Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay Example for Free

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay On April 20, 2010 a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon off shore drilling platform caused the largest single release to the environment due to oil drilling. This explosion killed 11 workers and injured 17. This oil spill is very controversial because it can be questioned if this spill could have been prevented and what exactly went wrong. There is much debate on who is to blame, what could have been done to prevent it and who is going to pay for all the damage. Many are not happy with the settlement BP is signing that will keep them from further criminal prosecution if they agree to pay the settlement amount. Paying retribution is fine, but what about the future damaging effects that we have no way of even knowing about now. Who will take care of that? These are some of the basic questions people are asking about this case and my responses. What can this accident teach us? This accident should teach us all that there is a great responsibility taken on when you go into the earth and try to harvest chemical products that have potential for negative effects on human welfare and health. The government needs to be in charge of regulating these activities to preserve the future of our environment. Had you been in charge of granting permit for this, what measures would you have prescribed to prevent or mitigate the impacts of such an accident? Policies need to be in place that ensures that properly trained personnel are on site at all times to ensure the safety of the drilling process. Only experienced personnel could properly react to an emergency and possibly be able to mitigate further damage. Knowledge and experience are required to recognize potential hazards in time and prevent even bigger negative effects. BP engineers were supposedly aware of variations in the pressure prior to the explosion. These engineers probably did not have the authority to request work be stopped so further inspections could be made. Politics involved with the money at stake sometimes lead to dangerous decisions. If someone with the knowledge and authority to make an executive decision was there, this tragedy could possibly have been avoided. If you were in a policy making forum, what national or international policy measures would you recommend for reducing long term risk from off-shore drilling. I think the policies on long term risk from off-shore drilling accidents could be addressed by building some kind of boundary wall to contain the drill site, even if there was not a spill. Just the act of drilling is releasing some form of contamination and if that contamination could be contained before it gets incorporated into the entire different city/ country’s water supply it would be a great benefit to prevent long term effects of oil contamination. International policies need to be in effect that maintain the same standards across the board. If one country has low standards and takes in the contaminated water†¦ they will then be releasing it into the environment and the contamination will still affect neighboring countries/cities that may have stricter standards. If I was involved in any type of policymaking forum, I would try to get policy passed that had strict policies regarding quality control practices regarding the technology being used to drill for the oil and the equipment maintenance. Increased testing of drilling equipment during and between drilling process, not just at the start stage. Sometimes equipment fails during use and quality measures need to be in place to make frequent inspections. What changes would you require in terms of ethical conduct by regulators? Regulators need to not be financially involved with projects the are legislating. This is a huge ethical problem because kickbacks and donations often lead to favorable legislations in favor of the party standing to gain and not for the best interest of the public. To what degree may politics have clouded judgment and influenced decisions that where made? Relaxed government regulation was probably made because the government in efforts to promote business, made acquisitions that were dangerous and costly to the environment in the long run.

Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices

Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices Abstract Building maintenance practices are very crucial no matter what kind of building whether residential or commercial.The practices must be carried out by the management properly and efficiently to ensure the target of the management can be achieve. Nowadays, many issue arise regarding building maintenance including quality of services provided, unmaintained facility and many more. So to reduce or avoid all these problem, the management team should come up with new approaches. Not just maintained , but they must ensure the activities carried out is efficient and effective. There are several strategies that can be practices which are applying managerial function, using computerized maintenance management services (CMMS), and out-tasking. Under managerial function system, it provide basic things that the management need to go through including plan, do, check and act. The sequences of this function are very significant and have it own roles. Besides that, the management must aware that tec hnological also can be applied in maintenance practices due to current state of advance technology. It is proven that, CMMS are one of the updated system that been applied by big and establish management. This is because, CMMS really helpful and make the maintenance works become easier. Last but not least is out-tasking. This system have many benefit and apart from that, it will help the management to complete their maintenance work without hiring expertise. The expertise only appointed when they are needed. Efficiency in building maintenance practices are important in order to ensure the limited resoursces such as time, cost, manpower are being fully utilized. 1.0 Introduction Nowadays, building maintenance practices always been improved allign with technological changing. This is done in order to ensure the practice is up to date and satisfied all the parties involve. As we all known, under this practices many parties either directly or indirectly involve including management body, owner of the building, tenant and so on. Moreover,of late many management body realize and shift their focus of services onto customer oriented where customer satisfaction are their priority and always put on the first place. On account of that, the management body on what so ever condition must ensuring the efficiency of their services performance is always keep in maximum level. Generally, efficiency is quantitatively measurable concept which is can be determined and measured by percentage of output to input. (n.a, 2011). Efficiency also where doing things in the right manner. Whereas building is a human-made structure constructed as a place for work, shelter and many other purposes for the occupants use.(n.a 2011) Maintenance in a simple words mean an activity to keep and restore the subject in order to ensure it can be operated as well as it suppose to. According to Brian Wood, maintenance is keeping an item or restoring it to acceptability position. According to British Standard 3811, maintenance as work undertaken in order to keep or restore every facility,i.e every part of a site, building and contents, to an acceptable standard. Building maintenance as a whole mean an activity where building is keep and restore to its acceptable condition as well as to ensure it can be operated and well functionated. Building also like a human being, it need to be maintained all the time to avoid it from obsolete and damages. So cannot be denied that building maintenance practices is a crucial activitya and must always be carried out efficiently. Generally, building maintenance practices cover a huge area of activity. The activity including cleanliness, landscaping, security and etc. 2.0 Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices Why building must be maintaianed efficiently? Just now we all know that building almost like a human being which is need to be maintained. Basically, there are several perspective on property. Property can be seen as physical asset, financial asset, and functional asset. So the activity that carried out for building maintenance practices are always related to it own perspective. In term of physical asset, the objective are to maintain and enhance condition of the building. Whereas for financial asset, the objective is to maximise income, ensure capital growth and return on investment. For functional asset, the objective is to ensure the building is fit for purpose, minimise occupation costs and efficiency of occupation. Normally we can divided into several reason for being efficient in building maintenance practices. 2.1 To ensure building always have good appearance. As we all known, buildings are exposed to many causes of deterioration. Some of them are weather and aging, wear and tear, and vandalism. If human need bath to clean up body and look fresh, building also need to be painted so that it look nice and attractive. So then people or occupant feel calm and easy to enter such premises. For instance like shopping complex. If it is maintained efficiently, the consumer will always feel free and enjoy shopping in that particular building. 2.2 To ensure the building is always safe and free from unnecessary incident. Usually buildings are fitted with many kind of mechanical and electrical installation. So without efficient maintenance, the building services in that particular building definitely cannot be operated as well as it suppose to. As we can see in office building for instance, it fitted with elevator, escallator, travellator, air-cond and etc. So if all these are maintained efficiently, definitely unneccessary incident or claim can be avoided. 2.3 To retain the value of the building Different building have different value. The value of the building generally indicated by the performance of the building itself. So when the maintenance is efficiently carried out, the value of the building can be retain. For instance like premises that well maintained have higher valus as compared to those unmaintained. 2.4 To enforce the regulation Last but not least, efficient building maintenance practices are actually carried out to enforce regulation. In order to fullfill the regulation of schedule H of Housing Development (Control and Licencing) Act 1966 (Act118) developers need to manage and control common property of the building.This is to ensure all interest of the party inside the building are always secured and at the same time the facilities provided in the building are been well maintained. 