The s Historical Atlas Of Central Asia - 1579 Words

For millennia, civilizations on either side of the Eurasian Continent exchanged both products and ideas through the complex networks of the Silk Route. Central Asia, given its strategic position on this route, long served a critical role at the crossroads between East and West. However, while cultures on both ends of the networks have by and large been extensively researched, Central Asia — despite its centrality — is frequently ignored or marginalized; rather than claiming a separate area of study, it oftentimes retreats to the peripheries of a larger grouping, whether the Islamic world, the Sinosphere, or the Russian Empire. Yuri Bregel, on the other hand, proposes an alternative perception of the region. He contends that Central Asia†¦show more content†¦Climate is a dominant factor in the development of Central Asian civilizations. In the first map, titled â€Å"The Principal Geographical Features and Provinces,† Bregel paints the environmental condi tions of each locale with rich details (3). Deserts cast a pervasive presence in the map, limiting both human movement and patterns of settlement. Because of Central Asia’s high aridity, most population centers lie on the banks of Amu-Darya and Sir-Darya, the main rivers in the region, as well as their tributaries. These circumstances, together with the ubiquity of mountains in the south, produce a series of sedentary provinces such as Ferghana and Khorezm that are relatively isolated from one another. Furthermore, the deserts act as a natural barrier disjoining the mountain-based farming communities from the vast steppes to their north, where a more temperate climate and flat terrains encourage nomadic ways of life. Conflicts often arise when the two groups intersect, and the struggle between sedentary city-states and nomadic empires comprises a key theme in the history of Central Asia. Nowhere is the distinction between the two categories more apparent than in the drawing of political boundaries. Bregel explains in the preface that â€Å"various Central Asian states knew to protect theirShow MoreRelatedIndia Size and Location1398 Words   |  6 Pagescountry into almost two equal parts. To the southeast and southwest of the mainland, lie the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshadweep islands in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea respectively. Find out the extent of these groups of islands from your atlas. †¢ The southernmost point of the Indian Union– ‘Indira Point’ got submerged under the sea water in 2004 during the Tsunami. LOCATION India is a vast country. Lying entirely in the Northern hemisphere (Figure 1.1) the main land extends between latitudesRead MoreThe Global Cancer Burden Of Cancer1946 Words   |  8 Pagesavailable in routine reports from the registries themselves. National incidence rates were estimated using one of several methods, dependent on the availability and quality of data, in the following order of priority: 1) National incidence data. When historical data and a sufficient number of recorded cases were available, incidence rates were projected to 2008. 2) National mortality data and local registry data. Estimation of incidence based on regression models, specific for sex, site, and age, derivedRead MoreFactors Affecting The Deficiency Of Vitamin1071 Words   |  5 Pagesfirst meal of the day often consists of the leftovers from the previous night. Several ethnic and economic factors prevent people from consuming some foods like eggs, meat and fish which are good sources of Vitamin A. Ethnographic instructions and historical or cultural behaviours are the main reasons for rejecting foods containing vitamin A (International Nutrition Foundation for developing Countries INFDC, 1997). Though meat and fish are rich sources of Vitamin A, the people who reside in northernRead MoreRunning Head : Eliminating Cancer2012 Words   |  9 Pagestogether at the IARC or available in routine reports from the registries. The national incidence rates were calculated roughly using one of several methods, dependent on the availability and quality of data, in the following order of priority: When historical data and an ample number of recorded cases were available, incidence rates were projected to 2008. Estimation of incidence based on regression models, site, specific for sex, and age, taken from regional or subnational cancer registry data. NationalRead MoreEssay on China: History, Politics and Economy of this Great Country2481 Words   |  10 PagesGobi Desert (World Reference Atlas). The ruthless and rocky landscape expands over 500,000 square miles between China and Mongolia (Gobi Desert - New World Encyclopedia). In the east, China is fabricated of alluvial lowlands and low hills. The Yangtze extends across the country from the west to the east and deposits into the East China Sea just north of Shanghai. The Yangtze River is notable as China’s longest river and principle navigable waterway (World Reference Atlas). China has great advantagesRead MorePhysical Geography Of Greece By Alexis Abrams1865 Words   |  8 Pagesand wetlands. The highest Greek mountain is Mount Olympus, rising to 2,918 meters (9,570 ft) (World Atlas, 2015)†. To its immediate southwest stand the massive Meteora rock formations; gigantic pillars of stones worn smooth by wind and water over thousands of years. In the far-north along its border with Bulgaria, the heavily-forested Southern Rhodope Mountain range spreads across the land (World Atlas, 2015). Greece is home to a series of ancient volcanoes, including those on the islands of Kos, MethanaRead MoreSports Architecture in Modern China: a Comparison Between 2008 Olympic Venues and 1990 Asian Games Venues2273 Words   |  10 Pagesbuildings is extremely important, due to the unprecedented opportunity to welcome the greatest sports event in the world. The Chinese folks consider the Olympic Games too significant to randomly picking certain sites without blending in a bit of historical and cultural characteristics. 1. Locations of the Bird’s nest and Workers’ Stadium. The Bird’s nest is located at the north part of Beijing, where major sports venues started being constructed since the 1990 Asian Games. As for the 2008 OlympicsRead MoreConstellations5203 Words   |  21 PagesWork in the observatorium of  Taqi al-Din. Particularly during the  Islamic Golden Age  (8th–15th centuries) the  Islamic world  experienced development in astronomy. These developments were mostly written in Arabic and took place from North Africa to Central Asia,  Al-Andalus, and later in the  Far East  and India. It closely parallels the genesis of other  Islamic sciences  in its assimilation of foreign material and the amalgamation of the disparate elements of that material to create a science with  Islamic  characteristicsRead MoreThe Development of International Relations4170 Words   |  17 PagesEighty Years War (1568–1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic. These treaties resulted from a big diplomatic assembly, thus initiating a new system of political order in central Europe, between the Hapsburg alliance (Austria-Hungury and Spain) and the Protestant countries (France, Britain, Sweden). Later it was called by many parties as the Westphalian sovereignty. The key factor to this system was the ability of one stateRead More Emerging Infectious Diseases Essay2588 Words   |  11 PagesDuring the Medieval and Renaissance historical periods of Europe, one-third of its population or 25 million people were unmercifully obliterated in a mere two years by the Bubonic plague (10.a). However, the wrath of the Bubonic plague did not end in those two years, as it continued to invade the European expanse for the next two hundred years (1348-1530) as an epidemic commonly known as the Black Death (10.d). The next Bubonic plague outbreak occurred in south-central, southwestern, and northern India

A Marketing Memo Free Essays

First, I will suggest to Mr. Dickson to begin with a distribution approach that basically matches his capability. He must analyze the pros and cons of finding an effective distribution pattern and this heavily depends on his finances and production ability. We will write a custom essay sample on A Marketing Memo or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some ways are producing a small display of his products at local stores and advertising over telephones. Second, Mr. Dickson should learn how his product sells. In conjunction with the first step, he now has to weigh his options regarding where and how his product sells—whether through local stores or any other way that he can think of. Which ever way he may pursue, he should bear in mind which approach can him more support. Thirdly, Mr. Dickson should think about his options in promotions to his intended market. Since Mr. Dickson had already established a connection with the local stores and he believes that his product is more superior to the other brand, one way to introduce and spread his product is through attending local conventions and feature shows wherein he can introduce his sauce to bigger and more established distributors and retailers. Through this, he can have contacts to bigger supermarkets and a wider audience. The last step is that for Mr. Dickson to consider his alternatives before making the concluding decision. Mr. Dickson should at first establish a distribution network and this network should sell enough to sustain his product without too much attempt on his part. (Debelak, 2004) The main problem of Mr. Dickson is the limited distribution that his product achieved despite his attempts to sell it to local markets. But since he has the support of his restaurant clientele and a massive confident on his product, I think that he should continue on doing from the basic—which is promotion. The constraint now is how and where he promotes. As I see it, since he has a small connection to local supermarkets, he should start from there. He should set up small displays in the supermarkets and attend local feature shows so that people will be introduced to his sauce. And I think that he should not stop advertising in his restaurant. He should also set up small displays on his restaurant and should continue utilizing it in his recipes. Through this, the confidence of his clients and the greatness of his product can even reach other people through word of mouth, which is little on his part. REFERENCES: Debelak, D. (2004). Spread it around: find the best way to distribute your product, and you’ll rake in the profits [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September 2, 2007 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DTI/is_6_32/ai_n6066217. Â   How to cite A Marketing Memo, Essays

