Human Nutrition in the Developing Country of Guyana

Topic:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human Nutrition in the Developing Country of Guyana * Introduction * According to the United Nation and the International Monetary Fund, countries are categorized according to their socio-economic position with respect to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), income per capita, life expectancy and the wellbeing of the natives. These factors are compared to all the countries all over the world. Countries with a low level of material wellbeing are considered developing or underdeveloped. According to the Human Developing Index, approximately 85. % of the world’s population lives in developing countries making this issue of Health and Nutrition in this global community a major and pressing issue. Economically, many of these countries cannot establish stable enough economies due to the history of imperialism and colonization that caused a disruption in the development of these countries. Because of the lack of funds to cultivate the raw materials, t hese countries cannot establish successful and stable systems to produce food to feed their populations or even hospitals to cure many of the diseases and disorders created as a result of malnutrition. For this study, focus will be localized to a village that is located in Guyana, South * America. This is the native country of my parents, and I was fortunate to make several visits to this location, the most recent of which was last summer, so I am familiar with the lifestyle practices of the inhabitants not only from a first hand basis, but also from the inherited practices that were passed down to my family through my parents. * Brief History of Imperialism and Development as a Developing Country Guyana is located on the northern tip of the continent of South America, and the location of this case study is also on the northern tip that referred to as the coastal plain. Guyana recieved its name from the Native Indian tribe called the Amerindians, and it means â€Å"Land of Many wat ers† because of the many rivers and streams that are found in the country. The country is also near to the equator, so it has a tropical climate for most of the year, with only tow seasons, the wet season and the dry season. The former season is usually rainy and occurs between October to May and the latter which is usually dry and hot (temperature ranging from the early 80 degrees to 100 on humid days) from June through September. * Guyana is also below sea level, and like many of the other countries in the region was subjected to colonial expansion, so it changed Imperial governments between the British, Dutch and Spanish for a brief period. The Dutch and English had longer influences, with the English finally securing dominance for the last and longest period in the history of the country. So, due to the many rivers and the fact that that the country is susceptible to flooding, when it was occupied by the Dutch large systems of sluices, dams and sea walls were constructed to prevent excessive flooding, but the rich silt deposits from the river made the coastal plain fertile for agricultural initiatives, so the main produce from Guyana have always been sugar from the cane plants and rice. * The System of Self Sufficiency in Union Village, Guyana, SA: Introduction * Since Union Village is located on the coastal plain of the Corentyne River, the land is also fertile and it is one of the many farming communities along that plain. Some of the villagers have become wealthy rice farmers as they own large plots of rice lands, but the majority of people are self sufficient by planting kitchen gardens to supplement the staple ric e diet with ground provisions, fruits and vegetables. Those villagers also rear livestock of chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats and cows. Some of the rice farmers also rear fish farms. They use the waste from the rice covering/ shell to feed the fish, and their livestock. The milk comes from the cows and goats; eggs come from the chicken and ducks and meat come from all livestock and fish. Since fish is in most abundance and is therefore the cheapest, fish is usually the protein of choice for the diet. * The System of Self Sufficiency in Union Village, Guyana, SA: Environmental Perspective * Environmentally, the living habits of these villagers generate positive carbon footprint because of their waste management and recycling habits, long before the awareness was created at the international level. They were engaged in those activities out of necessity, but it paid off very well for the community and ensured sustainability for them. By planting seasonal crops, they learned to rotate the crops they plant and maintain the fertility of the soil by natural eco-balancing. They also use even the waste produced by the cows, especially as fertilizer, so helped by the rain and sunshine, the land stays lush and green. The dogs eat leftovers from the family meals, so they do not incur additional expenditure of having to buy separate dog food and the livestock eat the waste products of the plants such as the rice and corn. Because a majority of the food in Guyana is produced locally and sold in large market places their carbon footprint is significantly lower than a majority of other countries that rely on outside imports of food. Limiting the importation of food and exportation of goods decreases carbon emissions in transportation like large jets, freight planes and other large automobile s that emit pollution in the air. However, during the 21st century Guyana has begun to follow the growing trend of increasing its involvement in the global community through the exportation of minerals like Gold and Bauxite. In addition to the few food products that Guyana is historically known for since imperialism: sugar and raw materials. * Because Guyana is increasing its involvement in the global community exports as well as few imports have increased due to sanctions from the International Monetary Fund’s involvement in the project of developing small countries like Guyana industrially and economically. As shown in the graphs below, Guyana’s carbon emissions have increased significantly since the 1950’s especially at the turn of the 21st century when the United Nations introduced their initiatives to better developing countries. * Graph 1a. (http://rainforests. mongabay. com/carbon-emissions/guyana. html) * * Graph 1b. (http://rainforests. mongabay. com/carbon-emissions/guyana. html) * * The System of Self Sufficiency in Union Village, Guyana, SA: Socio-Economic * As a result, from the socio-economic perspective, based on their life styles, the