Safe Drinking Water

Issue: Safe Drinking Water When looking alot of the big issues within today's environment I took great interest in safe drinking water. There is not that much of safe drinking water to efficiently hydrate every single person on the planet. Alot of third world countries, especially within Africa and Asia, have issues with their own water supplies being safe to drink. Now if there is safe enough water, they may not be readily available or within a close area to where people are living. One of the reasons why safe drinking water is such a high concern has to deal with the pollution in the water and what the pollution causes.Research done by many organizations, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), have found out that over 75 percent of all diseases in developing countries arise from polluted drinking water. How and what are some of the solutions that are going to be taken into action? Many Organizatio ns have taken the steps to working towards a solution and some even have already initiated their solutions. Some of the Organizations that have focused on the issues are: Global Water, EPA, TWAS, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Operation Safe Drinking Water.To start off, I am going to introduce to you Global Water. Global Water is an international, non-profit, humanitarian organization. This organization was founded in 1982 and their primary focus started with creating safe water supplies, sanitation facilities, and hygiene-related facilities for rural villagers in developing countries. This volunteer-based organization has quite a few successful projects utilizing water and sanitation as a tool to create sustainable socioeconomic development in the poor rural villages. The organization became pretty successful base on their â€Å"Technology Push† program.This program consisted of low-maintenance, state of the art, water equipment that would be used in the wa ter, sanitation, and hygiene-related facilities. Not only were these devices low-maintenance, volunteer groups would reach out to the villagers and teach them how to use and maintain the devices. With this equipment the villages were able to access, purity, and distribute new sources of safe water. The water projects of Global Water have an immediate life-changing impact on the families of the villages. This Organization has been around for 25 years and has brought over 1. billion people safe drinking water and 769 million people sanitation facilities. This organization wasn't always successful. The problems they had were not that many. The main issue was the size of the volunteer teams and the time and donations given. The speed of the process to reach such a number that they have today had taken over 2 decades to complete. Not nearly as fast as they wanted to do. If they were able to get larger teams and obtain more money, they could have saved more lives and put down for faciliti es for more poor communities. Next is the EPA.EPA, also known as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974. The SDWA is the main federal law that ensures the quality of Americans' drinking water. Under this law, the EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and oversees the state water suppliers who implement those standards. This policy was set in 1974 to ensure Americans receive high quality drinking water every day from a public water system. The reason mainly for the policy set was to ensure the safety of the Americans health.There are over 160,000 public water systems, not including private systems, that provide the drinking water to almost all living Americans. There are a number of threats to drinking water in America due to the number of improperly disposed chemicals, animal wastes, pesticides, human wastes, and even wastes that have been injected deep underground. This policy controls any treatment use, chemical contaminants, underground injection control, and monitoring programs for all public water systems as well as some private water systems.Unfortunately this does not include some well water systems that very few individuals have. Now passing this policy was not cheap. It has been estimated over a 5 billion dollars has already been spent since 2003 on the SDWA. The US EPA has taken a infrastructure survey, released in 2001, estimating that drinking water systems will need to invest about 150 billion over a 20-year period to ensure the continued development, storage, treatment, and distribution of safe drinking water. When the estimate was set down, many did agree that it was a conservative low estimate. Now we are coming to TWAS.TWAS stands for Third World Academy of Sciences. TWAS is an international autonomous scientific organization dedicated to promoting scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development. TWAS was founded in Italy, 1983. Since 1986, TWAS has supported scientific research in over 100 countries through a variety of programs with more than 2000 eminent scientists world-wide. What the scientists of TWAS were looking into different ways of using and recycling water that we already have. Now what they discovered is not the lack of freshwater in rural areas, but the access to the fresh water.From there research, 77 percent of city and towns people have access to save drinking water, but only 17 percent of rural inhabitants have access in the Congo. Now this varies from one country to another, but all similar percentages for rural communities are still quite low. There were many solutions that had come about from TWAS, but some of the simple ones were for example, Pipeline water supplies. What I mean by that is innovative micro level methods to capture and harvest rainwater on rooftops, soak pits, and village ponds.Not only did this ease the water-shortage problems, but it was an efficient starting method to obtaining water and used wate r treatment pills to make the water safe to drink. Next is UNICEF. UNICEF stands for The United Nations Children's Fund. UNICEF works in over 190 countries to save and improve children's lives by providing clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, health care, and emergency relief. UNICEF works towards the day when zero children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood.One of the solutions for safe drinking water that UNICEF has provided are simple plastic buckets and inexpensive water purification tablets that provide safe drinking water. Now this is just a temporary method versus some of the permanent ones. Alot of the challenges that were being faced for the UNICEF was mainly ways to build dams and other facilities on the rivers in remote communities. Unfortunately the lack funding came into play. The goal of UNICEF is to deliver over 15000 water buckets by this year and hoping to build water purification facilities in the remote commun ities.Last but not least, Operation Safe Drinking Water. Operation Safe Drinking Water is a small charity that has been working to install rain-catchment systems for school systems in south and central America. This is probably the least effective system without purification. But the main goal for the charity was to prevent the communities and especially the young students to stop drinking the polluted waters of streams or contaminated wells. Not only did the sickness drop over 50% for absent rates, fewer students have gotten sick or missed any classes.This is a newer all-volunteer group that has successfully helped over 50 schools with 500 or more students attending. This method is pretty effective only for preventing the drinking from the polluted streams and wells, but there is no purification system within the tanks that are provided. In conclusion, safe drinking water is probably one of the most important things within a humans life. It is a necessity. Without water, we cannot live. A human being can survive 3 days without water. Without safe water, a human being might only survive 3 days with some of the water sources that are only available to some.With the progression of the different Organizations around the world, more and more areas are being either treated or in the process to being treated so that third world countries as well as even first rate countries have safe drinking water. Organizations today estimate that within the next 30 years, we could have over 60% of the third world countries converted to safe, treated, drinking water. References Bass, J. (n. d. ). The Solution. Operation Safe Drinking Water. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from operationsafedrinkingwater. org/the-solution Kuepper, T. (n. d. ). Water Shortage, Drinking Water Crisis Solutions.Water Shortage, Drinking Water Crisis Solutions. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www. globalwater. org/ Nybo, T. (n. d. ). Simple solutions to provide safe drinking water to remote communi ties in Haiti :: News from the Field :: Media Center :: U. S. Fund for UNICEF – UNICEF USA. Help Children :: Humanitarian Aid & Emergency Relief :: U. S. Fund for UNICEF – UNICEF USA. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www. unicefusa. org/news/news-from-the-field/simple-solutions-help-provide-water-in-remote-areas-in-haiti. html Rao, C. (n. d. ). Safe Drinking Water aâ‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬  TWAS Portal. Welcome to TWAS aâ‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬  TWAS Portal. Retrieved November 14,

Amtrak Train Derailment

Who are the stakeholders in this case? The stakeholders in this case are the passengers, crew and their families, aboard the Amtrak train that derailed. They are also the corporate investors who hold stock in Amtrak and all Amtrak employees who have invested their time in employment with the organization. They could easily lose their jobs if a major layoff occurred or the organization filed for bankruptcy due to the millions they would be required to pay in damages. Stakeholders are the members of the Mobile, Alabama community who either witnessed or heard about the disaster and who may have lost trust in this railway system. The crew and captain of the tug boat which ran its barges into the framework of the bridge are also stakeholders, along with the owners and investors of the transport company in which they were employed. The emergency workers, the agencies such as NTSB, the Alabama Emergency Response Network and the U. S. Coast Guard are stakeholders as well. What are the interests of the stakeholders? Investors in the transport company, CSX and Amtrak stand to lose money as such disasters can lead to public distrust and subsequent falling stock prices. They must answer to the public as to why emergency signals were not designed on the bridge. Families have lost loved ones as passengers or crew members that they cannot bring back. Crew members that lived must deal with feelings of guilt for not being able to do more and not being aware of exactly what had happened. They will also have to face many questions from agencies investigating the disaster and will face stressful situations, possibly for years to come. Their careers and way of earning a living may also be in jeopardy due to the effects of this disaster. Crew and families of the tug boat crews must face feelings of guilt and shame. What is this corporation's social corporate responsibility in this case for the four areas of corporate social responsibility? †¢Legal Social Responsibility With respect to the legal responsibility, both CSX who failed to provide a signal on the bridge and WGN, whose crew ran into and damaged the bridge, while displacing the track have a financial responsibility toward families whose loved ones made a living, whether crew or passengers. Amtrak also shares in this responsibility for not taking greater precautions, such as reduced speed, knowing that some bridges are not installed with emergency signals. There is also a financial burden to repair the damages to the bridge and CSX track by WGN, who initially caused the event that led to the derailment. According to Mallen Baker (2009), â€Å"CSR is about building relationships with customers, about attracting and retaining talented staff, about managing risk, and about assuring reputation. † In this instance, both CSX and WGN did a poor job of managing risk. WGN is responsible for not having staff with better training and navigation skills and CSX for ignoring recommendations to install emergency signals on the bridge. †¢Economic Social Responsibility CSX, Amtrak and NTSB have economic social responsibility in reducing the risk of injury or loss of life due to such incidents, which has a huge financial impact on the families of passengers and crew. WGN shares in this responsibility as well. Though CSX did not install emergency signals, the NTSB should provide greater oversight to ensure such precautions are taken. WGN should be aware of the problems that can occur when a large vessel runs into various structures and should help in repairing the emotional and financial lives of the victims of the accident. Both CSX/Amtrak and WGN have an economic responsibility to the shareholders of their respective corporations, to ensure that business processed provide the smoothest possible operations, for best possible returns on investments. When disasters such as this one occur, investors stand to lose substantial financial gains. †¢Ethical Social Responsibility All agencies and companies involved have an ethical responsibility to make sure that various forms of travel or transport they oversee or are involved in are as safe as possible for their crews and passengers. Ignoring recommendations such as CSX did, in not installing the emergency signal due to cost is an example of social irresponsibility (Eisenbeis, et al, nd). Amtrak could have better communications and emergency systems aboard the trains and passenger cars, to alert the entire crew of emergencies. Though this may not be an issue of irresponsibility, it has implications for future rail travel. WGN has an ethical responsibility to ensure that vessel crews are trained and updated on navigation techniques, so that injury to innocent bystanders does not occur. They also have an ethical responsibility to have proper navigation systems on board the vessels. †¢Philanthropic Social Responsibility Travel and transport organizations do not have a specific responsibility to become involved in philanthropic activities, though they should at least insure that the communities in which they travel through are not adversely affected either economically or environmentally, as a result of their travels. They could take measures to provide incentives for jobs and training for jobs of those in the communities in which they travel through, as taxpayers of those communities share the burden of building bridges and roads. Because the organizations also contribute to introducing carbon emissions into the environment, they should work with and offer some financial support to organizations that help monitor and provide solutions for carbon emissions. Conclusion and Recommendation I believe better communication by all parties involved would have reduced injuries. Amtrak should have had regulations in place for speed during weather conditions and safety devices for the rail in front of them could have avoided a lot of the accident. Having markers in place for emergency response units, would have allowed them to give a more specific place of the wreck. When people’s lives are at stake all ethical issues and laws should be put in full swing. Common sense would have prevented all of this. Large corporations such as Amtrak should have trained employees and safety standards in place.

