Perfect Pizzeria Essay

Perfect Pizzeria Restaurants is a chain of 125 pizza establishments around the country with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. There are three locations in Bloomington, Indiana however they have financial and employee problems particularly at the location near the Indiana University campus. Each location has one manager and two shift leaders. The employees are mostly college students, with a few high school students performing the less challenging jobs. Nearly all of the employees, with the exception of some managers, are employed part-time and most earned only the minimum wage or slightly above. To address the financial problems, the Perfect Pizzeria manager’s compensation plan was changed to now being based on food and beverage costs and profit targets. If the percentage of food unsold or damaged is very low, the manager gets a bonus. If the percentage is high, the manager does not receive a bonus; rather he or she receives only his or her normal salary. Their compensation is also reflected in the restaurant’s profit figures which also must reach a certain level for the manager to receive a bonus. Thus the managers knew the criteria being used for their evaluation and therefore where to focus their efforts. These profit and loss figures often fluctuate. Knowing the manager cannot be in the store 24 hours a day, some employees make up for their low paychecks by helping themselves to the food. When a friend comes in to order a pizza, extra ingredients are put on the friend’s pizza. An occasional slice or two of pizza by the 18 to 20 employees throughout the day/evening at the break table also raises the percentage figure. An occasional bucket of sauce may be spilled or a pizza accidentally burned. Sometimes the wrong size of pizza may be made. In the event of an employee mistake or a burned pizza by the oven person, the expense is supposed to come from the individual employee. Because of peer pressure, the night manager seldom writes up a bill for the erring employee. Instead the establishment takes the loss and the error goes unnoticed until the end of the month when the inventory is taken. That’s when the manager finds out if the food loss percentage is high and if there will be a bonus. (Next page) Over time these loss figures increased. To address these problems at the Bloomington location, the manager took retaliatory measures. Previously, each employee was entitled to a free pizza slice, salad, and all the soft drinks he or she could drink for every 4 hours of work. Management decided to raise this figure to 6 hours of work before any free food. Since the employees had received this â€Å"free food after 4-hours† benefit for a long time they frequently ignored the rule and took advantage of the situation whenever the manager was not in the building. Therefore, the Perfect Pizzeria manager decided to create an assistant manager position which could more closely supervise the shift leaders. Each shift leader was now responsible for a team of 3 – 4 employees who were given specific responsibilities for a particular job such as counter, delivery, food preparation, etc. Employee apathy grew within the pizzeria. There seemed to be a further separation between the store manager and his workers, who were once a closely knit group. The manager made no attempt to alleviate the problem, because he felt it would iron itself out. The employees who were dissatisfied would quit or they would be content to put up with the new regulations. As it turned out, there were many employee resignations. The manager had no problem in filling the vacancies with new workers, but the loss of experienced personnel was costly to the business. It didn’t take long for the new employees to become influenced by the more experienced employees and the unsold/damaged food percentage remained high. Then the manager took a bolder step. He eliminated all the benefits that the employees had – no free pizzas, salads, or drinks. The manager tried still another approach to alleviate the rising unsold/damaged food percentage problem and maintain his bonus. He placed a notice on the bulletin board, stating that: if the percentage remained at a high level, a lie detector test would be given to all employees. All those found guilty of taking or intentionally wasting food or drinks would be immediately terminated. This did not have the desired effect on the employees, because they knew if they were all subjected to the test, all would be found guilty and the manager would have to dismiss all of them. This would leave him in a worse situation than ever. As the manager sat in his office listening to his beloved Cub’s baseball game, he analyzed the month’s profit/loss statements and knew things were not going to be good. What he did not expect was that the percentage was actually increasing from previous months. Another problem developed at the Bloomington campus location when Jennifer, a recently hired night shift counter clerk filed a complaint with the regional manager. She stated in her complaint that she was always required to work the late shift and Bill the night manager was becoming a bit â€Å"too friendly†. In fact her complaint stated, the only way she could get off from work earlier than other employees was if she would agree to meet Bill on their nights off at Hoosier’s, a popular college student club down the street from Perfect Pizzeria. Additionally, there was a formal complaint from a group of male employees that only the attractive female workers were being promoted to assistant managers or shift leaders even though the men had worked at the restaurant longer than most of the promoted women. The case assignment questions follow†¦ PERFECT PIZZERIA – CASE QUESTIONS (Please type your responses by listing the question number/letter and then your answers to the questions.) 1. List two different managerial functions/activities the manager has performed. Then give specific examples or evidence from the case that explains these two management functions the manager has performed. 4. points) 2a. Which of the managerial skills was the manager best at? Explain. 2b. Which of the managerial skills did the manager need to improve? Explain. (4 points) 3. List and/or give examples of four (4) different forces or factors from Perfect Pizzerias’ external environment. Then give a specific example of how each of these could have an impact on Perfect Pizzeria. Please be specific.(4 pts.) 4a. The case mentions that some employees put extra ingredients on their friends’ pizza or take a nibble or two of pizza during their shift. Please discuss whether you feel this is ethical and your reasons why you feel this way. (2 pts.) 4b. What actions could an organization take to prevent these potential ethical violations from happening based on the concepts in the textbook? Explain by applying these ideas to this case situation. (4 pts.) 5. Review the organizational approaches to managing diversity from Chapter 6. Then discuss or give an example of how you would apply two of these concepts to address the complaints of the male employees regarding the unfair promotions? Be specific. (4 points) 6. Give an example from the case of a poor management action and discuss two (2) specific ways you would correct the situation if you were the manager. (3 points)

Aristotle on Gender Essay

The peer discussion held last week had its attention focused on a comparison of Aristotle’s and Plato’s ideas of justice and gender. As previously discussed from our lectures, Plato’s idea of justice was concerned with an internal equality between the members of the classes present within the polis. This focused more on individualism in that one must only be concerned with his/her business and not minding other’s problems. The justice that occurs in their society depends on the class to whom one belongs. However, Aristotle, his student, was more for all-encompassing justice aiming for the ultimate goal of the constitution. Equality, for Aristotle, depends on the constitution in which the society is built upon. For democracy, it promotes equality for those who are equal, but only for those who are equal. Elaborating on this, equality only exists for the majority, who rules in this kind of polis. On the other hand, oligarchy focuses more on the distribution of office, in which there is equality for those who are unequal. (Curtis, 1981) However, this failed to consider the degree of goodness in a citizen. Oligarchs depended more on a wealthy upbringing, giving them superiority over the others who have less riches than them. Democrats was more dependent on free birth, all for equality among every member of the society. Aristotle’s justice was an advocate of excellence over birth. Considering his example of the story of the flutists, Aristotle concluded that justice all ends ups to the contribution of a good citizen to the aim of the society and to the â€Å"end† of state. Aristotle could care less about the social standing of a citizen, instead focusing more on his triumphs instead of what he was born to be. Gender is another topic wherein these two philosophers’ opinions differ. For Plato, equality among women and men existed within the society itself. Women were free to choose what profession they have, provided that they have the proper education to back it up. Aristotle’s idea for gender, however, is a sexist one. He believed that only men were worthy to be citizens, and that was only if he was a holder of office. Women were â€Å"naturally† governed by men, as indicated in his works, specifically identified by the phrase â€Å"mastery of husband over wife†. He gave statements wherein the men were given rights over those of the opposite gender. In spite of their standings as teacher and student, their opinions differ regarding how a society must work in order to achieve peace and harmony within their constitution. However, important points can also be withdrawn from their works, such as the fairer justice referred to in Aristotle’s works, and Plato’s ideas of equality and the manner of governing a society. Not one person is perfect, and we cannot find fault upon one making a mistake that we ourselves may have committed. Group: # 4 – Section: WBYDX.

Allied Powers Between The Conferences Yalta And Potsdam

Allied Powers Between The Conferences Yalta And Potsdam When the allies met in Yalta, in February 1945, the war was still ongoing. There were obvious signs that the German forces were weakening, yet fighting continued. As a result, when the Allies met in Yalta, defeating Germany was still in the fore front of their minds.1They had put aside their fundamental differences and were united in the face of a universal foe. Yet even here the cracks were beginning to show. By the time of the Potsdam conference in August of the same year, these cracks had enlarged due to a number of significant factors. Firstly, it is important to focus on what happened at the conference in Yalta. Each of the allies had high expectations of what would happen after the war ended. Russia was obsessed with the idea of reparation payments, whereas America preferred a tactic of rehabilitation rather than total destruction. As there is still a war going on, America does not step in when Russia demands that $20 billion reparation payments should be given by Germany, and half of this huge sum should be paid to Russia.2 Roosevelt actually agrees in principle, and consequently Stalin leaves, believing he has what he wants. Other big decisions such as post war arrangements for Germany were left off the agenda at this conference, as they were believed to be too significant and important to be discussed at a time when the war was ongoing.3 Postponing major decisions seemed a sensible idea at the time; however, this would prove to be a costly misjudgement later. By the time the Allies met again at the Potsdam conference, in August of the same year, many significant changes had taken place. The most major change was that the war had ended, and this altered the mindset of the allies greatly. The allies had sustained huge losses and the effect this had can be seen clearly in the measures they took after the war. Russia alone had lost 8.7 million men and women in combat and a further 18 million civilians. In real terms, this showed that Russia had sustained the most casualties and in fact, to every one American that died, ninety Soviets lost their lives.4 Consequently, all three countries were seeking maximum security, to strengthen their position and prevent another war of this magnitude occurring again. America, for example, started to set up bases in the Atlantic Ocean so they would have complete control of who entered the country.5 This clearly shows how serious the idea of security was taken by the strongest of the allied powers. These fears of security made the allies suspicious of one another, and America recognised that now Germany was defeated, the next threat to American security came from much nearer to home in the form of Russia. Russia had given America cause to think this, as their position had strengthened even from the short time between the Yalta and Potsdam conference. Russia was in a powerful position at the end of the war, despite suffering huge losses. The Red army liberated Berlin on the 24th April 1945, after two weeks of the bloodiest fighting witnessed in world war two.6 As a result of the Allies indecisiveness in Yalta, no agreement had been drawn up as to what would be done with Germany straight after the war. So, Russia stripped German factories and rounded up workers to help rebuild their damaged country, and this angered the Western allies. Furthermore, immediately after Yalta, Russia began the sovietisation of the areas it occupied, and did this without any consideration to the policies of the allies in the west.7 The Communist influence was expanding further. Another bone of contention with the allies was the size of the Russian army. Western allies argued that Russia did not need such a large army now the threat from Germany was over.8 They believed that Russia could function with a smaller army which could be use for defence. This shows early fears from America that Russia were a threat to their security, and that the US had identified Russia as a potential enemy.

