Soron Case

1. In this case, it is estimated that there are 9 million residential pools in the U. S. The average length of pool usage is 5 months, from May to September, with less people swimming in cold weather from October to April. The majority of chemicals are used during these warm months, but only 25% of these people use chemicals and clarifiers regularly. That being said there are only around 2,250,000 pools that use clarifiers regularly (9,000,000*. 25). From this number, it can be concluded that the maximum reasonable marketing revenue for residential pools is roughly $52,309,152 (39. 06*2,250,000*. 25*14. 8/25) based on the manufacturer price of Coracle. Coracle's main competitors, Keystone Chemical, Jackson Laboratories, and Kymera each possess 15%-20% of the market share, leaving 40%-55% of the market share to Coracle and other smaller competitors. If you factor in Coracle's three main competitors along with the many other smaller-scale suppliers, it can be suggested that roughly 15% of the market share is what Coracle needs to address. It can then be concluded that the addressable market size for Coracle is around $7,846,373 (. 15*52,309,152). I would conclude from the above analysis that the first year goal of $1. million in sales is reasonable for Coracle. If you divide the addressable market size of $7,846,373 by 5 (5 months of average pool usage), it comes to around $1. 57 million, only slightly higher than the target $1. 5 million. 2. One of the reasons Soren Chemical is struggling to sell Coracle is because it is new to developing a brand and relatively inexperienced with marketing to wholesalers, retailers, pool services and consumers. This inexperience has led to miscommunication in its marketing channels, causing only 30% of consumers who inquired about Coracle to actually receive the information regarding the product.Also 70% of consumers stated that Coracle was not even offered by their distributers. These issues clearly point to the fact that Soren Chemical's inexperience is affecting sales and preventing it from communicating the benefits of Coracle to the consumer. Also the distribution channel structure Soren has to go through might also have a negative effect on sales. The distributor and retailer demand a 30% and 15% gross margin, increasing Soren's price from $14. 88 per unit to $25 per unit. Consumers find this inconvenient and expensive. 3.In order to determine the highest price Soren can set for Coracle along with how Coracle can be priced relative to consumers, the actual worth to end-users must be considered. One way to estimate the worth to end-users would be to calculate the annual EVC of Coracle. This can be done by using the annual cost of a substitute as the reference value and adding it to the differentiation value of the two products. One substitute, ClearBlu, has an annual cost of $56. 25, the reference value. Coracle reduces the need for chlorine, treatments, and enzymes, and for pool owners and reduces th eir annual chemical cost by 20%-30%, for an average of 25%.ClearBlu reduces the annual cost of chemicals for pool owners by 15%, making the increase in savings by using Coracle 10%. The annual chemical cost excluding clarifiers is $300. Thus the annual EVC of Coracle is $56. 25+. 1*300=$86. 25. 4. Coracle should initially adopt a push strategy because it is a new brand and possesses low brand loyalty and awareness. A push strategy would create awareness among consumers and expose the product to them. A push strategy would also encourage distributors to stock their shelves with the product.According to the study, only 25% of consumers use clarifiers regularly and understand their benefits. This displays a low involvement in the purchasing decision of consumers and further proves that push strategy would be more beneficial for Coracle. Conversely, Coracle could also adopt a pull strategy and focus more time and money on communicating the value of the product to the consumer. This woul d be done through advertisements and raising brand awareness. However, such an expenditure would be costly and time consuming, making a push strategy appear to be more efficient.

How Stevenson Creates a Sense of Intrigue and Engages the Reader’s Interest in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay

In this essay I am going to be exploring how Stevenson examines Victorian hypocrisy and human nature, the duality of man, in his famous tale, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. His novella, written in 1886, was set in London, and is described as a gothic horror. Stevenson uses Mr Utterson, a ‘modest’ lawyer, to guide us through the novella, unravelling to the mystery gradually throughout the novella. By revealing a few clues at a time, many questions emerge in the reader’s mind, however, only a few of these are answered throughout the tale. Stevenson uses a wide range of language and structural devices to build a sense of intrigue and engage the reader. Dr Jekyll, a renowned London scientist, was born into a wealthy family with great honour and had gained respect from his fellow men. Dr Jekyll struggled with the dual nature of his nature and although he was loyal to his friends, Jekyll had a dark side, which he choice to express in the person of Mr Hyde. He noticed that ‘man is not truly one, but truly two’ and this lead him to ‘recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man’. Jekyll saw the need to hide Hyde from the world since he was forced to be respectable and loyal to everyone around him due to his class since birth. However, Dr Jekyll had suppressed his ‘pleasures’ for too long and his darker side grew stronger and stronger inside him throughout his life. Many of the ‘pleasures’ Hyde was able to have included drinking alcohol, and gambling as well as being able to fulfill many of his sexual desires. I believe that Jekyll was guilty of ‘that crime upon so pitiful as provocation’, which he committed through Hyde, because he had a choice to drink the potion again and carrying on with his devilish deeds or suppress his darker side from committing such devious crimes. Jekyll, himself, couldn’t resist and was too ‘tempted’ to drink more of the potion again ‘with strong courage’, eve though he was aware of the consequences he will have to face. Stevenson engages the readers by using many negative adjectives to describe Hyde, which suggest he is a villain. When Utterson questions the maid the morning after the politician, Mr Carew, was murdered, she explains to Utterson that ‘all of a sudden’ Hyde ‘broke out in a flame of anger, stamping his foot, brandishing his cane and carrying on like a madman’. This is shocking to the reader because a man who owned a cane in Victorian society was known to be a respectable gentleman. Hyde is also described, by the maid, to have had ‘ape-like fury’. Being compared to an ‘ape’ was said to someone who is a person who resembles a nonhuman primate1 and has so much rage to the point of committing the most unspeakable horror against innocence. Utterson is biased when guiding the reader through the novella. In the first chapter, Story of the Door, Utterson tells us that he is a ‘modest man’ and that his friends are ‘those of his own blood’. The reader is influenced to think that Jekyll, having been stated as a ‘good friend’, belongs to the same middle-class society as Mr Utterson does. So when Jekyll commits his ‘devilish’ deeds, the reader is shocked because men of the middle-class societies are known to be humble and loyal, not ‘evil’. Stevenson creates intrigue for the reader by using long, lengthy descriptions in the narration in order to draw out the highly gruesome aspects of the scene set in The Carew Murder Case. Around the scene of the incident, there was a ‘misty fog’ and clouds ‘over the city’ while the ‘full moon’ lit up the night. The ‘full moon’ associates with the time when evil beings, often shown as deformed men or werewolves, commit their most heinous acts. The ‘fog’ suggests intrigue and mystery. Stevenson uses highly descriptive language during the attack. The maid explains to Utterson how Mr Carew, the kindly gentleman, was ‘trampled under foot’ and his ‘bones were audibly shattered’ by the ‘ape-like’ Hyde. Stevenson starts off The Carew Murder Case by describing a quiet scene however this contrasts against the abominable attack, which is described in many gory details. Hyde was described as a ‘small’ person compared to his ‘good’ side, Dr Jekyll, which may be because Stevenson intended to emphasis on how low Hyde had gone by committing heinous crimes. Using lengthy descriptions, Stevenson sets the scene to create an atmosphere and engage the reader. Stevenson sets his novella in 18- and mentions ‘bad’ deeds and secrecy throughout the parable. This may be because Stevenson saw that although most noblemen seem to be modest and loyal from the outside, inside they hid dark secrets. In chapter 7, The Last Night, Jekyll transforms uncontrollably into Mr Hyde and by describing the unsettling weather, Stevenson shows this as a bad omen. Stevenson shows that the evil was angering the wind outside by describing the wind, ‘which only broke in puffs and draughts into that deep well of building, tossed the light of the candle to and fro.’ Most crimes that Hyde commits are usually during the night as this is the time when evil is lurking around the most. Stevenson also mentions that ‘all human beings†¦are commingled out of good and evil’ by using Dr Jekyll’s statement. Stevenson shows us that appearances of middle-class noblemen can never be fully trusted and also ventures to tell us how important reputation was in the nineteenth century. Jekyll had repressed his darker, evil side inside of him for far too long and was unaware that it was growing inside of him day-by-day. Jekyll was forced into being a middle-class nobleman since birth because he was brought up in one such modest family. A similar thought may have emerged in the reader’s in about Jack the Ripper who had been suggested to be living a double life and may have been a respectable man in his society with an uncontrollable dark side. Stevenson shows that the evil in Hyde is very deadly by describing the scene where he tramples on the innocent, little girl on the street corner and also when describing the scene where Hyde slays Mr Carew brutally. Hyde also causes death indirectly when Dr Lanyon dies after witnessing the transformation of Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde. Dr Lanyon may have r ealised that he too had an evil side himself. The nineteenth century was often with Mary Shelley’s concept of a man’s double self. Frankenstein had created his monster in 1818 and many associate the name Frankenstein with monsters and devils nowadays rather than names of scientists. Frankenstein’s monster had destroyed him in a similar way Hyde had brought ‘the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end’. Dr Jekyll and Dr Frankenstein both wanted to become renowned scientists with their own creations and therefore, Dr Frankenstein had created a monster by ignoring the rules of nature and using body parts of dead human beings, whilst Dr Jekyll had created a potion, which would unleash his evil side, Mr Hyde. Frankenstein’s monster had had achieved domination over Frankenstein and soon was able to kill him completely. In a similar way, Hyde had overpowered Jekyll and soon murdered him too. Also, a man called Faust had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for absolute power and knowledge whilst he was still alive. Ina similar way, Jekyll created Hyde, as one of his marvellous creations, however, instead of being proud of his creation, Jekyll’s ‘terror of gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide’. After reading The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, when it was first published, readers would have realised that man has both, an evil and a good side to him. At the time the book was published, society was very strict, it didn’t question religion and there was a great divide between poverty and wealth. This made the readers of the time engaged and intrigued. The Victorian Society was very religious at the time and believed that if you sinned then you will be banished to hell for eternity. The story was enormously popular with it Victorian audience, showing a fascination with the ‘other side’ of life. Many of the characters in the novella have professions that were seen to be significant and dominating by society, such as a Doctor and a Politician. The readers may be influenced into thinking that the upper classes were more likely to have a dual personality compared to someone of a lower class. He might also have been moralising here, exposing Victorian hypo crisy for what it was.

