Emergency Response Commissions and Local Emergency Planning Committees. Fire departments must also be notified. The following telephone numbers should always be ready and all personnel should be advised of these numbers in cases of emergency: MOST IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS: EPCRA HOTLINE 1-(800) 424-9346 and NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER 1-800-424-8802. The scope and nature of the terrorist event would dictate the response actions that should be immediately implemented by the local government unit closest to the incident. The following response actions, especially of the media and local government unit, are generally expected: â€Å"(1) Warning the public and providing accessible emergency public information. (2) Implementing evacuation and sheltering plans that include provisions for special needs populations and household pets. (3) Sheltering evacuees in pre-identified, physically accessible shelters and providing food, water, and other necessities to meet the needs of all people, including persons with disabilities and other special needs. (4)

The theory to the Study of International Relations Essay

The theory to the Study of International Relations - Essay Example It is worthwhile to take a look at the above definitions and examine whether International Relations truly reflect the emotions and desires of the people of the erstwhile Soviet-bloc. It could help to understand the principles of Realism, Marxism, Liberalism, and Constructivism, the major international relations theories to substantiate this study. Equality was what it preached. No doubt, the business class had to share its spoils with the working class, but on the whole, Marxism sought to suppress the feudal system of class discrimination. Realism was more State oriented. It chose to look at national interests more than others. Security and power is their aim. Despite the fall of the cold war, America is seen as the global policeman. Despite rising poverty and unemployment at home, America is more preoccupied with interests elsewhere. Liberalism is what the younger generation craves for. Independence and basic needs and wants are their vision. In the light of the revelation, it has become clear that the critical theory of International Relations is a jig-saw puzzle indeed. In the words of the Mahatma: â€Å"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society, he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality† Mahatma Gandhi, 1929, sums up the real thoughts of our young couple at Trafalgar Square.... There are two schools of thought, one looks to strengthened international law and international organizations to preserve peace; the other emphasizes that nations will always use their power to achieve goals and sees the key to peace in a balance of power among competing states. (R. Aron, H. J. Morgenthau, F. S. Northedge, and M. J. Grieve, www.answers.com/topic/international-relations) In other words, International Relations are the relationship between people of different races and divide. The world order is changing. Technology has brought people much closer. There is a general consensus that mankind is one and that this world is for all to share it equally. So what was it that attracted the majority of communist nations turn to the Liberals and Realists Critical Analysis In the context, it is worthwhile to take a look at the above definitions and examine whether International Relations truly reflect the emotions and desires of the people of the erstwhile Soviet-bloc. It could help to understand the principles of Realism, Marxism, Liberalism, and Constructivism, the major international relations theories to substantiate this study. Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism#Realism_in_international_relations) Realists believe that hard power, a concept used in realism, refers to national power through military and economic means. This holds true with the foreign policy advocated by the United States. Realism focused on States and national interest. In a speech before his nation launched an offensive against Afghanistan, President Bush said, "We are supported by the collective will of the

Soldiers Home written by Ernest Hemingway Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Soldiers Home written by Ernest Hemingway - Essay Example Hemingway depicts a conflict revealing how society is demanding conformity from such struggling souls who fail to fit in the mold of that culture. The story takes a unique form as Hemingway sets it out for Harold Krebs who returns from World War I having lost all his possessions. It is his hometown which receives him with an odd expression, the community wondering why he returned so late. This dark picture of the society demanding and expecting Krebs to return to normal life reflects the cruelty and uncompassionate attitude towards the soldier. People expect him to glorify the experience of war, something that he did not even come close enough to experience. His familiarity with the war was as gruesome as for the other soldiers but, unfortunately, the community had already heard so many such stories that they refused to listen to his part. On his return home, Krebs already feared the stagnant life of his small hometown in America. Apparently, his father drove the same car but the onl y difference he could see was in the grown up and modern girls. Caught between the wishes of his pious mother and materialistic father, he induced self paralysis in him, an act he could not avoid because he could not adjust himself with the people around him. He wished for a simple life. But he has even gone in doubt about his relationship with God. When his mother asks him to look for a job for himself and says â€Å"There can be no idle hands in His Kingdom†, Krebs replies, â€Å"I’m not in His Kingdom† (Hemingway 351). According to Hemingway, Krebs is now just an observer and not the participant of his life. He does not feel the need to conform to the rules of the town such as courting a girl and settling down. He has no feelings for women. This depicts the negative connotations Hemingway hints at in the style of the story in which it is written. Surprisingly, Hemingway does not state whether it is good for Krebs or bad that he remains indifferent to the soci ety’s needs but ultimately gives in. Its demand for him not to change but remain who he was is very pressurizing for any human being leave alone an affected soldier who wishes to narrate his war experience to the people. When he does not get the right kind of attention he deserves, he is compelled to read books about war in which he had participated. He tries to comprehend his own experience by reading about the war. He has lost his natural experience which he did encounter during the wartimes as Hemingway states, â€Å"The times so long back when he had done the one thing, the only thing for a man to do, easily and naturally, when he might have done something else, now lost their cool, valuable quality and then were lost themselves† (Hemingway 348). When all is lost in a soldier’s life, there is nothing to give back but one’s own significant self. Krebs’ life is not destructive but people’s behavior has made it look like he will have to sec lude himself from the society if he resists the change they demand from him. His mother’s prayers for him and love for him signify a mother’s natural instinct; she is helpless in the hands of her husband and the people that surround them. She has become a typical woman of the era who would ask her son to do what the other boys his age are doing. He realizes

The Most Dangerous Game Literary Analysis Essay Example for Free

The Most Dangerous Game Literary Analysis Essay In the short story â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game†, Richard Connell uses conflict to create a suspenseful mood. When Rainsofrd is struggling to swim in the ocean it shows man v. nature conflict. â€Å"For a seemingly endless time he fought the sea† (42). Suspense really shows in this scene because its really nailbiting to see if he is going to give up and let himself drown, or if he is going to push and swimm to the island hes heard has a bad reputation. Man v. man conflict is shown when Zaroff challenges Rainsford to the hunt. Zaroff said, â€Å"Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! † (52). The reader feels a lot of suspense in this part because Rainsford is in an unfamiliar place, in the dark, at night, being chased by an expert hunter, his huge servant/guard Ivan, and a pack of wild dogs. The suspenseful mood reaches a turning point when Rainsford chooses to jump off the cliff instead of continuing the hunt. Rainsford also has a lot of man v. self conflict during the hunt. Rainsford has to repeat a motivational phrase to himself so he will keep calm and collected under the stressful hunt. Rainsford repeats, â€Å"I will not lose my nerve. I will not† (54). This adds suspense because it really makes the reader anxious to know whether or not he will keep his cool. In â€Å"The most Dangerous Game† man v. nature, man v. man, and man v. self conflicts are shown to create a suspenseful mood.