Comments and questions from classmates on USTA case study questions Assignment

Comments and questions from classmates on USTA case study questions - Assignment Example I build a six step research question in trying to elucidate how USTA approached its management dilemma question to enable the organization come up with a long lasting management decision. Step 2 was to clarify how USTA aimed at expanding itself by persuading more people with divers civilization, masculinity/gender and wealth level to enable the organization acquire vivacious information towards the diversifying multicultural population (Johnson & Clark, 2006). USTA required essential data by involving diverse demographical information to enable the organization design a measurement question of what the household income for male and female who played tennis was in the last 12 months. Thank you for your concern. I used intuition to replace perception as the two words are tantamount, but I came to realize that â€Å"perception† work best than â€Å"intuition†. Thank you for clarification. Your research question hierarchy is impressive. The research USTA undertook was to enable it expand by reaching a more diversified populace hence changing the existed elitist typecast. Therefore, do you support this type of research to be adopted as a universal way of conducting business research? Evidently, nominal data cannot be tabulated in a mathematical way. I would like to pinpoint that USTA used a large sample size, which led to a greater depiction of the population and reduced standard error but at a greater cost. Moreover, the closed questionnaire structure was intentionally meant to reduce inconsistency in the results, and this enabled the company to obtain a less scattered data (Anderson & Whitcomb,  2001). Thanks for your participation. However, I am still not contented with your choice of the measurement scale. From the USTA case study, predominant parameters included social stratification, demographic assessment and people’s participation in tennis. Axiomatically, these factors can best be ascertained by use of nominal scale since the cardinal

Fundamental of management information system Essay - 3

Fundamental of management information system - Essay Example This can be done by using special software or program which will allow to record by the scanner what products buyers actually buy (scanner data) in the Macy’s stores, click-through sequences, or automated customer counts (Chapter 2: Information Systems and Knowledge Management, n.d.). Based on point-of-sale data recordings there can be retrieved data which will enable Macy’s to answer the question: By organizing all these data into database and comparing information among all 800 locations management will know whether there is a need of adjusting its items to local tastes or may be there is no need at all. In addition to internal behavioral tracking made out of actual sales, Macy’s could carry out proprietary marketing research (Chapter 2: Information Systems and Knowldge Management, n.d.). Such a research can be performed online by using different programs (for instance Salespod), which allows to deal without paperwork and avoid outdated information (Eliminating Paperwork from Retail Marketing and Merchandising). Unknown. "Eliminating Paperwork from Retail Marketing and Merchandising."Â  Salespod.net, 2013. Web. 3 Apr 2014.

FMLA and Its Impacts on Organization Term Paper

FMLA and Its Impacts on Organization - Term Paper Example The law does give the employee time off but the time given is not paid by his or her organization. The passing of the law has since covered the time which uses to be given to pregnant mothers before. Conversely, some employers have not been happy with the law since they see that they are losing some part of the working force in the company. Employers conclude that the law collides with other unforeseen happenings to employees which might need time off when they are sick. They have also realized that the law is not in line with working schedule of the firm, in addition the firm has had to increase the financial status of their companies so as to train or recruit the best human resource to deal with issues of FMLA (Bovee, 2001). Paid Sick Leave and its Impact on the Organization Paid sick leave is the compensation to an employee by an organization when they take time off to be with their family when either he or she is sick or one of the family members is sick. Paid sick leave is not p assed as a law like the FMLA, it has gained value since consideration by organization because it seen to be related to the economic growth of the country (Earle and Heymann, 2006). In addition, it is also a pillar to the human rights of an employee since the organization values the health of an employee. ... Impacts on the economy could be due to the health condition of the worker which could contribute to a smaller number of forces working in a firm or sick working force. For example, the workers in the USA had to work when they were sick, which made their health condition and the health of others worse due to a combination of the work force who were sick and the ones who were not sick; this increased the spread of the H1N1 virus among employees. The impact on the economy was that sick workers contributed to low productivity (Watkins, 2011). The impact of using the Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) The law has positive impacts on the organization if employers are informed early. The organization will have time to plan well on how it will do with the small number or without the number of some employees who have taken the FMLA leave. The advance notice has also seen to help the firms know the number of the employees who are to go for FMLA hence will give them time to balance the financial s tatus of the company due to the low productivity they would have to incur when the workers go for leave. The issues of the workers not giving enough information about the conditions would be solved. This is because, an individual who has to apply for FMLA has to present all the information to the firm about the need for FMLA leave, for example, the time of needed and the reason for taking leave, from there the organization will consider the case (Silverman, 2010). The impact of advance Notice of FMLA leave According to Hayes & Ninemeier (2009) the FMLA leave regulations binds the employer to give information to the employees 30 days before leave is granted and the workers are also warranted to give information about the day they would like

Extra paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Extra paper - Essay Example In the order to achieve the overall objective, an organization needs to consider the needs and demand based on the preference level of an individual. In the context of an organization, motivational factors play very crucial role for not only encouraging the employee towards the respective job role, but also for the end customer by satisfying their ultimate demands. Additionally, prior consideration of motivation will assist an organization in improving overall performance. Moreover, emphasizing motivational factors of different stakeholders, an organization can strengthen its position through higher level of growth in revenue (Jerome, 2013). In this regard, the essay intends to address the role of advertisement in motivating the probable customer and improving organizational performance. Moreover, the essay attempts to define the theory advocated by Maslow i.e. need hierarchy theory with the specific advertising artifact of Harley Davidson. In the contemporary era of the bossiness environment, persuasion of the people is highly important as well as critical factor for businesses to conduct operations by satisfying their needs and business sustainability. Additionally, based on the Maslow need higher hierarchy theory, individuals are identified to be attracted towards products and/or services offered by companies that are able to meet their satisfaction level needs. Thus, the power of persuasion plays an important role for a company to influence the beliefs, intentions, motivations, attitudes as well as behaviors of customers. In this regard, business organization has significantly noticed that advertisement should be an effective mean of changing the persuasion level of the people in a determined way. For instance, an individual having a need of a particular mode of transportation to be in time at office,

Work Plan for Interior Designer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Work Plan for Interior Designer - Assignment Example Interior designers work usually runs in a well laid out sequence. The designer starts by determining the client’s requirements, tastes and preferences before undertaking the project. At this point, they have to consider the number of the building users and hence making enough interior space for them to move comfortably making sure that the taste of client does not hinder motion within the building. After the initial considerations, the interior designer has to make the preliminary sketches of the design plans. These plans will enable them to identify the material they need for the projects such as lighting, furnishes, furniture, tiles, carpets, and decorations. After the preliminary designing, the interior designer has to make a preparation of the final plans usually by the use of the appropriate computer software and present the same to the client. In a case the client is not satisfied by the expected appearance, the interior designer has to make the corrections and adjustments to suit the client's needs. After the designing process, the interior designer has to make an estimate of the cost of the project and create a realistic timeline for the implementation of the same. They then have to oversee the project implementation to ensure that everything goes along with the plan. It is also imperative that they carry out a post-project survey to make sure that the final product satisfies the client. Interior designing is multifaceted and the designer has to work closely with other professionals within the construction industry such as structural engineers, architects, and builders. It is therefore imperative that they are able to read blueprints. It is also compulsory for interior designers to be adequately knowledgeable of building codes as well as inspection regulations.

Leadership and Management in Healthcare Research Paper

Leadership and Management in Healthcare - Research Paper Example Multidisciplinary approach is certainly beneficial but it is relatively complex and poses advance level challenges to leadership and management in delivering the goods for which it is formulated. Thereby, managing a healthcare organization in a multidiscipline and multicultural environment would demand a superior level of leadership and management characteristics that can meet the expectations of an increasingly aware society. Thesis This research paper will investigate various traits and characteristics that are considered indispensible to achieve organizational effectiveness and efficiency in a multidiscipline and multicultural healthcare organization. The paper will discuss leadership and management issues, approaches, traits and solutions from the perspective of a healthcare administrator to manage health and human services. The research will initially present some leadership and management issues that a healthcare administration may face. The paper will also discuss different ap proaches to settle these issues in healthcare management and personal traits in terms of leadership and management to analyze various approaches for respective pros and cons. The paper will then draw conclusions that can be useful for leadership and management of a multicultural and multidiscipline healthcare organization. Literature Review Demographic changes are a known phenomenon and diversity stems from it. The healthcare administrators have to be vigilant on ever increasing number of non-native healthcare professionals in their organizations because if diversity is a necessity the maintenance of healthcare tradition and enhancing the facility is an ultimate objective for healthcare administrators. Baxter (2000, p. 9) states this fact as, â€Å"The primary selling point of... The paper â€Å"Leadership and Management in Healthcare† analyses the issues that can be useful for leadership and management of a multicultural and multidiscipline healthcare organization. The healthcare administrators have to be vigilant on ever increasing number of non-native healthcare professionals in their organizations because if diversity is a necessity the maintenance of healthcare tradition and enhancing the facility is an ultimate objective for healthcare administrators. The diversity of healthcare force is almost inevitable and administrators are required to manage these professional with assorted background knowledge and understanding of the local requirements and standards in healthcare organizations. Areas of concern for administrators in a multicultural environment range from social approaches to financial concerns of this diversified workforce. This increases the burden of management and administrators have to be more compassionate because a satisfied workforc e is the primary requirement for an efficient and effective healthcare organization. The administrator has to keep in mind the workforce concerns and demands. Administrator in a multicultural health organization provides essential interfacing between the healthcare professionals and the community. The issues that stems from the interaction of culturally diverse workforce and communities constitute a major area where the role of leadership and management can make a difference in the delivery of healthcare services.

Reflection 9 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection 9 - Research Paper Example making companies should consider new marketing and advertising strategies in addition to reinventing their products rather than repackaging them in different ways. Three different kinds of new cereal packaging for traditional cereal can be zippered plastic bags, metalized bag lining, or selling the cereal in air-tight jars. The common factor among all three types of packaging is that they are useful for the customers even when the cereal is finished. For example, zippered plastic bags can be used to carry fresh vegetables like spinach from the grocery store to the home, or to carry salad from home to school. Such a packaging is very useful in the present age when the use of plastic shopping bags is discouraged. Metallized bags are even more useful than the plastic bags since they help keep the food fresh and safe from the moisture and the outside odors. Air-tight jars are also very useful for storing bakery items and confectionaries like biscuits and cookies. My favorite cereal packaging amongst the three is zipped plastic bags because their use surpasses the use of other two options in everyday life. In addition, they are the most cost-effect ive option for the cereal companies to avail. The Canadian people are very fond of biscuits. The cereal makers should consider making biscuits with cereals. The cereal makers should analyze which of their flavors have acquired maximum sales in the past and the same can be converted into biscuits. Another kind of cereal can be spicy and salty cereals. These days, there is a growing trend among the Canadian consumers to eat flavored and fried pulses. Traditionally, cereals are very mildly flavored and the spicy flavor is particularly hard to find. So the cereal makers should try their luck with the fried and spicy range of cereals. Another kind of cereal can be chocolates. The weight-conscious Canadian consumers crave chocolate and can never have enough of it despite their awareness that it is a very high-calorie food item

