Maslows Hierarchy of needs Essay

I am basing my Theory and Application on both Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Locke’s Goal Setting Theory. Theory and Application Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was first published by psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 article, â€Å"A Theory of Human Motivation â€Å". Abraham Maslow believed that that as humans strive to meet our most basic needs, we also seek to satisfy a higher set of needs. Maslow presented these needs in a hierarchy that consisted of the following: 1. Physiological/bodily needs. 2. Safety needs. 3. Love/belonging needs. 4. Self-esteem. 5. Self-actualization. I am going to describe each level in the hierarchy of needs and evaluate them in terms of evidence that shows that they work and that they are useful for managers in understanding how they might motivate their staff. The example I am using is Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, training and technology by Suzanne G. Benson PhD and Stephen P. Dundis JD, PhD. With all the challenges facing the health sector, there was a need to understand how the managers could motivate the staff. This was becoming increasingly concerning and this is where Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs proved useful. Maslow created a pyramid split into 5 levels, each containing one of the 5 needs. Level 1 Physiological needs: Physiological needs are the basic survival needs such as oxygen, food, water, shelter etc. Unless these basic needs are fulfilled, the individual will be unable to move to the next level, as these are these needs are needed for survival. In work terms, these basic needs would be wages. If an employee is being paid fairly he/she will be happy to move to the next level of the hierarchy. If not, they will be thinking about why they aren’t being paid fairly and the next levels won’t be in their mind. Level 2 Safety Needs: When physiological needs are fulfilled, safety needs come into consideration. This involves not only a safe working environment but mental safety. In this case training has a big influence because workers see training as a way of being safe. Managers must make employees realise that with new technology brings change. Employees feel that they are under pressure with the new technology leading to advancements in computers. They feel they are inadequately trained and this is where managers must spend resources, time and money on training. Level 3 Love/ Belonging Needs: Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation and managers must understand this to ensure employee involvement, production and motivation, etc. With the new technology in healthcare, brings in the new ‘virtual teaming’. Some employees might feel a lack of social presence that face to face contact has. Managers must know this and that the opportunities to participate in new and different work groups can definitely expand an employee’s belongingness. Level 4 Self-Esteem: Self-esteem in a workplace is usually based on an employee’s successful performance appraisals, which helps employee’s feel valued and respected within an organisation. This boosts self-esteem. In the case of the healthcare problem, there was an issue with the technology because employees where not known by name anyone but by numbers. When employees are not being interacted with personally by managers and other group members they feel insulted and meaningless. Managers must take this into consideration. Level 5 Self-Actualisation: The need for self-actualisation is only relevant when all needs below Self-Actualisation are fulfilled. It is the need for an employee to do what he/she feels they are meant to do. In the healthcare training, an employee should be exposed to learning that affects every single part of his/her life. The new technology offers this training but a person must be shown the right path towards the correct training in order for it to become meaningful. Managers play a role in doing this. Locke’s Goal Setting Theory Dr Edwin Locke found from research that specific and difficult goals led to  better performance than easy goals. Easy goals are not a motivating force whereas if a goal is hard, you feel more accomplished after completing it. The harder the goal, the greater the effort. This helps motivate employees because they will grow in confidence once they complete a difficult task. Goals help push employees to goal-relevant actions rather than concentrating on irrelevant matters. I believe that this is true and to motivate goals must have: 1. Clarity. 2. Challenge. 3. Commitment. 4. Feedback. 5. Task complexity. Clarity When goals are clear and specific there is less chance that there will be a misunderstanding. Managers should make goals measurable with a definitive time set for completion, and this will in turn leave the task/goal a lot more precise. If an employee is set a clear objective he/she is then motivated towards one thing. If the goal is unclear employees will be less motivated. The goal should be Smart, Measureable and Time-bound (SMART acronym). Challenge Usually employees feel that if a goal is very challenging and they complete it, then the manager will be impressed. This motivates an employee because they will feel accomplished and important to the company. Rewards may also boost motivation because with greater challenges comes greater rewards, so therefore managers must give employees challenging but realistic goals in order to motivate their staff. Challenges must be realistic because employees will feel demotivated if they are unable to complete the challenge. The goal should be Achievable (SMART Acronym). Commitment Goals can be agreed upon between managers and employees. This gives the employee a sense of involvement and they are more likely to be committed to a goal if they have been involved in creating the goal and making decisions. Goals should be consistent and credible in order for the commitment to be there. If a goal is difficult it will require a lot more commitment compared  to and easy goal therefore employees will be motivated to get the goal completed. Agreed goals will lead to commitment (SMART Acronym). Feedback Employees must get feedback about their goals from their managers in order to clarify expectations and to gain recognition. Goals can be broken down into parts when it is going to take a particularly long time to reach a goal. Feedback can then be given after each part in order to get a task done efficiently. Regular encouragement will motivate employees to reaching a goal. Task Complexity When a goal is very difficult, employees should be given sufficient time to reach the goal. If the employee is stressed out then they will be demotivated. Employees should be given time to practice what is needed to reach the goal. Difficult tasks can frustrate employees and managers have to deal with this by giving them sufficient time and training needed to complete the task. Conclusion: I believe that both Maslow’s and Locke’s theories provide a useful knowledge into how to keep an employee motivated in the workplace. Goal setting is the best theory in my opinion because it is a simple step by step way on how to reach a goal without demotivating your employees. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows a manager how to make the employee feel secure, needed and appreciated in the workplace whilst also keeping them motivated to strive towards self-actualisation. Reflection and Application The theory that best explains my motivation to perform in DCU is the Goal Setting Theory. I feel this best describes my motivation to perform because I always set out goals in life, whether they are small goals or big goals. For example one of my goals in DCU is to finish with a Masters in Engineering after 5 years. This is a big goal and it requires a lot of motivation and time. My main goal at the moment is to pass all of my modules in my course. To do this my goal must have the 5 following steps: 1. Clarity. 2. Challenge. 3. Commitment. 4. Feedback. 5. Task complexity. In order to reach my goal I must evaluate the goal using these 5 steps. Clarity My goal is clear and measurable and has a specific date for completion. Moodle plays a vital part in reaching the goal as it assists me in my studies and help me keep track of my time limits for each task. I am motivated towards my goal of passing all my modules because I know what each module consists of. Challenge I am motivated towards finishing the first year of my course and passing each module because my course is difficult. When I finish my course I will feel accomplished in what I have done. I also know that if I do well, it will be well received at home because they also know that it is a difficult course. I see this as a reward because if the course was easy I would not be as motivated to do well. Commitment Getting involved in setting out goals also gets me motivated. It makes me feel more committed because I know I have to reach the goal because I helped set it. Although this isn’t the case in most of my modules, it is in one, that is Technical Drawing. I have to set the time for our project to be finished and this adds added pressure which helps motivate me. Feedback Feedback plays a massive role in motivating me to reach my goals. When I am told I am doing something correctly and that my work of a high standard, it motivates me because I know I am slowly reaching my goal. Feedback gives me an insight into how to do things correctly if I am doing them wrong, which is very useful when you don’t know if you are doing something correctly. It can also help me gain recognition. Task Complexity If the work load is too much or difficult for me, I usually need more time at the task in order to reach a goal. If this is the case I usually give up my spare time in order to work on the more complex and difficult parts of my  course. If I am under too much pressure I will be demotivated so this is why I carry out the goal setting theory in order to keep motivated and to ensure that I reach my goals. References www.mindtools.com http://www.unc.edu/courses/2007fall/nurs/379/960/module%209%20delegation%20perf%20appr/Benson%20unders%20and%20motiv.pdf http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/642/Articles%20syllabus/Locke%20et%20al%20New%20dir%20goal%20setting%2006.pdf

Internet and Education: Positive or Negative Aspect?

