Alternative Method for Onsite Sewage Disposal

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT DESIGN Term Paper 1 ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR ONSITE SEWAGE DISPOSAL (29 Pages) March 2nd, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION3 2. INFORMATION4 3. 1 Soil Absorption System in a septic tank4 3. 2 Soil Failures6 3. 3 Soils7 3. ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR ONSITE TREATMENTS 8 AND SYSTEMS OF DISPOSALS 4. 4 Alternative method for soil treatment and disposal systems8 4. 5 Alternative treatment devices13 4. 6 In-house alteration of wastewater16 4. REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ONSITE SYSTEMS21 5. CONCLUSION22 6. 7 Funding of existing state onsite programs22 6. Operation and maintenance22 6. 9 Failing systems23 6. 10 Water Conservation24 References25 List of Figures26 1. 0 INTRODCUTION Nearly 30% of the homes in the United States of America depend on onsite wastewater treatment and disposal. This percentage remained constant for the last two decades and is also estimated to be constant in the coming future. It is estimated that up to one half of the septic tanks do not perf orm perfectly or may even fail even before their expected life. The risk of contamination of ground water and surface water quality increases with the failing of an onsite system.These result in degradation of water quality, health hazards, outbreak of diseases and lowered property values. Nationally septic tank leachate is the most frequently reported cause for the contamination of the ground water and consumption of contaminated ground water is responsible for over 50% of all reported outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Lack of affordable and effective onsite sewage disposal is a national issue. Less than 35% of the land in the United States of America is suitable for conventional septic tank soil absorption systems.These limitations and requirements have resulted in developing many alternatives for onsite technologies. This study discusses recent research on alternative onsite technologies. 2. INFORMATION 2. 1 Soil Absorption System in a Septic Tank The soil absorption system in a septic tank is one of the most common treatment systems onsite. This soil absorption system consists of a septic tank, a water tight container which is usually large, and a field of soil absorption. It also contains a series of perforated pipes that are buried in the soil. This system performs two functions, the treatment of wastewater and the disposal.The septic tank provides biological treatment by removing large solids and greases. Further treatment followed by the final disposal is provided by the soil absorption field. A septic tank is made up of a large container which is water tight (usually 1000gal). This container is generally buried slightly below the ground and also adjacent to the building to which it is serving. The greases and fats are collected in a layer on the upper liquid surface whereas the solids settle to the bottom of the tank. For the liquid to be discharged from the layers between the solids and the scum, an outlet is constructed in the septic tank.For approx imately every three years, the solids and scum are pumped from the tank. The treatment or stabilization of contaminants in the wastewater are treated by anaerobic microorganisms. This process occurs in the absence of O2. The soil absorption field consists of a series of pipes. These pipes are placed in trenches which are usually 2 to 3 feet wide and 2 to 4 feet deep. These pipes are perforated. The pipes are placed in Gravel and it is covered with top soil. The effluent from the septic tank first flows down to the pipes, then out of the perforations and finally is absorbed by the adjacent soil.The microorganisms in the soil below the trenches absorb and treat the organic material in the effluent. This treated water percolates into ground water or may also evaporate. 2. 2 FAILURES The main causes for the failure of the system are * The water table being very high. * The surrounding soil being impermeable. * Improper Construction * Lacking in maintenance of the tank. The failed system can usually be defined as * When sewage effluent is collected on the surface of the ground. * When the wastewater is no longer being evacuated by the toilets or drainage systems.Main Causes for these types of Failures * Clogging of the Soil under the system * The rising of the water table to very close of the distribution trenches. * The soil being impermeable. The Clogging of the soil is being considered as the unavoidable occurrence for a soil absorption system over a period. The design of the system, the maintenance of the tank, and the characteristics and amount of wastewater being treated greatly influence the rate of clogging. The immediate clogging of the soil is also occurred when proper pumping of the septic tank is neglected.If the soil under the field of soil absorption is too permeable, even then the system failures occur. If this happens then the effluent directly enters the ground water without proper treatment in the soil. In this case it becomes more difficult to id entify, as there are no problems that can be found out or noticed in the disposal system. A sample of ground water may be taken to detect such failures. 2. 3 SOILS The ultimate disposal of the liquid part of the wastes treatment process depends mainly on soil for all onsite systems. The soil also provides the ultimate treatment in most of the onsite systems.The wastewater is made free of contaminant particles when the contaminants pass through soil by contact with the aerobic microorganisms and also absorption to soil particles. The pathogens and contaminants are completely removed from the wastewater if it travels slowly through 2 to 4 feet of unsaturated soil. If at all the wastewater is travelled quickly the treatment is not done completely and resulting in the contamination of the underground water. Even if the wastewater travels too slowly the saturation of the soil takes place aerobic treatment will also not take place.The time at which the wastewater is to be passed should be determined by the soil permeability. It is mainly affected by texture and structure of the soil. The texture of the soil means the physical nature of the soil with respect to portions of sand, silt and clay. The travelling of the water depends on the particle size of the soil. It travels quickly through the coarse soil and slowly in clayey soils. Soils whose structure is stable will allow more water to pass through than that of those soils whose structure is unstable.The kind of soil absorption system that has to be determined is mainly based on the characteristics of the soil. 3. 0 ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR ONSITE TREATMENTS AND SYSTEMS OF DISPOSALS The conventional septic tank absorption system is used in less than 35% of the land in the United States of America. There are some areas that are not suitable for the conventional absorption system because of the soil. For the past several years alternative methods to the conventional method of absorption system have been provided to de velop effective sewage treatment to those soils which were formerly not suitable.Most of the alternative methods are still in the experimental stage. This chapter describes the ongoing status of the research being carried out on a number of alternative methods to the conventional septic tank-soil absorption system. The alternative systems for the soil absorption system are divided into three groups * Alternative method for soil treatment and disposal systems * Alternative treatment devices * Alteration of wastewater in-house 3. 1 ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR SOIL TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL SYSTEMS The main factor in identifying the onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems is the soil.For this reason, the research has been primarily focused mainly on developing alternative soil absorption methods. Five alternatives to the standard soil absorption field are described here. Of which three of them are the alternative methods of distributing effluent to standard soil absorption field, a mound or fill system, and an evapotranspiration system. Soil Clogging over time is an unavoidable occurrence for soil absorption systems. This problem is caused by the manner in which effluent Is delivered to the system.The flows occur to a soil absorption field when the effluent is displaced from a septic tank by a water use event in the household. Such low volumes and irregular waste utilize only a small portion of the disposal trench area on all times. These cause clogging, progressive creeping failure and localized overloading. The following figure illustrates how the progressive failure reaches a state of equilibrium along the entire absorption field with respect to the time. To provide more uniform application of effluent over the complete trench area two systems have been developed. The two systems are Dosing system and Pressure Distribution systems.DOSING SYSTEMS The dosing systems are present in the dosing tank. These dosing systems store the pretreated effluent and apply large d oses to the soil absorption field by gravity, siphon or pump at regular intervals of time. The surface of the soil is returned to an unsaturated condition by allowing the system to drain. The soil type determines the frequency of dosing. It usually ranges from one to four doses per day. EALUATION: The specific cause for soil clogging is not well understood, and some question still exists whether dosing is effective or not. Clogging still occurs in dosing systems as well as standard systems.More research and careful tracking of installed systems is necessary. An additional dosing chamber and pump adds up to approximately $880 to $1000 to the price of the standard system. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State Guidelines for dosing systems have been issued. There are 57 systems on the state inventory. PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS Pressure distribution systems like the dosing system store pretreated effluent for periodic distribution to the soil absorption field. Diameters of small radiu s are used to pump the effluent over the entire absorption field. The pressure distribution system provides the most uniform distribution.Such accurate distribution avoids the localized overloading problems. The additional benefit of dosing are also achieved with the Pressure Distribution system. EVALUATION: The Pressure distribution systems are mostly suitable for permeable and coarse textured soils. This is because they improve the potential for treatment by the distribution of the effluent evenly over the entire absorption field and reduce the potential for direct bypass of effluent to the ground water. The installation cost, operational cost and the maintenance cost are much more in a pressure distribution system when compared with the gravity system.This is because of the additional cost of the dosing chamber and pumps which approximately adds to $800 to $1000 to the price of a standard system. The cost of installation of the absorption field is similar to that of the standard field. It is obvious that these systems result in the most effective treatment in coarse textured soils, but it is not clear whether or not the life of the absorption field is long lasted in fine grained soils. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State Guidelines for pressure distribution Systems have been issued (revised SEPT 1984).There are a total of 52 systems on the state inventory. ALTERNATING DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS The effluent is not stored by the alternating distribution systems. Instead the disposing of the pretreated effluent is carried out between two separate absorption fields. These absorption fields are constructed in close proximity and the fields are usually alternated annually. This allows the unused field to drain and aerobic decomposition of clogging mat to take place. The residential systems are generally constructed with two equal fields each containing 75% to 100% of the required surface area.EVALUATION: Washington alternative system guidelines require each component field to contain 100% of the area required for a single field. In a conventional system it is also required that the soil meet its standards. Hence the installation cost is more and the benefit received is the increased life time of the absorption field. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state guidelines have been issued. There are two systems on the state inventory. MOUND OR FILL SYSTEMS This is a pressure distribution system installed in a mound constructed on top of the natural soil.Such systems are used when the GWL is too close to the surface or when the soil is not permeable enough or is too permeable. This mound is constructed of a coarse grained material usually sand through which the pretreated effluent travels before it reaches the original surface of the soil. Vegetable cover and top soil are used to cover the mound. Usually the soil absorption field is constructed below the top soil. The mound system is placed on the top of the top soil layer and thus gains the additional be nefit of this soil layer for the treatment.The treated effluent is dispersed over laterally through the top soil until it is absorbed into the sub soil. EVALUATION: These mound systems have emerged as an effective alternative for sites whose soils are unsuitable. Anyhow construction of a mound requires the transportation of large amounts of new soil to the site and the mound must be carefully designed and constructed properly in order to see that no problem occurs in the future. The design and installation cost of the mound system can cost between $4000to$8000. Therefore this the last option for installation.REGULATORY STATUS: Final state guidelines have been issued for the mound systems and there are 257 systems on the state inventory. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION BEDS The evapotranspiration beds discharge the wastes into the air instead of the soil. The use of such beds is not allowed in those areas where the annual evaporation is more than the annual precipitation. These beds are lined wit h water tight materials such as plastic, filled with crushed rock and sand, and again covered with top soil. Perforated pipe lines are used distribute pretreated effluents to the bed as in the conventional absorption system.EVALUATION: Testing of 17systems took place in Easter Oregon and that revealed out poor performance. All but one of the systems developed holes in the linear. They allowed the untreated effluent to enter the ground water. REGULATORY STATUS: An experimental system permit would be required for installation of the evapotranspiration beds. 3. 2 ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT DEVICES The focus has mainly been on the disposal systems in an onsite research in the USA. However there has been some interest in reducing the clogging of soil absorption fields. This has led to in improving the quality or purity of the effluent from treatment devices.If the purity of the effluent is improved then the clogging in coarse unstructured soils is reduced. There are 2 devices in the pretreatm ent of wastewater, the septic tank and the aerobic tank. To provide an extra treatment to the effluents from septic tank and aerobic tank several technologies have been developed. Some of the devices are capable enough to produce the effluent suitable for surface discharge. However the surface discharge is not allowed in all states and so these types of systems can be utilized to improve the performance of the soil absorption field. AEROBIC TANKSAn aerobic tank is a watertight container which runs on the mechanism where the wastewater comes in contact with air. The decomposition of waste products takes place when they are in contact with the air. The separation of the solids and greases take place and the liquid waste is discharged into a disposal system. The solids must be pumped from the final chamber regularly. Aerobic tanks can reduce the BOD by 85% to 98% under ideal conditions and also reduce the Suspended Solids by 40% to 80%. A septic tank reduces BOD by 25% to 65% and suspe nded solids by 40% to 80%.EVALUATION: Aerobic treatment devices are sensitive to any changes in the quantity of wastewater or the characteristics of the wastewater they are treating. In normal conditions, the effluent has not been shown to be of a higher purity than the septic tank effluent and the purity of the septic tank changes vastly with time. These are mechanical devices which require skilled men to operate it and also to maintain it. Since the aerobic tanks need regular inspections and frequent maintenances, they are best suited for conditions where the management is done by Wastewater Management District or utility.REGULATORY STATUS: Final state guidelines were issued in 1975 for the aerobic devices. No systems are illustrated on the state inventory. ANAEROBIC FILTERS These filters are mainly designed to provide secondary treatment to septic tank effluent before they discharge to a soil absorption system. The filter is a water tight container which is filled with crushed ro ck or other soil type which will support microbial growth. Effluent is treated when it comes in contact with anaerobic organisms on the surfaces of the anaerobic filters. EVALUATION: Development is still in the experimental stage for small residential systems.It is reported that anaerobic filters can reduce the BOD of septic tank effluent by 30% to 80% and can further reduce fecal coliform by 43% to 95%. No additional source of energy is required and the maintenance cost is almost similar to that for a septic tank. Cost Estimations are not available. More research and field tests are needed. REFULATORY STATUS: No state guidelines are there for anaerobic filters and an experimental system permit would be required. SAND FILTERS Many sand filter designs have been installed on an experimental basis for residential onsite use.Sand filters operate by directing pretreated effluent into or onto a layer of sand allowing it to drain through the sand where aerobic decomposition of the wastewat er takes place and collecting the filtrate in a perforated pipe at the bottom of the filter. Filters may be constructed either above or below the ground. The systems that are constructed below the ground can be contained in a water tight vault or can also be uncontained in direct contact with the surrounding soil. Some filters send back part of the filtrate through the filter for further treatment. The liquid filtrate is ultimately disposed of in a soil absorption field.Sand filters are capable of producing very high quality of effluent with reported BOD and SS reductions of 99% and 97%, respectively. EVALUATION: The Oregon Department of Environmental quality has conducted extensive research into the use of sand filters for residential use. Their research has shown good success at improving the ability of soils to accept and treat effluent on sites with soils that are not acceptable for the conventional systems. In cases where the soil conditions are very poor, an installation of sa nd filter is made to treat the effluent coming out of the septic tank before the disposal in the mound system.However this system might cost up to $1000. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State interim guidelines for sand filters have been issued and are currently being revised. 3. 3 IN-HOUSE ALTERATION OF WASTEWATER The main factors that are taken into consideration when designing onsite treatment and disposal systems are the quantity and quality of the wastewater being treated. These factors also have an important effect on the long term performance of those systems. Wastewater is created and its characteristics are determined by the water use habits of the residents belonging to the household.The quality of the wastewater is also influenced by the water use habits of the residents. One technique of altering the waste stream is one technique considered to permit onsite treatment and disposal on sites with less suitable soils. HOUSEHOLD WASTEWATER CHARACTERISTICS Household wastewater c haracteristics vary widely with the time of day and the season. Wastewater from residential houses is affected by high utilization of water like the day of wash, holidays and guests and periods of no flow in times of vacations. Below are given the values of average residential wastewater.Typical household wastewater is 99. 9% water by weight, and 0. 02% to 0. 03% suspended solids, plus minor amounts of other soluble and insoluble organic and inorganic substances. Wastewater also contains bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms from the digestive tract, respiratory tract and skin. Some of the physical and chemical characteristics of wastewater produced by various activities are listed below. TABLE 3. 1 HOUSEHOLD WASTEWATER – PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ACTIVITY| BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND| SUSPENDED SOILS| Kitchen activities| 42%| 27%| Bathing and showering| 6. %| 6. 8%| Clothes washing| 29. 9%| 31. 3%| Toilet Flushing| 21. 8%| 35. 8%| TOTAL| 100%| 100%| WASTE SEGREGATI ON Toilet flushes or black wastes contribute approximately 35% of the water, 36% of the suspended solids, and 68% of the total nitrogen to the household waste stream. The volume and pollutant load of remaining water which is called grey water is reduced if the toilet wastes are treated separately without using water. VAULT PRIVIES Vault privies and holding tank systems store the waste products from toilet in a storage vessel which is water tight and is pumped out periodically?EVALUATION: The storage systems are generally used to correct a temporarily correct a failing system but not always applicable to residential uses. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state guidelines have been issued and the use is restricted to non-residential applications. INCINERATING TOILETS The use of natural gas and electricity is made to incinerate toilet wastes in the incinerating toilets. In these toilets the solids are reduced to ash and the liquids are evaporated and vented to the outside. Later the ash i s disposed of at regular intervals of time.EVALUATION: Incinerating systems consume energy either from electricity or from natural gas and should go through a fifteen minutes treatment cycle after every use. Five to Six units installed in Kentucky in the early 1970s had been abandoned by 1978 because of high operation costs, associated doors and frequent problems of repairs. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state interim guidelines for incinerating toilets were issued. BIOLOGICAL TOILETS Biological toilets treat human wastes by composting. Composting takes place under specific conditions of temperature, moisture, exposure to Oxygen and the availability of carbon and nitrogen.This process of composting usually results in a relatively dry end product which is free from harmful components. This end product is intended for disposal as a soil additive. To assure successful treatment of wastes, proper maintenance of design and operation of composting toilets within the composting chamber. Th ere are two common designs used, (1) small units where the entire unit is on the floor in the toilet room and (2) large toilets where the composting unit is below the floor. EVALUATION: Even though they have been in use for many years, the design of composting or biological toilets is still evolving.Field testing in the United States of America has resulted in some problems. Two studies sponsored by U. S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and conducted in California and Oregon report generally poor performance including certain problems like excess buildup of liquid, problems caused by insects and rodents, structural failures and incomplete treatment of wastes. For certain units to operate efficiently an added heat and forced ventilation are required. REGULATORY STATUS: No existing regulations in the state of Ohio. GREYWATER TREATMENT AND DISPOSALGrey water contains concentrations of organic materials, solids, nutrients and fecal bacteria which require treatment to that of the t otal household wastewater. A significant amount of wastewater created can be reduced by segregating the waste. EVALUATION: Even though the conventional treatment and disposal methods are required, the segregation of black wastes allows the size of the system to be reduced significantly. Septic tank size can be reduced by 50% and the capacity of the soil absorption field can be reduced by 40%. REGULATORY STATUS: Guidelines for grey water treatment are included in the state regulations. . REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ONSITE SYSTEMS To prevent the spread of diseases, the need for regulation of onsite sewage disposal became necessary. However specific construction requirements are many times difficult to justify in terms of preventing the spread of diseases. This difficulty led to vast differences in policy and allowed regulations to be influenced by political purposes as well as public health purposes. A national survey of existing state codes in 1947 found considerable variation in requi rements for onsite sewage disposal systems (Weibel, 1947, in Kreissl, 1982a).These findings prompted the U. S. Public Health Service to become involved, and in 1957 they published the Manual of Septic-Tank Practice. A survey of all the states was conducted in 1971 and showed that most state codes had incorporated the recommendations of the manual (Patterson, 1971, in Kreissl, 1984). Since that time, states have been revising their codes in response to local experience and new research. In 1980 the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency published a Design Manual for Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal.Newer or â€Å"alternative† onsite treatment technologies are more complex than that of the conventional systems and incorporate pumps, recirculation piping, aeration, and other features (e. g. , greater generation of residuals) that require ongoing or periodic monitoring and maintenance. However, the current management programs of most of the jurisdictions do not typically o versee routine operation and maintenance activities or detect and respond to changes in wastewater loads that can overwhelm a system. In addition, in many cases onsite system planning and siting functions are not linked to larger ground water and watershed protection programs.The challenge for onsite treatment regulators in the new millennium will be to improve traditional health based programs for ground water and surface water protection while embracing a vigorous role in protecting and restoring the nation's watersheds. 5. CONCLUSION There are important problems not addressed by existing regulations 5. 1 Funding of Existing State Onsite Programs The Department of Social and Health Services currently has 1. 8 staff statewide for the entire onsite program. Department officials estimate that 4 to 5 full time staff would be required to adequately perform the state’s duties (Lenning, 1987). . 2 Operation and Maintenance The U. S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Design Man ual for Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems (1980) suggests that there are three distinct phases in the life of onsite systems that required to be controlled. * Installation * Operation * Maintenance The above phases of installation, operational cost and maintenance cost cause problems that may result in system failures that threaten public health or damage the environment. Guidelines for alternative and experimental systems require some monitoring of operation as mentioned in Section 4. 2.The difference between using an onsite system and being connected to a municipal sewer is usually not known to the home owners. Careful operation and careful maintenance is required for an onsite system to function properly. For example, there might be a serious effect on the operation of an onsite system with the use of garbage grinders or excessive water volumes (Refer Chapter 3. 3). An important maintenance function for most of the systems is pumping of septic tank. If this is not done properly it may result in the rapid failure of the soil treatment and disposal system (Refer Chapter 2. 2).Special operation and maintenance requirements are present in most alternative systems so that they can function properly. As of now there are no statewide requirements for operation and maintenance of conventional or alternative onsite systems. There are two possibilities to control the onsite system operation and maintenance. * Regular Inspection and documentation of maintenance * Community or regional wastewater management districts REGULAR INSPECTION AND DOCUMENTATION OF MAINTENANCE To adequately protect public health and the environment regular maintenance of the onsite wastewater systems is required.In some areas, the local governments require the property owners to provide local health authorities with evidence that their wastewater system is being operated and maintained properly. Inspections are conducted by health officials or licensed individuals, such as plumbe rs who are well trained and also are certified to carry out inspections. COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS In the previous days onsite wastewater systems were considered temporary solutions until one of the areas were sewered. From then they have become an important wastewater treatment practice for many areas.The induced and often dramatic growth can be reduced with onsite system in low density areas. With the help of an onsite system the high costs for the construction of the traditional centralized sewer and treatment systems can also be reduced. The degradation of the ground water and the environment can be avoided if the management district sees that the maintenance of the onsite systems within the district is functioning properly or not. In some states wastewater management districts have been formed using a combination of alternative including individual and communal systems. . 3 FAILING SYSTEMS The repairs are usually difficult when a system fails because of its high repairing cost. The health officials find it difficult in the issues of failing systems. They are difficult to detect the cause of the failure and are even more difficult rectify the defect or to repair it. There are two regulatory problems, related to alternate systems that arise when a system fails. * If there is not enough land to construct an approved replacement system then a failing system may be located on this lot.If there is flexibility in the guidelines for the application of an alternative system or replacement systems, then this could allow people to improve their wastewater treatment system even if they are not able to meet all applications. * The Property owner not being able to afford the cost of an approved replacement system Some funding assistance is required to help low income householders to rectify the onsite system deficiencies. For example if the failing system is located on soil that is not suitable for a conventional system, an alternative syste m may be required.The installation cost and operational cost are very high for alternative systems. 5. 4 WATER CONSERVATION The advantages of water conservation on the treatment of soil and disposal systems are described in section 3. 3. Some of the advantages of water conservation are. * The performance of soil absorption system is increased. * Savings in energy costs * Potential for correcting a system which is failing Several applications for water conservation to regulate to onsite regulations are: * Regulations allow for soil-absorption field sizes to be decreased when it can be shown that low water use fixtures require a decrease.However some officials might be hesitant to permit the decreases in soil absorption field size fearing that the occupants in future might install non efficient fixtures and cause the system to fail. * Water conservation can be a cost effective method for correcting the failures of the system (Refer section 3. 3). There are currently no state guideline s for the application of this method. * Some states like Oregon and California have enacted a legislation which requires the installation of some water efficient fixtures in new construction (Puget Sound Water Quality, 1986). REFERENCES 1.Metcalf and Eddy (2002) Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal and Reuse, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York 2. Syed R Qasim, Wastewater Treatment Plants- Planning, Design and Operation, Second Edition. 3. Wikipedia www. wikipedia. org 4. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) FIGURES 1. Typical Septic Tank – Soil Absorption System 2. Septic Tank (Adapted from Environmental Protection Agency, 1980) 3. Soil Absorption Field Cross Section 4. Typical Dosing Chamber with Pump 5. Mound System 6. Aerobic Treatment Unit (Aerobic Tank) 7. Sand Filter 8. Biological Toilets

