Financial accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Financial accounting - Essay Example There has been continued political as well as public pressure to have better regulation standards to ensure that there is economic growth. Scholars affirm that regulation of financial reports should start with solid corporate governance, making sure that the spirit of novelty is not negatively affected (Gibson 2012). Therefore, this paper seeks to offer a rational critical evaluation on financial reporting regulation and whether or not it should be reduced. Research shows that regulation of financial reports can be either right or wrong, depending on the nature of the firm and the extent to which such disclosures are regulated. However, it is evident that there are numerous drawbacks that come with having excessive guidelines; hence, they should be reduced to promote innovation, healthy competition, guarantee fiscal growth, and stability. Regulation is defined as a principle that governs a particular practice or behaviour. Various firms such as Enron have gone bankrupt and have reported failures in accounting because of unethical practices. As a result, most nations have focused on heavily regulating the financial reports and accounts to avoid failures such as those that happened in renowned firms like Lehman Brothers and Parmalat among others. Although regulation of financial reports is important and might appear sound, it should not be excessive as it damages the nation’s spirit of competitive innovation (Unerman &O’Dwyer 2004). Excessive regulation constrains innovation and business practices; hence, regulation of financial reporting should be minimised. It is important to understand that for a nation to be positively impacted by such standards, then, rules ought to start with solid corporate governance. It is the duty of the shareholders as well as the members of the board to examine carefully and e nsure that their firms are led in the right path to realise their goals (Whittington 2006). Encouraging accountability,

Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Literature review Example The basis of the relationships is a social connection that traverses across other aspects hence having a great influence on the livelihoods of the people. Research has been conducted to help elucidate the basis and influence of the guanxi circles hence various conclusions have been made, some of which is contradictory. According to the developing trends in research, insurmountable attention has been given to these relationships especially in China. Due to the social nature of the guanxi relationships, it has great influence on the trust between individuals as well as their long-term orientation. The business sector is one of the influenced areas. In an attempt to find out the various factors, that comes into play in relationships relating to business markets in China Lee and Dawes (2005) hypothesized that three factors are likely to affect a firm’s trust in a supplier’s salesperson. For a firm to operate effectively, it has to develop networks and relationships with different individuals plus other organizations. In China, guanxi has been used as a business strategy to keep competitors at bay. For a thriving relationship, trust is a key ingredient; this is exactly what the guanxi provides in a relationship between a salesperson and a firm. It is apparent that trust is transferable from the firm to the supplier’s sales person resulting to the firm’s long-term orientation towards the supplier. Trust is a give and take aspect that has to emanate from both parties involved; it has the aspects of benevolence and credibility, factors that relates to reliability and a genuine interest. The interpersonal relationships that generate trust in China are based on their culture that is exemplified in three basic categories; firstly, the relationship between family members forms the core of the relationships. Secondly, the relationships between the individuals that one is familiar with and finally, that with distant individuals who are likely

