Jose Rizal First Travel Abroad

Chapter 4- Rizal’s First Travel Abroad Rizal’s Departure * May 3, 1882 Rizal left the Philippines boarded the spanish steamer SS Salvadora bound for Singapore. * Rizal’s Departure for Spain was kept secret to avoid detection by the spanish authorities and the friars. Even his own parents did not know because he knew they would not allow him to go, especially his mother. * The captain of the ship was Donato Lecha from Austria. * May 9, 1882 Salvadora Docked in Singapore. * May 11,1882 Rizal transferred to another ship Djemnah, A French Vessel for Europe. May 17, 1882 Djemnah Reach Point Galle A seacoast town in Southern Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka). * The following day the Djemnah weighed anchor and resumed the voyage towards Colombo, The capital of Ceylon. * From Colombo the Djemnah continued the voyage crossing Indian Ocean to the Cape of Guardufui, Africa. Which Rizal called â€Å" Inhospitable land but famous†. * The next stopover was in Aden. He was amused t o see the camels for the first time. * From Aden, the Djemnah continued to voyage to the city of Suez.He saw the Suez Canal for the first time and he was thrilled to saw it, in which was built by Ferdinand De Lesseps ( A French Diplomat Engineer). * June 11,1882 The ship docked at Naples an Italian City, He was fascinated by Mt. Vesivius, The Castle of St. Telmo. * On the night of June 12,1882 the steamer docked at Marseilles. He visited the Famous Chateau D’if where Dantes is a hero of the Count of Monte Cristo from Alexander Dumas novel. * Travelling from train he crossed the Pyreness, stopped for a day at frontier town of Port Bou. After the passport inspection at Port Bou, Rizal arrived at Barcelona. Arrival in Barcelona * June 16,1882 Rizal arrived in Barcelona. * His first impression of Barcelona was unfavorable but it changed and he began to like the city because of its atmospheric of freedom and liberalism. * He wrote an essay entitled â€Å"Amor Patrio† (Love of the country), Rizal sent this article to Basilio Teodoro Moran (Publisher of Diariong Tagalog). Rizal’s studied in Madrid * Rizal followed the advice of his older brother Paciano to finish his medical course in Madrid in the fall of 1882. He enrolled a course: Medicine and Philosophy & Letters at the Universidad Central de Madrid at the same time he studied paintings and sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. * Rizal economized his daily expenses until he was able to buy second hand books and built a fair size library of his own. * During his first summer vacation, Rizal decided to visit Paris on June 17. 1883 to August 20,1883. Rizal Joins Masonry * March 1883 Rizal joined Masonic Lodge called ACACIA in Madrid and became a Master Mason on November 15, 1890. Luna and Hidalgo’s Triumph * After 2 years in Spain things went wrong in Philippines. Rizal experienced financial problems due to calamities happened. * Rizal monthly allowance were delayed, ther e were a times that he missed meals during the day. * A touching incident in Rizal’s life in Madrid occurred on June 24, 1884, Because he was broke, he was unable to take breakfast that day. With an empty stomach, he attended class at the university and participated in the contest in Greek Language and he won the gold medal. * In the evening of the same day, he was able to eat dinner because he was a guest speaker in a banquet held in honor of Juan Luna and Felix Resurrecion at Restaurant Ingles, Madrid.Completion of Rizal studies. * Rizal completed his Medical Course in Spain on June 21,1884 * Nov. 20-22, 1884 Rizal involved in student demonstration caused by the address of Dr. Miguel Morayta proclaiming â€Å" The Freedom of Science and The Teacher†. Rizal in Germany and His Practice of Ophthalmology * Rizal chose to specialize in Ophthalmology because he wanted to cure his mother’s eye ailment. * Nov. 1885, Rizal living in Paris for 4 months and he worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert until Feb. 1886. * Because of his homesickness he wrote a fine poem â€Å" A las flores de Heidelberg† (To the flowers of Heidelberg).