Globalization & Culture

This report presents the findings from two interviews conducted on two subjects namely; Kyu Yong (Eric) Kim and another one known as Brian (Choi). The interview used semi-structured method to interview the two subjects. The aim of the interview was to investigate the effects globalisation has had on them. This was done with an aim of determining how cultural orientations are shaped or determined by globalization. Also the interview aimed at analyzing as well as presenting views on the topics from literature review available. The reason for settling on the two as suitable candidates for the problem under investigation was due to two reasons: First of all, the fact that both subjects have interacted with people from two or more cultures different from theirs. Secondly, both subjects have been subjected to different cultures mainly for reasons related to globalization in one way or the other. Finally, the interviewees were selected because of their accessibility to the interviewer as well as their willingness to participate in the interview. The findings of the interview are discussed below and effort is put in order to generalize the findings to the bigger population. Definations. Globalisation is the process of improved interactions of people from cultural countries, economic as well as social orientations afforded by the rapid growth of ICT transportation and advancement in technology such as ECD, internet, mobile phones and satellite communication. Culture can be defined as the way of life of a people mainly on how people relate and interact with the environment, their beliefs, their nutrition, their religion, their traditions as well as their aspirations. Culture is affected and shaped by many factors but of all of them, it is globalization that has had the greatest impact on culture. Results/findings for Brian Choi Brian represents two cultures, American culture and Korean culture. He is a represents blended culture. From the interview, when asked about what culture was and represented, his response was, â€Å"I believe culture is what shapes you and influences the way you act and think. Culture according to me represents beliefs which are so much intertwined in a person that it becomes very hard to change cultures or to forfeit ones culture†. From the above verbatim, Brian raises a critical point that culture is embedded in ones belief. According to(Robertson, 1992)belief plays an important role in shaping culture in that cultural practices such as songs, dances, worship, marriage as well as political systems are all unique to different cultures. As far as songs are concerned, songs from a particular group or community may reflect the beliefs of the particular community or group. This factor is necessary in order to understand why people believe in what they believe in. In the traditional Korean set up, songs were used in ceremonies as landmarks for special events. Up to date, there has been little influence on the Korean music/songs from other cultures such as western culture. This can be proved by the following comments made by Brain in the interview process. Asked about the role of songs in the Korean culture Brian replied that â€Å"in Korea songs are sacred, when a group of people and possibly any gathering is commenced with a song. In terms of cultural beliefs, is useful as a tool of communication and therefore handling down the treasured values of the Koreans. The fact that culture is fast being eroded by modernization and globalization was of central importance to the interview. According to Brian, globalization has affected the Korean culture in a number of ways including; ) Globalisation has led to penetration of foreign cultural practices in Korea. Specifically globalization through enhanced communication through mobile as well as internet has contributed to communication with various people in different parts of the world. This has in turn led to the contamination of the Korean culture in that more people than ever before are as a direct result of modern technology of communication, getting married to people outside their own c ultures. This has had impact on the Korean culture in that, whenever marriages outside cultural boundaries occur. The culture is assimilated fully in some cases while in others it is changed due to the integration. In cases where the two cultures may be incompatible total abandonment results and therefore one is forced to adopt a new culture. According to Brian, the leading cause on cultural deviation is marriage, in that more than ever before, more people are getting to interact and intermingle with different cultures and therefore becoming more open to change. This is supported by (Robertson, 1992) who notes that marriage is a powerful tool of taking people out of their ethnical tribal racial or religions cocoons. The claim is further supported by who notes that apart from the effect marriage has on culture, it too does affect peoples view and perception, of others and these is one of the self means of easing tensions between diverse groups communities or races historically penetration of discrimination or segregation of various forms of way perfected by proponents of such, discouraging and in some cases criminalizing, inter-tribal, or interracial marriages. A good case is in the apartheid Era, South Africa where Boers were not permitted to marry Africans and a move in contradiction to the above was punishable. This served best interests of apartheid supporters. Therefore globalization in the sense that it leads to more advances of cultural marriages has contributed to easing tensions in many groups or societies. Culture any conflict According to (Thomas, & Wilkin, 1997) culture difference, which in turn depends on myths, religion or history of a people is often a cause of personal conflict, religious conflict as well as political on that this culture has become a major force in many conflicts taking place in the modern times. Brian in this case is not affected by political conflict, but by a more subtle form of conflict, personal conflict which in turn translates into identity crisis. Identity crisis in relation to culture refers to a situation whereby an individual as a result of belonging to different cultures either naturally or by environmental related factors gets into a situation whereby he or she is face with unique challenges of which they must negotiate in order to progress peacefully in their cultures. In the case of Brian, his primary culture is Korea while his secondary culture is America. The fact that he likes identifying himself as American points to the fact that he is happy to belong to America. However, he likes travelling back to Korea for visits once or twice every fortnight. This connotes another attraction to Korea. Actually he is connected to the people of Korea and the visits cannot be dismissed as holidays but have a cultural bearing. On the other hand, the fact hat Brian does not deny belonging to any of the cultures points to the fact that he could easily pass for a person exhibiting and practising two cultures. Although Brian was silent on how religious practices in the two cultures, Korean and American have affected him, religion is known to play a crucial role in culture. There is evidence that most of the conflicts happening in the 21st century are directly caused by cultural differences rooted in diversity of religious beliefs (Teeple, 1995). For instance in Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have been known to regularly clash over cultural differences. Elsewhere, Muslims and Christians have on numerous occasions been involved in armed and prolonged conflicts all resulting to cultural differences. While as globalization is supposed to bring a solution to this dilemma, that has not been the case and globalization has to be utilized positively if much of the cultural tensions being experienced today are to be diluted. However, Brian owns up to being a victim of ideologized cultural conflict. To him, this has been manifested in the way he has to adapt to capitalistic tendencies commonly upheld by majority of the American while at the same reserving the more socialistic values learnt in Korean, and which is so much embedded in peoples’ everyday life activities. The other culture shock which Brian admits to having come face to face with is, the value attached to work in America is high compared to Korea, as far as work ethics is concerned, Brian equates the average American worker as very hard working and dedicated compared to an average worker, in Korea. According to him globalization has had an impact on work ethics in Korea in that, many American multinationals are opening up plants in Korea, employing local for semi skilled and unskilled labor. This in turn is inculcating American culture into the locals something which is shaping Koreans and in a way changing the status-quo. From his individual standpoint, Brian alluded to the fact in US, he is faced with many challenges especially when it comes to adjusting to organizational culture. The wide cultural differences are hard to adjust to and according him, many are the days that he experiences face-to face confrontations with his supervisor due to what he termed as irreconcilable cultural differences. Asked on his final word on globalization and culture he noted that, that people should share information, share resources, exchange goods and services in what is referred to as trade. All this can be achieved only through dissecting cultures and taking out the impediments to prosperity but retaining all the positives that enhance every human being’s fundamental rights and freedom. Eric Kyu Yong Eric though not as enthusiastic about the issue as Brian, yielded into very insightful information which clearly points to the roles importance, advantages, disadvantages as well as the shortcomings of globalization and the way it has been conceptualised in relation to cultural orientations. Eric points the fact that he has experienced directly both â€Å"worlds† that is, Korea and America. He confided this as something that has shaped his understating of the problem of globalization and culture. Having spent his childhood and part of his early teenage years in Korea and then proceeded to live in America. The fact that Eric was of age by the time he left Korea for the US made him a suitable subject for the interview in that he could yield to great insights on the problem. Asked about the merits and demerits of globalization on culture. Eric pointed to the following as the merits of globalization on culture. First of all, globalization has created an opening to cultural exposure. This has been occasioned by the booming tourism business which almost always undertakes to promote indigenous cultures, in places where it exists. According to Eric, when tourists from various parts of the world undertake foreign trips to different destinations, a cultural interaction results and two or multiple cultures almost always yield into great cultural impacts. This is made possible by globalization through efficient and reliable transport system. Although Eric was quick to point to the fact that his cultural experiences are not tourism related, he observed that what first hit his mind on arrival to America was his belief that people are culturally the same and the way they do things is the same no matter the origin. To his shock, Eric soon learnt that cultural orientation were very significant contributor to the way of life of a people. While in Korea people valued foods cooked traditionally and served in traditional cook-ware, in the US the society is very busy compared to Korea. People tended to work for long hours and lacked time for social life. Eric’s first time experience led him to believe for a very long time that his society back in Korea was simply no match for his new society. This was to change soon as he developed keen interest into understanding modern factors which influenced culture. According to him, over the past decade, he has observed so many similarities in the two cultures that he has begun to actually doubt whether any significant differences actually occur between the two cultures. This he attributes to globalization which he refers to have enabled instant communication, hence sharing and exchange of information. With the advent of telecommunication, people are able to communicate via satellite, consult over important international matters, as well as agitate for common stance on key issues. As far as culture is concerned, people have as a result of globalization been able to inter-marry and therefore aid minimizing the cultural gap that exist between different cultures. Eric confidently asserted that he had as a foregone conclusion decided to marry an American. This he said was aimed to allow him to further understand better the American culture, for which as he admitted, marks the epitome of cultural variations, co-existence and collaboration. According to him, these developments were unheard of in the 60’s but have been occasioned by the relatively rapid speed with which globalization has contributed to cultural changes. Eric noted that the greatest culture shock he experienced was as a result of noticing how the value attached to marriages so much differed in the two countries, that is Korea and America. According to him, the high divorce rates in America, and the de-emphasis on extended family was so much in contravention to the culture in Korea whereby the value-system is embedded in the extended families. According to him, this is evidenced by the way generations after generations share same names in what is believed as to be respect to the dead. This, Eric noted, has of late changed and more nuclear families are sprouting up. Eric added that this can be attributed to globalisation as this practice is highly attributable to the influence foreign cultures and especially western culture has had on the contemporary Korea society- specifically ICT and internet, were identified to have contributed to this development in that, these enables people to interact online through emails, on-line chatting, online friendships and in some cases, marriage. All the above have changed people and made them open up to change including accepting and borrowing some aspects of foreign cultures as on example, Eric pointed to the fact that, in Korea it was traditionally a taboo to divorce unless for some specific and well known reasons. Even under the above mentioned conditions, the situation involved a long and rigorous process which had to be sanctioned by some designated members of the society such as traditional elders. The other key contribution of globalization to culture according to Eric was clothing. In Korea, Eric noted that traditionally clothing is regulated. For women, the conditions and requirements are stringent and are supposed to be adhered to strictly unless one is ready to be termed as an ‘outcast’. Earning the term has its own negative effects in that one is virtually locked out into the benefits enjoyed by other members such as getting a bride or bridegroom, inheriting as well as education. However Eric pointed out that, globalization has significantly changed these perceptions. He noted that when his siblings including the sisters visit America, they enthusiastically shop and dress American and it is no longer a big issue. This he attributes also to globalization, according to him, upon coming to America he considered some dressing codes as totally unacceptable. His level of cultural tolerance was totally ‘amiss’ in his own words. However, he later learnt to accept and live with it especially on campus as members of the university were youngsters who were outgoing and hardly conservative. His experiences at the university contributed positively to his changed perceptions on cultures and he got to appreciate diversity and dynamism that so strongly shape culture. According to Eric though, no culture is superior to another but some culture so strongly influence others to the point of absorbing them completely. Although he down played the effect globalization has had on him particularly, he specifically mentioned that, his interaction with the America culture, largely occasioned by globalization has changed his life. Conclusion Globalisation has had major influence on culture, and it is not surprising that the cultures in two different countries that is America and Korea, as evidenced in the interview represent globalization influence on culture. From the evidence gathered from the interview with Brian and Eric, culture and globalization are intertwined and therefore influence each other. From the two interviewees, it was possible to deduce the factors which shape cultures. From the report, it can be recommended that, more research need to be carried out in order to determine how globalization can be shaped to avoid taking away from the achievements so far realized in integrating different cultures. On the same note, there is a need for efforts from governments and other key stakeholders to come up with policies which protect indigenous cultures from negative effects of globalization. This should be done with an aim of preventing erosion of positive aspects of cultures however small. Finally globalization should be encouraged in as far as it promotes development of cultural issues such as integrating of cultures which helps solve numerous challenges such as racial, tribal or ethnic tensions.

Effects of financial crisis on Austria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effects of financial crisis on Austria - Essay Example Austria’s products are struggling to compete with the products China and India like Asian countries because of the higher prices of the Austrian products. India and China are the most heavily populated countries in the world and they don’t have the manpower shortage problems. On the other hand, Austria is facing severe manpower shortage and hence the labour cost is comparatively high in Austria. Subsequently the products of Austria are heavily priced in the global market. â€Å"Lending rates are a key element in the transmission of monetary impulses to the real economy even more so in bank-based financial systems such as the Austrian one† (Jobst). Austrian banks were more particular in safeguarding the interests of their customers rather than the interests of the country. Austrian banks were not much particular in adjusting the interest rates even at a time when the Austrian economy fluctuated a lot. Banks miscalculated that the relationships with the customers are more important even at a time when the economy was in a unstable condition. Banks took a more relaxed approach to risk assessment and risk premiums decline even when the recession struck the economy hard. The economic expansion of Austria suffered a major setback when the recession entered the world quiet unexpectedly in 2007. The slump in world trade has affected Austria also very much. Unemployment and inflation were reached all time high during the recession period in Austria. Many of the Austrian firms forced to cut down their labor force in order to escape from recession. However, Austria is currently showing signs of the great recovery. While most of their European counterparts struggling to repair the damage, Austria seems to be succeeded in finding solutions for the damages caused by recession. Compared to other Euro zone counterparts, Austria was able to recover quickly even though the recession struck their economy severely. The current growth rates of Austria are more

With recent headlines in mind, identify five reasons for the public Research Paper

With recent headlines in mind, identify five reasons for the public not to trust the government and five reasons for the public to trust the government - Research Paper Example In the United States our government is based on the Democratic model which allows input from the people as a result of their voting and electing of representatives who also vote. Government is made up of these representatives in two specific houses, Senate and Congress and it is called the legislative branch. The executive branch consists of the president, vice president and his cabinet of advisors. These branches are almost exclusively responsible for decisions that affect the lives of hundreds of millions of United States citizens, as well as potentially affecting billions across the planet. Trusting or not trusting this entity that controls so much is a hard question to understand. When asked more than one friend made it clear that we needed to support the government and trust that they were doing what is right by us, specifically they mentioned approaches taken in the security arena with regards to air travel and travel in general in the United States. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has the unenviable job of providing for the security of millions of annual travelers via air travel, and more recently the possibility of scanning and checking millions of travelers via trains, busses and other vehicles as well as pedestrians in some areas. (Greenberg) Additionally the friends mentioned the efforts made by the United States to introduce Democracy into Iraq and Afghanistan. The initial reasons for our being in those nations having to do with the terrorist attacks with planes against the United States on 9/11, while those reasons and nations have since been cleared of wrongdoing in the terrorism approach we are still there ten years after the fact. Lastly, my friends mentioned that we should trust them because they help others, they referenced the Haiti earthquakes and the large amounts of aid and people we sent to assist them, they also referenced the recent BP oil spill and the Hurricane that

Nike Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nike Industry - Research Paper Example For example, Adidas and Reebok are the closest competitors of Nike Inc. However, Adidas is one of the main competitors of Nike in that the company owns 5.32% of the industry market share and has been privileged to sponsor major events such the as the 2012 Olympics. While Nike owns 35.21% of the industry but suffers a major ordeal of competitive losses as it does not focus on social media to keep in touch with return customers and potential new ones. Reebok on the other hand, is a subsidiary of the Adidas Company and owns about 2.58% of the market share posing as a potential competitor for Nike in terms of quality products, target market, and promotional schemes (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008). Customer Bargaining Power Based on 2009, 2010, and 2011 revenues that peaked at $20.9, Nike’s customers have a high bargaining power with regards to their social backgrounds and average total household income. The target market for Nike Inc. earns an average total household income of $50,000 to $150,000 per year making the target market upper-middle class. The customer base of Nike Inc. is cultured in terms of quality and continued use of the company’s products, therefore, it has very little interest in switching brands. Trends in this market show that 62% of customers buy Nike shoes once per year as their use for the shoes is central to exercise and athletic reasons. The target market includes athletes and non-athletes while 19% of all sales are from athletes while the rest are distributed amongst customers looking for products giving/providing comfort, enjoyment, fitness exercise, and quality collections. Supplier Bargaining Power Given the market share of more than 35% that Nike Inc. has secured within the industry, the bargaining power of suppliers is weak due to the fact that there are few other companies that can sustain their survival better than Nike. For example, competition between suppliers in 2012 resulted to increased revenues for Nike as sup pliers had to win Nike’s confidence by lowering their prices and providing discounts in order to win the tenders. Additionally, Nike’s market share has placed the company as a high contender of the suppliers with best deals . Due to bulk purchases of supplies, the company enjoys extensive cash and purchase discounts (Lazich, and Virgil, 2011). Threat of Substitutes Reflecting back on the competitive forces that shape the sportswear industry, it has been noted that most companies in this industry capture their market share with regards to trends, customer behavior, and culture of the company (Lazich, and Virgil, 2011). Nike Inc. faces a major threat of substitutes from various companies starting with the major competitors Adidas and Rebook. However, Nike shoes and other products fair better on the competitive market due to brand recognition rather than quality and design. With regards to purchasing power of customers, above 62% of return customers buy shoes once a year and have more than $50,000 in total household income (Lazich, and Virgil, 2011). Due to prices that match the quality of products traded by Nike, substitutes bridge the gap between low income earners and product sales. For example, the market share owned by companies labeled as others is 29.68 (Mirando, (2012). Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrants in the sporting industry is almost zero. Two considerations make up for this claim. Firstly, the sportswear in

Interpersonal Communication Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interpersonal Communication Questions - Essay Example here are six ways that can be adopted in everyday life, which are â€Å"motivating your ­self to listen, clearly hearing the message, paying attention to the message, cor ­rectly interpreting the message, evaluating the message, and remembering and responding appropriately†(Sole, 2011). I plan to use these skills in everyday life. By using these ways, my listening skills will be polished and I will be a better listener. The psychological concepts concerning the â€Å"self† are â€Å"self-concept†, â€Å"self-image† and â€Å"self-esteem† and these concepts are related to interpersonal communication. A person is able to have â€Å"self-concept† or knowledge of self and his traits by communicating with self and others around him, therefore, an interaction is created leading to interpersonal communication. â€Å"Self-image† is a complete picture of one’s full persona and transforms because of interaction and communication with other people as information about strengths and weaknesses is internalized, therefore is related to interpersonal communication. â€Å"Self-esteem† is related to interpersonal communication as it is the worth of oneself, which sometimes needs reassurance from other people or from self through interpersonal communication (Sole, 2011). â€Å"Self-concept† has affected my interpersonal communication as my friends catego rize me as social and friendly highlighting my traits so I have good interpersonal communication. The example of â€Å"self-image† is that being physically fit, I have confidence in communicating with others so my interpersonal communication is affected by my â€Å"self-image†. I respect myself having positive â€Å"self-esteem† that makes me to communicate with confidence with people around. Verbal communication is as significant as nonverbal communication and it can be made effective by following certain ways, which are improvement of vocabulary, increase of awareness and adaptation of language and checking for understanding (Sole, 2011).

Societal Perception Of Foreign Business In Nigeria Dissertation - 1

Societal Perception Of Foreign Business In Nigeria - Dissertation Example Such permission can only be granted by the local communities like the Ogoni. The social perceptions towards the foreign companies operating in Nigeria deteriorated as communities became displaced and their resources forcefully are taken to accommodate the oil fields. The societal perceptions of the oil-led development in many countries have many consequences. Some of these consequences include slow growth, inequality, and unemployment. Countries that depend on oil production are characterized by poor governance, high rates of corruption and high instances of conflict. This has added to the notion that foreign companies are exploitive and unfriendly. Norway has used the benefits of North Sea petroleum to develop its economy. Nigeria and Angola have been suffering from poor management of the same resource. In Nigeria, the disparity between poverty and oil wealth is notable (Parker 2006). The same trend has been observed in Venezuela. Foreign companies like Shell-BP for partnerships with domestic elites with an aim of protecting their interests. The multinational has been blamed for the inequalities created by the oil-led development. In the Niger Delta region, exploration began in 1958. The compensation of the land acquisition in the delta region has aided only a small group of people (Apter 2005). The environment and the local economy remain devastated. Gas flaring has permanently destroyed food crops and the only source of livelihoods for the local communities (Parker 2006). Barren farmlands and destruction of drinking water have created tensions between the local communities and the foreign mining companies. Thousands of villagers have been killed through explosions and raptures.