3.0 Strategy to Ensuring Efficiency In Building Maintenance Practices 3.1 Apply managerial function Basically, managerial function is the key point of successful in building maintenance practices. The basic managerial function is Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). On what so ever condition, the first thing that we must to do is planning. This is because planning is a king-pin in managerial function. Same goes to maintenance practice, we must plan the maintenance activities that want to carried out on the first place. As a management body, the most important thing is we must set out objective of the organization. When there is a clear objective, the organization have it own target or aims to heading their organization. Then they must clear cut on their strategy to achive those target. Planning also including several fundamental element including preventive and corrective action, work schedule and etc. Second managerial function is do. As a management team, they cannot just stop at planning stage only but it must followed by the next stage which is implement all the planning that been set earlier. Implementation of the planning also must be in proper way or manner. Third managerial function is check. This is basically done after the implementation of the maintenance activities. This stage also known as post-mortem. At this stage, the management team will evaluate all their performance and check whether it achive it target or not. Last but not least managerial function is act. This is can be said the last stage that crucial because after check stage have done, some action have to take to correct or enhance the performance. It is whether only several part or entire strategy that have to be shift or change in order to get better result of performance. From all that we can said that managerial function are really crucial, have many advantages, suitable and reliable to be adopted and apply in building maintenance practices because it can lead to efficient maintenance. This is because by applying all the managerial fuction, the management team can maintain the building with less cost, effort and time cycle. 3.2 Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) In the age of advanced technology, there are many computerized system that have developed in order to help the organization to do maintenance practices more effectively and efficiently. Nowadays, the software that mostly used by the maintenance organization is CMMS. CMMS is very helpful as it containing databases that related to maintenance operation. CMMS have several package deal with some of the following: (i) Work Order CMMS will help the maintenance workers by producing schedule maintenance procedure as a code of conduct and it also help to track relevent information regarding the maintenance activities. So the maintenance workers can just refer to the work schedule on what they have to carried out. (ii) Asset Management CMMS have the records that containing important information related to the particular building. For instance, CMMS records the information of specification, service contract, purchase date and anything else deem to be helpful to the maintenance works. (iii) Inventory Control CMMS in the same time will assist the management of spare part, equipment, and etc including the reservation of tools that is needed for a particular works. With these packages, CMMS looks as a system that should be use by the maintenance organization. It is very helpful and easy to handle and the most important things is that it help the organization to maintained the building efficiently. 3.3 Out-tasking Out-tasking is one of the organisational set up that can be applied in building maintenance practice. Generally, out-tasking is said to be when part of the maintenance work are handed over to the other service partner for certain period of time. For instance like air-conditioning system. Usually, inhouse system have it own maintenance worker s that do maintenance towards air-conditioning system. But for certain circumstances like changing belting or other equipment for that system, the organization have to out-tasking the work to other service partner. Usually this happen due to lack of expertise. However there are also an organization that carried out this method of organizational set up as strategy. Advantages of out-tasking (i) Reduce cost Management team can still keep total control all over infrastructure and services with low cost of maintenance as compared to out sourcing it to the other company. This is because the expertise only hired at certain time only when needed. So the payment that will be paid by the management team is much lower as compared to out sourcing it. (ii) Quality of performance When the organization out tasking the maintenanace work to the expertise, definitely the quality will be much better because they only need to focus on the task given. Compared to maintenance workers, they are multi-tasking and not expert on specific area in building maintenance. (iii) Span of control For out tasking, the gap between the management team and service partner are close. This will lead to good interaction and communication between these two parties. Besides, the employer also easy to supervise in order to ensure that the maintenance work is done properly and follow the particular procedure correctly. As compared to out sourcing, the entire maintenance work are out source to the maintenance team. 4.0 Conclusion As a whole, we cannot denied that building maintenance practices are very crucial in many point of view. Not only the building itself get involve but the practices also related to other parties whether directly or indirectly. On account of that, the management must bear in mind that efficiency in building maintenance practices play an important roles in order to ensure the particular building can operated properly. Building maintenance practices can be said like a frame work towards a building. Without a strong and solid framework, definitely the building will be collapsed. So to ensure the building maintenance practices will be managed efficiently and effectively, every organization that is responsible to maintain a particular building must critically regulate their strategy in order to achive their target. Every personnel in the organization must understand their roles and fulfill their responsibilities so that they can avoid or at least minimize problems related to building that need to be maintained. With efficient building maintenance practices, the organization can get better profit as they maintain the particular building with less time, cost and manpower. Other than that, the users or occupant of the building will also enjoy much better and convenient of using the building. http://d1072223.domain.com/Bulletins/B_Maintenance_Why.html work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every part of a building, its services and surrounds, to a currently accepted standard, and to sustain the utility and value of the building (Seeley, 1976). The objectives of building maintenance are therefore (Alner and Fellows, 1990) http://www.cocus.de/en/out-tasking.html

Psychotic Manifestations as Initial Presentation of Glioma

Psychotic Manifestations as Initial Presentation of Glioma Psychotic manifestations as an initial presentation in a Glioma patient: Two Case Reports Review of Literature Abstract Psychotic manifestation as an initial presentation of brain tumor is a rare manifestation of the primary disease. A 32 years old male patient presented with auditory and visual hallucinations, delusion of persecutionand profound agitation. The patient was initially suspected as a case of acute psychosis; however on imaging work up, large central space occupying lesion (SOL) in brain was detected. Following surgical removal of the brain tumor, psychotic manifestations disappeared. The pathology revealed high grade Glioma. Similar presentation was observed in a 28 years female who first visited psychiatry department. Imaging revealed SOL in left parietal lobe. Neuropsychiatric manifestations in these patients have great bearing on the quality of life which has now become a major concern in the management of the brain tumors. Introduction Psychotic manifestations are usually not seen in primary brain tumor patients. The patient usually presents with headache, vertigo, projectile vomiting, focal neurological deficits, and seizures. Anxiety, depression, mania, psychosis, cognitive or personality changes may be present as psychotic manifestations. Patients presenting with psychosis not responding to antipsychotic treatment or having focal neurological deficits and papilloedema should be examined thoroughly to rule out space occupying lesion in brain. The main objective of this article is to highlight this type of patients who can be helped if properly diagnosed. Case Report: 1 A 32 year old male was admitted with 3-month history of auditory and visual hallucinations, delusion of persecution, and loss of recent or remote memories. During the same period patient had also become irritable and with no clouding of consciousness. He complained of headache and vertigo occasionally. Patient having no prior history of psychosis or any narcotic or drugs abuse, or any other medical complaints. Patient received antipsychotic drug for last three days with no response. MRI brain showed moderate hydrocephalus related to foramen of Monero obstruction with mild transependymal CSF seepage. Edema is also seen in the deep right frontal lobe along the ventricular margin. There is compression of the adjacent brain parenchyma. These MRI findings are compatible with central glioma attached to septum pellucidum within the right lateral ventricle, showing extension across the midline with a tomoral component in the body of left lateral ventricle. He had bilateral papillo oedema wit h out focal neurological deficits. On examination, the patient was disoriented to time and place, had poor attention, poor comprehension, recent and remote memory loss. He underwent a craniotomy and resection of tumor. There was resolution of all his psychotic symptoms soon after the operation. Case Report: 2 A 28 years old woman visited to psychiatry department for the complaints of headache, vertigo for last seven months. From last 10 days she complaints of heard sounds that someone whispering in her ears. Since last 3 days she having violent out brust with visual hallucination and develop seizures. She was given benzodiazepine with phenytoin. Response to treatment was poor. MRI brain reveled large SOL in left parietal region, findings are compatible with glioma. After removal of tumor all symptoms subside. Discussion Brain tumours are commonly associated with neurological deficits but rarely psychiatric manifestations may be seen. The cause underlying most patients presenting in this manner are functional causes such as manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia and substance or drugs abuse of various types. The degree to which organic causes are responsible for psychiatric manifestations is difficult to determine hence accurate diagnosis in these cases can be a diagnostic challenge. Attempts have been made to categorize brain tumors in accordance with the location of the tumor in the brain . Filley and Kelinschmidt-De Mastersreported that tumors in frontal lobe usually cause abulia, depression or personality change and tumors in the temporolimbic areas, mania, panic attacks, amnesia or auditory and visual hallucinations. [1] Uribedescribe association with schizophrenia-like psychoses to left hemispheric malfunction and affective disorders to right hemispheric malfunction. In areas, such as the in traventricular occipital lobe, corpus callosum only transitory symptoms are produced without localizing signs and tumors can grow considerably. [2] Binderdescribed a series of three cases of patients with no or minimal neurologic signs or symptoms with brain tumors, they all had tumors in silent areas of the brain. [3] Burns and Swerdlowdescribed a case presented with alterations in sexual behavior, poor impulse control, and sociopathy in an orbitofrontal tumor. [4] In some cases, symptoms can respond to antipsychotic treatments, further complicating the diagnosis. Detailed history, brain imaging, information from collateral sources become essential, when brain tumors develop in patients with established psychiatric disorders as psychiatric patients are known to have difficulties in reporting and describing their own symptoms. [5] Cognitive decline occurring during the course of brain tumour progression was reported by Taphoorn et al in his study, main objective of clinical management of brain tumor is to remove the tumor, restore neurologic functions and treatment of psychiatric symptoms. [6] Treatment modalities like surgery/ radiotherapy/ chemotherapy have good result if tumor size is small. A 9 year-old boy on MRI having tumour in the anterior third ventricle associated hydrocephalus and papilledema is presented with psychosis as the initial presentation. [7] Patient remained free of symptoms after resection of the tumor at one-year follow-up. Even more intriguing has been the reported association of posterior fossa structural abnormalities with neuropsychiatric symptoms . It is hypothesized that in these cases disruption of the cerebellar output to mesiodopaminergic areas, locus coeruleus and raphe nuclei or deafferentation of the thalamolimbic circuits by cerebellar lesions may lead to these behavioural and psychiatric changes. A 55-year-old woman with a six year history of uncontrollable complex partial seizures and severe delusions is reported to have improved following removal of a right frontal lobe mixed oligoastrocytoma or dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour. [8] The anatomic site which control human behavior and emotions are believed to be the circuits of limbic system which interact with the basal ganglia and disturbances in these systems are primarly responsible for manifestations of psychiatric symptoms. [9, 10] In patients hospitalized for psychotic affective disorder abnormalities have been found in left subgenual cingulate. Schizophrenic disorder was observed in patients suffering from agenesis of septum pellucidum . Y et another study has demonstrated lateral and third ventricular enlargement as well as preferential ab circuits of the limbic system and the interactions with the basal ganglia normalities of medial temporal lobe structures including the amygdala, hi ppocampus, and the parahippocampal gyrus and neocortical temporal lobe regions in patients with schizophrenia. The positive correlation between structural brain abnormalities and mental illness has been borne out by several studies. These include ventriculomegaly and smaller temporal lobes, frontal parietal and superior temporal gyrus grey matter. Hippocampal volume reduction has been reported in schizophrenia as well as volume reduction in the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri on the left side in another study on schizophrenics. 1.Filley C M, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK. Neurobehavioral presentations of brain neoplasms. West J Med. 1995;163:19-25. 2. Uribe VM. Psychiatric symptoms and brain tumor. Am Fam Physician. 1986;34:95-98. 3.Filley C M, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK. Neurobehavioral presentations of brain neoplasms. West J Med. 1995;163:19-25. 4.Binder RL. Neurologically silent brain tumors in psychiatric hospital admissions: three cases and a review. J Clin Psychiatry. 1983;44:94-97. 5. Madhusoodanan S, Danan D, Brenner R, Bogunovic O. Brain tumor and psychiatric manifestations: a case report and brief review. Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2004;16;111-113. 6. Taphoorn MJ, Schiphorst AK, Snoek FJ, et al. Cognitive functions and quality of life in patients with low-grade gliomas: the impact of radiotherapy. Ann Neurol 1994; 36 : 48-54. 7. Carson BS, Weingart JD, Guarnieri M, Fisher PG. Third ventricular choroids plexus papilloma with psychosis. Case report. J Neurosurg 1997 Jul; 87(1): 103-8. 8. Sato T, Takeichi M, Abe M, Tabuchi K, Hara T. Frontal lobe tumour associated with late-onset seizure and psychosis: acase report. Jpn J Psychiatry Neurol 1993 Sept; 47(3):541-4. 9. Feldman RP, Alterman RL, Goodrich JT. Contemporary psychosurgery and a look to the future. J Neurosurg 2001; 95: 944-956. 10. MacLean PD. The limbic system (â€Å"visceral brain†) and emotional behaviour. Arch Neurol Psychiatry 1955; 73: 130-134.

Essay --

Every morning I wake up at the last minute. I press snooze from the moment my alarm goes off at 6:50 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. I go to bed early, but I can’t seem to get enough sleep. Teens are supposed to sleep for at least eight to nine hours every night. Having school start at 8:30 a.m. doesn’t help because teens like me have to work at night. After work I get home late and have homework to do before school the next morning, which keeps me up past midnight sometimes. Studies show that even getting a half an hour more of sleep improves children’s learning ability from eighteen to forty-four percent (School Really). If school started later teens would improve their grades and their health. Concentration from students is obviously one of the most important aspects in learning new things. It has been proven that if students sleep in, even if it’s only a half hour longer than normal, they’re more likely to have better concentration, behavior, and overall health. â€Å"A sleep disorder not only results in a sleepy, cranky, and often poor-performing student at school, but also an irritable, unhappy child or teenager at home† (Debatewise). Teenagers have a lot of stress put on them. One of the main stresses in teen’s lives is not getting enough sleep. Most teenagers have a job to help support their families and pay for their car insurance, gas, and other things they need. On top of having a job, many teenagers are in sports that occupy a lot of their free time. Teenagers are also pressured into getting all of their homework done in short amounts of time just to get good grades. The last thing that teenagers are worried about is sleep. Teenagers don’t realize how important sleep is not only to their education, but their health in general. ... ...l should start later varies. For one, it’s dangerous to drive to school tired. Automobile accidents are most commonly caused by inexperienced drivers. Imagine being inexperienced and being so tired to the point where you can barely keep your eyes open all because you have to be at school bright and early. Cutting back the time teens arrive at school has been proven to lower the risk of car crashes. There was a school that had cut car accidents by 17% just by changing the time school begins (3 Reasons). Being tired also causes depression, depression makes it harder for students to concentrate on what’s most important, their homework (3 Reasons). I can’t stress enough how important it is to get good grades. Getting good grades and having a good GPA, not only helps you become who you want to be when you get older, but it helps you get into any college you like.

