Childhood Years in Calamba Essay

Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories of childhood in his native town. He grew up in a happy house, ruled by good parents, bubbling with joy and sanctified by God’s blessing. Rizal is industrious, hospitable and friendly folks impressed him during childhood years. And the happiest period of Rizal’s life was spent in this lake shore of Laguna de Bay. Earliest Childhood Memories The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his happy days in the family garden when he was 3 years old. He was a frail, sickly and undersized child so he was given tendered care by his parents. At the age of 3, watched from his garden cottage, culiauan the maya, the marta capra, the pipit and other birds listened â€Å"with wonders and joy† to their twilight songs. Daily Angelus prayer Moon linights at the Azotea after the nightly rosary. The Aya related to the Rizal children (including Jose) many stories about the fairies. When Jose did not like to take his supper the Aya would threaten him that the Aswang, the nuno, the tikbalang, or terrible bearded or turbaned Bombay would come to take him if he would not eat his supper. The noctural walk in the town. Calamba the Hero’s Town Calamba was a hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican order, which also owned all the lands around it. It is a picturesque town nestling on a verdant plain covered with irrigated rice field and sugar lands. A few kilometers to the south loom the legendary Mt. Makiling and beyong this mountain is the province of Batangas East of the town is the Laguna de Bay In the middle of the lake towers the storied island of talim and beyond it towards the north is the distant Antipolo, famous mountain shrine of the miraculous and Good Voyage. Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul Earliest Childhood Memories The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his happy days in the family garden when he was 3 years old He was a frail, sickly and undersized child so he was given tendered care by his parents At the age of 3, watched from his garden cottage, culiauan, the maya, the marta capra, the pipit and other birds listened â€Å"with wonders and joy† to their twilight songs Daily Angelus prayer Moonlights at the Azotea after the nightly rosary. The Aya related to the Rizal children (including Jose) many stories about the fairies. When did not like to take his Supper the Aya would threaten him that the Aswang, the nuno, the tikbalang, or terrible bearded or turbaned Bombay would come to take him away if he would not eat his supper The nocturnal walk in the town. The Hero’s First Sorrow Concha (Conception) the younger sister of Jose was died of sickness in 1865 when she was only 3 years old. Jose who was very fond of her, cried bitterly at losing her. The death of little Concha was first sorrow of Jose. Devoted son of the Church The scion of a catholic clan, born and bred in a wholesome atmosphere of Catholicism, and possessed of an inborn pious spirit, grew up a good Catholic. Pilgrimage of Antipolo On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left Calamba to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to fulfill his mother’s vow which was made when Jose was born. It was the first trip of Jose across Laguna de Bay and his first pilgrimage to Antipolo. The Story of the Moth Story about the disobedient moth which left a deep impression to Rizal’s mind â€Å"to sacrifice one’s life for it†, meaning for an ideal, is â€Å"worthwhile†. Artistic Talents Since early childhood Rizal revealed his God given talent to art. At the age of five (5), he began to make sketches with his pencil and to mould in clay and was objects which attached his fancy. When Jose was mere boy in Calamba, a religious banner which was always used during the fiesta was spoiled. Upon the request of the town mayor, he painted the oil colors a new banner that delighted the town folks because It was better than the original one. Jose had soul of a genuine artist. Rather an introvert child, with skinny physique and sad dark eyes, he found great joy looking at the blooming flowers, the ripening fruits, dancing waves of the lake, and the milky clouds in the sky, listening to the song of birds, the chirping of the cicadas and murmuring of the breezes. At the age of six (6), one of interesting anecdote about Rizal was the incident about his clay and wax image. He spent more time making images rather than to participate with his siblings games. He kept silent as they laughed and Jose Rizal told them â€Å"All right laugh at me now! Someday when I die, people will make monuments and images of me! First Poem by Rizal At the age of eight (8), Rizal wrote his first poem in the native language entitled â€Å"Sa Aking mga Kababata† (To my fellow children). This poem reveals Rizal’s earliest nationalist sentiment in poetic verse. He proudly proclaimed that the people truly loved their native language will surely strive for liberty. And that tagalog is the equal of Latin, English, Spanish, and any other language. First Drama by Rizal After writing a poem he wrote his first dramatic work which was a tagalog comedy and it was purchased by a gobernadorcillo of Paete for two (2) pesos. Rizal as Boy Magician Since early manhood Rizal had been interested in magic. With his dexterous hands, he learned various tricks, such as making a coin appear in his fingers and making a handkerchief vanish in thin air. He entertained his town folks with magic-lantern exhibitions, this consisted of an ordinary lamp casting its shadow on a white screen and be twisted his supple fingers into fantastic shapes, making their enlarged shadows on the screen resemble certain animals and persons. Lakeshore Reveries During the twilight hours of summer time, Rizal accompanied by his pet dog (usman), used to meditate the shore of Laguna de Bay on the sad conditions of his oppressed people. He grieved deeply over the unhappy situations of his beloved fatherland. The Spanish awakened his boyish heat a great determination to flight tyranny. Influence on the Hero’s Boyhood 1. Heredity Influence: a. From Rizal’s Malayan Ancestors – he inherited his love for freedom, his inmate desire to travel and his indomitable courage. b. From Rizal’s Chinese Ancestors – he derived his serious nature, frugality, patience, and love for children. c. From Rizal’s Spanish Ancestors – he inherited a profound sense of self-respect, the love for work and the habit of independent thinking. d. From Rizal’s Mother – he inherited his religious nature, the spirit of self-sacrifice, and the passion for arts and literature. 2. Environment Influence a. The scenic beauties of Calamba and the beautiful garden of Rizal Family stimulated the inborn artistic and literary talents of Jose Rizal b. The religious atmosphere at his home for fortified this religious nature. c. His brother, Paciano, instilled in his mind the love for freedom and justice. d. From his sisters, he learned to be courteous and kind to women. e. Tio Jose Alberto to inspire him to develop his artistic ability. f. Tio Manuel  courage him to develop his frail body by means of physical exercise. g. Father Gregorio intensified his voracious reading of good books. h. Father Leoncio Lopez fostered Rizal’s love for scholarship and intellectual honesty. i. The sorrows in his family contributed to strengthen his character. j. The Spanish abuses and cruelties which he witnessed in his boyhood awakened his spirit of patrionism and inspired him to consecrate his life and talents to redeem his oppressed people. 3. Aid of Divine a. Rizal was providentially destined to be pride and glory of his nation b. God had endowed him with versatile gift of a genius, the vibrant spirit of a nationalist and the valiant heart to sacrifices for a noble cause.

Diffusion of Buddhism and Hinduism

The changes in the diffusion of Buddhism and Hinduism through 600 CE greatly impacted these religions such as the popularity of the religions in India and where the religions was being diffused; however, a few continuities existed such as they both originated in India. Since Hinduism reinforces the caste system and Buddhism believe in equal treatment of all people which opposes the caste system, Buddhism started to spread into other areas other than India to offer an alternative to Hinduism for those in a lower caste.As Buddhism started to diffuse into other regions, the popularity of Buddhism in India started to decline because Hinduism gradually displaced them and became the more popular religion in India. Hinduism beliefs still continue to influence Indian society today. This changed more likely occurred because Buddhism would not have been as compatible with Indian culture in India as Hinduism has a more stronger tie to Indian culture like the reinforced caste system.The spread o f Buddhism through 600 CE was diffused among other countries. Buddhism started out in India and rapidly grew throughout the world eventually traveling along the Silk Road and spreading to areas like China, Korea, and Japan. While Buddhism was spreading in other countries, Hinduism tended to stay mostly in India. Read also  Arya Samaj at  https://essaysamurai.co.uk/arya-samaj/Because Hinduism was more complex, it made Buddhism more easier to comprehend and understand because they accepted everyone equally while Hinduism weren't accepting of people not born into the caste system. This change more likely occurred because Buddhism and Hinduism have slightly different views on the equality of people which benefited Buddhism to diffuse their religion in other areas besides India.

Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Politics - Essay Example There is no one in Canada who does not want to bring about a change. Promises are not new for the nation. We were promised to bring our soldiers home; but were cheated. We were offered a green economy but that still exists in dreams. We cried against scandals but we are blessed with scandals after scandals. It is the same story every time; only the leaders change. So, we all feel it is high time to change. Canada knows me, Canada knows Nycole Turmel. You, the people of Hull-Aylmer have seen how I have stood all these years for what I believed to be true. Canada is ready for the great leap. Dear friends, I am ready to bring that change to this very place by being its voice in the cabinet. My offer is not to pursue the age-old negative politics that stagnates progress. Instead, I promise to stay away from political dramas and work for what you people hold dear; your priorities. There are a number of things we urgently want to do in the nation. Firstly, we need to see that our families and seniors are not neglected. It is rather painful for every Canadian to see that our seniors-who gave us prosperity and dreams- are ignored as a result of our political dramas. In addition, we all love to have our troops back from Afghanistan. Evidently, it is high time to have a considerable change in policy, and it is high time for we people to show determination to wipe out what has clogged our political system and administration. It is rather embarrassing to note that the people whom we selected all these years to uphold what we believed true were deceiving us by vehemently and rudimently ignoring what they promised us. It is even more embarrassing to note that we went on selecting them again and again for reasons unknown. Admittedly, it is an injustice I am doing to myself if I say ‘for reasons unknown’. Evidently, it is our lukewarm attitude towards even such serious matters which give them the courage to

