Architects of building with gargoyles in New York City Research Paper

Architects of building with gargoyles in New York City - Research Paper Example Gargoyles is a Gothic design which accentuates many buildings in New York. Although some views gargoyles as more on having a superstitious relevance, some say that it is merely used as a water diversion. Schermerhorn Building is one of the most popular gargoyle accentuated building and was designed by a great architect named Henry J. Hardenbergh. He was born in New Jersey and worked as an apprentice in New York with a architectural firm for five years before opening his own practice in 1871. Many refer to Hardenbergh as the architect who â€Å"left his indelible ink† in the world of architecture. (Gillon, 1988) Henry Vaughan is an Anglo-American architect who is claimed to be the one who the Americans owe the revival of Gothic designs to. His designs consists of churches, chapels and school buildings. One of the more famous designs of Vaughan is the St. John the Divine in New York known for its gargoyles. He was in America for approximately 36 years between 1881 to 1917 and hi s contributions to the architectural field is vast and known for being highly original. (Gillon, 1988) Vaughan was just becoming established in Boston, when he came into contact with Charles Perkins Gardiner of Brookline, Massachusetts and was, at the time, dedicating himself almost exclusively to church and church-related buildings. Vaughan, as a man, had deep religious conviction who was quite totally devoted to the Anglican and Episcopalian worship as well as to the English Gothic architecture which he perceived as their true and proper architectural expression.Vaughan's scheme for handling cluttered contexts were brilliant. Although he was attached to the English Gothic religiously, bordering on fanaticism, he remains, to this day, as one of the best architects. (Gillon, 1988) The Chrysler building, designed by the architect William van Allen, is among the last skyscrapers in the Art Deco style. The gargoyles of the said building depicts Chrysler car adornmenys and the spire is sculptured on a radiator grille. Since the building's restoration in 1996, the building once again shines as it must have way back in the 1930s. Despite the magnificence of the exterior of the building, the interior is even more so. Marbles floors and a generous display of Art Deco patterns as well as the stylishly designed elevator doors makes the Chrysler Building as one of the most beautiful office towers in New York. However, as an architect, van Alen was majorly dismissed by contemporary critiques of architecture. They claim that design of spire was pure folly and ostentatious. His design of the Chrysler Building has grown in popularity despite the many criticisms and is now considered as one of the greatest buildings in America, which frequently features magazines and covers of architectural books.(Gillon, 1988) James Bogardus, architect of the 75 Murray Street Building gargoyles pioneered cast-iron architecture. He is one of the most famous architects of New York although he personally did not consider himself as an architect. He considered himself more as an inventor in the 19th-century tradition who patented cotton-spinning machinery, grinding mills, gas meters, clocks and printing apparatus.Starting by 1848, he initiated the promotion of iron buildings as fireproof, mobile and efficient. He sold his ideas to developers up until 1860's before he shifted his attention to other work interests. (Gray, 1995) A common distinguishing factor of Bogardus' design is the Medusa-head keystones which were also used in Bogardus' ill-fated Laing Stores. The said design is believed to protect homes from the entering of evil. The Greeks, similarly, sometimes used the figure of Medusa's terrible gaze in order to protect objects which includes the windows and doors considered as the eyes of the buildings. Oswald Wirz', also a gargoyles architect, uses the same concept with his use of Green Men and numerous gargoyles. (Gray, 1995) Wirz is a designer a few New York City buildings in the Gilded Age. Among those of his buildings that have survived are now land-marked

Neo-Liberalism and Global Environmental Governance Essay

Neo-Liberalism and Global Environmental Governance - Essay Example Human activities whether political, economic, or social have to be managed as subsets of ecosystems and the environment. Environmental governance involves the government, business society, and the civil society and necessitates the incorporation of alternative governing systems such as the watershed based management (Kutting, 2004). The global community has proven incapable of meeting these requirements, which has led to environmental degradation and the emergence of new environmental problems. The international community is experiencing several problems due to globalization. Globalization has led to the improvement of the logistic systems, changes in business and demographic trends and rapid technological progress. This process, however, has led to social and environmental marginalization, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, and increasing the gap between information and technology in the rich and poor countries and social groups. Sustainable development calls for the go vernance of globalization by applying international laws, civil sector domain, and the private sector. The global community has participated in several summits for sustainable development in order to address these issues. ... Resource depletion and environmental degradation could undermine the economy and have to be addressed by all sector actors. Neoliberal institutions argue that international institutions have considerable power to mobilize policymaking towards sustainable environmental governance. Some actors argue that a body high up in the UN hierarchy has to be established in to deal with global environmental and developmental problems. This body would have a mandate and funds to coordinate and centralize environmental and developmental problems within the UN. Economic governance was developed by the UN to promote economic prosperity. The World Bank was established to lend capital to governments for development and poverty alleviation. The GATT agreement promoted global prosperity through the establishment of free markets. The World Bank together with donor governments promoted the idea of liberal market themes, which would also govern resource allocation. UNEP has enacted several laws in the areas of marine pollution, disposal of hazardous wastes, and depletion of the ozone layer. This body linked development and environmental depletion, which forced developed nations to reduce its budgetary allocation. The developed framework has established several institutions in various countries that deal with environmental issues. Developed nations have in the past used environmental laws to limit innovation, intellectual property protection, and macroeconomic management in developing countries. Several developing countries have acquired development loans from the World Bank and other developed nations. These loans have increased the national debt of these countries, making poverty levels unmanageable. These governments spend most