Best and Brightest Essay Example for Free

Best and Brightest Essay Being at a pivotal point in our lives, middle schoolers especially, are easily influenced. Whether it’s a new fashion trend in your favorite magazine, the album of the latest â€Å"artist to watch†, or your friend’s opinion on how to answer number seven on your math homework, we are always being influenced or influencing someone or something ourselves. Citizen involvement and volunteerism not can only influence you, but also those around you, because I believe it is our civic duty. It is our responsibility to give back to our community, whether you’re leading or following, because as Edith Wharton once said, â€Å"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.† Volunteering starts with one person, a candle in the darkness, and eventually that light spreads until that once very small light, is being reflected in a hundred different ways. I have always been inspired to give back to my community, because my mom taught me volunteering was important at an early age and inspired me to complete community service on my own time. However, some kids don’t have it as easy as I do when it comes to inspiration and willpower to volunteer, so I try my best to preach the importance of volunteerism to my friends and family. Especially to my friends, because I believe most voluntary community service done by students comes from the influence and inspiration of their friends. It is my personal belief that students are more obligated to give back through the â€Å"buddy system†, because lots of students, including me, like to have friend there with them, through the process when trying something new. In order to spread light, there has to be flames, which in lots of cases are friends who volunteer. You can’t light a candle without a match, so you obviously can’t get into volunteerism without a cause or reason for doing so; much less influence someone else to start volunteering. However, when we do find a cause we care about and connect with, we are able to dedicate time from our lives to give back to it. For me it was helping troubled kids in my community. It all started when I was volunteering for KLES EDEP in seventh grade for my student service learning project. Though I enjoyed every second of it and I loved the kids I worked with, I wanted to make a bigger impact by helping troubled kids, who weren’t as lucky to be blessed with an upbringing like mine by becoming a juror for Teen Court. I’ve dedicated many, many Tuesday nights to the Leon County Court House Annex and I have no intention of stopping, as I have aspirations of becoming a Teen Court lawyer sometime next year. I’ve even convinced a couple of my friends to start attending with me. I also tutor elementary school students on weekends and after school, but I soon hope to start tutoring Godby High School students with my church next year. It’s really a wonder that few events here and there could blossom into a great habit that hopefully will become lifelong for me and those who I inspire. It’s amazing that something as small as caring about a cause can influence you to volunteer in your community, which can in turn influence your friends and classmates to make a difference, too. Even if it’s half-jokingly proposing to start volunteering at least once a month! You just have to believe you YOURSELF can, because that is being â€Å"the candle†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ and that is what causes â€Å"the reflection†.