Intro to Sociology

1. The sociological perspective (imagination) can be characterized as seeing the general in the particular and how the general operation of society affects the experiences of particular people. With that, sociology educates people to better understand the opportunities and the barriers that exist in their lives. Sociological perspective can be a valuable asset in coming to terms with a personal problem. After I had to take medical leave from work and could not return because of a nerve disorder I am currently having, I began to feel as if I was not being constructive enough and my self worth took a nosedive. I was biased against myself for not doing what it is a man is ‘suppose' to be doing in society, even though I am physically hindered right now. During this time off I figured I could take a couple of classes while wait out the pain. As I analyzed the opportunities available for me to attend college full-time such as the GI Bill, loans and grants, I also reassessed some personal and professional goals with my family as in what I should do. I realized I didn't want to work in a factory for 20 years, if or when I recover, so I enrolled in college to better pursue my adjusted goals which include Associates and Bachelor Degrees in Accounting to become a Certified Public Accountant. With this opportunity comes the constraint of being in debt when leaving school but that is s how society is here in America, ‘you have to give a lot to receive a lot'. As I look back at these events, I realize my lack of self worth was a direct result of not living up to what my perception of a man's role in society is and that was causing unnecessary self-inflicted stress. There was no reason to think I was a different person of lesser value just because of my situation, but I know if I did not believe that at that time, I would not be taking this test. This injury has caused changes in statuses such as becoming a college student, becoming unemployed, and physically disabled and performing these roles in society has made me view our society as whole in a much more critical way. The sociological perspective in Jeremy's terms means: Take a step back, think for yourself, process all information, and question the doubts before making decisions that effect your life and the lives around you. . â€Å"Free Will† can be achieved on a constant basis if one decides to accept certain morality standards and values that should be practiced by all mankind. We as people have the right to do whatever it is we want†¦ but at the same must have respect for your fellow human being. If we accept the world in which we live (laws, rules and all), we will then have the choice or â€Å"Free Will† to make changes, if needed, by running for government or leading protests or being an influential personality such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One could argue, â€Å"we do not have free will because we cant do whatever we want! † If someone wants to injure, even kill someone, or something else that harms, cheats, or steals from another, they should face some kind of consequences for their inhuman acts towards another person. â€Å"Free Will†, as I perceive it, is more abundant in this country than almost anywhere in the world because free will is about having choices and being able to decide what is best for you. Society can greatly influence the appeal of one decision over another and make one the easy choice, or programmed choice, but its here that your choice to follow the easy route, the popular societal choice or to take the road less traveled, unpopular choice is why Free â€Å"Will† exist. These choices in life that society creates are as â€Å"Free will† as it get; without society influencing our lives and the decisions we make in these ways, life would get real plain. Choices are why I believe â€Å"free will† remains, as long I am able make the decisions, that guide my life I will have â€Å"Free Will†. . This video was about a teacher from Iowa and the process she created to tech her 3rd grade students about discrimination in 1968 and their reunion 20 years later. The teacher then later applies the same process at an adult correctional officer workshop that produces similar results as the 3rd graders. The kids were segregated into blue-eyed and brown-eyed people and the teacher discriminated toward the brown-eyes one day by telling them how bad they did everything and then treated the blue-eyes the exact same way the next day. What she found was that her sweet, caring class of 3rd graders were vicious and mean towards the ones being discriminated on within 15 minutes of the prejudices being introduced to the classroom environment. Both group of kids took tests on both days and the results were much worse on the days their particular group was discriminated against and were not happy at all. With that, prejudices have a reactionary effect that seems to degrade the self-esteem and self-worth at once while also altering behavior and attitude.. The blue-eyed adults later in the film started getting agitated, uncooperative, combative, and mean due to the lack of respect they were receiving as a blue-eyed person in the same scenario. This documentary shows prejudices are mostly influenced by the surrounding environment and peers, or a culture of prejudices, which views certain categories as better or worse than others. Even if one does not agree with the prejudice, they might conform to the surrounding prejudices to ‘fit in' and so as not be discriminated against themselves. Other than both the primary and secondary groups influencing the way a person acts, most of each groups characteristics are opposite of each other. The quality of relationships in a primary group is personal orientation while secondary group are more goal orientated. The length of a primary group relationship is usually long term, where secondary groups tend to be short-term, but can vary. The primary group also will be involved in a wide range of activities, and know each other well, while secondary groups tend to involve few activities and have a narrow relationship. The subjective perception of the primary group is â€Å"as an ends in themselves' , while ‘an ends to an end† is the secondary groups perception. My family is my primary group that is involved in my everyday life that ranges from childcare to socializing to arguing. My family being behind me has allowed me to have the confidence and self-esteem to accomplish all that I have and am currently doing and have done in my life such as military service and high school. My mother's continuous positive attitude and smile has always let me know that even if I failed, she loved me no less. No matter the outcome Mom always was proud of the effort, that is all she asks. My stepfather's behavior seems to be those of a saint to me and, despite a few bumps in my road; I strive to walk a similar path as him. Even though he is my Stepfather, this man has raised me for 20 years of my 27 with class, respect, and dignity. The combination of these two great people and their qualities has allowed me to develop the self-concept needed to have a rich and fulfilling life. An example of a secondary group is our class. The impact on my behavior is I am more serious in class since I'm paying for this education and here to learn. I bet no one in this secondary group knows I do a GREAT pigeon impression (on the ground wobbling around and all! ). That would be too interpersonal for this secondary group but not my for my family/primary group, I have proof! My self-concept isn't impacted by this secondary group too radically because being in a new classroom with a bunch of people I never met before is the norm, especially being in the military and after 6 years of it, I am accustom to the environment of the unknown classroom. If anything, this secondary group, our class, has increased my self-esteem since I am more apt to speak out in class than ever before. Being able to experience some real life in the military and then coming to school has been a blessing in disguise because I am such a better student now than ever in high school. In all, despite having opposite characteristics, primary and secondary groups can both have an influential presence in self-concept, self-esteem, and behavior. 9. In defining the social structure of society, STATUS refers to a social position that an individual occupies, not its everyday meaning of ‘prestige'. Every status is part of our social identity and defines our relationship to others. i. e. college student Over a lifetime, people gain and lose dozens of statuses and sociologists study these statuses in terms how people attain them. An ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life. People usually have little or no choice in this status. Such as a death or disability later in life. An achieved status refers to a position a person assumes voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort. Some statuses matter more than others such as a master status, which has a special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life. For most in the US, occupation is the master status because it conveys a great deal about social background, education, and income. While a person holds a status, they perform a ROLE, or a behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status. Actual role performance varies according to a person's personality, although some societies permit more individual expression than others. In a modern high-income country, like us, role conflict arises between roles corresponding to two or more statuses, such as parenting, full-time student, and fianci. Even roles linked to one status can cause tension known as role strain. In short, performing these roles required of us requires a balancing act throughout our life. The biggest role conflict in my life is the full-time student with parenting a child with Downs Syndrome and my current physical disability that forced me out of work and normal everyday activities without pain. Being able to analyze each status and what was expected for each role allows me to ‘compartmentalize' my school role so I can better focus on the needs of my family while home in the evening and pain management for myself. In the end compartmentalizing is organizing information in your head as to the environment expected in whatever role is needed at that time and not letting multiple roles conflict and cause something to happen that should not. Intro to Sociology 1. The sociological perspective (imagination) can be characterized as seeing the general in the particular and how the general operation of society affects the experiences of particular people. With that, sociology educates people to better understand the opportunities and the barriers that exist in their lives. Sociological perspective can be a valuable asset in coming to terms with a personal problem. After I had to take medical leave from work and could not return because of a nerve disorder I am currently having, I began to feel as if I was not being constructive enough and my self worth took a nosedive. I was biased against myself for not doing what it is a man is ‘suppose' to be doing in society, even though I am physically hindered right now. During this time off I figured I could take a couple of classes while wait out the pain. As I analyzed the opportunities available for me to attend college full-time such as the GI Bill, loans and grants, I also reassessed some personal and professional goals with my family as in what I should do. I realized I didn't want to work in a factory for 20 years, if or when I recover, so I enrolled in college to better pursue my adjusted goals which include Associates and Bachelor Degrees in Accounting to become a Certified Public Accountant. With this opportunity comes the constraint of being in debt when leaving school but that is s how society is here in America, ‘you have to give a lot to receive a lot'. As I look back at these events, I realize my lack of self worth was a direct result of not living up to what my perception of a man's role in society is and that was causing unnecessary self-inflicted stress. There was no reason to think I was a different person of lesser value just because of my situation, but I know if I did not believe that at that time, I would not be taking this test. This injury has caused changes in statuses such as becoming a college student, becoming unemployed, and physically disabled and performing these roles in society has made me view our society as whole in a much more critical way. The sociological perspective in Jeremy's terms means: Take a step back, think for yourself, process all information, and question the doubts before making decisions that effect your life and the lives around you. . â€Å"Free Will† can be achieved on a constant basis if one decides to accept certain morality standards and values that should be practiced by all mankind. We as people have the right to do whatever it is we want†¦ but at the same must have respect for your fellow human being. If we accept the world in which we live (laws, rules and all), we will then have the choice or â€Å"Free Will† to make changes, if needed, by running for government or leading protests or being an influential personality such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One could argue, â€Å"we do not have free will because we cant do whatever we want! † If someone wants to injure, even kill someone, or something else that harms, cheats, or steals from another, they should face some kind of consequences for their inhuman acts towards another person. â€Å"Free Will†, as I perceive it, is more abundant in this country than almost anywhere in the world because free will is about having choices and being able to decide what is best for you. Society can greatly influence the appeal of one decision over another and make one the easy choice, or programmed choice, but its here that your choice to follow the easy route, the popular societal choice or to take the road less traveled, unpopular choice is why Free â€Å"Will† exist. These choices in life that society creates are as â€Å"Free will† as it get; without society influencing our lives and the decisions we make in these ways, life would get real plain. Choices are why I believe â€Å"free will† remains, as long I am able make the decisions, that guide my life I will have â€Å"Free Will†. . This video was about a teacher from Iowa and the process she created to tech her 3rd grade students about discrimination in 1968 and their reunion 20 years later. The teacher then later applies the same process at an adult correctional officer workshop that produces similar results as the 3rd graders. The kids were segregated into blue-eyed and brown-eyed people and the teacher discriminated toward the brown-eyes one day by telling them how bad they did everything and then treated the blue-eyes the exact same way the next day. What she found was that her sweet, caring class of 3rd graders were vicious and mean towards the ones being discriminated on within 15 minutes of the prejudices being introduced to the classroom environment. Both group of kids took tests on both days and the results were much worse on the days their particular group was discriminated against and were not happy at all. With that, prejudices have a reactionary effect that seems to degrade the self-esteem and self-worth at once while also altering behavior and attitude.. The blue-eyed adults later in the film started getting agitated, uncooperative, combative, and mean due to the lack of respect they were receiving as a blue-eyed person in the same scenario. This documentary shows prejudices are mostly influenced by the surrounding environment and peers, or a culture of prejudices, which views certain categories as better or worse than others. Even if one does not agree with the prejudice, they might conform to the surrounding prejudices to ‘fit in' and so as not be discriminated against themselves. Other than both the primary and secondary groups influencing the way a person acts, most of each groups characteristics are opposite of each other. The quality of relationships in a primary group is personal orientation while secondary group are more goal orientated. The length of a primary group relationship is usually long term, where secondary groups tend to be short-term, but can vary. The primary group also will be involved in a wide range of activities, and know each other well, while secondary groups tend to involve few activities and have a narrow relationship. The subjective perception of the primary group is â€Å"as an ends in themselves' , while ‘an ends to an end† is the secondary groups perception. My family is my primary group that is involved in my everyday life that ranges from childcare to socializing to arguing. My family being behind me has allowed me to have the confidence and self-esteem to accomplish all that I have and am currently doing and have done in my life such as military service and high school. My mother's continuous positive attitude and smile has always let me know that even if I failed, she loved me no less. No matter the outcome Mom always was proud of the effort, that is all she asks. My stepfather's behavior seems to be those of a saint to me and, despite a few bumps in my road; I strive to walk a similar path as him. Even though he is my Stepfather, this man has raised me for 20 years of my 27 with class, respect, and dignity. The combination of these two great people and their qualities has allowed me to develop the self-concept needed to have a rich and fulfilling life. An example of a secondary group is our class. The impact on my behavior is I am more serious in class since I'm paying for this education and here to learn. I bet no one in this secondary group knows I do a GREAT pigeon impression (on the ground wobbling around and all! ). That would be too interpersonal for this secondary group but not my for my family/primary group, I have proof! My self-concept isn't impacted by this secondary group too radically because being in a new classroom with a bunch of people I never met before is the norm, especially being in the military and after 6 years of it, I am accustom to the environment of the unknown classroom. If anything, this secondary group, our class, has increased my self-esteem since I am more apt to speak out in class than ever before. Being able to experience some real life in the military and then coming to school has been a blessing in disguise because I am such a better student now than ever in high school. In all, despite having opposite characteristics, primary and secondary groups can both have an influential presence in self-concept, self-esteem, and behavior. 9. In defining the social structure of society, STATUS refers to a social position that an individual occupies, not its everyday meaning of ‘prestige'. Every status is part of our social identity and defines our relationship to others. i. e. college student Over a lifetime, people gain and lose dozens of statuses and sociologists study these statuses in terms how people attain them. An ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life. People usually have little or no choice in this status. Such as a death or disability later in life. An achieved status refers to a position a person assumes voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort. Some statuses matter more than others such as a master status, which has a special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life. For most in the US, occupation is the master status because it conveys a great deal about social background, education, and income. While a person holds a status, they perform a ROLE, or a behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status. Actual role performance varies according to a person's personality, although some societies permit more individual expression than others. In a modern high-income country, like us, role conflict arises between roles corresponding to two or more statuses, such as parenting, full-time student, and fianci. Even roles linked to one status can cause tension known as role strain. In short, performing these roles required of us requires a balancing act throughout our life. The biggest role conflict in my life is the full-time student with parenting a child with Downs Syndrome and my current physical disability that forced me out of work and normal everyday activities without pain. Being able to analyze each status and what was expected for each role allows me to ‘compartmentalize' my school role so I can better focus on the needs of my family while home in the evening and pain management for myself. In the end compartmentalizing is organizing information in your head as to the environment expected in whatever role is needed at that time and not letting multiple roles conflict and cause something to happen that should not.