Success and failure factors of BPR

Success and failure factors of BPR Business Process Reengineering is a complex process that intends to bring about radical transformations within an organization. This particular study is a pilot project on BPR that studies a store belonging to Argos, one of UKs prime retail chains. It interacts with the employees out there and observes various processes in order to come up with a framework for BPR implementation. Before getting into the fieldwork, a detailed literature review has also been undertaken through this study involving various success and failure factors of BPR and related issues like six sigma, benchmarking and importance of total cycle time. This study consists of mainly qualitative analysis with a bit of quantitative portions wherever necessary. The primary modes of data collection includes a open ended interview involving six questions asked to six respondents working at different levels of the store that was assigned for this purpose. This interview was used as the foundation to proceed with further analysis of various processes within the store with active help from the organization. It was seen through the interview that the employees do have reservations about certain operating issues within the organization. But at the same time they are a bit wary of potential changes and hence are not willing to freely talk about the whole issue. It basically shows two main areas of improvement namely in supply chain and inventory management and also in the field of customer relationship management. Further analysis of the processes has shown that due to the usage of multiple outdated legacy software, the supply chain has become slow and unable to handle the recent growth. That is why Argos is working with Oracle and Accenture to overhaul the software system. Along with these technological modifications, some strategic changes have been proposed through this study regarding the inventory replenishments strategy. It has proposed a more frequent replenishment backed by cutting edge business forecasts and other related measures. As far as customer service issues are concerned, a problem with delays in delivery has been observed and hence more automation in the process along with some amount of outsourcing is suggested in order to save costs as well as increase efficiency by reducing cycle time. Throughout this study, it has also been seen that the proposed BPR processes can meet with employee resistance owing to their own insecurities and practical problems. That is why it has been advised to have a more compassionate HRM policy ensuring proper training and support for the employees. Nevertheless, it has to be accepted that due to time and resource constraints a few important aspects could not be analyzed or implemented in through this study including the implementation of a Six Sigma process and its implementations. A longer duration for implementation and observation of these issues could have generated more insights. Nevertheless, this study has provided with an opportunity to venture into this complex topic of reengineering a retail outlet and we hope that it would be a good foundation point for the future researchers. Introduction Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a complex process that calls for almost a radical redesigning of the core business processes inside an organization in order to achieve rapid developments in terms of productivity, quality as well as cycle times (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). In this process, companies start with an open mind without any presumptions and rethink the whole process in an effort to deliver better value to the clients. They bring about revolutionary changes in their value system and put extra emphasize on the customer needs. They also restructure the organization and do away with unproductive activities especially in two important areas. Firstly, the functional organizations are redesigned into different cross-functional teams. Second, modern technologies are used to improve dissemination of knowledge as well as decision making. Business Process Reengineering proposes five major steps to be taken by the managers to achieve dramatic changes in their organizations. These steps include, refocusing on the company values based on customer needs, redesigning the core processes using modern information technology, reorganizing the teams across function by attributing end-to-end responsibility to them for a whole process, rethinking existing organizational as well as people issues, improve business processes across the organization (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). Business Process Reengineering is used by the companies in order to achieve certain results that reduce costs as well as cycle time. Business Process Reengineering reduces costs and cycle times by eliminating the activities as well as the employees who obstruct productivity (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). When the teams are reorganized, it decreases the layers in management and removes hierarchical boundaries thus accelerating information flows which redu ce defects and errors in the whole process. It also helps in improving overall quality by decreasing fragmentation of work by establishing clear responsibilities as well as ownerships of processes. So, the workers at every level get responsibility for respective outputs and can also measure their own performances based on regular feedbacks. For this particular study, UK based retail chain Argos is being used as the subject upon which the principles of BPR will be tested. Argos is a fully owned subsidiary of Home Retail Group, UK. Argos is the pioneer of Multi channel business retail. With 33,000 employees working to support over 700 stores in UK and Ireland, Argos is a  £4.3 billion company. The intention is to see how operational efficiency can be improved within the organization through BPR and for this purpose a certain Argos store was picked up for the preliminary study. It was done with active support from Argos side and for last few weeks I have worked with close cooperation with the store manager. The retail industry is a business that is fast moving, complex, and constantly changing. It is an industry where only the most innovative and well managed organisations can survive and succeed (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). The retail industry generates revenues through the sales from supermarkets, cooperatives, co nvenience stores and nowadays even through online stores etc. Traditionally, there were various marketing strategies that allowed the retailers to continually promote their companies by attracting new customers. But the fierce competition in the contemporary markets has necessitated better consumer relationships and the capacity to follow up with them (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). The increase in disposable income as well as the changes in lifestyle of these consumers have opened new vistas in retailing and have also increased competition. The managers in the retail sector must be innovative as well as prudent enough to survive in this cut throat environment making sure that every necessary step towards managing change has been taken and they should be ensuring delivery of quality standards in customer service so that the firm builds strong brand loyalty among the consumers towards them. Here, we have to see that the process of BPR is closely associated with project management and hence we should also take an overview of project management before getting into further details. A project is a temporary business activity, one having a well defined beginning and ending. They are undertaken to accomplish particular goals and objectives (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). The temporary nature of a project, as against the more repetitive functions like operations, requires a different management approach. Project Management is a management discipline concerned with the planning, organization and managing resources for successful implementation of a business strategy which meets all its goals and aims. This particular study is also a project that has been undertaken to see the impact of the business process reengineering process on the supermarket chain Argos. The primary objective of Project Management is to achieve all the project goals within the pre defined resource constraints. As such, it shares many tools and techniques with Business Optimization and Modelling (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). The generic constraints of any project are time, scope and cost; also referred to as the project triangle. For my project, the constraints are time: 3 months, scope: a specific utility within the operations function which is yet to be allocated to me by the company and cost: I would have to work incurring no financial costs for the company; as such the only costs incurred are my time and efforts. I would be working under these constraints to optimise the reengineering project. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a management approach that aims at implementing improvements by elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business processes. The fundamental strategy adopted by organizations in this area by looking at their operations from a cl ean state. More specifically, they are looking at what can be done in a better way if the whole process function were to start from scratch. Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dynamic improvements in the areas of cost, speed and quality of service (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). Many of the recent developments in the management sphere can be attributed to reengineering. The cross functional team is one such illustration, developed out of an effort to reengineer the separate functional departments to a mutually coordinating and interdependent process utilities. The Management Information Systems, ERP, Supply chain management, Knowledge management and many others have been developed by reengineering (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). BPR derives its existence from various interdisciplinary components, though the four most affecting areas are: Strategy, Technology, People and Organization (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). A process is viewed as common framework, considering these dimensions. Michael Hammer and James A Champy were the first proponents of this concept. They began by criticizing the rigid departmental approach in many organizations. In a series of publications: The Agenda, Reengineering the Corporation, Reengineering the management, they argued that a single team that works under diluted responsibility and reporting structure would be more useful to the organizations. The result was the development of Cross Functional Teams. They later expanded their arguments to include Suppliers, Customers and distributors. Reengineering is very difficult to implement in an organisation. It causes widespread discomfort among the employees and usually experiences a strong resistance to change. The primary reason being that, over the years, BPR has been used effectively by organizations, however, the first thing that BPR results in is the layoffs. BPR, though a powerful organizational thinking, has not been able to achieve the expectations for the following treasons: The primary assumption of the BPR system is that the single most factors affecting an organizational performance is the inefficiency of its operations. True, processes can always be improved at any level, but that doesnt mean that they are inefficient. It disregards the status quo by looking at an organization from a clean state. It is not an effective tool to focus the improvement strategies on the organizational constraints. As a matter of fact today most organisations are facing great challenges in this regard and they are feeling the need to become more and more competitive through a special focus on organisational design, knowledge management, hierarchical structures performance management as well as quality control. It has always been difficult to find a strategy that encompasses every aspect of this issue. Experts have suggested a number of strategies to manage changing times in organizations. The concept of BPR is one of the latest in this league. We have seen various facets of BPR earlier. Collectively, we can now define BPR as the fundamental rethinking as well as radical redesigning of the business processes that intends to achieve revolutionary improvements in critical aspects of the business with contemporary measures to improve various aspects of performance such as quality, service level, cost and speed (Hammer and Champy, 1993). As this definition suggests, it is desirable on part of the or ganisations to do away with their archaic practices as well as processes, policies, principles as well as structures that negatively affect the performance of the organization. That is why BPR is primarily about redesigning the processes within an organization (Balle, 1995). BPR can also be defined as the re evaluation or redesign of the firms business processes as well as organisational structures in an effort to achieve marked improvements in certain critical success factors namely cycle time, quality, productivity as well as customer satisfaction (Tapscott and Caston, 1993). This particular definition differs from the previous one as it makes a specific reference to the process (Poh and Chew, 1994). It can also be defined as the analysis as well as design of workflows and processes inside the organizations. BPR is basically a tool for planning as well as controlling change (Morris and Brandon, 1993). It offers redesigning and improvement both in depth (i.e. organizational roles and responsibilities, organisational structure, use of technology, appraisal and incentives, shared values as well as skills) and in breadth (i.e. activities that are performed with long term goals in mind) (Hall et al., 1993). Some of the experts take it a step further and explain that BPR is just a part of the necessary steps in the radical alteration of processes (Davenport, 1993). So, there is a need for process innovation in BPR that can lead to new strategies and designs and mobilize both people and technology towards a singular objective (Poh and Chew, 1994). So, we can see that definitions of BPR vary for person to person but overall it involves a renewal of existing processes and involvement of technology as well as strategic thinking. Research Objective: The primary objective of this study is to analyse how implementing BPR can improve process efficiency. BPR involves revamping a process function to a great extent. The process architecture and the associated quality manuals are changed. Implementing such an extensive strategy comes with high initialization costs and time. Customer Service will also be affected during the transition period. I would be performing a cost benefit analysis of the proposed BPR implementation. Secondly, many organizations have been using Business Modelling software based on the concept of Six Sigma. Six Sigma, though very instrumental in being able to improve operational efficiency, is very technical in nature. It is often criticized that it neglects the human factor in a business process and totally focuses on process automation. I have tried to show that BPR and Six Sigma can go hand in hand. These strategic initiatives are to be used by organizations in a complimentary fashion. Research Problem: The research problem that this particular study wished to investigate was to see how process efficiency can be improved within Argos. For that purpose, I worked in the operations function in one of the retail stores of Argos which was allocated to me by the company. I have adopted the principles of Project Management and Business Process Reengineering during this study in order to analyze and then suggest modification in the existing structure. I have prepared a To- Be architecture of the process function, and compared it with the as -Is and proposed recommendations on how the process can be improved with the help of these understandings. Research Questions: Throughout this study, I have sought to answer the following research questions: What are the current drawbacks in the process utility within Argos? Argos has been successful and has done well over the last couple of decades in its field of operations. But that does not mean it has nothing to improve. With time, everything changes and hence even the successful organizations must make certain changes. Moreover, the initial observation of the existing system and interaction with some of the employees there has given some ideas about what is lacking in the situation. How can BPR be used to improve process efficiency within Argos? Here the study will explore the fields that can be targeted for a BPR initiative. This can be the supply chain or the store layout or the organizational structure. It has to be seen which requires it the most and which would suite these procedures. What are the challenges involved? This study would also see the possible difficulties in this implementation procedure and if possible, would try to suggest remedies for the same. How to manage service delivery during the transition stage? Another important issue is to ensure that the system does not become unproductive while going through a transition because it will have significant negative impact the business. So, it would be seen how to manage these issues. About Argos: Argos serves over 130 million customers growing at an annual rate of 20%. 