Ethical considerations Essay Example for Free

Ethical considerations Essay Deception; the participants were not aware that they were taking part in a psychological study about memory until after the study had taken place in order to reduce the risk of bias in the experiment. Afterwards they were informed and were given the opportunity to withdraw their responses without prejudice. They were told that no names would be recorded and that confidentiality was assured of their result. Another risk would be if people then realised the experiment tested memory they could think it was to do with intelligence and worry that they would be judged as stupid if they did not remember many words. This could cause psychological distress to that person and might confirm personal fears of insecurity causing further damage. This could be controlled by warning the participant what the study was going to be about before they did it so if they felt embarrassed or worried about their result they could make a more informed decision not to take part. Results This table shows how many words were recalled by each participant. It shows that the mean average number of words recalled in Condition A was 15.08; 1.59 less than condition B at 16.67. It also allows us to see that 2/3 of the participants recalled more words with classical music playing than they did in silence.  Summary table to show the number of words recalled by each participant in condition A and. Condition B This bar chart shows condition A results in red and condition B in green. From this we can see that both the highest and lowest numbers of words recalled were in condition B. This bar chart clearly demonstrates the difference between condition A and B to vary greatly throughout the experiment.  This pie chart shows the difference between the average scores to be quite insignificant as there is only a 5 % difference which means that although most of the numbers of words recalled did increase from condition a to condition b there was not a big difference when taking into account what their scores actually were and working out the average. I also deduced the range to be 12 for condition A, the lowest/ highest values being 8 and 20, and 17 for condition B, the lowest/ highest values being 7 and 24. The median, however, for both was the same at 16.5. This means there was a wider spread list of values for condition B therefore more variation in how many words people remembered than in condition A.  However the descriptive statistics used above only describe what has been found. In order to suggest the probability of achieving the scores that we did, an inferential sign test was used. A sign test was used as the experimental design was a repeated measures design and the data collected was nominal. When we applied our raw data to the sign test analysis a sign value of 4 was achieved. As this exceeds the critical value of 2, for 12 participants, we can suggest that the raw data achieved is more than 5% due to chance factors and less than 95% due to the manipulation of the independent variable which means our original hypothesis is only partially supported. Discussion From the results obtained in this experiment, we can suggest that our one tailed experimental hypothesis of playing classical music during a memory test will increase the number of words remembered, is only partially supported, in that only 2/3 (66.67%) of participants recall improved when tested with classical music. This was not found to achieve a significant level of probability 0.05, which means that recall was not 95% or more due to the manipulation of the independent variable i.e. whether or not classical music was playing in the background. Therefore on this occasion we must accept our null hypothesis of there will be no significant relationship between whether or not music is played in the background and how many words the participants remember as there was not a high enough probability to suggest that the variation in number of words recalled was a direct effect of the manipulation of the independent variable. In our experiment we found that classical music did improve performance of memory as 2/3 of the participants recall improved. This disagrees with the findings of Cohen whose study suggested that participants who were exposed to background noise were cognitively impaired. Our experiment was similar to Cohens in that it tested the effect of environmental stimulants on recall ability. Cohen, however, tested the participants under exposure to aircraft noise which is much louder and more distracting than a relaxing piece of music such as Mozart. Our findings, therefore, may be more appropriately compared to the findings of Dr. George Lozanov. Lozanov designed a way to teach foreign languages to children in a fraction of the learning time. He did this by teaching whilst using certain 60 beats per minute Baroque music and found that his students had a retention rate of 92% and an accuracy of 85- 100% after only thirty days. The findings of which reflect our own in that he used classical music, with the typical 60 beat per minute pattern, to improve performance of memory in the recollection of vocabulary in foreign languages. However, the percentage of improvement in his experiment was 92%, whereas ours was only 66.67% and therefore shows that his experiment was more accurate than our own However, as our participants were young adults and not children, as in the above, direct and reliable comparisons may not be fully appropriate. This could be due to wider social influences upon adults in relation to children for example a young adult would understand the instructions better and therefore might feel under more pressure to perform than a child. This could have adverse effects and make their performance worse or make them try harder than a child would. Due to this ignorance on the childs behalf, an experiment involving children is often more natural. Also, differences in procedure and experimental design may have led to the difference in findings. For example Lozanov choose to teach foreign languages to children and it has been proven that children have a higher capacity than adults for learning language, as they are not as set in speaking their own language as an adult is. The differences found may have related to this factor and so had an effect upon the data that we achieved. If my experiment had been carried out on children instead I think I would have gotten more positive results due to the above reasons. Other limitations include our choice of method; an experiment is not a natural setting as participants would feel pressurised by the fact that their results were being analysed and might have not been able to concentrate on recalling the words. An improvement could have been a test administered by a normal teacher in a classroom environment, where students would be more used to getting a test and might be more relaxed. This would be unethical, however as it is deceptive. The repeated measures design used meant that the list of words in the second experiment had to be changed because the same participants had seen it in the first experiment and therefore might recall more words after looking at it for a second time. This would have meant the results were inaccurate therefore another list of words was devised. This could however have caused even more problems because, although care was taken not to use more confusing or longer words from one list to another, the experiment was not standardised and therefore direct comparisons could not be made. A matched pairs design would have allowed comparisons to be made between the lists, but not as accurately between the participants, as every participant will be different. The opportunity based sample that I used meant that there werent an equal number of males and females, therefore it wasnt representative. A better sampling technique would be to use stratified sampling, in which equal numbers of the same sex can be selected. If the target population was larger, the sample would have been more representative but we needed to use similarly aged participants, as there would have been difference in recall ability between, for example, a four and an eighteen year old. Using people from our own class could have interfered with the result because the participants knew who they were doing the experiment for and could be biased to the experimenter. Also, I think that using younger participants would have given a more natural element to the experiment, as they would not ask too many questions, worry about the results or interfere as much with the experiment by not trying their best. The participants did not seem to be confused by the standardised instructions but they might not have been clear on why they were doing the experiment, which could have had an effect on their performance. The participants were also talked through the experiment as we carried it out and everything was plainly stated to them. A better way of presentation of the words however, might have been to present them on an over head projector, so that timing could be controlled better; in our experiment, participants were in control of turning over the sheet of paper with the list on and therefore could have turned it over before the test started. The paper was only one sheet thick as well so participants might have been able to see the words even when the sheet was face down. To expand the experiment further, there are many different variables and different aspects of memory which I could test. The serial position effect, mentioned in my introduction, would be an interesting aspect of memory to test as I noticed in the lists of words there were a significant number of words from the start and the end of the actual list, included in the words the participants remembered. We could test this by setting a quota at, say, the first five and last five words and seeing what percentage of the recalled words were within one of these quotas. We could have used a recording of background noise to repeat Cohens experiment or used music with words to test the participants. A really interesting experiment would be to use children against adults in a memory test with the classical music, as I believe children would give a more positive result in relation to my hypothesis. I dont believe that there would be a significant difference between males and females, if any, but it would be worth considering. We could have tested different amounts of words see if there is a difference in capacity of recall between a list of one hundred words and thirty words; would the participants be put off by the amount of words and not remember as many for the long list as the short? There are clearly many different experiments relating to memory that could be tested.

New Zealand Film Industry Essay Example for Free

New Zealand Film Industry Essay Why did the New Zealand government offer Warner Brothers incentives to film â€Å"The Hobbit† in New Zealand? Analyse how this will affect the New Zealand film industry and New Zealand society. Warner Brothers, one of Hollywoods most famous studios, was founded in 1923 by four actual brothers: Jack, Sam, Harry Albert Warner. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. I believe that production of H0bbit movie is benefit for New Zealand economy and New Zealand Government provide that incentives to Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers is the front of any entertainment industry with its films to television, home entertainment/DVD, and inter-active creativity. New Zealand has a reputation of being in the Top Ten filming locations in the universe. Warner Brothers choose to make the film in New Zealand because they know that New Zealand infrastructure is pleasing and natural. New Zealand is an open economy and it is cost-effectively workable and attractive for large budget international productions. Firstly, it is important to know that what kind of advantage to New Zealand with the Hobbit movie. New Zealand has a both advantages comparative and absolute. Comparative advantage means â€Å"A situation in which a country, individual, company or region can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than a competitor.† (Gans, King, Stonecash, Mankiw, 2011) And Absolute advantage means â€Å"The ability of a country, individual, company or region to produce a good or service at a lower cost per unit than the cost at which any other entity produces that good or service.† According to new Law New Zealand have low labour cost means lower opportunity cost. And New Zealand has land, resources and pervious knowledge. For this two reason New Zealand have both advantages. Warner Brothers has reached a deal with the New Zealand government to keep The Hobbit in New Zealand. As part of the agreement, the government will â€Å"introduce in parliament legislation sought by Warnerà ¢â‚¬â„¢s that would clarify the employment status of film industry workers.† It is being presumed that the intended effect is to, â€Å"make unionization of the film industry more difficult or impossible. â€Å"Ever since Jackson’s LOTR trilogy put New Zealand on the map, so to speak, the country has benefited greatly from the rise in tourists. Indeed that has been factored into a â€Å"long-term strategic partnership† the country has struck with Warner Brothers which will see joint promotion of New Zealand as a film production and tourism destination. The incentives provided to Warner Brothers committed more New Zealand taxpayer money to the movies. (Cheng, 2010) As well as broadening the criteria for its large-budget incentive program – which will give WB an additionally rebate of up to US$15 million – the NZ government will also provide up to US$10 million for marketing costs. On top of the obvious benefit of keeping The Hobbit on home ground, New Zealand will also host one of the world premieres for one of the films. All this just goes to show just how important The Hobbit is for New Zealand. It has been said that the production will pump U.S. $200 million into NZ’s economy. (Cheng, 2010) It is important to know the reason as to why the incentives were offered to Warner Brothers. It is stated that â€Å"the Key Government thinks that this little country can and should afford to pay these subsidies to a giant foreign corporation.† (Roger, 2010) It was highly noticeable of the government when it cowardly agreed into Warner Brother’s demands for limited and striking subsidies saying they were worth it because New Zealand’s opportunity to grow in the economy was at stake as other countries waited in the line for ‘The Hobbit’ movie. The Government was under so much pressure from the other film businesses as rivalry was intense from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and many more countries as they all wanted a movie like ‘The Hobbit’. That was the reason the incentive of changing labour laws was undertaken in such an urgency as the government did not want to further deviate expenditure of public money while having to fight back to match the massive tax breaks offered by other countries. Warner Brothers received tax subsidies of $100 million and â€Å"government agreed to give up to $34 million of tax breaks† (Cheng, 2010) through civility of New Zealand’s tax payers. More compromises were approaching as the Government eluded the standard democratic process to move forward with Parliament legislation that undermined the Employment Relations Act, and also benefited the international film company with $25 million. The government flaunted this as triumph for the film industry in New Zealand. The New Zealand government or national party is ideologically placed on the right wing of the spectrum. Right wing means In politics, right-wing describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social hierarchy or social inequality. Social hierarchy and social inequality is viewed by those affiliated with the Right as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, whether it arises through traditional social differences or from competition in market economies. It typically accepts or justifies this position on the basis of natural law or tradition. Therefore favors free trade, globalization and open markets. They also want more FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) such as the Warner Brothers Hobbit investment. (rejuvenation) The NZ Film Industry will be affected both positively and negatively. â€Å"A 2008 report found that film and television industry injected $2.5 billion into NZ’s economy† (TVNZ-One news, 2010) The positive thing is that the more contractors get to keep their jobs; New Zealand has been able to build its flexible status again after the boycott scenario with The Hobbit. If the movie was not made in NZ then there would have been long term damage to the NZ Screen production sector and the economy. The negative consequence is that Film industry will be affected by the reductions in rights of NZ workers in Film Production as the Warner Brothers do not want to go through any cases regarding employment regulations after losing a case in the Supreme Court during their previous movie production. Warner Bros. has closed its office in New Zealand. The distribution office shut down at the end of May although Warner Bros. reaffirmed its commitment to business in New Zealand and, they said the work would be outsourced to a local company. The shutdown will raise questions in New Zealand because the Government changed employment law and provided tax breaks to get Warner Brothers to make The Hobbit there. For that The Prime Minister John Key said, â€Å"The Hobbit films have created 3000 jobs. They were crucial to New Zealand for our movie industry; it was a very positive step that the Government took. I’m not sure what has happened in Auckland, but I don’t imagine it’s many jobs.† Warner Bros. have had an office in New Zealand since 1947. (News, 2012) If the Hobbit was move from New Zealand than tourism is decrease and most of societies and their livelihood based on the jobs in tourism sectors are may be close and it’s affected very badly. One society in particular would have been drastically affected and that’s the people in Matamata near Waikato region. This would have been a major hindrance as after the Lord of the Rings movie, that place had been made world famous with its Hobbiton set. Although it’s been seven years since the release of The Lord of the Rings, Matamata and the society persist to bring in benefits after the production of The Lord of the Rings attracting more than 200 000 people each year. So by providing incentives to Warner Brothers government has saved the local societies from being drained out of tourism revenues. Changes to labour law were considered unacceptable and unfair law change. The New law was seen to create a default position, categorizing all film production workers as independent contractors. With my evidence now I know I have clear my doubts about what kinds of incentives are provided to the Warner Brothers. I am used the different sources and it’s quite helpful for increase my knowledge on globalization infusion on our economy, government role in economy, etc. I agree that there is an on-going debate with National party in the Parliament since the Green and Labour party continue to oppose the changes of the Employment laws that accommodate the foreign transnational companies’ demands which affect the tax payers either directly or indirectly in our country. The evidence have however raised a question for me and that is whether the NZ Government that poses a nation-state will be able to keep hold of its decision making powers or whether the power will be soon shifted in the hands of dominant international corporations. Bibliography TVNZ-One news. (2010, october 4). Retrieved from http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/australia-lobbying-hobbit-3816847/video : http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/australia-lobbying-hobbit-3816847/video Cheng, D. (2010, oct 27). Hobbit to stay in NZ. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1objectid=10683486 Gans, J., King, S., Stonecash, R., Mankiw, G. (2011). Interdependence and gains form trade. In Globalisation and Business Enterprise (pp. 266-267). Auckland: Custom for AUT University, Faculty of Business and Law. News, O. (2012, June 19). Warner Brothers shuts down NZ office. Retrieved from http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/warner-brothers-shuts-down-nz-office-4937753/video rejuvenation, M. (n.d.). Ideology The New Zealand Legion. Retrieved from http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/the-new-zealand-legion/ideology Roger. (2010). Retrieved from Roger Award Winner. for the worst Transnational Corporation operating in Aotraroal?New Zealand : http://canter bury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Roger/Roger2

Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds

Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds ADSORPTION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ON DIFFERENT TIMBER SPECIES Marco Vasconcelos1, Nereida Cordeiro1,2* ABSTRACT Due to the health issues associated to VOC, this work aims to study the adsorption of these compounds onto timbers, in order to improve air quality. For this task, inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to characterize surface properties (surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption). Dispersive component of the surface energy (ÃŽ ³SD) ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2, corresponding to Amburana and Courbaril respectively. Yellow Pine shows higher values of the specific free energy of adsorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs), indicating a higher number/energy of polar active sites. On the other hand, the enthalpy of adsorption values (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs) don’t go in agreement with à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs, probably due to its temperature-dependence. That said, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values indicate a basic surface and Amburana establishes stronger interactions with polar probes while Yellow Pine establishes stronger interactions with cyclohexane. Additionally, the â€Å"thermodynamic compensation effect† was evaluated on these samples, being observed linearity in Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. The slope was similar between the different species, indicating a similar adsorption mechanism. Keywords: Inverse Gas Chromatography, Surface Properties, Wood Fibers, Volatile Organic Compounds, thermodynamic compensation effect 1. INTRODUCTION Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are organic compounds produced in industries, motor vehicles, power plants, etc. They are usually distinguished by boiling temperatures under 250 ºC, at standard atmospheric pressure (1 atm), and with high vapor pressures, surpassing 0.5 kPa at 25 ºC (Dobre, Pà ¢rvulescu, Iavorschi, Stroescu, Stoica, 2014). The aforementioned compounds have harmful impact on human health, such as eye and throat irritation, damage to the liver, central nervous system and carcinogenic effects, due to prolonged exposure (Das, Gaur, Verma, 2004). Therefore, reducing the VOC concentration on the atmosphere is an important task in order to improve air quality and avoid health issues. Wood fibers consist in both dead and living cells, being at a macroscopic level organized within a layer of xylene, in the wood. From the chemical point of view, consists mostly in cellulose, followed by hemicellulose and lignin. Due to the hydrogen bonds established by the hydroxyl groups of cellulose of the surface, it affects strongly on the properties of the material, such as hydrophobicity and therefore its reactivity (Hodzic, Shanks, 2014). About 80.5% of the wood fibers are used in the paper industry and around 17% for wood fibers modification (composites: Kazayawoko, Balatinecz, Romansky, 1997; Adusumali, Reifferscheid, Weber, Roeder, Sixta, Gindl, 2006; Cao, Hu, Liu, 2008). In this work, Inverse gas Chromatography (IGC) was used to characterize the surface properties (surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption) of Amburana, Yellow Pine, Grapia, Courbaril and Brazilian Mahogany to evaluate the adsorption of some VOC (Chloroform, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate, benzene and toluene). Additionally, the â€Å"thermodynamic compensation effect† was studied to investigate the mechanism of thermodynamic adsorption on the different samples analyzed. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Materials Methane (>99.99% purity) was used an inert reference probe and the carrier gas utilized was helium (>99.99% purity), both supplied by Air Liquide Company. The probe molecules were supplied by Sigma–Aldrich with GC grade (>99% purity). 2.2 iGC analysis iGC measurements were carried out, at least, in duplicate, on a commercial inverse gas chromatograph (Surface Measurements Systems, London, UK) equipped with a flame ionization (FID), thermal conductivity (TCD) and mass spectrometer (MS) detectors. Standard glass silanized (dymethyldichlorosilane; Repelcote BDH, UK) columns with 0.4 cm ID and 30 cm in length were used. About 1.5 g of timber sawdust mesh 40-60 was packed by vertical tapping for 10 min. The columns, with the samples, were pre-treated for 2h at 343 K and 10 ml/min of flow rate, to remove the impurities adsorbed on the surface and 2h at the measurement conditions. After pre-treatment, pulse injections were carried out with a 0.25 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l gas loop. The iGC system was fully automated with purpose written control software (SMS iGC Controller v1.3) and data were analyzed using iGC Standard v1.3 and Advanced Analysis Software v1.21. The presented results are the average of the values obtained for each sample with a standard deviation minor than 5%. Measurements of the dispersive interaction were made with n-alkanes (n-decane, n-nonane, n-octane, n-heptane and n-hexane) at 298 K, at 0% RH. The carrier gas (Helium) flow rate was 10 ml/min. To acid-base studies cyclohexane, benzene, chloroform, toluene and ethyl acetate were used at 0% RH. Heat of sorption measurements were done with the polar probes at 298 K, 0% RH, and 10 ml/min flow rate. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Dispersive component of the surface tension The solvent–sorption properties of the timbers were studied at infinite dilution condition in order to remove the interactions between the probe molecules adsorbed at the surface of the samples. The methane injection allows the calculation of the dead time and subtracts it to the retention time in order to obtain the retention volume (Thielmann, 2004). The corrected net retention volume VN is given by: where Vd is the mobile phase hold-up volume (called dead volume), and VR the measured retention volume. The 0 superscript indicates a correction for the column pressure drop given by j: where where T is the column temperature, F is the exit flow rate at 1 atm and 273.15K, tR is the retention time and t0 is the mobile phase hold-up time. The dispersive component of the surface energy, as well as the specific free energy of sorption, was measured with dispersive and acid-base probe molecules. The relation between the retention volume and free energy of sorption à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G ºS is given by the following equation: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S = RTln VR0 + K where R is the gas constant and K is the De Boer or Kemball/Rideal constant depending on the chosen reference state (De Boer, 1953; Kemball Rideal, 1946). Moreover, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S is related to the energy of adhesion WA (between probe molecule and solid) by the equation: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  G0S = NAaWA where a is the cross sectional area of the adsorbate and NA the Avogadro constant. According to Fowkes (1964), the dispersive contribution of the work of adhesion WA is given by: WA = 2(ÃŽ ³SDÃŽ ³LD)1/2 with ÃŽ ³SD and ÃŽ ³LD as the surface tension of the adsorbent and the adsorbate respectively. Combining the equations above: Thus, the dispersive component of the surface tension (ÃŽ ³SD) values could be calculated based on the plots of RT lnV0R vs a(ÃŽ ³LD)1/2 for the adsorption of n-alkane probes, as illustrated in Figure 1. Good linear correlations (0.9991-0.9996) were obtained for the n-alkane series for all samples analyzed. The calculated ÃŽ ³SD values are given in Table 1 and show very similar results between the different timber species. The surface energy ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2, corresponding to Amburana and Courbaril respectively. These values are similar to those reported by Kazayawoko, Balatinecz, Romansky (1997) and Shu, Xu, JinWei, BaoLi (2007) for wood flour (35.6 mJ/m2 at 323K) and ashtree wood meal (36.52 mJ/ m2 at 323K) respectively. Gouveia, Cordeiro and John (2011) reported various lignocellulosic fibres (flax, hemp, kenaf, agave, agave hybrid pineapple, and sisal), with ÃŽ ³SD values ranged from 37.17 to 51.37 mJ/ m2 (at 298K). In the same article aforementioned, it’s also explained that variations in the ÃŽ ³SD values can be due to the different composition, growing conditions of the fibers and method of extraction. The latter is justified due to the fibers being usually covered by a layer of wax, and may interfere with elutant-fiber interactions. When removed during the method of extraction it’s expected to change drastically the surface energy. 3.2 Polar probes sorption studies A widespread approaching to the Lewis acid/base surface interactions can provide better perceptive of the chemical-physical properties of the timber surfaces. The presence of acid and base active sites on the surfaces increases the possibility of specific intermolecular interactions with solvents and others compounds. The specific free energy of sorption, à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs was determined by the distance between the alkane line and the points corresponding to the ΔG ºs value of polar probes (Gamble, Leane, Olusanmi, Tobyn, Supuk, 2012). à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs = RTln(VN) – RTln(VNref) The à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values are given in Table 2 and represented in Figure 2. Chloroform was used as an acid probe on this work. The values ranged from 0.53 to 2.50 kJ/mol, corresponding to Brazilian Mahogany and Yellow Pine respectively. Based on the results obtained, the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values of Chloroform decrease in the following order Pine > Grapia > Courbaril > Amburana > Mahogany. This observation indicates that Yellow Pine may have a higher quantity/energy of active sites with basic character compared to the other fibers. A similar order was observed on Cyclohexane, indicating that Yellow Pine might also have a higher quantity/energy of active sites with apolar character. Although, the same order is not observed in ÃŽ ³SD, since that for the surface energy were used n-alkanes and due to the shape of cyclohexane and consequent different steric hindrance, it will have different interactions with the surface. On the other hand, Brazilian Mahogany shows the lowest à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values for the overall probes, indicating a lower quantity/energy of active sites. Ethyl acetate was used as a basic probe in Amburana, Yellow Pine and Courbaril. The interaction of this probe, alongside chloroform, with the timber surface indicates the presence of both acidic and basic sites on the solid surface. 3.3 Heat of sorption measurements In the infinite dilution region, where the isotherm is linear, VN should be measured at a range of column temperatures and ln(VN/T) plotted vs. 1/T, which yields the heat of sorption à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs according to (Conder Young, 1979): To determine the enthalpies of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾HS) of the VOC’s in the timber species, the specific retention volume (VN) was measured at different temperatures (293 to 298K) and the retention diagrams ln VN vs 1/T were plotted (Fig. 3-7). Some of VOC ´s couldn’t be used in some of the timber species because the retention time was too low to make accurate calculations due to the peak overlap. The à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values are given in Table 3, determined at three different temperatures. Good linear correlations (>0.99) were obtained for the probes used, as shown in Figures 3-7. In this work, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values for the basic probes (Ethyl acetate; Higher DN/AN*) were lower than the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values for the acid probes (Chloroform; Lower DN/AN*), indicating a basic character of the solid surface. Cordeiro, Mendonà §a, Pothan and Varma (2012) and Gouveia, Cordeiro and John (2011) observed the same basic character in macro and nanobanana fibers, flax, hemp, kenaf, agave, agave hybrid pineapple, and sisal. For chloroform, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values decreased in the following order: Amburana > Brazilian Mahogany > Grapia > Courbaril > Yellow Pine. At first sight it indicates that Amburana establishes stronger interactions with the surface, compared with the other timbers. On the other hand, Yellow Pine establishes the weakest interactions with chloroform. A similar order was also observed for cyclohexane, for the exception of Yellow Pine, that shows the highest à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs value for this probe. The results don’t go in agreement with the ones obtained from the specific free energy of adsorption study, probably due to the fact that the temperature might influence the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values and therefore it might mislead to incorrect conclusions. Thus, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values will give a better insight of which timber is advised (or not) to remove VOC from the atmosphere since it already have in account the temperature. Being said, the results indicate that for polar probes Amburana have stronger interactions while for apolar probes Yellow Pine have stronger interactions. 