Language competition in the Tongue Essay

Learning a second language has been proven to be a worthwhile experience to many individuals from different nations across the world who wanted to engage in world affairs and fruitful foreign correspondences despite the difficulties that they encountered in the initial steps they took in completing the second language course. Some linguists have noted that the linguistic journey for the purpose of learning a second language becomes difficult when the learner mentally entertains notions that the second language will be extremely difficult to understand, and will be almost impossible to use in daily conversations. Fortunately, some second language teachers know this kind of fear so they train the learners to trust in themselves and allow the experience of learning a second language to be as much fun as possible. However, no motivation can change the fact that learning a second language is not really easy. The good news is the task is not impossible to achieve at all. One can learn a second language when one is determined to do so. What could make learning a second language easier is always the level of enthusiasm and willingness to practice and overcome the difficulties in learning. Learning a second language poses three layers of difficulties: 1. ) flexing the old tongue to be familiar with the phonology of the new language, 2. ) uttering the phonemes and morphemes of the new lexicon without interference from the first language, and ultimately, 3. ) being able to use the new lexicon correctly in sentences and conversations. First, the phonology is observed, and then absorbed by the learner. Phonology is the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes?. Humans begin to perceive phonemes of their first language even before one reaches a year old. This set of sounds is retained to memory and used throughout one’s life unless a second language is introduced. Naturally, the first language will interfere with the perception and utterance of the new phonemes at the initial stage of learning because the first phonemes have already been solidly established in the part of the brain that processes sounds and speech. Over time, and through constant exposure to and practice of the second language, the new phonemes will have its place in the memory and will be processed by the brain in a distinct manner. The time that it would take for the phonemes of the second language to be fully independent from the first phonemes varies from person to person, specifically from one’s willingness to learn. Some learners never get past the overlapping phonemes of two or more languages in their perception, while those who try harder are able to distinguish and express one from another. After the phonemes comes the morphemes, the smallest units of speech that convey meaning.? Prior to using the second language in conversations one has to be even slightly familiar to some morphemes. At the initial stage of learning morphemes of the second language, one will initially meet interference by the first language. This concept — ? As defined in www. hyperdictionary. com. ? www. hyperdictionary. com. of linguistic interference is called code-mixing. Code-mixing is the use of elements (phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic) from two languages in the same utterance or stretch of conversation (Genesee & Nicoladi 12). It is also normal among bilinguals, as they use code mixing to adjust their brain in learning the new lexicon, using the first language as point of reference, not necessarily or immediately point of translation. Eventually, learners gather more words into their memory and later become competent in distinguishing one code from the other. Morphemes should not keep the learner from trying to learn more about the second language because this stage will define the final stage in learning a second language, its actual use in complete sensible sentences. The third layer of difficulty in learning a second language is actually using the new language in sentences and conversations. It is expected that learners of a second language would struggle with morphemes, as discussed above. The manner in which learners adjust to learning morphemes should also be applied to avoid committing morphological overgeneralization in the new language. Morphological overgeneralization is inability to distinguish the different ways in which grammatical rules apply differently in two or more languages. It can be seen in some English language learners who may initially prefer non-finite forms (e. g. , she go) before they use finite (e. g. , she goes) forms in their utterance and written sentences. Practically, this is a problem under grammatical errors. But since it is covered by the morphology of the new language that is trying to be absorbed and put into practice, the error becomes classified as morphological overgeneralization (Paradis & Genesee, 2). Another example of morphological overgeneralization is inadvertently applying lexicon grammar twice in an utterance or sentence. For instance, language learners who know that the past tense of â€Å"halt† is â€Å"halted† are likely to forget in the early stages of their learning process that there are some exemptions in adding â€Å"-ed† to indicate the past tense. To give a specific example, the past tense of â€Å"go† is â€Å"went;† but some learners might use â€Å"wented† in their speech. Teachers and tutors of second language learners have to be extremely patient and very creative in their job. If they give more details about the language and more examples for common usage, then the learners will have more fun in learning. On the other hand, learners of a second language should find inspiration from foreigners across the world who dared to study new languages and are now competent bilinguals or multilinguals. References: Genesee, F. , & Nicoladis, E. (2006). Bilingual acquisition. In E. Hoff & M. Shatz (eds. ), Handbook of Language Development, Oxford, Eng. : Blackwell. Online Dictionary. 12 Mar 2007. http://www. hyperdictionary. com Paradis, J. & Genesee, F. (1996). Syntactic acquisition in bilingual children: Autonomous or interdependent? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 1-2.