Business Strategy - Collaborating to achieve Corporate Social Research Paper

Business Strategy - Collaborating to achieve Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability - Research Paper Example It is important that every sector of the society must co-operate with business to find solutions to such profound and complex challenges. Collaboration is the co-operation and co-ordination that is necessary between all business, government and non-government organisations to cope with all such challenges. It is a situation where people work towards attaining a wider goal beyond the boundaries of an organisation. Keeping in view the responsibility towards the economic development of the society, collaboration and partnership between different organisations seem to be more logical manner to maintain the flow of development. Collaboration can have the advantages of â€Å"improved access to resources, sharing of risk, increased efficiency, co-ordination and seamlessness† between different organisations and institutions (Murray et al 166). Collaboration is also imperative because it is not possible for a single organisation to deal with moral problems of the society like â€Å"po verty, crime and drug abuse†. Collaboration can take place between business organisations and governments or between governments and NGOs to address various social issues. Companies may often collaborate with governments and NGOs with the purpose of learning from their partners for their benefits and also for the benefits of the partnership. In the framing of the structure of the collaborations, the organizations should be careful in choosing a collaboration which would meet the objective of the CSR of the organization. In building the collaboration, special emphasis should be provided to maintain relationship between the units with which the business houses are collaborating. Various strategies also have been framed for the better utilization of the collaboration process (Murray et al 161-174). Every organization is responsible to the society and its

Plato Short Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Plato Short Paper - Essay Example ‘The Republic’ which is an influential philosophical book was written by Plato in which he spoke many of his ideas on the nature of knowledge and reality. The theory of forms unravels the fact on how do we evolve the knowledge. According to Plato, our knowledge is mere recollection of the forms that we have seen prior to our birth and the knowledge on the immaterial realities cannot be obtained through our bodily experiences. The pertinent aspects of theory of forms are briefed in the ensuing part of this paper. Forms are the ideas which are not the material world of change and the things that we experience through our senses are particular things not abstract things. For instance, we see a flower and we understand that it is beautiful. This beauty is referred to a particular flower but we do not see ‘beauty’. We understand that there are many beautiful flowers. In the view of Plato, if there are many beautiful flowers there will be a common factor that is shared by all the beautiful flowers. Therefore, there must be a thing known as ‘beauty’ which is not visible and experiential to our senses. So, there is a universal idea of beauty that is shared by all the beautiful things and this is the core idea of the form. Plato postulates the theory of metaphysics of forms describing that form has existence independently on the particular things. For example, beauty exists independently on the beautiful things but beautiful things share the beauty in common. There are some essential properties for the forms in the view of Plato. They are self predication, independence from particulars, perfection, permanence and simplicity. Self-predication means that form is simply beautiful independent of particular things, but particular things are beautiful since they share the universal beauty. Independence from particulars means that the form has its own essence, and therefore, the form does not need time and space for its

International Business Finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Finance - Research Paper Example re liable to pay the interest at the pre-determined rate throughout the tenure of the bonds and repay the face value at the time of maturity which means there is no question of incurring loss for the investors out of investing in such financial instrument (Burger, Sengupta, Warnock and Warnock, 2014). However, in recent times it has been noticed in Europe that in some countries such as Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, the government bonds as well as corporate bonds are yielding the investors a negative return. To be more specific, such negative yields are not inflation-adjusted returns; the bonds are simply yielding the investors less than their capital (Ivashina and Becker, 2015). Therefore, the research paper will aim to investigate regarding credibility of bonds as a financial instrument, their buyers and the factors that may influence such investor to purchase bonds even with negative returns in order to find out the rationale behind such negative return and to identify buyersâ €™ motivation behind purchasing such bonds with negative yield. For the purpose of analysis, relevant economic theory that may justify the reason behind buying bonds with negative yields shall also be incorporated. Traditionally, bond is considered to be one of the most secured investment options among all other financial instruments available in the financial system. Dann (2005) has defined financial instrument as a mechanism that institutes a contractual right between the borrower and lender to receive and deliver some of money. Bond is a financial instrument that establishes a indenture between the two parties: bond holder and issuer. The indenture specifies that the issuer will pay a fixed or variable rate of interest during the whole life of the bond and will refund the principal amount at the time of maturity (Maginn, Tuttle, McLeavey and Pinto, 2010). Bonds can be of various types such as fixed and floating rate of bonds, zero coupon bonds, perpetual bonds, inflation-index bonds

Checkpoint †Business Organization Essay Example for Free

Checkpoint – Business Organization Essay July 22, 1975, Bill Gates writes a letter to Paul Allen using the name, â€Å"Micro-soft† referring the their 60/40 partnership. Their main product is BASIC. Gates and Allen worked day and night to create the first version of Microsoft Basic, a simple computer software. They realize that the future of personal computers is in the software. The Computer Mart opens on Madison Avenue in New York. Zilog Z-80 chip is introduced. They have 3 employees including themselves and the revenue is $16,000. July 1, 1976, Microsoft refines and enhances BASIC to sell to other customers including DTC, General Electric, NCR, and Citibank. Microsoft develops its first ad campaign called, â€Å"The legend of Micro-Kid.† The partnership is moving right along and gates announces that he would like nothing more than to hire 10 programmers and fill the hobby market with good software. February 3, 1977,A partnership agreement between Paul Allen and Bill Gates is officially executed. Their main product is still BASIC. In November of 1977 the company is free to market BASIC to others. Within months, Microsoft licenses BASIC for the Commodore PET and TRS-80 computers, and begins negotiating with other companies. BASIC product. Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared the title of general partner until 1977, when Bill Gates became president and Paul Allen vice president of Microsoft Corp. January 1, Microsoft moves its offices to Bellevue, Washington from Albuquerque, New Mexico. After moving to Bellevue, Microsoft continues to grow in employees, sales, and vision. Microsoft has a BASIC compiler for virtually every microcomputer on the market. However, the company recognizes that languages are only a part of the picture, which is why Microsoft makes its first foray into the mass-market possibilities of personal computers by forming the Consumer Products Division, created to develop and market retail products and to  provide support for individual users. Microsoft expands its market to the European market with the addition of Vector Microsoft. Vector International signs on to represent Microsoft in the European market. Microsoft begins extending its network worldwide to computer manufacturers; they begin using Microsoft hardware and software for  2  the computers they produce. Microsoft has already established contracts with ICL, Phillips, R2E, and several other OEMs. The arrival of the 16-bit IBM personal computer in 1981 set in motion the new era of computing, the personal computer. Within a few years, the industry would come together around two primary operating systems: Microsoft MS-DOS and the Apple Macintosh. On June 25, 1981 Microsoft reorganizes into a privately held corporation with Bill Gates as President and Chairman of the Board, and Paul Allen as Executive Vice President. Microsoft becomes Microsoft, Inc., an incorporated business in the State of Washington. On June 25, 1982, James Towne, 39, was appointed president and chief operating officer of Microsoft (July 6 1982 June 20 1983). In July, Towne took over all operating responsibilities from Bill Gates. Previously, Towne had been vice president and general manager of the instrument division at Tektronix Inc. ebruary 18, 1983 Paul Allen resigns as Microsofts Executive Vice President, but rem ains on the Board of Directors. June 20, 1983. James Towne resignes as COO  August 1, 1983 Microsoft announces that Jon Shirley, 45, has joined Microsoft as President and Chief Operating Officer and will be on the board from August 1, to June 30,. He is replacing James Towne. Shirley was previously with the Tandy Corporation. In August 1983, Jon Shirley, 45, joined Microsoft as president, chief operating officer, and director. During all these changes Microsoft unveils windows an operating platform that we are all familiar with and use to this day. August 12, Microsoft celebrates its 10th anniversary with sales figures for the fiscal year of 1985 of $140 million. The company has 900 employees and a diverse product line including industry standards like operating systems, languages, business software, hardware, and computer how-to books. September 3, Microsoft announcesv  that it has selected the Republic of Ireland as the site of its first production facility outside the U.S. Th e Ireland facility, located at Sandyford, County Dublin, will be a Duplication and Distribution Center for Microsoft software products to be sold in the European market. On March 13,1986,motivated by a desire to provide value to an increasing number of employee shareholders, Microsoft stock goes public at $21.00 per share, rising to $28.00 per share by the end of the first trading day. Initial public offering raises $61 million. December31, Microsoft announces that, at the end of 1986, Microsoft employees’ number 1,442. 1,162 are employed domestically, and 280 are employed internationally.

