Monday, September 30, 2019

Nomination: HIV Education and Prevention

Each year there are several cases of AIDS/HIV cases are reported. This may simply shows that people are still ignorance about the disease and its consequences once a person is inflicted. Other instance of the continued dispersion of the disease is the unawareness of people regarding its prevention. According to some surveys conducted, significant numbers of people are dangerously ignorant about the virus, unawareness about the HIV amongst groups. One way of eliminating the sense of unawareness among people is through education. Significantly, one must always reminder that prevention is better than cure (Avert, 2007). What actions did the candidate take in addressing HIV/AIDS needs in the community? The candidate doesn’t ignore the alarming disease. She/he conducted a house-to-house visit in the X County to provide them education about the disease. In fact, the place was considered to be remote area and really needs to be provided with such actions. He/she   gave information to the people about the disease – HIV transmission and prevention. Besides, he/she also taught them about the practical prevention of the disease. She/he taught them on how to get and use condom, how to suggest and practice safe sex, how to prevent from the infection in a medical environment or injection of drugs. Moreover, she/he also shared the risks involved in an unsafe sex. Besides, she/he also gave leaflet about AIDS and made an advertising campaign regarding the dangerous – putting slogan. This is an example on non-targeted education. Meaning, for those who were not able to reach the program could be educated, at the same time, through this method. She/he knew that education regarding the disease must be disseminated through the entire community. However, considering some of the limitations, she/he couldn’t do the information dissemination between him/her and an individual throughout the entire community. However, before he conducted the program, he/she first know the attitudes or characteristics of the people and the community's culture. She/he considered the following points before visitation: age of the people to be educated, receptive degree of the groups, cultural issues, individual education or awareness, education attained by the people about HIV, literacy, others. From this, she/he could really identify which groups needed an intensive education and prevention program (Avert, 2007). She/he also taught them on the negative impacts of the discrimination towards people having the disease. 2. What achievements resulted from the candidate’s efforts? Because of his intensive information giving out about the disease and the effective method implemented, none of her clients has gotten infected with HIV considering the fact that they are a very high risk group. This simply means that the program really works. The people really understand about the disease, its risks and prevention. Also, the community is also very cooperative among its citizens. They also educate others who are ignorant about the disease. The education was not only distributed to the current residents but also it was distributed and disseminated to the next generation (Avert, 2007). 3. What else would you like the selection committee to know about this individual’s contribution to the HIV/AIDS effort in X County? I wanted to know on how she/he approached each individual. I also wanted to know what problems they encountered at the X County during the educational program and how do she/he resolved it. Reference Avert. (2007). HIV / AIDS Education . Retrieved November 17 , 2007, from Why HIV/AIDS education?: http://www.avert.org/aidseducation.htm ; ; ;

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Ampalaya

Introduction Ampalaya  is general known as  Bitter Melon. Scientific name called  Momordica charantia,  amplaya plant climbs uses the vine and it can grow about 20 centimeters this plant came from the family of  Cucurbitaceae,  which is a tropical plant. The heart shaped of ampalya which diameter’s 5 to 10 centimeters. The fruits are colored green the tip is pointed at length. The physical appearance of amplaya fruit is pointed and wrinkled and its taste is bitter.The medicinal value we can get is a substance called  momorcidin. Generations has proved that the amplaya is well effective for many aliments especially to Diabetic person. This herb contains with a mixture of flavanoids and alkaloids that makes the Pancreas healthy and gives more insulin that manage controls the blood sugar. The other value, is it is also good source of vitamins C and A, B, calcium, iron, phosphorous and folic acid. II. Summary: Ampalaya is the indigenous name of Bitter Melon or Momord ica charantia Linn. a vegetable native to the Philippines and Southeast Asia, known for its bitter taste. A popular vegetable often grown by many households, the Ampalaya vine can grow up to 5 meters and its leaves can reach to about 4 to 10 cm. Its yellow flowers are both â€Å"male† and â€Å"female†. The Ampalaya fruit is usually eaten while still green because as the fruit ripens its taste grows bitterer. During preparation, the seeds, which turn from white to red over time, are removed to lessen the bitterness.The skin is retained and proves to be soft and tender once cooked. Used as a regular vegetable ingredient for many Asian dishes, the Ampalaya is also significant for its well-documented blood sugar-lowering effect. Aside from being rich in fiber and nutrients such as iron and potassium, several key compounds have been identified in the fruit, notably charantin, vicine and polypeptide-p, known plant insulin that numerous pre-clinical studies and limited clini cal trials have attributed to the plant's beneficial effects to blood sugar.Several supplements for diabetics have been developed using the Ampalaya, most notably an Ampalaya tea and capsules using the dried Ampalaya fruit. As diabetes continues to rapidly spread across countries and social strata, the Ampalaya is expected to provide diabetics with a safe and natural alternative to help control their elevated sugar levels. While the herb is still rare in countries where it is not indigenous, expect the Ampalaya and Ampalaya-based products to start gracing local grocery shelves as more and more people realize its potential anti-diabetes use.In Chinese, the effectively known Ampalaya in terms in herbal medicine it has been tested by many research companys and laboratories worldwide In Philippines, the Department of Health has says Ampalaya is effective herb medicine to prevent various kinds of illnesses such as liver problems diabetes, and even AIDS. It is also cure cough and skin pro blems. The value of amplaya is to increase the sterility of women, in antipyretic, purgative functions and parasiticide.Note: For women in large takes of Ampalaya juice can be an abortifacient and purgative III. Conclusion: Ampalaya is one of the best crops that can be planted in our country. Through this, there is a possibility that you can really earn a living . Aside from that, this is also good for our body. So that means, you are earning and you are also keeping you and your family healthy. III. References Article Source: http://EzineArticles. com/347711 http://www. 1-4-3. net/amadorrullan/? p=86

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A Study on Legal Position of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in Urban Development