Proposal of analyzing Hershey's stock price and this firm Essay

Proposal of analyzing Hershey's stock price and this firm - Essay Example Using the results of the following report, my recommendation will be to invest into the Hershey stocks, as the company’s performance in the industry is commendable as well as its stock’s performance. After thoroughly analyzing the stocks of Hershey Company, I would note that the company has a potential for a continued appreciation for the value of its stock price in the stock market. However, my analyst recommendation in overall would be a buy of the shares and not a strong purchse for the stocks of the company. The reason for this is due to the rapid increase in the company’s share price and a relatively high P/E ratio. My recommendations based on my review of the company’s financial indicators, its opportunities for future growth and its comparison to the main competitors in the field (Fridson, Martin and Fernando 75). A detailed analysis that led to the drawing of my conclusion is as discussed in the report below. Brief description of Hershey Company Th e Hershey Chocolate Company is a US-based firm that is incorporated according to the laws of the State of Delaware. However, the company was founded in 1894 by Milton S. Hershey. Since that time, the company has remained as the leading manufacturer of chocolates and other sugary confectionaries, and has a marketing base of about 42.5% in North America. The company has several wholly-owned subsidiaries and entities to which it has a major controlling interest. This company is also the major and largest producer of superiority chocolate in North America and leads globally in chocolate and sugar confectionery production. The company functions as a single reportable segment in the manufacture, marketing, sale and distribution of the products under various brand names. The company is founded on the basis and principles of returning back to the community in which it operates in through corporate social responsibility (Brigham, Eugene and Michael 120). The amount of revenue that the compan y generates equals nearly to $6billion annually and has a current employment base of about 14,000 employees across all its subsidiaries. Over the years, the company has portrayed consistency in its growth patterns both in terms of market share and the market holdings. It has accumulated a large amount of wealth which have seen it trade perfectly in the stock market. Through this, the company has been able to earn itself a positive image and reputation both nationally and internationally following the various innovation programmes it has invested into. One such innovation programme is that of the ‘Innovative Cocoa – Link Mobile Technology Programme’ that was so far expanded to Cote d’Ivoire in May 2013. However, the company’s growth is expected to continue as a result of the announcement that it will price $250million, 2.625% notes by the year 2023. Recent developments in Hershey In the recent past, Hershey Co. has had several developments that have been witnessed through acquisitions of other small firms thus, turning them into its subsidiaries. For instance, in the year 1996, Hershey purchased the operations of America in Leaf Candy Company. In 1999, the company diversified and divested its Pasta group into several equity partners in a bid to form the New World Pasta Co. currently known as Ebro Foods. In 2002, the public became aware of the intention of Hershey Trust Foundation that was seeking to sell its

Foreign Policy Formulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Foreign Policy Formulation - Essay Example Gambia got independence in 1965 , and renamed the country to â€Å"The Gambia† to avoid the confusion with the country â€Å"Zambia†. Gambia is mainly surrounded by the country Senegal and it is one of the two countries surrounded by another. The river of the country called Gambia has been a bench mark for the country since it provides means for transportation and commodity provision. This river has given a unique identity for the country and it flows from west to east through the country and meets up with Atlantic Ocean. Gambia has historical ties with many other West African nations in the matter of slave trade. In 1816 British established a colony in Gambia .The first British settlement was termed as Bathurst, and it was known as the capital of the colony. It was in the year 1906, the slavery was completely abolished from the country. The economic policy of Gambia largely depended on the production and export of peanuts. Since Gambia was the smallest colony in Britis h rule, it was ignored and remained underdeveloped in infrastructure, manpower and institutional capacity. 1 According to Mwakikagile (2010,pg17) â€Å"When the country won independence, it lagged behind in many critical areas and could not function as truly independent nation†.... In 2005, Gambia accepted its willingness to establish full diplomatic relation with Turkish Republic. As per USA International (2007,pg 59)â€Å" The Gambia’s foreign policy is carved within the framework of the purpose and principles of the charters of both the United Nations and the African Union , on the basis of mutual respect for the sovereign equality , independence and the territorial integrity of the states.†. The main aim of their foreign policy is to maintain international peace and security and promote friendly relation among other foreign nations. The Gambia’s foreign policy is also committed to the doctrine of non alignment. Despite the developments in world affairs the foreign policy principles of Gambia has remained unwavering. The Gambia’s Foreign Relations The country Gambia has active involvement with United Nations and this acts as a cornerstone for its foreign policy. The main mission of United Nation is to strongly uphold international peace and security and to overcome underdevelopment and poverty among various nations across the world. In order to achieve this mission a close relation with individual countries is mandatory. The traditional and neutral approach of Gambia has given it a credible stand in its dealing with international organizations and developing partners. The foreign policy objective of the country is advanced due to its active participation in African Union affairs. The country also has a bilateral relation with The Republic of China as there had been many official visits between both the countries. Gambia established a diplomatic relation with Russia in 1965, and has an embassy situated in Moscow. The United States also intent to hold a improved relation with Gambia considering its historical ties,

Logical Fallacies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Logical Fallacies - Essay Example Furthermore, the expression â€Å"Ultraboost† falsely implies that the shoe automates individuals to run yet we know that people use energy to move. Therefore, the advertisement gives false and unachievable hope. The third ad is from Nike’s website but still, targets sports people. Nike air zoom structure 19 claims that it is so fast with not shaking hence increasing stability. Fundamentality, the message aims at convincing sports persons that the shoe provides suitable cushioning, which enhances stability during sports activities. However, the stability it claims to offer is in not clear. For instance, can it be stable against fire or severe knocking of stone? Furthermore, the expression â€Å"so fast† refers to something in motion. The audience cannot explicitly understand what â€Å"so quickly.† is, some may interpret it that the shoe possesses the locomotive power that makes wearers run while using them. In conclusion, the three advertisements aim to convince sports individuals to use their shoe brands. Both Nike and Adidas present the products on the basis that they facilitate locomotion, especially running and stability aspects of sports. However, the messages contain errors that might cause misinterpretation. In other words, target audience might buy the products for the wrong reason if they do not think through the advertisement statements well. In brief, the message spread across portrays the audience as individuals who run, use a lot of energy, and require stability as well.

International area study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International area study - Essay Example The significance of the slave trade made historians feel the need of coming up with literature on the practice. Numerous literature pieces have been written with different scopes on slave trade. For instance, some pieces are written by slaves, by the slave traders and by the slave masters. This particular paper will analyze two literature pieces: one by Mary Prince, a slave and the other by John Barbot who was a slave trader. Additionally, the paper will also analyze the significance of historians in distributing the moral responsibility of the slave trade. The narration by Mary Prince is done by a slave. The story is a narration of the slave’s life in the hands of her masters. Mary Prince was a slave to more than one master since her birth (230). She was born of a slave mother, what made her an automatic slave (Prince 230). At a young age, Mary Prince was not subjected to hard labor like the rest of the slaves. Her role as a child was to ensure that the duties given by her ma sters or her mother were done. As years progressed under her master, the duties given to her became more complex like taking care of the master’s children. However, in this particular narration, her first master had a polite wife who took care of her as her own. She developed a connection with her master considering her status at the farm as a slave. Indeed, this was a rare relationship (Prince 231). It is evident the master was a cruel man, and spent time away from home which gave her wife an opportunity to be nice to the slaves (Prince 282). As she grew older, she was sold to a neighboring farm which also had a polite master (Prince 282). She acted as a guardian to a master’s child after which they became close. Apart from these two farms, Mary Prince was exposed to cruelty in other farms as she was subjected to hard labor and mistreatment (Prince 289). It is at this juncture of the narration that the real perspective of the slave trade is displayed. At one point in the narration, Mary gives a description on an elderly slave who died after being thrown in a thorny bush by her master (Prince 289). She also narrates when she had to be tied with their hands and flogged till they shed flesh from their back (Prince 289). From this narration, the reader is able to get a glimpse of the slave trade on the view of a slave. Other written stories are based on scholarly literatures. The narration by Mary gives the real picture of the situation inside slave farms. Additionally, the fact that she was traded from homestead to homestead is a clear indication of how insignificant slaves were to their masters. The narration by Mary Prince also explains the tribulations of slaves in a detailed perspective in terms of raising families and slaves and losing children to their masters. The narration by Barbot is neither based on a slave nor a master. The story is a report of a slave trader. The account also focuses on the origin and destination of slaves from the Atl antic to Europe. Barbot starts the narration of his account by highlighting trading specification in the Atlantic (Barbot 181). Apart from precious stones, the author cited slaves as the most valuable commodity in the Atlantic trade (Barbot 181). Slave trade in the Atlantic was a chain or an organization by major European dynasties. The slaves mostly originated from West Africa (Barbot 180). Upon arrival, each trader would mark their slaves with a hot iron as a mark of ownership. Purchasers of slaves in the