Myne Owne Ground Essay Example For Students

Myne Owne Ground Essay The Chesapeake area in the seventeenth century was a unique community that was almost absent of racism. In this community, at this time, property was the central and primary definition of ones place in society. The color of ones skin was not a fundamental factor in being a well respected and valued member of the community. Virginias Eastern Shore represented a very small fellowship of people that were not typical of the Southern ideals during this time period and gave free blacks owning property a great deal of respect and merit usually equal to that of any white man around. Racism, as a generalization, was a common and mostly unified way of thinking in the Southern states for a very long time and was in its prime during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first importation of slaves into Virginia was in late August of 1619 and was only briefly recorded by one colonist, John Rolfe. He recorded them as 20. and odd Negroes and from this the black population slowly grew to about three hundred by the mid-century. One must understand that the attitudes towards the blacks that came to Virginia were not inevitable. This is a very important point to note when understanding how the free blacks came to be they way they were in Northampton, Virginia. It is not specifically known how Anthony Johnson came to own his modest estate or how he ended up in Northampton. Historians believe that his former master, Rirchard Bennett, may have been involved with Johnsons move to Northampton because of his connections with the Scarborough family, a very dominant family in Northampton at the time. Also, as governor, Bennett may have helped to look after the Johnsons legal and economic interests as well. By acquiring his estate, it enabled Johnson to have a constant source of income and therefore help the local community with its economy similarly. This relationship between he and the community came to help him when later his estate nearly burned down entirely. The court of Northampton treated him very well in helping them get through the disaster. He was treated just as any white man in Johnsons position would have been. This example alone shows how merely owning property and giving back to the local community was a priority in establishing res pect among people of the Northampton area; his skin color did not matter. Another free black, Philip Mongum, was given usually respectable treatment for a crime of adultery with a white woman, Margery Tyer. Mongum was lucky enough to have been sold his freedom and managed to become a relatively prosperous farmer. He also leased a 300-acre plantation with two white men in 1678 and later in 1680 acquired more land, 200-acres, on his own. Needless to say this give him a very high level of respect and standing among the local people. When the issue of the affair was discovered Northampton appeared more concerned with the Sin of Adultry than having any concern that he was black. Mongum received a large fine and was told to keep out of the company of Tyer. Interestingly Tyer was not treated so well, she was given four lashes and warned that additional lashes would be given if she was found in Mongums company again. Though this was not a very severe punishment, it was certainly much more than Mongum had received. Again, the county of Northampton was not concerned with the race of the individuals, but with the crime itself. Though there were very oppressive situations among the Southern states for enslaved blacks and indentured servants during Anthony Johnsons time, Northampton presented a highly unusual set of circumstances for the seventeenth century. During this time blacks were being shipped from Africa under the most horrific and unimaginable conditions and treated truly as three-fifths of a person, if that, being left to die because people thought it was more economically sound to do so, easily replacing the deceased. Blacks such as Johnson and Mongum were more than lucky to be living in the county of Northampton where there are numerous stories of how in times of criminal activity or even unfortunate circumstances that these free blacks were treated equally and often better than some whites because of their ownership and contribution to the Northampton community. .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .postImageUrl , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:hover , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:visited , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:active { border:0!important; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:active , .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u38c6d72a1453120b73799e463da9973d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Homeless Voting EssayOne last point that this all demonstrates is that the outcome of much of the black community in America was not predestined and could have been avoided. The people of Northampton have shown that the ideas by which people treated blacks, and unfortunately sometimes still do, did not have to turn out the way it did. The color of ones skin had and has not thing to do with a persons capability and should not define how one is to be treated. Though much of Johnsons experiences were often due to luck, he also proved that one does not have to always succumb to a societys apprehensions towards certain issues and can create his own success by any means necessar y.

Looking Inside The Hollow Men Essays - Literature, Fiction

Looking Inside The Hollow Men A Look Inside The Hollow Men Eliot, a master of the written craft, carefully thought out each aspect of his 1925 poem The Hollow Men. Many differences in interpretation exist for Eliots complex poetry. One issue never debated is the extensive range of things to consider in his TS Eliots writing. Because TS Eliot often intertwined his writing by having one piece relate to another The Hollow Men is sometimes considered a mere appendage to The Waste Land. The Hollow Men, however, proves to have many offerings for a reader in and among itself. The epigraph contains two pertinent references (http). First, Mistah Kurtz he dead is an allusion to Conrads Heart of Darkness. In his novella, Conrad portrays the empty nature of men. Mistah Kurtz is a character that lacks a soul, thus, a true Hollow Man. In the second quotation the epigraph alludes to Englands November 5 tradition of Guy Fawkes Day. In 1605, Guy Fawkes unsuccessfully tried to blow up the parliament building. Eliots quote A penny for the old guy is called out by children on this holiday who are attempting to buy fireworks in order to blow up straw figures of Fawkes. Within the first stanza Eliot establishes the speaker, setting, theme and begins a rhythmic pattern that will hold true for four of the five sections of the poem. The speaker in the poem is not human, or at least prefers to be thought of as a scarecrow over a lost / Violent soul (lines 15-16). The powerful comparison between the worthlessness of rats feet over broken glass (line 9) to their dry voices (line 5) illustrates how meaningless they (the Hollow Men) truly are. Two lines detached from the first stanza contain a series of paradoxes which further the idea of meaninglessness, Shape without form, shade without color, / Paralyzed force, gesture without motion (11-12). Although difficult to discern exactly what is going on and where in the poem, the reader easily perceives the overall feeling of the hopelessness in just the opening lines, We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men(lines 1-2) establish a grim feeling of emptiness. Images like This is the dead land / This is cac tus landUnder the twinkle of a fading star (lines 39-44) create a bleak, dry, desert land setting. The theme of the poem parallels those of Conrads Heart of Darkness (Smith). The degradation of ritual (religious or otherwise) and the emptiness or reduction of human to childish behavior is parallel concepts in both pieces. Part I of the poem describes the insignificance of the hollow men. Part I gives the vague setting and shows the request of the hollow men to be viewed as empty; Remember usnot as lost / Violent souls [which Kurtz and Fawkes both were], but only / As the hollow men (lines 15-18). It also introduces two motifs, that of eyes and kingdom. Those who have crossed / With direct eyes, to deaths other Kingdom (line 13-14) is an allusion to Dantes Paradiso (Bowler). Kingdom with a capitalized K may refer to Heaven (although all references to a kingdom do not), and those with direct eyes are allowed to go there and become blessed. Eyes in the poem refer to those of Charon in Dantes Inferno (Williamson, 157). With the line, Eyes I dare not meet in dreams (line 19) the speaker states that the eyes are a source of fear. Playing a connective role in the poem, the first two lines in the first four sections have a specific rhythm. Section Is, We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men (lines 1-2) is like IIs Eyes I dare not meet in dreams / In deaths dream kingdom(19-20), Part IIIs This is the dead land / This is the cactus land (39-40) and IVs The eyes are not here / There are no eyes here. This language serves as a rhythmic refrain tying each section together while setting off the last. The use of literary devices in The Hollow Men is seemingly endless. Rhyme also plays and important role. In I, like all of the other parts (except the fifth) the final line of

Successful Relationships essays

Successful Relationships essays Successful relationships can be formed through many different ways of attraction including similarity of interest, differences that are complementary, reciprocal attraction, competence, self-disclosure, and proximity. Because of the presence of many of these factors, my parents began a relationship that has endured for almost twenty years. Self-disclosure, intimacy, and respect are three of the most important ingredients in developing and maintaining a meaningful relationship. Through the breadth of self-disclosure, shared intimacy, and respect for one another, my parents have built an enjoyable positive personal relationship. Since my parents did not grown up near each other, the early part of their relationship developed through the breadth of self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is a deliberate and gradual process of revealing significant information about ones self to another that would not normally be known by others. Because most of their past was not known to each other, there was a lot of information that needed to be shared about their past experiences, likes and dislikes, and goals for the future. Having begun their relationship with a great deal of self-disclosure, it prepared them for a lifelong practice of sharing. The breadth of disclosure expands continually and extends through all the areas of their life, as they readily share their daily experiences. My parents have approached this activity with wisdom, care, honesty, and mutual respect for one anothers feelings. This keeps my parents relationship strong and vibrant when there are so many elements that could bring a wedge between them. Meeks, Brenda S., Susan S. Hendrick, and Clyde Hendrick have come up with a hypothesis that, One's own self-disclosure and perceptions of the partner's self-disclosure are both positively related to one's relational satisfaction, with own disclosure more strongly related than partner disclosure (26). By both...

The business of goodwill - Emphasis

The business of goodwill The business of goodwill It’s that magical time of year again. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose and – quite possibly – being thrown together with people you have nothing more in common with than blood. And, as anyone who has grin-and-borne-it through a stressful or tedious family gathering can verify, if Christmas is actually going to be a time of peace on Earth, it wont be without a bit of effort (and a fair bit of eggnog). Which is why we’re about to suggest something a little radical: writer-focused reading. Now, we still stand firmly by the idea of reader-centred writing: by concentrating on the recipient’s needs and situation, you’re guaranteed to produce the best response in them with your document. Yet what about when it’s too late for that? The deed is done, and now you’re the reader stuck with the stressful and tedious task of untangling what the author actually meant to say. Well, before you escalate the situation and potentially sever a business relationship for good, here’s one for the season of goodwill: focus on the writer. Although of course not a business matter, the accidentally offensive letter Gordon Brown sent to the mother of Jamie Janes, the young soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this year, is one such example. While a tragic and delicate subject like this should naturally be handled with the utmost care, in the reading it might also be considered in context: that the blind in one eye, half-blind in the other leader of the country took the time personally to hand-write a letter of condolence, most likely with the best of intentions. So, if you are the poor reader and you have the seeds of a scornful comeback sprouting in your head – hold on. First, consider your answers to our writer-profile questionnaire: 1. Â   Â   Â  Think about the document you’ve received. What is its subject? 2. Â   Â   Â  Who wrote it? 3. Â   Â   Â  How much did they know about the subject? 4. Â   Â   Â  What was their likely attitude towards it? 5. Â   Â   Â  How involved in the subject are they? 6. Â   Â   Â  How important is the subject to them? 7. Â   Â   Â  How interested in the subject are they? 8. Â   Â   Â  Do you have any other relevant knowledge about their situation (work-related or otherwise)? 9. Â   Â   Â  What is your relationship like with the author? 10. Â   Â   Â  How important is maintaining a good relationship with the writer of the document to you and your company? After you’ve answered these questions, you may have a better understanding of the writer’s position and motivations. You may be feeling calmer and more forgiving (you have, after all, just counted to ten). You may even have just saved an important business connection. So treat yourself to a cup of eggnog. And don’t worry: the season will be over before you know it.

The assessment will involve a series of tasks relating to the Research Paper

The assessment will involve a series of tasks relating to the identification, conservation, documentation and interpretation of an art work from the Hatton Gallerys collection - Research Paper Example Light and Ultra Violet radiation (UV) contains some energy that catalyzes chemical reaction leading to deterioration. The two main ways that one can measure the response of light is through Color Rendering Index (CRI) and Color Temperature (CT). CRI may be measured in a scale of zero-100. However, the museum lighting designers have suggested 80-100 so that colors can be viewed properly but does not also affect the painting. The level of light in museum is always measured using light meters in lux or using foot candles. This is the measurement of the intensity of the light over one square meter. Sometimes watercolor painting may be placed on exhibition for some months at a level of 50 to 150 lux and yet they do not show some fading. Lower light levels of 50-150 are important for light sensitive materials like watercolor painting. The extent of damage can always be measured lux hours (lx h) the maximum level of light exposure that watercolor painting can sustain annually is 50,000 lxh. Another very important aspect of protection of the watercolor painting is to ensure that the painting is kept off places that have fluctuation of humidity and temperature. The best temperature that would ensure that watercolor painting is stored safely is that which is around 20 degrees F. Places where temperatures may drop to 40 degrees and goes up to 80 degrees at night and day respectively, may not be the best place to store watercolor Fluctuation in temperature usually has a very severe effect on the watercolor painting. When exposing the painting into light, it should be observed that the painting needs not be kept on light for prolonged period of time, especially with too bright light of all types. Watercolor painting always demand that they are kept in places that are not damp. Damp places usually enhance molding, which has ability to promote coloring change. Sometimes the water color painting may be framed under glass.

