School Violence free essay sample

This paper delves into the issues of school violence which has been plaguing our society for a number of years, causing detrimental effects to the development of our country, the improved lives of our citizens and the well-being of children. Moral development of individuals is closely related to conforming to certain norms and standards of society, and control of antisocial or negative behavior is absolutely necessary in preventing delinquent behavior. The stages of moral development should be understood to delineate the positive or negative impact of non-conformity. After complete moral development, individuals may choose to not conform to social standards and try to move beyond norms. This is not always negative and would be associated with novelty and creativity. However when moral development is hindered at an early stage of life when children ignore moral values and ethics of society for their own selfish pursuits and there is a complete lack of external control, the moral development is truncated and lead to criminal behavior in later life. We will write a custom essay sample on School Violence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A restraining factor in violent acts of crime is rational thinking and if individuals can rationalize, reflect and understand the seriousness of crimes, they would be deterred from engaging in crimes and would thus in turn aid their own moral and personal development. Moral development of children would be dependent on several factors and according to psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, the first stage of moral reasoning is of obedience and avoiding punishment, the second stage is keeping up to expectations of family members and the final stage is moving beyond social conventions. Students that commit violent acts of crime have incomplete moral development as their behavior may be motivated by a desire to break the law and challenge obedience and punishment. There are different categories of violent behaviours that take place in the school context, including those directly directed towards objects or school material and those directly directed towards individuals such as teachers and peers. The first one would refer to acts of vandalism such as breaking desks or doors, painting names, messages and graffiti’s on the school walls, And the second  type would include verbal and physical aggressions towards the teachers or peers, and serious problems of discipline in the class such as disobeying the school internal regulations. Out of all these behaviours, fights between peers are the most frequent ones, whether it is one to one or between groups. In today’s society, the influence of media, the glorification of money and power, the portrayal of aggression as socially more valued than nurturing, the acceptance of condemnation instead of caring have cultivated in the cognitive schema of our students the perception that any attempt to weigh matters against ethical positions is light and soft – attributes that are asynchronous with the rough and ravenous disposition of those perceived to be successful, wealthy and socially elitist. Parents and teachers are very influential in a child’s development. We have to be very conscientious and methodical in the way we model behaviours and attitudes regarding students’ growth and development. Around the world, newspapers and the broadcast media report daily on violence by gangs in schools. Of all acts of crime and violence committed among children, those that take place within schools are the most frequent. Students that commit violent acts of crime generally lack the ability to control their emotions and are incapable of expressing their rage without hurting someone in the process. Students that display these behavioural problems usually have very low self-esteem and self-worth and they seek to take out their frustration on uninvolved victims, blaming them for their misfortunes. Youth violence has plagued our society for a substantial amount of years and there are several ways in which it can develop. Some children exhibit these behavioural patterns in ear ly childhood that gradually escalates to more severe forms of aggression before and during adolescence. Violent students have a jaded, often cavalier attitude toward education and its importance to their future success or personal development. Studies have shown that low intelligence and low levels of achievement in school have consistently been found to be associated with youth violence. Students are in most cases, labeled or stigmatized by other peers regarding their status in society, their background and their academic abilities. This has been an issue for quite some time where students worth, their perceptions of themselves and their inability to conform to what is deemed as socially acceptable behaviour has been questioned by both the individuals and society at large. . Students who  feel threatened by their peers have an unquenchable thirst for revenge on anyone who they believe has had a â€Å"gold spoon† placed in their mouth since birth. They view students whose parents are high up the social ladder in society as the reasons for their adversities and they seek revenge on what they believe they are being deprived off. They often lash out in ways that are not considered acceptable behaviour by law but is â€Å"fair game â€Å"in their eyes. The home environment is thought to contribute immensely to school violence. Parental behaviour and the family environment are central factors in the development of violent behaviour in young people. Long-term exposure to gun violence, parental alcoholism, domestic violence, physical abuse of the child, poor monitoring and supervision of children by parents and child sexual abuse, teaches children that criminal and violent activities are acceptable. These factors are strong predictors of violence during adolescence. Harsh parental discipline is clearly associated with higher levels of aggressiveness in youths. Violence in adolescence has been strongly linked to parental conflict in early childhood and to poor attachment between parents and children. Single parent families are also indicators that contribute to violent behaviours in students where they often blame themselves for their parent’s separation. The feeling of inadequacy toward their parents and failure to prevent the separation may have detrimental effects on a child thus leading them to commit violent acts. A low level of family cohesion and the absence of other social support, can vastly affect children’s social and emotional functioning and behaviour. This factor contributes to the behaviours that are apparent in schools where violence stems from the home and is then transferred into the schools resulting in unfavorable outcomes. Another indicator influencing student violence is peer influences. During adolescence, building these relationships with peers is generally considered positive and important in shaping interpersonal connections, but they can also have negative effects. Having delinquent friends in school is associated with violence in young people. The presence of gangs in schools, guns and drugs in a locality is a potent mixture, increasing the likelihood of violence. Students often feel intimidated by their peers who are higher academic achievers than themselves and come from families that are social elites, and in order for them to feel superior; they commit violent acts that they know they have full control  over in order to replace any feelings of inferiority. Violence in school is often committed by gangs rather than an individual where a gang would fully support their actions regardless of the consequences. There is often a sense of superiority felt by those individuals who commit such unnecessary crimes where their actions are praised by their peers and that in turn, boost their ego. The communities in which young people live is an important influence on their families, the nature of their peer groups, and the way they may be exposed to situations that lead to violence. Generally speaking, boys in urban areas are more likely to be involved in violent behaviour than those living in rural areas. Within urban areas, those living in neighborhoods with high levels of crime are more likely to be involved in violent behaviour than those living in other neighborhoods. Students that live in communities