26% of these transact online or through the phone. 18 million families or about two thirds of the English population have an Argos catalogue. It is amongst the most respected Brands of the UK and before being acquired by Home Retail Group, even featured in the FTSE 100 league (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). With over 170 different product groups, Argos is a revolution which has single handedly changed the meaning of cost effective retailing over the past decade. Offering home enhancement and general merchandise products, Argos works on an innovative business model. Customers can browse through the entire catalogue online, buy and pay online. Alternatively, they visit any of the 700 branches, browse through the physical catalogue, check the product availability via the in house kiosks with the product ID, order, pay and collect over the counter. Business turnaround at Argos happened in March 1999, when it was acqui red by GUS plc (Antony and Banuelas, 2002) At that time, Argos was primarily a single channel, store based retailer, selling a smaller range of general merchandise, concentrated primarily on toys, jewellery, house wares and electrical. In 2000, Argos, the GUS home shopping business, Reality UK operations were restructured to form the current business model. In 2000, a financial services wing was set up to offer credit and warranty products to the customers of Argos. Argos is a pre-eminent retail brand in the UK and Ireland. The business runs by leveraging on the economies of scale. This is reflected by the fact that the average transaction size is just around  £30, while the transaction numbers are around 5 per customer in a year (Schroeder, 2003). Leadership in multi channel product distribution continues to be the prime forte of Argos and is the key differentiate to the customers shopping experience, as compared to the competitors, by enabling the customers to shop the way they want. Around 40% of the total sales are through multi channel internet and phone/ store for home delivery. The fastest growing channel, over the years, has been the online reservation for in store collection. The feature is available at every store. Business Process Reengineering: Having explored multiple definitions of the business process reengineering, now let us see various implications of the same. Simply speaking, BPR is a basically a management approach that intends to enhance organizational performance by enhancing the efficacy of business processes across the organizations (Watson, 1993). BPR looks at the existing business processes remaining unattached to them and tries to determine how these processes can be aligned in order to optimize the ultimate performance of the business. Impact of BPR on Business: The prime motive of any business process is to improve productivity and lead to better profitability. BPR is also a way of reorganizing the processes within the business organizations in order to break the traditional barriers in various processes that have been built over the years and hence are very difficult to do away with (Hall et al., 1993). By this process of diluting the functional divisions, BPR makes the businesses more responsive, betters customer services and improves quality. BPR brings about visible structural changes throughout the organization and often obliterates existing frameworks (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002). The conventional hierarchical thinking process is removed from the organizations and a process oriented view takes over the organization with the implementation of BPR. So, the work is now defined in terms of the set of processes instead of the functional boundaries in which they exist. This tactical shift can be attributed to changing busines s goals in recent times (Tonnessen, 2000). But it has to be noted that a degree of risk can always be associated with these changes. For example diluting the functional barriers within an organization can disturb existing structure, confuse people and also create insecurity in the upper echelons of the organizational hierarchy. The emergence and prominence of Information Technology has also played an important role in development of BPR process. It has enabled sophisticated re-designing processes which were not possible earlier due to technical or resource limitations (Tonnessen, 2000). So, the business processes must be analyzed with respect to the changes and improvements that IT can provide to them in order to solve existing problems. IT can also increase the value of the information exponentially by making it easier to collect, compose and categorize. Moreover, BPR ultimately redefines the job descriptions in the organization. It might also create a new breed of employees to handle new technologies and make another breed of employees obsolete by replacing the manual systems with technology (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002). This is also a cause of concern because it leads to HRM issue like removing or retraining the obsolete employees. So, the employees must work as part of the team and should be empowered to take decisions. So, BPR also necessitates an effort towards building effective teams that work together with close co-operation and for that reason there must a system encouraging socialization and familiarization among the employees at various levels and functions within the organization. Now, let us have a look at some other important concepts that are closely related to BPR and can be useful in this whole process. Six Sigma: The concept of six sigma was initiated by the Motorola Corporation in an effort to improve their quality measures by redacting the rate of defect to about 3.4/million. Basically it meant that if they produced a million pieces of a certain item, there can be a maximum of 3.4 defected items in the lot (Linderman et al., 2002). It was a marked improvement and in fact and audacious one considering the previous benchmark of For Sigma, which allowed up to 6,200 defects per million (Linderman et al., 2002). But it is not only limited to reduction of errors and defects but also about the improvement of the process. It goes beyond the statistical tools as well as metrics it uses and becomes a philosophy that encompasses every activity within the organization and brings about overall improvement in productivity as well as profitability. This process generally includes five different stages namely definition and quantification of the problem, measurement of the performance and determ ination of the defect levels, analysis of data and performance of root cause analysis, improvement of the quantity of defects and controlling the processes in order to ensure continuous sustenance of the improvements that have been achieved. The success and popularity of this concept can be attributed to several factors. It has received widespread acceptance most because it involves the whole management, makes adjustments according to culture as well as employee attitudes, puts special emphasize on organization structure, boasts of standard training facilities on the six sigma methodology as well as the tools, enhances the skills in project management and links the quality control process to the overall business strategy, HRM strategy and customers satisfaction (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). It is also important to use the structured methods, pick the specific processes for implementation of six sigma improvements, employ specialists to work on it full time and relate the financial results as well as other business benefits to the bottom-line (Schroeder, 2003). Some researchers classify Six Sigma as a method of setting and achieving goals (Linderman et al., 2002) and hence emphasize on the importance of the clear and chall enging goals that are strictly specified and made known to everyone involved. This also necessitates other efforts like performance appraisal, rewards, incentives as well as training for the employees to ensure the desired levels of performance. Six sigma was initially introduced in an effort to control the variations as well as the defects in the manufacturing processes. But over the years, even the service industry has employed it with a great degree of success. Especially the financial institutions as well as healthcare organizations have benefited by using this concept. Success of some iconic companies like Motorola and GE has made it a very significant development in the recent decades but it has to be seen that there are still a lot of many other companies have been dissatisfied with the results from their six sigma projects (Hammer, 2002). These failures have been attributed to the lack of involvement of the customers as well as the supplier, lack of coherence with the overall business goals and the use of it just as a tool instead of a complete organizational improvement approach (Velocci, 2002). Also, some of the six sigma processes are not directly linked to the profit making functions of the organizations and henc e are overlooked by the people (Velocci, 2002). Nevertheless, some researchers opine that six sigma is too analytical and less creative and hence we might not be suitable in every case. Benchmarking: It can be defined as the process of continuously measuring and comparing the business processes inside a certain company to the same in one of the leading organizations in the same sector. This is done in order to get a comparative understanding of its own standards so as to identify the problems and implement improvements (Watson, 1993). The American Productivity Quality Centre (APQC) defines it as a systematic as well as continuous measurement process. It is a process of continuously measuring as well as comparing an organizations business processes against the business processes of the leaders in that industry anywhere in the world so as to gain information that can help the organization in taking action to improve its own performance. Benchmarking can be described as a more sophisticated version of reverse engineering of the successful competitive products. Since then, it has evolved as a process of continuous comparison and improvement in the process as well as strategic levels and also with a global point of view. There are several types of benchmarking that are being used in various organizations nowadays namely, internal, external, competitive as well as generic benchmarking (Watson, 1993). Photocopy pioneer Xerox is often credited using this process in the late 1970s when it applied this benchmarked technique with its Japanese partners. Originating in US, benchmarking has gained worldwide acceptance around the world in the last few decades. In the UK, we have seen the initiatives like UK benchmarking index, and Cranfield Best Factory that have worked exclusively on this (Zairi and Ahmed, 1999). The process of benchmarking at its core is a comparison between multiple organizations and their best practices. As a matter of fact it is performing a gap analysis through benchmarking to understand the procedural and strategic differences between itself and another company that it sees as a successful one. Generally it is done between two companies and procedure is generally simple. But in an effort to reduce complexity, it might lose out on the nuances of the trade-offs that might exist between two companies. A spider-web diagram is a method that is more elaborate and it allows multi dimensional analysis and can analyze multiple aspects for different functions (Ahmed and Rafiq, 1998). There are other such tool but they are beyond the scope of this discussion. Irrespective of the tools used in the benchmarking process, some experts allege that it actually limits the levels of ambition. It just aspires to take the company to the level of the best one in the industry but it would not know how to surpass it. Also it is not easy to unanimously define the definition of the best in the industry becau se the best will depend on what criteria is used to decide and also on which year it is measured (Zairi and Ahmed, 1999). Also, there is an issue with the availability of proprietary information from the companies against which the analyzing farm is benchmarked. They might choose not to disclose specific details in order to maintain their competitive advantage and hence this exercise would not have much value (Pulat, 1994). Nevertheless, a lot of companies have been reported to have achieved significant development in their processes using this practice. Companies like Chevron, Hewlett Packard and Hughes Communications have publicly attributed their success to effective benchmarking processes and consequent transfer of industry best practices. Reengineering: We have defined BPR before. But there are many other aspects to the process of reengineering. It differs from most other process improvement approaches as it does not focus on the existing processes but tells us how they should be in order to achieve better performances (Attaran and Wood, 1999). The intention is not to change or fix the errors in the existing processes but to see whether they are necessary at all and if not then come up with a completely different framework (Zinser et al., 1998). So, the key principles reengineering are ambition, focus on the processes, evaluation and questioning of the fundamental assumptions within the organization and the processes, and use of information at a broader level in order to measure the processes (Peppard, 1999). There is also a need for integrating the redesign process with the corporate strategy as well as organizational visions of the underlying business. It has been implemented by several companies in the past with varied degree of success. Nevertheless, both the service sector (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002) as well as the manufacturing sector (Hall et al., 1993, Tonnessen, 2000) over the world has applied it. A success story are largely well documented and available easily in the public domain but it is difficult find the details of the failures and hence are very difficult to analyze (Attaran and Wood, 1999, Hammer and Champy, 1993, Zinser et al., 1998). So, we can say that an improper choice of the processes can result in the failure of reengineering. In general, experts suggest a bigger breadth and depth in the process meaning that they should include as many activities as possible to ensure that every aspect of the organization is improved through the process