A Study on Legal Position of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in Urban Development Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is one of the main features of urban area, which is always considered by urban planners. This issue has become as one of the major bases of urban development policy in Iran within the past recent years and been emphasized through the framework of several urban development plans. Therefore, a fundamental view in this regard is mandatory. The most important achievement of the current century in the field of urban development is considering citizens rights and qualitative aspects in this regard. Non-professional interference such as selling excessive FAR and uncontrolled and unplanned developments, especially for housing purposes in most major cities without considering the variability and difference of urban lands and merely for achieve earning for municipality and profitability of a limited group of investors have occurred, which resulted in a decrease in urban environment quality and lack of sustainability in the field of security, health and comfort of citizen s in environmental fields. Whereas effect of tall buildings on urban area and citizens in terms of physical, economic, social, urban development, etc. is undeniable, therefore, special focus on urban development laws is required. The purpose of this study includes recognizing effecting urban laws relating to FAR and controlling urban development through examining laws on FAR and tall building construction in some sample countries across the Globe, to identify variable and suitable solutions using global experiences. Eventually, through studying Tehran and New York, as two modern cities with roughly similar conditions and comparing the laws and manner to face issues of urban development and FAR, we understand the level of success of each in this regard and what are more suitable solutions. Study method in this article is combined, in a way that using research method and documented and library base studies, the relevant information is collected and further examined using quantitative and qualitative method. Introduction Almost all developed and developing countries face serious problems due to rapid and vertical growth of cities during the recent decades. The issues of this phenomenon not only extensively affected urban development policies, but also its consequences played a major role in economic, social, political, managerial and environmental issues of the societies. Concerns on this phenomenon caused that the developed countries, especially upon WWII, take certain measures to solve or control this crisis. The main bases of these measures include policies on tall building construction, mass development, changing taxation laws, enactment of land laws for optimized usage, improvement and renovation of old and central urban areas, plan on preparing lands of new locations, developing new cities, and above all, policy on increasing population density and FAR of cities. Through reviewing many of these polices, the undeniable role of FAR component in forming and physical aspect and form of the city may be perceived. In these plans, FAR is determined considering population expected for the plan horizon and urban development and urban region policies as well as considering environmental capacities, services and infra-structural urban installations and social, economic, and cultural characteristics. Therefore, focusing the important role of housing in the city and urban planning, focusing position of FAR in projects, its role and importance in urban area organization and factors and criteria affecting the same and legal discussion in this regard are essential. Various existing limitations in a city results in limitations to admitting population for that city and its suburbs, while due to the same reason, the regulations on level of permitted construction in urban development plans is known and therefore, the owners are prohibited to construct excessive building considering their construction permits. Study Purpose Identifying factors affecting FAR Clarifying FAR concept as urban development tool for housing projects Study Questions What are the effective criteria to determine FAR? Can the criteria effective in modern urban design be achieved through considering common legal aspects of FAR in the studied countries? Study Method Whereas this article is of analytical, quantitative and qualitative nature and collecting data has been fulfilled through research method and documented and library studies, which have further been studied, therefore, the study method in this article is of combined type. Position of FAR in Urban Development Fundamentals: In general, the concept of density in the urban planning literature in the context of land use planning under the category of zoning regulations is the subject dealt with the spatial distribution of elements, functions and activities in urban areas. (Flame, Urban Management Quarterly, 2008, p. 36). Concentration in urban design also has a great effect on all three aspects of the artifact environment, its function, its form and meaning. This effect is achieved through the level of user activity in the functional dimension, and the methods for controlling the volume, height and spacing of buildings, in the dimension of the form through the dimensions of performance and in the semantic dimension and artifact environment. Height: The height of buildings as one of the contiguous variables on FAR is one of the most important factors in organizing urban landscape. This criterion, in proportion to the number of building floors, is a more precise control tool that should be designed with regard to adjacent buildings and street features. The impact of building height on creating a sense of space enclosure is significant. The sense of being enclosed in space is essentially based on the relation between the eye distance from the height of the enclosing body of space. Building Mass and Volume: This is one of the other criteria controlling FAR, which plays an important role in urban form and view. This criterion focuses controlling volume and distribution of superstructure on ground area. Scale: It is one of the other variables dependent on density, which is a complex, multi-faceted and relative measure. So that it can be a mixture of the main criteria such as mass and volume, height, gradient etc. In this way, the effects of building density on the physical dimension are more pronounced. Disturbance in physical spaces and urban form and landscape is one of the negative consequences of increasing construction density. Floor Area Ratio (FAR) This is the ratio of the total infrastructure construction of a fragment to the total area of that piece. (Zo Eshtyagh, 1998.4) The index of construction density is shown as a percentage. The effects of increasing the density on the urban form include spatial skew, a cultural organization, mass and space. The effects of increasing density on urban landscape are as follows: Height line, bonding of the walls, scale, granularity, hemisphericity of buildings. Therefore, if increased construction density, without comprehensive planning, can cause disturbances in the citys space and body. The formation of the physical composition of urban bodies, without consideration of qualitative and quantitative aspects, will lead to the creation of discrete and unconnected urban areas and disparate and disproportionate towers. This is clearly visible in housing projects. Factors effective in Categorization Determine the density in each area according to its type of operation Determine the amount of land needed for important urban functions such as trade, industry, residential sector and other urban activities (Shokouti, 1994, p. 343) The height of buildings, the dimensions of segments, the street width, the supply area and the number of buildings in each building The location and capacity of the lines of installations and main streets (Zyari, 2009, p. 67) The theory of determinism (ecology) of the city, considering its size and population density and high buildings, causes the mental and emotional disturbances of the citizens, which in turn undermine social relations, Superficial, apparent, and so on. But combinators claim that ecological factors do not play an effective role in social relationships, and that differences in social behavior of individuals derive from their own characteristics and characteristics. Sub-cultural theory synthesizes two earlier theories that are more consistent with the reality of urban life. The existence of complications from various subcultures under conditions of consolidation can have the same strong links and sincere connections in urban areas and, in some cases, an abnormal phenomenon. In high-rise buildings, in addition to the effects of ecological factors, non-ecological issues also play a major role. In addition to numerous global experiences, research conducted in Iran, mainly composed of academ ic work.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Chinese classroom culture and American classroom culture Thesis

