Religion And Health Promotion, Disease Prevention, And...

Religion serves many purposes in life for all individuals including the need of one to explain the world through factors relating to solace, emotional behaviors and healing; a community’s social cohesion and control through rituals; as well as economic adaptation of various sects. Consequently, since the onset of life on earth and the evolution of religion, dietary practices often correlate with various religious practices. Many religious customs and laws extend from the early apprehensions involved with economic needs as well as health and safety regarding the consumption of certain foods or liquids. These issues resulted from the lack of preservation and purification techniques for foods and liquids and the concern of the scholars, usually the religious, in connection to health promotion, disease prevention, and illness (Waibel, n.d.). However, the views of the past diminish with the advent of electricity and our understanding of new and evolving preservative methods. Moreover, many religious sects associate dietary and food preparation practices with rituals involving aspects of their faith that are now long standing practices from their past history. These practices include venues such as abstinence and fasting. Abstinence, which prohibits individuals from consuming certain foods or drinks, takes many forms such as totally restricting the consumption of specific items to limiting the consumption these foods and drinks to certain holy days, while still other religiousShow MoreRelatedEssay on Nurses Promoting Mental Health1102 Words   |  5 PagesPromoting Mental Health Introduction The World Health Organization defines health as â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity† and that the â€Å"enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.† (World Health Organization. 2006) As nurses, health and health promotion are fundamentalRead MoreThe American Nurses Association ( Ana ) And The Health Ministries Association Essay1474 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Health Ministries Association (HMA) have described Faith Community Nursing (FCN) as a form of a specialized nursing practice carried out by a nurse within a faith community (American Nurses Association Health Ministries Association, 2012). The role played by the FCN is to protect, promote, and optimize health and abilities, prevent illness and injury, and respond to distress regarding the practice beliefs and the values of a faith communityRead MoreHeritage Assessment1503 Words   |  7 Pagesdetermine how deeply a given person identifies with a particular tradition†. (prenhall.com). This assessment of 29 questions based on family, social, cultural, religious and immigration history can be very helpful in identifying the individual’s health traditions and beliefs, which can promote a more culturally competent R.N. Cultural competency is vital for the nurse in designing a plan of care that takes into consideration the cul ture and traditions of the patient’s belief system to deliverRead MoreHeritage Assessment1246 Words   |  5 PagesAssessment Tool can be adopted as a dependable tool to gauge, health maintenance, restoration and safeguard of personal, cultural beliefs. The adoption of health assessment tool helps meet the prerequisites of diverse patient populations to offer quality all-inclusive care. The following paper reviews the assessment of three culturally dissimilar families, and demonstrate how a nurse would continue with health promotion centred on the variances in health traditions between the three cultures. The three culturesRead MoreHealth Promotion Among Black or African Population Gcu1095 Words   |  5 PagesHealth Promotion Among Black or African American Population [Your Name] Grand Canyon University: Family-Centered Health Promotion(NRS-429V) January 10, 2016  Health Promotion Among Black or African American Population The Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] (2015) notes that â€Å"Starting in 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires federal agencies to use a minimum of five race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska NativeRead MoreCultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness Essay1358 Words   |  6 PagesRunning head: CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN HEALTH AND ILLNESS Cultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness Grand Canyon University: The United States has always been an open country with its kindness in welcoming people of other nations into it. The population of the United States is growing notably because of the migration from the rest of the world. This writer lives in Richmond, a city in the state of Virginia, a multiculturalRead MoreThe Heritage Assessment Tool: a Cultural View of the Patient1121 Words   |  5 Pagesgives nurses an understanding of the patient’s traditional health and illness beliefs and practices so that culturally appropriate interventions can be initiated (Flowers, D.L., 2005). The following paper summarizes the assessment results of three culturally different families, and uses those results to show how the nurse would proceed with health promotion based on the differences in health traditions between the three cultures. Health Maintenance The value a patient places on family values andRead MoreBiomedical And Social Model Of Health1712 Words   |  7 Pagesbiomedical and social model of health. It will be critically discussing both models using supporting theories and highlighting the limitations of each. This essay will also discuss and analyse how both models relate to lay perspectives on health and illness. What is health and illness? In order to analyse and critically discuss the two models that are biomedical and social we first have to understand the concept and terms of health and illness. (WHO, 1948) describes health as ‘a state of complete physicalRead MoreHat21601 Words   |  7 Pagesquality of life and health promotion might affect your care for a dying patient with a lingering illness such as cancer My perceptions about quality of life are that every one lives with happiness and enjoyment in a health way not only on physical but also on mental. Happiness and enjoyment of life may be various, because different people have their unique expectation about their lives to meet their defined happiness and enjoyment based one their own education, culture, religion and experience. ThoseRead MoreHeritage Assessment Tool: Evaluation of Different Cultures and Individual Views of Health1326 Words   |  6 PagesOF DIFFERENT Heritage Assessment Tool: Evaluation of Different Cultures and Individual Views of Health Micaela Simon Grand Canyon University Family-Centered Health Promotion 429V Melanie Escobar RN MSN August 31, 2012 Heritage Assessment Tool: Evaluation of different Cultures and Individual Views of Health The Heritage Assessment Tool can be used as as a reliable tool to assess, health maintenance, protection and restoration of individual cultural beliefs. This evaluation helps meet

Descriptive Essay - The Stump Deer - 1214 Words

The Stump Deer It was a chilly night before the last day of deer hunting season. At just the age of fifteen, I was in my house cleaning my cheap twenty gauge from Walmart. Using, a white grubby sock that had a long dark old shoe lace tied around it. I would insert my shoelace through the top of the barrel and slowly pull my sock through, till I saw it hanging a little into the ejection port to remove debris within the gun.As I was cleaning I kept thinking to myself how exciting this was going be, because if I didn’t get a deer this year it was still fun going hunting. After I was done cleaning my gun, I slipped the gun into its soft dark green case.I then set out my bright blaze orange vest, and my old brown hand me down coveralls†¦show more content†¦We opened the truck doors I pulled my gun out from behind the seat, and stealthily we walk towards the cabin. The cabin on the outside was rickety looking, it looked as if it was made fifty years ago. The cabin had a tin roof and on each side of the cabin it had two dusty windows. It also had pelts of animals hanging from the door, and the walls that probably haven’t been touched in years. The inside of the cabin was however, nice it had a kitchen with a working stove, wood burner, and a table. The cabin also had a couple hazel colored couches and a aquamarine colored recliner. As we went into the cabin we met up with dalton’s mother and father who decided to come hunt with us. I then unzipped my gun case, pulled out my gun and loaded four slug shells into it. We awaited till close to sunrise to start our journey to our hunting spots. To our surprise, Dalton’s cousins decided to come to the cabin to hunt as well. Therefore, we had three more people to hunt with us the more people we have, the better. I decided to go with my boyfriends mother, to a deer stand that I called the barrel stand straight across the field from the cabin, slightly into the timber.As we trudged quietly t o it, I could smell the fresh outdoor air throughShow MoreRelatedDescriptive Essay : The Stump Deer1290 Words   |  6 Pages Harkema1 The Stump Deer It was a chilly night before the last day of deer hunting season. At just the age of fifteen, I was in my house cleaning my cheap twenty gauge from Walmart. Using, a white grubby sock that had a long dark old shoe lace tied around it. I would insert my shoelace through the top of the barrel and slowly pull my sock through, till I saw it hanging a little into the ejection port to remove gun powder within the gun.As I was cleaning I keptRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesproject was not terribly complex and did not require their best design engineers. Unfortunately, the scheduling software assigned one of the most creative and expensive engineers to the MF project. A similar situation, but reversed, happened on the Deer project. This project involved a big customer and new hydrostatic technology for small tractors. In this project the scheduling software assigned engineers who were not familiar with small tractor transmissions. Somehow, thinks Jones, the right peopl e

