Globalization of the U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis Essay

The U. S sub prime Mortgage Crisis upset the world financial markets. The economy of the United States of America could combat the mortgage foreclosures for its efficiency. The global investors were wary of the fact that the sub prime mortgage crisis is a symptom of some unknown problems that the US economy is suffering from. In 1994, an almost insignificant less than 5% of all the mortgages in the U. S were sub prime. However by 2005, the figure had risen drastically to 20%. Sudden changes in the banking system were responsible for this increase. Earlier, mainly commercial banks were used to serving the American societies and they mainly offered fixed charge mortgages. In Detroit and in Boston this figure was 24. 6% and 15% respectively, whereas in California this figure was 14%. After a long period of stable interest rates with only a small downward trend, the rates started increasing. This decreased the demand for homes and hence causing a decrease in home prices. There was competition between the mortgage finance companies and mortgage brokers and the traditional banks in offering some new products. This growing competition produced a number of mortgage products and choices like sub prime loan of different varieties for the American consumers. Homeowners could not combat the increases in payments or even sell their homes because of market price depreciation. Almost 77% of the homes were overvalued in big cities like California (Enoch & Charles, 2007). Causes of the current U. S sub prime mortgage crisis. There seems to a common consensus that periods of rapid credit growth are accompanied by loosening lending standards. The former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan pointed in his speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America in 2001 that there was an unfortunate tendency among bankers to lend aggressively at the peak of a cycle and noted that this aggressive kind of lending could result to bad loans. This therefore means that the credit boom in America had a hand in causing the current sub prime crisis. Indeed more of the major banking crisis in the last a quarter a century occurred at times that there was an extremely fast credit growth. However not all credit booms are immediately followed by a banking crisis. For instance in a study by Barajas et al (2007), of the 135 credit booms that were identified, only 23 of them preceded a systematic banking crisis with this proportion increasing to 31 if the non-systemic episodes of financial distress are included. However almost half of the banking crisis were preceded by a credit boom. Larger and longer-lasting credit booms and those that have coincided with higher inflation and lower growth are more likely to end up in a crisis. Booms associated with fast rising assets and real estate prices are also more likely to lead to a crisis. The increase in home prices in early 2000 was completely unrealistic and made the homeowners believe that home prices will continue increase and make future refinancing and subsequent mortgages quite profitable. The loose standards made them believe that in buying expensive homes than they could have afforded with the traditional fixed rates loans and more expensive than they can afford now with their adjustable mortgage loans resetting. Most of the players in the mortgage market contributed to the crisis. Homeowners, brokers, lenders, rating agencies regulators, investors and central banks all played a role in the crisis. The homeowners ran into flexible loans with no understanding of them and even some lied on stated income loan applications (Giang, & Anthony, 2007, p. 39). The lenders hurriedly offered riskier loans to borrowers as loan products with adjustable rates transfer great part of a risk from the lender to the borrower. This risk transfer is the reason was the main contributing factor as to why the offered higher commission to brokers if they sold adjustable loan. Brokers were also controlled by greed and started offering adjustable mortgages to borrowers who would qualify for prime loans. However, lenders never expected such huge foreclosures and extreme flooring of house prices. Central banks and other huge investors have experienced significant losses as a result of mortgage asset devaluation. The risk of investing in securities backed by mortgage never came to realization as should have been. The investor mainly relied on investment grade ratings applied to mortgage backed securities by rating agencies. Historical data backed models are mainly used by rating agencies to provide investment rating. Mortgage backed securities have excellent historical date whereas adjustable mortgage loans and their innovative variations being new products on the mortgage market have no historical data. The regulators missed to prevent the crisis through legislation that would regulate higher lending standards. They can play a great role in prevention of an economic crisis (Eric, 2008). Global Spread of the U. S sub prime mortgage The recent volatility in the global financial markets due to the US sub prime mortgage has not spared banks throughout the world. In Saudi Arabia, banks have been able to absorb only minimal exposure to distressed loans. For instance, Saudi Basic Industries Corporations have faced some constraints. Superficially, the happenings of the global market seems little unaffecting to Saudi Arabia. However since the peaking of the US stock markets, the Tadawul All-share Index has been maintaining an upwards trend. For instance, strong demand meant that investors accepted a lower yield than previously indicated for a SABIC bond in the month of July 2007. In this case, the bulk of demand came from Middle East and mainly from Saudi Arabia. Other bonds issued by the Gulf Cooperation council suffered and a greater caution could likely have had an impact on investor perceptions of Saudi Arabia risk. Higher credit spread had increased the cost of borrowing even after taking into consideration any reduction in the Federal funds rate. Even though the costs of borrowing were not high to deter borrowing, the prospect of issuing debt had deteriorated forcing the companies to revise their plans. This placed an opportunity to large Saudi investors who are not reliant on new or foreign borrowing and therefore were better positioned to acquire foreign assets, generally at lower prices than prior to recent market moves. Saudi Arabia has been developing its mortgage market though the mortgage law is still to be approved, the housing finance industry is beginning to take off and there are loans available for homeowners to secure. However with the legal and regulatory infrastructure not in place, the crisis in the US has slowed the growth. The crisis in the US also hit demand and thus prices for other commodities produced by Saudi Arabia such as plastics. Lastly, due to the exchange rate peg, the interest rates were cuts further and this further the riyal weakened along with the dollar (Gerry & Paul, 2007). European country such as the United Kingdom and Spain faces an even larger housing problem as lenders are becoming more cautious. This implies that consumer spending in Europe is also experiencing the crunch of the US sub prime crisis. The current slowdown impacts on all parts of the chemical industry as housing is a key source of chemical demand. Sectors that directly supply the housing and automotive sector in the West are hardest hit. In the United Kingdom, though there are different circumstances, the effect of the US sub prime mortgage crisis are being experienced. First, there are fewer mortgages given to people of less credit worthiness compared to the other mortgages in the market in the UK whereas in the US this proportion is significantly large. In addition, about half of the borrowers in this proportion of sub prime mortgage in the UK do not have a history of significant payment problems. Secondly, the interest rates in the UK have been relatively stable compared to the US where there had been rapid rises in interest rates. Thirdly, in the UK, the house prices have been booming compared to the Us where the house prices have been decreasing leaving borrowers mired in negative equity and unable to sell their homes in order to service their loans. Finally, the lending criteria in the UK are much stricter than in the US that have been loose. However, despite all these the effect of the US sub prime mortgage crisis is being felt in the UK with the Bank of England taking a warning of then dangers of bailing out institutions that had taken reckless lending decision for profits. It also leads to the Bank of England cutting interest rates at the start of 2008. The US sub prime mortgage crisis has an impact on the Germany economy where the hardest hits are the German banks. The Industrial bank in Germany managed a fund that had invested in credit portfolios, which included US sub prime real estate loans. Commerce bank, which is the second largest bank in Germany, reported that the US subprime mortgage market had cost it 80 million euros in the second and last quarter of the financial year 2007. In the financial years 2007/2008, IKB expects that the crisis will influence negatively on its projected earning of 280 euros (Christopher, 2008). References Christopher B. L. (2008). The Next Slum, The Atlantic Monthly.New York: Oxford university press. Enoch and Charles. (2007). Rapid Growth in Credit: Endless Boom or EarlyWarning? New York: International Monetary Fund and Palgrave. Eric Janszen. (2008). The next bubble: The markets for tomorrow’s big crash. London: Harper’s press. Gerry, G. & Paul, F. (2007). A House of Cards: from fantasy finance to global crash. London: Lupus Books. Giang, H. and Anthony. (2007). â€Å"The Varying Effects of Predatory Lending Criteria on Mortgage Applications†, Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review 89(1), pp. 39-59.

Disadvantages of Globalization Essay

Globalization is any company’s target. However, it should be noted that globalization has disadvantages as well as advantages. One of the disadvantages of globalization is the over-standardization of products through global branding. Using Emirate Airline to illustrate this point, globalization will means that their services are standardized which aim to serve all customers. They would lose their uniqueness of the business culture after they go global. Also, the over-globalization will result in the lack of creativity and product diversity. Moreover, globalization can also create diseconomies of scale as not all countries have the same growth and economic cycle. For example, Emirate may operate very well in the Middle East and Europe market but expanding into Asia or America market will reduce their profit. This could be due to difficulties of coordinating activities in those new markets or the culture differences. It is also important to note that globalization will cause de- industrialization and high unemployment in the domestic market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Any business can not afford to promote their product in the similar ways using similar strategies. This is because not all products can serve the same requirements and demands. However, it is very important that customers are aware of the brand’s existence and the unique selling point of the product and brand must be well communicated to the user. Thus, businesses use segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) to find their customers and target them so that they can promote their product in the most efficient way. The first step of product promotion or even when product is just at its research stage is segmentation. Segmentation is the division of a broad market in smaller categories consisting of individuals with the similar characteristics. These individuals tend to show similar thinking and perception towards products and brands. When the market fluctuates or a new identical product is introduced to the market, customers in the same segment usually have the same respond to the market and the product. In a simple word, market segmentation can be called grouping as it group people with similar characteristics and thinking together. In the case of Nokia, market segmentation is very important as it significantly enhance the sales process and the brand image of the firm. Nokia has many different lines of products so segmentation is on crucial process in its operation. Nokia segmentation could be kids, male, female, high income customer, low income customer, young people and etc. Targeting is the next phase of the STP process. Targeting is done after the broad market has been segmented. Targeting involves devising various marketing strategies and promotional schemes according to the preferences of the different segments. Targeting is important as it could help an organization to reduce unnecessary promotion cost and also boost sale results of the product. As in the case of Nokia, they create phone for almost every segment so targeting them to the right segment will boost their sale results. For example, the Nokia cheaper line such as Nokia 1100, 1200, 1208 are aimed at people with lower income or as a secondary phone. On the other hand, Nokia 8800 is aimed at successful business man and their new smart phones are aim at young, middle income people. Positioning is the last stage of the STP process. After a company has done the market segmentation and targeting, it will work hard to create a good impression of its products in the target customers’ perception. Product positioning is what customers believe about the product’s value, features and benefits. It is important that the customers have a good perception over the product at the beginning stage of positioning otherwise, the product success will be quite challenging. By getting it right, positioning helps organization to create a good perception of the products in the minds of target audience. Using the case of Nokia, after they segment and target their customers, they could improve the product positioning by creating unique point of the product that fits well with the targeted customers. For example, for female target, Nokia could create product in more feminine colors such as white, pink and etc.