Chinese classroom culture and American classroom culture - Thesis Example A classroom culture of trust and transparency is the foundation for creating an environment where students are empowered with correct and appropriate feedback helping in effective learning along with offering them a chance to learn from their mistakes resulting in the achievement of common goals and objectives in a planned manner. It is important to create a trusting environment as it helps students to learn along with offering learning to others through experiences. However, different countries take different approaches to design their classroom culture based on the goals and objectives formulated by the supervisory bodies. A trusting classroom environment embedded with transparency helps in winning the trust of students along with offering them a robust platform of learning and invaluable experiences through course books and personal learning and sharing (Chalker, Haynes, 1994). The next part of the discussion presents an insight over Chinese classroom culture in terms of ideas and methods used to enhance the learning of students. Chinese Classroom Culture The educational system is China is more of Socialist oriented where sharing of ideas and knowledge is considered as the prime element of learning. Chinese classrooms are often packed with up to fifty students and learning is driven by group activities and discussions that is an element of socialism. Chinese schooling is extremely competitive that means students have to compete at the grade school level by sitting in competitive exams and working hard to ensure high grades in order to het admission in best of schools. The Chinese education system can be considered as a stepping stone for the success of the economy in many ways. Students are compelled to succeed in order to serve the society and any sort of lagging behind may singled them out and thus creating extra amount of pressure that often affects their learning capabilities. The motivation for excellence is quite different in China compared to other co untries as China emphasizes on creating productive citizens who can serve the society and nation along with creating value for the nation. In Western countries, children may have individuals’ goals and dreams to become wealthy but in China, the entire focus is on enhancing the level of productivity so that the nation can be served in a productive manner. This has created extra burden on students in order to be competitive and excel in their fields. China has a large population and often space becomes an issue especially while accommodating 50-60 students in a single class. This is why classes are very near to each other separated only by walls. On the other hand, teachers share common room that mitigates hierarchies across academia and barriers to communicate with other teachers. Hansen, Childs (1998) stated that in Chinese education system, teachers can easily meet and communicate with each other and do not feel isolated as much as American School teachers. This clearly show s that the culture of sharing ideas and beliefs is the top most priority of the Chinese education system that is taken forward in classrooms in a logical way. Redding (1980) believed that Chinese students are often considered as more reverential and memory oriented. They are also very

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Blue Jean Waste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Blue Jean Waste - Essay Example Public health should always come first because I believe that this is foremost important for betterment of a society. This personal belief propelled my reaction to the video which called for more stress to be put on social and environmental responsibility on a global level. I believe that the corporations involved in this case like Gap and Levi reacted appropriately to pandemonium created by the responsible plant. Different regulatory measures taken to prevent blue jeans waste from ruining health of local people in the future are reliable. This is because myriad inventive strategies were engineered by those corporations only days after the incident got reported (Macvicar, 2009). The most valuable action in my opinion was formation of a neutral organization to keep a check on performance of garment manufacturers in Lesotho. Such a neutral monitoring organization was bound to make most objective and unbiased observations regarding actions of the factories

Learning and Development of Human Resource Management Essay

Learning and Development of Human Resource Management - Essay Example As employees make day-to-day decisions, it is very important that the decisions they will make are based on the Disney’s principles. The company’s principles are a vital inclusion to the induction program for the new recruit, as he or she will also need to make decisions in the future. In order to give the new recruit an idea of his or her job’s significance to the bigger picture, the job’s place according to the organizational structure. The place of the job in fulfilment of a bigger objective, when it is shown will give significance to the individual goal a new recruit has in fulfilment of his or her own job. The company’s policies as regards health, safety and environment should be included in the induction programme. This could include the company’s policy as regards requirements for medical examinations and provisions when employees acquire illnesses. Apart from the health, rules and policies about the company’s work environment should be included. These rules, especially about safety in using certain equipments should be clearly given to new recruits. Also, serious actions that the management will take when employees violate safety rules which could jeopardize the safety of other employees should be included. When there are accidents, emergency procedures should be part of the induction programme in order to provide the new recruit knowledge that will aid him or her in times of emergency or accidents within the work environment. Disney should include in its induction programme the clear set of duties and requirements of the job that the new recruit should fulfil. By making clear the demands of the job, the new recruit will know up to what extend he or she will be expected to perform, and what to perform. Apart from the duties, the number of work hours required for a certain job should also be

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 8

Case Study Example e teacher admits that Maria at certain times fail to complete her assignments in time, she appears not to ask question or participate in class work irrespective of the topic, however, her results shows that she understands the concepts1. Multi tire systems is an intervention aimed at helping young children overcome learning difficulties. Each tire is characterized by different intensities of instruction to help develop certain skills in the child. Multi-Tier system have different levels of instruction in each tire, they are designed to fit each pupil’s academic needs1. The first tire involves the application of evidences to help students gain reading skills. Classroom assessments and the evaluation of student progress is also an essential component to this Tier. These assessments allow school districts to not only evaluate individual student achievement, but also the quality of instructional practices and its effect on group achievement1. The second Tier involves assessing and identifying students who are not responding to general instructional methods and providing more intense training in areas of weakness. Assessment is a significant component at this level, as results allow schools to determine students’ baseline abilities and whether they are responding to additional instruction1. Tier 3 is an intervention reserved for those students who do not respond to more intense instruction methods. Formal referrals for special education evaluations are frequently necessary at this point. Data gathered from the pre-referral intervention provides important information in the special education evaluation process by allowing diagnosticians the ability to determine effective learning strategies. After assessment is complete, an eligibility determination for special education is then made2. A three-Tiered model for instruction and intervention is based on the principle that academic and behavioral supports are first provided at a core or universal level to