Scholarly paper Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Scholarly paper - Scholarship Essay Example Whether or not a law prohibiting smoking in cars containing minors could be passed in the US would ultimately depend on the law’s constitutionality under the Commerce Clause of the US constitution. The Commerce Clause allows congress â€Å"to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states† and has long been an issue of political and social debate. The Supreme Court’s current standard for determining whether Congress has exceeded its commerce power can be subjective, making it difficult to predict constitutionality of proposed public health laws. However, the court has shown surprising willingness in recent cases to broaden the power of congress to regulate commerce in order to protect public health. Especially to innocent children confined to auto mobiles and who cannot protect themselves, as such a federal law prohibiting smoking in cars containing minors could be found constitutional. Furthermore, if congress were to refuse to take such a law into consideration, it could be possible for states, themselves, to regulate smoking in cars under the dormant commerce clause. This problem cannot be easily prevented by taking simple actions like opening of the car windows. This is because this action can change the direction of the air flow and as a result the smoke gets blown right back into the face of the child. What requires to be done is a law to be passed that prohibits smoking in motor vehicles. This can place stiff penalties to the offenders with the possibility that the parents can lose custody of their children if found engaging in the act. The level of exposure to secondary smoke by children is about 11% in the United States. This study was carried out among children aged below 6 years. It was also revealed that it was the parents who were the main source of exposure to their children, exposure by parents accounted for 90%. There was a new revelation in the research

Urban music and youth gang culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Urban music and youth gang culture - Essay Example Urban music is a prominently used term but the nature of its origin is not clear. Today, it is popularly known as a term used in referring to black music or music of black origin made by artists regardless of nationality or descent. Debates and arguments about the term and its wide scope is an ongoing topic among the music industry, music fans and artists across the countries.Urban music is a genre that is very broad. If you look underneath urban music, there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop, R&B, garage and into that obviously comes soul music. Urban music also includes reggae, rock n roll, blues and jazz but the term is most popularly attached or instantly linked to hip-hop. According to J. Decibel, urban music is a cultural movement among African Americans that began in New York City in the early 1970s but it was in the 1980s that urban music or hip-hop became popular1. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, Hip-hop is defined as mostly rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art-f orm known as rapping2. It includes a whole larger culture that involves rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, language and a lifestyle.Urban music or hip-hop in particular has become a common form of communication and enjoyed by young adults and children relatively throughout the world. Unlike in the earlier days, this music genre is no longer limited to plain art of music and dancing. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, it was mentioned that urban music has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry that has greatly manipulated a lot of industries like automotive design, fashion, television programming, collegiate and professional sports, media marketing and advertising3 . Music is essential in youth culture and in that sense urban music's potential to influence is rampant that it has stringed its way into young people's lifestyles particularly because it is a form of recreation that promotes creativity and self expression. Rapping in particular is a way of pronouncing one's pr ide in his/her community that also becomes a form of competition where a rapper can display his skills and support or defend their respective communities. It is unquestionable that adults tend to defer acceptance of this culture in comparison to young adults. Young adults are more inclined in adopting the culture when they are being reprimanded and especially when they know that adults don't understand nor like what they were into. Young black people embrace the culture because they sympathize to the music that is singing their lives. For young people that do not have any connection to the urban community or urban culture, there is still a lot of question as to why hip-hop or urban music fascinates them and this is nothing new especially for middle and upper-middle class young people. One apparent reason could be fascination to what is prohibited. Another could be that hip-hop music is exciting and offers a brutally honest view of life that embodied the prevailing values of society. Hip-hop and rap music started out as an art form to express social awareness and it did gather success in inspiring a certain amount of activism. It did not achieve the attention of the music industry and the music cable television program MTV though until it turned violent and unpredictable. The music industry became interested on the business possibilities that the music genre's hype could bring. Today with the upsurge of the billion dollar industry that this music genre has produced; unsettled prevalent consequences are emerging. One is the youth gang culture that is said to have influences from the "gangsta" life portrayed in violent lyrics and in the lives of some artists themselves. Violent lyrics pertain to offensive language, chauvinism, sexual promiscuity, fear and discrimination of homosexuals, parental and domestic abuse and the "gangsta" pride of refusing authority. As a result, popular culture readily identifies "gangsta" rap, hip-hop and in effect urban music as glorifying violence, rape, murder and drug

Stressful Conditions at the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Stressful Conditions at the Workplace - Essay Example The other measure to relieve stress in the workplace is accessing training needs and conduct of training to augment effectiveness in job performance including time management and assertiveness training. This can be done through attending short workshops for training purposes and participating in training aimed at improving understanding of stress management practices. Other measures to relieve job-related stress include talking to other employees at the workplace on a stressing situation to gain their support especially human resource managers, colleagues, managers, and trade union representatives (Murray, 5). Talking can also be with people outside of work, for example, family and friends to gain their insight and get their views on the stressful situation. When the issue is excessive workload, the employee should ensure this gets the attention of the manager to allow (Murray, 5)for a better and convenient work allocation fitting the needs of the employees and solve the stress from the job. Maintaining a balance between play and work allows for the use of leisure time to prepare the employee for work and relieve job-related stress. This includes regular exercising, taking holidays, maintenance of a healthy diet, and maintaining support networks. Learning to think positively about a job-related stress, counseling, and seeking medical intervention are the other measures of relieving job-related stress.   Ã‚  

Comparison of Detroit and Cleveland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Comparison of Detroit and Cleveland - Essay Example On a comparable state is the city of Cleveland which is considered as the ‘shrinking city’ because of its declining economy. Detroit began its rise with the plan of Gallatin, the man who proposed the canal system in the nineteenth century which eventually caused people to travel easily to the city from its neighboring places. The canals attracted travelers and the density gradient of the city’s population rapidly rose. The influx of people in the city was economic based requiring more rapid transportation and inspiring the use of airlines to concentrate people in the city, which in turn produced economic success and cultural vitality, affecting how America was to be defined. The transport system later required the building of railroads which connected cities and states in the 1960s, similar to the canal system of Gallatin which catered to the buses and cars during that time. As cars increased, more and more people travelled on their own cars leaving those who are not able to afford the transportation to commute through bus and trains. However, the roads were more frequented by cars and the transportation system declined, affecting the economy of the city. People left the city in search of better places where they are allowed to travel to their workplaces in a faster means and this suffered the city as its economy went down with its population. On a similar form, Cleveland experienced economic failure, shrinking to one of the poorest cities now in America and considered along with Detroit as exurb. Could the two cities regain their former state? With the competition of nations and cities for success, Detroit called its foundations, politicians and city planners to look into a plan for gentrification, a design that would bring back the life the city once had when its economy was at its peak. The groups mentioned proposed wirings that would enable electrically operated

Benefits of Learning in a Diverse Environment in Toronto Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Learning in a Diverse Environment in Toronto Essay Toronto,Canada has been one of the most multicultural cities in the world and has attracted thousands of immigrants and foreign students each year mostly from Asian and European countries (Toronto, 2007) Due to the popularity of the city to foreigners as well as the prestigious schools it has such as the University of Toronto and the York University, students from different parts of the world have been attracted to study in the city. Universities have been offering a diverse learning environment, offering curriculum, facilities, and learning resources including professors and instructors that address the needs of and accommodate the growing number of foreign students and immigrants in Toronto. A diverse learning environment offers various benefits to students regardless of culture and nationality. First, it introduces me to different cultures and race, making students like me become aware of various cultures and beliefs. Having the awareness of different cultures of people in Toronto can improve my interpersonal and communication skills. â€Å"Hanging around people of different culture develop the students ability to understand the ideas and feelings of others, which in later life makes them, more likely to live in racially diverse communities, maintain friendships with people of different races and able to function more effectively in an increasingly diverse workplace† (Haas, 1999). From this view, a diverse learning environment therefore can eliminate or reduce racism and racist attitudes towards the minority groups. It also can also prepare me to adapt to a diverse environment in case I have to work or migrate to other country particularly in Asian and European countries especially now that the level of globalisation is increasing. A diverse learning environment can also improve my ability of working in a team since in universities, there are particular activities that needed group efforts and diverse ideas that can result to a more comprehensive outcome, providing me various ideas that could have never been available if not because of my foreign classmates and friends and even professors. On the other hand, there are still some people who are not open-minded and are not interested in learning about other cultures due to their very racist attitudes. A diverse learning environment with students or professors like these people can negatively affect some foreign students and students from minority groups, making them feel discriminated and unwelcome to such learning environment that may lessen their interest in studying or acquainting with students of different nationalities. However, in Toronto, it seems not much of a problem because foreigners and immigrants have long been welcomed in the city. Reference: Haas, Mark (1999) Research shows diverse environment has educational benefits, retrieved on-line on February 13, 2007 http://www. umich. edu/~urecord/9899/Mar22_99/10. htm Toronto website retrieved on February 14, 2007 http://www. toronto. ca/quality_of_life/diversity. htm