Emotions Revealed. Nonverbal Communication Essay

Emotions Revealed. Nonverbal Communication - Essay Example The instance is because the expressions convey information of what an individual is thinking and the next immediate at that is most probable to happen. The emotions tend to express different aspects of information. Typically, there are different types of information that are the same to all humans no matter the background of originality. Some of the general emotions convey happiness, anger, loathing, fear, sadness and surprise. The information in turn implies certain facts that may result. For instance, in the case if anger a person is most likely to fight since the feeling moves the blood to the hands. On the contrary, a person whose emotions express fear is most liable to run since his or her body streams blood to the legs (Lei, 2013). There cannot be an emotion without facial expressions. The instance is because the two events tend to be natural and mostly the person with the passion might not have control over the same. The most probable scenario is that the facial expressions are too minute to notice under normal circumstances. The clip puts forward that a person can see less than a hundred expressions whereas there may be over a thousand feelings that are probably of happening. The instance thus requires training to see all the expressions that are useful in the treatment, as well as the acts of investigations. Individuals differ in their facial expressions depending on the area that the phrase originates on the face. The instance also may be different since some expressions may be voluntary while other expressions may be out of control. The different emotions also create the diversity in the facial expression that may occur. In addition, different people tend to have different responses to various scenarios that may establish a difference in the phrase that results. The seven categories express different expressions as per the emotions. Anger tends to involve the pulling down of the eyebrows whereby the lips may tighten. Fear

Pollution Control Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pollution Control Policy - Essay Example Proponents and opponents of air pollution control policy now accept the protection of the public health as a political reality. The need for clean air is considered to be "a uniformly agreed-upon problem" or a "valence issue" (Baumgartner and Jones, 150). Nobody can be against the public good of clean air. Despite general agreement of the public, legislators, regulators and the regulated that clean air is important, many urban areas in the United States struggle to meet national air quality standards as the EPA continues to set stricter emission thresholds. The EPA has tracked emission levels of six criteria pollutants deemed harmful to human health - nitrogen dioxide, ground level ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead - since 1970. However, the persistence of the ground level ozone pollutant (commonly called either smog or ozone) troubles those who wish to protect the public health. The adverse health effects of acute and chronic exposure to ozone are more fully documented each year. While levels of some criteria pollutants (i.e. lead and carbon monoxide) have declined significantly, levels of ozone and particulate matter have not (Smith, 29). The EPA determined in 1997 that 122 million Americans, or 46% of the population, lived in smog-plagued areas (D oyle, 348). The EPA reported in 2004 that 112 million people across the nation still lived in 68 metropolitan areas classified in nonattainment of the national air quality standard for ozone. Regulators describe long-term exposure to ozone levels above the threshold set by law as extremely hazardous to human health (Smith, 34). From the critical perspective, there is a pressing need to establish radically new air pollution control policy. Contemporary business practice provides some important patterns in understanding policy new direction. It is evident that due to growing compliance costs, environmental expenditures have begun to play a major role in the policymaking decisions of companies. As a result, the environment is increasingly being used as a strategic tool to reduce cost and increase competitive advantage. Adequate and effective air pollution public policy should be largely based on firms' strategic needs to economize and being competitive. BACKGROUND: CURRENT POLICY FAILURE The continuing political controversy surrounding compliance with the provisions of the Clean Air Act suggests that the problem of national air pollution control is not going away either quickly or easily. Solutions to this challenging policy problem often appear partial and ineffectual. Four reasons for impaired policy effectiveness are suggested. First, the way in which federal regulators define and measure compliance with the law may not achieve consensus among the disparate participants in the implementation process. Even when participants do work together, gamesmanship among players who do not see themselves as equals on a level playing field may interfere with moving toward the same goal. The lack of consensus may continue until all the key players hold to some expectation of a common outcome (Bardach, 85). A second reason policy effectiveness may be impaired is due to the many participants in the fragmented federal hierarchy who represent multiple decision or veto points in the

Western liberal democracy. The evolution of liberal democracy Thesis

Western liberal democracy. The evolution of liberal democracy - Thesis Example Liberal democracy,otherwise called constitutional democracy,is the most dominant form of democracies in the contemporary world and the phrase 'Liberal Democracy' is a frequently used to describe Western democratic political systems including the United States,Britain,New Zealand,Canada,Australia,and other nations. To define a liberal democracy, it is "a form of representative democracy where elected representatives that hold the decision power are moderated by a constitution that emphasizes protecting individual liberties and the rights of minorities in society, such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, the right to private property and privacy, as well as equality before the law and due process under the rule of law, and many more." 1As against the distinction with the Communist People's Republics or the 'Popular Democracies' of the Cold War period, constitutional democracies in the modern period are differentiated from the direct democracies and participatory dem ocracies. The various constitutional forms of liberal democracies include republics, as in the case of the US, India, and France, and constitutional monarchy, such as the UK and Spain. This paper deals with Western liberal democracy in two sections: the evolution of liberal democracy and the nature of liberal democracy.Liberal democracy has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the 18th century at a time when monarchy was the practice of the time. The Western liberal democracy has emerged from the unique history of European civilisation and it has grown to become one of the most important forms of democratic government in the contemporary world. Today, one prevalent question concerning the Western liberal democracy is whether it can be served from its Western historical context and universalised for all nations of the world. The evolution of Western liberal democracy needs to be realised as the result of influential movements in the Europe, including the French Revolu tion and the English Revolution, based on the theoretical and philosophical thoughts such as liberty, equality etc. The American story of the evolution of liberal democracy is not different. "In part enlightened by European theoretical works, in part influenced by the European history, and in part responding to new life in American colonies, Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson, among others, conceived a federal republic, creating a new version of democracy which is elegant in theory but miserly in fact. It is elegant in the way it structures a durable government. It is miserly in the way it embraces the realities of the eighteenth century America, excluding a vast majority of people from the democratic process. Initially confined to one race and one gender, the base of American democracy has gradually expanded." 2 Thus, the American liberal democracy mixes reality with vision and today it has become the epitome of Western liberal democracy. Today, the eighteenth century liberalism which was based on property has been transformed o a new liberalism which is established on formal equality and liberty. . The Western liberal democracy in the contemporary world demonstrates that civil and political rights of the people can go hand in hand with higher standards of living. "In light of these achievements, liberal democracy is touted as the ideal form of government for all the peoples of the world. Any other system, including any other notion of democracy, is seen as a lesser construct, an inferior design, a recipe for social and economic backwardness." 3 Analysing the chief components in the origin and development of the Western liberal democracy, it is essential to relate to some essential sources of it. Any political ideology has a historical life, growth and development and the ideology of the Western liberal democracy is not different. Thus, it is important to have the background knowledge about the Greek heritage of democracy and the contributions of Christian theology and Roman

The Importance of Developing and Using Cultural Stereotypes to Improve Essay - 1

The Importance of Developing and Using Cultural Stereotypes to Improve Cross-Cultural Communication - Essay Example Throughout history, humans have experienced both fascinations with and trepidation towards the other - understood as different nationalities, but also [as] any group of people perceived as different - perhaps in terms of so-called ethnicity, religion, political alignment, class or caste, or gender (Eunson, 2005). Thus, communication techniques should be based on certain cultural stereotypes, which should be taken into account in intercultural communication. The given paper will prove that learning and developing cultural stereotypes will help improve intercultural communication. It is determined that individual from a certain state may apply his own communication techniques during business negotiations or simply communicating with people from the foreign country he visited on vacation (Carbaugh, 1990). His behavior may not be typical for the country he arrived in. This atypicalness may cause difficulties or even frustration. In negotiations, for example, there can be dramatic differences in the way people define their opening positions, use tactics, persuade and listen. Even the practice of haggling over a price is an integral part of some cultures - which many revel in and Thus, the study of cultural stereotypes is necessary for effective cross-cultural communication. If one makes attempts to generalize about the behavior of people from the certain culture, he may need to identify, which age or society group of that particular culture he analyses. The region of the country a person came from should be also taken into account (York, 1994). Though it is necessary to learn and develop cultural stereotypes, this process contains a lot of difficulties that should be overcome. Scientists create special models to help overcome these difficulties (Mearns, 2009). When the primary variant of Hofstede's model of culture was introduced in the 1980s, it drew the attention of many scientists at once. The approach of the model is unique, and it is significant not only because of considering definite cultures but for making comparisons (Fishburn, 1995).