Internet and Education: Positive or Negative Aspect? The Internet started to boom in the 1990’s and has continued to evolve ever since. Today the concept of what was thought to be one of the greatest inventions has blown this old-time invention out of the water. In order for the Internet to be accessible a computer device is needed. Today on we can carry the Internet in our hands with wireless access; as before it was a fixed machine usually on a desk with multiple cords attached.Noting that the invention of the computer and Internet has only increased in value and quality the rate of use has also increased significantly. This increase use of the Internet has affected and impacted people around the world. People use it at home, work and school for different reasons such as to communicate, shop, and look up information. The question that withholds is whether or not Internet use is beneficial or problematic. A topic that relates to this ongoing question is the effects that Inter net use has on education and academic performance.The Internet is used through a wide variety of spectrums within education; teachers and students use the Internet on a daily basis. Studies have shown positive and negative factors of the Internet appearing in education from both student and instructor views. When looking at the Internet as a positive aspect there are many studies and factors that play a role in helping conclude this acquisition about Internet in an educational setting. The Internet can be very beneficial for students along with teachers and administrators.For example, the adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) classroom teachers have found the Internet to be beneficial for themselves as well their students (Berger, 2010). Jim I. Berger conducted a study using ALBE instructors to better understand their use of the Internet in the classrooms. These ALBE instructors explain they use the Internet to simply look up lesson plans and to communicate with the students on a daily basis (Berger, 2010). Berger (2010) sent a packet of 50 fifty-six-item surveys to every state director of ALBE services; in return he got 219 applications with an 18. % response rate (p. 155). When focusing more on the results and procedure Berger (2010) grouped the 56-item survey into 5 composite scales; (a) reasons for use (the Why scale), (b) ways the Internet was used (the Practice scale), (c) positive consequences (the PosCon scale), (d) negative consequences (the NegCon scale) and (e) reasons they would or could not use the Internet in their classroom (the Barrier Scale). Two specific parts of Berger’s study that helps conclude Internet is a positive aspect in education is the Why scale and the PosCon scale.Berger (2010) asked the respondents to use the Likert-like scale with values not, some, or very to address his survey questions. When reporting the results for the Why scale Berger chose the teachers who answered with very. Majority of the teachers (71. 8%) s aid they felt it was very important to use the Internet in class because students would one day need it in their professional lives, around half (54. 1%) thought the Internet helped students learn basic skills, a little less than half (40. 9%) stated they used it because they enjoyed to, while (31. 3%) of teachers felt the Internet makes them better teachers (Berger, 2010, p. 56). For the PosCon scale Berger (2010) reported the results based on ALBE instructors who agree or strongly agree. His findings concluded that 83. 5% reported that students were more empowered, 82. 4% thought the material was more engaging for the students, 82. 2% felt that students improved their basic skills, and 76. 2% thought they could incorporate higher-level thinking skills in their lessons. Also, a great proportion (70. 2%) stated that classes became more student centered and half (50. 4%) thought the students worked together more often (Berger, 2010, p. 157).To conclude Berger’s study it was fo und that the Internet was beneficial in education when looking at ALBE classrooms in more ways than one. However, a weakness of Berger’s study is the response rate. This is only a small fraction of instructors and teachers around the world. Similar to Berger’s positive findings is a study conducted by Gwo-Jen Hwang, Po-Han Wu and Chi-Chang Chen. Their study addresses the topic of web-based problem-solving activities. According to the Hwang et al. (2012) study online web-based problem-solving games are found to be beneficial in education.In their study an online game was developed for conducting web-based learning activates (Hwang et al. , 2012). Two classes of fifth and sixth graders participated in the study. One group was the experimental group while the other was the control group. The experimental group was guided by an educational computer game that used a Graphical Quiz approach to develop the game-board learning system, while the control group was guided by lear ning sheets and keyword search online (Hwang et al. 2012). Hwang et al. (2012) required both groups to take a pre-test and post-test regarding â€Å"butterfly ecology. In result Hwang et al. (2012) reported the online-education game not only improved the students’ learning achievement and attitudes, but also situated the students’ in a learning state filled with involvement, concentration and enjoyment. The results also show how the approach was effective; the learning activity conducted in this study showed that students were highly motivated in their web-based problem-solving tasks (Hwang et al. , 2012). Hwang et al. (2012) thus concludes that the students were highly engaged in the task due to the intrinsic motivations promoted through the game.Between these two studies it seems safe to say that the Internet is used in multiple ways in education and in general has a positive outcome. While studies like these show positive factors of Internet use in education there are also findings that conclude negative effects of Internet usage. Along with the increased use of the Internet comes increased amount of distractions. Distractions such as social networks, shopping sites, sport networks and YouTube are constantly being streamed from networks around the world. Researchers Jomon Aliyas Paul, Hope M.Baker, Justin Daniel Cochran (2012) believe there is a negative correlation between grades and time spent on laptops, tablets and cell phones during class. They also say it’s very common to see students using their phones during class; this behavior is not only distracting to the one using the mobile device but for others around them as well (Baker et al. , 2012). Noting this is an example of how the Internet in education is misused and often abused in educational settings. Relating back to Berger’s study, he concluded there are also some negative aspects of the Internet in education.Berger (2010), states 54. 4% of the instructors claim that students visited sites unrelated to assignments or class work, 36. 7% of instructors found that their classes split into those that did and those that did not know how to use the Internet, 23. 9% found that students visited inappropriate sites (porn, gambling), 22. 5% of instructors indicated that students copied material from the Internet and used it as their own, and 20. 9% felt that their students relied too heavily on the Internet for information (p. 157).His study shows that students are easily distracted by the endless uses of the Internet. As a college student I struggle with these distractions on a regular basis. Looking at a different spectrum of Internet and education researchers Nejla Canbulat, Sevil Inal, and Meral Kelleci conducted a study looking at the relationship between the Internet and academic performance for a small portion of high school students. To further explain the Canbulat et al. (2012) study, 804 high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 were c hosen randomly from four high schools in Istanbul city.One of the three questions their study asked was â€Å"Do computer and Internet using periods of high school students adversely affect their success at school? † They collected their data through a survey. They founded that the students average computer use periods were 2. 07 ±1. 5 hours daily and their average Internet access periods were 1. 8 ±1. 5 hours daily (Canbulat et al. , 2012, p. 1648). Depending on if the student had Internet access at home or had to access the Internet through a public place, such as a cafe, altered the results of time spent on the computer.In Nejla Canbulat, Sevil Inal, and Meral Kelleci’s (2012) study they restate Berson and Berson’s findings of 92% of 10800 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 had access to the Internet and spent most of their time messaging with people, surfing across websites, playing games and only 1% of them use the Internet for making searches and studying (p. 1644). Canbulat et al. (2012) founded that compared to this statement their study proposed that half of the teenager (50. 5%) connected to Internet for searching purposes; however, other reasons were chatting (18. 1%), playing games (12. %), listening to music (9. 7%), sharing content in forum sites (6. 6%) and accessing websites with sexual content (2. 4%) (p. 1649). Even though these percentages seem to correlate with a positive use of the Internet too much time spent searching and using the Internet causes problems in interpersonal relations (Canbulat et al. , 2012). To conclude their findings they state that the more time spent on the Internet adversely affected the student’s success at school. The study also founded that the increased spent time on the Internet decreased the academic success of students.The students that accessed the Internet at home used it less often than the ones who accessed the Internet through a cafe, reckoning that the Internet at hom e is kept under parental control (Canbulat et al. , 2012). This however may not be the case for every student who has a computer at home; this is only a small study that was done with high school students. When comparing Canbulat et al. and Berger’s studies it’s hard to differentiate whether the Internet is a positive or negative aspect within education due to the different views between teachers and tudents. Most teachers argue it’s a good thing for teaching and it also helps students interact with each other. However, some teachers believe that the increased use of Internet distracts students from their daily work by visiting non-related sites. These findings from Berger’s study relate to the Canbulat et al. correlation found between the increased use of the Internet and decreasing academic performances. Students are spending more and more time on these non-related sites affecting their studying habits and overall grades.There have been many studies con ducted about the Internet and the psychological effects it has created; some good while some bad. Certain researchers claim that Internet chatting decreases loneliness and depression, increases the feelings of happiness, and greatly enhances perceptions of social support and self-esteem (PW Kang 2007; Shaw and Gant 2002; Chen 2012). While others believe the increasing use of Internet is effecting face-to-face interactions by reducing time spent with family members and friends, thus creating more and more feelings of loneliness and depression (Kraut et al. 1998; Chen 2012).If the Internet does create these feelings of hopelessness and depression this could affect students not only socially but academically too. In the classroom these feelings of depression can often lead to alienation and feel worthy only when using the Internet. This could reduce the social interaction a student may have in school thus creating low self-esteem. A student may then cover these feelings up by using the Internet, which in turn would reduce the motivation of a student to do homework or study for upcoming exams. Overall the Internet is a positive aspect in the world of education.On the contrary it’s known for it’s devious distractions. Studies and research prove both cases are true among students and teachers. People today rely solely on the Internet as before it was just something to have. Is the Internet and technology the destruction of social interaction and resulting in increased isolation? Some critics argue thus is true while others oppose this idea as a whole. This is yet another issue that’s addressed with the concern of the Internet. Time can only tell. List of Reference Baker H. M. , Cochran, J. D. , & Paul, J. A. (2012).Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2117-2127. Berger, J. I. (2010). Profiles of Internet use among ALBE instructors. Adult Basic Education & Literacy Journal, 4(3) 1 51-160. Canbulat, N. , Inal, S. , & Kelleci, M. (2012). Internet use and its relation with the academic performance for a sample of high school students. HealthMed, 6(5), 1643-1650. Chen, C. , Hwang, G. , & Wu, P. (2012). An online game approach for improving students’ learning performance in web-based problem-solving activities.Computers & Education, 59(4), 1246-1256. Chen, S. (2012). Internet use and psychological well-being among college students: A latent profile approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2219-2226. Bibliography Baker H. M. , Cochran, J. D. , & Paul, J. A. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2117-2127. Berger, J. I. (2010). Profiles of Internet use among ALBE instructors. Adult Basic Education & Literacy Journal, 4(3) 151-160. Canbulat, N. , Inal, S. & Kelleci, M. (2012). Internet use and its relation with the academic performance for a sample of high school students. HealthMed , 6(5), 1643-1650. Chen, S. (2012). Internet use and psychological well-being among college students: A latent profile approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2219-2226. Dodd, B. J. , & Antonenko, P. D. (2012). Use of signaling to integrate desktop virtual reality and online learning management systems. Computers & Education, 59(4), 1099-1108. Hwang, G. , Wu, P. , & Chen, C. (2012).An online game approach for improving students’ learning performance in web-based problem-solving activities. Computers & Education, 59(4), 1246-1256. Kiran-Esen, B. , & Korkmaz, M. (2012). The effects of peer-training about secure Internet use on adolescents. Turkish Psychological Counseling & Guidance Journal, 4(38), 180-187. Korkmaz, O. (2012). A validity and reliability study of the online cooperative learning attitude scale (OCLAS). Computers & Education, 59(4), 1162-1169. Otaibi, K. N. A. (2012). Attitudes towards the use of the Internet. Psychology Research, 2(3), 151-159.