Colgate Marketing Plan analysis

Colgate Marketing Plan analysis Colgate has realised the significance of marketing plan in its 200 years of existence. This is essential towards understanding the business plans, aims, and communicating the companys horizon within the operational market. This report will focus on the marketing plan for the new Colgate toothbrush called 360 Actiflex, as part of Oral care and Health products which comprises of Tooth paste, Tooth brush, Mouth wash and dental floss. Oral care is important because research indicate that a clean mouth prevents gum disease and prevent heart disease. The plan will address the niche market of dental professional which will recommend the product to their clients and the product brand name will remain to be Colgate. Situation Analysis Colgate Palmolive has been in existence for over 200 hundred years and they operate in more than 70 countries such as Brazil, America, Latin America, Asian etc which will enable to penetrate the new market easily. This is as a result of their brand, experience, capacity in term of resources and existing structure. Product Classification The 360 Actiflex brush with flexible head for cheek and tongue cleaner is design to clean all direction, to remove bacteria from your teeth, cheek, gum and tongue for healthier mouth. Customers want toothbrush that can give them healthy clean teeth and breathe at a reasonable price. Market Summary Colgate Palmolive is aiming to increase its market share in toothbrush which is currently at 30% in 2009 by demonstrating proficiency and professionalism by serving new and existing customers. Through the RD, Colgate has been able to improve their existing products and introduce more products which meet the customers need in dental care. Market Needs According to research, customers only need two or three toothbrushes a year. 65% of customers have more than one toothbrush, 24% keep brush at work 54% have special toothbrush for travelling. Buying Behaviour Pattern Customers base their purchase of tooth brush on how comfortable it feels in their mouth, whether it is soft enough and suits their mouth size or flexible enough. Their purchase is also base on the ability of the toothbrush to remove food particles, plaque removal and gum stimulation. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Colgate maintains strong relationship with dental professional, wholesalers and retailers. Have a good communication with the consumers through media and other social resources Extensive industry knowledge and expertise Well designed training programme. Ability to convince customers to spend more though continual rebranding and growing company sales by releasing new twists on under established brands. Weaknesses Increase competition where other competitors produce the same products. The recent recession has impact on the reduction of planned expansion. Opportunities Oral care is a growing industry with the ever changing customers taste. Continuous innovation using the idea technology challenge. Threats Changes in exchange rates for foreign currencies, which may reduce the U.S. dollar value of revenue, receive from oversea market sales. Political or economic instability or changing macroeconomic conditions in our major markets, Lack of well-established or reliable legal systems in certain areas where the Company operates, Objective Setting Colgate by introducing the 360 Actiflex toothbrush is aiming to achieve the following objectives: To retain the 20% existing loyal customers To increase current awareness level of brand from 5% to 15% in 12 months through integrated campaign of advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship. To acquire more customers by targeting the luxury segments of the market. Strategy Development The objective of Colgate Palmolive is to position the company as continuous market leader of oral care and Heath care, serving domestic market as well as international market. To enter the market Colgate will start with our dental professionals whom we have collaboration with in our existing various areas of operation. The company will make small adaptation upon on this product which will permit to save cost. There will be a launch of the product in selected dental professionals where the demonstration of how the product is use will be provided. Tactics As part of tactic the large advertising campaigns will be launched through promotion activities which will include advertising by posters, television, outdoor adverts, online adverts. B: CRITICALLY EVALUATE THE MARKETING PLAN, IN PARTICULAR ITS MARKETING ENVIRONMENT. Marketing environment entails the players and powers outside the marketing that affect management steadiness to build and sustain effective relationships with target customers. Prosperous Companies mostly identify the vital importance of continuously observing and adapting to the ever-changing environment. The marketing environment of a company can be categorised into two areas this include macro environment and micro environment, the macro environment include the main actors of the company involved in producing, distributing, and promoting the offering. The marketing environment analysis can provide insight of online and offline competitive environments. Using Five Forces Model, Porter explains that in any industry there are five forces that influence what happens within the industry, these five forces combine to make up the business environment. By studying the structure of dynamics between these forces, the company can discover opportunities for improving the marketing strategies. When developing company marketing plan which include the marketing, this can not be completely ruled out strategies Colgate Palmolive can identify the forces as: The Threat of new entrants There has been n o major new entrant to the industry for the past few years leaving the giant manufacturer of consumer goods like Colgate and others to dominate the scene. However, no major changes appear to be existing barriers to entry such as the economies of scale already benefited by the Colgate as a player who have been in the business for long. As a result of difficult trading conditions in the environment, capital requirements and integration costs are high due to the downturn in the increase interest rates rises. Power of supplier Tighter credit markets may lead to business disruptions for certain of the suppliers, contract manufacturers or trade customers which could, in turn, adversely impact colgate business. Even though this look impossible as the supplier will not want to loss Colgate business because of its global presence worldwide, this cannot be totally ruled out. Competitive Rivalry Significant competition in the industry could affect the business, for instance the rigorous competition around the world, especially from the bigger multinational consumer product companies who have greater resources than Colgate. The ability to compete depends on the strength of our brands and on our ability to protect our patent, trademark and trade dress rights and to defend against related challenges brought by competitors. A failure to compete effectively could adversely affect the growth and profitability of the company Limitation of the Five forces method The limitation of this method is the interaction of the forces with each other especially in relation to the cosmetic life cycle which affect the competitive forces significantly. Media/IT Interference at Colgate Palm Olive In 200 years of existence, information technology and media has assisted to develop a vibrant organization at Colgate. As the trend in IT changes over the years, it has also been reflected in every operations the organization. Starting with the ancient IBM system units of early 1950s to the first consumer computers of 1977 (Apple I, II III), Colgate has grown alongside to compliment the transition with time. In the modern era, parts of the positive impacts can be seen in bulletin board services, computer conferencing, computer output on microfilm, communication network, decision support systems, Electronic mail (e-mail), Electronic spread sheet, Telex, video chat, teleconferencing and the likes has been a major contribution of IT and media to the industry. Not to mention the advanced electronic instrumentation for packaging and transportation that we could notice at every stage of production. Marketing to a layman can now be found on twitter, facebook, youtube, text messaging, google, eposters and the likes. On a negative side, insecurity of data and records has been a major setback of modern IT and media in marketing. The major fear here lies in the future of the system whether or not it still pose similar advantages or negative significance. All the aforementioned means of marketing in the modern era has lots of impacts both positively and negatively: Positive Impacts of Media/IT Marketing speed and Convenience Modern IT/media has posed lots of advantages on how fast information can be disseminated. A SATA system has a data transfer rate of 300Mb/s (Wisegeek 2011). It indicates that a huge data of the size of a disc could be communicated to a large set of audience in less than one second. Marketing is now possible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Customers can now bridge the queuing problems at stores (Hollensen 2007). Cheaper dissemination routes Because of easy means of data flow, the cost of distribution has fallen considerably over time. It cots as low as 50 pence to fax a page whereas millions of pages will sent across the internet/media at almost a free distribution cost. Apart from the fact that the whole world receives the information at once and at the same quality, the impacts are the same with the impression expressed. Moreover, it is possible to search for the lowest price available for brands (Hollensen 2007). Online financial services are also possible through these means. Effective communication Media and IT has made it possible to decide on target audience, detailed information like product, availability, and pricing are provided for the people. Through the use of multimedia, the customers could have a better understanding of their needs by for example depicting the interior decorations or by showing the beauty of housing estates. Means of reducing workloads Marketing requires lots of workloads which have been reduced by adopting information technology. IT supports the full range of organizational functions and processes that delivers products and services to customers and other key stakeholders (Chaffey et al. 2000). Different functional parts of the organization can be corporately glued with the aid of this tool. Negative Impacts of Media/IT Despite the raging benefits enjoyed by the organizations using IT/Media, the following fears are yet to be addressed: Authentication Identity problem is still yet a major problem of modern marketing. The use of passwords as a safe key has been compounded by the hacking programmers. Loop holes have been created in lots of marketing links. This has posed a challenge to the future of e-marketing/media communication systems. Spam Disease Spam diseases in marketing involves filtering off of positive information from the direct sender by hackers or computer viruses Data Saturation Crashing marketing There is tendency for marketing crash of similar products from different manufacturers. Sometimes we found it difficult identifying the differences in the advertisement from similar companies. Insecurity channels Crackers often capture details rendering the marketing system unsafe for customers. Many fears have been expressed by customers on crackers capturing the credit/debit card details. This is still a threat to be investigated in future of information technology and media. References S Hollensen (2007) Global Marketing A decision-oriented approach, fourth edition pp. 499-506. Wisegeek (2011) A website on data transfer rate, [online], Available at www.wisegeek.com/what-is-data-transfer-rate.htm Assessed: 29 Mar. 11