Case analysis on Gen Y in the workforce Essay

After reading the case of â€Å"Gen Y in the Workforce† it can be understood that Generation Y in the workforce is interested to not just sticking to the regular schedule but also going beyond and thinking out of the box. In the case Josh had some new and fresh ideas to promote the Triple-F movie, which was appreciated by the CEO. As talked about the Generation Y, the Millennial are tech-savvy, smart and wants faster results and recognition. All these qualities can be very well seen in Josh with several instances like; he is always busy with his Iphone, his ideas regarding promoting the movies and the way he wants faster results from his work and recognition for which he went to the CEO directly with his idea. Whereas Generation X in the workforce believes in step-by-step work, and achievement of results. They believe in following the protocol and are workaholics. They have a little traditional view and are struggling hard to cope up with the fast moving Gen Y. All these features are very well visible in Sarah. She believes in hierarchy and her role in the hierarchy. She understands the system of the workplace and follows it very religiously, works till late night keeping her personal life at bay. Clashes are bound to happen when these two generations come face to face. Both the generations would dislike the format of each other’s work. But when coming together at a workplace, differences have to be kept aside and looked at the bigger picture. To do this both the generation need to understand and accept these differences, like in this case the way Josh by passed his direct head and met the CEO because of his hyper active demand for recognition and results shows his disregard for his boss and his team. Here, rather than meeting the CEO directly he could have explained his plan to Sarah with facts and figures, he could have dug more information regarding his idea to support his idea. This would have led to a peaceful workforce. On the other hand, Sarah could have given a thought about Josh’s idea more  before disregarding it completely with a counter argument. She could have discussed Josh’s idea in detail and how it might help the company. While making her presentation she could have mentioned about Josh’s idea and have given him the credit for it. This would have not only led to Josh’s motivation and interest towards his work, it would have also led to his organization commitment, overall a very effective solution to the problem so mentioned. The management of the company is also working hard to mould the new and younger hires to get integrated to the team. Since all the company now-a-days have started to realize the difference between the generations they are working hard to bridge the generation gap through training of both the generations and increasing the cohesiveness of the team. Hence, as a result for both the generation to work together, they need to understand the gap between the two generations and deal with the problem in a calm and composed manner so as to avoid conflict.

Cognitive Psychology (in general) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cognitive Psychology (in general) - Essay Example All three aspects make up the entire learning process, and will be taken into consideration in the conceptualization of a public transport. This proposal assumes that the bus is mechanically suited for long drive, big enough to accommodate large quantity of passengers and constantly undergoes regular check-up and tune-up to answer the areas on safety of the commuters. This also assumes that the bus driver is well equipped with existing knowledge about how to drive the bus, whether it be stick shift or automatic transmission; In General, the bus should be equipped with restroom facilities; comfortable plush reclined seats; spacious overhead compartment as well as walk way; emergency exits; window blinds for privacy and shade, a good heating and cooling facilities that also changes along with the season. A distinct color scheme must be painted on the bus, using primary colors, because they are easily recognized by the iris in both gender.. The bus should also be equipped with a paging system that announces the destination and stops. The fully functioning air-condition and Television set that will provide both comfort and entertainment during long drive. It should also be equipped with signs by way of posters, indicating schedule, destinations and fare. All these, provides sensory stimulus (visual, auditory and tactile) to introduced to the brain as an information that will be interpreted analyzed and later on be organized. A Clear wide windshield; electronic adjustable side mirrors; rear view camera with monitor screen in control panel area; wide rear view mirror and color coded light illuminated speedometer and gas gauge should all contain the control panels. All of the requisites mentioned provide the chance to access all angles for excellent vertical and horizontal view, even with perepheral view. This maximizes the area for visual information acquisition thus absorbing all details for input into the brain. This will allow the brain to categorize and classify information according to order of priority while segregating the least important aspect. Once this is identified, the brain can then proceed to interpreting and analyzing the information and come up with a conclusion. In the area of attention: There should be a fixed schedule for pit stops; boarding and when to disembark; arrival time estimation and automatic fare collection system that opens only when correct fare is remitted. Because, this has already been provided thru signs, the brain will then proceed with analyzing the acquired data received through perception. The processed data will then be compiled into one structure that will represent an entire idea of riding the bus. In here the passenger will come up a mental representation of riding the bus is nice, fun and easy. It is important that indicators for critical signs on the control panel board should flash red color, as this is the primary color that is immediately perceived by the retina of the eye. This will ensure brain to recognize pattern that once disruption occurs, will immediately access reactionary measure. It is also important that all critical warning devices should sound enough to be heard to provide for an auditory stimulus that verifies visual data, in instances where the brain performs simultaneous task. Usually this will occur when the driver monitors the safety of both

Personal Responsibility Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Responsibility - Annotated Bibliography Example The information gathered from the book strengthened the essay because it provides a good base to start writing upon the topic. The research paper aims to estimate the percentage of the public high school class students having the minimum qualification to apply for four year college. The study found that 70% of the high school students succeed to get admissions in the colleges whereas around 30% fail to do so. The study also provides data with regard to ethnic and demographic classification and concludes that no large population fail to access the college education as most of them for admissions in the colleges. While exploring the issue, the author focuses upon the attitude of students towards personal responsibly that eventually affected their overall progress at schools. The source is found relevant and reliable because it discusses the issue with the help of primary research work. The information from the study strengthens the essay because it affirms the link between persona responsibility and success in education. The blog explores the issues associated with dropout rate of the college students and strives to identify the factors behind it. The blog identifies the reasons that compel the students to leave college and school and insists that college dropout rate is point of concern for the entire society because it ultimately affects the labour market and overall economic condition of the nation. The bold also affirms that personal responsibility keeps the students near to their educational targets and lack of awareness about personal responsibility often prevent the students from gaining success at school and colleges. The source has been found very relevant and reliable source for the essay because it links the personal responsibility with the outcomes at educational level and proves the point with the help of data and different research studies. The

Web Media and Web Application Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Web Media and Web Application - Assignment Example As the paper outlines the tourism service provider also aims to relate price of tourism packages with the holidays and the weather conditions. Better the weather; the higher would be the price. This would help customers to plan their travelling in a better manner and would put them in a more decisive role to effectively use the tourism services. On the other hand, tourism operator would have a competitive edge to market its packages because it is likely that on holidays if weather is good, it would attract more customers despite the package prices. The aim of this report is to plan and manage the project and identify any associated risks and ways to mitigate them. This discussion stresses that a project does not operate in a vacuum. Projects are impacted by, and have impact on, the culture, management policies and procedures of the organizations they are part of. The best project managers look for these influences and manage them for the benefit of the project and the organization. Matrix structure would be employed in the tourism service providing organization. According to Project Management Institute, matrix organization is a functional organization where expertise are grouped under areas of specialization in functional departments and a project manager separately reports to chief executive officer. Matrix organizations are either weak, balanced or strong matrices. Weak matrices maintain many of the characteristics of a functional organization and the project manager role is more that of a coordinator or expediter than that of a manager. In similar fashion, strong matrices have many of the characteristics of the project organization, and ca n have full-time project managers with considerable authority and full-time project administrative staff.  

Crisis Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Crisis Management - Essay Example Therefore, in an attempt to secure the countries against the harmful effects of floods, various governments have formulated tsunami management plans. These plans are meant to provide the course of action necessary to ensure a sound business continuity management when the business is subjected to risks by natural disasters like cyclones, floods, earthquakes or tsunamis. This paper discusses the tsunami management systems as developed in different countries in general with specific reference to the one employed in the United Kingdom (UK). Also, the roles and responsibilities of the government, media and the local community are analyzed in relation to the subject matter. The European states have taken a step further beyond providing protection against tsunamis by developing Flood Risk Management (FRM) System. (www.floodsite.net, 2007). The system fundamentally comprises three phases as identified by (www.apfm.info, 2005) given as follows: Practically, the advance preparation phase in the underdeveloped countries heavily relies on empirical methods of judging the possibility of tsunamis. The methods include but are not limited to observing behavior of the animals, water levels in dams and rivers and rains. Such notions persist in less educated societies in which a vast majority of people do not understand the technical language in which the flood forecasts are broadcast. However, history proves that their beliefs should not be underestimated. (Mott, 2005) mentioned in that prior to the tsunami of 2004, a strange change in the mood of zoo animals was noticed. The outdoor animals were observed screaming and running for higher grounds and the pets refused to move outdoors. (Mott, 2005). The risk conscious societies of the modern age are moving toward the development of a community based approach. The Community Flood Management Committee (CFMC) assesses factors needed to reduce the chances of tsunami occurrence and lays d own the

Assignment 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Assignment 3 - Essay Example Customers: The stores of Boots UK are mainly located in well-known localities and streets of UK. Hence, its main consumers are male and females between age group 15-45 years from nearby neighbourhoods. Strength: The primary strength of the company is that it has a well-recognised brand with wide product range. The company is established in the market and has strong reliance on research and development. Weakness: Boots UK considers that location and ambience of its store are outdated, which can prove to be a weakness. Apart from this, analysis showed that the company has little dependence on technologies, which increase processing time of activities. Furthermore, the company also charges comparatively high price. The company has applied SMART techniques to determine goals and objectives. The company is planning to achieve an increase of twenty-five percent in the sale annually. It also has an objective to attract ten percent more male consumers every year, compared to the previous year. These goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-specific in nature. Realizing such goals can prove to be company’s competitive advantage. The company has used demographic and geographic segmentation while determining its target segment. Boots UK has placed stores mainly in the high streets of UK; so, the obvious target market of company is individuals from the neighbourhood. From demographic point, the company ensure that both genders, male and female, are its product users and the age range is between 16 and 45 years (Armstrong, Cunningham and Kotler, 2002). In its strategy, the company is planning to implement Ansoff’s matrix to decide upon products for existing as well as new markets. The model was proposed by mathematician, Igor Ansoff. It states that there are four growth strategies that a firm can adopt: Market penetration and product development for existing market and market

American Revolution in 1775-1783 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