that are prone to having criminal activity and gangs will continue to portray an unfavourable bahaviour in the school as well. The tactics they learn outside the school from persons much older and experienced than they are will be used in the school to bully students, hurt them physically as well as emotionally and possibly end their lives because to the perpetrators, everything is seen as a game to them and they are incapable of showing remorse. This is the unfortunate reality that we live in where students are being bullied for their money, food or jewellery in schools. Granted that there were never any killings in schools, that does not make the students behaviour acceptable. In the Caribbean, there have not been any killings in schools thus far but with violent acts, there is no limit to what a person can do because if the students can commit these acts with a clear conscious, there is no telling what these children are really capable of. Culture, which is reflected in the inherited norms and values of society, helps determine how people respond to a changing environment. One important means through which violent images, norms and values are propagated is the media. Exposure of children and young people to the various forms of the media has increased dramatically in recent years. New forms of media – such as exposure to television violence and, to a lesser extent, violent video games are related to increased aggressiveness in children, which, in turn, may carry over into school. These factors have multiplied opportunities for young people to be exposed to violence. It is essential that we understand that students model behaviour, therefore  whatever they are exposed too, directly influences their behaviour, their thinking, their actions and their beliefs. If students grow up in a stable environment that is conducive to learning and developing intellectually as well as socially their behavioural patterns would conform to what is socially acceptable by law. Students need to have instilled in them, proper religious beliefs, values, practices and principles so that they are able to differentiate right from wrong. This starts at the home but it is essential that it continues at school so that the practices imparted to them would allow them to understand that violent acts toward peers are wrong and are regarded as unfair and unjust treatment of students. Participating in physical fights, bullying and carrying of weapons are important risk behaviours for youth violence. Involvement in physical fighting is very common among students in many parts of the world. Forms of aggression, bullying and physical fighting in schools lead to very serious forms of violence. The carrying of weapons is predominantly a male activity among young students in today’s society. There are, however, major variations in the prevalence of weapon carrying as reported by adolescents in different countries. If we were to look at the U.S, the severity of criminal activity that takes place in those schools would surpass the violent acts of crime carried out in Caribbean schools. In the U.S, there were episodes of shootings and stabbings with knives, killing a number of students in the process. The extent to which students would orchestrate their crimes in the U.S would appear to be premeditated as appose to Caribbean crimes where students randomly choose their victims to have a fight with. Whether the crimes are premeditated or random, that could never justify such actions. Violent acts in schools not only affect the individual, but the entire family of the victim. Parent- and family-based interventions are designed to improve family relations. There is growing evidence that these interventions, especially those that start early and recognize the diverse factors that influence a family, can have substantial, long-term effects in reducing violent behavior at home as well as in schools. Strategies should be focused on modifying community characteristics, including school settings that either promote or inhibit violence. Strategies to change the social and cultural climate to  reduce youth violence are often difficult and infrequently used. Approaches that may facilitate lasting change include addressing social norms via public information campaigns; reducing media violence; and reforming educational systems at the institutional level. According to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, each individual is born with innate goodness.

Free Essays on Goodbye And Goodnight

Goodbye and Goodnight â€Å"I love you, do not ever forget. It was not your fault so please don’t blame yourself. It was my dad that caused me to do it. This is the only way for me to prove to him that he cared for me. Be brave for me, be strong for my little brother. Please don’t cry for me, I will always be with you. I love you, goodbye.† Those were Larry’s last word to me, left behind in a note. Reasons for why he felt his suicide was justified. The impact he had upon my life was like nothing I ever imagined. His death gave me a reason to live and taught me what was truly important. My best friend’s suicide caused me to find my true calling, discover what impact Christ has upon my life, and discover what is most important in life. Though still an open wound and painful to speak about, I will attempt to explain what Larry has done for me. I now understand the saying that â€Å"you do not realize how much you love someone until you lose them.† Larry taught me this, and taught me what was most important in life. I now spend more time focusing on the little things. The simple tasks are often overlooked such as playing a game with my younger sister or even spending the afternoon at a nursing home listening to the stories of the lonely residents. The little things in life that I would have previously taken for granted now have become valuable to my essence. Another thing that Larry’s death helped me to realize is what I want to do with my life. Before his suicide I had no aspirations, no dreams. Now I want to be a psychiatrist so I can help other people, in hope that they will not make the same mistake that he did. My hope is that I find the people in time and make a difference in their lives. The final and most profound impact Larry’s death has had upon my me is how through his death I have found Christ. In a time where I felt the most alone and vulnerable, the love of God got me through. ... Free Essays on Goodbye And Goodnight Free Essays on Goodbye And Goodnight Goodbye and Goodnight â€Å"I love you, do not ever forget. It was not your fault so please don’t blame yourself. It was my dad that caused me to do it. This is the only way for me to prove to him that he cared for me. Be brave for me, be strong for my little brother. Please don’t cry for me, I will always be with you. I love you, goodbye.† Those were Larry’s last word to me, left behind in a note. Reasons for why he felt his suicide was justified. The impact he had upon my life was like nothing I ever imagined. His death gave me a reason to live and taught me what was truly important. My best friend’s suicide caused me to find my true calling, discover what impact Christ has upon my life, and discover what is most important in life. Though still an open wound and painful to speak about, I will attempt to explain what Larry has done for me. I now understand the saying that â€Å"you do not realize how much you love someone until you lose them.† Larry taught me this, and taught me what was most important in life. I now spend more time focusing on the little things. The simple tasks are often overlooked such as playing a game with my younger sister or even spending the afternoon at a nursing home listening to the stories of the lonely residents. The little things in life that I would have previously taken for granted now have become valuable to my essence. Another thing that Larry’s death helped me to realize is what I want to do with my life. Before his suicide I had no aspirations, no dreams. Now I want to be a psychiatrist so I can help other people, in hope that they will not make the same mistake that he did. My hope is that I find the people in time and make a difference in their lives. The final and most profound impact Larry’s death has had upon my me is how through his death I have found Christ. In a time where I felt the most alone and vulnerable, the love of God got me through. ...