Manufacturing Budget Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Manufacturing Budget Analysis - Assignment Example According to Emory, the augmenting amount of orders increased the time needed for adjustment and setting up of machines as well. The escalating stress in terms of orders and machine adjustments eventually began to irritate the machinists who planned not to abide by the budget. Therefore, the company must pay more focus on the mentioned procedure and its related steps because it influenced company’s budget as well as product quality (Scribd Inc, 2012). It was also learnt from the case study that the various departments of the company lacked coordination which adversely affected the confidence of the employees’ as well as the functioning of the machines. Although, BCS attempts at keeping a control of the individual departments which is considered to prove advantageous for the companies but the kind of BCS pursued in Ferguson & Son Manufacturing Company further degenerated their functioning process (Scribd Inc, 2012). Revising Ferguson & Son Manufacturing Company’s BCS to improve its effectiveness According to company’s situation, it can be said that viable targets were considered to be the chief concern for structuring an effective budget system. With reference to the mentioned context, it can be stated that in case the budget proved to be excessively high, the general process tends to automatically get affected. The company therefore must be pragmatic while ascertaining manufacturing related goals. Company also must analyze the condition of their employees, the working state in relation to the machines, sales synchronization within the members of other department as well as orders for deciding on the necessary targets (Scribd Inc, 2012). In addition, the aspect of responsibility accounting is deemed to be necessary for ensuring the execution of an appropriate BCS. The key notion with regard to the mentioned aspect of responsibility accounting relates to the fact that managers should be made accountable for only those factors which is believed to be under significant control of the managers. Emory and Morris are the two managers of the company who holds unclear vision about their duties and disconnection within their duties result in making the entire job to be increasingly unproductive along with generating soaring amount of wastes. Thus, ensuring a proper practice of responsibility accounting with regard to the entire procedure can assist in direct and alert the managers regarding their respective responsibilities along with ensuring proper discharge of their duties (Scribd Inc, 2012). The company also needed to apply the system of self-imposed budget in order to prevent the issue of ascertaining one-sided aims by the top as well as department managers. The concept of self-imposed budget ensures the preparation of budgets with complete collaboration and assistance of all the managers. The benefit of this budget system can aid the company to resolve few of its issues by triggering motivation and developing commi tment within the employees (Scribd Inc, 2012). Implementing Activity-Based Costing system to change the results of the budget Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is a costing technique that recognizes organizational activities and allocates the cost for each activity in compliance with the available resources of all services and products according to each of their actual expenditure. ABC is an advanced approach that enhances the control of overheads along with maintaining the

Equity and Debt slp Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Equity and Debt slp - Assignment Example How this is important can be understood from the following example. While considering a small project needing investment of $10 million, the company ABC has several alternatives beforehand. It has been forecast that the project is likely to generate operating profit of $3 million in a year excluding interest charge against debt portion of the capital. The company has two alternatives to fund the required investment. The company may choose 100% equity means all money will be provided by the shareholders. The company may issue 10 million shares to its shareholders each having a par value of $1. In another alternative, the company may choose 50% equity and 50% debt to fund the investment. Debt is available to the company at 10% interest rates to be paid annually. It will be interesting to see how the earnings per share of the company are affected in both situations. It is amply clear from the above chart that by incorporating debt to funding the project the firm has been able to enhance its earnings per share resulting into higher valuation in market place. By applying the same P/E multiple, the company’s equity valuation is higher by 66% when the project is funded with the debt equity ratio of 1:1 instead of 100% equity. But this does not mean that debt can be raised to any level to enhance the company valuation. The higher the debt means the higher interest burden on the company. This also means that if the project is not able to pay its interest costs as usually happens in severe recession then the project will be in jeopardy due to higher interest burden. This also means that project must choose an appropriate mix of debt and equity depending upon its profitability and industry norms. Considering an investment project of $150m that is capable of generating 5m and 10m of operating profits before interest payments in its first two years of operations is likely to suffer from liquidity issues when it adopts its funding

Toyota International Corporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Toyota International Corporation - Research Paper Example The reason behind their success is the deployment of strategic planning throughout the years since 1937. They focus on a more efficient human resource by understanding the individuals who possess several unique capabilities. Toyota is head quartered in Japan and operates 75 manufacturing companies in 28 countries around the world (Toyota in the world, 2010). Toyota has set up its market in more than 170 countries with a 320,000-strong workforce. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda by renovating his father automobile manufacturing company Toyota Industries. The company operates its business at its full swing starting from Japan and throughout North America, The Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The annual report of the company shows that even though there is a slight decrease in the production, the company will manage to survive the declining economy with the expected sales turnover. 2. Types of market and legal systems Toyota formulates marketing str ategies based on the social, environmental, and economical conditions of each region where the company operates its business. The legal system of the particular country or region is also taken into consideration before implementing marketing policies in the specific country. In 2004, as Gale (n.d.) points out, Toyota in Europe was in a quandary as new environmental friendly vehicles were in high demand when the administration implemented environmental regulations; it was necessary to train the staff with the new technologies of the advanced vehicles. The company integrated the three important elements – marketing, sales, and manufacturing to overcome the problem in Europe. The marketing strategies in China and US were seen successful in 2005 when profits rose up against the worldwide automobile industry trends. When entering into the market of another country, almost all companies are faced with the financial risk of exchange rate variances due to interference of the legal an d political systems. The legal proceeding of the foreign markets must be clearly analyzed before investing in that market. Toyota is noted well for its management in the international markets. The company procured a considerable market in the United States by initially bringing inexpensive vehicles. Later on, it widened the markets and expanded its share in the U.S. automobile market. To overcome the market issue of dollar exchange rates, Toyota introduced manufacturing facilities in the United States. 3. Political Risk One of the major political risks that the Toyota motors faced was the backlash against American corporations. It imposes increased parameters on different production levels and on nationalization of its products. This change can influence the operations of the company. The political changes can positively and negatively affect the firm. By the end of 2006, Toyota manufactured 1.5 million cars in North America, but had to import an additional 1.2 million cars (Toyota) . While being costly, the high reliance on imports poses political risks in the United States. Managing political risk in the international market is not an easy task. While the political changes contribute direct risks to the firm, the politics also constitutes other external risks. In order to overcome these kinds of possible political risks, Toyota can set up strong relations with various trade organizations. At the same time, the political consultant must make sure that the firm builds up a strong relationship with the governments also. In