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Open letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Open letter - Essay Example Unlike me, my friend is an introvert and prefers staying by himself. Additionally, he lacks experience with women and ends up breaking up with most of the women he gets from me. For the three years that we have been very close, we have shared several amenities. The fact that we have similar interests heightened my relationship with him. We were together most of the time. However, early last year I met a girl and fell in love. I am therefore currently in a very steady relationship where we are planning marriage. My girlfriend is also our classmate and a friend of my roommate, as a matter of fact. As would be expected, I am closer to my girlfriend than my roommate, and this is straining my relationship with him. He feels rejected and, to some extent, betrayed. I cannot understand what he might have expected from our friendship. A week ago, while my girlfriend was visiting, he acted absurdly; he waited for me to leave the room for a call and made a plan with my girlfriend. Later my girl friend shared with me his wish for the two of them to meet secretly. I encouraged her to meet him but convinced her to share with me the outcome of their discussion. They met in secret as they had planned and converted in length over a cup of coffee in the cafeteria. My girlfriend later reported to me that he kept advising her to terminate the relationship because he knew me more than the lady did and according to him, â€Å"I was not the best choice for my girlfriend†. He told her that I am a flirt and would break her heart. According to him, it was therefore pointless for her to sacrifice her time being in a relationship with me while the outcome was evident. After the meeting, my girlfriend started acting differently. We could not share anything, and that worried me. However, after I learned about their discussion with my roommate, I concluded that it was as a result of the issues that they had discussed. Meanwhile, I maintained friendly relationships with him. My roommate was quick to offer his advice telling me that the lady was not the best woman I could date. He tried to discourage me from continuing and committing to the relationship. He even offered to take me out for lunch and a film that was debuting in town that day. He did not make sexual advances towards me, but he was so friendly that he suggested to share my bed after we drank several bottles of whiskey in a bid to get my mind off my girlfriend. I did not avoid my girlfriend because she soon approached me and was willing to share with me the outcome of her meeting with my roommate. She recounted the advice she got from my roommate and I also opened up and shared with her the advice I received from my roommate, and, I must say, I was shocked. He had gone to great lengths to separate me from the girl I loved, for reasons best known to him. Besides his attempts, he tried becoming very close to me—closer than he had ever tried in our three-year-old friendship. After reconciling with m y girlfriend, we became closer; we would spend more time together which angered my roommate. He currently does not come into the room when I am in. At such times, he would prefer spending the night elsewhere. Other than that, he seems to be distracted by alcohol. Whenever I try to reach out either by calling or texting him, he refuses to reply my texts or receive my calls. My roommate’s current careless attitude towards his social and academic life distresses

Monday, September 23, 2019

Basically Good, Bad, or Both Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Basically Good, Bad, or Both - Essay Example Human beings are a combination of both, good and evil because they are neutral and they have the free will and determination to adopt any. In order to be civilized humans have set boundaries and rules that determine good and evil. Aristotle argued that since man is a social animal and setting boundaries for good and evil is but natural because they are essential for humans remain civilized. Humans are neutral because they are equally capable and free to make a rational choice between good and evil. It is the society, upbringing and biological factors that affect a human's ability to think and decide. So it's these factors that are to be accredited blamed or for good or evil, respectively. It has been proved that the human mind is not a blank slate by Steven Pinker in his book "The Blank Slate" and the other factors like the surroundings, sociological and biological factors affect the mind's ability to think. Humans are not born good or born evil because they are capable of both as th ey grow up into adults. Education and guidance have an effect on the mind's capability to decide and choose between good and evil. ... Whereas, the developed world is a different scenario and people are usually educated and well- brought up even well-fed and well-provided with all the needs and wants and it's a fact that these people are sensitive and have made rational decisions to do good and avoid evil. Both the qualities of good and evil are present within us and we must make a choice. There are outside influences that affect the nature of the choice. The most controversial example is George W. Bush who is civilized and a good man in the eyes of many and especially his relatives but he is responsible for waging wars for oil and millions have been killed in his quest. He is a combination of good and evil. Bush is a good person to some people and maybe he himself believes that he is working in the best interests of his people and his country. But the fact remains that his actions were evil and millions of innocent lives have been lost. There is a reason for human nature to take this form and there are several theo ries to explain it. The philosophical naturalism believes that humans are superior beings and they are the result of evolution. Humanist philosophers argue that good and evil are simply labels and made up boundaries in order to civilize this world. It is the brain and the society at work that bring out this distinction. These influences affect our decisions to be good or to be evil. Man was born free and free will according to Thomism by Aquinas explains that a free will is the only essential proof of the existence of a soul. Aristotle supported this theory as well since according to his concept of hylomorphism the soul is significant and also universal and the soul makes every human being different. Therefore, when every one of us is different, every one of us has a

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Women in Tennyson’s Poems Essay Example for Free

Women in Tennyson’s Poems Essay In â€Å"The Lady of Shallot† Tennyson portrays the lady as somewhat of a victim by being trapped in her room weaving as if she leaves she will break an elusive curse she is under. In line 63 we see that â€Å"she hath no loyal knight and true† this implies to us that she is utterly alone in her world and whether she stays or leaves men have set up a world she is doomed to fail by growing old alone or by dying. We go through the poem thinking that she is content with living in solitude looking out at the world through her mirror but when Sir Lancelot suddenly appears in Part 3 we see her look out the window and break the curse, this shows that Lancelot ultimately brought her to her death. But this point can be contradicted by the fact that Sir Lancelot did not even know he was being watched and you could argue that her own female weakness of sexuality led her to her own death. Following on the point that she is not entirely a victim it is shown in the lines â€Å"she left the web she left the loom† Tennyson’s repetition of the world ‘left’ emphasizes the gravity of her actions and the fact that she has been trapped in the tower all her life and is now leaving implies a sense of freedom, this is also shown in the line â€Å"she loosened the chain† Tennyson could be symbolising the fact she is breaking free from the constraints of a male dominated world. On the other hand we again come to feel pity for the lady at the end of the poem due to the males and Lancelot’s curt attitude to her body and Lancelot’s comment that â€Å"she has a pretty face† which suggest that the male world is ignorant and conceited. In â€Å"Godiva† we are first introduced by Tennyson to Godiva as being part of a ‘legend’ this is then wildly contradicted when we get our first glimpse of Godiva as she is seen as being controlled by her husband â€Å"the grim earl† and is just a possession towards him which gives us the sense that thi s is in fact a male dominated world this is further shown when the Earl patronises Godiva by saying â€Å"you would not let your little finger ache.† But when we get to stanza 4 we see it is a somewhat transformative stanza as Godiva starts to break away from her husband’s constraints, this is evident in the line â€Å"unclasped the wedded eagles of her belt† we start to see her transform into a strong, independent woman. Yet we still see that although she is defying her husband and riding  through town she is still made to feel extremely uncomfortable and still violated by men when she is looked at by a ‘peeping tom’ this shows although she is doing a magnificent act of defiance she is still degraded by men. On the other hand this is contradicted by the peeping tom being instantly blinded. Tennyson has used Lines such as â€Å"like a creeping sunbeam† and â€Å"like a summer moon† to maybe symbolise the fact that Godiva has huge power and capability such as the sun and moons ability to give out and create light instead of darkness. This could also signify the fact that Godiva is ending a dark time of high taxes. The last lines of the stanza express that â€Å"she took the tax away and built herself an everlasting name.† Tennyson uses the pronoun ‘she’ to emphasize the fact that it was Godiva who took away the taxes and not the earl. Therefore showing how she is ultimately stronger than the grim earl. In conclusion some may agree with the fact that although in most of Tennyson’s poems he is describing predominately male worlds and the women are presented as victims, In â€Å"Godiva† and â€Å"the Lady Of Shallot† the main characters are women who appear victims in the beginning but then ultimately break out of their confinement as inferior people and become women who make their own choice and decide how their own lives are going to go for the first time, therefore I believe they maybe are victims in some ways but the ways in which they are not overpower them.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Importance Of Wellness Programme In Organization