CreationStories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CreationStories - Essay Example It thus becomes of importance to recognize the different creation stories in the world and accept them as they are without bias. It thus becomes a fundamental issue for creation stories to be studied thoroughly and they can be compared and contrasted, and similarly be respected. The purpose of this study is to elaborate, compare and contrast the creation stories of Islam and creativity (Bramsen 2009). The Muslim creation story begins with a god and that if the god wants to create something, all he was to say was let it be and it became. He created the world and the heavens. He even created all forms of creatures to walk, crawl and fly all over the world. He also made the sun, moon, angels and stars to dwell in the universe in peace. The Quran continues and states that god poured down torrents of rain to break down the soil so that it could bring forth plants and the entire vegetation on the face of the earth. God commanded the angels to visit the earth so that they could pick up some types of soil so that man could be modeled. Then it was so and the first man was made and God named him Adam. God further went on and created the first woman and named her Eve so that they could live in paradise. Eve was made from the side of man. Adam was taught by God to give and name all creatures of the universe and the angel was ordered to bow down before Adam. However, Iblis one of God’s refused to follow the order and disobeyed God (Wolde 1997). Adam and eve were placed in a very beautiful garden which looked like a paradise and they were allowed to eat anything they wanted other than the fruits on the trees. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s direct commands and ate the fruit. When God found out, Adam and Eve were sent to earth because of their disobedience. Therefore, the purpose of the earth was to provide food and shelter to all mankind. Light was provided by the moon and the sun. Furthermore, the human race was to serve God by obeying him and his will as the Quran

Coagulation and Flocculation Essay Example for Free

Coagulation and Flocculation Essay 1.0 Introduction In this lab, we are conducting two experiments on natural surface water. The first experiment is to conduct jar tests to estimate an optimum dosage of iron salt to remove suspended solids. The seconds experiment is to observe the rate of floc formation nad sedimentation. 2.0 Background Coagulation and Flocculation: Coagulation and flocculation are important part in water and wastewater treatment. Coagulation is the destabilization of particulate matter by physical or chemical processes. Flocculation is the formation of larger particles that will settle out of the solution. They are usually the first form of treatment of water and wastewater to remove suspended matter or color. Jar tests are used as a control test for plant operations. Aluminum or iron salts can be used to for coagulation of particles and to form flocs that can settle out. Coagulation and flocculation tests provide the optimum dosages to remove turbidity and color, along with secondary effects such as adjusting pH. Jar tests also provide information on the amount of energy needed to provide the coagulation and flocculation treatments, as well as settleability of the flocs, and clarity of the water. They can also be used to study basic processes, for instance, kinetics of reactions and removal of constituents. 3.0 Procedure Determination of Optimum Coagulant Dosage To determine the optimum coagulation dosage, a series of jar tests were conducted. First, 400 mL of clay and sodium bicarbonate amended DI water was measured and poured into a 500 mL Erlenmeyer flask using a graduated cylinder. The initial pH of that sample was then measured and recorded. The predetermined dose of coagulant was poured into a 100mL graduated cylinder and DI water was added to reach a total solution volume of 100 mL. A stir bar was added to the Erlenmeyer flask along with the coagulant dose. The flask was then placed on a magnetic stir plate was rapidly mixed for one minute. After a minute of rapid mixing, the speed was reduced to low and the solution underwent slow mixing for ten minutes. The flask was then removed from the magnetic plate and was allowed to settle. Samples were extracted from the top of the flask after five, ten, and fifteen minutes had elapsed using a 10 mL sampling syringe. Special care was taken to not disturb the sediment while sampling. The sample was transferred from the syringe to a vile, shaken, and placed in a Turbidimeter to determine the turbidity. The turbidity was recorded and the vile was emptied and rinsed between each sample. After fifteen minutes had elapsed and the last turbidity reading had been recorded, the pH of the sample was measured and recorded. The sample was then dumped into a specified waste container, the flask was rinsed with tap water and DI water, and the entire experiment was repeated using a new specified coagulant dose. 4.0 Results and Discussion After plotting turbidity against dosage from our results, we found that the optimum dosage of coagulant to be 1000 mg/L Fe2O3 as shown in Figure 1. Also, longer settling times produced lower levels of turbidity, with 15 minutes being most successful. Optimum pH for a coagulant is determined empirically from laboratory testing by keeping dosage constant and testing a pH range for optimal coagulation. Generally after adding Fe2O3, final pH decreased. Although we did not perform this in the lab, our samples had best success with a pH around 6.5 as seen in Table 1. Mixing speed is also important in coagulation and flocculation. Initially â€Å"flash mixing† is used, where high mixing speeds disperse the coagulant evenly throughout the container. Later, slower mixing speeds are used to promote particle collisions, which lead to larger floc formations. The lab is performed this way because higher speeds will help disperse the coagulant but will break up the flocs that form. By reducing the speed to slow after one minute, it allows for an even dispersion but also the formation of flocs.

Successful Management of a Diverse Workforce Essay -- essays research

Successful Management of a Diverse Workforce Being successful at managing workforce diversity involves attracting and retaining the highest quality individuals in the talent pool. For managers it means learning how to manage human potential sensitively. It requires an ever-increasing awareness of how people from different backgrounds deal with authority, communication, overall business etiquette, and relate to their communities of affiliation. Successful management of workforce diversity is a process that takes place in many stages and on many levels. It requires managers to first recruit a competent and qualified staff, then to accommodate individual needs within the context of the work team and the organization. However, the key to successfully building a diverse, high-quality workforce for tomorrow begins with a strong leadership commitment and knowledge of where the organization is today. Moreover, experience has demonstrated that successful diversity initiatives depend on positioning the organization first. (Department of Personnel Management, 2002) Diversity Initiatives: What They Are. A "diversity initiative" is a company's strategic response to diversity. The initiative looks at the company's needs in the area of diversity and responds with a strategically aligned approach. The initiative should have a long-term focus, as well as very specific goals and objectives. It should also be easily measurable and tied to the organization's overall business strategy. In terms of implementing the initiative, the entire organization - from the top down - should be held accountable. (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2004) Once the vision has been developed, the organization should then develop a diversity plan. The plan outlines the goals and objectives for diversity. Many companies see fit to appoint a diversity committee, comprised of a wide variety of people and perspectives, to help implement the plan. The plan may call for training on diversity, enhancing recruiting efforts to attract and retain women and people of color, or looking at succession planning, among other issues. Leading a Diverse Workforce Today we are more likely to encounter, interact with, work with, report to, or manage numerous individuals of different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, religions, belief systems, and cultures. While we all may have the same values, ... ...ly manages diversity is critical as organizations attempt to attract, motivate, and retain employees from a workforce that is growing in variety and complexity. American business will not be able to survive if we do not have a large diverse workforce, because those are the demographics. The company that gets out in front of managing diversity will have a competitive edge. References Stoner, C., & Russell-Chapin, L (1997). Creating a culture of diversity management: moving from awareness to action. University of California. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from University of Phoenix, InfoTrac Copeland, L. (2004). Valuing Diversity training series. Reprinted with permission from the NOAA Training manual, Silver Spring, MD. U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). (2000, June). Building and Maintaining a Diverse and High Quality Workforce. Retrieved April 7, 2005 from: http://www.opm.gov/Diversity/guide.htm U.S. Census Bureau (2003). 2003 American Community Survey data. Retrieved April 10, 2005 from: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFPeople?_event=&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=01000US&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=