American Revolution in 1775-1783 - Term Paper Example The young government could hardly work effectively too, because the British had bottled up communication channels. The government also had divided institutions; and most of the time, General George Washington was forced to make important decisions by himself. Economic chaos worsened the conditions of the war. Hyperinflation emerged due to overprinting of money and rising debt. American money became almost worthless. America also had troubles in accessing loans and credit. The war, furthermore, stifled trade and commerce. In addition, diplomatic challenges also occurred. America needed European allies against the British. It also needed loans to finance the war. In essence, America needed the diplomatic and financial support of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. From July to December 1776, the initial American strategy was to fight off the British at NYC, to hold Fort Washington, and to fight the British with their own tactics. The motives behind this strategy were that NYC held prop agandistic value for America and losing it could be a large morale blow to American forces; protecting NYC also denied the British the access to Hudson River. The strategy was flawed, however, because America was not prepared to fight the European way. Fighting too close to the ocean worked against the Americans, because the British had superior navy strength. ... They also undercut the British forces using wild goose chases, which was effective in overextending the physical strength and resources of the latter. Eventually, the Americans won because of their guerilla and wild goose chase tactics. Their patience and will, as well as their home court advantage, ensured their victory against the British. In addition, France also sided with the U.S., and the Netherlands loaned money to support the U.S. The British was also exhausted, while the public opinion in the UK increasingly opposed the war against America. The Paris Peace Treaty was signed to end the war. It represented the various agenda of American, Britain, France, and Spain. Americans demanded independence and clearer rights and boundaries as a sovereign nation. Britain wanted to preserve Oregon and Ohio, and decided that America could be an ally that balanced the powers against Spain and France. Spain wanted no treaty with America and desired only to attain British land concessions. Fr ance wanted an independent, but weak, America and to ascertain peace with Britain. The states established The Articles of Confederation, which was the first constitution of the United States. The first draft was made in 1777 by the similar Continental Congress that passed the Declaration of Independence. The Articles provided that the states preserved their â€Å"sovereignty, freedom and independence.† The states did not set up executive and judicial branches of the government, and they chose a committee of delegates that were composed of representatives from each state. These individuals made up the Congress, a national legislature that the Articles established. Summary of Paris Peace Treaty John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay represented

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Research Paper

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Research Paper Example .............9 Section Three 3.1 Treatment and results........................................................11 References...............................................................................15 Post-traumatic stress disorder Section One 1.1 History Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that is precipitated by a traumatic event, usually a life-threatening situation either for the individual, or for a bystander that the individual is witnessing. When the period of adjusting and coping does not abate after a short length of time and the traumatic responses have only gotten worse, an individual is usually then diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Even though the American Psychiatric Association only began recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder in the early 1980s, and thus including it in the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, this anxiety disorder has been noted to have been around for many centuries. Many of the apparent causes of post-trauma tic stress disorder, which will be discussed in-depth in due time, most of which involve putting the lives of others at risk, have been around since the dawn of mankind. Battle, the tragic loss of a loved one, or else someone finding themselves in a situation in which their safety is compromised have all been a part of the human experience. As such, it can be assumed that post-traumatic stress disorder dates back thus far. ... This was before the disorder was officially recognized. It was not until the aftermath of the Vietnam War that the intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder became clear, though it was originally classified as a disorder directly connected to the Vietnam War itself (Fredericks, 2010). The veterans, many of whom were diagnosed with what was first known as post-Vietnam syndrome, became active in making it known that post-traumatic stress disorder was a real disorder, one that needed proper research so that treatment could be given. 1.2 Symptoms The symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder normally do not make themselves known until approximately three months after a traumatic event. However, there have been some cases in which symptoms did not appear for many years after the individual experienced or witnessed the event. There are three categories that symptoms pertaining to post-traumatic stress disorder are grouped, which are intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increas ed anxiety or emotional arousal. Intrusive memories: When a person shows symptoms related to intrusive memories, they have flashbacks or dreams about the event. They tend to relive the event for many minutes at a time, though some patients have relived the traumatic experience for days at a time. These flashbacks and dreams are undesirable to the individual, constantly reminding them of what took place and causing them to feel anxious. Avoidance and numbing: In response to traumatic events, most people prefer to cope by avoiding anything to do with the event. However, someone who has is suffering from or has developed post-traumatic stress disorder really goes out of the way to avoid reminders of the event that took place. They avoid talking and

Basic Assessment of a Cuban American with limited English proficiency Assignment

Basic Assessment of a Cuban American with limited English proficiency - Assignment Example Here, the nurse might face linguistic difficulties because they speak different languages. Whereas the nurse speaks English, the patient does not even understand it. For a nurse to deal with such a situation, they need to be patient, understanding and tolerant. Besides, they should sharpen their communication skills. Meaning, they should not shun away the patient, but look for an interpreter to intervene. It would be advisable to incorporate the intervention of an interpreter as it would facilitate the communication process between the nurse and the patient. It is only through effective communication that the nurse would manage to interact with, listen to and understand the patient before offering any required services. Communication is a paramount activity in the nursing profession. When it is effectively done, the nurse would definitely involve the patient in the treatment process as they offer benevolent

Jesse Owens †A Legend Essay Example for Free

Jesse Owens – A Legend Essay The legendary Track and Field athlete, known to the world as Jesse Owens, was born James Cleveland Owens on September 12, 1913. It’s claimed that the nine-year-old’s accent made it difficult for his schoolteacher in Ohio to understand Owens when he gave his name as â€Å"JC. † Instead the teacher wrote his name down as â€Å"Jesse† (Gentry, 1990, p. 34). Jesse’s first brush with running was to be in the hills of Alabama, his home state. At the time though, Jesse was a sickly child given to frequent attacks of Pneumonia and other medical issues including the appearance of boils. His training for the track and field events only began when he entered Fairmont Junior High School where he was noticed by Charles Riley, an Irishman who was quick to take into account Jesse’s â€Å"potential† despite his lack of a strong physique. Riley, took the time to coach Jesse before school began each day so that Jesse would be free after school to do the part time jobs he’d taken up to contribute towards his family’s financial betterment. There’s nothing to show that Jesse’s typical workouts weren’t anything but pretty basic in terms of the equipment available and the routines followed in those early years. Practicing the various techniques of starting and running as well as long jump is what Jesse engaged in. Making the most of this humble start, Jesse soon began to draw attention to his abilities, having by this time, enrolled in East Technical High School. Owens then went on to join the Ohio State University where he continued to break records and draw attention though still failing to get a scholarship on account of his race. Owens greatest contribution to American history came in Berlin where the 1936 Summer Olympics were held. Jesse Owens went on to win four gold medals for his country – 100m sprint, 200m sprint, 4 x100m relay and long jump in the face of strong prejudices exhibited by Adolf Hitler who was intent on showing off the superiority of the Aryan race to the world. Americans greeted him with great enthusiasm on his return, and cheered his accomplishments heartily (Corrigan, 1990, p. 18). Track and Field events gained popularity in the United States. However, Jesse himself was not to benefit from all these events.

Learning And Development On The Job Training Management Essay

Learning And Development On The Job Training Management Essay When you are going to perform any task in your work or personal life, you will need to train at the best you can and try to gain the knowledge that will enable you to handle the work or the task properly. Training will help to improve your performance and get ready to handle something you were not aware how to handle but in this case you will have to choose the appropriate technique and method for your training. Human Resources Management includes different activities like, planning how to recruit the staff that you need as per what your organization needs, interviewing and selecting them, making sure they have the right skills and the knowledge to perform the job they are selected for with the best they can so they increase the works performance and meet with the company goals and objectives, managing their benefits and compensation, planning for their bonuses and motivations periodically, managing and keeping their records, and the most important aspect which how to train them using all the training methods and techniques in order for them to capture the appropriate information, knowledge and skills related to their new job that will lead to developing the personnel who will be working in the company therefore developing the organization. We are going to speak into depth on one of the most effective and most frequently used types of training On the job training. On the job training does ha ve so many advantages that helps meet the expectations of the training, but it can also have few disadvantages if it is not properly planned and executed. The bottom-line: You need to train people, you need to train them quickly, and you need to find a low-cost, yet effective way to do that. You also need to improve morale and develop responsible, loyal, high-performing employees. And, you know that the old way of training people on-the-job i.e., the degenerating buddy system, follow Joe around, or unstructured OJT simply does not workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Team OJT, HPA, 2008) On the job training is one of the best methods of training. For most of the employees, On the job training forms the most important part of their learning and development when they first join the company. It will keep them in a close contact with their colleagues and that will help forming a strong spirit among the team. Usually, this type of training is planned by the supervisor or manager, its their responsibility to use the available resources and benefit from their best existing staff experience and skills to develop their new employees. To successfully organize it, they need to assign one the best performing employees to be the coach for the new joiner. The trainee will be using the same equipments, materials and tools that he will use when performing his real job. Its an effective way where the trainee acquires the knowledge and skills at the actual work place. The trainee will learn by watching and observing someone very well experienced doing the job in the real work location. Most of the trainees find it more practical and more effective when learning directly from their colleagues instead of learning through materials in training classes. This training is effective as it is delivered before the new employee starts performing the actual and real job in the workplace like that, the trainee will be able to practice the real job in the workplace he will be working in and he/she will be having an immediate feedback on the challenges that he/she will be facing. Also, when one of the colleagues is coaching the new member this will help him integrate into the team. On the job training is also a benefit for the organization as it is generally cost effective since they dont have to organize a special and separate training for the new joiners. The new employee will be joining the team and using the tools and equipments they are using and no extra equipments will be needed. It works very well for the organization as the On the job training will be held in the same working hours and no training periods is dedicated for training the new employees and that usually have a training allowance which may be lower than the regular pay scale for the job. And the trainee might not have to travel to another location for the training. He or she will be in the same work place as the manager and that will enable the manager to give an instant feedback leading the new employee to grow faster in the job. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦OJT is regularly low-cost as no particular tools are required other than from what is usually applied on the job (Gubman, 1998) The new employees will have more confidence when they are being trained in their actual work location among their colleagues or team members, they will live and feel the real work environment, getting to know more the people they will be working with and the manager they will be dealing with, building expectations and getting motivated by how fast they can prove themselves and build a good relation and trust. They will feel more comfortable and at ease when they are trained with people they know rather than strangers who are holding and teaching a training course and do not know much about the work challenges more than an colleagues performing and facing real challenges every working day. Its an interface between the learning and work environment, like a transition from university to work. On the job training is productive as the employees will be working while they are learning and they will allow them to have more confidence hence working on a high standard. On the other hand, when the On the job training is not planned properly, It can not be executed properly. And the trainee will get a vague picture of the company as he will be receiving missing or wrong information. It may sometimes overload the trainee with so much information when too much information is provided in the training session. The trainer should have the knowledge and experience to train someone else. Providing the new comer with the knowledge that he/she will refer to when they are actually working is very important and critical. The trainer should have the teaching and coaching skills to provide the correct and most accurate information to the new joiner and prevent providing any misleading information or bad habits. Having someone from the existing employees coaching a new employee is very critical as the supervisor or manager who assigned this person for this task should ensure that this assignee does not have bad habits to avoid passing it to the trainee. The trainer might provide instructions based on how they feel and whats important to them. But what is important to them, it may not be important to another or for the work of the organization. Also, if the trainer does not have a structured plan, he/she might miss or forget to cover some important points which may lead the trainee to incomplete info rmation. While attending On the job training, sometimes the trainer will miss out covering in details and accuracy some theories of the operation and the trainee will be missing very important information. As the new employee is having a lack in his knowledge base which will lead to a poor decision making and it will be difficult for him facing some daily challenges when things are not going exactly as they learned. If the trainer was not the right person for the job, he might lead the trainee to bad habits and attitudes as the new employee will be adopting the same habits in work, safety, customer service, and even his relationship with the management or colleagues. One of the major problems the trainer will be facing while holding the training, is being able to manage his job and tasks properly and at the same time being able to give the appropriate time to the trainee and giving him the attention he/she needs to be able to attend his queries and provide him/her with good knowledge base and experience as required, its very difficult to find the right person among the team to perform both the tasks equally and assigning the right time they need for each activity, they should be really careful not to pass the bad work habits and teach the learner accurate, relevant information and methods. Each employee requires more learning in order to improve his /her skills, no matter how best a candidate is, he/she can not be 100% percent qualifiedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (American Society, 2007) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Thus, OJT is important both to the organization and the trainees who are being trained. OJT is beneficial to the organization in the manner that it offers cheap to carry out as the main resources required is time only. After which it offers the organizations with trained employees who understands well the organization culture objectives and goals. And thus able to achieve the much required high production and effective working. To the trainees, OJT offers them a practical and easy way of learning while they are working giving them a unique opportunity to practice what you have learnt. According to many scholars this is the best way of learning since offers the right tools and environment for learningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Ruffini, F et al. 2000). The trainer may not have sufficient knowledge or skills then On the job training may be inappropriate and if its not done effectively, it can damage the work objectives. Its about finding the right person to perform this task. Leaving aside these disadvantages, On the job training can give benefit for both the company and the new employee. Since On-The Job Training is performed at the work place, the trainee will be focused on performing real job tasks and gaining real experience. Although On-The Job Training is often the most practical training method when you only need to train a couple of employees at a time but another training methods and techniques will be complementary to provide the new employee all the required skills and knowledge base about the products, services and systems in the organization.