Merapi Eruption And Its Economic Impact Environmental Sciences Essay

Merapi Eruption And Its Economic Impact Environmental Sciences Essay Recently, Indonesia is faced with many natural disaster such as tsunami, earthquake, and volcanic eruption. These disasters are more likely to happen because of the geological location of Indonesia which is located at the edge of the Pacific, Eurasian and Australian tectonic plates. Just recently, Indonesia has been made panic by Gunung Merapi, which is one of many more Indonesias active stratovolcano mountain. This Gunung Merapi is located between Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. Gunung Merapi is one of the most active volcano in Indonesia. It has also erupted regularly since the year 1548. To discuss about the eruption effect of Gunung Merapi freely, this paper will be started with the introduction and the definition about what is eruption and Gunung Merapi. The discussion of this paper will be then continued and list all the effects, victims, loss and damage to humans life. This paper lists the details about the victims, environmental effects, the dangerous materials of this eruption, damage and loss to many sectors. The paper will then discuss about what the government action to help the victims and restores the site that got the disadvantages of this eruption. The conclusion part of this paper will be the closing of the discussion with the summary details. Introduction Within these past few years ago, there are many natural disasters that occured in Indonesia and the most frequently that happen is flood. The disasters that often happen in Indonesia are flood, earthquake, and volcanic eruption, tsunami which are more likely to happen because of Indonesias geological location which is located at the edge of the Pacific, Eurasian and Australian tectonic plates. Jakarta as the capital town of Indonesia is the place that flood will most likely to occur if there is a heavy rain with long enough duration to patch a flood. The disaster than happen recently is eruption so this article will be focusing on volcanic eruption. 2010 eruptions of mount merapi. (2010, December 8). An eruption can be a really hazardous disaster for humans life due to its big explosion of the volcano, fall of the rocks and the ashes that can irritate humans breath and eyes. Indonesia has many active volcanic mountain like Gunung Merapi, Gunung Krakatau, Gunung Kelud, Gunung Semeru, Gunung Guntur and many others. One of these active mountain which named Gunung Merapi, have done a great eruption recently, which is started at 26 October 2010. This eruption obviously made many negative effects on humans life and environment around that mountain. The examples of the negative effects are death and people getting damaged, many house broken, people must leave their house and belongings and go to the safer place. They all feel very miserable for their loss because of this volcanic eruption. Merapis eruption also affects many things like how things going in Keraton Jogja which is the town that this Merapi located. There are so many things that get affected only because of this Merapis eruption. This article will talk deep about the details for all the effects on its environment, the damage and loss in many sectors like social and infrastructure, the impacts of economy, growth, GDP and GNP and unemployment impacts because of this eruption. 1.2 The Definition of Eruption Eruption is the phenomenon of the bursting out of magma to the surface of the earth. Eruption can be divided into two, such as explosive eruption and non explosive eruption. The types of eruption is depend on many things; for examples, the thickness of magma, the composition of gas inside the magma, the effect of ground water, and magma chamber. The thickness of magma and the composition of gas inside the magma are depending on the composition of chemical of magma. Eruption has own mechanism. There are excess excreted gasses, when the magma come its way to surface, and the gas pressure make the spread of volcanic material. The process of gas excreted is sometimes followed by a large sound of rumble that sometimes allow us to hear the rumbling voice as the same time the volcanic material eruption occurs. The process of gas pressure is not need a long time. The plug holes in the crater by the gas pressure depends on the rate of gas production from the magma that make the increasing of the gas pressure, and strength to withstand the pressure of gas crater plug.  The more powerful stoppers crater, the greater the percentage of the strong eruption. A fast-moving flow of lava that flow down to river, then spread in the plain at the hills sight of the volcano area can cause into the damages on serious economic and environmental. 2010 eruptions of mount merapi. (2010, December 8). Gunung Merapi 2010 The massive explosion of Merapi Mountain happened on the first date in the month of November 2010. The first explosion occurs around 10.03 AM that started out with a small earthquake and falling down of materials. Soon after that the cloud of heat came along from the top of Merapi with a height of 1.5km. Based on the surveillance from the Monitor room of Merapi Activity in BPPTK Office loated in Jalan Cendana, Jogjakarta, the cloud of heat headed for the south entrance, which is the Gendol River and Woro River with acceleration of 4km. At 11.30AM, Merapi Mountain explode again, creating cloud of heat with height of approximately 3.5km. This is the second greatest explosion for the Friday, November 5, 2010. This is surveyed from Balerante, the group of clouds and balls heavily polluted vertically rumbling to the sky with the approximated height of 3.500meters. Due to the wind blows from north and east heading to the Cendawan Sea, and the cloud of heat is heading to the southeast direction of the delta of Gendol River, there are no further report from BNPTK about this explosion. This information is directly conducted visually on Friday ,November 5, 2010. Around 11.35AM half of the hillside and mountain is covered in thick and dark cloud. The Earthquake itself is highly detected due to the seizmograph signal installed at various surveillance headquarters. Citizens in the southwest, southeast, south, and west are ordered to be cautious and prepared. As broadcasted, the massive explosion of Merapi before also happened on Friday this afternoon. Due to the explosion, 55 citizens are claimed dead up until this very afternoon. The dangerous zone are expanded from the first 15km up to 20km. Types of volcanic eruption. (2010, December 6) Victims of eruption Gunung Merapi 2010 This 2010 eruption is the worst since 1870. Thirty-two villages has become the victims and 70000 soul were being suggested to evacuate because they located in the danger territory. Those villages consist of 17 villages in District of Magelang, 4 villages in District of Klaten, 3 villages in District of Boyolali, and 8 villages in District of Sleman. This time Merapi is in critical condition, besides being marked with the the distance of heat cloud explosive eruption reaches 11.5 kilometer at Bebeng River and at different place the distance of heat cloud eruption reaches 11 km at White River, 10 km at Boyong River and 9.5 km at Gendol River. This time the heat cloud that out from the peak of Merapi has reached the height of more than 10 km, the number of victims is 73. Victims spread in 2 regions, which are 69 victims at the Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta and 4 victims at Center Java. The injured, burn and blister victims have reached 100 persons. This condition is based on November 5, 20 10 note. In relation to Merapis condition that still in dangerous, the government is seeking the save place for the refugee. After the second eruption, 55 persons are recorded dead until now. The prone region is being expanded from 15 km to 20 km. Types of volcanic eruption. (2010, December 6). Environmental effects As we know that Yogyakarta is a famous city recognized by many foreign tourists, Merapi eruption that occurred has given a lot of impact on the growth of tourism in Yogyakarta. After the eruption of Merapi that occurred in Yogyakarta, the level of trust decreased drastically and it has affected both foreign and domestic tourists, especially in tourism sector. Although the eruption of merapi has decreased, the influence of the eruption was still heart throbbing especially for the resorts and food corner.   The hotel occupancy rate from both foreign and domestic tourists is about 30-40 percent of it. Moreover, the good news is that the percentage has increased slightly after the start Adisucipto airport reopened.   After Adisucipto airport was reopened, when the occupancy rate was only about 10-20 percent of it. The occupancy rate and the expected decline of tourists not only because of post-eruption of Merapi but is also caused by the news-media coverage of security concerns the city of Yogyakarta. In order to restore the name of the city of Yogyakarta as a safe tourism like before, the tourism parties in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and related agencies will hold a variety of series of events. Bataviase.co.id. (2010, December 28). 2.12 Volcanic ash Meanwhile, the famous Borobudur temple also closed due to the disastrous eruption, the area of 185 hectares were completely paralyzed due to volcanic ash that covered the sky. After the great eruption hundreds of trees were uprooted around the temple and the access road leading to the temple was blocked.   And even worse, the most powerful eruption makes the temple in critical condition and unlikely to be accessed.  Thickness of volcanic ash reached 2-4 centimeters. The Jakarta post. ( 2010, December 28). 2.13 Greenhouse effects in Yogyakarta The temperature in Yogyakarta is really high and hot.  Average daytime air heat over 33 degrees Celsius.  This is caused by the ash which come from the eruption in which covers the surrounding areas. The volcanic ash covered the atmosphere of Yogyakarta, and that is one reason why the air is very hot.  Currently, some areas in Yogyakarta Special Region are exposed to a kind of greenhouse effect caused by the volcanic ash particles in the air.  In theory, the sun to the earth should be reflected into space by the atmosphere.  However, because the dirty atmospheric conditions, sunlight reflected back to earth so that the air in Yogyakarta getting hot and sultry. In addition, the position of the sun at this time also was leaning towards the south and is still above the Yogyakarta area.  Sun will continue moving south until December 22 2010 and again leaning to the north and back across the top of the city of Yogyakarta in February 2011. 2012discovery.com. (2010, October 30). Damage and losses 2.21 Housing sectors The number of sufferers of the eruption is keep increasing, and people who didnt flee under the fear of the eruption have eventually run to the outer part of the eruption are to save their life. In the village every night additional evacuees continued to arrive, making the total increased to 2632 people from 2073 soul after the eruption. Additional refugees came from villages with a radius of up to 10 kilometers from the peak of Merapi.  The increasing numbers of the refugees make the needs of facilities and infrastructure to increase too. The worst matter is the numbers of public toilets in refugee camps are dirty and smelly. The supply of water for public toilets is not routine.  With the number of refugees who have started to increase rapidly, water supply should not be broken. Antara news. (2010, November 14). 2.22 Health Sector The Provincial Health Office Yogyakarta campaign held a clean and healthy lifestyle to the refugees in each chosen Merapi evacuation.and they have conducted a campaign of clean and healthy lifestyle to the communities, which is to maintaining and creating a clean and healthy lifestyle not only during disasters, but every time the need to maintain clean and healthy lifestyle. The purpose of this clean and healthy lifestyle campaign was held to maintain and preserve the environmental health of both the family and society. The campaign is very important and needs to be understood by society, in which people should maintain and implement the environment clean and healthy lifestyle, both when in the home environment and in environmental refugees. Ministry of health republic of Indonesia (2010, November 14). 2.3 Infrastructure 2.31 Transportation Sectors As the eruption brings hundreds and even thousands people to death, it also caused damage the sectors such as transportation sector too. The closing down of the airport by the department of transportation has caused thousands of passengers to decrease drastically compared with the usual operation. It is estimated that even if the airport has been re-opened, it will not show much difference in the number of flights because of the fear of the eruption. Land transportation has also decrease drastically because the number of tourist visits dropped down drastically after the disaster happened. Car rentals and motorcycle rentals which are usually crowded suffered heavy blows. And many people had lost their jobs and in need to get another job in order to survive. Terradaily (2010, November 7). 2.32 Energy Resources Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources will also conduct a program which is subsidizing the fuel in the energy sector. These programs include the construction of electricity infrastructure, the natural gas supply infrastructure, and improvement of energy infrastructure in eastern Indonesia. With this program, fuel restrictions could save up to Rp 3.8 trillion.  