Globalization and North East India Essay

I.Introduction Ever since the term ‘globalization’ appeared for the first time in the second half of twentieth century no other word has meant so many different things to different people and has evoked as much emotions. The forces of globalization affect virtually every country in the world. It has opened the door of many new opportunities as well as formidable challenges. All spheres of life–social, political, cultural and economic–have been subjected to both the positive and negative elements of globalization. With all its promises on the overall qualitative improvement of life and social harmony, some see it as the saviour of universal peace and prosperity. On the other hand, rising mercury of its negative elements some condemn it as a new kind of chaos. While everyone welcomes the new opportunities that has emerged one cannot simply leave those negative elements unattended. Therefore, the main task now is to analyze, understand and manage globalization doing our best to harness its benefits and keep those negative consequences at bay. 1 India joined the club of globalized economy in 1991when its economy is under the spell of fiscal and balance of payment crisis which compel her to initiate several structural adjustment programme and economic liberalization. Since then, India’s share to the global economy is getting larger. Today, looking at overall health of the economy and growth performance2, India seems to have struck the right note of the globalization string. With its vast natural and human resources and ability to synchronize the speed of change taking place in the international market, many have considered the India’s economy as one of the most resilient economy in the world. Now, the most pertinent question arises in the recent years is; has the benefits of globalization disbursed to all the regions of the Indian union? Certainly the answer is NO. India’s attempt to tackle the problems of income inequalities has been going on since independence under the centralized planning system. It, however, failed to provide the necessary growth impetus to the poorer states to reduce regional disparities in any meaningful manner in spite of four decades of economic planning. In the post globalization era, considering the size and diversity of the country, shrinking role of government would ultimately be a failure to achieve the set objective. With the opening of economy, states with better infrastructure facilities, better skill labour and work culture, investor friendly environment and more importantly states which can reform themselves in accordance to the need of the market oriented economy have attracted much of the private investment–both national as well as foreign. These states have grown much faster than states which are not, leading to widening disparities.3 This has posed a great challenge to academicians and polic y makers, even though globalization is an uneven process with unequal distribution of benefits and losses, who must ensure the benefits of globalization be distributed to all the regions/states of Indian union. Secondly, to what extent the high growth rate achieved so far has been translated into development for the well-being of its people? It is all the more necessary to ascertain the magnitude of development because development shouldn’t be seen as mere enhancement of national or personal income as it alone cannot serve the objective of securing the socio-economic equality. High growth rate achieved so far is a big accomplishment as the resources so generated could be utilized for developmental purposes to meet the desired social ends.4 It would, however, be highly injustice and misleading to interpret economic growth and economic development synonymously, yet a popular cynicism among the political circle in particular, as development covers much wider range and value. In short, achievement of higher growth rate should be reflected in terms of quality of life of the people. The failure to realize the value of high growth is the main reason for the rejection of ‘shining India/feel good factor’ slogan of the ruling party in 2004 general election. This implies that the higher growth rate achieved so f ar in the post globalization period could not be translated in terms of improvement in the quality of life of the common people. According to Sen any reform programme should consists of three R’s–reach, range and a reason–which every responsible individual should analyze, understand and act accordingly. The values of high growth often depend on what the size, composition and nature of that growth do to the lives and freedoms of the people involved.5 With the increasing concern of widening of inter-state disparities and lack of development, it is highly imperative to assess the effects of globalization on North East India-a relatively uncharted region of the country-as fifteen years is long enough to give some clear pictures. With this objective, the present study attempts to locate the clues of the following quarries; has the region been able to gain from the benefits of globalization? What are the major issues and challenges confronting or likely to confront in the coming years? What are the unexplored opportunities that can be harnessed? This would require examining the prevalent scenario of the region in the pre and post globalization period. The present study shall cover 1980 to 2005 considering 1991 as the dividing year of the two periods. The study has been organized into five sections including introduction. In section II, a brief profile of NE states has been sketched. In section III, some of the issues and formidable challenges needed to be addressed sooner than the later has been discussed. In section IV, discussed the unexplored opportunities in the region. Finally, we conclude the study in section V . II.North East Profile The North East India comprises of eight contiguous states6 of highly undulating hilly terrains, covering 263,179 sq km which is about 8% of the total geographical area of the country. The region is one of the landlocked regions of South Asia. About 4500 km i.e. 98% of its border is with five different countries of South Asia–Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. No other region of the Indian union share common border with so many different countries connecting with the heartland through the tenuous 22 km Siliguri corridor. The region is the home of extraordinarily diverse mosaic of ethnic groups having distinctive social, cultural and economic identity, more akin to their South Asia neighbours than main land India. The total population of the region is about 38 million, 3.8 per cent of the country’s total population, of which Assam contributes 68 per cent of the total population. Assam recorded the highest density of population with 340 per sq. km., which is also higher than the national average of 313 per sq. km., followed by Tripura with 305 per sq. km. Otherwise, the region is sparsely populated with an overall density of population of 149 per sq. km. Table 1 The decennial growth rate recorded in most of the states during the previous decade is higher than the national level of 21.54 per cent. Nagaland recorded the highest growth rate (64.46 per cent), also highest among the states of the Indian union, followed by Sikkim (33.25 per cent) and Meghalaya (30.65 per cent). Only Tripura (16.03% per cent) and Assam (18.92 per cent), two of the most populated states, have recorded lower growth rate than all India level. The region is richly endowed with bio-diversity, hydro-potential, minerals like oil and natural gas, coal, limestone, dolomite, graphite, quartzite, sillimonite etc. and forest wealth. Over 10 per cent of forest products requirement in the country are met from this region only. The region has a very high potential to generate hydropower i.e. about 80 per cent of the total hydropower potential in the country. Arunachal Pradesh alone is expected to generate 2,67,474 MW i.e. 30 per cent of the total available in the country. With varied geo-climatic condition, the region is ideally suited for horticulture, floriculture and other plantation crops. A variety of fruits like pineapples, banana, orange, lemon, mango, papaya etc. grow abundantly in the region. The region is famous for most number of orchid varieties in the country. Tea is the major plantation crop grown in the region and is the largest producer in the country contributing over 95 per cent of the total production. The region is also richly endowed with varieties of medicinal plants having high value in the international market. But, due to the lack of proper infrastructure, transport and communication system and geo-political condition of the region these resources largely remained untapped. Source: Report of the Twelfth Finance Commission, p 61. The region is grossly deficient of infrastructure to tap the available resources and push the economy forward. An examination of the infrastructure index–a composite profile of the availability of physical, social and institutional infrastructure available in the states revealed that all the states of the region are at the lowest rung of the infrastructure index ladder. It shows that the level of infrastructural development in the region is almost negligible. In terms of human development index–a composite index capturing the three dimensions of human development viz. economic, education and health-the region have done reasonably well than most of the states of Indian union. Among the eight states, Assam ranked the lowest, which has been placed in lower middle category and Mizoram in high category while rest of the states are either in high middle or middle category. The success of these states in this regard is mainly induced by the education sector. Apart from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya the literacy rate in the remaining states, as shown in Table 1, are higher than the national average. The economy of the region primarily depends on agriculture sector contributing over 40 per cent of the income and employ about 70 per cent of the total working population. Although NSDP share of agriculture sector has declined to about 30 per cent, the number of population dependent upon this sector continued to remain high even in the post globalization period. The decline in the NSDP’s share of agriculture sector has been more or less compensated by the increase in the share of service sector. That is, the service sector growth rate during the corresponding period is commendable. Nevertheless, the industrial sector in the region continued to be in pathetic condition. Industrially the region is one of the most backward regions in India. Only Assam, and to some extent Meghalaya, have moved ahead of the rest of the states in terms of industrial development whose industrialization centered on tea, oil and timber. An examination on the overall annual compound growth rate of NSDP in the region revealed that there is a slight improvement in post globalization period though varies from stat to state. Source: http://mospi.nic.in/rept%20_%20pubn/ftest.asp?rept_id=nad03_1993_1994&type=NSSO Note: * At 1980-81 prices, ** From 1993 to 2002 only, †  at Current Price, a denotes Acceleration, d denotes Deceleration During the decade of 80s only Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland experienced higher annual compound growth of NSDP than the national level. However, in the post globalization period i.e. 1991-2002, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura have performed better than the national level. The growth rate experienced in these states is not only higher but also accelerating. Though the NSDP growth rate of Manipur is lower than the national level but higher than the previous decade and is accelerating. While Assam’s growth rate is lower in the post globalization but grows at an accelerating rate which is a positive sign. In the post globalization period the growth performances in the region have improved marginally. The higher growth rate of NSDP in the region is mainly induced by higher and accelerating growth rate of service sector. The higher growth rate of NSDP experienced in some of the states is not commensurate with the growth rate of per capita income. The