Word and Book Passionate Declaration

Howard Zinns book passionate declaration, was very interesting in the first chapter American Ideology he talks about the end result of these instances was many if not all of these inferior people were killed. He also talks about how we favor the rich and neglect the poor and that it should be the other way around that life should be an entirely different way. That because of Reagan many issues came to be, Because of Reagan this country is the way it is!Although we live in a democratic country, The ideas of ethical behaviors that were formulated by our forefathers has condemned us to accept them as right. â€Å"Thus we grow up in a society where our choice of idea is limited and where certain ideas are dominant† which is very much true unless you have money your ideas will never be heard, it’s very rare where someone who is unwealthy is hear amongst millions. The only time you are really heard is where you die a tragic death. In chapter 2; Machiavellian Realism and U. S. Foreign Policy: Means and Ends.Howard zinn talks about, what kind of society we want? And how will we get it? â€Å" The instance of building more nuclear weapons when we already possess more than enough to destroy the world†¦ allowing the police to arrest any person on the street refusing to move on when ordered†¦ and consider how often a parent [usually a father] has said to a son or daughter: its good to have idealistic visions of a better world but your living in the real world, so act accordingly† This have all had an effect one or more times in my life.Some may refer to me as a hippie because I’m all about peace on this world or because I refuse to eat animals such as chickens, cows, goats anything with a heartbeat, but my beliefs are my beliefs. I do believe a world without weapons would be wonderful, a world where I don’t have to walk down the street and a cops going to stop me cause he believes I’m being somewhat â€Å"suspicious†. Of course I would love for this world to speak up and use our words rather that use our weapons or hands to harm one another.You ever see a person get called something and notice how one simple word such as â€Å"ugly† can completely set them off and just then you see this person react in a way that they use their words completely to prove a point on how, the specific word you called or used is in no way or fact them on how they spent all that time to prove one person wrong. I wish the world worked in words. I wish we didn’t have to tell our children that this is the world, so act accordingly. I was one of those children, whose father told them that, and my dreams were crushed instantly, I was 9.

The Global Trade Distribution Processes of marks and spencer Essay

The Global Trade Distribution Processes of marks and spencer - Essay Example It has 766 stores in the UK in major shopping centres, airports, railway stations, retail parks and service stations (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). The company has a huge presence in the international market and has stores in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. M&S sells through different channels including in store ordering, telephone, home catalogue and online. Operating Segments The company specialises in various forms of trade. First, the company sells home products, clothing as well as food that are sourced from over 2000 suppliers from different parts of the world. (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013) The entity is also the leading retailer in lingerie, women wear, and its market share has grown rapidly in all other market segments. The company aims to become a multi channel retailer will various sources of revenue ranging from mobile to internet channels in the UK and across the global market. The company also offers financial services through the M&S Bank that was started in 2 012 including loans, travel, cards, insurance, savings and investments (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). Shop Formats The company’s outlets are designed in an attractive way and since they are spacious, the shopping experience is simply amazing. There are core shops that include M&S Food Halls and a collection of the company’s clothing line. ... Finally, M&S Simply Foods supply groceries and home ware (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). Company’s Global Trade Strategy The company came up with a three-year strategy in November 2010 to change the company from a conventional retailer into a global multi- channel retailer. The first phase of the plan was from 2010 to 2013 that focuses on the UK market (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). The second phase focused towards developing the company’s presence in the international market. In November 2010, the company set out to increase its revenue by ?1.5billion to ?2.5billion over the next three years (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). However, due to the decline in the economic environment, the company expects to achieve a decline in revenues (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). Focus on the UK As earlier explained the company’s plan for 2010-2013 focused on business in the UK. This involves enhancing the brand name in its areas of operation. Branding takes centre s tage of all advertising campaigns. Owing to the fact that the market is becoming increasingly competitive, the brand is meant to draw attention to the value and quality offered in their product. The women swear sector has been underperforming as shown in the SWOT analysis discussed later in the paper. The company has come up with new store designs at the end of 2013. With regards to the food section, the company mainly focuses on freshness, convenience and freshness. In 2012, M&S started working on delivering a better shopping experience for their customers through the new store layouts (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013). The new store designs offer improved navigation and better brand differentiation. The stores have been designed according to local demographics. Multi-Channel The company aims at

Policies to Address the problem of U.S. oil dependency Research Paper

Policies to Address the problem of U.S. oil dependency - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that more than 150 years after the beginning of U.S. petroleum industry (since 1859), oil still is considered as the most strategic commodity. Given the limited capacity of oil reserves in the world and ever-increasing global demand for it, in recent decades oil has played a significant role in foreign policies of nations, especially those of great powers. Not surprisingly, oil has been an important factor in shaping bloody and costly conflicts, particularly since the World War II.   During the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, America was able to meet the country’s basic needs in the energy sector primarily by using its own oil reserves. However, by the end of the 1940s, â€Å"the United States began to rely on foreign oil to satisfy rising energy demand, and the proportion of imports has been rising more or less steadily ever since†. Today, according to U.S. Energy Information Administ ration (EIA), the United States is the largest oil consumer and consumes near 22% of the total production of oil in the world. That is equivalent to something about 18,771,000 barrels per day, of which about 9.7 million barrels (51%) are imported (on a net basis) from foreign countries. However, this dependency on oil is very costly and also is tightly linked to our national security due to both potential economic and political threats related to it.  

Role and Functioning of Stock Markets Coursework

Role and Functioning of Stock Markets - Coursework Example Moreover, securities markets are further broken down into a primary market and a secondary market. A  stock market  is a private or public market for the trading of  stocks or shares  in companies at an  agreed upon price. These include securities listed on a  stock exchange  as well as those traded privately, also known as over the counter securities. A  stock market  is also known as an equity market (Papadopoulos, 2010). Primary Market and its Role: Primary market is the market in which newly listed companies issue their shares to be traded for the first time, changing hands from the newly listed company to the investors, mostly these first time investors are institutional investors for example pension funds, investment banks, credit unions. This process allows a company, the issuers of stocks, to acquire capital by offering their stocks to investors who in return would supply the capital required. Thereby making primary market that part of capital markets that d eals with the issuance of new securities. Privately or Publicly listed Companies, governments or public sector institutions can obtain funding for there projects in this way. Security dealers act as a bridge to link lender to the borrower of the fund. The process of selling new shares is called underwriting. The new stock issue is called an initial public offering (IPO). Dealers earn a commission that is part of the price of the security offering. (Papadopoulos, 2010). Secondary Market and its Role: The secondary market is an organized marketplace for securities. After the initial offering it is through this market that the general public gets the opportunity to be a stakeholder in a company. Licensed broker assist in the buying selling of these securities, along with the exchanges specialized trading system, in accordance with the rules and regulations established by the exchange (Alfaro, Chanda, Kalemi-Ozcan, and Sayek, 2004). When it comes to secondary market, investors in this m arket purchase securities from other investors in the market, rather than from the issuing company. In any secondary market transaction the cash proceeds go to the investors rather than the entity of which the original securities belonged to. The prices of the securities in this market are determined by the forces of supply and demand, this rule applies to every stock available for trading (Demirguc-Kunt and Levine, 1996). Overview of the functions of Stock Market: There are several  functions of stock market that makes it an integral part of the economy. It most important role is the channelling of funds or transferring of capital from investors to users of capital. This role of stock exchanges allows corporations looking to raise capital for enhancing their productive capabilities from investors in the primary market. The secondary market facilitates trade between buyers and sellers of stock and thereby enabling the investors to reach the true price of the stock or commodity. Th is feature of stock market is known as continuous pricing function. This feature enables interested parties to know at any time, what the price of a stock is. Price quotes can be accessed through financial websites and financial channels. This allows investors to assess the worth of their investment in a particular stock (Kale, Dyer, and Sing, 2002).   Stock market also plays the role of fair pricing. The workings of the stock market enable buyers and

Training Objectives and SMART Goals Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Training Objectives and SMART Goals - Assignment Example During the training of the designers, managers as well as the heads of departments, the company will adopt the Grasha-Reichmann Learning Style. According to this style, the approach of the employees been trained will be analyzed while at the same time ensuring that concepts of participative, dependent and collaborative will be applied (Sprenger, 2003). The training program will ensure that adequate time is provided for the trainees to participate through asking questions and providing feedback on the impact of the training on their productivity. Similarly, the employees will form teams that will allow them to evaluate themselves and share knowledge.   It is vital to note that my making the employees dependent during training, it will make them acquire wide range of skills that will make them perform wide range of duties independently after training (Noe,   2012). Additionally, making the employees dependent will create strong positive working relationships that will ensure that c onflicts that may jeopardize operations in the work place are avoided.  Training objectives Training objective 1: Employees will be trained to come up with unique designs that will not only meet the needs of the customers but also that which will be difficult to be copied by the competitors. The managers will adopt good leadership skills that will entail innovation and need to attain a goal.Performance of outcome desired: Improve their skills of coming up with good designs as directed by heads of department.