villagers eating habits may not b e sufficient enough to ensure proper nutrition because their foods are not imported they have to rely on the fickle patterns of nature in order to yield a good harvest and raise healthy livestock. Guyana’s weather correlates with their socio-economic standing and the problem of malnutrition. * With many floods, monsoon type weather and the rainforest atmosphere, villagers rely heavily on the weather that develops a particularly unbalanced eating regiment. From a social perspective, meats like chicken, cows and other animals are only cooked on special holidays and large festivals while on a regular basis, rice is the main staple for many impoverished families. From rice and pepper to shine rice (rice and butter), these dishes will not suffice nutritionally. In most cases however, village people consume a lot of fresh fruit on a daily basis from their personal yards. While these foods are healthy, fresh and organic, with no addition of chemicals, artificial fertilizers or pesticides, the foods are eaten leisurely and not measured daily to ensure a balanced and accurate amount of nutrition. With the lack of education on how to properly balance their diets with vegetables, proteins and even fruits, they eat leisurely and do not fairly balance their diets per day. While many industrialized and developed countries hold health classes that teach children from a young age to balance a fruit a day and a proper portion control. In actuality, although the foods in Guyana are fresher, the genetically altered or artificial products that are produced by developed countries guarantee a higher yield of foods to be distributed along with added vitamins and proteins that still ensure a sufficient amount of nutrition. Despite these set backs in education on diets, Guyana still produces a variety of foods that can suffice in feeding the people to ensure healthy nutrition (See Graph 3 Below). * Graph 3. (ftp://ftp. fao. org/es/esn/nutrition/ncp/guymap. pdf) * Also, owing to the location from the centralized city, they do not have quick access to quality medical facilities as the nearest medical center is approximately 25 miles from the village and the hospital is almost 40 miles away. As a result, they have non-traditional attitudes towards conventional medic al practices such as screenings, for example, which are considered as routine and expected from an international stand-point. In addition, socially, since they are semi-rural, some of them do have access to technology and amenities such as electricity, radios and even a sprinkling of television, but that is not widespread. Therefore, Internet and computer access or in many cases, even access to a telephone is not widespread. This is a blessing in disguise because economically it saves both the people and the government money and most of all saves the environment from utilization of so much electricity. Even for cooking, they use outdoor brick ovens that are fuelled by dry brushes and wood or coal collected from forest fore remnants. Resulting Issues from the Environmental and Socio-economic Factors * As aforementioned in the introduction of the topic, countries are still categorized according to their socio-economic position with respect to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), income per capita, life expectancy and the wellbeing of the natives. These factors are compared to all the countries all over the world. The wealth of countries are categorized according to their abilities to export and their level of industrialization. * According to the Human Developing Index, approximately 85. % of the world’s population lives in developing countries making this issue of Health and Nutrition in this global community a major and pressing issue. Economically, many of these countries are not capable of establishing stable enough economies due to the history of imperialism and colonization that contributed to their dependency on foreign aid as well as their economic destabilization. Due to the absence of capital to process the raw materials such as bauxite, in the case of Guyana to produce aluminum, dependency is on ALCAN in Canada and Reynolds in the USA to purchase that raw material. The same case is with the excess rice and sugar produced, so the local economic system is incapable of sustaining quality hospitals and health care services that could address disease prevention and cure and even some kinds of malnutrition. * When examined environmentally, in an article in the Health and Wellness Magazine discussing underdeveloped countries, Dr. Majid Ezzati from Harvard School of Public Health points to the lack of clean water and sanitation as the major problem causing the malnutrition. Potable water is a problem in many of the Guyanese communities, as many people still cannot afford indoor plumbing. Furthermore in an article from the Royal Society of Medicine Press on Experimental Biology and Medicine the article deals with the problem of nutrition and infectious disease in these developing countries and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The institute states, â€Å"Infectious diseases are the major causes of death and morbidity in underdeveloped countries, particularly in children† which is caused by malnutrition. * One major effect of malnutrition is an increase in child mortality rate. As seen in the graph below * One Step forward in Industrialization, Two Steps back in Sustainability * Because of the new push towards development, many supermarkets and grocery stores are replacing the marketplace and the tiny food shops in Guyana. As shown in the chart below Guyana’s carbon emissions have increased significantly since the 1950’s. This increase is largely due to the development of supermarkets and the importation of processed goods from United States companies that have specific relations with the Guyanese government. In order to ensure that Guyana returns to its more sustainable systems, the country should create better programs to educate its people on eating well balanced meals to avoid malnutrition with respect to the three major forms of malnutrition in Guyana as recorded by the Food and Agriculture Organization are Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), anemia, and overweight/obesity are the most common nutrition-related disorders. As seen in Graph 4, Guyana produces a large amount of varying foods and products that can adequately resolve its problems of malnutrition. YEAR| Carbon emissions| Per capita emissions| 1950| 71| 0. 17| 1951| 78| 0. 18| 1952| 92| 0. 21| 1953| 123| 0. 27| 1954| 129| 0. 27| 1955| 141| 0. 29| 1956| 150| 0. 3| 1957| 146| 0. 28| 1958| 125| 0. 23| 1959| 151| 0. 27| 1960| 180| 0. 32| 1961| 201| 0. 34| 1962| 185| 0. 31| 1963| 168| 0. 27| 1964| 177| 0. 28| 1965| 294| 0. 46| 1966| 322| 0. 49| 1967| 361| 0. 54| 1968| 363| 0. 53| 1969| 373| 0. 53| 1970| 431| 0. 61| 1971| 409| 0. 57| 1972| 426| 0. 59| 1973| 492| 0. 68| 1974| 424| 0. 58| 1975| 498| 0. 68| 1976| 478| 0. 65| 1977| 518| 0. 7| 978| 561| 0. 75| 1979| 415| 0. 55| 1980| 488| 0. 64| 1981| 491| 0. 65| 1982| 383| 0. 51| 1983| 340| 0. 45| 1984| 383| 0. 51| 1985| 387| 0. 51| 1986| 285| 0. 38| 1987| 357| 0. 48| 1988| 383| 0. 52| 1989| 326| 0. 44| 1990| 311| 0. 42| 1991| 306| 0. 42| 1992| 287| 0. 4| 1993| 288| 0. 39| 1994| 364| 0. 49| 1995| 404| 0. 53| 1996| 417| 0. 54| 1997| 437| 0. 56| 1998| 451| 0. 58| 1999| 450| 0. 58| 2000| 431| 0. 58| 2001| 414| 0. 56| 2002| 422| 0. 56| 2003| 409| 0. 54| 2004| 394| 0. 52| 2005| 407| 0. 54| * Table 1. (http://rainforests. mongabay. om/carbon-emissions/guyana. html) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Graph 4. (ftp://ftp. fao. org/es/esn/nutrition/ncp/guymap. pdf) * * * * * * * * * References: * Colchester. Marcus. (1997). Guyana, fragile frontier : loggers, miners and forest peoples. Kingston, [Jamaica] : Ian Randle Publishers ; New York, NY : Distribution in North America by Monthly Review Press * Currie-McGhee. (c2009). Leanne Protecting ecosystems. Ann Arbor : Cherry Lake Pub. * Grant, Nancy S. (2008) The pocket idiot's guide to your carbon footprint. New York, NY : Alpha Books. U. S. G. P. O. (1990-[2002]. Country reports on economic policy and trade practices : report submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Finance of the U. S. Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Ways and Means of the U. S. House of Representatives by the Department of State in accordance with section 2202 of the Onmibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Washington : U. S. G. P. O. , Congressional Printing Office http://rainforests. mongabay. com/carbon-emissions/guyana. html

Angels Demons Chapter 13-15

13 Langdon stared in bewilderment at the study before him. â€Å"What is this place?† Despite the welcome blast of warm air on his face, he stepped through the door with trepidation. Kohler said nothing as he followed Langdon inside. Langdon scanned the room, not having the slightest idea what to make of it. It contained the most peculiar mix of artifacts he had ever seen. On the far wall, dominating the decor, was an enormous wooden crucifix, which Langdon placed as fourteenth-century Spanish. Above the cruciform, suspended from the ceiling, was a metallic mobile of the orbiting planets. To the left was an oil painting of the Virgin Mary, and beside that was a laminated periodic table of elements. On the side wall, two additional brass cruciforms flanked a poster of Albert Einstein, his famous quote reading: God Does Not Play Dice With the Universe Langdon moved into the room, looking around in astonishment. A leather-bound Bible sat on Vetra's desk beside a plastic Bohr model of an atom and a miniature replica of Michelangelo's Moses. Talk about eclectic, Langdon thought. The warmth felt good, but something about the decor sent a new set of chills through his body. He felt like he was witnessing the clash of two philosophical titans†¦ an unsettling blur of opposing forces. He scanned the titles on the bookshelf: The God Particle The Tao of Physics God: The Evidence One of the bookends was etched with a quote: True science discovers God waiting behind every door. Pope Pius XII â€Å"Leonardo was a Catholic priest,† Kohler said. Langdon turned. â€Å"A priest? I thought you said he was a physicist.† â€Å"He was both. Men of science and religion are not unprecedented in history. Leonardo was one of them. He considered physics ‘God's natural law.' He claimed God's handwriting was visible in the natural order all around us. Through science he hoped to prove God's existence to the doubting masses. He considered himself a theo-physicist.† Theo-physicist? Langdon thought it sounded impossibly oxymoronic. â€Å"The field of particle physics,† Kohler said, â€Å"has made some shocking discoveries lately – discoveries quite spiritual in implication. Leonardo was responsible for many of them.† Langdon studied CERN's director, still trying to process the bizarre surroundings. â€Å"Spirituality and physics?† Langdon had spent his career studying religious history, and if there was one recurring theme, it was that science and religion had been oil and water since day one†¦ archenemies†¦ unmixable. â€Å"Vetra was on the cutting edge of particle physics,† Kohler said. â€Å"He was starting to fuse science and religion†¦ showing that they complement each other in most unanticipated ways. He called the field New Physics.† Kohler pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to Langdon. Langdon studied the cover. God, Miracles, and the New Physics – by Leonardo Vetra. â€Å"The field is small,† Kohler said, â€Å"but it's bringing fresh answers to some old questions – questions about the origin of the universe and the forces that bind us all. Leonardo believed his research had the potential to convert millions to a more spiritual life. Last year he categorically proved the existence of an energy force that unites us all. He actually demonstrated that we are all physically connected†¦ that the molecules in your body are intertwined with the molecules in mine†¦ that there is a single force moving within all of us.† Langdon felt disconcerted. And the power of God shall unite us all. â€Å"Mr. Vetra actually found a way to demonstrate that particles are connected?† â€Å"Conclusive evidence. A recent Scientific American article hailed New Physics as a surer path to God than religion itself.† The comment hit home. Langdon suddenly found himself thinking of the antireligious Illuminati. Reluctantly, he forced himself to permit a momentary intellectual foray into the impossible. If the Illuminati were indeed still active, would they have killed Leonardo to stop him from bringing his religious message to the masses? Langdon shook off the thought. Absurd! The Illuminati are ancient history! All academics know that! â€Å"Vetra had plenty of enemies in the scientific world,† Kohler went on. â€Å"Many scientific purists despised him. Even here at CERN. They felt that using analytical physics to support religious principles was a treason against science.† â€Å"But aren't scientists today a bit less defensive about the church?† Kohler grunted in disgust. â€Å"Why should we be? The church may not be burning scientists at the stake anymore, but if you think they've released their reign over science, ask yourself why half the schools in your country are not allowed to teach evolution. Ask yourself why the U.S. Christian Coalition is the most influential lobby against scientific progress in the world. The battle between science and religion is still raging, Mr. Langdon. It has moved from the battlefields to the boardrooms, but it is still raging.† Langdon realized Kohler was right. Just last week the Harvard School of Divinity had marched on the Biology Building, protesting the genetic engineering taking place in the graduate program. The chairman of the Bio Department, famed ornithologist Richard Aaronian, defended his curriculum by hanging a huge banner from his office window. The banner depicted the Christian â€Å"fish† modified with four little feet – a tribute, Aaronian claimed, to the African lungfishes' evolution onto dry land. Beneath the fish, instead of the word â€Å"Jesus,† was the proclamation â€Å"Darwin!† A sharp beeping sound cut the air, and Langdon looked up. Kohler reached down into the array of electronics on his wheelchair. He slipped a beeper out of its holder and read the incoming message. â€Å"Good. That is Leonardo's daughter. Ms. Vetra is arriving at the helipad right now. We will meet her there. I think it best she not come up here and see her father this way.† Langdon agreed. It would be a shock no child deserved. â€Å"I will ask Ms. Vetra to explain the project she and her father have been working on†¦ perhaps shedding light on why he was murdered.† â€Å"You think Vetra's work is why he was killed?† â€Å"Quite possibly. Leonardo told me he was working on something groundbreaking. That is all he said. He had become very secretive about the project. He had a private lab and demanded seclusion, which I gladly afforded him on account of his brilliance. His work had been consuming huge amounts of electric power lately, but I refrained from questioning him.† Kohler rotated toward the study door. â€Å"There is, however, one more thing you need to know before we leave this flat.† Langdon was not sure he wanted to hear it. â€Å"An item was stolen from Vetra by his murderer.† â€Å"An item?† â€Å"Follow me.† The director propelled his wheelchair back into the fog-filled living room. Langdon followed, not knowing what to expect. Kohler maneuvered to within inches of Vetra's body and stopped. He ushered Langdon to join him. Reluctantly, Langdon came close, bile rising in his throat at the smell of the victim's frozen urine. â€Å"Look at his face,† Kohler said. Look at his face? Langdon frowned. I thought you said something was stolen. Hesitantly, Langdon knelt down. He tried to see Vetra's face, but the head was twisted 180 degrees backward, his face pressed into the carpet. Struggling against his handicap Kohler reached down and carefully twisted Vetra's frozen head. Cracking loudly, the corpse's face rotated into view, contorted in agony. Kohler held it there a moment. â€Å"Sweet Jesus!† Langdon cried, stumbling back in horror. Vetra's face was covered in blood. A single hazel eye stared lifelessly back at him. The other socket was tattered and empty. â€Å"They stole his eye?† 14 Langdon stepped out of Building C into the open air, grateful to be outside Vetra's flat. The sun helped dissolve the image of the empty eye socket emblazoned into his mind. â€Å"This way, please,† Kohler said, veering up a steep path. The electric wheelchair seemed to accelerate effortlessly. â€Å"Ms. Vetra will be arriving any moment.† Langdon hurried to keep up. â€Å"So,† Kohler asked. â€Å"Do you still doubt the Illuminati's involvement?† Langdon had no idea what to think anymore. Vetra's religious affiliations were definitely troubling, and yet Langdon could not bring himself to abandon every shred of academic evidence he had ever researched. Besides, there was the eye†¦ â€Å"I still maintain,† Langdon said, more forcefully than he intended. â€Å"that the Illuminati are not responsible for this murder. The missing eye is proof.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Random mutilation,† Langdon explained, â€Å"is very†¦ un – Illuminati. Cult specialists see desultory defacement from inexperienced fringe sects – zealots who commit random acts of terrorism – but the Illuminati have always been more deliberate.† â€Å"Deliberate? Surgically removing someone's eyeball is not deliberate?† â€Å"It sends no clear message. It serves no higher purpose.† Kohler's wheelchair stopped short at the top of the hill. He turned. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, believe me, that missing eye does indeed serve a higher purpose†¦ a much higher purpose.† As the two men crossed the grassy rise, the beating of helicopter blades became audible to the west. A chopper appeared, arching across the open valley toward them. It banked sharply, then slowed to a hover over a helipad painted on the grass. Langdon watched, detached, his mind churning circles like the blades, wondering if a full night's sleep would make his current disorientation any clearer. Somehow, he doubted it. As the skids touched down, a pilot jumped out and started unloading gear. There was a lot of it – duffels, vinyl wet bags, scuba tanks, and crates of what appeared to be high-tech diving equipment. Langdon was confused. â€Å"Is that Ms. Vetra's gear?† he yelled to Kohler over the roar of the engines. Kohler nodded and yelled back, â€Å"She was doing biological research in the Balearic Sea.† â€Å"I thought you said she was a physicist!† â€Å"She is. She's a Bio Entanglement Physicist. She studies the interconnectivity of life systems. Her work ties closely with her father's work in particle physics. Recently she disproved one of Einstein's fundamental theories by using atomically synchronized cameras to observe a school of tuna fish.† Langdon searched his host's face for any glint of humor. Einstein and tuna fish? He was starting to wonder if the X-33 space plane had mistakenly dropped him off on the wrong planet. A moment later, Vittoria Vetra emerged from the fuselage. Robert Langdon realized today was going to be a day of endless surprises. Descending from the chopper in her khaki shorts and white sleeveless top, Vittoria Vetra looked nothing like the bookish physicist he had expected. Lithe and graceful, she was tall with chestnut skin and long black hair that swirled in the backwind of the rotors. Her face was unmistakably Italian – not overly beautiful, but possessing full, earthy features that even at twenty yards seemed to exude a raw sensuality. As the air currents buffeted her body, her clothes clung, accentuating her slender torso and small breasts. â€Å"Ms. Vetra is a woman of tremendous personal strength,† Kohler said, seeming to sense Langdon's captivation. â€Å"She spends months at a time working in dangerous ecological systems. She is a strict vegetarian and CERN's resident guru of Hatha yoga.† Hatha yoga? Langdon mused. The ancient Buddhist art of meditative stretching seemed an odd proficiency for the physicist daughter of a Catholic priest. Langdon watched Vittoria approach. She had obviously been crying, her deep sable eyes filled with emotions Langdon could not place. Still, she moved toward them with fire and command. Her limbs were strong and toned, radiating the healthy luminescence of Mediterranean flesh that had enjoyed long hours in the sun. â€Å"Vittoria,† Kohler said as she approached. â€Å"My deepest condolences. It's a terrible loss for science†¦ for all of us here at CERN.† Vittoria nodded gratefully. When she spoke, her voice was smooth – a throaty, accented English. â€Å"Do you know who is responsible yet?† â€Å"We're still working on it.† She turned to Langdon, holding out a slender hand. â€Å"My name is Vittoria Vetra. You're from Interpol, I assume?† Langdon took her hand, momentarily spellbound by the depth of her watery gaze. â€Å"Robert Langdon.† He was unsure what else to say. â€Å"Mr. Langdon is not with the authorities,† Kohler explained. â€Å"He is a specialist from the U.S. He's here to help us locate who is responsible for this situation.† Vittoria looked uncertain. â€Å"And the police?† Kohler exhaled but said nothing. â€Å"Where is his body?† she demanded. â€Å"Being attended to.† The white lie surprised Langdon. â€Å"I want to see him,† Vittoria said. â€Å"Vittoria,† Kohler urged, â€Å"your father was brutally murdered. You would be better to remember him as he was.† Vittoria began to speak but was interrupted. â€Å"Hey, Vittoria!† voices called from the distance. â€Å"Welcome home!† She turned. A group of scientists passing near the helipad waved happily. â€Å"Disprove any more of Einstein's theories?† one shouted. Another added, â€Å"Your dad must be proud!† Vittoria gave the men an awkward wave as they passed. Then she turned to Kohler, her face now clouded with confusion. â€Å"Nobody knows yet?† â€Å"I decided discretion was paramount.† â€Å"You haven't told the staff my father was murdered?† Her mystified tone was now laced with anger. Kohler's tone hardened instantly. â€Å"Perhaps you forget, Ms. Vetra, as soon as I report your father's murder, there will be an investigation of CERN. Including a thorough examination of his lab. I have always tried to respect your father's privacy. Your father has told me only two things about your current project. One, that it has the potential to bring CERN millions of francs in licensing contracts in the next decade. And two, that it is not ready for public disclosure because it is still hazardous technology. Considering these two facts, I would prefer strangers not poke around inside his lab and either steal his work or kill themselves in the process and hold CERN liable. Do I make myself clear?† Vittoria stared, saying nothing. Langdon sensed in her a reluctant respect and acceptance of Kohler's logic. â€Å"Before we report anything to the authorities,† Kohler said, â€Å"I need to know what you two were working on. I need you to take us to your lab.† â€Å"The lab is irrelevant,† Vittoria said. â€Å"Nobody knew what my father and I were doing. The experiment could not possibly have anything to do with my father's murder.† Kohler exhaled a raspy, ailing breath. â€Å"Evidence suggests otherwise.† â€Å"Evidence? What evidence?† Langdon was wondering the same thing. Kohler was dabbing his mouth again. â€Å"You'll just have to trust me.† It was clear, from Vittoria's smoldering gaze, that she did not. 15 Langdon strode silently behind Vittoria and Kohler as they moved back into the main atrium where Langdon's bizarre visit had begun. Vittoria's legs drove in fluid efficiency – like an Olympic diver – a potency, Langdon figured, no doubt born from the flexibility and control of yoga. He could hear her breathing slowly and deliberately, as if somehow trying to filter her grief. Langdon wanted to say something to her, offer his sympathy. He too had once felt the abrupt hollowness of unexpectedly losing a parent. He remembered the funeral mostly, rainy and gray. Two days after his twelfth birthday. The house was filled with gray-suited men from the office, men who squeezed his hand too hard when they shook it. They were all mumbling words like cardiac and stress. His mother joked through teary eyes that she'd always been able to follow the stock market simply by holding her husband's hand†¦ his pulse her own private ticker tape. Once, when his father was alive, Langdon had heard his mom begging his father to â€Å"stop and smell the roses.† That year, Langdon bought his father a tiny blown-glass rose for Christmas. It was the most beautiful thing Langdon had ever seen†¦ the way the sun caught it, throwing a rainbow of colors on the wall. â€Å"It's lovely,† his father had said when he opened it, kissing Robert on the forehead. â€Å"Let's find a safe spot for it.† Then his father had carefully placed the rose on a high dusty shelf in the darkest corner of the living room. A few days later, Langdon got a stool, retrieved the rose, and took it back to the store. His father never noticed it was gone. The ping of an elevator pulled Langdon back to the present. Vittoria and Kohler were in front of him, boarding the lift. Langdon hesitated outside the open doors. â€Å"Is something wrong?† Kohler asked, sounding more impatient than concerned. â€Å"Not at all,† Langdon said, forcing himself toward the cramped carriage. He only used elevators when absolutely necessary. He preferred the more open spaces of stairwells. â€Å"Dr. Vetra's lab is subterranean,† Kohler said. Wonderful, Langdon thought as he stepped across the cleft, feeling an icy wind churn up from the depths of the shaft. The doors closed, and the car began to descend. â€Å"Six stories,† Kohler said blankly, like an analytical engine. Langdon pictured the darkness of the empty shaft below them. He tried to block it out by staring at the numbered display of changing floors. Oddly, the elevator showed only two stops. Ground Level and LHC. â€Å"What's LHC stand for?† Langdon asked, trying not to sound nervous. â€Å"Large Hadron Collider,† Kohler said. â€Å"A particle accelerator.† Particle accelerator? Langdon was vaguely familiar with the term. He had first heard it over dinner with some colleagues at Dunster House in Cambridge. A physicist friend of theirs, Bob Brownell, had arrived for dinner one night in a rage. â€Å"The bastards canceled it!† Brownell cursed. â€Å"Canceled what?† they all asked. â€Å"The SSC!† â€Å"The what?† â€Å"The Superconducting Super Collider!† Someone shrugged. â€Å"I didn't know Harvard was building one.† â€Å"Not Harvard!† he exclaimed. â€Å"The U.S.! It was going to be the world's most powerful particle accelerator! One of the most important scientific projects of the century! Two billion dollars into it and the Senate sacks the project! Damn Bible-Belt lobbyists!† When Brownell finally calmed down, he explained that a particle accelerator was a large, circular tube through which subatomic particles were accelerated. Magnets in the tube turned on and off in rapid succession to â€Å"push† particles around and around until they reached tremendous velocities. Fully accelerated particles circled the tube at over 180,000 miles per second. â€Å"But that's almost the speed of light,† one of the professors exclaimed. â€Å"Damn right,† Brownell said. He went on to say that by accelerating two particles in opposite directions around the tube and then colliding them, scientists could shatter the particles into their constituent parts and get a glimpse of nature's most fundamental components. â€Å"Particle accelerators,† Brownell declared, â€Å"are critical to the future of science. Colliding particles is the key to understanding the building blocks of the universe.† Harvard's Poet in Residence, a quiet man named Charles Pratt, did not look impressed. â€Å"It sounds to me,† he said, â€Å"like a rather Neanderthal approach to science†¦ akin to smashing clocks together to discern their internal workings.† Brownell dropped his fork and stormed out of the room. So CERN has a particle accelerator? Langdon thought, as the elevator dropped. A circular tube for smashing particles. He wondered why they had buried it underground. When the elevator thumped to a stop, Langdon was relieved to feel terra firma beneath his feet. But when the doors slid open, his relief evaporated. Robert Langdon found himself standing once again in a totally alien world. The passageway stretched out indefinitely in both directions, left and right. It was a smooth cement tunnel, wide enough to allow passage of an eighteen wheeler. Brightly lit where they stood, the corridor turned pitch black farther down. A damp wind rustled out of the darkness – an unsettling reminder that they were now deep in the earth. Langdon could almost sense the weight of the dirt and stone now hanging above his head. For an instant he was nine years old†¦ the darkness forcing him back†¦ back to the five hours of crushing blackness that haunted him still. Clenching his fists, he fought it off. Vittoria remained hushed as she exited the elevator and strode off without hesitation into the darkness without them. Overhead the flourescents flickered on to light her path. The effect was unsettling, Langdon thought, as if the tunnel were alive†¦ anticipating her every move. Langdon and Kohler followed, trailing a distance behind. The lights extinguished automatically behind them. â€Å"This particle accelerator,† Langdon said quietly. â€Å"It's down this tunnel someplace?† â€Å"That's it there.† Kohler motioned to his left where a polished, chrome tube ran along the tunnel's inner wall. Langdon eyed the tube, confused. â€Å"That's the accelerator?† The device looked nothing like he had imagined. It was perfectly straight, about three feet in diameter, and extended horizontally the visible length of the tunnel before disappearing into the darkness. Looks more like a high-tech sewer, Langdon thought. â€Å"I thought particle accelerators were circular.† â€Å"This accelerator is a circle,† Kohler said. â€Å"It appears straight, but that is an optical illusion. The circumference of this tunnel is so large that the curve is imperceptible – like that of the earth.† Langdon was flabbergasted. This is a circle? â€Å"But†¦ it must be enormous!† â€Å"The LHC is the largest machine in the world.† Langdon did a double take. He remembered the CERN driver saying something about a huge machine buried in the earth. But – â€Å"It is over eight kilometers in diameter†¦ and twenty-seven kilometers long.† Langdon's head whipped around. â€Å"Twenty-seven kilometers?† He stared at the director and then turned and looked into the darkened tunnel before him. â€Å"This tunnel is twenty-seven kilometers long? That's†¦ that's over sixteen miles!† Kohler nodded. â€Å"Bored in a perfect circle. It extends all the way into France before curving back here to this spot. Fully accelerated particles will circle the tube more than ten thousand times in a single second before they collide.† Langdon's legs felt rubbery as he stared down the gaping tunnel. â€Å"You're telling me that CERN dug out millions of tons of earth just to smash tiny particles?† Kohler shrugged. â€Å"Sometimes to find truth, one must move mountains.†

Viable System Model

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR III ASSIGNMENT â€Å"VIABLE SYSTEMS MODEL (VSM) AS APPLIED TO A MAJOR ORGANIZATION† Study of Viable Systems Model at ITC Ltd. Submitted by: Daksh Kumar Anand Uh11013 Introduction This paper is intended as study of the Viable System Model for better understanding. It deals with some of the basic concepts embodied in the model, the modeling process, and its use in practice in ITC Ltd. ITC’s transformation from cigarette to a conglomerate. Why we need Organizational Models We all interpret the world through models; these can be explicit, or tacit. For all managers in all organizations, their ability to manage a situation or organization effectively is in direct proportion to the accuracy and relevance of the models they are using to understand it. By far the most common organizational model in use in management today is still the hierarchical model though it has various disadvantages. What it doesn’t model is any of the more fundamental things about the organization: what it is, what it does, how it does it, its processes, formal and informal structures, communications and information transfers, or decision making. The VSM (Viable Systems Model) offers a more sophisticated alternative, one that can be used both for diagnosing existing organizations, and for designing new ones. The Viable Systems Model: The  viable systems model or  VSM  is a  model  of the organizational structure of any viable or  autonomous  system. A viable system is any system organized in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in the changing environment. One of the prime features of systems that survive is that they are adaptable. The VSM expresses a model for a viable system, which is an bstracted  cybernetic (regulation theory) description that is applicable to any organization that is a viable system and capable of autonomy. A viable system is composed of five interacting subsystems which may be mapped onto aspects of organizational structure. In broad terms Systems 1–3  are concerned with the ‘here