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Sartre's Defense of Existentialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sartre's Defense of Existentialism - Essay Example Nevertheless, Sartre’s response to the objection that his existentialism makes all choice arbitrary is not only good but also sensible. Sartre interprets the objection that confronts him and his existentialism – â€Å"It does not matter what you do† – in three ways: â€Å"First they tax us with anarchy; then they say, ‘You cannot judge others, for there is no reason for preferring one purpose to another’; finally, they may say, ‘Everything being merely voluntary in this choice of yours, you give away with one hand what you pretend to gain with the other’† (Sartre 13). The first objection – the idea that â€Å"they tax us with anarchy† – translates as â€Å"to say that it does not matter what you choose is not correct† (14). Sartre then responds to this objection by using logic: â€Å"If I do not choose, that is still a choice† and one therefore â€Å"cannot avoid choosing† (14). To this, Sartre adds the idea that â€Å"it is impossible for [one]†¦not to take complete responsibility for making a choice† (14). The people who object Sartre’s existentialism tell him one thing – that there must be some definite law that governs decision-making and that true free will does not exist. For example, they may argue that when a man comes face to face with a lion, then the idea of free will is somehow overridden by the instinct to run, and therefore one can say that there is no free choice in such a situation. Free choice, for these people who oppose Sartre, may only be confined to everyday decisions about petty things such as which clothes to wear and which food to eat. Nevertheless, how Sartre responds to them is not only good but also sensible in that logic tells us that when one flees from a lion, then one definitely still makes a choice – the choice of fleeing. Although the idea of instinct may somehow seem to negate free choice in th is particular situation, it actually does not because the only thing visible is the choice to flee for whatever basis there is to it. Whether there is a basis for such a choice or not, for Sartre, it is not important and that one’s choice may be â€Å"determined by no a priori value† (14), and can therefore be an irrational one. Others may partly agree that an action such as fleeing a lion is indeed a choice but they would then require reason for it, or something a priori on which the choice must be based. Nevertheless, Sartre is sensible enough to say that not all choices may be based on anything a priori such as reason. Why? What is the problem with having an a priori basis for a choice? Sartre explains this through the story of a pupil of his who has chosen to live with his mother instead of fighting the enemy (7). Those people who object to Sartre’s existentialism believe that there must be a basis to every choice, but they do not recognize that whatever bas is they use, it is still they who make that choice of using that basis, as Sartre contends. Sartre’s method of refuting this objection is excellent: he explains the vagueness of the Christian doctrine as well as Kant’s Categorical Imperative if these two established doctrines were used as an a priori principle on which the young man’s decision must be based. Sartre points out that although the Christian doctrine teaches one to â€Å"act with charity,†

Hospitality and Tourism Strategic Planning Essay

Hospitality and Tourism Strategic Planning - Essay Example The rooms of this hotel had the facility of running water, though cold, and the air condition luxury in its public rooms. It was in the year 1947 when a hotel named Roosevelt Hilton was launched at New York City. This hotel pioneered in providing its guest rooms with televisions. By the year 1948, the Hilton Hotel was identified as the first hotel company to come up with the new system of multi–hotel reservation. This gave birth to the modern reservation system that is used today (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). As years passed, the company paced up its innovations and came up with new concepts and approaches every now and then. The introduction of sewing kit and a booklet containing important and useful names and numbers for the female travellers brought the company to limelight. Improvement in its technical side is characterized by the â€Å"brand–wide direct telephone service† launched by the company in the year 1957. The introduction of airport hotel based concept w as cheered by the business purpose travellers. Hilton came up with its first Airport hotel in the year 1963, the San Francisco Airport Hilton and was a pioneer in this approach. Ten years down the line from this period, i.e., by 1973 Hilton once again came up with an innovative idea of centralized reservation system making a breakthrough improvement in its customer care service (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). Again in the year 1987, Hilton was seen to introduce its first program for guest loyalty called the Hilton HHonors (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). It was later in the year 2008, when Hilton Vancouver Washington made history by being certified by both Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) along with Green Seal (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). Its latest development was in the year 2010 with the launch of the spa facility at various locations such as the United States, China and Thailand (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). This paper intends to analyze the various strategies and the impacts of internal and external environment on Hilton Hotels & Resorts. An effort to develop a strategic plan emphasizing on the risk management factor of business strategy shall also be one of the highlighting sections of the paper. Environmental Analysis of Hilton Hotels & Resorts The purchasing of medium and small–sized hotels has been in Hilton’s practice right from 1970s. The attention towards acquiring a huge amount of real estate was the main focus of Hilton. The lodging assets of Hilton Group Plc amounted to GBP 3.3 billion in the year 2006, thus making Hilton the largest company in the field of lodging (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2005). There has been a recent change in trend of the company and it has shifted to expand its operations by the process of franchising instead of merely acquiring real estates. This company mainly operates in the United States but also has its presence in various other major city locations such as Sao Paulo, Toronto, Lo ndon, Sydney, Paris, Shanghai, Rome, Stockholm and Beijing (HotelsGrid, 2012). It was in the year 2007 when Hilton Hotel was acquired by the Blackstone Group for money worth of US$20.1 billion (Morrison, 2007). Prior to the event of

Reflective Article Review Log Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reflective Article Review Log - Assignment Example The new demands of the learning environment can only be met if the instructional methods remain dynamic and provide a comprehensive understanding of the learning needs. By identifying the various changes in the learning environment, the authors lay a ground for launching a new strategy for meeting the learners’ demands. The article relies on empirical studies to identify the various learning needs of a diverse school population. The article summarizes the findings of hundreds of empirical studies to identify five common needs of a learner. Ming and Dukes (2010) identify phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension as the key elements of a comprehensive lesson that can help children to become proficient readers. Phonemic awareness is defined as the ability to auditorily identify and manipulate individual sounds in words. On the other hand, phonics is the ability of the learner to identify the letters within a word. The two helps a learner to have a flow of the language what the authors term as fluency of the language. Next, the learners can learn how to use vocabulary which refers to the language words that add taste to the language. The last and the most important step is for the learner to comprehend the meaning of the language which is essential for a complete learning proce ss. The article provides a basis which instructors can perform a close analysis of the lessons and evaluate the dimensions that they omit in their lessons. Through a scientific approach, Ming and Dukes (2010) develops a strategy through which an instructor can develop incorporate the â€Å"big five† dimension in a diverse learning environment. The article emphasizes the need for preplanning stage in developing a comprehensive lesson plan. It is a stage that the instructor lays down the objectives the lesson and the various learners’ outcomes that he must attain at the end of their teaching. Next, the article