Protecting Children from Harm in the Internet Age

Protecting Children from Harm in the Internet Age Yiliang, Yin Issues regarding children’s Internet safety remained an overarching concern for the society. But as a matter of fact, internet is already an irreplaceable part of daily life, especially for children (learning, gaming, and social networking). The Canadian government has introduced agreements to protect children. Nervertheless, some crimes are national basis. In addition, a lot of countries define ‘children’ differently, makes protecting children a harder work [Minujin et al. 2006]. Internet filtering technology has been conducted in most western countries as well as some developing countries. It is used to prevent Internet users from accessing materials that considered inappropriate or unsafe [Hamade, 2008]. Although parents and local institution are encouraged to use these software to protect their children and the community, but there is no guarantee that these software are 100% effective at regulating undesirable contents, they always likely to under- or over-block content. Therefore, besides using network level filtering, it is critical for parents, education- and government-related personnel to educate children about self-protection, risks and responsibility they may encounter while using the Internet. 1. INTRODUCTION Internet has become one of the most important media among the others. Common uses of internet among people including children are: Leaning Social-networking Entertaining The development of technology makes Internet usage more convenient. Children are now able to access internet from their cellphone, tablet and laptop instead of desktop computers. But this made supervision much more difficult than before [LoÃÅ' pez, Arnao and Puente, 2012]. While the internet is overall a great educational place for children, there are also exist areas that are not appropriate for children. Without appropriate supervision, children are likely to get contacted by contents involving: violence, porn, hate speech, etc. Although there exist unsafe contents on the internet, but internet itself is a powerful tool. The internet gives parents and educators better opportunity to teach children according to their age and interest, giving children better way of learning while having fun. Parents, education- and government-related personnel should work together in order to build a safer environment for children. It is everyone’s responsibility to build and maintain a healthy environment for children wherever they are, giving children a safe and nurturing childhood. 2. Children Internet Use Both the amount of children and their ability to use internet are increasing. Some parents claim they don’t know better than their child about the internet. According to a survey conducted by the pan-European survey published by the European Commission, children start to use the Internet at 7, and the age of internet user is decreasing, internet uses include: social-networking (89%), entertaining (84%) and schoolwork (80%) [Digital Agenda, 2010]. Therefore, building safe guideline and setting rules for children’s internet usage should start once they get contact with computer. An important role of enabling children’s safety online is to help them understand the concepts of safety and risks, so that they will be able to make better decisions in the future based on what they have known. Internet safety education is critical in protecting children from internet threats. Some people blocked children’s internet usage completely, claiming it as an evil thing, which will misguide the children. They should also keep in mind that internet use is one of the basic skills in daily life. In addition, children learn from their mistakes. Therefore, it is the goal to teach children the ’internet manner’ and ‘look before you leap’. 3. Potential Risks According to research, children between ages of 8-15 are mostly likely to be afflicted by online threats. Some are risky to their safety and privacy; some may also resulted from children intentionally or unintentionally violates the law, such as torts which may lead to dangerous situations. Figure 1 shows the overview of common internet risks from Valcke et al. (2011): Fig. 1. Overview of internet Risks File-sharing is a useful technology that allows teachers to show useful information to the student and peers to share files with each other. But many file-sharing programs, like email, give children a way of accessing harmful contents. Example of such contents including: pornography, violence, hate, racism. According to research from Valkenburg and Soeters (2001), figure 2 shows data from children’s positive experience of using internet, and figure 3 shows negative experience. Fig. 2. Positive Impacts about children’s Internet Use Fig. 3. Negative Impacts about children’s Internet Use While children are searching movie clips, some sexually explicit files or sites advocate usage of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs may appear. In this case, some online filter or parent-control software can be used. The most common contact risks to think of is a child turn up missing or being hurt after meeting someone online. This always resulted by young children especially girls allured by criminals online. There are many ways internet users can lose their privacy, and leading themselves to danger. If children carelessly exposed family address, phone number, or name to a stranger, serious danger may occur to family members as well. Besides, nowadays there are a lot of companies collecting potential customers’ information as registering for contests or filling address for prize, children should also be aware of giving out information this way, causing mental and property damage. It is not only our privacy we need to consider. Parents should also be aware their children putting other people’s information (e.g. friend, other family members, etc.) online. Making jokes as claiming a missing child by putting a friend’s information online can cause a lot of trouble to the family and police. People get angry sometimes, same for children. A lot of people take internet as a way to vent the anger. Children will have higher chance to be exposed to hate speech and violent sentence when get involved. The best defense for children is to avoid getting into online arguments until they are mature enough to filter out bad information, control the anger and speak out their minds. The lack of uniform definition as what is appropriate for children or what is the definition of children are different in most countries based on their culture. Most developed countries take 18 years old as the boundary to differentiate adults from children. But people get marry early in some country so they arrive their adulthood much earlier. In this case, the lack of uniform online legislation may allow children to access inappropriate material from other countries. 4. Present Concerns and Solutions Along with the growth of children’s internet use, a large number of Web 2.0 applications like Facebook came out, which makes it now more critical to protect children from unsafe online environment. There are three aspects need to be worked with: government regulation, technologies, parents supervision. 4.1 Government Policies regarding Children’s Online Safety According to Liu (2006), Ontario police established the earliest investigation group about child pornography. The investigators realized shortly, child pornography exists not only in certain places, it became an issue of the world. Online investigation needs a lot of time, money and human resources, especially skilled investigators. So the local police station founded an Internet Safety Committee, formed by police representatives, governors from election, members from the local Education Committee, etc., and their goal is to provide the safest online environment as they can for children. To accomplish the goal, the committee established the following detailed rules: educate students about the importance of internet safety; teach the parents how to protect their children from internet risks. The committee worked with one school and added specific course about Internet Safety for students with different age. An insurance company donated a disk with video about Internet Risks to the committee made the education process ran smoother than before. According to the research before experiment, 62% of elementary students were using internet in the spare time, and 23.7% of the student have visited online chatting rooms. For students in grade 9 and grade 10, 88.6% of them have spent spare time online, 66.19% students have chatted online within the last 6 months. The most disturbing result is that there were 90.5% of students thought it is alright to meet people that they met online, and 22% had already met their net friend. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of United States had revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) on July 1, 2013. COPPA give US-parents greater control over their children’s privacy. It detailed what a website operator must follow, when and how to seek permission and verification from a parent to guardian, and what responsibility an operator has to protect children’s privacy and safety online, including restrictions on doing business with children under 13. 4.2 Internet Filtering Technology A lot of countries have chosen to establish national internet regulation with varying degrees of success, but sometimes will have unintended consequences. Number of countries who use filtering technologies to block the access of certain content has increased dramatically. Normally, the following threes filtering technologies are used to block the access of websites via network infrastructure: IP blocking, DNS filtering, and URL blocking using a proxy. Filters can also be implemented by using software on local computers, in other words, client-side filters. This type of filter can be managed by anyone with administrator-level privileges on the computer. It can be argued that net-work based filtering causes filtering errors: over-blocking and under-blocking. For example, when searching health-related information, some useful information may be filtered out by having same searching keywords with porn-related material. And most of the filtering software will prefer over-blocking instead of allowing any leaking information that their customers don’t want. As a result, over-blocking encourages users to bypass the filtering technology entirely. When new information is updated online, under-blocking may occur. The filtering software may fail to recognise the new information because it has not yet updated on the client side when blacklisting are used instead of whitelisting. With the rapid development of science and technology, people expect higher efficiency for their software. It has been reported that most inline filters (parent-control software) as well as online content filtering are slow when processing. According to AkbasÃÅ' § (2008), content filtering can be accelerated by examining only web content. In this case, offline filtering and proxy works synergistic, so filtering process and data transfer works independently to accelerate the filtering process. Therefore, decision can be made by examining only part of the web content. While children’s internet use at school or home is usually supervised and filtered, many children are now able to access internet through other devices and in different locations with no supervision and internet filter. This means, children are likely to access inappropriate material on the internet. It is therefore, important to educate children how to behave online, and discuss issues that may encounter when accessing Internet. 4.3 Parents and Educators’ Action When the government trying to enact laws to protect children as complete as possible, parents and other community members in the society also have the responsibility to guide children, provide a safe and entertained online environment for them. Except using filtering technologies, parents and educators should teach children how to safeguard themselves, since the most effective way of preventing problems arising from internet use is to empower children. Guardians and educators can teach them about legal boundaries, moral and ethical norms regarding their culture. Empowering children can prevent them from being victims as well. It is undeniable that children adapt new technologies better than adults. This made a good relation with children much important, since young people usually will have a trusted relationship with peers or adults, so the influencers should be aware of the risks themselves and give reliable advices. In addition, parents, guardians, educators and trusted influencers should play an active role in teaching children about the risks they may face from sexually explicit materials online and how to avoid internet predators and scammers. Children should also be educated about being careful of sharing personal information on the internet. As children growing up day by day, parents’ guardian role becomes challenging. While parents are being responsible for their children’s safety, they have to respect children’s rights to privacy themselves. Parents might give up at this them, but it is urgent to encourage parents to talk and discuss with children about their online activity. (what the parents can do are: communicate with children as much as they can; make sure the children understand the importance of not exposing private information to strangers; make sure they don’t meet net friend; if found anything that children did were not appropriate online, stop them, and educate them; put the computer at where you can see easily; use parents control software;) 5. Conclusions Internet control is not impossible. Along working with children in their families and schools, there are a lot of actions that government can do to build public awareness to help children be benefit from the internet in a safe environment. For example, involve all members in the society to build public awareness about internet safety; encourage law enforcement and the educational department to develop best practices in proving safe online environment and dealing with crimes. The internet renovates so rapidly that the government regulation and technologies might not keep up. More effective and durable measures are those close to children: family, school, and community, guiding children to make good decisions, so that they will grow to become the next generation of responsible and trusted influencers. REFERENCES http://refworks.scholarsportal.info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/refworks2/default.aspx?r=file::get_filefile_name=yyin051-RefList.htmlcontent_type=text/htmlfile_token=WWFvJ8ccM8n3WWpZKOfcZRsWMbn0Mo5vMb5yMoefNE90J8e0GApnVtW[ZhkcUCd[GtA1T8c4E. AkbasÃÅ' §. 2008. Next Generation Filtering: Offline Filtering Enhanced Proxy Architecture for Web Content Filtering. In Computer and Information Sciences, 2008. ISCIS 08. 23rd International Symposium on. 1-4. DOI:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/10.1109/ISCIS.2008.4717892 S. N. Hamade. 2008. Internet filtering and censorship. Information Technology: New Generations, 2008. ITNG 2008. Fifth International Conference on ( 2008) , 1081-1086. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1109/ITNG.2008.50 Zhongwen Liu. 2006. 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Childrens positive and negative experiences with the internet an exploratory survey. Communication Research 28, 5 (October. 2001), 652-675. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1177/009365001028005004 Page 1 of 7