chemical waste :: essays research papers

Clean Up Of Chemical Waste Chemical spills are major problems that haunt the environment. Strict government regulation are trying help this problem, but governmental leaders face many challenges. Disposal of harmful chemicals is often difficult and costly. Since chemical waste has destroyed the environment, steps are being taken to prevent further pollution, Like the Yucca mountain project. A local based pharmaceutical company named Novo Nordisk released its 1999 environmental report. The company, which strives to keep from contaminating the environment, confessed to two separate accidents for the year. A North Carolina plant was fined from the United States Department of Agriculture 1,000 dollars. Due to the fact that hydrochloric acid was disposed of in the public sewage system. New management has taken action to insure this does not happen again. Also at the Gentofte site in Denmark wastewater with the E- Coli bacteria was drained into the public sewage system from a leaky heater exchanger. The incident was reported to the local authorities and cleaned up quickly. A local company offered to donate expired chemicals to local schools. The chemicals have expired to which they can be used in schools for experiments and related activities. The companies prefer to donate the chemicals because it keeps them from the costly action of disposing of them properly. For example Novo Nordisk in Clayton, North Carolina has a program in which they donate hydrochloric acid and other expired chemicals to Clayton High School. A chemistry teacher at North Johnston High School was unaware that companies could donate their expired chemicals. Her comment of the quality of the expired chemicals was positive. "Expired chemicals would be fine to use for experiments and help me out a lot due to the small budget I am allowed each year for chemicals". A representative from Novo Nordisk stated that a program could easily be established if schools would show interest in the program. Certain disasters stick out in the minds of many people . Chernobyl was a nuclear plant in Ukraine that ended up being the worst nuclear leak in history. The media reported that, "On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl’s number four reactor exploded, spewing a cloud of radioactive material across a portion of Europe in the world's worst civilian nuclear reactor disaster". Officials estimate that about thirty people were killed immediately and more than fifteen thousand people died in the emergency clean up afterwards.