HP Introduction

HP Introduction Hewlett Packard popularly called HP is a company that provides technology solutions to consumers, businesses and all forms of institutions worldwide. The company later expands its operations to IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing services. The company is known throughout the world by operating in more than 170 countries around the world. The mission of the company is to facilitate how technology and services can assist individuals and institutions in addressing their problems and challenges so as to realize their dreams. The company applies new thinking and ideas come out with basic and valuable experiences with the technology with her IT corporation headquarter in Palo, Alto, California, USA. The company has been maintaining a lead among her contemporaries due to the effective strategic planning of the company and this has been jealously guided by the company in virtually all her businesses. Background of HP Company The initiators of HP Company are Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard who were classmates at Stanford Universities. They established the company in 1993, seventeen years ago. The first product of the company is called audio oscillators, an electronic testing instrument used by sound engineers. The product is developed in Palo Alto garage. Walt Disney studios were the first HP customers that bought a number of the audio oscillators for testing a new sound system. The company has gained enough popularity in so many countries of the world to have become the No 1 infrastructure support services revenue in 2003 among many world top support services providers. HP as a company always rise to challenges when it comes to IT-related issues, this is manifested in so many ways, the company offers one of the tech worlds most comprehensive portfolios of hardware, software, and services. The products range from personal computers, servers, and sophisticated storage devices, variety of printers and series of networking equipments. Asides this, the service unit of HP still offers series of IT and business outsourcing, software application development, IT consulting, and other IT-related services. The company has produces series of software such as carrier-grade communications applications, information management business intelligence and enterprise IT management among others. The coverage of her business are covered in consumers, business, government agencies and educational organization and such has been spread to more than 170 countries of the world. HP as a company believes so much in working towards achieving her set objectives and that has been the corporate values shared by all the employee within the organization. This is confirmed by the quotation of Dave Packard, co-founder of HP as follow: It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained. Dave Packard The company has always been careful in following the pathways to achieving its set objectives based on the organizational values.Table 1 below summarizes the HPs corporate shared values and corporate objectives. Table 1: HPs Corporate values and objectives HPs Corporate Shared Values HPs Corporate Objectives Passion for customers Customer loyality Trust and respect for individuals Profit Achievement and contribution Growth Results through teamwork Market leadership Speed and agility Commitment to employees Meaningful innovation Leadership capability Uncompromising integrity Global citizenship Information Technology in HP HP company has been maintaining a lead in Information Technology (IT) which is evidenced as contained in the following discussions. To start with, it is revealed from the analyst firms report that HP recorded a tremendous increase in the infrastructure support services revenue from $7.889 billion to $8.028 billion between 2002 and 2003. This accounts for over 6% of the world infrastructure support service market. This marks the second year of the company (HP) leading the IT industry in support service revenue. Among the identified 450 IT service providers which is finally categorized in to the following four categories: Major service (Hardware maintenance and support, software support) Platform (Computing and connectivity) Industry Major geographical region and country HP maintains the lead in all the categories. HP is identified as one of the largest IT companies that operate in nearly every country. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, networking and its hardware infrastructure, software design and rendering support services. The impact of Information Technology (IT) on the achievement of HP is not limited to the technological aspects but also the soft skills and expertise which are unique to HP software crew. Malan, Coleman Letsinger (1995) in their study conducted to explore the current state of object-oriented practice. The findings of the study revealed that the best practice is derived from lesson learnt from HP. This means that HP is maintaining a lead in this regard. Object oriented programming approach is the most competing approach and any organization with required expertise in this area will make its ways in the competitive environment. This part of what strengthens the IT proficiency of HP company . Therefore, the success of HP cannot be a surprise since IT is now considered as the hub of every business. HP as an IT-based company has always been ready to assist serious-minded organizations in solving their IT-relate problems and such has been a plus to the company. A good scenario in this regard is how HP came to the aid of St. Peters Anglican Primary School with 560 students in both the K-6 and pre-kindergarten classes. The leadership of the school so much believe that the creating a computer-assisted learning environment for the children will serve as a good motivation for them to learn, in their quest to achieve this, the school can only afford desktop PCs due to budget constraints. The desktop PCs were found to be very slow in network operation and some were even too old to work which affects the realization of the schools goals. An introduction to HPs channel partner Somerville, and HPs Consolidated Client Infrastructure (CCI), made St Peters to begin a complete overhaul of its IT infrastructure that would bring a new flexibility and efficiency to its entire computing platform. In doing this, HP plays a significant role in addressing this problem. HP implemented a Consolidated Client Infrastructure based on a series of blade PCs for St Peters. This system meant that when a blade PC went down, another would pick up the active session, immediately minimizing disruptions to users. In a Consolidated Client Infrastructure, desktop PCs are replaced by thin client terminals, which are then virtually connected to HP blade PCs stored on a blade rack enclosure in a remote and centralised location. Each blade PC has its own CPU, RAM and hard disk. A HP blade enclosure can contain up to 20 blade PCs in a 3U rack enclosure, allowing up to 280 blade PCs per 42U rack. Blade PCs are then accessed via the Microsoft RDP, Citrix ICA or HP RGS protocols and displayed on thin client devices. Only screen updates, keyboard strokes, mouse actions, audio and peripheral data travel over the network, all the processing happens on the blade PCs. Users are connected to blade PCs either statically or through a broker such as HPs Session Allocation Manager, thus allowing the creation of a concurrent pool of resources and lowering the amount of IT administration required. This among others repositioned HP within organizations in terms of IT support. Information System in HP The company does not limit herself to only the IT aspects but also doing well in information system. A good testimony to this is the HP being announced as the as the support company for the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) with the company tapping from the HPs software for optimizing the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to deliver a reliable kind of interoperability capable of servicing all US defense departments. SOA is a technique of delivering IT services in a secured and manageable manner by using flexible, reusable and standard technology that can easily be adjusted to take care of any unplanned changes that occur in the business plan. The HP systinet SOA (HP business technology) is very good in this regard as it assist business organization in building a kind of information system (record) to manage the services rendered throughout the cycle of that service. This is to explain how far HP as a company has gone in terms of information systems to have provided DISA which is solely used for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting IT solutions capable of serving the U.S president, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and all departments of US defense. This has earn HP series of awards from 2005 to date. HP offers SOA services to help customers at any point along the SOA lifecycle, including the design, build, integration, management and evolution of their SOA environment. HP Services also collaborates with technology partners such as BEA Systems, JBoss, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to offer customers choice and flexibility. Competitive Advantage Introduction about Competitive Advantage First of all, it is important to briefly define what is competitive advantage? Competitive advantage is a feature exhibited at the expense of the firms rivals or competitors. It is a state where a firm sustains profits that is more than the industrial set average profit. Primarily, it is the dream of every business organization to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. According to Michael Porter, cost advantage and differentiation advantage are identified as the two basic types of competitive advantage. Cost competitive advantage A business firm/organization is considered to achieve cost competitive advantage if she is able to offer a better service or products to customers at a relatively reduced cost compared to her competitors. For example, HP has achieved sustainable cost competitive advantage over all her competitors by being able to produce highly quality laptops at a cheaper rate. Differentiation competitive advantage Differentiation competitive advantage is gained or achieved by a firm or an organization if she is able to deliver services or products of better values compared to those offered by her rivals or competitors. With the explanation of the two types of competitive advantage, it can