The Tourism Industry In Sri Lanka Tourism Essay

The Tourism Industry In Sri Lanka Tourism Essay This report contains the results of the investigation which is done to find out how the new born peace will affect the tourism industry of Sri Lanka after defeating the LTTE leader Brabhakaran and washing out terrorism from Sri Lanka. The main areas used for the investigation are, The problems occurred in Sri Lankan tourism industry due to war. Under this area, this investigation is carried over the major problems which Sri Lankan tourism industry faced because of the war. This is mainly carried out through secondary data such as news paper articles, other articles from the websites and report published by Sri Lankan tourism development Authority. Some of the facts were gathered through the questionnaire given to the director of the Sri Lankan tourist Board, London. Affects of new born peace to Investors Under this factor the investigation runs towards the new opportunities which investors will have in the future after the war and what will be the incentives and advantages of investing in those areas. This is also mainly done through the secondary data such as newspaper articles, brochures and reports published by the Sri Lankan tourism development authority, websites. Tourists The research carried over to find out what will happen to the number of tourist arrivals in future after the war. What are the new facilities will offer by Sri Lankan tourism industry, what will be the attracting destinations developed and how will the government help in developing tourism industry. Mainly this is carried out by primary data which is collected through the questionnaire and others were gathered from the secondary data. Social life and local people In this research is on the changes, that will happen on social life and the local people with the new born peace and its affects on tourism. These information were gathered by using both primary and secondary data. Areas and regions Here the investigation is on the tourist areas which will affect the new born peace. The report contains the new developments of tourist areas will be done in Sri Lanka. The research is done using secondary data such as websites. PEST analysis SWOT analysis This research carried a PEST analysis and a Swot Analysis in order to find out how the political, economical, social and technological environments will change or adjust according to the peace affected tourism. Also an analysis for SWOT to find out the strengths opportunities that will strengthen the growth of the tourism industry and weaknesses threats which will weaken the growth of the tourism industry. For this both primary and secondary data have been used. Specially the report publishes by Sri Lanka tourism development authority. Sri Lankan tourism industry will grow in future with the developments and growth in investments, tourists, areas and regions and local people in this peaceful environment. Finally Sri Lanka will create a golden period for the tourism industry in the new born peace. INTRODUCTION Sri Lanka is a country famous for hospitality, tourism and well being people from the past. Once Marco Polo has told in 1293 A.D., this for its actual size, is better circumstanced than any other island in the world. The island produces more beautiful and valuable rubies than found in any other place in the world. In this island there is a very high mountains where the tomb of Adam, our first parent, is supposed to be found. (Ref:http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/31677-Sri-Lanka-TourismQuo-vadis- ) But since from the near past (1980s) Sri Lankan tourism industry dropped step by step, as LTTEs started their terrorism mainly from the North part of Sri Lanka and spread to East and other parts of the country later on. Fortunately now Sri Lanka is free from terrorism after about 3 decades. Therefore the country is safe to roam from North to South East to West without any double thoughts. This situation has affected on tourism industry in a positive manner. Now the tourism industry is blooming again slowly within the new born peace and has become a cause to change the Sri Lankan Economy, Political view, social life on tourism and many more. Therefore this report has investigated on How the new born peace will affect the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. This report contains, The problems occurred in Sri Lankan tourism industry due to war. The affects of new born peace to Investors in tourism industry Tourists Areas and Regions Social life of local people The opportunities due the new born peace a). PEST b). SWOT METHODOLOGY This research is done by gathering information from both primary data and secondary data. Primary Data I have used an interview and a questionnaire as the primary data in finding information for the research. Secondary data I have used mainly the latest report (National Strategy for Sri Lanka Tourism) published by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and broachers, magazines news paper articles, websites as the secondary data. THE PROBLEMS OCCURED IN SRI LANKAN TOURISM INDUSTRY DUE TO WAR Sri Lanka experienced a vastly fluctuating tourism during the past decades. (Ref: http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/31677-Sri-Lanka-TourismQuo-vadis- ) As per the World Tourism Organisation figures, tourist arrivals has increased in Asian countries for the past decade. (Ref: http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/31677-Sri-Lanka-TourismQuo-vadis- ) But Sri Lanka has dropped tourist arrivals. (Ref: Central Bank of Sri Lanka) While all the other foreign exchange earning sectors have increased their earnings, tourism has decreased though it is the fourth largest foreign exchange earning sector. (Ref: http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/31677-Sri-Lanka-TourismQuo-vadis- ) Bombing in buses and tourist destinations caused a huge draw back in tourist arrivals. Even though Sri Lankan tourist board offers them worth packages they didnt want to visit Sri Lanka because of the safety reason. (Ref: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47983 ) Bad press releases during the war time, both internally and internationally affected vastly tourists decisions on Sri Lanka. Some were distributed only to get political gains and some were to draw a bad picture on tourists mind about Sri Lanka and get advantages. Higher insurance covers had prompted tourists to see elsewhere. Insurance covers were high because of the high risk level of security within the country. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 15) Good employees of tourism industry have gone to other countries due to poor salaries and lack of opportunities among the industry. Lack of government support in promoting the industry according to the changes in the market. AFFECTS OF NEW BORN PEACE TO INVESTORS During the past 3 decades investors for tourism industry were locked within the Southern Middle part of the country. But now they have the opportunity to invest in all over the country as they wish. Especially in North East regions which has most famous places to visit such as most beautiful beaches, temples, etc. with the end of war, tourist arrivals may increase. Therefore the government and the private sector has to be ready to welcome them with good accommodation facilities, infrastructure, transportation facilities, and many more. For that investors can invest in the new environment which is more favourable to them. Some of the favourable are, Cost of doing business has reduced due to the end of war. Freight rates, insurance, and other financial issues which added a huge cost for business has now decreased. Therefore investors can get more profits over their investments. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html ) Political stability is growing especially in areas of North East. This leads to stability in policies and rules. Therefore investors can invest in long-term projects. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/FT335.html ) The government of Sri Lanka has started providing infrastructure such as roads, power, and ports. This also again reduce investors costs in investing. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Stock market has climbed over 96% in 2009 which is the winning year of the war. Itll be more profitable in investing stock market in future. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) Interest Rates and Inflation rate are coming down. The Sri Lankan government has reduced their lending rates and has asked the private sector to reduce their lending rates. This is a very usefull and profitable information who wishes to borrow fund in Sri Lanka. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) The end of war has cleared new paths for new investment opportunities across real estate, healthcare, plantation, and infrastructure. Especially in North and East regions for about 3 decades there were no opportunities for any industry to do their work freely. What was there is only war. Therefore there are opportunities for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, plantation as this region has the most rich lands and infrastructure as all the infrastructures have been destroyed during war season. These are indirectly interconnected to tourism industry. Because tourism industry is a industry which depends on other industries other than the destinations. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) Cheap labour Investors can have cheap labour in to their businesses ass the unemployment is more in North and East. New tourist destinations. There are new and marvellous locations and places in North and East which were not allowed to visit for about three decades. These places will be more tourist attracting destinations in future. And also the ruined buildings and places due to war will be attracting sceneries for both local and foreign tourists. As the Northern and Eastern areas were banned for visitors during the war period, both local people and foreign people are willing to visit these places. Therefore the arrivals of visitors for the North and East will be more and this will lead investors to earn more from those areas by investing in accommodation facilities, infrastructure, transportation, sports activities and leisure activities. Sri Lankan government is looking for Middle eastern investors to develop the resorts as a preparation for the boost in tourism industry. (Ref: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/554986-sri-lanka-tourism-eyes-mideast-investors ) MSME will have more opportunities to develop their business with growth in tourism. There will be more ports other than Colombo to use. They are the Trincomalee port and The Hambantota port. Earlier these ports were used only for military activities but now they are open for common activities. FOR TOURISTS New born peace has given a new life for both domestic and international tourists. Specially Northern and Eastern areas are the most attracting areas of tourists these days because of the unseen destinations such as temples, beaches, ruins, etc. Also the current favourable security level has given tourists a boom. Here are some more tips for the change in tourists behaviour. New unseen locations. Tourists, both local and foreign can experience world famous and beautiful locations which are not polluted or crowded. Especially the Eastern sea and Nilavelli beach are the most attracting areas in the Eastern region. Other attracting things are whale spotting, fishing, water sports, sea rafting. Also the locations with historical value and religious value, especially in Northern area, such as Nagadeepa, Jaffna library, ruins of war, etc. Not only in North East, tourists can visit other places such as Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa, Mohinthale, Sigiriya, Sinharaja rain forest, National Parks, hill-country which is famous as little England, etc. Safety Now Sri Lanka is free from bombs, suicide bombers, and terrorism. Therefore people can visit anywhere in the country without fearing about safety from LTTE activities. This was the main reason which reduced more and more tourist arrivals. But now it is fully solved. So tourists have the opportunity to explore Sri Lanka without fear. Proper Facilities The Sri Lankan government and the private sector is building infrastructure fast to provide proper facilities for tourists such as roads, power and ports. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Also proper places for accommodation and other facilities are building up so that the tourists may feel that they are at home. More leisure and sports activities Sri Lankan sea is famous for sports activities. And now tourists have more opportunities in Eastern Sea. Because Eastern sea is known as a sea which is very calm and good for sports activities such as rafting, whale spotting. Also Sri Lanka has a unchanging whether throughout the year. Therefore tourists can come and enjoy whenever they have leisure time. Stable political environment As now Sri Lanka is bit stable in their political status due to the end of war. Therefore policies and rules in tourism especially rules in arriving will be stable. So that itll be very easy for tourists while visiting Sri Lanka especially on Visas. And there will be less political violence among the country which will create a peaceful environment for tourists. New resorts for both local and foreign tourists especially in Nothern and Eastern areas. Also in other areas as the investors are interested in investing tourism sector. Example: Kuchchaveli resort Passikudah resort Sri Lanka is not famous only for leisure tourists but also for pilgrims. Therefore Pilgrim rests are building in order to provide proper facilities especially for domestic tourists. (Ref: National Strategy For Sri Lankan Tourism- page no 61) More facilities for business tourists. Sri Lanka was famous for MICE activities in the past. But it dropped due to the poor security. Now again MICE activities are booming in Sri Lanka with the new born peace. Therefore the government is looking to provide better facilities for businessmen who come to Sri Lanka for MICE activities. Tourists will be able to arrive Sri Lanka not only by air but also by cruise ships as now Sri Lanka has 2 more ports. Trincomalee port and Hambantota port are the two new ports which has started work after war. TO AREAS AND REGIONS After the war especially the Northern and Eastern regions have started to develop fast. Also the other areas of the country are developing faster as the governments military cost has reduced. This helps in developing tourism industry. For examples, The local areas are developing as the government has already started developing infrastructure in North and East regions. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Kuchchaveli Resort This is a area about 500 acres in Trincomalee district which is inbetween the North Nilaweli beach and Kuchchaveli village. This resort contains hotels, other facilities regarding accommodation, land and water based sports and a theme park. This will help in attracting more tourists in future. (Ref: http://www.sltda.lk/eastern_region_development ) Passikudah project SLTDA has planned to restart the Passikudah resort project which was planned to start in 1983 and stopped due to war. This resort is located by the Passikudah bay and contains 500 rooms in about 150 acres. This project will also generate high tourist arrivals. (Ref: http://www.sltda.lk/passikudah_project ) Trincomalee and Hambantota ports will be busy with commercial ships and cruise ships with visitors and goods. TO SOCIAL LIFE AND LOCAL PEOPLE Peace has changed the social lives of people especially in the parts where fighting were there. Those people did not know anything about outside apart from those areas which they live. But now the situation is changed. People are free to open up to the world. Many have started to work with the tourism industry because of the huge number of tourists arrivals. People from other parts of the country are also free to live their lives without the fear of terrorism. They are more common in North and East as domestic tourists. because they were not allowed to visit those places for about 3 decades and the people from North and East are free to visit other South part of Sri Lanka after 3 decades. Here are some of the affect of the end of war to the social life and local people from the view point of tourism. Political stability is growing. so that people are able to stay wherever they want to stay and they are free to visit wherever they want. Also the rules and policies of regarding business will remain same. Therefore local people can start small scale businesses such as small hotels, guest houses, rent three-wheelers, batik, etc. especially in tourist areas. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Government has started to work with infrastructure especially in North and East areas. Therefore its be easy and fast to develop tourist oriented businesses as well as other businesses in those areas. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Interest rates and inflation is decreasing. So that people may borrow money and invest in their businesses and build their damaged properties. And this will create a beautiful eye-catching areas for tourists. also the prices of goods will decrease due to lower inflation and it will create wealth among people. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) There will be more employment opportunities with the incensement in tourist arrivals and other tourism activities in all over the country. People will have more money with them so that they will be motivated to visit places and go for day outs, picnics and trips. More fishing opportunities in North and East. Tourism police will have to be expanded to stop drug trafficking, prostitution and abuse of children with the full support of the courts, local people and politicians as the tourism industry grows. Guides, lecturers, drivers, three-wheeler entrepreneurs, will get more opportunities especially in North East as well as the other parts of Sri Lanka due to growth in tourist arrivals. Also owners of small guesthouses with one or two rooms, small hotels, restaurants, bar, tea boutiques will have a increase in their income. Arts crafts, spice gardens, batik, woodwork centres, wellness centre also will increase their sales. PEST ANALYSIS POLITICAL FACTORS Political environment has changed after the war in order to develop tourism industry. The government supports by conducting investment symposium such as BizPact invest in Sri Lanka which was held in June 2009 to attract new investments. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Political stability is growing specially in North and East regions after the war. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html) Government is aiming to welcome 700,000 to 750,000 visitors by 2011 through visit Sri Lanka programme. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) Government is looking for Middle Eastern investors to develop the resorts after the war. (Ref: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/554986-sri-lanka-tourism-eyes-mideast-investors ) Reorganised the tourist board and ministry in order to deliver a good service. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 04) Develop a 4 year strategic plan for tourism for the period of 2009-2012. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 04) The Ministry, in partnership with the provincial council are creating a series of recommended one day tours especially for domestic tourists (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 62) ECONOMICAL FACTORS Sri Lankan economy has changed vastly with the new opportunities occurred with the new peace after the war. Following are the factors which will affect Sri Lankan tourism as a result of ending war. Doing business in Sri Lanka is more economical because the cost has reduced due to reductions in fright rates, insurance and other financial issues. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html ) Stock market has increased over 96% in 2009 after war. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) Inflation and interest rates are coming down. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) The North East will contribute heavily to GDP growth in the country. (Ref: http://srilankatoday.com/content/view/2586/52/ ) People will have more money with them. Commercial ships can come to new ports such as Trincomalee and Hambantota other than Colombo. Trincomalee port is in the East and Hambantota is in South. Therefore the country is available with 3 main ports around the country. MICE trade will grow with the peaceful environment. Earlier MICE industry experienced cancellations a sharp fall in arrivals due to the security issues such as suicide bombing. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 55) SOCIAL FACTORS The new born peace has changed the lifestyles, consumer trends, ethics and religious factors and many more with the affects of tourism industry. Addition of North and East provinces to the tourism industry will boost employment opportunities as well as the developments in other part of the country will also introduce more employment opportunities. All the development activities are done by taking care of the community, environment, culture and heritage especially in tourism and hospitality industry. Northern Eastern people get fishing opportunities and also people from other areas can come to these areas for fishing. Tourism police has to be expanded to stop drug tracking, prostitution and child abusing with the development of the tourism industry. People who own small guesthouses, small hotels, restaurants, bar, tea boutiques will be able to earn more. Also people who do arts and crafts, spice gardens, batik shops, woodwork will be able to earn more with the increased number of tourists. Guides, lecturers, drivers, three-wheeler entrepreneurs will have a higher demand. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS Especially the Northern and Eastern areas have started to develop technologically after the war. This has made a great issue for the development in tourism industry because many foreign tourists are from developed countries such as UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, etc. and they will be more satisfied if they have the modern technology to use while they are visiting the beauty of Sri Lanka. Mobile telecommunication industry will also boom due to the addition of North and East to the tourism industry. Travel sources such as coaches, trains, cars, taxies have to be developed to provide quality services. Working towards improving websites and online marketing (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 56) Developing internal flights from Colombo to Jaffna with new facilities. Vavuniya-jaffna rail track has started constructions. This will be a great source to increase the number of local visitors from South to North. (Ref: http://srilankatoday.com/content/view/4416/52 ) SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS Cost of doing business in Sri Lanka has reduced due to decreases in freight rates, insurance and other financial issues. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html ) Political stability is growing especially in North and East regions. Therefore it will be more advantages doing business in Sri Lanka. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft335.html ) Stock market has rosed over 96% in 2009 just after the war. And it will keep climbing because of the new opportunities for business. Such as tourism and hospitality industry. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-investment-radar.html ) The entire North and east provinces will join in to the tourism industry with their values, destinations, and beauty. Addition of Trincomalee port to Sri Lankan shipping network will boost huge business visitors and employment opportunities. Worlds finest beaches for surfing, whale spotting, water sports, coastal fishing and coral reefs are now with the Sri Lanka. Earlier half of these beaches were not in a position to offer tourists. but now Sri Lanka has a treasure which many countries does not have. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 12) 4 year strategic plan for tourism from 2009-20012 which has developed 10 strategies and 8 objectives to provide a better service for tourists and tourism industry. Strategic Targets: To build a more diverse product range. To make Sri Lanka more accessible. To attract 1.5 million tourist arrivals per annum. To increase yield per tourist from US$ 80 to US$ 130 per day. To create an additional 7,000 rooms by 2016 with the right conditions. To further develop the East and North-West with the development of existing sites and cities. (resorts and new resorts) To help traditional markets grow and open up new markets. To exceed world-class service levels and hospitality. To increase domestic tourism. To help MSME sector grow. Objectives: Short-term programme Take immediate action to increase visitors, manage cost and improve services. Marketing and Communications Help the world to discover Sri Lanka through rebranding, communication and marketing. Services and Hospitality Improve the quality and scope of visitors experiences. Training Development Keep changing the Sri Lankan tourism according to world tourism through professional training. MICE Make Sri Lanka a preferred venue for MICE. Domestic Tourism Improve and expand domestic tourism. Grow the MSME sector. 10 year plan A plan which will place Sri Lanka as a highly desired experiential quality destination. For the buddhist pilgrims both domestic and international, specially there are Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa to worship which were not a safe area at the past due to war. Also Nagadeepa which is famous as a place where Lord Buddha was teaching. For Christian pilgrims there is the Madhu church which is very famous for miracles. Sri Lanka has 14 national parks with fauna and flora which are now available to offer for tourists. Able to offer one of the worlds finest fishing grounds, in the coast of the Jaffna peninsula. This creates more domestic visitors and more employment opportunities. Business travellers can get the perfect work environment with post meeting relaxation including yoga, massage and other treatments. Most of the hotels have these facilities in their separated areas or rooms as a adjustment for the tourist expectations and a way of attract tourists to their hotels again and again. Sri Lanka has More products to offer than the past. Such as more sports activities, leisure activities, expanded destinations, etc. Cruise ships are also welcome to the Sri Lankans new port Trincomalee and Hambantota port. So that tourists who wish travel by sea can visit Sri Lanka while getting experience of sea travelling (sailing) (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 21) Sri Lanka aims to promote old festivals with a new look such as Ramayana trail. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lankan Tourism- page no: 28) WEAKNESSES Lack of Tamil speaking officers to work in Northern Eastern provinces. Lack of Inspection on child sex and prostitution. Still there are undiscovered destinations in the country. Which will attract more tourists to the country. Lack of integration between agencies. Anyone who wishes to invest in tourism in Sri Lanka has to obtain permission from a number of agencies including numerous ministries, local authorities Government agents. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lanka Tourism- page no: 15) Lack of Infrastructure When a traveller has undertaken an exhausting 12 hour flight, they need a future 5-6 hour. Drive along poor quality roads to reach their hotel or destination. And when they reach they may get poor quality rooms. Older Cars, Taxis, mini buses and coaches minimise the standards. OPPORTUNITIES There are new investment opportunities in real estate, healthcare, plantations infrastructure sector as core-sectors in tourism industry. (Ref: http://www.srilankaequity.com/2009/12/sri-lanka-back-on-invesment-radar.html ) Kuchchaveli Resort will be a grate place to spend leisure time for both local foreign tourists which contains hotels, land water based sports and a theme park. (Ref: http://www.sltda.lk/eastern_region_development ) Passikudah resort is Another new resort which is located by the Passikudah bay it contains 500 rooms in about 150 acres. (Ref: http://www.sltda.lk/passikudah_project ) Small Miracle , is the Sri Lankan new tourism brand. This has been tested in all the key markets and has shown good results. (Ref: http://sundaytimes.lk/090628/FinancialTimes/ft328.html ) Sri Lankan government is looking for Middle Eastern to develop the resorts as a preparation for boost in tourism after the war. (Ref:http://www.arabianbusiness.com/554986-sri-lanka-tourism-eyes-mideast-investors ) Opportunities to expand the industry to new markets and to develop the nature, culture and adventure products through new Beaches Beyond strategy. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lanka Tourism) Cruise ships and commercial ships can come in greater numbers to new Trincomalee port beyond Colombo and Hambantota. (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lanka Tourism-page no:21) As the war ended Sri Lanka has headed towards new markets like Israel, Japan, Middle-East and Russia other than their usual markets (Germany, France, India UK) (Ref: National Strategy for Sri Lanka Tourism-page no:22) There will be more opportuniti