Southwest Airline Essay Example for Free

Southwest Airline Essay Southwest Airlines was introduced in Texas on June 18, 1971 with three Boeing 737 airplanes and only serving three cities of Texas which included Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The company came a long way since 1971; today Southwest Airlines has 537 Boeing 737 airplanes and serving 68 cities around the US. Southwest Airlines has become a major airline in 1989 when it hit the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest Airlines is the United States’ most successful airline due to the low fares, high frequency, and point-to-point carrier. According to the Southwest Airlines Fact Sheet 2010 â€Å"Southwest operates more than 3,200 flights a day coast-to-coast, making it the largest U. S. carrier based on domestic passengers’ carrier as of September 30, 2009†. As June 2011, Southwest Airlines has become the top airline to carries the most domestic passengers in the US. Southwest Airlines in 2013 has expanded their destination to 86 cities in 42 states and Puerto Rico. The current CEO of Southwest Airlines is Gary Kelly and his vision for the company is â€Å"to connect people to what important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low cost air travel†. According to the swamedia.com â€Å"Gary is a 27-years Southwest veteran who began his career at Southwest Airlines as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman in July 2004. Gary assumed the roles of Chairman and President in 2008. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a CPA for Arthur Young Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc.† Gary has received many awards during his 27 years with the company and twice being named CEO of the year by D CEO Magazine’s. Also, he was named of the best CEO in America by Institutional Investor three times. According to the Sawmedia.com â€Å"Gary was selected as Dallas Business  Journals CEO of the year for 2011. In 2010, Gary was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, Gary will be inducted into the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame at the University of Texas at Austin; Gary is the recipient of the 2013 Father of the Year Award; and Gary is the recipient of the 2013 McLane Leadership in Business Award at Texas AM University.† According to Gary Kelly and SouthwesAirlines.com their mission statement â€Å"is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual price and Company Spirit†. They have been operating their business exactly as their mission statement. They have been so successful due largely to the usual focus on their employees. LUV and FUN is the program which Southwest has created for their employees and their focus on customer service which they have to show respect for one and another, represent the company and create a comfortable, relax and fun working environment. Southwest Airlines’ Strengths Southwest airlines has many strengths’, but one that brings in profit to the company in a major way is their customer service. Southwest airlines has the highest quality of customer service that is delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit. That statement is not only their motto, but also their way of making a profit. Southwest brand their name on good customer service. They have been admired to be the third top ranked airline in the U.S and the tenth in the airline industry. Buyology and an online research marking company evaluated 4,000 men and women, with four key parameter of a company; the awe, the superiority harmony and exploration of a company to rank the top ranked company. According to www.southwestonereport.com, â€Å"220 brands and companies were studying during this evaluation the company were matched by numerically with strength and weakness. With relation with Southwest airline consciously and unconsciously Southwest airline earned the top spot for 2012.† Not only do bag fly free Southwest airline was the first airline to offer senior discounts, ticketless traveling, and services for air freight delivery to the common traveler. Southwest airline offers credit based on the number of trips with the airline instead of the total miles traveled also understanding the not how far you fly it’s how many times you fly with  Southwest airline. As Southwest’s major strength is the customer service making a profit is another strength that has sustained them. In 2012, Southwest airline marked the most profitable airline in U.S airline industry unmatched for over 30 years. These profits is the results of the exemplary customer service that Southwest airline has making over 421 million dollars in 2012 alone. Another major strength is Southwest airlines website. During the second quarter of 2013, 80 percent of Southwest airline passenger revenues were booked via southwest.com. In addition to flights, customers are able to make car, hotel, cruise, and complete vacation package reservations on southwest.com. Southwest airline has the Southwest Shortcut feature on southwest.com, which is the first online tool that helps customers find the lowest fare based on availability across the entire month. Southwest airline has many strengths, but as southwest airline put it in a nut shell its all about. According to www.southwestonereport.com, â€Å"Southwest continues to differentiate itself from other carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by nearly 46,000 Employees to more than 100 million Customers each year among 96 destinations in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and five near-international countries all at low far.† Southwest Airlines’ Weaknesses Southwest Airlines has become one of the top airlines in America, it is the number one airline that carries domestic passengers around the state. Southwest Airlines have followed their CEO leadership, they do what they are supposed to do and they are carried on their mission statement to the fullest. With that in mind Southwest Airlines could be the only perfect airline and have many advantages compare to others: as for examples low fares, beautiful flight attendants and happy employees who respect one and another. Southwest Airlines has successfully built a great, comfortable and relax workplace for their employees. Also, they have great customer service which is always their first priority. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a perfect company or a perfect person because the world that we live in right now is not perfect, so Southwest Airlines has many strengths but they are also have many weaknesses as well. The first weakness of Southwest  Airlines is within their company. Debt and operating expenses are among the tops of the company priority, according to quality-assurance.com â€Å"The company is estimated to possess $361 million of debt on their balance sheet, and until they pay down these debts it will drag significantly on their business†. Debt will drag on the business of Southwest. Also the Mounting Operating Expense can count as one the weaknesses of the company as well. The company has to pay out more for fuel because it has grown 182.30% for the average of gallon from 2005 to 2011. Unfortunately, the company also has to deal with it employees’ union because of the union has demand more services and benefits for their members, and by the end of the day Southwest doesn’t have much left money to cover their debts and expenses. The second weakness of Southwest Airline is the services provided to customers. According to businesstune-ups.com â€Å"Southwest Airlines doesn’t provide international flights, they don’t have seating options, their cargo space is very limited, they only have one type of airplane, Very short trips earn the same amount of perks as a long, extensive flight. Scrutiny of potential employees based on personality before skill could be dangerous.† Not having international flights and only have one aircraft for their services are the disadvantages to Southwest’s competitors. These days more and more passengers going out of country for their business trips which will increase profits and customers for the company. Only have one type of aircraft which is a great way to save money when the maintenance services come. Also, it is a big disadvantage for Southwest Airlines because the aircraft has a limited space for passengers’ luggage. Southwest Airlines also doesn’t have a seating chart and no business option for their passengers. It is a great way to save money for the company and as well for the passengers to get a lowest air fares as possible, but many business passengers want their own space to work on their presentations or their companies’ projects. So, without the business class option the airline will be losing out to its competitors. Another weakness of Southwest Airlines is the company only provides limited destinations for its passengers and mostly is from the South. The limited areas will limit the number of passengers who will choose Southwest as their designated airlines. It is hard and difficult to compete with other larger airlines that serve both domestics and internationally with also help them to build bigger market for their companies. Southwest Airlines’ Opportunities Now that the merger of Southwest Airline with AirTran is now complete, growth is on the rise for Southwest, its customers and employees. In the acquisition, Southwest now can handle more international destinations with its new fleet of larger aircrafts. This gives more diversity for the customer and gives Southwest the ability to keep its fares low. Southwest also gained 8,000 additional employees from AirTran and if done correctly, this merger can only improve its customer service rating. Southwest Airlines is one of the top airlines in service today; known for their strategy, dedicated work force, low fares and customer service. The competitors’ component or analysis is defined as the process of identifying the performance and marketing strategy of competitive brands or products in the marketplace. So what is it about Southwest Airlines that has put them in such an elite category compared to the competition? Southwest’s main strategy is to keep things simple. â€Å"It has never served meals, does not have advanced seat reservations, and flies only Boeing airplanes. These decisions have helped Southwest be flexible in the face of the recent decreases in airplane passengers caused by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the world economic crisis.† (http://teamsparksouthwest.blogspot.com) By reducing some of the amenities that other airlines offer, it allows them to reduce the amount of employee cut backs, maintain low fares while retaining employees that are loyal to the brand, ensuring a good customer experience. This strategy has allowed Southwest to have 39 years of profitable growth (Thompson). Southwest has been on the cutting edge of managing employee loyalty. In a recent interview with, Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest, he expressed that the key to a productive workforce is â€Å"Paying personal attention to each of your people instead of a formula, also to empower employees and back them up (Kelleher)† (Thompson). Over time, implementing these general tactics has reinforced a working culture at Southwest that separates them from their competition. A happy employee means great customer service, customer retention and consistently growing profit margins. Southwest airlines is known for its low fares but due to increasing fuel costs, limited destinations and people finding alternate ways of travel; ultimately Southwest’s competitive advantage of being the leader of low fares will diminish. Having fewer planes equals lower fuel costs which  is an area that Southwest is struggling with to maintain those low airfare prices. â€Å"Fuel crisis and fuel price become threats to Southwest Airlines Company. Fuel costs in 1978 averaged 37 cents per gallon while in 1979 it became 80 cents. In 1980 fuel costs exceeded $1.00 per gallon. This price hike changes the expenditure pattern of the company. Operating costs become 40% of the total budget† (MBA Study Point case study). The only true competition for Southwest is regionally. Delta out marks them in most areas but due to Delta’s concentration in the Southeast they only compete on a regional level. Delta does however fly to most of the areas where Southwest is the preferred airline. The same is not true for Southwest who has more limited destination availability. In order to compete, Southwest will need to add more destinations to their roster. Business travelers will still prefer Delta because of their perks for Business travelers which Southwest does not have. Not to have a business class excludes a whole subset of travelers that are more likely to fly on a regular basis which cuts down on profits. Southwest’s culture is centered around the customer. While in recent years they were positioning themselves as a low-cost airline with exceptional customer service; their fares have seen a slight increase but the standard for high quality customer service remains the same. They create an employee friendly environment that motivates employees to want to work hard and be the best they can possibly be for the company. Southwest’s website states â€Å"happy employees = happy customers† and this is the culture they operate with every day. Southwest airline believes that volunteering is crucial to the health of nonprofit organizations that work to meet needs in different communities. Southwest airline employees volunteer their time day in and day out for the important causes that are closest to their hearts. â€Å"In 2009, Southwest Airlines Employees volunteered more than 45,000 hours to charities across the country. In an effort to support these passionate Employee volunteers, Southwest Airlines launched the Tickets for Time program. For every 40 hours our Employees volunteer for a nonprofit organization, the benefitting nonprofit organization is eligible to receive one complimentary, round-trip ticket on Southwest Airlines for fundraising or transportation needs†(Southwest.com). Southwest Airline has an outreach program for every culture and lifestyle the employee volunteer more than 137,  000 hours. Southwest airline has an Adopt-A-Pilot program where students will  research careers and further develop life skills, while the importance of staying in school is reinforced. Southwest Airlines and AirTran pilots mentor fifth grade students and offer this program at no charge to the schools that participate in the Adopt-A-Pilot program. Southwest airline has several outreach programs that reach out to many cultures such as African- American, Asian, and Hispanic programs and LGBT. Southwest Airlines’ Treats Airline industry could be affected by many factors such as general economic environment, fuel price, airline terror acts, weather conditions and air traffic restrictions. General economic environment has an impact on the demand for travel, and therefore influences the number of flights run by Southwest. The fuel price controls the company’s costs; rising fuel price would increase the cost, and the company cannot always avoid influences of fuel price by fuel hedging. Terrorist attack incidents would both physically and psychologically affect customers and employees, which leads to a higher security cost. Weather conditions also, have an important impact on flights as well. Bad weather conditions may delay flights, increase turnaround time, and thus mark up costs. All these potential threats are faced by Southwest Airlines. Having been very successful in their operations, Southwest Airlines is surely a target of competitors’ focus. And by that, other airlines may begin co pying Southwests strategies. Though this may show that Southwest is definitely a leader in the airline industry, it is somehow disadvantageous for the company in the long run. If those airlines try to imitate Southwest’s cost efficiency strategies, they can also lower their ticket prices and compete with Southwest. Through such, competition will get tougher for Southwest and it will no longer be able to monopolize the low fare sector of the industry; and worse, there is a possibility that a big company in the future, possessing more advanced technologies and facilities, will operate using Southwest Airlines low-cost model to a wider market, which will encroach and outdo Southwest Airlines. Terrorism is one of the greatest threats for people to lose faith on the airline industry. Airline companies in the US can attest to that after experiencing the â€Å"911 Attack† in 2001 when they incurred major losses. Though Southwest was one of those airlines who did not incur a major loss, the possibility of an unforeseen terrorist aggression using airplanes is still a major threat in  the company’s operations. This is because any loss of confidence in the safety of air travel would lead to a shift to the use of other forms of transportation, leaving Southwest struggling to fill its seats. High unemployment and inflation are keeping more travelers at home; Supply and demand price elasticity of airline carriers may vary depending on the nature of the industry. The macroeconomic factors affecting the airline industry include unemployment, the economic growth in the United States, and inflation. With low economic growth, consumers are finding luxury items more difficult to purchase and airline tickets for vacations fall into that category. Unemployment contributes to a lack of vacation travelers since individuals who are not employed do not have extra money for vacation or airline tickets. Inflation also causes operating costs of the airlines to be higher which entails cuts into the profits of Southwest. Unemployment is affecting the airline industry because consumers are taking more â€Å"stay-cation† at home or vacationing to areas to which they can drive. As unemployment has risen, the airlines have laid off a much higher percentage of their people as well. Southwest Airlines’ Grand Strategies Recommendations Grand strategies, often called master or business strategies, provide basic direction for strategic actions. There are many grand strategies that Southwest Airlines can choose from when considering which match with their company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Southwest Airlines is excellent in planning their long-term goals. The above SWOT analysis proved that the company is successfully carrying out the cost leadership strategy to manipulate their competitors and boost up their company. Their mission in providing low fare cost is one of the best strategies that they have to increase their market share, and it also put a significant increase in the demand of air travel. Southwest Airlines’ rapid rewards program is brilliant, so they should continue and expand it even more. Southwest Airlines’ employees mainly belong to the Union and they are mainly full time workers. Since the Union has demanded more services and benefits for their members, the company gained limited profit. To fix this, the company should hire more part time workers instead of full time workers because if they implemented this they would not have to provide full  benefits and instead focus on gaining profit. Also, Southwest Airlines should make all flights within the states point-to-point flights, and give their employees a strict timeline to alleviate delays. This will keep an accurate time frame for customers. As far as the flight concerns, Southwest Airlines has only one dependable flight, which is very dangerous when it comes to safety, but the good thing about that is an inexpensive cost for maintaining the aircraft. The safety of the customers is very important, so Southwest should increase at least one more dependable aircraft just in case something unexpected happens to the other one. Customer service is superior for Southwest Airlines, but many of their weaknesses can give their competitor many advantages. Southwest does not offer international flights, and there are increases in demand for international flights, so they should consider flying internationally within the next 5 or 6 years, or Southwest should completely become integrated with AirTran Airline by 2014 because they could put an increase in their net income. The advantages that Southwest’s competitors such as American Airlines and US Airways have are their inflight meals, seating charts, and highly advanced technology they have available for their customers. In this case, Southwest Airlines should invest in one more jet that provides higher quality and luxurious experience for customers such as business travelers who are willing to pay extra for it. In that jet they would offer inflight meals, provide seating options when customers book their tickets, and most important of all, they have to adv ance their jet to have advanced technologies such as television. One of Southwest Airlines’ threats is a general economic environment problem like high unemployment and inflation that they cannot control. One thing that can be done is to create a program that provides customers time to pay off their ticket 5 months in advance before flying. So the customers would have enough time to pay in increments over a period of time so they do not have to worry about spending a lot of money at once. When it comes to expanding their name brand Southwest Airline should continue to increase their popularity by increasing the advertisements on both their and AirTran’s website. Since the websites are the main places where customers go to book their tickets, the company should put that into a good use by creating more advertisements, and therefore gaining more popularity. Lastly, Southwest should continue to foster its remarkable culture. The fun-loving attitude that the company has  for their customers and employees shows that Southwest has a great working environment; the dedication that the employees have for the company contributes to both the tangible and intangible benefits. â€Å"It is a true competitive advantage for Southwest Airlines.† (Terra Thompson) Conclusion As a result in performing this project, we have learned that SWOT Analysis is the key for all businesses success. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses within the company and understanding the opportunities and threats that the company has externally are extremely important in planning the strategic plans to help the business overall outlook. As far as Southwest Airlines, we have learned that the company is very successful when it comes to the superior customer services, but Southwest should definitely continue on increasing their brand by upgrading their services within their aircrafts to become more high tech. We know that Southwest is known for their low cost fair, which gave them a huge advantage of their competitors. And the fact that they are integrating with Air Trans was a brilliant idea, because they are expanding their brand through Air Trans in providing International flights, which are, in a very high demand right now. We think Southwest Airlines is in the borderline in gaining a sustainable competitive advantage if they are expanding their aircraft to fit what their customers needs and wants. References Analyzing southwest airlines [Web log message]. (, April). Retrieved from http://teamsparksouthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/southwests-competitive-advantage.html AP News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/kind-planes-southwest-airlines-fly-62394.html Broughtson, R. (n.d.). Southwest airline swot analysis. Retrieved from http://www.quality-assurance-solutions.com/southwest-airlines-swot-analysis.html Bruwick, L. (n.d.). Southwest airlines swot analysis powerful business assessment tool. Retrieved from http://www.businesstune-ups.com/Southwest-Airlines-SWOT-Analysis.html Case analysis: Southwest airlines. (2012, may 17). Retrieved from http://netmbastudy.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/case-analysis-southwest-airlines/ Gale Encyclopedia of Small Business. Competitor analysis. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/competitor-analysis Gary , K. (n.d.). Gary

Impact of Nitrogen on Carbon Stocks

Impact of Nitrogen on Carbon Stocks 2. Literature Review: This chapter will provide an overview of; the scientific basis behind why adding nitrogen will cause an increase in carbon stocks, the impacts of nitrogen deposition on tree carbon stocks documented in the current literature, the impacts of nitrogen deposition on soil carbon stocks documented in the current literature and information more specifically targeted at the UK and the South Downs. 2.1. The global nitrogen cycle The nitrogen cycle is strongly coupled with the carbon cycle, this dependence on one another and key feedbacks is illustrated in figure 2. 1. If the availability of one of these elements changes it will affect the biochemical cycle of the other element and eventually the functioning of the entire ecosystem (Gruber Galloway, 2008). Reactive nitrogen (Nr) is a requirement for the growth of plants and soil microorganisms, the processes of both play key roles in the global carbon cycle. The rise in anthropogenic CO2 has been observed to increase plant photosynthesis and therefore plant growth and carbon storage (Oren et al., 2001). This growth however can be limited by the levels of Nr available in soils (Vitousek and Howarth, 1991), hence in Nr poor ecosystems the potential carbon sink could be limited. In some regions it is conceivable that anthropogenic production of Nr could provide the nutrients necessary to reduce limitations on plant growth (Ciais et al., 1995). Prior to the industrial revolution reactive nitrogen, any form of nitrogen species other than N2, was only made available to the terrestrial ecosystem by natural processes, such as biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and lightening, since industrialisation a number of sources of Nr have become much more significant (Figure 2.2). BNF allows the terrestrial ecosystem to acquire essential nitrogen compounds a through a series of reactions that convert N2 into ammonia (Ciais et al., 2013). Initially there was an equilibrium between the input of Nr to the ecosystem and its loss through the process of denitrification, however since industrialisation this equilibrium no longer exists. Humans produce a quantity of Nr that is much greater than that produced naturally in ecosystems. This Nr is produced by humans in a number of wa ys: 1) it is produced industrially by the Haber-Bosch process, producing NH3 as a fertiliser for crops, this nitrogen is then spread through run off and emission into the atmosphere; 2) the growth of crops such as legumes that are associated with mycorrhizal fungi and higher levels of BNF (Hayman, 1986); and 3) the combustion of fossil fuels which converts N2 and fossil fuel nitrogen into nitrous oxides (NOx) which are emitted into the atmosphere and then deposited on terrestrial ecosystems and the ocean (Ciais et al., 2013). This undeniable evidence of the anthropogenic perturbation of the nitrogen cycle and the close relationship between the nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle highlights the need to understand how additions of nitrogen will interact with the carbon cycle, and in what way this will impact carbon sinks and therefore feedback to the climate. The increased supply of Nr can be expected to increase terrestrial CO2 uptake by increasing NPP (net primary productivity) (chapter 2.2.1) or reducing the rate of organic matter breakdown (chapter 2.2.2). It must be noted however that additions of Nr will not exclusively increase CO2 uptake by the terrestrial biosphere: negative direction (in situations where it accelerates organic matter breakdown)-> ) O3 formed in the troposphere as a result of NOx and volatile organic compound emissions reduces plant productivity, and therefore reduces CO2 uptake from the atmosphere. On the global scale the net influence of the direct and indirect contributions of Nr on the radiative balance was estimated to be –0.24 W m–2 (with an uncertainty range of +0.2 to –0.5 W m–2)(Erisman et al., 2011). The balance between the directions will determine the potential. 2.2.1 Forest Carbon Uptake- Trees Various studies have assessed the possible impact of increased nitrogen on tree carbon stock and a variety of methods have been employed. One approach involves assessing the relationship between the spatial trends of carbon uptake, found by study of forest growth or net ecosystem production (NEP), and nitrogen deposition. In their 2007 study Magnani et al. employed a variation of this technique. Carbon stocks and their fluxes were measured in 5 representative chronosequences in Europe. In addition data from the literature, from a further 13 chronosequences and two uneven aged stands were used. Estimates of wet deposition of nitrogen were calculated from various data sets. The relationship between wet nitrogen deposition and NEP was then analysed graphically and statistically. Studies of the influence of nitrogen deposition at stand level have also been carried out, one example of this is a study by Solberg et al. (2009). The impact of nitrogen deposition was evaluated by using deposi tion values from the growth period (1993-2000). These values were then correlated with the values for relative volume which was calculated as actual increment in % of expected increment. In their study Magnani et al. (2007) found a strong relationship between C sequestration and wet N-deposition (Figure 2.3d) with an R2 value of 0.97. Though they found this relationship was largely obscured by age effects when individual stands were considered. Solberg et at. (2009) found that nitrogen deposition had a fertilising effect of slightly higher than 1% increase in volume increment per kg N ha-1 yr-1. The results of these papers can be converted into nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUE) in order to make them comparable, where NUE is the response of carbon sequestration to nitrogen deposition in kg C/kg N (de Vries et al., 2009). Thus it was calculated that Magnani et al. (2007) found an NUEeco value of approximately 475 kg C/ kg N (de Vries et al., 2009). Sutton et al. (2008) found this value to be unlikely and tested the data against more appropriate N-depostion values for the period suggested and produced results calculated by de Vries et al. (2009) to be between 91 and 177 kg/C/N. The NUE value for trees in the study by Solberg et al. (2009) were calculated to be equivalent to 19-38 kg C/ kg N. Another important area of research in this field is the evaluation of C-N stoichiometry of ecosystem compartments because it strongly influences the potential for carbon fixation to respond to nitrogen deposition (de Vries et al., 2009). Nitrogen entering the ecosystem can be traced by applying isotopically labelled nitrogen (15N) to the forest floor and tracking its movement. Melin et al. (1983) applied this techniques in nitrogen-limited Scots pine stand in Sweden, to study the distribution and recovery of the labelled fertiliser. The application rate was 100kg of ammonium nitrate-N/ha. Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) carried out similar 15N tracer experiments in nine temperate forests for three years. Further to this de Vries et al. (2006) used the same methodology as Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) at over 6000 level I plots (From a large-scale forest condition monitoring scheme based on a 16 x 16 km gridnet across Europe). Site specific soil C/N ratios were utilised and the assumption of an increase of upto 0.1 of N retention fractions in stem wood that are influenced by N deposition. Melin et al. (1983) reported a value of between 12 and 28% of nitrogen applied recovered in trees. De Vries et al. (2009) used the C/N ratio of 500 for stem wood estimated by Nadelhoffer et al.(1999) to calculate a NUEtree of 30-70 kg C/kg N. A NUEtree of 25 kg C/kg N was calculated in the same way for the results presented by Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) which showed 5% of nitrogen applied to be recovered in woody biomass. The results of direct fertilisation experiment methodologies are important to consider for this research paper, low doses of N fertiliser are applied to selected sites for a long-term (8-30 years) study. Hyvonen et al. (2008) ran experiments in Sweden and Finland in Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris stands. 15 sites were selected for long-term experimentation that ranged from 14 to 30 years. Low (30-50 kg N ha-1 yr-1) or high (50-200 kg N ha-1) doses of N-fertiliser either alone or in combination with other nutrients were applied to plots no smaller than 30 x 30 m. Diameter at breast height (DBH), number of trees ha-1 and tree height (when available) at each plot on each occasion of measurement were utilised to calculate biomass. The amount of carbon at each site was estimated to be 0.5 of the biomass. Changes in the C-pool was calculated for each site and the effect of N-fertilisation was calculated as the difference between the fertilised plots and the control plots. Pregitzer et al . (2007) applied 30 kg N ha-1 yr-1 from 1994 to 2004 to four different hardwood forests in Michigan. Tree growth was measured yearly and compared with control sites. Hogberg et al. (2006) ran a 30 year experiment in unpolluted boreal forest. N fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) was applied to replicated (N=3) 0.09 ha plots. 3 doses were prescribed, 34, 68 and 108 kg N ha-1 yr-1. The highest level of application was cancelled after 20 years to allow recovery to be assessed in the subsequent decade. Hyvonen et al. (2008) presented their results as kg C/kg N and so no further calculations were necessary. They found that for the low dose application of N NUEtree was 25 kg C/kg N whereas for high dose it was 11 kg C/kg N. NPK addition produced values of 38 and 11 kg C/kg N for low and high doses respectively. Pregitzer at al. (2007) found an increase of 5000 kg C ha-1 in woody biomass, with a total application of N of 300 kg N ha-1 for the whole study period this equates to 17 kg C/kg N (de Vries et al, 2009). Hogberg et al. (2006) found an initial increase in tree growth at all doses of nitrogen treatment. However in the long-term the impact of fertilisation was found to be highly rate dependant. The high dose showed no gain, medium dose gave an increase of 50 m3 ha-1 and low dose a growth increase of 100 m3 ha-1 as compared to the control. In order to calculate NUEtree de Vries (2009) assumed a wood density of 500 kg m-3 and C content at 50% to calculate a net C gain of 25, 000 k g C the total N input was also calculated and net C gain was divided by this value to give 25 kg C/kg N for the lowest levels of N application. Model simulations have been used extensively in the literature. Levy et al. (2004) used three models (CENTURY, BCG and Hybrid) that employ a Monte Carlo approach, utilising conceptual algorithms that depend on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. The models were applied to a coniferous forest in Sweden for a 100 year period. Simulated nitrogen deposition levels were from data by Schulze (2000) the current ambient nitrogen deposition of 12 kg N ha-1 year-1 or 10 Ãâ€" current ambient nitrogen deposition, 120 kg N ha-1 year-1. Sutton et al. (2008) used the same inputs as Levy et al. (2004) but calculated a smaller value of total N-deposition (6-26 kg N ha-1 yr-1). Milne and Van Oijen (2005) used a complex forest growth model (EFM) directly parameterised to 22 specific sites selected across Europe, because growing conditions such as soil nitrogen levels were available for the sites. Model simulations were run for an 80 year period, control runs maintained N-deposition v alues at their 1920 levels whereas environmental change scenarios ran observed values of change averaging 10.5  ± 5.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1 for the whole period.

Employee performance recognition techniques on customer satisfaction

Employee performance recognition techniques on customer satisfaction Now a days service industry is dominating the business world. In developing countries it is observed that the largest growing area of business is service industry. Worldwide company cultures and in business the cross culture encounter ship encouraged service sector to grow in developing countries. In Restaurant industry a part of the offering is a service and it is very popular industry in Pakistan. Chains of restaurants are not only the primary source of food in most cities of Pakistan even many local chains of restaurant with a very unique taste at low cost are competing with the international chains of restaurant. In Pakistan Restaurant industry is highly competitive in terms of quality of service provided by restaurants as a quality of services has significant effects on the profitability and success of restaurants. The Fast Food Restaurant Market is a growing industry in Pakistan relying heavily on the changing lifestyle patterns, population growth of the target age group and the related increase in employment of women. With todays hectic lifestyles, time-saving products are increasingly in demand the most obvious being the fast food. The rate of growth in consumer expenditures on fast food has led most other segments of the food-away-from home market for much of the last one decade. Restaurant is consisting of a group of people that are linked with one another to satisfy a single objective to satisfy the customers. If these group of people those are called internal customers are satisfied than they try more and more to satisfy the actual external customers which ultimately increases the profit of the restaurant. And for this it is very necessary to satisfy internal customers and many restaurants are expanding much of their earnings in satisfying them by providing them different rewards that may be just a Thank-you Letter or formal award in annual function of organization. In restaurants the concept of internal customers is most suitable for front line staff because customers satisfaction is largely depends on them. In a restaurant customer and employee contact is the first representation of a service and on that basis customer perceived the service of customers. All businesses remain healthy if their employees are healthy and wellbeing and that contribute to a e xcellent performance and that makes successful (MacDonald, 2005). It is necessary for restaurant to recognize their employees positive contributions and achievements even though these are very small. Nothing can motivate employees more than the receiving award. Recognition of employees can be in many forms like, pay increments, appreciation letter, employee awards, physical and verbal support and promotions etc. it is suggested by many authors to recognize employees in front of other employees because this will motivate employees behavior and also motivate other employees to work hard to receive such an appreciation in front of all other employees. Every employee never wants only monetary compensation they also need recognition and for this the recognition of employees is more common in corporate world, Nelson (2005) in his book 1001 ways to reward employees gave so many evidences and ways to recognize employees. It is the common understanding that if employee is motivated that will work more and satisfy more customers and if customers are satisfied that will ultimately increases the profit of organization and thats main objective of any business. It has been observed that person visit a restaurant at first time on anothers recommendations and he/she is satisfied from the services than it is likely to revisit the restaurant in future and do the recommendations to others in future. In attracting and retaining the customers restaurant industry is one of the highly competitive industry and for this restaurant managers and operators have a clear picture about the customers needs, wants and perception of customers that will finally decide about the success and failure of restaurant. To understand customers needs and wants and factors that influence them will provide a clear idea to the restaurant managers and operators to make, design, develop and deliver the right offerings to the customers that will make customers more satisfied (Syed, Conway, 2006). It is observed that if loyal customers increase by 5 to 10% that will increases the profit up to 100%, and this is the reason for which many restaurants make themselves customer ori ented and make their objective customer first and for this reason they are getting success and increasing their profits. Problem Statement: To study the relationship between employee performance recognition techniques and customer satisfaction in restaurant industry. Hypothesis: Relationship: The measure of what kind of relation does employee performance recognition techniques have with customer satisfaction in restaurant industry. H1: There is positive relationship between employee performance recognition techniques and customer satisfaction. Outline of the Study: Restaurant industry is very fast growing industry in Pakistan which is partially service oriented and in service industry it is observed that if employee is recognized against its performance than customers are more satisfied from that employees service. The aim of this study was to how employees are recognized in service industry and how these employee performance recognition techniques are related or associated with customer satisfaction in restaurant industry of Pakistan. Definitions: Employee performance recognition: Employee performance recognition is essentially a positive feedback to let employee know that their performance and efforts are valued and appreciated by coworkers and the organization. Employee performance recognition techniques: These are just tools or rewards by which employee performance is recognized. Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is a measure of customer expectation either it meets or surpass about the product or service supplied by the company. CHAPTER 2: LITERTURE REVIEW Restaurant Industry: This has been observed since decades that the business world has been dominated by services. Now a days service industry is largest, rapidly growing and more profitable industry in the developing countries due to the reason of cross culture encounter ships of business and worldwide company cultures. The only industry which even survives in recession was the restaurant industry. The result for restaurant industry to boom is, people dont have to cook and they eat out. Now days, people have meal outside not only on planned occasions even more as an afterthought (Mogelonsky, 1998). Changing life style of people of Pakistan has resulted in the expansion of hotel and restaurant industry and due to the reason this industry is very popular among people of Pakistan. Chains of hotels, restaurants and fast food are not the only or even the primary source of food in Pakistan. The hotel/ restaurant industry of Pakistan has become highly competitive due to the quality of services provided by them and the quality of service in this industry has direct relationship with the profitability and success, this is the reason for which many local fast food chains and restaurants are competing international fast food chains and restaurant in Pakistan that provide good quality of services and unique regional tastes and habits at low cost (Siddiqi, 2007, p. 15). The restaurant industry is growing in Pakistan rapidly which rely heavily on population growth, increase in employment of women and changing life style patterns. In todays changing lifestyle the demand of time saving product s is increased and the top of list among them is fast food. Many organizations nowadays focusing on improving quality of a service because they recognize that service is the only crucial element in their environment by which customers can be gained and retained and service also serve as competitive advantage. Service is not only important for purely service based organization; the production based industry having a mix of production and service is much focusing on buyer and seller interaction which also termed as Service Encounters and service encounters decide customers to sustain or not (Gro ¨nroos, 1994). For a mix between service and production restaurant is matching example, where customers get meal which is primarily production outcome during this he/she communicates with waiter which is operational or process related or service element of restaurant. Restaurant owners and managers should have a clear understanding of needs, perceptions and wants of customers if they want to attract and retain customers, because customers are the one who choose their existence and this makes restaurant industry more competitive (Gregoire, Shanklin, Greathouse Tripp,1995). Extreme competition observed in restaurants with regard to differentiated services (Koo, Tao and Yeung, 1999; Sundaram, Jurowski and Webster, 1997). In comparison to past years, an increase in the spending of people on fast food, other sectors of food are taken away from home market. Restaurants to bring in the full potential of employees value, they should change the current philosophy; this can be done through understanding the relationship of competitive advantage and high performance work practice (Murphy Olsen, 2008). Employee Performance Recognition Techniques: There is no business in the world which is not striving or a good and healthy state. Only contribution of successful performance of employees can make organization successful (Economic and Social Research Council, 2006; MacDonald, 2005). It has been noticed that firms to sustain competitive in the market they have a constant focus on improvement of service quality (Stevens, Khutson and Patoon, 1995; Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml, 1991). Human resource processes are directly associated with employee attitude and that will in return produce job satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Rainey, 1991), and job satisfaction produces motivation which affects employee work efforts and productivity that ultimately affects customer satisfaction (Lawler, 1994). All employees have given responsibilities and they also have moral responsibilities and they are supposed to act in a directed way (Fisscher, Nijhof and H. Steensma, 2002). This somehow subjective morality which is more concerned about common-sense, but actual responsibility may be beyond role morality. Pointing out demands and responsibilities of ones role to be filled is role morality (Werhane and Freeman, 1999). Every organization is focusing on measuring and evaluating performance of employees by using different tools like balanced score cards to motivate employees according to their performances (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). This has been observed that performance measurement procedures not always give clear results in measuring elements like motivation, decision making or goal directed behavior; both positive and negative results appeared. Result of one performance measurement tool is positive in measuring one particular situation while it gives negative result in measuring other particular situation. In restaurant industry this is easy and more reliable way to get the feedback from customers or involving customers in evaluating the performance of employees (Hopkins, 2005). Employee should not only be assessed by responses to work role rather it should be assessed in social contexts that how it shape attitudes and wants (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978), and emotions expressed in organization (Raf aeli and Sutton 1989). This way of measuring employee attitudes has opened many different areas to be studied at organizational level such as depression, liking, positive and negative effect, happiness and optimism (Staw, Sutton Pelled, 1994). To get desired results from employees it is necessary to recognize employees for their work. Employee recognition is the best way to get satisfaction among employees, this sometimes known as thank you category. For employees nothing more important than just a simple thank you for job that performed well by employee. It is necessary to recognize employees on their good work, positive contributions and achievements even though that should be too small. Recognition doesnt mean just to say thank you, that could be in many forms such as promotions, company awards, pay raises, physical support, verbal guidance etc. what recognition is given to employee is not necessary but employee is recognized is the real recognition. It is to be suggested by man y researchers that recognition should be given publicly because nothing can more motivate employee than to achieve an award or honoring achievement in front of the whole company formally. This may also give motivation to other employees that they should also be honored for quality of work and achieving high results. It is also observed that none of the factor can be more motivating than to receive an award (Hopkins, 2005). Sometimes rewards are treated as psychological management which believes that when employee comes to know that their customers are satisfied then these employees will work hard more effectively because they themselves will be satisfied. Sometimes the rewards are also act as implicit. It is belief of management that a long run satisfied customer is more profitable for organization. Management motivates employees by communicating this belief that if the firm is more profitable than employee will remain employees and even ear more wages. In some organization employee wages/salaries are directly stick with the customer satisfaction or quality measures (Hauser, Simester, Wernerfelt, 1994). Clive Mettrick, an executive of the company once said: to reward and to recognize positive results of employees is important factor in employee retention. To retain qualified employees to engage them in customer satisfaction, resource management and performance improvement organization should maintain reward and recognition programs (Freed, 1999). Akerlof and Kranton (2005) quoted: If an organization is going to function well, it should not rely solely on monetary compensation schemes. In his book 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, Nelson (2005) gives plenty of proofs and multiple awards used in companies. Employee considering award as incentive assume recognition as important source of motivation (for example, by receiving award). Employee put all his efforts not to demolish award with the money that went with it. Awards are valuable for the employees because they convey appreciation and recognition on behalf of colleagues and the public. Award may give a feeling of commitment because it creates an emotional bond by connecting the winner with the institution (Bruno Susanne, 2009). Reward and recognition is the way of telling employees that organization value employees efforts (Evans and Lindsay, 2003). It is seen that many of the companies through billions of dollars for employees reward and recognition processes but the results showed that such processes are not of value for them even these create de-motivation among employees (Spitzer, 196). Coveys (1994) term begin with the end in mind is may be used in designing Reward and Recognition system for employees, before developing the system it is necessary to consider the key objectives that organization has to achieve. McAdams (2000) suggested attaching rewards with business goals and objectives which, he recommended, are: revenue financial return, growth, customers satisfaction and reducing operating expenses. Any organization may make as many rewards as possible but sometimes they become of no use because they create a feeling of being controlled, the best solution of this is to involve employees in developing reward and recognition system of organization (George and Weimerskirch, 1994). Employers and Managers should not recognize employees as they want but recognize employees as they want to be recognized (Branham, 2001). For employees performance measurement customer feedback plays a vital role, if servers provide good/bad service to customer so customer will provide good/bad feedback about employees. So, more emphasis should be on quality of employees service, customers will get more satisfaction (Johnson, 1996; Schneider and Bowen, 1985). This concept should be well understood that if organization is providing employees with quality service then it is likely to be notices that customers will receive higher quality service (Lukas and Maignan, 1996). Some service executives claimed that frontline service employees are actually communicating with customers so; they create the level of perceived service quality of that organization. The first representation of service firm is interaction between employee and customer and customer usually perceived organization on the basis of interaction between employee and customer (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985). Therefore, it is vital that frontline custome r contact employees must be focused on customers needs and wants (Kelley 1992). Customer Satisfaction: Since many years, service quality and customer satisfaction have become a major area of attention to researchers because it was found that both have impact on organization performance and customer behavior. Service quality gives higher profitability (Gundersen, Heide and Olsson, 1996), and also it gives customer satisfaction (Oliver, 1997), and customer satisfaction spread positive word of mouth (Sà ¶derlund, 1998). A satisfaction based on outcome or process is also termed as customers satisfaction. Customer satisfaction can simply be defined as judgment of a post consumption of a particular product or service (Gundersen, et al., 1996). Some studies also showed that customer satisfaction has direct or indirect impact on organization results. Many authors also concluded that organization profitability is directly affected by customer satisfaction (Anderson, Fornell Lehmann, 1994; Yeung, Ging Ennew, 2002; and Luo and Homburg, 2007). All these authors also found that customers satisfaction produces customer loyalty that increases repurchase intentions which spread positive word of mouth. Knutson (1988) discussed the factors that are important for customer satisfaction like convenience of location, safety and security, prompt service, and friendliness of employees. Barsky and Labagh (1992) is of the view that location and employee attitude are the factors which can easily influence customers satisfaction. Service quality is considered very complex in nature its meaning is different from customer to customer but the most common definition could be that comparison between customer expectations and customer perceptions of the service received by customers (Parasuraman, Zeithaml Berry, 1988; Grà ¶nroos, 1982). Some authors are of the view that customer satisfaction represents a sign of service quality (Carman, 1990; Bolton and Drew, 1991). Other authors argue that service quality is a sign of customer satisfaction (Churchill and Suprenant, 1982; Anderson et al., 1994; Oliver, 1997; Oh, 1999; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003; Jamali, 2007). These authors agreed that service quality is cognitive evaluation which may give satisfaction to the customers. So it may be concluded that service quality produces results of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction should be measured on criteria of the quality service that is provided to the customers by the services that are attachà © with the product/ service (Vavra, 1997). Word of mouth recommendations and repeat purchase behavior are the major reasons for which customers satisfaction is thought of having a great importance in all type of organization (Berkman and Gilson, 1986). Factors affecting service quality and customer satisfaction guide owners and restaurant managers to develop and deliver the right offerings. Only a part of an offering of a restaurant is service that is intangible and heterogeneous and success of all other parts is dependent on the quality of service that is provided to the customers (Syed, Conway, 2006). It has been observed that a satisfied customer from service provided by restaurant is likely to visit again in the restaurant even recommend to other friends and relatives (Kivela, Reece and Inbakaran, 1999; Pettijohn, Pettijohn and Luke, 1997). Restaurants net profits can be doubled if a restaurant loyal customers increases from 76 to 81% (Mattila, 2001). Social contacts play an important role in selection of a restaurant; almost 44% of customers visit a restaurant first time on recommendation of friends where as only 10% visit restaurant first time with former customer (Smith, 1996; Stevens, Khutson, and Patoon, 1995). Most of the restaurants make themselves customer oriented where they have the belief that customer and customers interest comes first without ignoring other stake holders like owners, managers and employees, to make organization long run profitable (Hartline , Michael D., Maxham III, James G., McKee, Daryl O. 2000). Because of intangible, hetero and inseparable nature of service, in service firms customer orientation plays a vital role (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985). Firms applying customer orientation earn more profitability and perform better service quality than those firms who apply other orientation in their processes (Kelley, 1992). Satisfaction is generally viewed as a broader concept . . . service quality is a component of satisfaction (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003, p. 85). Satisfaction cant be driven from one source it always be driven from many sources, Bitner and Hubbert (1994) explain satisfaction in two ways: service encounter satisfaction, this satisfaction or dissatisfaction arrives from specific service encounters and overall satisfaction, this satisfaction based many/ multiple service encounters and experiences, experienced by customer. It shows that service encounter satisfaction at each service encounter develop overall service satisfaction. Olivers (1997) defined customer satisfaction as fulfillment of response. Satisfaction in a very low time grows moldy with overall customers attitude (Oliver, 1997). From the above perspective of customer satisfaction this can be stated that, Service quality can be viewed as whole family picture album, where as customer satisfaction is just one snapshot. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Method of Data Collection A questionnaire survey consisting of 2 questionnaires, 1 for managers of restaurants (consist of 3 pages) and other for customers (consist of 2 pages) of each restaurant were used to collect the data (Primary) from respondents from restaurants across Pakistan. The survey was done in the following manner. Personal meeting by taking an appointment with the managers of the restaurants Personal meetings with customers those were available in restaurant at that time. 3.2 Sampling Technique Convenience sampling was done to carry out the research. 3.3 Sample Size There are two types of data used by researchers to do research, primary and secondary. In primary research questionnaires are used to collect the data that can be qualitative or quantitative. Since every organization is using different techniques to recognize their employees so there was need to use questionnaires to collect the primary data. It is very difficult to reach every restaurant and collect the data because many of restaurants were not willing to share accurate information. Total sample size was 420 which include 20 restaurant managers and 400 customers, 20 customers from each of 20 restaurants. 3. 4 Instrument of data collection Two different questionnaires were developed to collect the data, among which first questionnaire was based on employee performance recognition techniques used in restaurant and the other questionnaire was based on the service characteristics and the service provided by employees and received by customers. Demographics were also asked in both instruments (questionnaires). SPSS was used as tool to analyze the data. 3.4.1 Validity and reliability test The questionnaire was conducted to determine the errors in the design and instruments. Pre-test refers to testing of the questionnaire on a small sample of participants to identify and get rid of potential problems. This has been done to evaluate the questionnaire for clarity, bias, and issues vague, and its importance to the research. Reliability analysis, measurement scales and the things that makes studying the properties to make them. Reliability analysis procedure is used in many cases the number of procedures to calculate the level of reliability and the relationship between the items listed in the individual level provides information about. Table 3.1 Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha Cronbachs Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items .761 .762 14 3.5 Research Model Developed Restaurant industry is a mixture of service industry and production industry, if any one of them is not up to the standards or customers perception it directly affect restaurant business, so for restaurants it is necessary to make and serve the products as per standards. Service part of restaurant industry is very critical and to cope up with this restaurants recognize their employees by providing them different rewards to motivate them and they motivated these employees work more and in an efficient way and this will directly affect customer satisfaction. This study focused on how restaurants in Pakistan recognize their front employees and how recognizing employees affect customer satisfaction. Every restaurant has different recognizing techniques to recognize employees and do these recognizing techniques have any relationship with the customer satisfaction. The following model has been developed with the help of supervisor. Employee Performance Recognition Techniques: Employee of the Week/Month/Year Cash Certificate of Appreciation Write-up in the newsletter Praise in the meetings Nominating for out of station Training Paid vacation (Time-off) Job redesign Company shares Promotions More power in the job Figure 3.2 Employee Performance Recognition Customer Satisfaction 3.6 Statistical technique: General Linear Model and ANOVA statistical techniques have been used for the study keeping in view the nature of the hypothesis and the data collected. CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 4.1 Findings and Interpretation of the results: H1: There is positive relationship between employee performance recognition techniques and customer satisfaction. Parameter Estimates Dependent Variable:Total Customer Satisfaction Parameter B Std. Error t Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Partial Eta Squared Lower Bound Upper Bound Intercept .702 .858 .819 .413 -.985 2.389 .002 [cs_maritalstatus=1] .834 .171 4.866 .000 .497 1.170 .058 [cs_maritalstatus=2] .883 .172 5.119 .000 .544 1.222 .064 [cs_maritalstatus=3] 0a . . . . . . [res_emp_month=0] 1.656 .475 3.484 .001 .721 2.590 .031 [res_emp_month=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_cash=0] -.166 .084 -1.981 .048 -.331 -.001 .010 [res_cash=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_certificate=0] -.395 .077 -5.118 .000 -.547 -.244 .064 [res_certificate=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_meetings=0] .669 .233 2.876 .004 .212 1.127 .021 [res_meetings=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_training=0] .961 .273 3.522 .000 .425 1.498 .031 [res_training=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_job_redesign=0] .389 .124 3.142 .002 .146 .632 .025 [res_job_redesign=1] 0a . . . . . . [res_power=0] -.221 .090 -2.454 .015 -.398 -.044 .015 [res_power=1] 0a . . . . . . [HRM_Policy=1] 3.277 1.043 3.143 .002 1.227 5.328 .025 [HRM_Policy=2] .481 .347 1.385 .167 -.202 1.163 .005 [HRM_Policy=3] -.916 .323 -2.838 .005 -1.551 -.282 .021 [HRM_Policy=4] 0a . . . . . . [Fin_Policy=2] -.949 .239 -3.962 .000 -1.420 -.478 .039 [Fin_Policy=3] 0a . . . . . . [Fin_Policy=4] 0a . . . . . . [Mkt_strategies=1] -.891 .385 -2.315 .021 -1.647 -.134 .014 [Mkt_strategies=2] -1.160 .453 -2.562 .011 -2.050 -.270 .017 [Mkt_strategies=3] 0a . . . . . . years_operations .321 .125 2.574 .010 .076 .567 .017 a. This parameter is set to zero because it is redundant. Interpretation: Customers having marital status single and married have sig value 0.000 it means marital status is significant, while there Beta values are 0.834 and 0.883 respectively which shows married respondents are most satisfied. Employee performance recognition technique Employee of the month/week/year has sig value of 0.001 which is significant but Beta value 1.656 suggested that customer satisfaction is low where Employee of the month/week/year recognition technique is applied.

Genetics Research :: essays research papers fc

The Future of Genetics The HGP began in 1990, it is a 13-year effort coordinated and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The Human Genome Project’s goals are to identify all the 100,000 genes in human DNA; determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA; store this information in databases; develop tools for data analysis; transfer related technologies to the private sector; and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. A working draft of the human sequence was completed earlier this year, 2000. The U.S. Human Genome Project (HGP), composed of the DOE and NIH Human Genome Programs, is the national coordinated effort to characterize all human genetic material by determining the complete sequence of the DNA in the human genome. The HGP's ultimate goal is to discover all the more than 80,000 human genes and render them accessible for further biological study. To facilitate the futu re interpretation of human gene function, parallel studies are being carried out on selected model organisms, such as Drosophilia Melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. According to the department of energy program report, a perfect draft of the human sequence is due in 2003. Some of the ways that geneticists use to map the Human Gene are Atomic Force Microscopy of Biochemically Tagged DNA, Intracellular Flow Karyotyping, and Electrotransformation for Introducing DNA into Industrial Bacilli Intracellular flow karyotyping appears to be a feasible and beneficial method for analyzing karyotype aberrations from individual cells using flow cytogenetics. The flow karyotyping method allows quantification of chromosomal DNA by flow cytometry and thus analysis of chromosomal aberrations on chromosome suspensions. Amounts of data providing statistical significance can be collected quickly and the approach allows accurate mapping of chromosomal DNA composition. The limitation of the method is at the cellular level of analysis, which is an impossibility to detect low-frequency or heterogeneous events, with this method. The aim of this intracellular flow karyotyping project is improving the technology to extend the method to the analysis of karyotype aberrations from individual cells. This technology might be especially useful for the detection and quantification of heterogeneous abnormalities. Chromosomal changes of this type occur through ionising radiation exposure and are involved in karyotype instability and tumorigenesis. This approach will be investigated both for biological dosimetry purposes, especially in low-dose contexts (count of abnormal cells, count of abnormalities per cell) and for research purposes (karyotype instability known as tumorigenesis).