The number is achieved if there is a decrease in fuel consumption of premium as much as 1 million kiloliters with the amount of Rp 1.7 trillion, and the reduction of diesel consumption by 1 million kiloliters magnitude Rp 2.17 trillion.The government itself allocates the budget for fuel subsidies, biofuel and LPG amounted to Rp 95.9 trillion for the year 2011. Moreover the implementation of restrictions on fuel will be done in stages so that the social and economic impacts, especially inflation are expected relatively small. Otakit.com. (2010, November 15). 2.33 Communications sector After the eruptions, the telecommunication encounters the high telecommunication traffic. Telecommunications service remains smooth despite the high telecommunications traffic increase both incoming and outgoing around the slopes of Mount Merapi, particularly in Sleman, Magelang and Klaten. Starting from October 26, 2010 4 telecommunications operator established a post in Sleman and Magelang, PT XL Axiata, PT Telkom, PT Telkomsel and PT Indosat. The function of post is not only to monitor the quality of service around the slopes of Mount Merapi, but also serve free telephone facilities and provide certain social assistance. In addition, also for the uplink and down link for a number of journalists who will send the latest news related to the condition of Mount Merapi from these posts, as provided by PT Telkom in STO Pakem, Sleman. Depkominfo.go.id. (2010, October 29). 2.34 Water Supplies and Sanitation damages Villagers Bawukan and Gemampir have returned from refugee camps.  When they get to their homes, they found that they had contaminated the water reservoir of volcanic ash.  When displaced, they forgot to close or move the gutter.  As a result, the volcanic ash mixed into their water supplies.  This is contaminating the water and the water itself cannot be consumed or used for bathing because it causes itching. in addition, disaster response teams in Klaten are mobilizing water vacuum to drain the dirty water.  Furthermore, the government also supplies two water tanks (10 thousand liters) to each owners water reservoir.  For Gemampir village, it takes 464 water tanks, at a cost of Rp.  50 thousand / tank.  Total required funds of Rp.23, 200,000. Merapi Volcano Situation Report Part 8. ( 2010, November 28). Productive Sectors 2.41 Agriculture Sector Merapi eruption destroy agriculture sector in Magelang regency, Central Java.  Losses estimated at Rp 247.3 billion.  Damaged crops consist of rice, fruits, and vegetables. Head of Food Crops, Plantation, Magelang regency Wijaya and Forestry said the damage occurred in most crops in 12 districts because of volcanic ash covered.  The biggest losses occurred on the bark of plants, USD 84.01 billion.  In total, the eruption causes 65% of crop damage and crop failure in the severe affected areas. Even worse, damage also occurred on 201 ha of forest, 309 ha of state forest and 357 ha of plantation area. The estimate of losses on plantation sector reached 1.5 to 2 times more than the previous record. As a result of the eruption of Merapi in the form of hot clouds made a number of areas hit by the rain of ash.  Ash rain made for agricultural decline.  Thousands hectares of plantations, vegetables and paddy rice are damaged. And thats why not a few residents who harvest rice more quickly even though it is not time.  They are afraid of the rice goes bad when Merapi erupted again.This condition can certainly have a negative impact on residents.  Food shortages feared to hit the people living on the slopes of Merapi.  Number of land damaged by the eruption of Merapi, required no small amount of recovery funds.  Longer recovery time was also given to date volcanic ash still flushed a number of areas on the slopes of Merapi. embassyofindonesia.org. (2010, November 28). 2.42 Fisheries sector The production of fish, especially catfish in Yogyakarta, especially Boyolali reached more than 15 tons per day.   But, As a result of this disaster, this production has decreased more than 50 percent. To normalize the level of fishery production, in the near future, precisely after the Merapi eruption stopped, the government will do the rehabilitation of ponds and aquaculture ponds.  In addition to the pool area of rehabilitation of 114 ha of land, to restore the economy in the fish farming sector, the farmers require at least 11 million fish fry and more than 1050 tons of fish feed. More than 100 hectares of cropland damaged by Merapi covered with volcanic ash that resulted in millions of fish in the pond died and the estimated value of losses has reached the range of USD 3.4 billion. The loss of that which include damage to facilities and infrastructure and the death of millions of farmers cultivated fish in ponds and fish ponds due to volcanic dust.   The damage that result ed in a decrease of fisheries production is more than 50 percent. The worst area that was affected by the eruption was located in Sleman, an area of 117 hectares.  Fisheries rehabilitation processes that will be done by the government require funds of around Rp 80 billion. Minister of fisheries.(2010, December 28). 3.1 Impact on Economy Performance Severe eruptions by Mount Merapi that happened on October 26th and November 5th were expected to decrease economic approximately total worth of Rp3.4 trillion in Sleman district, Yogyakarta Province. Based on information and according to the Head of Sleman district, the losses were caused by ruins of business sectors such as tourism, culinary, commercial accommodation, agriculture, plantation, and livestock. So, In order to restore the economy, the government built temporary houses (shelters) for the victims. The houses built by the government were just temporary houses for the Mount Merapi eruption refugees so that it could boost the peoples economy to prevent the decrease in growth that would likely much in effecting the GDP. Wireupdate.com. (2010, November 5). The national state point states that the loss in economic activity in the affected area is likely to have a minor effect. The main impact on the national economy is coming from the cost of the reconstruction effort which affected the national Government finances. Because the President of Indonesia didnt announce the GDP rate due to the impact of the eruption, so its GDP rate is still yet unknown. Furthermore, we can implied that the GDP will decrease due to the Merapis eruption, since all the victims lose their homes, money, and property, their ability to buy goods will definitely decrease, and yet the GDP decreases too. And thats why government built temporary shelters; provide foods and consumption for the evacuees to boost up the GDP rates. Moreover, the sectors that giving impact to the countrys growth caused by merapi will be the agriculture sector, electricity, gas, and water sector, and the sector with the highest growth rate which was transportation and communication sector with total of 20,3% of the impact of merapi eruption. Despites of the disastrous Merapi eruption, the good news coming from the BPS ( Badan Pusat Statistik ), is that Indonesias GDP is increasing by 5,8% in the 3rd quarter of 2010. In which on 2009, theres only 3.5 increase on Indonesias GDP. Wireupdate.com. Wireupdate.com. (2010, November 5). See appendix 1. 3.2 Impact on Inflation Because of the severe eruption, the inflation of Yogyakarta is increasing, and it is reported that on November 2010, Yogyakarta encounter an increase of 0, 62 of its inflation. The inflation was caused by the increase of price that indicates from the CPI. There were 6 categories of expenses who encounter the increase of the CPI which is food substance increase by 2, 48%, category of delicatessen (drinks, cigarettes , tobacco) increase by 0,18%, category of housing needs (water, electricity, gasses, fuel) increase by 0,18%, category of clothing increase by 0,76%, category of health increase by 0,24% and on the other hand the category of education, recreation, and sports deflate about 0,07%. 3.3 Impact on Consumer price index (CPI) The eruption of merapi which occurred at Yogyakarta and central java on October and November 2010 brings impact on its economical condition. The impact covers the agriculture production and even the economic market, especially in Yogyakarta. This indication reflected from the information monitored by the Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) that on November 2010, Yogyakarta encounter 0,62 % inflation with index amount of 124,35 which is higher if it is compared to the previous index on November 2010. And this which makes the inflation increase by 6,61%. The consultative group of Indonesia. (2010, June 14). 3.4 Impacts on the Unemployment So in order for the government to increase the GDP, they kept finding ways in making programs for the evacuees and the refugee to get both jobs and income. Their objectives are not only the refugee and evacuees, but also the people who affected by the merapis eruption. The Indonesias minister idea to handle the victims are to invent a cash forward, which is giving jobs to the refugee so that they got something to do with. So the point is if the government is now providing various kinds of jobs to the evacuees so that they can work, get income so that the unemployment rate would not fall harshly. Moreover, a lot of the evacuees who encounter psychological trauma caused by the eruptions which cause them unable to work and get income. Besides food and shelters, their psychological are also crucial, and what they need now is cash in order to live. And one of the jobs the government is offering will be the cleaning of volcanic ash for the refugee as one of their current jobs. The consultative group of Indonesia. 3.5 Impacts on the Livelihoods Trauma level are really high in the affected eruption area, and many evacuees are stress out and encounter a lot of problems such as fevers, sick, lack of food, feeling scared and trauma caused by the severe eruptions that strikes all in sudden. Besides the stress and trauma factor, people are frightened in fixing their houses or go to work, because theyre terrified of the volcanic ash that risk their life. And thats why the government are starting to reconstructing the affected area, so that people can go back to their normal life and do their usual activities. Although the impact to the affected areas is very severe, some people trying to live and stay near their home and afraid that their assets and stuff will be stolen by people while theyre in the refugees camp. And even worse the water supply is declining, and the water quality is really bad in which it leads to lack of sanitation. Furthermore, people are hoping that the government can reconstruct the affected areas soon, so th at they can enjoy their normal life. The consultative group of Indonesia. (2010, June 14). Recommendation Obviously, by all of the listed impacts above, the GDP and the economic income of Indonesia will be decrease because of this Gunung Merapi eruption. The decrease of the economic income and the GDP will make a great suffer to the local peoples around that site. To prevent this to happen, the government and the peoples around the Merapis location should do a cooperate action like to clean the site from volcanic ashes, help others to build the house and place. The government have to see exactly how the condition and the damage of the eruption site. By see the damage directly, government can adjust the money and know all the requirement and needs of the refugees. Government also can know exactly how much do the refugees need the help and food or water, not just send the money and subsidize the food and shelter by hearing what other peoples said. Government also need to stock up some funds in order to prevent something that unexpectedly happens like if the food are expired or there were some more accidents happen to the refugees. All of the emergency situations that were unexpectedly happen can be prevent by this money so that the refugees may not suffer more trauma and depression. To make the Indonesias income and GDP increase again, government can focus to other countries such as Samarinda to help Indonesias income to rise again. In Samarinda, there are so many companies and factories that can help Indonesia gain much more income with just a little help from the government. Conclusion With all of those effects of this Gunung Merapi eruption that occured in 2010 which have been listed above, it is obviously that eruption caused many disadvantages to humans life and the environment around that eruption site. Most of these disadvantages of eruption are really dangerous including the hot magma that can killed people and animal, the volcanic ashes that are dangerous to humans breath and eyes, the hot gas that are coming out are also dangerous because its temperature is really low. Besides these physical danger, eruption also makes many disadvantages in many sectors such as health sector, productive sector, the economy performance, transportation sector, and also the loss of properties. People get much more stress and the eruption also did a trauma for certain people. They loss all their properties and house, they have to evacuate to other safe areas and left their house and heavy properties like table, television and bed. The refugees feel very frustated because of their condition and loss, some of them also get trauma because they really scared of this eruption to happen again. They also lose their job because of the destruction that this eruption made. The eruption destroys many things like their transportation vehicle, their properties and house, and also their place to do their daily work. All of these effects are really be a big loss and this eruption did many bad impacts on humans life and environment. APPENDIX 1 Source: tradingeconomics.com; Badan pusat statistik Indonesia

Relative Price And Performance Relationship

Relative Price And Performance Relationship 2.1 INTRODUCTION In essence, the job of a strategist is to understand and cope with competition. Often, managers define competition too narrowly, as if it occurred only among todays direct competitors. Lall, (2001, p. 6) stated that competitiveness in industrial activities means developing relative efficiency along with sustainable growth Moreover, agribusiness competitiveness has been defined as The sustained ability to profitably gain and maintain market share(Martin, Westgren, van Duren, 1991, p. 1456) or, in a more consumer-oriented way, as the ability of a firm or industry segment to offer products and services that meet or exceed the customer value currently or potentially offered by the products and services of rivals, substitutes, and possible market entrants (Kennedy, Harrison, Kalaitzandonakes, Peterson, Rindfuss, 1997). Yet, according to Michael E. Porter, the Harvard Business School professor, competition for profit goes beyond established industry rivals to include four other competitive forces as well as customers, suppliers, potential entrants and substitute products. Furthermore, the model of Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors in 1980. It draws upon Industrial Organisation (IO) to develop five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in the context of business environment refers to the overall industry profitability. An unattractive industry is one in which the combination of these five forces acts to drive down the overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one approaching pure competition, in which available profits for all firms are driven down to zero. The character, mix, and subtleties of competitive forces are never the same from one industry to another. A powerful and widely used tool for systematically diagnosing the principal competitive pressures in the hydroponics market and assessing the strength and importance of each is the five-forces model of competition.(see figure) Moreover, three of Porters five forces refer to competition from external sources. The remainders are internal threats. Therefore, it is important to use Porters five forces in conjunction with SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PEST Analysis (Political, Economical, Social and Technological). Porters Five Forces 2.2.1 Threat of new entrants One of the defining characteristics of competitive advantage is the industrys barrier to entry. It is very expensive for new firms to enter an industry where there is high barrier of entry. Furthermore, profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. In this situation, these new entrants could change major determinants to the market environment (e.g. market shares, prices, customer loyalty) at any time. In the 1993 reprint of the first edition of Bain (1956, pp. 53-166), three main factors are considered as entry barriers: economies of scale, product differentiation advantages, and absolute cost advantages. Moreover, as more firms enter the market, you will see rivalry increase and profitability will fall to the point where there is no incentive for firms to enter the industry. Likewise, the threat of the new entrants will depend on the extent to which there are barriers to entry. These are typically: Economies of scale According to Kislev et al, it is generally accepted that agricultural production is characterized by increasing returns to scale. If economies of scale exist, it represents a high barrier of entry. Firms within the industry will have achieved these economies and if we enter this industry we will have to match their scale size of production in order to compete with them. Thus according to Michael Porter, since EOS does not exist in a tangible way, we need to prove their existence first before trying to compete with the existing firms. Capital requirements This refers to how much money should the firms have to tie up to keep the doors open. This is also a barrier to entry as if firms have to tie up large amounts of capital for daily operations; this will deter smaller firms from entering. Dr. Pieter A.Schippers said that hydroponics requires high-cost installations marketing gourmet vegetables at ritzy prices. According to AREU, the capital investment for hydroponics in Mauritius is up to three million rupees. Brand identity According to Erin Ferree ,Brand identity is the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic brand identity kit consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a Web site Where there is brand identity there is high barrier to entry and regarding the hydroponics market in Mauritius, there are no such barriers in the field of hydroponics as it is a newly grown market. Access to Distribution The new entrant must, of course, secure distribution of its product or service. A new food item, for example, must displace others from the supermarket shelf via price breaks, promotions, intense selling efforts, or some other means. The more limited the wholesale or retail channels are and the more that existing competitors have tied them up, the tougher entry into an industry will be. Sometimes access to distribution is so high a barrier that new entrants must bypass distribution channels altogether or create their own. Switching cost Switching costs are fixed costs that buyers face when they change suppliers. Such costs may arise because a buyer who switches vendors must, for example, alter product specifications, retrain employees to use a new product, or modify processes or information systems. The larger the switching costs, the harder it will be for an entrant to gain customers. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is an example of a product with very high switching costs. Once a company has installed SAPs ERP system, for example, the costs of moving to a new vendor are astronomical because of embedded data, the fact that internal processes have been adapted to SAP, major retraining needs, and the mission-critical nature of the application. 2.2.2 Bargaining Power of suppliers The term suppliers comprises all sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services and bargaining power is the ability to influence the setting of prices. Therefore, bargaining power of suppliers will identify the extent to which your suppliers can choose to raise prices, reduce quality or reduce service without consequence. The more concentrated and controlled the supply, the more power it wields against the market. Monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic suppliers will use their power to extract better terms (higher profit margins or) at the expense of the market. Moreover, in a competitive market, no one supplier can set the prices. Likewise, suppliers can group to wield more bargaining power. The conditions making suppliers, as a group, powerful tend to mirror those making the buyers powerful are as follows: Differentiation of inputs A primary goal of the theory of product differentiation is the determination of market structure and conduct of firms that can choose the specifications of their products besides choosing output and price. Traditional models of product differentiation and marketing have focused on products that are defined by one characteristic only. ( See Hotelling (1929), Vickrey (1964), DAspremont, Gabszewicz and Thisse (1979), Salop (1979), Economides (1984), Anderson, de Palma, and Thisse (1992), among others in economics and Hauser and Shugan (1983), Moorthy (1988) and Kumar and Sudarshan (1988) in marketing.) Threat of forward integration The traditional market foreclosure theory, which was accepted in leading court cases in 1950s-70s, viewed vertical merger as harming competition by denying competitors access to either a supplier or a buyer. (Arrow, K., Vertical Integration and Communication, Bell Journal of Economics, 1975, 6, 173-183.) The critics argue that the theory is logically flawed, and a vertically integrated firm cannot benefit from excluding its rivals (e.g., Bork, 1978; and Posner, 1976). The paper by Salop and Sche ¤man (1987) forms the basis for this argument, and Ordover, Saloner, and Salop (1990, hereinafter OSS) is perhaps the best-known paper that pioneered the equilibrium approach to the analysis of vertical mergers. In this paper, I shall argue that the new theories on vertical mergers have ignored an important point, namely that vertical integration not only changes the integrated firms incentive to supply inputs to its downstream rivals, but it may also change the rivals incentives to purchase inputs from alternative suppliers. Once this is realized,an equilibrium theory of vertical mergers can be developed without some of the controversial assumptions made in the literature, and this theory can provide a framework in which the competitive effects of vertical mergers are measured and compared. The basic insight of my analysis is that vertical integration creates multimarket interaction between the integrated firm and its downstream rivals. A rival may recognize that if it purchases inputs from the integrated firm, the integrated firm may have less incentive to cut prices in the downstream market, which will benefit the rival. Therefore, vertical integration can change the incentive of a downst ream rival in selecting its input supplier, making it a strategic instead of a passive buyer in the input market. Supplier concentration relative to industry concentration Trade theory predicts that if trade costs go down or if productivity rises exogenously in a pool of potential suppliers with heterogeneous productivity levels, the number of suppliers will enlarge (Helpman, Melitz and Rubinstein 2008).An exogenous taste for variety, or a desire to limit monopoly positions, would also lead to a larger number of suppliers, although these forces are static. In the presence of heterogenous quality, however, the dynamics of diversification/concentration can be different. Access of labour According to Bertram,G. (1986), he assumes that output is governed by a well-behaved, continuous, constant returns to scale, aggregate production function involving two factor inputs, capital and labour.( Bertram, G. (1986), Sustainable development in Pacific micro-economies, World Development, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 809-22.) Importance of volume of supplier According to Hahn et al., 1990; Humphreys et al., 2004; Krause, 1997; Krause et al., 1998; Li et al., 2007; Watts and Hahn, 1993, buyer-supplier relationships are becoming increasingly important as buyers realize that their success is often tied to the capabilities and performance of suppliers. Many organizations engage in supplier development to assist suppliers in improving supply chain performance and capabilities. Bargaining power of buyer According to Inderst (2007), buyer power is the ability of buyers to obtain advantageous terms of trade from their suppliers. Monopsonistic or quasi- monopsonistic buyers will use their power to extract better terms at the expense of the market. In a truly competitive market, no one buyer can set the prices. Instead they are set by supply and demand. Prices are set by supply and demand and the market reaches the Pareto-optimal point where the highest possible number of buyers are satisfied at a price that still allow for the supplier to be profitable. Porter states that a buyer group is powerful if it: purchases large volumes relative to seller sales; learns low profits; the products it purchases from the industry represent a significant fraction of the buyers costs or purchases; the products are standard or undifferentiated and face few switching costs; the industrys product is unimportant to the quality of the buyers products or services; buyers pose a credible threat of backward integration; The buyer has full information. Additionally, with the bargaining power, buyers can impose on suppliers and thus can choose their suppliers. According to Ghodsypour and OBrien, (1998); Weber et al., (2000) and Dahel, (2003), this can be done by using the linear programming models. Moreover, the multi-objective programming model developed by Weber and Ellram (1993) can helps buyer to select a pool of suppliers and determine the purchasing units to be allocated among the suppliers. Buyer switching cost Buyer-supplier relationships play a key role in the success of a supply chain (Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Lin et al., 2001; Storey and Emberson, 2006); however, organizations often face the problem of choosing appropriate suppliers (Pagell and Sheu, 2001; Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Wadhwa et al., 2006; Phusavat et al., 2007). The problem of choosing suppliers so that profits can be maximized has become increasingly vital to an enterprises survival due to keen competition in the micro-profit era (Giunipero et al., 2006). Numerous studies have addressed the issue of the buyer-supplier relationship in supply chain management. One stream of research examines related variables, such as cooperation, satisfaction, trust, and commitment, which make the supply chain relationship successful (Byrd and Davidson, 2003; Fynes et al., 2005; Malhotra et al., 2005). Another stream focuses on the criteria for choosing suppliers, such as quality, on-time delivery, and costs (Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Blackhurs t et al., 2005; Gunasekaran and Kobu, 2006; Phusavat and Kanchana, 2008). Among these criteria, costs have received the most attention because they are considered the key factor in choosing suppliers (Noordewier et al., 1990; Kalwani and Narayandas, 1995; Dahlstrom and Nygaard, 1999; Zhao and Yang, 2007). Buyer information Another reason why buyers were in such a strong bargaining position was because they had full information about demand, actual market prices, and even manufacturer costs. The buyers comparative information was often better than what was available to manufacturers, and thus with such full information, retailers were able to ensure that they received the most favourable prices offered to others, and were able to oppose suppliers claims that their viability would be threatened if prices were reduced. Owing to all of the above reasons, one can see that the bargaining power of the Australian food retailers was so great in the early 1980s that they were perhaps in a unique position of strength even in a global sense. The current barriers for purchasing organic products mainly relates to price, availability, and consumer awareness. Moreover, offering customers and obtaining greater value added by creating, developing, and maintaining lasting customer-supplier relationships (Rexha,2000; Van der Haar et al., 2001), such that both parties benefit (Gro ¨nroos, 2000; Kothandaraman and Wilson, 2001; Sharma et al., 2001; Walter et al., 2001; Leek et al., 2003), is considered fundamental for guaranteeing the success and survival of companies in the market. Suppliers adapt to the customers needs in order to satisfy them. This adaptation can encourage the customer to behave opportunistically (Brown et al., 2000; Wathne and Heide, 