The Importance of Workforce Motivation within an Organization Research Paper - 6

The Importance of Workforce Motivation within an Organization - Research Paper Example The performance, productivity, competitive advantage, as well as the corporate social responsibility within a company, is all attributed to excellence in employee motivation. There are varieties of environmental types that are known to influence the ways in which motivation should be done. For Cadbury, it cannot be concluded that there is no motivation that takes place, but the paths utilized may not identify these major areas. These are inclusive of all external factors like economic, legal, technological, and social factors. The internal factors are leadership, structure, culture, processes, design of job, as well as the benefit factors. The personal factors are inclusive of experiences, aspirations, needs etc. The ways in which motivation is created within Kraft may be attributed to the concern driven towards the herein stated areas (Crouse 20). The motivation of organizational employees plays a pivotal role in the determination of success levels. The main goal of managers motivat ing employees is to reduce or completely eradicate employee turnover rates. The availability of inadequate employee motivational factors leads to the increment of employee turnover rates. The turnover rates that are high lead to the exhaustion of the organizational bodies, for instance, managers will tire training workers who end up working for other organizations. The enhancement of organizational competitive advantage is very crucial as enhanced by strategic employee motivation. Competitive advantage is sort via the utilization of competitive outsourcing strategies that are geared towards overcoming a volatile and competitive business environment. The satisfaction of employees acts as a driving force to the increment of their desire to perform activities related to the job. The retention of these employees makes the company go to higher heights, for instance, the Kraft Company that now supersedes the Cadbury Company. The value of the company gains a path for increment via employee satisfaction enhancement. The value is a rationale for the creation of company sustainability in a competitively volatile surrounding regardless of its size or other considerable factors (Crouse 21). Increased company performance is also attributed to the motivation of employees. Kraft has been recently in the overtaking business and has definitely overtaken Cadbury due to its emphasis on employee retention. The more the employees are retained within an organization, the greater the ultimate performance due to long periods of job acquaintances by the employees.

Managerial Finance Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managerial Finance - Article Example the last couple of trimesters the crude oil prices have been consistently going up which is sign that the industry is in recovery and there are good profits to be made for players such as Vaalco Energy. The latest press release from Vaalco Energy announced that the company intends to implement a share buyback programme worth $10 million. This paper analyzes the strategic move of initiating a share buyback programme at Vaalco Energy. A share buyback programme refers too a corporate initiative to purchase its own shares from shareholders that are selling the common stock in the open market. These programs have a money cap which indicates the termination of the programme. In the Vaalco Energy case the cap of the programme is $10 million, which means that once the company is able to purchase that amount equity the share buyback programme ends. Once the company buys back these stocks the investment asset can be consider treasury stocks. Treasury stocks are created when a company does a share buyback and purchases its shares in the open market (Investopedia, 2009). The company intention on purchasing its own stocks should not have any impact on the industry as a whole. This it is not made for any strategic purpose associated with the external politics of the company, nor does it impact the competitors in any way. A share buyback programme is an internal financial management decision that the executive staff of a comp any selects with the authorization of the board of directors to take advantage of favorable market conditions. Share Buyback programmers should be initiated only if an internal valuation of the company’s values determines that the corporation’s stock is trading below expected value. When an investor’s sees that corporation initiates a buyback program the general belief is that the stock price of the company should be going up soon due to the fact that the firm has determine the company is trading below expected value. The initiation of such a

Practices or managerial competencies that you think all health care Essay

Practices or managerial competencies that you think all health care administrators should develop - Essay Example This is where conceptual skills come in. They provide an administrator with the perfect launching pad for conducting good research or making the right decisions. The preparation of financial reports requires an able and competent administrator who is technically proficient in using computers to create and manipulate spreadsheets among other documents associated with budgeting Budgeting/reimbursement may require one to interact with other people by asking questions in order to get the right information when in doubt of anything. This requires good interpersonal skills otherwise an administrator may not obtain accurate data/information Understanding whatever one is computing or preparing also requires good conceptual skills (Antony, 1981). An administrator should know which figures are supposed to be entered where, what they represent and how to interpret them in order to explain an organization’s financial position Planning cannot be carried out alone; it is a team effort that is better executed when different opinions and ideas are heard (Lytras, 2008). As a result, working well with different people calls for good human/interpersonal

Argue whether Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning is primarily a film Essay

Argue whether Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning is primarily a film about class, race or gender and why. Argue from two different perspectives - Essay Example The film extensively features the groupings and team formations of the members of the ball culture, with such social formations being the basis of the contestants’ protection strength. Thus, the film features a shift from the ballrooms contesting activities to interviews with the major participants in the contests, to clearly paint the picture of the LGBT community in New York, and summarize the theme of gender, sexuality and social classes as informing the ball culture (Leila and Verta, 44). Further, the themes of racism, homophobia and poverty also features in the film, to complement the experiences of the LGBT community encountered from interacting with the larger heterosexual community. Therefore, this discussion seeks to analyze the major themes exploited in Jennie Livingstons ‘Paris is Burning’, with a view to argue from two different perspectives. The first perspective of the discussion will hold that ‘Paris is Burning’ is primarily a film abou t gender; while the second perspective will argue that ‘Paris is Burning’ is primarily a film about race. Jennie Livingstons ‘Paris is Burning’ is primarily a film about gender, considering that it features the male gender that consistently tries to embrace the female gender’s culture, behavior and mannerisms, predominantly with the black and Latino men being featured in their gay context in New York (Rafferty, n.p.). In the film, the Black and the Latino gay men are involved in a series of competitions, and in them, they have devised cross-gender dressing and fashion style, which they then complement with the founding of the voguing dance style (Dean, 22). The film is primarily a portrayal of the Black and Latino gay men imitating the female poses, dance style, fashion dressing and walking style, which forms part of the gay mannerisms. In this respect, the film is a representation of the

Accrual Method Essay Example for Free

Accrual Method Essay The accrual method of accounting and the cash basis of accounting are different in the way that they record transactions. With cash basis accounting, the agency records money to its book once it is received or when it leaves their system. The accrual method, though, records a transaction when it happens, even if they do not receive money for it yet. Accrual accounting is a more accurate portrait of the nonprofit organization’s finances. If they supply a service they immediately record the cost of that service. This point of view is important because it is more accurate than the cash basis form of accounting, which only documents income when cash comes into the organization. The statement of cash flow is of fundamental importance to an organization’s financial management. This statement gives the organization a breakdown of every transaction that comes in or out. This is totaled up over a particular time period. If there are any differences in the organizational transactions, the statement of cash flow makes this clear. The financial stability of an organization rests on what money they make or spend every day. The organization might go bankrupt if they do not track how their money is spent. These accounting practices offer solid documentation of where money goes.

Impact Of Population Growth On The Environment Environmental Sciences Essay

Impact Of Population Growth On The Environment Environmental Sciences Essay The world has been experiencing a rapid increase in human population for the past 10, 000 years. According to the most recent U.N. statistics, population has grown from several millions back in the B.C. to over 6.6 billion in the 21st century. Even though the growth rate is gradually slowing, the U.N. population Division still expect the worldwide population to very much hit 9.1 billion by 2050. We have all known for long that the human population is no doubt the chief contributor to environmental woes. The humans are the one demanding fossil fuels to power their tech-savvy lifestyles, clearing forests for agricultural use, and polluting the environment with their industrial activities. More people means more demand for natural resources either mined or drilled from below the Earths surface to be burned for energy. Assuming that each person contributes to a certain amount of the total demand, one could very much imagine the kind of strain that this 2.5 billion of additional population is going to cause to the Earth. With the population expected to rise by that phenomenal amount, environmentalist and the others are getting more concerned with whether the Earth is still able to withstand that loads of demand. We also being concerned aims to examine the causes and impacts of this issue in the report, so that solutions could be proposed to alleviate it. 1.3 Focus In our opinion, we feel that if we can solve the problem of the rising human population growth, we can also solve the environmental problems that is likely to stem from it. The explaination for this reasoning is simple and rather fundamental. The problems merely justify the need to do something about it, whereas the causes is the one that set off the problems. As mentioned earlier on, the crux to the solutions lies very much with the causes itself. Therefore, one could very well expect us to first introduce the problems in the report, before moving on to the more crucial part, its causes and solutions. 1.4 Methodology Information used for this study was mainly obtained from secondary sources such as books, online databases, U.N. publications, and other useful websites. A listing of these useful sources of information can be found at the Appendix 1 as attached in the report. Human population The world population refers to the total number of living humans on Earth at a given time. For the past 10, 000 years, the world has been experiencing a rapid increase in human population. According to the most recent U.N. statistics, population has grown from several millions back in the B.C. to over 6.6 billion in the 21st century. Even though the growth rate is gradually slowing, the U.N. Population Division still expect the worldwide population to very much hit 9.1 billion by 2050. With most of the increase in Asia and Africa, in particular, the poorer nations that have no access to proper family-planning programmes. An alarming issue Rising human population We have all known for long that the human population is no doubt the chief contributor to environmental woes. However, what little know of is that the human population is only one of the several factors that affect the environment. The extent to which population increase can be considered a problem is still reliant on other factors. One widely used formula that could help us understand what factors could actually interplayed to cause that significant impact, would be the IPAT model that John Holdren from Harvard University came up with. This model represents how the total impact on the enviroment results from the interaction among population, affluence and technoloy. An Increased population intensifies impact on the environment as more individuals take up space, use resources, and generate waste. As the population gets older it gets more affluent too, thereby demanding higher living standards to satisfy their wants. To meet the humans instatiable wants, better technology would have to be developed to better mine fossil fuels, clear old-growth forests, or fish. Assuming that everybody has to be fed, clothed, housed and hopefully supported by gainful employment. An increased population would actually means the intensification of the impact that the human population has on the Ecosystem. Hence, the problem is not only that the population is burgeoning. It is also that the usage of the resources, and environmental damages are also increasing at a phenomenol speed. Approach All of us would have known by now that a rising global population has devasting impacts on the Earth. It not only erodes the living standards of the world population, results in poverty in already poor countries, affect a countrys economy, but most importantly has a negative impact on the Ecosystem. We will in this chapter, look in depth how the rising global human population develops into a problem, and the various environmental impacts it has on the Earth. The Problem of Rising Global Human Population Urbanisation is being defined as the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. Moreover, It can also be interpreted as the movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. The United Nations project suggested that 60% of the worlds population would live in urban areas at the end of 2030. An increased in the population residing there would lead to an increase in consumption of energy, food, water, domestic goods, and land. To accommodate to this increase in demand, more resource extraction, manufacturing, and agricultural production will have to take place. Considering the limited existing resources of an urban city, an expansion of the city would be needed for the above mentioned activities to take place. This expansion of urban areas across the landscape is something also being defined as urban sprawl. In order for urban sprawl to take place, surrounding areas adjoining the edge of the urban cities will have to be made ready. This is usually done through habitat alteration such as, deforestation for urban cities surrounded by forest/mangroves, or land reclaimation for cities corteminous with islands. Environmental Impacts From the above illustration, we can see that a rising population will not only highten the rate of human activites but will also give rise to newer problems such as urban sprawl. All of these problems will then contribute to certain environmental woes which would interplay and lead to further consequences. The following are some environmental issues that are either the direct or indirect impact of a rising global population: Depletion of natural resources Global climate change Loss of biodiversity Depletion of natural resources Depletion of natural resources refers to the over exploitation of the exhaustible group of natural resources. This group of resources comes in the form of renewable and non-renewable resources. Renewable natural resources are those that can replenish themselves in a resonable amount of time, however, it can also be depleted should the rate of usage exceed the rate of regeneration. Whereas, non-renewable resources are those that only exist in a fixed quality, and either takes up to millions of year to replace themselves or does not possess the ability to recyle themselves. As the human population rises, human activities such as urban sprawl, resource extraction, manufacturing, and agricultural production are expected to increase too. As all of these activities each demand a certain type of natural resources and energy to support them, an increase in human activities would equate to an increase in demand for these natural resources. Some of the resources that are affected as a result of them are namely, fossil fuels, land, water, and minerals. Fossil Fuels Alongside the increasing demand for petrol and diesel to power transportation, industries and farming, huge quantities of fossil fuel such as crude oil is also needed in the manufacturing of plastic-made products. With oil production likely to increase by nearly 40% from 2006 to 2030; as a result of only the increasing world energy demand of 60%. The real demand for oil is believed to be much more higher. According to British Petroleum the current world oil reserves stand at 1238 billion barrels. And present yearly world oil production stands at 31 billion barrels.  If the current rate of oil discoverage were to remain stagnant or low, oil, the primary source of fossil fuel used to produce energy might very well be depleted before 40 years (The figure as calculated with current consumption rate and the level of reserves). The following is a graph (Figure 1.0) that highlighted the increasing gap between the production rate and discoverage rate of oil supplies. Figure 1.0 (adaptedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) Land and Water Land degradation refers to deterioration or loss of fertility or productive capacity of the soil. Urban sprawl can dramatically transform the properties of soil, causing it to lose its water permeability and ability to perform essential duties. These duties include the loss of ability to sustain soil biodiversity, crop cultivation, and the reduced effectiveness as a carbon sink. The following graph (Figure 1.1) showed the amount and types of land loss in various European cities that were the result of urban sprawl. Figure 1.1 (adaptedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) On top of all that, rainwater which falls on areas with deterioted land will also be heavily polluted by tire abrasion, dust and high concentrations of heavy metals, which when washed into rivers will degrade the hydrological system. To add insult to injury, the level of water table will also decline as deterioted land can no longer allow water to penetrate throught it. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,   If current trends continue, 90 percent of freshwater supplies will disappear by 2030. Setting all that aside, one still has to take into consideration the soaring increase in use of water for crop cultivation and human consumption. With the supply of water on the shorter end and demand for it on the rise, the UN Millenium Project, 2008a estimated that 3 billion people might face water scarcity by 2025. A remarkable increase from the current figure of 700 millions people. If nothing done about this, the Earth will very soon run out of arable land to support crop cultivation and no longer have enough safe drinking water to support the rising global human population. Minerals Minerals are the backbone of the human civilisation, they are needed in almost all sectors of industries. If we were to look into the manufacturing sector and bulding sector, some minerals used by them would be gold, silver, iron, cemet, and copper. Since there is a direct relationship between the human population and the industries, a booming population will also lead to an increase in the consumption of minerals. A good example to substantiate the direct impact a growing population would have on minerals would be the example on Spain. For years, the efforts to support the growing population in Spain, have resulted in major expansion of construction activities, mainly along the coast and around major cities. As a result, the consumption of concrete has also increased by a wide margin of 120 % since 1996, reaching a level of 51.5 million tons in 2005. Taking into account the non-renewable characteristic of minerals and the direct relationship it has with the human population. A surge in the human population might cause the limited stock of minerals to undergo depletion in the near future. Loss of biodiveristy Biodiversity may be defined as the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or the entire Earth. Biodiversity is earths primary life support system and is a pre-condition for human survival. As population grow, develop and modify their environment, their activities inevitably affect biodiversity. To understand the impacts of human population growth on biodiversity, a study into it had been carried out in Canada. The findings reveal that human activities such as agricultural activities, urbanisation, and manufacturing are the primary causes of the decline of biodiversity in Canada. Agricultural activities Agricultural is the production of goods and food through farming. It is reported that Agriculture has had a significant effect on biodiversity because of its prevalence over the landscape. Loss of native habitat in Canada due to farming has been significant. As a result of agricultural activities, Canada lost more than 85% of shortgrass prairie, 80% of mixed-grass prairie, 85% of aspen parkland and almost its entire native tallgrass prairie. Loss of habitat, coupled with farming practises of using only a few strains genetically-engineered crop, has resulted in the endangerment of a disproportionately large number of plants and animal species in Canada. To prepare a piece of land for agricultural activities, the natural vegetation has to be first removed from it. Without the natural vegetations protection, the topsoil, a surface layer of soil that is rich in nutrients and beneficial microorganisms, can be easily eroded away by surface water, or winds. In Quebec, it is estimated that 3.4 million tonnes of soil per year are eroded by water. Soil erosion renders an area barren and unsuitable for plants that were initially growing there. To add on to that, soil that has been washed away and deposited in waterways, also destroys the fragile life forms in it. If water can carry away soil, it can also cause the runoff of pesticides and fertilizers that are applied in abundance to commercial crops, and of course the wastes of cattle and livestock. In Quebec, between 1990 and 1991, an impressive amount of 190 000 tonnes of nitrogen and 120 000 tonnes of phosphorus were applied to agricultural lands in the form fertilizers, or were present as livestock wastes. As these excess nutrients enter the lakes and rivers, Eutrophication of aquatic environment can occur; altering and degrading the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems. With 64 out of 105 developing countries studied by the UN Food and Agriculture Ogranisation seeing their population growing at a speed faster than the food supplies, the increase in agricultural activities worldwide is imminent. Therefore, one should expect the loss of biodiversity as a result of pollutants coming from agricultural activities to swell around the globe. Urbanisation It is estimated that between 1871 and 1991, the Canadian population living in urban centers have increased from19% to  77%. To accommodate to this increase, the initial urban centres that stand on 0.7% of Canadas total area, have been expanding over the last few decades. In the twenty years spanning 1971 to 1991, the total area of the Montreal Urban Community increased from 2674 km2 in 1971 to 3509 km2, the Quebec City area increased from 907 km2 to 3150 km2, and the Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres became classified as urban centers. With the majority of large cities located within the St. Lawrence lowlands, a ecozone that is very biologically rich. An expanding city is bound to displace the many species that depend on that ecozone as habitat. Manufacturing In Cananda, manufacturing is the main economy in Quebec, it not only employs the most number of people, but also contribute the highest proportion of Quebecs GDP. Due to the unique nature of this sector of industry, many harmful pollutants are constantly being emited from its operations. Water-borne pollutants include metals, organic chemicals, and suspended sediments that are usually found in industrial discharges. These toxic discharges when flow into the water, can inversely affect the biota in an ecosystem by killing them, weakening them, or deterioting their ability to reproduce. As mentioned earlier on, the majority of large cities are concentrated within the St. Lawrence watershed. Therefore, any harmful discharges from the industries can quickly reach and harm the living organisms in it. Air-borne pollutants include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and acid precipiation that can usually be found in the smoke fumes from factories and motor vehicles. It had been found out that air emissions from the Inco steel smelter in Sudbury, Ontario were directly responsible for a significant portion of the acid rain in eastern North America. Consequently, the surrounding lakes, which is home to fish, mollusk and other amphibian populations, were acidified. Since these amphibian species will not be able to survive in acidic condition, a lake hit by acid rain will result in the death of them. Furthermore, air-borne pollutants such as carbon dioxide and methane also give rise to a whole new environmental problem, which is being known as Global Climate Change. We will in the following paragraphs look into what this is all about. Global Climate Changes Global climate change refers to the change in global temperatures and precipitation over time due to natural variability or to human activity. Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), ever since the start of the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have rose from 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in the last 150 years. Furthermore, findings also concluded that there is a higher than 90 percent probability that human-produced greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have caused much of the observed increase in Earths temperatures over the past 50 years. While we all know that human activities were the cause of global climate changes, the main causes of the current global warming trend is actually the result of human expansion of greenhouse effect a process in which the heat leaving the Earth is being trapped by the greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases include, water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitirious oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. On Earth, the composition of natural greenhouse has been constantly altered by human activities. Over the years, the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. On a smaller scale, the clearing of forests for agriculture, industry, and other human activities, have also resulted in an increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases. From the relationship between the human population and humans industrial activities, it is undisputed that any increase in the human population will lead to an increase of greenhouse emissions, which will eventually accelerates the rate of global climate change. The following table summarises the regional impacts of global climate change by the IPPC: Region Impacts North America Decreasing snowpack in the western mountains; 5-20 percent increase in yields of rain-fed agriculture in some regions; increased frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves in cities that currently experience them. Latin America Gradual replacement of tropical forest by savannah in eastern Amazonia; risk of significant biodiversity loss through species extinction in many tropical areas; significant changes in water availability for human consumption, agriculture and energy generation. Europe Increased risk of inland flash floods; more frequent coastal flooding and increased erosion from storms and sea level rise; glacial retreat in mountainous areas; reduced snow cover and winter tourism; extensive species losses; reductions of crop productivity in southern Europe. Africa By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to increased water stress; yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent in some regions by 2020; agricultural production, including access to food, may be severely compromised. Asia Freshwater availability projected to decrease in Central, South, East and Southeast Asia by the 2050s; coastal areas will be at risk due to increased flooding; death rate from disease associated with floods and droughts expected to rise in some regions. Figure 1.2 (Adapted from: http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/) On top of all that, the global climate change also indirectly resulted in the loss of biodiversity. As the global temperature rises, crop that used to grow best at certain temperature, will not be able to adapt, and will die off eventually. On the other hand, the higher temperature will also melt the glaciers and the artic sea ice, a habitat to animals such as, polar bears and penguins. Conclusion According to U.N. population division, the worldwide population has a high likelihood of hitting 9.1 billion by 2050. From this figure, it is easy to see that even if the current world population of 6.6 billion does not increase it consumtion per capita, we will still have to use up more resources to support this higher number of population. Hence, there is an urgent need to do something about the rising global huamn population, as the devasting envrionmental effects we discussed earlier on have a direct relationship with it.

Effect Of Technology On Architecture Construction Essay

Effect Of Technology On Architecture Construction Essay Technology has played a big role in shaping the current society and its surroundings. It has affected every aspects of human life and one of them is space in the field of architecture and interior design. As technology changes, so does the practice of architecture and interior design. Previously, without the technology, the value of architecture lies in the process of crafting experience in a space. But, nowadays, with the technology, the value has changed into privileging the visual aesthetics of the space or described as visual architecture. Therefore, this essay aims to investigate the current effect of technology in architecture and interior design. As well as to argue that the current visual architecture has decreased the value of architecture. INTRODUCTION Technology opens the door to the future. It is one of the main essences that shape and change the way society behaves, as well as transcends the surrounding to suit the way society lives. Nowadays, the effect of technology has reached almost every level of the society, and one of them is modern building technology. It has great implication in the creation of space in both architecture and interior design. Since the early days, architecture is one of the most important needs of man. It provides space to live and works, an environment for interaction and provoking emotions, as well as a realm where experiences and memories are created. Feelings and emotions are evoked by the form and shape, the arrangement of forms and by relationships that space draws with the surroundings. It affects every part of human senses. As technology developed, the meaning of architecture started to adapt accordingly. Formerly, with conventional building construction technology such as wood-framed, stone-stacking and mud bricks structures, the shape and form of architecture that could be achieved was only a simple and pure form. It led to a trend of homogeneous building, which made architecture looks similar with its surroundings. Because of this limitation, architects and designers became more sensitive and focused on crafting experiences in a space. These experiences then become memories that will be remembered by the visitor and elements that differentiate one building from another. As this continues, because of the limitation on the materials, buildings visual aesthetic is slowly decreasing. Currently, with the creation and development of new building materials and technologies, the inventions of cutting-edge and futuristic looking forms and shapes are possible. New materials and structures are evolved and manufactured everywhere. These advancements have made architects trying to work out and explore the possibility of how these new materials can be used to elaborate and create new structures for buildings. Unintentionally, these advancements has also made them became so attached to visual appearance. Meaning that majority of them concentrate on using technology in order to discover new forms and shapes for architecture in order to reflect the idea for which it was designed. The design of the building that focused on visual aesthetics has led to a trend of creating a form that looks good rather than a space that feels good. With this trend continuing, it seems that the role of visual sense has being privileged when compared to other human senses. The impact of this trend causes the design of the current architecture being reduced and restricted into visual senses. With the absence of other senses, the strength of interaction between our bodies and a space is being diminished. This is because human experience space and environment through all of their senses, not only through the visual. The trend also indicates that the tendency in architecture of image rather than architecture of experience is increasing. The products of architecture of image will only offer visual consumption which wont create lasting impressions that all the architects strive for. It will only become a nice looking postcard of visually striking building. Hence, the essay aims to prove that the current use of technology in architecture is only being used to achieve visual aesthetics and has decreased the value of architecture. The essay will also argue that technology to achieve powerful or aesthetically pleasing form to the sight has to be able to grow hand in hand with other human senses, in order to create valuable experience and memory in a space. Only then, the value of architecture can be pushed to a full potential. Architecture of Experience rather than Visual Instead of experiencing our being in the world, we behold it from outside as spectators of images projected on the surface of the retina. Pallasmaa, J, 2005, p.47 Before we can move forward to the main issue, to question the effect of technology towards current architecture, it is important to look and understand briefly what is the nature and value of architecture since the early days it was created. Throughout the history, despite of a large number of definitions which have been proposed by numerous architects, the answer to the nature and value of architecture has never come to a conclusion. Maybe it is because there are diverse ways to formulate an answer to this. Davies (2008) noted that one of the numerous definitions of architecture that can be found in dictionaries, refer to the meaning of, a method or style of building. It seems that this definition leads to a diminishing understanding that building is just an object of visual aesthetic. Some even make comparison of architecture with other form of arts which is sculpture. For instance, Santiago Calatrava, a world-renowned Santiago Calatrava: Sculpture into Architecture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Spanish architects that combined sculpture and painting with architecture. He is claimed as a building sculptor and had a world-wide exhibition of his works. James Gardner (2005, The Art Behind the Architect, The NY Sun newspaper) mentioned that there is no clear line whether Calatrava is a sculptor that design buildings or an architect that makes sculptures. And whether his works are sculptures that are in a form of architecture or a combination of both art and architecture. So is architecture is just a method of applying aesthetics consideration to the form of buildings? Or it is just an art of making buildings beautiful? This idea of definition seems to have missed a central core of the nature and value of architecture. Previously, in the prehistoric time where architecture was not even born yet, human lived in a nomadic way. They moved from one place to another. When night came, they stopped and lighted a fire to warm themselves up. By doing so, they started to define a place. And if they intend to stay there longer, they started to define a place to sleep, a place to shelter them from the rain, a place to collect and store food, a place where they could defend themselves from danger, etc. From their chosen site, experience of their surrounding, until the organization of their place, this leads to an evolution from a place to architecture. Based on that, one can say that the nature and value of architecture is in the sense of a place that is created by the organization between buildings with the surrounding and context itself. Thus, architecture relates to the way people live, it changes and evolves based on the environments, experiences and needs. As time goes on, places that people used have became more diverse, sophisticated and complex which made architecture consistently changing as well. Starting from the prehistoric era where human dwells in occasional caves to stone-stacking shelters. Then evolves to temporal tents make by frame-wood structures and into round houses that made of mud bricks. And as human becomes more civilized, the needs of place for different functions emerged too. From a place to worship gods, a place to trade things, a place for entertainment and so much more. These places will keep on expanding to meet the different needs of human. Moreover, tools to build and transport materials, such as wheels or pulleys, have advanced and are still growing in order to make construction process becomes more efficient. So, not only materials have evolved, functions and tools to build each building have advanced as well. From the early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Roman Empire and the East, the develo pment in architecture to create buildings for different purposes have greatly varied. Egypts Pyramids, Greeks Temples, and Romans Amphitheatres are just few illustrations of various functions that could be found globally. The forms, materials, tools and functions of the architecture evolve because of the resources that are available in the environment. The needs for stronger materials to create shelter and suitable types of materials to craft the atmosphere for different functions have pushed the tool and building technology to an advanced level too. With the application of the advanced materials and technologies, humans are able to generate unique experiences which would enrich the physical and psychological experience in architecture. In the time where modern building technology was not developed yet, there was a limitation in the creation of architectural form. Architects and engineers were only able to create certain kinds of form because of the limitation of the materials and tools at that time. Considering this constraints, the focus of architecture at this time is in the creation of experience, which is the nature and value of architecture since the early days. People lived through experiencing the world with body senses. One sense interacts with other senses to be able to let human integrate with the surrounding and the world. As a result, architecture is the product of this constant interaction between people with their surrounding and the world. Architecture provides spaces where people could do their daily activities, experience the environment, feel comfortable with it and generate impactful memories through these interactions. The interaction that happens can be either simple or complex. It means that t he space within the architecture should be able to interact with at least one or all of the body senses. This is due to, as human we have needs and desires, beliefs and aspirations, as well as aesthetic sensibility that are affected by warmth, touch, odour, sound and visual stimuli. Every interaction that happens will be experienced by the body. And if the experience through the space is strong enough, it will formulate an impactful memory to the users mind. And if this is successful, the lasting impression that every architects strive for will be achieved. That is why architecture should be designed with a thought of multi-sensory experience inside the space. Some examples of ideal architecture that illustrates significant historical buildings with good space design are The Colleseum in Rome, The Louvre in France, and Masjid Al-Haram in Mecca. For the first one which is The Flavian Amphitheatre or widely known as The Colosseum at Rome. The reason that it is one of significant historical buildings with good space design lies within the successful achievement of the monumental and grandeur size, practicality, efficiency for controlling the crowd and the most important is its ability to radiate the crowds and spectators excitement and experience throughout the whole space experience at that time. The hugely impressive vast ellipse form that is filled with tiers of seating was created to strike awe into anyone who saw this great monumental building. It was a symbol of the glorious power and cruelty of Rome and its emperors. Its classical design features, reminiscent of classical Greek architecture is the quintessential symbols of Roman cultur es and was meant to convey that Rome was a great, mighty wealthy, and civilised nation. The Colleseums design was heavily influenced by concrete and vault arches which are two of their greatest inventions. And the construction technique that the Romans used is the standardised parts system so that the components are interchangeable which similar to the current modular system. This standardised system allowed some components of the building such as stairs and seats to be built off-site and then brought to the amphitheatre to be fitted in to their specific location. Along with the standardised parts system, there were also a huge number of entrances and exits being built throughout the amphitheatre. These entrances and exits were imperative to the amphitheatre in order to ensure the crowd to be seated quickly and efficiently. All of the design and system of The Colleseum has been used as the basic for the architects and designers to design and construct the current stadiums globally. The design and form of The Colosseums breath-taking architecture was as a result of the needs of major requirements as a theatre or arena for staging various forms of entertainment to the Romans. As well as, it is a result of the consideration towards the excitement that the designers wanted the spectators to feel. And even today, The Colosseum is still one of the hugely impressive skyscrapers and the memories of how Romans culture, social and life was like before can still be felt through exploring and experiencing the interior of it. Another significant historical architecture with good spatial qualities is The Louvre in France. Currently, it is one of biggest art museums in the world. Built in the 12th century, it was constructed with a cut stone bearing masonry system and previously it was function as some kind of royal or defensive fortress against invasion until the late 18th century where it was first open to the public to display the royals collection such as paintings and sculptures. The reason that The Louvre is considered as significant historical building that has good spatial design lies in the strong sense of the countrys cultural knowledge that the building exhibits and can be identified through its architectural quality. Although The Louvre has a history of the ever-changing function of the architecture, started from a fortress to a palace and eventually becomes one of the worlds largest museums, no matter what it always bear and have its original identity, history and culture of that time it was bu ilt. It is because of the consideration towards the identity, history and culture aspects in mind that the designer had the idea of the form of the architecture and was able to craft the experience inside the space in order to display and showcase those aspects through the test of time. And the third architecture that illustrates significant historical architecture with good