Differences Between Tom Sawyer And Huck Finn Essay -- Mark Twain essay

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are Mark Twain's two most memorable characters. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn experience a life of adventure in and out of role-play, weaving through danger with a childish disregard for personal well being. Even though they are quite alike due to age and hometown, their differences outweigh their similarities. Some of these differences include their upbringing, education, and morality. Tom's upbringing is typical for this time period. He belongs to a middle class family made up of himself, his Aunt Polly, and his half brother, Sid. Tom is obsessed with stories of heroes and villains. He spends his spare time trying to pull together a group of robbers made of the other boys in the neighborhood. Huck's father is a poor alcoholic who habitually beats his son when he is drunk. All their money goes to support his addiction. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer find $6000 and the Widow Douglas adopts Huck to "sivilize" him. The Widow's house is the only place where Huck lives as a human being. He wears nice clothes, eats well, and attends school and church on a regular basis. Growing up in a structured household, Tom has been forced to attend school ever since he reached the proper age to do so. Huck's only academic experience is when the Widow Douglas tries to civilize him after Tom and he finds the $6000 in a cave. She forces him to attend school and he learns how to read and write. He has been attending school for over ...

Related literature on food carts Essay

Getting a food cart franchise package: what are the advantages? Why food cart Franchise? Potential franchisees sometimes wonder if franchising is a necessary process, and may ask why they couldn’t simply start a business on their own. The findings of the government suggest that franchisees enjoy a significant competitive advantage over the stand-alone or single business operators. They showed a study that 88% of franchise companies which opened in the previous five years were still in business under the same owner and only 4% of these businesses failed. Also, a survey in that same article showed 60% percent of all new businesses that started over a 10 year period dissolved within their first six years. The percentages of success may vary with the study and that there maybe other studies out there but still reach same conclusion most suggest that a franchised business have a higher chance of success than independent, start-alone businesses. Here are some of the advantages of having a Food cart franchise: Food cart franchise are cheaper and have less lease or rent cost. Food cart franchise are transferable, since they can be moved easily or if the location is not profitable. Food cart franchise are easy to operate and manage. Food cart franchise requires one to two personnel only. Food cart franchise needs a small space/location so it is easier to find one. Food cart franchise are easy to maintain, lowering overhead costs. Food cart franchise are ideal for businesses offering limited products or services. Food cart franchise can capture a wider market because location is along the walkways of malls and commercial centers. Expansion is easy since it needs less capital. Reasons contributing to this include: A food cart franchise is a â€Å"copy† or â€Å"duplicate†, if you may, of an already successful business. The true value of a food cart franchise is the experience, know-how, and the operation procedures that comes with it. In franchising, there is the value added advantage of brand name recognition. There are also support structure from the franchise company that the franchisee can take advantage of. A franchise avoids the costly trial-and-error periods that causes so many start-up businesses to fail and close up. http://franchisebusinessphilippines.com/why-food-cart-franchise-business/ The Effect of the Marketing Practices on small shops in South African townships i.) A complete â€Å"paradigm shift† in managerial thinking, in terms of service quality deliverance through the continual education and training of staff in fields such as customer care, customer satisfaction and customer service. ii.) The product offering needs to be more consistent and reliable, ensuring that an overall perception is created within the minds of consumers. Attention needs to be given to details (such as checking expiry dates) in delivering services and products. iii.) owners/managers need to spend more time building â€Å"relationships† with their customers. This will assist in receiving regular feedback from customers in terms of customer satisfaction. It helps to develop customer loyalty as customers enjoy personalized attention. Shops in Mdantsane should, therefore, be more sensitive to the unique needs of their customers. iv.) The pricing policy of the shops in Mdantsane should also be based on accepted accounting procedures and not only on intuition. Owners/managers of shops in Mdantsane indicated low levels of adoption of the marketing strategy concept. This suggests that an opportunity exists for these owners or managers to be educated on how to adopt marketing strategies that enhance profitability. Furthermore, grocery shop owners/managers also regarded price as the most important aspect when applying the marketing strategy mix. This implies that grocery shops in Mdantsane compete primarily based on price. According to the study findings, these grocery shops also need to adopt the other 3 Ps of the marketing strategy, namely product, place and packaging in order to be more profitable. The owners/managers of grocery shops did, however, indicate that they lack the necessary funds to embark on extensive marketing practices.