Good Education vs. Bad Education Essay

Persuasive Research Paper By; Karen Elzy Date: July 25, 2010 Course: COM 220 Teacher: Sherry Ann Smith Good Education vs. Bad Education Does one think he or she can get very far without having a great education? Statistics shows that people with a great education are much more successful than those who do not receive a great education. Many people who graduate from high school and college are guaranteed to get a better job and higher position than those who have never finish their high school or college education. There are some teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and many other higher educated people who have succeeded with farther education than people who wish not to succeed and not get an education. Good education is better than bad education because the outcome will be much greater with a good education than with a bad one. Nelson Mandela stated that, â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world. † This is true. Every human should want to be educated, because the world is full of technology which influences our world greatly. People who are not educated enough will surely be uniformed and left behind in today’s society. Technology is in business officers, schools, hospitals, doctor offices, stores, homes, and many other places. Today, the school systems start off with teaching the students how to use computers in kindergarten. The students are using this knowledge that they have learned from school and relating it to their parents. Parents should keep their children in school so they can learn everything which being taught by the instructor, and by doing this, the outcome will be rewarding. Teachers are a gift to students and parents because they are teaching the students everything that there is to learn about education. Without teachers, students will not learn the knowledge they need to succeed in this world without a good education. Many surveys show that a good teacher from the 1920-1980’s are more experienced in age in teaching than those teachers who are fresh out of college. Older teachers have more experience and knowledge in child development than college teacher who just beginning and this really matters. Many new teachers cannot explain problems to their students when they write it on the broad. This is what I call bad education, because the student cannot figure the problem out either. When students are failing because of these situations this is when the teacher should call the parent in to see if they could work out a way to help solve this problem together. Many teachers today are not concern about the outcome of their students, so it is very important for the parent keep in contact with that teacher and their child grades. This is when bad education is a part of the student and the teacher who is teaching. Many student drops out of school because of lack of consistency they receive. Having a good education will ensure one to have a better job than anyone who does not have an education. By continuing one’s education and getting a college degree, applying for major jobs will not be such a hassle. The reason being is because most companies directly look at the education section of an application or resume. The perks with having a good job will be such as: paid vacations, top salaries, 401k, good insurance packages, and many others. Many people may start out in a great established company and learn everything about it; then continue or progress their own business and become more successful than that previous business. Having knowledge causes all these successes. How can one have a good job without learning skills from education? Many jobs are skilled and furthering education will help with a much more skilled jobs or profession. Encouraging education by talking to the students will bring love, wealth, values, and family respect. When students feel they do not have any encouragement they will drop out of school, some will go to jail, depression, drug abuse, and steal: the results of this are a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Going to school is not just about being there physically. It is important to pay really close attention to what the instructor is teaching. Clowning around would be a very horrible idea. This can cause one to miss important information for one’s future workplace. Employers will not take him or her seriously if they look at one’s transcript and thinks they have goofed off while in school. They will think that it will be brought to their workplace. Furthermore, paying attention will guarantee one the skills that can help in their future workplace this can help one to advance faster than other employees. This can help one to get a promotion and earn a better pay. Having a bad education will really hurt one. Going to a school in which appropriate information is not taught is not such a good idea. This will cause someone not to find a good job. Employers may think that important skills are lacked of their job. Bad education will definitely not lead to a great place. Poverty will be definitely in question that will cause one’s family to suffer. In question why would one want to suffer do to this bad outcome? The economy today is suffering enough, and education should be ones top priority to help with tomorrow’s economy. The economy is suffering from lack of jobs and has caused many people to become homeless. If some of the people would have finish their education then some of them would not be homeless due to the economy. Many homeless children do not attend school because of their situation. Many kids are being teased by other children because of their homeless situation, this cause a problem in education as well. Homeless kids are rated highly in education than some children who attend daily. Many children miss out on education because of being homeless. Many people were deprived of continuing their education due to lack of funding. Today people are successfully continuing their education because of grants and low interest rates on loans for education. There are people who have not attended school for a long period and due to available funds have returned. The president of the United States of America has helped make this possible for adults and others to go back to school. Many opportunities through programs as these help to better education. If some of these programs were offered earlier maybe most people would have finished school. There are things that can cause bad education. For example, mental and physical abuse can cause one to have a low self esteem about them. If someone were to lose a parent or someone close to them this would cause him or her to avoid school. Many kids bully other kids and cause them to drop out or not wanting to return to school at all. Parents need to pay close attention to his or her children in order to make sure he or she is not facing any of these problems. Many schools pay close attention to children attitudes to see if any changes have occurred. There have been many reports about abuse and kids who suffer in their education because of such reason. There are after school programs to help further children education, and to help working parent who do not have the proper time with helping their children with their homework. These programs are designed to help with homework, study skills, testing, and behavior conduct. There are many dedicated teachers and teacher aides who take the time out to help children advance in his or her education. Many parents are very grateful to these teachers and teacher aides for their time and effort in helping his or her children. Through these programs many children have passed leaped and other important test for school. These children who attend these programs have good study habits and are very dedicated to their learning. The outcome help the children score higher on different test and help them to become honor and respectable. Distinguishing good and bad education is not hard to do. A good education can include a school and/or instructor meeting and talking to their students. A good school and/or instructor will build their student’s confidence to make them feel like learning, participating in classroom activities, and getting to know the students parents. A good education can also include such things as, after school tutoring, respecting and giving respect, and make their students get involved; however, it is not limited to these things. Having a good education guide will make the student understand all material efficiently. For example, the instructor will make sure everything is explained fluently and is understood, their classroom will be in order. They will make sure the material is not boring and make sure their students are alert; they will care and make sure to encourage their students on how important their work is and how far it will take them in life if they complete it and earn their diplomas. A bad education is kicking out a student for asking a question that the instructor may have answered or may have not; patience is very important when it comes to education. If an instructor is rude and unenthusiastic, it can make the student feel as if they need not to complete the course. However, if the instructor stop and help challenge them, the student will look forward to getting their education and make sure to make every class. If an instructor shows that they are only there to get a paycheck, this can more than likely stop the enthusiasm of the student. A bad instructor can indeed make their student feel dumb which can cause a student to be a dropout and end up as a statistic. Remember education is important so the school, instructor, and student shall take it seriously. A good education will help one get a great job that has a good pay and great benefits. The result of a good education can lead to making friends that can be there for a lifetime and a possible business partner. However, if one receives a bad education, if can lead to a road of failure. Bad education will really hurt one in the long run; he or she may not be able to get a good job, a steady job, and may end up living in poverty. Employers may think that one lack some skills and give one a very low position and may be even under paid. The economy will not suffer if everyone would stay in school and receive their education. Thanks to the many opportunities of grants and loans to help further education, it can really make everyone’s future bright. If people would pay close attention to kids they can see if they are facing major problems that are preventing one from their education. After school programs are very helpful in helping students to advance in their studies, and it is also a great tool to their parents as well. In order for one to succeed, one must be in an effective school system with reliable material being taught. One must also have an instructor to encourage them and help out if the understanding is not present. Encouraging education by talking to the students will bring love, wealth, values, and family respect. If the encouragement is not present and/or a bad education would be received by the student which can cause them all kinds of downfalls in the future. Staying in school, being focused and getting their proper education are the goals in being successful. In conclusion, good education is better than a bad education because the outcome is much better and the future will look much better with a good education rather than a bad education. As Nelson Mandela says, â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world†. Many doctors, lawyers, engineers, writers, public speakers, and even teachers and students have really changed our world today. Education is the key to everyone’s success story. Good Education Vs. Bad Education References Hein, Karen. â€Å"Young People as Assets: A Foundation View. † Social Policy 30. 1 (1999): 20. General One File. Web. 13 June 2010.