Douglas N. Husaks A Moral Right to Use Drugs Essay -- Husak Moral Rig

Douglas N. Husak's A Moral Right to Use Drugs In Douglas N. Husak’s A Moral Right to Use Drugs he attempts to look at drug use from an impartial standpoint in order to determine what is the best legal status for currently illegal drugs. Husak first describes the current legal situation concerning drugs in America, citing figures that show how drug crimes now make up a large percentage of crimes in our country. Husak explains the disruption which this causes within the judicial system and it is made clear that he is not content with the current way drugs are treated. The figures that Husak offers up, such as the fact that up to one third of all felony charges involve drugs, are startling, but more evidence is needed than the fact that a law is frequently broken to justify it’s repeal. Husak attempts to discuss drug use legality aside in order to prove his argument. He looks at drug use in a three fold manner exploring; the reasons Americans use drugs, the justifications behind the war on drugs, and a discussion on which drugs, if any, should be affected by the law. In understanding Husak’s beliefs on the reasons for drug use it is first important to look at his definition for recreational use verses drug abuse. Husak defines recreational use as either consumption for enhancement of an experience, such as at a concert, or for alleviation from boredom, like while doing household chores. Husak admits that there are gray areas between this recreational approach and the universally reviled drug abuse. However, Husak is right in saying that drug use that occurs in the ghetto is not recreational, and goes on to explain that rich white people are even more likely to use certain drugs, notably ... ...enough time explaining the benefits of legalization. I agree with his assertion that the burden of proof should lie on the heads of those limiting our freedoms and therefore I personally am not bothered by his attack strategy, but in the grand scheme of trying to further his cause Husak would be served well by discussing the issue in terms of why legalization would help our society. I respect this piece a lot and what I would really like to see is some of Husak’s ideas form implementation, such as educational programs. This article does a lot to tear down the old beliefs that are hurting our society, which is an important first step. Yet, those of us who favor change must remember that removing old views does not bring freedom, it leaves a gap. Freedom is attained when we replace that gap with a morally and legally sound new set of ideals and rules.

Boy by Taika Waitit Essay

In order to prepare for the Common Assessment Task which is coming up we need to do the following preparation. In the following table list all the positive and all the negative parenting skills that Alamein exhibits. Positive Parenting| Negative parenting| * Drove them to the beach| * Swears in front of his kids| * Reflected on his wife’s death| * Encouraged Boy to bring him weed and smoked in front of him| * Apologised to boy for wearing his jacket| * Exploits Boy by making him dig for treasure | * Makes links with boys-little shogun| * Negative role-model| * Teaches him life lessons | * Smacked Boy for wearing his jacket| * Spends quality time with Boy and Rocky| * Encourages animal quality | Explain what ‘Good’ parenting is: Good parenting is when the parent cares for his family and supports them, doesn’t abuse them and respects them and teaches each other values and morals. Explain what ‘Bad’ parenting is: Bad parenting is when the parent is irresponsible, careless and is a negative role-model. What is your opinion about Alamein? Is he a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ parent? What evidence do you have? Alamein is a ‘bad’ parent as he is irresponsible and careless, immature and exploitive and he is a negative and poor role-model. Alamein is a terrible parent. Do you agree?| SECTION| Questions to be answered in this section| Answers related to topic| Introduction| * Name the film & director * Very brief summary * Definition of ‘good’ parenting * Your view- is Alamein a ‘bad’ parent? * 3 reasons for your point of view| The movie BOY, written by Taika Waititi, is a movie about Boy and his family, with his father Alamein and his little brother Rocky. Alamein is irresponsible, careless and a negative role-model, so he is a ‘bad’ parent.| Main Body 1TEEL| Reason 1: * Explain why this is important in parenting * Does he show this skill? * Give an example * Link this to the topic. In other words does this show that he is a terrible person or not?| Irresponsibility is important because it can lead the children on bad paths without parental guidance. Alamein barley cared and wasn’t responsible, so he used Boy and lead Boy to drink and even smoke, which he would never do normally. When Boy can’t handle Alamein’s demands, he thinks it would be resolved by smoking. A good parent would never let his children smoke, especially if it’s their fault, Alamein is the opposite.| Main Body 2TEEL| Reason 2 * Explain why this is important in parenting * Does he show this skill? * Give an example * Link this to the topic. In other words does this show that he is a terrible person or not?| Alamein’s carelessness made harmed Boy without even him realising it. He harmed Boy’s views on what a good person is and he was encouraged to bring him weed, opening him up to the world of drugs. Boy was unsure whether he was doing the right or wrong thing, so this lead to him being in internal conflict with himself. A good parent wouldn’t want his children in harm.| Main Body 3TEEL| Reason 3 * Explain why this is important in parenting * Does he show this skill? * Give an example * Link this to the topic. In other words does this show that he is a terrible person or not?| Boy always thought Alamein was a great role-model, which led to Boy being entranced by Alamein, which he exploited by making Boy dig for his treasure multiple times. Alamein swears and takes out his anger on his kids, which a good role-model or even a good parent wouldn’t.| Conclusion| So is Alamein a ‘terrible parent’?Summarise your 3 reasons supporting your point of view.| Alamein is a bad parent, he’s to careless to care about his kids, his to irresponsible to worry about his duties as a parent and he is a negative role –model because he swears and puts down his kids, Alamein is a bad parent.| Alamein is a terrible parent. Do you agree?| SECTION| Paragraphs | Introduction| Alamein is not responsible, he doesn’t care about Boy and he is someone who you shouldn’t look up to, as he is very negative. Alamein isn’t a good parent in general, because he lacks pretty much every quality needed to be a good one.| Main Body 1TEEL| Alamein irresponsibility leads Boy to stray from his normal decisions in life, to Alamein decisions or intentions. This causes Alamein to be able to exploit Boy and use him and it also encourages Boy to do things Alamein likes and not what really Boy likes.| Main Body 2TEEL| Alamein’s carelessness caused Boy to get hurt emotionally, mentally and physically. Alamein uses Boy and yells at Boy many times especially when Boy took Alamein’s jacket. Boy was left shameful and confused, while Alamein simply didn’t care. He realised he made a mistake, but his sincerity is left to be questioned. | Main Body 3TEEL| Alamein looked like a good role-model, but when more times elapses, it shows that Alamein is immature and a negative role-model. Boy looked upto Alamein, which made Boy aspireto be like him until Boy realised that Alamein isn’t someone he wants to be like. Boy stood up to Alamein and questioned him, leaving Alamein in shock, thus apologising to Boy and trying to re-kindle their bond.| Conclusion| Alamein is a bad parent. He’s to careless, irresponsible and a negative role model, which a good parent would never be.| When writing an essay it is important to use the right vocabulary and interesting sentence structures. So here are some examples of what is acceptable for year 9 level. The film ‘BOY’ directed by Taika Waititi Explores†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * Delves into†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * Deals with†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * Reveals†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Alamein * Exhibits * Shows * Displays * Demonstrates * Presents * Shows evidence of * Shows signs of Characteristics: of ‘good’ parenting are†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Qualities: of ‘good’ parenting are†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Features: of ‘good’ parenting are†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..as shown in †¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦as described by†¦.. Parents are expected to: * Provide†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * Encourage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * Support†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. * Love†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * Teach†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * Offer†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Words which mean ‘think about’: * Consider * Contemplate * Ponder * Take into account * Weigh up * Reflect on