2000). But if the supplier is able to adapt, and satisfy customer needs better than its competitors, enduring relationships can develop between both agents. Brand identity of buyer According to Aaker, (1991, 1996), brand identity is a message about a brand that a firm seeks to communicate with. This communication is undertaken via the product, the brand name, symbols and logos, historical roots, the brands creator, and advertising (Kapferer, 1998 Some organisations base their competitive advantage on physical assets such as a manufacturing facility, some on their employees, and some on their distribution networks (Kotler, 2000). Many others, however, seek to attain a competitive advantage from intangible assets such as their reputation or the brands that they own (Beverland, 2005; Keller, 1993; Low and Blois, 2002). Yet, research to date on branding in business and industrial marketing has been limited (Beverland et al., 2006; Low and Blois, 2002; Mudambi et al., 1997; Nilson, 1998). Price sensitivity Porter (1985) has defined two primary types of competitive strategy that can provide a source of competitive advantage: differentiation and low cost strategy. The low cost strategy, which may enable a price leader position, can lead to price wars and is therefore risky for all digital products and services, including retail banking. Ultimately only one company can be the price leader, thus all other companies should contemplate alternative strategies. Likewise, marketers and researchers are familiar with the concept of price elasticity, which describes changes in the quantity of demand for a product associated with changes in price of the product. If demand is elastic, changes in price level have a proportionally greater impact on demand. Inelastic demand describes the case where changes in price have little effect on demand. The concept of price elasticity describes the aggregate response of a market segment to price levels. Price sensitivity is an individual difference variable describing how individual consumers react to price levels and changes in price levels. A consumer high in price sensitivity will manifest much less demand as price goes up (or higher demand as price goes down), and consumers low in price sensitivity will not react as strongly to a price change. Standardize products A large majority of respondents believed that many retailers considered most food products to be fairly standard, and thus, as they could most often find alternative suppliers, they played one manufacturing company against another. It was the respondents view that such tactics also extended towards substituting house brands and generics for brand names, and these aspects will be considered later. Thus, unless a manufacturer had very strong end-user demand for its brand (e.g. Vegemite, Milo, Pal), it found that its product was capable of being substituted unless it succumbed to retailer pressure. Threat of substitute products All firms in an industry are competing, in a broad sense, with industries producing substitute products. The impact of substitutes affected certain segments of the food industry more than others, the obvious examples being the yellow fats segment (butter versus margarine), the sweeteners segment (sugar versus sugar substitutes) and the pet foods segment (canned versus dry). The food industry as a whole is, in fact, competing with other substitute expense categories such as entertainment and personal items. While expenditure on food will never fall below an essential base level. Research done by Ogilvy and Mather (1983) seems to suggest that more people cut back on food during the early 1980s, in order to cope with inflation, than on other expense categories. The following factors are being considered when analyzing the threat of substitute products: Buyer propensity to substitute For sellers, it is crucial to win a buyers trust, then nurture it over the course of a relationship. Trust enables the buyer to economize cognitive and emotional energy and rely on a seller before extensive information can be gathered (Luhmann, 1979; Jones and George, 1998; Yamagishi, 2002; Mayer et al., 1995). As trust matures, the buyer identifies with (Lewicki and Bunker, 1995) and feels affection and devotion for the seller (McAllister, 1995). Trust is therefore strongly linked to buyer commitment (Moorman et al., 1992) and loyalty (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). A sellers violation of trust occurs when the buyer perceives evidence that the seller failed to meet the buyers confident expectations (Tomlinson et al., 2004). Relative price/performance relationship of substitutes Shapiro (1992) argues that institutional investors, who normally trade in large quantities, are concerned with the opportunity costs involved in undertaking these large trades. Many suppliers, in turn, face a growing trend towards commoditization of products (Rangan and Bowman, 1992) and search for new ways of differentiating themselves through improved customer interactions (Vandenbosch and Dawar, 2002). From an academic perspective, there is a rich and growing body of research focusing on buyer-supplier relationships in business markets (Ulaga, 2001). More broadly, researchers have coined the term relationship quality which is typically assessed through some combination of commitment, satisfaction and trust (Crosby et al., 1990; Dorsch et al., 1998; Hewett et al., 2002). According to Wilson (1995, p. 337) trust is a fundamental relationship model building block and as such is included in most relationship models. In addition to trust, Morgan and Hunt (1994) identified commitment as another key-mediating variable of relationship marketing. Furthermore in their commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing, Morgan and Hunt (1994) establish trust as a key-mediating variable that is central to relational exchanges. Moreover, customer satisfaction is widely accepted among researchers as a strong predictor for behavioural variables such as repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth, or loyalty (Ravald and Gro ¨nroos, 1996; Liljander and Strandvik, 1995). Satisfaction research is mainly influenced by the disconfirmation paradigm (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Competitive Rivalry The rivalry amongst existing firms analysis will help you to understand the risk that your competitors may compete for market position and if their competitive tactics are likely to be effective. Furthermore, you will find that your competitors may compete for market position using tactics such as pricing competition, advertising as well as increasing customer service. To analyze industry rivalry in your industry, you will need to consider the following factors: Diversity among competitors The first point of departure is found in Miles et al.(1993)and Miles and Snow (1986) proposition that strategy in diversity and structure is normal in any industry, that it is good for and industry and furthermore that various configurations of strategy and structure may be equally effective in producing high performance. Industry growth rate When hydroponics industry is in a growth phase there will be room for the industry to grow, as a result there will be a low risk of competitor rivalry. Thompson et al., (2008) stated that rivalry becomes stronger if demand growth is slow. Exit barriers Powell (1995) incorporated entry barriers and industry rivalry in his research and found a significant correlation of firm performance with entry barriers (r  ¼ 0:29; p , 0:05) and industry rivalry (r  ¼ 20:32; p , 0:05). These results indicate the higher the entry barriers, the lower the threat of new entrants and the better the opportunities for improved performance; and similarly, the higher the industry rivalry, the tougher the industry competition which would mean the lower the firm performance. A critique of Porters model There are, however, several limitations to Porters framework, such as: It tends to over-stress macro analysis, i.e. at the industry level, as opposed to the analysis of more specific product-market segments at a micro level. It oversimplifies industry value chains: for example, invariably buyers may need to be both segmented and also differentiated between channels, intermediate buyers and end consumers. It fails to link directly to possible management action: for example, where companies have apparently low influence over any of the five forces, how can they set about dealing with them? It tends to encourage the mind-set of an industry as a specific entity with ongoing boundaries. This is perhaps less appropriate now where industry boundaries appear to be far more fluid. It appears to be self-contained, thus not being specifically related, for example, to PEST factors, or the dynamics of growth in a particular market. It is couched in economic terminology, which may be perceived to be too much jargon from a practising managers perspective and indeed, it could be argued that it is over-branded. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis, which is originally introduced in 1969 by Harvard researchers (e.g. Learned et al., 1991), calls for an external assessment of the opportunities and threats that exist in a firms environment and an internal assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. The SWOT framework became popular during the 1970s because of its inherent assumption that managers can plan the alignment of a firms resources with its environment. Subsequently, during the decade of the 1980s, Porters (1980) introduction of the industrial organization paradigm with his five forces models gave primacy to a firms external environment, overshadowing the popularity of SWOT. More recently, at the start of the twenty-first century, SWOT is alive and well as the recommended framework for case analysis in many of the leading strategic management and marketing texts (Hitt et al., 2000; Anderson and Vince, 2002). However, despite its wide and enduring popularity, SWOT has remained an theoretica l framework, of limited prescriptive power for practice and minor significance for research (Dess, 1999). Generally, firms are asked to develop strategies to guide the organisation to ward opportunities that may be exploited using strengths of the organisation, push the organisation away from threats in the environment, maintain existing strengths and improve organisational weaknesses. Recently, Duncan, Ginter and Swayne (1998) suggested a four step model for assessing internal strengths and weaknesses. Their four steps include surveying, categorising, investigation, and evaluating. The tables below show the Strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of hydroponics in Mauritius. STENGTHS WEAKNESSES Growing demand for vegetables, both consumer and business markets. Environment-friendly practices favoured. Provide employment. Flexible in production. Poorly structured distribution channels. Finance: such project requires huge investments. Insufficient use of technology: growers in Mauritius cannot afford to adopt latest technology such as those used in Australia and USA due to high costs. Equipment and other materials have to be imported. Lack of trained trainers. OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Favoured business environment- laws and legislations have been modified so as to propel small business. Examples are the introduction of the Municipal Fee, replacing the Trade Licence, Special Tax Holiday Scheme, cancellation of customs duty on several products and Empowerment Programme. Incentives offered to registered enterprises by SEHDA, National Computer Board and so on. Examples are awards to the best business plans, business counselling and facilitation. Increasing cost of doing business. High inflation rate causing depreciation of the Mauritian Rupees. Favourable prices of the substitutes. PEST Analysis PEST (or political, economic, social and technological factors) is the most commonly used tool for environmental analysis (Beamish, 1996) and is possibly the second most widely known strategy technique after SWOT analysis. Political/ Legal Environment: in most countries, the government provides much needed support to those who want to invest in hydroponics technology. Examples are tax relieves on equipment, free counselling, training, incentives to set up small businesses, loan facilities and so on. Regarding the Economic Environment, these issues should be considered: Income is a major influencer of consumer purchasing power. For instance, a fall in income caused by an increase in the rate of inflation may result in a fall in purchasing power. Consumers may buy more of the organic vegetables, which are cheaper than the hydroponics vegetables. The reverse is also true. Changing consumer spending patterns influence the demand for hydroponics produce. It has been noted that there is an increasing tendency for consumers to spend more and more on leisure activities, transportation, medical-care and education rather than food. But with the new budget made by the finance minister, we can expect that the spending on education will decrease and ultimately result to and increase in food or other activities also. Social/ cultural Environment: a study by the NZ Vegetable Growers Federation (www.vegetables.co.nz) , found that nearly 40% of people who purchase organic food do so because they believe it is pesticide-free. Technological Environment: growers of hydroponics produce who do not adopt the best practice technology will be disadvantaged and gradually lose access to all but low margin residual markets. However, there is a profound gap between PEST and SWOT analysis, and this is only partly met by Porters five forces. A linking technique is that of Grundys growth drivers (Grundy, 2004). See the diagram below. Grundy gives an example of growth driver analysis, helping us to represent the forces that, directly or indirectly, cause or inhibit market growth over a particular time period. However, an important feature to note here is that it is part of a system. The system captures, in an onion model format, the key domains that need to be thought through, within the overall competitive climate, beginning with: _ PEST factors _ growth drivers _ Porters five competitive forces _ competitive position. These layers of the onion are highly interdependent, which might be a very useful phenomenon for managers to learn about and to apply. For example, where the PEST factors are generally hospitable, growth is encouraged and the full impact of the five competitive forces may not be felt and may thus be latent. However, where the PEST factors become inhospitable, this will clearly dampen the growth drivers, and if the growth drivers within a particular market are themselves tightening, for example due to life-cycle effects, then this will put a disproportionate and adverse pressure on Porters five forces, particularly in the bargaining power of buyers, and also upon rivalry. Furthermore, a high growth environment may encourage entrants and a low one will discourage these. The result can lead to a collapse in confidence and in prices unless there are lots of exits.