Feminism in advertising

In my essay I will scrutinise feminism in advertising. We live in a world surrounded by commercial advertisements. For a very long time advertisers have used tactics such as gender representations for targeting their audiences (customers). It is described by others as the science that capture the human mind long enough to get money out of it. With theories of advertising and their sophistication, my assignment will look at both the advantages and disadvantages of feminism in advertising. Society and social structure are immensely affected by popular culture. Strinati (2004) says, â€Å"in modern setting, popular culture is the culture produced which is commercially created by a few for consumption by many†. Mass media such as television, films, magazines, bus stop shelters, billboards, internet and newspapers are the common forms of communication used by product manufacturers who portray and interpret society. Kellnar (1995, p 5) says â€Å"media is the form of art that teaches us how to be men or women, how to react to society, how to be successful and popular†. These are some of the advantages for manufacturers concerned about the commercial success of their products hence presenting a culture that will be consumed by many. These few points by Kellnar(1995) are some of what manufacturers or capitalists with one thing in mind success of their product use as advantage forcing them to present a culture they believe will attract and be consumed by the most audience. In doing so, popular culture often results in stereotyping people such as women, the disabled and other minorities because depicting them as stereotypes is easy. With advertising as another form of popular culture the stereotyping becomes very bold to ensure fast selling of huge volumes within a short time. To make achieving these targets, manufacturers/ capitalists will not have time to build up their own characters meaning stereotyping must be used. Although these manufactures of these manipulated mass cultural images say popular culture mirrors or echoes the society, the opposite is also true. Unaware the behaviour of society is being affected by these manipulated media images. More and more people are becoming more concerned and worried about how society sees itself and sometimes adapt to these impressions left by this art of popular culture especially feminist who are saying images of women in popular culture are undermining and degrading women. To some extent the feminist concerns are true when you look at what Srinati (2004) says that society does not award the same privileges it offers to men to women. This justifies the argument from feminist regarding the representation of women in mass media. Having started on feminist theory, I will describe it feather more before moving on to how women are represented in popular culture. Feminism speaks for women in terms of social equality for sexes against patriarchy and sexism (Macionis and Plummer 2012). Feminists trying to eliminate gender inequality have four different main theories of feminism, liberal feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism and what Sylvia Walby calls the dual systems of feminism and each responds to the oppression of women in different way, outlining different causes and different solutions. However they also have criticisms. Liberal feminists oppose prejudice and discrimination against that stops women from pursuing their goals (Macionis & Plummer 2012) and Gidens (2009) also says liberal feminism searchers for answers of gender inequality in cultural and social attitudes. It has great support than the other perspectives because it is more tolerant and its views are less threatening to existing values. In Western societies liberal feminists’ plans are to change the political, economic and social systems. Liberal feminists believe that both men and women are not benefiting from gender inequalities (Haralambos and Holborn 2008). Some of its criticisms identified by Valerie Bryson (1999) are basing liberal feminism on male assumptions and norms. The other is emphasizing public life at the expense of private life. Abbort et al. (2005) says liberalism does not explain the exploitation of women, it take no account of structural sources of inequality. Marxist and socialist feminism started from Marx’s conflict theory, blaming the sexual divisions of labour as the barrier preventing women from wealth (Marsh et al 2009) and this Marxist analysis of feminism blames capitalism as the key source of oppression rather than patriarchy, and capitalist as the beneficiaries. Just like radical feminists they have a desire for revolutionary change and want a communist society where production is communally owned. Although Marxist and socialist feminism had a lot of influence during 1970s and 1980s it has lost influence in recent years and some of its aspects have been adopted by other feminists. Just like the other feminist theories it has its own criticisms. It has been criticised for using the masculine theory which does fails to explain of women’s position (Haralambos et al 2008). Its main criticism comes from failing to emphasise how men oppress women (Abbort et al 2005). Radical feminism puts all the exploitation of women on men (Gidens 2009). Radical feminists believe that men are the beneficiaries from women subordination. Valarie Bryson (1999) says radical feminists see women as an oppressed group who had to free themselves from their oppressors in this case men (Haralambos & Holborn 2008, p 101). Radical feminism is criticised for encouraging women to focus on negative experiences with men and for portraying women as good and men as bad. Banks, 1981; Barry,1983; Stacey, 1983; and Vogel,1983 (cited in Macions and Plummer 2012, p 407) say these distinctions describe the problem of patriarchy in different ways and call for correspondingly distinctive solutions for social damage. We already know that societies and individuals take time to adjust to change and to adopt the new routines therefore the representation of women in media can speed up the process of change, as already demonstrated, that popular culture has enormous effect on society. Even though the representation of women in media is largely hidden by capitalism profit making agendas, an exact representation of society would harm the feminist motives. There are other feminist theories like black feminism and postmodern feminism. They are all associated with femininity some with theories that try to put limitations on the way women are portrayed by the mass media. Despite the short comings of social and commercial limits on advertisements, advertisers are always a step ahead in terms of change to social reality and they have proved that they can provide better reflection of social changes than any other media. The truth is advertisers continue to miss-represent the female body and women are still seen as cheap of free labour for house work in spite of all the changes in representation of women over the years. In television adverts for both sexes, men appear 76% more as experts than women (Hasseltine 1982). Hasseltine also says women are often portrayed as mothers or housewives without common sense knowledge about their roles. Recent study (Yoder et al 2008) has proved that although women still appear as housewives, they no longer appear as people without voice and mind of their own instead they are now competent, have a voice and perform professional duties just like the male colleagues. This shows a clear picture of change from the past couple of decades. Although changes in the way women are portrayed on adverts are said to have improved, the stereotyping still remains and are adding worthiness to some of the feminist objections about the portrayal of females in mass media. For examples women were seen as voiceless, passive sexual objects for male gaze, nevertheless today it is still the same, except women are no longer presented as inactive but as desirable sexual subjects who presents themselves in that objectified manner because they want to (Goldman, 1992). This is now post feminism and advertisers still use their narrow ideas that create feminine qualities and feminists are finding difficult to persuade advertisers to change these gender identities because advertisers put so much money towards these ideas and cannot afford to have low commercial results (Cortese 2008) and to achieve high commercial results they must use their femininity ideas. They then persuade a beautiful female in what they call perfect body, slim and tall without blemish. Storey (2003) in his book â€Å"Inventing Popular Culture† calls the advertisers, the ruling class, who constitute themselves under the guise of democratic populism, exploits the art of popular culture and the manipulative art of advertising to promote docile conformism and worship of the new which keeps the consumer in a confused state of changing fashion and insecure about his/her taste. Especially on beauty products, the manipulation of art of advertising is extended by air brushing the women to look extra fine causing women to feel inferior among others. Men as a result of these manipulated images raise the expectation from women which creates more gender stereotyping. Even though post feminism shows women as professionals and not as stupid mothers or housewives, they persist showing them as objects, even in advertisements/commercials meant for the male audience. Female audience have the worst adverts that objectify women for purposes of selling products such as lingerie. Post feminism shows semi naked female bodies that are considered as showing the sexual power of women over men, this in pre-feminism time was seen as offensive (Amy-Chinn 2006). This is one form of feminism that has limitation to the feminist theory of popular culture. Like I said before, feminist objections of stereotyping women are more evident in commercials that sell products for women and in magazines for female audience (Lindner 2004). Research conducted by Lindner (2004) concluded adverts from magazines for female audience stereotyped women 78% more than any other magazines, so if it is true that adverts/commercials are created with the targeted audience in mind, then women find themselves in inferior positions in such magazines and are identified better with such stereotyping. Such advertisements limits the work of feminists and their theory of saying advertisements should reflect social reality become invalid as such advertising do reflect reality but harming the feminist plan. If this kind of female stereotyping is a reflection of society, then there is nothing wrong with the popular culture that presents the female body in such a way. Unfortunately popular culture has great impact on how people carry and see themselves around others. The air bushed female bodies on advertisements will lead to denial of how they look without the manipulation. Individuals exposed to sexist commercials had negative thoughts about their own body image (Lavine et al 1999). This, without the criticism from feminists, is not best for society and its best not to show sexist advertisements which show the female body as an object. It has serious consequences on a lot of women especially the younger ones where it may result in problems like eating disorders, plastic surgeries, locking themselves away from society Another disadvantage of sexiest advertisements is that showing women as sex objects, excluding them from society, can cause men to have negative perception of women. For example (Rosewarne 2005) says criminality can lead to perception of fear in women, and this is not acceptable in society especially from feminists who are fighting for woman to be equal to men. Unfortunately another form of commercials that is increasing masculine power is the outdoor advertisements that sexually degrade women and strengthening their exclusion is on city spaces (Ibid, p67). This cause sexual violence which forces women to reduce their movements and this type of popular culture which creates an environment is not acceptable in society. Feminists need to come up with more powerful arguments that the ones mentioned above to solve this matter that is rising from stereotyping and showing women as sexual objects. Strinati, (2004) says some feminists are campaigning for a female world that excludes men. Gill (2008) says by purchasing underwear to tea or coffee they are representing power and independence. This is also adding to advertisements that are meant for the female audience meaning more stereotyping especially if it’s a woman to women commercials, resulting in feminists failing to field the answer to the problem of stereotyping women in popular culture. In the last 30years changes have happened in favour of women about their representation in popular culture especially the way they are portrayed in commercials. From stupid mother or housewife without a voice in the 1980’s to professional knowledgeable people with a voice in the twenty first century, despite all these changes in the way women are represented in advertisements they still experience stereotyping. Pre feminists saw the stereotyping off women as harmful today, the postfeminist supports the idea of showing the female body as sexual objects saying it signifies the power that the female body has over men. The objectification of the female body is still seen as the main way undermining women’s bodies and the limits found in feminism have made it hard for feminists to out rightly challenge the deception of women in popular culture. In conclusion, there clear evidence that feminists do not agree about the origins of inequality between men and women. They argue that women have always been in a subordination position while some say gender inequalities originate from particular historical events (Haralambos and Holborn 2008). Women have suffered oppression in the past without a voice and today they have a voice but still experience oppression in one way or the other. In advertising we saw objectification of women in advertisements as harmful in the 1970s and 1980s and in the twenty first century the objectification of women in advertisement is still happening but is now called the sexual power of women over men. We have also seen that the stereotyping and portraying women as object is a tool for advertisers trying to achieve their targets for whatever they are selling. Stereotyping the depicting of women has been part of advertising and will continue to be a very useful tool for advertisers. The manipulation of images can have devastating effect on out women living them with all sorts of problems. Finally, feminism is a metaphor for transformation, having s voice, for women who did not have a public voice in the past and it is seen as moving from object to subject (Storey 2009). Today the feminism movements are still tackling the adverting industry with the introduction of new revolution ways to tackle mass media about these images that depicting women as sexual objects.

Multicultural Education Scenario Essays

Multicultural Education Scenario Essays Multicultural Education Scenario Essay Multicultural Education Scenario Essay 1. What does multiculturalism mean; it is acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place. (en. wikipedia. org). How I would incorporate activities that would support a multicultural class room, well for one I would take a map of the world and pin it up to one wall of my class room. Take pictures of everyone in the class and put the pictures and their names on the side of the map and run a string to the place where they are from. This way everyone can see exactly where they are from and how far they traveled to get here. After looking on where everyone came from I would sit aside one day where students can bring food from their culture and clothes, music or even talk about their traditions and there history about where they came from. This way they can taste the foods that they eat and listen to the different sounds of music and hear about how the students talk about their traditions, by doing this the students can understand a little about their culture and why they are different. Another group activity, I would do is watch movies in different languages, but have the words subtitled in English, this way it would require them to watch closely and then give them a quiz after the movie was over. Then have the students say hello in different languages just to see how many different languages they can say hello in. Another activity would be to have them write something about themselves and the title would be why I am different. Each of the students would write a little something about them selves on why they are different this would send a positive message. Now students with special needs, this activity about why I am different would also send a positive message just because they are in a wheel chair doesn’t mean they cannot do things or learn, this exercise would build confidence then they will begin to try harder because they will 2. feel good about themselves. I hope from these activities that the students will remember just because they do not have much as other students they still have a lot. They need to know they have more than they realize, they still have a chance to do something for their lives, education open doors they have so many opportunities that can change their lives forever. Teaching these students just, because you are not as fortunate as other students, like if you have a disability or they are from a different ethnic group, you do not have to let this stop you from going forward. Hopefully students will take this teaching and incorporate this in their personal experiences and let this expand in their growing minds. I believe that multicultural education is well needed in every class room in today’s society. It will take everyone to be involved; this will show everyone that we need to set an example for our future generation. There is so much discrimination in this world. We need to show our students it is ok to be different just be yourself. For my very last activity I would divide the class room in different sections browns eyes over here and blue and green over there. Then I would provide different colored eyes students with different privileges and different punishments, I would show the students just how this activity does demonstrates the manner on how they become conditioned to racism and discrimination. I believe this activity would show students that there are times we do discriminate and don’t realize that we do just because we are different. We also need to get the parents involved in a lot of these activities, because parents often put discrimination in to their children and really don’t realize they do it. These activities will be an eye opener just because you are different doesn’t mean it is a bad thing. This is an opportunity to learn so much about different tradition, cultures, languages and disabilities, we are equal different is good. Just because someone is in a wheel chair doesn’t mean he can not dance he can move that wheel chair around or even play basketball. If I can teach these children that just because someone has a disability doesn’t make him less of a human being 3. hen I did my job. It doesn’t matter if you are disabled or not these students are our future. They can do anything they want they just need that confidence in themselves after all they are our future teaches, doctors or even some will be lawyers, what they learn they will remember for a life time. References ndoleednews. com/multicultural ncrel. org/sdrs/areas ehow. com/info enwikipedia/org/wiki/multiculture