Do extracurricular programs reduce the stress of students

Do extracurricular programs reduce the stress of students Life as a student is resplendent with assignments, essays and study. Not to mention all the extracurricular activities that has to be done. Of course, as a student, a common problem that cant be avoided is feeling stress. In the beginning of this paper, it will discuss and explain about stress and source of stress. Studies and statistical evidence are given to proof that students around the world are facing the same problem; stress. Next, this paper will discuss about how stress is reduced. There are some method such as the coping strategies, General Adaptation Syndrome and theory of relaxation. In this part of the paper, we will go through these ways of coping in details and relate it to the life of a student. The students can use these methods to help them reducing, deal with the stress. The conclusion of this essay will evaluate and conclude about the stress reducing ways. Most of the student cant handle their stress because they said that there are no ways to confront stress, but this essay clearly shows that there are ways that can be used to cope with stress. In the end, this essay emphasized the importance of coping with stress as it helps students to do well in their academic. With clear understanding, maybe students will not experience stress as appalling as today in the future. A research entitled Colleges Students Academic Stress and Its Relation to Their Anxiety, Time Management And Leisure Satisfaction conducted by Dr. Ranjita Misra(PhD CHES)  [1]  and Michelle McKean  [2]  among 249 Midwestern University undergraduates. Respondent were randomly chosen from the university index list. The research shows that the stress among the colleges students highly increases nationwide (Sax, 1997). Students reported stress at the peak at predictable times each semester with the most sources of academic stress resulting from rank competition, the bulky amount of content to master in a little amount of time and taking and studying for exams (Abouserie, 1994; Archer Lamnin, 1985; Britton Tesser, 1991; Kohn Frazer, 1986). When stress is professed depressingly or becomes too much, students experience physical and psychological harm (Murphy Archer, 1996). Generally, higher stress was experienced as a result of self-imposed stress and pressure, not because of co nflict, dissatisfaction and pressure. The result of the research also shows that in general, female students facing less stressful moment than male students, proven that female students deal with their stress better, some correlation can be seen based on how they perceived stress, manage their time well, more than the male students. Leisure activities such as sports, singing, hanging out with friends and doing community services successfully trim down academic stress among college students. Apart from that, an aesthetic surroundings and recreation benefits also contributed to lessen stress. Tested in the research, time management behaviours had greater effect to minimize academic stress compared to outdoor activities (leisure, sports, and community services). But it is also different between male and female students. Previous studies have shown that problem solving is an important coping strategy that can reduce, minimize, or prevent stress by enabling a person to better manage dail y problematic situations and their emotional effects (DZurilla Sheedy, 1991). There are proofs that extracurricular activities can helps to decrease the stress experienced by the students but the research also shown that extracurricular activities is not the best way that can be make use of by students to lessen their stress. In MARA College Banting (MCB), the extracurricular activities are known as the CAS programme. CAS is the abbreviation for creative, action and services. Every MCB students are required to do 180 hours of CAS programmes. As students, they cant escape themselves from studying and not to mention, the stress. CAS programmes should help the MCB students to reduce their stress but how and to what extend does this programme help. Stress Stress is quite similar with the concept of love. It can be felt, but it cant be described. It is the state of being in pressure resulted from things that happening around them. According to Hans Selye, stress is a concept which has suffered from the mixed blessing of being too well known and too little understood  [3]  . Well, parents talk about the burden raising children, teachers talk about the pressure in school, workers talk about low salary and students talk about the endless assignments. These are the indicator that stress is everywhere. Selye also divided stress into two, named them eustress and distress. Eustress refers to the positive stress where it is essential to have this kind of stress. Example of eustress is feeling nervous about getting married or feeling nervous about scoring a penalty in a football match. Meanwhile, distress is the negative stress, which is not good to ones health. Example of distress is worrying because not ready for examination or failing a test. Sources of Stress There are many sources or things that can be the source of stress. The changes, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, that happen around us can appear to be the source of stress. Deaths, family, studies, workplace, all this have their own contribution to stress. Traumatic events such as death or natural disaster (floods, drought, and tornado) can be last longer and give more impact to one person. It can happen directly or indirectly to a stressor. Some research shown that stress cause by daily activities can be more stressful compared to main events such as death. Missed a bus or forgot where you keep your keys can be really tense to some people. How Stress Is Reduced Blazing the trail, we are going to look at the General Adaptation Syndrome, also known as GAS, identified by Selye (1976). GAS is a non-specific physiological reaction that occurs to a range of nerve-racking stimuli. Overall, the GAS is divided into three phases. The first phase of GAS is the Alarm Reaction. Basically, the stimuli that causes stress is detected, the hypothalamus of the brain reacts in two ways: it activates pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), stimulated adrenal gland to activate adrenal cortex to release corticosteroids and this will hinder immune system reaction, inhibits tissue irritation and releases energy from the liver. The other reaction of the hypothalamus is it activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, makes the adrenal gland to release adrenaline and noradrenaline, preparing the person with flight or fights reactions of increased heart and breathing rate, includes blood pressure and muscle tension. Usually phase one takes place without one realising it, except if they were in emergency such as being punish or involved in a fight. Stage two comes to pass after Alarm Reaction, which is called the Stage of Resistance, where the body retain arousal at a lower level. This stage however, is different depends on the individual itself. Behavioural coping style maybe different between two individual. Optimal arousal theory states that up to a level stress can provide a beneficial motivating effect that helps deal with the source of stress. Mentioned earlier, different people use different coping strategies, some exploit problem-focused strategies and deal with the source of stress and some become accustomed to emotion-focused strategies and try to deal with its effects. Besides, some people have type A personality that create and maintain high level of stress in their life (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974). These people are usually insistent, spirited and highly obsessed perfectionists who will n ot entrust and are intolerant towards others. Hardy personality (Kobasa, 1979) suggests that people that people are less exposed to end product of stress because they have vast sense of control over, more positive attitude towards nerve-racking dealings. Controlling the sense during the stressful event can helps to reduce the effects of stress. Apart from that, gender and cultural factors may be at variance in the sum and category of stress experienced. For example, men that socialize more may have less difficult to deal with their stress. Lets go into phase three, the Stage Of Exhaustion, where in this phase, the persons body will eventually get exhausted and turn out negative physiological and psychological effects. Apparently, stress can reduce the immune system and exposed the body to more infections such as ulcer (Brady, 1958), asthma (Miller and Strunk, 1979), colds (Stone et al, 1987) and cancer (Jacobs and Charles, 1980). Somehow, stress prompted the heart rate and blood pre ssure, worsen and jamming the blood vessel hence increasing the cardiovascular disorder. Over three thousand men that have the type A personality were more likely to be ill with heart diseases (Rosenman et al, 1975). Any student or person will likely to have anger and frustration as part of their manner to lessen stress. Some person that cant deal with it well are more exposed to depression and helplessness where this can comes together with anxiety, that is generally, too bad to our health. As described earlier, as part of the fight or flight situations, our body will releases hormones and many neurotransmitters. For aid adaptation and survival, these are crucial. Mentioned previously, when facing a stressor, the parasympathetic nervous system will response and these is intended as the adaptive response to force the body into actions and to do more physical activities, where we maybe experience some anger or fear or increasing respiration rates. Furthermore, being physically fit also engages with reduced risk for many conditions including heart disease and stroke. While doing physical activities, the extra chemicals released as a result of experiencing stress are used up. This will make a feeling of relaxation occur, after a period of exercise. Exercise is very beneficial to the body but some still find it difficult to find time, and that is why CAS programmes are planned for all students. Doing activities with partners is really useful, provided that one must try to in clude exercise schedule into their daily routine. Exercise actually acts like an antidepressant and boost up ones mood. But question is, why? This has urged a group of doctors from Nottingham Trend University to make research about this. The researchers suggest that a chemical named phenyl ethylamine could play a role. This chemical has been related to regulation of physical energy, attention and mood where it will be change into phenyl acetic acid by an enzyme. It is proven that the biological fluids in depressed patient have low level of both substances. In the first attempt to test the influence of exercise on levels of the chemical, they found out that level of the chemical increased by 76.8% after exercise. The test was conducted on twenty healthy men, with a standard age of 22. All repeatedly did around four hours of fair to hard aerobic and anaerobic exercise every week. Before they start the study, they abstained from exercise for a day, and a urine test was completed to che ck for levels of phenyl acetic acid, the most precise amount of the chemical. Exercised for half an hour on a treadmill at 70% of maximum heart capability is good since mood changes are usually reported at that level. Proven by the urine levels, it was found that phenyl acetic acid levels were increased in 18 of the 20 men. Quoted from one of the researcher from Nottingham Trent University, Dr. Ellen Billet  [4]  said: We are quite sure that there may be an effect of exercise on phenyl ethylamine. We also recognized that modest exercise has these positive effects. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the mental health charity said that physical exercise has a compelling place in the management and avoidance of some mental health problems. In a latest survey of gym customers, 75% said they exercised to trim down their stress levels and 67% said they used exercise to retain their mental health. She also is calling for all doctors to offer exercise sessions on recommendation to patients w ith mental health problems, predominantly as we know that the majority people with mental health problems dont know this non-drug treatment alternative exists. A progressive muscle relaxation has proven to give highly effective stress reduced. By carry out relaxation, it prop up the parasympathetic nervous system activities and thus restore functioning and promotes rest. Some of the students in KMB practice a yoga-like doings and tai-chi (a type of traditional Chinese method to relax), and surprisingly, it works. They just spent only about thirty minutes in the evening, and I believe that is not impossible to be done. The common thing that students do when they try to deal with stress is, they tend to eat a lot. Well, to some people it does ease their stress but it is actually not a good thing to be done. What can really help is to control the food that we eat. Scrupulously, food materials such as nicotine and caffeine (also known as sympathomimetics) stimulate the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. As a result, they boost blood pressure, heart rate and metabolic rate, where these can help the body system to be more reactive to stress especially when we are out in the open to a stressor. For instance, doing a ToK presentation, the student will feel more anxious and diminished performance. Biologically, stress can have an effect on absorption of certain vitamins. The release of cortisol (a  steroid  hormone  secreted by the  adrenal gland) for example, occurs following sympathetic nervous system activation requires the use of B-complex vitamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, and pyridoxine hydrochloride. Over a period of persistent stress, the supply of these vitamins in the body will lessen. And when that happens, the body cannot support or handle the cause of stress; it reduces the effectiveness to stressor. This possibly will results in adverse physical symptoms such as stomach ache, muscular weakness and physical mayhem (insomnia, depression, anxiety). To make sure that the body get all that it needs, eat fortified cereals, vegetables, fruits, fish as well as liver as it contains the B-complex vitamins. As for vitamin C, eat a lot of cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes and any other citrus fruits that you would like. Not to be forgotten, exposed to constant stress can direct to lower calcium level as it mess about the calcium absorption in the intestine. Vitamin B-complex are also needed in processed flour and ingesting sugars. Ability to response to stressor minimize due to the rundown of stores of cortisol. Stress itself helps to raise blood sugar level because it has known that exposure to continual stress have an adverse effect on the production of insulin in the body. This occurrence may elucidate why diabetes mellitis occurs to some people. Its a insulin producing disorder. People whose had a sodium related disorder, may affected by salt, increasing the body to preserve fluid. The subsequent increase in blood pressure while facing the stressor may leave the person at higher risk of stroke and heart attack. Cognitive restructuring is another method that can help to release stress. Is it a method where negative thought, misconception or absurd thinking that facilitate stressful reaction are replaced with more positive, realistic and practical thought that helps to reduce the persons judgment of menace or mischief. Two approaches that have been widely use by therapist to help restructuring thoughts are the Aaron Becks cognitive therapy and Albert Ellis rational emotive therapy. In addition, there is also another system known as the stress-inoculation, developed by Donald Meichenbaum. It involves a few steps which are conceptualisation, skills acquisition and rehearsal, and application and follow through. First of all, the person learns about the nature of stress and how people react to it, taking examples from own personal experiences will be helpful. Then, find out the range of cognitive and behavioural techniques including cognitive restructuring, relaxation, and how to get community su pport (friends, teachers and family). Respond to stressors introduced in therapy in a categorized progression and be present at the follow-up sessions (Meichenbaum and Deffenbacher, 1988). About the self-control, one must believe in their self that they can change what is happening to them, which will make it better in favour of them to deal with the stress. On the other hand, a person will find it more difficult to muddle through the stress if they keep thinking that it is out of their control or it is fated. People tend to only bear in mind about the negative side of things. For instance, rather than thinking that a forthcoming presentation as a prospect of failing, think of it as a chance to improve your public speaking. You may not know everything about something, but try to concentrate on the things that you know and possibly will be surprised about the outcome. How do we think, is what we can control. Try to use thought stopping method. It is very easy yet efficient in lessen stress. It is important that every time a negative thought appears, stop it, and tell yourself that you will not tolerate yourself to have pessimistic thoughts. At the same time, stop, relax, and try to breathe. Practise relaxation method. It has some sensation effect that will act as a supporter to bring to an end to the negative thought. Have you ever saw a group of people laughing while you were jogging? Dont worry, they are not crazy. Maybe the term laughter is the best medicine is quite common in our daily life today. It has been well known that laughter can minimize stress. Researchers found out that humour in reaction to stressful situation brings many advantages. Laughter can turn out in physiological changes including an increase in heart rate, oxygen exchange and muscle activities (sympathetic nervous system activity). This can direct to an eventual reduction in these activities to beneath baseline producing a state of relaxation, which is the parasympathetic nervous system activation. Therefore, if you are feeling stress after the hard study time, while doing CAS activities, have a laugh with your friends. I am quite sure that every student have been exposed to, at least once, a motivational talk about how to plan their time. If you are smart, you will plan and manage your time effectively as it helps to get rid of stress. For instance, if you are feeling stress because you have a placement interview, do not turn up late at the interview place. This will buy you some time to relax and to do some relaxation, it really helps. Similarly, if you cannot finish you work or study in your room for the reason that you kept been distracted, arrange your time efficiently and try to find time to study in the library or anywhere that you feels comfortable. It surely can help to lessen stress and helps to focus more. One more thing that is essential to help reduce stress is the social support that can be gained from friends, teachers and family. Stress effects are lowered with a good social support group. That is why, an excellent and healthy relationship with friends, teachers and family are vital. People, who are friendless and alone, are more risky to stress and also mental related problems. For example, a recent survey shows that two third of the people affected by mental illness, admit that they feeling lonely all the time or often. This survey was made in Australia. In addition to friends and teachers, besides family, CAS programme at the local community centre provide the opportunity to have a healthy social relations. The social support is like a central coping technique. It possibly will work in two ways which is the buffering effect or the direct effect. The buffering effect shields a person from the unfavourable effects of stress. In the other hand, the direct effect may be priceless a nd positive in its own right. Both model of effect is acceptable and reveals multiple paths through which stress and even health outcomes are influenced (Cohen and Wills, 1985). Actually, it might be better to consider social support in a system context. This is the connection between the person and social support is a continuous matter that engages two-way feedback of both negative and positive feeling. One thing that will surely helps is exercise regulatory or disregulatory effects on the other as the connection continues (Leavy, 1983). Well, if one just depends on the social support to minimize their stress, it may have only minute effect, but when pooled with other relaxation techniques, it has enormous effect. According to Schultz and Saklofske (1983), the quantity of the social support is not as important as the quality of it. A person, who received a low quality social support, although it was more than enough, was reported feeling more alone than a person who had a little bu t higher quality of social support. The importance of social support might be different, depends on the type of cause of stress. Various stressors that never experienced by others are faced by families with handicapped member (Yablin, 1986) and they seeming benefit from their social supports (Kirkham, Schilling, Norelius and Schinke, 1986). Plus, families dealing with illness seem to be much better when they have strong social support contrast to those who has no such support (Shapiro, 1983). A research reported that men with AIDS and AIDS-related problems experience increased distress whey they were not given enough support (Zich and Temoshok, 1987). Social support also seems to be a buffer against severe coronary artery disease in type A personalities (Blumenthal et al., 1987). Students should have their own stand, their own attitude and principles. It is not only for self confidence, but also in helping to reduce stress. The use of religious practise and spiritual beliefs is a neglected element of strategies of cope with stress. Noted that the religious group support are strong whose influence has not been appropriately assessed. A research conducted by Higher Education Research Institute, University of California found out that college students who take part in religious and spiritual activities are more possible to have a better stress level than students who didnt participate in religious activity at all. Besides that, students who did not join religious activities are more twofold more likely to be reported with mental health and depression compared to students who attended religious activities constantly. According to Alexander Astin  [5]  , co-principal investigator for the research involving 3,680 third-year college students, sense of psychologi cal well-being of one also contributed by being religious and spiritual. Those who play a part in religious conduct also are less likely to undergo overwhelmed during classes. Examples of religious activities are reading holy texts, joining religious organization and attending religious activities. These result are vital because psychological well-being becomes lesser throughout the duration, Astin says. One out of five students has consult the counsellor for personal counselling since becoming the students there, and 77% of the students claim seeming depressed regularly or irregularly during the years before. No more than 61% of the students were feeling depressed commonly or rarely when they first started college. This is still a very high number since official statistics signify that only 25% of the population suffers from depression. These are all related, feeling good about your life and high self esteem has a connection to high degree of spiritual. The research labelled spirit uality as desiring to assimilate religion into ones life, believing in the purity of life and having divine experiences. But the study too finds that extremely spiritual students are more exposed to experience spiritual distress, or feeling anxious about pious, than students who arent actively religious. Being religious also could play a part in whether someone starts to swig drinks that contains alcohol while in college. More than 70% of students who dont drink alcohol before registered in college wont set off in college if they got themselves in religious doings, the study reported, but only less than that of students will go on to give up if not occupied religiously. The question that arises is whether the students who do religious activities have really healthy psychological or healthy psychological students who go and seek for religious activities. The research also unearthed that 77% of college students pray, 78% have a discussion about religious conviction with acquaintances, and 76% are looking for significance and reason in life. Last but not least, the relaxation using words also helps. For example, relax, take it easy and chill out are commonly used by us. These words form the important part of cue-controlled relaxation. The secret is effortless; the repeated words will enable the body to do the response automatically. The process is something that we want to control, and we can control it. The words act as a signal for the body to do the required response. It triggers the response of relaxation. Yes, maybe at first, it doesnt mean anything. But after the words have been connected to the relaxation, it will induce the response directly. Just say the words and relax.

Fabric And Jewelery In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Erin Kilkenny   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  English Comp & Lit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cathy Seigel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  March 7, 2000   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sir Gawain Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In literature, insights into characters, places, and events are often communicated to the reader by symbolic references within the text. This is the case in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In this Medieval romance, the colors and textures of fabrics and jewelry are used heavily by the poet not only as a descriptive tool, but also to give the reader information about the characters’ personalities and roles within the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The narrative opens with a holiday feast in King Arthur’s court. The richness of this setting is represented by the decorations surrounding Queen Guenevere described in lines 76-80. â€Å"With costly silk curtains, a canopy over,/ Of Toulouse and Turkestan tapestries rich/ All broidered and bordered with the best gems/ Ever brought into Britain, with bright pennies/ to pay.† These lines also symbolize the queen’s role in the poem of a stately symbol of chivalric Camelot and as a female ideal. In this setting women are all around, but Guenevere is positioned above them and is surrounded by expensive, beautiful things. She is clearly made superior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Green Knight then arrives at Arthur’s court to pose a challenge for someone to cut off his head and to have the favor returned a year later. He and his horse are both entirely green and are clad in rich attire. The horse’s saddle is described as follows, in lines 164-167: â€Å" About himself and his saddle, set upon silk,/ That to tell of the trifles would tax my wits,/ The butterflies and birds embroidered thereon/ In green of gayest, with many gold thread.† The Green Knight’s appearance makes his supernatural qualities apparent from the start, even before he is able to survive decapitation. Though his ornate clothing establishes him as a respectable knight, the fact that he is entirely green is not normal. Green is often associated with creepy, monstrous things, so therefore the knight is given a supernatural quality by that color.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gawain, Arthur’s knight who takes the Green Knight’s challenge, is portrayed in different lights as the story progresses. Descriptions of fabric and clothing are integral to this portrayal. When he is departing Camelot to find the Green Knight, Gawain is depicted as a virtuous, chivalrous knight bravely facing his fate. His clothing, therefore, is red, symbolizing courage, and bears a gold pentangle, a symbol of virtue. This is described in lines 636-639, â€Å"On shield and coat in view/ He bore that emblem bright/ As to his word most true/ And in speech most courteous knight.

Fighting Kerry Keenan :: Film Movies

Fighting Kerry Keenan Theme: This film is loosely based on the story of Lola Bardem, who as a student at Sarah Lawrence college was convicted of killing her lover and roommate, Sara Shield with a compound bow. Lola, an All-American archer, and three time cover-model for Sports Illustrated was the defendant in the case brought against her by the victim's family. The case, which I'm sure we all remember was important for many reasons, not only due to the strange nature of Sara's death, but also for the evidence brought against, and in support of Lola, including issues concerning her upbringing in a low-income neighborhood, her sexual orientation, and her gender. Although Lola's case has been closed for almost five years now, the ramifications of the suit are still being felt. Since then, many of the nations colleges and universities have cut funding for sports that are considered "out-dated" and "dangerous", although many traditional sports like football, ice-hockey, track and field, and sailing still continue to receive a large sum of funding—often being cited as sports that are associated with the identity of the school, and therefore untouchable due to pressure from alums and television networks that broadcast the games nationally. However, and perhaps more importantly, the film will mainly be concerned with the case itself, and the uproar it caused in the media. Protagonists: For our purposes, Lola's name has been changed to Kerry. Although the film is ultimately constructed temporally along the events of Kerry's case, the main protagonist is an 18 year old high school senior named Darby Brennan, who is at the time of the case is being pursued by elite universities to join their basketball team. The news that we as viewers gather about the case is filtered to us through Darby's perspective. Although initially naà ¯ve with respect to the world of competitive women's sports, Darby's experience watching the case ultimately influences her decision about playing sports in college. Other than her testimony, Kerry herself doesn't have much of a main part. Rather, it is the media's portrayal of Kerry's case that occupies much of the narrative, and should lead the viewer to question the portrayal of women in sports. Often scenes in the movie will be filmed to give the viewer the feeling of being the audience of news telecasts. However, in order to emphasize narrative perspective, Darby will often comment on the information we receive, questioning how her own life could possibly be construed by the media, and her own activities misinterpreted in the interest of television ratings.

Apa Essay on Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is a demeaning practice, one that constitutes a profound affront to the dignity of the employees forced to endure it. By requiring an employee to contend with unwelcome sexual actions or explicit sexual demands, sexual harassment in the workplace attacks the dignity and self-respect of the victim both as an employee and as a human being. Sexual harassment is well defined as an unwelcome sexual request for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. In many countries, sexual harassment is considered a form of sexual abuse and employment discrimination. Sexual harassment is most prevalent is organizations both professional and academic, though it can occur almost anywhere. Unfortunately, sexual harassment is a complicated issue that confronts employers and employees far too often in the workplace. It causes confusion and uncertainty which interferes with a productive working environment. Sexual harassment interferes with individuals work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment results in poor performance and lack of motivation. Policies and facts Organizations should have a policy that will not cause any confusion. Men and women were using the same word to describe different behaviors may contribute to the continued existence of sexual harassment. But when a man thinks that sexual harassment only comes from a supervisor, he may feel free to make sexual comments to a female coworker. The female coworker is likely to see the sexual comments as a quest for power and label it as sexual harassment. There are facts that men are considerably less threatened by behaviors that women found harassing. They also found that men and were threatened by different things such as, whereas women were more threatened by behaviors that emphasized their sub ordinance, men were more bothered by behaviors that threatened their feeling of dominance. Sexual pressure was found by the most threatening behavior to men, and they felt threatened by behavior that had not been identified as threatening for females. Quid pro quo harassment occurs â€Å"when submission to or rejection of such unwelcome sexual conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual†. Hostile environment harassment, on the other hand, occurs when unwelcome sexual conduct causes the environment to become hostile, intimidating, or offensive, and unreasonably nterferes with an employee's or student's work. Quid pro quo harassment occurs where employment decisions or expectations are based on an employee’s willingness to grant or deny sexual favors; whereas a hostile environment is created where verbal or non-verbal behavior in the workplace that focuses on the sexuality of another person or occurs because of the person’s gender, a unwanted or unwelcome, and is severe or pervasive enough to affect th e person’s work environment. Many hostile environment harassment claims have nothing to do with speech, for instance when a harassment claim is based only on offensive physical touching or vandalism or discriminatory job assignments which have generally been seen as â€Å"harassment† rather than discrimination. When harassment claim it is based on generally unprotected speech such as threats or fighting words or slander. Factors contributing to determination in much time victims are the men and women tend to have a victim mentality to begin with. Bullying† is defined as repeated less favorable treatment of a staff member by another person or others which is considered unreasonable and inappropriate. It includes behavior which intimidates, offends, degrades, humiliates, undermines or threatens. Bullying may take place in private or in front of others. Whether or not the person responsible for the behavior intends to harm, the effect of the behavior is harmful. A single incident of bullying behavior i s unacceptable workplace behavior and should not be ignored or condoned. Bullying or other unacceptable behavior may also be a form of unlawful discrimination or harassment. Severe, â€Å"pervasive,† â€Å"hostile and â€Å"abusive† are mushy terms, as courts have specifically acknowledged. I'm not completely sure what it means to say that people have to say it’s bizarre. They might just have had a different notion of how offensive something must be to be â€Å"severe,† or how frequent it must be to be â€Å"pervasive. †Ã‚   Certainly courts have taken very different views of what these terms mean. Men Working or jokes about sexually graphic road signs to be â€Å"severe† or â€Å"pervasive† enough to create a hostile environment; but obviously other people, who probably thought themselves to be quite reasonable, have disagreed. When we judge a rule, we can't judge it simply by how we would apply it ourselves, or by the best-case scenario of how it could be applied. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. In 1997, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Knabe v Boury that companies must take action that is reasonably calculated to prevent harassment (â€Å"Facts Sheet† 2001). However, the responsibility also falls on victims to do their part to prevent harassment. This does not mean that the actual harassment is the fault of the victim, but rather that the victim has certain responsibilities in how they handle and respond to incidents of sexual harassment. These responsibilities include reporting the incident or incidents through proper channels as well as cooperating with investigations of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the workplace presents an ongoing and growing risk to businesses operating in the United States. Today, the time is right for businesses to begin to manage their risk in this area more wisely. Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace requires a considerable investment of time and personnel. In the end, however, these costs will be offset by significant savings in legal fees and health-care costs. Companies will also benefit from increased worker productivity. From a purely business perspective, a company only stands to gain if it takes a no-nonsense, hard-line position on sexual harassment. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. Reference American Psychological Association. Sexual Harassment Myths and Realities. Retrieved from http://all. net/games/sex/harass. html Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. (2002). Facts About Sexual Harassment. Retrieved from http://www. eeoc. gov/facts/fs-sex. html Sexual Harassment. (n. d. ). In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/sexual%2Bharassment Shockwaves: The Global Impact of Sexual Harassment, Susan L. Webb, New York 1994. Retrieve from http://www1. umn. edu/humanrts/svaw/harassment/explore/1whatis. htm

My First Car

Certain things in life usually form part of an individual memoir. Every one has them and usually one of the first things that is unforgettable or at least should be made memorable is your first car. My first car is not just a first car at that; it has been part of my history. My first car was a Chevrolet Impala 1965, with 2 doors 4 speed metallic blue. The 1965 Chevy impala is a stylish that is many to most people. From its strength, reliability, coupled with fuel efficiency and its powerful performance as a car. When you sample this you would probably begin to understand why most people and I probably rank first in that list scrambles for the Chevy Impala .model. Manufactured by general motors and one of the most successful automobile nameplate in the united, Chevrolet Impala car be described as full-sized built automobile. One of the features that I admired the most about this model was the aspect of fuel economy, like for any other consumer no one wants to buy an automobile that would be consuming more gasoline that you are ready to part with. It is supped with such features as the 3.5l v-6 Flexfuel that would cut down on your expenditure on gasoline and at the same it can run on ethanol or both. The Chevy impala is definitely one of the longest running as well as the best known names both in the underworld and the mainstream motor industry. This model has a dramatic, yet clandestine design. It is a longer and lower impala model with a carved. It is also design with a rounded body style with such features as spit grill in built with argent colored lower valence panels as well as a slim wheel opening trim. I believe there has never been a better model than this from general motors or to be specific from the Chevrolet impala series powered with a 396 cid engine with 425 hp, there was no can first that could match my taste for the kind of powerful performance that I so wanted.   I needed something that would be affordable, fuel efficient, powerful, sporty as well as classy and at the same time provided me with the kind of comfort that would be the envy of my peers.   With its 2 door and the chance to make it a convertible you would wonder why someone would opt for something else. The four speech function makes it almost unbeatable.   Considering my age, I would want something that would put me above my friends.  Ã‚   I would want to always be in front and never to be the one trailing.   The powerful 425 hp and the speech limit of the 1965 Chevy impala model first offers me the best chance to be lease at par on the road with any friends. At my age the last thing I would want to buy and own a master classic something that is respected, with rich history, but at the same time still manages to be impressive in the contemporary society and would still be appealing to most of the people of my generation. The automobile should be something I would want to keep for the rest of my life as souvenir.   With the amount of money that I have saved end I would want to make a real investment. With about $ 15,000 you certainly would think you might not be able to get the best burgains in the market. Any how when I talked to some of my friends and remembered some of the movies that I have watched, there was no better model to buy than the 1965 Chevrolet Impala. Reference: 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super sport. Retrieved on 10/10/2007   

Public Procurement and Contract Administration in Nigeria

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION Overview of Procurement Procurement is the acquisition of goods, works and services at the best total cost of ownership, in the right quality and quantity and at the right time. It also involves the acquisition of goods and services at the right place and from the right source. Public Procurement is the acquisition of goods, works and services by Government Ministries Departments and Agencies. In an effort to provide development and fulfil campaign promises, governments all over the world are involved in large scale procurement of goods, works and services. Public Procurement account for substantial part of most countries GDP. The establishment of good public procurement system is increasingly being viewed as measure of accountability and transparency. The responsibility of government to ensure transparency is also increasingly becoming a serious campaign issue. Public Procurement helps ensure the judicious use of public resources. An efficient Public Procurement System will ensure at all times government acquisition of goods, works, and services are done with due regard to:  · Economy;  · Efficiency;  · Fairness;  · Reliability; Transparency; and  · Accountability and Ethical Standards. Economy: This will ensure that the procuring entity obtain the best value for the money expended. Value may include more than price. It includes quality, and timely delivery of the goods or services. However, the ultimate aim of a sound procurement is to obtain the maximum value for money. Efficiency: A good procurement must be seen to be posi tive. It should be devoid of bottlenecks and other forms of inefficiencies. A good procurement system is devoid of protracted delays. It must be simple and swift. Fairness: A good system will ensure fairness to all bidders and will be impartial, consistent, and reliable. It will ensure level playing field to all contractors, suppliers and consultants. Transparency: Good procurement system establishes and maintains rules and procedures that are accessible and unambiguous. It is not only fair, but it is seen to be fair. Accountability and Ethical Standards: A system must ensure its practitioners obey the rules. It enforces the rules through a process of sanctioning those who neglect, disobey or bend the rules to gain certain advantages. The rules and procedures must be clear and unambiguous The process of establishing formal public procurement system in Nigeria started with the election of Obasanjo in 1999. It started with the establishment of Due process office under the Presidency. The Due process office was headed then by Mrs. Oby Ekwesili, the current Vice President of World Bank in charge of African Region. The Due process Office succeeded in saving billions of Naira according to the press release by the Agency. Public Procurement bill was passed by the two houses of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President in 2007. The Act provide for the establishment of Public Procurement Council and Bureau for Public Procurement to beheaded by a Director General. Nigeria public procurement Act was enacted in 2007. Overview of Contract Administration Contract Administration on the other hand involves all those activities which are performed with aim of promoting the smooth execution of contracts. Contract Administration starts from the time a contract is signed to the time a contract is closed. There are various forms in which a contract can closes: A contract can close when an operational certificate has been issued and the contractor collects the final payment under the contract. A contract can close if it is terminated and what is due to the either of the party (client or contractor) has been paid. A contract could be terminated due non performance by the contractors, due to failure of the client to fulfil obligations under the contract or due to events or happening beyond the control of the parties to the contract (force majeure). A contract can be discharged when there is a dispute. This can happen either amicably or through mediation through arbitration and adjudication or through the court. The court is usually the last resort in this kind of settlement. Most modern contracts proscribe mediation mechanism. Contract closure should be seen as part of the procurement process that assures that the employer gets what it paid for and contractor, payment for goods or services delivered. The Role of Regulation in Public Procurement A good regulatory framework is pre-requisite for an efficient Public procurement system. The role of policy formulation should be separate from policy execution and a mechanism for handling protests must be established. Any agency involved in any form of execution of public procurement should not be involved in regulating procurement. The Nigeria Public Procurement Act is however, somehow deficient in the area of separation of policy formulation, execution and regulation and protest handling mechanism. The Bureau is involve in giving no objection for contracts yet is involve enforcing compliance with the provisions of the Act. This vested the power of execution and regulation in the Bureau. The Bureau also through the council (where the DG is the secretary) is involved in policy formulation and handling of protest. A good example of separation of regulation, execution and protest handling mechanism is the Kenyan public procurement system. It incorporated the necessary separation of execution, policy formulation and protest handling mechanism. However, this has not prevented politicians in Kenya from abusing the procurement system. In 2004 all the procurement officials in the various MDA in Kenya were suspended to allow politicians recover the money they spent in election campaign. The various agencies under the Kenyan Act are: Public Procurement Oversight Authority The functions of the Kenyan Public Procurement Oversight Authority are: To ensure that the procurement procedures established under the Act are complied with; To monitor the public procurement system and report on the overall functioning to the Minister and also do the following functions: support the training and professional development of persons involved in procurement Issue written directions to ublic entities with respect to procurement including the conduct of procurement proceedings and the dissemination of information on procurements; and ensure that procuring entities engage procurement professionals in their procurement units. To initiate public procurement policy and propose amendments to the Act. To perform such other functions and duties as provided for under the Act Public Procurement Oversight Advisory Board Composition The Public Procurement Oversight Advisory Board shall consist of nine members appointed by the Minister approved by Parliament from persons nominated by the prescribed organizations and the Director-General. Functions To advise the Authority generally on exercise of its powers and the performance of its functions To approve the estimates of the revenue and expenditures of the Authority; To recommend the appointment and termination of the Director-General of the Authority Perform such other functions and duties as provided for under the Act. Public Procurement Administrative Review Board The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board, review complaints and make appropriate recommendation to the government. The Public Procurement Oversight Authority shall provide administrative services to the Review Board. Procuring Entities (MDA) It is the responsibility of Procuring Entities to comply with provisions of the Act. Specifically the Kenyan Act provides; What is being procured must be within the approved budget of the procuring entity and included an annual procurement plan Procurement undertaken by a procuring entity must be as per threshold matrix as set out in the regulations There is adequate segregation of duties in respect of procurement initiation, processing and receipt of goods, works and services. A public entity shall establish a tender committee, procurement unit and such other bodies as required under the regulations for the purpose of making such ecisions on behalf of the public entity as specified in the Act . Procurement Planning The first thing to do in procurement is, planning the process. It involves definition of the project scope and expected completion time. Specifically, the procuring entities need to identify the required works, goods or services to be procured. The procuring entities also need to determine the various procurement sequences. The procuring entity will selec t equipment packages and choose the method of procurement to use depending on the scope and complexity of the assignment. The following methods are usually used in procurement of goods, works and services (non-intellectual services): International competitive bidding (ICB) Limited international bidding National competitive bidding Shopping Procurement Plan should separate consultancy services, works, goods and supply and installation of plants and equipments. Procurement plan should address the following; How the procurement process should be handled (ICB,NCB, Others, Co-financing) Define the timing of each step in the procurement process (Each step, Each Package). It should also identify the procurement & implementation team The plan should also take in account the approvals process and delays that may occur. It should take into account all technical, staffing, legal and training etc. Procurement Steps There should be identification of needs. The list of goods, equipment, materials plants etc. Types of Works (Large, Small, Very Small) and aassociated Services. The procuring entity should also indentify the means of transportation, distribution and training. The plan should also take into account after sales service and warranty period. The steps include the advertisement of tenders. The World Bank require advert in G. D. Market and United Nation Business on-line. National competitive bidding requires advert in at least two nationally read newspapers. The process includes; Issuance of Bidding Documents Bid or Quotations Submission & Opening Bid or Quotation Evaluation Contract and Purchase Order Award. This will be preceded by contract notification, signature and effectiveness. Pre-contract Meeting Officials of the procuring entity involve in the procurement process should meet in order to: Understand their responsibilities and restrictions under the contract The role of the project manager should also be defined The various tests and other forms of quality control should be defined. Specific deliverables and special contract provisions should be explained. Monitoring and performance measurement should be understood and invoicing and payment procedures should be explained. Pre- contract meeting/discussion between the employer and the contractors are usually organised. At such meeting, the objective of the contract and its requirements are clearly defined. The contract effectiveness conditions are explained. Others issues to be discussed are: The project manager (from the employer) and contractors representative Organization and structures of the contractor’s implementation team. Implementation schedule and Reporting method Progress meetings, works certification and invoicing After the pre-contract discussion all grey areas are ironed out, the contract is signed by contractor’s representative with the power of attorney and the authorised representative of the contractor. Contract Effectiveness This will take place after the contract has been signed and following conditions have been fulfilled: Contractor provide performance guaranty and advance payment guaranty (if required) If the contract requires payment of advance payment, it has been paid If Letter of Credit is required it must be established The Letter of Credit must be confirmed (if funded by Nigeria government) or made operative through issuance of special commitment if World Bank financed contract or letter of guaranty if AfDB financed contract The employer must write a letter conveying the effectiveness to the contractor Letter of Credit Letters of Credit are guided by universal custom practice established by International Chamber of commerce and Industry based in Paris, France. It provides condition to enable parties to contract of sale living in different countries to make and receive payment for goods supplied. It start with a bank in the buyers country (opening bank) opening direct communication with another bank in the seller country (advising bank), through a correspondence bank (usually the negotiating bank). The opening bank will open either an irrevocable Letter of credit or a revocable letter of credit depending on the circumstance of the transaction. It is irrevocable because once established neither of the party can cancel it unilaterally before the expiration of the validity. Letter of Credit is said to be confirmed if in addition to the confirmation of the opening bank, another bank (say the negotiating bank also add its confirmation). Under LC for contracts financed by World Bank, LC’s are irrevocable but are unconfirmed. They are made operational when a special commitment is issued on it by World Bank. Incoterms 2000 Incoterms means International Commercial Terms published by International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Headquarter in Paris. Incoterms was created in 1936 by ICC to facilitate international trade by providing uniform interpretation of trade terms. Incoterms are regularly updated to keep pace with developments in international trade. The latest is incoterms 2000. The scope of incoterms is limited to rights & obligations of parties to contract of sales as it relates to delivery of tangible goods. For example under the C terms, the Seller fulfils his obligation upon the shipment of goods. Once the good are shipped by the seller, under the C terms the buyer is obliged to receive the goods. The following are the various incoterms Group E: Departure {text:list-item} Group E: Main Carriage unpaid {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Group C: Main Carriage Paid {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Group D: Arrival {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Terms of Payment There are terms of payment for various contracts. Terms of payment are usually specified in the bidding document or request for proposal (RFP). Under a project financed by credit from the World Bank, the following terms shall apply as follows; Schedule 1-Plant & Equipment from Abroad text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Schedule 2-Plant & Equipment from Employers Country {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Schedule 3-Local Transportation {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Schedule 4-Installation Service {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} All payment must be made 45 days from submission of invo ice and invoice not paid more than 60 days will attract interest. Role of Project Manager and Contractors Representative: Project Manager The contractor must be notified of the Project Manager in writing. The Project Manager shall act and represent the employer at times during the validity of the contract. He shall give all instructions, notices, orders, certificates etc. He shall give approval and receives notices, instructions, information on behalf of the employer. Contractors Representative: The employer must be notified in writing with his CV attached. Contractor representative must be approved by employer. The contractors representative act and represent the contractor at all time during the validity of the contract, He received all instructions, notices, orders, certificates, approvals and communications. The contractor representative issues all notices, instructions, information and other communications on behalf of the contractor Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring and Evaluation is an essentially part of contract administration. It is usually performed by project manager. Project Manager approves all designs and drawings for supply & installations contract etc. The project manager inspects & issue acceptance certificate before shipment. Proper monitoring ensures potential disputes are averted Invoicing and Payments Contractors and employers are partners. The contractors have goods/services or works required by the employer while the contractor want money from the employer. Contract won under international competitive bidding process give world-wide, most competitive price to the employer. Issuance of invoices and demand for payment is an obligation of the contractor while the employer has responsibility to pay for goods delivered and or services and works performed by the contractor. The format of invoicing and works certification should be worked out early to avoid employment of penalty clause. Progress Meetings Progress meeting is necessary aspect of large and complex contracts which takes longer time to complete. Progress meetings are held at regular intervals. It is usually held to monitor the progress of the contract implementation. At such meeting contract implementation progress are discussed and compared with the contract implementation schedule. Implementation problems are also discussed with a view of solving them. The objective is to ensure that the contract will be completed with requisite quality, on time and within budget. Some identified Contract Administration Problems in Nigeria Institutional problems like contracts enforcement and prolonged court procedures are serious impediment to smooth contract administration. Other common contract administration problems are: Contracts entered into with parties having little understanding of the contract terms. Ccontracts’ seen as ways of dispensing favours. Therefore, little attention is paid to qualification. Contractors in some cases do not employ qualified personnel to manage and execute contracts. It usually takes unnecessarily long time to issue sufficient Bonds and Insurances for the execution of contracts, due to stringent conditions. Inadequate monitoring by employers also affects smooth contract implementation. A common contract administration problem that has become very visible especially in Nigeria Power Sector is losing out other partners in JV or Consortium agreement Delay in making payment to the contractors due to inadequate budgetary provisions Employment of unqualified or incompetent sub-contractors Delays in opening LC’s and extension of LC’s & Form M. Misapplication of proceeds of advance payment by contractors Di spute in the interpretation of contract terms Delay in issuing Duties and vat exemptions certificate conveyance Difficulties in clearing goods in the ports and the poor state of the nation infrastructure Inconsistency in government policies and corruption of government officials Avoiding Dispute in contract implementation The best dispute resolution method is not to have disputed at all. However, if there is a dispute direct negotiations between the parties at an early stage could be helpful. If no solution is found through direct negotiation, establish in a letter the facts of which constitute the breach of contract to focus the problem on the issue under dispute In United Kingdom an alternative dispute resolution technique called â€Å"partnering technique† is being employed. Partnering starts with a workshop usually during the kick off meeting where expectations of parties (contractor and employer) are discussed and harmonised. A partnering agreement or charter is signed by the parties. Employer and contractor are expected to encourage their staff to achieve the charter. In some cases the employer and the contractor share offices in the spirit of the partnering. Dispute Resolution Adjudication Once a dispute cannot be resolved mutually between the parties, it can be referred to adjudicator by either party in writing with a copy to the other party. The adjudicator shall give his decision in writing to both parties. The decision of the adjudicator is not final. The name of the adjudicator and his CV is usually included in the bidding document. If a bidder has problem with a suggested adjudicator, he must indicate so in writing and suggest another adjudicator which must be accepted by the employer. Arbitration If either of the party is dissatisfied with the decision of the adjudicator, the dissatisfied party can write to the arbitrator. Either party may give the other notice to commence arbitration. The ddecision of arbitration are final and binding on all parties Arbitration Courts The Court of Arbitration of International Chamber of Commerce (Paris) is the most popular arbitration institute in the World. Other are; London Court of Arbitration and Allied Professional Society The American Arbitration Association in United State of American Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce based in Sweden. United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) – UN International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID)- WB Change Orders and Price Adjustments Contracts are base on plans, designs, specification and quantities which are best estimates. Field conditions, revisions to original plan could cause the scope of the contract to change. Revisions caused by changes in expectation and technology may require change order. A â€Å"change order† is request for a change in the scope of a contract. It may be requested by either party to a contract. A â€Å"change order† signed by all the parties have the same authority as the original contract. For contracts financed by World Bank, change order is applied to changes in contract that is more than 5% of the contract sum. Under the World Bank procurement system, contract which exceed 18 months period should have provision for price adjustment. Contract Close Out Contract close out begins when the contract has been physically complete, i. e. all services have been performed and products delivered. Close out is completed when all administrative actions have been completed, all disputes settled, and final payment have been made. Materials and equipment to be handed over properly receipted. Contract close out is as important as contract award and contract monitoring. A check list of all services, products, etc. to be delivered in the contract should be kept in the contract file. Governance: Fraud, Corruption & Conflict of Interest Conflict of interest refers to a situation in which procurement official evaluate tenders involving companies in which they have direct or indirect interest. Fraud on the other hand includes misrepresentation or omission of facts to influence a procurement process or the execution of contract. It also includes collusion among bidders. corruption include offering, giving, receiving or soliciting directly or indirectly of anything of value to influence the action of a public official in the procurement process or contract execution. Governance: Identification of Corruption Some â€Å"red flags† in procurement process that indicate possibility of corruption include the following: Poor record keeping Deviations from procedures without written justification Poorly defined roles/responsibilities Absence of good internal control system â€Å"Red flags† can be exhibited by individuals involve in procurement and contract administration as follows: Extravagant lifestyle Excessive interaction with supplier(s) and contractors Too much secrecy Reluctance to delegate duties Keeping contact with certain suppliers exclusively Some â€Å"red flags† in a particular procuring entity are: Always the same suppliers competing & wining Reluctance of established supplier and contractors to bid for contracts in an entity Some â€Å"red flags† in contract administration Excessive cost overruns Excessive numbers of change orders (increasing cost) Payment of frivolous claims Governance: Corruption Contributing Factors& Known Signals Lack of competitive environment Lack of trained & competent procurement staff Widespread lack of trust & job security Permissive environment (no sanctions after established cases of fraud and corruption) Lack of good mechanism for handling protest & delays Known signals {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Case Study Case 1 An employer invited bid for the supply of one X-ray machine for the main hospital for delivery one month ex-stock within 2 months of Letter of Credit. In the bidding document, bidders were asked to quote price on CIP capital city by air in US dollars. Bidders were provided 60 days to submit bids. Six bids were opened publicly. All except one bidder quoted the price as solicited. One bidder quoted the price in French Francs. In its evaluation the employer rejected the bid as it did not comply with the currency provision. The employer proposed to award the contract to the lowest bidder as all the other bid are responsive. The contract will be financed under a credit from World Bank and the rejected bidder protested to the World Bank on the ground that World Bank permitted bids from any member country and currency and his bid was in fact the lowest. What should the World Bank do and Why? Case 2 In an agricultural project, an employer presented papers relating to an advance procurement of two bulldozers for World Bank financing retroactively. The employer/borrower claimed to have followed the World Bank ICB procedures. On review, it was noted that the General Procurement Notice (GPN) and Specific Procurement Notice (SPN) were issued, adequate time provided for the bidding, there was good response and award had been made to the lowest bidder. The only short-coming was the bids were opened by a government committee without inviting the bidder representative. Is the process valid under this circumstance? Case 3 You are the chairman of public procurement administrative review commission. A project includes the procurement of 10 tracks Dozers and excavators to be procured under a single package. The specifications stated the tracks should be powered by an engine with a minimum of 175 horsepower (SAE) at a rated RPM. Firm A offered its dozers with a 165HP. In the evaluation the committee consider the deviation as minor and awarded the contract to Firm A. Firm B