Tears of blood

The drink just lies upon the smooth, flat, varnished table where the suns reflection casts an eerie shadow of the ice, cold drink. If you glance closely, the water condensation slowly, slides, straight down the can leaving a puddle of water behind. To you this may seem like an ordinary alcoholic drink, but for one girl it is her deepest fears come true†¦ â€Å"I'm floating†¦I'm soaring†¦over beautiful fresh, green fields and past busy cities. The wind is carrying me to my dreams on the horizon. The world is spinning below me, such beauty from above. I'm floating†¦ I'm soaring†¦ through the soft, duvet of white clouds. The world, in all its pollution, poverty and corruption, is still beautiful. Which means, I'm beautiful behind my scars and faults and insecurities†¦ yes†¦ I am still beautiful.† She sat on the edge of her blue-patched bed, thinking, â€Å"This is my sanctuary†. For those few moments of silence going through her mind, she felt nothing could destroy this utterly perfect feeling. Nothing, nothing could bring her down from her holy, heights of freedom. â€Å"I am air. I am nobody. I am free.† But, to her sudden horror, † What†¦ I don't understand† She started jerking back to the cold, hostility, of real life. † Good-morning to you all, on this fine Thursday. The suns out and the birds are singing. So why not win a chance of a lifetime†¦ 2 weeks in Italy just ring up†¦0800800958†³ She suddenly remembered her dream, and that word, dream, haunts her. â€Å"It was just a dream, everything is only ever a dream.† She thought as she sighed, and looked around to what her life was. A tiny room, with just about enough space to stand up in, but to her that wasn't important this was her sanctuary. She comes up here everyday and locks herself in her room, crying, trying to run away from all the evil and betrayals, which go on downstairs. After a few moments, she slowly managed to drag herself out of bed and stumble into the bathroom. The lingering embrace of sleep pulled down her eyelids as she looks in the mirror. ‘Another morning, another day gone by' she thought. â€Å"TAMICA!† shrilled a woman in her late forties. â€Å"Yes, mother†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she replied. â€Å"If you don't bloody hurry up you'll be late for school, and don't expect me to be home when the school rings wondering where you are. By the way, it's your responsibility to make sure your so called father does not leave the house drunk with the car keys and make sure all the back doors are locked when you come back from school, I don't want your father making a show of himself, understood?† â€Å"I'll see, depends init†¦' she replied with a since of insecurity. † What on earth to you mean I'll see, you do what ever I say or do not except food in the evening. It is your fault he drinks anyway.† By that time, she had, had enough. Tamika knew if see opened her mouth anymore she just end up crying first thing in the morning. So she hurried downstairs and walked out the house without any breakfast. With her head down throughout the entire journey from home to school, thinking about how possibly it could be her fault her father drinks himself stupid everyday†¦ Time passed by so fast that before and she knew it, it was three o'clock. She slowly walked through the quiet, dark streets dreading what would happen to her when she got home. As she got closer, and closer before she reached the two lion statues outside what seemed to be a peaceful, loving home. It seemed to her that the lions were protectors of her home. They sit outside day in day out protecting the house from predators, except what they do not know is that the predators are already inside waiting for a piece of innocent flesh. She bravely built up the courage to turn the hard, cold key to open the front door. Then, all of a sudden she could hear the taunt of the piano in the background, and fearful greenish liquid took over her body like adrenaline. It started feet first moving slowly and painfully up her spine, sending shivers to her brain. She opened her eyes, to find broken glass and cutlery all over the kitchen floor, and there in the far distance was her father. He was five foot five with white hair with a big beer belly. From the far distance, he looked perfectly normal but as she took a step closer she could see the cold can of beer in his hand and beside him lay a mountain of empty cans. She looked around at mess†¦ â€Å"I can't take it, I have had enough†¦aaaaarrrrrrggg!† She slowly tried walking towards the stairs, trying ever so hard not to be noticed by the predator. She had to be quiet as a mouse, but at the same time as, sly as a fox. She took one giant leap up. She could feel the stairs changing into what seemed to be an escalator and it was going up! She took a looked up only to find she could see soft duvet of velvet clouds covering the suns rays. This leaded to her sanctuary. She took one long, hard glimpse down at the broken home. Inside her dimly lit room she sat numbly listening to the soft sounds coming from her radio. So much emotions and thoughts were playing through Tamikas mind. All the horrible things her mother said about her to her face and behind her back, and just looking at her father like that everyday, tops it up. Her friend's dogs were better parents then they wear. A small crystal clear tear fell down her left cheek. She knew what she had to do to get ride of such pain and emotion. She went to the cupboard, slowly opened the first draw and hidden on top were no one could see was a dull, dirty, dark brown magnet†¦ but it was not the magnet, which would release all the pain, it was underneath the magnet that was so important. A small, shimmering, sharp blade just lay there. How can such a small object cause such pain in the world? Tamica stared, silently at the blade. With no thought to what she was doing the sharp lustrous edge slid, smoothly into her pale skin she watched absent-mindedly as a steady dribble of cherry red blood drawled gradually down the side of her wrist. As she pushed the blade in deeper, the stream of blood quickly intensified. The surge of anguish caused her to cringe. A chorus of words went through her mind†¦ â€Å"Pain, Pain, go away, Let me smile for just one day, Should that day I never see, Let my blood run cold and free† With each new drop, the circle of blood grew proving that she was serious. There were now six cuts her wrists each as deep as each other, and only millimetres apart. Her blood- stained fingers reached for the once shiny, silver blade, which was now covers in dark blood. She contemplated her next move. She pressed with the strongest amount of force she had inside her. This had given her more blood and pain then the others, but the scars were massive and impossible to conceal. After a few minutes the bloody blade broke through her skin slowly and a new thick red line quickly appeared. A wave of relief gushed through her body and escaped through her disfigured wrist. She laid back closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of complete relief. All her emotions and thoughts cleared. But nevertheless she knew this sensation would be over in a matter of seconds. She would have trouble walking tomorrow, but Tamica never thought that far ahead. As she gazed down at her disfigured limb, she was revolted, repulsed and ashamed that she could do such a thing. Then as she continued to stare another feeling had surface. The feeling of pride. She swiped the area where the blood was now drying and watched in astonishment as fresh cherry red blood drizzled from her open wounds. A renewed sense of relief consumed her. She had been cutting for so long now that she had lost sight of reality. She no longer controlled the blade, but the blade control her†¦

Case Study Essay

1. Refer to Exhibit 3-3. How would a first-line manager’s job differ in these two organizations? How about a top-level manager’s job? Different managers perform at different levels and require different skills. To meet the demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. In Organization A, strong attention would be given to detail, with little innovation and risk taking. Teamwork would not be encouraged, and employees would be viewed as a means to an end. Strict controls would be placed on workers, and task achievement would be most important. The supervisor would have little latitude and would do things â€Å"by the book.† In Organization B, innovation and risk taking would be highly encouraged. The supervisor would have more autonomy in how to achieve goals. Employees would be given the opportunity to provide input, and a team approach would be used. People would be viewed as important contributors. The supervisor’s job would be more like that of a coach, encourager, and facilitator. 2. Describe an effective culture for a relatively stable environment and a dynamic environment. Explain your choices. An effective culture for a relatively stable environment would likely emphasize outcomes such as quality and productivity and would give significant attention to detail. It would not require high levels of innovation, risk taking, or aggressiveness. Conversely, an effective culture for a dynamic environment would likely em-phasize aggressiveness, innovation, risk taking, and team orientation. To stay on top of continual environmental changes, this organization would have a culture that celebrates productive work behaviors. 3. Classrooms have cultures. Describe your classroom culture, using the seven dimensions of organizational culture. Does the culture constrain your instructor? How? Educators today hear a lot about gaps in education – achievement gaps, funding gaps, school-readiness gaps. Still, there’s another gap that often goes unexamined: the cultural gap between students and teachers. 4. Can culture be a liability to an organization? Explain. organizational culture could be a liability. In the global environment, a society that discriminates on the basis of ethnicity or gender or in the exploitation of workers could experience a backlash from the reactions of consumers in other nations. 5. Why is it important for managers to understand the external forces that are acting on them and their organization? All outside factors that may affect an organization make up the external environment . The external environment is divided into two parts: Directly interactive: This environment has an immediate and firsthand impact upon the organization. A new competitor entering the market is an example. Directly interactive forces include owners, customers, suppliers, competitors, employees, and employee unions. Indirectly interactive: This environment has a secondary and more distant effect upon the organization. New legislation taking effect may have a great impact. indirectly interactive forces. These forces include sociocultural, political and legal, technological, economic, and global influences. Indirectly interactive forces may impact one organization more than another simply because of the nature of a particular business. 6. â€Å"Businesses are built on relationships.† What do you think this statement means? What are the implications for managing the external environment? organizations depend on their environment and their stakeholders as a source of inputs and a recipient of outputs. Good relationships can lead to organizational outcomes such as improved predictability of environmental changes, more successful innovations, greater degrees of trust among stakeholders, and greater flexibility in acting to reduce the impact of change. 7. What would be the drawbacks to managing stakeholder relationships? Stakeholder theory is widely recognized as a management theory, yet very little research has considered its implications for individual managerial decision making. But maybe the company’s stakeholders aren’t working to help the company instead they work for their own good maybe to steal or something else

Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans

Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans Soldiers adopt a new culture the moment they get out of the country for war. It is believed that soldiers develop a new set of beliefs and values while they are away and therefore completely depart from their original cultural orientation (Rubin, 2012).Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More War veterans completely feel out of place when they return from combat with most of them remaining in a state of despair. The majority of these veterans roam on the streets because they do not have somewhere to stay. This kind of situation makes them feel as if they are no longer true citizens of their own country (Rubin, 2012). The culture of veterans is normally associated with soldiers returning from combat and a lot of effort is needed to accommodate this group of people back to the society. Homeless veterans have their own gathering places, language , symbols and are completely united because of their similar experiences (Lauter, 2010). This paper will discuss the cultural immersion of homeless veterans. The most surprising statistic is that veterans form one third of all the homeless people on the streets (Lauter, 2010). These are patriotic citizens who put on service uniforms to serve and defend their nation. Homeless veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome that subsequently leads to depression. Substance abuse is part of the culture of veterans and this poses a great challenge to the health care system (Lauter, 2010). All veterans appreciate the value of basic necessities because of the difficult conditions that are associated with war. Veterans do not take things for granted especially when it comes to basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing (Rothman, 2007). Veterans value their country and therefore the Department of Veterans Affairs should make an effort to ensure that the lives of all veterans are impr oved.Advertising Looking for critical writing on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Homeless veterans feel as if their country has abandoned them and this is normally exhibited in their sense of hopelessness and low self-esteem (Rothman, 2007). The fact that veterans are left out in the cold makes them to communicate with a lot of hatred and anger. Homeless veterans struggle in settling down socially because it is not easy for them to form close relationships back at home after staying away for a very long time (Rothman, 2007). Homeless veterans associate with fellow servicemen and this makes them feel isolated. Physical and emotional isolation frustrates homeless veterans and this can lead to mental disabilities. Many veterans can not remain in any job for long because of substance abuse. It is very difficult for homeless veterans to completely have stable lives without employment (Miller, 2010). Most companies require their prospective employees to have a permanent address and this completely locks out homeless veterans. Cultural immersion is necessary for homeless veterans because it a way of helping them feel comfortable in their country (Miller, 2010). Cultural immersion takes place in different forms to ensure that homeless veterans do not have feelings of cultural, emotional and physical isolation. Homeless veterans encounter numerous health risks because of their poor hygiene and diet (Miller, 2010). Health care providers have a very critical role to play in enhancing cultural immersion of homeless veterans. Many homeless veterans are very reluctant to inform the authorities that they are homeless and sick. Health care providers should not in any way be judgmental when attending to homeless veterans (Rothman, 2007). Homeless veterans have been a subject of ridicule and therefore professionals like health care providers should show some compassion by listening to their side of the story.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Homeless veterans would feel appreciated if everyone interacted with them without a non-judgmental attitude (Rothman, 2007). Homeless veterans can only share their story and information about their lifestyle if members of the society are willing to listen to them. Social support is very important for homeless veterans because most of them are exposed to unclean behaviors such as substance abuse (Lauter, 2010). Health care providers should be aware of the plight of homeless veterans because they need some special attention. Stereotyping is another reason why homeless veterans feel isolated and therefore the issue of having general assumptions that all of them are lazy and responsible for their problems should be avoided at all costs (Lauter, 2010). There are quite a number of programs tha t have been put in place by the government with an aim of assisting homeless veterans. These programs assist homeless veterans to access health care and readjustment counseling services. A housing program to support homeless veterans in securing transitional and permanent housing is very critical in enhancing their cultural immersion (Rothman, 2007). Many of the health risks associated with veterans are caused by lack of shelter. It is also important for the society to understand that some veterans are homeless because of the common reasons that everyone faces (Rubin, 2012). In conclusion, homeless veterans encounter a lot of cultural, emotional and physical isolation the moment they come back from war. The support that they used to enjoy in the course of their duty immediately disappears the moment they return home (Rubin, 2012).Advertising Looking for critical writing on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Cultural immersion is therefore necessary for homeless veterans because they develop different values and believes while away and continue to identify themselves with the culture of veterans after they return home (Lauter, 2010). Homeless veterans need both social and emotional support from the society for them to overcome their social, economic and cultural challenges. References Lauter, P. (2010). A companion to American literature and culture. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons. Miller, C. (2010). Cities and nature in the American West. New York, NY: University of Nevada Press. Rothman, J. (2007). Cultural competence in process and practice: Building bridges. New York, NY: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Rubin, A. (2012). Handbook of military social work. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons.