The 5 Best SAT Prep Games

The 5 Best SAT Prep Games SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You may have heard of a new trend in test prep:games. That’s right- studying for your SAT by playing computer (and even phone) games! If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. Most of the SAT prep games out there are pretty bad.However, there are a few games that may genuinely help you with some aspects of your test prep experience- although they won’t do much other than supplement your more typical studying activities like taking practice tests and doing practice problems. In this article I’ll break down the SAT prep game trend, explain why most prep games won’t help you, describe what makes a good prep game, offer some recommendations for games that will help you, and offer some advice on how to use them. SAT Prep Games: An Overview The past few years have seen a rise in â€Å"gamification,† or the attempt to make regular, tedious life tasks more game-like and thus more fun and exciting. There are apps for gamifying exercise, productivity, household chores, finance, and even shopping. Given the ever-increasing circle of things that have been gamified, it’s no surprise that SAT games have proliferated in the past few years. Lots of test-prep companies have gotten on the train. Kaplan, the Princeton Review, the Idiot’s Guide- they all have created or helped create SAT practice games. The general idea behind SAT games is that if preparing for the testis fun, you will want to do it. If you want to do it, you’ll spend more time preparing. But is this true? And even if it is, is the preparation you get from playing games comparable to that from less fun modes of studying? Can you game your way to SAT success? Why Most SAT Prep Games Are Bad The truth is that there are very few test-prep games that will actually provide substantial help on the SAT. In fact, they may even be detrimental, because you may play them thinking you are getting in some valuable preparation when you really aren’t. The problem with most SAT prep games is that they are mostly just glorified multiple-choice quizzes. However, the questions are generally of low quality and don’t resemble real SAT questions very much. Answers are sometimes truly ambiguous or unclear, and explanations are often lacking or nonexistent.Further limiting the utility of many of these games is that they haven’t been updated for the revised SAT. So you’ll be hit with outdated question styles that aren’t even on the SAT anymore, like Sentence Completion and Sentence Error. If a game just asks you â€Å"SAT-style† multiple choice questions, I advise you to stay away from it unless you can thoroughly vet that the questions actually resemble real SAT questions. You are much better off using genuine College Board SAT practice tests or even ACT tests if you need more sample questions to prep for the SAT. It might be marginally more fun to see yourself get points for correct questions in an app or on a website, but you’ll be much happier in the long run if you spend that time answering well-written sample questions that will actually help you. Also, the College Board has now partnered with Khan Academy to create SAT prep resources online, which has both gamified aspects like earnable badges and College-Board official practice questions. You are better off using Khan Academy than any other multiple-choice-based SAT prep game. There are many SAT games that are very focused on vocab. However, while a diverse vocab is still important for the SAT, the revised test places much less emphasis on knowing arcane words out-of-context. So exclusively â€Å"SAT Vocab† focused games may not have much utility for you. STOP before you play bad SAT games! What Makes a Good SAT Prep Game? There are, in general, three things that make for a good prep game. #1: Targets a Specific SAT Skill or Content Area A game aimed at a specific concept that’s tested on the SAT- trigonometry, modelling, punctuation, etc- will be much more useful than something that just offers half-baked multiple choice questions on vocab words. This means that the best SAT prep games may not even be designed specifically for the SAT! They just need to work on building a skill or reviewing material that is covered on the SAT. #2: Engaging If the game is boring, you might as well just take practice tests. A prep game doesn’t have to be the most fun you’ve ever had, but it should break up your practice routine a little bit. #3: Content Is Accurate This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s very important to make sure that the game is actually presenting content accurately. Otherwise you could be studying incorrect material! I would include in this that multiple-choice questions need to actually resemble real SAT questions. Keep your SAT ducks in a row! Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! 5 Solid SAT Prep Games If you want to incorporate some academic and SAT-prep games into your studying, there are several sources where you might look for actually useful games. #1:Sheppards Software This site has a variety of simple, educational flash games for pre-K through 12th grade. The math page has games for probability, algebra, geometry, and several other topics that appear the SAT. There are also word games in the Language Arts section that test your skill with punctuation and parts of speech. This is a solid resource if you find yourself getting stuck on a particular concept in math or language arts, and you just need to drill recall in a non-boring way. #2:FreeRice FreeRice is an online game in which you answer questions to fill up your bowl of rice; every correct question answered actually provides rice to someone in need. FreeRice has an SAT prep category, but I don’t advise using it as the questions are based on the old SAT. I think the English grammar mode is much more useful; you’ll pick the grammatically correct sentence and move through progressively harder levels as you keep choosing the right answer. This is good practice for your wrong-answer elimination skills on the Writing portion of the SAT! #3:NYTimes Student Crosswords This page has printable crosswords (and answer keys) in a variety of academic subjects, including several that are relevant to the SAT, like grammar, geometry, and algebra. These could function as a fun review of some key subject-matter concepts for the SAT. #4:Quizlet With a free account on Quizlet, you can access thousands of flashcard sets that others have uploaded to the site, including a variety of SAT prep sets. Of course, you’ll want to check out a set before you use it to study to make sure it actually has useful (and correct) information. What’s even better is that you can make a set yourself with the things you really need to drill down on. Once you make or choose a set, you can play with it in two game modes. There’s a matching game and a game where you prevent asteroids from hitting the planet by typing the correct answer. #5:Daily SAT Practice This is one of the less gamelike options out there, but it is an official College Board app. It offers you an official practice SAT question every day; once you answer the question you can compare how you did with other students. A solid option simply because all of the questions are College Board-approved. Make your SAT prep arsenal a full deck. How to Use SAT Prep Games in Your Own Studies While SAT games won’t replace the majority of your regular, unglamorous studying, they can supplement it in a few key ways. #1: To Target Specific Skills/Concepts SAT prep games can be helpful in targeting specific skills or concepts that you have trouble with. If commas stump you, try a punctuation game; if triangles trouble you, play a trigonometry or geometry game. Games can be a fun way to learn or reinforce an underlying concept you need to know for the SAT. #2: Keep Material Fresh Between Study Sessions A quick SAT game can be a good way to keep things fresh between dedicated preparation sessions. A few grammar questions on FreeRice will help keep your grammar brain fresh when you go a day or two without any serious prep time. #3: As Warm-ups, Breaks, and Rewards SAT practice games are also a great way to warm up your brain at the beginning of a study session, and a good way to re-energize yourself during a quick break. Playing an SAT game you like for a few minutes before you take a practice test will help turn on your brain and get the gears moving before the main event. You can also use prep games as a reward after you finish a study session to help wrap things up on a low-stress note! The judicious use of prep games can help you hit an SAT home run! Key Takeaways Do I think you could do all of your studying with prep games and do well? No, especially because most prep games are just poorly-written SAT quizzes. That said, here’s what does make a solid SAT prep game: It presents skills and content that are tested on the SAT It’s engaging It presents accurate information There are several sources you might look for to find game-like resources for SAT prep: Sheppards Software- Simple flash games for math and English concepts. FreeRice - Has an English grammar mode that’s useful for the Writing section. NYTimes Student Crosswords - A fun way to review fundamental concepts in a subject. Quizlet - Make your own flashcards and then play games with them! Daily SAT Practice - this College Board official app offers a question a day and lets you see how others did. While they won’t replace most of your studying, there are some targeted ways you might deploy SAT prep games as part of your preparation plan: To target specific skills/concept areas you are weak in Keeping material fresh between study sessions Warm-ups, breaks, and rewards during studying With these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to be able to get the most out of your SAT prep games instead of being played by them! What's Next? Looking for more SAT practice resources? Check our list of best SAT prep books.Or see our list of SAT practice tests. Want to score a super high SAT score?Get all the tips and expert advice you need inmy guide to getting a perfect SAT score. Looking for additional SAT prep help?Check out our picks for thetop SAT prep websitesandappsyou should be using in your studies. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Tourism as a Tool for Reducing Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tourism as a Tool for Reducing Poverty - Essay Example Mkangi and Mbindyo, Kenya is an extremely fertile country, which stretches from the sea level in the eastern part to the snow-covered mountains to the north. Mountains that can be found in Kenya include Mt. Kenya, Mt. Elgon and Mt. Kilimanjaro, which also borders Tanzania. Its greatest feature includes the Great Rift Valley, found in the central and western part of the country. Also, there are a number of lakes and rivers found in Kenya, which include Lake Turkana, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, and Lake Bogoria among others while rivers include River Nzoia, Gori, Ewaso Ngiro, and Yala among others, which form part of Kenya’s Geography. Kenya does not perform quite well, but it is the largest economy in East Africa. The economy, based on the market with a few infrastructure enterprises owned by the state, also maintains an external liberal trade system. Adholla, Mkangi, and Mbindyo (2008) state that 70% of people in Kenya is employed in the agricultural sector in which half of th e sector focuses on subsistence farming. The growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya has decreased over the last decade from 6.5% every year to 4% every year since independent and then to only 1.5% per year during the 1990s. Politically, Kenya has always been considered a stable country despite all the changes in its political system and conflicts in the neighboring countries. Tourism is the second largest export earner in Kenya after agriculture, which forms a crucial foundation for its economy.... A  unique  tourism features in Kenya include wildlife and beaches, which have enabled it to  out  space  all its neighbors in East Africa due to  excellent  planning  and  leadership. In addition, solid infrastructure and  devotion  to conservation of wildlife has driven Kenya to the forefront of the  regional  tourism industry. In Kenya, tourism dates back in the pre-independence time i.e. as early as 1930s, when explorers from abroad started visiting Kenya. The explorers and visitors mainly visited Kenya for  solitude, as well as big-game hunting expeditions, which the Swahili people started referring to as safaris. Some of the  early  visitors included Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Earnest Hemingway, and Theodore Roosevelt among other celebrities. About 10% of Kenya  has been set  aside for wildlife conservation and biodiversity. Since most visitors to the  country  are  mainly  interested  in seeing animals especially the  big   five (rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard), game viewing is a  popular  practice. Also, there are other small and  unique  animals present in the country, which attract tourist too. Moreover, there has been a  remarkable  rise in the number of tourist since the beginning of tourism in Kenya. For instance, in 2003, Kenya received over one million tourists, which lead to rise in  bed  capacity, in classified hotels to over 73,000. Tourism in Kenya has employed over 219,000 people, which is approximately 11% of the total workforce in the country. Currently, Kenya is still in a state of  growth  i.e.it is still a developing country. However, there are many factors that are inhibiting

Managerial Decision-Making Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Managerial Decision-Making - Case Study Example he decisions makers of their firms, and if any stakeholders of the same are not satisfied by the outcome the managers are the people responsible to fix the problem. Managers use rational models, which suits them to make major decisions in their cooperatives. There are some rational processes that work when the models are used, but it does not mean that every good decision made must be from the models. There are times when the rational models cannot be used for a particular situation because each firm is different from the other, and it is a dynamic world where things are changing every day (Driver, Brousseau and Larsson 110). There is a need for change in the way managers make decisions to various particulars making it impossible to have standard decisions for every objective of a firm. The rational models are useful to the obvious decisions made every day, but there is the need to have use other ways of ensuring that the mangers are in control in the same time allowing the rest of the employees an opportunity to prove themselves to their ability (Driver, Brousseau and Larsson 110). This ensures good working environment for everyone and success to the

Trade and Exchange in Early England Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Trade and Exchange in Early England - Essay Example By reviewing the history of trade and exchange in England, Curtin's assertion will be proven true. The River Thames is where England's first foray into trade and exchange began. With its estuary opening out to the North Sea and beyond that the Baltic and the River Rhine leading to continental Europe (Clout, 22), the structural basin rimming its shores provided an ideal location to establish England's biggest city, London. Beginning circa AD 50, Londinium was established by the Romans and populated with citizens who used the River Thames to not only do their laundry and provide their drinking water, but as a thoroughfare which encouraged trade with other countries through its junction of road, river and sea-going traffic (Clout, 22) and even its own mint to create coins. The Roman, Tacitus, in the second century, described Londinium "as a place teeming with businessmen and a famous centre of commerce" (Clout, 25). By the late fifth century, the Romans had abandoned the city but it was their early efforts of building roads, bridges, and houses of commerce, while establishing a busy importing business, which first gave London its reputation as a thriving port. Under Anglo-Saxon rule, London and the country of England continued to be developed specifically for ease of trade with other regions of the empire. Lundenwic was another major city of the period specifically established by the East Saxons as a trading town and river port (Clout, 40). In the Middle Ages, London continued to grow and prosper while the royal and government offices migrated from other areas in the country to reside in the city proper. The majority of overseas trade was channeled into the Port of London, although the east and south ports remained busy as well. Wool and cloth became the two main exports, while Cornish tin, hides, sheepskins, and foodstuffs were also sent to foreign merchants, although it was London's reputation as a major marketplace for imported goods, in particular wine, which had a greater impact on the Medieval economy. Fleming and Italian merchants use their considerable financial backing to organize this trade (Clout, 52). High demand for imported raw materials and manufactured goods was a boon to merchants and bespoke the higher standard of living many Englanders had come to expect in the fifteenth century. Icy conditions in the winter, however, precluded far-reaching travel during those months while spring and summer were the busiest periods for cargo ships. Ships of this time period were built with vast holds to carry the maximum of goods (Marshall, 12) for exchange. England lagged behind other countries in exploring across the Atlantic Ocean, however. Consequently the country's major exchanges were made only between European ports of call (Marshall, 33) until viable trade routes were discovered by Portugal, Spain, and France. During the Tudor and Stuart periods, much of London was rebuilt and its major waterways redirected; the River Walbrook was filled in and the ditch surrounding the city, created by the Romans centuries earlier to stem invasion attacks, also covered over (Clout, 58). London's ports became official quays, confirming the city as the major hub of commerce in England. According to