Singer’s Famine, Affluence, and Morality free essay sample

In the Peter Singer’s article â€Å"Famine, Affluence, and Morality,† he discusses the way that people should take moral in their help towards the support of the Bengal famine crisis. Singer states three obligations that would help the Bengal region through the means of a wealthy person, and those individuals living life on a day-to-day basis. In this paper I will describe Singer’s goal for each obligation, explain the three counter arguments with Singer’s response, define and identify marginal utility as it relates to Singer’s arguments, and compare the ideas of duty and charity. At the close of this paper, I will state my own personal response to Singer’s ideas on famine, affluence, and morality. Singer’s goals in his article are to inform people of the famine of a Bengal, starving country, how they can decrease the starvation of a society if all individuals or those with the greater financial statuses gave contributions. Singer suggests that it should be moral to help those in need without causing the same effect upon them. Singer gives three counter-arguments that explain his ideas on the fact for his moral reasoning. Singer states, â€Å"he shall argue the way people in relatively affluent countries react to a situation like that in Bengal cannot be justified; indeed, the whole way we look at moral issues, our moral conceptual scheme needs to be altered, and with it, the way of life that has come to be taken for granted in our society† (Singer, 1972). Singer’s argument can be summed as: 1.Death and suffering caused by lack of nourishments, home dwellings, and/or healthcare issues are bad. 2.If someone can prevent something bad from happening without giving up something of equal importance, then they should. 3.One must contribute much as they possibly can to avoid the problems of death and suffering in disturbed populations. Singer’s first counter-argument is â€Å"if it is power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it† (Singer, 1972). In this statement, he questions our ideas and thoughts on equality towards helping those to prevent bad things from happening to them or ourselves. Singer suggest that we should only prevent bad things from happening and not good things, especially if we are not sacrificing anything important to us  or having bad results from helping those in need. Singer also argues that if he is unable to consider the needs of the people in Bengal that his money is not going to do a great deal for the people nutritional, medical, and dwelling needs. Singer uses the example of a drowning child in a shallow pond. He weighs the thoughts whether if it was worse if his clothes got wet and dirty or the death of the child. In the example Singer assured that, the death of the child is the worst thing that could happen, and he should prevent it by saving the child’s life. Singer’s second counter-argument is that distance should not make any preferences on the choices you make or the only person who could do anything. Whether it be a distance of 20 feet, 20 yards, or 20 miles makes no moral differences. Singer states, â€Å"That we should not discriminate against someone because of how far they are away† (Singer, 1972). One thinks that it is easier to help people in need that are closer in distance than those that are far away. Singer uses the example with the child drowning in a shallow pond again, at this time he is not the only person near the pond and sees the child. He question if we should point to other people and ask if they could rescue the child or look at our own self and save the drowning child. The moral of this judge no one, and do the deed yourself. Singer also uses the example if everyone gave X amount of money to save the famine of the Bengal society. Singer replies that the problem with this is that some people think that enough funds have been giving to the needs of hunger, shelter, and medical care to the famine crisis, in this aspect not all people would give, and the country would still remain as it is. â€Å"This persons with very low incomes may merit our sympathy is accepted, however, sympathy leads to charity, rather than to the involuntary exploitation of the better off (Narveson, 2004).† Singer also says that people with maintainable amount of wealth should give more than the X amount asked for, being that the predicament that some are not able to give or they can give less than the amount asked for. â€Å"Another, more serious reason for not giving to famine relief funds is that until there is effective population control, relieving famine merely postpones starvation† (Singer, 1972). The final and third counter-argument is that Singer question exactly how much we should be giving away. In this counter-argument, Singer talks of giving until one reaches marginal utility; or in the case where suffering would have greatly increased or decreased in his self, if he gave more than one can afford to give. One should avoid bad things from happening or sacrificing too much to help those in need. Giving until you reach your marginal utility is only required. â€Å"Singer believes we are obligated to give money away until our sacrifice is of comparable moral importance to the agony of people starving to death (Specter, 1999).† This is our duty to do so. An example Singer uses is that one should not go out and buy expensive clothes just to keep up with society when you already have a vast amount of clothes in your closet. He states that the famine relief is in a more critical condition instead of the purchase of clothes, that one does not need. Sacrificing the purchase of clothes would not be a bad thing, however, the sacrifice of hunger in a starving nation or town would be devastating. One should sacrifice their wants rather their needs, marginal utility. One should do whatever works best for them. â€Å"This may explain the origin and continued existence of the present division between acts of duty and acts of charity (Singer, 1972).† Charity is a voluntary act that one commits without a sense of obligation. Duties on the other hand rise up from specific obligations and are things in which are told to us what we must do. â€Å"However, the category of mutual aid and duty to rescue, important though it is, does not touch the subject before us (Narveson, 2004).† Within the ideas that Singer gave assist with the Bengal Famine Relief Fund, I personally agree with donating to a charity, and it should not be a duty. Today, with the economic crisis of the world, it is hard for most middle class families to survive from check to check; if that at all. I suggest that one should give to a charity because it allows them to give what they can afford. No matter the distance one should help those in need, if anything at all, like the surplus of food in the pantry unlike by family members, clothes that are too big or too small, and sometimes money matters.  To accommodate a duty on someone with little or no wealth to a famine society would place our town and cities in the same dilemma. As a logical reasoning, I would like to use two individuals standing in front of a supermarket holding a sign asking for food and/or money. The first individual is nicely dressed in fashionable name brand clothes and shoes, jewelry, and a cell phone. The second individual is dressed in raggedy unclean clothes, no shoes, no jewelry, no cell phone, and of course has a bad odor from being untidy. It is more apt that people would help the second individual, because of their looks and smell; you can see that this person has gone without food for days and a bath for weeks. This person looks homeless and near starvation. However, the first individual looks like they just got paid and wants attention or to see who would exactly help them, they want to feed off others than spend their own money. This is a reason why I think it is better to give to a charity. Charities have specific people that they help; they are known to help those in need and not just beggars. Even though, it is hard at times to tell who exactly needs the help from others, being that the first individual could have just received the clothes from a charity and/or wealthy individual to seek for jobs to sustain his needs of hunger, medical, and dwelling needs. Both individuals also could have been in the same position, and one just had the benefits to obtain clothes and other needs from a charity. It is not our moral beliefs to judge one for what they have or ask for in the time of need. Charity is spread abroad, whereas in duty is obtain from within.