per capita income growth rates of all the states, baring Tripura, falls below the national level in the corresponding period. While Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland have worsened, the performance of Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura seem to be relatively better than the previous decade. The lower growth rate of per capita income experienced may be attributed to high growth rate of population, particularly poorer section of the society. The percentage of population living below the poverty line in the region continued to remain high. Only Mizoram seems to have done exceptionally well in poverty eradication where the percentage has declined from 36 per cent in 1983 to 19.47 per cent in 1999-2000. In the remaining states there is only a marginal decline in poverty ratio. In 1983, the percentage of population living below the poverty line at national level is much higher than that of all the states of the region. It is just the reversal in 1999-2000-all the states other than Mizoram have higher percentage than national level of 26.1 per cent. Over one-third of the population is still consists of the most vulnerable section of the society. Further, an examination on the per capita per month consumption expenditure revealed that the inequality in the per capita monthly consumption expenditure has also increased in spite of the improvement in the growth performance in the post globalization period. In 1993-94, Assam has the lowest per capita per month consumption expenditure followed by Manipur and Sikkim. These three states are even lower than the national level of Rs. 328.18 per month. However, in 1999-2000, only Assam and Sikkim experienced lower per capita per month consumption expenditure than that of national level of Rs. 590.98 per month. The increase in consumption expenditure in the globalization era is quite impressive. At the same time, inequality in consumption expenditure, as revealed by the Gini coefficient8, has also increased in most of the states which is an indication of widening disparities among different sections of the society. This implies that the benefits of higher growth rate experienced, though marginally, in the post reform period have not been tickled down to the poorer sections of the society in the desired pace and the problem of income inequality within the state has worsened. An overall scenario of the region in the post globalization period is not very impressive as in the case of other region of the Indian union. This may be attributed to the prevailing geo-political condition in the region and attitude of the central government in tackling the issues of the region. In the following section we shall examine some of the issues and challenges which required an immediate attention. III.The Challenges Being one of the most neglected regions of the Indian union, overall state of affairs in the region is quite alarming. The unattended issues and problems of the past are being accumulated, multi-layered and have become multifarious. Over and above, the mounting pressures of emerging challenges of rapid transformation need to be countered. The clock is ticking fast and situation in the region is very delicate which may explode anytime from now if not tackled carefully. At this juncture the old habit of alibis and hinting would only aggravate the maladies of the past and swell negative elements of the globalization. Instead, it is the time to think and act collectively. The region has more issues to be addressed and challenges to face than any other parts of the country. Of which, the three most important areas which require immediate attention are insurgency, infrastructure and governance. All the other issues are derivatives which would dry up once these three are addressed. a.Insurgency The problem of insurgency in the region has a long history. The insular politics and Delhi centric approach of the Indian government is at the core of much of the discontents, widespread criticism, feelings of subjugation and notion of being colonized. There is a constant fear in the minds of the people that their identity is being eroded due to the submergence into the vast ocean of Indian humanity.9 The people of the region started alienating themselves and the feeling of self-determination started to germinate. With the aim of preserving their own identity various ethnic groups inhabiting in the region, undisturbed for centuries, began to differentiate among each other severing the local ties and affinities and started to struggle with arms.10 Thus, insurgency has mushroomed in the region and the secessionist movements, either for sovereignty or for separate homeland, began to lock horns leading to a vertical division among various ethnic groups. Therefore, prior to any policy pro gramme to resolve the problem of insurgency in the region, the political processes that has been framed and pursued to convert a breeding ground of insurgencies must be reversed first. Simultaneously, the attitude and security obsess mindsets of the central government should also change and embrace the region with open arms so as to restore the lost confidence of the common people. Insurgency is the major problem inflicting the region. With the passage of time it has increasingly become more complex and difficult to understand as their objectives, role and activities varied widely.11 In the name of nationalist movement they were involved and interfered in every state’s affairs including household chores, like a moral police, of their people. Each insurgent group runs parallel government. In a way, apart from Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, all the remaining states have multiple governments. The problem of insurgency has become the stumbling block in the course of development. It foundered every development strategy and hampered all the developmental works. Kidnapping, extortion, killing, bandh, strikes and curfews have become the order of the day. At the same time, the numbers and activities of the plain criminals masquerading as insurgents have also increased alarmingly. Today, the region has become the killing field and specialized in the export to death bodies, if not the manufacturing products. In short, the region has reached the pinnacle of the industrialization of insurgency and criminalization process. It would not be easy to find the solution. However, keeping in mind the rising global terrorism, it would be wise to work on a holistic approach for amicable solution sooner than the later. At the same time, what every insurgent group, operating in the region, should realize is that the formation of separate homeland or attainment of more autonomy or sovereignty is not the solution because within itself formation of new group with new demand can not be ruled out. b.Infrastructure The rich natural and human resources available in the region could not be utilized to the full extent mainly due to the geo-political condition, including ever-deteriorating law and order, which has a lot of implication on the development of must needed infrastructure. The negligence of the central government in the past and due to the problems of insurgency at present resulted into the gross deficiency of infrastructure in the region. This has crippled the free flow of factors as well as products. In such a situation, it would be hard for the region to accrue the benefits of globalization. It is also not surprising to find the lack of FDI inflow in the region. During January 2000 to Mach 2006 the region received only 9 million US dollar i.e. 0.04 per cent of the total FDI inflow in the country. The lack of infrastructure, as revealed by the infrastructure index given in Table 2, has not only spoiled the prospect of economic development but has also created a horizontal division amon g various ethnic groups affecting the fabrics of social harmony in the region. All the â€Å"constituent states of the region are internally locked–themselves locked and locking out others, unable to connect with each other physically in terms of poor transport links, and more seriously, unable to make connections intellectually and emotionally with their closest neighbours, or even with and among their own people.†12 It has displaced the common understanding and linkages for peaceful coexistence and regional cooperation. In order to reconnect the lost connectivity, trade and commerce and more importantly to foster emotional attachment among various ethnic groups inhabiting in the region infrastructures like roads, transports, communications electricity, banking etc. must be developed adequately. Such exercise would not only enlarge the base for the growth of the economy in the region but also enhance the regional cooperation-an engine of growth in this era of globalization. Underdevelopment breeds insurgency and insurgency retards development. Th is two are mutually reinforcing. This is a classic case of vicious cycle of underdevelopment-insurgency-underdevelopment. Therefore, any policy programmes either to resolve the problems of insurgency or development of much needed infrastructure should go concurrently and not sequentially as it hampered the progress of one another. Further, as it has been asserted in the Planning Commission report on Transforming the North East, the approach of the central government should change from â€Å"planning for the North East to planning with the North East†.13 This implies that, under the prevailing circumstances mere allocation of funds or implementation of new policy would not suffice to tackle the problems in the region. Considering the emotional sentiments of the inhabitants and sensitivity of the issues, the region must be handled with care. Every developmental programme for the region should have the consent of the inhabitants and needs to be executed with sincerity without delay. c.Governance â€Å"The state is responsible for the creation of conducive political, legal and economic environment for building individual capabilities and encouraging private initiatives.†14 It would, however, depend on the quality of the governance–mechanism, processes, systems, structures and institutions that guide the social, economic and political relationship. Good governance exercises its legitimate political power in a manner that is perceived as equitable, non-discriminatory, socially sensitive, participatory, transparent and accountable to the people at large. This includes not only the process of transformation of human and natural endowments to a socially desired ends but also reveals the long term vision and commitment of the state to secure human well being and sustained development of the people.15 The state of governance in the region is in pathetic condition. Government machinery is on the brink of collapse. Corruption, squandering of public funds, deteriorating law and order, lack of transparency and accountability, bureaucratic rigmarole, insensitivity and so forth are quite rampant in the region. There is widespread allegation of insurgency-government officials-bureaucrats-politician nexus, including law enforcing agencies, and siphon off public funds. All this has eroded the individual capabilities and institutional capacities to meet the social objectives. Until and unless the quality of governance has been improved, no matter how much is the fund earmarked for whatever the policy programme initiated would not be successful and only the common people have to bear the brunt. Taking into consideration of the paradigm shift in the development strategy and the amount of funds allocated16 in recent time, we may no longer be able to blame the central government in the near future. The present state of affairs in the region is past deed of the central government and what the future generation will face would be decided by what our government has done today. IV.Opportunities The economy of the region has been disrupteded by the forces discussed in the preceding section in spite of her rich natural resources. Besides the natural resources, many new opportunities have also emerged with the changing contour of world economy that can boost the economy of the region. But, the need of the hour is to focus on those areas which would lead to growth of the economy, develop the