Self-storage began in America Essay

The Shurgard concept of self-storage began in America in 1970 when cofounder of the company Chuck Barbo identified a gap in the market for both homeowners and businesses with a requirement for extra space. He came up with the notion of mini-warehouses for people with excess belongings and businesses with long forgotten records or documents. Twenty years later Shurgard began to expand into Europe and in 1995 the first European store opened in Brussels. Four years later the first UK store opened in South London and earlier this year the company was bought for $5bn by Public Storage, the world’s largest owner and operator of self-storage facilities. The challenge The growth and success of Shurgard in Europe meant that increasing demands and expectations were being placed on the company’s operations middle managers who were wrestling with a growing number of stores, an ever-larger geographic area of responsibility, increased numbers of employees, decentralisation of country and panEuropean support centres, greater autonomy and reorganisation of roles. Terry Whitney, European Learning and Development Manager of Shurgard SelfStorage Centers, said: â€Å"The business of self-storage was very different in Europe than it was in the US and there were different points of maturity in the market so there were many challenges to face. Most of our attention was focussed on buying property and building new facilities. Suddenly we realised we had a management team that was bright and hard working but had suffered from a lack of development focus.† â€Å"The best result of our partnership with SHL is that the district managers are now motivated because they know what is expected of them, how they will be held accountable and have focused training and development in place. Importantly, they also know what success looks like.† Terry Whitney, Shurgard shl.com Case Study | Shurgard Typical of many fast growing companies, Shurgard realised that it had no consistency of job titles, roles or responsibilities and no standardised job descriptions or job competencies for its staff. In addition there was no formal evaluation, training or development and no succession planning. What Shurgard wanted to create was a consistent layer of district managers across Europe. Some people already had this title but their job seemed little different to a market manager, operations manager or area manager. â€Å"We were promoting great operations people from store managers to more senior job titles with responsibility for profit and loss accounts for specific districts. We also wanted them to lead, inspire and motivate and the more senior roles had a completely different set of skills requirements which we had not measured or trained for,† said Whitney. District managers were identified as the operations critical layer with which to start work. Shurgard felt that if these people could not understand and accurately report on key occupancy and rates figures for stores, then shareholders would not have the confidence to invest money for expansion and more storage sites. The solution This client places people development high on its list of organizational priorities. With an agreed name for the role, the company needed to align the title with expectations and competencies that could be used across Europe and which would accommodate future growth of new stores. The people had to more effectively lead and manage an ever larger number of store personnel at a time of reduced centralised support. They were also required to operate at a higher managerial level than had previously been demanded. Faced with this challenge, Shurgard partnered with SHL – global experts in workplace assessment – to conduct a performance assessment of the mid-management team in Europe. The programme was designed to: †¢ Establish a benchmark of current managerial talents †¢ Undertake a gap analysis to determine the strengths and limitation of the management team against the new job competencies †¢ Recommend how the current managerial team could achieve the new expectations for the district manager role †¢ Assess the leadership potential of the current team †¢ Identify the ideal profile of a district manager for use in future recruitment. Supporting more than 10,000 customers every year Organisations that understand and maximize their people’s potential achieve outstanding results. SHL gives you the insights to make better decisions about your people. We call this People Intelligence, Business Results. â€Å"With SHL’s Universal competency Framework cards, we were able to define the critical behaviours required for the district managers role†, comments Whitney â€Å"This competency model was the hub around which SHL was able to design an appropriate development centre programme.† Individuals were invited to a one-day assessment at an SHL diagnostic development centre in order to see how they fitted the need and behavioural competencies of the district manager role. The assessment included exercises aligned to specific competencies, psychometric tests in local languages, management scenario role-play and numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning tests. Each attendee received feedback from a senior SHL assessor who took them through their results and talked about their development needs. The Results As a result of the assessment, Shurgard found that its mid-management team had a wide spectrum of skills and abilities but also specific patterns of managerial strengths and weaknesses. Recognising these areas enabled the company to target the appropriate training and development to address specific competencies and behaviours. â€Å"Shurgard really learned the critical importance of aligning the district manager job description, job competencies, hiring profile, training activities and performance management processes to create improved motivation and performance,† said Whitney. He added that using the competencies created by SHL also changed the recruitment and promotion process. New recruits are now given competency-based interviews focused on certain experiences whilst promotions are no longer based on length of service and performance alone but on potential against the required competencies. â€Å"For me it’s the competencies – everything ties back to them,† said Whitney. And he adds: â€Å"The best result of our partnership with SHL is that the district managers are now motivated because they know what is expected of them, how they will be held accountable and have focused training and development in place. Importantly, they also know what success looks like.† Case Study | Shurgard Shurgard’s need to focus on developing its managers was being hampered by a lack of consistency in job titles, roles, responsibilities and competencies for its staff. SHL worked with the firm to assess its midmanagement team in Europe and identify the ideal profile for district managers. Shurgard is now able to target management development and recruit more effectively for improved motivation and performance 25 million assessments every year. Organisations that understand and maximize their people’s potential achieve outstanding results. SHL gives you the insights to make better decisions about your people. We call this People Intelligence, Business Results.

How To Attract Girls Essays - Education, Euthenics, Education Reform

How To Attract Girls Essays - Education, Euthenics, Education Reform How To Attract Girls Sometimes girls and boys seem to avoid the company of one another, but finally everyone find something common in each other and fall in love at least once. Actually You are just afraid of making serious relationship, because You do not know what the girl thinks and feels about you. In general the first time is always more complex. The men are so confused about what women think about them that it can create some obsessions. It can lower Your self-esteem. Do not let it happen! Despite of the difficulties it is exciting and anxious process. It will be hard to get someone's love. In return You will feel like a bird flying, everything will sing around and your heart will jump inside when You see that You have taken a liking to her. How do You see that!? She will smile, laugh after every your silly joke and hesitate to look into your eyes. If she will not, she is not fallen in love. Let's imagine the calling to someone for the first date. Probably you are nervous and afraid of her refusal. Who makes the first step have to be brave and known that everybody have to do it some day. You have to know the Estonian proverb, The brave beginning is a half of victory. For Your better feeling You may invent some reason for calling. For example ask something about a homework, but do not seem to her as a foolish. First of all you have to insist in your mind that you are like every other boy. Everyone have something interesting and attractive which can put the girls to lose their heads. Perhaps You are funny speaker or good listener. In the last case You have to give many questions to get her meet with You. You have to realize your best sides of character and use them in calling. Do not be selfish, at least in the first time. Next, You have to be prepared to lose - do not except your failure and do not give up after it. People are learning from mistakes. Now let's go to call. Oh, Your voice and the style of communicating have to be something different from talking with friends! Do not use a foul language. First of all You have to be very polite in communicating with her parents in the case they take a phone. You could introduce yourself and ask for her with the official and calm voice, Good afternoon, I am Bobby Dolt and I would like to speak with Ann Smith. Is she home at home now?. You have a time to relax and forget about all Your weaknesses. Now She probably comes. It will be better if You create the image of ladies' man and chatty boy and mix their a little bit sexual appetite. But do not overstrain with that stuff. Now she is saying, Helllooo and You will show the manliness and other skills You have learned. Your voice must be soft, easygoing, but dynamic. It means not boring. Hey, If You feel yourself in a right way forget about Your homework! Let Your inspiration to fly. Do not disturb her for a few hours. Be in short. You just have to invite her somewhere. Please do not make some terrible noises like in car crush or the water falling in bathroom. In the case You cannot exist without them You can sing like birds do. Do not say her such things like, What the hell are You doing their? Or What a horrible voice You have by phone!. I remain You that You had a goal to create some friendship. Follow my advises and You can get Cindy Crawford to Your callers. If You are good reader and smart boy You have to go through it and You might see her next time in the theater, cinema or night club. You will be well done if during the next meeting she will be merry and kind with You. Your relationships depend mostly on Your communication in the first few weeks. It does not mean that later You can turn into a rude imp. Actually all people have to relate toward each other in a polite manner and do not hold anger in their hearts. Always take a stand to others like You want them to attitude toward You.

Human Speech and Language essays

Human Speech and Language essays Human speech makes possible the expression and communication of thoughts, needs, and emotions through vocalization in the form of words. It is a process whose specialized adaptations differentiate it from the mere making of soundsa capacity humans share with most animals. In addition to the capacity for laryngeal production of sound (which some animals also possess), speech requires a resonance system for modulation and amplification of that sound and an articulation process for the shaping of that sound into the communally established word-symbols of meaning that constitute the language of a given culture. (Dean Edell) The use of language is made possible by certain cerebral functions: the formation of thoughts; the comprehension, storage, and recall of words; and the selection of words to express the thoughts and the arrangements of these words in a sequence or organization that constitutes (or attempts to constitute) intelligible communication. The speech process involves the speech centers of the brain, the respiratory center in the brain stem, the respiratory system, the chest cavity, the structures of the larynx, the pharynx, the nose and nasal cavities, and the structures and parts of the mouth and related facial muscles. There are three identified speech areas. The supplementary motor cortex, on the very top of the left frontal lobe, involves the process of vocalization itself. Broca's area, lower down at the back of the left frontal lobe, appears to involve functions of articulation, vocabulary, inflection, and word sequence. Wernicke's area is mainly the posterior part of the left temporal lobe, with parts of the parietal area; any large destruction of this area results in the loss of the capacity for meaningful speech but not the loss of sound production. The speech process starts with an expiration of air, produced by the respiratory mechanisms of lung expansion and contraction: the downward and upward movements of ...