Artistic Themes from Ancient Cultures Essay

The role a man plays in society, as well as the role a woman plays in society is referred to as a gender role. A gender role can include, but is not limited to a person’s status, position, behavior, and activities that is deemed fitting for the sex of that person. Men and women’s roles are very different and have always been that way. It is expected by society that men and women have diverse principles and attitudes. The fact that certain behavior is logically linked to the gender of the person is confronted by the social aspect that is mirrored by behavior. Role is such a broad word with different understandings, one meaning powerfully characterized. On the other hand the term gender role refers to history and culture. Gender roles do change with time. Roles have changed drastically over time. Dependent on the background or culture of people, one should know that gender roles can be clarified in a number of ways. In earlier times it was normal for the woman to stay at home and care for the home and the children but now that have changed. Women these days are working just like the man. However in some cultures it is still tradition that the woman stay home and take care of the house. Those particular cultures think it is just not right for women to be independent or provide for their own family. In some cultures people are still against women voting or having the same rights as men. But in the culture I live in, men and women share equal rights which includes, but is not limited to the right to vote. â€Å"The measurement of gender role identity typically focuses upon personality traits (e.g., agentic versus communal), with individuals indicating on a paper-and-pencil survey the degree to which each trait provides a true description of themselves (Lenton, 2004).† In Rome, they believed in their gender roles. According to the men of Rome, the women were very weak individuals who needed male guidance and protection. The role of protector and guide was first played by the father of the woman  and then the husband. If, by chance something happened to the husband, another man would be appointed to take on this role. If a woman bared three children or more she was no longer required to be under the guidance of a man, she is now unrestricted. According to Fiero (2011), â€Å"women had traditional occupations in food and textile production and prostitution, but women were also known to hold positions as musicians, painters, priestess, midwives, and even gladiators. In Rome, marriages were put together based on the person’s social status. A gift, identifying the social status of the bride was given to the groom from the bride’s father. Not knowing the social status brought about many problems. â€Å"Infidelity was on the rise in marr ied women, divorce was becoming more common, and it was not uncommon for the second and third marriages to come about in men and women (Fiero, 2011).† The differences in the gender roles were very obvious. In the earlier Roman years women were only allowed to drink grape juice. They were not permitted to drink wine at all. When women attended dinner parties they were not allowed to lounge around, however the men were. The slaves did most of the manual labor so women had very little to do, if anything. The gender roles of the Romans were totally different from the Greeks. Work was shared by both men and women but were separated centered on their gender. Women were given the option to own land alongside with the men. â€Å"Both men and women stayed active in the economy among families that ran small shops or workshops (Sutton, 2013).† Jobs with low pay were offered to the women who did want to work. Once the Greek women starting a family, they would stop working outside of the home. Today, women are allowed to work after starting a family. â€Å"Regardless of origin, it is important to convey that gender roles are neither static nor invariant (Lenton, 2004).† As the years p assed, gender roles have dropped. The modern lifestyles that are created now have transformed the aspect of gender roles. There are more women in the workplace than ever before. Women are now just as equal as men. References Lenton, A. P. (2004). Gender Roles. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/worldsocs/gender_roles Fiero, G.K. (2011). The Humanistic Tradition (5th ed.). New York City, New York: McGraw-Hill.Sutton, S.B. (2013). Culture of Greece. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/gelt/greece/html