sense of participation and can extinguish the social and political chasm. The two main areas that can boost the economy are as follows: a.Tourism Tourism is one sector where the region has comparative advantage. This industry is highly competitive where the tourists have a wide range of choices and look for good value of their money. With bountiful nature’s breathtaking scenic beauty, salubrious climatic conditions, extraordinarily diverse rich art and cultural heritage of the people, this region can become a hotspot for eco and adventure tourism. Tourism industry involves a vast network of business activities relating to attracting, receiving, accommodating, managing and servicing of tourists. These include hotels, restaurants, transport agency and several other related activities. The development of this industry would promote national integration and international understanding, generate employment and revenue and provide prospective buyers for local manufactured products especially handloom and handicraft products–a dyeing industry due to lack of access to market. Tourism can generate more employment per million of rupees spent than any other activities. It can generate jobs in the remotest corners for unskilled to highly specialized skilled workers which would help in the realization of plan objectives. It would also enlarge the base of locally manufactured products. All this, however, would be possible only when there is well-developed infrastructure like transport and communication and sense of participation of the people of the region. b.Border trade The lack of connectivity and access to market, the main causes for under utilization of resources and weak resource-industry linkages, have set the economy of the region by half a century behind. The region has lost the markets in her neighbourhood, particularly in Bangladesh, due to partition, insurgency and diplomatic strains and tensions. Due to the peripheral location and stiff competition from mainland industries having better access to critical inputs like finance, technology and management, the base of traditional manufacturing in the region has been eroded leading to deindustrialization. While resource base can support a variety of industries at all scales, the existing industrial structure, dominated by small-scale demand based industries has not been developed proportionately. This has widened the gap between resource base and industrial structure in the region. Further, due to the restriction of free movement of men and material across the border, the notion of isolation h as developed in the minds of the people. It is in this context, there is a strong argument to develop border trade. In this increasingly borderless world, establishment of border trade would not only provide an opportunity to revive the local manufactured units but also serve as a transit corridor for the mainland big industrial units to explore the vast Asian market. This would also bring the centrality and visibility of the otherwise peripheral north eastern region.17 It is with this vision that ‘look east policy’ was initiated in 1991. Unfortunately, as old habits die hard; the central government still continues to live in the shadow of security obsessed mindset and prefers inward looking approach. As a result, even after fifteen years of implementation of border trade agreement, it has failed to invigorate the region’s trade with their neibhouring countries. As a result, India’s look east policy has, by and large, bypassed the region. The percentage of trade with neighbouring countries have zoom up to 8 per cent of the country’s total volume of trade in 2003-04 from a mere 1.7 per cent in 1987-88. However, over two-third of the total volume of trade with these countries flow via Bay of Bengal while the land borders of the region have been left for transit corridors for illegal trade . The tepidity of the central government in implementation of the policy has only led to rise in the porosity of these borderlands. An impressionistic assessment reveals that there is a rise in negative activities like cross-border insurgency, gunrunning, smuggling drugs, narcotics and AIDS, money laundering, trafficking women, illegal immigration etc. which further add to the existing multifarious problems in the region. Conclusion Globalization has become the most potent force emerged in recent time. It virtually affects every walk of life–positive or negative. Unlike other regions of the Indian union, North East India is more likely to swamp by its negative effects. The region is at the throes of discernible crisis. Since 1991, there has been increase in inequality and unemployment, decline in the quality of the governance, rise in smuggling, trafficking, illegal immigration, corruption, squandering of public funds, escalation in insurgency related activities, etc. These have led to underdevelopment and erosion of the capacity of the individual and quality of life. A sense of deprivation has developed particularly among the educated youths of the region. The clock is ticking fast and fuse is not long. It is time to work on a holistic approach to resolve problems in the region. Notes 1. Chanda, Nayan, 2003, â€Å"What is Globalization? Coming Together: Globalization Means Reconnecting the Human Community†, YaleGlobal Online, http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/567. 2. Recently it has been argued that the turning point of higher growth rate in India was 1980 but not 1991 as perceived by many. For more details see Nayyar, Deepak. 2006. â€Å"Economic Growth in Independence India: Lumbering Elephant or Running Tiger?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 15, pp. 1451-1458. 3. Some authors even argued that coastal states with open port facility have outperformed non-coastal states in the post globalization era. For more detail see Kishore, Adharsh. 2002. Towards an Indian Approach to Globalization, http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2002/kishore.pdf. 4. Sen, Amartya, 2005, â€Å"The Three R’s of Reforms†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 19, p. 1. 5. ibid., p. 1. 6. Sikkim becomes the member of North East Council on December 2002 after an amendment of the NEC Act 1971. Since then all development purposes of the state has been treated at per with the other seven states of the region. However, the addition of Sikkim in the North Eastern Region is yet to be reflected in the literature of NER. 7. The Report of the Special Group on Targeting Ten Million Employment Opportunities per Year over the Tenth Plan Period has viewed that Current Daily Status (CDS) is the better measure to capture unemployment than Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS). 8. The National Human Development Report 2001 provides the estimate of Gini Coefficient for rural and urban area only. It does not provide the combine estimate of the two. 11. For more detail analysis see Roy, Sanjay K. 2005. â€Å"Conflicting Nations in North-East India†, Economic and Political weekly, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 2176-2182. 12. Prabhakra, M. S. 2004. â€Å"Is North-East India Landlocked?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 39, no. 42, p. 4608. 13. GOI. 1997. Transforming the North East: Tackling Backlogs in Basic Minimum Services and Infrastructure Needs, High Level Commission Report to the Prime Minister, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/ne_exe.pdf, p. 2. 14. GOI. 2001. National Human Development Report, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/nhdrep/nhdreportf.htm, p. 114. 15. ibid, p. 114. 16. Apart from all the constituent states being classified as Special Category States, establishment of NEC and induction of DoNER speaks the volume of fund allocated to this region. 17. Verghese, B. G., op. cit. Reference Ahluwalia, Montek S. (2000): â€Å"Economic Performance of States in Post-Reforms Period†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 35, no. 19, pp. 1637-1648. Bajpai, M. (2002): â€Å"A Decade of Economic Reforms in India: The Unfinished Agenda†, Working Paper no. 89, Center for International Development, Harvard University, http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/CID/cidwp/089.pdf. Barbora, Sanjay (2006): â€Å"Rethinking India’s Counter-insurgency Campaign in North-East†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 35, pp. 3805-3812. Baruah, Sanjib: â€Å"The Problem†, http://www.manipuronline.com/North-East/November2005/theproblem23_2.htm. Bhattacharya, B. B. & S. Sakthivel (2004): â€Å"Regional Growth and Disparity in India: A Comparison of Pre and Post-Reform Decades†, http://iegindia.org/worksakthi244.pdf. Chanda, Nayan (2003): â€Å"What is Globalization? Coming Together: Globalization means reconnecting the human community†, http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/567. Ghosh, Madhusudan (2006): â€Å"Economic Growth and Human Development in Indian States†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 30, pp. 3321-3329. GOI (1997): â€Å"Transforming the North East: Tackling Backlogs in Basic Minimum Services and Infrastructure Needs†, High Level Commission Report to the Prime Minister, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/ne_exe.pdf. GOI (2001): â€Å"National Human Development Report†, Planning Commission, New Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/nhdrep/nhdreportf.htm GOI (2002): â€Å"Report of the Committee on India Vision 2020†, Planning Commission, New Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/pl_vsn2020.pdf. GOI (2004): â€Å"Report of the Twelfth Finance Commission (2005-10)†, Ministry of Finance, http://finance.rajasthan.gov.in/doc/12fcreng.pdf. Grare, Frederic & Amitabh Mattoo (2003): Beyond the Rhetoric: The Economics of India’s Look East Policy, Manohar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi. Gupta, K. R. (2005): â€Å"Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy†, Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 304-315, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. Humanshu (2007): â€Å"Recent Trends in Poverty and Inequality: Some Preliminary Results†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 497-508. Khanna, Sushil (2005): â€Å"Economic Opportunities or Continuing Stagnation†, http://www.manipuronline.com/Economy/November2005/stagnationoropportuny18_1.htm. Kishore, Adharsh (2002): Towards an Indian Approach to Globalization, http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2002/kishore.pdf. Kurian, N. J. (2000): â€Å"Widening Regional Disparities in India: Some Indicators†, Economic and Political weekly, vol. 35. No. 7, pp. 538-550. Nayyar, Deepak (2006): â€Å"Economic Growth in Independent India. Lumbering Elephant or Running Tiger?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 15, pp.1451-1458. NSSO (1997): Employment and Unemployment in India, 1993-94, 50th Round, Report No. 409. NSSO (2006): Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05, 61st Round, Report No. 515. Prabhakra, M. S. (2004): â€Å"Is North-East India Landlocked†, Economic and Political Weekly, vo. 39, no. 42, pp.4606-4608. Ramachandran, H.: â€Å"Governance and People’s Participation†, 15 Background Paper: Vision 2020, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/reportsf.htm. Roy, Sanjay K. (2005): â€Å"Conflicting Nations in North-East India†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 2176-2182. Sen, Amartya (2005): â€Å"The Three R’s of Reforms†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 19, pp. 1971-1974. Sinha, A. K. (2005): â€Å"India: Steps Towards Liberalization and Globalization†, Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 315-330, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. Sinha, Aseema: â€Å"Globalization, Rising Inequality, and New Insecurities in India†, http://209.235.207.197/imgtest/TaskForceDiffIneqDevSinha.pdf Upadhyay, Archana (2006): â€Å"Terrorism in the North-East: Linkages and Implications†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 48, pp. 4993-4999. Verghese, B. G.: â€Å"Unfinished Business in the North East: Pointers Towards Restructuring, Reform, Reconciliation and Resurgence†, Seventh Kamal Kumari Memorial Lecture, http://www.freeindiamidia.com/economy/19_june_economy.htm.