The words context Essay Example for Free

The words context Essay When addressing this question its important that I explain what I understand by the words context and truth. My view of the word context is something (such as time or setting) that surrounds a particular event and that can alter its meaning. Truth is what happened in reality. There are two types of truth.  The first one is my truth: its what I believe its true. For example I might say that if we laugh a lot throughout the day well sleep better. That is my truth only, since someone else might not believe that. Whether or not the rest of the people believe this, the truth will always be mine. In this case I think that context does not influence what I believe in; therefore in this case context doesnt affect truth. The second type of truth is universal truth. This is the truth that everyone in the world believes in. In my opinion there are few if none universal truths since not everyone agrees on something and these truths all depend on the context. For example consider this statement. 10 out of 10 people die. According to scientists that statement is true to them. Its thought to be a universal truth. However in the world there will be someone who believes that we dont die. Maybe even in some region on Earth various people believe that we never die. We also have to take into account the period that the statement was written in. Maybe in the next centuries with advances in medicine, people will live forever therefore if this statement was written in that time it would be completely false! As we can see time is a very important aspect when stating if something is true. The most famous examples of this is the fact that people in the 15th century believed that the world was flat, it was the truth, due to the fact that the sea was flat and after a certain distance boats would suddenly disappear, and they also believed that the sun orbited around the Earth. Galileo and Copernicus with more information later proved that the Earth orbited around the sun but still some people disagree with both these scientists. Here we can see how peoples perception of truth about something changes with new information. Well theres something which is always or should always be true. That is the law. Consider this: if the law says: If you murder someone youll be sentenced to death the truth is If you murder someone youll be sentenced to death and most people will argue for this law. What if you kill someone in self-defense? Youre still murdering someone. In this case you will not be sentenced to death since the context has changed the truth of what happened. As we can see theres no real truth not even in the laws of a country. What about in History? In History theres no real truth since in my opinion in this subject context is all. But if theres no truth then there shouldnt be History, there should only be various myths and stories told by the conquerors of the various nations and continents. How many times have we listened to the same story but told by various different people? Then how do we know which one is telling the truth? People have different perceptions of things therefore each one of them has their own truth. A single truth for everyone doesnt exist. Consider this for example: Im at school and Im playing around with some friends and I punch one of them. At that instance a teacher sees me punching him. The truth according to her is that I was fighting and I punched him. The truth according to me is that I was playing with him and accidentally punched him. We have to look at the context behind what happened to establish a truth. As well as in History, in Literature context is also very important to establish what happened. When analyzing a literature work its important to focus on things such as where its set and in what period its set in order to understand why some of those things happened. If were reading a book that focus on racism in the south USA we have to take into account that its set in 1950 where racism was a big issue in the USA. Of course that most things that happen during the story wont be true to nowadays and we also have to take into account that probably those racist events wouldnt have happened in a country like Portugal. On the other hand if we move from literature to numbers, logically 2 plus 2 will always equal 4 and 2 times 2 will always equal 4 as well, in any part of the world at any period during time no matter what the context is. Not reallyIt depends on what youre talking about, the context. Consider this for example: (In Physics 20C=293K and 40C =313K). If today I have 20 (apples) and tomorrow I have 40 (apples) then tomorrow Ill have twice as many (apples). If the temperature yesterday was 20 (C) and the temperature today is 40 (C) the temperature is not twice as more since 313K is not twice 293K. As we can see its important to look at the context and see what were talking about! After thoroughly thinking about this issue Ive reached some very interesting conclusions. In general context is all theres no doubt about that, which means theres no truth, which in turn means that History shouldnt exist and it also means that 20 x 2 does not equal 40. However that doesnt apply to my personal truth of some things in life since I believe that my truth is not always affected by the context.