Literature Review on Customer Service Management on Emirates free essay sample

In the manufacturing sector customers are able to evaluate the business based on the actual tangible good and may not care much for the augmented services provided with it, except for maybe in the case of cars, however service providers need to manage their customer service in the best possible way as that is the bases they will judged on. Service sector’s need to consider employee behavior, service scape and quality service in order to create a positive image in the minds of the consumer. An example of bad customer service is given through Apple due to their poor technical support, but however are able to get away with it due to their attractive nature. However Zappos. com and Bed Bath and Beyond are two companies that are directly opposite, one offers free shipping and 365x7x24 customer support while the other offers 100% satisfaction assured and free return shipping; and positioned right in between these two is Dell computers (Kandampully 2012). We will write a custom essay sample on Literature Review on Customer Service Management on Emirates or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Customer Service Management Managing customer service has become most essential now more than ever, customers today are well educated and are very careful about what they purchase. Companies dealing in similar areas or providing homogenous services can use customized customer service to differentiate their services. According to Nyanisa Manjavu (2004) â€Å"quality and customer service have become a way of life rather than, short-term projects that can begin and end at will. † Some customer service management strategies mentioned are: * Motivate staff well for best attitudes from employees. Make part-time employees feel as part of the overall team. * Produce efficient and well organized systems to deal with variability of services. * Due to the importance of the customer service function, adequate resources need to be allocated to it. * Employee’s performance targets must be clear and realistic so as to encourage high standards of the service. (Manjavu 2004) Some of the ways service organisations can create value for its customers is through continuous improvement of service quality, encounters and satisfaction: Service Quality Service quality refers to how the firm’s performance compares to the general expectations of the customer. The SERVQUAL model used in Srinivas Durvasula’s(2005) study is one of the most cited models proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985), five dimensions have been recognized to describe service qualities: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Also a 22-item scale was developed to measure these five dimensions (Durvasula, Lysonski and Mehta 2005). Service Encounter The two main definitions for service encounters used in Durvasula’s (2005) paper are first off a period of time during which a consumer directly interacts with the service† and â€Å"it is the collectivity of service encounters that is evaluated by the customer and not a single interaction per se†; both are said to be broad definitions in nature. This has become very important when determining customer satisfaction and its impact on service quality, service encounters can occur as interpersonal interactions or even through a variety of technologies (Durvasula, Lysonski and Mehta 2005). Service Satisfaction and its Determinants Companies spend a lot of resources on customer satisfaction due to the many benefits it provides such as customer loyalty, repurchase intentions, positive word of mouth and customer retention which can all in turn have a positive impact on profits. Two things discovered in this paper to have an impact on customer satisfaction are service quality and customer perceptions of service encounters [ (Durvasula, Lysonski and Mehta 2005) ]. Some of the important or key factors that can help shape the customer service function are: * Reliability, companies need to be able to meet or rather exceed customer expectations. Availability, companies need to make their customer service available at all times and through multiple channels. * Return calls, they need to make sure their customers have someone to talk to when needed. * Service failure recovery, this can determine how customers will spread information about the company. * Customer service as organization culture, every employee needs to be a customer service rep and should give their best when interacting with a customer. (Winston n. d. ) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Another important concept to consider when talking about customer service is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Despite large amounts of research carried out on this topic, there is no agreement on what CRM really is and how a CRM strategy can be developed. CRM first materialized in the IT community but has expanded to other areas of the service sector. Payne and Frow (2005) say that CRM definitions are mostly associated with technology but believe this is the reason behind the failure to properly define CRM. After extensive deliberations of various definitions and perspectives, they developed this definition for the purpose of their study â€Å"CRM is a strategic approach that is concerned with creating improved shareholder value through the development of appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments. CRM unites the potential of relationship marketing strategies and IT to create profitable, long-term relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. CRM provides enhanced opportunities to use data and information to both understand customers and co create value with them. This requires a cross-functional integration of processes, people, operations, and marketing capabilities that is enabled through information, technology, and applications. † [ (Payne and Frow 2005) ] Customer Experience According to Palmer (2010) â€Å"Increasing use of the vocabulary of â€Å"customer experience† by firms would appear to be a substitute for the language of â€Å"customer relationships. † He also believes customer experience management may be the concept that can prevail over the challenges and restrictions of CRM. Among many of the definitions mentioned is â€Å"The feeling of emotions and sensations as opposed to thinking† and â€Å". . . involvement in what is happening rather than abstract reflection on an event† given by the American Heritage Dictionary which he describes as â€Å"more affective and process based†. Palmer shows a model on how the basis for marketing-based competitive advantage has evolved through time, from when the economy was more dominated by manufacturing companies to the time the service sector’s importance rose. He feels developing on customer experiences can help service organizations differentiate their brand when customer relationships become too common or generic for similar companies. Different stimulus can have different impacts on different consumers, emotions can play an vital role when considering customer experience as people mostly tend to get emotional at things that are important to them (Pallmer 2010). The Airline Industry The airline sector is no exception from the growing interest in improving customer service management. Many airlines continue to provide consumers with the best service in many ways in order to succeed. Some examples: * Southwest Airlines- (Ruppel 2012) Their mission statement now says: â€Å"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit†. * American Airlines- (American Airlines n. d. ) American Airlines and their regional partner American Eagle have submitted a customer service plan which has been put into effect on Feb 3. 2012. It says â€Å"We are dedicated to making every flight you take with us something special. Your safety, comfort and convenience are our most important concerns† * Emirates Airlines- (The Emirates Group n. d. )The importance given to their customers can be seen through the many awards Emirates has received such as * Skytrax World Airline Awards Worlds Best Airline In-flight Entertainment. (2012) * Airline Passenger Experience Association – Emirates wins Best Overall Passenger Experience. (2011) * Frequent Traveler Awards Skywards wins Best Customer Service, Middle East, Asia amp; Oceania. (2011) * Business Traveler Middle East Awards Skywards, Best Frequent Flyer Program. (2009) Yield Management (YM) Yield Management can be defined as a method that helps to sell the correct product to the appropriate consumer, at the suitable moment and price. This can be used as a innovative pricing strategy and has been done so by the airline sector for a very long time [ (Martinez, Borja and Jimenez 2011) ]. Some of the characteristics of YM that make it efficient are one, relatively fixed capacity as capacity is not flexible; seats on a plane cannot be added or removed. Two, ability to segment its market in to different customer categories, third is the perishable inventory as aircrafts seats cannot be stored. Forth is the fact that all tickets are sold at a different time so tradeoffs occur when deciding to accept an offer between an early reservation with low price or a last minute customer who may pay higher. In Fredric Voneche’s (2005) study the problems of YM have been broken down into overbooking, discount allocation and traffic management. Overbooking means to sell more seats on an aircraft than existing as passengers that don’t show up or cancel can leave up to 15% of the plane empty. However all passengers do not always pay the same price on a flight and so the concept discount allocation needs to be used which is the â€Å"the process of etermining the number of discount fares to offer on a flight. † Finally traffic management needs to be considered due to the adaption of the hub-and-apoke concept after deregulation. Overbooking and discount allocations would be enough to maximize revenue if point to point routes existed with no connecting flights [ (Voneche 2005) ]. YM was introduced to Emirates in 1990 by its senior vice president of YM Ramesh Venkat who is responsible for Flight Management, Group Desk, Revenue Integrity, Revenue Management Science and Research. He is an Electrical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (1978) and MBA from the University of Bradford (2002) and has pioneered sales-focused revenue management at the company [ (Venkat 2007) ]. Emirates Airlines Emirates is known to be one of the best airlines in the emirates, winning many awards. They offer a variety of amazing augmented services to customers to support their core service which is air transport. First to look at the actual in-fight services, Emirates offers three classes in their flights first, business and economy. First and business class of course are offered the very best treatment due to the higher prices they pay; they enjoy services such as private suites, flat bed seats, regionally inspired food along with wines and champagne, shower spa’s, onboard lounges, their world renowned in-flight entertainment system which consists of information, communication and entertainment (ice) which has won awards six years in a row and extended services before taking off and after landing such as relaxing at the exclusive Emirates lounge or enjoying chauffeur driven services. However the economy class is also provided with many great services such as seatback monitors with up to 1,400 channels of news and entertainment programming along with SMS, telephone and email service as on air wifi is available on all three classes, they are also offered award-winning meals created by internationally renowned chefs and provide utmost care and attention to young flyers. Emirates believes in providing â€Å"comfort, convenience, and exceptional service are part of the Emirates experience wherever your travels take you. Emirates flies to 120 destinations worldwide and passengers are even able to download their timetables through the website. Emirates also offers tour and holiday packages to customers through Emirates Holidays, Arabian Adventures and have special offers at their own Emirates Wolgan Valley resort and spa in Australia. The organisation allows customers to receive special fares and special offers and the latest news from Emirates, direct to their inbox. Emirates also has a special offer for all its loyal customers called the Skywards Miles, this allows to collect miles on your purchases and then pay for booking or upgrading a flight ticket using these miles; small to medium sized businesses can enjoy these rewards as well called the business rewards [ (Emirates 2012) ]. One main benefit all Emirates Airline passengers, no matter of what nature, can enjoy in the UAE is the entire terminal 3 that was specially built just for Emirates’ customers; it is capable to hold up to 43 million passengers a year when fully operational. The president of Emirates Airlines, Tim Clark, says â€Å"The new Emirates Terminal 3 is a testament to our corporate values that will see our passengers enjoy ease of travel, home comforts and refined luxuries both in the air and on the ground helping us to deliver on our promise and fulfill customer expectations from the Emirates brand† (Anonymous 2008). Self-Service Technologies Self-service technology (SST) has been defined as â€Å"technological interfaces allowing customers to produce services independent of involvement of direct service employee† and can be an important tool in customer service management. Although first started in the manufacturing industry, it slowly moved to the service sector and was introduced to the airline industry in the mid 1990’s but has come a long way since then. The different types of SST’s at airports could include information kiosks, ticketing kiosks, CUSS kiosks, retail kiosks, internet bookings and through the use of smart phones or mobile devices. SST is much more preferred to traditional check in systems by the company and customers due to greater efficiency, convenience, shorter wait times, reduced labor cost and variability in the human service encounter (Drennen 2011). Emirates has invested a great deal in SST’s to ensure their customers the best service. Emirates has a very appealing and user friendly website for its customers to use and anyone can access a range of Emirates’ services through this. Passengers can not only book their tickets online but check in as well and is available for all three classes. The website also allows passengers to book hotels, rent cars and book tour n holiday destinations for their trip. Emirates’ check in is most convenient due to the self check in machines at the terminal (Emirates 2012) and new check in machines at some metro stations (Badam 2011). Strengths and Limitations Despite knowing of all the amazing and extensive services offered by Emirates, there are some mixed feelings among customers (Full reviews in Appendix 1). Some of the many services that have been praised are the amazing entertainment system (ICE), the comfortable seats, lounges, the bar in the A380, quick check in, seat upgrades, chauffeur service and clean cabins. However there definitely are some complaints and the most common are about inattentive, uncivil and â€Å"almost robotic† like crew members and tasteless and cold food. Even though customers have said positive things about these aspects some believe they were just terrible. Customer Service Program An organization’s ultimate goal is make customers happy, and developing a formal plan to effectively serve customers will encourage this. Mostly small companies have in formal plans however bigger companies are encouraged to have formal plans with customer service policies and procedures, ways to measure satisfaction and loyalty. When an organization is trying to implement a customer service program there are some key elements that need to be considered. First is to assess your company’s customer focus, traditionally companies would hire one or two people to take care of the customer service problems however smarter business owners know that this is a task for the whole organization and each employee needs to understand that each individual persons role will affect how the customer sees the company. Next is to asses customer needs, organization’s need to thoroughly analyze customer satisfaction; this can be done through analyzing customer complaints or reviewing average wait times. Establishing formal customer service policies is another element, this may consist of which tasks will be handled by whom or how an employee should behave in a certain situation. Finally the organization needs to educate the staff, time need to be set out for employees to be trained and nurtured into truly service-oriented employees (Inc. 2009). References: American Airlines. http://www. aa. com/i18n/customerService/customerCommitment/customerServicePlan. jsp (accessed November 3, 2012). Badam, Ramola Talwar. Emirates Airline puts check-in kiosks in Metro stations. The National. August 3, 2011. http://www. thenational. ae/news/uae-news/transport/emirates-airline-puts-check-in-kiosks-in-metro-stations (accessed November 5, 2012). Drennen, Hannah, Self Service Technology in Airports And the Customer Experience (2011). UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 1053. Durvasula, Srinivas, Steven Lysonski, and Subhash C. Mehta. Service Encounters: The Missing Link Between Service Quality and Satisfaction. Journal of Applied Business Research, 2005: 16-18. Emirates. 2012. http://www. emirates. com/ae/english/ (accessed November 4, 2012). Inc. , Virtual Advisor. Creating an Effective Customer Service Plan. 2009. http://www. va-interactive. com/inbusiness/editorial/sales/ibt/customer. html#top (accessed November 13, 2012). Kandampully, Jay. Service Management: The New Paradigm in Retailing. New York: Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, 2012. Manjavu, Nyanisa. AN ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. Journal of Srevice Marketing, 2004: 1,6-7. Martinez, Mario, Miguel Borja, and Juan Jimenez. Yield Management as a Pricing Mechanism. The Review of Business Information Systems, 2011: 51-59. Pallmer, Adrian. Customer experience management: a critical review of an emerging idea. Journal of Services Marketing, 2010: 196-208. Payne, Adrian, and Pennie Frow. A Strategic Framework for Customer Relationship Management. Journal of Marketing, 2005: 167-176. Ruppel, Jim. Customer Service Commitment. Dallas, 2012. Skytrax. http://www. airlinequality. com/Forum/emrts. htm (accessed November 13, 2012). The Emirates Group. http://www. th eemiratesgroup. com/english/our-company/awards-accolades. aspx (accessed November 3, 2012). Venkat, Ramesh. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management. 007. http://www. palgrave-journals. com/rpm/journal/v6/n4/abs/5160104a. html (accessed November 3, 2012). Voneche, Fredric. Yield Management in the Airline Industry. Journal of services Marketing , 2005: 1-6. Winston, Beth. eHow. http://www. ehow. com/list_6697064_key-factors-customer-service. html (accessed November 13, 2012). Appendix Appendix 1 – Customer Reviews [ (Skytrax n. d. ) ] * E. Cherfane Dubai-Beirut-Dubai in business class. Very impressive as the crew were attentive, I was escorted to my seat and informed of the seat facility and the service. Entertainment system is excellent with plenty of choices. Will be flying them again this month to Bangkok. * Janet Farnaby On arrival at Melbourne airport we found our flight to London Heathrow via Singapore had been cancelled. Emirates staff could not have been more helpful. We were re-routed via Sydney/Dubai to Heathrow with an overnight stay at the Sheraton with meals and transfers provided. Upgraded to Business Class and received excellent meals. Dubai to London was back to economy, but we were given the seats next to the exit and again felt cared for. A great experience with excellent service both on the ground and in the air. A great selection of in-flight entertainment made long flights more agreeable. * Per Norlander We had a return flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong and the BKK-HKG flight was the best flight. Very good staff, attentive service, good recommendation of wine with the food. The bar at the back of the A380 was a really great experience. Again very nice and service minded staff. * S. Brent Flew SYD to Dubai, Dubai to Casablanca, return. Unimpressed with service, staff was barely civil, food was ordinary. My friend even had to take her own meal tray back to the galley! * S. Anand AMS-DBX-MAA-DBX-AMS. Upgraded to business class on DBX-MAA-DBX segments. Service on board all flights substandard. It appears that being warm and welcoming is an effort for cabin crew. Food on all segments of poor quality (even business class segments). Food portions are small on the long haul AMS-DBX-AMS segment. The seats are comfortable be it business or economy. Chose Emirates because of low ticket price and decent reputation for service. However I would rather pay more money and fly someone else.