Importance Of Wellness Programme In Organization Unhealthy diet and lack of regular physical activity caused several bad health outcomes among employees, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic disease (Harris Fries, 2002). According to Conlin (2007) the insurance premium and absenteeism by sick workers cost businesses $15 billion a year in United States (as cited in Scarborough, Wilson Zimmerer, 2009). Besides that, about 70% of organizations health care costs were arising from preventable chronic diseases. According to Fries, Koop, Beadle, Cooper, England, Greaves, Sokolov, and Wright (1993) preventing employees chronicle illness is the best solution for reducing organizations health care cost. According to Quintiliani, Sattelmair, and Sorensen (2007) worksite has been recognizes globally as an appropriate setting to promote wellness programme. Stokols, Pelletier Fielding (1996) also suggested that worksites wellness programme could influence employees healthy behaviour. Through direct effort health education and increasing the availability of healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity; or indirectly through social support and social norms promoting health behaviours (Sorensen, 2002). Worksites wellness programmes were also a useful way of promoting a healthy diet and frequently physical activities to employees (Engbaers, 2005). Wellness programme has commonly focused on promoting worker health in reduction of individual risk-related behavior. For instance, tobacco use, poor nutrition and other avoidable health behaviours (LaMontagne, 2004).Employees performance increased more than 2.5 times once employees health and wellness managed well (Grimard, 2009). In 2004, The United States National Workplace Health Promotion found that many companies provide various type of worksites wellness programmes (Linnan, 2004). They found that 26% provided health education, and 30% provided supportive social and physical environments, and 23.5% provided worksite screening. However, the effectiveness of worksites wellness programme is effect by various issues, such as employees participation and the organizations implementation efforts (Kumar, McCalla Lybeck, 2009). According to Tsui (2008), the implementation efforts of wellness programme in Asian companies is far from desirable although the awareness of this issue is increased. 2.0 Definition of worksites wellness program According to Gold (2009) wellness programme was defined as a holistic approach that addresses the needs of individuals, whether its mental or physical needs or anything related to their family or work. Wellness programme focus on prevention, behavioral change and also offer tools for people to know their health risks and numbers, such as their cholesterol, sugar and body mass index. Offering them ways to learn the health information and solutions, focusing on three keys areas: healthy eating, helping people quit smoking, and let employees to be more active and really address their health needs. Wellness programme was being implemented by organization nowadays to create their worksites wellness programme (Craft, 1994). According to Wolfe and Parker (1994) Worksites wellness programme are long-term organizational activities designed to promote the adoption of organizational practices and personal behaviour conducive to maintaining or improving employee physiological, mental, and social well-being. (as cited in Ho, 1997). Sullivan (2000) mentioned that worksites wellness programme was a programme that intended to keep or develop employees health before the health disease occurs. From the perspective of a manager in an organization, wellness programme have the potential to reduce medical claims costs, decrease absenteeism, improve employee productivity, recruitment, and retention (Chang, Koh, Kang, 2005). For maximum impact on employee health, a comprehensive worksites wellness programme should focus on increasing awareness of wellness issues by providing employees health info rmation, supporting health management and promoting healthy work climates. Worksites wellness programmes included what consider being traditional efforts to maintain costs, including on-site fitness centers, healthy selections in company cafeterias, health assessments, employee assistance plans, and other programs that attempt to influence the organizational culture to ensure the workplace has a strong wellness culture (Kumar, et. al, 2009). 2.1 Importance of wellness programme in organization In recent years, there was a significant increasing trend for companies to introduce wellness programmes at the worksite (The Straits Times, 1994). According to Alsagoff (1993) in 1991, for example, the Singaporean employer had to pay S$252 in medical costs on every worker, which was a growth of some 6.8 per cent over the previous year. Worksites wellness programme is very important to a company as this can be proven by those companies which had made up their mind to adopt it, most of them mentioned that the primary reason in doing so was to increase employee productivity, to meliorate employees welfare advantages and morale, and to heighten the corporate reputation of the company (Wong, 1993). Worksites wellness programmes in the Western countries have a much older history and have been proven in many cases to be associated in a beneficial way to such essential opportunity costs as employee satisfaction, job performance, health care costs, absenteeism, and employee turnover (Shephard, 1992). Some companies have also savored nonphysical advantages such as enhanced employee spirit, health and generative, employee attraction and retention, and improved image for the corporations (Connors, 1992) after their employees reduced the rate of smoking and some of them even successfully quit smoking. Fielding (1994) studies conducted at Johnson Johnson showed affirmative opportunity costs, business-unit-wide, of health promotion programmes. These studies proved that effective wellness programme effects on uniform exercise participation, fitness levels, employee satisfaction, employees medical costs, smoker quit rates and on an indirect measure of productivity. Worksites wellness programme were also found to be very important in helping employees to having a better healthy lifestyle. A study of the Travellers Insurance Company health promotion programs reported a symptom of decreasing in health claims, absenteeism and employees insurance costs; an improvement in productivity; and a return on investment of roughly US$3.40 for every US$1.00 spent (Golaszewski Yen, 1992). Besides that, a cost-benefit study reported in the literature attributed minimized health care costs to Blue Shield and Blue Cross of Indianas health promotion programs, which resulted in a refund of US$2.51 for every US$1.00 of programs involves (Elias Murphy, 1986). According to Quick (1987), US organizations continue to lead almost European and Asian organizations in employee health promotion. This same goes to the issue in Singapore where the level of awareness or interest for corporate health promotion is low (Ministry of Health, Singapore, 1993). This is amazing in view of the high economic absenteeism rate arising from illness which is about seven days of medical leave per employee in 1991 and the huge amount of corporate medical expenses about $316 of medical cost per employee and annual corporate health care cost of around $416 million (Malik, 1993). 