Our impact on the environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Our impact on the environment - Essay Example ties includes the element of pollution, which is currently a major global threat that has been increasing in a dramatic rate due to the increase of industrialization and other human activities that involve use of energy. This essay is going to focus on the impacts of human activities on the environment, analyze how different sources of energy affect the environment as well recommend usage of the most sustainable and friendly sources of energy. Carried out studies have proven that one of the major factors contributing to the high levels of pollution to the environment is the type of sources of energy that human beings use in fueling their industrial activities (Jaccard 63). Most of these sources of energies used in almost all countries are nonrenewable and highly unsustainable, a factor that have made them a chief threat to the environment (Jaccard 65). However, some sources are known to have more adverse effects to the environment than others with oil, coal and natural gas being the main sources that environmentalists blame much for the high level of pollution in the modern world. Statistics show that oil is the most common source of energy with oil being used to fuel over 80% of all the activities undertaken on daily basis such as in factories, cooking and for transport. However, combustion of oil leads to emission of greenhouse gases that have detrimental effects to the environment (Curley 95). The main constituents of products released after burning oil, natural gas and coal are carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide that have significantly contributed to global warming or climate change. In addition, combusted fossil fuels lead to formation of other harmful gases which ends up forming acids such as carbonic acids and sulfuric acid. Carbon dioxide and suphurous gaseous produces once fossils are combusted combine with moisture or rain in the atmosphere to form acidic rainfall. Acidic rains are a major threat to plant and fish health once they get on to the ground.

A Comparison of Fertility Rates Between China and Niger Essay

A Comparison of Fertility Rates Between China and Niger - Essay Example Flags of China and Niger ‘Total fertility rate’ is the measurement most widely used by demographers to measure fertility (Jones, 2004: 98). It indicates the average number of children that would be born to 1,000 women of childbearing age. China’s current birth rate stands at 1.54 children per woman (CIA World Fact Book, 2011), and is currently 188th out of 230 countries on the CIA’s Total Fertility Rate List (2011). There are cities/ provinces within China such as Hong Kong and Macau that have the current lowest fertility rates in the world at 1.04 and 0.91 children per woman respectively. China’s current population stands at 1.3 billion, but their population growth rate of 0.493%, is amongst the lowest in the world. There are currently only 12.29 births per 1,000 women. China’s fertility rate of below 2 children therefore indicates that its population is falling below replacement level. According to the CIA World Fact Book (2011), Nigerâ€⠄¢s birth rate stands at 7.6 children per woman, which makes it the country with the highest birth rate in the world. Its current fertility rate is 50.54 births per 1,000 of the total population. Niger’s current population stands at 16.5 million, with an annual 3.643% population growth rate. 49.6% of Niger’s total population is below the age of 14.

Marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing plan - Essay Example Akin to olive oil in terms of function, tea seed oil is very effective for hair care. Not only does it strengthen hair and protect it from damage, it also provides moisture to the hair. Shiseido now intends to sell Tsubaki in Australia as it sees tremendous potential for that product in that market. Competitive Landscape in Australia Procter & Gamble Australia Pty Ltd, Unilever Australia Ltd, L'Oreal Australia Pty Ltd, Hans Schwarzkopf & Henkel GmbH & Co KG, Colgate-Palmolive Pty Ltd and Alberto-Culver Pty Ltd. In addition to these there are many other, domestic as well as international players, vying for a chunk of the shampoo market in the country. Demographic Environment The total population of Australia stood at 22 million in 2010. The gender-wise break-up of the Australian population is depicted in table below: Population (Gender Wise)    2010 2020    in '000 % in '000 % Male 10998 49.76 12591 49.86 Female 11102 50.24 12663 50.14 Total 22100 100 25254 100 Source: Euromonitor International The table shows that the male female population is almost equal and is likely to remain so by 2020. The ethnic composition of the country includes 92 percent Whites, 7 percent Asians and 1 percent Aboriginal and others (Euromonitor 2011). Thus females of Asian origin residing in Australia are approx .7 million. The Tsubaki shampoo would be targeted at this section of the society. It is imperative that the age-wise break up of the female population is considered while developing/modifying the product for the Australian market.    Female Population Age-Wise ('000) Age 2009 2010 2015 (E) 2020 (E) % Growth 0-14 2033 2052 2173 2326 13.3 15-64 7327 7415 7763 8095 9.2 65+ 1591 1635 1925 2242 37.1 Total 10951 11102 11861 12663 15.6 Source: Euromonitor International The above table clearly demonstrates that a drastic shift in Australia‘s demographic profile is imminent as a considerable chunk of the population is set to grow old in the coming future. This growth in the number of older consumers is likely to propel the demand for products that make people feel and look younger (Data Monitor 2011). The life expectancy in the country is 81.81 years for the total population. While it is 79.40 years for men, the life expectancy for the average Australian woman is 84.35 years. Economic Environment The Australian economy has registered a steady growth in the GDP in the last few years. The economy is estimated to grow by 3.7 percent this year. The inflation rate has also been below the 3 percent mark since 2010. The unemployment rate which has been steady at a shade above 5 percent is the brightest spot. Compare this to the unemployment rates in other developed countries where the joblessness has reached double digits. Key Economic Indicators    2009 2010 2011 2012 (E) GDP Growth (%) 1.3 3 3.5 3.7 Inflation 1.8 2.9 2.8 2.9 Unemployment Rate 5.6 5.3 5.2 5.1 Source: Data Monitor 2011 Australia is primarily a middle-class society. Close to 5 million, or 6 1 percent of the households in the country had an annual disposable income of more than US $45,000 in 2009. During the same time period, 36 percent of the Australian households had an annual disposable income of more than US $75,000. At the same time, more than 95 percent of the country is above the poverty line (Data Monitor 2011). The table below depicts that the average annual gross income has steadily risen across income brackets. The growth is considerably higher than

Marketing management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Marketing management - Assignment Example It is the first step of the STP model where the customers possessing similar set of wants are grouped under a particular segment (Kotler, 2012). The market segments are not created by a marketer instead; it is identified and decided on which consumers to target. Mass marketing is different from segmentation marketing and the later is considered more beneficial in terms of market strategy. The organization can implement a much precise and targeted marketing mix in case of segmentation marketing. The automobile sector is classified into the following: Although most of the developed countries are major hub for the premium cars, the growth rate of the budget car segment is also moving up the ladder as the consumers are becoming more aware of the financial and economic changes in the market leading to cost consciousness. The target customers of this sector are generally young adults and the retired consumers. Car brands which come under the small car segments are Maruti 800 and Tata Nano. The price of this car segment ranges from 2.5 lacs – 3 lacs (Kotler, 2012). This segment constitutes to a very limited market, creating its own niche and the cars are all priced above 15 lakhs. The premium car segment targets the high income group and the elite classes. The car brands are Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Jaguar (Kotler, 2012). The second stage of the STP model is the selection of the target market. It is the customer bases which are targeted by a company to maximise its profit and revenue. Targeting means analysing different segments of the market and identifying the specific customer group as well as the sub markets where the company should compete. The estimation of the specific segment and the target market is done by comparing the financial attractiveness of the segment with the company’s objectives and capital to invest. Emphasis is given on the size of the segment, the resources required for market penetration, the

Gender and attendace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender and attendace - Essay Example universities will only be able to provide the society with people with undergraduate graduation certificate instead of constructers with knowledge, self-discipline and integrity. Barlow (2011) defines absenteeism as a failure to regularly attend timetabled sessions such as seminars, lectures and practical or laboratory classes. In the UK, research has shown that student non-attendance at lectures and seminars is an area for concern (Morgan 2001). Thomas (2008) found that students who attained first-class grades also had the highest attendance rates. Newman-Ford et al. (2008) also found a strong positive relationship between attendance and performance across 22 compulsory modules in four degree schemes. In addition, Clark and Gill (2010) examined the relationship between attendance and performance, in a study consisting of 304 students. The study shows a very high attendance is significantly associated with an improvement in performance. Moreover, a study by Woodfield, Jessop, and Mcm illan (2006) revealed that men are more likely to be absent from classes than women, with the worst offenders being males with the highest levels of prior academic achievement. This establishes the need to investigate the possible relationship between gender and class attendance towards a better understanding of performance by gender and this forms the basis of the study. It is understood that Undergraduates play truant mainly because they couldn’t bear listening to teachers in class. As time passes, they don’t know what they learn for. They don’t have future directions, so they play truant, thus forming a vicious cycle. Barlow (2011) The main focus is the gender difference in student attendance rates, and the potential reasons why differential attendance rates may occur between male and female students, and whether they denote different academic achievement levels. The study is only limited to the students within the University XXXXX, where the study will focus on the