Basic Operational Features Of Grameen Bank Economics Essay

Basic Operational Features Of Grameen Bank Economics Essay I will like to focus my report on Grameen bank in Bangladesh. The patriarch culture in Bangladesh where women are treated as inferior to men restricts them from seeking wage employment. Their only source of income is self employment and they face difficulty in accessing individual lending programs. The labour force has been growing by 2.4% a year, while the agricultural, industrial and service sector can only accommodate 1.7% annual growth of the labour force. The agricultural sector which provides 78% of employment is saturated and limited due to technical constraints. The modern urban sector is too small to absorb additional labour, increasing productivity and income through self employment in the informal sector and improving human capital are the only viable ways to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth (World Bank 1997). The poverty in Bangladesh is mainly as a result of landlessness, high unemployment, low literacy and high population growth. The main determinants of so cial class in the rural areas are land ownership and command of financial resources. The Grameen bank was formally established in 1983 by Dr Muhammad Yunus, a professor in economics at the Chittagong University in Bangladesh, who instead of teaching economics decided to do something practical about it. Based on the philosophy that everyone has the right to credit, but the poor are excluded from conventional banking system. 2 BASIC OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF THE GRAMEEN BANK Lending is mainly directed towards rural poor women (97% of membership are women) with a maximum landholding of half an acre of land because the average farm size in Bangladesh is 2.4 acres (1984 figures) or non land owners. Only one member is allowed per household. These women are grouped into cells of five and they take collective responsibility for each others loan (no joint liability). This helps to substitute physical collateral with social collateral as it eliminates information asymmetry. These groups are separated according to gender, 5 to 8 groups come together to form a centre known as Kendros (between 25 to 40 women) organised by the banks staff. Weekly meetings are held at these centres where members of each groups attend to pay their weekly loan instalments, learn, practice, and discuss the rules of the program and other group activities. Members are required to save TK1 to TK2 per week (to create financial discipline). It is only of recent that the bank increased its weekly savings to TK5. A new member must have successfully saved for two consecutive weeks before qualifying for a loan and a deposit of 5% of the loan amount into a group fund (i.e. group tax). It offers interest rates for deposits between 8% and 12% and does not allow members to withdraw their savings from the group fund. However, members can borrow from at no interest from the group fund provided that all the other members of the group approve of the amount and its usage and that the loan does not exceed half of the funds total. If a borrower has been a member for 10 years, the bank will transfer total savings with interest to the savings account and the member can withdraw at will. One can argue that the lack of easy access to savings can be viewed as a short term additional fee for being a member and cannot be classified as a financial service but a down payment on a loan and a screening device. At the end of October 2009, total deposits in Grameen bank stood at TK74.55 million (US$ 1079.47 million). Deposits from its members constituted 54% of the banks total deposits. Balance of member deposits has increased at a monthly average rate of 2.29% during the last 12 months. The poor people in Bangladesh save between 2% and 12% of their annual income mainly to acquire land followed by providing family securities against unforeseen circumstances. Childrens education and their marriage and purchase of agricultural inputs are other factors. Collateral is not required to obtain a loan from the bank and the loan is repayable over 50 weeks instalment. Interest is payable at the end of the loan cycle. 20% interest for income generating loan, 8% for housing loans, 5% for student loans and 0% (interest free) for struggling members (beggars). If the loan is repaid on time, the borrower will be charged a 10% flat rate instead of 20% for an income generating loan at the end of the loan cycle. The interest charged is low compared to other government managed micro credit programs charging a fixed interest of 11% at flat rate which amounts to 22% on declining basis. The bank realised from the activities of BRAC that provisions of credit to the poor is not sufficient to alleviate poverty. In addition to credit provision, it also trains its borrowers to improve their skills and provision of other organizational inputs. All credit transactions are transparent and are openly conducted at the centre meetings. The virtue of this openness is to mitigate vested interest and constellations of power as well as deterring individuals from taking anti group actions. This peer monitoring mechanism works both within the group and at the centre, eliminating the danger of group collusion when the groups are self elected. 3 INNOVATIONS IN SERVICE DELIVERY The focus of microfinance agenda is now increasingly client or market driven as a result of the industrys focus on competition and dropouts. Competition, together with MFIs policies of encouraging clients to take larger loans each cycle has tempted some clients to take out multiple loans, far more than it exceeds their repayment capacity and they end up defaulting. The defaults were attributed to the fact that the poor do not always want to neither borrow nor automatically increase their loan size and the failure of MFIs to interact and keep contact with their clients in order to provide innovative products. Loans borrowed for microenterprise development, are mostly used to meet a multiple needs i.e. the fungibility of credit (Sebstad and Cohen, 2001) and this clearly shows the industry was not in tune with its clients. Borrowers demonstrated the imperfect nature of the products by withdrawing from the program. The high rate of drop out raised the operational cost for MFIs. Competiti on and client dissatisfaction was putting pressure on institutions to be innovative in their service delivery. Citing from the words of Hulme and Mosley (1997), they noted that the designers of the financial services for poor people need to acknowledge that the poor is not a homogenous group with broadly similar needs and the one size fits all approach will not work. However, recognising the heterogeneity of the poor clearly complicates matters for scheme designers. Homogeneity may be good for keeping the delivery cost low, but is it not necessarily good for institutional sustainability if dropout rates were kept low. Adopting the client-product nexus approach and improving the institutional-client linkages through the management information system to gather information from bottom up will help to broaden and deepen the outreach, and recognizing the financial landscape of clients for better evaluation of clients debt burden will aid better assessment of loan repayment capability of clients in order to reduce drop out rates. The bank has to some extent recognized the importance of product diversification to its clients as its financial structure and product diversification were subjected to questioning when the bank almost collapsed during the 1998 flood in Bangladesh. It decided to take up a huge rehabilitation programme by giving new loans start new income generating activities and to repair or rebuild their houses. Borrowers started to feel the pressure of accumulated loans as the new instalments sizes exceeded their capacity to repay. Another major factor unknown to donor agencies was that prior to the flood, some branch managers at the bank were giving out loans to customers who had defaulted on weekly repayments so the new loans could be used to make payments. This resulted to accumulated debts by the customers and the balance sheet statements did not reflect the true financial position of the bank. This led to the development of the Grameen Generalised System (GGS) commonly referred to as Grameen II. Under this new scheme, many rules that existed under the Grameen Classic System (GCS) were abolished or transformed. The major innovations under the Grameen Generalised System (GGS) are explained below. 3.1 Basic Loan The basic loan was introduced to provide for other unforeseen circumstances the borrower might face along the loan cycle. It provided an exit option for the borrowers. This is referred to as a flexi loan which provides an alternative route to any borrower who needs it without making her feel guilty about failing to fulfil the requirement of the basic loan. The basic loan is normally referred to as the Grameen Microcredit Highway. The logic behind the basic loan is that if a borrower keeps up with repayments (stays on the highway) throughout the loan cycle, she can borrow a larger sum (change gear and accelerate faster) on the next loan cycle and she knows ahead of time how much enhancement in loan size is coming, and can plan her activities accordingly. But if the borrower should experience some difficulties (such as natural disaster, sickness etc) during the loan cycle, she can renegotiate the loan (first detour) by reducing the instalment size that she can afford to pay by extendin g the loan period. The essence is to help the borrower overcome the problem in order to get back to the basic loan. Even if the borrower defaults further (second detour), the flexi loan will be renegotiated to another flexi loan until the borrower can comfortably keep up with the instalment payment. This flexibility was absent under the Grameen Classic System. It is important to note that once a borrower renegotiates to a flexi loan, she will loose the loan ceiling she must have accumulated over the years and can only re-enter the basic loan scheme with a loan size equivalent to a new entrant and as long as shes on the flexi loan, the borrower can only borrow the same amount for every loan cycle. Fig. 3.1: The interlink between basic loan and flexi loan Source: http://www.grameen-info.org 3.2 Custom-made Credit Service The GGS has created a methodology which can provide custom-made credit to a poor borrower. It allows a staff to be creative. He can design his loan product to make it a best fit for his client in terms of duration with the flexibility of variation from any number of months and years, timing of the loan and the size of weekly instalments can be varied. A borrower can pay more weekly when the business is doing well, and pay less during difficult times. In an extreme case, each instalment can be of different size. In the other extreme, all instalments can be exactly equal, like in GCS. 3.3 Group Fund Replaced Every new member is obliged to save 5% of the total loan amount into the obligatory savings account formally known as group tax. But now, half of the 5% is deposited into a personal savings account and the remaining half goes to a special savings account. A borrower can withdraw any amount from her personal savings account any time she desires. There is no restriction on her withdrawal. Weekly saving still continues and it goes to personal savings account. Special savings account is non withdrawable for the first three years. Then withdrawal is allowed generally once in three years keeping a minimum balance of TK2000 or half the amount in the account, whichever is larger. Under special circumstances the entire amount in the special savings account can be withdrawn. Some money from this account will be used to buy shares of the Bank. 3.4 Pension fund-Leading to Financial Self-Reliance Grameen Bank requires all borrowers with loans above TK8, 000 (US$ 138) to contribute a minimum of TK50 (US$0.86) each month in a pension deposit account. After ten years a borrower will receive a guaranteed amount which is almost double the amount she has put in for 120 months. The pension fund generates about TK 100 million ($1.75 million) per month. I find this very interesting because households in Bangladesh are large in size and it is customary for several generations to live together within a household. In such households, there is no need for retirement saving, and it can internalize many of the insurance activities that would require saving. For example members of the household can insure against health risk and old age. But this has not been the case with Grameen Bank because the benefit of the insurance package is appealing to its members and the pension pot also serves as a means of financial stability for the bank. 3.5 Other Savings The bank accepts deposits from non borrowers as well by incorporating a number of savings products into the system. Total amount of deposits account for 67% of the total outstanding loans of Grameen Bank in July, 2002, after paying back TK3.3 million (US $ 60 million) of its loans to the central bank, local commercial banks and foreign lenders, fell due the same period. 3.6 Loan Loss Provisioning and Write-off Policy If a borrower fails to pay her instalment for ten consecutive weeks or if she fails to repay the total amount she is required to pay within a six month period and she does not move into flexible loan, she becomes a defaulter. If she becomes a defaulter, 100 per cent provisioning must be made for the unpaid principal and interest. Exactly one year later, the amount must be written off. Writing off will be done on a monthly basis, rather than at a time of annual account closing. If a borrower is on flexible loan, generally the same policy will hold. Fifty percent provision must be made for the total balance amount of flexible loan and accrued interest on the annual closing date, even if the payment rate of flexible loan is 100% of the whole bank Fig. 3.2: Provisioning policy in Grameen Bank II Source: http://www.grameen-info.org 3.7 Loan Insurance Once a year, on the last day of the year, the borrower is required to put in a small amount of money in a loan insurance savings account. It is calculated on the basis of the outstanding loan and interest of the borrower on that day. She deposits 2.5% of the outstanding amount. If a borrower dies any time during the year, her entire outstanding debt is paid off by the insurance fund which is created by the interest income of the loan insurance savings account. In addition, her family receives back the amount she saved in the loan insurance savings account. 4 NATURE OF TARGET GROUPS IN TERMS OF GENDER AND POVERTY The bank targets women regarded to be very poor using the size of land ownership as the measure of poverty. As previously highlighted, the banks members are either non land owners or own half an acre of land. Based on the measure of poverty, these are very poor women. Women are generally seen as moral guardians of the household and there are perceptions that women in Bangladesh have a high repayment rate (a factor necessary for the financial sustainability for a micro lender) because it allows them to retain access to village groups, whereas men have many more opportunities for social contact. Women are more vulnerable to pressure to repay. They are easy to locate, being much less able than men to leave a locality temporarily to evade field workers and they are easier to intimidate into repayment than men who can always threaten violence. Women had limited access to credit and the banks model tries to address this limitation in order to strengthen womens social and economic worth. Ac cess to credit will empower women by improving their bargaining position, both within and outside the family. It provides a visible foundation of economic and social gain and a process that mainstreams their participation at institutional and policy levels. To successfully empower women, MFIs must provide services that will lead to economic gains for women and should also enhance their role in economic decision making. Grameen Bank has been able to empower women through the provision of basic loans with an option of switching to a flexi loan if the borrower defaults on repayment. The bank also provides other services such as education loan, housing loan and at the same time encouraging its members to save by deducting 5% of the total loan amount before disbursement. Grameen Bank also offers life insurance product for its customers to manage life risks. Empowerment must lead to greater leveraging and networking among women in the community. Grameen bank groups its members into cells. Each cell consists of five members and a total of 5-6 cells meet once a week at a centre referred to as kendros to make their weekly loan instalment payment, discuss with each other on new business ideas, help each other in their book keeping of accounts etc. These centres help women to create a sort of social network. MFIs must also provide a gender sensitive and proactive institutional framework for women where women are providing financial services to women. This will create opportunity for role modelling at all levels of the institution and also caters for the specific needs of women in microfinance and beyond. Unfortunately, most of the Grameen Banks staff that organise centre meetings are men. Access to credit is believed to empower women but there is a variation in the degree to which women borrowers in Bangladesh control their loans directly. A large proportion of womens loans are directly invested by their male relatives, who then channel the funds towards investment which are generally regarded as mens work. This problem can be eliminated if Grameen Bank can impose some restrictions on the type of investments the loan can be used for. R. Rahman (1986 Pg.33) discovered a diminishing loan control overtime, with the amount of loan borrowers themselves use falling from 86.6% of the total loan amount in the first year to 66% in the fifth year of membership in the Grameen bank. Womens high demand for loan and their ability to repay are normally seen as proxy indicators for empowerment. Unfortunately, the method for evaluating empowerment does not reveal patterns of loan controls within the household. In Bangladesh, field workers and women beneficiaries gave evidence of the p henomenon of women transferring control to men within their households. There is also the case where new members of a household in some villages in Bangladesh are forbidden to have contact with strangers, especially when the field worker in question is a male. This strengthens the case why Grameen bank should employ more women to manage these Kendros. Even though credit is very important, it must be provided with access to market and access to technology which extends beyond the neighbourhood and the community as identified by Montgomery, Bhattacharya and Hulme. It is true that access to credit will most likely reduce violence against women if channelled through the right path but it can at the same time exacerbate violence against women. According to the staff of Grameen Bank, some women who were unsuccessful in gaining loan access or who have to wait too long for their turn to get a loan are experiencing increases in domestic violence from frustrated husbands. In cases where loans have been managed by the husbands, there is the possibility of the husband refusing to repay, might have invested badly or abscond altogether with the money. The pressure is on the women to find repayment funds from their homestead activities. 5 WIDER IMPACTS The idea behind the wider impacts of microfinance is to account for the positive externalities on spheres (economic, social, political and cultural) beyond households at the local, regional and national level. Economic Impact: these types of impacts are mediated primarily through the intervention on markets. The establishment of MFIs have direct impact on individuals, households or enterprises which in turn has an affect on their participation in one or more markets and therefore affecting the outcomes of those markets. For example, if women have access to credit and markets just as men, they will become key players in the market. This will make the domestic market more competitive and eventually have an effect on the relative prices of all goods and services. The funding of small enterprises by microfinance institutions will help increase output growth and in turn create employment opportunities. Social Impact: social impact refers to changes in the social relations between individuals and between groups of individuals living in the society. Social sector variables are housing quality, education, health and sanitization. Grameen Bank offers the fewest support services for these variables of interest when compared with other leading MFIs in Bangladesh. Beyond the banks sixteen decisions about how members can manage their household and community and social justice which members are made to recite at the beginning of each group meetings. It has started however, to offer credit on special terms for investments in the quality of household life, like loans for tube wells, latrines and housing. Social relation may be rooted in ownership of tangible assets, such as land. Intervention of MFIs may change social relations either by introducing non land resources, which are now being owned by land-poor households. As explained by Rao (2001), microfinance interventions have been able to c hange poor peoples way of thinking about social expenses, such as celebrations that are less about showing off and more about maintaining links across families, building bonds and sustaining webs of obligations. Political Impact: this refers to changes in policy regimes and protection of civil rights. Several rural studies have pointed at the intimidating and coercive role of the state machineries, such as police and the land administration in rural society. MFIs should provide services that seek to address these issues. MFIs can achieve this objective by helping to establish local interest groups similar to that of the self help groups in India, to influence local politics, policies and resource allocation at the local level. Cultural Impact: MFIs should also provide services that will help address the adverse effects of cultural norms on women which is fuelled by institutionalized religion, or, may be inherited from predecessors. Other issues of interest are attitudes towards cleanliness, perception on the role of daughters, need for religious education for children, perceptions on husband wife relations, attitude toward cultural entertainments and participation of women in such programs etc. CONCLUSION MFIs have to some extent helped to alleviate poverty even though it is limited by some constraints and problems. It is important that MFIs must be innovative in their credit service delivery in order to completely meet the needs of the poor people. Considerable emphasis has been placed on providing service to women which tends to be widening the gap between financial services to poor women and poor men. MFIs should also include tailored services to poor men. It is also important that MFIs should in the future fit into mainstream financial sector such as listing itself in the capital market as an alternative source of funds to achieving self sufficiency and striking a balance between the welfarist and institutionalist approach to microfinance.