Argumentative Paper on the Benefits of Free Range Livestock on Consumer Health Rather than Corn

Argumentative Paper on the Benefits of Free Range Livestock on Consumer Health Rather than Corn Introduction Food is arguably the most basic need of man and as such, having food security is a fundamental goal for human civilization. Ensuring that people are protected from hunger that is often the consequence of underproduction of food is therefore one of the major ambitions of most governments.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative Paper on the Benefits of Free Range Livestock on Consumer Health Rather than Corn-Fed Livestock specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To cater for the increasing need for food caused by an every growing population, traditional methods of producing food have in most cases being replaced by modern means which are deemed to be more efficient. Livestock farming is one of the areas whereby modern methods such as feeding livestock on corn have been adopted to increase the growth rate of the animals. As it currently stands, livestock products today contribute a large percentage of our da ily intake of nutrients in our bodies. However the foods that the livestock feeds upon impacts on the livestock products that we as human consume. This essay will argue that free range animal products are more beneficial to the consumer as compared to corn fed livestock products. To reinforce this claim, this paper will review the various benefits that free range animal products hold over corn fed livestock products. Benefits of Free Range Animals Human beings rely on animal products to provide them with some essential nutrients. Animals that are fed on corn sometimes end up lacking these essential nutrients. Challem reveals that farm animals that eat mostly corn and other grains have little to no omega-3 fatty acids in their muscles (78). Free range livestock products on the other hand are endowed with most nutrients that help us to boost our immune system in that they contain higher levels of antioxidants and important fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, and E (Forge 10). These vit amins are essential for promotion of good eye sight, strong well formed bones as well as healthy skin. Free range livestock products are also rich in calcium which is essential to maintain a healthy body, strong healthy bones and teeth, healthy skin hair and nails and more so helps us to have supple and flexible joints. It is hence very important to go for free range livestock products so as to maximize on health benefits. The United States and other developed countries currently face high prevalence rates of obesity, a condition which is mostly caused by consumption unhealthy foods. This problem is accentuated by corn fed livestock result in products that are unhealthy to human beings. Research indicates that pasture-raised meat, eggs and other dairy products are better for consumer health than conventionally-raised grain-fed food (Challem 38). This is because these products are lower in calories and total fat as a result of feeding livestock with the right food. The reason for thi s is that corn is not friendly with the digestive system of animals and this results in the animals not being able to process the food as well as they would process grass. They therefore end up giving products that are high on calories and fat and therefore unhealthy for the consumer.Advertising Looking for essay on agriculture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition to being nutritionally rich free range products are safe to consume as they are known to be free of residues from the antibiotics that are routinely fed to livestock as growth promoters by conventional farmers (Straten 162). Free range beef has a higher level of a naturally occurring fatty acid called Conjugated Linoleic Acid –CLA which is vital to our bodies. It is involved in the efficient transportation, storage and metabolism of fat in the body but is frequently deficient even in a healthy diet. This fatty acid is also â€Å"a key factor in weight management as it helps to reduce the total weight fat and increase muscle tone as part of an enzyme reaction that breaks down fat globules in the blood† (Straten 168). The consumption of free range livestock products therefore results in the efficient circulation of blood and decreases the chances of developing heart complications and high blood pressure. Corn fed products is not safe to consume due to the residue from antibiotics that are continually fed to animals to promote their growth. This is a cause of great concern because this raises negative health risks. For instance this may lead to resistant strains of bacteria in consumers and consequently reduce the effectiveness of the bodies own mechanism (Straten 32). There are various concerns pertaining to modern food animal production. Mooney, Knox and Schacht reveal that higher levels of saturated fat in corn fed beef result in possible health risks associated with growth in milk and the production of contamina tion of meat (70). Creatzfeldt-Jacob which is the human form of mad cow disease may also result from the consumption of corn fed products. The use of antibiotics in animal feed also results in the creation of super-resistant bacteria infections in man (Straten 70). Consumers are thus encourages to be very careful when buying livestock product they wish to eat because cheap could be extremely expensive. A case for Corn-Fed Livestock As has been noted, the human population has increased at phenomenal rates and relying on traditional means to feed people may no longer be viable. The biggest motivation for farming today is therefore coming up with products in the shortest time possible so as to feed the bulging population. Doyle and Lipman rightly noted that â€Å"most commercially available meats are factory farmed because it is fast, convenient and more economical† (131). It can therefore be seen that while corn fed livestock may not be as healthy to the human body as free rang e livestock, they give the nation the ability to feed its population.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative Paper on the Benefits of Free Range Livestock on Consumer Health Rather than Corn-Fed Livestock specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, it should be taken into consideration that corn fed livestock deprives people of important nutrients and may in fact result in health complications. Baer reveals that for instance, the ratio of the detrimental Omega 6 fatty acids is higher in corn fed beef than in grass fed beef and that do not work well for our bodies since it can cause inflammation, increase of heart disease and even cancer. From such revelations, it is clear that consuming corn fed livestock products just because they satisfy us is a dangerous. Conclusion Animal products form an important part of man’s nutritional needs. This paper set out to argue that free range livestock products are mor e beneficial to human beings than products from corn-fed livestock. The paper has highlighted the fact that free range products result in the promotion of good health. It has also been documented that free range products can be counted on to boost the immune system, to provide us with soluble and to supply humans with adequate amount of an important nutrients in our bodies. This proves that free range livestock is so much beneficial on consumer health rather than corn fed livestock. Challem, Jack. The Inflammation Syndrome: Your Nutrition Plan for Great Health, Weight Loss, and Pain-Free Living. John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Print. Doyle, Molly and Lipman, Frank. Spent: End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again. Simon and Schuster, 2008. Print. Forge, Arabella. Frugavore. Black Inc, 2010. Print. Mooney, Linda., Knocks, David and Schacht, Caroline. Understanding Social Problems. Wadsworth Publishing , 2010. Print.Advertising Looking for essay on agriculture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Straten, Michael. Organic living. Frances Lincoln ltd, 2001. Print.

Book Review Harvest of Empire

Book Review Harvest of Empire Book Review: Harvest of Empire Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez book review essay: From time immemorial, humans always had the ‘urge’ to move into new geographical territories with various motivations. Starting from earlier motivations of discovering new lands, imperialism to current economic motivations, people enter new countries en masse. This movement for economic development is known as immigration in present day context, and there are few economically developed countries, which elicit high number of immigrants. This immigration experience is one of the constant affairs of American life, as people from all over the world, view America as the land of immense opportunities, and enter it both legally and illegally. This view about America was critically analyzed by Juan Gonzales in his book titled, Harvest of Empire, focusing mainly on the immigration of the Latino population and how it impacts America’s foreign policies as well. Gonzales provides the readers a historical overview of how the Latino immigration started centuries ago, and at the same time provides a laser-like analysis of the current events, that are impacting the Latino population and thereby America’s politics and diplomacy. So, this paper will first provide a review of the book and then will analyze how its contents, particularly the portions which focus on the current issues impacting the Latino population, relate to todays politics and diplomacy. Personal Interpretation or opinion Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzales is a must read book for all those who want to know about the history of Latinos immigrants, who are now considered as the fastest growing ethnic segment in America. Gonzalez starts off by examining the history of Latinos in America, right from the times when Spain and Britain made territorial conquest of America, till the present day. He has divided the book into three sections calling each sections has â€Å"Roots†, â€Å"Branches† and finally â€Å"Harvest†. The first section of â€Å"Roots† only provides the historical background of the Latino immigration by focusing on the earliest relations between the Latin American countries and the United States of America. In this section, Gonzalez was quite critical of America’s foreign policy and diplomacy, particularly its imperialistic tendencies in the early centuries. According to the author, at that time, America tried to impose its will and influence over many coun tries and even over certain cultural or ethnic groups. â€Å"†¦a vicious and relentless drive for territorial expansion, conquest, and subjugation of others- Native Americans, African slaves, and Latin Americans.† (Gonzalez 270). Thus, the author opines that America’s drive to become a sort of ‘Empire’ started in the early centuries itself. He states that America entered into or even extended its influence over many South American countries, thus negatively influencing those countries’ internal affairs, which in a way worked as a catalyst for the Latinos immigration. Negative influence in the sense, America plundered the natural resources of the Latin American countries, and thereby inhibited the growth of indigenous industries and economies. With not enough avenues for livelihood in those countries, sizable number of Latinos started entering America. â€Å"If Latin America had not been raped and pillaged by U.S. capital since its independence , millions of desperate workers would not now be coming here in such numbers to reclaim a share of that wealth.† (Gonzalez 206). Thus, it is clear that Gonzales puts the blame for the Latino immigration into America and the problems associated with it, on the Americans themselves, or in particular, on the Americans’ political and diplomatic policies. His theory is clear that the different Latino groups that exist and function today in the American society are a result of the historical happenings and actions of the American government. The second section of â€Å"Branches† focuses on each one of the six major groups of the Latino population in America. In each chapter, Gonzales separately describes about the culture, living conditions, family, etc., of the Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Columbians and Panamanians, and the Central Americans. That is, although all these groups are joined by a common language of Spanish, and are tagged as Latinos, â€Å"they come from 20-odd countries with distinct histories, customs and blends of European, African and indigenous stock.† (Robinson). He gives equal coverage to all these groups in separate chapters, by writing about certain individuals or about their families, thereby reflecting the general immigration story of all these major Latino groups. After providing an historical overview and background about the Latino immigration and the immigrants, Gonzales focuses on the real issues, which are impacting their lives. He discusses how certain sectio ns of the Latino population have not still integrated and assimilated with the American society, and then lists out certain steps that can be taken for further assimilation and acculturation. The book on the whole has several positive points going for it, as Gonzalez puts forward an interesting and informative historical overview of the Latino immigration and the current political issues impacting the Latino immigrants, backed with extensive research. Relation to todays Political and diplomatic policies One of the key political as well as social realities that can be understood from the book is the clear rise in the Latino population. When one focuses on the population numbers of America and their demographic profile, it is clear that the Latinos are on the verge of becoming the largest minority group in America, even overtaking the African American population. This striking demographic transformation is a key reality, which was forecasted by Gonzales in early 2000’s itself. â€Å"For a country long used to seeing itself as black and white, it will be something of a shock when Hispanics become the nations largest minority group in five years and fully one-quarter of the population by mid-century.† (Robinson). This swelling of the Latin population provides them increased clout in various spheres of American life, particularly politics. With candidates in all types of elections from Presidential to local level elections mainly focusing on vote banks to garner bulk votes, the Latino population are getting good attention, thus showing that ethnicity and social class matters in America, particularly from political angle and during elections. â€Å"Recent elections show that the Latino vote has become key in critical states, and most presidential candidates now on the stump are at least trying to speak a few words of Spanish† (Robinson). As mentioned above, vote bank politics are the order of the day, with the candidates trying their best to appeal to particular communities or people of particular race, religion, ethnicity etc. Candidates do that by doing certain culture specific actions, and thereby try to associate with people of particular ethnicity and social class, and in the process showing him/her as one of them. When they do that, they will be able to garner votes en masse. This focus on individuals’ ethnicity and social class by the election candidates clearly shows that both these factors truly matters in the current multicultur al American society. The other key social-ethnic reality concerning Latino immigration as well as immigration on the whole, is, American government is taking strong steps to curtail immigration, thereby impacting its foreign policies and diplomacy. The government is toughening its regulations regarding entry of skilled professional immigrants as well as ‘plugging’ the entry points of the under-skilled illegal immigrants in its borders. In the book, Gonzalez equates the border control steps taken by the American government to the building of Great Wall in China. The other major issue that is visible when it comes to the anti-immigration stance against the Latino population is the clear exhibition of racism in diplomatic handling of immigration. That is, although immigrants from different ethnic and cultural groups from various parts of the world are illegally entering America, mainly the Latino immigrants are being targeted. They are treated in a strong manner and deported back to their homel ands immediately, while the immigrants of Caucasian ethnicity are treated in a leaner manner, thus validating the statement that ethnicity and status plays a role in American diplomacy as well. â€Å"Again racism defines the xenophobia: in 1996, Gonzalez points out, 2,047 â€Å"illegal† Canadians were deported (out of 120,000) compared to 1.5 million Mexicans (out of 2.7 million).† (Martinez). It is clear that the Latino immigration as discussed by Gonzales in the book, Harvest of Empire has relations to the social-ethnic issue of racism. As racism is also carried out on the basis of an individual’s ethnicity and social class, it is clear that both are relevant in the present day society. That is, as pointed out above, even in the issue of deporting immigration, racism is done, and this shows how racism causing ethnicity and social class to make an impact in the diplomatic matters. From the above analysis, it is clear that Juan Gonzales has focused on a very imp ortant issue of immigration, as it is having effects in various spheres of the American society particularly in its politics and diplomacy. Do you still need book review help on Harvest of Empire topic? is professional book review writing service which will gladly help with your book review or book report essay starting at $12/page!

Hague Visby Rules Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Hague Visby Rules - Essay Example Consequently, exporters are bound by the rules. On the other hand, imports will only apply the Rules in the event that the goods came from countries governed by them. Exceptions will be made to parties that expressly agreed to the Rules in their bill of lading. This implies that when a carrier decides to ignore the use of a bill of lading, then he is not bound by the rules. Such a carrier has the mandate to introduce his own terms and conditions. Also, carriers my be exempt from the Rules when they choose to give a receipt instead of a bill of lading and in the event that they are operating between countries that are not bound by the Rules. This gives carriers undue advantage and can be a source of conflict. 2 There are certain limitations on the application of the rules that are not necessarily related to the bill of lading. For instance when the carrier is required to transport live animals, then he is not bound by the rules. Similarly, if the merchandise to be transported comprises of deck cargo, then parties are not obliged to apply the Hague Visby rules. Additionally, if a receipt rather than a contract was awarded, then the rules do not apply. The receipt must be a way bill i.e. it should be non negotiable. It should be noted that the Hague rules can apply to a given situation even when a bill of lading was not issued. ... Similarly, if the merchandise to be transported comprises of deck cargo, then parties are not obliged to apply the Hague Visby rules. Additionally, if a receipt rather than a contract was awarded, then the rules do not apply. The receipt must be a way bill i.e. it should be non negotiable. It should be noted that the Hague rules can apply to a given situation even when a bill of lading was not issued. The underlying need for a bill of lading is to indicate that a contract of carriage was present. Therefore other documents may replace the bill of lading and some of them include advertisements made by the carrier. Also a booking note may be taken as an indication of the contract of carriage alongside other documents that indicate to the shipper that a carrier is in operation. An example of these exemptions was in the case of Pyrene Company vs. Scindia Steam Navigation Company. 3 In this case, there was no bill of lading issued but it had been argued that the bill of lading was intended. It was based on the fact that the contract of carriage had been completed and a bill of lading would be given in the near future. It was held by the Canadian Supreme court that a limitation be paid by the offender given the fact that they contemplated introducing the bill of lading. Howev er, in circumstances where two parties intend on introducing a charter party, then the rules become irrelevant as seen in the case of Canada Steamship Co. vs. Desgagne. 4 The Hague rules apply to goods that have been received in reality. In the event that the goods have not been delivered, then the contract of carriage is invalid i.e. it will not commence. This means that no party can sue for damages for goods that

The business of developing new drugs for cancer patients Essay

The business of developing new drugs for cancer patients - Essay Example Cancer is basically the abnormality of cells which spreads throughout the body rendering it unable to survive. It is the disease of malignant cells and tissues which get destroyed because of the germs of virus in the body, thus, called as Malignant Neoplasm. There are no clear symptoms of the disease in the start of attack of cancer whereas later on certain symptoms and presence of some specific signs cause the identification of disease. However, cancer can be cured with a little care and treatment if it is detected at some early stages when the malignancy of tissues has not spread throughout the body. When a certain part of body has been affected by the cancerous germs and this disease id identified, it can easily be cured with the help of specific drugs that have been prepared for this purpose during last few decades. About a century ago, cancer was not a known disease throughout the world and many people died of it without knowing about its existence. With the use of advanced research and technology, the identification and treatment of this disease have become possible to such an extent that almost 60 percent of patients at early stage have been cured in last few years and only a small number of patients have died of this disease. However, in last few years, this common killer disease has caught the attention of many specialist and researchers and they have been trying hard to discover new and curable solutions of this disease. It is observed that they have also been successful in their intentions as the business for developing new drugs for cancer treatment has been flourished to such an extent that many drugs have been introduced in the medical world which provide gradual but successful relieve to this disease. Majority of the third world countries lack the awareness to this disease, but in the developed nations like America, there is a considerable awareness and treatment available for cancer. The demand for such drugs that cure cancer is increasing day by day in all developed and under developed countries nowadays. Although there is a fast development and research in the field of developing drugs of different diseases, there are many different types of diseases among which certain are very dangerous, still considered incurable and need special attention for making of drugs for their cure. However, according to a recent research, it has been discovered that 200 various different kinds of cancer have been identified in cancer patients by the specialists; according to an analysis, 1 in 3 Americans has been found affected by the identified cancerous forms while everyday 1 American in 4 dies because of cancer besides the best treatment facilities and drugs availability (Ernst, 2008). America is paying special attention to cure this disease and discover easy and simple method s to cure cancer. Their best qualified scientists are involved in researching the cancer treatment drugs and they are spending $125 billion every year on the discovery, examination and drugs preparation for cure of cancer. It has also been hypothesized that cancer treatment budget can rise high up to $207 billion in America till 2020 (Ernst, 2008). It is very difficult to find some simple and pain free treatment drugs for cancer that can provide reliable, permanent and authentic relief to cancer patient. It is very expensive research project but Americans are trying hard for inventing some affordable cancerous treatment. Expensive treatment for cancer goes beyond approach for the poor just like prostate

Challenges Faced by Fisrt Year Students Essay Example for Free

Challenges Faced by Fisrt Year Students Essay You are expected to submit the pre-writing stage before final submission of the essay The pre-writing stage should be a clear outline of how you are going to write your final essay and an annotated bibliography of not less than five sources.. The purpose of the assignment is to; 1. help you develop the ability to research, reflect on and write an academic essay 2. develop the ability to integrate sources ( i.e. direct quotes, paraphrases and summaries) in your work to demonstrate your perspective on the assignment topic 3. The paper should be written in an academic writing format and should be word processed, font Roman Times or calibri, size 12, line spacing 1.5 and not more than one and a half pages long. 4. The paper should be well researched and thought-provoking. All sources from which your information was obtained should be properly cited using the APA style, and a reference list written at the end of the paper. 5. The reference list should be in a separate page Choose any of the following topics and write an academic essay. 1. Is the law that prohibits the use of cellular phones while driving in Botswana fair? 2. Why is the media important in society? 3. To what extent does the mass media (TV, radio and newspapers) influence an individual’s personality? 4. Damage of the environment is an inevitable consequence of worldwide improvements in the standard of living. Discuss 5. 6. 7. 8. What are the challenges faced by students at university level that may lead to poor performance. Discuss the different ways through which poverty can be eradicated What is culture? Discuss the different elements of culture. Exams often do little more than measure a person’s ability to take exams so exams should be abolished in favour of another form of assessment 9. Evaluate the importance of a counseling centre in a university 10. What is the difference between sex and gender? What are gender roles? Deadline for pre-writing stage: 03 March Due date: 08 March

Character Study in Manual Puigs Kiss of the Spider Woman Essay

Character Study in Manual Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman On the surface, Manual Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman is about politics and oppression. Caged literally and figuratively in an existential cell, both Molina and Valentin are wards of a police state and are therefore powerless to change their circumstances. But the novel is really about how spiritual freedom is cultivated and made manifest by Molina's retelling of his favorite movies. Because the substance of the films is first filtered through Molina's perspective, his perversion of the characters and plots reflect his own progression from an oppressed prisoner to a heroine who freely chooses the path to her own death. That Molina identifies himself with the heroines in the films is unmistakable by the end of the novel. In the first movie he tells to Valentin, a woman who involuntarily changes into a panther whenever she kisses a man is parallel to Molina's life as a homosexual man in a society that condemns him. The panther woman's love is dangerous, and so is Molina's. His fatalistic view of his place ...