and now' of the organization's operations, System 4 is concerned with the ‘t here and then' – strategical responses to the effects of external, environmental and future demands on the organization. System 5 is concerned with balancing the ‘here and now' and the ‘there and then' to give policy directives which maintain the organization as a viable entity. * System 1 (Operations)  in a viable system contains several primary activities. Each System 1 primary activity is itself a viable system due to the recursive nature of systems as described above. These are concerned with performing a function that implements at least part of the key transformation of the organization. System 2 (Coordination)  represents the information channels and bodies that allow the primary activities in System 1 to communicate between each other and which allow System 3 to monitor and co-ordinate the activities within System 1. * System 3 (Operations Planning ; Control)  represents the structures and controls that are put into place to establish the rules, resources, rights and responsibilities of System 1 and to provide an interface with Systems 4/5. System 4  (Development Research an d marketing) – The bodies that make up System 4 are responsible for looking outwards to the environment to monitor how the organization needs to adapt to remain viable. * System 5 (Decisions to maintain identity) –  is responsible for policy decisions within the organization as a whole to balance demands from different parts of the organization and steer the organization as a whole. According to the above descriptions, these systems can be organized into three groups reflecting the three management perspectives: * Operational Management (Systems 1,2,3) Strategic Management (System 4) * Normative Management (System 5) VIABLE SYSTEMS MODEL AT ITC LIMITED ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited. In recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses – Cigarettes & Tobacco, Hotels, Information Technology, Packaging, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Agri-business, Food s, Lifestyle Retailing, Education & Stationery and Personal Care – the full stops in the Company's name were removed effective September 18, 2001. The Company now stands rechristened ‘ITC Limited'. The success of ITC lies in the fact that it has been able to adapt to the changing environment and market needs through searching more and more viable options for sustainable growth. Let us apply the VSM model in systematic fashion: * System 1 (Operations)  in a viable system contains several primary activities. Though the first six decades of the Company's existence were primarily devoted to the growth and consolidation of the  Cigarettes and Leaf Tobacco businesses, the Seventies witnessed the beginnings of a corporate transformation that ushered in momentous changes in the life of the Company. It entered into the chosen portfolio of FMCG, Hotels, Paper, Paperboards & Packaging, Agro Business and Information Technology. These were chosen on the basis of internal capabilities, the emerging opportunities in these areas and confidence that ITC would be able to achieve leadership positions in these business segments. * System 2 (Coordination)  ITC has a diverse portfolio of product offerings and proper coordination between them is necessary and it does take place even at the very basic level. E. g. ne of the primary products in its portfolio — Aashirvaad Atta [wheat flour] — is today a leader in its segment within a very short time since its launch. Its success is an example of the synergies that ITC derives from the diversity of its businesses. ITC's pioneering rural initiative, the e-Choupal network, enables cost effective sourcing of wheat but, more importantly, lends a competitive strength given the traceability of the commodity through identity-preserved pr ocurement. This enables customized blending, which again is a strength honed from the practice of tobacco lending over the years, to support local tastes and preferences. This is a perfect example of how the coordination takes place in ITC Ltd. * System 3 (Operations Planning ; Control) Flowing from the philosophy and core principles, Corporate Governance in ITC takes place at three interlinked levels, namely – * Strategic supervision by the Board of Directors * Strategic management by the Corporate Management Committee * Executive management by the Divisional Chief Executive assisted by the Divisional Management Committee. It is ITC's belief that the right balance between freedom of management and accountability to shareholders can be achieved by segregating strategic supervision from strategic and executive management. This 3-tier structure ensures that a. Strategic supervision (on behalf of the shareholders), being free from involvement in the task of strategic management of the Company, can be conducted by the Board with objectivity, thereby sharpening accountability of management. b. Strategic management of the Company, uncluttered by the day-to-day tasks of executive management, remains focused and energised; and c. Executive management of the divisional business, free from collective strategic responsibilities for ITC as a whole, gets focused on enhancing the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of its business. ITC also benchmark the health of each business comprehensively across the criteria of Market Standing, Profitability and Internal Vitality. * System 4  (Development Research and marketing) – ITC is committed to delivering world-class products and services. This requires a clear focus on continuously striving to create a higher value to customers by achieving excellence in all Company's operations. ITC always look out to know the customer demands and needs and work upon them. e. g. ITC's hotels business and its master chefs interact with millions of consumers throughout the year and are able to understand the nuances of regional and local tastes that delight the consumer palette. This knowledge is utilized by the foods business to deliver a superior and differentiated product. System 5 (Decisions to maintain identity) –  ITC has developed core values in order to bring out the balance between demands of the organization as well as the demands of the customers. ITC's Core Values are aimed at developing a customer-focused, high-performance organization which creates value for all its stakeholders and these are: * Trusteeship * Customer Focus * Respect for People * Excellence * Innovation * Nation Orientation. It is clear from the above discussion that ITC follows the Viable Systems Model up to a great extent which is a reason for its sustenance in dynamic environment.