Disneyland Hong Kong Essay

1. What led to the eventual woes experienced by Hong Kong Disneyland in its first year of operation? How should Hong Kong Disneyland rectify its market situation? The venture into Hong Kong by Walt Disney was a simple example of a large successful western company not doing its homework. The case presents a clear picture of the importance of understanding a foreign market thoroughly before doing business there. Several factors led to an unsuccessful first year of operations and a majority of these factors could have been avoided with a better cultural understanding in the planning stages. One of the culture differences that was obvious to Disney was the fact that the children are not familiar with the Disney characters. Disney has established its brand and is a marketing poster child in the United States, however this advantage goes out the window in a country such as china that has sheltered itself from the outside world until recently. Disney thought that making a meager attempt at introducing the characters before the launch of the park would help, however familiarity isn’t synonymous with brand attachment. As listed in Global Marketi ng Management by Kotable & Helson, â€Å"Cultural Distance† is one of the six external criteria for choosing a mode of entry into a foreign territory, which was not accounted for by Disney. Cultural distance also recognizes the fact that different cultures have different expectations. This was also the case with China. As stated in the case, â€Å"for the tourists of Mainland China, going to Hong Kong means a shopping experience, and so they choose the cheaper alternative to Hong Kong Disneyland†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The case goes on to allude to the fact that the culture in China is one about dollars and cents – when a Chinese person spends his/her money, they are more interested in what they are physically getting. This is very culturally different from a Western vacation where relaxation and experience is the expectation. Disney does a great job at providing a  magical experience, but in my opinion this is what led to their struggle in Hong Kong – the Chinese tourists do not value that very magical experience that westerners do. There were also other factors such as neglecting to do homework on how Chinese tourists select a destination. The Chinese tend to have a strong relationship with travel agents where as in the U.S a vacation is generally booked online without any personal interaction. Failing to account for these small differences coupled with the lack of brand attachment created nothing but an overpriced theme park. All hope is not lost however! Hong Kong is a huge tourist market and there is plenty of opportunity, but the only way for Disney to rectify its market situation is to bridge the gap of cultural distance. One way to do this would be to add an educational element to their park. The case notes that the Chinese put a premium on education, and in this culture the parents are the ones making the decisions – so appeal to them and attract more people. If Disney wants to succeed it needs to also remember what made it so successful in the U.S. After year one it is clear that their brand is not established and would not do all the work for them, and must take the necessary steps to reestablish themselves all over again. It must create a magical feeling in every Chinese child hearts as well as fit the consumer expectations of their parents. 2. To what extend could Hong Kong Disneyland adapt its product to Chinese consumers without diluting its image? Hong Kong Disney obviously requires a lot of changes in order to be successful – but at what point to these changes start impacting its brand? Being such a different culture from Disney’s main operations, China presents a challenge in that Disney is at risk of tarnishing its name if it changes its product to suit the Chinese expectations. The best way to handle this would be to introduce characters and elements of the theme park that are brand new to China, and not introduce them anywhere else. Instead of using Mickey Mouse as the brand image they can introduce something completely new – and after due time this could be successful because it is not as though the Chinese consumer has any attachment to the already established brand, as a matter of fact they are not even familiar with it. It can also change the layout of its parks. China is more interested in taking home physical items  rather than memories so why fill up the park with aesthetically pleasing creations? Instead they can introduce bigger rides in order to allow for pictures. They can even put a super-sized mall within their park in order to establish a collection-type phenomenon surrounding Disney products in China. The text refers to this strategy as â€Å"International Market Segmentation.† A list of reasons is given by Kotable & Helson for the segment approach, and the first one is â€Å"Identifiable – The segments should be easy to define and measure.† A country like China certainly calls for this approach because of the potential dilution of brand image, however by keeping the Hong Kong Disney defined as just that – Hong Kong – the brand in the United States will be unharmed. 3. How should Hong Kong Disneyland address competition? Hong Kong Disneyland’s main competition is Ocean Park, a â€Å"homegrown† theme park. First Disney must recognize the advantage that Ocean Park has over them. Ocean Park has an advantage in that it understands the battlefield, so to speak. It is a Chinese company and it understands the expectations of its consumer. There is brand recognition and a little bit of loyalty since it was established in China. They have a popular educational segment which bodes well with the Chinese and generally provide a good overall experience for the price. They are recognized as the best way that Disneyland can separate itself is through differentiation – they have to make their product unique. Another way that they can address competition is by going after a different part of the market. As stated on Ocean Parks website, a midweek ticket is 320 HK which translates to about 40 bucks in US dollars. A potential opportunity might be to offer Disneyland as the premium option. At 40$, O cean Park offers a pretty cheap admission and there is not much room to beat their price, however by offering upscale restaurants and shops, Disneyland can capture the upper echelon of tourists. Through differentiation and a focused market, Hong Kong Disneyland can coexist with the large and established Ocean Park.

The Anterior Tibial Artery Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Anterior Tibial Artery - Case Study Example It appears that the acute swelling that has resulted may be due to rupture of an artery; most likely the Anterior Tibial Artery. If my friend is not taken to a hospital immediately, there is a possibility of developing a hypotensive shock due to extravasation of blood with the passage of time. Therefore emergency help should be immediately sought. Involvement of an artery should definitely be included in the differential diagnosis of this case. The artery that is most likely to get affected is the anterior tibial artery. Its patency can be evaluated by palpating the pulse of dorsal pedis artery, which is one of the peripheral branches of the anterior tibial artery (Casserly et al.   253). A similar symptom profile consisting of altered sensation in between the first and second toe, pulseless dorsal pedis, swelling, and pain are evident in the condition known as anterior compartment syndrome, which should, therefore, be included in the differential diagnosis of this case (Slobounov 332).â€Æ'

Public Services Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Public Services Management - Essay Example Organisational culture shapes the different procedures within the organisation and serves to either obstruct effective goal attainment and problem-solving or facilitates achievement of objectives (Yilmaz and Ergun 2008). Differences in organisational culture in the public sector versus the private sector are substantial. The public sector is largely characterised by having bureaucratic management systems with a much higher emphasis on establishing control and compliance systems than building flexibility. In the private sector, there is much more emphasis on human relations and human resources, hence employees are engaged and consulted in much higher frequency than in public organisations. This essay describes the disparities between public sector culture and commercial businesses, with an emphasis on bureaucracy, internal talent collaboration, motivational strategy development, and the quality of leader/member exchanges. Research indicates that there are significant differences between private and public sector organisational cultures and, as a result, this disparity creates a variety of negative consequences related to contemporary public service management. Historically, the public sector in the United Kingdom has been dominated with bureaucratic management systems whereby decision-making is highly centralised and there is little to no consultation with employees in the process of solving organisational problems. However, in response to changing external conditions and new privatisation of public services, it was becoming recognised by public sector administrators that there was a need for decentralisation in order to build a more motivated, committed and collaborative team environment. Known as New Public Management, the goal was to improve managerial accountability, break down the hindrances of consensus management, and generally incorporate some of the more effective and foundational management ideologies used in

Hewlett-Packard Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hewlett-Packard - Coursework Example In line with this merger, many have stated that this endeavor is both beneficial to the company. Upon analyzing the performance of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq as separate entities, these two are making waves for their markets specifically those of IT in nature. The merging of the company created a US$ 19 Billion value of the company, which signaled a big boom in the financial markets with high hopes and expectations regarding the company's operation formed by two IT giants. The company's future undertakings made me more interested in this study. The website www.news.com, also cited that this company would dictate a whopping 81% share in the US PC Market. One question was still unsettled, " will this merger eliminate all doubts and speculations during the negotiations of these giants to merge" Making profit out of the production if we are to deal with the IT industry is not the main goal of it nor it would justify the productivity of the company. In this regard, the threat of extinction among the big names in the IT industry is inevitable. The said companies (HP and Compaq) are making profit in this field, however, to compensate the needs of these companies and for them to be stable, they must increase their production above the projected number of these companies in order to compensate the demands and high rising cost of maintaining an IT company. To add to that, competitors like DELL, IBM, Toshiba, Sony and Sun Microsystems are some of the many competitors who divides the market of HP and Compaq. These premises made HP and Compaq decide to join forces in order to dominate the IT world. There are numerous mergers in the IT industry, which these mergers were intended to dominate the Market, wherein the common thinking during that time is " the survival of the fittest." Below is the timetable of the merger of these two companies. Table A Due to rising competition among different It companies, merger seems to be only option left fro the market of the company to expand and survive. REASONS FOR THE MERGER: Dealing with IT market is a great task to deal with. Innovations and related strategies is an important component to fare with other activities that are dominated by some firms. To further analyze the problem, it is essential to know different components concerning this. There are main reasons on why merger took place regarding the merger of the said companies. 1) Servers- Perhaps this is the main reason on why competitions in the IT industry is a though thing to deal with. Market leaders in this sector are the HP Alpha 9000 series servers with UNIX playing a dominant role as well. Other noteworthy firms in this sector are IBM and Dell but they are far behind from HP. Compaq is not a factor in this sector. 2) The rise of digital gadgets- Printers, Scanners and Digital cameras is indeed dominating the world of technology. In this regard, innovations concerning these gadgets are fast rising and these challenges are among the main reason of being obsolete from these things compared with the products and services offered by these two companies. 3) IT Services- The importance of this kind of service play a vital role not only in the World of technology, but the business world who needs it badly which is their primary