What Chemistry Is and What Chemists Do

What Chemistry Is and What Chemists Do Chemistry is the study of matter and energy and the interactions between them. This is also the definition for physics, by the way. Chemistry and physics are specializations of physical science. Chemistry tends to focus on the properties of substances and the interactions between different types of matter, particularly reactions that involve electrons. Physics tends to focus more on the nuclear part of the atom, as well as the subatomic realm. Really, they are two sides of the same coin. The formal definition of chemistry is probably what you want to use if youre asked this question on a test. Why Study Chemistry? Because understanding chemistry helps you to understand the world around you. Cooking is chemistry. Everything you can touch or taste or smell is a chemical. When you study chemistry, you come to understand a bit about how things work. Chemistry isnt secret knowledge, useless to anyone but a scientist. Its the explanation for everyday things, like why laundry detergent works better in hot water or how baking soda works or why not all pain relievers work equally well on a headache. If you know some chemistry, you can make educated choices about everyday products that you use. What Fields of Study Use Chemistry? You could use chemistry in most fields, but its commonly seen in the sciences and in medicine. Chemists, physicists, biologists, and engineers study chemistry. Doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and veterinarians all take chemistry courses. Science teachers study chemistry. Fire fighters and people who make fireworks learn about chemistry. So do truck drivers, plumbers, artists, hairdressers, chefs... the list is extensive. What Do Chemists Do? Whatever they want. Some chemists work in a lab, in a research environment, asking questions and testing hypotheses with experiments. Other chemists may work on a computer developing theories or models or predicting reactions. Some chemists do field work. Others contribute advice on chemistry for projects. Some chemists write. Some chemists teach. The career options are extensive. Where Can I Get Help With a Chemistry Science Fair Project? There are several sources for help. A good starting point is the Science Fair Index on this website. Another excellent resource is your local library. Also, do a search for a topic that interests you using a search engine, such as Google. Where Can I Find Out More About Chemistry? Start with the Chemistry 101 Topic Index or list of Questions Chemistry Students Ask. Check out your local library. Ask people about the chemistry involved in their jobs.

The ideal leadership position Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The ideal leadership position - Term Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that since they are social by instinct and with their sense of organization, humans tend to put a premium on leadership qualities. It is through leadership after all that organizations or groups are can work concertedly toward a common goal. Without it, people would be prompted to follow their individual will, which may not be agreeable to others. Therefore, even if there are similarities in directions, anarchy would prevail, rendering it impossible to achieve common objectives. According to Yukl, â€Å"leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives†. Such definition clearly indicates that leadership is not a person’s attitude toward others but a process that is undertaken to rally other people toward a goal. It is in line with this clarification that the resea rcher developed his style of leadership. His style of leading others in an organization is essentially a combination of democratic and autocratic or bureaucratic leadership. These two types may be anathema to each other that it may seem impossible to implement them at the same time. However, the researcher believes that leadership is not only tactical but more important, it is strategic. It is in the strategic sense that the combination of democratic and bureaucratic leadership can be best appreciated although it may also work in tactical situations. I practice a democratic approach in times when I meet with subordinates to discuss problems and too seek solutions. I do the same when in activities like planning and evaluation. Democracy is important during these stages because, it is apparent that even if I am the manager or the leader, I do not have the monopoly of truth. I may be knowledgeable about the larger picture but my subordinates definitely have a more concrete understandin g of their respective departments of work. To achieve viable solutions, I have to rely on their grasping of the situation of their particular fields. To arrive at an accurate evaluation, I have to consider the reports of my subordinates. To formulate workable plans, I have to grasp the situation of the people who will be directly implementing these. Without a democratic approach, it would be impossible to achieve all these. However, once the plans are ironed out and implementation begins, I shift to an autocratic mode. I would relentlessly pursue the plans by constantly monitoring the subordinates and pressuring them to work hard for the realizing the objectives. Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor define the authoritarian leader as one who â€Å"holds all authority and responsibility, with communication usually moving from top to bottom† and that â€Å"this leader assigns workers to specific tasks and expects orderly, precise results† (2010, p. 179). However, there may be a limit to the top-to-bottom communication line. I need to open channels for reports, complaints, and suggestions from the bottom just to make sure that problems are checked while they are not yet too big to badly affect the implementation of the over-all plan. With such style of leadership, I believe that the best position in a corporate setup is as a middle-level manager. The highest position that may suit me best is a department manager and, the least is a supervisor. It is through these positions that I could maintain better understanding of issues and problems of the rank and file or the subordinates as they try to implement the tasks assigned to them according to the general objective of the company and the supporting specific plans of the department that I am heading. The roles that occupy the void between the planners and the implementers or the intellectuals and the workers are certainly the most challenging in any corporate set up but are also the most important. Without middle-level managers, the upper management would not be able to grasp the conditions of the people in the lower levels who are the directly impleme

Political Science - What common features of small states Foreign Essay

Political Science - What common features of small states Foreign Policy distinguish it the most from Great powers Foreign Policy - Essay Example Foreign policy has deeper connotations with stated and un-stated objectives that a country to tries to fulfil through political, economic, military, and diplomatic means. Dean Rusk quoted by Seabury, interprets foreign policy as a â€Å"galaxy of complicated factors.† Hoffman quoted by Seabury too sees the current picture of international relations as â€Å"the crisis of complexity†. He feels that in the past century the sheer dimension of international equilibrium has multiplied. States have added significantly to these dimensions with different manifestations of foreign policy under varying set of conditions. Foreign policy is a dependant variable conditioned by internal power configurations of the state (Wagner). As such foreign policies of small Asian, African, and Latin American states have foreign policies have changed with changes in the domestic power structures. Smaller states are more vulnerable to domestic and international changes as they show greater tenden cy to change foreign policy. Scholars have studied the changes in foreign policies of nations and dichotomised the international behaviour of great and small nations. Reiter, for example, infers how a small and a great power learn from their experiences of war to chalk to out their foreign policies. East for example cites Roseau’s observation that the size of a nation plays a great role in creation of its foreign policy. Small states never have permanent and extended interests in international arena as big powers. Other than studying foreign policy on the basis of ‘greatness’ and ‘smallness’ foreign policies have been studied in contrast to authoritarian regimes, traditional or modern societies or in stages of economic development (Pfaltzgraff,1974).

Executive ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Executive ethics - Research Paper Example His executive roles in terms of ethical interpretation seem to have a rare following with a mixture of reactions that have apparently been masked by the success that the corporation has made. In tracing Zuckerberg’s track record as an ethical CEO, this discourse displays the two sides of the youthful Facebook icon. This section deals with a description of his ethical beliefs and practices at the helm of the leading social network. At Facebook, the corporation picture of professionalism is boosted by the founder’s belief that amassing the best professionally capable human resource will salvage the chances of operations. According to the executive approach that the CEO has adopted over the years, a very stable team of managers can only enable the corporation to rise from strength to strength. This is evidenced by the choice of his vice president and other top managers who have a rich history in dealing with corporate affairs. In view of the implication that the choices of the management team that Zuckerberg chose, we can draw an inference that he prefers professionalism in handling of corporate management at Facebook. The fortunes of the company on a backdrop of controversies illustrate an internal strength that professionalism accords Facebook. Under Zuckerberg’s tenure, Facebook’s corporate responsibility has evolved to keep in touch with the changing business environment. By facilitating one of the most time-progressive policies which acknowledges keeping up with the pace of environmental issues, Zuckerberg paints an image of a CEO who is conscious of ethical principle of corporate social responsibility. Facebook does not only lead in the pack for the campaign to promote climate change responsive agenda, it actually implements on of the most progressive green energy projects at its server facilities. Such community minded leadership is only made fruitful by the contributions of a youthful CEO under the guidance of some ethical principles. In a

Pursuing Public Safety.A Loose Fish in the Sea of Criminal Justice Term Paper

Pursuing Public Safety.A Loose Fish in the Sea of Criminal Justice - Term Paper Example The states have enforced or applied the principles of incapacitation and rehabilitation as ways to ensure public safety. Recidivism is defined as â€Å"a tendency to slip back into a previous criminal behavior pattern† such as the return to prison or a new sentence for a new offense (Beck, n.d.) The principle behind incapacitation follows that a person who is imprisoned will not perpetrate a crime. Imprisonment and capital punishment are the major ways to compel incapacitation which will prevent a person to commit a crime. Rehabilitation, on the other hand, is non-punitive and believes that a person can be prohibited to commit a crime by helping him to solve his issues that led him to commit a crime. This principle considers that each person is defective and commission of a crime is not the person’s purpose but may be a result of other physical, emotional, sociological factors (Renter, 2008). The paper talks about how the government should focus on determining the strat egies that will actually lessen the recidivism. According to Gomez (2008), although there are lots of theories on how to reduce recidivism and ensure public safety, resorting to incapacitation has not been very helpful to achieve these goals. This is because the government and the criminal justice system has devoted its resources and focus on isolating the lawbreakers and not on how to treat the criminal behaviour of the offenders. The treating of behaviour of the criminal offenders is more important than just merely imprisoning them. Thus, according to the Gomez (2008), it is better to make sure those who are capable of earning an honest living be allowed and encourage doing so. During the time the study of Gomez (2008) was still ongoing, Minnesota is suffering the highest unemployment rate in seventeen years thus the government thought that it should be the time to address the reality and let this offender work without sacrificing the public safety of the people. Aside from being able to give a chance for the offenders to earn and support their family and earn an honest living, they can help Minnesota on solving issues on impaired bridges, highways, dams, plants and water systems (Gomez, 2008). This is something like â€Å"hitting two birds with one stone.† The offenders are more likely not going to commit crime again because of the employment opportunity given to them. If this is the case, recidivism issue is addressed and community problems are solved without sacrificing public safety. Another Look at That Loose Fish But certainly, this approach will not always be giving us the positive effects. If there should be a reason why we should not try to reduce recidivism among the state and federal prisoners by teaching them to build houses and highways that would not otherwise be built is because of the fact that there will be a number of prisoners that will just run-off and leave the responsibilities. Another reason is that it is going to be unfair for the public because as we know, there is a high unemployment rate, meaning there are still a lot of people in the community who are unemployed and are not given an opportunity to get a job because these jobs are given to the offenders or felons. Billions of dollars are spent by the government to incarcerate felons to train and at least some of them so they can re-enter the free world more capable of

The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society Essay

The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society - Essay Example This essay "The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society" outlines the connection between society and the level of obesity. The general belief is that obesity’s primary causes is simple gluttony, promoted by consumer access to high-fat, palatable food products which incentivises choosing extreme consumption levels (Drewnowski and Spector 2004). However, there is evidence that obesity is caused by poor human nutrition factors as well as socio-psychological factors within a society. For the most part, obesity can be attributed to societal factors within an obese society and those who argue that genetic factors happen to be a contributor, which are beyond the control of the average consumer, maintain little justification due to the rarity of hereditary conditions underpinning obesity development. It is the obese society, itself, which exacerbates this problem in developed societies and this research illustrates what justifies such an assertion. Poor nutrition largely underpins the prevalence of increasing obesity rates in developed countries. One study which examined 5,200 women in the United States found that women who sustained food insecure households as a result of being at the poverty line had higher rates of being obese than women with more stable incomes (Basiotis and Lino 2002). A more recent, longitudinal study found a substantial correlation between childhood obesity and levels and food insecurity resultant of poverty conditions in the household (Eisenmann, et al. 2011).