Palm oil biodiesel: A source of renewable fuel

Palm oil biodiesel: A source of renewable fuel The demand of increasing price in fossil fuel has prompted the global oil industry to look at the alternative sources of fuel from renewable energy source which is biodiesel. Biodiesel is considered as better option because of its environmental friendly characteristics while giving almost the same functional properties like fossil fuels. This paper will focus on the biodiesel produced in Malaysia. Since Malaysia is one of the leading palm oil producers in the world with palm oil was chosen as the raw stock for the palm oil biodiesel production. There are many advantages and disadvantages in palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia from the economy, social and environmental aspect. The aim of this paper is to analyze the past, current and future of palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia. This paper will include the technology aspect used in the palm oil biodiesel production and characteristics of pure palm oil biodiesel to meet the international market standard. Malaysia faces tough competition from other biodiesel producers like Indonesia and Brazil. The scope of this study covers the worldwide biodiesel development in brief in continuation with the challenges faced by Malaysia in becoming the top biodiesel exporter in the world with the advantages disadvantage of using palm oil as the feedstock. . Keywords: Alternative, renewable energy, palm oil biodiesel, technology, exporter List of Abbreviations ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials CPO Crude Palm Oil DBKL Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid EU European Union IFC International Finance Corporation ISO International Standards Organization MPOB Malaysian Palm Oil Board MPOC Malaysian Palm Oil Council MYR Malaysia Ringgits NGO Non Government Organization OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration POIC Palm Oil Industrial Cluster POME Palm Oil Methyl Ester PRIME Rebuilding and Improving Malaysias Export of Palm Oil RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil UK United Kingdom UNFCC United Natons Framework Convention on Climate Change US United States USA United States of America List of Symbols CO2 Carbon dioxide ml milliliter NOx Nitrogen Oxide INTRODUCTION All energy used by humans originates from one of the following sources: radiant energy emitted by the sun (solar energy); geothermal energy from the interior of the earth; tidal energy originating from the gravitational pull of the moon; and nuclear energy. By far the largest source is solar energy, thousands of times larger than all the others and inexhaustible for as long the sun shines (approximately 4.5 billion years). Present energy system, especially based on the use of fossil fuels (not renewable), cannot handle the problem of guaranteeing energy security and that increasing the share of renewable energies is one of the best ways to addressing them. Increasingly, renewable energy in the form of biodiesel is getting attention from the world countries due to the environment friendly characteristics, while still be able to be used in diesel engine without any major modifications. Biodiesel also has its advantage of abundance of raw stock which confirms continuous raw material supply. Biodiesel is an environmentally-friendly, renewable energy source that could also produce cost savings for taxpayers and private businesses which is produced from farmers that grow various fuel crops. Given high gasoline prices and the negative environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, there is intense research on the alternative energy sources, including biofuel. Brazil and the US have been leading the way with ethanol production derived from sugar cane and corn. Recently, there has been increased interest in another biofuel (biodiesel) particularly in Europe (the leading producer). Biodiesel, a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel, can be produced from the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats. In the US, most biodiesel is made from rapeseed (canola) or soybeans. Other producers have different biodiesel feedstock such as palm oil and jatropha that have great potential as renewable fuels. Malaysia is a leading palm oil producer, therefore Malaysia in the past have focused on palm oil as raw stock used for biodiesel production. This paper takes an in depth look at the palm oil used for the production of biodiesel. 2.1 SCOPE OF THE PAPER Biodiesel production is facing several issues and challenges like tough global competition, feedstock issue, food versus fuel war, sustainability, and limited land for use deforestation. The scope of this paper is to collect and analyze the data of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia to determine their performance and their position in the world biodiesel industry, the advantage disadvantage of using palm oil as the main feedstock for production, political economic barriers which needs to be overcome, competition between the major producers technological aspects. This study covers the biodiesel technology that is currently being used in Malaysia to produce pure biodiesel that meets international criteria, suggestions for improvements in implementing better method and technologies to be used in Indonesia and Malaysia. Overall, this paper analyzes the past, current and future trend of the palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia among world biodiesel industry. 2.2 BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Raw Stock for Biodiesel There are several sources used as feedstock for biodiesel production such as rapeseed and soybean oil. However, compared with other vegetable oil, palm oil has far better advantage and potential as feedstock for biodiesel production. Palm oil is a perennial crop, unlike soybean and rapeseed. Perennial crop means the production of oil is continuous and uninterrupted, though annual production has its seasonal peak and down cycle [6]. In terms of oil production per hectare of plantation, palm oil is the most produced oil seed. The yield of palm oil from palm is a factor of ten higher than oil yields from soybeans, sunflower or rapeseeds [17]. Palm oil production has higher production yield compared to soybean, sunflower seed and rapeseed as shown in Figure 1. Palm oil imports from Malaysia into EU are equivalent to having 4.9 million hectares of soybeans or 1.7 million hectares of rapeseed [17]. 2.2.2 Palm Oil as Raw Stock Palm oil is the most prospective biodiesel feedstock compared to other oilseeds. As discussed earlier, palm oil has higher production yield, low fertilizer, water and pesticide needed for the plantation. Palm oil production takes less sunlight in terms of energy balance to produce a unit of oil as it produces more oil per hectare. However, in terms of the basis of palm oil yield per man in a day, it is not as competitive as other oilseeds because of the difficulty of labor plantation management and harvesting of the fruit. Comparatively in Indonesia, it is less an issue because the extensive labor market readily available in Indonesia compared to Malaysia. Crude Palm Oil and Refined Palm Oil are the most traded vegetable oil in the world today [14]. Palm oils have been established as a dietary nutrient for nearly five thousand years. Palm oils are harvested from the mesocarp of the Elaeis Guineensis fruit, through a refining process that includes; cooking, mashing and pressing. In this process, the seeds are separated and after cracking and removing the shell, the kernel can be processed to yield palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. Crude palm oil also referred as CPO comes from the mesocarp which is the fleshy portion of the fruit wall. Mesocarp is processed into CPO through refining and kernel processing in steps shown in Figure 2. CPO depends on the variety of the palm tree and the age of the palm. The CPO to bunch ratio is approximately 25 to 28 percentages. 2.2.3 Palm Oil Biodiesel The palm oil harvested and produced from palm trees is referred to as CPO. The crude palm oil is the transported to palm oil refinery to be refined. The factory output is the Refined Palm Oil which is suitable to be used as biodiesel fuel or blended with petroleum diesel. Palm oil converted into methyl ester which then can be used as fuel is called the bio diesel. Blending certain percentage of petroleum diesel with palm diesel is called Envo Diesel. Methyl ester from palm oil has low engine emissions, high oxidation stability apart from the high nitrogen oxide emission which is higher [2]. Refined palm oil; after crude palm oil is refined is referred as Refined Palm Oil and can be used for number of applications including as a substitute for petroleum diesel which is known as Palm Oil Biodiesel. Palm oil is processed into CPO, then into refined oil before being processed into palm oil biodiesel as shown in Figure 3. Palm Oil biodiesel can be blended with petroleum diesel. This type of diesel is known as Envo Diesel. This paper will discuss in detail the Palm Oil Biodiesel. 3. Analysis 3.1 Perspective on Indonesian versus Malaysian Palm Oil A significant change took place in palm oil industry in the year 2006 when Indonesia surpassed Malaysia in production of the palm oil as shown in Figure 4. Malaysia is currently worlds second largest producer of palm oil [6]. Looking at the Indonesias palm oil production rate compared to Malaysia in Table 1, there are high chances of Indonesia surpassing Malaysia and continue to be leading producer for the foreseeable future. In Malaysia, palm oil exports amount to 16.5 million tonnes, representing an increase of near 11 percent in year 2007. The total palm oil planted area in the country increased by 4.3 percent to 4.48 million hectares in 2008 [16]. The expansion in planted area in the country occurred mainly in Sabah and Sarawak with a combined growth of 7 percent compared to 2 percent in Peninsular Malaysia. Sabah remained as the largest palm oil planted state, accounting for 1.33 million hectares of 30 percent of the total planted area in the country. 3.2 Palm Oil Biodiesel vs. Other Feedstock In the year 2008, the government of Malaysia was looking at the possibility of using jatropha oil the raw material for the production of biodiesel in the future. However, this was still at the research and development stage and it has not reached the commercialization stage [2]. The government looked at other potential feedstock for biodiesel production due to the competition on the use of the palm oil either as food sources as fuel. Around the world biodiesel producers are now focusing on using non food based raw materials for the biofuel production. Currently, all the biodiesel projects in Malaysia are based on the use of palm oil as the raw material. During the surface of the reports indicating that EU might ban biofuel derived from crops grown on some sensitive ecosystems, Malaysian palm oil industry feared the worst. Malaysia; as the second largest palm oil producer in the world after Indonesia is the potentially largest palm oil biodiesel producer. Countries like Brazil and the US; biodiesel producer from ethanol are eyeing the EU market giving heavy competition to palm oil biodiesel producers. Biodiesel market are having large market competition after the 27 nation bloc suggested for biofuel to be used at least 10 percentage in transportation by year 2020 [17]. Jatropha is a promising second generation biodiesel feedstock. The government publicity on Jatropha as next potential biodiesel feedstock at the Sabah Development Corridor launch in the year 2008 gave competition to existing palm oil biodiesel. However, the use of Jatropha as biodiesel feedstock requires more research to develop its properties to acceptable level for mass commercial usage [2]. And currently, the research is still ongoing. 