How does a transnational approach modify New Zealand's cultural Essay

How does a transnational approach modify New Zealand's cultural history is it useful Refer to at least 3 course thems - Essay Example The Waitangi treaty recognised the British Sovereignty in NZ and also offered protection to the interests of Maori’s in their traditional lands.The preamble of this treaty in Maori spotlights the creation of a government that would safeguard the interest of tribal community rangatiratanga. As per Brooking and Rebel (1995), NZs immigration policies customarily gave preference to European settlers especially from UK , Protestant Anglo-Celtic origins. NZ due to foreigner settlements , developed a new culture that materialized over centuries of relative separation, leaving from pacific cultures and adopting into the social cultures of hapu, whanau and iwi. This research essay will discuss about the culture , media , the urban society , the missionary and literary that prevailed in New Zealand in 1950 and will analyse how transnational culture has impacted the NZs culture . Culture Cross breed between Maori and Europeans were known as Pakeha. The signing of Treaty of Waitangi can b e regarded as the founding stone of modern citizenship. The NZ was transformed into a major agricultural producer for UK due to the ingress of Pacific citizens in the late 1950s. Later , settlers from Asia also ingressed into NZ1. Maori pre-European culture was oral and footed upon small independent sub-tribes residing in harbours ,valleys , ridges and sculpted hills. Armed conflict stories are much available in the Maori tribal history.Both polygamy and cannibalism were the common features of Maori culture. Tools were made from stones which was known as pounamu and tuhua. For weaving and other purposes , flax was employed. Initial trade in these products was in the barter system. Natural resources like sea, forest and waterways were regarded as sacred and exploitation of these natural resources were under strict supervision namely tapu (holiness),and manna carried over by tohunga.(priests)2. Edward Ned Kelly was the leader of the Kelly Gang.Nel Kelly story was very popular in New Z ealand through the ballads , folklore which praised the bush proscribers as the compelling character of freedom fighters and confrontation to the British authorities in NZ. In the 19th century , bushrangers were regarded as outlaws who frightened the bush country in NZ and Australia. The kelly gang was considered to the last generation of bushrangers in NZ3. â€Å"Cinemas, TVs & Radios† As per Department of Statistics (1975), there were about 600 cinema houses and 36.4 million cinema visitors in NZ in 1950.In 1950s, cinema admission rates were 2 shillings and 10 pence whereas today it is around 9.06 dollars4. Government owned TV New Zealand channels namely TV One and TV2 is free –to-air channels whereas Australian –owned TV 3 and its music channel is in operation in NZ. Some appealing foreign films and documentaries along with Maori subtitle and locally produced programs in Maori are being telecasted through Maori TV channel in NZ. In 1950, Kiwis paid an annual licence fee of more than ? 1 to the post office as the fee for such service as radio was under the state control then. Radio Sport is very active in sports news and commentaries. Radio New Zealand broadcasts current news and cultural programms and is available all through NZ. Local gigs are being broadcasted by the bNet, the student managed radio station,and new alternative music is being broadcasted by the Auckland’s 95Bfm. Tribal radio station namely Waikato’s Radio Tainui which has the country-wide network in NZ. Further , there are other players

Articles related to Managerial Accounting Essay

Articles related to Managerial Accounting - Essay Example The cumulative cost, therefore, constitutes the job cost charged to the customer. The article successfully illustrates that a job order costing approach is utilized when the job in question is distinctive from other jobs or product batches. Just as learnt in the management accounting class, cost accounting is relatively simple in job order costing. This is because the cost of materials and labor are integrated on one job ticket. Further, other overhead costs are included in the total amount of money charged to a customer. The article clearly distinguishes job costing from process costing, by showing that their difference depends on the product being availed to a customer, hence the kind of production procedure followed. I therefore learned that while process costing involves charging costs incurred in the course of production, job costing involves charging a specific job. I also learned that, cost assignment strategies and record keeping in job order costing, have higher complexity than in process costing. This is especially the case, if there are multiple services or products being provided. Complexity is increased by the fact that different services or products result in different costs. This means that for high efficacy in job costing, a company must maintain detailed cost records for every job or product. Summary: This article recognizes the fact that in any business, there is a possibility of making profits, suffering losses or simply breaking even. The F&B establishment used as an example adopts a strategy of providing high quality soup at a fair price. Â  This means that the variable costs incurred are high because of using ingredients of high quality, yet the selling price stays at an average level. As a result, the contribution margin remains equally average. Therefore, fixed expenses and generate profit, the business compensates low margin with high sales volume. This involves making sure that its outlets are

Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Annotated Bibliography Example This post is about core training. In exercising, core means the part of one’s body which includes the pelvis, hips, spine and rib cage. The 29 muscles found in the core region are divided into two categories: stabilization and movement. The article shares that the core region is important because the efficient performance of our daily activities depends on the muscles found in this area. Compared to the other sources, this article is more concise and easier to understand. It provides important information. I think this article is useful and the writer is credible because the site is affiliated with the National Academy of Sports Medicine and Sharecare and the writers are certified trainers. The book contains a lot of information about nutritious foods around the world. The items are grouped into categories such as vegetables and salads, fruits, grains, beans and legumes, etc. There is also a frequently asked questions page, recipes and nutritional information about the 100 food items. I think this book is very helpful. It same with the other sources I found because it talks about healthy foods for the body. The information is easy to understand. I think the author is credible because he is the founder of Health Valley Foods. Raisanen, Ulla. â€Å"What health professionals should know about eating disorders.† The Guardian- Healthcare Professionals Network. Guardian News and Media Limited. 12 February 2013. Web. 11 February 2013. The article is about people with eating disorders and how medical professionals should relate to these patients. The author says medical professionals should know that anyone can have an eating disorder and first contact is important. Also, early intervention is the key and emotions and behaviors influence the condition. The health professional should also focus on the person and respect the individual, taking time to find out about the condition from the person