Comparing Leadership in Military and civil work Place Essay

Comparing Leadership in Military and civil work Place - Essay Example It also discusses the leadership styles and how the followers can accept them as a leader, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the two kinds of leadership opportunities. Leadership in the Military Vs Leadership in the Civil Service Bureaucracy According to Laver & Mathews (2008), military leadership involves persuading others to achieve the mission through provision of purpose, course and inspiration. Military leaders lawfully exercise authority over the subordinates based on grade or position in the organizational structure. They have a responsibility of ensuring that the mission is accomplished and that the welfare of the subordinates is maintained. The organizational structure of the military leads to bureaucratic leadership whereby significant procedures guide the military operations. There is a hierarchical structure from the top where the senior most staff is positioned to the bottom where junior officers are found. In other words, the structure represents a chain of command, which is a significant and most fundamental strategy for the accomplishment of organizational goals (McLaughlin & Osborne 2002). In bureaucracy, authority is distributed through statutes, bureaucratic systems as well as the positions of people in the hierarchy, which are defined by the particular office that the person holds. There are usually rules that govern the conduct of individuals at all levels, which are important in enhancing harmonious relations in the workplace and the maintenance of justice and equality not considering a person’s background. Lynn (1998) observes that consistency is maintained while on the other hand it is possible to avoid and deal with potential risks. People are safe guarded against injustices. However, bureaucracy in the contemporary civil workplace is slowly being displaced by the concept of new public management which focuses on the quality and effectiveness of service delivery rather than organizational structure. Military leaders may find difficulties in adapting to the new public management (Owen, 2003). Leadership Communication Leadership communication is significant for the accomplishment of the goals of leadership. It involves eloquence in expressing the ideas of the leader to the subordinates. In a military organization, effective leadership communication determines the relationship between the leader and the subordinates (Hersey et al. 2007). Helps the leader to effectively persuade his/her subordinates to adopt new ideas for the accomplishment of tasks. Efficient communication in the military enhances interactions between leaders and the subordinates, which is significant in the identification of problems and finding viable solutions especially due to the risky tasks involved in the military. Military leaders communicate the needs of their subordinates to those in higher ranks thereby generating confidence amongst the subordinates especially with the realization that their needs have been put in to co nsideration. A leader who effectively communicates with the officers in the lower cadres generates loyalty and enthusiasm in the force. Loyalty is fundamental in the success of the military (Laver & Mathews 2008). Similarly, effective leadership communication in the civil service is significant in maintaining credibility and ability to generate positive perception amongst workers. The leader is capable of establishing useful links with important stakeholders, which is necessary for building strong collaboration for

Final review --- economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Final review --- economics - Assignment Example 22. Starting from long-run equilibrium, without policy intervention, the long-run impact of an adverse supply shock is that prices will be permanently higher and output will be restored to the natural rate. 9. In the Keynesian-cross model, if the MPC equals .75, then a $1 billion increase in government spending increases planned expenditures by S.75 billion and increases the equilibrium level of income by more than S. 75 billion Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) is an empirical metric that quantifies induced consumption, the concept that the increase in personal consumer spending (consumption) occurs with an increase in disposable income (income after taxes and transfers). The proportion of the disposable income which individuals desire to spend on consumption is known as propensity to consume. MPC is the proportion of additional income that an individual desires to consume. The tax multiplier is the ratio of the change in aggregate production to an autonomous change in government taxes when consumption is the only induced expenditure. Autonomous tax changes trigger the multiplier process and induced consumption provides the cumulatively reinforcing interaction between consumption, aggregate production, factor payments, and income. MPC and MPS have an inverse relationship. Because they add up to 100 percent, as MPS increases, MPC decreases and vice versa. For example, if a company earns an extra $200 per month in income and consumes, or spends, $100 extra per month, $100 per month is saved. The MPS and MPC are both 50 percent. If the business starts to spend $150 per month, only $50 is saved. The MPC increases to 75 percent, while the MPS decreases to 25 percent. 19. According to the theory of liquidity preference, if the supply of real money balances exceeds the demand for real money balances, individuals will purchase interest-earning assets in order to reduce holdings of non-interest-bearing money. 26. An increase in

Legal, social, and economics of Business Essay Example for Free

Legal, social, and economics of Business Essay The scenario in question gives us the portfolio of a person that likes to do things around the home and has come up with an idea that might benefit his/her home and perhaps other homes globally. Another version of this idea already exists on the market but the person believes his invention might further simplify and make the â€Å"appliance† more user friendly and safer. This person does not have available funds for the project and would therefore have to look to an outsider to complete the task at hand. The inventor has researched the market of the other â€Å"appliance† and found that it has an annual growth of 2%. He believes this invention could increase that growth because he thinks this invention might be used in many other â€Å"appliances† making the product quite versatile and therefore appealing to a wide range of markets. For the person to be able to make a wise decision about how to make his project a reality we look at three types of business, the sole proprietorship, general partnership and corporation, while considering the advantages and disadvantages. After looking thoroughly at these types of businesses, we try to make an informed decision in which type to recommend for the project, keeping in mind all the aspects of the persons â€Å"limitations†. These three types of businesses all have their advantages and disadvantages and based on those we determine that general partnership would be the smartest way to proceed, as the persons â€Å"limitations† minimize the chances of the two other options succeeding. Let us start by looking at closely at the three business types in question regarding the scenario. Sole proprietorship, a business owned and operated by one person. Advantages: He would be in full control, and accountable to no one but himself. In the case listed this could be good because he could manage his time between his business and the home equally, on the other hand it might also bring difficulties both to the home and business as one might suffer from the other. Managing a business by oneself must be a difficult task. It is easily achievable. The startup of a sole proprietorship would be easy, but does success come from ease? There must be some risks and difficulties involved. Less money to be raised for starting up the business. As written in the scenario, the subject does not have access to large funds, therefore this could be a less financially upsetting way to start. Disadvantages: He would be liable for all the debts of the business personally, there is no limit to his liability. Putting his family’s financial security at risk might not seem a good idea and hardly appealing to his spouse, but taking a considerable amount of risk would be necessary. He might find it difficult to attain funding. Being an individual with low â€Å"net worth† banks and other loan facilities might not want to take the chance of lending the money for the project. General partnership, two or more persons whom share monetary responsibilities. Advantages: Growth possibilities. As described in the scenario the idea could be usable with several â€Å"appliances† making the project likely to have considerable growth potential in time. Easier to attain funding. If two or more individuals take up partnership it is more likely to be appealing to monetary facilities to fund the project because two individuals are worth more than just one. Both partners are taxed as individuals. Only one level of taxation. Partners are taxed according to their partnership agreement and have full control over how their income is allocated in accordance to their interests as long as there is economic reason. Disadvantages: One person may be liable for all debts. If for example a person would only be letting someone use their name in the partnership agreement, that same person, even if he or she could prove never to have had anything to do with the business itself, could be liable. It is therefore extremely important to have a good, detailed partnership agreement that covers all aspects of the partnership. Conveyance of ownership can be arduous. If for example one of the partners died, the partnership would go to his next of kin or whomever is his or her heir. This could be a problem if that person is not interested in the partnership or for any other reason is unable to uphold the partnership agreement. Corporation, a business where owners have separate status from the business itself and are only financially liable at part. Advantages: The owners are only liable for the funds they bring into the business. There is an exception from this rule, if the incorporation of the company was not â€Å"up to par†, an owner can be held liable. The business is not reliant on the owners to continue. The board members can easily agree on â€Å"pushing† an owner out of the corporation, which can be become a reality in this particular scenario if the inventor or initial owner of the corporation does not have a â€Å"bulletproof† agreement and/or patent of the product of the corporation. If an owner dies or by any other means cannot uphold his status in the corporation it does not affect the corporation itself. Disadvantages: Costly startup. As written before, the subject is not a person of great means. Starting a corporation could be extremely difficult for this person. Rules and regulations. There are different rules and regulations in accordance with where the corporation is incorporated, for the subject it might be a wise decision to incorporate in another state than where he lives, which in turn could make the spouse unhappy for it would obviously make the home life difficult and/or resolve in them having to move the whole family to a new place. The owner as well as the business are taxed separately, making the income double taxed. â€Å"First, a corporation pays income taxes on company profits. Then stockholders pay taxes on their income (in form of dividends) returned by their investments.†( Ebert, R. J., Griffin,R. W. (2011), page 48) To make an informed decision regarding the type of business that best fits the person’s interests, abilities and the product, the first step for the person could be to have the idea assessed. There are several businesses that offer that kind of services and for this particular scenario it might be the best thing to do. From reading the scenario it is apparent that the persons spouse is insecure about the whole affair and by having the idea or invention assessed the inventor could get an experienced professional in this field to assess the product regarding manufacturing possibilities, consumer needs, legal aspects and distribution, before he jumps in â€Å"at the deep end† and puts his family’s financial security at risk. Having done that, based on the assessment, he could make an informed decision regarding the business type best suitable. After reading the scenario and studying the business types it would be likely that the best type in this case would be General partnership. That recommendation is based on the fact that the person is low on funding options and taking in consideration the families security, sole proprietorship seems too risky because the person would have to create large debts in the beginning to just produce the product, that is, if any type of monetary company would want to risk lending to the person in the first place. Also by opting for sole proprietorship, all obligations of the business would fall on the person, making the venture potentially minimize family time. Even though sole proprietorship could result in great personal success and money if all went as planned, the initial risk would be too great, especially when taken into consideration the fact that the person has little or no managerial skills. By choosing general partnership, the person could, after having the invention assessed, and perhaps patented the â€Å"appliance†, make detailed business plan that could be presented to one or more potential business partners with access to large funds and /or good credit, being careful in choosing someone who can bring to the table something that compensates his shortcomings, like his lack of managerial skills. General partnership also divides the risk, making the project more appealing to the persons spouse. By creating a â€Å"bulletproof† detailed partnership agreement it minimizes the risk of all factors of the disadvantages in general partnership. Choosing the corporation type at this time would not be wise because it requires large funds and could prove too large an undertaking for the person at this point. That however does not mean things cannot change in time.