3.3 Palm Oil and Malaysia The palm oil industry is an important pillar of Malaysia economy. The palm oil sector have contributed significantly towards providing a continuous flow of foreign investments and earnings through the export of palm oil and its value added products to the global market. In the year 2008, palm oil industry contributed MYR 65.2 billion or equivalent USD 18.1 billion in the export earnings which proves to be a significant contribution from the palm oil industry to the economy [16]. The contribution of Malaysian palm oil to the worlds oils and fats market was very significant in the year 2008, where the palm oil production of 17.73 million tonnes was 11.1 percent of the global production of 160 million tonnes of oils and fats. The sustainable production of palm oil in Malaysia is overseen by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association. Malaysia palm oil production is estimated 18.3 million tonnes in 2009 compared to 17.73 million tonnes in year 2008 [17]. The global demand for palm oil has increased significantly over the last two decades, first for the use in food industry, consumer products and the most recent application for biodiesel. The growing market in India and China; which is the top two important nations, increases the demand for edible vegetable oil [14]. Another major factor in growth of palm oil production is its role in sustainable energy campaign around the world [14]. European countries have promoted the use of palm oil by investing hundreds of millions dollars into the national subsidies towards biodiesel. European countries are major importer of palm oil; subsidization of biodiesels by the European governments has accelerated the demand for the palm oil in Europe and as a consequence, this has increased the conversion of large areas of rainforest in South East Asia. Palm oil plantations are often built after clearing large area of forest land and draining peat swamps. As of the year 2009, the Malaysia palm oil had 26 percent share in the export of oils and fats. The palm oil also comprised 46 percent share of global palm oil and is being consumed in more than 150 countries worldwide [16]. All these were achieved by using 4.5 million hectares of land which is far more less than 1.9 percent of total area in the world utilized for oilseeds. The total area in the world used for oilseeds is 233 million hectares. Malaysia is currently focusing on increasing the productivity by increasing the oil yields from the current average of four tonnes per hectare to eight tonnes per hectare by using genome sequencing. Genome sequencing is a laboratory process that determines the complete DNA sequence of an organism [16]. Using this technique, scientific process and procedures can be done to the palm oil plant to produce more outputs. Using this technique, Malaysia is hoping to continue as the major supplier to global palm oil needs without the necessity to open n ew areas for plantation. The EU need a company to be legally certified to produce palm oil that can be used as an alternative fuel in a sustainable manner before the commodity can be shipped and used in the 27 member bloc countries. Restrictive policies implemented by EU created differences in the marketing of vegetables and grains oil that caused the decrease of the palm oil prices compared to soybean and rapeseed oil. Indonesia and Malaysia, the worlds two biggest producers of palm oil teamed up in November 2008 to reduce the output of the edible oil after he prices slumped. The two countries agreed to replant old plantation, cutting yearly production of approximately 800000 tonnes. In the year of 2009, during the global economic slowdown, Malaysia palm oil industry was facing issue of oversupply. To reduce the oversupply of palm oil and at the same time to support the palm oil prices, Malaysia launched the Palm Oil Replanting Incentive Scheme worth of MYR 200 million to reduce the nations high palm oil stock to ensure the stability of palm oil prices. The objective of this scheme is to chop 200000 hectare of palm oil trees aged 25 years and above, which will reduce the palm oil supply by 700000 tonnes per year in the short term. The government had approved 63000 hectare under this scheme which was closed in June 2009 [16]. Strategies like replanting palm oil tree schemes and impose of the mandate for the palm oil biodiesel use reduces the CPO inventory and helped to sustain its price at MYR 1400 per tonne in the year 2009 [14]. It is important to reduce the oversupply and maintain the CPO price above RM 1400 tonne as the producers will not be profitable in the trade below this price. In March 2008, the CPO prices soared up till MYR 4180 but the price plummeted to low MYR 1403 per tonne in November 2008 [16]. The inventory for palm oil rose to significantly high amount of 2.3 million in November 2008 but reduced to slightly more than 1.8 million tonnes in January 2009 as shown in the Figure 5. Palm oil is the major oil produced in the world; this indirectly helps to lower price of palm oil biodiesel but not significantly. The CPO price range between MYR 1400 and MYR 1900 per tonne in year 2009 was sufficient to sustain the export earnings. However, the earnings from palm oil exports in the year 2009 dropped compared to MYR 65.8 billion in the year 2008 because of the lower prices as well as lower exports. Late in the year 2008, MPOC launched PRIME program. This program is one of the MPOCs palm oil export promotion strategies to encourage exporters to explore new markets and introduce new products in order to develop new areas of business [22]. 3.4 Biodiesel Production Technology Before analyzing the infrastructure and technology required in converting Palm oil into biodiesel, the production process must be understood first. There are three general ways to convert vegetable oils and fats into biodiesel; base catalyzed transesterification of the oil, direct acid catalyzed transesterification of the oil or conversion of the oil to its fatty acid then to biodiesel [12]. Biodiesel producers opt for the option 1 which is the base catalyzed reaction because it is a low temperature and pressure. This method also yields high conversion ration of almost 98 percentages with minimal side effects and reaction time. Another advantage of this method is that it is a direct conversion to biodiesel with no intermediate compounds required and no exotic materials of construction are needed [18]. The chemical reaction for base catalyzed palm oil biodiesel production is shown in the chemical equation shown in Figure 6. Chemical Equation above shows transformation of palm oil into biodiesel which also gives another output; glycerin. The conclusion from the above chemical equation is that when one hundred pounds of fat or palm oil reacted with 10 pounds of short chain alcohol in the presence of a catalyst that has already been mixed with methanol, 10 pounds of glycerin and 100 pounds of biodiesel produced as output. The short alcohol chain is represented by ROH which means methanol or in some cases, ethanol that is used to quicken the conversion process. The catalysts usually are mixed with the methanol. R, R and R represents the fatty acid chains of the palmitic oil or fat [12]. The catalyst mixed with alcohol. The catalyst usually dissolved in the alcohol using a standard mixing machine. The mix is then put into a closed reaction vessel and the palm oil or fat is added. A closed system is done in the process to prevent the loss of alcohol to the atmosphere. The mix is kept at the temperature above the boiling point of alcohol at about 70 degree Celsius so that the reaction takes place. The reaction time varies from 1 to 8 hours and excess alcohol usually used to ensure complete conversion of palm oil into methyl esters. Once the reaction have completed, there will be two outputs which are glycerin and biodiesel. Glycerin and biodiesel output will not be in their purest form. Each has significant amount of excess methanol that was used earlier in the reaction. This is where the neutralization step takes place. The glycerin has more density compared to biodiesel and the two outputs can be separated using gravity by drawing off the bottom of the settling vessel. After the glycerin and biodiesel have been separated, the excess alcohol in each of them will be removed and the mix will be neutralized. The alcohol will be recovered in methanol recovery step using distillation equipment and it will be re-used. After separation from the glycerin, the biodiesel is purified by washing gently with warm water to remove the residual catalyst or soaps, dried and sent to storage. This step may be skipped when the output of the production process is a clear amber yellow liquid with viscosity similar to petrodiesel. Colorless biodiesel is obtained in an additional step of distillation to remove small amount of color bodies. For usage as an automotive fuel, the end product of biodiesel must be analyzed using international standard analytical equipment to ensure it meets specifications. For global biodiesel marketing, it is important for a biodiesel manufacturer to register the biodiesel product with the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR Part 79 [18]. 3.5 Pure palm oil biodiesel characteristics Biodiesel is a biodegradable and non toxic fuel; free from sulfur. It is produced by transesterification reaction of vegetable oil with low molecular weight alcohol, such as ethanol or methanol. In the industry, biodiesel is produced using homogeneous reaction [10]. Important characteristic of oil to be used as fuel is the solubility of the oil in petroleum. Another way is to emulsify the oil or fat with the ethanol. Most of the vegetable oils are a mixture of different esters such as oleic acid (main portion from olive oil), ricinoeleic (main portion from castor oil) , linoleic acid )main portion from linseed oil), palmitic acid (main portion from the palm oil kernel) and many other oils. Palm crude oil is refined to make a useable automotive fuel that is useable in unmodified diesel engines. As discussed in earlier topics, biodiesel is a clean burning alternative to petroleum based fuel made from renewable energy source which is biodegradable and non-toxic. In recent times, biodiesel issues have drawn lot of interest as increase of depletion of petroleum source in near future is predicted. Biodiesel market is booming in Europe as fuel or fuel additive for most of the diesel internal combustion engines and turbine in Europe as fuel or fuel additive for most diesel internal combustion engines and turbine engines, and it is also available in the US and Asia, as well as in Canada, where it is in its early stages of development. Biodiesel is derived mainly from the byproducts of soybean and other oils, such virgin and recycled vegetable oils derived from crops such as canola, corn and sunflowers and animal fats or spent cooking greases, although it may be obtained from ethanol. Soy-based fuel is the most common used biodiesel in its pure form or mixed with a petroleum-based diesel as an additive to improve the otherwise low lubricity of pure ultra low sulfur petrodiesel fuel. Research was done in Bangkok where palm biodiesel was used for a motorcycle, the emission and engine performance was tested. Research found there was no significant difference in emissions between the biodegradable and the fossil fuel. Comparison of the engine performance and fuel consumption for both lubricants showed no significant difference either [8]. However, since palm biodiesel is a renewable source, it is a lower carbon source and that it offers superior tribological properties (wear scar, viscosity index, etc.) [8]. This is a promising alternative to fossil fuels. This fuel is also important from the economic point of view, considered as one of the possible candidates to replace petrodiesel as the worlds primary transport energy source thanks to its renewable condition and the fact that it can be transported and sold using todays infrastructure instead of old fossil fuels ducts. In fact, it is available to consumers in a growing number of fuel stations, but still makes up a small percentage of fuel sold. Biodiesel has been classified as a non-flammable liquid by the OSHA, although as with most fuels, it may burn if heated to a high enough temperature, but significantly reduced in toxic and other emissions when burned as a fuel. [20] 4. DISCUSSION 4.1. Past and Current Market trend of Palm oil Biodiesel The production of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia is overwhelming. There are initial researches conducted for the production of biodiesel from waste materials including palm oil. However, this is still in early stage of research and development and so far; the researches shows that the production of biodiesel from waste materials is still very high and not viable for commercial use. Till the year 2008, Malaysia had about 91 percent of palm oil biodiesel projects approved with a total production capacity of 10.2 million tonnes a year [16]. Total of 12 biodiesel plants have been fully completed and are in operation with production capacity of one million tonnes a year [16]. Another two biodiesel plants have been also completed but the operations have not started. These two plants have production capacity of 160000 tonnes a year. According to MPOB, the existing biodiesel plants produces approximately 196363 tonnes for the period of August 2006 till March 2008 while 154791 tonnes were valued at MYR 411 million for the export to US, Europe, Singapore and Australia. Recently, the production cost at biodiesel plants have increased with the rising price of crude palm oil. The average cost of CPO in the year 2006 was MYR 1502.50 per tonne. This price has increased significantly within two years; in the year 2007, the price was MYR 2516.50 per tonne while in the early of 2008, the price was MYR 3433.50 per tonne. This has caused the cost to exceed the profit margin. In March 2008, production cost for palm oil biodiesel was MYR 4330 per tonne; whereas the market price for the palm oil biodiesel was MYR 3632 per tonne. The CPO prices are increasing rapidly as shown in Figure 8. The rising cost of biodiesel have prompted several palm oil biodiesel producers to temporarily stop producing biodiesel as the high producton cost has left an negative impat on their profit margin and the