Business Proposal to implement a Human Resource Information System for Term Paper

Business Proposal to implement a Human Resource Information System for Castle family Restaurant. This should be written from a theoretical perspective - Term Paper Example They even face various communication problems due to the pace in the business and absence of a proper system solution. The management was unable to connect and control the entire business through a single system. Therefore, a business proposal has been demanded from the restaurant authority. After the thorough assessment of the organization, it has been found that they need an integrated solution for their organization which can connect all eight restaurants through a single system and the entire human resource department work can be controlled from a particular location. As per the assessment, it has been recommended that Human Resource Information System can solve the prevailing problem in an efficient manner. It has been further observed that â€Å"ADP Workforce Now†, a software company can better serve the pressing requirements after analysis of all the facilities provided by this company. The Castle Family Restaurant is in a growth phrase with a vibrant past ten years and also, with increasing profitability every year. They have around 300-340 employees working at the restaurants. Most of them are part time and less than 50% are full time. Mr. Ben Henderson, being the founder of this restaurant tries to set up a restaurant chain in the entire Northern California. Recently, they face a problem though the root of the problem existed since the beginning of the foundation. They never built up or hired any HR team. All the HR related work was conducted by the operations manger. Even they do not have any single network system through which they can maintain the communication with the entire eight restaurants that the family possess and keep the data stored. Consequently, the HR Manager has to visit every location weekly to update the information. It invariably increases the travelling expenses. Recently due to the increase in the cost of gasoline, the HR manager is plannin g to reduce the

Family Issue Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Family Issue Report - Essay Example Using Erickon's Psychological Stages of Development, we will compare negative effects pageants have on girls from ages zero to five; and briefly take into account the damage it does to the development of the other children of the family. Young girls are taught from birth that it is more important to be dressed like a Barbie dolls with perfect artificial blond hair and glitzy clothes and show off their bodies and childlike voices than be children and good students. Parents, screaming in the audience, show that they have devoted their lives to their children. Many are overweight and demand utter perfection from their children. In the HBO documentary (1999), the little girl says "But Mommy, all I need is a hug. Her mother says, Not until you get it right." Does the child feel inferior? She is only 5 years old. Parents seem to want to fulfill their own fantasy that they did not fulfill as children. They want their children to be perfect beauty queens, perfect performers, and perfectly dr essed. They spend thousands of dollars on each designer dress. They hire coaches and makeup artists. When a child is interviewed, she never speaks of her education. Her one goal in life is to become a model or an actress. With over three million participants a year, how many actually make it? (Maliakal, 2010) 1. 1rst Stage of Development: 0 - 1 The Building of Trust and Confidence A baby from zero to 12 months only depends on the people in her own circle. If the people with her are stressed, she will realize that her world is not that safe place. it used to be. She doesn't want to have to be changing into complicated dresses and having funny creams put on her face. She doesn't want to be handled by strange people. Her most important trait is confidence in her mother. She does not to be in competition with her mother. A pageant at any age is stressful for the parent. The first year of life is the most important in developing a sense of trust that life does work out. There is no compe tition or stress beyond feeding and getting diapers changed. The mother who creates a different environment does it because of her own needs. If the baby does not have the comfort of this confident building, she will caring a sense of mistrust with her for her whole life. 2. Second Stage of Development: 2-3 The Building of Autonomy and Pride In Living Dolls Part 1- Part 6 HBO "1998" (HB0 1999), the viewer sees the progression of one young girl who started at 3 years old. The mother, who was an army brat, spent 4 years as a sergeant in the army. She had four children with her two marriages. Her life was devoted to her 'beauty baby'. She expected her other children to follow and not doubt any of her choices. At three, Shaw took the initiative to do everything right at each pageant. Her perfectionism became obsessive because her mother ran her like a boot camp. She would cry when she forgot her songs on stage or a dance step. She would search for her mother's approval after each perfor mance. When she didn't perform properly, she was shamed by her mother and avoided looking into her mother's eyes or would hide.. Her performances were to get her mother's approval. Her obsessive desire to win forced her to work harder and harder, she only practiced so she would become an actress or a model. In the update program, she turned into a normal adolescent. 3. Third Stage of Development: 4-5 The desire to have a real purpose in life She took

Environmental Planning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Environmental Planning - Research Paper Example Environmental planning activities are most pronounced in cities and urban places due to the fact that they are the regions most concentrated with development activities in addition to the large populations that reside in such places. In such a case, poor planning would lead to: environmental damage; social, economic, and cultural exclusion; and strains on the transport system. In the quest for enhancing sustainability is such places, planners should keep in mind that sustainable cities and urban places are an important factor to economic and social development which makes it the main engine of growth. They should also keep in mind that environmental degradation is the greatest obstacle to social equity and economic efficiency. The planners need to carefully study the components of federal or state regulations to understand the complex interactions between environment and development so that sustainability will be enhanced through a proactive management approach that is based on the understanding of these interactions. In this manner, all the future projects will be sustainable in terms of enhancing growth and development, which is supposed to be the main aim of any developmental

Policy Writing Assignment 1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Policy Writing 1 - Assignment Example 3. Definitions 3.1 â€Å"Discrimination occurs when someone, or a group of people, is treated less favourably than another person or group because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin; sex, pregnancy or marital status; age; disability; religion; sexual preference; trade union activity; or some other characteristic specified under anti-discrimination or human rights legislation. Workplace discrimination can occur in the recruitment and selection; terms, conditions and benefits, provision of training; and selection for transfer, promotion, retrenchment or dismissal† (AHRC, 2011). 3.2 â€Å"Harassment occurs when someone is made to feel intimidated, insulted or humiliated because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin; sex, pregnancy or marital status; age; disability; religion; sexual preference; trade union activity; or some other characteristic specified under anti-discrimination or human rights legislation. It can also happen if someone is working in a ‘hostile’ or intimidating environment. Harassment can include telling insulting jokes or derogatory comments about someone’s race or religion; sending explicit or sexually suggestive emails; displaying offensive or pornographic posters; or asking intrusive questions about someone’s personal life, including their sex life† (AHRC, 2011). ... ing employees; psychological harassment or intimidation; assigning meaningless tasks unrelated to the job or even impossible jobs; deliberately changing work rosters to inconvenience particular employees; or undermining work performance by deliberately withholding information vital for effective work performance† (AHRC, 2011). 3.4 â€Å"Racial and Religious Vilification occur where a person engages in conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group of people, because of their race or religious belief or activity† (UB, 2010, p.2). 4. Policy Statement This organisation is committed to valuing diversity, thus achieving trust and confident of the community by not tolerating discrimination, harassment, bullying or racial or religious vilification. Unacceptable behaviour jeopardises the harmonious, safe, positive and productive environment possibly affecting the physical and mental health of an individual. The reputat ion of not only the individual but also the organisation or employer as a whole will be ruined (AS, 2010, p.9). Reporting of unacceptable behaviour is strongly encouraged for appropriate action against breaches of this Policy. 5. Responsibility 5.1 Employee or individual responsibility: Employees and executive members are to behave ethically and professionally, whilst being responsible for their own behaviour (AS, 2010, p.7) An individual is liable for causing, instruction, inducing, aiding or permitting another to perform a discriminatory or unacceptable behaviour and may be subjected to disciplinary and/or legal action (TRSA, 2011, p.6) Employees to maintain confidentiality not participate in rumours, as this is an act of defamation and they may face action (AS, 2010, p.28). 5.2 Employer’s