Feeling Of Imprisonment For Sonnys Blues Characters Film Studies Essay

Feeling Of Imprisonment For Sonnys Blues Characters Film Studies Essay The story of the Sonnys Blues opens when the narrator through the newspaper gets to know that sonny who is his younger brother had been arrested for heroin dealings. The narrator of the story takes a subway to his job of high school teaching. At the end of every school day, the laughter and of his students reminds him that, during their youth, Sonny and him had been were filled with rage and knew two darknesses. One of the concerned their lives while the other darkness concerned moves that were making them forgets their lives for a moment. When the narrator was coming from school, he met Sonnys old friend in the school yard. When the two were talking about Sonnys arrest, they end up telling some of their fears. When they were in front of a bar that played black and bouncy kind of music, unnamed friend said, Cant much help old Sonny no more(Baldwin, 1957). Just because of this statement, the narrator gets angry due to the fact that, even he himself had given up in the trials of saving his own brother Sonny. This was based on the fact that, he had not seen Sonny for a period of about a year. The narrator gets angered more because, his views and opinions about assisting his own brother are shared with some one who has no blood relation to Sonny. The friend continues stating that, he thought Sonny was too smart to get caught in a drug bust, (Baldwin, 1957). The narrator then sarcastically criticizes the friend, in a manner that shows that the friend seemed to be much smarter because he has not been arrested. After a while, the friend answers that, according to him, she would have killed himself long time ago if he was smarter. This was because, according to him, compared to addiction, death I the best. The friend then turns to the story of how he has responsible turning Sonny onto drugs. This essay looks at Sonnys Blues, and focuses on specific passages in that text, and explains how and why they create a feeling of imprisonment for the character(s). The characters in Sonnys Blues are mostly in circumstances that shows that they are trapped both physically as well as mentally. In the whole of the story, first and foremost, the narrator who happens to be Sonnys elder brother and Sonny are arrested emotionally. This is based on the fact that, they are ever dealing with the ways that will make them free from one chain or the other. On the other hand, Sonny had been physically imprisoned in jail, apart from being imprisoned physically by drug addiction. In addition to these points, the narrator himself has been confined to Harlem, and to be more specifically, to the projects that were dealing with housing, though he clearly detests. Another instance is that, the narrator has also been trapped by his own conscience. This is shown particularly in his actions and practices. To be more specific, he is not able to express his own minds or emotions. In Addition, he is not in a position to live up to his responsibilities as a brother; however, the death of his daughter freed him from this bondage by giving him a sense that motivates him to realize that he is supposed to change, (Baldwin, 1957). The narrator in the story and Sonny in exactly opposite ways, are imprisoned and free at the same time. By the time Sonny was in Prison for example, he was physically locked up. But by looking on the other side of the coin however, one can realize that, other than being the young one, he had the capability of doing what his elder brother has never had such capabilities of doing. Some of his marvelous deeds were; he escaped from Harlem, and went a head creating his own life. But on the other side of the coin, also the narrator is free physically; this is based on the fact that, he was not in jail as compared to his young brother Sonny. Apart from that, unlike Sonny and other young men in their society, the narrator is also free as he has not been addicted to drugs. All the same he is trapped inside Harlem along with its projects that deal with housing. Being a person who can be termed as a musician, Sonny has the capability of expressing his frustrations and rage that has been used as a driver in part of his imprisonment through music. By the time he is playing the piano, he gains the capability of breaking loose, which helps him to live as any other free person. The narrator of the story, on the other hand, lives his life that is trapped inside him himself. This is based on the fact that, he is always faced with a very difficult time when communicating with his brother Sonny, and even ends up fail in doing so, he lacks the capabilities of holding his own emotions that emanate as a result of their communication. However, in the end, ends up being freed temporarily as an effect off Sonnys Music, this is based on the fact that, Sonnys music has the ability to offer him with a very rare glimpse to himself. Both the narrator and Sonny the major characters in the story of Sonnys Blues are imprisoned in darkness. This is because, in their lives, light and darkness are in constant tension in the entire story of Sonnys Blues. As a matter of fact, the characters are threatened by constant opposition of light and darkness. Darkness represents a list of both social and personal problems. It is true that the figures in the story are imprisoned by darkness. Sonny is faced with addiction problem, which can be considered as a personal problem, while the narrator is faced with the problems of housing projects. Apart from characters, the story itself seems to be narrated in a setting that has been imprisoned. This is based on the reason that, the actions of the story seem to happen before the civil rights movements were gained. The setting is imprisoned in dark days that were filled with a lot of segregation and separate. However, the setting was free from equal accommodations in most public institutions. For instances, it is noticed that, the narrator and his brother Sonny grew up in a predominantly poor and black neighborhood of Harlem the sons of a working-class, embittered father whose pride and optimism have been worn down by his own brothers violent death at the hands of rural Southern whites and the ensuing years of struggling to support a family in an overtly racist Northern urban community (Baldwin, 1957).The setting is imprisoned with lots of insecurity. This is because; everyone was subjected to violence and drug addiction, segregation as well as discrimination. Inclusion, imprisonment as a theme in the story of Sonys Blues, is brought up with the aim of gloom, despair, hope and warmth that the lives of characters in the story undergoes. Being free from imprisonment shows all hopeful and positive that are just part of life. It represents moral life in the society. On the other hand, imprisonment shows despair and gloomy life that main figures in the story undergoes through. The two have been used to symbolize that, at times, life is too hard and enjoyable, while there are times when it is opposite. So as a matter of fact, the identification of imprisonment situations, was based on situations that characters have found themselves in, but the situation is of despair, and there is no way of getting out of it, there is no or little control over it.

Grapes Of Wrath: How It Relates To The Romance Archetype :: essays research papers

Grapes of Wrath By John Steinbeck A RETURN TO PARIDISE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How does California seem to modern America? Violent. Crowded. Filled with bad people. People who live in cities and have lost touch with the earth. These people are portrayed in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as Californians. Yet, people from the Midwest flocked to California seeking prosperity and opportunity. Their land had been taken by the banks and turned into cotton fields. They were left homeless and desperate. These people sought to work in the fields where they could eat a peach or sit under a tree to relax.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But there wasn’t a California as they had imagined. In fact, the world they entered into when they arrived in California was a cold one. The locals excluded the newcomers and forced them to leave. The locals tormented the foreigners, calling them ‘Okies’ and telling them that they are unwanted. There was no work and when there was, the workers were underpaid and forced to work for low wages. California was hell.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But John Steinbeck creates this novel to fit the â€Å"romance† archetype. In this archetype, the hero makes a journey, encounters problems in his path which he overcomes, and reaches his final destination. The hero of the novel must be larger than life, strong, and different from others. He must be a natural leader and greatly glorified. The earth resembles the Garden of Eden, or a ‘paradise.’ He must be in touch with the earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Grapes of Wrath has many obvious connections to the romance archetype, and many subtle connections. One of the more obvious connections is the journey. The main characters, the Joads, embark on a journey from Kansas to California. In the 1930’s Kansas was in the ‘Dust Bowl’, a part of the Midwest where the land dried up, causing fierce dust storms that could kill people. California, on the other hand, was the beautiful, fertile valley, where people could pick peaches, become prosperous, and eventually buy a house to settle down. The fact that the Joads traveled from a terrible place to a better place fits the romance archetype. This better place they search for is the connection to the earth that they once had in Kansas. They envision that they can find it in California as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The characters show an obvious connection to the archetype. The romantic hero in this novel is Tom Joad. Tom is larger than life.

Exploring Fear in Howl, Basketball Diaries, and Cats Cradle Essay

"yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars" (Ginsberg 11). Like many authors of the modern literature movement, Allen Ginsberg explores the bomb's psychological affects on many Americans during the 1960s. Modern literature describes the chaos of the 1960s, caused by increasing societal problems and fear of the new atomic bomb. Writings such as The Basketball Diaries, "Howl" and Cat's Cradle express concepts of fear, power, governmental control, and death. Government uses society's fear of death and the end of the world to keep control and power over the people. The atomic bomb generates such universal fear and the corrupted government fails to respond to the chaotic behavior of society or the fears of the individuals. This fear that the government achieves not only maintains control, but also causes chaos and the false belief that the government is on the public's side. The chaotic enviro nment is a result of people crying out for help and the conflicting lifestyles arise when people face the terror of death. Historically, fear has been used to control populations. For example, asearly as the 1700s, white men controlled black slaves through the fear of being killed. During slave days, in the South, the ratio was nine blacks to every white person (Nash and Graves 213). When Nat Turner, a black slave, finally revolted, the United States government responded by sending the army with tanks and guns to resist the black men. The reaction of the whites imbedded the fearof revolts within the slaves. The blacks could have successfully revolted, but were controlled by the fear of the powerful white man. The white man held the power and con... ...ld such dangers have any significance to life? Jim Carroll tells the real story of his fear of the end and the mixed feelings of what matters, what doesn't. His fear is accompanied by confusion of how to live, today, with the possibility of being killed tomorrow. Throughout "Howl," The Basketball Diaries, and Cat's Cradle it is evident that the government controlled society with the fear of the bomb. We can see how this fear influenced individuals and society as a whole. The government caused the fear in society by possessing the atomic bomb and ignoring problems arising. Society blaimed the people for their reactions to the fear of the bomb. Furthermore, the government presented itself as protector, leading to increased confusion and chaos. In modern society, deciding who is the enemy and who holds the power, determines who controls the fate of the world. Â  