Breastfeeding Nutrition Research Paper

Breastfeeding Nutrition Research Paper Free Online Research Papers Chapter I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND The arrival of an infant surely brings incomparable joy to every family. But how they raise them will play a significant role later when infants become adults and begin to interact in the world around them. Because the family inculcates control and a sense of what is right, upon the arrival of an infant who is then considered to be a new member of the family, decisions have to be made particularly by the mother, and one of which is in terms of how to feed her infant. Any parent or caregiver would want to make sure that their infant is right on track in his physical and mental growth. It is every family’s desire to see their children grow smarter and become a top of their class. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Early childhood nutrition is thought to have important effects on education, broadly defined to include the various forms of learning. A number of previous studies have contributed to the current conventional wisdom about the impact of nutrition on education in developing countries. In the early years of the human species, breastfeeding was as common as it was for other mammals feeding their young. There were no alternative foods for the infants, and the mother, along with other lactating females, would have no choice but to breastfeed their infant. Breastfeeding is the process of a woman feeding an infant or young child with milk produced from her breast, usually directly from the nipples. On the other hand, formula feeding is an industrially produced milk product designed for infant consumption. Usually, based on either cow or soymilk, infant formula strives to duplicate the nutrient content of natural human breast milk. Besides breast milk, infant formula is the only other infant milk which the medical community considers nutritionally acceptable for infants under the age of one year. Many mothers do manage to combine feeding by breast and bottle-this is sometimes known as mixed feeding. Mother’s, who return to work or know they’re going to be separated from their baby for a length of time, may choose to use a combination of breast milk and formula. Some mothers express their breast milk so their baby can continue having breast milk when they’re not together. Evidence suggests that infant feeding practices can have a significant effect in the child’s cognitive development. A study was conducted in Christ church School of Medicine in New Zealand that studied over 1,000 children and during the period from birth to 1 year, they gathered information on how these children were fed. They were then followed to age 18. Over the years, the researchers collected a range of cognitive and academic information on the children, including IQ (intelligent quotient), teacher ratings of school performance in reading and math, and results of standardized tests of reading comprehension, mathematics, and scholastic ability. The researchers also looked at the number of passing grades achieved in national school certificate examinations taken at the end of the third year of high school. The results indicated that the longer children had been breastfed, the higher they scored on such tests. (PEDIATRICS 1998) Formula fed babies, on average, have IQ’s about ten points lower than their breastfed counterparts. This is most likely related to special fatty acids and other components in breastmilk that are known to promote brain cell growth, development of vision and the nervous system. These components are absent in formula (Newman,Solveig 2000) Each chronological age has corresponding developmental tasks, both physical and psychosocial. (Murray,Atkinson 2000) Somewhere around age 7, children begin to acquire the ability to relate a series of happenings to mental representations that can be expressed both verbally and symbolically. (Whaley Wong (1993). This research is to conduct a study among grade 1 pupils to determine if there is a difference between the different infant feeding techniques on their academic performance. What stimulated the mind of the researcher in coming up with the idea of this study is thru someone who is doing well in class and a fellow classmate was wondering what type of milk her mom used to nourish her when she was still an infant. The researchers would like to seek answers based on speculations encountered from different people who were curious to know what is the appropriate feeding technique best suitable to them without compromising the essential nutritional benefit needed for their infant’s welfare. The researcher’s decision to conduct a study on the Grade 1 pupils of Columban College, considering if there’s a difference on the chosen feeding technique in their academic performance. In most countries, formal education begins between age 6 to 7 pupils are socially ready to learn in a structured setting and concrete operational thought processes begins. The concrete operation includes systematic reasons, uses memory to learn broad concepts and subgroups by concepts. School-age children can discover concrete solutions to everyday problems and recognize cause and effect relationships. The researchers chose Columban College primarily because it is a private institution where formers believe that infant feeding techniques encompass all members of society regardless of souci-economic status. Secondly, one of the researchers is an alumnus of the school hence, the cooperation of the school was easily sought and it expressed its interest to participate in study wholeheartedly. This research will promote awareness and serve as a reference to be used for future health teaching especially on the differences of the infant feeding techniques. B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This study aims to determine the difference between the different infant feeding techniques and the academic performance of currently enrolled grade 1 pupil of Columban College. Specifically, the researchers aim to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the subjects according to gender? 2. What is the type of infant feeding technique practiced by the primary caregiver of the pupil? 3. What is the difference between the different infant feeding techniques used by the primary caregiver of the pupil and the latter’s academic performance in the current academic year? C. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The result of the study will be significant to the following: FAMILY This will provide awareness regarding the benefits of the various feeding practices especially in the academic performance of their children. RESEARCHERS This study can serve as a starting point which could open the door for further research regarding milk feeding. This is designed to provide learning and discussion about different infant feeding technique. Hence, provide basic tools of knowledge and experience of knowledge and experience that will enable the researcher to provide thoughtful counseling and guidance to the family. This will also serve as a reference for other researchers. NURSING PROFESSION As part of the health care team tasked to provide health teaching to pregnant mothers, this study will provide an evidence-based approach in discussing the salient points of infant feeding practices. COMMUNITY The community will be provided a baseline data for legislation purpose in support and modification of infant feeding programs. Various stakeholders of the community will be provided with information that the academic performance of a child is influenced by their different infant feeding techniques. D. HYPOTHESIS There is no significant difference between the different infant feeding techniques and academic performance. E. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS FIGURE 1 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS Maslows Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development. Maslows original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first widely published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs model comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow said that needs must be satisfied in the given order. Aims and drive always shift to next higher order need Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is an excellent model for understanding human motivation, but it is a broad concept. If you are puzzled as to how to relate given behavior to the Hierarchy it could be that your definition of the behavior needs refining. For example, where does doing things for fun fit into the model? The answer is that it cant until you define doing things for fun more accurately. Youd need to define more precisely each given situation where a person is doing things for fun in order to analyze motivation according to Maslows Hierarchy since the fun activity motive can potentially be part any of the five original Maslow needs. Understanding whether striving to achieve a particular need or aim is fun can provide a helpful basis for identifying a Maslow driver within a given behavior, and thereby to assess where a particular behavior fits into the model: Biological health, fitness, energizing mind and body, etc. Safety order, and structure needs met for example by some heavily organized, structural activity Belongingness a team sport, club family and relationships Esteem competition, achievement, recognition Self-Actualization drivers challenge, new experiences, love of art, nature, etc. However in order to relate a particular doing it for fun behavior the Hierarchy of Needs we need to consider what makes it fun (ie rewarding) for the person. If the behaviour is for fun, then consider what makes it fun for the person is the fun rooted in belongingness, or is it from recognition, ie., esteem. Or is the fun at a deeper level, from the sense of self-fulfillment, i.e .self-actualization. Apply this approach to any behavior that doesnt immediately fit the model, and it will help you to see where it does fit. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs will be a blunt instrument if used as such. The way you use the Hierarchy of Needs determines the subtlety and sophistication of the model. For example, the common broad-brush interpretation of Maslows famous theory suggests that that once a need is satisfied the person moves onto the next, and to an extent, this is entirely correct. However an overly rigid application of this interpretation will produce a rigid analysis, and people and motivation are more complex. So while it is broadly true that people move up (or down) the hierarchy, depending whats happening to them in their lives, it is also true that most peoples motivational set at any time comprises elements of all of the motivational drivers. For example, self-actualizers (level 5 original model) are mainly focused on self-actualizing but are still motivated to eat (level 1) and socialize (level 3). Similarly, homeless folk whose main focus is feeding themselves (level 1) and finding shelter for t he night (level 2) can also be, albeit to a lesser extent, still concerned with social relationships (level 3), how their friends perceive them (level 4), and even the meaning of life (level 5 original model). Like any simple model, Maslows theory not a fully responsive system its a guide which requires some interpretation and thought, given which, it remains extremely useful and applicable for understanding, explaining and handling many human behavior situations. F. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Figure 2. Nutrition is one of the various factors that affect learning ability and skills before and after the child is in school. Learning can be viewed as a multiple input and output process. Hence, the effects of a particular input like nutrition could vary depending on the learning outcomes measured. The framework of this study posits that the academic performance of the pupil may be explained by the feeding technique used during 0-5 months of age. Academic performance is categorized according to the final grade obtained from the school year 2005-2006 as reflected in the pupils report card as outstanding, very satisfactory, satisfactory, moderately satisfactory, and needs improvement. Infant feeding technique includes Breastfeeding, bottle-feeding. and Mixed Feeding. G. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION The study will focus on the following: The type of infant feeding technique practiced by the primary caregiver of the pupil. The difference between infant feeding techniques used by the primary caregiver of the pupil and the latter’s academic performance in the current academic year. Limitation of the Study One limiting factor that was faced by the researchers is their limited knowledge and skills and the resources needed in conducting the study. Since this is the first research conducted by the researchers, guidance, and help from different professionals were solicited on how to go about the entire study. Time has also become a great consideration to conduct the study in a much bigger population. The total population of grade 1 pupil in Columban College is 142 however 105 of the population were surveyed, the remaining 37 pupils were not included because some of them have dropped out earlier in the school year after the 2nd grading period and others were fetched by respondents who did not meet the criteria of being a primary caregiver when the pupils was 0-5 months old set by the researchers. Limitation of the study also includes the 0 to 5 months as the duration of their feeding because, on their 6th months, infants are usually given solid foods as complementary supplements. Delimitation of the Study The subjects had 5 academic subjects. These are Christian Living, English (Reading and Language), Filipino, Mathematics and Makabayan which includes Music, Arts, and P.E. (MAPE) and Sibika. The pupils are taught by 1 teacher each section for the entire school year. The grades in the computation of the final grade of the subjects were only from SY 2005-2006. Factors that may affect the subject’s performance such as environment, study habits, physical, emotional, psychological capabilities, socioeconomic, feeding duration, nutritional factors, the supplementary feeding received by the subject, length of time caring for the pupil, monthly family income, highest educational attainment of the respondent, brand or type of milk used in the feeding technique were considered delimitations of the study. The study is also not concerned with the composition of the different infant feeding technique. H. DEFINITION OF TERMS Infant Feeding Technique – refers to the technique of nourishing or feeding infants from 0 to 5 in months that used either breastfeeding, formula feeding or mixed feeding (combination of breastfeeding and formula feeding). Breastfeeding – refers to the feeding technique where the infant receives breast milk as a source of nourishment during 0-5 months. Formula Feeding – refers to the feeding technique that used formula milk commercially available in the market as a source of nourishment during 0-5 months. May also refer to bottle-feeding. Mixed Feeding – refers to the feeding technique that simultaneously used both breastfeeding and formula feeding as a source of nourishment during 0 to 5 months regardless of time of introduction. Academic Performance – refers to the pupil’s overall class performance for the school year 2005-2006 as reflected by the pupils’ final grade. Performance is categorized as follows: Outstanding- grades range from 94 and above Excellent –grades range from 88–93 Very satisfactory –grades range from 82-87 Satisfactory – grades range from 76-81 Poor – grades range from 70-75 Final grade – the final general average of each pupil determined by dividing the sum of his average rating in each subject by the total number of the subjects. Subjects include Christian Living, English ( reading and language) Filipino, Mathematics, Makabayan ( Music, Arts, Physical Education, And Sibika ). Measurement of achievement include quizzes, recitation, homework, project/themes, Religious involvement for CL and periodic test. Subject- refers to the currently enrolled Grade 1 pupils of Columban College for the school year 2005-2006. Primary Care giver- refers to the person/s who took care of the pupil from 0-5 months. also refers to a respondent. Duration of Feeding – refers to the period of nourishing the pupil during 0-5 months of age using different infant techniques. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Early childhood care for survival, growth, and development comprises the practices of caregivers that day by day, attentively and warmly; translate resources into survival, growth and psychosocial development of infant and children. Under UNICEF’s conceptual framework for infant and child feeding and development, six key care practices are at the center of attention: (1) care for women, (2) breastfeeding and feeding practices, (3) psychosocial care, (4) food preparation, (5) hygiene practice, (6) home health practices. Nutrition is the science or study of the appropriate diet to promote health. Good nutrition from an early age is vital for a child’s proper mental and physical development. It is known that good nutrition and rich experiences affect brain development. 