Counselling Interview Skills Essay

I declare that this assessment is my own work, based on my own personal research/study . I also declare that this assessment, nor parts of it, has not been previously submitted for any other unit/module or course, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of another student and/or persons. I have read the ACAP Student Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct Policy and understand its implications. I also declare, if this is a practical skills assessment, that a Client/Interviewee Consent Form has been read and signed by both parties, and where applicable parental consent has been obtained. Reflective report. During this module I have learnt how important it is to keep in mind that everyone has a set of values and beliefs. I have learnt the importance of knowing what your values and beliefs are, in order to be an effective counsellor. Client’s values and beliefs may be very different to my own, but that does not mean that they are wrong. Some of my values are to treat people with respect and to try and be empathetic to others. I think these values will help me be a good counsellor in that if the client feels respected and understood, they will feel comfortable with me. I am sure there will be times when a client has values that are just so incompatible with my own, that I will need to consider referral, this does not mean that I have failed the client. The client will benefit more from a counsellor who is able to find a connection with them and who does not judge them. The learning activities I have participated in during this module have helped me see many different points of view. In week four we were asked to view a video called focusing. Everyone identified the same areas of concern such as not explaining the process of counselling correctly. In week eight we had a discussion on the type of issues or clients we would find challenging. My response was counselling a court ordered client, some of the other students had the same response. I said I would like advice from a supervisor, to find helpful ways of connecting to this type of client. In week nine we were asked to research an organisation to refer a client with an identified issue. I chose to refer a client who displays a serious mental health issue, I found three organisations to refer clients to. As a result of all the activities I have undertaken in this module I have a much better understanding of the counselling process and the skills a counsellor needs. Communication skills are at the top of the list in importance. I have learned that counselling is about helping a client find their own solutions to their issues and is not about giving the client your advice. During the workshop for this module, I was able to put into practice the skills I have been learning about this term. I have to say I enjoyed the experience immensely, meeting all of my fellow students and seeing the  different approaches and styles was a great learning experience. Having learnt counselling interview skills, I feel I have the tools for becoming a good counsellor in the future and I am looking forward to learning even more.

Cango Wk 4 Swot

SWOT Analysis: Swot stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The SWOT analysis will assist CanGo understand the opportunities that are obtainable and what threats may have an effect on its business. Before moving onward with new ventures CanGo needs to evaluate the arrangement they currently have in the market. Performing a SWOT analysis technique would be very beneficial at this point and will serve as the baseline to elaborate on a strategic plan for the organization.C&G consultants have been monitoring CanGo’s processes for quite sometime, and we have developed the following preliminary SWOT analysis: Strength: ?Purchasing an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) would help to improve the warehouse, by purchasing an automated storage and retrieval system it is a great solution for CanGo’s handling inventory in a more effective and efficient manner. ?CanGo has had tremendous growth over the past couple of years. CanGo has also been recogni zed for as one of the fastest growing small business in the Hudson Valley. CanGo is continually looking to venture out into other areas, in an effort of improving the overall organization. Weaknesses: ?One of the biggest issues is the fact that CanGo does not have a Vision and Mission Statement. Without a vision and mission the organization does not have a clear direction of the organization. ?CanGo is also missing a Strategic plan, without a strategic plan there is no roadmap for growth and prosperity. Strategic planning will help you foresee and react quickly to market changes and opportunities.CanGo should conduct these strategic plans routinely, by doing so it helps you to see opportunities earlier and set up contingency plans so threats are minimized. ?Lack of a system analysis and programmer is also a weakness for CanGo, in general a system analyst would ensure that the requirements set forth by the business are captured and documented correctly before the solution is develope d and implemented. Currently this is not happening for CanGo, so this is an area that needs to be addressed, without it CanGo would not have the knowledge of understanding how present and future business needs will impact the olutions and the implementation process. Opportunities: ?Investing in an in-house database that incorporates into an automated storage and retrieval system ASRS. Fully automated and integrated storage systems are the ultimate in warehouse management and efficiency. They allow for complete integration of the company’s ERP software with warehouse retrieval storage system. Order picking is optimized and controlled. ?CanGo would also benefit from updating their website to reinforce corporate and brand identity, this would help their existing investment in marketing go further.This would allow for CanGo to advertise services and products, build customer relations through personalized services, they could also benefit by conducting market research through thei r website. The internet is a great opportunity for your business to compete on a much more level playing field with much larger businesses. Threats ?CanGo faces losing business from their website to other websites due to their web search taking too long, where the competition’s website is optimized and produces the results quicker Recommendations Issue 1: Marketing to the right customers and consumers is vital to every business.A company needs to know how to market to a certain target to attract their customers so they can sell their goods and create a profit from their inventory. CanGo built their success onluck and they never bothered to get into the details of how their company became successful. They are lacking important and vital information to keep their company successful. Since there is no marketing department in CanGo, I would suggest for them to hire an outside company to conduct their marketing research; I believe that they would benefit from this.The upper manage ment of CanGo should research the company that would best fit the job; perhaps choosing a company that specializes in the same industry as CanGo. There are many advantages to hiring an outside research company; they would be able to determine who the target customers are, where these customers are located, how to reach the target customers and exactly what type of product or services they are looking for. Once the marketing research company determines all of these issues, CanGo would be more effective in marketing their product.Issue 2: The fact that no one is tracking where the work is and who is supposed to be working on what can lead to many problems. Some employees may be doing more work than others because they are efficient and everything seems to land on their desk while others may be receiving credit for work they are not doing. In the video we saw that Nick was tasked out with creating a process flow chart, but he passed it on to someone else, and that some one pass it down to two more people. I believe in fair and equal work between team members so they should break down the work prior to initiating any task.There is nothing wrong with helping your teammates but not do the work for them. Passing work like that can also lead to it getting misplaced. They should use a flow chart to track where the work is. A Gantt chart or a document flow chart seem like a perfect fit for this occasion. The document flow chart will trace the process flow chart document through the system to avoid it getting lost. Losing information can also lead to the loss of secret or personal information. It can be very costly and time consuming to redo all the work that was lost.No one wants to redo what he or she already did. Issue 3: CanGo has been experiencing issues where customers are browsing the website and even selection items to purchase and placing them in their check-out cart; however the customers are leaving the website without making their purchases. It appears that t he customers are experiencing issues regarding making purchases from the website. C&G consultants have a number of recommendations to enhance the shop experience on CanGo’s website. One of the reasons may be due to trust.With internet connection, people want instant gratification. If your sale process is not hassle-free, many customers will go elsewhere. In order to keep customers coming back and to making purchases, CanGo needs to make sure that it is easy to navigate throughout the website, such as making sure that when a customer click on an item it loads up in a timely fashion, time counts, when shopping on websites. Other things that could enhance the website are having a clean and professional design; your home page has a huge impact on visitors.I would also include a search box that is user friendly, this way customers can locate items that they are interested in quickly. Online customer service is another feature that would enhance business, if customers wanted to cha t about checkout problems, this could prevent cart abandonment. Not only can live support help customers figure out your site, locate products or ask questions, live chat can be reactive, where the system triggers a chat invitation based on user behavior. Last but not least there should be links to social networks, such as (Facebook, Twitter, etc. , all of these functionalities would enhance the customers visit to your website more inviting and pleasurable. Issue 4: At CanGo, there is an increase in customer complaints and returns, and before they bring in a new ASRS system and spend more money, they need to correct the customer issues beforehand. If customers are not satisfied with CanGo products or the way they are handling the ordering process, then complaining is a good way for CanGo to realize they are doing something wrong, so they can fix it.In order to keep loyal CanGo customers as well as gain more, the company needs to address where the customers complaints are coming from . This could be from the website not being user-friendly or the customer is not getting enough feedback and going through with the purchase. If the customer does go through with the purchase, then CanGo seems to be getting more returns of the merchandise bought through the website.What CanGo needs to do is to start at the beginning to to look at the company through the eyes of the customer, and they need to figure out the best way to have the customer feel great and good about their purchases from step one of the buying process to the final purchasing stage of the process. Issue 5: Website optimization is very important to online businesses, when a customer makes a search on the website they do not want to have to wait long periods for the results.To improve the issue with the long search times they need to optimize their website and use website compression, this will allow the website to run much faster and produce the quicker results that the customers are wanting. Issue 6: To sol ve is issue with where the employees that are pickers will go once the ASRS system is implemented is simple, they can look at areas that have performance and possibly quality issues and they can place these employees there as opposed to terminating them. By placing these employees in these â€Å"problem† areas, this can increase the productivity of these areas increasing more work flow.Reference Monique. (2012, January 23). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://upandrunning. bplans. com/2012/01/23/the-benefit-of-market-research/ Best practices for speeding up your web site. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://developer. yahoo. com/performance/rules. html CanGo Video Week 3&4. (2012, November 11). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Harris, D. (n. d. ). Types of Flow Charts. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from eHow: www. ehow. com/about_5061018_types-flowcharts. html CanGo Videos Weeks 3&4. 2012, November 19). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Center for simplified Strategic Planning. (2011, November). Simplified strategic planning. Retrieved November 2012, from The best ways to reward employees: www. cssp. com/http:;www. entrepreneur. com/article/753340 CanGo Videos Weeks 3&4. (2012, November 19). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Top 10 Things Customers Expect from Your Online Store. (2012, 11 20). GetEelastic. Retrieved from http://www. getelastic. com/customer-expectations/

The Black Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Black Death - Essay Example Black Death served as a major turning point in the history of European civilization in that there was a high standard of living for the survivors, several problems arose for the clergy and nobles who apparently, were land owners as well as revolts by urban workers and peasants. The resulting high standard of living led to the more even distribution of wealth as well as the economic recovery after 1450.Popular uprisings were as a result of labor shortages due to death of the inhabitants, which made workers to demand high wages for their work, a thing that guild masters and nobles vehemently opposed. Secondly, Black Death severely exhausted medieval state’s tax base, causing kings to drastically raise taxes so as to meet chronic warfare expenses between England and France (Herlihy, 1997).Finally, the black death created problems for the clergy and nobles in 2 major ways; firstly the huge loss of population in the cities’ led to virtual collapsing of the grain markets, a k ey income source for church landlords and nobles having excess grain for selling. This particularly hurt the clergy and nobles who entirely depended on the land for income and wholly relied on the sale of excess grains in the urban centers for badly required cash. This led to the emergence of 2 main strategies for taking care of this loss in income; clergies and nobles resulted in the sale of liberty to their serfs, which raised quick cash, depriving them future incomes.

Career Wheel Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Career Wheel - Assignment Example Almost every organization or government agency has more than one financial managers responsible for overseeing the preparation of financial reports. There are more than 80 positions involving banking, insurance and finance. These positions are divided into six categories: accounting, banking and corporate finance, investment banking and securities, money management and supervisory agencies. Let us take the position of account executive for example. The duties involved in this position are: building broker network through networking, cold calling, soliciting residential mortgage loans originated by mortgage brokers and other financial institutions and prospecting. An alternate title which can be given to this person is Wholesale account manager, mortgage broker channel manager etc. The salary range is $50,000 to $100,000. The employment prospects are good as well as the advancement prospects (Fitch). For one to take up such a responsibility, a four-year college degree is required and three years of mortgage banking experience. The special skills required are: a detailed knowledge of mortgage origination process and a working knowledge of the pc programs. One is needed to work independently and he should have excellent communication skills. It is wonderful to shoulder the responsibilities of managing the national sales efforts of a mortgage broker network. The account executive acts as the primary liaison with mortgage brokers. The marketing industry is one that is diverse in many ways. Many people have taken up the marketing career. People like it so much because it is one of the careers that provides a good pay and it does not consume as much time as other careers such as medicine and engineering. However, this has made the industry to be a competitive one. It is hard to get a job in this sector. One has to be very determined. If one is not a

Kia company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Kia company - Research Paper Example For KIA motors this would include highlighting the energy efficiency of the cars and focusing on low cost of maintenance. This strategy is effective at a time when the purchasing power of the consumers is low. The recent economic downturn has led to a severe dip in the disposable income levels of individuals. Moreover fuel efficiency is also a vital factor at a time when fuel prices are sky rocketing. The company can also promote and replicate its ‘KIA Approved’ strategy that would include providing extended warranties and other benefits and an effective after sales service to lure customers (KIA, 2010). Finally KIA motors can enter into a strategic alliance with a local company of high repute. The strategic alliance would involve collaboration between KIA and its partner in the area of marketing and promoting the product including sharing retail space etc. The alliance with an established local partner would help improve the attitude of the consumers towards the brand and would instill greater confidence among the customers and lead to development of positive attitude among the customers generating sustainable competitive

Many might argue that that now during an economic downturn is a bad Essay

Many might argue that that now during an economic downturn is a bad time to start a business. What do you think - Essay Example Therefore, business startups get appropriate opportunity for retaining the customers when the economy improves. During weak economy, the incumbent bug businesses are vulnerable. This presents appropriate chance for the star ups business to succeed due to their agile and flexile nature. Startups can survive the downturn through minimal overheads. During downturns when established businesses are laying off staffs, the startups can benefit through easily finding talented and competent employees with minimal recruitment and remuneration expenses (Summers 119). Businesses that operate during poor economic performance experience less and weak competition. Startups provide startups with high negotiation abilities. Traditional suppliers experience financial challenges during economic downturn. Startups hence have high advantage in determining the value of supplies (Romer 212). There are many reasons and business models that encourage starting a business during weak economic performance. Hence, entrepreneurs should take adequate advantage of business opportunities during economic

The extent of gender fatigue transpiring within the workplace, and the Dissertation

The extent of gender fatigue transpiring within the workplace, and the ways it can be overcome - Dissertation Example The only viable explanation for the disparaging gender treatments is gender fatigue. It is concluded that both victims and managers need to ignore gender fatigue and deal with incidents of gender inequality responsibly to void the dangers of gender equality losing ground. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Research Questions 5 Statement of the Problem 5 Significance of the Study 6 Aims and Objectives of the Study 7 Research Methodology 8 A Review of Literature 8 Gender Inequality in the Work Place 8 Why Gender Inequality Exists in Some Organizations 10 Gender Fatigue as the Driving Force Behind Gender Inequality in the Workplace 12 Results and Analysis 15 Conclusion 18 Bibliography 20 Introduction Gender fatigue is a phrase used to describe stagnation and complacent attitudes toward reforms and calls for gender equality (Dehhehy, 2012). Initial evidence of gender fatigue was present during the 1980s when feminists were portrayed in public discourse as cartoon characters and as bitter women devoid of humour who projected a belief that all men were â€Å"pigs† and all â€Å"women are saints’ and that â€Å"women who stay at home are wasting their lives† (Sadker & Zittleman, 2009, p. 52). Kelan (2009) gives expression to gender fatigue in the workplace describing it as a situation in which organizations are self-described as â€Å"gender neutral†, yet there is evidence of gender discrimination and the prevailing attitude is one in which there is a general feeling that gender discrimination is thing of the past and â€Å"can happen,† but it is up to women to find solutions (p. 197). Kelan (2008) also argues that members of an organization will often describe their respective organizations as â€Å"gender neutral† although it is obvious to all that there is gender discrimination (p. 1). Workers will acknowledge that gender discrimination occurs in the workplace but will brush it off as unimportant to the work that they do. According to Kelan (2008), this is evidence that these workers are â€Å"experiencing gender fatigue† and that they are â€Å"weary of thinking about gender inequality† (p. 1). Kelan (2010) points out that the practice of doing gender at work takes dual approaches in which gender equality is established and juxtaposed against a situation in which gender differences are once again pronounced. For example, a task is usually performed in which gender equality is highlighted and this will be followed by the allocation of â€Å"remedial work, through which gender hierarch is re-established† (Kelan, 2010, p. 176). This research study investigates the problems created by gender fatigue in the work place. In particular, this research study is concerned with the prevailing attitude in organizations that take the position that they are gender neutral, yet gender inequality remains a part of the organizational culture. In these circumstances, described as gender f atigue, this research paper seeks to identify how the problems associated with achieving gender equality as a result of gender fatigue within organizations can be overcome. Research Questions In order to investigate the problem of gender fatigue in organizations and how gender fatigue can be overcome to

The Byzantines and the Vikings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Byzantines and the Vikings - Essay Example Education, scholarship, and art and architecture were essential aspects of the Byzantine culture, and Byzantine wealth supported the learning and scholarship of its people. The migration and raids of the Vikings (Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes) had an important role in the history of both the Western and Eastern Europe as it altered the political map during the period. The name Vikings or the Northmen was applied to all Scandinavians in the eighth century and they were also called the Verangians. One of the major factors that contributed to the migration and explorations of the Vikings was their ships which carried the horses and other trade materials. Significantly, they achieved an Eastern expansion in the eighth century and their expansion started with the wars among the East Kiev and East Slavs. Similarly, it also celebrated a Western expansion in England and the other regions. Agriculture and trade, learning and literature, art and architecture etc played central activities in the expansion of the Vikings.

Leadership Communication Styles Inventory Essay Example for Free

Leadership Communication Styles Inventory Essay As a manager or leader of an organization of any kind, the power and ability to effectively lead others are in the choices made to build a healthy, motivational, and productive relationship with people on your team. We all influence others in some way, its Just that we seldom realize that we do or how we do it. Power in the workplace has traditionally been defined as force, dominance, assertiveness, strength, invincibility, and authority. In forward thinking corporations, power requires a commitment and a plan of action (Hale, 2010). Power and influence are somewhat interchangeable. Power is the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others. Power is not the act of changing someonws attitudes or behavior; it is only the potential to do so. You might feel powerful or think you have power over someone else, but this is not power unless you truly have the capacity to influence that person (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). One of the hardest lessons of management is that practically everything that has to be done must be done by others. Manager ¤Ã‚ ¬ws duties not only include directing employees ut controlling the budget, assets, and other Jobs within the organization as well. Leadership is the ability to get people to do what they don ¬wt want to do and like it. In other words, the core problem for leaders in any organization involves getting others to do what is required to accomplish the organization ¤es goals (Michelson). The concept of power and its application to leadership and management has gotten a bad reputation. Terms such as power hungry, abuse of power and corrupted by power have diluted powerws real use and meaning and deprived some leaders f the opportunity to understand and use various forms of power to good purposes (Wood, 2010). I like to believe people misuse their power simply because they have it and are unaware of it. When used in a positive, moral, and ethical manner, power is an excellent resource. It requires the perception of dependence, so people might gain power by convincing others that they have something of value, whether or not they actually control that resource. Consequently power exists when others believe that you control resources they want (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 010). People rely on their emotion more frequently than they realize to make decisions, so to become a more powerful influencer, it is wise to consider othews values, personality, and intelligence and express confidence in the personws ability to accomplish the Job. The type of power applied affects the type of influence the power holder has over the other person or work unit. Everyone has power and I d believe that to be a bad thing. The issue becomes what kind of power a person has and how it is used. The most powerful source is based on one osition within an organization and the authority given in that position (Wood, 2010). An abusive boss can lose respect and influence from their team members. As a leader, your influence and power are not only about getting the Job done, itws about the relationships you develop in the workplace. A supervisor on my Job is retiring in a couple ot months and it seems ner whole attitude and demeanor nas changed. She seems to be on a quest to get all the people she wants out of the company and all that she wants promoted before she leaves. The influence and respect that she once possessed is no longer apparent or given to her and the orale in the office is very low. Her tactics to get the Job done are threatening, humiliating, and demeaning for some of the employees. They are afraid to go above her for the fear of retaliation, so they wait and hope that their Jobs are safe until she retires. French and Raven, social psychologists, identified five sources of power legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and referent that help the dependent person directly or indirectly achieve his or her goals. Legitimate, reward and coercive are sources of power granted formally by the organization and informally by co-workers; hey are positional powers (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). Legitimate power is an agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors of others. It depends on mutual agreement from those expected to abide by this authority (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). True and lasting power comes from being a leader worthy of respect and admiration. If you treat people with dignity and respect, you will build a trusting relationship and people will look up to you, listen to what you say, and want to be like you. Reward power derived from the person ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sanctions. Managers have power over the distribution of organizational rewards such as pay, promotions, time off, vacation schedules, and work assignments (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). This power comes with the position and can be taken away if the position is removed. Coercive power is the ability to apply punishment. Employees also have coercive power to ensure that co-workers conform to team norms (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). You have this kind of power when youwre in a position to punish others if they don ¬wt do what you want. People fear the consequences of not doing what has been asked of them. Expert and referent powers are based on an individuws personal power. These powers are based on charisma, likeability, and positive feelings the leader generates among subordinates (Wood, 2010). There is research suggesting that charismatic leadership is negatively related to harmful behaviors in the workplace. For example, transformational leadership was negatively associated with safety accidents which harisma is a large component of (Hale, 2010). These powers originate from the power holders characteristics and are power bases brought to the organization. Expert power is an individualws or work uws capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills that others value (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). This power is based on what you know and will quickly gain you respect and influence in the workplace. It is all about knowing your Job and doing it well and not being afraid in learning all that you can. It could potentially be the basis for a managerial role for an employee. Referent power is a function ofa perso ¬ws interpersonal skills which allows others to identify with them, like them, or respect them and is associated with charismatic leadership (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). People are well liked and are considered role models because of their connection and concern for other people. People who are well-liked and respected nave a tremendous amount ot reterent power. A wise leader knows now and when to apply the right amount of power to influence an individual, group, or situation to move an agenda forward (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). In order to be an effective leader, a person cannot rely solely on either of these positions of power. Leading by example, offering rewards, or threatening punishments all can be used as power tools to accomplish goals, however more power can be gained by sharing it among the team in a more subtle and counterintuitive way (Wood, 2010). If you want your team to be ethical and respectful of each other, I believe the example should start from the top. Using influence tactics well requires a healthy combination of interpersonal, communication, presentation, and assertiveness techniques, verbal skills such as asserting, probing, ersisting, speaking conversationally, and willingness to ask for favors ( (Selling and Persuaion Techniques ). Influence refers to any behavior that attempts to alter someonws attitudes or behaviors (McShane, Steven L, Mary Ann Von Glinow, 2010). You may try to exert your influence through coercion and manipulation and you might even get things done but that isn ¬wt really influencing. Thatws forcing people to do what you want them to do and often against their will. Effective leaders use combinations of various strategies for different purposes under different onditions which can be classified under three categories: retribution, reciprocation, and reason (Michelson).

Great Pyramids Essay Example for Free

Great Pyramids Essay An accomplishment that has always fascinated me has been the Great Pyramids, specifically, The Great Pyramid at Giza. This Great Pyramid is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This Great Pyramid contains chambers specifically for the King and Queen and is believed to have taken 20 years to have been built. (Wikipedia) The Egyptians employed many experienced men, up to 100,000. These men were worked hard and work for 10 days to receive one day off. (Smith) What I believe is most amazing in the creation of this Great Pyramid is Egyptians were able to lay these large limestone blocks and keep them straight and balanced without basic tools. They were able to get a horizontal base that was near perfect and the precision of the angles are magnificent. This is a great example of a type of technology that the Egyptian people mastered. They must have known to line things up with the sun at a certain time of the day. This would be an example of something that their culture has affected other cultures. (Smith) There were a few tools specific to the building of the pyramid. They used wooden wedges to crack the limestone. In addition, they used the Nile River to their advantage to transport the limestone and mortar by boat to the pyramid when possible. (Smith) The Great Pyramid of Giza was estimated to have been built around 3600BC and still stands today. The Great Pyramid today is open for tourists. (Wikipedia) References Smith, N. (2011). Classic projects: The Great Pyramid at Giza. Engineering Technology (17509637), 6(1), 112-113, doi:10.1049/et.2011.0145 Great Pyramid at Giza. (2013). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 16, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

Biodegradable Polymers: Processes of Degradation

Biodegradable Polymers: Processes of Degradation Introduction The ISO definition of a biodegradable polymer is â€Å"an irreversible process leading to a significant change of the structure of a material, typically characterized by a loss of properties (e.g. integrity, molecular weight, structure or mechanical strength) and/or fragmentation. Degradation is affected by environmental conditions and proceeds over a period of time comprising one or more steps† Biodegradable and compostable processes are essentially the same mechanism of how materials irreversibly breakdown into their fundamental composition, CO2, H2O, CH4 and other low-molecular weight products. The major difference is on how they go about the decomposition, biodegradation occurs naturally where microorganisms metabolise the material, where as composting takes place under strict conditions rate of degradation and the end product is non-toxic. The process of composting will also be affected by the size of the particles, large pieces may not be compostable but shreds of the same material may be compostable. Materials can also be composted at homes and the end product used in gardening, but some materials may not compostable at home and may require an industrial process. Biodegradable and compostable polymers should not be confused with biopolymers, which are naturally occurring polymers that readily degrade in the environment, starch, cellulose, proteins are a few examples of biopolymers, while the former are polymers engineered to degrade in the environment through one or more mechanisms of degradation. The degradation of a polymer should into consideration the other mechanisms of material degradation (oxidation, hydrolysis, photo-degradation, thermal-degradation) which can affect the polymer before or during the biodegradation process, or maybe the only mechanism acting on the polymer [ 41.wang ]. As more people are becoming more eco-conscious and aware of global warming, although not directly responsible, more effort is put into discovering new sustainable plastics and better manufacturability of these degradable polymers. History and why bioplastics? The first polymers, or plastics as it generally known, recorded in history were produced by The Horners Company in London [BPF site] which used horn and tortoiseshell as the predominant early natural plastic in the year 1284. But it is in the early 18th century that the plastic industry started to build up its momentum, it is during the period Alexander Parkes invented the first plastic in the 1850s [makingthemodernworld]. Today polymers are the most widely used material playing in an important role in civil construction to human wellbeing. A pair in Germany were awarded the patent to their invention of Casein Plastic as the first bioplastic derived from milk, but it was in 1990 that ICI Ltd launched the first commercially available biodegradable plastic. With the world consumption of plastics increasing to 100 million tonnes annually , from 5 million tonnes in the 1950s,[M.Avella] and growing at a rate of 4% annually. They can only be recycled or dumped into a landfill, which are becoming scarce [J_H_Song] , and with more governments of the developed world taking advantage of the developing world, where they send their nations waste to be disposed to and where it cannot be dealt efficiently due to the lack of proper facilites. What goes into the landfills cannot be controlled and the mixture of waste releases toxic agents from the more volatile waste, and gases, most notably methane from the other degradable waste, into the atmosphere which would be difficult to capture it everywhere, which is utilised in the U.K. Total solid waste in the EU is 520 Kg/year per person of which 10%-15% is plastics, more than 50 Kg, of which 40% is sent to landfills [mooney brian p] which is about 10 million tonnes, with the EU population at 0.5 billion [eurostat]. Recycling polythene carrier bags rather than producing new plastic has many environmental benefits such as: Reducing energy consumption by almost 67% Produces 33% of sulphur dioxide and 50% of nitrous oxide uses almost 90% less water Emits almost 250% less carbon dioxide One of the most important factors that it saves 1.8 million tonnes of oil for one tonne of polythene recycled. [wasteonline] Not accounting for the total carbon footprint of the process. But recycling is not very efficient process compared to producing new materials, every time plastic is recycled it loses about 10% of it mass, [green plastics] reducing the mass of the material to 73% of its original after only 3 recycles. The current proven world crude oil reserves of about a total of 1,342 billions of barrels[eia.doe.gov, no title], is estimated to run out by 2040[imeche] at current rate of consumption, though there are critics who would oppose these figures, therefore even more urgency in developing sustainable biodegradable polymers by then is required with the population doubling. How they are made? Biodegradable polymers can be based on a variety of environmentally sustainable materials, or a combination of different biomass, and also from bacteria. The most basic material that is used is starch which is abundantly available, large quantities present in corn and potatoes but also all vegetables, and at a low price. Cellulose is another commonly and easily accessible material that is being used to produce bioplastics. Certain oil based polymers have a degree of biodegradability too, polymers such as polycarbonate, polyhydroxybutyrate and poly vinyl alcohol [ BrodyMarsh ] or other biomaterials added to make it biodegradable though it may not be possible for the polymer to degrade 100%. Not all biodegradable polymers are derived from biomaterials or oil some can be synthesised, Aliphatic polyesters [ mulch films ]. Starch Starch molecules are polymers of Glucose molecules, where all the sugars are oriented in the same direction, as shown in the diagram below. Starch is made up of two types of molecules amylose and amylopectin, depending on the type of the plant starch can contain upto 25% amylose and 80% amylopectin [Poon, introduction to organic]. Starch granules diameter are averagely in the range 5-40  µm, depending on the source, they are not suitable in the plastic industry as they are difficult to process during extrusion and injection moulding. Starch therefore has to be processed, physically and chemically, before it can be used as thermoplastic starch, TPS, which usually includes heating it up in the presence of water to form a gelatinous material, but may require further treatment as this type of TPS is not moisture resistant [ 36/41.wang ]. To ensure that polymers were degraded in the environment after their service life starch was mixed with a range of polymers, such as polyethylene [ 50 Ke.Ty ], but because these class of polymers contain non-degradable polymers which will not be degraded, and cannot be seen, they cannot be called biodegradable polymers. Thermoplastics starch are therefore mixed with vinyl alcohol to create composites that tend to be more stable, but reducing the starch content in the thermoplastic polymer composite will reduce the biodegradability of the polymer[37]. TPS mixed with other biodegradable polymers ensure a 100% rate of degradation, which is not the case as mentioned when mixed with other polymers. TPS are mixed with synthetic polymers such as poly-(lactic acids) (PLA), poly(glycolic acids) (PGA) etc. [50,ke.ty] PLA blended with starch can reduce the costs of the polymer in addition to greatly reducing its rate of degradation, the raw materials of PLA is produced by fermenting carbohydrates from renewable sources, such as corn [50]. Cellulose Cellulose is a type of polysaccharide, a carbohydrate, found in plant cell walls and the most abundant organic material on earth, 40% of all organic matter [ green plastics ], it is produced by plants by natural photosynthesis from CO2 and water, at an annual rate of 200 billion tonnes, of which 6 billion tonnes are used [ 45.simon.J ] . Cellulose is similar to starch with the main difference being the molecular arrangement, in starch the molecules are highly branched and in cellulose the molecules are linear. Due to the arrangement molecular structure of cellulose, it cannot be processed into a thermoplastic but has to be converted to derivatives e.g esters and ethers to reduce the intermolecular forces for molecular flow to occur under heat and shearing conditions, unlike processing starch it does not require moisture [ thermoplastic starch ]. Attempts to produce polymers from cellulose, like polymers from starch, during past half a century were discouraged by textbooks expressing that because cellulose has a rigid backbone it cannot be converted to a polymeric material [ 54.yoshioka]. The figure shows various polymer derivatives from starch and cellulose, with the hydrogen in the starch molecules replaced by the R groups to form different polymers [ 14.second grn rev ]. Nitrocellulose, a highly explosive material, for instance is produced by reacting cellulose with a nitrating acid, mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, and with alcohol or a plasticizer, such as camphor to make it more flexible and mouldable, added to stabilise the process [ 40.azom ]. Cellulose acetate is one of the more important and used cellulose derived biodegradable polymers, usually prepared from high grade cellulose, obtained from fast growing tress or cotton linters [ 53.alexander ]. It is commonly prepared by synthesising raw cellulose acetic acid followed by acetic anhydride in the presence of sulphuric acid, which acts as a catalyst, producing primary cellulose acetate, known as cellulose triacetate. The triacetate can then be formed into a solution, using methylene chloride as a solvent, which can then be dry-spun to form fibres, to produce cellulose diacetate. Finally cellulose diacetate can be dissolved, acetone as a solvent, to form fibres known as cellulose acetate [ britannica ]. All three groups of cellulose acetate are similar, what differentiates them is the percentage of hydroxyl groups that are acetylated, according to the Federal Trade Commission, of America, 92% of hydroxyl groups must have acetylated to refer it as a cellulose acetate, els e the generally referred to it as cellulose triacetate [ 52.rulesreg] . To produce a process-able polymer the cellulose acetate particles is mixed with a liquid additive, mixing thoroughly using a high speed mixer resulting into fine grained powder and extruded to form granules. Processing parameters that apply are 20-30D screw-type mixer, temperature range 160-190  °C and pre-drying for 2 hours at 70 °C. These granules can then be subjected to standard thermoplastic processing techniques [ 53.alexander ]. Lignin is another second most abundant component of woody plants, 20% of all organic material [green plastics], which is not yet used to its full potential, small amount used in various industries. There are new methods being developed to produce lignocellulosic biomass. Proteins There is not a huge amount of information available on biodegradable polymers derived from proteins. One reason may be that plants do not contain a high amount of proteins to be efficient enough to produce polymers, such as 100 grams of corn contains only 3.22 grams of proteins but 19.02 grams of carbohydrates, almost 6 times as much. Soybean the highest protein containing 36 grams of protein and almost as much carbohydrates, but yielding only 50% of the crop per unit area when compared to maize [ 61.lobell ]. Protein just like starch and cellulose can be regarded as a polymer made up of chains of various amino acids. Proteins from various crops have been used to produce polymers, especially zein and gluten, produced in maize and wheat respectively. Zein-gluten composite polymer can be produced by having wheat gluten coated with zein, [ 62.kim,sanghoon ] . The process does not require extrusion processes or high temperature, but only requires of zein to be purified. Kim Sanghoon describes a relatively simple method of producing a protein based biodegradable polymer, from gluten, zein, ethanol and distilled water, and compressed in an aluminium mould. Other methods of producing protein based polymers include using wood fibres mixed with gluten is plasticized using glycerol, water and ethanol, and extrusion moulded,[ 65.Wu.Qiangxian ] unlike the Sanghoon method. Sources of proteins used to produce biodegradable polymers include feather-meal, waste animal proteins [60.feathermeal], soy bean [ 58.nanda], egg white [ 39. Egg white ]. Synthetic Biodegradable Polymers Biodegradable polymers can be synthesised in lab, but because the costs involved the materials are further mixed with a natural polymer, usually starch, as it is abundant and cheaply available or a cellulose derived polymer. A few of the synthetic biodegradable polymers to name are polyglycolide (PGA), polylactides (PLA) (also known as Poly (lactic acid)), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). Synthetic polymers can generally offer greater advantages compared to naturally derived polymer, as they can be engineered to have the desirable properties, and have more consistency, unlike naturally derived polymers they do not depend on the source of the raw material which can influence the properties and quality of the final polymer. Aliphatic polyesters are the most widely and commercially used synthetic polymers available, a few are named above, other polymers that have emerged in the market are polyester containing aromatic moieties. The synthetic biodegradable polymers may be classified into three groups, but the literature will only review polyesters Polyesters Polymers containing both esters and other heteroatom-containing linkages in the main chains Polymers with heteroatom-containing linkages other than ester linkages in the main chain Biodegradable polyesters can be synthesised in a number of ways Polycondensation reaction diols and dicarboxylic acids Self-polycondensation of hydroxyacids Ring opening polymerisation Of the above three processes polycondensation, also known as step-growth polymerisation, and ring opening polymerisation are more widely. Some polyesters synthesised by polycondensation are Poly (lactic acid), Poly (glycolic acid), Polycaprolactone. The process involves the monomers of the two raw material reacting to progressively form long chain polymers, as the secondary name suggests. One disadvantage of the process is that the water production from the reaction must be continuously removed, leading to lengthy reaction times and producing varying chain length polymers. [ reviewed by 75.RaySmith/ 73. Okada ] Poly (lactic acid), a linear aliphatic polyester, based on lactic acid, which can be produced by fermenting carbohydrates or by chemical method. Lactic acid contains both the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups needed for polycondensation, but requires removal of water, by azeotropic distillation, as mentioned, to avoid poor yield, further production methods of various aliphatic polyesters is provided M. Bhattacharya.