Workplace Violence and Harrassment Essay Example for Free

Workplace Violence and Harrassment Essay Whether you are an employer or an employee, everyone is responsible for workplace safety. Within Canada, each province, territory, and the federal government, have Occupational Health and Safety legislation establishing rights and responsibilities for employers and employees. However, this legislation has not made workplaces safe and healthy in general. Here are just a few examples of workplace violence, workplace harassment and domestic violence that employers and employees are facing today. 1.â€Å"Patrick Clayton a recipient of WCB benefits entered the Edmonton WCB office and held eight people hostage at gun point for 10 hours before surrendering to police† (Edmonton Journal, 2009). 2.â€Å"Pierre Lebrun, an Ottawa Transit worker, walked into work, shot four of his co-workers and injured two more before he took his own life. Mr. Lebrun alleged he was harassed because of his speech impediment† (Branswell, 1999). 3.â€Å"Lori Dupont, an OR nurse, was romantically involved with colleague Dr. Marc Daniel for 2 years. When the relationship ended, a disgruntled Dr. Daniel viciously stabbed Ms. Dupont 7 times in the chest at work. Minutes later, he self-administered a drug overdose and died 3 days later† (Schmidt, 2006). Almost 1 in 5 violent incidents in Canada occurs at work which amounts to approximately 356,000 incidents of violence each year in the workplace (Statistics Canada, 2007). â€Å"Customers, clients, patients, students, workers, intimate partners, or family members may hurt, threaten, or harass workers while they are on the job† (Labour, guide 3, 2010). Harassment has become a growing concern both in the workplace and in society. The norms and values in society have changed. Actions and words that were acceptable or tolerated before, are not anymore. Everyone needs to be aware of their rights and where they can turn for help and support. When a person is feeling victimized they can become withdrawn from their family and friends as well as not attending work. At the same time those doing the harassing need to know that there are consequences to face for their actions. All employees and management need to be made aware of how serious this issue has become and that harassment is not only from internal employees but can also come from customers, outside contractors and any member of the public, in all workplaces. To this end, the government has placed greater onus and responsibility on the employer to act not only on reported events, but also unreported known issues of harassment and violence in the workplace. Look more:  problem cause solution speech essay Relevant Theories and research On June 15, 2010, the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, specifically Bill 168 required all employers to examine the risks related to workplace violence, workplace harassment and domestic violence, in response to the increasing displays of harassment and violence affecting larger groups of people. Bill 168 required all employers to comply by ordering them to implement a policy and process to address these issues and ensure the health and safety of all their employees (Labour, workplace, 2010). But before companies can even provide support for their employees, there has to be policies and procedures developed and put into place to address the issue of workplace violence and harassment. To do this, employers need to educate themselves on what workplace harassment and violence is. The definitions and scope of what constitutes workplace harassment and violence have changed. Workplace Violence is defined as a physical force or an â€Å"attempt to exercise physical force against a worker in the workplace that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker† (Labour, key, 2010). This includes threatening behaviour, verbal or written threats, harassment, verbal abuse and physical attacks. Workplace violence extends beyond the traditional workplace and can include off site work related social or business functions or client homes. Workplace harassment means â€Å"a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome. This includes sexual harassment, bullying, teasing and intimidation† (IAPA, 2009). Domestic violence is defined as a â€Å"behaviour used by one person to gain power and control over another with whom he or she has had an intimate relationship. This â€Å"may include physical violence, sexual, emotional, psychological, intimation, verbal abuse, stalking and using electronic devices to harass and control† ( Labour, guide 6, 2010) The sources of workplace violence or harassment can be divided into four categories (IAPA, 2009): 1.External Threat – incidents where an individual has no relationship with the workplace and threatens or commits an act or harassment in the workplace. 2.Clients, customers or visitor Acts – an incident resulting from a client, customer or visitor at the workplace who becomes violent, threatens or harasses an employee. 3.Employee to Employee – acts of violence or harassment resulting from employment relationship. 4.Domestic Violence incidents that occur in the workplace that arise from a personal or intimate relationship between two individuals. In a guide prepared by the Law Society of Upper Canada, for addressing harassment and discrimination (LSUC, 2009), the Ontario Human Rights Commission (2000) was quoted â€Å"the best defence against human rights complaints is to be fully informed and aware of the responsibilities and protections included in the Code†. It further establishes that the adoption of effective harassment and discrimination policies and procedures along with the design and delivery of the program assists in creating a respectful work environment for everyone and also reduces the risk of liability for employers. Significant harm can be caused by inappropriate response to claims of harassment and violence, not limited to compounding the victim’s experience, affecting the victim’s relations with peers, violating the privacy of the victim, negative repercussions on the business, high absenteeism, loss of business, and legal costs attributed to these claims. In a policy statement published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Pediatrics, 2006), it said that, although the common belief is that sexual harassment is perpetrated only on women, in 2001, 13.5% of sexual harassment charges reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the United States, were reported by men. According to information gathered by the SASHA Sexual Assault Centre in Hamilton, ON (SASHA, n.d.), â€Å"one in four women and one in ten men have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace.† In addition, only â€Å"8% of those who are harassed at work report the harassment.â⠂¬  According to an article by Karen Hughes in Gender, Work Organization (2002), she found that women sexually harassed by customers were a significant problem. Her research focused on a study of 63 female retail service workers and 20 security workers and she found that while these women had been sexually harassed by customers, they were constrained in dealing with the behaviour due to the policies and procedures that the employer placed on customer satisfaction. The women were also reluctant to confront the harasser and instead resorted to avoidance or became less friendly, which affected their job performance. According to Queen’s University Human Rights Legislation Group (2010), employers can no longer rely on the â€Å"grey area† of workplace issues. Tribunals and courts have tackled these grey area excuses such as workplace culture of joking, promise of confidentiality, and complainant did not come forward, by tackling them head on, removing them from the grey area and rejecting the excuses. A Description of the Practical Implications Effects on the Employee Harassment is a relevant issue as it can create low productivity for an organization and the morale of employees can drop. The victim may feel shame from being controlled and humiliated. The silence of co-workers is easy to understand because they fear that if they say something, they might be next. Harassment and violence can cause a host of stress related health problems. The employee may suffer from anxiety, disrupted sleep, loss of concentration, post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression or panic attacks. Left untreated and with prolonged exposure, the person could experience migraines, develop ulcers or have cardiovascular stress-related diseases occur; causing the transformation of social factors into damaging biological consequences. These effects of stress related health problems on the employee lead to increased tardiness, absenteeism and sick leave. When they do make it too work they tend to be unproductive, as Jennifer McCarthy (2010) stated â€Å"Harassed employees waste between 10 to 52% of their time at work dealing with, or thinking about, their problem†. Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are lost in wages and reduced productivity. Additional negative effects of harassment and violence are reduced job satisfaction, job withdrawal and decreased career salience. Harassment can also affect the relationships the victim has with family and friends. When a person is harassed they can become depressed, vulnerable, and angry. This could include a loss of self esteem which affects them at work and home and could lead to the development of anti-social behaviour. Other negative effects include decreases in job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and in organizational citizenship behaviours. The act of reporting workplace harassment and violence in itself may cause the employee distress; doubly impacting their health, behaviour and productivity. Employees may be reluctant to report customer harassment to employers. Instead they may resort to avoidance behaviours or be less friendly which potentially may impact their performance on the job. This could lead to poor performance reviews when the aggressive customer fills out a survey and expresses their disgruntled view point. In some cases, the employee will request a work transfer in order to get away from the situation. In extreme cases, employees will lose their jobs either voluntarily or through constructive discharge. Effects on the Organization So why should employers care? Effects on the Organization include harm to image and reputation that may lead to people mistrusting the enterprise. This evaluation could weaken the market value of the brand and social image. The organization could experience difficulty in employee recruitment, training and retention, because of the harm to the company image. These problems, if not corrected would reduce commitment, morale and productivity, because the negative emotional atmosphere of the company would have a mutual influence on all personnel. A persons mood will affect ones working attitude. This in turn leads to reduced productivity and increased team conflict. It could lead to strained management-employee relations, because distrust would manifest itself. When employees begin to question what is happening in the workplace and their concerns are not addressed due to reduced communication in the workplace, this would cause things to become even worse. Employee turnover causes the loss of talented people for an enterprise, increasing the negative effects and costs of trying to replace the lost worker. It increases the use of Employee Assistance Programs, thus increasing costs of healthcare or benefits paid by the organization. EAP is intended to help employees solve issues affecting their health, happiness, working performance and the problems of success. But, by not addressing the issues of workplace violence and harassment and eliminating them, EAP cannot improve employee productivity, nor reduce employee absences. Short term/long term disability and drug plan costs that should be used for external health issues affecting the employee are instead being spent on an internal issue that should be addressed. Prevention costs are infinitesimally small compared to the high cost of an incident of workplace violence or harassment. Without policies and procedures in place, there could be extreme consequences for the employer as well as the individuals involved, as shown in the examples at the beginning of this report. The company could also be held responsible for paying out on harassment and violence related lawsuit. Significant harm can be caused by inappropriate response to claims, therefore, it should be emphasised that the goal of an employer’s response should make the alleged harassment stop and to restore the desired workplace environment. Employers should also be mindful that if there is an investigation, remedial action will not protect it from litigation if the action taken was inadequate for either the complainant or his/her coworkers. The employer has the duty to respond when they have been alerted to issues of harassment in the workplace. Recommendations The first step for any organization is to put in place a strong harassment policy that is developed by managers and employees. This written policy should include a clear definition of harassment as well as clear expectations of expected employee behaviour. Management and employees should work on creating the policy as a joint effort. The policy should also include corrective actions and stipulate that violation of its terms may result in discipline, up to and including termination of employment. Corrective action could range from demanding an apology for the complainant, providing counselling and/or training to the harasser and other staff to disciplining or dismissing the harasser. Some other alternatives available to the employer and employee are changing the location, assignment or reporting relationship between the complainant and harasser. As well as creating a policy, contacts must be made available 24/7 so a person has somewhere to turn for help since in many cases, the employ ee is not going to respond immediately to the harassment. Instead they will do so at a time that they feel they are in a safe environment, such as home or after work hours. Lines of communication must be opened up for all management and employees with methods set up to protect everyone’s privacy who is involved in the complaint. All employees and management must be encouraged to speak up whether they are a victim or a witness. All employees should also be informed on how to file a complaint and to document each incident including place, time and any witnesses. This falls into play whether it occurs in or outside the workplace. Training and information sessions should be scheduled to educate all employees on the policy and procedures in dealing with harassment and include a discussion period to clear up questions. The employer can use workshops, orientation sessions, films, brochures, posters, e-mail, memos and other tools to educate current employees. A copy of the policy and contact information should also be distributed to each employee as well having the information posted in areas where everyone has access. To ensure that you have advised all employees, have employees sign a commitment pledge acknowledging receipt and understanding of the policy. This will also support the employer’s due diligence should an issue arise at a later date and they must reprimand an employee for harassment and/or violence. It would also reinforce for the employee that the employer has taken this issue seriously. The policy should reinforce the timeliness for reporting a complaint in order to maintain the integrity of the information and witnesses, though it should be understood that the act of reporting may also add to the individual’s distress. It should be stressed that everyone is responsible for due diligence in reporting and responding to harassment and violence in the workplace. Threat assessments should begin before an individual is hired through background, police and reference checks. In some industries, the background and police checks should be done annually. Exit Interviews would help employers identify harassment related exits. Hiring a third party to conduct the interviews would give an unbiased picture and recap of the interview. In addition, this education should not be a one-time occurrence. On-going information sessions, training and reminders should be done at regular intervals so that everyone knows what their rights and responsibilities are in a harassment-free workplace. Conclusion In our report, we described why we chose this topic and why it is relevant. Workplace harassment and violence is everyone’s responsibility. We provided relevant theories and research. To address the escalating problem of workplace harassment and violence, the government has introduced legislation that requires employers to create policies and procedures to increase the awareness and social responsibility of harassment and violence in and out of the workplace. We described the effects workplace violence, harassment and domestic violence have on the employee and the organization. We also provided recommendations for the workplace to eliminate harassment and violence including developing a policy and providing training to existing and new employees. Employers and employees need to understand and be aware of their rights and responsibilities. Victims need to know where they can turn for help and support. Harassers need to know that there will be repercussions for their actions and workplace harassment and violence will not be tolerated. Violence and harassment have no place in the workplace. References Branswell, B. (1999). Ottawa capital shocked-massacre leaves five dead, Maclean’s. Retrieved from http://business.highbeam.com/4341/article-1G1-54384942/death-ottawa-capital-shocked-massacre-leaves-five-dead Canadian Human Rights Commission. (2006). Anti-harassment policies for the workplace: an employer’s guide. Retrieved from http://www.chrcccdp.ca/publications/ anti_ harassment _toc-eng.aspx Committee on Pediatric Workforce. (2006). Prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace and educational settings. Pediatrics 118: 1752-1756. Retrieved from http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;118/4/1752 Hughes, Karen D. (2002). Something to deal with: customer sexual harassment and women’s retail service work in Canada. Gender, Work Organization. Volume 5, Issue 4 (pp. 207-219). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0432.00058/abstract Journal Staff. (2009). WCB hostage-taking ends peacefully, The Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/ Police+respond complaint+Edmonton+office/2128080/story.html IAPA. (2009). Workplace violence, Resource Article. Retrieved from http://www.iapa.ca/main articles/2009_worplace_violence.aspx Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Employment Standards – Health and Safety. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/wpvh/appendix_c.php Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Employment Standards – Health and Safety. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/wpvh/appendix_d.php Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Guide. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca./ english/hs/pubs/wvps_guide/guide_3.php Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Guide. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca./ english/hs/pubs/wvps_guide/guide_6.php Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Key terms concepts. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/wvph/concepts.php Labour Government Ontario. (2010). Workplace violence. Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.on.ca./english/hs/pubs/wpvh/violence.php McCarthy, J. (2010). Harassment in the workplace. Solutions Newsletter, 35. Retrieved from http://www.familycounsellingcentrebrant.com/files/4085936294896818.pdf. McShane, S.L., Steen, L.S. (2009). Workplace emotion, attitudes, and stress. Canadian Organizational Behaviour. Mcgraw- Hill Ryerson (pp.77 -96) Namie, Gary. (2003). Workplace bullying: escalated incivility. Ivey Business Journal. November/December 2003. Retrieved from http://wpb-res.com/res/2003_Namie.pdf Queen’s University. (2010). Human rights legislation group – workplace harassment. Retrievedfrom http://www.queensu.ca/humanrights/legislationgroup/highlights/dutytorespond.html SACHA (n.d.). Statistics. Sascha sexual assault centre. Retrieved from http://www.sacha.ca/home.php?sec=17sub=43 Schmidt, D. (2006). A killing at hotel-dieu. Windsor Star. Retrieved from http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/features/dupont/news/story.html?id=0a88d4d2-18bb-4ef5-bab5-4073ef937d03p=2 Statistics Canada (2007). Study: criminal victimization in the workplace. The Daily. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/070216/dq070216a-eng.htm The Law Society of Upper Canada. (2009). Addressing harassment and discrimination: guide to developing a policy for law firms or legal organizations. Retrieved from http://rc.lsuc.on.ca/pdf/equity/modelHarassmentPolicy.pdf Thorup, P.J. Ceaser, R.L. (n.d.). Addressing workplace harassment in Canada. The Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved from http://canadian-lawyers.ca/Understand-Your-Legal-Issue/Labour-and-Employment/Addressing-Workplace-Harassment-in-Canada.html