The Causes of Eating Disorders for High School Students and How Can it Essay

The Causes of Eating Disorders for High School Students and How Can it be Mitigated - Essay Example The most affected are children and teenagers which constitute about 90%. It has also been found that women have a high prevalence rate than men with about 1 in 5 women showing symptoms of eating disorders. Though, the number of male victims has been doubling. With about 5.6% of teenagers dying of eating disorders related illness, this condition qualifies to be an educational problem (Laird & Janet, 2010). Therefore, the choice the topic is relevant for research purposes. Moreover, the worst hit by the condition are school going children. To this end, this research essay seeks to answer three research questions. They are: What are the common types of eating disorders for high school children? What are the causes? How can it be mitigated? In developing the research question, the following procedure was followed. After deciding on the research a topic, an extensive literature review was done after which clear and concise questions were posed. However, the questions are broad and a short research essay may cover the issues comprehensively. The research also relies on the analysis of existing data and information and this may result into unreliable and invalid findings and conclusions. . Since the research concentrates on seeking answers to eating disorders in high school children, it can be classified under explanatory research. This type of research attempts to ask questions why a given phenomena exits or why an occurrence has happened (Gary & Nancy). Many medical authors define eating disorders as a group of psychological condition that alters a person eating habits and behavior. These habits are unhealthy, maladaptive and abnormal in nature. Therefore, the disorder affects both the physical and emotional states of the victims. Although there are many eating disorders, three types are common in high school children namely: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. The anorexia nervosa is characterized by maintenance of low body weight brought a bout by too much concern about body weight and shape. The affected students have great fear of becoming fat. This condition is dominant in girls because they are more preoccupied with image than boys. To achieve low weight, the students take food with low calorific value. The symptoms of this condition include: weak body brought by poor nutrition, bone loss and absence of menstruation in girls. It also results into late puberty and stunted growth (Susan, 2008). The second type, bulimia nervosa is characterized by excessive intake of food after short interval followed by compensatory habits such as excessive exercise and induced vomiting. This disorder leads to digestive system problems, dehydration and fatigue. The last type, the binge eating disorder, is simply recurrent large intake of food without practicing compensatory habit. The victims have no control of their condition and in most cases feel ashamed of it. This disorder can cause obesity. Other diseases associated with it ar e diabetes, high blood pressure and stoke. It is difficult to determine the exact cause of eating disorder in an individual. Nevertheless, several factors have been found to cause eating disorders. These range from biological to cultural. However, the later is the main cause of this condition. The problem has got more to do with fashion trend than genetics. Currently, most people in the world associate thinness of body with beauty. The media has propagated this notion by misinforming the public that the starting point to modeling is body size. When a celebrated artist or star supports such a position as in the recent

The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society Essay

The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society - Essay Example This essay "The cause of obesity can be found in an obese society" outlines the connection between society and the level of obesity. The general belief is that obesity’s primary causes is simple gluttony, promoted by consumer access to high-fat, palatable food products which incentivises choosing extreme consumption levels (Drewnowski and Spector 2004). However, there is evidence that obesity is caused by poor human nutrition factors as well as socio-psychological factors within a society. For the most part, obesity can be attributed to societal factors within an obese society and those who argue that genetic factors happen to be a contributor, which are beyond the control of the average consumer, maintain little justification due to the rarity of hereditary conditions underpinning obesity development. It is the obese society, itself, which exacerbates this problem in developed societies and this research illustrates what justifies such an assertion. Poor nutrition largely underpins the prevalence of increasing obesity rates in developed countries. One study which examined 5,200 women in the United States found that women who sustained food insecure households as a result of being at the poverty line had higher rates of being obese than women with more stable incomes (Basiotis and Lino 2002). A more recent, longitudinal study found a substantial correlation between childhood obesity and levels and food insecurity resultant of poverty conditions in the household (Eisenmann, et al. 2011).

The New Technology of War Essay Example for Free

The New Technology of War Essay Tanks: Tanks were massive killing machines, which could hold many goods and many men. This was an advantage because before tanks were invented, the soldiers had to walk to and from different battlefields under the risk of shellfire. The tanks were obviously bullet proof and protective and could move through the battlefield. They could go through wire entanglements and cross enemy trenches. This was useful to make a space for friendly soldiers to attack and could push back the enemy frontline a few miles. The tanks were strong enough to carry massive guns capable of blowing down enemy trench walls from a 100 metres away. Ties meant that the enemy would be open so the friendly soldiers could shoot in. Because the tanks were so massive, they tear up mud by their caterpillar tracks, which make it a disadvantage for friendly troops to run and walk over. Many of the German trenches were too wide so the tanks front fell into the trenches instead of going over. Consequently if the machine gunners were close to the tank, they could put sticky bombs on the side of it. The tanks were sometimes unreliable and most broke down at the start. This meant that lots of them would be a waste of money. There were still many mechanical problems with tanks, but they proved themselves to be a weapon of the future. In the event, the full potential of the tank was not to be realised until it had been from its infantry support role. Once it appeared, backed by air power, the age of battlefield domination was over. Wars of movement were once possible. With machine guns the tanks were killing machines that were lethal. Machine guns: It provided rapid and sustained fire so you wouldnt waste valuable time reloading the weapon. This also meant that the enemy could be mowed down easily so that it could hold the frontline and was a very valuable defensive item. They were useful in planes because it was very hard to hit enemy planes so machine guns could fire randomly and fast so there would be a definite hit. The machine guns were very expensive and when in a time of war, countries were strapped for cash so they were very rare. They also used a lot of ammunition. Around 120 bullets were fired per minute so it would cost lots and lots of money to fuel it. The machine guns could not be used to attack because they were too heavy. Also if their own troops were going across, then the machine gunners would have to stop because they would kill their own men. The machine guns were a great invention and provided a fresh new start for some future technology. It proved useful in many battles. These machines mainly won some of these battles. Gas: The gas method was deadly and had never been seen before. It could spread through walls and trenches and went as far as it could until it diffused. This meant that you didnt always have to hit the right spot while releasing the gas. The gas could also kill people fast and could cloud the vision of many people so they would wander out, linking it to the tanks and so the tanks could move across without being seen or heard if the soldiers had gas masks on until the tanks came close. Usually to attack you would need to lose a few men at least but this new method meant that no friendly soldier would be hurt in the process. Although gas could kill quickly, it took a long time to get to its destination just like a zeppelin. Lots of gas was really needed to kill the enemy soldiers because the gas needed to be dense. This meant that it was expensive to use the gas and it wasnt always effective because most of the soldiers had gas masks after a few months. This meant that gas could be totally ineffective and so it would be such a waste of money on the gas. Gas, of course, could accidentally come back to your own trenches from wind coming your way. Gas was highly feared by many humans throughout Europe because many rumours had gone around that it was the work of the devil and could kill anything so when gasmasks were introduced it meant that many people were rushing around for them like they were a saviour. Planes and Zeppelins: Planes and zeppelins were very useful because there was warfare everywhere. On land, under ground and on water but now in the air. It was useful because no guns were able to fire up at 180à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ so planes were very unlikely to get shot down. They could drop bombs straight down on the enemy. This meant they could be accurate. Planes are linked with machineguns because of the use of them in planes so you didnt have to be accurate to shoot fighter planes. Zeppelins could be massive transport carriers of weapons and other goods. These sorts of machines would take a lot of time to make and be expensive which makes them like tanks. They were not always in the air and so had hangers and such where lots of bombers could easily blow them up before they could get into the air. Like most of technology, both sides would always find out the secret of the new machine so battles in the sky would always take place and would normally be a long battle or a stalemate. Planes were lightweight because they could not fly if they werent so this meant they had no armour so were unreliable. Planes and zeppelins were not used until the Second World War because earlier planes were unsuccessful and zeppelins hadnt been invented yet. But planes were found to be useful and they evolved around the war. The zeppelins were massive airplanes like air tanks ready to drop massive bombs. Modern Technology These modern methods were more effective, accurate and much more reliable. The older methods included horses, which were fast, but as animals they needed feeding, looking after and they needed rest so that meant they would have to wait prolonged periods for the chance to attack. It would cost money to feed the horse. They needed medicine to look after the horse as well. Dogs and pigeons were also used in the war for communication. Pigeons could fly distances of up to 60 miles and 80% of messages got through. But radio messages and telegraph wires were much more useful and would have direct contact with HQ and all messages would get through. So the older methods were fine for the time. Most battles did not take place and were stalemates so the newer technology was needed to break the stalemate and reach a quicker end of a battle, meaning a quicker war. But machine guns were meant to defend trenches and so were effective that they caused most of the stalemates. Many people had good ideas but tanks were the best and this pushed back enemy lines because enemy machine guns could not shoot them and waves of soldiers followed behind them. But tanks were for blowing up artillery not soldiers. So the army needed a weapon for killing masses of soldiers. The answer was gas. At first gas was used to knockout enemy soldiers but gradually more lethal gases were introduced. To kill, blind, maim and blister the enemy. Gas broke stalemates easily 178,500 British were hurt and 7,500 killed by gas. The Germans had 101,650 hurt and 5,350 killed. But then gas masks were invented and gas became so useless that some other machine was needed. Planes were used in earlier wars but were not effective but now new types were available so armies tried them and they seemed unstoppable by guns because they were so fast and there were battles in the air but as per usual there were guns to shoot down planes. So many new inventions were made and were, as you can see from my evidence, much more effective then old fashioned methods but there was always something to stop the new technology. The best defensive weapon is apparent to be the machinegun out of the new and old technology. This is because of the way it mowed down the enemy soldiers coming towards the trench. They could also be far apart because the gun could rotate up to 360à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Even though it is a defensive weapon, it was most useful in attacking machines such as planes because of its quick fire. The best technology for attack was the planes because of their ability to pass over anything and have no boundaries unlike tanks, which cant pass over some trenches. They were able to break the stalemate by bombing front trenches and pushing the enemy back. New Technology and inventions were vital in breaking the stalemate in the war on the western front and completely replaced older fashioned methods. To discuss this we need to look at different parts of the sentence. To start off with New technology and inventions were vital to break the stalemate in the war can be discussed easily. It says that they were vital but they were not only used to break the stalemate they were used also to keep the stalemate (machine guns). Some were not vital to the breaking of the stalemate but some were just used to destroy the trenches but not actually cause enough damage to break the stalemate and push the enemy back. The second part of the sentence is and completely replaced older fashioned methods. The word completely should not be used because if all the modern technology failed then the soldiers would have to rely on the older methods. So the word completely should be changed to parts. The fact is that nothing is ever totally replaced or exterminated. For example small pox is still around in the world today but not in Europe and that is why it is like the new technology. It may have replaced the older fashioned methods in Europe but it still did not replace it in the whole world. For example in China at that time, many horses were still used at the time. This sentence only complies with the positive side of the effect of modern technology. It uses two main facts to present the idea that the modern technology was only good. Coming into the new century was a big time for the old 19th century people. They were a new generation of invention lovers who were not afraid of the new technology unlike the generation before them. So they welcomed the new machines not fearing what damage they could do because they had only experienced mostly good things from new machines. Conclusion: The whole point of the essay was not to find out both sides of the modern weapon findings. As I went over the project I found different ideas and views on how technology was good and needed and how European Warfare would have been better off without it. I found out which machines were useful and which caused more hassle than good. I found why people views were what they were and whether they were good enough or not. At first before I came into this project fully, my views were that all technology was for the best but some were not and some were vital for peace. Weapons can be used for peace but they are mostly used for war. I found that tanks, if not invented, would surely effect the damage felt on Britain. Most probably increasing it because of the way the British used it so much. I had also found that if the German machine gun had not been invented, that the Germans may have lost the war much quicker because of the way they fiercely mowed down enemy soldiers heading towards the trenches. I found that many people had to put their trust in the machines and use them because of the inevitable increase in use of them. Many people I have read about have pushed for an technological advance in weapon warfare where others have the sure belief that it will all end up wrong.