[ by Bhattacharya p337 in 75.RaySmith ] Ring opening polymerisation is a form of addition polymerisation, where cyclic monomers join a reactive centre (terminal end of a polymer),a range of anionic, cationic and coordinative initiators/catalyst are mentioned in scientific literature, to form long chain polymers though ionic propagation. [R Jerome p77 reviewed by 75.RaySmith]. Ring opening polymerisation is advantageous than polycondensation such that it takes place in milder reaction conditions and there are no side reactions, giving a more controlled end product [ 73.okada ], one of the most used polymers in the market Nylon 6 is produced using this process. The ring-opening polymerisation can be initiated by many organometallic derivatives of metals such as Al, Sn, Y, Nd, Yb, Sm etc, which have d-orbitals of favourable energy, metal alkoxides, e.g. aluminium alkoxides, tin alkoxides, may acts as typical initiators. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a class of biodegradable polymer, polyesters , produced by using bacteria, e.g. Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Ralstonia etc, especially members of the Halobactereicae, as the production centre. The PHA is synthesised within the bacteria that functions as an energy storing water-insoluble compound in the cytoplasm of the bacteria cell[80.anderson]. Bacteria that do not produce PHA can be modified to produce them, e.g. cloning PHA operon, nucleotide sequences of DNA that control the production of PHA, into E. Coli bacteria allows the production of PHA by the bacteria. PHA are then produced by the bacteria when it supplied with source of high carbon content, like glucose under nutrient-limiting conditions. The described way producing is considerably more expensive than oil based polymers there have been suggestions of using products from the food industry as a feedstock for the bacteria to produce PHA, malt waste from a brewery is one of the suggestions, where b acteria produced upto 70% polymer, of dry cell weight (DCW). [82. Yu.Peter] Recent research groups have been forced to find alternate methods of producing PHA, due to the costs involved in the conventional method, and have been experimenting successfully with transgenic plants, where the only raw materials required would be CO2, for carbon, and sunlight. Other areas that have attracted research to produce polymers of the PHA family are the cyanobacteria, that produce the P(3HB) by oxygenic photosynthesis, but their yield rates are very small compared to the conventional method.Synechococcus MA19, a unicellular thermopile, can store upto 55% DCW. [reviewed by 78. philip] Rubber Rubber is an elastomer and a polymer of isoprene, it can be synthesised or be derived from the Brazilian rubber tree, Hervea Brasiliensis, from which most natural rubber is derived, but unlike the name suggest, over 95% of natural rubber in 2008 was produced in Asia, mostly south Asia, but synthetic rubber still makes a greater portion of the market, 56% of the world supplied with synthetic rubber. Rubber like material was developed based on thermal polymerization epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with triethlyene glycol diamine (TGD), which produce a polymer behaving as a rubber-like elastomer [reviewd in 107.soybean]. Another method to produce natural rubber is by using PHA, which is obtained from bacteria as described, which will therefore be completely biodegradable. The PHA surface is however hydrophobic making it difficult for the microorganisms to inhabit on the surface an degrade, hence its increasing its shelf life significantly, but still be degradable in a composting environment. [109.rubber bacteria] Properties and Enhancements The most important property for all biodegradable polymers, or degradable polymers, is that are completely degradable into basic components, CO2 CH4 and H2O , including any other organic compound, by the means of microbial attack, or any other naturally occurring process for the polymers that classified as degradable by other means. Properties of biodegradable material should be separated into three categories, the naturally derived polymers, synthetic polymers and the composite of these polymers. Naturally Derived polymers TPS shows excellent degradability and composting ability in the soil, partly due to the water solubility of starch. It also has a good oxygen barrier and is not electrostatically chargeable [ 7.Lorcks ]. Unmodified starch polymer have poor processability and mechanical properties, compared to the other polymers available, but plasticising the starch, by addition of water, can assist in processing of the starch, and treating it at a certain temperature would transform the starch into TPS, which show thermoplastic behaviour and properties. As seen in Figure the pure form of TPS has the least period of degradation, but treating it with other biodegradable polymer to enhance its properties increases the time it takes to completely degrade. Cellulose in water-insoluble and like starch fully degradable, and composed of D-gylcopyranoside units, but unlike starch, linked by ÃŽ ±-(1-4) bonds, it is linked by ÃŽ ²-(1-4) bonds. The molecular arrangement of cellulose, explained previously, and the bond type contributes to the longer periods it takes to degrade, which is transferred to the polymer it is based on. Cellulose will readily decompose on heating, therefore cannot be heated to process, but is synthesised into cellulose acetate which like starch shows properties and characteristics of a thermoplastic, but the time it takes to degrade is reduced as the cellulose content of the polymer is reduced. Cellulose and starch the two of most used and abundant organic compounds having similar properties, except the time to full degradation, both have the characteristic of their glass transition temperature and melting temperature being close to their decomposition temperature. M. Gaspar [83.reduce water absoption] conducted experiments to examine and improve water absorption in starch based polymers. The experiment contains four specimens of TPS, TPS w/Cellulose, TPS w/hemicelluloses, TPS/polycaprolactone and TPS w/zein each composite having the same proportion, by weight, of the additive. The results showed that TPS w/zein had the highest tensile strength Youngs modulus and TPS w/cellulose the lowest tensile strength and TPS w/polycaprolactone the lowest Youngs modulus. The table shows a few of the mechanical properties of the polymers described above, noting that the 2 different types of starch have significantly differently poreprties. Film type Test condition Tensile strength (MPa) Elongation at break (%) Water vapor permeability (gmm/m2daykPa) Reference Cassava starch 25 °C 75% RH 9.0-17.0 9.0-28.0 [86] Corn starch 25 °C 75% RH 3.8-4.3 4.0-10.0 [86] Low density polyethylene 38 °C 90% RH 7.6-17.3 500.0 0.08 [88] High density polyethylene 38 °C 90% RH 17.3-34.6 300.0 0.02 [88] Cellulose acetate 38 °C 90% RH 48.5-82.7 15.0-45.0 [88] Polyester 38 °C 90% RH 178.0 70.0-100.0 [88] Cellophane 38 °C 90/0% RH 7.27 [89] PLA is a synthetic biodegradable polymer, that is brittle and has poor impact strength, leading to failure of the material by cracking and tearing, and therefore preventing a more widespread use of the polymer in the packaging industry. Another PLA property is its natural yellow tint, which again is a factor that prevents it uses in the packaging industry, which leads to poor presentation of a consumer product. PLA is therefore blended with other biodegradable polymers (to keep it 100% biodegradable) to improve the properties that are most desirable. Usually is PLA mixed with plasticizers such as pole-ÃŽ µ-caprolactone, poly (vinyl acetate), starch, poly(hydroxyl butyrate), providing the PLA with more ductility, but having a negative effect on the tensile strength[91 to 99]. The brittleness of PLA can be counter acted by mixing it with a plasticiser, which also reduces the already low glass transition temperature further reducing its end product applications.[100 101] F.Byrne [90] tested PLA mixed various available masterbatches, commercially available polymer additives, to check the enhancements, and the results are as in table, of them all PLA dcS511-Ice clear appears to be the best option for an additive as it removes the tint from the material. Table Thermal, mechanical, optical and surface properties of PLA and PLA/masterbatch blends Properties determined Units PLA Biomax Strong PLA dcS511 PLA dcS515-N PLA dcS511-Ice clear Glass transition temperature oC 59 59 59 58 58 Melting temperature oC 150 150 151 150 151 Crystallinity % 9 0 5 7 4 Tensile strength MPa 68 66 67 66 64 Tensile modulus MPa 2.3 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.1 Impact strength N 90 390 90 90 90 Shore D hardness 69D 59D 64D 69D 64D Haze % 19.5 67.9 20.6 13.5 10.9 Yellowness index 7.2 10.0 5.8 10.8 0 Another method of improving the properties of polymers is by producing polymers, an example can be of PLA matrix with natural fibres which may include plasticizers, but still remain completely biodegradable. An experiment included using polypropylene (PP) and PLA matrix, including PLA with plasticizer, with flax fibres. The pure PLA had better mechanical properties than the pure PP, and reduced tensile strength as composites. The results showed the PLA with 30 wt.% flax fibre are a 50% stronger than similar composites made from PP, another study [104 sisal] used sisal fibre in a PLA/Starch composite but resulted in poor mechanical properties. PLA/triacetin, plasticizer, composite with flax fibre reduced the strength of the composite but made it more ductile, effect of the plastizer. PP/flax fibre of 30 wt.% are commonly used in industrial applications that has an elongation to break of 2.7% with a tensile strength of 29MPa, even though fibres greatly increased the PLA strength its ductility was reduced to successfully replace the PP composite a suitable fibre could be researched or PLA/15wt.%Triacetin with elongation to break 2.6% and tensile strength 37.2MPa could be used. When using natural fibres in a polymer matrix composite the inconsistency of natural fibres length and properties must be considered, therefore using synthetic biodegradable fibres, cellulosic origins, an even quality can be obtained[105.herrmann]. Degradation Oil based plastics are resistant to biodegradation, and most other forms of degradation, as the micro organisms responsible for the degradation of these polymers are unable to consume it, mainly due the impenetrable oil based matrix which are they are made from and the surface in contact with the soil is smooth [reviewed in 113 p,p,future] . Another class of polymers are the partially degradable are oil based polymers composites with a easily degradable fibre, e.g. starch, which breakdown as the microorganisms attack the starch and leave the oil based polymer particles behind, which degrade at a much slower rate, but unnoticeable because of the size. Complete degradation of a material occurs through various mechanisms, by microorganisms, light, water etc. Biodegradation can be generally be classified into two categories aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation, where the final products of each of the degradation are CO2, H20 and biomass of aerobic and CO2, CH4 and biomass of anaerobic. CPolymer + O2 à   CO2 + H2O + CResidue + C Based biomass Generally in plastics the amorphous region is more vulnerable to degradation by hydrolysis, as water is easily penetrated into this region. The degradation can be classified into surface degradation and bulk degradation, where surface degradation occurs when the degrading agents are not able to penetrate into the bulk layer of the material and act only on the material surface. Spherulites may be visible on the material undergoing surface degradation. It must be noted that materials in the environment may not be degraded by one specific mode of degradation but a combination of different mechanisms, so it would be sensible to consider degradation of a polymer in the soil to have two mechanisms of degradation acting on it, biodegradation and hydrolytic degradation, and photo-degradation if it is exposed to sunlight. Degradation can be considered to occur in two phases, disintegration and mineralization. The disintegration of polymers may occur through hydrolytic degradation, photo-degradation or thermal-degradation by exoenzymes, mediated or not [114. scott]. The hydrolytic degradation is most likely to occur and have a greater role in the process of the biodegradation of the polymer, the figure below shows the subdivisions of hydrolysis. The mineralization takes place when the microorganisms start to metabolize the disintegrated polymer particles and convert them to common inherent digestion products [6 Krzan]. Natural rubber exists in the environment the various microorganisms required to metabolise the polymer are already widely distributed in the environment. The process starts by the oxidation at the double bond of the polymer chain, leading to the formation of carbonyl, peroxide or epoxide groups. The microorganisms secrete a rubber degrading extracellular enzyme, which in a sense start a chain reaction, as lower-molecular weight fractions are further metabolised by the microorganisms. An industrial scale degradation