2.2 Effects of worksites wellness programme 2.2.1 Reduced employees absenteeism in organization The figure of sick hours and days an employee uses during a calendar year is referring to absenteeism (Leong, 1993). It is an important measure for monitoring the outcome of the effect of worksite wellness programme because it involved cost savings that may useable for company to development in other area. The economic effect of employee absenteeism are mainly from the costs of decreased productivity because of absenteeism cause from employees during working days, substitution of less experienced workers and the extra expense of hiring temporary workers. Every employee took an average of seven days of medical leave which causing in 10.4 million man days lost in 1991. Studies show that by implementing worksite wellness programme, absenteeism in the workplace can be deducted to at least 42 per cent (Gebhardt Crump, 1990). The latest research by using control grouping has found relations between reduction in absenteeism, health care costs and turnover rate and implementation of examina tion health promotion programmes (Klein, 1986). It has been forecasted that poor health and injury contribute for almost 60 per cent of all lost hours from work (Conrad, 1987). The main reason for absenteeism appears to be social psychological ones, which include work stress. As so, strategies oriented towards improving employee physical and emotional well-being have the possibility for impacting a main source of employee absence. There is much more pre-experimental type literature holds up the arguments that strengthen employee fitness level through wellness programs lead to reduction in absenteeism. At Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Ohio, USA, for instant, research indicated that as number of frequenly exercise increased, absenteeism in short term because of illness will be significantly decreased. This interpreted to about a day less of absenteeism a year for each frequent exerciser compared to non-exercisers (Lynch, 1990). An inversely proportional correlation between members involve d rates and the number of inattentive from work was also recorded at The Travellers Insurance (Shillingford Mackin, 1991). 2.2.2 Increased employees job satisfaction in organization Job satisfaction has become a critical issue in the workplace. Job satisfaction impacts the wellfare of employees and exercises a significant effect on the organization. Because of its outcome for the organization, involvement in job satisfaction is particularly high, for instant absenteeism and turnover (Cherrington, 1989) and for the worker, such as physical and mental health (ODonnell Ainsworth, 1984). As so, it is very important to have a satisfied workforce to become a competitive advantage for organizations. Research has shown that satisfied employees with improved spirit are more likely to contribute and hardworking as a consequence of an increased signify of duty, responsibility and an obligation to the superior or employer (Shinew Crossley, 1988). The question mark then started to come into the scenario whether introduce to worksite wellness programme would be applicable to increase employees spirit sufficiently to result in better job satisfaction. Affirmation to this question mark can be provided and shown by companies such as Johnson Johnson General Electric. For instant, in 1987, General Electric Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA served and functioned as host for a research to examine and note the similarities or differences of employees recreation participation with those of employees fitness participation. Comparison of overall job satisfaction among different employees and absenteeism were chosen randomly from a total of 900 employees through computerized personnel file. Results showed that employees who involves at any stage showed high job satisfaction and lesser absenteeism rate than employees who never take part from the beginning until the end (Baun, 1986). 2.2.3 Reduced employees stress in organization Stress in organizations is a serious issue among management practitioners because of its nonadaptive phenomenon on organizational effectiveness. According to the 1993 World Labour Report from the International Labour Organization, in twentieth century stress has become one of the most concern health issues. In the USA, job stress has been approximated to cost industries around US$200 billion every year, and stress is estimated to price up to 10 per cent of the gross national product in the United Kingdom (Tang Harumontree, 1992). There is research prove that frequently links occupational stress with certain physical health symptoms and diseases. Different kind of cancer, heart disease, migraine, allergies, ulcers, depression and an increased tendency of minor ailments for instant flu and colds which have been associated with stress (Sethi Schuler, 1990). Nowadays, there is a growing body of experimental and clinical research confirming the notion that physical fitness can direct to significant reductions in job stress. Uniform and exact physical activity has been shown to lessen the percentage of heart attacks, heart rate, mental disorders, muscle tension , blood pressure all and stress-interrelated indications. Research showed that frequently doing exercise can assist individuals by improving the level of resistance to any stimulus, so that a person is less expose to the effects of stress (Tarkan, 1991). Experts also stated that the best way that stress can be reduced were through joining fitness centre, yoga classes and educational seminars (Mobley, 1982). 2.3 The challenges of wellness programme in organization The United States 2004 National Worksite Health Promotion Survey reports that a successful worksite wellness programmes have facing five challenges (Linnan, Bowling, Childress, Lindsay, Blakey, Pronk, Wieker Royall, 2008). The survey found the following challenges; incompetence to prompt the support from upper management , 38% ; inadequate funds, 48.2%; failure to engage high-risk employees, 48%; insufficient staff resources, 50.1% , and lack of employee interest, 63.5% . According to Birken and Linnan (2006) these challenges should be identifying and addressing them by employers during the planning process as following. 2.3.1 Incompetence to prompt the support from upper management- The different level of management in the organization has different perception for the challenges to implement the worksites wellness programme (Orlandi, 1996). For example, the line supervisor or middle managers believe that the cost, space and production conflict were barriers while the senior manager had less focused and putting fewer efforts to overcome this challenge. 2.3.2 Inadequate funds- The lack of funds are the challenges often occurs when insufficient staff resources exists. When the worksites wellness programme is lack of designated staff to monitor, some potential funding or sources of support will be passed over. In United States, The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention provided organizations opportunities to funding for worksite wellness program (www.cdc.gov, 2010). 2.3.3 Failure to engage high-risk employees- High risk employees are those that have more health risk factors or those that have already tight with a chronic disease or illness (Haynes Dunnagan, 2002). High-risk employees might face challenges to participating in worksite wellness program than low-risk employees such as they will feel ill when participate in physical exercise programs (Emmons, Linnan, Abrams Lovell, 1996). According to Loeppke (2009) employers should integrating more personalized approach to encourage high risk employees to participate in the programs. For example, the employers should conducting a health coaching by using motivational interviewing to help the high risk employees changing their lifestyle behaviour to obtain healthier lifestyle. 2.3.4 Lack of Staff Resources- Staff resources are barriers for any program or activity that are not linked directly with companys business operation. Organization should provide staffs that interested and willing to organize the wellness programmes externally-sponsored training programs and wellness education workshop. For example, North Carolina State Division of Public Health has cooperated with the North Caronila State Health Plan to provide training workshop for state employees and teachers who interested in organizing employee wellness programme (www.statehealthplan.state.nc.us, 2006). 