development and growth of the biodiesel industry. Till to date, the Malaysian government has given more than 90 biodiesel licences to various organization and companies which has production capacity of 10 million tonnes per year. However, it is reported in the Reuters survey that on seven biodiesel plants are currently running and most of them are operating well below the capacity. The survey also showed that there were 14 projects with their combined biodiesel production capacity of more than two million tonnes were shelved or delayed. The main reason for the delay is the high CPO prices, which encourages the palm oil industry to produce palm oil for more profitable business or industries instead of the biodiesel which has higher production cost compared to profit. The high cost of investment to setup the biodiesel facilities does not encourage the palm oil industry. It is said that for the priceof biodiesel at MYR 4000 per tonne, even conglomerates in Malaysia such as Sime Darby is not keen to plunge into the biodiesel industry currently [16]. Currently, the company is focusing on the palm oil downstream activities such as bulking and refinery process to be exported [16]. A report by Frost and Sullivan regarding biodiesel showed that the demand for biodiesel has increased in the Asia region over the past few years. For Malaysia, the demand for palm oil biodiesel would increase from current 110000 tonnes to 563000 tonnes in the year 2013. Asia region has a booming market for biodiesel as there are several strong drivers of growth; increased supply and increased demand. Many countries in the Asia region developed domestic markets and at the same time,producers like Malaysia and Indonesia targeted export markets. In several countries in the Asia region, the government introduced mandates for biofuels to develop the domestic market. On March 22, 2006, Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched biodiesel called Envo Diesel. This type of biodiesel blends 5 percent of proccessed palm oil with 95 percent petrodiesel. In EU, there are B5 type of biodiesel that blends 5 percent methyl ester with 95 percent petrodesel. The manufacturers for diesel engine prefer the use of palm oil methyl ester blends as diesel engines are designed to handle 5 percent methyl ester meeting the EN14214 biodiesel standard [16]. In the year 2009, the Malaysian government reassured that there are no plans to remove the current biodiesel mandate of five percent despite high CPO cost. The government encourages the use of biodiesel in the country, although it is not have been mandatory use [5]. Malaysian government are encouraging the use of palm oil biodiesel as they are obliging to Kyoto Protocol. The use of palm oil biodiesel have not been made mandatory due to the fact that at the present,the raw material price is very high . Kyoto Protocol is a protocol of the UNFCC , an international environmental organization. This organization is trying to achieve the stabilisation of the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent the degradation caused by human that would disturb the ecosystem and the climate system. In October 2008, Malaysia put into practice the mandate of five percent biodiesel will be used in vehicles starting with the government vehicles in the year 2009 and planning to implement extensively to industrial and transportation sector in the year 2010. By early 2010, Malaysia is expected to consume 500000 tonnes of palm oil which is 3 percent of national CPO production. This will happen when Malaysia fully implements the blended biodiesel programme where B5 diesel will be made available througout the country through 36 depots [5]. The use of blended biodiesel has started with government agencies and will be extended to industrial and transportation industry in the future. The Malaysian government is working with nations biggest petroleum company; Petronas to enable some retail station to supply B5 to the agencies. I February 2009, Malaysia started the biodiesel programme with Kuala Lumpur City Council and the Armed Forces in the country [5]. The biodiesel producers and the petroleum companies are currently discussing the important aspects and critical issues to the implementation such as logistics and finance. As of the year 2009, the main challenges facing the biodiesel industry in Malaysia are the exports of subsidised US biodiesel to EU that is distrubing the prices and trade, the EU energy directive and overall global economic slowdown. The global economic crisis have caused a sharp drop in the CPO prices, together with global financial crisis had led the develoment of the biodiesel industry to slow down or to be exact halt new investments. The Malaysian biodiesel industry has the production capacity of 1.67 million and feedstock available to satisfy the demand in the domestic and world market. Malaysia and Indonesia has expressed concern over a plan by the EU countries to impose taxes on US biodiesel which potentially might slowdown the outlook for alternative fuels made from vegetable oils and grains. Almost half of Europes biodiesel Apple: A Multinational Corporation Apple: A Multinational Corporation Introduction Apple Inc. it is a well known American multinational corporation that designs most of the famous consumer electronics and widely used softwares. It was established on 1st April, 1976 at that time the company was known as Apple computer, Inc. the word computer was dropped after 30 years of its establishment on 9th Jan, 2007.To mark its expansion in consumer electronic market. Apple nearly has 35,000 employees worldwide and its sales recording nearly US$42.90 billion by 26th September, 2009. It came in a magazine named Fortune that Apple had been most appreciated company in United States in 2008 and worldwide in 2009. Objectives Apples motto, â€Å"Think differently†, a concept which Apple has been following since it started by creating state of the art products that. Other computer manufacturers have tried hard for decades to copy the ideas but none had succeeded as Apple did. It has always manufactured and designed products which no one has even imagined of. They provided the first ever user-friendly laptops and computers. Apple introduced iMac and iBook for the basic computer users such as students etc and Power Book and G series for advanced computer users for graphic designers, business man etc . Ownership Of Business As it is public owned company so it sells its shares. Currently there are around 1,441 shareholders, with total shares held are 652,325,642 and the total value of their holdings is around $134,501,972,866. The top 5 holders are: TOP 5 HOLDERS Shares held FMR LLC 45,173,344 STATE STREET COMPNY 31,980,670 Vanguard Group 31,216,671 Barclays Global 26,449,599 PRICE T ROWE 24,545,605 Board Of Directors: Steven P. Jobs Chief Executive Officer, Director Timothy D. Cook Peter Oppenheimer Chief Operating Officer Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President Philip W. Schiller D. Bruce Sewell Senior Vice President Worldwide Product Marketing Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary Ronald B. Johnson Senior Vice President Retail Bertrand Serlet Senior Vice President Software Engineering Robert J. Mansfield Mark Papermaster Scott J. Forstall Senior Vice President Mac Hardware Engineering Senior Vice President Devices Hardware Engineering Senior Vice President iPhone Software Engineering and Platform Experience Stakeholders Consumers As there will be any kind of changes in Apple company itself consumers will be affected, as the price increases consumer wont be willing to buy apple products or if the price increases consumers will be buying to buy apple products Competitor The biggest example of competitors can be Microsoft, whatever Apple does directly or indirectly affect Microsoft or vice versa. For example if Apple releases any kind of new computer regarding business the result is some new firms might opt to adapt that new system or might go along with Microsoft, thus effecting each other by every means. Steve Jobs Apples CEO He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple. He was the only one who introduced the bright idea to Apple e.g. iPod, iPhone etc. The whole company is affected by his decisions, as his health was affected the companys share lost its value. Stakeholders had a fear that if Steve Job isnt there it will cause Apples downturn causing a great loss. Apples SWOT Analysis Strengths Sales of its notebooks are very strong which represents a large portion of Apples income Apple is considered as one of the most established IT brand in the world. It not only attracts new customers but existing customers also come back for latest products as well as to take advantage of the services they are offering. Weakness Apple is making an end with IBM who was among Apples main chip supplier and switching to Intel for supplying chip which is thought to make consumers confuse as most of consumers have tend to use IBM chips which existed before Intel. It has its own software platform which doesnt allows users to have any kind of flexibility or to run Microsoft softwares on Apple OS which discourages consumers to buy Apple OS based consumer electronic. Opportunities Can offer some software flexibility by open source operating system so it would attract more consumers and making it more user-friendly thus increasing sales. Apple can step ahead by horizontal integration with some other major IT Company like Microsoft to expand its business to a completely new level. Offer Apple OSX to non Apple hardware which can turnout out to be a great advantage as more people will tend to use Apples OS as it is a completely different experience. Threats The biggest threat to Apple is its competitor Microsoft around 90% of the world-wide computers have Microsoft OS installed on them. This in long run can be very dangerous for Apples business. Global recession can likely reduce the sale of high priced consumer electronic; since apple is offering no cheap alternatives the consumer itself tend to switch to other manufactures for cheap prices. Market Research The most shocking thing about Apple Inc is that it never does any kind market research; they never hired any kind of consultants. They hired once in a decade which they considered later as there mistake. Apple itself figures out what people want and then work on it at the end the whole world is just amazed by that work and wants to include it in daily lifestyle. Marketing The marketing concept which Apple Inc uses and has been successful in long run can be divided into 3 categories customer oriented, organization objectives and coordinated market activities. The customer attraction is done by advertising through different media which is appealing to customers, moreover they provide good delivery services all this steps taken is to reach customer orientation concept. For organization objectives concept they set a target for its employees to reach, with that to even move closer to their ultimate goal they improve their quality of product. Apple does marketing management by acknowledging customers needs and wants. Market Mix Product Apple basically sells laptops, iPods, mobiles etc here we are going g to concentrate on their laptops. Apple has different kinds of laptops for different uses. They are quite light, slimmer and highly advanced which can make anyone stand alone in a crowd. It is mostly preferred due to its uniqueness and brand name. In their product range Mac book, Mac book pro which comes in different sizes 13†, 15† and 17† depending on users usage. As student s will prefer small n compact were as a graphic designer will prefer large screen display. Price The prices differs according to how basic or powerful laptop you are purchasing as for students small and compact can be bought cheaper ranging from $999-$1699, where as for high end user is around $2499 above depending on specification Place Apple has very good delivery service so you just buy it online from anywhere in the world the laptop will be delivered right at your door step which encourages most of the people to buy laptop with quality services. Else all famous electronic retailers sell Apple laptops around the world. Promotions Apple promotions are the best deals that can be found anywhere. Apple provides special student concessions and even low interest rate installment so that it is reliable from every aspect. Sometimes free deliveries offers are also available. External Factors That Can Impact The Business Activities: Economic: The economic factor plays an important role in the normal functioning of the business. The fluctuations in the economy directly affect the budget and Apple being a public business entity may face challenges to cope with the fluctuations. Social: Society also plays a major in the flow of the business activities. The customs and trends of a society do affect the way the business is functioning although these customs might be favorable to the businesses. Technological: Apple being major IT Company, has to provide the best services so it has to constantly upgrade its infrastructure and has to bring changes in its technologies.