The Vulnerabilities Of Small Island Developing States Environmental Sciences Essay

The Vulnerabilities Of Small Island Developing States Environmental Sciences Essay Small Island Developing States (SIDS) comprise small islands and low-lying coastal countries located across the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and Caribbean Sea. While geographical, climatic, cultural and socio-economic dissimilarities exist between these nations, they face common development constraints and vulnerabilities to Climate Change. Growth and development of SIDS is restricted by factors such as limited resources, remoteness and volatile weather patterns. Small populations and remoteness also lead to high transportation and communication costs and minimal opportunity to create economies of scale thereby inducing susceptibility to external shocks. SIDS also generally possesses a heavy dependence on imported petroleum products. High electricity prices therefore also present constraints to economic and social development efforts. Consequentially, eleven SIDS nations are also recognised by the United Nations as Least Developed Countries (LDC). The environmental impact of human activity is increasingly being recognised across the globe. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions largely from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have significantly increased over the last half a century, leading to the Climate Change phenomenon. Symptomatic changes in climate are already being realised, with increasing temperatures, altering rainfall patterns, rising sea-levels and increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters causing social, economic and environmental issues across the globe. While SIDS provide a minimal contribution to global GHG emissions, they are amongst the most vulnerable to its effects. The size of these island states makes them especially susceptible to climatic variations and extreme events as large areas or even entire islands can be directly affected. The consequential economic environmental and social damage can therefore be extensive, without the option of intra-national relief. Key sector such as tourism and agriculture are under serious threat while in some circumstances the very existence of many island states is at risk. Common characteristics of SIDS not only enhance their susceptibility to experiencing a changing climate but give them a low capacity to adapt to such change. Already experiencing many socio-economic issues such as water and food security, intensification of such issues due to climate change may make these countries uninhabitable. This paper aims to identify the major vulnerabilities of SIDS to impending Climate Change and consider the role that developed nations should play in assisting their survival. NATURAL CLIMATE IN SIDS AND PROJECTED CLIMATE CHANGES Across the globe, the effects of Climate Change are already being observed, with SIDS undoubtedly being affected. Sea surface temperatures have been increasing by 0.1 °C per decade in the oceans where most SIDS are located (45), while annual and seasonal ocean surface and island air temperatures have increased from 0.6 °C to 1.0 °C since 1910 throughout a large part of the South Pacific (46). Studies over the period 1971 to 2004 have also suggest warming to be occurring in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean regions, with trends ranging from 0 °C to 0.5 °C per decade (47). Warming sea temperatures leads to expanding oceans and rising sea levels. This is a key concern for SIDS with the entire Pacific region experiencing a mean rise of +0.77 mm per year (53), while sea-levels in the Caribbean region increase on average by 1mm per year. Local conditions mean there is considerable variation between or even within individual island states. For example, different tectonic movements across the country of Trinidad has lead to rises of about 1mm per year along the west coast, while the south is experiencing an increase of approximately 4mm each year (54). Changing trends in extreme temperatures have also been observed. The annual number of hot days and warm nights in the South Pacific and Caribbean regions has shown increasing trends, as well as a relative decrease in the annual number of cool days and cold nights (48, 49). The climate of SIDS is strongly influenced by the ocean-atmospheric interactions. The El Nià ±o Southern Oscillation and decadal variability play a dominant role in experienced periods of drought and high rainfall and the common generation of tropical cyclones and storms in small island regions. Climate Change is already and expected to continually enhance such extreme weather events. Rainfall patterns are becoming more variable. The Caribbean especially has experienced less consecutive dry days while heavy rainfall events are becoming more frequent (50). These changes are projected only to get worse. The intensity and frequency of cyclnes and tropical storms is also expected to increase. Since 1970 the intensity and duration of storms has increased leading to a greater number reaching category 4 and 5 (51). IMPACTS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE Despite being heavily reliant on fossil-fuel based energy, in comparison to developed and other developing states SIDS use a relatively modest amount of fossil fuels. Consequentially their greenhouse gas emissions remain low, accounting for less than 1% of global emissions (Table. 1). Furthermore, the annual emissions from the Pacific islands is .96 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita, equating to only 25% of the worldwide average per person. SIDS thus hold minimal responsibility for the current climate change, yet in a sad irony they are likely to be the most severely impacted. Table 1. Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2003 Selected Countries (http://cait.wri.org) Already susceptible to food and water security and human health, climate change is likely to exacerbate such socio-economic issues. Water Resources Poor water quality and water stress is common in SIDS. High rainfall and drought periods associated with El Nià ±o episodes significantly impact water security of small islands, while factors such as limited size, geology and topography make their water resources especially sensitive variations in climate. Inadequate infrastructure such as dams, reservoirs and water distribution networks cause further issues for water security in many SIDS. Small island nations often show a strong dependence on rainfall. Tuvalu and several other countries in the Pacific rely on rainwater as their principal freshwater source; Dominica, in the Caribbean and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, show almost complete dependence on surface water from streams; while many low-lying coral islands and raised atolls are forced to rely on groundwater due to unsubstantial freshwater lenses. Reduced rainfall, a likely consequence of climate change, constrains the amount of physically harvestable water, reduced river flow and slowed recharge of freshwater lenses. Hence the ability to meet agricultural and domestic water demands is severely compromised. Sea-level rise and flooding can also lead to saltwater intrusion and siltation of freshwater systems. Extreme weather events can also increase water pollution with serious implications for human health and the incidence of water-borne diseases. Furthermore, a lack of adequate water infrastructure such as dams and reservoirs, results in high runoff during the rainy seasons and consequential losses of surface and stream water to the sea. Coastal zones Coastal areas of small islands are generally the site for major settlements and the centre of economic activity. In the Caribbean more than half the population lives within 1.5km of the shoreline, while islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean, generally establish their villages on the sand terrace or on the beach itself. Communities and critical infrastructure such as schools, electricity generation plants, fuel storage facilities, police stations and hospitals are therefore in direct risk of rising sea-levels and extreme weather events. In the case of a disaster populations are thereby left without basic social services. Rising sea-levels lead to coastal erosion and in some cases inundation, while physical damage from hurricanes and cyclones also threaten vital coastal assets and human lives of small islands. From 1950 to 2004 76% of the reported disasters in the Pacific island region was cyclones with the average cost per cyclone estimated at US$75.7 million (in 2004 value), while the 2004 hurricane season alone caused damage of around US$2.2 billion in only four countries the , Grenada, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Biodiversity and Tourism Geographical isolation has allowed the formation of many unique species, making these islands home to a significant proportion of the worlds biodiversity. However, human activity is posing serious threats to the natural ecosystems of SIDS. Extensive deforestation has occurred for infrastructural development and agriculture, with more than one quarter of the small island states demonstrating greatly reduced forest cover. Terrestrial and marine ecosystems are also experiencing increasing degradation and pollution and overexploitation. Coral cover has declined by up to 80% over the last 3 years in reefs of the Caribbean, with pollution, sedimentation and over-fishing has been determined to be largely responsible. Climate Change will have further consequences for biodiversity and the health of natural ecosystems. Apart from the arising environmental concerns, ensuing social and economic issues also follow due to compromised environmental services. Physical damage from more frequent and intense natural disasters presents severe implications for marine and terrestrial biodiversity. Sea-level rise and associated flooding can lead to salinisation of soils and adverse effects to mangrove forests. Rises in ocean surface temperature and carbon dioxide concentration further threaten coral reefs, leading to coral bleaching events and decreased calcification rates. Based on projected CO2 levels, it has been suggested that the calcification rate of corals could decrease by about 14 percent to 30 percent by 2050(57). Coral reefs play an important role for small islands, providing key nurseries for fish species, protection of the beach and tourism opportunities. Many SIDS rely on one or few economic activities, with tourism and travel commonly accounting for more than 25% of Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) and in some cases more than 50% (12). Natural disasters and degradation of ecosystems can severely impact this income generation. Changing weather- changing distribution of species Agriculture and fisheries Agriculture is highly valued and depended upon in SIDS for both subsistence requirements and economic development. Many islands however have limited arable land and prime agricultural regions are generally located on the coastal plains. Climate change and associated sea-level rise therefore poses a significant risk of further reduction of available farming land due to inundation and salinisation. Extreme weather events also adversely impact food crops and other livelihood resources. Cyclones, hurricanes and floods can cause irreparable damage while extended droughts and shortened growing seasons would also reduce yields. Such events have serious implications for food security while reduced exports of cash crops compromises their foreign exchange earnings and position in world trade. Climate change however is likely to affect varying degrees of economic losses among different island states. Viti Levu, a high island in Fiji, is estimated to have the potential to endure costs in the range of US$23 to 52 million per year by 2050. The low island of Tarawa in Kiribati however faces annual costs of US$8 to 16 million. These costs would represent only 2-3% of Fijis GDP in 2002 and 17-18% of Kiribatis GDP for the same year (58). Fisheries are also a critical sector in many SIDS, contributing up to 10% of the GDP. The El Nià ±o / La Nina cycle already causes visible variations in tuna catches, demonstrating the sensitivity of fish stocks to climate variability. Climate change poses the risk of stimulating altered migration patterns and the depth of fish stock, affecting the distribution and availability of fish species with socio-economic consequences. Human Health Global warming may lead to a variety of associated human health issues. Direct threats to human welfare include injuries and fatalities from extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes and landslides, while increased frequency and duration of heat waves can also be expected to increase the risk of heat stress, illness, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, especially amongst the elderly. A changing climate can also have indirect implication on human health. Increasing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may lead to an increase in water and vector-borne diseases. In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria worldwide and nearly one million deaths, mostly among children. Malaria is most commonly caused by the parasites, carried by mosquitoes. Increasing temperatures and flooding events provide favourable environments for mosquitoes; hence climate change is likely to expand the spread of mosquito and the risk of malaria contraction. Variation in precipitation and temperature will also increase the prominence of dengue fever, with such weather patterns attributable several cases in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago during the period 1980-2000. Storm surges and flooding events also heighten water pollution, leading to water-borne diseases such as cholera and the diarrheal diseases caused by organisms such as giardia, salmonella and cryptosporidium. Furthermore, deceases in rainfall may lead to reduced available freshwater for human use and consumption, increasing the risk of disease. Secondary malnutrition may increase due to declines in water quality and decreases in agricultural productivity. ADAPTATION ACTION Due to the current accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and with recommended emission targets from the IPCC failing to be met by major greenhouse gas emitters, the effects of Climate Change are unavoidable (61). Coupled with the severity in which this is predicted to affect Small Island Developing States, it is imperative that adaptive action is taken for the survival of these nations. A number of adaptation initiatives have been implemented by SIDS on a local scale, often in an ad hoc manner. For example, since Hurricane Ivan, it has become common practice in Jamaica to place concrete blocks on the top of zinc roofs. Typhoon resistant housing has been implemented in the Philippines after Typhoon Sisang in 1987; and improved housing design is also evident in Costa Rica and Equador, with elevated houses or a reinforced concrete strip as a foundation so that the bamboo walls do not touch the ground and are protected from fungal deterioration. There are many avenues available to address water security issues. Promotion of drought tolerant vegetation and establishment of river buffer zones enhances the resilience of rivers and catchment areas. National water policies can be used to encourage efficient water use, advocating water saving devices, while revision of building codes can work to improve water resource management, by increasing opportunities for rainwater catchments and storage. The Cajete Terrace agro-systems of Mexico provide an innovative example of adaptation measures to enhance water use efficiency and enables food to be sustainably grown on steep erosion prone slopes4. This works by excess water being fed from sloping terraces into tanks (Cajetes). The water, which would otherwise not be absorbed into the soil, is collected inside the cajetes and slowly seeps into the surrounding soils after the rain has ended. Eroded nutrient rich soil is also trapped inside of the cajetes and later gathered and distributed into the fields. Adaptable farming systems has also be achieved by African farmers through intercropping, diversification of herds and incomes, such as the introduction of sheep in place of goats4. Climate Monitoring, Forecasting and Early Warning Systems can be an invaluable tool to reduce the impacts of climate change. A National Community Based Flood Early Warning System has been established in the Philippines, allowing predictions and timely responses to possible storm events or flooding. With such equipment, outlooks with lead times of two to six months before the onset of an event may be possible6. Vector dispersion probabilities could also be monitored with such warning systems, allowing opportunities for putting interventions in place, thereby preventing excessive illness and mortality during disease epidemics such as Malaria6. In terms of food production, these systems enable better timed planting and harvesting, opportunity for informed decision of alternative cultivar or crop use, better planned food storage according to future need, and preparation of alternative food procurement strategies in advance1. This would mean more efficient use of seeds, labour, and other household resources in farming and food procurement. Such systems also demonstrate the benefits of regional arrangements pooling resources. Regional management of early warning systems is much more effective in enhancing adaptive capacity than national management. Education and promotion of responsible environmental practices is also necessary, such as training of fishermen and women in sustainable fishing practices and farmers in sustainable land use practices. Land use plans and subsequent enforcement strategies can also be utilised to achieve less destructive environmental practices such as reducing deforestation. Mangrove and coral systems should be protected to maintain their integrity. This can be achieved through discouraging pollution and restricting development in coastal areas. Controlled coastal development can also minimise exposure of people and property to coastal erosion and inundation. Relocation programs have been applied in many states to varying degrees. Frequent flooding and erosion necessitated 100 villagers in Lateu Vanuatu to be moved 600m from the coast to higher ground, while Carteret Islanders are being relocated to neighbouring Papua New Guinean island, Bougainville, in response to the excessive impacts of sea-levels rise. Reconstruction of groynes, building sand dune fences and beach renourishment (planting of trees along the coast) has also been used to protect the beach profile and mitigate the impact of coastal erosion on communities. Building national and regional adaptive capacity and providing further options for adaptation is an important component of many SIDS adaptive programs. This involves strengthening institutions, policies and regulations and linking adaptive strategies with sustainable development. Hence, many SIDS have identified investment into renewable and non-polluting energy systems as a priority. This would not only reduce climate change inducing greenhouse gas emissions, but would promote long-term energy security. ROLE OF DEVELOPED NATIONS Adaptation The low emission levels of SIDS means their policy actions are primarily focused on adaptation. However, these countries do not have the capacity to fully fund the required adaptation. The World Bank has estimated adaptation in developing countries to require between US$10 billion and US$40 billion. Additional resources, including finances and technological knowledge, are therefore required from the international community to facilitate SIDS in building their capacity to adapt to a changing climate and develop sustainably. Currently there is no specific fund which addresses the concerns of SIDS in relation to Climate Change. However global funding sources are available to assist with the costs associated with adaptation. The Adaption Fund, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and The Special Climate Change Fund provide fiscal support for projects aimed at reducing vulnerability while increasing adaptive capacities to the adverse effects of climate change. This is generally achieved through technology transfer, economic diversification, investments in non-polluting, efficient and renewable energy and sustainable development with regards to energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management. For SIDS also considered to be LDCs, the Least Developed Countries Fund, established under the UNFCCC is also available with associated National Adaption Programs of Action. These programs of action combine sustainable development and adaption objectives, focusing on water resources, food securi ty and agriculture, disaster preparedness and risk management, coastal zone management and infrastructure, natural resources management and community level adaptation. Some adaptation programs are targeted at multiple countries (For example, the GEF-UNDP project Piloting Climate Change Adaptation to Protect Human Health and the GEF-World Bank project on Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change in the Caribbean region ), while others are more specific in their application locality. In executing such adaption programs, it is essential the international intervention is sensitive to the local contexts and requirement of the target island state/s. Projects should ultimately aim to enhance national and region capacity for long-term sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change. Dependence on external assistance must be carefully avoided as with implementation of ignorant hence potentially harmful strategies. Valuing traditional knowledge is a critical means of maximising the potential long-term benefits of projects and ensuring their suitability. For example, to assist food security despite erratic rainfall and cyclones farmers of Timor Island have developed their own varieties of major staple crops. Peru farmers provide another example, using an ancient irrigation draining system waru waru, or raised field agriculture, which makes it possible to bring into production the low-lying, flood-prone, poorly drained lands. The shallow canals provide moisture during droughts, drainage during the rainy season and also buffer against night-time frosts. The Zai technique in Burkina Faso also provides an example of a cost-effective adaptation measure to enhance productivity4. Farmers dig pits in the soil to collect organic material carried by the wind during the dry season, at the start of the rainy season farmers add organic matter from animals which attracts termite activity resulting in termite tunnels that can collect rain deep enough that it doesnt evaporate, and thus increasing soil fertility. Incorporating local knowledge and practices into initiatives not only makes communities more likely to adopt adaptive strategies but they also have a greater chance of success due to being contextually appropriate. To ensure benefit maximisation, initiatives should be applied on a community level. Local stakeholders and community members should be involved in all stages of the project to ensure all of their ideas and concerns are incorporated into the design and implementation. Local involvement will also enhance capacity building and self-sufficiency of target communities. Positive examples of this occurring include in Bangledesh where volunteers have been trained to help in cyclone warning, evacuation, rescue, first aid emergency relief and the use of radio communication equipment4. The Caribbean Climate Change Centre was also established through the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change project, allowing climate change concerns to be addressed locally. Despite the efforts of such projects further advances in adaptation capacity and technology transfer is still required. For full realization of benefits, climate change adaptation must be addressed in conjunction with developmental activities. Disaster preparedness, land-use planning, environmental conservation, coastal planning, and national plans for sustainable development complement the objectives of enhancing adaptive capacity. Hence this relationship should be reflected through relevant policies. Mitigation Climate Change poses disproportionate impacts across the globe. While their greenhouse gas emissions are insignificant compared to other countries, the future viability or even survival of many Small Island Developing States is severely threatened. High level emitters, especially developed nations such as Australia, therefore have a responsibility to reduce their contribution to Climate Change. Lobbying for such action is challenging for SIDS due to their international representation. SIDS are members of the negotiating coalition of developing countries, Group of 77 and China (G77/China). Unfortunately, some of the largest greenhouse gas emitters among developing countries are also members. Hence these countries present reluctance to reduce GHG emissions because of their development objectives. Further difficulties arise with members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) also being G77/China constituents. Short-term economic motivations of such countries would deter them from cutting greenhouse gas emissions, under the justification of common but differentiated responsibilities. Continuing emissions from these large developing countries directly threatens the viability of SIDS and compromises their power i n inflicting necessary change among high emitting developed nations. This variance between developing country negotiating partners therefore must be overcome, to protect the existence of Small Island Developing States. CONCLUSION The effects of Climate Change continue to augment with historic greenhouse emissions presenting now unavoidable consequences and action to mitigate excessive global emissions proving inadequate. In comparison to developed and other developing nations, the 51 Small Island Developing States contribute minimally to global greenhouse emissions, yet incongruously it is these nations that are projected to experience the greatest adversity from resulting changes in climate. These countries already endure water and food security and human health issues, with characteristics such as remoteness, limited resources and small physical size and population compromising their development, especially in a sustainable sense. Hence, these countries have a low adaptive capacity with instability in climatic events only going further their socio-economic issues and in some cases, the continued existence of such island states is seriously under threat. Given their limited resources for action, Small Island Developing States require assistance from the international community in terms of both Climate change mitigation and adaption. With their low emission, SIDS have low mitigation potential. Hence, high greenhouse gas emitters must take responsibility to improve their environmentally hazardous practices for the global good. Financial and technical support can also be provided by developed countries to enhance the adaptive capacity and overall resilience of SIDS. Existing funding programs and frameworks should be extended and a specific fund for SIDS established (similar to the LDS fund), to achieve the necessary but exorbitant costs of adaptation. Most importantly however, international intervention must be contextually sensitive and employ local involvement and knowledge to ensure legitimate capacity building, resilience and self-sufficiency of Small Island Developing States.