2.3.5 Lack of Employee Interest-. Employees interest in changing their behaviour and commitment to worksite wellness programme is the biggest challenges to a quality wellness program (Bonvissuto, 2010). According to Young (2006) some employees does not recognize the impact of worksite wellness programme which can enhance their personal health. Employees will lack of interest to participate for the worksite wellness programme due to this factor. A survey shows some reasons the employees not interesting in wellness program (Bates, 2009). The reasons shows as following: Inconvenient times of the program offered Lack of child care support The company benefits through this program and how it will affect the employees not being explained The program purpose is not clearly explained by organizer The advantages of the program to the employees cannot convey by lower level management under their authority Employees are annoyed and mistrustful with employer The program cost money to participants Hawks and Richins (1994) found that women were more probable to withdraw wellness programme than men (as cited in Erickson Gillespie, 1999 ). Hochschild (1989) explained this is caused by the family responsibility of married women as they need caring their children and keeping house. This will affects working women interest in participate the worksite wellness programme as they need to spend more time to caring their children after working hours. 2.4 The implementation process in worksites wellness programme The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) was a United States not-for-profit organization which helped enhance the worksites wellness in the U.S (Hunnicutt Leffelman, 2008). WELCOA has become one of the important resources for worksite wellness in America and it have more than 3,200 organizations joined for its membership. Throughout the study of worksite wellness program for over 20 years, WELCOA Well Workplace model had defined seven critical steps for worksites wellness programme as following. 2.4.1 Capturing CEO Support- Gaining support from CEO is important to the process of developing worksite wellness programme. They found that some wellness programme that involved cost and tend to improve employees health failed to get a strong level management support. 2.4.2 Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams- After captured the CEO support the next process is create a cohesive wellness team. Teams are important to building successful wellness programmes. They help to distribute the responsibility for wellness throughout the organization. 2.4.3 Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts- For the wellness team, their primary responsibility is to gather important data before start offering appropriate programmes. The data will be collected by using health risk appraisals, knowledge and interest surveys, and corporate culture audit. Data will clarify the specific area of health needs and interests within the organization so it is very important. 2.4.4 Carefully Crafting an Operating Plan- When the essential data have being collected, the organization has to develop health and wellness operating plan for employees. This operating plan will function as a roadmap and guidance to the company in order to having essential efforts and investment in workplace wellness. 2.4.5 Choosing Appropriate Interventions- After completed the first four processes, organization should begin selecting and implementing suitable wellness programme. These programmes include weight management, smoking cessation, physical management, stress management, and others. The selection of wellness programme is depends on what the companys data exposes. 2.4.6 Creating a Supportive Environment- Once choosing the appropriate interventions, organization should create a supportive environment for the programme. The employees will be supported and participated actively in the programme by having a supportive environment. The environmental interventions can be in the form of policies, physical modifications, incentives, and rewards. 2.4.7 Carefully Evaluating Outcomes- The final process for this model is carefully evaluating outcomes. The organizations should make the programme evaluation consistently. The evaluation targets include cost control, participant satisfaction, the participation rate, and behaviour modification. 2.5 The implementation methods of worksites wellness programme A survey shows that more than 81% of American businesses with 50 or more employees have offering worksites wellness programme (Homan, Nickelson, Zhu, 2007). The most popular wellness programme offered by businesses are smoking cessation, financial incentives, and physical activities or exercises. The selected program should be aligned with the organization factors which including: individual employee demographics, the company occupation, the employees health characteristic and companys objectives and goals. 2.5.1 Smoking Cessation Smoking is one of the most addictive habits, influencing behaviour of human beings and it is the biggest threats to world health (Yanbaeva, Dentener, Creutzberg, Wesseling Wouters, 2007). Peoples which smoke for life long will have a higher occurrence of common diseases such as atherosclerosis and lung cancer. Smoking cessation to employees is one of the methods which use by organizations in its wellness programme (Willemsem, Meijer Jannik, 1999). Smoking cessation in worksites is important as it will reduce non-smoker employee exposure of smoking and reducing workers tobacco consumption during working hour. 2.5.2 Financial Incentives Spaeder (2008) mentioned that worksites wellness programme also includes financial incentives and it applies in many companies (as cited in Kumar, et al., 2009). More than 70% of employees agreed that incentives programme motivate them to achieving healthy lifestyle. According to Cohn (2008), these incentives include cash prize, gift cards, or health insurance premiums. However, worksite wellness programmes financial incentives are bound by law (Mello Rosenthal, 2008). Under the provision of The United States Federal Law, The HIPAA Nondiscrimination Rules had determined the rules and regulations for employer which implementing incentives wellness programme in its organization (www.dol.gov, 2010). 2.5.3 Stress management The United States industry has been paid for employees stress-related absenteeism in high cost which affects more organization to develop stress management programme (Donovan Kleiner, 1994). Employees stress derived from these sources; physical, mental, and situational. Over work and poor diet are some causes that employees having physical stress. Mental stress can be found from employees mental state in mind such as fears. Situational stress is derived from employees interaction with outside world which including interaction with customers. The organization will determine the sources of stress facing by employees and implement appropriate methods to overcome their stress. Johnson Johnsons Live for Live programs which consist of stress management had significantly reduced employees absenteeism and health care expenditure( Ozminkowski, Goetzel, Bruno, Rutter, Isaac Wang, 2002). 2.5.4 Fitness programme Worksites fitness programmes are important for organization as it can lower employees absenteeism and job turnover (Wattles Harris, 2003). In United States, the fitness program offered by organizations such as on-site fitness centers has increased from 22% in 1985 to 42% in 1992. Besides reduce absenteeism and job turnover, participation in fitness activities can reduce employees risk of coronary heart disease (Cox Griffths, 1996). The majority of the regular exercisers reported they have less depression, stress and better sleep pattern. 