Policy issues - Geographic Information :: science

Policy issues - Geographic Information Policy issues and availability of Geographic Information Geographical Information is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on earth. The major components of a GI are: a user interface; system/database management capabilities; database creation/data entry capacity; spatial data manipulation and analysis packages; and display/product generation functions. GIS technology integrates, via the Internet, common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps. These abilities distinguish GIS from other information systems and make it valuable to a wide range of public and private enterprises for explaining events, predicting outcomes, and planning strategies Public Sector:- Defense: The rapid development of technology has led to advancements that have had a direct impact on the improvement of our military. Weapons have become more effective and the use of satellite imagery has helped reduce the amount of lives lost during conventional warfare Banking and insurance Companies: GI technology provides financial users with insight about their customer's purchasing habits, financial behavior, and needs for additional products or services. As a result, banks are able to target their best prospects and not misdirect marketing and advertising resources. Power (Electricity Sector): GI can effectively manage information on the distribution of electricity to customers and information describing the attributes of each customer such as location and electricity use. It makes information easily updatable and accurate and hence can cater to the needs of maintaining large power infrastructure Police: In today’s world when there is so much crime all around and police forces need to be very efficient, GI help police department to plan and keep an eye on the crime & criminals. It helps to manage, number of Police Personnel required, starting point for each team / person while on patrolling, direction and length of path for each team. Telecom: GI systems within Telecom utilities can provide facilities for fault tracking, customer care, Planning and efficient management of a large distributive network and more importantly provide a framework for better integration and analysis of relevant facility information derived from several sources in graphics environment. Commercial Sector: Retail market and Distribution: It provides real world picture like which areas of the city are more than 2 km from any shop selling my products? How many households does a particular shop serve? What is average household income in the areas that this shop serves? What route should my distribution trucks take to minimize delivery cost and time? Policy issues - Geographic Information :: science Policy issues - Geographic Information Policy issues and availability of Geographic Information Geographical Information is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on earth. The major components of a GI are: a user interface; system/database management capabilities; database creation/data entry capacity; spatial data manipulation and analysis packages; and display/product generation functions. GIS technology integrates, via the Internet, common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps. These abilities distinguish GIS from other information systems and make it valuable to a wide range of public and private enterprises for explaining events, predicting outcomes, and planning strategies Public Sector:- Defense: The rapid development of technology has led to advancements that have had a direct impact on the improvement of our military. Weapons have become more effective and the use of satellite imagery has helped reduce the amount of lives lost during conventional warfare Banking and insurance Companies: GI technology provides financial users with insight about their customer's purchasing habits, financial behavior, and needs for additional products or services. As a result, banks are able to target their best prospects and not misdirect marketing and advertising resources. Power (Electricity Sector): GI can effectively manage information on the distribution of electricity to customers and information describing the attributes of each customer such as location and electricity use. It makes information easily updatable and accurate and hence can cater to the needs of maintaining large power infrastructure Police: In today’s world when there is so much crime all around and police forces need to be very efficient, GI help police department to plan and keep an eye on the crime & criminals. It helps to manage, number of Police Personnel required, starting point for each team / person while on patrolling, direction and length of path for each team. Telecom: GI systems within Telecom utilities can provide facilities for fault tracking, customer care, Planning and efficient management of a large distributive network and more importantly provide a framework for better integration and analysis of relevant facility information derived from several sources in graphics environment. Commercial Sector: Retail market and Distribution: It provides real world picture like which areas of the city are more than 2 km from any shop selling my products? How many households does a particular shop serve? What is average household income in the areas that this shop serves? What route should my distribution trucks take to minimize delivery cost and time?

The Role of Ethnicity and Race in the Way Audiences Interpret Media Mes

The Role of Ethnicity and Race in the Way Audiences Interpret Media Messages According to the sociological definition of race and ethnicity, there is a close interrelation between race and ethnicity. Race has not been defined by the biological difference that it is stood on the social construct. Race does not discriminate the skin color from others which is related to the ethnicity. Race is defined on the social construct which based on physical and cultural features (Fulcher & Scott, 2007). ‘Ethnicity is a general category for describing collective identities’ (Fulcher & Scott, 2007:200). Ethnicity is based on the cultural and historical background that it means the people in this ethnic group is sharing the same language, religion and same experience of life. Ethnicity is the ethnic characteristic for the specific race. Ethnicities represent the role for separating the different race. In terms of race, people might have the racism to the different culture of others which might base on the historical colonization, the control of the western culture and so on (Fulcher& Scott, 2007). This racism also occurs in the media. The western media may intentionally neglect the people of Black or Asian. Media are more likely to use the white people as their main character. Although media has increased the number of the Black and Asian people in recent year on the screen, there is still the inequality in the media product. The Black and Asian people might totally disappear in some scene which is shot in the place with the large number of Black and Asian people (Ross & Playdon, 2001). This phenomenon provokes the anger and dissatisfaction of the Black and Asian people. Also, media may offer the wrong information for those minorit... ...rom you born to die that race is innate for everyone. In this world, everyone is equal that each person might have the same right to stay in this society. Works Cited Fulcher, J. and Scott, J., (2007) Sociology 3rd ed., Oxford : Oxford University Press Ross,K.,(2001) White Media, Black audience: Diversity and Dissonance on British Television in Ross, K. & Playdon, P.(eds.) Black marks : minority ethnic audiences and media, London: Ashgate Dines, G. & Humez, J.M.(eds.) (2002) Gender, race, and class in media : a text-reader London : Sage Dickinson,R., Harindranath, R. & Linnà ©. O.,(1998) Approaches to audiences : a reader, London : Arnold Saltzis, K.(Professor), (2010 February 23) CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE AUDIENCE Lecture 5, University of Leicester, UK Downing, J. & Husband, C. (2005) Representing race: racisms, ethnicities and media, London: SAGE

Learning and Physical Activity Essay

Explain why physical activity is important to the short and long term health and well being of children. physical activity should be part of every childs life. it promotes living a healthy lifestyle and also the childs general well being. short term health- physical activity promotes a lot of different areas, some of these being; building muscle- helps children move more freely which makes them really enjoy physical play. developing heart and lung functions developing a skeletal frame- if a skeletal frame is not developed properly it cause be a risk of many health problems. Long term health- physical activity is very important and also plays a very big role in preventing obesity. aspects of development 1. 2 explain the development of movement skills in young children and how these skills affect other aspect of development movement skills hand eye coordination- is very important as we need eyes and hands to work together. for example to catch a ball requires the eyes to tell the brain that the hand need to move in order to catch the ball. foot eye coordination- to kick a ball the eyes need to tell the brain tht the foot needs to move in order to kick a ball. Travelling movement- where the child moves from one place to another for example running, skipping and jumping object control movement- objects being send, recieved and travelled with for example. throwing a ball. balance and coodination control gross motor control- this mean whole limb movements, such as moving arms, legs or the entire body(running, jumping) fine motor control- these are smaller actions such as picking up an object using finger or thumb or using your tounge and lips to taste. 2. 3 explain the importance of natural outdoor enviroments for young childrens physical activity and movement skills. As well as playing indoors children should be encouraged to join in in outdoor play. outdoor play is important for mental, emotional and emotional well being. playing outdoors will develop a childs imagination and self confidence. They will get to experience movement and freedom and develop their muscle strength, coordination and problem solving skills. there are alot of benefits of outdoor space, some of these being; playing outside also makes children gain more physical skills because they are learning to use their bodies in a different way to what they would do indoors. Social interaction also goes on whilst playing outside this is because they are not getting as much direction of the adults. children get to learn by using their outside voicesm yelling and running. children learn what is acceptable in one setting that may not be acceptable in another playing outdoors teaches children about different types of textures, smells and sounds outdoor play encourages children to take risks, have more imagination and to explore their own interests. Explain how the plan; meets the individul movement skills needs of children  includes activities that promote competence in movement skills encourages physical play in my plan i planned to do sticky kids with the children at the nursery. sticky kids is physical play so the activity encourages children to participate in physical play. As sticky kids is alot of dancing this helps children develop more of their movement skills. When I planned to do sticky kids, I tried to fit the plan around every childs individual movement skills. The children participated really well and the plan I did went well. There were a few children that wasn’t joining in but we got them all to join in and they participated really well. My plan encouraged physical play because we got the children to get up and join in the activity but they had the chance not too. 4. 1 explain the importance of building physical activity into everyday routines. physical activity is a very important part of every childs life and should be in all their everyday routines. physical activity and exercise will increase a childs strenght and stamina which will then improve their muscle tone and muscle usage. It helps with balance and flexibility in a child and also helps develop catching and throwing skills, movivation and social skills, boosts energy, helps stop anxiety and strees, improves coordination, improves bone strength and heart and lung capacity and has a positive affect on a childs self esteem. physical activity and movement also helps to stimulate the brain which is why it is important for children to have physical activitys in their everyday routines. It is also important for a child to have physcial activity in their everyday routines because it has a big impact on the childrens behaviour. For exmaple if children are running inside instead of telling them no you could say we have to use our walking feet inside but we can run when we go to play outside. Children wont learn as well if they don’t get time outside especially boys this is because boys have a bigger body mass and they need more oxygen than girls. Children need oxygen to learn effectively. Boys also need to get out more because they are more active than girls are.

Analyze the impact of geography and economic Essay

Geography and economic activity often determine the future of any civilization. Here, one is forced to admit that most of the obvious differences among the ancient civilization can be drawn based on their geographical location and, of course, their economic history (Wells, 561). Let us take the example of Roman and Mesopotamian civilizations. Roman civilization is centered on a powerful city situated on the Capitoline Hills. In the beginning of Rome’s history, most of the people were either farmers or small-scale traders. When Rome expanded into central and southern Italy at the beginning of the Punic Wars, its policy-makers were faced with this fundamental question, â€Å"How do we protect our trade interests? † The answer was expansionism. Rome acquired territories in the East either by conquest or forced capitulation of kingdoms (for example, Bithynia and Pergamum). Rome’s economic interests led to the expansion of the Roman Republic. When this republic was becoming larger and larger, the need for a more despotic, efficient form of government was becoming a reality. From 88 B. C. to 31 B. C. , the Republic became an avenue of power struggle between powerful public officials. (Such necessity was never a probabilistic tendency, rather a deterministic one) Rome, in 100 B. C. was not yet a center of trade and commerce. As such, only by expansion can Rome protect its economic interests (Wells, 585). The Mesopotamian civilization is situated on the so-called ‘Fertile Crescent’ or the junction of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers. Its geographical location was suited for trade and commerce. In fact, it was the center of trade in the Middle East, controlling the flow of goods from the ‘Far East’ to the Pillars of Hercules (Toynbee, 266). Hence, most of the city-states founded on the Fertile Crescent were prosperous and relatively peaceful. Wars usually occurred as a means of settling disputes among rulers of city-states. Expansionism was never an important issue. Unlike Rome, most of the city-states preferred to negotiate rather than engage in costly wars. For example, when Uruk defeated a powerful city-state in 1560 B. C. , it was faced with an important fundamental question, â€Å"Is it necessary to occupy the city-state? † The answer was an obvious no. Occupation only entailed increased cost and resentment from the local population. It was more rational to keep the city under constant political surveillance than to actually occupy it. Only at the time of Sargon that was political view radically altered. 2. What do surviving works (art or architecture) tell us about culture? Compare pagan art to Christian art and Greek art to Roman art. Art and architecture define the ideology and prevailing beliefs of particular historical periods (Zaide, 419). Historical periods here do not simply refer to space and time, rather to actual events conforming to specific ideologies (Zaide, 420). Art and architecture also define the way of life of particular groups of people located in specific milieu. Hence, one may argue that works of art generally reflect the exterior and interior tendencies of people; that is, works of art define the psychology and behavior of peoples. For example, the painting ‘The Night watch† (by Rembrandt) reflects the ideological resistance of the Dutch nation against Spanish imperialism. Christian art is essentially different from pagan art in two respects. First, Christian art rests on the twin principles of equality (not to be confused with the ‘equality’ espoused by the French Revolution) and simplicity (Zaide, 549). Early Christian art depicted the symbolic reign of Christ on earth; this is symbolic of the simplicity of Christian life. During the reign of Constantine the Great, Christian art (although still rests on the concept of simplicity) became the emblem of imperial authority and the Divine Trinity (note that early Christian art only depicted the image of Christ). Constantine the Great ordered the construction of great basilicas to proclaim this new interpretation of Christian art. Second, Christian art centered on a single set of ideology. Christian art and philosophy centered on the nature of the Divine Trinity, the simplicity of Christian life, and the majesty of the Roman Church. Pagan art was a ‘hot spot’ of eastern, Greek, and Roman religious philosophy. Pagan art was simply the result of the mixture of pagan philosophies. Roman art is different from Greek art in two respects. First, Roman art was generally a modification of Greek art. The invention of concrete during the 1st century A. D. greatly advanced Roman art and architecture. For example, the simple amphitheatre of the Greeks was transformed into a colosseum. Concrete allowed the construction of more complex structures. Second, Greek art was essentially religious in character (this is assertion is debatable for some historians). Roman art and architecture was a mixture of religious and political philosophies. Works Cited Toynbee, Arnold. A History of the World. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1964. Wells, Herbert. An Outline of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. Zaide, Gregorio. History of Art. Manila: Manila Publishing Company.