3.4 Entropy of Sorption calculation The linear dependence between ΔHS and ΔSS is called â€Å"Thermodynamic Compensation Effect†. Normally, stronger intermolecular interactions (related to ΔHS) result in less degrees of freedom of the elutant, leading into a greater order of the system, decreasing the entropy of the system (Liu L., Guo Q-X., 2001). The entropy of sorption was directly calculated according to: Figure 8 represents the entropy-enthalpy correlation, being only observed on Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. All three dependences are linear and almost parallel, with a slope between 2.7910-3 and 3.7310-3 K-1. Therefore, these three samples follow the previous equation. According to Korolev A. et al., (2011), a similar slope indicates similar adsorption mechanism on the samples studied on this work. Since all the samples have similar composition, it was expected the same adsorption mechanism between them. 4. CONCLUSION IGC was used to evaluate different surface properties, namely surface energy, specific free energy and enthalpy of adsorption. The ÃŽ ³SD values were measured at 298K and ranged from 39.95 to 43.81 mJ/m2. These variations between results are due to different composition, growing conditions and method of extraction. The results don’t go in agreement between enthalpy of adsorption and the specific free energy of adsorption probably due to the influence of the temperature on the à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs. In Yellow Pine were observed higher à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs values for chloroform and cyclohexane compared to the other fibers, indicating a higher quantity/energy of active sites with basic and apolar character. In Amburana, Yellow Pine and Courbaril, the basic probes showed lower à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values compared to acid à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Hs values, indicating a basic character. The same was observed on other fibers found in literature. Amburana establishes stronger interactions with Chloroform while Yellow Pine establishes stronger interaction with cyclohexane, compared to the other timber species. The â€Å"Thermodynamic Compensation Effect† was only observed in Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany, with linear fits almost parallel. The slope ranged between 2.7910-3 and 3.7310-3 K-1. Similar slopes indicate similar adsorption mechanism, which makes sense due to similar composition. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT References Adusumali R-B, Reifferscheid M, Weber H, Roeder T, Sixta H, Gindl W. Mechanical properties of regenerated cellulose fibres for composites. Macromolecular Symposia 2006, 244: 119–25. Cao S., Hu B., Liu H. Synthesis of pH-responsive crosslinked poly[styrene-co-(maleic sodium anhydride)] and cellulose composite hydrogel nanofibers by electrospinning. Polymer International 2009, 58: 545–551. Cordeiro N., Gouveia C., John M. J. Investigation of surface properties of physico-chemically modified natural fibers using inverse gas chromatography. Industrial Crops and Products 2011, 33: 108–115. Cordeiro, N., Mendonà §a, C., Pothan, L. A., Varma, A. Monitoring surface properties evolution of thermochemically modified cellulose nanofibres from banana pseudo-stem. Carbohydrate Polymers 2012, 88, 125–131. De Boer, J.H., 1953. The Dynamic Character of Chemisorption, 2nd Ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford. Gamble J., Leane M., Olusanmi D., Tobyn M., Supuk E., Khoo J., Naderi M., 2012, Surface energy analysis as a tool to probe the surface energy characteristics of micronized materials A comparison with inverse gas chromatography; International Journal of Pharmaceutics; 422: 238-244 Kemball C., Rideal, E.K. The Adsorption of Vapours on Mercury. I. Non-Polar Substances. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 1946, 187: 53–73. Korolev A., Shiryaeva V., Popova T., Kurganov A. Enthalpy–entropy compensation effect on adsorption of light hydrocarbons on monolithic stationary phases, Journal of Separation Science 2011, 34, 2362-2369. Liu L., Guo Q.-X. Isokinetic relationship, isoequilibrium relationship, and enthalpy–entropy compensation. Chemical Reviews 2001, 101: 673–695. M. Kazayawoko, J. Balatinecz, M. Romansky. Thermodynamics of adsorption of n-alkanes on maleated wood fibers by inverse gas chromatography. Journal of Colloid Interface Science 1997, 190: 408-415. Thielmann F, 2004, Introduction into the characterization of porous materials by Inverse Gas Chromatography, Journal of Chromatography A, 1037: 115–123. Zhao S., Lin X., Song J. Shi B.. Surface characterization of ashtree wood meal by inverse gas chromatography. Chinese Science Bulletin 2007, 52: 1178-1181. Conder, J., Young, C. (1979). Physicochemical measurement by Gas Chromatography. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. TABLE CAPTIONS Table 1 – Dispersive component of the surface tension (ÃŽ ³SD). Table 2 – Specific free energy of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºS). Table 3 – Enthalpy of sorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾HS). Table 4 – Entropy of sorption (ΔSS). Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 FIGURE CAPTIONS Figure 1 Energy of adsorption vs a(à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ §DL)1/2 for n-alkanes on the timbers (Amburana, Grapia, Courbaril, Brazilian Mahogany and Yellow Pine) surface at 298K and 0%RH. Figure 2 – Specific free energy of the adsorption (à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾G ºs) of Chloroform and Cyclohexane onto samples analyzed at 298K. Figure 3 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Amburana timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 4 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Yellow Pine timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 5 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and benzene measurement on Grapia timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 6 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate measurement on Courbaril timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 7 – Enthalpy of sorption plot and linear fits for cyclohexane, chloroform and toluene measurement on Brazilian Mahogany timber surface 293-298K, at 0 % RH and 10ml/min. Figure 8 – Entropy-enthalpy compensation effect on Yellow Pine, Grapia and Brazilian Mahogany. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

United Nations Reform :: essays research papers

United Nations Reform Many of the UN's functions and responsibilities have come under weighty circumstances. For example, the delegation of revenue to it's ramifications and the standard of which â€Å"who† will â€Å"maintain† a seat on the security counsil are two of the main topics. First off, financing the United Nations 15 specialized agencies, the UN itself, and roughly 9,000 staff members (of which 40% are of professional grade) with the â€Å"Regular Budget† is a problem that continues to be a major threat to the continuation of the UN for two reasons: Some of the larger industrial countries, such as the United States and Russia, have been with-holding a portion of their assessed contribution due to their dissatisfaction with certain aspects of UN administration. The concern also exists that since all members must pay in U.S. dollars which are earned strictly through trade, the United States indirectly causes many developing nations to fall behind on payments. Secondly, the struggle just to maintain one of the two year seats on the SC has been a major concern. A yearning for a permanent seat on the SC has been expressed by many more countries. The European Union (EU)stated on April 9, 1996 that it feels strongly that the United States should not collect anything off of the UN because it is not contributing what it is supposed to. Many third world nations, such as Indonesia and Chile, are frightened by the attempts at cutting the UN's budget. Most countries feel Japan deserves a permanent seat on the Security Council. The UN proposed an elimination of 70 worldwide UN information centers on May 13,1996, With the supporting argument that with our current information superhighways these centers are becoming antiquated. Nations such as Indonesia and Chile argue that such cuts are unjust to those who have not been given the † Technological Gift.† The nation of Japan is going against what would normally be expected of us. We are not following along in the trail left by the United States in the ongoing struggle for the United Nations financial reform. Instead we hold ground in that everyone should pay their assessment. Japan also feels it is imperative for Japan to recieve a permanent seat on the SC, because it is the second largest

Cloning :: essays research papers

Human embryo cloning should not be done because of the religious, moral, ethical, and social concerns that it places upon the human race. Although there may be some positive affects to cloning humans, there are far too many opposing factors in this situation. Many religious leaders of expressed their concern and condemnation of human cloning. The moral and ethical aspects outweigh any scientific evidence, and the social concerns are frightening. The most important question that needs to be asked, is whether the gains out weigh the losses--the gains being scientific research and the losses being the religious, moral, ethical, and social concerns that it poses on today’s society. A clone, as defined in â€Å"The Human Genome Project,† is; 1. a population of genetically identical unicellular organisms or viruses arising from successive replications of a single ancestral unicellular organism or virus. 2. a recombinant clone. 3. the fragment of foreign DNA contained in each member of a recombinant clone. 4. a population of identical cells arising from the culture of a single cell of a certain type, such as a human fibroblast or a rodent-human hybrid cell containing a full set of rodent chromosomes and a single human chromosome. Human embryo cloning starts with a standard in vitro fertilization procedure. Sperm and an egg cell are mixed together on a glass dish. After conception, the zygote (fertilized egg) is allowed to develop into a blastula (a hollow mass of cells). The zygote divides first into two cells, then four, then eight... A chemical is added to the dish to remove the â€Å"zona pellucida† covering; this material provides nutrients to the cells to promote cell division. With the covering removed, the blastula is divided into individual cells which are deposited on individual dishes. They are then coated with an artificial zona pellucida and allowed to divide and develop. That is how a human embryo clone is made using the â€Å"twinni ng method.† Some scientists believe that human embryo cloning and related research can have some positive results, however, many religious leaders feel that cloning and related research should not be permitted. Religion and science have been involved in an ongoing battle over many subjects in the past, but human embryo cloning has caused the biggest debate thus far. Many religious philosophies teach that human life is unique and special and should be created, determined and controlled only by their deities.

Form and Structure of a Servant to Two Masters Essay -- essays researc

?A Servant To Two Masters? is the play that I studied. The structure is simplistic but also dynamic. It is quite an unusual play this may be something to do with coming under the genre of Comedia Del Art this is a form of theatre. Groups of actors would travel and perform their improvised plays. Their plays would usually be non-scripted and be very much like a pantomime. If plays were ever written then they would be written after they were performed. Comedia Del Arte was and still is enjoyed by many people. Lower class citizens could enjoy the simplistic storylines, as the upper class would admire the comedy within the play. Lazzi scenes were used in the plays to make the audience laugh. The spectators would most be looking forward to this part of the play, the only sequence that was rehearsed and written down. Lazzi comes from Lacci, which means cord or ribbon. A Lazzi scene is used to help tie the play together this maybe a metaphor for unravelling the plot. In ?A Servant To Two Masters? where Truffaldino is serving both of his masters, not knowing the other is there, is a La... Form and Structure of a Servant to Two Masters Essay -- essays researc ?A Servant To Two Masters? is the play that I studied. The structure is simplistic but also dynamic. It is quite an unusual play this may be something to do with coming under the genre of Comedia Del Art this is a form of theatre. Groups of actors would travel and perform their improvised plays. Their plays would usually be non-scripted and be very much like a pantomime. If plays were ever written then they would be written after they were performed. Comedia Del Arte was and still is enjoyed by many people. Lower class citizens could enjoy the simplistic storylines, as the upper class would admire the comedy within the play. Lazzi scenes were used in the plays to make the audience laugh. The spectators would most be looking forward to this part of the play, the only sequence that was rehearsed and written down. Lazzi comes from Lacci, which means cord or ribbon. A Lazzi scene is used to help tie the play together this maybe a metaphor for unravelling the plot. In ?A Servant To Two Masters? where Truffaldino is serving both of his masters, not knowing the other is there, is a La...

The triggering event that led to the Wall Street stock market

The triggering event that led to the Wall Street stock market crash in October 1929 was the result of a steady decline in production, prices and income over the period of three months. Anxiety gave rise to panic thus resulting to the crash.   The stock market crash affected various countries and the effects were intense.   The depression affected greatly the United States because of the absence of welfare benefits for the laid off workers.   Between 1929 and 1933, money income fell by 53 percent and as a consequence, demand fell significantly, which in turn led to lower production and more lay-offs up to 25 percent rate of unemployment in 1933.And yet despite the severity of the stock market crash, the Federal Reserve did not pursue a monetary expansion policy which would have stimulated the economy through lower interest rates and increased the stock of money in circulation. As part of the efforts of the United States to cope with the Depression, the Hawley Smoot Tariff of 193 0 was enacted which made US more protectionist than ever thereby sending import duties to record highs.   As a result, other countries retaliated as the new tariff act hastened the downfall of American trade volume. Since President Hoover has been protective of the tariff act, he failed to see the results of the move.Immediately thereafter, the Depression spread through out the world especially in Europe.   Particularly affected was Germany whose economy was unable to cope with the slow disappearance of American capital. It is also worth discussing that Germany was still paying reparations for World War I which made its position even more delicate. Germany was then forced to borrow from Great Britain and France.   The country had to pursue deficienary policies in order to gain the confidence of investors and attract foreign funds.The problem of devaluation further posed a major problem. Although the United Kingdom was not hit in the same way as Germany, it however experienced a notable decline in its export which was even greater than the decrease in its imports.   Latin America was also greatly affected as it depended heavily in selling raw materials in the US. It could not be surmised that the Wall Street crash was the immediate cause of the decline in world trade.   The decline in world trade was largely due to the protectionist legislation passed by major trading nations.When Hoover was replaced by President Roosevelt in 1932 and brought with him the New Deal which was intended to provide direct relief, recovery and financial reform to the country suffering from the Great Depression. One of Roosevelt’s primary programs was to deal with the country’s banking catastrophe. Since one-fifth of all of the banks in the US were forced to close and many people were already starting to lose their life savings, Roosevelt asked Congress to legislate a law which will protect the saver’s investment in times of the same crisis. This eventua lly restored the people’s trust in the banking system. Perhaps one of the most important legislation and mark left by the New Deal is the Social Security Act which set up a national system of old-age pension and also coordinated relief for the unemployed.   Both agriculture and industry were also supported by policies to restrict output and increase input.Perhaps the most durable   policy left by the New Deal was   the great public works project such as the Hoover Dam and the introduction by the Tennessee Valley Authority of flood control, electric power, fertilizer and education to a depressed agricultural region in the south. However, the New Deal was certainly not a perfect example of economic management as it did not lead to rapid economic recovery.   Income per capita was no higher in 1939 than in 1929, although the government’s welfare and public works policies did benefit many of the most needy people. The big growth in the US economy was, in fact, due t o rearmament. (Modern American Poetry)Despite the promises of the New Deal, it nevertheless reaped various criticisms as the programs were questioned.   For example, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 which was originally intended to make possible â€Å" a great cooperative movement throughout all the industry in order to obtain wider reemployment, to shorten the working week, to pay a decent wage for the shorter week and to prevent unfair competition and disastrous overproduction.† However, the NIRA was attacked because it gave stimulus to the industries that needed it least and ignored the industries that needed it the most. It also gave Roosevelt unprecedented powers over the economy and other businesses.The increase of criticisms against Roosevelt and the New Deal, Roosevelt was forced to look for support elsewhere.   During the presidential campaign in 1936, he built the â€Å"Roosevelt Coalition† a political bloc that made modern politics.   While the Republicans were still relying on their traditional base of political support such as big businesses, farmers and conservatives, Roosevelt and the Democrats turned to small farmers in the Midwest, urban political bosses, even ethnic blue collar workers, the ethnic minorities, Jews and intellectuals.   As evidence by the support of African-Americans, Roosevelt was certainly changing American politics. Thus, it was no surprise that the Democrats won the race in 1936.On the other hand, labor and labor unions played a great role during the 1930s.   In fact, many Americans became alarmed by the labor union’s power which they felt might be irresponsibly used under certain circumstances.   For the labor force, they are responsible in continuing industrialization although many of the workers are divided from each other ethnically, regionally and religiously.   Nevertheless, with mass unemployment and real distress among the workingmen, public opinion, which had long look ed upon unions as â€Å"radical† outfits, came to sympathize with their purposes for the first time. Reflecting that public opinion, the new deal Congresses passed laws which favored organization and recognition of labor unions. Meanwhile, the courts, which had taken a restrictive view of the rights of labor when they seemed to conflict with those of private property, rendered more favorable decisions and upheld the new laws.Reference:Monique Ebell. (2006). Welfare Capitalism, Union Power and the Great Crash of 1929: Toward a Neoclassical Explanation of the Great Depression.†Ã‚   XIV International Economic History Congress, Helinski 2006 Session 20.F. William Engdahl. â€Å"Some Conventional Reflections on the Great Depression and the New Deal.† GeoPolitics-GeoEconomics.   Online http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/History/New_Deal/new_deal.html accessed October 1, 2006.Stanley Schultz. â€Å"Dr. New Deal Becomes Dr. Win-the-War.† American History 102: Civil War to the Present. Online http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture20.htmlLabor and Labor_Management. Online https://www.netsafa.navy.mil/ipg/labor_and_labormanagement.htm   accessed October 1, 2006.â€Å"Legacy of the New Deal in Comparison with Other Deals† : http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/legacy.html

Preschool Teacher Hiring Standards, Policies, and Practices Essay

The early years of children are important because of their unique developmental needs (physical, cognitive, social and emotional). These needs can only be identified and addressed by professionally trained and competent preschool or early childhood teachers. However, attracting and hiring these teachers are serious challenges for school administrators. To look more closely into the problem and help craft a solution, this paper examined the current standards, policies, and practices in hiring preschool teachers in public and private schools in Pasig City based on the recommended hiring standards, policies, and practices in the literature, DepEd, and experts. The study suggests appropriate standards, policies, and practices in hiring teachers that will ensure that children’s unique developmental needs are met and that they shall have gained readiness to proceed to the next educational level. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background of the Background of the Study Children who undergo preschool education perform better in primary grades (grade 1-3) than those who do not (Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey, Surbeck, and Taylor 2000; Jalongo, Fennimore, Pattnaik, Laverick, Brewster, and Mutuku 2004; Laosa 2005; Soliven, Guerrero, Barsaga, Palma, Canlas, and Garon 1997). & Mutuku. By the time they enter elementary school, they can say the alphabet, write their names, and count numbers one to ten. They adjust better, follow instructions, and interact with their teachers and classmates. Because of thparents realize the benefits in the early schooling of children, preschool student enrollment has been growing in number, which encouraginges a number of investors to set up preschools. Preschool education is mostly managed by private individuals, organizations, and institutions because of insufficient government funding for the enhancement of preschool education (Neri 2001; Soliven et al. 1997). According to the Department of Education (DepEd), tis, there has been an unprecedented growth in the number of preschools both in rural and urban areas in the private sector. The latest directory of private preschools in Metro Manila from the Department of Education (DepEd) shows that there are 1,477 preschools all over the National Capital Region during the school year 2005-2006, and 872 preschools during the school year 2000-2001; thus, there was an increase of 575 preschools. (see table 1). (See Table 1)(See Table 1) he number latest of private schools in Metro Manila grew from 4,788 in school year 2003-2004 to 6664 in the school year 2007-2008, a 72% showing increase. from school year 2000-2001 to school year 2005-2006 (see table 1). Preschool enrollment in private schools rose from 349,574 in school year 2003-2004 to 410,778 in school year 2007-2008, an 85% increase. Many see preschool education as a profitable business, but one that entails high costs if one is to meet certain standards, such as hiring qualified and licensed teachers and paying higher salaries. Quality education also means better teacher-to-student ratio (the ideal is 1:10 or 1:15), a developmentally appropriate curriculum, and quality teaching materials—all of which translate to higher costs. Ms. Vanessa Morales, owner and administrator of Kid’s First Discovery Space preschool in BF Homes, Paranaque, wanted her preschool to be different from preschools run by business people. Her priority is providing quality education on a not-for-profit basis. At Kid’s First, she has knowledgeable and experienced teachers: all her head teachers have master’s degrees in Education or Psychology, major in child development (Manuzon 2006). Due to the growing number of private preschools in Metro Manila, there will be a great demand for preschool teachers who are professionally trained to manage the learning needs of young children. To ensure that For this purposeteachers hired are qualified and competent, , DepEd issued DECS Order No. 107 (1989) outlining the standards in the organization and operation of preschools (see appendix A), which include guidelines on staff requirements. The qualifications of teachers prescribed by DepEd for private schools are: Bachelor of Science degree specializing in Family Life and Child Development or Early Childhood Education or Kindergarten; Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with 18 units in Preschool Education and 54 hours of practicum in preschool classes; Bachelor of Arts/Science degree in a discipline allied to education, arts, nursing, anthropology, with 18 units of preschool education. Upon appointment, the teacher should have at least 6 units of preschool education, and the requirement of 18 units may be gradually implemented as follows: At the end of Year 1 – 9 units; Year 2 – 12 units; Year 3 – 15 units; Year 4 – 18 units. In addition, the sprouting of private preschools are also due to the following: 1) most private schools do not accept grade one pupils if they have not been through kinder and nursery or preschools; b) they are financially viable and a lucrative business; 2c) public schools cannot accommodate all preschool-age children and so parents put them in private preschools; 3e) there is a growing number of preschool student enrollment; 4f) because of the child sduring their early years, 5the Department of Education (DepEd) is not as strict with preschools as with regular grade and high schools; or, 6g) parents are both working and the mother is too busy to give her children their first lessons. 7have become a (Newman 2002). The Due to the mushrooming of preschools grew asthat have been set up forcommercial, business reasons, especially in urban centers, and the government’s insufficient funding towards the enhancement of preschool education, the desired goal of standard quality educati on for young children may not be achieved. This vast, mushrooming, unregulated and still unsurveyed sector maybe violating the right of young children to quality education. Due to the absence of control or regulation, these schools would have unqualified teachers, large classes, and less infrastructure facilities (Newman 2002). Ms. Irene Bernardo, whosingle and now retiredSomeone who prefers to be anony from preschool teaching setismous and who’s up a preschool in her own home after retiring from teaching, stated that some preschool teachers are business or psychology graduates, business or psychology graduates, not education graduates, but business or psychology graduates.. In her case, she has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, magna cum laude, from the Philippine Normal College, ManilaUP, Diliman. For her, it is important for preschool teachers to have a background in education, especially in early childhood development education, which involves a substantial study of the- the psychomotor, affective, psychosocial and cognitive foundations of the childI. Bernardo, m), which will have bearing on the development of the child. which will determine how and what he will be when he grows up. The preschool teacher should also acquire skills and training in educating young children, them. From agesold . (. http://www. sunstar. com. ph/static/ceb/2002/06/13/life/the. mushrooming. of. preschools. html) | | DepEd also issued DECS Form GPR 3-A (revised 2005) to serve as a processing sheet for proposals for opening of new school (see appendix B). It limits the teaching staff requirements for preschool teachers to a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education (BECED); or Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEEd) with 18 units of Early Childhood Education. In public schools, student enrollment grows by 300,000 yearly, and some 10,000 teachers are needed to be hired every year to address the lack of manpower. Out of the 10,000 teachers recommended for hiring annually, 2,500 are intended for government preschools. The hiring of more teachers is needed because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has issued an order requiring preschool education nationwide by 2010. (News Balita, January 13, 2006). In preparation for the launching of preschool education in public schools, DepEd business peoplebut . Theireesbetter teacherstudent, she not onlyes but also s: a. Furthermore,havesan degree P. Last August 24, 2007, DepEd issued Order No. 57 on August 24, 2007, laying down or the â€Å"Guidelines on Hiring and Deployment of Preschool Teachers† was issued as additional guidelines forin the selection and deployment of public preschool teachers (see appendix CB). Based on the guidelines, a preschool teacher applicant must must pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) to be eligibleconsidered for teaching. Preschool teachers in order to teach should take the LET for elementary teachers. There is no LET yet yet in specific to preschool teachers; prospective preschool teachers take the LET for elementary teachers. , while there is LET specific to secondary or high school teachers. According to Dr. Rogelio Baybayon, Assistant Superintendent of the Pasig Division office of DepEd, the requirements of the LET and the 21 early childhood education (ECE) units (instead of 18 ECE units) d et al. When I telephoned the Pasig DDivision of public schools to inquire on their policies regarding preschool education, and was able to talk to Dr.Rogelio Baybayuin, the officer-in-charge of preschool education,he said that they do not have preschool programseducation like nursery and prep, and what they have is onlythey only have kindergarten level which is being offered by very few public schools. They do not accept 4 year olds, only 5 year olds for kindergarten, and the 6 year olds are automatically Grade 1 even without going through the kindergarten level or preschool education. Since preschool educations is not yet part of the public school educational ladder. The , unlike the elementary and secondary education, it is mostly in the hands of private individual, organizations and institutions, which are operating without proper government regulations see guidelinescoveringsguidelinesthe renewal of toany administrators when they have been found to v some rules Neri (2001) disclosed a. s Based on the DECS Order No. 107, s.1989 or the Standards for the Organization and Operation of Preschools (Kindergarten Level), the required qualifications for preschool teachers are the following: (1) Bachelor of Science Degree with specialization in family life and child development of early childhood education or kindergarten; (2) BS Degree in Elementary education with 18 units in preschools education and 54 hours of practicum in preschool classes; and (3) Bachelor of Arts or BS degree in a discipline allied to education, arts, nursing, anthropology with 18 units of preschool education (Industry Briefs, October 2001). The job requirements based on the DepEd qualificationss for for preschool teachers are also now being enforced for private schoolsteachers.to be able to teach in preschools. s do not include the licensing or certification, of preschool teachers. However, DepEd sare encouraged requires all public school teachers to undergo the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). .He revealed that there are some private schools which cannot follow these requirements and DepEd is forced to withhold their permit to operate. In any case, even if He also said that the LET for elementary teachers is for general education, and preschool teachers may take it. tTo qualify to teach For the 21 ECE units requirement, Philippine Normal University (PNU) is their reference. ,(pers. com. Dr. R. Baybayon, February 28, 2008). In the recent LET given by the Board of Professional Teachers on September 28, 2008 and conducted in 19 testing centers all over the Philippines, only 17,816 out of 58,471 elementary teacher examineesthere were who passed itThere were o,3who the examination (The Professional Regulation Commission, March 10, 2009). This meansmMan estimated that only 302933% of the examinees are qualified to teach, and are difficulty in the hiring of qualified preschool teachers, mo913,45,56eligible for hiringto hire. Table 2. National Percentage of Passing in the LET | |Teacher-Elementary |Teacher-Secondary | |Year |No. of Examinees |No. of Successful |Percentage of |No. of Examinees |No. of Successful |Percentage of | | | |Examinees |Passing | |Examinees |Passing | |2002 |76,626 |27,060 |35. 32% |65,106 |23,772 |36. 52% | |2003 |75,348 |19,765 |26. 25% |68,992 |18,115 |26. 25% | |2004 |60,614 |16,297 |26. 89% |58,507 |15,860 |27. 11% | |2005 |67,333 |18,517 |27. 50% |61,576 |15,945 |25. 90% | |2006 |59,457 | 17,377 | 29. 23% |53,303 | 17,290 |32. 44% | Former senatorSource: Professional Regulation Commission Licensing of teachers in the private preschools are also being encouraged by the DepEd, an example is the Pasig Catholic College, where their preschool teachers are graduates of early childhood education and are LET passers. The prospect of hiring teachers without credentials may be rampant because of the recent result of the LET. There were few teachers who passed the LET given by the Board of Professional Teachers on August 27, 2006 in 18 testing centers all over the Philippines. It showed that there were only 17,277 elementary public school teachers out of the 59,457 examinees who successfully passed. (Manila Standard Today, October 10, 2006). This is an estimated 33% who are qualified to teach in the public elementary schools and these may not be enough considering the growing number of student enrollment in public elementary schools which accounts to 12,089,365 based on Basic Education Statistics (BES) SY2004-2005. In view of the above, howHow can both private and public schools get teachers who can meet the minimum requirements for teaching in preschools and how can the DepEd ensure that only well-qualified, licensed preschool teachers educators are being hired and will be available in every preschool classroom.? How does the private and public schools cope with the supply and demand of qualified preschool teachers? Student enrollment is increasing and there are not enough qualified teachers to teacher these students. What other options can the government doy take in addressing hiring teachers without credentials? How can the preschoolsy tap sources of potential preschool teachers? has the government . annually . whomis afigure Trequiring nationwide. The combined public and private preschool enrollment increased from 2003 to 2007, from 778, 550831,730 (18. 36%) in school year 2003-2004 to 999,59652,109 (20. 53%) in school year 20076-20087; or 221120,046379 school children were added to the system. More than half of these children (588,81857, 220) were with DepEd’s preschool program in school year 2007-2008 (DepEd Updates, March 22, 20097). Mrs. Mariquita de Guzman, Assistant Principal of San Miguel Elementary School, said that their school has four preschool teachers for their 132 kindergarten students with a teacher to student ratio of 1:48. Miss Letty Flores, preschool teacher of Maybunga Elementary School, said that their school has two preschool teachers for the 90 kindergarten students with a teacher to student ratio of 1:45. All of their preschool teachers were volunteers from the elementary level who have a degree in elementary education (pers. com. Mrs. M. de Guzman and Ms. L. Flores, April 15, 2009). In some private preschools, principals wait until the enrollment has begun before they decide to hire teachers. As a result, teachers hired are not qualified. only a few qualified teachers are available and teacher to student ratio becomes to 1:50 (pers. com. Mrs. Susan Garcia, April 16, 2009). ). To address the teacher shortage in the public schools (including preschools), Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced that 16,390 new teachers would be hired for the year 2007. (The Manila Times, June 4, 2007). lat thsover This e concern for the hiring of preschool teachers will create more pressuresnot likely abate in the near future because the pressures on that strain the local supply and ddemand for and supply ofof qualified teachers. With the increase in becausewill increase more and more private individuals and institutions will are venturinging into the preschool business education, and the institutionalization of preschool education by 2010, that will require more qualified preschool teachers will be requiredto support DepEd’s effort in institutionalizing preschool education.. . Human capital is the most important resource of any service organization, and the teacher is the most important capital in the educational setting. There are many nonhuman resources that are needed in the schools such as classrooms, computers, and textbooks, but these resources are dependent on competent teachers who will put them into good use. The preschool is a labor-intensive operation where the teacher’s knowledge, skills, abilities, stamina, values, and passion must be carefully managed to achieve its learning objectives (Hearron and Hildebrand 2003). However, in order to achieve its learning objectives, they should hire teachers who possess proper qualifications who can provide learning opportunities that will bring out the best in their students. epartment of ducation, ulture and ports (DECS)A major task of the artment of ucation (DepEd)school administrator is faculty hiring and selecting qualified and committed teachers is a more critical task considering the scarcity of qualified applicants. Teacher qualifications remains to be an issue and with the recent results of the Licensure Examination for Teachers given by the Board of Professional Teachers on August 27, 2006 in 18 testing centers all over the Philippines, there were only 17,277 elementary public school teachers out of 59,457 examinees who successfully passed. (Manila Standard Today, October 10, 2006). This is an estimated 33% who are qualified to teach in the public elementary schools and there may not be enough considering there the growing growing student enrollment in public elementary schools which accounts to 12,089,365 based on Basic Education Statistics (BES) SY2004-2005. However, in the private preschools but they should meet the minimum required in order to the desired qualifications which is:,need to prepare job descriptions that state the criteria like the applicant â€Å"(1) Bachelor of Science Degree with specialization in family life and child development of early childhood education or kindergarten; (2) BS Degree in Elementary education with 18 units in preschools education and 54 hours of practicum in preschool classes; (3) Bachelor of Arts or BS degree in discipline allied to education, arts, nursing, anthropology with 18 units of preschool education† (Industry Briefs, October 2001). Hiring the right faculty is building the future. It is essential that utmost care and attention be given to hiring standards and policies and that execution be done with creativity and patience, since the hiring process is tedious and time-consuming, thus there should be no shortcuts. As the philosopher Spinoza observed at the end of his great work, The Ethics, â€Å"†¦all things worthwhile are difficult as they are rare† (A Re-Examination of Faculty Hiring Processes and Procedures, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, Adopted Fall 2000). The term â€Å"faculty† is defined as a branch of teaching or learning in an educational institution; something in which one is trained or qualified; the members of a profession; or the teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administration having the academic rank in an education institution (Merriam Webster 1991). The faculty is composed of all persons appointed for the instruction of students. In a preschool, the faculty or teachers are persons directly involved in handling children. They play a major role in the education of the children since they help in the formation and development of the students especially in their early years. They are responsible for providing environment conducive to learning conditions where children are given opportunities to interact. Thus, the faculty or preschool teachers significantly contribute to humanity and to the nation towards prosperity by providing learning opportunities that will bring out the best in their students. Hiring is engaging the services or labor in exchange for payment (Lexicon Webster 1978. ). Hiring involves the following steps: advertising, recruiting; screening; interviewing; teaching demo, selecting and final interview. Recruitment is defined as establishing a pool of potentially acceptable applicants (Lipham and Heoh, 1974 p. 236). The first step is usually to post (advertise) the job position usually in bulletin boards of universities, professional organizations, advertise in local newspapers and teacher based magazines. Once the school recruitment officer has received the letters of applications, the rest of the hiring process is accomplished. Faculty hiring is the recruitment and selection of teachers for teaching positions. It involves the following steps: advertising, recruiting; screening; interviewing; teaching demo; selecting and final interview. Faculty hiring is a major task of the administrative or leadership group of the school and selecting the right teacher is a more critical task considering the very few qualified applicants to choose from. Administrators need to prepare job descriptions that state the minimum as well as desired qualifications of a preschool teacher, these are: (1) Bachelor of Science Degree with specialization in family life and child development of early childhood education or kindergarten; (2) BS Degree in Elementary education with 18 units in preschools education and 54 hours of practicum in preschool classes; (3) Bachelor of Arts or BS degree in discipline allied to education, arts, nursing, anthropology with 18 units of preschool education. † (Neri October 2001) â€Å"The teachers we need are immersed in discipline, informed professional inquiry and action that results in raising the bar and closing the gap by engaging all students in learning† (Fullan 2003). The preschool administrator or principal is usually the one in charge of recruiting the right teachers to fill in teaching positions clearly defined and understood by the selectors, i. e. there is a good and clear job description. The competencies to perform the job successfully are explicit, i. e. the job criteria or person specification have been prepared and are known by the selectors. There is a planned provision for the assessment of all the required competencies, i. e.the technical assessment stages have been clearly conceived and scheduled. There is a clear policy on how the final decisions are to be arrived at and the final stage procedure ensures that all of the evidence of earlier stages is accumulated and considered before making a judgment† (Kydd 1997). Although it can be time-consuming, principals must actively recruit good teachers to their schools. They usually do this by: (1) visiting teacher education classes to find promising new teachers; (2) providing practicum to student teachers and later hire the good ones; (3) talking to teachers and other principals to find quality experienced teachers who might be looking for new positions. Hiring policies and practices should be carefully crafted so fairness and equity are reflected to avoid legal complaints in the future. Applicants should be notified whether they were accepted or denied and the reasons why they were not accepted. â€Å"Hiring the right faculty is building the future because teachers play a major role in the education of children; they help in the formation and development of children, some of whom will become future leaders of tomorrow. But the right faculty may not mean hiring having a certification or licensure, but one who has a strong commitment to the care and education of young children. There is no wiser or more enduring investment than in the care and education of young children. worthwhile The Research Problem. DDue to the number mushrooming being put up and the government’s move to institutionalizeeize preschool education by year 2010, in Metro Manila and in the provinces without control or regulation, hiring would is in all probabilitymay be increasingly be intenserampant. DepEd’s hiring guidelines for preschool teachers prescribe only the minimum qualifications;;, but there are no clear-cut guidelines on the screening and hiring process for preschool teachers. these schools tend to hire preschool teachers who are not qualified. There is a need to carefully managed preschools to ensure that the intellectual development and values formation of childrenThus, there is a need forere should be specific and customized procedures for  screening applicants and hiring areistowardforqualified preschool teachers who are trained to address the unique learning and developmental needs of preschoolers. (Berk 2005; Branscombe et al. 2000; Brewer 2004; Essa 2003; Estes 2004; Machado and Meyer-Botnarescue 2001). However, Taguiwalo (2005) reported that recruitment is the number one weakness of the Philippine basic education. and eEvery year for the past five years, public schools recruited around 10,000 to 15,000 teachers from a pool of 100,000 new graduates. ,Yet the schools do not always get the best qualified teachers, as evidenced by the poor student achievement test results. they Results of the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) in SY 2005-2006 reflected that only 29 percent or 38 of 131 competencies/skills were demonstrated by children. The problem of poor quality of education has been traced to a number of factors which include lack of teacher competencies and poor manpower planning (UNESCO and National Statistical Coordination Board 2009). How can DepEd ensure that only qualified and competent preschool teachers will handle every preschool class? HHoH will be assured hiring of professionally well prepared preschool teachers who are committed to caring and educating young children.. Preschool teacher hiring will not be easy considering the scarcity of qualified teachers. ow then can then school administrators ensure that they that they hire qualified and competent preschool teachers who can How can they tap available sources of prospective preschool teachers present? To seek answerss to the research problem, se questions, â€Å"The government, through the Department of Education (DepED), should come up with clear-cut policies on the operation of these schools offering pre-school education to children aged three to six years old,† Chipeco added. (http://www. congress. gov. ph/press/details. php? pressid=931) DepEd should also develop measures seeking not only to regulate and oversee the pre-schools, but also to develop preschool teachers hiring guidelines. DepEd should conduct investigation and close down preschools that do not use the guidelines. thus early childhood education is regarded as their top priority. â€Å"Childhood should be carefully defined in all nations as a highly distinct period of human growth and development that deserves careful educational, social, and political attention and intervention. † (Jalongo, et al 2004) However, Nolido (2006) said . While the government is not yet capable of putting preschool education in the educational ladder, we would like to expand it to reach more five year-old kids particularly in the depressed areas of the country. .. Jalongo, et al 2004et al, page 23number Educational prog for the world’s youngest citizen teachers who are ,m ? Will there be enough preschool teachers who will teach this growing number of student enrollmentissues in the Philippine basic and (LET) (NAT) private preschools hire applicantsare not education graduates or licensed? private . To seek answers to these questions, I will e researcheris Another issue which is very timely is the campaign of the Department of Education to institutionalize preschool education in public schools. Nolido said preschool education is not yet part of the educational ladder. Institutionalizing it requires a huge budget to the basic education system. â€Å"While the government is not yet capable of putting preschool education in the educational ladder, we would like to expand its coverage to reach more five year-old kids particularly in the depressed areas of the country,† Nolido said. and also the current issues in the Philippine educational systemthe Thus the objective of thisresearch willof the study revieweds and compareds the currentGrowing demand for preschool teacher applicants can be attested to the increasing number of student enrollments and the mushrooming of preschools in the metropolis. Drive along any neighborhood and you will likely pass by one, whether it is a small home-based play school or a more structured organization in a bigger edifice. The latest directory of private preschools in Metro Manila from the Department of Education shows that there are (872) preschools all over the capital region alone. Of this total, (217) are exclusively preschools only, defined here as catering to either the one-year-old to 6-year-old age bracket or the kindergarten level which may also include levels preparatory to kindergarten (e. g. nursery, etc. The remaining (55) schools offer elementary education up to 6th grade, in addition to the preschool curriculum. Quezon City has the most number of preschools with 275, followed by Manila with 112. Proximity to residence is criterion parents often consider when choosing schools for their children, however there are many other factors to bear in mind in deciding which school is best† (Neri 2001). Public and private preschools resort to hiring teachers to fill in the demand for teaching positions. The Department of Education has recommended guidelines for hiring preschool teachers, which the public preschools should implement while the private preschools are encouraged to use. Thus, the main research problem of this study is to compare standards, policies, and practices (SPPs) in hiring preschool teachers in preschool andpublic schools with those of privateprivate schools in Pasig City ,and , then compareds each group’s SPPs with offering preschool education with the standards, policies and practices in hiring teachers in private preschools in Pasig City the recommended SPPs in hiring preschool teachers based on related literature, DepEd requirements, and the views of experts on preschools. point out the gaps or discrepancies between the mandated and actual faculty hiring standards, policies and practices of public and private preschools in Pasig City. Secondly, I would like to understand the nature and causes of the gaps, and thirdly, I would like to understand why such gaps have been permitted to exist until the present. Purposess of the Study create awareness among the policymakers, DepEd officials, private preschool owners, and preschool principals The purpose of the study soughtoughtis to (1) investigate the SPPstandards in for hiring preschool teachers in selected public and private schools in Pasig City; (2)and pinpoint commonalities and differences in their current hiring SPPs; and, (3) find out how they measure up to what is recommended in the scientific literature, at DepEd, and by experts. Thus, this study has drawn upwilldetermine whether standards are in line with preschool learning capabilities and requirement for primary grades. s appropriate hiring SPPs for both public and private preschools that can serve ases benchmarks for hiring preschool teachers to ensure that the goal of getting the best qualified preschool teachers is met. Theensure that both public and private schools offering preschool education in Pasig City are able to hire the most qualified and competent preschool teachers and that ensure that there are standards, policies and practices in hiring preschool teachers in public and private schools in Pasig City. is that they together withmajority if not alleto review and reexamine their preschool teaching hiring standards, policies and practices. This assist in the hiring of preschool teacherswill enfrom a wider market and whose qualifications meet the preschool learning competencies. Research Questions In order to answer the research problem, the following research questions were looked intoarewere: †¢ What are the recommended faculty hiring SPPsstandards, policies, and practices for preschool teachers based on related literature, DepEd guidelines, and the views of experts and administrators? †¢ What are the reported and/or actual hiring SPPsfaculty hiring standards, policies, and practices for preschool teachers in both of public and private schools in Pasig City offering ECE? †¢ How do the reported and/or actual faculty hiring SPPstandards, policies.