be described as a way of getting more values for the customers and getting more profits for the company. Figure 1 below describes a competitive advantage model. As can be seen from the model combination of the organizational resources (human and material) and capabilities forms the distinctive competencies that makes the organization to be able to make a difference with respect to either cost advantage of differentiation advantage which eventually creates values for both the organization and the customers. This is in line with the resource-based theory that for a firm to attain a sustainable competitive advantage, such a firm must have superior resources and capabilities compared to her competitors. How Competitive Advantage helps HP Company HP Company being one of the world largest IT companies with a quarterly revenue of approximately $97.1 billion is able to maintain such a wonderful record through the sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. The sustainable competitive advantage has benefited the company in so many ways that she has no other choice other than sustaining such record. The gained competitive advantage has increased the companys revenue tremendously. In year 2006, HP recorded a much better revenue of $91.7 billion against the rival, IBM with $91.4 billion. In year 2007, the annual revenue of the company was jacked up to $104 billion to become the first IT company reported to have a revenue of more than $ 100 billion, it doesnt stop there, acquisition of the EDS in 2008, also jacked up the revenue to $118.4 billion. All these achievements in terms of boosting in the revenue are products of the gained competitive advantage. The competitive advantage gained and sustained ever since by HP can be also attributed to her leadership position in the world technology with groups strategically assigned to drive industry leadership in main technology areas. The Personal Systems group are responsible for the lead in the business and consumer PCs, mobile computing equipments and work station. In the same manner, the imaging and printing group is responsible for the successes recorded in all forms of printing devices (personal and commercial printing), printing supplies and the enterprise business group is in charge of all business products. The performance of each of these groups among others is what makes HP what it is today among her equal. In addition HP became the largest world seller of personal computers as a result of her competitive advantage. In January 2010 a report from Gartner and IDC (Market Research Firms) shows that there is a wide gap between HP and Dell with HP taking 8.3% market share lead at the end of 2009. It was equally reported that HP is the 6th largest world software company. HP Company is equally reported in year 2008, to have retained the global leadership position in Jacket, laser, large format and multifunction printers market and at the same time the second IT service provider throughout the world. All these benefits/achievements do not come by chance it is as a result of being able to maintain some degree of superiority over the competitors. This results in to competitive advantage and the benefits being discusses the created values based on the competitive advantage. Analysis of Competitive Advantage in HP Company HP is able to achieve and sustain competitive advantage with her distinctive competencies. First of all, the company is committed to simplifying technology experiences for all its customers. This is applicable to all the services rendered ranging from printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. This is very important since it assists in making virtually all the HP products usable by the intended users by putting the customers first. There is no way one can analyze HP competitive advantage without discussing the HP values; HP values is associated with the complete adherence to the ways or paths set out by the founding HP leaders. These unique ways account for the decision-making and the firms advancement since it is just like a roadmap. Also, HP pioneers based the corporate culture on the integration and reinforcement of critical opposites. This is achieved by simultaneously creating an environment that both celebrates individualism and at the same time supports the team work. The beauty of it is that such a practice will allow the company to tap from the benefits of both approaches as the case may be and also to neutralize their associated risks. Another way by which the competitive advantage of HP Company is sought is through her concept of developing cross functional individuals. Unlike other companies that just hire staffs and train them for a specific job requirement to be assigned to such staffs throughout their stay in the organization, HP makes sure that all her employees move more than 4 to six functional areas within the company to allow them to work in more than one departments of the company and thereby effectively managing the organizational knowledge through effective sharing among her staffs. It has been widely agreed that in this knowledge era, effective knowledge management will surely lead to achievement of competitive advantage. The quest for developing employee has always been the strength of HP company in attaining competitive advantage since this makes the company to achieve effective organizational change considering the rampant changes in the business organizations. Miller (2004) revealed that since 1980, HP has been engaged in extensive employee retraining program called Software Job Skills (SJS). Personnel who might ordinarily be laid-off underwent serious retraining the complex set of required skills and techniques. This makes the company to be able to sustain her competitive advantage since the employees always continue to be relevant and compliant with the new trend organizational need and employee are considered important in the performance of every organization. Organizational competitiveness is derived by the implementation of knowledge management and its associated benefits. Knowledge management helps in reducing the production cost as a result of the possibility of reusability. This allows the organization to be able to offer services of the same quality or even better than that of its competitive at a relatively low cost. This is an important way of gaining competitive advantage. In addition, the implementation of knowledge management brought about enhanced employee productivity and coordination which has a resulting positive effect on organizational performance. Another important factor is early delivery or ubiquitous service deliver powered by the real time communication facility. It is a wise saying of HP as quoted as follow If only HP know what HP knows! It means that the required knowledge and skills for solving your problem resides somewhere within the company. This means that the company has achieved a lot through effective communication. All these account for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. There have been series of academic evidences responsible for the early delivery experienced in the company due to regular improvement and enhancement of the supply chain. According to Lava, Feyhl and Kakourus (2005),full optimization of the business supply chain cannot be achieved using only the Operation Research (OR) approach in this demanding fast-paced ubiquitous business environment of the globalized era. Using OR alone will require a lot of time which might result in to delay in the service delivery and thereby negatively affect customer satisfaction. HP strategic planning and modeling (SPaM) came out with a more efficient approach which combines the optimization ability of OR and scenario analysis of the expert knowledge to arrive at an effective supply chain approach capable of solving complex supply chain decision problem for HPs imaging and printing group of company. the earlier the customers can get the required service the more satisfied they are, the efficient supply chain of HP has been of the secretes of the companys sustainable competitive advantage. It ha equally been argued that the risk associated with supply chain are related to product demand, component cost and availability uncertainties and they all affect the companys revenues and profits. According to Ngali, Hwang, Sanghera, Gaskins, Pridgan, Thuvston, Mackenvoth, Branvold, Scholler and Shoemaker (2008), procurement management group is formed in HP and they developed and implemented a mathematical model, business process and software to estimate and manage risks associated with supply chain. This has brought a lot of benefits to the company. To the extent that in year 2006, HP was able to manage $7 billion of her spending by saving only material cost of not less than $128 million. This really maximizes the companys profits and contributes to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. The products of HP are always better than that of her competitors and such are refined and rebranded from time to time to meet the changing technological needs of the customers. Just in November 2009, HP StorageWorks X9000 was introduced as the new network storage system which is primarily designed to meet the emerging trend of the explosive data growth and to enhance the performance of the file-based applications using scale-out network storage that has the ability to manage information efficiently using a single namespace. This has fetched the company more popularity in the networking society since such an innovation is needed in virtually all organizations that deal with large data. The StorageWorks is very efficient in storing data and it is known for relatively low down time. Conclusion From the discussion so far, it can be seen that organizational success cannot be easily achieved without adequately set certain outstanding objectives with pathways to achieve those objectives. From all the sources it can be deduced that the leading position maintained by HP company can be largely attributed to the aggressive ways of achieving the organizational objectives and that is only possible because of the shared corporate values among all members of the organization. No doubt such shared corporate values will make all members of the organization to have almost equal motivation to contribute to the overall organizational performance. Also, one value must always be guided to avoid being eroded and same holds for organizations. It will be difficult for any organization to beat the HP record as long as the corporate value is maintained.

Child Development Case Study Essay -- Child Development Theory

From the video observation, the two three-year old children, Thomas and Riley set off on a bus journey along with their childminder; it is observed that both the children speak about their journey, in which they are able to identify various features, which include the passengers; various buildings and different types of buses. Both children observe many of the features by taking photographs to highlight what they have observed on their journey. From observation, the video looks at the way the childminder plans the experience from a child-initiated stance, which directs the children’s learning in addition with assisting them with role-play and symbolic play, which is shown towards the end of the video. Thus, this essay will focus on the importance of early physical development within the Early Years framework, as well as the influence of the family with reference to the children along with the childminder. I shall link theory to practice from observation, by recounting both the boy’s bus journey, using a number of hypothetical methods, as well as emphasising the social and emotional development equally with cognitive development. However in particular, I will address the cognitive development, by doing so, a whole approach is required regarding both the children’s development, as children are seen as individuals and that each area of their development cannot be divided into different sections. So in order to accentuate the whole approach, it is imperative that the two boy’s development is seen from a holistic perspective. Furthermore, not only does the children’s development depend on their own developmental process, additionally the family, as well as the child minder will have an influential effect on the relationship of both ch... ...Early Childhood. 2nd ed. London: SAGE Publications. Bruner, J. (1986) Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. USA: Harvard University Press. Department of Education (Dcfs) (2010) it’s child’s play Early Years Foundation Stage [online]. [Assessed 7 December 2010]. Available at: . Keenan, T. and Evans, S. (2009) An Introduction to Child Development. 2nd ed. London: SAGE publications. Malim, T. and Birch, A. (1998) Introductory Psychology. London: MACMILLAN Press. Penn, H. (2008) Understanding early childhood. 2nd ed. Berkshire: Open University Press. Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1969) The Psychology of the Child. London: Routledge. Smidt, S. (2007) A Guide to Early Years Practice. 3rd ed. Oxon: Routledge. Woodhead, M and Oates, J. (eds). (2007) Attachment Relationships. Milton Keynes: The Open University.

In-just by e. e. cummings Essay -- essays research papers

Upon looking at e. e. cummings’s poem, â€Å"in Just-†,perhaps, two features immediately become apparent: the use of white space between some words and lines, and the multiple use of a single word supporting an entire line. To a lesser degree, the poem’s visual also features the boys’ and girls’ names joined together as though they were each one, and the capitalization of the â€Å"m† in â€Å"balloonMan† towards the poem’s end. All these features contribute to how the poem will be read, and when the poem is read, the sound, furthered by alliteration, assumes an alternating rhythm of excitement and measured awareness. That is, an accelerated tempo that reflects the excited manner of child-like exuberance for springtime revelry, and the lull in tempo that is attributed to the measured awareness or ambivalent feelings felt towards the â€Å" goat-footed balloonMan.† The poem’s rapid and then measured tempo creates an artistic tension that coincides with the speaker’s account of a remembered spring. By employing white space, alliteration, compressed conjunctions, and some unconventional capitalization, e. e. cummings creates a dream vision of a remembered springtime- revelry that reads with both excitement and a measured awareness. White space is used after the first line, â€Å"in Just-†, by cummings to emphasize the speaker’s observation that only in spring do the following things happen. The white space after â€Å"spring† in the second line suggests that the speaker ponders first what his audience later learns to be a springtime memory . The white space is quite obviously used for the benefit of someone listening to the poem being read. The white space in the first line between â€Å"Just-† and â€Å"spring† of the second line builds suspense when the reader pauses to simulate white space, and again, after â€Å"spring† when a child-like description defines what is uniquely available only in the spring. That is â€Å"when the world is mud- / luscious†(lines 1-2). Almost immediately cummings uses white space to direct the sound and rhythm of the poem that is not unlike conversation. A gradual dream-like state is suggested to the poem’s audience by cummings’s â€Å"far and wee† refrain, which is given increasing white space and therefore longer pauses, until each word of the refrain supports its own line. Initially the refrain complements the speaker’s excited springtime revelry; in fact, line five flows nicely... ...rbles and / piracies and it’s / spring†(7 -9) or the alliteration found â€Å"from hop-scotch and jump-rope†(15) ,wish to return and repeat it because the lines are fun to say. This pleasant effect must be attributed to the speaker’s springtime revelry who also must wish to return to these activities if not for the constant stressful reminder of â€Å"the queer/ old balloonman [whistling] / far and wee†(11 - 13). The poem’s conflicting tempos add tension to the speaker’s springtime memory, but the slowing of the tempo through cummings’s use of alliteration focuses the audience on the two emotional elements: springtime celebration and the ambivalence felt towards the ever-present â€Å"balloonMan†(21). â€Å"in Just-† is probably a good example of a free-verse poem. The poem’s visual appearance might be compared to a page of dialogue within a drama-script . What makes cummings’s poem better is the direction given to the reader, such as the odd capitalization to suggest an accented syllable, or the white space to imply a pause, better still, his use of compressed conjunctions to effect haste and emphatic tones, add the repetitive refrains for accent and syncopation and one could set this poem to music.

Understanding Hinduism: Holi Essay -- Religion, Hinduism, Christianit

Religion is not as important in today's world as it was a couple hundred years ago. In the United States the major religion is Christianity and no one pays much attention to other religions like Hinduism. Weird thing is that Hinduism has been in the world way before Christianity, yet not a lot of people know about it. As seen before when teaching religion it â€Å"lacked sophistication compared with lessons about Christianity† (Glod). Some people are raised to think that Christians are â€Å"perfect† putting other religions down, but everyone is perfect in their own way. Just like every other thing Hinduism has its own stereotypes. These stereotypes are often mislead or completely different from their beliefs. Even though Hinduism is a different unique culture they still have similarities to Christianity. Every time someone hears Hindu's the first thing they think about are cows or some sort of other ridiculous thing, yet no one really knows what they actually believe. I asked a couple of Christians what they thought of when they first hear about Hindu's and many of them had little to no clue on what they actually believed and they mentioned many common stereotypes. One person mentioned the idea that Hindu people actually worship a cow. They insisted that it is true that in India there is a rule that favors the cow. As one says â€Å"I believe in India you could go to jail if you don't bow down to a cow as they walk by and cows walk where ever they want.† This stereotype leads to the idea that they are also vegetarians. â€Å"It makes sense to me that they are vegetarians considering the fact that they worship the cow. If you get in trouble for not bowing down to a cow imagine if they ate one.† Although it is a stereotype it has some truth to it.... ...ey do not teach it in depth. Especially since in the past few years Hinduism is spreading more thorough out the United States. Works Cited Arshod, Laiba. Personal Interview. 14 March 2014. Glod, Maria. â€Å"Wiping Stereotypes of India off the Books.† Washingtonpost.com. 17 April 2005. Web. 10 March 2014. Gonzalez Abraham. Personal interview. 15. March 2014 â€Å"Holi.† religionfacts.com. N.d. Web. 12 March 2014. â€Å"Holy Cow: Hinduism's Sacred Animal.† Pbs.org. 12 August. Web. 12 March 2014. â€Å"Nine beliefs on Hinduism.† Kauai's Hindu Monastery. Academy.com. N.D. Web. 12 March 2014. â€Å"The Cow in Hunduism.† religionfacts.com. Updated 10 December 2013. Web. 11 March 2014. Rajhans, Gyan. â€Å"Why Celebrate Holi? Enjoy the Festival of Colors† about.com. N.d. Web. 11 March 2014. Violatti, Cristian. â€Å"The Vedas.† ancient.eu.com. 18 Janurary 2013. Web. 13 March 2014.

Pay Structure

Range of grade and pay systems / structures, their ‘fit’ for organisational context and link to strategy 1. Pay structure (3 or 4) Broad-banding Job family Spot rates 2. 2 Performance Appraisal Armstrong (1998) points out that the performance appraisal schemes is essential for organization which often contain ratings of performance factors, such as volume, quality and knowledge of work, dependability, innovation, staff development and communication and an overall rating. Clive Fletcher (1997) states that the first step to appraise performance is to decide on the aims of appraisal from both organization and participants’ perspective.The appraisal principle today stresses the importance of fairness within organization. From organization perspective, there are five basic appraisal principles of performance, which are improving performance, motivating staff, succession planning, identifying potential, promoting manager-subordinate dialogue and formal assessment of uns atisfactory performance. While participants will pay more attention to the accurate and fair of assessment, the quality of their current relationship with appraiser, and the influence of appraisal on their reward and welfare.David A. Hume (1998) concludes six most common performance appraisal systems which are most effective are as follows: †¢ Appraisal by superior’s superior †¢ Appraisal by personnel staff †¢ Appraisal by peers †¢ Appraisal by subordinates †¢ Self- Appraisal †¢ Appraisal by assessment centre These performance appraisal systems can be realized by documentation such as rating (alphabetical/numerical/graphical), forced choice rating and free/controlled written report.What’s more, interview through tell and sell, tell and listen and problem solving style. Finally, follow-up the two methods mentioned above to continually assess the performance of staff and managers. DIYS performance appraisal can apply this system to all of ma nagers and staff, and relate the assessment to their performance pay. In addition, Ward, Peter. (1997) claims that other assessment methods employee survey, ability test, personality inventories, development centers and 360-degree feedback could be integrated as well.

Media in the Arab World

Al-Jazeera is an independent news meshwork functioning from Qatar, which has been steadily gaining attention since its rootage in 1996. The network has been fairly polemical in its choice of topics and very irregular as sound which would explain why more Arabs and Westerners a homogeneous gravitate to it for study slightly the current state of the spunk eastward. It first became popular when the network acquired a videotape containing Osama bin take aways message regarding the 9/11 terrorist act. In the subsequent months, Al-Jazeera became the exclusive recipient of what came to be a series of bin Ladens messages.Al-Jazeera is characterized by its bold actions of transport to the public issues that were previously considered sensitive or even taboo to be discussed on-air. near of these topics include politics, corruption, terrorism, issues on gender and sexuality, religion and family values. Previously, societal dictates make tidingss about topics like these only possib le behind disagreeable doors, never for the public audience. Because of the strict security review that Arab disposals have of the media, it has been pretty hard to find up with or tinct an unblemished and objective description of whats possibility in the essence eastward nevertheless fortunately, the network Al-Jazeera changed exclusively that.So what be its impacts to the k instantaneouslyn world? For one thing, Al-Jazeera served as one wake-up call to the Arab world. If before, the Middle East is left in the dark about things that concern them directly, it isnt so now. in like manner Al-Jazeera encouraged a potbelly of Arabs to unsex involved with present issues regarding politics, security or even religion. Since Al-Jazeera began its popularity boom, its viewers absolute frequency has been uncontested. People in the Middle East ar as enthused now as we are when it comes to keeping up with all of the crucial happenings in the Middle East. (El-Nawawy Mohammed, 20 02)Their some popular program is called The Opposite anxiety. With this, Al-Jazeera invites proponents of both sides to discuss a extra issue. The show is very popular that a handle of political officials and experts are instinctive to appear on it. This lively discussion sometimes turn into hot debates amongst opposing parties resulting in very disputable airings where guests walk off the stage or yell at each some another(prenominal) at the top of their voices. Scenes that have been previously non-existent in Middle East television. Because they are independent, the Qatari government imposes little, if at all, restrictions on the network. Another fact that contributes to its growing popularity no doubt. (Mohammed el-Nawawy, 2002)Aside from impacting Arabs in the Middle East, Al-Jazeera has in addition established quite a give in the occidental world. Al-Jazeera effectively challenged the monopoly of westward news networks like CNN and NBC on insurance coverage about Middle East events, a change that or so Arabs welcomed because accusations about western networks portraying them (Arabs) in a ill light are numerous. Even at heart Middle East networks themselves as well as international ones, there is a recognition that Al-Jazeeras always beforehand especially when it comes to groundbreaking news in the Middle East. In fact, the network is so noteworthy that it helped put the Qatari government in the map.It also helped a lot of Arabs who are living in other parts of the world. For the first time, they are now shown an accurate picture of how it is like in their hometowns that further strengthens their ties to their respective, to use Benedict Anderson imagined communities. This helps them relate to important matters that concern them which would provide them adequate opportunity to act on it. In a certain level, Al-Jazeera helped a lot in bridging geographical gaps and bringing the Arab sentience closer and closer. Today, if one wants to kno w whats happening in the Middle East, Arabs and Westerners likewise turn to Al-Jazeera for news.The Al-Jazeera network certainly created a significant impact to the power of media everywhere. Id like to think that what Al-Jazeera represents most is the epitome of what freedom of expression means. The discipline to express themselves, the medias, should not be keep down whether in the Middle East or anywhere else. In this respect, Al-Jazeera serves as a beacon that proves that no matter what restrictions are imposed on speech whether culturally or socially, its freedom can quench be attained.References El-Nawawy Mohammed, I. A. (2002). Al-Jazeera How the Free Arab meshworks Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East. Cambridge, MA Westview Press.Mohammed el-Nawawy, A. I. (2002, April 15). Al-Jazeera How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East . (J. J. Myers, Interviewer)

About the Philippines Essay

The Philippines is located in the south eastern portion of Asia. Her inhabit on the north is the Republic of China (Taiwan or Formosa), period on the west is Communist Vietnam. hike west is Thai sphere. Immediately to the south of the Philippines is Ind matchlesssia and to the southwest argon Malayansia and Singapore. The Philippines is separated from her nearby Asiatic neighbors by some(prenominal) bodies of water. They ar the Pacific Ocean on the east, the south- fundamental China ocean on the north and west, and the Celebes Sea and the coastal waters of Borneo on the south.I. LAND AND ITS mintThe Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands and islets. The biggest islands ar Luzon, with a land bea of 40,530 upstanding up miles (105,000 squ be kilometers) Mindanao, 36,670 square miles (95,000 square kilometers) Palawan, 5,749.86 square miles (14, 896 square kilometers) Negros, 5,278.55 square miles (13,675 square kilometers) and Samar, 5,183.59 square miles (13,429 square kilometers). She has a rugged land mass and, similarly, she has an irregular coastline, which is double as yen as that of the continental U.S.A. This irregularity has resulted in numerous fine harbors and landlocked straights that send away accommodate large ships. They can too be a refuge of ships in distress during surging weather. The land surface is 115,800 square miles (300,000 square kilometers). res publica forms include hills, plains, v anyeys, and mountains. Her mountain ranges, which are volcanic in origin, are drained by menial river systems. at that place are seven major mountain ranges. The largest and long- bed is Sierra Madre, which faces the Pacific Ocean on the eastern coast of Luzon.See more Experiment on polytropic process EssayThe highest peak is Mt. Apo, a blowhole in Davao del Sur Province. It has an elevation of 9,691.60 feet (2,954 meters). Three study Islands. The three major geographical groups in the terra firma are Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon comprises the northern portion of the archipelago. The Visayan region has wellspring-nigh 6,000 islands including Leyte, Cebu, Samar, and Bohol. Mindanao is the second largest land and encompasses nigh 400 small islands. These islands are divided into provinces, which are run worry states in the unify States. Each province is rule by a g all oernor, a vice governor, and members of the barbarian board. Each province is composed of cities, towns, and barrios. Several Pinatubos. in that respect are several vent-holes in the Philippines. These throw off been one of the natural causes of destruction to life and property for centuries. At least 10 are considered active. The most nonable are Iraya on Batanes Island Taal in Batangas Banahaw in Quezon Mayon in Albay and Hibok-Hibok on the Camiguin Islands Makaturing in Lanao Apo in Davao, and Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales. Mt. Pinatubo has gained recognize as being the most destructive vent-hole in the world.It lay d or homophilet before it erupted in June 1991. It directly and indirectly caused damage to public and hidden property in the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, and Pampanga, including the Clark Air Force nucleotide in Angeles City, Pampanga Province. Its ashes spread all over the world, do global warming, damage to the ozone layer, and adverse effects on communications. After six days of eruption, the lahar deposits along the volcano still cascade down the slopes after severe rains. They continue to take defys, destroy link and roads, and keep billion-peso dikes built to contain lahar flows. These lahar flows are expected to put out for five or more years, according to volcanologists. The Philippines lies at bottom the Pacific seimic belt, which is why she experiences severer estatequakes. Christian Groups. The plurality of the Philippines topic some 73,265,584 (July 1995 estimate). There are several pagan groups and more than 65 supposed cultural minorities in the Phili ppines, which speak their own dialects or nomenclatures.Among these ethnical groups are the Tagalog, the Ilocano, the Pangasinanian, the Pampangue?o, the Bicolano, the Cebuano, the Ilongo, and the Waray-Waray. They comprise more than 90 percent of all Philippines and are the Christians. About 84 percent of Filipinos are Roman Catholics. The Tagalogs stretch out in Manila and in central and southern Luzon. Although they speak Tagalog, they shake up intonations of their own, as do the Batangue?os from Batangas Province. The Tagalogs mostly live in much(prenominal) provinces as Nueva Ecija (the Ilocanos alike live in some towns in the northern wear out of the province), Bulacan, Rizal, Batangas, Quezon, Laguna, and Mindoro (Oriental and Occidental). The Tagalogs overcome the people in Manila. There are, however, many people in the city who have come from opposite air divisions of the country, including Luzon, to live in the big city. legion(predicate) also have come from the Bicol region and the Visayan islands. The Ilocanos live in the Ilocos region in northern Luzon, peculiarly Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, only many of them have migrated in large numbers to central Luzon, and, of course, to the United States. around of the old clock timers in the United States in the late mid-twenties and aboriginal 1930s came from the Ilocos region. The Ilongos live in horse opera Negros, in southern Mindoro, and on the island of Panay. The Cebuanos predominate in Cebu, western Leyte, Bohol, eastern Negros, and in some coastal areas of Mindanao. The Bicolanos are in the southeastern Luzon and nearby islands, including the provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, etcetera The Pampangue?os or Kapampangans live in central Luzon, particularly in Pampanga Province. The Pangasinanians live in the Lingayen disconnection region of Luzon, including Pangasinan Province however, many Pangasinanians have migrated into separate towns in central Luzon. The Waray-Warays are in the provinces of Samar and eastern Leyte. Other Groups. Chinese and a nonher(prenominal) groups also live in the Philippines. The Chinese comprise 1.5 percent of the population, and are active in business. Cultural Minorities. There are more than 65 cultural minorities, similar to the Indian tribes in the United States, who live in reservations and in the mountains.They include the Muslim groups, which are comprised of the Maranao, the Samal, the Maguindanao, the Tausug, etc. They live in the Sulu Archipelago and southern Mindanao. There are also the so-called upland tribal groups who live in the mountain regions of the country, such as in the plenteousness Province of Luzon. In northern Luzon, the separate ethnic groups include the Bontoc, the Kalinga, the Ifugao, the Kankanay, the Ibaloi, the Isneg, the Ilongot, the Tinguian, and the Gadang. The Mangyan group lives in Mindanao and the Batak and the Tagbanua live in Palawan. In Mindanao on that point are groups k flatn as the Tiruray, the TBoli, the Bagobo, the Mandaya, the Bukidnon, the Subanun, and the Manobo. The Negritoes, popularly k outrightn as the Agta or the Aeta live in the mountainous areas of Luzon, Negros, Panay, and Mindanao. I honor You Iniibig Kita Yes, I love you is said in close to 87 dialects or manner of speakings in the Philippines. These include Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Pangasinanian, Bicolano, Hiligaynon, Chabacano, and the diverse dialects spoken by other ethnic groups such as Muslims and cultural minorities. The Filipino dialects belong to the so-called Malayo-Polynesian language family, which is said to be the largest language family throughout the world.Pilipino (not Filipino), which is based on Tagalog, is the national language in the Philippines, but both English and Pilipino, are the official languages in schools, in political science, and in snobbish institutions, especially in urban places. English serves as the official language used in communications and in business meetings, especially by Rotarians, Jaycees, and other organizations. That is, English and Pilipino both serve as the media of communications among the people who also speak their own dialects. It is frequent that when a Filipino in the Philippines and a Filipino in America write to each other, they transfer in English. But in daily conversation, English and Pilipino are combined, which is called Taglish (meaning Tagalog (Pilipino) and English. For instance, one may say, Pupunta ako sa Maynila, to enroll at the University of the Philippines, (Ill go to Manila to enroll at the.) or Okeng, okey ka, youre so sweet (Youre okay and youre so sweet) So whenever you meet Filipinos in the United States, they may be speaking their own dialects when not speaking in English. However, these groups know Pilipino.So if you want to know a Filipino language, it should be Tagalog or Pilipino so that youll have more people whom you can converse with. Government.The Philippines has a democratic form of government, like that of the United States. The government is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Have Pesos and Enjoy If you have the dollar, you can have it changed to the Philippine peso. The dollar when this earmark was about to go to press was equivalent to 2score pesos (P40.00). The Philippine currency consists of the peso (P) and the centavo. One speed of light centavos equal P1. Coin denominations are 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 centavos, and P1, P2, and P5. lodge denominations consist of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 pesos.Foreign currency may be exchanged in banks, hotels, and most large discussion section stores, which have authorized money-changing shops. Charge It Charge It almost large hotels, stores, restaurants, and resort areas accept major credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. At hotels and other large stores, travellers checks are accepted, preferably American Express. Hows the Weather? The weather in the Philippines is tropical, the country having entirely two seasons, the dry and rainy seasons. Its unremarkably hot from April to July. The dry season is in the midst of November and June and the rainy season is between July and October. Filipinos consider December, January, and February as the quiet months. But they may not be considered as winter without snow as in the United States maybe its milder or like leap or fall.II. FLASHBACK THE EARLY FILIPINOSThe Philippines, scientists believe, once was a part of Mainland China. According to the scientists, during the Ice Age, the waters surrounding the Philippines dropped to about 156 feet below the present levels, exposing large bodies of land. These became land bridges connecting the Philippines to the Asiatic mainland. The Philippines, Out from the Bottom of the Sea? In February 1976, Dr. Fritjof Voss, a German scientist who studied the geology of the Philippines, questioned the validity of this surmise of land bridges. He maintained that the Philippines was never part of mainland Asia. He claimed that it arose from the bottom of the sea and, as the turn off Pacific crust moved below it, continue to rise. It continues to rise today. The country lies along great hide faults that extend to deep undersea trenches. The resulting violent earthquakes caused what is now the land masses forming the Philippines to rise to the surface of the sea.Dr. Voss also pointed out that when scientific studies were done on the earths crust from 1964 to 1967, it was discovered that the 35-kilometer-thick crust underneath China does not reach the Philippines. Thus, the latter could not have been a land bridge to the Asian mainland. When They Came, How They Came. The traditional teaching of Philippine history in Filipino schools today has early Philippine habitants flood tide in waves. In 1962, it was concluded that about 250,000 years ago, primitive men came to the Philippines from the Asian mainland. Then ab out 25,000 years ago came the pygmies, the small, black-skinned, squat-nosed, thick-lipped, and kinky-haired people from the south over the still remaining land bridges. (They are considered the ancestors of the Negritoes, who are, in turn, regarded as the aborigines of the Philippines.) Around 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, another Negrito (or Aeta) migration occurred. They reached Luzon from Borneo over land bridges in Palawan and Mindoro.The submergence of the land bridges when the ice melted with the passing of time did not prevent other people from inhabiting the Philippines. 5,000 to 6,000 days Ago? The first Indonesians arrived by boat from south-east Asia some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Much later, around 1500 B.C., a second wave of Indonesians arrived. Then came the Malays in two successive waves, the first between 800 and 500 B.C. and the second, between 300 and 200 B.C. From Borneo, they traveled by sailboats and colonised in the three major islands of the Philippines Luzo n, Visayas, and Mindanao. Subsequent peoples who came from the bulk of Christianity until the present time include the Indians (Hindus), the Arabs, the Chinese, other eastern Asians, the Europeans, and the Americans. Who Came First? The matter of who the first settlers were has not been in reality resolved. This is being disputed by anthropologists, as well as the theory of Professor H. Otley Beyer that the first inhabitants of the Philippines came from the Malay Peninsula. The Malays now constitute the largest portion of the populace and what Filipinos now have is a Malayan culture.Anthropologist F. Landa Jocano of the University of the Philippines contends that what fossil march of ancient men show is that they not totally migrated to the Philippines, but also to New Guinea, Borneo, and Australia. He says that there is no way of determining if they were Negritoes at all. However, what is certain(a) is that there is evidence the Philippines was inhabited as early as 21,000 or 22,000 years ago. In 1962, a skull cap and a portion of a jaw, presumed to be those of a human being, were found in a Tabon cave in Palawan Province. The discovery proved that man came earlier to the Philippines than to the Malay Peninsula therefore, the first inhabitants of the former did not come from the latter. Jocano further believes that present Filipinos are products of the long process of evolutions and movements of people. This not only holds true for Filipinos, but for the Indonesians and the Malays of Malaysia, as well. No group among the three is culturally or racially dominant.Hence, Jocano says that it is not correct to refer the Filipino culture as being Malay in orientation. According to Jocanos findings, the peoples of the prehistoric islands of southeastern United States Asia were of the same population as the combination of human evolution that occurred in the islands of Southeast Asia about 1.9 one million million years ago. The proofs of this are fossil mat erials found in different parts of the region and the movements of other peoples from the Asian mainland during historic times. He states that these ancient men cannot be categorized under any of the historically determine ethnic groups (Malays, Indonesians, Filipinos) of today. Some Filipino ethnic groups were pagans while others were Muslims. The pagans were converted to Christianity by the Spaniards. The Americans later arrived and introduced further cultural changes, which made the Filipinos more and more different from the peoples of other Southeast Asian countries.