Causes of Software Crisis

Causes of Software Crisis This paper justifies the symptoms and primary causes of software crisis. You will see that the writer made a comparison of software crisis in different countries. We took the information from different articles published in UK, USA and Canada. The findings and suggestions are described at the end to minimise the risk involved while planning and developing a software project. Introduction We begin with the symptoms of Software crisis. Evidence is provided by the documents produced by US military on software crisis. Furthermore, Charelle, (2005) has complied some more astounding failure statistics of software crisis. We have also discussed the major causes of the software crisis and the description of those causes. The major factor of causing failure in Software management projects is lack of coordination between the teams itself. In last two decades the technology trend is going upward and small and big organizations are adopting the latest technologies and techniques to improve their output productivity. This report reflects the major symptoms and causes of a software crisis along with their description. In the end of the report we conclude with the suggestions to improve the whole process to avoid software crisis. Symptoms of Software Crisis Many researchers agree software project failures occur more frequently than they should, some of them have tinted a crisis within the software industry (Conte et al, 1986; DeMarco, 1982). To assess the success or failure of the project express on cost, delivery time, and quality, Glass (1998) highlighted these three main aspects. Circumstantial evidence is used to highlight the symptoms and primary causes of project failure which creates serious concerns. Comparison of software crisis between different countries The other main cause of software crisis is that the machines have become more powerful, if we compare with the past we had a few computer programming with a minor problem in software. Now we have huge computer programming with an equally huge problem in software. Some documents have been written to describe the failure of software project by US military and most of the software problem which had been identified in military area is the same in private sector. In this report the given table explain the major causes of software crisis, in 2001-2002 actual cost of National Insurance Recording System 2, Probation Service Crain, and Child Support Agency project increased for the reason of delays in project time, increase in actual costs and change of the system. Over cost of amount  £ 40.4 million increased in the project of (NIRS2) and same problem occurred in the project of (PSC) and an extra amount of  £ 50 million spent on the project of (CSA) to improve the system. Overall the cau ses of software crisis are linked to the complexity of hardware and software development process. Some other further evidence shows that in 2001, a planned project for Immigration and National Directorate was cancelled since department analyzed that new system would be more complex and needs an amount of  £ 77million for the implementation of the project that is difficult for the department to pay such huge amount for this project. In the dates of 2001/2002, another new issue of fraud was highlighted in the software project of Individual Learning Accounts; it was a Flagship Training Scheme and an amount of  £ 66.9 million was fixed for its implementation. In the sequence of heavy budgeted costs a software project for Defence Logistics Organization in the year of 2002 was suspended on the reason of insufficient funds to start this heavy cost project of an amount of  £ 120 million. In the table shows that in the year 1999 a software project for Passport Agency a cost of  £ 12. 6 million was suspended behind estimating high actual costs. In the prospect of high costs of software, in 1999 Home office scrapped the project that had been planned for improvement in prison services, estimated costs for this software project was about  £ 8 million. In the year 2002, a software project Libra for linkup the magistrates was under consideration and required an amount of  £ 134 million for implementation of this project. Overall in all above evidences, it shows that crisis of software apparent itself in several ways: Additionally, Charette (2005) has compiled some more shocking failure in project software it seems that project failure is not a problem of big companies and industries but software problem is occurred widely in small companies, in commercial and non-profit organizations and government departments. Software crisis occur caused by increasingly complexity in hardware and project failure seen to be universal. In the 2nd given tale shows that in 1993 a software project for London Ambulance Service was cancelled after second attempt, and in the same year in USA a project was mad for Allstate Insurance Company after a costing of high amount of $ 130 million abandoned the office automation system. London Stock Exchange cancelled its project of Tarus stock settlement system after costing of huge amount of $ 600 million. In the last few years various process and methodologies have been developed to control the software crises. However, it is widely agreed that there is no constant solution. W ith a heavy cost budget of $ 44 million and $ 2.6 billion on the project of DMV system for state of California and project for Federal Aviation Administration cancelled in 1994. In 1995 Toronto Stock Exchange cancelled it planned project for installation of Electronic trading system, project cost was estimated about $ 25.5 million. In 1996 a project of Arianespace (France) in the reason of error in the software, 5 rockets explode and huge amount of $ 350 were expended. A project of $ 40 million in 1997 was cancelled by the State of Washington that had planned for department of motor vehicle. In the same year International revenue (USA) cancelled its project that was for Tax modernization effort, an amount of $4.0 billion was estimated for implementation of this project. Snap-on Inc, (USA) an amount of $ 50 million wasted in the software failure occurred in the order- entry system in 1998. In the year, 1999 software problem occurred with ERP system in the project of Hershy Food Corpo ration (USA), and an amount of $ 151 million was invested. Software for Tax system was cancelled in date of 1999 by the State of Mississippi (USA) and project was about $ 11.2 million. A cost of $ 12 million was cancelled in 1999 by the United Way (USA) a software project was designed for the process of administration system. In the year 2000, huge spent of money for city payroll system abandoned, due to failure in the software in Washington DC. In USA, Nike Inc 2001, about $ 100 million lost in the reason of software problem in the supply-change management system. In Australia 2002 software project for Sydney Water Corporation to maintain the billing system was cancelled, project cost was about 33.2 million. In 2003/4 AT T Wireless (USA) faced deficiency spent of $ 100 million in up gradation of software for improved customer relation management. In 2004 Hewlet- Packard Company invested $ 160 million for ERP system, but still persist unsolved problem in its software. An amount of $ 527 million invested in the planned project of 1Sainsbury PLC (UK) in 2004, because of that software problem company abandoned the supply chain management system. In general, large software projects are more complicated than small software project. In 2005 Canadian company Hudson Bay faced a big software problem in inventory system; an amount of $ 33.3 million was invested for this project. For conducting a comprehensive survey 250 UK based organization had been selected to find out the defined software failure as: A project that has failed significantly to achieve its objectives and or has exceeded its original budget by at least 30% Major reasons of project failure in above mentioned countries Projects running over budget. Software was not up to the needs. Projects taking too long to complete or unnecessary delays. Substandard Production. Unable to meet the specific requirements. Difficult to operate and maintain.. Over budgeting. Primary cause of Software Crisis In the result of survey they found that nearby 62% of these selected organizations had at least one major software failure, these were considered primary causes of failure and have been updated by Glass (1998). Description of Causes by (Glass, 1998) The objectives were not clear. Improper table work. Not having the proper feel of the organization. Lack of project management methodology. HR laps or insufficient skilled staff. Coordination gaps between venders. Performance and efficiency issues. A list of primary casual factors has been produced by (Charette, 2005). Description of Causes by (Charette, 2005) Bad planning or run time decisions. Lack of documentation. Improper assessment. Incorrect estimates of needed resources. Impractical project goals. Not a good communication among customers, developers and users. Use of undeveloped technology. Inability to handle the projects complexity. Not a good project management. Stakeholder politics. Commercial pressure. Conclusion We can conclude that the most of the project failures were due to the coordination gaps between the technical project management team and the business decisions. We can overcome this crisis by better monitoring; during the assessment, planning, designing, production, implementation and maintenance phases. We can achive the goal of a successful and on time product by developing better understanding and coordination between the higher management and technical team. Its all about taking right decision at the right time and at the right place.

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Essay -- Bless Me Ultima Rudolfo Ana

"Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya Children believe what their parents tell them but as they get older they start to question that which used to be unquestionable. Bless Me, Ultima is a novel by Rudolfo Anaya about a young Chicano boy, Antonio Juan Marez y Luna, who is growing up and seeing the world for how cruel it really is. A wise old curandera, or faith healer, Ultima, arrives just before Tony receives his first glimpse into the world of men. Ultima gives Tony spiritual healing throughout the book, as well as advice to keep him in harmony with nature and his spirit. The more Tony sees of death in the little town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, the more he questions the Christian God and turns towards the golden carp, a pagan god of the river. Rudolfo Anaya is indicating that each man must choose his own religion and destiny, by depicting the changes Tony feels after the deaths of Lupito, Narciso and Florence. Beforehand, Tony never questioned his faith but as each person died Tony turned farther and farther away from C atholicism and eventually even away from the pagan religion. Tony questioned his destiny and effectiveness as a priest, had doubts of the Catholic God and eventually of everything he had ever believed in, as Anaya shows that one strict religion isn?t always the right way or the only way. The first step in Tony?s spiritual journey is when he questions his family?s long-standing belief in the Catholic religion and his own destiny to follow their dreams of him becoming a priest. Tony doubts his abilities as a priest, even though he is not one, because his mother dreams for him to become a priest. Subsequently, he believes that he should have been able to save Lupito?s soul from wandering the river, because he will one day be required to. Whereas, ?A priest could have saved Lupito.'; (23), Tony feels guilty that he wasn?t able to fulfill his duty even though it wasn?t his. This shows that the destiny at first laid out by Catholicism may not be the one that is best suited to Tony. By not saving Lupito or his soul, the town Tony lives in is no longer pure in his eyes. The river is the lifeline of the town and once it is stained then the town will also be tainted with the murder of Lupito. Tony asks, ?How would I ever wash away the stain of blood from the sweet waters of my river!'; (23), and in doing so also questions why God puts such obstac... ...l and harsh, or that the golden carp could not have saved Florence even though the river was its home, in spite of the fact that his parents and friends believed deeply in these powers and still put all their faith in them. Ultima, it seems, is all that is left to believe in, because she has always been truthful, and protective. The vengeance that Tony wants on Tenorio is God?s alone; however, with a new religion following in Ultima?s practices Tony could punish Tenorio if he was still alive, and have vengeance for the deaths of his friends and not be punished for it because Tony would only be killing a witch. All humans must change and because they must, the world they live in, including their religions, must change with them or be lost in time. The Catholic religion failed to change into what Tony needed, and so did the pagan religion, so he stopped belieiving in them; however he saw Ultima?s religion as a new unchartered way that he could create himself. At the end of Tony?s s piritual journey he finds himself lost in a world that is prophesied to end and without a true belief in anything. Works Cited: Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima, New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1972.