Flow over Weir

Introduction A weir is an opening in the sidewall of a tank at top. The stream of liquid coming out the weir is known as a nappe, sheet or vein. There is no difference between a notch and weir except that the former is a small structure and has sharp edges. A weir generally an overflow structure, with a broad crest, build across an open channel. The terms air and weirs are used synonymously in general. The top of weir wall over which the liquid flows is known as the sill or crest. The head under which the weir is discharging is measure from the crest to the free surface.A weir or notch is generally used for measuring the flow of liquids. In this experiment, we ar using the rectangular weir and triangle weir. Rectangular weir and triangular weir (v-notch) ore often used in water supply, wastewater and sewage system. They consists of a sharp edge plane with rectangular and triangular profile for the water flow. Broad-crested weirs can be observed in dam spillways where the broad edge i s beneath the water surface across the entire stream. Flow measurement installations ith broad-crested weirs will meet accuracy requirement only if they are calibrated. objective To determine the characteristics of open channel flow over; * A rectangular notch * A triangular (v-notch) * To determine values of the discharge coefficient for both notches Method General features of the flow can be determined by direct observation. Discharge coefficient values can be determined from measurements of the height of the free surface of water above the notch base and corresponding volume flow rate Equipment In order to complete the experiment, we need a number of pieces of equipment * The F1-10 haudralics bench which allows us to measure flow by timed volume collection * The F1-13 stilling baffle The F1-13 rectangular and Vee notch * Vernier Height Gauge (supplied with F1-13) * Stopwatch * Spiril level 4 4 2 2 5 5 8 8 7 7 6 6 3 3 1 1 Figure 1: Flow over Weirs – Figure 2: Flow over Weir s – vee notch weir rectangular notch weir 1 1 5 5 2 2 6 6 Hydraulics BenchBasket of glass spheres 3 3 Weir channelVolumetric measuring tank 4 4 (V) Vee notch weir7 7 Rectangular weir Hook & point gauge Hook Gauge and Scale8 8 There are different shapes of weirs that can be used to measure the volumetric flow rate. These shapes with their dimension are shown in fig 3 below. Figure 3: Details of weirsTechnical Data The following dimension from the equipment are used in the appropriate calculation. If required these values may be checked as part of the experimental procedure and replace with your own measurements. * Width of rectangular notch, b= 0. 030 * Angle of vee notch, o=90 degree Theory Because the depth of flow above the base of notch is related to the volume flow rate through it, the notch forms a useful flow measurement device. The classical result for flow over notch are obtained by an application of the Bernoulli equation, from a point well up stream to a point just above the notch.This approach requires a number of very substantial assumptions and it yields the following results: For Rectangular Notch, the formula is given by; Qt=Cd23b(2g)H32 For Vee-notch, the formula is given by; Qt=Cd815tan(? 2)(2g)H52 Where; Qt= Volume flow rate H = height above notch base B = width of rectangular notch ? = angle of the vee in triangular notch; Cd= the discharge coefficient, which has to be determined by experiment These can be rearrange to give; Cd=3Qt2b2gH32 For rectangular notch Cd=15Qt8tan? 22gH52 Foe vee notch. Discussion.From the experiment, we are about to determine the discharge coefficient of the both rectangular and the triangular notches. The discharge coefficient for the rectangular notch are influence by its H and also its volumetric flow rate while the triangular notch are influence by its o, H and also its volumetric flow rate. From the result, we can see that the volumetric flow rate of both notches are increase. This showed show that the w ater outflow increase as the H increased. These is suppose to happened as, the water level increase, the Water outflow from the notch increase over the time.But from discharged coefficient, we can see that the value of both notches are not stable. This may be from the friction at the head of the notches during the starter of experiment. The friction will affect the time taken to collect 1liter of water for V-notch and 5 litre of water for the Rectangle notch. Thus it will effect the volumetric flow rate and also the discharge coefficient as the volumetric flow rate influence the value of Cd. The aim of this experiment is to determine the value of the discharge coefficient for both notches of rectangular notch and also triangular (V-notch).The discharge coefficient values can be determine from the measurements of the height of free surface of water above the notch base and corresponding volume flow rate For discharge coefficient of Rectangular Notch, the formula is given by; Cd=3Qt2b 2gH32 For discharge coefficient of V-notch, the formula is given by; Cd=15Qt8tan? 22gH52 In comparison, for rectangular notch, the theoretical value of its discharge coefficient, Cd, is ——. However, the experimental value of Cd turns out to be 2. 31. Based on experiment that we conducted, the percentage error for rectangular notch is–.This is due to some errors that ccur during experiment. For example parallax error. However, for V-notch, the theoretical value is —, but theoretical value is—. There is not much of a difference between its theoretical value and actual value. This mean that the flow is laminar, and not much energy is loss through friction. The derivation of values are contributed by the error during handing the experiment, if we take it as overall error, most of error occurred when step of taking the height started. First, we have to careful about the height of datum. For convenience, is is advice that to take your first datum as zero .Other than that, it is also advice that th time should be taken 3 times so that we can take the average so that the error can be minimize. Besides, The theory does not put energy loss or viscosity of the water flow into consideration, but it only depends on the flow rate, the width of the notches and height of the notches. However, in reality, water currents or flow rate may not be constant all the time and it is difficult to maintain the water level height above the notches as what he want. The cross section area over the weir with flowing water at lower rates is small compare to high rates.This is because at lower flow rates, the time for collection of water varies a lot compare to higher flow rates. It require a longer time to collect a specific amount of water to measure the flow rate at lower flow rate due to viscosity of water. Moreover, energy is conserved due to slower speed of flow of water. At higher flow rates, water flowing may already have the energy to create a consta nt water flow. Whereas at an even higher rat, water flow is difficult to control in order for it to be in constant height above notch base because the water current is too high.