spatial design is Masjid Al-Haram which is located at Mecca. It is the largest and considered as the holiest mosque in the world. The current architecture of the mosque is not what it was like since it was first built in the 7th century. There have been major rebuilt, modifications and expansions on its architecture and because of these expansions it has became the largest mosque in the world. The expansion happened in order to accommodate the increasing number of the pilgrims. Since the past, mosque has been considered as a medium for communication; either it is a communication between God and pilgrims or between fellow pilgrims. This idea of the mosque that it is built as a centre for social interaction rather than a building only for ritual or worshipping is being clearly shown and felt in the architecture of Masjid Al-Haram. For examples the presence of the courtyard surrounds the Kaaba or t he grey square house which is designed or placed there with the intention of providing the best meditative and interactive atmosphere for the performance of prayer and community interacting experience to happen inside. And the placement of the minarets or the tall free standing towers is based on the topography of the site in order to create harmonious balance with the Kaaba. These considerations towards the pilgrims experience and the meaning for every placement or form that is created has made Masjid Al-Haram or The Holy Mosque a significant historical building with good spatial design. These 3 architectures above show that designing through paying considerations towards the experience and behaviour of the visitors or occupants would create lasting impression that could stands the test of time. Nevertheless, through this time, because of the limitation on the materials and tools that they could be worked or used, architects and engineers were only able to build certain kinds of forms which made them unsatisfied with the visual aesthetic of the building. With this feeling of unsatisfactory as the main force that drives architects and designers to overcome this issue, which then becomes one of the main factors of the emerging trend of visual architecture or an architecture that the visual aesthetic considerations is being privileged or have dominated the designers thoughts rather than the experiential value. It is until the late 18th century, in the industrial revolution era, when cast iron can be produced in a large numbers and cheaply enough and has opportunities in creating new forms. This is when architects and designers started to become aware of the glorious potential of cast iron used in architecture. One of the first architectural projects that are entirely made from cast iron is The Iron Bridge in Shropshire (Potter, D, 2006). And this marks the dawn of Modern building technology. As technology has advanced towards a new stage, which is the modern building technology, the nature and value of architecture started to shift and adapt as well. The birth of modern technology is as the result of architects using experimental science and engineering theory and tools to inform the form and construction of their buildings. Which previously form and structures of buildings were relied strongly on the knowledge of the craftsman or builder. This development has begun to revolutionize architecture into an entirely new direction. Through this modern building technology, architects and designers are provided with a new range of materials and tools to achieve and satisfy their hunger for more advanced forms. Previously, the architectural form of each location has their own unique characteristics. This is because of their environment would only be able to produce certain kinds of materials. Due to this constraint, architects and designers had lesser choices of resources that w ere available. This led to vernacular architecture of that area which meant that the material and building tool that they used to construct buildings in a location would have a more deeply grounded meaning with the context of the building and in a way was more purely defined with the unique representative form of that certain location. For instance, the Pyramid in Egypt that is made from stone is entirely different from the Temple in China which is made from wood. But since the developed worlds industrialisation trend has expanded globally throughout the world. This has influenced the local architects and designers wanting to follow the international architectural fashions style and has become another factor that contributed in the emerging trend of visual architecture. With modern building technology , transportation of materials from one location to another location has became possible, the ability of mass production has lowered the cost of construction, and computer software has accelerated the time to finish the drawing or design of a building. These developments have made the process of realizing architecture become more efficient and effective in every layer, either it is the time span to complete, the construction, the planning of the project, the creation of the buildings form or even the innovation of new and better materials is continually increasing. The development of materials has played a big role in the creation of advanced architectural form. It is one of the aspects that started the trend of architecture of image. Beginning by looking into the traditional materials that have been used since the prehistoric times, which is wood. This material could be considered as the forefather of all current materials. In the early days, prehistor ic people used these to build tents as their shelters from the sun and rain. By constructing tree trunks or branches together creating the shape of an inverted V-shape, putting some support to hold it firm on the ground and covered with leaves. This creates the simplest foundation of architecture form. As human evolved so did materials for shelter. Moving from wood to stone, as a stronger material, the form of the shelter started to develop into tent-like house by stacking different stones together. As human moves on to the times of early civilizations, the needs, desires, and beliefs have been greatly varied too. This leads to the creation of places of worships, sacrifices, monuments, and governments. Based on this, the form of the architecture started to goes vertically higher and bigger. At this time, pillar, column, beam, arch and dome has started to be built to fulfil the functions of the architecture. Moving on from the prehistoric times into the middle age, at this time, castles are becoming common forms of architecture in every part of Europe. And as it moves through The Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism and Gothic revival, from 15th century to 18th century, architects and designers feel that every architectures in their own location has looked similar because of the limitation of technology and materials provided at that time and that location. Until early 19th century, when modern building technology was discovered. This technology allowed iron to be used in architecture because it has became relatively cheaper while previously it was considered as a very expensive material. Iron is architecturally unique because of being relatively lightweight and malleable as well as strong. Moreover, because of its properties, it can be used for free-form designs. In this period, glass has also been widely used and available. Glass is widely used for its optimal balance between aesthetics, functions and its ability to create effects that could change experience. The reason is because glass has the property that allows light to transmits in and by using it, the architects or designers has the power to controls light which creates an illusion that the building are able to change, move and create certain atmosphere. And for architect light is one of the powerful tools in crafting experience in architecture. One of the architecture that ref lects a building of high technology in this period is the Joseph Paxtons Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition. Built in 1851 in London, this building was made of modular cast iron and glass which symbolized the industrial, technological and economic superiority of the modern building technology. Progressing to the late 19th century, which reinforced concrete is invented. At this time, concrete is being reinforced with iron or steel in order to increase the strength of tension in concrete to minimize cracking problem. By doing so, this reinforced concrete have special properties which are more durable to thermal expansion, provides strength to optimize building structures and it has the ability to bend allowing it to be made into any shape or size for architectural purpose. Because of these special properties, reinforced concrete is still one of the most popular materials that are being used for construction purposes until now. And in 20th century, plastics became widely known and popular as well. It is because plastics are lightweight, resilient, generally resistant to corrosion and moisture, and can be moulded and formed into complex shapes. And because it is the only man-made material, this allowed it to be developed even more in the future. This development in modern building technology has opened the door for architects and designers to realize all the unrealized ideas that they had in mind. And with this the notion of architecture of image is slowly becoming a trend. With advancement in modern building technology, materials and tools to construct a building have greatly expanded. Back then, buildings are limited with height. Mainly it is because of the limitation of materials and tools that caused architects and designers to think and design horizontally. But with modern building technology, current buildings are able to go higher becoming a skyscraper or go deeper underground, maybe becoming an earth scraper, and not only going vertically, it also allows the buildings to be built diagonally. From geometric to organic form or from masses to pixels, current technology makes everything possible. Moreover, modern building technology is being used for visualizing and selling the ideas that the designers have to the clients too. For example 3 dimensional simulation software that are able to produce photo realistic images of the building even though it has not being constructed yet. Architecture has entered into a realm of visual form which is nothing more or less than the creation of buildings tangible and visible shapes. Beekman Tower, Frank Gehry New York One example of a purely visual architecture is the Beekman Tower in New York by Frank Gehry. It is a curious fusion of public and private zones. The main design feature is the organic form of the buildings facade which is made of aluminium foil. The organic folds evoke the sense of water ripples. And the effects of ripples are being enhanced more on the daytime because of the natural light. This building is surely a successful design and appealing to one of human senses which is the visual. But for the interior, everything inside the space is dully conventional. The consideration towards other senses inside the space in order to experience the space has been neglected. Another one is the Orchard Central in Singapore by DP Architects. The key design element of this shopping mall is on the facade of the mall which is a faceted membrane which will function as massive media wall and is set to be an iconic feature at the junction of Orchard and Killiney roads. The idea of this is to add aural and visual vibrancy to the central stretch of Orchard Road. By doing so, the architectural facade of the building will be able to generate visual connection with the public. But the problem is the elimination of other senses and the dependency towards the vision has made the design of the space unattractive and unable to create a connection with the visitors. In addition to another architecture that illustrates purely visual architecture is The Central Plaza Shopping Mall by Manuelle Gautrand which is located in Bangkok, Thailand. The design of the architecture relies heavily on the faà §ade of the building while the interior is not greatly different from most other shopping mall in the city. The idea of the glowing red lines that simply clad or covered the facade of the building which is the key design element of the architecture is being conceived by the designer as tools that are able to send messages of flow movement and fluidity to the visitors. This perception shows that the design of the building is influenced by technology and only focus on the visual aesthetics to resolve the issue of the space. And by doing so it weakens the architectural value of it and diminished the experiential value inside. Orchard Central, DP Architects Singapore Based on both of the case studies above, it is fairly obvious that the privileged of visual senses over other human senses will create a sense of detachment between the architecture and the visitors. This is merely because humans experience the world and their surroundings through their senses. For instance, the sounds of steps, the light that penetrates through the space, the coldness of the concrete walls, scale and proportion are just few ways of how architecture interacts with the visitors senses. Such interaction is then strengthened and articulated through the complex interaction of human senses and will be perceived by the visitors as an experience. With this two-way interaction between visitors and architecture, it will lead to the creation of meaningful memory towards the space. It is true that vision is the first connection between human and the world. Most of us, when we are walking through a space or street, are affected in one way or another by the looks of the buildings that we pass through, the positions of the objects and the arrangements inside the space. But in architecture, the reliance in the sphere of vision will only made the building existed merely on a surface level which is as an object of visual expression such as a postcard. Architecture should be able to interact with every human sense because it is a representation or expression of human minds. And the only way to communicate with the mind is by experiencing the world and surrounding through the senses. That is when architecture has moved on to another level. So, by using the modern technology, not only to grasped the visual aesthetics that has became a trends nowadays, but also to craft the experience that has been the nature and value of architecture since the early days. This will affe ct the human physically and psychologically and will push the architecture to the full potential. Word Count Word count 4885 (excluding Abstract, Table of Contents, Captions, and Works Cited)

AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

AIDS Is the message getting through? We already know enough about AIDS to prevent its spread, but ignorance, complacency, fear and bigotry continue to stop many from taking adequate precautions. We know enough about how the infection is transmitted to protect ourselves from it without resorting to such extremes as mandatory testing, enforced quarantine or total celibacy. But too few people are heeding the AIDS message. Perhaps many simply don't like or want to believe what they hear, preferring to think that AIDS "can't happen to them." Experts repeatedly remind us that infective agents do not discriminate, but can infect any and everyone. Like other communicable diseases, AIDS can strike anyone. It is not necessarily confined to a few high-risk groups. We must all protect ourselves from this infection and teach our children about it in time to take effective precautions. Given the right measures, no one need get AIDS. The pandemic continues: Many of us have forgotten about the virulence of widespread epidemics, such as the 1917/18 influenza pandemic which killed over 21 million people, including 50,000 Canadians. Having been lulled into false security by modern antibiotics and vaccines about our ability to conquer infections, the Western world was ill prepared to cope with the advent of AIDS in 1981. (Retro- spective studies now put the first reported U.S. case of AIDS as far back as 1968.) The arrival of a new and lethal virus caught us off guard. Research suggests that the agent responsible for AIDS probably dates from the 1950s, with a chance infection of humans by a modified Simian virus found in African green monkeys. Whatever its origins, scientists surmise that the disease spread from Africa to the Caribbean and Europe, then to the U.S. Current estimates are that 1.5 to 2 million Americans are now probably HIV carriers, with higher numbers in Central Africa and parts of the Caribbean. Recapping AIDS - the facts: --------------------------- AIDS is an insidious, often fatal but less contagious disease than measles, chicken pox or hepatitis B. AIDS is thought to be caused primarily by a virus that invades white blood cells (lymphocytes) - especially T4-lymphocytes or T-helper cells - and certain other body cells, including the brain. In 1983 and 1984, French and U.S. researchers independently identified the virus believed to cause AIDS as an unusual type of slow-acting retrovirus now called "human immunodeficiency virus" or HIV. Like other viruses, HIV is basically a tiny package of genes. But being a retrovirus, it has the rare capacity to copy and insert its genes right into a human cell's own chromosomes (DNA). AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays AIDS Is the message getting through? We already know enough about AIDS to prevent its spread, but ignorance, complacency, fear and bigotry continue to stop many from taking adequate precautions. We know enough about how the infection is transmitted to protect ourselves from it without resorting to such extremes as mandatory testing, enforced quarantine or total celibacy. But too few people are heeding the AIDS message. Perhaps many simply don't like or want to believe what they hear, preferring to think that AIDS "can't happen to them." Experts repeatedly remind us that infective agents do not discriminate, but can infect any and everyone. Like other communicable diseases, AIDS can strike anyone. It is not necessarily confined to a few high-risk groups. We must all protect ourselves from this infection and teach our children about it in time to take effective precautions. Given the right measures, no one need get AIDS. The pandemic continues: Many of us have forgotten about the virulence of widespread epidemics, such as the 1917/18 influenza pandemic which killed over 21 million people, including 50,000 Canadians. Having been lulled into false security by modern antibiotics and vaccines about our ability to conquer infections, the Western world was ill prepared to cope with the advent of AIDS in 1981. (Retro- spective studies now put the first reported U.S. case of AIDS as far back as 1968.) The arrival of a new and lethal virus caught us off guard. Research suggests that the agent responsible for AIDS probably dates from the 1950s, with a chance infection of humans by a modified Simian virus found in African green monkeys. Whatever its origins, scientists surmise that the disease spread from Africa to the Caribbean and Europe, then to the U.S. Current estimates are that 1.5 to 2 million Americans are now probably HIV carriers, with higher numbers in Central Africa and parts of the Caribbean. Recapping AIDS - the facts: --------------------------- AIDS is an insidious, often fatal but less contagious disease than measles, chicken pox or hepatitis B. AIDS is thought to be caused primarily by a virus that invades white blood cells (lymphocytes) - especially T4-lymphocytes or T-helper cells - and certain other body cells, including the brain. In 1983 and 1984, French and U.S. researchers independently identified the virus believed to cause AIDS as an unusual type of slow-acting retrovirus now called "human immunodeficiency virus" or HIV. Like other viruses, HIV is basically a tiny package of genes. But being a retrovirus, it has the rare capacity to copy and insert its genes right into a human cell's own chromosomes (DNA).