2.5.5 Online Wellness Coach Some companies had also used online wellness coach to as their worksites wellness programme (Kumar, et al., 2009). The worlds biggest security company, American District Telegraph (ADT) had tackled employees health condition through their parent companys website, www.mytycohr.com. The major function of this website is enable the employees to check the companys wellness policies and apply health benefits that the company offers. The employees use this website as a guidance to manage stress, evade smoking, improving diet and other activities that will improve employees health. 2.5.6 Wellness Mentors Organization can also implementing wellness programme which conducting by the experts as worksites wellness mentors (Pollitt, 2007). Cadbury UK had implemented Nuffield Proactive Health (NPH) which conducted by NPH physiologist as their wellness programme. The employees who participated in this program were be given presentation from experts which covering various health and have an opportunity to reform positive team spirit during workout activities such as short-distance walk. The employees assessment for this wellness program was positive as 82 per cent employees increased awareness of their health and 52 per cent felt less stressed for works. 2.6 Case Summary This case study is about high absenteeism and healthcare cost by sick workers had effects some organizations to implement wellness policies. Wellness programme being designed as they found that about 70% sick workers healthcare cost was arise from preventable chronic diseases. As a result, one-third of small companies offer wellness programme such as onsite or offsite fitness centre, smoking cessation programmes, onsite health checks and others. Despite improving employees health, they will obtain impressive return on investment: which more than three dollars for every dollar they invested. Crown Laboratories had implemented wellness programmes as the employees absenteeism rate and healthcare cost was high. Its wellness programmes included onsite health assessments and smoking cessation even off hours to employees. Another company Weyco also implemented smoking cessation policy which the employees will be dismissing for failing stop smoking. Organizations smoking cessation policy may face employees dissatisfaction. Scotts Miracle-Gro Inc. had sued by its employees for alleging discrimination by law but the case is pending. 3.0 Question 1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of wellness policies such as the one that Crown Lab has implemented? 3.0.1 The Advantages of Wellness Programme The advantages of wellness programme is for organizations which offer wellness programmes to their employees are perceived more confidently by their employees in terms of their attitudes towards the organizations, job fulfillment stages and satisfaction with fringe benefits. One viewpoint is that employers who offer wellness programmes are deemed to be indicating care and concern for the welfare of their employees (Shinew Crossley, 1988) and the consequence is, improving employees attitudes and behaviour towards the organization. In terms of job satisfaction, employees in organizations with wellness programmes showing higher levels of job satisfaction than those with no wellness programmes, thus implying that wellness programmes may well have a positive impact on employees job satisfaction. This can be proven by the study by General Motor Company which shows that employees who involved in the fitness activities showed higher levels of job satisfaction than employees who did not take part (Baun, 1986). The reason is that frequently exercise improves employees state of feeling, self-image and self-esteem which in other land may direct to a larger amount of satisfaction with the work he or she does (Pritchard, 1990). Employees also uttered that they value wellness programmes as a vital and valuable fringe benefit, and the absence of such a gain may lead to better employee satisfaction. This can be viewed in the outcome whereby workforce in organizations with wellness programmes were notably more fulfilled with their fringe benefits than their counterparts in organizations with no wellness programmes (Schauffler Rodriguez, 1994). On the one hand, the Government has been promoting healthy living for example The great Singapore workout as a result causing people to be further health-conscious, and on the other hand, sarcastically, only a small number of organizations provide corporate wellness programmes for their workers and take it critically sufficient to allow it to be advantageous for their workers. 3.0.2 The Disadvantages of wellness programme. The first disadvantage of wellness programme is about privacy issues. Employees have true concerns regarding how their personal information will be handled. Many wellness programs have need of some sort of early assessment, and this evaluation can expose many wellbeing issues that the employee may hope to keep private (Lindsey, 1992). If an employee has an embarrassing illness or one that possibly will make him up to discrimination, he may not take part for fear of revelation. The second disadvantage is about the start-up cost incur in wellness programme. Many wide-ranging programs cost a good bit of capital to begin, which gets recouped after a while (Jackie, 1998). Although it may be an excellent proposal for an organization, starting an employee wellness program could not be a wise suggestion given your companys financial position at the time. The third disadvantage is the time constraint. According to American Heart Association (AHA) many single parents, employees with huge families and small children or those with an intense workload might not have the time to vigorously involvement in employee wellness programmes. If employee wellness is a true company main concern, then changes may possibly have to be made in work flow and procedures sequentially to let for involvement by employees. Lastly, the disadvantage of the wellness programme is the employee habits. Those employees who are health aware are by now exercising and watching what they consume. Companies arent going to alter their way of life with a wellness program. Those who need to adjust their lifestyle may keep away from joining as they are not actually motivated to make the changes crucially to be fit (Laura, 1999). In this situation, unless companies are doing a good job with promoting and recruiting for the program then companies will have an ideal wellness program that it should be. 3.1 Question 2 What are the ethical implications of policies such as this? How much control should companies have over employees lifestyles away from the workplace? Crown lab and Scotts Miracle-Gro companies throws up several ethical concerns linked with the position of organizations in the lives of their employees. One of the concerns is that commercial motives may break ethical norms in the use of information resulting since the monitoring of employee programmes. Fielding (1990) notes the significance of employee reliance that confidentiality will be maintained and relates this to concerns over employee observation and broader arguments over the right of privacy. This relates back to Conrad and Walshs (1992) concern over the ethics of screening for health and fitness. Ethical issues take place when employers have to make decisions among economic and humanistic alternatives for instance, possible sick time, lower output, or whether the human caring position is prioritized. Employees might be positioned in a difficult condition, whereby implicit pressure is applied to fulfill with an exacting healthy lifestyle communication. Next, Grant and Bris bin (1992) also stated that consideration have to be given to the expected objections which will be raised by the non-health a