A Dirty Job Chapter 5

5 DARKNESS GETS UPPITY Hey, Ray,† Charlie said as he came down the steps into the storeroom. He always tried to make a lot of noise on the steps and usually fired a loud and early â€Å"hello† to warn his employees that he was coming. He'd worked a number of jobs before coming back to take over the family business, and had learned from experience that nobody liked a sneaky boss. â€Å"Hey, Charlie,† Ray said. Ray was out front, sitting on a stool behind the counter. He was pushing forty, tall, balding, and moved through the world without ever turning his head. He couldn't. As a San Francisco policeman, he'd caught a gangbanger's bullet in the neck six years ago, and that was the last time he'd looked over his shoulder without using a mirror. Ray lived on a generous disability pension from the city and worked for Charlie in exchange for free rent on his fourth-floor apartment, thus keeping the transaction off both their books. He spun around on the stool to face Charlie. â€Å"Hey – uh – I wanted to say that, you know, your situation, I mean, your loss. Everybody liked Rachel. You know, if I can do anything – â€Å" It was the first time Charlie had seen Ray since the funeral, so the awkwardness of secondary condolences had yet to be forded. â€Å"You've done more than enough by picking up my shifts. Whatcha working on?† Charlie was trying desperately to not look at the various objects in the shop that were glowing dull red. â€Å"Oh, this.† Ray rotated and pushed back so that Charlie could see the computer screen, where there were displayed rows of portraits of smiling, young Asian women. â€Å"It's called Desperate Filipinas dot-com.† â€Å"Is this where you met Miss LoveYouLongTime?† â€Å"That was not her name. Did Lily tell you that? That kid has problems.† â€Å"Yeah, well, kids,† Charlie said, suddenly noticing a matronly woman in tweed who was browsing the curio shelves at the front of the store. She was carrying a porcelain frog that was glowing dull red. Ray clicked on one of the pictures, which opened a profile. â€Å"Look at this one, boss. It says she's into sculling.† He spun on his stool again and bounced his eyebrows at Charlie. Charlie pulled his attention from the woman with the glowing frog and looked at the screen. â€Å"That's rowing, Ray.† â€Å"No it's not. Look, it says she was a coxswain in college.† Again with the eyebrow bounce, he offered a high five. â€Å"Also rowing,† Charlie said, leaving the ex-cop hanging. â€Å"The person at the back of the boat who yells at the rowers is called the coxswain.† â€Å"Really?† Ray said, disappointed. He'd been married three times, and been left by all three wives because of an inability to develop normal adult social skills. Ray reacted to the world as a cop, and while many women found that attractive initially, they expected him eventually to leave the attitude, along with his service weapon, in the coat closet when he arrived home. He didn't. When Ray had first come to work at Asher's Secondhand, it had taken two months for Charlie to get him to stop ordering customers to â€Å"move along, there's nothing to see here.† Ray spent a lot of time being disappointed in himself and humanity in general. â€Å"But, dude, rowing!† Charlie said, trying to make it all better. He liked the ex-cop in spite of his awkwardness. Ray was basically a good guy, kindhearted and loyal, hardworking and punctual, but most important, Ray was losing his hair faster than Charlie. Ray sighed. â€Å"Maybe I should search for another Web site. What's a word that means that your standards are lower than the desperate?† Charlie read down the page a little. â€Å"This woman has a master's degree in English lit from Cambridge, Ray. And look at her. She's gorgeous. And nineteen. Why is she desperate?† â€Å"Hey, wait a minute. A master's degree at nineteen, this girl is too smart for me.† â€Å"No she's not. She's lying.† Ray spun on the stool as if Charlie had poked him in the ear with a pencil. â€Å"No!† â€Å"Ray, look at her. She looks like one of those Asian models for Sour Apple Flavored Calamari Treats.† â€Å"They have that?† Charlie pointed to the left side of the front window. â€Å"Ray, let me introduce you to Chinatown. Chinatown, this is Ray. Ray, Chinatown.† Ray smiled, embarrassed. There was a store two blocks up that sold nothing but dried shark parts, the windows full of pictures of beautiful Chinese women holding shark spleens and eyeballs like they'd just received an Academy Award. â€Å"Well, the last woman I met through here did have a few errors and omissions in her profile.† â€Å"Like?† Charlie was watching the woman in tweed with the glowing frog, who was approaching the counter. â€Å"Well, she said that she was twenty-three, five feet tall, a hundred five pounds, so I thought, ‘Okay, I can have fun with a petite woman.' Turns out it was a hundred and five kilos.† â€Å"So, not what you expected?† Charlie said. He smiled at the approaching woman, feeling panic rise. She was going to buy the frog! â€Å"Five foot – two-thirty. She was built like a mailbox. I might have gotten past that, but she wasn't even twenty-three, she was sixty-three. One of her grandsons tried to sell her to me.† â€Å"Ma'am, I'm sorry, you can't buy that,† Charlie said to the woman. â€Å"You hear the expression all the time,† Ray went on, â€Å"but you hardly ever meet anyone really trying to sell his own grandmother.† â€Å"Why not?† the woman asked. â€Å"Fifty bucks,† Ray said. â€Å"That's outrageous,† the woman said. â€Å"It's marked ten.† â€Å"No, it's fifty for the grandmother Ray is dating,† Charlie said. â€Å"The frog is not for sale, ma'am, I'm sorry. It's defective.† â€Å"Then why do you have it on the shelf? Why is it marked for sale? I don't see any defect.† Evidently she couldn't see that the goofy porcelain frog was not only glowing in her hands, it had started to pulsate. Charlie reached across the counter and snatched it away from her. â€Å"It's radioactive, ma'am. I'm sorry. You can't buy it.† â€Å"I wasn't dating her,† Ray said. â€Å"I just flew to the Philippines to meet her.† â€Å"It is not radioactive,† the woman said. â€Å"You're just trying to jack up the price. Fine, I'll give you twenty for it.† â€Å"No, ma'am, public safety,† Charlie said, trying to look concerned, holding the frog to his chest as if shielding her from its dangerous energy. â€Å"And it's clearly ridiculous. You'll note that this frog is playing a banjo with only two strings. A travesty, really. Why don't you let my colleague show you something in a cymbal-playing monkey. Ray, could you show this young woman something in a monkey, please.† Charlie hoped that the â€Å"young woman† would win him points. The woman backed away from the counter, holding her purse before her like a shield. â€Å"I'm not sure I want to buy anything from you wack jobs.† â€Å"Hey!† Ray protested, as if to say that there was only one wack job on duty and he wasn't it. Then she did it, she quickstepped to a rack of shoes and picked up a pair of size-twelve, red Converse All Stars. They, too, were glowing. â€Å"I want these.† â€Å"No.† Charlie tossed the frog over his shoulder to Ray, who fumbled it and almost dropped it. â€Å"Those aren't for sale either.† The tweed woman backed away toward the door, holding the sneakers behind her. Charlie stalked her down the aisle, taking the occasional grab at the All Stars. â€Å"Give them.† When the woman butt-bumped into the front door and the bell over the jamb jingled, she looked up and Charlie made his move, faking hard left, then going right, reaching around her and grabbing the laces of the sneakers, as well as a scoop of big, tweedy ass in the bargain. He quickstepped back toward the counter, tossed the sneakers to Ray, and then turned and fell into a sumo stance to challenge the tweed woman. She was still at the door, looking as if she couldn't decide to be terrified or disgusted. â€Å"You people need to be put away. I'm reporting you to the Better Business Bureau and the local merchants' association. And you, Mr. Asher, can tell Ms. Severo that I will be back.† And with that, she was through the door and gone. Charlie turned to Ray. â€Å"Ms. Severo? Lily? She was here to see Lily?† â€Å"Truant officer,† Ray said. â€Å"She's been in a couple of times.† â€Å"You might have said something.† â€Å"I didn't want to lose the sale.† â€Å"So, Lily – â€Å" â€Å"Ducks out the back when she sees her coming. The woman also wanted to check with you that the notes for Lily's absences were legitimate. I vouched.† â€Å"Well, Lily is going back to school, and as of right now, I'm back to work.† â€Å"That's great. I took this call today – an estate in Pacific Heights. Lots of nice women's clothes.† Ray tapped a piece of notepaper on the counter. â€Å"I'm not really qualified to handle it.† â€Å"I'll do it, but first we have a lot to catch up on. Flip the ‘Closed' sign and lock the front door, would you, Ray?† Ray didn't move. â€Å"Sure, but – Charlie, are you sure that you're ready to go back to work?† He nodded to the sneakers and frog on the counter. â€Å"Oh, those, I think there's something wrong with them. You don't see anything unusual about those two items?† Ray looked again. â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Or that once I took the frog away from her, she went right for a pair of sneakers that are clearly not her size?† Ray weighed the truth against the sweet deal he had here, with an apartment and under-the-table income and a boss that had really been a decent guy before he went 51/50, and he said, â€Å"Yeah, there was something strange about her.† â€Å"Aha!† said Charlie. â€Å"I just wish I knew where I could get a Geiger counter.† â€Å"I have a Geiger counter,† Ray said. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Sure, you want me to get it?† â€Å"Maybe later,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just lock up, and help me gather up some of the merchandise.† Over the next hour Ray watched as Charlie moved a set of what seemed randomly chosen items from the store to the back room, directing him to under no circumstances put them back out or sell them to anyone. Then he retrieved the Geiger counter that he'd obtained on a sweet trade for a stringless oversized tennis racket and tested each item as Charlie instructed. And, of course, they were as inert as dirt. â€Å"And you don't see any glowing or pulsating or anything in this pile?† Charlie asked. â€Å"Sorry.† Ray shook his head, feeling a little embarrassed that he was witnessing this. â€Å"Good first day back to work, though,† Ray said, trying to make it all better. â€Å"Maybe you should call it a day, go check on the baby, and make that estate call in the morning. I'll box this stuff up and mark it so Lily won't sell or trade it.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"But don't throw it out, either. I'm going to figure this out.† â€Å"You betcha, boss. See you in the morning.† â€Å"Yeah, thanks, Ray. You can go home when you finish.† Charlie went back to his apartment, checking his hands the whole way to see if any of the red glow from the pile of objects had rubbed off on them, but they seemed normal. He sent Jane home, fed and bathed Sophie, and read her to sleep with a few pages from Slaughterhouse-Five, then went to bed early and slept fitfully. He awoke the next morning in a haze, then sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and heart pounding when he saw the note sitting on the nightstand. Another one. Then he noticed that this time it wasn't his handwriting, and the number was obviously a phone number, and he sighed. It was the estate appointment that Ray had made for him. He'd put it on the nightstand so he wouldn't forget. Mr. Michael Mainheart, it read; then upscale women's clothing and furs, with a double underline. The phone number had a local exchange. He picked up the note, and under it was a second piece of notepaper, this one with the same name, written in his own handwriting, and under it, the numeral 5. He didn't remember writing any of it. At that moment, something large and dark passed by the second-story bedroom window, but by the time he looked up, it was gone. A blanket of fog lay over the Bay and from Pacific Heights the great orange towers of the Golden Gate Bridge jutted through the fog bank like carrots from the faces of sleeping conjoined twin snowmen. In the Heights, the morning sun had already opened the sky and workmen were scurrying about, tending yards and gardens around the mansions. When he arrived at the home of Michael Mainheart the first thing Charlie noticed was that no one noticed him. There were two guys working in the yard, to whom Charlie waved as he passed, but they did not wave back. Then the mailman, who was coming off the big porch, drove him off the walkway into the dewy grass without so much as an â€Å"excuse me.