Blood Pressure Essay -- Health, Diseases, Walking

Distance Other studies have attempted to measure the effect of distance on blood pressure response in order to find if there is any correlation between distance and a significant blood pressure reduction. One of these studies (see Moreau et al, 2001) involved 24 sedentary post-menopausal American women (15 in the intervention group ) with high blood pressure. The results found that, after a 2-year walking programme, that there was a statistically significant drop of 13 mmHg in the systolic blood pressure of those participants who were taking anti-hypertensive drugs and of 11 mmHg in those not receiving medication, whereas there was no difference found in their diastolic blood pressure and in the blood pressure of the control group. The participants in the intervention group were instructed to walk 3 kms per day in addition to their normal daily physical activity. After the first year the reduction in blood pressure was significant: 6 mm Hg in the systolic blood pressure of the participants wh o were taking anti-hypertensive medication and 7mmHg in the non-medication group. In this study , the magnitude of the reduction of systolic blood pressure as a result of a walking programme is similar to that which has been found in earlier studies in response to traditional exercise (see Seals et al,1997, and Hagberg et al, 2000). Frequency Several studies have examined the impact of the frequency of walking per week on blood pressure in order to determine what frequency is most effective in terms of blood pressure reduction response. A study by Gettman et al, conducted in 1976, which compared the effect of fast walking between one, three and five days per week on blood pressure response, found that the difference in frequency was no... ...ffect on systolic blood pressure only. Lee et al (2010) found that moderate to high intensity waking was more likely to decrease blood pressure than low intensity walking. This result supports the findings of the study conducted by Quinn in the year 2000. Nemoto et al (2007) compared the effect of continuous walking at moderate intensity (50% of peak aerobic capacity) and interval walking at high intensity (70% of peak aerobic capacity) on reducing blood pressure. They found that blood pressure reduction was greater in the group who walked at high intensity: 9 mmHg for systolic blood pressure and 5 mmHg for diastolic. The results of a study conducted in India by Gosh (2006) to measure the effect of walking intensity (2 Km/30min) for 20 weeks, showed that there was a significant reduction in systolic/diastolic blood pressure by approximately 10 mmHg/4 mmHg.

Classroom Problems Essay

1.Classroom Shortage Teachers have to shout so loud because 70 – 100 students were jam packed sharing one classroom. Many classrooms have been divided into two by partitions. Stairwells and corridors have been converted into miniature classrooms. There were morning and afternoon sessions (2 shifts) to accommodate all students. 2.Bullying inside the classroom Disunity and bullying greatly affects a student behavior and performance inside the classroom. Bullying is very damaging to a student. It might affect his/her self-confidence and might induce the student to go into a shell and thus makes his world gloomier. 3.Classroom Behavior One of the biggest problems that are usually encountered by the teachers are their student’s behavior. It can cause disrupt for other students in the class. Other issues are students who don’t want to participate for various reasons. Also students being unprepared for school, not having the resources, or having homework done, because of various reasons (home life, parent problems, etc). 4.Lack of parental cooperation Many parents lack guidance to their kids. It is a great help to a student success if parents were able to guide their siblings well. There were times that parents start attacking their student’s teacher when they hear complain from their kid against teacher. Parents like to defend their child without knowing their child’s behavior and problems. 5.Lack of technology inside the classroom (in schools) Computers as part of technology are now essential to classroom learning. Many schools are still not able to introduce even the basics of computer literacy to their students because they are still behind civilization.

Digital library Essay

Digital library An electronic library (colloquially referred to as a digital library) is a library in which collections are stored in electronic media formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and accessible via computers. [1] Wikipedia:VerifiabilityThe electronic content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. An electronic library is a type of information retrieval system. In the context of the DELOS [2], a Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries, and DL. org [3], a Coordination Action on Digital Library Interoperability, Best Practices and Modelling Foundations, Digital Library researchers and practitioners and software developer produced a Digital Library Reference Model[4][5] which defines a digital library as: â€Å"A potentially virtual organisation, that comprehensively collects, manages and preserves for the long depth of time rich digital content, and offers to its targeted user communities specialised functionality on that content, of defined quality and according to comprehensive codified policies. â€Å"[6] The first use of the term digital library in print may have been in a 1988 report to the Corporation for National Research Initiatives[7]Wikipedia:Verifiability The term digital libraries was first popularized by the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Initiative in 1994. [8] These draw heavily on As We May Think by Vannevar Bush in 1945, which set out a vision not in terms of technology, but user experience. [9] The term virtual library was initially used interchangeably with digital library, but is now primarily used for libraries that are virtual in other senses (such as libraries which aggregate distributed content). A distinction is often made between content that was created in a digital format, known as born-digital, and information that has been converted from a physical medium, e. g. paper, by digitizing. It should also be noted that not all electronic content is in digital data format. The term hybrid library is sometimes used for libraries that have both physical collections and electronic collections. For example, American Memory is a digital library within the Library of Congress. Some important digital libraries also serve as long term archives, such as arXiv and the Internet Archive. Others, such as the Digital Public Library of America, seek to make digital information widely accessible through public libraries. [10] Academic repositories Many academic libraries are actively involved in building institutional repositories of the institution’s books, papers, theses, and other works which can be digitized or were ‘born digital’. Many of these repositories are made available to the general public with few restrictions, in accordance with the goals of open access, in contrast to the publication of research in commercial journals, where the publishers often limit access rights. Institutional, truly free, and corporate repositories are sometimes referred to as digital libraries. Digital archives Physical archives differ from physical libraries in several ways. Traditionally, archives are defined as: 1. Containing primary sources of information (typically letters and papers directly produced by an individual or organization) rather than the secondary sources found in a library (books, periodicals, etc. ). 2. Having their contents organized in groups rather than individual items. 3. Having unique contents. The technology used to create digital libraries is even more revolutionary for archives since it breaks down the second and third of these general rules. In other words, â€Å"digital archives† or â€Å"online archives† will still generally contain primary sources, but they are likely to be described individually rather than (or in addition to) in groups or collections. Further, because they are digital their contents are easily reproducible and may indeed have been 1 Digital library reproduced from elsewhere. The Oxford Text Archive is generally considered to be the oldest digital archive of academic physical primary source materials. The future Large scale digitization projects are underway at Google, the Million Book Project, and Internet Archive. With continued improvements in book handling and presentation technologies such as optical character recognition and ebooks, and development of alternative depositories and business models, digital libraries are rapidly growing in popularity. Just as libraries have ventured into audio and video collections, so have digital libraries such as the Internet Archive. Google Books project recently received a court victory on proceeding with their book-scanning project that was halted by the Authors’ guild. This helped open the road for libraries to work with Google to better reach patrons who are accustomed to computerized information. One factor that gave Google an advantage is the librarie’s fair use argument. According to Larry Lannom, Director of Information Management Technology at the nonprofit Corporation should be for National Research Initiatives, â€Å"all the problems associated with digital libraries are wrapped up in archiving. † He goes on to state, â€Å"If in 100 years people can still read your article, we’ll have solved the problem. † Daniel Akst, author of The Webster Chronicle, proposes that â€Å"the future of libraries — and of information — is digital. † Peter Lyman and Hal Varian, information scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, estimate that â€Å"the world’s total yearly production of print, film, optical, and magnetic content would require roughly 1. 5 billion gigabytes of storage. † Therefore, they believe that â€Å"soon it will be technologically possible for an average person to access virtually all recorded information. â€Å"[11] Searching Most digital libraries provide a search interface which allows resources to be found. These resources are typically deep web (or invisible web) resources since they frequently cannot be located by search engine crawlers. Some digital libraries create special pages or sitemaps to allow search engines to find all their resources. Digital libraries frequently use the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to expose their metadata to other digital libraries, and search engines like Google Scholar, Yahoo! and Scirus can also use OAI-PMH to find these deep web resources. [12] There are two general strategies for searching a federation of digital libraries: 1. distributed searching, and 2. searching previously harvested metadata. Distributed searching typically involves a client sending multiple search requests in parallel to a number of servers in the federation. The results are gathered, duplicates are eliminated or clustered, and the remaining items are sorted and presented back to the client. Protocols like Z39. 50 are frequently used in distributed searching. A benefit to this approach is that the resource-intensive tasks of indexing and storage are left to the respective servers in the federation. A drawback to this approach is that the search mechanism is limited by the different indexing and ranking capabilities of each database, making it difficult to assemble a combined result consisting of the most relevant found items. Searching over previously harvested metadata involves searching a locally stored index of information that has previously been collected from the libraries in the federation. When a search is performed, the search mechanism does not need to make connections with the digital libraries it is searching – it already has a local representation of the information. This approach requires the creation of an indexing and harvesting mechanism which operates regularly, connecting to all the digital libraries and querying the whole collection in order to discover new and updated resources. OAI-PMH is frequently used by digital libraries for allowing metadata to be harvested. A benefit to this approach is that the search mechanism has full control over indexing and ranking algorithms, possibly 2 Digital library allowing more consistent results. A drawback is that harvesting and indexing systems are more resource-intensive and therefore expensive. Frameworks The formal reference models include the DELOS Digital Library Reference Model[13] and the Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, Societies (5S) formal framework. [14] The Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) provides a framework to address digital preservation. [15] Construction and organization See also Digital Collections Selection Criteria. Software There are a number of software packages for use in general digital libraries, for notable ones see Digital library software. Institutional repository software, which focuses primarily on ingest, preservation and access of locally produced documents, particularly locally produced academic outputs, can be found in Institutional repository software. This software may be proprietary, as is the case with the Library of Congress which uses Digiboard and CTS to manage digital content. Digitization In the past few years, procedures for digitizing books at high speed and comparatively low cost have improved considerably with the result that it is now possible to digitize millions of books per year. [16] Google book-scanning project [17] is also working with libraries to offer digitize books pushing forward on the digitize book realm. Advantages The advantages of digital libraries as a means of easily and rapidly accessing books, archives and images of various types are now widely recognized by commercial interests and public bodies alike. [18] Traditional libraries are limited by storage space; digital libraries have the potential to store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contain it. As such, the cost of maintaining a digital library can be much lower than that of a traditional library. A physical library must spend large sums of money paying for staff, book maintenance, rent, and additional books. Digital libraries may reduce or, in some instances, do away with these fees. Both types of library require cataloguing input to allow users to locate and retrieve material. Digital libraries may be more willing to adopt innovations in technology providing users with improvements in electronic and audio book technology as well as presenting new forms of communication such as wikis and blogs; conventional libraries may consider that providing online access to their OPAC catalogue is sufficient. An important advantage to digital conversion is increased accessibility to users. They also increase availability to individuals who may not be traditional patrons of a library, due to geographic location or organizational affiliation. †¢ No physical boundary. The user of a digital library need not to go to the library physically; people from all over the world can gain access to the same information, as long as an Internet connection is available. †¢ Round the clock availability A major advantage of digital libraries is that people can gain access 24/7 to the information. †¢ Multiple access. The same resources can be used simultaneously by a number of institutions and patrons. This may not be the case for copyrighted material: a library may have a license for â€Å"lending out† only one copy at a time; this is achieved with a system of digital rights management where a resource can become inaccessible after expiration of the lending period or after the lender chooses to make it inaccessible (equivalent to returning the 3 Digital library †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ resource). Information retrieval. The user is able to use any search term (word, phrase, title, name, subject) to search the entire collection. Digital libraries can provide very user-friendly interfaces, giving clickable access to its resources. Preservation and conservation. Digitization is not a long-term preservation solution for physical collections, but does succeed in providing access copies for materials that would otherwise fall to degradation from repeated use. Digitized collections and born-digital objects pose many preservation and conservation concerns that analog materials do not. Please see the following â€Å"Problems† section of this page for examples. Space. Whereas traditional libraries are limited by storage space, digital libraries have the potential to store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contain them and media storage technologies are more affordable than ever before. Added value. Certain characteristics of objects, primarily the quality of images, may be improved. Digitization can enhance legibility and remove visible flaws such as stains and discoloration. [19] Easily accessible. Challenges Digital preservation. Digital preservation aims to ensure that digital media and information systems are still interpretable into the indefinite future. Each necessary component of this must be migrated, preserved or emulated. [20] Typically lower levels of systems (floppy disks for example) are emulated, bit-streams (the actual files stored in the disks) are preserved and operating systems are emulated as a virtual machine. Only where the meaning and content of digital media and information systems are well understood is migration possible, as is the case for office documents. [21][22] However, at least one organization, the WiderNet Project, has created an offline digital library, the eGranary, by reproducing materials on a 4 TB hard drive. Instead of a bit-stream environment, the digital library contains a built-in proxy server and search engine so the digital materials can be accessed using an Internet browser. Also, the materials are not preserved for the future. The eGranary is intended for use in places or situations where Internet connectivity is very slow, non-existent, unreliable, unsuitable or too expensive. Copyright and licensing Digital libraries are hampered by copyright law because, unlike with traditional printed works, the laws of digital copyright are still being formed. The republication of material on the web by libraries may require permission from rights holders, and there is a conflict of interest between libraries and the publishers who may wish to create online versions of their acquired content for commercial purposes. In 2010, it was estimated that twenty-three percent of books in existence were created before 1923 and thus out of copyright. Of those printed after this date, only five percent were still in print as of 2010. Thus, approximately seventy-two percent of books were not available to the public. [23] There is a dilution of responsibility that occurs as a result of the distributed nature of digital resources. Complex intellectual property matters may become involved since digital material is not always owned by a library. [24] The content is, in many cases, public domain or self-generated content only. Some digital libraries, such as Project Gutenberg, work to digitize out-of-copyright works and make them freely available to the public. An estimate of the number of distinct books still existent in library catalogues from 2000 BC to 1960, has been made. [25] The Fair Use Provisions (17 USC  § 107) under the Copyright Act of 1976 provide specific guidelines under which circumstances libraries are allowed to copy digital resources. Four factors that constitute fair use are â€Å"Purpose of the use, Nature of the work, Amount or substantiality used and Market impact. â€Å"[26] 4 Digital library Some digital libraries acquire a license to lend their resources. This may involve the restriction of lending out only one copy at a time for each  license, and applying a system of digital rights management for this purpose (see also above). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 was an act created in the United States to attempt to deal with the introduction of digital works. This Act incorporates two treaties from the year 1996. It criminalizes the attempt to circumvent measures which limit access to copyrighted materials. It also criminalizes the act of attempting to circumvent access control. [27] This act provides an exemption for nonprofit libraries and archives which allows up to three copies to be made, one of which may be digital. This may not be made public or distributed on the web, however. Further, it allows libraries and archives to copy a work if its format becomes obsolete. [28] Copyright issues persist. As such, proposals have been put forward suggesting that digital libraries be exempt from copyright law. Although this would be very beneficial to the public, it may have a negative economic effect and authors may be less inclined to create new works. [29] Another issue that complicates matters is the desire of some publishing houses to restrict the use of digit materials such as e-books purchased by libraries. Whereas with printed books, the library owns the book until it can no longer be circulated, publishers want to limit the number of times an e-book can be checked out before the library would need to repurchase that book. â€Å"[HarperCollins] began licensing use of each e-book copy for a maximum of 26 loans. This affects only the most popular titles and has no practical effect on others. After the limit is reached, the library can repurchase access rights at a lower cost than the original price. † [30] While from a publishing perspective, this sounds like a good balance of library lending and protecting themselves from a feared decrease in book sales, libraries are not set up to monitor their collections as such. They acknowledge the increased demand of digital materials available to patrons and the desire of a digital library to become expanded to include best sellers, but publisher licensing may hinder the process†¦ Metadata creation In traditional libraries, the ability to find works of interest is directly related to how well they were cataloged. While cataloging electronic works digitized from a library’s existing holding may be as simple as copying or moving a record from the print to the electronic form, complex and born-digital works require substantially more effort. To handle the growing volume of electronic publications, new tools and technologies have to be designed to allow effective automated semantic classification and searching. While full text search can be used for some items, there are many common catalog searches which cannot be performed using full text, including: †¢ finding texts which are translations of other texts. †¢ linking texts published under pseudonyms to the real authors (Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain, for example) †¢ differentiating non-fiction from parody (The Onion from The New York Times, for example). References [1] Greenstein, Daniel I. , Thorin, Suzanne Elizabeth. The Digital Library: A Biography (http:/ / www. clir. org/ PUBS/ reports/ pub109/ pub109. pdf). Digital Library Federation (2002) ISBN 1-933645-18-0. Accessed June 25, 2007. [2] http:/ / www. delos. info [3] http:/ / www. dlorg. eu [4] L. Candela, G. Athanasopoulos, D. Castelli, K. El Raheb, P. Innocenti, Y. Ioannidis, A. Katifori, A. Nika, G. Vullo, S. Ross: The Digital Library Reference Model. April 2011 ( PDF (http:/ / bscw. research-infrastructures. eu/ pub/ bscw. cgi/ d222816/ D3. 2b Digital Library Reference Model. pdf)) [5] L. Candela et al. : The DELOS Digital Library Reference Model – Foundations for Digital Libraries. Version 0. 98, February 2008 ( PDF (http:/ / www. delos. info/ files/ pdf/ ReferenceModel/ DELOS_DLReferenceModel_0. 98. pdf)) [6] L. Candela, G. Athanasopoulos, D. Castelli, K. El Raheb, P. Innocenti, Y. Ioannidis, A. Katifori, A. Nika, G. Vullo, S. Ross: The Digital Library Reference Model. April 2011, 17. ( PDF (http:/ / bscw. research-infrastructures. eu/ pub/ bscw. cgi/ d222816/ D3. 2b Digital Library Reference Model. pdf)) 5 Digital library [7] Kahn, R. E. , & Cerf, V. G. (1988). The Digital Library Project Volume I: The World of Knowbots, (DRAFT): An Open Architecture For a Digital Library System and a Plan For Its Development (http:/ / hdl. handle. net/ 4263537/ 2091). Reston, VA: Corporation for National Research Initiatives. [8] Edward A. Fox. The Digital Libraries Initiative – Update and Discussion. (http:/ / www.asis. org/ Bulletin/ Oct-99/ fox. html), Bulletin of the America Society of Information Science, Vol. 26, No 1, October/November 1999. [9] Candela, L. ; Castelli, D. & Pagano, History, Evolution and Impact of Digital Libraries (http:/ / www. igi-global. com/ viewtitle. aspx? titleid=47467& sender=4dcefe4d-ef33-4836-8eea-f02af2cc374d). In P. Iglezakis, I. ; Synodinou, T. & Kapidakis, S. (ed. ) E-Publishing and Digital Libraries: Legal and Organizational Issues, IGI Global, 2011, 1- 30 [10] Yi, Esther, Inside the Quest to Put the World’s Libraries Online (http:/ / www. theatlantic. com/ entertainment/ archive/ 2012/ 07/ inside-the-quest-to-put-the-worlds-libraries-online/ 259967/ ), The Atlantic, July 26, 2012. [11] Akst, D. (2003). The Digital Library: Its Future Has Arrived. Carnegie Reporter, 2(3), 4-8. [12] Koehler, AEC. Some Thoughts on the Meaning of Open Access for University Library Technical Services Serials Review Vol. 32, 1, 2006, p. 17 [13] Agosti, M. , Candela, L. , Castelli, D. , Ferro, N. , Ioannidis, Y. , Koutrika, G. , Meghini, C. , Pagano, P. , Ross, S. , Schek, H. -J. , & Schuldt, H. (2006). A Reference Model for DLMSs Interim Report. In L. Candela, & D. Castelli (Eds. ), Deliverable D1. 4. 2 – Reference Model for Digital Library Management Systems [Draft 1]. DELOS, A Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries — IST-2002-2. 3. 1. 12, Technology-enhanced Learning and Access to Cultural Heritage. Online at: http:/ / 146. 48. 87. 122:8003/ OLP/ Repository/ 1. 0/ Disseminate/ delos/ 2006_WP1_D142/ content/ pdf? version=1 [14] Goncalves, M. A. , Fox, E. A. , Watson, L. T. , & Kipp, N. A. (2004). Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, Societies (5S): A Formal Model for Digital Libraries. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS),22 (2), 270-312. [15] â€Å"The DSpace team recognized the value of the OAIS framework and recast the repository’s architecture to accommodate this archival framework† [16] Committee on Institutional Cooperation: Partnership announced between CIC and Google (http:/ / www. cic. uiuc. edu/ programs/ CenterForLibraryInitiatives/ Archive/ PressRelease/ LibraryDigitization/ index. shtml), 6 June 2007, Retrieved 7. [17] http:/ / www. google. com/ googlebooks/ library. html [18] European Commission steps up efforts to put Europe’s memory (http:/ / europa. eu/ rapid/ pressReleasesAction. do? reference=IP/ 06/ 253& type=HTML& aged=0& language=EN& guiLanguage=en) on the Web via a â€Å"European Digital Library† Europa press release, 2 March 2006 [19] Gertz, Janet. â€Å"Selection for Preservation in the Digital Age. † Library Resources & Technical Services. 44(2) (2000):97-104. [20] Cain, Mark. â€Å"Managing Technology: Being a Library of Record in a Digital Age†, Journal of Academic Librarianship 29:6 (2003). [21] Breeding, Marshall. â€Å"Preserving Digital Information. †. Information Today 19:5 (2002). [22] Teper, Thomas H. â€Å"Where Next? Long-Term Considerations for Digital Initiatives. † Kentucky Libraries 65(2)(2001):12-18. [23] Van Le, Christopher, â€Å"Opening the Doors to Digital Libraries: A Proposal to Exempt Digital Libraries From the Copyright Act,† Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology & The Internet, 1. 2 (Spring 2010),135. [24] Pymm, Bob. â€Å"Building Collections for All Time: The Issue of Significance. † Australian Academic & Research Libraries. 37(1) (2006):61-73. [25] Antique Books (http:/ / www. antiquebooks. net/ datatop. html) [26] Hirtle, Peter B. , â€Å"Digital Preservation and Copyright,† (http:/ / fairuse. stanford. edu/ commentary_and_analysis/ 2003_11_hirtle. html) Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved October 24, 2011. [27] United States Copyright Office, â€Å"The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 – U. S. Copyright Office Summary† (http:/ / www. copyright. gov/ legislation/ dmca. pdf) 1998, 2. [28] United States Copyright Office, â€Å"The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 – U. S. Copyright Office Summary† (http:/ / www. copyright. gov/ legislation/ dmca. pdf) 1998, 15. [29] Van Le, Christopher, â€Å"Opening the Doors to Digital Libraries: A Proposal to Exempt Digital Libraries From the Copyright Act,† Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology & The Internet, 1. 2 (Spring 2010),145. [30] STROSS, RANDALL. â€Å"For Libraries and Publishers, an E-Book Tug of War – NYTimes. com. † The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. 6 Digital library External links †¢ CNRI-DARPA: D-Lib Magazine (http://www. dlib. org/) Electronic publication that primarily focuses on digital library research and development †¢ http://www. librittio. com – World’s Most Advanced Professional Digital Library System †¢ / Democratization of Literature:The Rise of the Digital Libraries on the Internet (http://www. reflectionedu.com/ attachments/File/Barnolipi/EngT_8_11. pdf) by Tarun Tapas Mukherjee]. From BARNOLIPI: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume I, Issue II, 2011. [http://fbc. pionier. net. pl/ Search Engine of Free Resources, available online in Polish Digital Libraries (http://www. barnolipi. com/) Conferences †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ TPDL (http://www. tpdl. eu/) – International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries ECDL (http://ecdlconference. isti. cnr. it/) – European Conference on Digital Libraries ICADL (http://www. icadl. org/) – International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries JCDL (http://www. jcdl. org/) – ACM and IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries ICSD (http://www. icsd-conference. org/) – International Conference for Digital Libraries and the Semantic Web 7 Article Sources and Contributors Article Sources and Contributors Digital library Source: http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? oldid=570781509 Contributors: — April, 24fan24, 2A00:1620:C0:50:C8B0:1C9B:27C1:7990, A. B. , Aap3030, Aarontay, Abdullah Albluchi, Acc60, Adoniscik, Afl2784, Aladin p, Alain Caraco, Alaniaris, Alexius08, Alf7e, Andrejj, Andy Dingley, Andyjsmith, Aragor, Arctic Kangaroo, Artdhtml, Ashenfelder, Ata, Ata.rehman, Azpayel, BadBull, Badan barman, Baileycw, Beetstra. BlindWanderer, Bob103051, Bomzhik, Bonadea, Bujar, Buridan, CVCE, Candela, Catfoo, Cej10, Ceyockey, Charivari, Chhotu372, Choukimath, Coldmachine, CommonsDelinker, Conversion script, Creationlaw, Curious1i, CutOffTies, Cwconservation, DGG, DaGizza, DabMachine, Dalf, Danny lost, Dawnseeker2000, DebbieWiLS, Deborah-jl, Denverjeffrey, Diglibs, Disavian, Djstasiewski, Dlkwiki, Dthomsen8, Dylan furnas, Eanc, Eilthireach, Enduser, Epbr123, Erianna, Evil saltine, Fatalityonline, Feedmecereal, Femto, Filterking. Floating red, Fmccown, Gaius Cornelius, Galka, Gareth Owen, Gego, Gouwepv, Greenrd, Greenteablues, Grika, Harris7, Hhanke, Hiogui, Hollymorganelli, Hu12, Ilsessay, Ipigott, Irbisgreif, Irishguy, Ithinkhelikesit, Ixfd64, JLaTondre, JakobVoss, Jaqian, Jchang12, Jeremykemp, Jewers, Jo 316, John, John Hubbard, Jpbowen, Jpom, Jsweetin, Jua Cha, Jweise, Kanags, Kansoku, Karen Johnson, Kattmamma, Katywatson, Kbel32, Kggy, Killian441, Kinu, Klemen Kocjancic, Ktr101, LadislavNK, Lawandtech, Lawsonstu, LeeNapier, Leonardo. candela, Loonymonkey, Lquilter, Ltfhenry, Lyc. Cooperi, Lysy, MBisanz, MK8, Maristella. agosti, Marselan, Martinlc, Masgatotkaca, Materialscientist, Mboverload, Mcanabalb, Mean as custard, Mets501, Mica Gomes, Michael Hardy, Mike. lifeguard, Missenc, Mmj, Mogh, Morbusgravis, Mordsan, MrOllie, Mseem, Mwisotzky, Mxn, Mairtin, Ncschistory, Nealmcb, NeilN, Neilc, Neo3DGfx, Nigholith, Night eule, Noisy, NorwalkJames, Notinasnaid, Nurg, OSU1980, Oicumayberight, OlEnglish, Olexandr Kravchuk, Olgerd, Omegatron, Pamplemousse, Patrick, PeepP, Phauly, Pinethicket, Pinkadelica, Poindexter Propellerhead, Poor Yorick, Prajapati Reena, Ps07swt, Ptgraham, Puckly, Padraic MacUidhir, Quadell, RJBurkhart3, Racheltaketa, Raghith, Rajankila, Rich Farmbrough, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ). Rickprelinger, Rlitwin, Robert Thibadeau, Rozek19, Russell Square, SRHMGSLP, Sander Sade, Sandox, Sayeedmd, Senu, Sfiga, Shanes, Shyamal, SimonP, Skomorokh, Skysmith, Smmurphy, Spdegabrielle, Stbalbach, Stephen Burnett, Stephen Gilbert, Stevertigo, Strabon, StradivariusTV, Stuartyeates, Supersion, Svchameli, TWWhiting, TakuyaMurata, Targi, Tentinator, The Anome, The Evil Spartan, TheNewPhobia, Thebt, Thingg, Timeshifter. Tl246, Tlearn, Trapow, Travczyk, Treemonster19, Tregoweth, Trek011, Ttm1974, User A1, Utcursch, Vamshi 12345, Vanprooi, Vector Potential, Vicky877, Victorlamp, Viriditas, Volphy, WJetChao, Wavelength, Wayland, Wikiborg, Wmahan, Wya, YVSREDDY, Yerpo, Yosri, Zack wadghiri, Zundark, Zzuuzz, 302 anonymous edits License Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3. 0 //creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/3. 0/ 8.

My relationship with God

As a start for developing a closer relationship with God, I decided that I wanted to try daily devotionals and Bible reading. I considered finding a devotional guide, but instead decided to begin by simply reading the Bible for myself. I thought about finding a daily devotional guide, but chose instead to start my devotional readings by simply reading the New Testament and letting God speak to me as He determined not as some other person might have been inspired.My decision was partially based on a need for this to be a personal journey and a knowledge that many people who attempt to read the Bible begin at the beginning and get discouraged when they reach the histories of the Books of Law. And, as a Christian, I believe the importance of the New Testament speaks for itself. This was a particularly difficult task for me. Choosing a time to read regularly and coupling it with prayer for understanding and meditation to determine the meaning of the scriptures was very difficult.I discov ered that the first thing in the morning was not a good time for me to try to read my Bible. Too often, I was overly tempted to hit the snooze button and often did not find my concentration level where it should be to really understand the scriptures, even though most of it was familiar territory. I then tried to do my devotional reading at the end of the day and found that too was a bad idea. Some days exhaustion seemed to bull me away from my studies in an untimely manner and I decided that too was a bad time. Instead I chose to set aside an hour every morning just before lunch.This seemed to be the best time for me to be able to devote my attention to the Bible and not be distracted. I set an alarm to let me know when I could be done and then tuned out all distractions. In the three weeks, I managed to read through all of the gospel of Matthew and get started in Mark without feeling like it was a chore. As the time wore on, I found myself looking forward to my daily devotional mo re than I had in the beginning and found it was easier to maintain once I found the appropriate time. Intercessory prayer as a devotional tool also appealed to me.Like many churches, the church I grew up in had a prayer chain devoted to praying for those in need. Remembering the peace and joy that came from praying for another person without any goal or personal motivation lead me to choose intercessory prayer Practicing this devotional method reminded me of the need to be more worried about others than I am about myself. I thought this was going to be my favorite devotional form, but I found that it wasn’t. Too often it felt like I was pushing my will onto God instead of allowing His will to work through me.The other two devotional forms I chose were praise singing and random good deeds. These are the two forms of devotion which I believe had the biggest impacts on my life. I chose to do my devotional singing while in the car. I turned off the radio and began singing hymns i n the car and immediately noticed a change in my attitude. I was no longer as willing to spout off angrily at other drivers, no longer feeling the need to drive unreasonably fast and no longer impatient in traffic. Changing my heart through song made my daily commutes easier and relieved tension in my life.I found myself with an sincerely improved attitude and a greater desire to praise God for the miraculous things he was working in my life and int eh world around me. The author says that the practice of doing good deeds simply for the sake of doing them is a good thing because it reinforces the image that we want non-believers to have of Christians. I found that the biggest impact it had on me was that this is a manner I believe Christians should act in. By committing daily random acts of kindness I felt better about myself.I felt that I was behaving more the way that Christ would want me to behave. My random acts of kindness included letting others go first in the grocery line an d putting coins in parking meters. Finally, last week, I also purchased a small quantity of stuffed animals and placed them randomly on the windshields of cars at the doctor’s office. I believe that the act may have helped just one other person to get through a rough day and that is what God has called each of us to do. These actions are things that I will continue.I believe that the daily Bible readings will be the most difficult to consistently maintain, but I also believe it may be the most important for my continued spiritual growth. The praise singing and random good deeds are easy to maintain because they have an immediate uplifting effect. The Bible reading requires the biggest commitment, but a better understanding of God’s purpose for me should be found in His word. I believe that the intercessory prayer is also going to continue to be a part of my life, though I am interested in determining how I can best pray without feeling like I am placing demand on my Lo rd.

Agricultural Mechanizasion as a Solution to Food Insecurity in Africa Essay

Achieving food security in its totality continues to be a challenge for ever increasing population of Africa. A approaches are employed in developing countries but with less success due to a number of factors . this paper examines the causes of food insecurity in African. Scanning through researchers works ,it was noted that over seventy percent of the food insecure population in africa live in the rural areas. The paper therefore recommends that, if the ever increasing population of the african countries is to be fed, then mechanization of all agricultural operations should be embrace. In conclusion, efforts to words the development of the rural communities in Africa should be increased. Key words: agriculture, mechanization, food security, Africa, rural development. Introduction : Agriculture is the practices of cultivating the soil and raising livestock to produce plant and animals useful to humans and sometimes animals {S. N, Asogwu and O. A Asogwu,2007}, Agriculture is an important occupation in Nigeria with over 7o% of her population depending on it directly for livelihood. It provides the bulk of employment, income and food for the rapidly growing population as well as supplying raw materials for agro-based industries. World current agricultural production as an average growth rate of 1. 8% as compared to the 3% in the 1960s and therefore at a lesser pace than the demographic growth. The world bank has shown that in sub-saharan Africa (to which Nigeria belongs)the annual food increase needs to reach 4%, i. e. more than double the current figure in order to achieve food security. She suggested that this can be reached through a significant progress in plant and animal breeding that plays a key role in the development of the agricultural sector as well as a significant impact using appropriate farm mechanization {Pawlat et al , 2002}. Due to number of factors, which include rising population, increasing pressure on land resources, natural and man-made disasters such as drought, desertification, soil erosion and degradation (Raoult-Wack and Bricas, 001), the problem of sustainable agricultural production in Nigeria has assumed greater importance than ever before. Agricultural development involves three approaches namely bio-chemical, socio-economic, and engineering known as the trio of technologies (Mrema and Odigboh, 1993). The bio-chemical approach includes the development of improved animal and plant species, animal and plant nutrients (fertilizer and feed) and plant and animal protection (veterinary drugs, pesticides and herbicides). The socio-economic approach includes financial packages and management programmes (economic, business management, accounting, sociology, extension services, agricultural machines and equipment (be they human, animal or mechanically powered) for production and post harvest systems handling and storage systems and farm structures, erosion control measures, water resources development as well as irrigation and drainage structures, meteorological systems, and the technologies for optimally utilizing the above and their proper and economic use and management. Ani and Onwuala, 2002; Ampratwum et al, 2004; Onwuala and Pawa, 2004). Agricultural mechanization implies the use of various power sources and improved farm tools and equipment, with a view to reduce drudgery of the human beings and draught animals, enhance the cropping intensity, precision and timeliness of efficiency of utilization of various crop inputs and reduce the losses at different stages of crop production. The end objective of farm mechanization is to enhance the overall productivity and production with the lowest cost of production. The contribution of agricultural mechanization has been well recognized in enhancing the production together with irrigation, biological and chemical inputs of high yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanical energy. Different researchers have concluded that farm mechanization enhances the production and productivity of different crops due to timeliness of operation, better quality of operations and precision in the application of the inputs. According to NCAER (1980) survey covering 815 farming households in 85 villages, the increase was 72 percent in the case of sorghum, and 7 percent in the case of cotton as compared to traditional bullock farms. ITES, Madras (1975) found that the productivity increase on tractor owning and hiring farm ranged between 4. 1 and 54. 8 percent. The percent increase was comparatively low on custom hiring farms as compared to tractor-owning farms due to higher level of inputs and better control on timeliness of operations. These productivity increases, thus, were attributed to higher doses of fertilizer, irrigation and mechanization. Degree of mechanization is the ration of machine or technological work input to total work input (machine plus manual) into agricultural production. The importance of food security to any nation cannot be over emphasized. The issue of food security became prominent in the 1970s and had been given considerable attention since then. The World Food Programme Report in 1979 conceptualized food security, equating it with an â€Å"assurance of supplies and a balanced supply-demand situation of staple foods in the international market†. The report also emphasized that increasing food production in the developing countries is a panacea to food security. The concept of food security proposes that food is available, accessible and affordable, when and where needed in sufficient quantity and that this state of affair will continue and be sustained (Agboola, P. O. , 2002). It is a situation in which sufficient food us available at all times in the right quantity and quality, at affordable process. To accomplish this, we must have a production system that produces enough food in the short run, sustainable in the long run and does not place undue risks on agricultural producers and must respond rapidly to disruptions in the food supply due to disease epidemics, natural disasters, civil disturbances, environmental imbalances and other cause (Agboola P. O. 2002). With these objectives in mind, various efforts at the international, national and local levels had been put in place at one point in time or another to boost agricultural production to make food available to the teaming population and the ever-increasing world population. The world population. The world population explosion witnessed as at the end of 1999, further increased the fear of those concerned about world food security. During this period, the global population exceeded 6 billion. Leisinger, (2002), stated that never before in human history had the population of the earth been as great as it is today, and never before had it grown so rapidly within one century. He stated further that the doubling of world population over the past 40years had put enormous pressure on the natural systems that support all life on Earth. This pressure on natural resources also increased the burden of assuring food security for the entire world’s people international Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, 2001) stated in one of her reports, that about 73 millions people would be added to world’s population every year between 1995 and 2010 increasing it by 32 percent to reach 7. 5 billion. However, much of this population growth is expected to occur in the developing world. If this prediction is to go by, then the food security situation of the developing world needs constant assessment via empirical research. Joachim et depal (2004), wrote that these was a strong direct relationship between agricultural productivity, hunger and poverty. He stated further that three quarter of the world’s poor people lived in rural areas and made their living from agriculture. He therefore, concluded that the higher the proportion of the rural population that obtained its benefits from subsistence farming (without the benefit of pro poor technologies and access to markets) the higher the incidence of food insecurity. Challenges to Food Security in Africa The root cause of food insecurity in developing countries is the inability of people to gain access to food due to poverty. While the rest of the world has made significant progress towards poverty alleviation, Africa, in particular Sub-Saharan Africa, continues to lag behind. Projections show that there will be an increase in this tendency unless preventive measures are taken. Many factors have contributed to this tendency including the high prevalence of HIV/AID; civil war, strive and poor governance; frequent drought and famine; and agricultural dependency on the climate and environment. Food security on the continent has worsened since 1970 and the proportion of the malnourished population has remained within the 33 and 35 percent range in Sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence of malnutrition within the continent varies by region. It is lowest in Northern Africa (4 percent) and highest in Central Africa (40 percent) Over seventy percent of the food insecure population in Africa lives in the rural areas. Figure 1 shows the distribution of food insecurity in Africa. Ironically, smallholder farmers, the producers of over 90 percent of the continent’s food supply, make up the majority (50 percent) of this population. The rest of the food insecure population consists of the landless poor in rural areas (30 percent) and the urban poor. Throughout the developing world, agriculture accounts for around 9 percent of the GDP and more than half of total employment. In countries where more than 34 percent of the population is undernourished, agriculture represents 30 percent of GDP and nearly 70 percent of population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. This fact has in the past been used in support of the argument as to why developing countries should move away from agriculture and invest in technology. Because over 70 percent of the poor live in rural areas, where also the largest proportion of the food insecure live, it is evident that ;we cannot significantly and sustainably reduce food insecurity without transforming the living conditions in these areas. The key lies in increasing the agricultural profitability of smallholder farmers and creating rural off-farm employment opportunities. The objective of this paper is to h8ighlight the challenges to food security in Africa while providing alternative solutions to the problem that would not only allow for poverty alleviation but also wealth creation. While the focus of this paper is in alleviating food insecurity in the rural areas, effort has been made to address the plight of the urban poor.