Cardava Turon

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIf you happen to visit one of your favorite malls here in the town most especially their supermarkets such as SM Hypermarket, Robinson’s Supermarket and Metro Supermarket, you can notice that they are all selling â€Å"turon†, which they started selling a year or a couple of years ago. Turon an all-time favorite Filipino merienda is starting to boom as a profitable business nowadays as not just the local mall supermarket are into the business of selling â€Å"turon† but to almost every canteen in a university. Let’s not go far by looking at Holy Angel University where almost every canteen is selling all-time favorite turon. That is why; we had come up to present â€Å"Cardava Turon† as our original product for the YEntrepMan Business Plan.â€Å"Cardava Turon† came from the word â€Å"Cardava Banana† which means â€Å"Saba Banana† in the Philippines.Cardava Turon was made possible because of the booming  "turon† business. We’ve thought that selling â€Å"turon† could be a better idea to produce a product that is known and saleable. But because of our innovative mind and ideas, we had thought of ways on how to introduce our product more differently and more uniquely. We will not just produce the common type of turon rather we will produce the future best-selling merienda in town, which every individual will crave and that is Cardava Turon.Cardava Turon is basically turon inspired product but with an exciting twist. As we all know that one of the best businesses to venture into nowadays when it comes to food are the siomai carts. Almost everywhere in the city you can see and buy siomai. Thus, we incorporated the well-known siomai to our product by producing our Cardava Turon in siomai style. Cardava Turon is a turon that looks like a fried siomai. In this case we would have our target market to be thrilled and puzzled by looking the appearance of our Cardava Turon. Fried siomai turon Let’s try it!We’re not done yet! We had not just uniquely and creatively modify the turon into siomai style we had also improved the taste and flavor of our turon,  Cardava Turon Original Flavors.We had come up with three different delicious tastes:1.Banana Classic (Langka) Turon – inspired by our classic turon with langka or jackfruit inside. Let the classic taste of turon give you a different kind of experience by having it in siomai style (bite size) turon. 2.Banana Peanut Turon – Original concept, our delicious siomai style turon with grounded peanut inside that will add kick in every bite. Let the bits of peanut thrilled you as it gives you a different taste from the ordinary turon. 3.Cardava Turon Overload – Another original concept, these Cardava Turon with grounded peanuts, marshmallow, and the classic langka inside will definitely give you the taste that you will really enjoy and crave the moment you taste and try it. All three flavors will definitely give you an experience of eating turon more differently and more deliciously. Cardava Turon is certified DHA. Delicious, Healthy and Affordable. Indulge in every bite! Cardava Turon was styled as siomai not only because we want to attract our markets as siomai does, neither give our customer a twist of something different but because convenience is also our business. We want to give our Cardava Turon lover the convenience that they do not get from the ordinary turon. For the standard size of a turon was 5 to 7 inches that might cause inconvenience to some when eating, thus, we developed our Cardava Turon to be in siomai style so that it would become bite in sizes.This would give a lot of convenience to our market most especially those individual who can’t even consume the standard sized turon. Cardava Turon prices are 15php for four pieces and 30phpfor eight pieces comes in an eco-friendly box. It was price low because our pricing objective i s to penetrate the market as our product is the first of its kind. Extensive marketing strategies are to be expected for the company to gain recognition and familiarity.CARDAVA TURON . . . ANG SARAP! CERTIFIED DHA, DELICIOUS, HEALTHY and AFFORDABLE!INNOVATIVENESS, CONVENIENCE, GREEN MARKETING and FOR YOUR GOOD IS OUR BUSINESS.â€Å"Panlasa’y mananarap sa Cardava Turon!†2. MISSION STATEMENTâ€Å"Healthy Living, Healthy Eating† â€Å"Cardava Turon ang sarap! Panlasa’y siguradong mananarap!† Certified DHA, Delicious, Healthy and AffordableOur tagline which stated above says it all with regards to our mission statement, and that is to bring delightful taste to our consumers by providing them our very delicious delicacy—Cardava Turon. Also as our product is certified DHA, that is delicious, healthy and affordable which makes it even more appealing and attractive to the community. We will not just cater those who are looking for delicious merienda but we will also take into consideration those who are health and price conscious. Thus, our mission is not only to earn profit rather our main mission statement is to bring health and wellness to every individual which will not have to suffer on paying very high prices, enjoying delicious taste that are good for their health.VISION STATEMENTâ€Å"To be the leading and consistently number one on providing delicious, healthy and affordable delicacy—Cardava Turon.†We are envisioning our company to be the leading and consistently number one which provide certified delicious, healthy and affordable delicacy to wherever area we could reach for. This is in line with our statement of bringing health and wellness to all of our consumers. Because we believe that a healthy living is for everybody not just for the fortunate one. Thus, it is our commitment to provide deliciously healthy and affordable Cardava Turon.We will be directed to our company vision to be the leading and n umber one  provider of delightful delicacy.CARDAVA TURON NUTRITIONAL FACTSThere have been different kinds of banana which are known to be rich in potassium and other nutrients. But according to the Doctors of Ministry in Alternative Medicines or DMAM, Cardava (Saba) banana has the highest nutrients present. †¢Cardava has the highest content of nutrients because it has the deepest roots among other banana plants, of which can absorb more nutrients from the soil. †¢Because bananas are rich in potassium, they help the body’s circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain. †¢Maintains a regular heartbeat and a proper balance of water in the body. †¢Helpful for reducing strokes and regulating blood pressure because of the way it promotes circulatory health.†¢Their abundance of vitamins and minerals, are a great source of natural energy. †¢Bananas are also ideal for eating during that midday lull when you feel tired and sluggish. Instead of drinking caffeine or having a sugary snack, bananas provide a level of energy that lasts longer without the dramatic crash caused by caffeine. †¢Help stop constipation because bananas have a certain type of fiber that helps to restore and maintain regular bowel functions. Bananas are a natural source for lessening the effects of constipation without causing other bowel problems such as diarrhea.†¢The natural ingredients in bananas and their ability to replenish the body’s vitamins make them an ideal way to reduce the effects of a hangover. †¢Bananas can help people who are trying to quit smoking. The B vitamins and other minerals that they contain reduce the physical and psychological effects of nicotine withdrawal. †¢Vitamin B6 can also minimize menstrual pains and regulates over all moods of women. †¢Because of their calming properties, pregnant women often eat bananas to combat their morning sickness. †¢Also help to replenish the body and restore a hea lthy blood glucose level. †¢Help regulate a pregnant woman’s temperature.†¢As a way to prevent and treat ulcers, bananas help reduce the acidity that some foods can leave in the stomach. †¢Help reduce the irritation of the digestive system by leaving a protective coating around the inner walls, making it a natural way to promote intestinal health as well. †¢They are  also a great way to get rid of heartburn. They act as a natural antacid and they quickly soothe the burn.Instead of eating an apple each day for optimum health, the adage should state that a â€Å"banana each day keeps the doctor away†. The banana health benefits far outweigh those of the apple because it has many more vitamins and nutrients than their round counterparts.3. BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 3.1 National TrendsBasically the only national trend that can hinder the growth of Cardava Turon in the market is when the cardava (saba) banana supplies will be scarce for it is the main ingre dients to our product—Cardava Turon. There are some issues nowadays that talks about the becoming scarce of the said banana but still there are none facts that can prove the latter issue. Thus, Cardava Turon business is in good position and will expect continuous supply of raw resources. The launching of Cardava Turon could be a good indication to our economy and even internationally for we will cater products that are originally from the Philippines. Cardava Turon would strengthen the local banana economy rather than those that are being exported to the other countries. Thus, it will just show how the Philippines can be competitive and can be known worldwide.3.2 Industry AnalysisThe local banana industry at this present day is not as active as before because of the growing export business, though there are still businesses of banana industry such those farmers, wholesalers and retailers. With regards to merienda business specifically those who sells turon, there are a lot of small competition for we can see even at the street corner of Angeles City there are those who sell turon but because Cardava Turon is not just an ordinary turon which is definitely the first of its kind, we can say that we are not deeply affected of those vendors of turon.3.3 Market AnalysisSpecifically there are no markets for siomai style turon with delicious variances here in Angeles City and maybe the whole of the Philippines. However â€Å"turon† is being patronized here in the community, thus, those will be considered as the new market for Cardava Turon. There are still markets for turon that we could cater with.3.4 Competitor AnalysisCardava Turon will have to face and consider a lot of competition for it is not the only turon business in town, most especially even SM malls and Ayala Malls’ food courts are selling their own class of turon. But Cardava Turon is not just an ordinary turon; it is a turon with a lot of exciting twist. It is the first of its kind a nd none in the whole of Angeles City area are selling such turon with different flavors and in siomai style. Thus, Cardava Turon competition will be minimal.4. MARKETING PLAN4.1 SWOT ANALYSISThe table below shows the SWOT analysis of the resources and the environmental factors for Cardava Turon ®. Major SWOT analyses are provided for the company as well. Resource Analysis:ResourcesStrengthsWeaknessesMoneyCardava Turon products are low cost. Thus, low capital investment. MaterialsCardava Turon has a number of contacts that can supply the raw materials. MachinesNo equipment for making the Cardava Turon more efficiently. MethodsNumerous ways and methods for producing Cardava Turon are available. ManpowerInexperienced from selling to the company members. ManagementInsufficient management skills for the company members. Moment (Time)Any launching day for the Cardava Turon is perfect for it is a unique delicacy. And the company members are dedicated to work fulltime and effectively.Iden tifying Opportunities and Threats in the Environment:Factors in the EnvironmentOpportunitiesThreatsSocio-culturalPeople have the habit of having their daily merienda Technology and TechnicalNew technology and equipments could make the production process efficiently and effectively. EconomicThe purchasing power of the community has lowered because of the increasing price of some  necessities such oil, thus, an advantage for the increase in demand of Cardava Turon for it is priced affordably. NaturalScarcity of cardava banana can hinder the growth of Cardava Turon. PoliticalElection is fast approaching.Hence, a good indicator to promote Cardava Turon as their merienda when campaigning. Peace and OrderIn general, there is peace and order in the place of business. (HAU / Angeles City) Population TrendsThe population is increasing. More people mean more buyers who would want Cardava Turon. Government ProgramMicro-Small-Medium Enterprise program are being provided by the government. Car dava Turon may be able to avail of the assistance in the form of financing, technical and marketing. Global EnvironmentExporting Cardava Turon process could be lucrative venture.CARDAVA TURON SWOT ANALYSIS†¢Strength – Uniqueness, as we introduce our all-time favorite turon in deliciously different way. †¢Weakness – Familiarity, Cardava Turon an original and the first ever product of its own needed a lot of effort to gain recognition to the community. †¢Opportunities – Innovative Leadership, pioneering the innovative modification of turon. †¢Threats – Patent, as BW is the first in the market.4.2 OBJECTIVESCardava Turons’ strategic marketing and financial objectives will be used as direction for the growth of the company.4.2.1 Marketing Objective:†¢Positioned Cardava Turon to all of Angeles City community. †¢Achieved familiarity of Cardava Turons’ products and service. †¢Maintained strategic marketing effort for Cardava Turon as it is new in the market.4.2.2 Financial Objective:†¢Reached the targeted quota and sales daily, monthly and annually. †¢100% return on investment. †¢30% to 40% net profit. †¢Zero negative net profit.4.3 COMPETITIVE EDGE†¢Location is critical to success. Our store needs to be on Main Street or just off Main Street so we can take advantage of walk-by and drive-by traffic. We also need adequate parking to make shopping at our store convenient for drivers. And we will target to have concessions to the well-known canteen of HAU. †¢Convenience. Angeles City / HAU residents and visitors are willing to pay a little bit more for good food and the convenience. Our customers will purchase our food because it is authentic and delicious. †¢High quality. Focusing on high quality Cardava Turon will draw customers from the competition, as well as create a local market that has not existed before in Angeles City. If the prices are reasonable an d the food is good, we will have growth through repeat business.4.4 TARGET MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARYOur main target markets are:†¢People who live and work in Angeles City / Holy Angel University, who are looking for quality merienda. †¢Surrounding businesses looking for a tasty merienda for their customers and staff. †¢International and domestic travelers visiting Angeels City / Holy Angel University. †¢Families looking for quality, affordable, home cooked merienda to take home and prepare for their families with ease. †¢People looking for a comfortable environment in which to enjoy their spare time eating our delicious Cardava Turon. †¢People looking for high quality, unique merienda.Each market segment consists of people who either live, work, or vacation in the Angeles City / Holy Angel University area. Each market will be seeking a store canteen that will meet their desire for authentic, healthy food, quality service, and a pleasant atmosphere.4.5 MAR KET SEGMENTATIONCardava Turon target market profile is segmented using different segmentation strategy.4.5.1 Geographic SegmentationThe main geographic target area for Cardava Turon is the whole of Angeles City and the nearby towns and cities.4.5.2Income / Occupation SegmentationBecause Cardava Turon are certified affordable we are segmenting our markets with middle to low income, though because of the quality product that we are offering even those who are high income earners will definitely patronize our products and services.4.5.3 Age Segmentation Cardava Turon is for all ages for as long as they will purchase the product. Our products are intended to those six years of age and above.4.5.4 Sex SegmentationCardava Turon is definitely not gender discriminatory. Everyone can taste and enjoy our deliciously healthy and affordable product.4.6 POSITIONINGWe intend to position our business not just as a manufacturer and distributor of products, but a partner bringing a high level custom er satisfaction and high level of service to the stores that we enter into business with. We will work with stores through delivering high quality products to significantly increase the sales and profitability of their food business. By doing this we expect to develop a strong loyalty among our customers.4.7 MARKETING MIX 4.7.1ProductCardava Turon main offering is the Cardava Turon itself, a fried siomai style turon that comes in three different delicious flavors: oBanana Classic (Langka) Turon – inspired by our classic turon with langka or jackfruit inside. Let the classic taste of turon give you a different kind of experience by having it in siomai style (bite size) turon. oBanana Peanut Turon – Original concept, our delicious siomai style turon with grounded peanut inside that will add kick in every bite. Let the bits of peanut thrilled you as it gives you a different taste from the ordinary turon. oCardava Turon Overload – Another original concept, these Car dava Turon with grounded peanuts, marshmallow, and the classic langka inside will definitely give you the taste that you will really enjoy and crave the moment you taste and try it. Our main ingredients Cardava Turon products are cardava banana, siomai Turonper, brown sugar, cooking oil (for deep frying), jack fruit, peanut, and marshmallow. All ingredients are of high quality and certified healthy or of good nutritional facts.4.7.2PromotionBecause Cardava Turon is the first of its kind extensive promotional effort will be done to gain recognition and familiarity to the whole of Angeles City.†¢Advertising Highly appealing and attractive tarpaulins, posters and flyers will be strategically positions to those high traffic volume areas in the vicinity of Angeles. We will also invade online advertising wherein we will advertise Cardava Turon to some of the well-known networking sites as of at present day. Newspaper, television and radio commercial will also take into consideration. We will have a small advertising budget, devoted exclusively to trade publications designed to reach buyers and owners of upscale independent food stores. The objective of our trade advertising will be too limited to reinforcing the image of our company and the exciting taste of our products. All ads will be four-color and between 1/4 and 1/8 page in size. Each ad will prominently feature our logo and a bright, colorful, mouthwatering changing display of Cardava Turon products. We will also work with our retailers to obtain co-op advertising funds for their own local advertising.