† â€Å"Excuse me!† Charlie said, sarcastically, but the mailman was wearing headphones and listening to something that was inspiring him to bob his head like a pigeon feeding on amphetamines, and he bopped on. Charlie was going to shout something devastatingly clever, then thought better of it, for although it had been some years since he'd heard of a postal employee perpetrating a massacre, as long as the term â€Å"going postal† referred to anything besides choosing a shipping carrier, he felt he shouldn't press his luck. Called a wack job by a complete stranger one day and shouldered off the sidewalk by a civil servant the next: this city was becoming a jungle. Charlie rang the bell and waited to the side of the twelve-foot leaded-glass door. A minute later he heard light, shuffling steps approaching and a diminutive silhouette moved behind the glass. The door swung open slowly. â€Å"Mr. Asher,† said Michael Mainheart. â€Å"Thank you for coming.† The old man was swimming in a houndstooth suit that he must have bought thirty years ago when he was a more robust fellow. When he shook Charlie's hand his skin felt like an old wonton wrapper, cool and a little powdery. Charlie tried not to shudder as the old man led him into a grand marble rotunda, with leaded-glass windows running to a vaulted, forty-foot ceiling and a circular staircase that swept up to a landing that led off to the upper wings of the house. Charlie had often wondered what it was like to have a house with wings. How would you ever find your car keys? â€Å"Come this way,† Mainheart said. â€Å"I'll show you where my wife kept her clothes.† â€Å"I'm sorry about your loss,† Charlie said automatically. He'd been on scores of estate calls. You don't want to come off as some kind of vulture, his father used to say. Always compliment the merchandise; it might be a piece of crap to you, but they might have a lot of their soul poured into it. Compliment but never covet. You can make a profit and preserve everyone's dignity in the process. â€Å"Holy shit,† Charlie said as he followed the old man into a walk-in closet the size of his own apartment. â€Å"I mean – your wife had exquisite taste, Mr. Mainheart.† There was row upon row of designer couture clothing, everything from evening gowns to racks, two tiers high, of knit suits, arranged by color and level of formality – an opulent rainbow of silk and linen and wool. Cashmere sweaters, coats, capes, jackets, skirts, blouses, lingerie. The closet was shaped like a T, with a large vanity and mirror at the apex, and accessories on each wing (even the closet with wings!), shoes on one side, belts, scarves, and handbags on the other. A whole wing of shoes, Italian and French, handmade, from the skins of animals who had led happy, blemish-free lives. Full-length mirrors flanked the vanity at the end of the closet and Charlie caught the reflection of himself and Michael Mainheart in the mirror, he in his secondhand gray pinstripe and Mainheart in his ill-fitting houndstooth, studies in gray and black, stark and lifeless-looking in this vibrant garden. The old man went to the chair at the vanity and sat down with a creak and a wheeze. â€Å"I expect it will take you some time to assess it,† he said. Charlie stood in the middle of the closet and looked around for a second before replying. â€Å"It depends, Mr. Mainheart, on what you want to part with.† â€Å"All of it. Every stitch. I can't stand the feel of her in here.† His voice broke. â€Å"I want it gone.† He looked away from Charlie at the shoe wing, trying not to show that he was tearing up. â€Å"I understand,† Charlie said, not sure what to say. This collection was completely out of his league. â€Å"No, you don't understand, young man. You couldn't understand. Emily was my life. I got up in the morning for her, I went to work for her, I built a business for her. I couldn't wait to get home at night to tell her about my day. I went to bed with her and I dreamed about her when I slept. She was my passion, my wife, my best friend, the love of my life. And one day, without warning, she was gone and my life is a void. You couldn't possibly understand.† But Charlie did. â€Å"Do you have any children, Mr. Mainheart?† â€Å"Two sons. They came back for the funeral, then they went home to their own families. They offer to do whatever they can, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"They can't,† Charlie finished for him. â€Å"No one can.† Now the old man looked up at him, his face as bereft and barren as a mummified basset hound. â€Å"I just want to die.† â€Å"Don't say that,† Charlie said, because that's what you say. â€Å"That feeling will pass.† Which he said because everyone had been saying it to him. As far as he knew, he was just slinging bullshit clichs. â€Å"She was – † Mainheart's voice caught on the edge of a sob. A strong man, at once overcome by his grief and embarrassed that he was showing it. â€Å"I know,† Charlie said, thinking about how Rachel still occupied that place in his heart, and when he turned in the kitchen to say something to her, and she wasn't there, it took his breath. â€Å"She was – â€Å" â€Å"I know,† Charlie interrupted, trying to give the old man a pass, because he knew what Mainheart was feeling. She was meaning and order and light, and now that she's gone, chaos falls like a dark leaden cloud. â€Å"She was so phenomenally stupid.† â€Å"What?† Charlie looked up so quickly he heard a vertebra pop in his neck. Hadn't seen that coming. â€Å"The dumb broad ate silica gel,† Mainheart said, irritated as well as agonized. â€Å"What?† Charlie was shaking his head, as if trying to rattle something loose. â€Å"Silica gel.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Silica gel! Silica gel! Silica gel, you idiot!† Charlie felt as if he should shout the name of some arcane stuff back at him: Well, symethicone! Symethicone! Symethicone, you butt-nugget! Instead he said, â€Å"The stuff fake breasts are made of? She ate that?† The image of a well-dressed older woman macking on a goopish spoonful of artificial boob spooge was running across the lobes of his brain like a stuttering nightmare. Mainheart pushed himself to his feet on the vanity. â€Å"No, the little packets of stuff they pack in with electronic equipment and cameras.† â€Å"The ‘Do Not Eat' stuff?† â€Å"Exactly.† â€Å"But it says right on the packet – she ate that?† â€Å"Yes. The furrier put packets of it in with her furs when he installed that cabinet.† Mainheart pointed. Charlie turned, and behind the large closet door where they had entered was a lighted glass cabinet – inside hung a dozen or so fur coats. The cabinet probably had its own air-conditioning unit to control the humidity, but that wasn't what Charlie was noticing. Even under the recessed fluorescent light inside the cabinet, one of the coats was clearly glowing red and pulsating. He turned back to Mainheart slowly, trying not to overreact, not sure, in fact, what would constitute an overreaction in this case, so he tried to sound calm, but not willing to take any shit. â€Å"Mr. Mainheart, I appreciate your loss, but is there something more going on here than you've told me?† â€Å"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean.† â€Å"I mean,† Charlie said, â€Å"why, of all the used-clothing dealers in the Bay Area, did you decide to call me? There are people who are much more qualified to deal with a collection of this size and quality.† Charlie stormed over to the fur cabinet and pulled open the door. It made a floof-tha sound that the seal on a refrigerator door makes when opened. He grabbed the glowing jacket – fox fur, it appeared to be. â€Å"Or was it this? Did the call have something to do with this?† Charlie brandished the jacket like he was holding a murder weapon before the accused. In short, he thought about adding, are you fucking with me? â€Å"You were the first used-clothing dealer in the phone book.† Charlie let the jacket drop. â€Å"Asher's Secondhand?† â€Å"Starts with an A,† Mainheart said, slowly, carefully – obviously resisting the urge to call Charlie an idiot again. â€Å"So it has nothing to do with this jacket?† â€Å"Well, it has something to do with that jacket. I'd like you to take it away with all the rest of it.† â€Å"Oh,† Charlie said, trying to recover. â€Å"Mr. Mainheart, I appreciate the call, and this is certainly a beautiful collection, amazing, really, but I'm not equipped to take on this kind of inventory. And I'll be honest with you, even though my father would be spinning in his grave for telling you this, there is probably a million dollars' worth of clothes in this closet. Maybe more. And given the time and space to resell it, it's probably worth a quarter of that. I just don't have that kind of money.† â€Å"We can work something out,† Mainheart said. â€Å"Just to get it out of the house – â€Å" â€Å"I could take some of it on consignment, I suppose – â€Å" â€Å"Five hundred dollars.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Give me five hundred dollars and get it out of here by tomorrow and it's yours.† Charlie started to object, but he could feel what felt like the ghost of his father rising up to bonk him on the head with a spittoon if he didn't stop himself. We provide a valuable service, son. We are like an orphanage to art and artifact, because we are willing to handle the unwanted, we give them value. â€Å"I couldn't do that, Mr. Mainheart, I feel as if I'd be taking advantage of your grief.† Oh for Christ's sake, you fucking loser, you are no son of mine. I have no son. Was that the ghost of Charlie's father, rattling chains in his head? Why, then, did it have the voice and vocabulary of Lily? Can a conscience be greedy? â€Å"You would be doing me a favor, Mr. Asher. A huge favor. If you don't take it, my next call is to the Goodwill. I promised Emily that if something ever happened to her that I wouldn't just give her things away. Please.† And there was so much pain in the old man's voice that Charlie had to look away. Charlie felt for the old man because he did understand. He couldn't do anything to help, couldn't say, It will get better, like everyone kept saying to him. It wasn't getting better. Different, but not better. And this fellow had fifty more years in which to pack his hopes, or in his case, his history. â€Å"Let me think about it. Check into storage. If I can handle it, I'll call you tomorrow, would that be all right?† â€Å"I'd be grateful,† Mainheart said. Then, for no reason that he could think of, Charlie said, â€Å"May I take this jacket with me? As an example of the quality of the collection, in case I have to divide it among other dealers.† â€Å"That would be fine. Let me show you out.† As they passed into the rotunda, a shadow passed across the leaded-glass windows, three stories up. A large shadow. Charlie paused on the steps and waited for the old man to react, but he just tottered on down the staircase, leaning heavily on the railing as he went. When Mainheart reached the door he turned to Charlie, extending his hand. â€Å"I'm sorry about that, uh, outburst upstairs. I haven't been myself since – â€Å" As the old man began to open the door a figure dropped outside, casting the silhouette of a bird as tall as a man through the glass. â€Å"No!† Charlie dove forward, knocking the old man aside and slamming the door on the great bird's head, the heavy black beak stabbing through and snapping like hedge clippers, rattling an umbrella stand and scattering its contents across the marble floor. Charlie's face was only inches from the bird's eye, and he shoved the door with his shoulder, trying to keep the beak from snapping off one of his hands. The bird's claws raked against the glass, cracking one of the thick beveled panels as the animal thrashed to free itself. Charlie threw his hip against the doorjamb then slid down it, dropped the fox jacket, and snatched one of the umbrellas from the floor. He stabbed up into the bird's neck feathers, but lost his purchase on the doorjamb – one of the black talons snaked through the opening and raked across his forearm, cutting through his jacket, his shirtsleeve, and into the flesh. Charlie shoved the umbrella with all he had, driving the bird's head back through the opening. The raven let out a screech and took flight, its wings making a great whooshing noise as it went. Charlie lay on his back, out of breath, staring at the leaded-glass panels, as if any moment the shadow of the giant raven would come back, then he looked to Michael Mainheart, who lay crumpled on his side like a stringless marionette. Beside his head lay a cane with an ivory handle that had been carved into the shape of a polar bear that had fallen from the umbrella stand. The cane was glowing red. The old man was not breathing. â€Å"Well that's fucked up,† Charlie said.