Concepts in Differential Privacy

Concepts in Differential Privacy Abstract Stored data in search log is insecure process to the search engine. Search log contains extremely sensitive data, as evidenced by the AOL incident. To Store information in the search log is identify the behavior of user. To maintain this sensitive data is risky process, because some security methods containing the drawbacks. Search engine companies provide security for search logs, in some cases intruder identifies the stored data then loss occurred. This paper provides security methods for the search data against the intruder. To store the data in the search log based on the keywords, clicks, queries etc. Anonymization is the method provides security for data but it loss the granularity. And another method is â‚ ¬-differential privacy provide utility for the problem. (â‚ ¬,∂)-probabilistic privacy used to calculate the noise distribution. ZEALOUS algorithm propose in this paper provide effective results with (â‚ ¬1,∂1)-indistingushability. This paper concludes w ith the comparable utility with the k-anonymity, â‚ ¬-differential privacy. To this algorithm produce the effective result. Keywords: Security, Privacy, Data Anonymity, Information Protection, Differential Privacy, Histogram INTRODUCTION To publish the search query logs are useful to know the behavior of a user. To interact users into search engine information stored in the form of search log. This stores the information based on the following schema {User_id, Query, Time, Clicks} Here User_id identifies the particular user. Query identifies the group of keywords to be searched by the user in search engine. User search the keyword in search engine like â€Å"Java† then relevant information related to Java will be occurred in the browser. User clicks on the particular link it will store in the search log as number counts. And also store the time of the click on the user. Single user consists of a user history or search history by the search entities. User history partitioned into sessions by the similar queries. Queries can be grouped into form a query pair, this used for the preparation of data in the search log. Query pairs can be divided into sessions and each session contains the subsequent query. Generally keywords can be divided into two ways. Those are 1. Frequent 2. Infrequent 1. Frequent Keyword: Previous methods only introduce these keywords. Because of this keywords are produce easily with search logs compare to the infrequent. Users search the keyword in the search engine based on that criteria identify the frequent keywords. 2. Infrequent Keywords: Proposed method for this paper is to publish search log with infrequent keywords. To publish this keyword is to loss the utility and produce less results compare to frequent keywords. In the previous method k-anonymity the main aim of this method is to define effective anonymization models for query log data along with techniques to achieve such anonymiation. Publishing of user query search logs has become a sensitive issue. To develop anonymization methods to publish the searc log data without breaching privacy or reduce utility. Drawback of this method is to identify the data to the external linked attributes. Introduce Quasi-identifier to the identification of an individual by combining to the external data. Following is an example data set User Registration Search_log Fig 1: Anonymization of the data In the above tables explains that the user registration contains all the user details of the user history. Search_log table contains the data of the user searched data. These two tables are externally linked to each other with this data loss occurred. Putting these searches together may easily reveal the identity of the user. The idea behind this k-anonymity is provide guarantee to each and every individual and hidden the group of size k with respect to the quasi-identifiers. To produce the search logs with â‚ ¬-differential privacy provide good utility, but problem with the search logs is noise added to the search logs. Several methods are used to produce random noise in the differential privacy. According to this paper classify them as two categories Data-independent noise Data-dependent noise Adding noise to the data this data-independent noise is most basic one. Laplace noise addition belongs to this category. Compare to the data-dependent noise is most complex, but usually they lead to less distortion being introduced. But this paper focus on the data-independent noise, which is most frequently uses in data sets. To produce effective results with â‚ ¬-differential privacy add laplace distribution to the result. Zealous algorithm consists a two phase framework for the purpose of identify the frequent items in the search log. And set two threshold values to publish the search logs with more privacy. Search engine companies apply this algorithm to generate statics with (â‚ ¬,∂)-probabilistic differentially private to retaining good utility for the applications. Beyond publishing search logs this paper believe that findings are of interest when publishing frequent item sets. This algorithm protects privacy against much stronger attackers than those compare the previous methods. RELATED WORK Search Log Anonymization In the previous incident occur in the AOL search log, it reveals the data of a user. Adar propose a method it appears at least t times before it can be decoded, which may potentially remove too many unused queries. And another method tokenize each query and hashes the corresponding log identifiers proposed by Kumar at el.[21]. This method improve the frequency of the search and leaks the data through hidden tokens. To overcome the problems in previous method introduce the anonymization models have been developed for search log release. Hong et al. [17] and Liu at al.[23] anonymized search logs based on k-anonymization which is not accurate as differential privacy. Xiong at el. [15] presents the query log analysis applications and various granularities of releasing log information and their associated privacy threats. Korolova et al. [20] release first applied the accurate privacy notion to release the search log based on differential privacy by adding Laplace noise. To add the Laplace noise to the counts of selected queries and urls is straightforward directly maximize the output utility with optimization models. Publish the frequent keywords, queries and clicks in search logs and comparison for two relaxations of â‚ ¬-differential privacy. This paper works related to framework for collecting, storing, and mining search logs in a distributed manner. Differential Privacy Dwork at al. [7,8] propose the definition of differential privacy. A randomized algorithm is differential private if for any pair of neighboring inputs, the probability of generating the same output. This means that two data sets are close to each other, a differential privacy algorithm behave same on the two data sets. This process provide sufficient privacy protection for user data. And also introduce the data publishing techniques which ensure â‚ ¬-differential privacy while providing accurate result. Search queries contain sensitive information it can lead to re-identification, approaches include query results, user-id to prevent re-identification of individuals from the search queries. This approach differs from the above it interact access framework that does not directly depend on anonymization for privacy, it differs from the semantic policies and differential privacy.