†¢Sales Promotion Initially we will do free tasting for the first two days of Cardava Turon launching; this is to let all the Angeleneos experience the delightful taste and flavors of Cardava Turon.†¢Personal Selling Highly qualified salesperson that provides superior customer service will be our front liners to provide our buyers experience that they would want to experience again and again, thus, establishing customer loyalty. Our primary sales method is face-to-face selling by our friendly salesperson.†¢Point of Purchase / Product Display Just the smell of our product prospective buyers will definitely get curious and crave for our Cardava Turon. We will see to it that our product will be cooked amazingly delicious and presented mouth-watering.†¢Publicity Because our entire products at Cardava Turon are certified deliciously healthy and affordable, thus, our campaign of â€Å"Healthy Living, Healthy Eating† would be our most effective way to publicized Cardava Turon. We will send news releases to trade magazines to try to get product or company feature coverage in front of the eyes of buyers and retailers. We will also issue a few generic press releases about Cardava Turon that our retailers can use to try to obtain publicity coverage for their stores in local publications. Lastly, we shall have a quarterly newsletter for retailers that we are currently se rving or hope to be serving. We anticipate sending 1,000 copies of the news release out our first year and gradually increasing to 2,000 copies by our third year. In the newsletter we will highlight not just our products, but also display ideas and success stories of stores who increased their Cardava Turon sales.†¢Trade Shows We will have a small booth or table top display at national conventions each year, including the SMX convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia. We will emphasize not just our certified deliciously healthy and affordable products but the superior customer/retailer satisfaction that we are providing. We will also provide limited funds for display space for our salesperson at regional trade shows that they attend. Typically we will pay for one table top display.4.7.3Place / Channel of Distribution Cardava Turon is a manufacturing firm which will serve as direct seller and retailer. Our main place of distribution would be the whole of Angeles City. We will str ategically position our stalls/kiosk to places of high traffic volume. We will also partner to some of the famous restaurants for our Cardava Turon to be their featured dessert of the week; concession to some of the well-known mall food courts and even partner with some of the university canteen here in Angeles.4.7.4Pricing Rigorous pricing strategies for Cardava Turon’s product were to be expected. All products will be priced in accordance with our buyers’ purchasing power not compromising the quality of our products. Having been priced to what the buyers’ could avail; Cardava Turon will definitely have a share of market.†¢Pricing Objective and Method Used Because Cardava Turon is new and first of its kind, our number one objective for pricing is to penetrate the market by pricing our products at low price. In which it could lead to the increase of market share and familiarity of Cardava Turon. Taking into account the pricing objective, demand determining, cost estimation and competitors’ costs, prices and offers analysis Cardava Turon will be using a combination of methods. Value pricing will be weighted more. 4.8 CONTROLSCardava Turons’ Marketing Plan purpose is to serve as a guide for the organization. The following areas will be monitored to gauge performance: †¢Availability of supplies †¢Expenses †¢Superior Customer Satisfaction †¢Revenue / ProfitSTRATEGY and IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY Our strategy will exploit our advantages over the competition (location, convenience, and high quality) with carefully-tracked milestones for growth.MARKETING STRATEGY Our main marketing strategy would be the most effective and no cost at all strategy, that is the use of the word of mouth, for Cardava Turon is considered the best new exciting delicious merienda in town, making the word of mouth more effective. We will also advertise our product to some of the most famous social sites on the net which are Facebook, twi tter and the like.SALES STRATEGY Cardava Turon's Market most important sales strategy is developing an environment in which customers will return time-after-time because our market provides knowledgeable, friendly staff, quality products, and a comfortable atmosphere that fills their needs. When customers visit our store / retailers, they will know they are entering a clean facility with the best service in the industry. Our pricing strategy will focus on providing high quality products, and services at a fair priceSTRATEGIC ALLIANCES Cardava Turon's Market will work to form strategic alliances with local businesses, including: campus canteens, local mall food courts, and restaurants. We will also form relationships with local produce growers and artists to customize the food items we sell and enhance our presence in the community.MARKETING Initial marketing efforts for opening will be geared towards generating name recognition and making a clear distinction between Cardava Turon's and other local competitors. Follow-up marketing programs will encourage repeat visits and assist customers in the understanding, appreciation, and preparation of our products.SALES and PRICING We will gear prices towards our competitors in the nearest cities and online, with a small â€Å"convenience† increase for offering them locally. This will offset our distribution costs. Our emphasis on consistently good service, from special orders, will make new customers repeat customers. We mean business as we introduce Cardava Turon to the market but we don’t just want to be profitable we also wanted to have a share on our market. This is why we will penetrate the market by pricing our product very affordable. †¢15php – 4pcs of Cardava Turon†¢30php – 8pcs of Cardava Turon in an eco-friendly take home box.ALLIANCES and DISTRIBUTION †¢Cardava Turon's Market will aggressively pursue relations with local mall’s food courts, restaurants (featu red dessert of the week), and local school canteens (most specifically HAU canteen’s). †¢Our specific target for the distribution of our product is having a partnership not later at the end of this school year to some of the most well-known canteen here in the campus (HAU). We will partner to those canteen in order for our product to gain recognition from the community of HAU. †¢And as the coming year approaches we will extend our effort to partner with the local mall food courts, thus, we will introduce Cardava Turon to all of Angeles City. †¢After having partner to some of the local canteens and food courts we will established our own food cart or kiosk for Cardava Turon products in this way we can more concentrate on selling our products.SALES FORECAST The following assumptions illustrate our conservative sales forecast. Assumptions: The average item sold in the market will cost 15php/single order. †¢Php15.00/average sale x 100 people/day x # of days in a week x # of campus canteen partner (slow season). †¢Php22.50/average sale x 200 people/day x # of days in a week x # of campus canteen partner (busy season).KEYS TO SUCCESS The keys to success for Cardava Turon's Market include: †¢Reputation: Every customer visiting our store will want to return and will recommend us to their friends and family. Word of mouth marketing will be a powerful ally for our business. †¢Superior Customer Service: Knowledgeable, friendly service will be of the utmost importance. †¢Location: Provide an easily accessible location for customer convenience. †¢Product/Environment: Offer a variety of high quality foods, sold at a fair price in a clean, authentic, comfortable environment. †¢Convenience: Our customers will experience the convenience in eating our product that they had never been experienced before.5. MANAGEMENT TEAM and ORGANIZATION PLAN 5.1 Management Team The Company will be managed by the ten founding partners, wh ose individual area of expertise covers many of the functional aspects of the business. Jose Carlo Dizon will serve as the President of the Company, and will be responsible for Product Selection and Sales & Marketing. Nikki S. Barrientos will be the Vice President, in charge of Administration. She will be responsible for customer service, accounting, shipping and the general administration of the business. Mary Jane Narciso will be the Chief Operating Officer, and will be responsible for maintaining close relationship with all our retailers/concessionaires. Kresta-An Tanhueco and Jeiel Feliciano will serve as the area managers that are responsible for monitoring operations of all stalls/kiosk of Cardava Turon. Aldrian Soriano and Mark Cunanan will be the head of Research and Development Department which are accountable for producing new ideas and variances for the growth of all Cardava Turon products. Kevin Colinares as the Public Relations Officer will be in charge for the publicit y and good relations of the company to the whole of Angeles City community. Nikki S. Barrientos will be in charge with Banana Wrap logistics, inventory and suppliers relations. Lastly, to be responsible for all employee related issues will be Jose Carlo Dizon as the HR Manager.All founders are dedicated of doing their job effectively and efficiently which will bring Cardava Turon to its overwhelming success.5.2 Organizational Chart5.3 Key Personnel Every stall of Cardava Turon will be staffed by our dedicated and skillful front liner which includes the kiosk/stall supervisor who will be in charge of the overall operations of the kiosk. Together with the stall supervisor are the two all-around salespersons who will perform cashiering which includes order taking and assembling, cooking all ordered products, and maintaining inventory and cleanliness through-out the entire operations.Qualifications Required: †¢Stall Supervisor – Graduate of any four-year business management related courses or high school graduate with a minimum of two years work experience as a food stall/kiosk supervisor. †¢Sales Associate – this includes being the cashier, cooked, stock custodian and the salesperson. All associate would be at least college level with basic knowledge in accounting, cooking, inventory, and in sales. High school graduate will be considered with a minimum one year work related experiences.All stall supervisors upon the start of their work at Cardava Turon are qualified for any other promotions depending on the availability of the vacant position and their performance as a whole. Same as to all Sales Associate, with which are also qualified for any promotion depending on their performances.6. PRODUCTION and OPERATIONS PLAN 6.1 Production Process The production process for producing our product Cardava Turon will include the preparation of all raw materials/ingredients such the peeling of cardava banana and cutting it into cubes, preparing siom ai Turonper as the Turonper of the said product, pre-heating of deep fryer for cooking high quality Cardava Turon. All extra condiments and ingredients will be prepared as well, the sugar (brown) to be used, grounded peanut for Banana Peanut Turon, the langka for the Banana Classic Turon, and the marshmallow for the Banana overload.Step by step processes are as follows: 1.Peeling and dicing into cubes of cardava banana. 2.Turon using siomai Turonper and putting the flavors such grounded peanuts and the classic langka. 3.Rolling the Turonped product into the brown sugar. 4.Deep frying until the product becomes golden brown. (10-20 seconds) 5.Cooling and filtering of excess oil. 6.Package depending on the customer orders. (4pcs. or 8pcs.)6.2 Product/Service DeliveryIn order to deliver high quality, personalized service we will carefully select all employees–especially stall supervisor and sales associate who will deal directly with customers. Jose Carlo is currently interviewin g candidates for sales associate. We will carefully review references from past employers or manufacturers and from retailers whom these sales associate have served. We will also make sure that each employee understands our way of delivering quality product/service to each customer. We will have immediate back-up support available by phone from our office for more difficult product/service issues. And we will give employees enough latitude so that they can respond immediately to almost all customer requests or complaints.6.3 Customer ServiceWe intend to prioritize customer service and make it a key component of our marketing programs. We believe that providing our customers with what they want, when and how they want it, is the key to repeat business and to word-of-mouth advertising. Not only will we train our employees to deliver excellent service, we will give them the flexibility to respond creatively to client requests. In addition, we will continually monitor our clients' level of satisfaction with our service and products through surveys and other convenient feedback opportunities. Initially we expect to have few enough accounts so that Mary Jane and Kevin can handle all customer/retailer service issues.As our business grows we intend to hire additional customer service people one at a time and pay a premium over market labor rates to attract and retain quality help. Shipping problems are a huge issue with the firms that we compete with largely because they insist on using surface shipping methods to keep their costs down to charge low prices to keep their mass merchant accounts happy. We intend to use air freight to export our products to the neighbor countries. This will add to our costs. But because we want to penetrate the international market it makes more sense for us. It  will also allow us to have much thinner inventories in our warehouse without risking stocking out.6.4 FacilitiesWe plan to lease small office space for the mean time as Cardava Turon is still starting. The said office space will be used by the ten co-founders as they work together for the fast growth of Cardava Turon. The office space building is located in a busy industrial neighborhood, but because we do not intend to have customers visit us we have decided to lease a lower-rent location. For our stalls/kiosks they should be located in a high traffic volume area which could generate prospective buyers for all the products. We will utilize the spaces for all the stalls that could hold enough supplies for a week operations. Ten to twenty square meters would be the ideal stall/kiosk size.6.5 EquipmentsWe will need five computer sets initially to be used at the main office. Minimal office supplies will do for the company is still starting. Five telephone lines are also needed to be used for communicating to all staffs; retailers; and suppliers. The equipment to be used for the kiosk would be cash register for recording sales transactions, deep fryer to be u sed for cooking all Cardava Turon products, freezer for all perishable raw ingredients. Also we will provide food warmer to store all the cooked products and to be used for display purposes, small cabinets are to be used for non-perishable goods. Preparation table is also considered necessary when making Cardava Turon products including also all the necessary cooking tools and gadgets to make the operation efficiently.6.6 Work FlowAll personnel who are working at the main office will be working eight hours weekdays depending on the volume of their work. Office hours would be from 8:00am until 5:00pm, but flexible working hours will do also. Sundays will be their day-off and through Saturdays the office hours would only be half-day which is from 8:00am to 12:00noon. As to the stall/kiosk the operations would be from Mondays through Sundays, operations will start at 7:00am until 9:00pm though business hours will just start at 8:00am until  8:00pm.There will be three shifts in a day: the opener from 7:00am-3:00pm, the mid-shift from 10:00am-7:00pm and the closer from 1:00pm-9:00pm. Initially stalls will be manned by only three people who include a stall supervisor and two sales associate. The stall supervisor will be in charge of the scheduling. He can decide on his own on who would be assigned in the shifts, preferably the mid-shift will be the stall sup. So that he/she can monitor well the operations of their stall. As our business grows we intend to hire additional sales associate to make our operations even more efficient.6.7 Production RisksPreventive measures are to be implemented to lessen or decrease the possibility of being hurt and injured in the production of all Cardava Turon products. We will make sure that all employees especially the sales associate are properly trained with regard on the production or cooking of Cardava Turon. First aid kit will be provided to all Cardava Turon kiosks. Stall Supervisor will be responsible for checking all the ne cessary machines and equipments if they are working properly and effectively. Before and after the business operations, checklist will be provided to be accomplished by whoever was assigned to check the quality and performance of all goods, materials and equipments. This is to prevent unnecessary problems to occur.6.8 SuppliersBy the supervision of Nikki, all issues regarding suppliers of all the stalls/kiosk for Cardava Turon will be properly monitored. This includes checking the quality of all raw materials/goods. Delivery schedules will be monitored, as well as all the necessary issues concerning supplier relations and logistics.6.9 Inventory ManagementIn order for the inventory to be more accurate, there will be two types of inventory to be done. The first one is to be accomplished by all stall supervisors for each kiosk which is to be done daily. And the second type of inventory, the monthly inventory to be supervised by Kresta and Jeiel, which they will evaluate and check the accuracy of all the daily inventories. The  company will provide standard inventory checklist to be used by all Cardava Turon stalls/kiosks.6.10 Quality ControlEach store will offer nothing but freshly and quality Cardava Turon products. Standard procedure for preparation and cooking of the product will be well developed by our R&D team Aldrian and Mark. Arthur will be responsible for the high quality raw goods that are to be used. Camille will monitor all retailers’ compliance of Cardava Turon quality standards.