Tcs Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy of TCS Commitment to the environment stems from the Tata Group’s abiding concern for the environment and society, which is embodied in the Tata Code of Conduct. The Tata Group considers climate change to be the greatest threat affecting economic stability, vulnerable communities and the society at large. The Tata Group’s Climate Change Policy mandates that all group companies assume leadership roles in climate change mitigation in the pursuit of business aspirations and enhancement of shareholder value.In the business of providing IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. Our environmental impacts result from our business operations globally and through the services and solutions that we provide our customers with. True to the Tata spirit, TCS regards climate change mitigation and environmental improvement as essential features of its sustainable business philosophy.We are committed to continuously benchmarking and enhancing our own environme ntal performance through the reduction of our carbon and ecological footprints with the involvement of our business associates and partners, thereby  striving to be leaders in our industry sector. Through our services and solutions, we endeavor to help customers improve their environmental performance toward their sustainability objectives.Aim to fulfill  our environmental commitments through the following broad-level actions: * Integrate energy and environmental considerations in the design of new infrastructural facilities * Improve resource efficiency in operations, especially for key resources such as energy and water * Adopt the â€Å"3-R† (reduce, reuse and recycle) philosophy for all types of wastes toward prevention of pollution and dispose of â€Å"inevitable† wastes, especially electronic waste, in line with regulatory requirements or industry best practices * Promote â€Å"green procurement† to the maximum extent possible * Consider stakeholder ex pectations on our environmental performance in the design of infrastructure, operations, processes and solutions to the extent feasible *Set, monitor and review objectives and targets on an ongoing basis toward achieving continuous improvement in environmental performance and the overall environmental management system * Remain committed to complying with all the applicable environmental and related legal and other requirements and, wherever feasible, enhance the prescribed standards in all the countries that we perate out of * Continue public reporting of our environmental performance and our contribution to climate change-related issues through relevant national and international forums and to other stakeholders through appropriate communication channels * Communicate the environmental policy to all employees, business associates and other stakeholders and ensure that the policy is available to the public *Review the environmental policy and allied management systems periodically to ensure their continuing applicability and relevance to our operations and evolving stakeholder expectations * Strive to support various voluntary national and international protocols, conventions and agreements on environment protection and proactively engage with governmental and other agencies in driving future environmental policy and regulation At TCS, concern for the environment is integral to our business strategy toward sustainability, and we shall strive to fulfill all our environmental obligations and commitments toward being responsible global corporate citizens.TCS embodies the Tata group’s philosophy of building strong sustainable businesses that are firmly rooted in the community and demonstrate care for the environment. The elements that make for strong corporate sustainability at TCS include the following: * A fair, transparent and value-driven corporate governance * A strong strategy for longer-term business growth * Best-in-class HR processes * Initiatives for community betterment * Our stewardship of the environment Green Procurement PolicyAs a part of  the ongoing commitment to improve the environment, this policy seeks to reduce the environment impacts of our operations and promote sustainable development by the integration of environment performance considerations in the procurement process. committed  to the  integration of environment performance considerations in the procurement process including planning, acquisition, use and disposal. TCS is committed to considering the environmental aspects, potential impacts  and costs, associated with the life cycle assessment of goods and services being acquired. This calls for conscious efforts across TCS in the following areas: 1.Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: TCS is committed to reducing resource consumption and minimizing waste while considering the life-cycle costs of products. We seek to implement the hierarchy of preference to reduce, reuse and recycle resources throughout the procurement activity. 2. Buy Recycled: We are committed to buying recycled/part-recycled products to optimize consumption and stimulate demand for recycled products, promoting the collection and reprocessing of waste and working toward zero discharge to the landfill. 3. â€Å"Green† the Supply Chain: We hope to maximize the benefits by encouraging  our supplier/vendors to adopt TCS' environment practices.We endeavor to undertake procurement activities with suppliers who share TCS' values. We will actively promote the green procurement policy  throughout  our supply chain to ensure selection  that has minimum environmental impact. Green Procurement Green procurement or environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP) is the practice of procuring products and services that are less harmful to the environment (land, air and water) and all species including humans that depend on environment for survival. Green products are those that are made with less harmful materials or wh ich when produced or  used/consumed would have a minimal impact  on the environment.Listed below are a few ways through which we aim to integrate the green procurement policy with the TCS environment policy. 1. TCS shall encourage and prefer eco-friendly products, which are more power efficient. 2. TCS shall prefer to purchase from a source  that is less polluting or uses clean technology. 3. TCS shall encourage and prefer vendors who use recycled packaging material. The possibilities of further reuse and/or recycling shall be explored with the user or the administration department. 4. For software products, as far as possible and to the extent feasible, the preferred mode of delivery shall be through the electronic method (download). A server is proposed to be deployed  that would host the most commonly required software.Instead of burning CDs, secured access would be made available to the respective project team to download the product from this common server. 5. The IPD  shall make efforts to recycle material from old sites to the practically possible extent. Focus Areas * Promoting procurement from Energy Star Partners * Procurement of low-energy consumption desktop configuration * Procurement of laser printers with GREEN functionality * Procurement of servers with low voltage CPUs and low-wattage storages * Procurement of server racks with efficient cooling systems * Eco-friendly procurement considerations for infrastructure and development * Eco-friendly procurement considerations for consumables   WASTE REDUCTION POLICYAt TCS, they are committed to reducing the environmental impact of  our operations through appropriate ongoing material management. This calls for a conscious effort across TCS in the following areas: Reduction of waste at source:  All delivery centers and offices must manage operations to reduce the quantity or toxicity of waste produced. Such measures include, but are not limited to the following: * Printing reports and documents, whenever possible, on both sides of the paper * Updating mailing and distribution lists periodically to avoid overrun; use of e-mail whenever appropriate * Giving preferential purchasing consideration to products that are reusable, refillable, repairable, more durable, less toxic, recyclable and which avoid excess packaging.Reuse of material wherever possible:  All products and materials must be reused wherever possible. * Recycling:  It is the responsibility of every associate to separate identified recyclable materials and place them in appropriate recycling containers. Office paper, corrugated cardboard and aluminum beverage cans must always be recycled in the appropriately marked container. Other materials are to be recycled whenever feasible and wherever containers are provided. Reuse is preferable to recycling. * Purchasing products with recycled content:  All offices across TCS must purchase and use products manufactured from recycled materials whenever feasi ble. In particular, recycled paper products must be used.It is important that all recycled purchases be reported to the Admin/Purchase Department across TCS for record keeping and reporting purposes In addition to the specific efforts mentioned above, all delivery centers and offices are encouraged to designate one associate as a Recycling Monitor who will serve as liaison to Head – Health Safety Environment. TCS E-Waste Management Policy Tata Consultancy Services, being an IT-centric organization, contributes  majorly to global electronic waste. Reaffirming our commitment to environmental protection, and in accordance with the stringent standards we set ourselves, the eWaste Management Policy reflects our objectives and practices toward this end.