40% of adult mental ability is formed in the first three years of life. (WHO 2002). Nutrition is an important aspect to the cognitive development of children. Nutrition during the early stages of a child’s life can link to performance in later years. Children are very important to our future, therefore, good nutrition is necessary for the development and growth of a child. In Kozier 2004, cognitive development refers to the manner in which people learn to think, reason, and use language. It involves a person’s intelligence, perceptual ability, and ability to process information. Cognitive development represents a progression of mental abilities from illogical to logical thinking, from simple to complex problem solving, and from understanding concrete ideas to understanding abstract concepts. The most widely known cognitive theorist is Jean Piaget. His cognitive development theory is an orderly, sequential process in which a variety of new experiences must exist before intellectual abilities can develop. Piaget’s cognitive development process is divided into five phases: sensorimotor phase (birth to 2 years), pre-conceptual phase (2-4 years), intuitive thought phase (4-7 years), concrete operation phase (7-11 years), and formal operations (11-15). BREASTFEEDING The most common reasons mothers chose breastfeeding includes benefits to the infants health, naturalness, and emotional bonding with the infant (Mc Junkin 2000). It is the position of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) that exclusive breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition and health protection for the first 6 months of life, and breastfeeding with complementary foods for at least 12 months is the ideal feeding pattern for infants. Increasing duration of breastfeeding was accompanied by a gradual increase in cognitive developmental benefit. (Riva,E. 1996) According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the breastfed infant is the reference against which all alternative feeding methods must be measured with regard to growth, health, development, and other outcomes. Human milk has many beneficial effects on the health of infants (including premature and low-birth-weight infants) and young children. These benefits are magnified with exclusive breastfeeding beyond 6 months of age. Human milk is uniquely superior to all other milk substitutes and is specifically tailored to meet the nutritional needs of the human infant. It has the appropriate balance of nutrients provided in easily digestible and bioavailable forms. The milk changes its composition, from colostrums for the newborn to mature milk for the older infant, to meet the nutrient needs of the growing infant. It provides generous amounts of carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, medium-chain triglycerides, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and cholester ol. The relatively low protein content presents a relatively modest nitrogen load to the immature kidney. Breastfeeding also has been linked with enhancement of cognitive development, with some studies showing evidence that these cognitive developmental benefits increased with the duration of breastfeeding and extended through the school-age years. According to loopholes, breastfeeding provides with the best possible food is particularly important for brain development. Current research, in food, insists that the brain is as important as weight gain, if not more so. The brain grows extremely rapidly during the 1st month of life. Only breast milk can provide the perfectly adopted food required for such growth. In addition, breast milk protects the infant against infection, not only because of its antibodies and â€Å"antibiotic properties†. (Sara Porter, 1982) Exclusively breastfeeding is the safe, sound and sustainable way to feed an infant for the first six months of life. But breastfeeding is important for more than six months. Experts now agree that breast milk can provide all that a baby normally needs for the first six months and no extra drinks or feeds are needed during this period. Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant receives only breast milk, from his or her mother or a wet nurse or expressed breast milk and no other foods or drinks. (WHO 2002) Easy to digest and absorb human milk best meets an infant meets. The literature reports that human milk enhances motor and cognitive development and reduces infant morbidity, mortality, and the incidence of chronic diseases. Studies have shown that breastfed children perform better on tests of intellectual development than do formula-fed children and the benefits may extend into adulthood. Although more research is needed, the link between breastfeeding to a long chain fatty acids found in breast milk, which promote nervous system growth, brain development, and visual acuity. (JEANNETTE CRENSHAW2005). Williams and Jellife mentioned in their work that breast milk is the most valuable, the cheapest but the most neglected source of protein in the whole of the art and science of nutrition. Breastfeeding, or lactation, is the ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants. The Bellagio Child Survival Study Group identified breastfeeding in the first year as one of the most important strategies for improving child survival Internationally, the World Health Organization recommends that breastfeeding is continued up to 2 years of age or beyond, with appropriate supplementation of solid foods. Breastfeeding involves primary, and to a lesser extent, secondary prevention of acute and chronic diseases. Human milk is uniquely superior to all other milk substitutes and is specifically tailored to meet the nutritional needs of the human infant. It has the appropriate balance of nutrients provided in easily digestible and bioavailable forms According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the breastfed infant is the reference against which all alternative feeding methods must be measured with regard to growth, health, development, and other outcomes. WHO mentioned that human milk has many beneficial effects on the health of infants (including premature and low-birth-weight infants) and young children. These benefits are magnified with exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding beyond 6 months of age Studies conducted by the Workgroup on breastfeeding science and society stated the benefits of breastfeeding have been criticized for methodological and analytical flaws including lack of control for confounding factors, poorly designed tools, the varying definition of breastfeeding, and researcher bias. However, professional health organizations stand behind their recommendations for promoting breastfeeding as the optimal food for human infants. Formula Feeding/ Bottle Feeding If breastmilk is not available. or you have opted to mix or bottlefeed your baby, one will have to start by selecting a formula. Bottles have the advantage of being familiar, socially acceptable and less time to consume than the other methods. When the mother’s condition is contraindicated to breastfeeding or simply chose not to breastfeed, they opt to commercial formulas. Pilliteri (2004) mentioned that women should use of commercial formulas because they closely mimic human milk. Infant formula remains an infant feeding option. The baby bottle has become a very visible part of Western culture, and increasingly, of other developed and developing nations. This ubiquitous image leads many people to believe that bottles and infant formula are necessary to parenting an infant, regardless of the fact that in most cases they are not. Infant formula is an industrially produced milk product designed for infant consumption. Usually, based on either cow or soy milk, infant formula strives to duplicate the nutrient content of natural human breast milk. Since the exact chemical properties of breast milk are still unknown, formula is necessarily an imperfect approximation. Its use, particularly in the third world, is somewhat contentious. Besides breast milk, infant formula is the only other infant milk which the medical community considers nutritionally acceptable for infants under the age of one year. Cows milk is not recommended because of its high protein and electrolyte (salt) content which may put a strain on an infants immature kidneys. Evaporated milk, although perhaps easier to digest due to the processing of the protein, is still nutritionally inadequate.(Wikipedia) Although infant formula cannot replicate all the qualities of breast-milk, it is the only safe alternative. If infant formula is not available, mothers may have to use inappropriate and potentially dangerous foods, such as gruel, or unmodified animal milk, to feed their babies. In contrast, infant formula products are manufactured using strict rules of hygiene and formulated according to recognized, international standards based on expert medical and nutritional opinion. (babymilk.com) To be fair, formula companies have produced milk for babies which, at least on paper, seem to resemble the real thing. The formula is definitely better than it used to be. But on close inspection, what the factories make doesnt quite measure up to what mom makes. It is nearly impossible for artificial baby milk manufacturers to make milk with nutrients even close to what mothers bodies can make. And these companies primary goal is to make a profit, so marketing and manufacturing issues influence what finally gets into the can. One of our concerns is that even though formula-fed infants appear to grow normally, are they really thriving? Thriving means more than just getting bigger. It means developing to the childs fullest physical, emotional, and intellectual potential. We just dont know about all the long-term effects of tampering with Mother Nature – though we do know that there are significant health differences between formula-fed and breastfed infants. Formulas are nothing more than a collection of dead nutrients. They do not contain living white cells, digestive enzymes, or immune factors. In terms of human history, they are a new experiment. MIXED FEEDING When an infant is partly breastfed and in part artificially, it can be said that he is mixed fed. This type of feeding is used as an alternative to mothers who could not exclusively breastfeed their infants. Part of the infant feeding comes from commercial formula milk. You can choose to continue giving your baby exclusively breast milk or introduce formula milk. If you want to mix breast and bottle, but do not want to use formula milk, you can express some of your own milk, which can then be given to your baby in a bottle by the father, another member of the family or a childminder. In this way, you will still ensure that your baby is only receiving breast milk. Or you may decide to feed your baby yourself when you are there and get his or her care to give him formula when you are away. The general advice is to not offer a breastfed baby a bottle before four weeks of age. This may lead to nipple confusion, which can quickly lead to the end of breastfeeding. During the first three to four weeks your baby will be learning and perfecting breastfeeding skills. Whilst introducing the bottle at one or two weeks of age may ensure that baby accepts the bottle later, you are taking a risk. Some babies easily go back and forth between breast and bottle, but many others do not. Getting a baby to accept a bottle at age two or three months may take some patience, but most babies will catch on after a few tries. Feeding on a bottle uses a different technique to feeding on the breast, and you may find that your baby takes a little time to get used to it. In fact, some babies seem to be determined that they will never get used to it, and moving to mixed feeding can become distressed and worrying event. A child’s intellectual development, which is to a degree nutritionally determined, is believed to be manifest eventually in his productivity and wages, primarily through mental development and school achievement (Selowsky, 1976, Taylor and Selowsky, 1973; Groosman and Edwards, 1977.) The examination has always been considered as an extremely important part of the educative process. It has been considered the examination trends to developmental powers which are use in everyday life. Academic performance aim to measure the pupils’ achievement as a result of instruction in a given subject. It shares the limitations with respect to outcomes that can not be measured like interest, appreciation, ability to think critically. FOREIGN STUDIES Researchers refer to a brain-growth spurt in infants when brain growth and development occurs most rapidly. The book Scientific Foundations of Pediatrics notes that the brain-growth spurt occurs after birth, and the function of neural tissues depends on the effective connections established between neurons and the structural integrity of each neuron. It adds that this period commences during the third trimester of pregnancy and lasts until about the child is 30 months of age. It is also during this time when nutritional deficiencies may threaten brain development that may, later on, show up as intellectual and cognitive impairment. In a study of 1,025 schoolchildren, Horwood and colleagues reported that breastfed children had LCPUFA’s in their diet (courtesy of breast milk) and had higher mean score on tests of cognitive ability, performed better on standardized tests of reading and math, and had higher levels of achievement in examinations as opposed to children who were weaned on diets lacking LCPUFA’s. Horwood also suggested that it was likely the increases reflected the effects of LCPUFA’s particularly DHA on early neurodevelopment. DHA is also important in visual development as it serves as a structural component of ocular neural tissues aside from being essential in myelination as it serves as an essential element in the myelin sheath. Rodgers B., et. al., also conducted a study on breastfeeding on 1978 entitled â€Å"Feeding in Infancy and Later Ability and Attainment’. Result of the study showed that these who were breastfed had higher levels of mental capacity than those bottle-fed with breast milk substitute. That said study involved over a thousand breastfed and over a thousand bottlefed whom were followed up until the age of 8 years. In Chicago, breastfed babies may grow up to be smarter adults, according to research that bolster the evidence linking nursing and intelligence. Most previous studies did measure breastfeeding’s effects on IQ into adulthood, and the few that did so ignored factors such as parents education and social status, said the researches, who took such as variables into account. In their study of 3,258 Danish men and women, the more babies were breastfed through nine months of age, the higher they scored on intelligence tests in their late teens and 20’s. Breastfeeding past nine months had no additional effect scores. The link can probably be explained by the effect of nutrients in mothers milk on the developing brain and benefits from physical and physiological relationship breastfeeding involves, researchers said mothers who takes time to breastfeed may spend more time interacting with youngster throughout childhood, which also could affect intelligence, the researchers added. In the study, mothers had been questioned about their breastfeeding practices when their youngsters were a year old. Those who had been breastfed for seven to nine months scored an average of about six points higher on IQ tests that those whose mothers said they nursed for less than one month. The gap â€Å"is not the difference between an Einstein and a mentally retarded child†, said study director June Manhover Reinisch. But she said it could be the difference â€Å"between normal and bright normal, or bright-normal and superior†. (TannerLindsey, 2002) It was also stressed in the research that the doctors who conducted the study believed that something intrinsic to breast milk faccounts for the IQ differences of the breastfed and bottle-fed babies. In all the IQ list which include verbal state, performance scale, and over all IQ, an 8.3 point advantages was seen among breastfed babies. According to an article written by Dr. Alicia Dermer and Dr. Anne Montgomery entitled â€Å"Breastfeeding: Good for Babies, Mothers and the Planet†, more and more research shows that breastfeeding leads to optimal brain development. They featured a study wherein the subjects were premature tubic-fed babies. Results showed that babies who received no breast milk had IQ eight points lower on average than the babies who received breast milk. This may be due to the special ingredients of breastmilk which are DHA (docosohexaenic acid) and AA (arachidonic acid) which contribute to brain and retinal development. Another study which was featured in Pediatrics Vol. 101 no 1 dated Jan. 1998 suggested that breast milk makes kids brighter. The study entitled â€Å"Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes† by Prof. David M. Fergusson and L. John Horwood of Christ Church School of Medicine, New Zealand revealed that in an 18 year longitudinal study of over 1.000 children, those who were breast fed as infants had both better intelligence and greater academic achievement than those who were infant formula fed children. Breastfeeding also has been linked with enhancement of cognitive development, with some studies showing evidence that these cognitive developmental benefits increased with the duration of breastfeeding and extended through the school-age years ( Horwood LJ, Fergusson DM. Breastfeeding and later cognitive and academic outcomes. Pediatrics. 