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The impact of non-native species and invasive threats are one of the most serious threats that native amphibians are facing today. Many invasive species are able to adapt to their new environments quickly. They can often out-compete natives for food resources or they simply prey on the native species. Amphibian declines have become an increasing issue. While amphibian diversity is severely threatened by habitat destruction, the threat from non-native predation and competition is rapidly contributing to amphibian population declines (Ficetola et. al, 2007; Young et. al, 2001). Amphibians are threatening amphibians, and the threat from invasive species is a global issue. In Mexico and Central America this threat is just as real if not more so due to the tropical rich biodiversity. Many of the southern Central American countries boast some of the richest ecosystems in biodiversity in the world (Reid, 1993; Young et. al, 2001). American bullfrog (Rana catesbeinana) The American bullfrog (Rana catesbeinana), a member of the family Ranidae, or â€Å"true frogs† is threatening several habitats and native species in Central America. Native to North America, the American bullfrogs are found in freshwater habitats from Nova Scotia, Canada, throughout the eastern United States into Northern east Mexico. (see figure 1-1) Among the largest frogs in North America, they are easily distinguishable by their size. The bullfrog is a large amphibian that challenges native amphibians for food and habitat resources, but the bullfrog has a voracious appetite and will consume any prey that it fit into their mouths. They can grow to a length of eight inches and weight up to two pounds in their native habitats. In artificial market nurseries they... ...at attracts a collector. Unfortunately like many exotic pets, the owners soon lose interest and instead of doing the responsible things, by finding a suitable owner, they release them thinking that it’s an acceptable practice. Management and inspection of the plant nurseries and the pet trade is still poorly governed. While some countries are implementing policies and regulations on inspections and trades it is will continue to be a problem. Solutions must come from the international community. It must also include educating traders, collectors, inspectors as well as other stakeholders and the public. The small size of theses frogs coupled with the high procreation rate has made control of established colonies difficult to manage. Several countries that have been infested by this tree frog are doing live captures and then humanely euthanatizing individuals.