Twig Anatomy for Tree Identification

Twig Anatomy for Tree Identification To use a tree twig key means learning a twigs botanical parts. A key can help you identify a tree to the specific species by asking two question where you can affirm one and eliminate the other. This is called a dichotomous key. Here  is one of the best online twig keys. Terms You Must Know Opposite or Alternate Twigs: Most tree twig keys start with the arrangement of leaf, limb, and buds. It is the primary first separation of the most common tree species. You can eliminate major blocks of trees just by observing its leaf and twig arrangement. Alternate leaf attachments have one unique leaf at each leaf node and typically alternate direction along the stem. Opposite leaf attachments pair leaves at each node. Whorled leaf attachment is where three or more leaves attach at each point or node on the stem. The opposites are maple, ash, dogwood, paulownia buckeye and boxelder (which is really a maple). The alternates are oak, hickory, yellow poplar, birch, beech, elm, cherry, sweetgum, and sycamore. The Terminal Bud: There is a bud on the tip of every twig where growth occurs. It is often larger than the lateral buds and some can be absent. Trees easily identified by their terminal buds are yellow poplar (mitten or duckbilled shaped), dogwood (clove-shaped flower bud) and oak (clustered bud ends). The Lateral Buds: These are buds on each side of the branch. The trees easily identified by a lateral bud is beech (long, pointed scaled bud) and elm (buds off center over leaf scar). The Leaf Scar: This is a scar of leaf attachment. When the leaf drops, a scar is left just under the bud and it can be unique. The trees easily identified by its leaf scars are hickory (3-lobed), ash (shield-shaped)and dogwood (leaf scar encircles the twig). The Lenticel: There are cork-filled pores on most trees that permit the living inner bark to breathe. I use the narrow, long and light lenticels to partly identify just one species that can be tricky - black cherry. The Bundle Scar: You can see scars within the leaf scar that are a big help in identification. These visible dots or lines are cork filled ends of tubes that supply the leaf with water. The trees easily identified by its bundle or vein scars are ash (continuous bundle scars), maple (three bundle scars), and oaks (numerous scattered bundle scars) The Stipule Scar: This is the scar of a leaf-like attachment just off the leaf stem. Since all trees do not have stipules the presence or absence of stipule scars is often helpful in identifying a winter twig. The trees easily identified by its stipule scar is magnolia and yellow poplar. The Pith: The pith is the soft inner core of the twig. The trees easily identified by its pith are black walnut and butternut (both with chambered pith) and hickory (tan, 5-sided pith). One bit of caution when using the above markers. You need to observe an average-looking and maturing tree and stay away from root sprouts, seedlings, suckers and juvenile growth. Rapidly growing young growth can (but not always) have atypical markers that will confuse the beginning identifier.

Fashion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Fashion - Research Paper Example The following shall be discussed: fashion and health; fashion and comfort; fashion and culture; fashion and aesthetic culture; femininity in men’s fashion and finally, fashion and the economy. Fashion affects almost all aspects of life in the world and one of its greatest effects is on the health of those people who use the items and accessories of fashion. Some of the items which make up current fashion have adverse effects on the health of their users and it is very important that they note these effects and take the necessary actions to remedy them before they become permanent. The first to be discussed are fashion accessories, which many people who use them do not realize that they carry their own health hazards, for instance, carrying heavy handbags restricts blood flow to one side of the body causing muscle strain. Hair styles in most cases can also have unexpected results on the health of an individual for example, the wearing of hair extensions for long periods or chan ging them frequently can create bald spots on their scalps. Moreover, tight headbands, ponytails and braids can cause headaches due to the unnatural pulling of the hair resulting in the tightening of the scalp. Araujo and Minetti (759) in their article state that the minute amounts of nickel found in rings, earrings, belt buckles, watch backs, and jeans can cause an itchy red rash at the site of exposure on people who have nickel allergy which can begin suddenly even in adulthood. Furthermore, the trapped soap and moisture can cause a rash under any kind of ring but it tends to happen particularly with channel set rings with open spaces underneath the stone settings. Body piercings have a tendency of developing a bacterial infection with statistics showing a twenty percent frequency. The wearing of oversize earrings may cause the holes on the earlobes to stretch or tear and once that happens, the lobes may not heal on their own and might require cosmetic surgery to repair the damage by removing the excess tissue and stitching the hole shut. A related subject to this is the increase in the cases of cosmetic surgery because from the time they are kids, people tend to be told or given the image that they are inadequate and that they should change their looks to conform to the current fashion trend. According to Friedman (319) in his journal article â€Å"Cosmetic surgery† this has raised some serious medical concerns because since this field is still largely unregulated, any licensed physician and in some cases, dentist, is allowed to perform the procedure of cosmetic surgery. Fashion can damage one’s feet and balance through their choice of shoes especially the use of high heeled shoes. The use of these shoes leads to one bearing an additional weight on the forefoot, which results to drained nerves and joint problems such as bunions or hammertoes. These situations are almost impossible to reverse and the problems that come with them remain with the person affected for the rest of their lives, as they tend to get worse as they age. Skintight jeans can cause irritation to the skin through trapping dampness, which might lead to one having yeast infection. Eating disorders such as anorexia are caused by a person’s (especially ladies) need to conform to current fashion trends through excessive food restriction and an irrational fear of gaining weight. According to Prah (122) in the article â€Å"Eating Disorders,†

Team and leadership ip 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team and leadership ip 2 - Essay Example On the other hand, leadership is a concern with bringing the team to the vision, which is through inspiration and good communication. They do this so that the team they lead can work harder and achieve the targeted goals. An effective leader needs to have leadership skills, and the knowledge that a leader possesses is influenced by factors such as personality, values, attitude, cognitive differences and charisma (Phipps and Prieto, 2011). Personality has been considered to influence as a major element in what makeup leadership style of a person. The personality trait of every leader has an impact on the dynamic of the team; therefore, indicating the way the leader must approach their working. It greatly affects how a leader interacts with his team members, and how the leader will act. A person’s charisma is a divine grace and is a source of authority for a leader to do good deeds (Phipps and Prieto, 2011). Hence, it makes people being led believe in the remarkable quality of a leader. Leaders who have charisma, they have an extraordinary personality, character, focused on their work and behaviour. Leaders attract people through interacting with them in discussions and arguments. Values of a person greatly affect and shape their decision-making and behaviour. In addition, personal values serve as a driver on the methods one uses in creating value. They influence how a leader perceives the external environment a nd shapes the choices they make and organizational performance. A leader’s attitude towards his team should be friendly, but of serious working to meet the goals set. A leader with a bad attitude towards his team members will not lead effectively. The cognitive difference between leaders includes the processes that these individuals use in making decisions and not just the decisions they make (Caruso, Mayer and Salovey, 2002). Leaders have

Macro and Micro Environment Analysis of McDonalds

Macro and Micro Environment Analysis of McDonalds 2. Literature Review This section provides a broad picture of the dissertation that includes setting up the arameters and limits to the field of inquiry going into the research. Its aim is to identify key ideas, marketing theories applicable and marketing case studies that impinge upon the area of this investigation. It makes an effective starting point leading into the introduction and the background of the dissertation. 2.1 Macro Environment Analysis of McDonalds The analysis is done using a top down approach where first the Macro Environment and then the Micro environment has been examined, in which McDonalds operates. 2.1.2 Internal Anlaysis Internal Analysis is done using Value Chain analysis. The term ‘value chain was used by Michael Porter (1985) in his book â€Å"competitive advantage; creating and sustaining superior performance†. Brown (1997),â€Å"described value chain as a tool to disaggregate a business in to strategically relevant activities†. In McDonalds case, the key value adding activities are inbound logistics, operation, outbound logistics, marketing sales and service. McDonalds logistics function is to buy food on behalf of its operator (franchisee) and arrange delivery in to their restaurants. McDonalds logistics includes; the procurement and shipment of raw materials in to suppliers, the procurement and shipment of finished goods between the suppliers and the distribution centres, together with the warehousing at each distribution centre, the ordering and the delivery to restaurants of all food, packaging and operating supplies. To improve its logistics operation, McDonalds combines a number of food-processing plants dedicated to its operation only. The establishment of â€Å"food towns† consisting of a distribution centre and a bakery, a meat plant, a sauce plant and a chicken plant, gives McDonalds competitive advantage. The supporting activities that can be identified are procurement, human resources development and technology. McDonalds uses electronic procurement system. It had set logistics trends for restaurants with its online ordering system. It was noted that more than 12% of McDonalds franchisees ordered food supplier electronically. Revamping its supply chain with software and technology made it easy to respond quickly and efficiently to customers needs. With the online ordering system, McDonalds had a return on investment of 23.2% in 2008. However, the human resource development at McDonalds is excellent. McDonalds uses a high-engagement approach to improving both their operations, leadership pipeline and employee satisfaction with their career growth. Every management staff at McDonalds receives training at one of the regional training centres and at the national centre, Hamburger University in East Finchley. Training all employees to work in one best way (quick-service culture) made McDo nalds to gain customers loyalty continuously leading to a competitive advantage. 2.1.3 External Anlaysis PEST analysis is applied for an in depth understanding of macro environment in fast food industry where McDonalds operated. Kotler (1998) claims that PEST analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations. POLITICAL The operations of McDonalds are affected by the government policies on the regulations of fast food operation. Currently government are controlling the marketing of fast food restaurant because of health concern such as cardiovascular and cholesterol issue and obesity among the young and children in the country. Governments also control the license given for open the fast food restaurant and other business regulation need to follow such as for a franchise business. Good relationship with government in giving mutual benefits such as employment and tax is a must for the company to succeed in any foreign market. McDonalds should also protect its workers by ensuring all the hiring, compensation, training or repatriation is according to UK and European Labour Law and the Middle Eastern Labour Laws as stipulated. ECONOMICS As a business entity, McDonalds need to face a lot of economic variables outside its company or its macro environment. Dealing with international sourcing for its material McDonalds should be aware on the global supply and currencies exchange. Remember, McDonalds import most of its raw material such as beef and potatoes due to local market cannot supply in abundant to meet the demand of its product. Any upside of currencies especially dollar will be impacting its cost of purchase. Working on the local country, McDonalds must face government regulations on tax of profit where it gains from the operation and other tax such as entertainment and restaurant service tax. Each country may have different scale or types of tax available and McDonalds should follow the regulation if it wants to continue the operation. As a franchise, McDonalds should also pay certain percentage of the revenue to the parent company in United States. The economic condition and growth of the country also is an important indicator to the demand of products that McDonalds offered. As the food priced slightly above normal foods, not many people will have the income range to consume the products. Moreover if the economy is bad and income percapita is affected, the demand of McDonalds product will certainly going down. On the other hand the good economy also means disposable income is more and people can spend more on more expensive food at fast food restaurant. SOCIAL/CULTURAL The changing lifestyles of Malaysia due to development of Malaysian economy should be also taking into consideration. While more people are able financially to eat at more expensive outlet such as fast food restaurant, they have higher expectation. They want to have quality in services and more conveniences that can differentiate one restaurant from another. Young urban consumers want technology in their life and facilities such as credit card payment, wireless internet, cozy and relaxing ambient place, and other attraction for their hangout and eating. All these needs should also be taken into consideration. There is not much difference between cultural and the purchase of products in a single country but for different countries cultural sensitivity should be upheld. For example in India people (Hindu) do not take beef, Muslim countries do not take pork, German like beers, Finnish like fish type of food menu, Chinese like to associate food with something good (for ex ample prosperity), Asian like rice and Americans eat in big-sized menu. So far McDonalds has shown good efforts in localization of its menu to suit local taste but it should constantly survey and learn about local culture to better understand and design the best product for them. TECHNOLOGY For a fast food restaurant, technology does not give a very high impact on the company and it is not a significant macro environment variables. However McDonalds should be looking to competitors innovation and improve itself in term of integrating technology in managing its operation. For example in inventory system, supply chain management system to manage its supply, easy payment and ordering systems for its customers and wireless internet technology. Implementation of technology can make the management more effective and cost saving in the long term. This will also make customer happy if cost savings results in price reduction or promotional campaign discount which will benefits them from time to time. LEGAL As a certified fast food operator, there are many regulations and procedures that McDonalds should follow. For example is the Halal certification that becomes a concern to Muslim consumers. McDonalds should protect its integrity and consumer confidence by ensuring all materials and process are as claimed or must followed. Other legal requirement that the business owner should follow as stipulated in laws are such as operating hours, business registration, tax requirement, labor and employment laws and quality environment certification (such as ISO) in which the outlet has been certified. The legal requirement is important because the offenders will be fined or have their business prohibited from operating which can be disastrous. ENVIRONMENT As one of world largest consumer of beef, potatoes and chicken, McDonalds always had been critics for world environmentalist. This is because high consumption of beef causing the green house effect by methane gasses coming from the cows ranch. Large scale plantation has effect the environment and lost of green forest opening for plantation activities. Vegetarian environmentalist criticizes the fast-food giant for cruelty to animals and slaughtering. In Japan, once McDonalds want to introduce whale burger causing uproar because whales are endangered species. Before using paper packaging, once McDonalds also had been criticized for being insensitive to pollution because using polystyrene based packaging for its foods. Imagine millions of people purchase from fast food operator and how is the impact to world environment by throwing away those hard to recycle packaging. Our world is getting concern on environment issue and business operating here should not just care for prof it, but careful usage of world resources for sustainable development and care for environment safety and health for our future generation. Critics and concern from all public or activist should be review and support if necessary to ensure we play our social responsibility better. 2.2 Market Position McDonalds is operating in a very competitive market. In order to maintain on the top position of the competition, it is important to understand the companys industry environment to be prepared for actions. Porters 5 Forces is a useful model for analysing the industry environment, it identifies five competitive forces that shape every single industry and market. Supplier Power If suppliers have strong bargaining power, competitive pressure will be greater (Pearce and Robinson, 2004). McDonalds works in partnership with most of their suppliers to protect the quality of their foods and minimise the bargaining power of suppliers. Buyer Power Consumers buying power in the food market is high. With the continuously changes in tastes and the increased concern in healthy eating, companies in the food market has to make changes and improvements to satisfy its customers. Otherwise there is a high possibility in getting bad publicity and lost in profit. Threat of Substitute The threat of substitute is high in the fast food market due to the strong competition and the increasing amount of ready to eat foods. Customers have many choices other than McDonalds, and ready to eat meals are cheaper and convenient. Competition The competition in the fast food market is very high. McDonalds has to compete with strong competitors like Burger King, Pizza Hut, Wendy and KFC. Threat of Entry The threat of new entrant is low in the fast food industry because of the amount of competition with the big players in the market. New entrants will not likely to win due to lack ok economic of scale. The fast food industry is highly competitive. Taking one step further from the internal analysis, in this chapter, external analysis was done so as to determine where McDonalds I positioned in the market, given the intensive rivalry. PESTLE is used to gather data for completion of this analysis. From the data using PESTLE, swot analysis is done to determine how McDonalds strong market position as the largest foodservice and fast-food retailing chain in the world is bolstered by robust all-round growth witnessed by the company. By analyzing PEST and SWOT an understanding of overall of the companys power and how it can grow, is established. This was done keeping the focus on Western European Market and the Middle east. Hence the impact of European Regulations and turbulence caused by ter rorism and Iraq war is also taken as a significant point as part of analysis. Porters five forces model is used as the tool to analyse the market competition in the European and the middle east market. The existing rivalry in the industry is already strong although McDonalds is in a dominant market position. The above analysis helps to conclude MCDonalds competitive advantage and its uniqueness to gain broad target in the aforementioned markets. 2.3 : Marketing Strategy and Mix Every organisations need to identify their strategic aims to be able to have a direct focus of what and when to achieve it within a given time. This is usually based on the organisations limited resources and capabilities. As (Barney 1991), â€Å"stated an organisation could extend their limited resources and capabilities through organisational learning, sharing, generation of knowledge, redeployment of existing resources in an effective and efficient ways†. In this section, the strategic aim of McDonalds is discussed. This is used for evaluating the way it has implemented its objectives and the effectiveness of the global and local marketing strategies. This was important to fully understand its market and environment in order to evaluate its right marketing plans and the adopted strategies. After analysing the market and environment of McDonalds, this chapter focuses on the plans and strategies adopted by the company to overcome its weaknesses and avoid the threats. It uses various survey results to determine the effectiveness of its marketing mix. In the year 2003, when, McDonalds had been having problems on losing market share, reducing profit and bad publicity, the company started aligning their global system around a common mission with a common set of customer focused goal oriented actions. It was called â€Å"McDonalds Plan to Win† which was to put the companys concentration on the five drivers of exceptional customer experiences Product, People, Place, Promotion and Price. This plan was aimed to increase profits by improving its services to increase customers. These 5 variables are also known as the Retail Marketing Mix or the 5 Ps. They are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market. This cha pter discusses and evaluates the way McDonalds has established its revitalisation plan in the European and the Middle East markets. While doing the research on the five Ps, McDonalds relationship marketing is also examined, that is viewed as an asset and the companys marketing goal is to attract, maintain, and enhance customer relationships. Then there is an argument on whether the combination of five Ps with the relationship marketing is enough to stay on the competition or is there any other areas to be focussed as well. In the aspect of marketing sales McDonalds adopted the concept of 7ps of marketing mix formulated by McCarthy (1975) and Gilligan Fifield (1996). These 7ps includes; product, place, price, promotion, people, process, physical. With these 7ps McDonalds was able to create a uniformity of items that taste the same in different countries. McDonalds realises that although there is cost savings in standardisation but success can be achieved by being able to adapt to a specific environment. It has a pricing strategy that enables it to cope with a particular market. In setting price, McDonalds looks at the elasticity of demand for its product in response to price. Considering the diverse range of culture, custom in different countries, McDonalds has localised its marketing communication strategy using different promotion and advertisement. For instance McDonalds uses the England footballer Alan Shearer as a logo to advertise its hamburgers in the UK and in France its uses Fabien Barthez, t he French international goalkeeper. Obviously, McDonalds uses a number of styles to attract customers. After analysing the market and environment of McDonalds, this chapter will be focusing on the plans and strategies adopted by the company to overcome its weaknesses and avoid the threats. In the past few years, McDonalds has been having problems on losing market share, reducing profit and bad publicity. In the year 2003, the company have aligned their global system around a common mission with a common set of customer focused goal oriented actions. It is called â€Å"McDonalds Plan to Win† which was to put the companys concentration on the five drivers of exceptional customer experiences Product, People, Place, Promotion and Price. This plan was aimed to increase profits by improving its services to increase customers. These 5 variables are also known as the Retail Marketing Mix or the 5 Ps. They are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market. (Please refer to appendix 2 for further information on the 5 Ps) Product The following are the strategies applied by McDonalds on their Products: To satisfy customers desire for premium products at affordable prices. More choices on the Happy Meal such as fruit options and milk for the kids. To address the desire for foods that fit into todays lifestyle. McDonalds has added new choices like meal-size salads, fruit options and sandwiches in order to fit the increased concern on health eating. McDonalds is controlling the quality of the foods by working in partnership with its suppliers and to work closely with food experts to ensure the quality is in the highest standard. People The following are the marketing strategies adopted by McDonalds on its People: Speeding up service by simplifying the restaurant environment for their staff and customers. Ensuring the restaurant staffs are focused on being friendly, as well as fast with hospitality training. Providing cost-efficient, relevant training for their world-wide workforce. There are more than 1.6 million people worldwide working for McDonalds. McDonalds has placed emphasis on the training and development of its employees, aiming to provide career opportunities for people to achieve their potential. McDonalds has five commitments to their employees, which are: Respect and Recognition Values and Leadership Behaviours Competitive Pay and Benefits Learning, Development and Personal Growth Resources to Get the Job Done Place McDonalds has over 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries. It opens in places where has high consumer flows such as high street, shopping malls, train station, airports, retail parks, gas stations, and even schools. Freestanding restaurants are positioned so that customers are never more than a few minutes away by foot in the city or by car. The following are McDonalds strategies on Place: To make the environment the gold standard for cleanliness. They have recalibrated their standards and are consistently enforcing them. McDonalds has added additional service to customers by providing Wi-Fi accessibility in some of the restaurants so customers can stay connected to the internet while enjoying their foods. Giving customers more reasons to visit McDonalds by adding more products offering such as coffee and to locate in the right place. Relocating, renovating and rebuilding some of the restaurants to give McDonalds a fresh edge. Promotion Every year McDonalds spent huge amount of money on promotion. The company has been trying to maximise the impact of the advertising spending and broaden their reach through public relations and by placing adverts in media well beyond the traditional prime-time network television format. The objective of spending so much money on promotion is to build brand loyalty and bonds of trust. The following are the strategies: The new creative brand direction â€Å"Im Lovin It!† is designed to connect with customers around the world, especially young adults, moms and kids. It has became McDonalds signature brand voice in 119 countries, generating awareness figures as high as 96% in some parts of the world. Appealing to young adults with relevant advertising. McDonalds is bringing top creative teams from around the world to gather ideas, study trends and find inspiration to create world-class advertising. Price McDonalds has a rigorous pricing process that is used to determine the price for that particular market in each country. The reason is to be able to offer affordable prices to customers and also to be profitable for the company. The following are the process which sets out the basic framework that allows the company to set localised pricing: Selecting the price objective Determining demand Estimating costs Analysing competitors costs, prices and offers Selecting a pricing method Selecting a final price (www.mcdonalds.com) 2.4 : Performance Measurement Quality is an important issue in services due to the features of inseparability, intangibility and perishability. That which can not be stored and is intangible cannot be checked for defects before ‘delivery to customers. In addition each individual involved in the exchange process brings with them varying levels of expectations and levels of satisfaction in addition to the unpredictable nature of human beings. It is this dominant role of human interaction in services that shape customers expectations and create difficulties in understanding and implementing quality initiatives (Behara Gundersen (2001)). Officially McDonalds names three elements in their strategy to be the worlds best quick service restaurant: People (being the best employer), Customers (providing them excellence) and System Growth (for owners/operators, suppliers and company). ‘McDonalds has always been a franchising Company and has relied on its franchisees to play a major role in its success. McDonalds remains committed to franchising as a predominant way of doing business. Approximately 70% of McDonalds worldwide restaurant businesses are owned and operated by independent businessmen and women, our franchisees. Usually, McDonalds offers franchises to poor performing restaurants in order to sustain profitability. Advertising is used to differentiate McDonalds products from competitors and as a means of branding: Advertising Spend in 2001 amounted to  £39m (KFC:  £14m, Burger King:  £8.6m, Pizza Hut:  £7.4m). Furthermore, McDonalds is involved in various high profile sponsorship schemes (e.g. major Sponsor of FIFA World Cup, ‘gold sponsor and official restaurant of the Olympic Games) that secures them favourable PR. Recently McDonalds acquired Boston Market Chicken restaurants, the Donatos pizza chain and Chipotle Mexican Grill. In the UK, it purchased the Aroma coffee chain and 33% of Pret A Manger. This demonstrates that McDonalds has diversified into other segments of the fast food/ convenience /take away market. McDonalds is the worlds largest food service organisation. It has the greatest market share of the breakfast, lunch and dinner market and holds 67% of the UK Burger Market. McDonalds golden arches are the worlds biggest brand with higher awareness than Coca-Cola. McDonalds is constantly introducing new products, usually for a limited period of time. This is because management recognise that consumers like variety as well as a continuation of good products such as Big Macs and Cheeseburgers. Also, they are well aware that if McDonalds has too many products running at the same time then the speed of customer service will deteriorate. However, McDonalds has not introduced healthier products in response to growing concerns about obesity. It is difficult to evaluate the extent to which McDonalds fulfils customers demands. In the 2001 consumer survey conducted by Sandelman Associates, McDonalds was ranked as last out of 60 chains for taste. Statistics that describe McDonalds cleanliness are not available and therefore the achievement of this objective is difficult to examine, but anecdotal evidence suggests that suitable policies are in place to meet that objective. Customer service quality is difficult to assess but it is renowned for being quick. 2.5 : Ethical Criticism Ethical behaviour has come up as one of the most important aspect of any organisation. By ‘Doing the right thing internally and externally, businesses created a good working atmosphere, while also benefiting society and the environment. However many ethical issues are subjective and based on ones values and beliefs. As a result, they are often difficult to enforce and easy to neglect. The result of this is that ‘when the costs are added up, the social balance sheet contains enormous debts to society (McEwan, 2001). This chapter discusses the ethical issues that McDonalds have been facing over a period of time and how effectively it addressing its corporate social responsibility. The 2008 corporate social responsibility report has been critically evaluated and based on that it is determined, whether much of its efforts are just descriptive or has been realistic. It uses various results from the data set based on the primary and secondary research to determine the effectives. It is the notion of an organizations ‘debts to society, which led to the branch of ethics known as ‘corporate social responsibility. This refers to ‘the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic expectations placed on organizations by society at a given point in time (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2000). This theory of responsibility to society is based around two headings, stated by Wells (1998). Social Responsibility deals with ‘the purposes for which companies should act (Wells, 1998), and Corporate Responsibility is the ‘liability attached to a company for actions done in its name (Wells, 1998). On 2002, McDonalds published its first Corporate Responsibility Report and this was followed up with an updated version in 2004. Neverthless many critics of McDonalds still believe that this, like many Corporate Responsibility Reports, is simply a medley of generalities and assumptions, that do not provide hard metrics of the company, its activities or its impacts on society and the environment (Hawken, 2002), and is ‘peripheral to the core interests of an organization (Strategic Direction, 2002). Consequentially, there is a need to analyse the claims made towards McDonalds, and whether they have been resolved within the two Corporate Responsibility Report. The incident which has done the most damage to McDonalds ethical reputation was the ‘McLibel trial, where the company expected a quick conclusion to its action against activists who had distributed a pamphlet, Whats Wrong with McDonalds?. Instead it ran for two and a half years and became the longest ever English trial , upon its completion in June 1997 (McSpotlight.org: The McLibel Trial, 2005). One of the main ethical criticisms consistently faced by McDonalds over the last 30 years relates to the food offered in its stores. Critics claim that McDonalds is a major contributing factor to the ver-increasing levels of obesity in the UK and European countries. Medical studies show that ‘waistlines are expanding faster in the UK than in any other European country†¦with 1 in 5 adults dangerously overweight (Walsh, 2003), while in 2001 it was reported that 300,000 deaths a year in the U.S. are related to obesity compared to 400,000 through cigarette smoking (McMans Depression and Bipolar Weekly, 2004). McDonalds contribution is a result of the unhealthy nature of fast food. For example, a meal of a Big Mac and medium fries would provide you with ‘910 calories, as well as 46g of fat, 13g of which are saturated (McDonalds.com, 2005). Considering the fact that this is half the Recommended Daily Allowance for a female adult, it is clear that McDonalds does not meet U. S. dietary requirements. Apart from obesity, ‘diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and some forms of cancer are related to a diet high in fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). The impacts of a McDonalds diet were clearly shown in Morgan Spurlocks controversial film ‘Super Size Me, where he ate nothing but McDonalds for one month. Although this was an extreme example, the impacts on Spurlock were dramatic. ‘Spurlock gained 25 pounds, raised his cholesterol by 60 points, dropped his libido and turned his liver into pate (McMans Depression and Bipolar Weekly, 2004). He also experienced headaches and depression, and actually became addicted to the products. The impact of a McDonalds diet on children is also a major ethical concern, as an increasing number of children are faced with obesity problems. ‘Every month, 90 percent of the children between 3 and 9 in America visit a McDonalds (Schlosser, 2001). McDonalds has been cri ticised for exploiting children with advertising. They have traditionally aimed themselves towards children with collectable toys in ‘Happy Meals, as well as colorful advertising campaigns and promotions in schools. Most criticized is the use of the Ronald McDonald clown character, which has been seen as a ‘cynical exploitation of children to use a clown to drum up business (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). These marketing tactics contribute to the increasing unhealthy diet of many children. Stakeholders in a corporation may not only be human because animals are also seen as an important part of society and deserve the same treatment as humans. McDonalds has been criticized for the way it treats animals before they are killed and turned into fast food. ‘The corporation is the worlds largest promoter of meat-based products, the largest user of beef and the second largest user of chicken (McSpotlight.org: McDonalds and Animals, 2005), and thus is faced with the usual claims aimed at slaughterhouses. It is claimed that ‘chickens were crammed into sheds with less than one square foot of space per bird and no daylight (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). As a result, ‘44% had leg abnormalities and other health problems (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). This treatment was not just reserved for chicken but also other animals involved in McDonalds fast food products. 40% of piglets were held in indoor breeding units, and half had tails docked for no apparent reason (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). Ethical criticism is also aimed at the methods for killing the animals. ‘14% of chickens received pre-stun shocks, which caused undue stress, while 1% (1,350 per day) were decapitated before being stunned (Inside the McLibel trial, 1995). As well as social ethical issues, corporations must also consider environmental ethics, which means treating natural resources not just as commodities, but as part of the ecological whole. It is important because it affects the image of the company and consumers perceptions. For example, ‘a Wall Street Journal poll in 1991 claimed that 53% of people avoided purchasing a product because of environmental concerns about a product or manufacturer (Hawken, 2002). The most famous environmental issue is the suggestion that McDonalds has destroyed hundreds of acres of Brazilian rainforest to make way for large-scale cattle ranching. This not only removes a valuable natural resource, but also has an impact on global warming, as the rainforest is an essential mechanism for the absorption of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. McDonalds also ‘annually produces over a million tons of packaging used for just a few minutes before being discarded (McSpotlight.org: Environment, 2005). Traditionally a number of ozone depleting gasses were used in polystyrene foam packaging. In the 21st century, McDonalds uses almo

A Mixture of Solid Particles

In the recent years, the industrialization and urbanization of Indian society has led to an increase in the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere. Air pollution is defined as a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air which has harmful and poisonous effects. Various experiments and studies have shown that long term exposure to such air pollution can lead to serious health issues such as: aggravated cardiovascular and respiratory illness, accelerated aging of lungs, diseases like asthma, bronchitis, cancer and a shortened life span. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 12 million people die from environmental health risks annually. Air pollution has become the 4th highest risk factor for premature deaths.Such degradation in the air quality levels has made air pollution a serious threat at a global level, especially for the developing countries, towards the sustainability of mankind. This has grabbed the attention of public as well as the government agencies. An air quality index (AQI) is a parameter used by the government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air quality currently is and how polluted it is forecast to become. As the AQI of a region increases, an increasingly large percentage of population of that area will experience adverse health effects. Several projects have been launched to combat air pollution in all major countries worldwide. For e.g.:Hebei Air Pollution Prevention and Control Program (HAP- 2016:18) project in China to reduce the emissions of specific pollutants in Hebei;The Odd-Even Scheme implemented by the Indian Government in national capital Delhi (2016).There are ceaseless fighting efforts for air pollution reduction all around the world. As an endeavor on the course of machine learning based air quality forecasting, this report presents an initiative and algorithmic details of various statistical models in solving this challenging problem.The Machine Learning models used in this paper, to facilitate the prediction of pollutant concentrations, include: 1Linear regressionLogistic RegressionPolynomial regressionRandom Forest ClassificationDecision Tree RegressionDecision Tree ClassificationSupport Vector regressionSupport Vector ClassificationKNN Classification We target our air pollution forecast to the city of Delhi, India as it is at the forefront for battling against air pollution.We focus on predicting the Air Quality Index (AQI) level of Delhi, as it is a quantitative method to profile air pollution level. In order to reduce the pollution levels in Delhi, we will be analyzing 5 pollutants and 5 other environment parameters responsible for increase in AQI levels. The fixed station data is taken for 3 stations namely: NSIT (Dwarka), RK Puram and Shadipur . Objectives:Compare results of Air Quality Index (AQI) values obtained by different regression models and then propose the best model.Classify the dataset into 5 different AQI categories, and then use Classification models to forecast the pollution category for next month.Analyze the most prominent pollutant, using Back Propagation, responsible for air pollution and suggest methods to control it.The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section II describes related work, and Section III provides background on data sources, participatory sensing systems and details the 5 regression and 5 classification models used in this study. Section IV describes the steps in our model, while model implementation and estimation accuracy is studied in Section V. The paper concludes in Section VI. RELATED WORKOver the years, several approaches have been used to predict the air pollution. These can be classified into the following categories:Numerical Methods: There are plenty of numerical models used to forecast pollution levels, often referred to as the Atmospheric dispersion Modeling. Some of the commonly used models are: Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled to Chemistry (WRF-Chem), Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ), Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx), NAQPMS, etc.Machine Learning Methods: Such methods are data-driven, in which a statistical model is trained on a dataset containing several pollutants responsible for an increase in AQI level. The model forms a pattern in the training data, and later uses it to predict the AQI level for next month. Some of the commonly used ML models are: Support Vector Regression (SVR), Decision Tree Regression (DTR), and Random Forest Regression (RFR). Some nonâ₠¬â€œlinear models i.e., Artificial Neural Networks have also be used to forecast the pollutant concentrations.Hybrid Methods: Hybrid methods have been extensively applied for air pollution forecasting in recent. To achieve an appropriate forecast, it is not just adopting one method.E.g.: To predict ozone concentrations, multiple linear regression and artificial neural networks are used simultaneously based on principal components.