1998;101:E9. LOCAL STUDIES According to Corazon M. Cerdaà ±a (2000) at the start of the new milleneum, Year 2001, the Food and Nutrition Research and Institute (FNRI), Department Science conducted the latest update on the nutritional status of Filipino children and technology (DOST) in pursuit of the Institute’s mandates of monitoring the nutritional status of the Filipino citizenry. The nationwide survey covered the total of 12,425 children aged 0-10 years, comprised of 10,634 preschool-age children (0-5 years) and 1,791 school-age children (6-10 years). A two-stage sampling design with the barangays and the children as the primary and secondary sampling units, respectively, was employed. Weight and height/recumbent length measurements were taken from the subjects using standard techniques and compared with the WHO/NCHS international standards to asses nutritional status. Findings of the survey revealed that among the preschool-age children, underweight prevalence was 30.6%, underweight were 31.4%, and prevalence of thinness was 6.3%. Among the school-age children, a higher proportion of 32.9%, 41.1%, 6.5%, prevalence of underweight, underweight, thinness, respectively were shown. Compared with the survey done in 1998, prevalence of underweight and under height among 0-5 year old children generally decreased but thinness and overweight prevalence increased. However, among the 6-10 year-old children, there was a general increase in the prevalence rates of underweight, under height and overweight. Disaggregating by single age, the highest prevalence rate of all forms of malnutrition remained among the younger group of 1-2 year-old preschoolers. The prevalence of malnutrition between the preschool-age boys and girls did not differ much. However, among the school-age children, the boys were more at risk at all the three forms of malnutrition than the girl s. Considering the prevalence of malnutrition by region, Bicol region appeared to be the worst of in the underweight prevalence, in the ARMM for under height, in the Cagayan Valley for thinness. Cecilia A. Florencio’s (2001) study was concerned with the determinants of school-related behavior, in particular in the relationship between health and nutritional status and academic performance. The objective of the study relate to (1) nature, magnitude and distribution of health and nutritional problems of school children; (2) relationship between nutritional status and academic performance; (3) and effects on academic achievement of non-nutritional variables, specifically those recommended in the 1976 project SOUTEL Report. Some 2,304 pupils who were randomly selected from 64 schools in Region I, IV and National Capital Region in Luzon, Region VII in the Visayas and Region XII in Mindanao participated in the study. The others respondents were the pupil’s parents, teachers and school heads. Nutritional assessment was made using anthropometric, biochemical and clinical methods. The children’s mental ability and academic performance were gauged using local stan dardized tests recommended by the DECS. In general, the academic performance of the pupils was far from satisfactory, which mean test scores in various subjects not exceeding 50% of the total number of test items. Those in the lower grades did better than those in the upper grades. The significant positive relationship between the nutritional status in academic achievement remained even when relevant pupil factors, such as mental ability, visual ability, study habits and pre-school education were held constant. Moreover, even after taking into account the influence of a full set of relevant pupil, teacher, school and family related factors, the observed relationship between the two variables still surfaced. The superiority of breast milk over the commercially available infant milk preparations has been proven in many local as well as foreign literatures. These studies have shown that breastfed children more nourishes that bottle-fed Dr. Fe del Mundo in 1974 had shown s decline among Filipino infants of whom only 23% were breastfed, 60% were bottle-fed and 17% mixed fed in contrast to the study of Bulatao-jaime in 1965 where 62.1% of babies in Metro Manila were breastfed. Valdecanas, et al in 1981 cited the lack of determination to breastfed as the limiting condition that pushes potentially lactators to bottle-feed. (The Filipino Family Physician 1985) SYNTHESIS Family is the smallest unit of the society. The basic of its kind is composed of the mother, the father, and the child who is considered to be the treasure of the family. From conception to birth, everything is well provided in bringing up a good and bright child. Any infant arrival in the family is the most memorable and blissful moment a parent could ever experience. No amount of any tangible things can compare with the joy of having a child. It is within the family that determines how a child would be when he becomes an adult. Through the parents influence in particular with the mother, she delivers the most significant impact on the child’s nutrition, attitude, physical and mental growth. The brain develops through out infancy and childhood and gives rise to cognitive abilities that are multi dimensional and hierarchical. Abilities such as attention capacities and sped of processing appears to underlie other abilities such as learning, memory and executive function. Many of these abilities form what is known as intelligence and can be manifest in readily observable outcomes such as academic achievements. There are many test that adequately assess disabilities and of these the test reviewed in these paper are pertinent test of the cognitive abilities that develop during childhood, show variability in performance without ceiling or floor effects in normal population, withstand repeated administration overtime, maybe sensitive to detect nutritional effects, require few cross cultural modification and are attracted to children. With these concept the present study was carried out to determine how infant feeding affects the child’s mental ability and physical growth. Chapter III METHODOLOGY Research Method This chapter contains the Population and Sampling, Research Instruments, Research Locale, Validation of the Instrument, Data Gathering and Procedure, and, Statistical Treatment of Data. Retrospective and Comparative research design was utilized in this study. Population and Sampling 142 currently enrolled Grade 1 pupils in Columban College for the school year 2005-2006 , 105 pupils were utilized in this study. After verifying from the school registrar, the school principal provided the list of the total number of Grade 1 students for the year 2005-2006. The researcher used the simple random sampling to determine the respondents for the study. Research Instrument The study conducted in Columban College, Olongapo City. Demographic data on the name, relationship of the respondent to the subject, and the duration in caring for the pupil were gathered from the respondents. And the demographic data on the gender of the subjects were also recorded to serve as profile. The academic performance of Grade 1 pupils was based and evaluated from their final grade. The list of students was provided by the school principal. It is arranged alphabetically and separated according to sections. Other information pertaining to the type of feeding technique used was obtained through questionnaires provided by the researchers and was answered by the respondents. Research Locale The researchers conducted this study at Columban College, Olongapo City. Columban College which was under the management of the Columban Fathers and Sisters started to serve the people of the Olongapo City on the school year 1961-1962. Knowing the Catholic education was one of the primary needs of the community and that the elementary school is the base upon which all education rests, the elementary department was opened. But because the college was under staff and still in its budding period, the elementary department on school year 1961 to 1963, was under the supervision of its sister institution the St. Joseph School. In the opening of the school year 1963-64, with Sis. Mary Mechtilde, and six faculty members to start with, the elementary department separated from St Joseph School. It had then the population of 557 pupils of which 66 pupils graduated from kindergarten and 38 in grade six. Teachers hold classes in Quonset houses while a 2 storey edifice was being built. On the later part of 1966, a 4 storey building with 28 rooms was built and by 1967 the first three rooms of each storey were utilized.By the end of the school year the 4 storey edifice was completed and was utilized for classrooms on the beginning of school year 1969-70 In 1987, the administration of the college was handed by Bishop Henry Byrne, D.D. to the Vincentian Fathers headed by Rev. Fr. Constancio Gan, C.M. as Director and Rev. Fr. Justo Moro, C.M. as Treasurer. Within a short span of time, the new administrators made several substantial improvements on the physical set-up in the main campus and started new constructions of buildings in Barretto which branched out the elementary school department. Behind this progress was the adaption of new policies and guidelines while struggling to keep the whole college financially afloat in the midst of prevailing economic crisis. Columban College is committed to sound, complete and Christian education. Its goal is the integral formation of a human formation with a profound faith in God., his fellowman and himself, who can develop harmoniously his physical, moral and intellectual talents, acquire a more perfect sense of responsibility and a correct use of freedom, and be educated for active participation in social life as stated in the Mission Statement for all Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Iba. Validation of Instrument The validation of instrument was done in this study. The researchers approached 3 persons in the field of education, medicine and psychology that signed and validated the research instrument. Upon hearing the reasons and purpose of this study, their signature was obtained. Data Gathering and Procedure A written letter prepared by the researchers and signed by the research adviser and college Dean was secured first. The steps that are followed to collects data include the submission of letter to the Principal of Columban College seeking permission to conduct the study. Upon approval from the principal the letter was presented and the purpose of the questionnaire was explained to the grade 1 class advisers and to the respondents. The researchers distributed the questionnaires to the respondents. The questionnaires answered by the respondents were collected by the researchers. STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA Statistics are used to analyzed and evaluate gathered data. The following statistical instruments were applied to get the desired analysis PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION This is a section where in tallied frequency will be changed into a percentage value. A percentage distribution is used to combine the result of certain groups of unequal size or proportion. The formula is as follows: Percentage % = # of respondents per category Total # of respondents CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA The chapter presents the data gathered by the researcher in accordance with the specific problems posed in the study. It discusses the result of each statistical treatment applied in the analysis and interpretation of data gathered. This chapter is divided into three parts, namely: Part I, Demographic Profile of the subjects, Part II, Different Infant Feeding Techniques used, Part III, the result of the test on the comparison between the different infant feeding techniques. PART I Demographic Profile of Grade 1 pupils in Columban College During the school year 2005- 2006. The population group of the study was composed of 73 percent of Grade 1 pupils from Columban College Table 1. Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Grade 1 pupils of Columban College according to gender. Gender Frequency (f) Percentage (%) Male 50 48% Female 55 52% Total 105 100% Figure 3 Graphical Representations of Grade 1 pupils of Columban College according to gender. Interpretation: Table 1 and figure 3 show the frequency and percentage distribution of the sample according to gender. Males account for 50 which is 48 % while females account for 55 which is 52 %. Analysis: Majority of the subjects were female. Part II Different Infant Feeding Techniques used Table 2 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Different Infant Feeding Techniques Used Infant Feeding Techniques Frequency (f) Percentage (%) Breastfeeding 34 32.38 % Bottle Feeding 35 33.33 % Mixed Feeding 36 34.29 % Total 105 100 % Figure 4 Graphical Representation of the Different Infant Feeding Techniques Used Interpretation: The above table 2 and figure 4 shows that mixed feeding rank first among the feeding technique practice by primary caregivers with a total number of 36 (34.29%), followed by bottle feeding with a total number of 35 (33.33%), and ranked third is breastfeeding with a total number of 34 (32.38%). Analysis: Due to the busy schedule of mothers nowadays, helping their husband earn and income or taking care of their other children and sometimes doing the household chores, mothers tend to cut short breastfeeding their infants and resort in the next best alternative source of infant nutrition which is formula milk. By doing so the infant will have two source of nutrition which is a combination of breastfeeding and bottle feeding. CHAPTER V SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION This chapter presents the result of the study. Presented are the conclusions drawn in the light of the findings of the study, as well as, the recommendation. A. Summary of Findings The study aims to assess the different infant feeding techniques in comparison to the academic performance of Grade 1 pupils in Columban College during the school year 2005 -2006. Specifically it sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of Grade 1 pupils of Columban College according to gender? 2. What is the type of infant feeding techniques practiced by the primary caregiver of the pupil? 3. What is the difference among the different infant feeding techniques used by the primary caregiver of the pupil and the latter’s academic performance in the current academic year? This comparative study uses retrospective and a survey questionnaire approach personally conducted by the primary caregiver on a one on one basis.The study involved 105 grade 1 pupils enrolled in Columban College during the school year 2005-2006 which is 74% of the total grade 1 population which is 105. The Kruskal-Wallis was employed to prove or disapprove the hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the different infant feeding technique and the academic performance of Grade 1 pupils of Columban College. Findings The following are the findings of the study, the majority of the subjects were: a) According to Gender Female = 52% b) Infant feeding used Mixed Feeding = 34.29% B. Conclusion Based on the data gathered, the study disclosed the following conclusions: 1) The study revealed that majority or 52% of 105 Grade 1 pupils in Columban College during the school year 2005-2006 are female. 2) The majority or 34.29% of the primary caregiver of Grade 1 pupils in Columban College during the school year 2005-2006 used mixed feeding technique. 3) The result of the test on the difference between the infant feeding techniques and academic performance revealed that the feeding techniques did not significantly affect the academic performance of Grade 1 pupils of Columban College. C. Recommendation Based on the findings and conclusions drawn, the following recommendations are forwarded: 1. Future Researchers, Professionals, and Health Care Groups who would like to continue and adopt this study should conduct it in a bigger population and to add the different variables that could affect the academic performance of the pupils. 2. If a bigger population would be adopted, a longer time frame to conduct similar study is needed. 3. Parents and Teachers must coordinate with each other to help and improve the child’s academic capacity. 4. Although â€Å"breast milk† is still the best for babies, future parents are given the option to make wise decisions regarding what is the best source of infant nutrition for their children that would currently fit their economic status, and lifestyle. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Del Mundo , Fe. (1985). Manual on Infant Nutrition with Emphasis and Breasfeeding for Philippines Medical Colleges. Philippines; Nutrition Center of the Philippines Kozier, Barbara.(2004). Fundamentals of Nursing. 7th edition: Pearson Education South Asia PTE LTD. Lazaro, Cynthia, M.D.(1985). The evidence of breastfeeding and brain development: The Filipino Family Physician, Rodgers, B. (1996). Nutrition throughout the Life Cycle. 3rd edition. U.S.A.: Mosby Year Book, Inc. Journals Pediatrics Breast milk makes kids brighter, study suggests. New Zealand: January 1998 Florencio, Cecilia A. Child, School, Home: â€Å"Determinants of Academic Performance.† Edukasyon A Quarterly Monograph Series of the UP Education Reach Program (ERP), Vol.1 No.2. April-June 1995 Mercado, Belinda, The Relationship Between Selected and Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors to the Academic Performance and Scholastic Ability of Grades IV and V Pupil AUF, S.Y. 1991-1992., Philippines:1992. Bellagio Child Survival Study Group. Child Survival V: Knowledge into action for child survival. Lancet. 2003;362:323-327. World Health Organization. Community-based strategies for breastfeeding promotion and support in developing countries, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2003. Workgroup on Breastfeeding Science and Society. Breastfeeding: Science and Society, Vatican City, Italy: Pontificia Acemica Sientiarum; 1996. World Health Organization, United Nations Childrens Fund. Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2003. American Academy of Pediatrics. Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics. 1997;100:1035-1039. Website babymilk.com/infants/feeding_options http:/www.askbaby.com/topic/mixed-feeding.html wikepedia.com Research Papers on Breastfeeding Standardized TestingEnzymes Proteins Amino AcidsChildhood Obesity EssayWho has Impacted Your Life the Most EssayYear Round SchoolingThe Broken FamilyPlastic Surgery EssayBooker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett