Long Term Care †Aging Baby Boom Generation Essay

The baby boom generation will pose a gross demand for long-term care services and the challenges that state and federal governments face in budgeting to offset those services. Federal entitlement spending will sharply increase due to lack of preparation (saving money) for â€Å"old age† by baby boomers. The some 76 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are anticipated to double the burden on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security by 2035. (United States Government Accounting Office, 2001) Social Security and Medicare reform must continue to keep the programs viable and capable of meeting those commitments. Medicaid, the main agency that finances long term care, will need realistic focus. Currently, the services of Medicaid are unable to meet the demands of need for individuals with disabilities, leaving the individual’s family to face the burden of long term care cost. (United States Government Accounting Office, 2001) â€Å"As the baby boom generation retir es and the Medicare-eligible population swells, the imbalance between outlays and revenues will increase dramatically. Medicare growth rates reflect not only a rapidly increasing beneficiary population,  but also the escalation of health care costs at rates well exceeding general rates of inflation. While advances in science and technology have greatly expanded the capabilities of medical science, disproportionate increases in the use of health services have been fueled by the lack of effective means to channel patients into consuming, and providers into offering, only appropriate services. Although Medicare cost growth had slowed in recent years, in fiscal year 2001 Medicare spending grew by 10.3 Percent and is up 7.8 percent for the first 5 months of fiscal year 2002. (United States Government Accounting Office, 2001)† Reference United States Government Accounting Offices (2001) Long Term Care – Aging Baby Boomers Retrieved from http://www.gov/assets/110/109196.html

Traffic Redundancy Elimination Solutions in Cloud Computing

1.1Background Work: Cloud calculating offer it’s clients an economical and convenient pay-as-you-go examine theoretical account, known besides as use based pricing.Cloud clients pay merely for the existent usage of calculating resources, storage, and bandwidth, harmonizing to their changing demands, using the cloud’s scalable and elastic computational capabilities.In peculiar, informations transportation costs is an of import issue when seeking to minimise costs. Consequently, cloud clients, using a wise usage of the cloud’s resources, are motivated to utilize assorted traffic decrease techniques, in peculiar traffic redundancy riddance, for cut downing bandwidth costs. I refer as cloud clients to organisation that send abroad services to the cloud, and as users to the end-users and devices that consume the services. Traffic redundancy stems from general end-users behaviour, such as often accessing, downloading, uploading, distributing, and modifying the same or similar in sequence points ( paperss, informations, web, and picture ) . Traffic Redundancy remotion is used to extinguish the transmittal of excess content and, hence, to well cut down the web cost. In most common Traffic Redundancy Elimination solutions, both the starter and the receiver inspect and evaluate signatures of informations balls, parsed harmonizing to the informations pleased, past to their plan.when outmoded balls are detected, the starter replaces the plan of each excess ball with its strong signature. profitable Traffic Redundancy Elimination solutions are well-liked at undertaking webs, and occupy the ingestion of two or more proprietary-protocol, province corresponding middle-boxes at both the intranet entry points of information centres and subdivision offices, extinguishing cyclical traffic between them. While proprietary middle-boxes are well-liked point solutions within endeavors, they are non as gorgeous in a cloud location. Cloud suppliers can non profit from a engineering whose end is to cut down client bandwidth measures, and therefore are non likely to put in one. The rise of on-demand work infinites, garnering suites, and work-from-home solutions detaches the workers from their offices. In such a active work state of affairs, fixed-point solutions that need a client-side and a server-side middle-box brace become unsuccessful. On the other manus, cloud-side snap motivates work sharing among waiters and migration among informations enters. Therefore, it is often agreed that a cosmopolitan, software-based, end-to-end Traffic Redundancy Elimination is important in today’s permeant environment.This enables the usage of a standard protocol stack and makes a Traffic Redundancy Elimination within end-to-end secured traffic possible. Current end-to-end Traffic Redundancy Elimination solutions are sender-based. In the instance where the cloud waiter is the transmitter, these solutions require that the waiter continuously maintain clients’ position. We show here that cloud snap calls for a new Traffic Redundancy Elimination solution. First, cloud burden reconciliation and power optimisations may take to a server-side procedure and informations migration environment, in which Traffic Redundancy Elimination solutions that require full synchronism between the waiter and the client are difficult to carry through or may lose efficiency due to lost synchronism. Second, the popularity of rich media that consume high bandwidth motivates content distribution web ( cdn ) solutions, in which the service point or fixed and nomadic users may alter dynamically harmonizing to the comparative service point locations and tonss. Furthermore, if an end-to-end solution is employed, its extra computational and storage costs at the cloud side should be weighed against its bandwidth economy additions. Clearly, a Traffic Redundancy Elimination solution that puts most of its computational attempt on the cloud side2may bend to be less cost-efficient than the 1 that leverages the combined client-side capablenesss. Given an end-to-end solution, I have found through our experiments that sender-based end-to-end Traffic Redundancy Elimination solutions add a considerable burden to the waiters, which may eliminate the cloud cost salvaging addressed by the Traffic Redundancy Elimination in the first topographic point. Our experiments further show that current end-to-end solutions besides suffer from the demand to keep end-to-end synchronism that may ensue in debauched Traffic Redundancy Elimination efficiency. In this paper, I present a fresh receiver-based end-to-end Traffic Redundancy Elimination solution that relies on the power of anticipations to extinguish Redundant traffic between the cloud and its end-users. In this solution, each receiving system observes the entrance traffic redundancy riddance am and attempts to fit its balls with a antecedently received ball concatenation or a ball concatenation of a local file. Using the long-run chunks’ metadata information kept locally, the receiving system sends to the waiter anticipations that include chunks’ signatures and easy-to-verify intimations of the sender’s hereafter informations. The transmitter foremost examines the intimation and performs the Traffic Redundancy Elimination operation merely on a hint-match. The intent of this process is to avoid the expensive Traffic Redundancy Elimination calculation At the dispatcher side in the absence of traffic redundancy. When redundancy is detected. The transmitter so sends to the receiver merely the acks to the anticipations, alternatively of directing the information. On the receiver side, we propose a new computationally frivolous unitization ( fingerprinting ) strategy termed battalion unitization. Pack unitization is a new for rabin fingerprinting conventionally used by rhenium applications. Experiments show that our attack can make informations treating velocities over 3 gb/s, at least 20 % faster than rabin fingerprinting. Offloading the computational attempt from the cloud to a big group of clients signifiers a burden distribution action, as each client processes merely its Traffic Redundancy Elimination portion. The receiver-based Traffic Redundancy Elimination solution addresses mobility jobs common to quasi-mobile desktop laptops computational environments. One of them is cloud snap due to which the waiters are dynamically relocated around the federated cloud, therefore doing clients to interact with multiple altering waiters. Another belongings is ip kineticss, which compel rolling users to often alter information science references. In add-on to the receiver-based operation, we besides suggest a intercrossed attack, which allows a battery-powered nomadic device to switch the Traffic Redundancy Elimination calculation overhead back to the cloud by triping a sender-based end-to-end Traffic Redundancy Elimination similar to to formalize the receiver-based Traffic Redundancy Elimination construct, we implemented, tested, and performed realistic experiments with battalion within a cloud environment. Our experiments show a cloud cost lessening achieved at a logical client effort while deriving extra bandwidth nest eggs at the client side. The execution codification, over 25 000 lines of degree Celsius and Java, can be obtained from our execution utilizes the transmission control protocol options field, back uping all tcp-based applications such as web, picture straffic redundancy riddance aming, p2p, e-mail, etc.

Islam CCOT Essay

During the post classical era, we find the world evolving by expansion and intense communication along many regions. With expansion and communication, trade and culture travels such as West Africa being introduced to Islam. Moving into western African, between 1000ce-1450ce, the introduction of Islam has brought a great increase in slave trade and rose literacy rates, creating literate officials in state administration. However, no rigorous conversion was made, some traditional practices remained. The increase of slaves was obtained through conquest and the impact of Islam created religious power to officials in state administration due to appeal of legitimacy of rule. However distant ruling centers would be least likely affected by Islam. West Africa’s economy was greatly stimulated by the appearance of Islam. They were able to trade, not only across the Sahara, as they had in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to the influence of Islam, West Africa interacted through regional trade and with help from Tran Saharan route they were able to connect to North Africa. With the Muslims, the bringing of Islam enlarged the amount of concubines, sex slaves, in West Africa. Although concubines were not Muslim, because Muslims believed that they couldn’t enslave their own people. We see that within Muslim ancestry they’ve always been nomadic, always relocating in spite of gaining new resources. The establishment of Islam led to the development of 1st regular trade across the Sahara. The impact of Islam turned Africa into a focal point of trade, linking Africa to Eurasian world trade. The Islamic Civilization gave rise to many centers of culture and science, producing notable doctors, nurses, scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, and philosophers. Monarchies and their courts now have literate officials to assist in state administration. A quantity of West African cities had become centers of Islamic intellectual life, increasing literacy rates and legitimacy in state administration. Muslims did not seek to convert West Africans; they did practice their religion while traveling. As time passed Muslim traders were accompanied by Clerics and scholars, these men interacted with local rulers on matter relating to trade, security, and governing. Until the leader of the kingdom converted, with full support would influence citizens to convert to Islam. Although Islam made a very large impression on West Africa, no through religious transformation was made. Being the fact they were rural there was no interaction with Muslims  or deepening influence of Islam. Practice such as permission for women to appear in public almost naked, being able to roam freely with unrelated men and the sparkling of dust on one’s head as a sign of respect. Other traditions also remained even though some converted to Islam due to the monotheistic belief related so closely to their belief in one creator God. While in West Africa, Islam rose slave trade along trade routes, increased literacy rates leading to conversion of literate state officials. Albeit, no religious transformation was made. Being the fact that Muslims were nomadic by ancestry they sought to carry out concubines in the slave trade. They believed that it was wrong to enslave their own people so they looked to Africans, their resource, to help them. In effect to the introduction of Islam, many aspects were imposed upon West Africans causing the conversion of monarchy. People found favor in Islam if the leader of the kingdom converted. Also religious legitimacy was brought to the attention of those who would gain status by pilgrimages to Mecca. But aside from the very large impact, no religious transformation was made because most of the cultures were rural and very distant to the places where Islam had interactions with.

Concepts of childhood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Concepts of childhood - Essay Example A number of books on children were published at different time since 1980 and most of these authors acknowledge the difficulty in writing about children. Monographs were used to explore the history of children in many different sub topics. Works of children literature were first seen in the early modern era after a number of women embarked on studying history of childhood. Some scholars investigated the relationship between poverty and children and came up with various conclusions. Different authors wrote on different subjects on matters related to children’s affairs. In addition, scholars have conducted numerous studies on childbirth, pediatrics, and midwifery among others and these works have paved way for other great works by scholars. Cultural studies have also been used to study the history of children. Despite the many works scholars have done on children, there are some neglected areas such as the ancient medieval age. During these years, most children were dependent on non-family members. In my opinion, scholars have done a great job in studying the history of children and bringing a number of factors that affect childhood development into light. With the literatures of these scholars, it is easier to understand and appreciate childhood and do all that it takes to help children develop to be better people in the

Using Technology within the Prescription and Medication Process Essay

Using Technology within the Prescription and Medication Process - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the CPOE system used by hospital administrator made errors in the dosage prescribed and prescribed dosage as per the availability in the warehousing rather than as prescribed by the physicians. Moreover, the various screens, small font, and similarity in names also led to errors in matching prescription to the correct patient. Several scholars believe that structural-functional paradigms and organizational development processes are critical determinants of change. The structural-functional paradigm promotes the view that functional efficiency and structural modification increase the productivity. Thus innovation and new processes are identified to enhance organizational performance. Theory of organizational development is hugely pertinent as highlights organization’s willingness to change in order to improve productivity. It not only creates facilitating an environment of constant learning but also introduces new technology to inc rease efficiency and productivity. The flexibility in approach is vital ingredient within the organizational changes that require the constant involvement of the management and workforce to implement the changes successfully. Effective communication becomes an important factor to empower workers with relevant information so that they are better equipped to accept change and exploit it for higher productivity. The theories become important because structural and functional changes are accompanied by dissemination of information and training on new processes. It helps the workforce to understand change and become proficient in using new technology to meet fresh challenges. These theories of change management identify, evaluate and implement the changes through empowerment of the people and therefore would help administrators at Springfield Hospital to solve the problem of medication error.

Distributed agile software development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Distributed agile software development - Essay Example Agile principles have been proposed as the best solution for the numerous communication challenges related to Distributed software development. Agile software development refers to a group of software development methodologies that aim to achieve a more nimble and lighter development processed which as a result make them increasingly responsive to change. We can alternatively term agile software development as a group of methods of software development based on both iterative and incremental developments. Additionally, their resolutions and requirements change through a partnership between cross-functional and self-organizing teams (Torgeir, Sridhar, Venu and Nils 2012, p. 1213-1221). Torgeir, Sridhar, Venu and Nils (2012, p. 1213-1221) states that the agile software methodologies are anchored on various principles. The first is to develop software that meet customer requirements. The other principles are accepting any changes that might arise in requirements at any development stage, ensuring there is maintenance of the existing cooperation between the developers and the customers on a daily basis during the project development cycle and lastly being to develop on a test-driven basis which implies writing a test prior to writing a code (Torgeir, Sridhar, Venu and Nils 2012, p. 1213-1221). We can term agility to refer to do away with most of the heaviness in a bid to promoting reception of quick response towards changing environments, the changes in the requirements of the users and accelerating the project deadlines. Distributed agile development processes have been applied with success to many projects. Agile distributed development process has been successfully applied on a project involving a developer’s team distributed in the academic workspace. We also have the DART project which was a research project on different web applications with one of the main goals being to analyze

The importance of obtaining patient informed consent to intervention Essay

The importance of obtaining patient informed consent to intervention in physical therapy practice - Essay Example The process of obtaining informed consent can be conducted as a single event or a series of multiple discussions in hospital wards, for inpatients or outpatients. This paper is determined to provide detailed information about the meaning of informed consent to intervention and the significance of obtaining patient informed consent to intervention in physical therapy practice. Additionally, it further describes how patient informed consent to intervention reflects the ethical principle of respecting the patient’s autonomy and its legal aspect. Valid or informed consent has history in ethical theory, law and clinical and research practice. Its determining factors in clinical theory include the disclosure of the information by a healthcare provider, understanding and consent from the patient and a patient’s competence and preconditions of voluntariness (Delany, 2007). On the other hand, the philosophical theory that underlines valid consent is the issue of autonomy that is defined as the self-rule or self-governance. This is the freedom of people to express individual preferences and aspirations, or the capacity of people to choose or reflect (Delany, 2007). Before a clinician or a therapist to approve a patient’s informed consent to be valid, he or she must ensure that the patient is competent; meaning that he or she must be of sound mind to make valid and correct judgments, which must also be voluntarily provided. Voluntariness can be enhanced by making a clear statement to the patient that he or she is part icipating in a decision-making process, but not merely engaging in a simple talk to receive a treatment. This is a significant means of making it clear for the patient that informed consent process is an invitation for her or him to participate in a healthcare decision-making process (Delany, 2007). Likewise, a clinician is also mandated to give a recommendation and share his thoughts with the patient.

Multinational Enterprise (U.S.A) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Multinational Enterprise (U.S.A) - Essay Example With a total area of 9,831, 513 square kilometers (Census bureau, 311), the United States is the third largest country in the world after Canada and the Russian Federation. The large stretch across the North American continent makes the country experience different kinds of climate and thus different types of vegetation. The region is thus a home to various species of plants and animals. This is a contribution towards being the country with the largest economy in the world. According to Population Reference Bureau (para.1), the US â€Å"is the third most populous country in the world after China and India† (See Appendix 2). The 2010 population census showed a figure of about 308 million and the population is currently estimated to be about 311 million (Population Reference Bureau, para.1; US Census Bureau, para.1). The population consists of individuals from diverse culture due to the slave trade that brought individuals from across the world into the country in the middle of the second millennium. There are Americans of African, Asian, Spanish, Mexican, or French origins that came into the country either as the conquerors or as slaves that were brought in to promote the agrarian and industrial revolution that was already taking place in the region. The presence of different cultures in the United States also led to different languages being spoken in the country. English is the most popular language in the country (Schmidt, 1). There are other languages like French, German, Spanish, and many others spoken in the country (See Appendix 1). For some period after the Second World War, a Cold War was experienced between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. USA was and remains to be a capitalist state whereas USSR was a communist state. The two federal states were fighting for allies from different countries and the power to monopolize the economy of the world. Each of the countries had expertise in the development of war weapons and was a threat to each other’s power to rule the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union in early 1990s led to the emergence of the United States as the worlds’ super power. Introduction A multinational enterprise (MNE) or Multinational Corporation (MNC) is an organization that operates or conducts business across two or more countries. The company produces its products and services and delivers the products/services to different countries. The organization usually has its central place of operations (the head quarter) located in one country called the home country and operates in other countries referred to as host nations. As globalization increases with an increase in competition in the local and global markets, most large organizations strive to establish themselves in other countries that perhaps may have better market opportunities, availability of materials for the production of the products or cheap labor that reduces the cost of production. The increased deregul ation and liberalization of local markets across the globe has attracted foreign investors into other countries in search of new market opportunities, raw materials that are readily available and cheap labor in these regions. In many cases, the developed nations are the source countries for most of the foreign direct investment as they have well established

Marketing planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing planning - Assignment Example The company is planning to expand its base. For this company will has started analyzing the market and choosing one product which the company will be promoting in the initial phase of the expansion. Task 1 The current business environment is constantly changing. The market is facing volatile changes which are affecting the overall planning of the companies as well. Thus, it is very important for any organization or organizes a proper and strategic marketing planning in order to survive and sustain in this volatile environment. A proper marketing planning is always helpful in properly organization activities and strategies used for future action. Marketing planning can be described as analyzing potential market places and marketing activities with the aim of determining how a business can optimize these potential markets. Planning process has changed over the years. For example, the planning process was much less competitive during the last century. The current market is ever changing and flooded with a large number of new products and services on a daily basis. Today’s consumers have much more options in terms of choosing between similar products and categories, compared to 10-15 years ago. This has also decreased the brand loyalty among consumers. To remain competitive in the current market, the food chain has to constantly update its marketing planning according to changing internal as well as external environment. In order to cope with the volatile environment, it is very important for the organization to have sustainable resources. Below is the resource based view of the organization. Tangible Resources Infrastructure, warehouse property and design of the chain of restaurants constitute the physical resources of the brand. Apart from these, the organization also has products such as brewing machines, facilities such as transportation and logistics. Though the organization does not boast a high financial resource, the company is fast growing and more and more investors are turning their head towards this newly popular organization. The organization can utilize this opportunity by collaborating with other investors as well as companies and grow its base in local as well as international locations. Intangible Resources The organization has created a powerful brand image and come a long way from the time it was established. Because of the increase brand image as well as overall brand equity, the organization has successfully created a niche in the fast food market. As a result, the market base of Eat Limited is continuously increasing. Apart from this, the organization has maintained a cordial relationship with its shareholders and other investors. This is helped in building overall trust among the investors and shareholders. Product diversification, service quality and availability of the brand in the major locations have made Eat Limited a local leader in affordable and quality fast food service provider. Research, development, m arketing capability and creativity in new generating new products has provided a differentiated advantage for the brand. Apart from this, efficient and well trained human resource is strength for the organization. Capabilities Determining the capabilities and key resources of an organization is the fundamental starting point of any business strategy. The utilization of a company’s capabilities and resources with the aim of gaining competitive advantage defines the objective of resource management. According to

Where is Iwo Jima, and what is its significance Essay

Where is Iwo Jima, and what is its significance - Essay Example The little volcanic island of Iwo Jima is situated a little over 650 miles southeast of Japan, about halfway between Tokyo and the American airfields on Guam, Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Guam, the biggest island, was a U.S. protectorate, before the Second World War, and the Navy had a communications station there. The neighboring Saipan and Tinian were Japanese colonies. American forces raided the Marianas in mid 1944 and instantly began construction of what came to be the world’s biggest aerodrome for the Super fortress bombers of the U.S. 20th Air Force. The Super fortress bombers were earlier stationed in mainland China, but providing them with enough fuel was a logistic nightmare (Rogers, 1). When Marines saw Iwo Jima for the first time, it was an ugly lump of volcanic sand and clay. It was different from any other island they had ever seen. They saw an ugly lump of volcanic sand and clay, which was treeless, craggy, and blistered with endless sand hummocks rather than palm trees and a white ribbon of beach, or the green cane fields of Saipan and Tinian. Mount Suribachi, at the southern tip, appeared like something out of an inferno; the plateau at the north was a series of hills and ridges. The beach was black instead of white, while the vegetation that grew sparsely was wilted, colorless and burned out (Bradley, 10). Luft adds that Suribachi Mountain was given this name because of its shape which looks like an upturned bowl. Joe Rosenthal captured the iconic photo of the raised Marine flag here on Feb. 23, 1945. Despite the last full-scale eruption occurring in 1727, looking into the center of the crater, steam can be seen rising from a vent while the smell of sulfur f ills every breath (38). Iwo Jima was the step to the Japanese heartland for the 70,000 Americans and to the end of a terrible war. However, for the 22,000 Japanese defenders, Iwo Jima

There is general duty under english tort law to rescue or assist Essay - 1

There is general duty under english tort law to rescue or assist other. there is only a duty not to actively cause harm. nevertheless, there exist certain explicitly defined exceptions to the rule - Essay Example This law they mainly bases on the exceptional situations such as where the need for rescue arises due to negligence of the expected rescuer or defendant. This is both when the negligence is with intent or fault free conduct. In a case of one party dependence or mutual dependence in life such as a ship captain and the sea man such duty is said to apply. Another exception is derived from a rescuer’s intent to rescue. Once a person intervenes and objects to rescue they are obligated to have a duty and must not leave the victim in a worse off condition. It is also occasionally ascertained to be one’s duty to rescue where a contract stating the same is available. Though there are uncertainties as per the terms and forms of contracts in this nature (scordato, 2008). In one case taken before the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1898 the court judged in favor of the defendant. This was after an eight year old boy who trespassed into the premises of the defendant placed his hand in the defendant’s machinery. In this situation the defendant was not obligated by any duty to rescue the boy, and could actually further place charges against the boy for trespassing. This can be attributed to the fact that they had no relationship of such a dependable nature, the defendant had no hand in the boy getting there, and that rescuing him could maybe have resulted him into bodily ham hence the individual nature to stay away. Another interesting case of this nature is one regarding reporters and paparazzi and their duty to rescue others from danger. This is because many times photos are publicized of the dying moments of people in crime scenes and accidents posing the thought whether the one who took the photo should have saved the persons life instead of taking the photo of their last breathing moments. This was brought into considerations and as current they do have the duty.

Cyber Squatting Essay Example for Free

Cyber Squatting Essay In this paper I suggest tools and ways for internet users to escape from entering into fake WebPages due to spelling errors. Introduction Typo squatting is the purchase of a misspelled version of a popular domain name for the purpose of attracting visitors who make typographical errors when entering web addresses. This practice is a form of cyber squatting. Cybersquatters purchase domain names with the goal of trading on the popularity and fame of a trademark or company and in some cases have even managed to snap up domain names before a parent company has a chance to buy them. In the case of typosquatting, people take advantage of the fact that there are numerous potential misspellings of a domain that can crop up when people are typing in a hurry. If millions of people are visiting a website and even a small fraction make mistakes when they manually enter domain names, a typosquatter can profit. Typosquatters can buy domains with transposed letters, missing letters, or extra letters, like wiesgeek. com, wisgek. com, or wisege4ek. com. There are a number of things that a typosquatter can do with a domain. One option is to simply use the site as a redirect to the original domain, a trick used by some companies that buy some common misspellings of their domain names to cover their bases. Another option is to turn the domain into a link or ad farm, hoping that visitors will click on the contents and generate profits. Some creative typosquatters have used their misspelled domains for the purpose of political commentary or satire directed at the owner of the properly spelled domain. A more problematic practice occurs when typosquatters attempt to fool visitors. The typosquatting site may be designed to look a lot like the site the user intended to reach, tricking the user into thinking that he or she has landed in the right spot. Users might turn over confidential information, expose themselves to malware, or otherwise endanger themselves. Some typosquatters have targeted children with their websites by purchasing variations on domains commonly used by children, a practice that concerns law enforcement. Under the law, typosquatting is not necessarily illegal, although it can potentially be prosecuted under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 in the United States. If a typosquatter is clearly using a domain name for fraudulent or misleading purposes, the site can be viewed as a violation of the law. However, sites that simply take advantage of a misspelling to send a political message or even to serve ads are not necessarily illegal. While some companies are aggressive about typosquatting, the myriad possible variations on a domain name means that typosquatters can give up the site in question and move on to another typo. Domain Squatting Internet domains are registered, rather than bought and sold, and they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. These ground rules lay the foundation for the practice of domain squatting, also known as cybersquatting. A domain squatter registers a site not for his or her own use but with the idea that it can be sold at a profit. Cybersquatters acquire names in several ways. They may pick up domain names that become available after a bankruptcy or when a renewal registration fee isn’t paid. They may also follow people’s checks on domain name availability and purposefully register the name if there is a pause while the person makes a decision. The goal of domain squatting is to make money.

Sickle Cell Disease: Causes, Effects and Treatment

Sickle Cell Disease: Causes, Effects and Treatment Abstract Sickle cell disease is a genetically inherited hematological (blood) disorder that results from a mutation in the beta globin gene that is responsible for the development of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein that delivers oxygen to the red blood cells throughout the body. In the disease, a mutated variant of normal hemoglobin generates an abnormal structure of the cells, leading to the development of symptoms. Sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia are two common types of sickle diseases that are discussed in this review. The symptoms, complications, and therapies are also highlighted in the context of the pathophysiology of the disease. Sickle Cell Disease: An Overview Sickle cell disease is a genetically inherited blood disorder and it is characterized by an abnormal structure or production of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen to cells throughout the body (National Institutes of Health, 2014). The disease results from a mutation in the beta globin gene causing a class of sickle diseases, such as sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia (Thein, 2008). Together, they are often referred to as the beta hemoglobinopathies and present a range in disease severity (Thein, 2008). Beta globin is a protein that produces hemoglobin and the gene mutation in both diseases produces abnormal variants of hemoglobin in the blood. This results in either a predominance of abnormal hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells or an absence of normal hemoglobin, and thus, normal red blood cells (Edwards et al., 2005). There are a number of available therapies that manage sickle cell disease and the only curative treatment is hema topoietic cell transplantation. Pathophysiology of Sickle Cell Disease The National Institutes of Health reports that sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States and it affects 70,000 to 80,000 Americans (National Institutes of Health, 2014). It is estimated to occur in 1 in 500 African Americans and 1 in 1,000 to 1,400 Hispanic Americans (National Institutes of Health, 2014). The disease affects 30 million people worldwide and it is most common among people who have ancestors from Africa, Mediterranean countries, the Arabian Peninsula, India, parts of South America, Central America and the Caribbean (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011; National Institutes of Health, 2014). As it is an inherited disease, the sickle gene is presumed to have a genetic advantage in which it protects from the development of malaria infection (Stuart Nagel, 2004). There are many types of sickle diseases, such as sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia. Sickle cell anemia is considered the most commonly occurring type of sickle c ell disease (National Institutes of Health, 2014). In sickle cell anemia, hemoglobin S replaces both beta-globin and the sixth amino acid is changed from glutamic acid to valine (National Institutes of Health, 2014; Rees Gibson, 2011). Sickle cell trait is not considered a disease and it is found in approximately 1 in 10 African Americans (Edwards et al., 2005). When both parents have the sickle cell trait, there is a one in four chance with each pregnancy that the child will have sickle cell anemia (Edwards, et al., 2005). Today, many health organizations offer newborn screenings that can determine if a child has either the disease or trait (National Institutes of Health, 2014). The development of the disease occurs due to the polymerization of deoxygenated hemoglobin S (Chirico Pialoux, 2012). The polymer formation modifies the normal red blood cell disc shape into a rigid, irregular-shaped, unstable cell and causes intravascular hemolysis, or rupture of the cells, to release hemoglobin into the plasma of the blood (Chirico Pialoux, 2012). The repeated polymerization leads to sticky blood cells (blood cell adhesion), obstruction of blood vessels (vasocclusion), and restriction of blood supply to tissues and organs in the body (ischemia) (Chirico Pialoux, 2012). Additionally, the endothelium and leukocyte, or white blood cells, are also found to play a role in disease mechanisms. Studies have found a connection between the endothelium, a thin layer of cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels, and sickled red blood cells (Stuart Nagel, 2004). The red blood cell receptors that are associated with cell adhesion are present in increased numbers on sickled immature red blood cells and mature sickle cells compared to normal red blood cells (Stuart Nagel, 2004). This finding demonstrates a structure-function abnormal activity that leads to coagulation on cell surfaces, leading to anemia (Stuart Nagel, 2004). Like cell adhesion, leukocytes have an impact in disease activity. White blood cells are found to be at an increased baseline in sickle cell disease, which serves as an independent risk factor for pulmonary and cardiac complications (Stuart Nagel, 2004). The size of the white blood cell, its rigidity, and adhesive characteristics are implicated in microvascular blood flow, vascular inflammation, and vasocclusion (Stuart Nagel, 2004). Clinical Symptoms of Sickle Cell Disease The clinical manifestation of sickle cell disease can lead to inflammatory responses and may result in acute chest syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, and stroke (Chirico Pialoux, 2012). People with sickle cell disease may also encounter several physical complications, such as delayed growth, fatigue, headaches, and cerebral vascular damage (Edwards et al., 2005). Acute chest syndrome is considered the second most common cause of hospital admissions and a leading cause of death in patients with sickle cell disease (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). It involves the presence of a pulmonary infiltrate on a chest X-ray and the symptoms may include chest pain, a temperature of more than 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit), tachypnea (rapid breathing), wheezing or cough ((Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). The symptoms at clinical presentation vary with age as wheezing, cough, and fever are common in children 10 years or younger (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). Pain in the arms and legs and shortness of breath are more commonly presented in adults with the disease (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). It is believed that there are three mechanisms involved in acute lung injuries, which include infection, fat embolization (clotting) from bone marrow, and sequestration of sickled red blood cells (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). People with sickle cell disease have an increased risk for developing infections, particularly pneumonia. Treatment for acute chest syndrome is primarily supportive and includes supplemental oxygen to keep the saturation above 92% (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). Pain is considered the most frequent complication associated with the disease and acute chest syndrome stimulates this crisis (Edwards et al., 2005; Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). Repeated episodes of acute chest syndrome predispose patients to chronic pulmonary disease, such as pulmonary hypertension (Stuart Nagel , 2004). The occurrence of asthma is also associated with the increased incidence of acute chest syndrome, which is considered a comorbid condition found in people with sickle cell disease (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011). Beta Thalassemia Beta thalassemia is a common genetic blood disease that reduces hemoglobin production (National Institutes of Health, 2014). The hemoglobin gene mutation results in an unusually low level of beta-globin (National Institutes of Health, 2014). There are different levels of thalassemia based on the number of copies of beta thalassemia alleles or different copies of the same gene (Thein, 2008). The variety in alleles impacts the deficit in beta globin production, which, in turn, impacts disease severity (Thein, 2008). Carriers, for example, who have inherited a single copy of the beta thalassemia allele are clinically asymptomatic and may demonstrate mild anemia (Thein, 2008). Unlike a globin imbalance that is found in sickle cell anemia, variants of beta chains are broken down and result in ineffective red blood cell production in beta thalassemia (Thein, 2008). Physical complications involve cardiac and bone disease, bilirubin metabolism, and iron metabolism. Such symptoms may include jaundice and a predisposition to gallstones (Thein, 2008). Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease Several complications may emerge from sickle cell disease, whether it is in sickle cell anemia or in beta thalassemia. The purpose of therapies for sickle cell disease is to prevent and treat complications (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). The treatment of sickle cell disease is best achieved by decreasing the amount of hemoglobin S through the prevention of its production (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). People with severe sickle cell disease are treated with three validated therapies: hydroxyurea, transfusion and chelation therapy, and a hematopoietic or stem cell transplant (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Hydroxyurea has been shown to be an effective form of treatment for children and adults with the disease. It has been demonstrated to reduce pain and acute chest syndromes, and it decreases the frequency of hospitalizations and the need for transfusions. This therapy has also been found to play a role in stroke prevention (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). At a molecular level, hydroxyurea reduces the adhesion of sickle red cells to endothelial cells. It also modulates endothelial cell activation and nitric oxide generation (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Nitric oxide has been found to affect acute and chronic complications of sickle cell disease (Stuart Nagel, 2004). Nitric oxide, on a normal functioning level, induces relaxation of smooth muscle and dilation of blood vessels. In sickle cell disease, the bioavailability of nitric oxide is impaired, resulting in an imbalance between endothelial production and consumption (Stuart Nagel, 2004). The lungs are most affected by a reduction of nitric oxide and tend to constrict, which predisposes an individual to acute chest syndrome (Stuart Nagel, 2004). No adverse effects have been thus far reported on the usage of hydroxyurea and any toxicity is typically reversible (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Transfusion therapy is currently considered a standard of care treatment for primary and secondary stroke prevention in children with sickle cell disease (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). It is used for short and long term management, preventing a first stroke in high-risk children as well as preventing against a recurrent stroke (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Transfusions are also used for chronic and severe pain or in cases when patients with acute chest syndrome do not respond to hydroxyurea (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Chelation therapy is used for patients who experience iron overload. Iron overload is a serious and inevitable outcome from receiving regular transfusion therapy (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Unless treated, iron overload may result in severe organ damage and other life threatening complications and this treatment mediates this by removing excess metals from the body (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). While hydroxyurea, tranfusions, and chelation therapy aim to prevent and treat complications, they do not cure sickle cell disease (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). The currently available curative treatment is a stem cell transplant. A transplant is indicated in those patients who experience complications, such as recurrent severe pain, acute chest syndrome, and stroke (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Only one-third of affected children meet the criteria for a stem cell transplant as it is an aggressive and serious procedure (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). The goal of a stem cell transplant is to replace the host’s marrow with normal cells, resulting in a new immune system (Stuart Nagel, 2004). Studies on stem cell transplant as a curative option for patients with severe sickle cell disease are demonstrating mean overall survival and event-free survival rates between 95 and 85% (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). Significant advancements have been made for pediatric patients who have beta thalassemia and were treated with a stem cell transplant. Over the last three decades, disease-free survival rates have exceeded 80% in patients who received transplants from biologically compatible family donors (Mehta Faulkner, 2013). Sickle cell disease is a genetically inherited blood disorder that is primarily diagnosed in people who have ancestors from Africa, Mediterranean countries, the Arabian Peninsula, India, parts of South America, Central America and the Caribbean (Khoury, Musallam, Mroueh, Abboud, 2011; National Institutes of Health, 2014). The disease results by a mutation in the gene that creates beta globin, which is the protein that is responsible for producing hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues. When the mutation occurs, a hemoglobin variant is produced, resulting in a structural and functional change in the red blood cells. Several physical complications emerge in both children and adults who have the disease. These may include, but not limited to, pain, acute chest syndrome, cerebral and vascular damage (Edwards et al., 2005). There are three primary therapies for managing and/or treating the disease. These inc lude the drug, hydroxyurea, transfusion and chelation therapy, and hematopoietic cell transplantation (Inati, Chabtini, Mounayar, Taher, 2009). More research is underway in the development of additional treatment options, such as gene therapy and clinical trials are exploring this possibility. References Chirico, E. N., Pialoux, V. (2012). Role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease. International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Life, 64 (1), 72-80. Edwards, C. L., Scales, M. T., Loughlin, C., Bennett, G. G., Harris-Peterson, S., De Castro, L. M., Whitworth, E., Abrams, M., Feliu, M., Johnson, S., Wood, M., Harrison, O., Killough, A. (2005). A brief review of the pathophysiology, associated pain, and psychosocial issues in sickle cell disease. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12 (3), 171-179. Inati, A., Chabtini, L., Mounayar, M., Taher, A. (2009). Current understanding in the management of sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin, 33 (S1), S107-S115. Khoury, R. A., Musallam, K. M., Mroueh, S., Abboud, M. R. (2011). Pulmonary complications of sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin, 35 (5-6), 625-635. Mehta, P. A., Faulkner, L. B. (2013). Hematopoietic cell transplantation for thalassemia: a global perspective BMT tandem meeting 2013. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 19, S70-S73. National Institutes of Health (2014). Genetics home reference: beta thalassemia. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Retrieved from http://www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/beta-thalassemia. National Institutes of Health (2014). Genetics home reference: sickle cell disease. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Retrieved from www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/sickle-cell-disease. Rees, D. C., Gibson, J. S. (2011). Biomarker in sickle cell disease. British Journal of Haematology, 156, 433-445. Stuart, M. J., Nagel, R. L. (2004). Sickle-cell disease. Lancet, 364, 1343-1360. Thein, S. L. (2008). Genetic modifiers of the ÃŽ ²-haemoglobinopathies. British Journal of Haematology, 141, 357-366.

Leadership Development And Norma Rae

Leadership Development And Norma Rae An Interactive Successful leader, the Norma Rae (Portrayed by Sally Field) and this classic movie is actually based on the true life of Crystal lee Sutton formerly known as Crystal Lee Jordan who was an employee at J.P Stevens Plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina before being fired in an attempt unionize the employees of the factory. Crystal lee Sutton, who was an American advocate and union organizer, made $2.65 an hour and like Norma Rae had struggled for a safe, fair, working environment for all. (Source-Wikipidea.com) Norma Rae, is a classic example of courage and determination of a strong and motivated women who beyond being small, Un-certain and Un-sophisticated has demonstrated an exceptional leadership quality which facilitated as an instrument to eradicate the common suffering prevalent in her community. Its a brave act of a strong woman against discrimination, sexism and racism. Its a fight for the human rights to live in a fair working environment. Movie has confirmed the truth again that one doesnt needs to be better than the people whom they lead as Norma Rae(Sally Field) exhibits the most robust act of wordless suasion further acknowledging that in leadership, Oratory isnt the whole thing. A radical transformation of a destined follower benefitting more than just a few is the storyline behind Norma Rae. As the study done by Calliper also states that: Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders.Women leaders were also found to be more empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male counterparts.enabl[ing] them to read situations accurately and take information in from all sides.These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view.because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from.so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued Norma Rae as a protà ©gà ©e and Rueben being her mentor have exhibited an effective leadership with slightly different leadership styles which further benefitted them to sell their vision to others and guides others for a better tomorrow. In the Movie, Norma Rae, shares the same social identity (Hogg et al, 2001) as she is one of them who have worked within the same mill with her whole family throughout their lives. Anxious still firm, she never denies her past and engages in battle passionately for what she believed was indispensable for the community. Its the Rueben efforts that catalyses Norma from a being a follower to a rebel for a common cause and suffering. Norma Rae demonstrates a more intuitive, task oriented, shared power approach towards leadership and an eagerness to encompass and seek conciliation as suggested by studies about women managers (Fox Shuhmann, 1999; Rosener, 1995; Lunneborg, 1990; Billing and Alvesson, 1994; Gilligan, 1982: Guy, 1992). The Film In the Movie, Norma Rae the protagonist, leads her people towards a better livelihood from a despondent drudgery (Clemens et al, 2000) struggling with all who with money and rights tried to trample the basic human rights. O.P Henley Mill, where she worked as a worker provided her the real platform to explore her true potential. Norma Rae an un-educated, poor worker who finally articulates the pain, and sufferings of all the co workers without any domination but with the power of a unionised effort. As said by Dr. Musimbi kanyaro also that in todays world: Domination as a leadership style is becoming less and less popular. There is a new growing appreciation ofthose traits that women use to keep families together and to organize volunteers to unite and make change in the shared life of communities. These newly admired leadership qualities of shared leadership; nurturance and doing good for others are today not only sought after but also indeed needed to make a difference in the world.A feminine way of leading includes helping the world to understand and be principled about values that really matter. Similarly Norma Rae utilizes the power of shared leadership, nurturance and participative leadership to sell the vision and value behind working in a safe, fair environment being equal for everyone everywhere. It was the exuberant effort of her mentor Reuben Warshawsky , an American labor Union Organiser (Played by Ron Liebman) who sparked the flame inside the passive follower Norma Raes heart, radically transforming her from a follower to rebel with a cause. According to a study of Calliper also it states, that women leaders like Norma Rae learns from adversity and carry on with an Ill show you attitude. Norma Rae has demonstrated the fact that even being denigrated due to the dicey sexual past and bad temper she would never deny who she is and even wont let it matter also. She continued the struggle passionately and won the allegiance of the downtrodden workers while remaining as one of them. As power is not based on title or status; it comes from connecting with people and standing up for what you believe in (Goleman et al, 2002), Norma Raes has also demonstrated the same when she stood up after scrawling the word union on a board, holding her declaration for almost three minutes and as a result, the workers switched off their machines. She stood scared but firm to elucidate the apathy of her and her co-workers. As been described by John Mac Gregory Burns observation: The key distinctive role of the leadership at the outset is that leaders take the initiative. They address their creative insights to potential followers, seize their attention, and spark further interaction. The first act is decisive because it breaks up a static situation and establishes a relationship. It is in every sense, a creative act. (2003:172) Norma Rae who took the initiative of unionisation, and were able to establish the connection became a vital part in the formation of the victorious union. According to (Paglis and Green, 2002) also leaders with high Self Efficacy takes more initiatives to solve the problems and introduce the desirable changes, So Norma Rae shares an high self efficacy to bring substantial changes in system. In the movie Reuben, who knew the legal system and laws, guides Norma as a mentor to take matured and rightful strong decisions. As Gini, A. (1998) explains about the use of power, Norma Rae has pushed the common goal of Unionisation even without any official authority such that through her actions and diligence she persuaded, orchestrated, guided, directed and mobilised her co-workers. Leaders like Norma Rae are confident in the ability to influence people and are more likely to use persuasion rather than coercive or manipulative influence tactics (Goodstadt Hjelle, 1973). As a leader, Norma Rae has interacted in non-coercive ways to decide what changes they wanted to make. It was a multi-directional influence relationship (Rost-1991) between the Norma and its co followers with a mutual objective to accomplish a real change. After being polished and waging a war with full throttle energy Norma shared a teacher-student relationship with Reuben where reverse mentoring (Bass et al, 1994) also cultivated. It was cultivated further into peer relationship, where mentor also being guided by protà ©gà ©e -In the movie also it was depicted when Norma advises Rueben, that the flyer was too complicated and needed more simplification. In the whole movie Rueben, an expertise and an experienced leader was able to organize the zeal inside the Norma Rae to overcome the obstacles together. Rueben has also used the authority and knowledge to individually deal with some difficult situations in the movie for example, when he gets the notice rightly positioned on the notice board during the official visit within the factory. In the end Norma Rae, finally confronts the management more strongly to amputate the whimsical management system as she herself being victimized when her father dies due to pathetic working conditions. One amongst the 800 mill workers she dares and raises her voice to fight for a common cause. The Director perspective The director has demonstrated three distinct leadership styles within the movie where Norma Rae portrays as a Transformational leader with social identity theory and participative leadership style. She demonstrates Situational leadership corroborating the fact that leaders are made not born and leadership is not gender specific. The second style being portrayed by Rueben is of Authentic-Ethical, and of a charismatic Transformational leader, having mentor-protà ©gà ©e relationship with Norma Rae mentoring her, the democratic style of leadership. The third style is of the management of O.P.Henley Textile Mill, being totally autocratic, authoritarian style of leadership. Analysing leadership The main leadership paradigms illustrated in the film are- Leaders can be created or Leadership as a Process Contingency Theory of Leadership and Situational Leadership Transformational Leadership Mentor-Protà ©gà ©e Relationship Authentic Ethical Leadership The Gender Perspective of leadership Social identity theory of leadership Leadership can be created or leadership as a process: A strong theme across disciplines is to gain better understanding of what constitutes effective leadership and which factors have an influence on leadership performance(Singh 2008) It was the confidence, Integrity, Connection, Resilience and the aspiration which made Norma Rae an overall effective leader. She was a made leader who gathered the courage and made the most effective use by synergising the team work for a purposeful action. Gather the courage and understanding to confront the competitive -independent milieus of most organisations; work with employees so that they are convinced that teamwork is to their advantage; and put teamwork to work to achieve synergy up and down and across the organisation.(Tjosvold and Tjosovold 1991) Norma Rae as a movie opposes the applicability of trait leadership also. As under the tutelage of Ruebens, Norma even without the charismatic power which is perceived to be an important aspect of leadership achieves the impossible even for her also. It is one of the contradictions under which she lived till the time Ruebens became his mentor and the relationship converted into mentor-protà ©gà ©e relationship. Norma marshalled (Bennis and Nanus, 1997) the skills under the tutelage of Rueben. Norma Rae with the cognitive ability (Bruce Avolio, 2005:25) even, after being rejected from the pastor, conducted meeting at her home, facing the conflict with Sonny also. Even after facing the conflicts both from the work and even from the family she was able to trudge through the path successfully and won her followers what they deserved. Even after being confronted hard by the company (work-conflict) she was able to stand as strong, as a powerful woman who conveyed the vision to everyone. She was able to win the hearts of the followers as she had the same pain. Contingency Theory of leadership and Situational Leadership As Bennis suggested that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦more leaders have been made by accident, circumstances, and sheer will then have been made by all the leadership courses. Leadership and the leadership style is subjected to situations and circumstances (Howell et al, 2006) as shown in the movie also where Norma is completely being transformed and she fights for workers altogether. Its the way she exhibited situational leadership to motivate other workers when she holds the piece of cardboard with the word union written on it. This further formulated the worker to understand the real depth behind that word and they joined together by switching off their machines. Norma took the responsibility to integrate them through a single powerful word with deep silence and innocent eyes thriving to get them what they actually deserved. All the workers got turned into the followers as being aroused by eager and wants, by portraying the single idea from their perspective (Halpern et al, 2003) Transformational leadership Enthusiasm, Energy, Engagement, Sharing Power and information and encouraging participation are key skills or traits being present in a transformational leader. As said by Roserner (1990), a transformational leader is one who can transform and is able to motivate subordinates to transform their own self interest into the interest of the group through concern for a broader goal. Norma as a transformational leader had a very good understanding of the psychology of his followers to inspirationally motivate them and intellectually stimulate them. (Pierce et al, 2008). Norma Rae being personally identified as one of them was able to encourage the followers and motivated them to lend themselves for a common cause. Vinnicombe and Singh (2002) also described a women management and communication style as being based on personal respect, mutual trust, and regard for the contribution that each team member can bring, and the development of the individual and diverse talent. Rueben, being a charismatic transformational leader, told the story about his grandfather and unions to create a vision and demonstrate the values of working as a team and how a unified team is like a family. He knew that transformational leadership is a multi-level construct and type of individualised relationship that a leader establishes with followers which emerges within team members also. Even as described in transformational theories that emotional processes being as important as rational processes it signifies symbolic action and Instrumental behaviour. Rueben also told Norma Rae to leave when she behaves rudely and counsels her to be diplomatic. Rueben displays a very high emotional intelligence in situations. Even ( Avolio and Bass-1995) argued that transformational leadership is a multi-level construct and its the type of individualised relationship that a leader establishes with followers which emerges within team members also. High levels of Emotional Intelligence as said by (Goleman-1998) being the most important for effective leaders as it provides them the ability to adapt themselves to the different situations especially crisis. Authentic-Ethical leadership Gardener also has stated about authentic leadership and authentic leaders such as Genuine leaders are the ones who lead by example in fostering healthy ethical climates characterised by transparency, trust, integrity, and high moral standards. Such leaders can be called as authentic leaders who are not only true to themselves, but they lead also lead others by helping them to achieve authenticity also (Gardener et al. 2005:344) Rueben also exhibits authentic ethical leadership which is related to values and commitment for self development of the team members. As said: Ethical Leadership is also related to leader personality traits and needs (Brown Trevino, 2006b; OConnor Mumford, Clifton, Gessner , Connelly , 1995). Rueben has demonstrated all aspects of an effective leader with high level of conscientiousness, High Emotional maturity, Low nuerotocism, Low narcissism and high internal locus of control. Even Norma also shares strong internal locus of control as she also believes that lives are determined more by our own actions than by chance or Uncontrollable forces ,which is further groomed with Rueben motivation. According to Bass and Steidlmeier (1999), there is disparity between authentic transformational leader and the Pseudo Transformational leadership. Authentic leadership is a lot more than performing in a transformational way. The authentic transformational leaders are more based on their moral and virtuous foundations. The Gender Perspective of leadership As the meta analysis done by Eagly,Johannesen-Schmidt Van Engen ,(2003) it explains that women uses slightly more transformational leadership behaviour than men which makes them more renowned among the followers. Norma demonstrated courage as well as individualised consideration for everyone as shes used to remember the names of people in the movie which included supportive behaviour as well as the efforts to develop subordinates skill and confidence. Acc to Heller (1982) also there is a common myth that leadership is gender specific and only men make good leaders. Even in the movie Sonny complains to Norma about her casual behaviour towards family and paying more attention towards her union work. This incident also reflects that women are supposed to be taking care of household work only. This mindset is completely condemned by Norma and she proves that leadership is beyond gender and in fact women have certain characteristic that awards them the edge over men in being the leaders, like -empathy, and a caring attitude (Heller, 1982). Norma exhibits a classic example of an made leader and marks that womens posses the potential to become an outstanding leaders than men. Social Identity theory of leadership Norma Rae closely represents the group characteristics as well as aspiration, Norms and values of the group as shes one of them. She creates a social identity (Hogg ,2001) within the group. Norma Rae works closely with the followers and transforms them. Norma as depicted in the movie also very creative in expressing her beliefs for social development particularly when she holds that play card of Union in her hands. As supposed by (Reicher and Haslam, in press-b) that both leader and followers are active interpreter of social world. In Norma Rae also both Norma and the followers struggles for creating an equal world for all. It allows them to create their own world and rather than the one made by others. Such strategies are most common when there is Undemocratic and dictatorial regimes( Reicher Hopkins ,2003; Koonz, 2003: Overy ,2004) which is being followed by O.P Henley management. Conclusion Norma Rae has demonstrated the real potential of the womens and portrayed the real life of Crystal Lee Sutton. Like Norma Rae all the women do posses the ability to become effective leaders. Norma had portrayed a very distinct and extra-ordinary style of leadership with the help of his mentor Rueben. She achieved the goal of Unionisation and got her people what they actually deserved. Stodgill (1948, p. 64) also said that: A person does not become a leader by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits.the pattern of personal characteristics of the leader must bear some relevant relationship to the characteristics ,activities, and goals of the followers.

Impact of Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin :: Uncle Toms Cabin Essays

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811, in Connecticut. She was the seventh child of a famous protestant preacher. Harriet worked as a teacher with her older sister Catharine, at the Hartford Female Academy. She was also an established writer. She helped support her family financially by writing local and religious periodicals. Harriet began writing when she was young, beginning with poems, travel books, and children’s books, and eventually writing adult novels. Her first adult novel that she wrote and published was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a controversial book that Harriet wrote on her feelings of slavery. The story focuses on the harsh reality of slavery and the main character, Uncle Tom, a suffering black slave whose Christian love and faith overcame enslavement. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and the second best-selling book of the century after the Bible. 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the first year after it was published. Harriet being a sworn abolitionist, her views and comments written in the book helped start the Abolitionist Cause in the 1850’s. The book also spread many stereotypes about African-Americans, such as Mammy (slang for mother), Pickaninny (slang for a black child), and Uncle Tom (slang for a black servant faithful to his white master or mistress). The impact of the book was so great, that before the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to meet Harriet. When he finally met her in 1862, he said, â€Å"So you’re the little woman that wrote the book that made this big war!†. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, however, had a greater impact in England than it did in America. The first London edition of the book came out in May, 1852, and sold over one million copies. The biggest reason it was more popular in England than America was because of British antipathy to America. One remarkable writer from England explained that "The evil passions which 'Uncle Tom' gratified in England were not hatred or vengeance [of slavery], but national jealousy and national vanity. We have long been smarting under the conceit of America--we are tired of hearing her boast that she is the freest and the most enlightened country that the world has ever seen. Our clergy hate her voluntary system--our Tories hate her democrats--our Whigs hate her parvenus--our Radicals hate her litigiousness, her insolence, and her ambition.

Essay --

Beech, Anthony R, Leam A Craig and Kevin D Brown. 2009. ‘’A Community Residential Treatment Approach for Sexual Abusers’’, Assessment and Treatment of Sex Offenders: A Handbook. Eldridge, Hilary and Donald Findlater. 349-364. West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This chapter focuses on the Wolvercote Clinic, a positive treatment facility for high risk sex offenders to gain skills to assist them in their rehabilitation process and prepare them for life in the community. The authors acknowledge that it is essential for offenders to be taught skills in recognising and dealing with emotional and physical risk factors, managing feelings, developing social and positive thinking skills as well as sexual fantasy management. The authors argue that without the teaching of these skills in the facility, sexual offenders will find it challenging to reintegrate into the community which could lead to offence relapse. This chapter was useful in identifying key skills that sex offenders must obtain before being released into the community to heighten the chances of success and for that reason it could assist me in my role as a probation and parole officer in my scenario (nine). Brown, Kevin, Jon Spencer, Jo Deakin, 2007, ‘’The Reintegration of Sex Offenders: Barriers and Opportunities for Employment’’, The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 46 (1) 32-42, accessed 10 March 2014, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2311.2007.00452.x This article focuses on the barriers faced by sex offenders, regarding employment, and the anxieties that employers experience when employing sex offenders. The authors address the main barriers of employment, including poor levels of education and skills, employer discrimination, drug and alcohol addiction, lack of family support, an... ...306624X11426132 This article reports on research conducted regarding convicted child sex offender’s expectations and experiences of reintegration into the community both prior and post release. It is noted that the majority of sex offenders interviewed feared their release and struggled to live in society once released. The authors argue that this is a result of simplistic reintegration planning that aimed to manage risk factors rather than promote rehabilitation. The authors acknowledge the need for reintegration processes to consider the requirements of offenders, victims and the community in order to be effective. This article was useful for showing the importance of comprehensive reintegration plans to make the outcome satisfying to the offender and the community and for that reason could assist me in my role as a probation and parole officer in scenario nine.

On the Concept of National Community

The piece On the Concept of National Community by Cesar Adib Majul simply discusses about Dr. Jose Rizal’s analysis in his community during his time and his analysis about it too. The piece mainly discusses about the basic defects that can be observed, that is traceable to the Filipinos. First, the defects of their educational training at home and in the schools and second is the lack of the national sentiment. As you go further on the piece, you’ll find yourself discovering how Dr. Jose Rizal tried to make the Filipinos understand what â€Å"national sentiment† is and how its absence affects the society Filipinos are into.How he tries to develop it in each and every Filipino through his writings for he believed that its development might not only reduce indolence but might slowly inevitably do away with what was depressive and stifling in the colonial regime. The first one that was discussed was about the kind of educational system the Filipinos have during Span ish regime. The attempt at personal improvement beyond the formal curricular requirements was judged by the authorities as presumptuous. How the educational system stifled the development of every Filipino which would have become productive and progressive.The second that was discussed which covers almost entirely the whole piece was about the absence of national sentiment and how each works of Dr. Jose Rizal tries to put it in every reader. And this is the thing I want to focus on. Dr. Jose Rizal’s work are complex, it is difficult to discover a positive description of what he called national sentiment but he characterized situations that reflected its absence, and in at least one case, he pointed out an evil in the society that might be due to its absence. According to the piece, there are three negative characterizations which can be found in La Indolencia de los Filipinos.The first one was an absence of national sentiment that allowed the individual â€Å"to be guided by his fancy and his self-love. † Which was portrayed by the character named Dona Victorina in Noli Me Tangere due to her desire to imitate the mannerisms, the idiosyncrasies and everything associated with the Spaniards, she succeeded only in making herself ridiculous. It is still observed in these modern days. How other Filipinos are more interested of imitating the foreign countries’ products, their language, and even their lifestyles not only among rich people but also among the average ones.It is very heart breaking to see how others have forgotten or does not pay attention to the great things that their own country have. They even leave the country and choose to stay to another country in great belief that they have more chances to be progressive out there. They are so absorbed in the other countries culture leaving behind our own. Secondly, the lack of national sentiment brings another evil †¦ which is the absence of all opposition to measures prejudicial to th e people. Another character without national sentiment was Basilio in El Filibusterismo.In spite of reminders by Simoun regarding injustices visited upon his mother and his brother, Basilio was not willing to take any risk in defense of justice. He had attained some achievement in the academic world, and he was graduating as a physician in a few months. He deemed it important not to alienate the authorities for fear that all he had been working for would be scattered to the winds. Basilio maybe wanted to have revenge for his mother and brother but he chooses not to for fear of opposing the authorities and would bring harm to his future.The problem need not be one of revenge but one of preventing future injustices. Essentially, the problem is that of national sentiment because the issue raised is whether one should oppose the injustices occurring in the future, regardless of possible consequences to him who opposes. This too is still observed in our country. It can be observed from s mallest crime committed (someone being rob or abused in public but those who sees them does not try to get involved in fear of harming their own life) up to the largest one (a corruption that has been witnessed but choose to shut in silence in fear of losing his own position) .Injustice still lingers in our country and it seems that it does not stop. If only one could let himself involved and does not let himself outranked its personal interest and comfort to the social society it would have been a very different society, different story for all of us. Thirdly, the lack of national sentiment brought about â€Å"the absence of any initiative in whatever may redound to its good (the peoples)†. The character who vividly portrayed this was Senor Pasta in El Filibusterismo he was in position to do something for what could contribute; it was believed, to the ultimate betterment of Filipino society.But he considered the whole project as one involving personal risks and he was afraid of reprisals from vested interests. However, it is more important to note that Senor Pasta was a man who used to work for himself and who did not have the conception of other interests more general and socially more important than his own particular or personal ones. This is again observed until now. How each people ignore their chances to participate on something which could lead to social improvement. There are lots of things that the piece discussed but these are the things that caught my attention. Sad to say but the national sentiment Dr.Jose Rizal wants each Filipino to develop or to have hasn’t been absorbed yet. These dilemmas that he has seen and does not want to continue are still haunting our country. If Dr. Jose Rizal is still around and is planning to write a novel or essay to tell people and make them realize how important national sentiment and loyalty to country is, I would ask him to make me a part of it for I portray each of the three negative effect of abs ence of the national sentiment. The first one is the absence of national sentiment that allowed the individual â€Å"to be guided by his fancy and his self-love.† I disregard Filipino songs or movies because I find it cliched. And I even consider working in the other country and live there because I find it unprogressive here in our beloved country. And I am so much interested with the literature and kind of education system in other countries that if I ever have the chance to choose where to study I’d be more than willing to go there. These are the few things of the many I had which falls on the first of the three negative characterizations of absence of national sentiment. I strongly believe that I am not the only one who has this kind of thought.Instead of thinking what could be done to improve the problems that our country is facing some would prefer to think of their way out into it by leaving the country. Secondly, the lack of national sentiment brings another ev il †¦ which is the absence of all opposition to measures prejudicial to the people. Opposing the authorities is a very sensitive issue to face. Maybe people choose not to get involve for the fear of harming himself and his family. He maybe just wants to protect himself from the powerful hand of the authority not knowing that what he was doing is giving the injustice a chance to happen again.Like letting the â€Å"kotong cops† get your money just to let you pass in a traffic violation thinking that opposing them would just aggravate the situation so you just let them do what they want. It may sound stupid that people are letting this to happen instead of calling the authorities to stop these little corruption but if you are going to ask me and some people we would just let them get what they wanted because in my opinion the fear of the consequences if you oppose them. And how can you even report this to the authorities if the authorities themselves are the ones who are do ing the crime?Thirdly, the lack of national sentiment brought about â€Å"the absence of any initiative in whatever may redound to its good (the peoples)†. Some thinks that being involved or not won’t make any difference in some issues the country is facing which too bad I have thought of too. From the simplest signature campaign that was about an â€Å"anti† or â€Å"pro† ideas up to the invitation to join the movement for this or that. People are too busy with their own lives and pay little attention to what’s going on with their society or sometimes it’s just their indolence to participate into some movements about social improvements.Like for example is for the election of the president or voting time. Some people do not participate into it. Saying they are too busy or whether thy vote or not our country wouldn’t grow or improve. Or in a simpler situation and a situation I’ve been too, like protest groups are asking me to j oin in their movement to fight for education or human rights but I just shrugged my shoulders on the idea thinking it would cost me so much efforts and time even I in the other hand can also see what was wrong in the system and what they’re fighting for.After reading the piece it made me realize of how important national sentiment is and the things that would happen if only everyone would have it. I’ve realized that reading the history of the Philippines, singing the national anthem or saying â€Å"I’m proud of my country† does not make me patriotic instead a true patriotic Filipino have their national sentiment and let himself involve in things that could help his country improve or grow.

Azerbaijan Poverty Rate

Approved by the Decree #3043 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated of September 15, 2008 State Program on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2015 Chapter 1 Introduction In order to tackle poverty on a global level, the heads of 147 world countries joined together at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000 to sign the Millennium Declaration reflecting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and committed themselves to achieving poverty reduction by 2015.In order to meet the challenges set out in the Declaration, a set of 8 global goals were formulated, with 18 targets and 48 indicators. The first of these goals is to halve the number of the world’s population living in extreme poverty and hunger. National leader Heydar Aliyev signed the Millennium Declaration on behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan.In order to honor this commitment in line with the local conditions in the Republic of Az erbaijan which is signatory to the Millennium Declaration, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan approved by his Decree #854 of February 20, 2003 the State Program on Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (SPPRED) in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2003-2005. Implementation of that State Program in 2003-2005 resulted in maintaining overall macroeconomic stability, ensuring dynamic economic growth and upholding inflation and national exchange rates at appropriate levels.In its turn these achevements promoted to implementation of substantial activities aimed at solution existing social probelms as well as tackling poverty. So the poverty level consequently came down from 46. 7% in 2002 to 29. 3% in 2005. In order to continue the positive process in improving the population’s welfare the State Program on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development (SPPRSD) in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2015 was prepared.Chapter 2 Poverty in Azerbaijan 2. 1. Poverty Profile, Levels and Indicators Table 2. 1 summarizes the poverty levels in the country on the basis of statistics and data derived from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) for 2002-2007. Table 2. 1. Poverty levels for the Republic of Azerbaijan 2002 Poverty line, in AZN Poverty level, in % 35 46. 7 2003 35. 8 44. 7 2004 38. 8 40. 2 2005 42. 6 29. 3 2006 58 20. 8 2007 64 15. 8As it is seen from the Table in 2007 the poverty level dropped to 15. 8%. Analysis of the HBS data suggests that the following factors are associated with poverty risk in the country: there is a small difference in the poverty rates for urban and rural areas, but the poverty incidence in the urban area has been declining at a faster rate than that in the rural area; 2 the lowest monthly income per capta by economic regions is reported in Upper Karabakh, Aran and Highland Shirvan.But the main difference is between Baku and the regions of the country (Difference in income rate between Baku and Upper Karabakh with Aran areas was correspondingly AZN25. 9 and 19. 7); the poverty risk increases the larger the household size (number of household members); the monthly income rate per capita in household with 4 children 1. 5 times lower compared to household without children and 1. 3 times lower compared to household with 1 child.Income per capita for people living alone is 2 times higher than that one for households with children; the poverty risk for the household decreases the higher the education level of the head of the household, especially when the head of household has higher education; while the monthly income rate for households where the head of household is in the 30-39, 4049 and 60+ age groups is lower, it for households where the head of household is in the 18-29 and 50-59 age groups is higher than average one; Income is a means to improve living standards, but it is not the only factor contributing to poverty reduction.Raising income levels without achieving parallel improvements in the deliver y of social services will not solve the poverty problem in the country. It is therefore also important to monitor such indicators as infant and child mortality, maternal mortality, food security and child nutrition, incidence of communicable diseases, school attendance and enrolment rates, and school learning achievement results.There is still a number measurement challenges in the monitoring of the aspects listed above, but the available data suggest summarizing the following points: present ozon layer depletion, climate changes, abrupt reduction of biodiversity, continous natural disasters, pollution of the environment cause spreading of various diseases. Respiratory track, infectious, parasitic, blood circulation diseases and indigestion are mainly widespread among population of the country; the incidence of communicable diseases which can be easily prevented, such as TB, malaria, is going down, but needs to be kept under control.This requires relevant public investment in preven tative measures in the public health services, and for children, ensuring full coverage with immunization programs; there are still under-nutrition and malnutrition problems amongst vulnerable groups, particularly but not only the Internally Displaced People (IDPs). There is a need to intervene with special programs for these groups; school enrolment rates are high, but there are concerns about growing differentials in quality of education provided at schools.Public investment in education is necessary to increase for addressing these differentials, and ensure that all children are provided with the same opportunities; housing conditions for vulnerable sections of the population are unsatisfactory, and affect the health status of household members. Overcrowding, heating with non-clean fuel, lack of regular electricity supply, and lack of access to piped water are problems faced by a large section of the IDP population, and other vulnerable groups. Public investment has to prioritize improvements in social infrastructure for these groups. . 2. Significant Points for Policy Formulation Based on HBS results the following points should be taken into consideration when formulating policy priorities: 1. Income generation has been much easier in Baku than in other urban and rural areas. The regions outside of Baku have lower living standards, suggesting less employment opportunities. From this prospective there is a need to promote sustainable economic development including that one across different sectors in the regions considering local peculiarities. 2. The fact that there is a high poverty risk for those in working age (higher than for retired age) suggests that employment does not necessarily protect households and individuals from poverty. From this viewpoint there is a need to ensure that employment is high-wage and productivity – i. e. there is a need to develop labor intensive sectors, and to replace underemployment with employment in productive jobs . 3. Children have the highest poverty risk, as do households with many children.As children represent additional expenditure for households some of the poverty risk for children can be reduced by improving the income-generating activities of adult household members. Meantime social protection measures also need to ensure that vulnerable households with children are provided with support. The fact that children have a higher poverty risk than the elderly suggests the need to focus more social expenditure on the younger age groups and families with children. . Recent ever-growing worldwide need in food, drastic rise in prices of energy resources as well as use of arable lands for bioenergetic raw materials cultivation cause rise in price of foodstuffs. In its turn it affects negatively on food supply to low-income groups of population, and on overall living standards in the country. Food security issues have to be reconsidered in the light of current international and local situation . Chapter 3 SPPRSD – Overview 3. 1.Strategic Goals The following 9 strategic goals for the SPPRSD for 2008-2015 were identified: I. ensuring sustainable economic development through maintaining macroeconomic stability and balanced development of the non-oil sector; II. increasing income-generating opportunities and achieving substantial reduction in the poorest sections of the population; III. reducing social risks for old age groups, low-income families and vulnerable groups of population by developing effective social protection system; IV. ontinuing systematic implementation of activities aimed at improving the living conditions of refugees and IDPs; V. improving the quality of and ensuring equal access to affordable basic health and education services; VI. developing social infrastructure, improving public utilities system; VII. improving environmental situation and ensuring sustainable management of environment; VIII. promoting and protecting gender equality; IX. continu ing institutional reforms and improving good governance. . 2. Specific Features The specific features of the SPPRSD can be summarized as follows: it is fully aligned with the MDGs and sets relevant country policy goals and specific targets; meantime these goals represent logical follow-up of the SPPRED while adhering principles of full methodological succession; it is aligned with other current state programs; it is based on a participatory and monitoring process involving the government and international organizations and civil society.In order to achieve the strategic goals set out above measures to be implemented over 2008-2015 are classified under the 4 functional groups and set forth in the SPPRSD Chapters 4-7: 1. macroeconomic stability and economic growth (Chapter 4); 2. employment policy and social protection of the population (Chapter 5); 3. human development and social progress (Chapter 6); 4. institutional policy and good governance (Chapter 7). 4Participatory process inv olving joint activities of the government, civil society and international organizations as an important factor in implementation of the program as well as other issues relating to the monitoring mechanisms over activities to be implemented and over outcomes to be achieved within the program are specified in the last, 8th Chapter of the SPPRSD (â€Å"participation and monitoring†). This State Program sets priorities and targets for 8-year period (2008-2015) and includes a list of policy measures for the first 3-year period (2008-2010) (Attachment ?1).Meantime based on the results of these activities approval of the new action plan for 2011-2015 is provided. The main sources for financing the State Program are funds to be allocated for these purposes from the State Budget, the State Oil Fund (SOFAR) and the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF) as well as other sources not conflicting with legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Sources and amounts of funds required for imple mentation of the activities within the SPPRSD will be identified while considering development the State Budget, off-budget funds and MTEF on annual basis.In addition amounts of funds allocated for implementation of the SPPRSD policy measures and activities will be aligned with the financing sources of other strategy and concept papers, state programs, work and action plans (Attachment ?2) as well as adjusted with loan agreements signed with international financial institutions. 3. 3. Summary of Goals, Targets and Indicators The Table 3. 1 below summarizes generalized system of relevant targets and indicators on 9 strategic goals of the State Program. Table 3. 1. Overview of the strategic goals, targets and indicators of the SPPRSD Strategic Goals 1.Ensuring sustainable economic development through maintaining macroeconomic stability and balanced development of the non-oil sector Targets 1. Maintain single digit figure inflation rate since 2011 by its annual reducing throughout 2008 -2010 and maintaining at the manageable level 2. Increase GDP per capita by 2 times in 2008- 2015 3. Increase real non-oil GDP by 2 times by 2008-2015 4. Maintain non-oil GDP real minimum growth rate at 7-8% level in 2008-2015 2. Increasing incomegenerating opportunities and achieving substantial reduction in the poorest sections of the population 3.Reducing social risks for old age groups, low-income families and vulnerable groups of population by developing effective social protection system 5. Achieve 2 times poverty rate reduction by 2015 6. Reduce unemployment rate to 34% by 2015 7. Ensure that minimum wage and basic pensions level are raised on regular basis and exceed the national minimum subsistence level since 2011 8. Gradually bring the eligibility criterion for receipt of social assistance up to the level of the Monitoring indicators and baselines Inflation rate: 16. 7% (2007) GDP per capita: 3168. AZN (2007) Non-oil GDP: 9. 5 bln. AZN (2007) Non-oil GDP real minimum grow th rate: 11. 3% (2007) Poverty rate: 15. 8% (2007) Unemployment rate: 6. 5% (2007) Minimum subsistence level: 70 AZN (2008) Minimum wage: 60 AZN (by early 2008) Basic pensions: 60 AZN (by early 2008) Eligibility criterion for social assistance: 45 AZN (by early 2008) 5 Strategic Goals Targets national subsistence minimum 4. Continuing systematic implementation of activities aimed at improving the living conditions of refugees and IDPs 9. Improve the living conditions of refugees and IDPs 10.Increase the level of employment among refugees and IDPs to the average national employment level 11. Ensure that all school age children complete a full course of general education (I-XI grades) by 2015 12. Increase by 2 times the share of children in pre-school age completing pre-school education by 2015 13. Ensure complete access of all schoolchildren to computers and internet by 2015 Share of refugees and IDPs settled in â€Å"decent houses†: 46% (2007) Employment rate among refugees a nd IDPs: 31. 7% (2007) Net enrollment rate at: primary education: 94. 9% (2007) basic education: 79. % (2007) secondary education: 48. 8% (2007) Pre-school education coverage rate: 17. 2% (2007) Monitoring indicators and baselines 5. improving the quality of and ensuring equal access to affordable basic health and education services 14. Achieve the European countries average under-one mortality rate by 2015 15. Achieve the European countries average maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015 16. Halt the spread of tuberculosis, malaria, brucellosis by 2015 17. Halt the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2010 18. Increase life expectancy at birth to 76, of which 74. 5 years for men and 77. for women by 2015 6. developing social infrastructure, improving public utilities system 19. Create a reliable water supply system in the regional towns and villages by using local springs and ground water sources and supply all the population with water through a centralized water supply system by 2015 20. P rovide complete aeration and sanitation services in towns and settlements of the country by 2015 21. Improve households gas supply through a centralized gas supply system Number of pupils per computer in general secondary schools in: total: 47 (2007) V-XI grades: 29 (2007).Share of schools with internet access: 3% (2007) Under-one mortality rate: 12. 1 per 1,000 (2007) 35. 5 per 100,000 (2007) Tuberculosis: 7,783 cases (2007) Malaria: 106 cases (2007) Brucellosis: 475 cases (2007) HIV/AIDS infections: 1,379 registered cases (2007) Life expectancy at birth: 72. 4 (2007) of which: male – 69. 7 years (2007) female – 75. 1 years (2007) Share of population with reliable water supply system in the regional towns and villages: 46. 5% (2007) Share of population provided by the centralized sanitation services: 33. 7% (2006) Households with gas supply: 81. 2% (2007) 6 Strategic Goals Targets 22.Supply of heating to residential and non-residential buildings by 2015 23. Ensure com plete satisfaction of the country’s energy demands through internal resources and uninterrupted electricity power supply for all households by 2015 24. Provide complete domestic household wastes related services 2015 25. Increase the number of telephones to 50 per 100 persons in cities and regional towns and to 30 per 100 persons in rural areas by 2015 26. Increase the number of internet users to 50 per 100 by 2015 27. Reconstruct 2,800 km of the country’s roads in line with international standards by 2015 7. mproving environmental situation and ensuring sustainable management of environment 28. Increase the proportion of forest areas in total land area to 12. 5% by 2015 29. Increase the share of protected land area in the total surface area to 12% by 2015 30. Decrease by 20% the conditional fuel used for 1 kw of energy for reducing green-house emissions in the energy sector by 2015 31. Achieve complete sewage treatment in the country by 2015 32. Achieve 80% recycling and neutralizaiton of solid household wastes in the large cities by 2015 8. promoting and protecting gender equality 33.Ensure increased participation level of women in decision-making by 2015 Monitoring indicators and baselines Residential buildings heating supply: 22. 7% (2006) Electricity power production in the country: 21. 4bln kvh (2007) 700,000 subscribers in Baku are provided by services in this sector (2006) Telephone lines per 100 person: in total – 14. 6 (2007) in urban areas – 33 (2007), In rural areas – 9. 4 (2007) Internet users: 12 per 100 (2007) Total length of the roads reconstructed in line with international standards: 1,020 km (2007) Proportion of forest areas in total land area: 11. % (2007) Share of protected land area in the total surface area: 8. 1% (2007) Quantity of conditional fuel used for 1 kw of energy: 386 gr (2006) Sewage treatment in large cities: 57. 9% (2006) Share of recycled and neutralized solid household wastes in the large cities: 10. 9% (2006) Share of women among: Central executive authority chairpersons – 4 % (2007), Members of Parliament – 11. 2% (2005) Municipalities – 4. 08% (2004) Judges – 16% (2007) 9. continuing institutional reforms and improving good governance 34. Improve â€Å"good governance† and the quality of public sector management so as to align with EU standards by 2015.Chapter 4 Macroeconomic Stability and Economic Growth 7 4. 1. Links to Poverty Poverty is a multidimensional problem that goes beyond economics to include social and institutional issues. Although poverty reduction cannot be based exclusively on economic policies, economic growth and macroeconomic stability remain a prerequisite for poverty reduction, and are essential in order to achieve broad-based and sustainable rates of growth. One of the principle prerequisite ensuring sustainable economic growth includes territorial and geographical diversification of the economic growth.In this regard non-oil sector development and regions balanced development are of utmost importance. Thus, sustainable economic growth is the basis of macroeconomic stability. To safeguard macroeconomic stability, all public expenditures of the country must be managed in a sustainable, non- inflationary manner. Researches show that rapid increases in inflation tend to hurt the poor most, and increase the likelihood of people who live just above the poverty line falling back into poverty. Thus macroeconomic stability, ensured sustainable economic growth, and careful management of government revenue and expenditure have key importance. . 2. Current Situation and Main Challenges As a result of the successful economic policies implemented last year, overall macroeconomic stability has been maintained, sustainable economic growth ensured, development of entrepreneurship expanded, and job creation, especially in the regions has increased. These have all led to an increase in income generati ng opportunities, and a significant improvement in the well-being of the people. As Table 4. 1 shows, Azerbaijan’s high rate of GDP growth in 2003-2005, has made it one of the fastest growing countries not only in the region, but in the world.Table 4. 1. Main indicators of the GDP for 2004-2007 2004 Total amount of GDP, in bln. AZN of which non-oil sector Per capita GDP, in AZN Real growth rate of GDP, in % Deflator index of GDP, in % Share of non-government sector in GDP, in % 8. 5 5. 24 1,042 10. 2 108. 4 73. 5 2005 12. 5 6. 1 1,513. 9 26. 4 116. 1 77. 8 2006 18. 7 7. 6 2,241. 1 34. 5 111. 3 81. 0 2007 26. 8 9. 5 3,168. 5 25. 0 114. 4 84. 0 In this period oil revenue continued to be accumulated in SOFAR and additional budget revenue due to the increase in global oil prices, was accumulated in a special account.The National Bank (NB) of the Republic of Azerbaijan made limited purchase interventions in the currency market and continued to issue of its short-term notes as part of the sterilization policy to neutralize surplus liquidity in the banking system. In addition in order to limit the expected negative impact of the huge oil and gas revenues on the economy and to the Presidential Decree dated September 27, 2004 approved the â€Å"Long-term Strategy on Management of Oil and Gas Revenues† which has the objective of channeling the energy sector revenues into the development of non-oil sector, poverty reduction, and the development of human capital.This strategy is a basis to promote to the non-oil sector integration to the world economy enhancing its international competitivness. Control over the nominal exchange rate of the national currency has ensured a long-term favorable trend in the real exchange rate index and helped to promote the international competitiveness of the country. Although the real effective exchange rate of the national currency appreciated by 12. 2% in the non-oil sector during 2007, it depreciated by 11% in December, 200 7 compared with the relevant period of 2000. Thus though the real effective exchange rate was strengthened for short term it changed in scales promoting to protection of the international competitiveness of the country. The amount of currency reserves has increased significantly. The amount of official currency reserves of the NB for January 1, 2008 exceeded 4 bln. USD. At the same time, the amount of internal currency reserve equivalent to exported goods and services excluding the oil sector exceeds 5 times the international standards on funding terms. The share of foreign debts under state guarantee in GDP decreased to 18. % in 2004 and 8. 2% in 2007. The total amount of investment in the national economy from all sources increased at 1. 5 times in 2007 compared with 2004, and amounted to 7. 5 bln. AZN (8. 7 bln. USD), 3. 3 bln. USD of which was FDI (90. 5% in oil sector). At the same time the amount of investment from domestic financial sources in the same period also increased b y 3. 5 times, and its share in total investment increased from 26. 9% in 2004 to 61. 9% in 2007. The total trade operations amounted to 27 bln. USD in 2005, of which exports accounted for 21 bln.USD and imports 6 bln. USD, with the positive saldo on all export-import operations amounting 15 bln. USD. As a result of measures to improve the legal regulatory framework of the securities market, to protect the rights of investors, to enhance application of corporate management standards, to ensure proper information by issuers and to create an organized loan market, the number and amount of shares issued have been increased. So if in 2004, 50 issuers issued 62 shares with a total value of 91. 9 mln. AZN, 108 shares were issued by 84 issuers with a total value of 225. mln. AZN in 2005; in 2006, 100 issuers issued 135 shares with a total value of 340. 8 mln. AZN and 137 shares were issued by 113 issuers with a total value of 795. 4 mln. AZN in 2007. In order to promote further improvement in the investment climate, entrepreneurship development and subsequently creation of new job places corporate tax was decreased from 27% to 25% in 2003, 24% in 2004 and 22% on January 1, 2006. Compulsory social insurance contributions from employers were also reduced from 29% to 27% in 2003 and 22% in 2005.Agricultural producers have been exempted from all taxes, except for the land tax, for a five year period (2004-2008). In order to expand the use of the simplified tax system, from 2003 the simplified tax turnover has been increased from 300 times of non-taxable monthly income (6,000 AZN) to 22,500 times of the conditional monetary unit (24,750 AZN). In order to promote development of the enterpreneurial activities Presidential Decree #2458 on â€Å"Measures to Ensure Arranging One-stop-shop Principle Based Activities of the Enterpreneurship Subjects† was signed on October 25, 2007.In order to promote entrepreneurial activities and increase state support to entrepreneurs, t he total amount of soft state loans provided through the National Fund for Entrepreneurial Support has increased annually 40 mln. AZN in 2005, 80 mln. AZN in 2006 and 90. 7 mln. AZN. Meantime the organization of regular business forums in the same period has also had a positive impact, and has helped to bring together local entrepreneurs to officials and businessmen from different countries, thus expanding their access to information, while also helping to promote further foreign investment.In order to develop the banking system, to strengthen private banks and to increase the population’s confidence in them, requirements to the minimum amount of the banks charter capital have been increased, limits on the maximum share of foreign bank capital were eliminated and a centralized credit register introduced. With a view of increasing access of the population, especially in the regions, to banking services, a total of 40 new branches (21 in the regions) were created by 19 banks in 2005 alone.In total, by late 2007, 485 bank branches were functioning in the country. 9 According to the results of 2007, the amount of credits provided by banks to the national economy was equal to 4. 7 bln. AZN, the share of bank assets and credits in the GDP were 20. 9% and 18. 7%, respectively. Credits provided by banks to the private sector increased by 97. 7% in 2007 compared to the previous years, and its share in the total amount of credit was 57. 3%.As a result of the privatization of state property, more than 30,000 small enterprises and facilities have been privatized, about 1,500 joint-stock ventures established and more than 400,000 people have acquired shares and property. The main challenges now are to accelerate the second stage through privatization of social facilities, while keeping their orginal work profile and continuing to provide quliaty services to the population, and also of large-scale enterprises to promote more dynamic economic development.With a view t o improving transparency, efficiency and targeting in the budget process, relevant additions and amendments have been made to the Law on the â€Å"Budgetary System† and the Tax Code, the Programme on Introduction National Accounting Standards has been approved by the Cabinet Decree of July 18, 2005, and computerization of the treasury system continued during the implementation period of the SPPRED.In order to improve the infrastructure, especially in the regions, large public investments havd been made in social and economic infrastructure, including transport, water and sewage, amelioration, irrigation, power as well as health and education facilities.The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Arzurum gas pipeline, the restoration of the Great Silk Way (TRACECA), the implementation of North-South transport projects and the Baku-Tbilisi–Kars railway project (agreement in prinsiple on the construction has been reached) will not only increase regional importance of the country , but also improve the access of the population in these regions to infrastructure and markets and create a solid foundaton for entrepreneurship development. 4. 3. SPPRSD and Economic Policy 4. 3. 1.General Objectives and Targets The priority directions for economic development are as follows: ensuring macroeconomic stability; ensuring balanced and pro-poor economic development through creation of enabling conditions for development of the non-oil sector and expansion of income-generation opportunities, especially in the regions and rural areas. Many of the policy actions and measures in this sector are closely connected with other strategic objectives of the SPPRSD, namely improving good governance and institutional reforms.Apart from governance, there are other cross-cutting issues which are relevant to this sector, for example, gender issues (it is important that both men and women have equal opportunities to participate in the economic life of the country); and environment (econ omic development has to be based on sound management of the country’s natural resources, in order to preserve them for future generations, and to ensure that the current generation do not suffer from health and other problems related to over-exploitation of natural resources and lack of consideration or pollution effects).The policy measures in the â€Å"Macroeconomic Stability and Economic Growth† section have been grouped as follows: fiscal policy; monetary and exchange rate policy; development of financial markets; investment policy; industry and energy development; development of agriculture and ensuring food security; tourism policy. 4. 3. 2. Fiscal Policy 10 The followings are the main priority directions envisaged under the SPPRSD to improve fiscal policy: improving budget-related legislation; increasing budget revenue; increasing the efficiency of budget expenditure; improving the mechanism for managing state debt.In line with the economic policy to be implemen ted, and in order to increase the efficiency of budget forecasting, the existing legislative framework will be reviewed, relevant changes made to the Tax and Customs Codes, and adjustment of the Customs Code to international conventions and standards completed. With regard to increasing budget revenue, the number of tax exemptions will be reduced, unnecessary customs and tax privileges removed, the registration of tax evasion by legal and physical entities strengthened.At the same time, the rates for taxes and duties and social contributions will be revised, their optimal level identified, the mechanism for implementing the simplified tax regime and regulations on the application of VAT improved, and the VAT exemptions in import reduced to the minimum. In addition, public awareness will be raised to improve tax culture in the society. Increasing the efficiency of budget expenditure envisages implementation of activities in the following sub-areas: rationalizing budget expenditure; s trengthening control over budget expenditure; increasing the transparency of the budget process.In order to rationalize state budget expenditure the structure of consolidated budget expenditure will be improved, the severe increase of consolidated non-oil budget deficit in the GDP prevented, budget expenditure forecasted and planned taking into consideration approved targeted programs. In addition the legislative framework for introduction of per capita funding in budget expenditure will be established.With regard to strengthening control over the use of budget funds, the legislative framework will be improved, the role of long-term planning in the budget process increased, and financial control over budget funds enhanced through regular routine revisions and analyses. In order to increase the transparency of the budget process, the state procurement legislative framework will be improved, the monitoring system strengthened, electronic procurement introduced, and the regulations and standards used in the calculation of budget expenditure improved.At the same time, the institutional framework of state procurement will be strengthened, and professional capacity of the relevant staff increased through training. The state debt management mechanism will be improved, the foreign debt, especially commercial credits received under state guarantee will be regularly reflected in the state budget. Also, the mechanism for monitoring the financial activity of organizations which have received credit under state guarantee will be improved. . 3. 3. Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy Considering the importance of projected oil revenues for the country’s development, ensuring macroeconomic effectivness of the monetary policy will be prioritized. For this purpose strengthen sterilization capacity of the monetary policy, maintain the optimal trajectory for the non-oil deficit, regular and adequate design and implementation of MTEF, prevention of longterm rigidity of the re al effective exchange rate will be envisaged.As a result targetting of inflation at a satisfactory level will be ensured. 11 At the same time, the institutional framework of the monetary policy will be developed to allow more adequate decisions in monetary policy, and the system of management of monetary policy tools, banking system liquidity and currency reserves improved. Also, the real sector monitoring system will be established and bank statistics adjusted to international standards to increase automatic access to statistical reports. 4. 3. 4.Financial Markets Development The following priority areas have been identified under the SPPRSD to develop financial markets: developing the banking sector; developing the securities market; developing the insurance market. With regard to developing the banking sector, the capitalization of the banking system through the increase of chartered capital of the banks will be continued, Basel II standards introduced, the electronic payment sys tem developed and the system of deposit insurance established in order to adjust the banking system to international standards and to improve the system of banking supervision.The banking, micro-finance institution and credit union networks will be expanded in the regions, a postal deposit system established as well as specialized banks, including construction-deposit banks in order to provide the population, and in particular entrepreneurs, with broader access to banking services, especially in the regions. Also, the system of mortgage crediting will be developed and the access of people, especially vulnerable groups, to mortgage loans will be increased to help people improve their housing conditions.The establishment of an equal and competitive environment in the banking services market will be supported through expansion of the potential of private banks, more active attraction of foreign investment into the banking system and use of administrative anti-monopoly measures. With re gard to developing the securities market, the current legislative framework will be improved and a system aimed at protecting the rights of fixed-rate securities investors will be established. The system for making settlements will be improved and new ranches of regional professional representatives of the securities market, including the National Deposit Center, will be established in order to expand and develop the securities market. The establishment of selfgoverning (non-government) bodies of professional stakeholders of the securities market will be encouraged, a system for monitoring of joint-stock companies created, the use of securities in the mortgage market expanded and a security operations database created to improve market regulation.In order to integrate with the international securities market and to more actively attract foreign investment, the issue of Eurobonds and creation of investment funds will be supported. As for developing the insurance market, legislation r elating to insurance will be improved, insurance and re-insurance activity encouraged and a single register on foreign re-insurers and foreign insurance brokers created to adjust the insurance market to international standards and to increase its efficiency.In order to develop insurance activities research and specialized organizations, insurance associations will be established, state contro over insurance activities will be improved. 4. 3. 5. Investment Policy The SPPRSD includes the following priority directions for improving investment policy: improving investment management; promoting fair competition; supporting development of entrepreneurship, especially in the regions; strengthening the competitiveness of domestic production and increasing the export potential of the country; 12 expanding access to information and communication technologies (ICT).With regard to improving investment management, the existing legislative framework will be improved to protect private property an d improve corporate management and create a free competition environment for all investors, and a new â€Å"Law on Direct Private Investment† and other necessary legislative acts will be developed and adopted. Regular (mid-term) 4-year (covering the next year and the subsequent three years) public investment programs will be developed to finance SPPRSD priority investment projects in order to increase the prioritization of public investments in infrastructure.At the same time, comprehensive long-term sustainable development plans for the cities and regions will be designed and implemented in partnership with international organizations in order to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach in development of the regions, and to increase the efficiency of public investments to the regions. It is also planned to finalize the transition to international accounting standards in enterprises and organizations in order to adjust the activity of national businesses to international standards.With regard to promoting fair competition, a Competition Code will be adopted, regular monitoring conducted to prevent division of markets and application of agreed prices in the consumption market, and relevant financial sanctions applied when such cases are detected. Also, regular monitoring will be conducted and financial sanctions applied to increase state protection of consumer rights and to ensure compliance with regulatory acts for the manufacture, import, export and sale (wholesale and retail) of consumer goods.In relation to supporting entrepreneurship development the cooperation between relevant entities will be promoted, the establishment and development of public associations of entrepreneurs, including professional associations will be supported. Industrial zones (industrial townships and business incubators) will be established for the introduction of know-how and best practice in the development of entrepreneurship; the businesses will be better supplied wit h information and advice, and regular business forums will be organized to improve relations between local and foreign businessmen.Increase of amount of soft loans allocated from the state budget for entrepreneurial development and expansion of access of entrepreneurs in the regions to these loans will be ensured, activities will be enhanced to improve crediting effectivness. Also actions will be taken under the SPPRSD to encourage the business activity among youth and vulnerable groups.With regard to improving privatization and management of state enterprises, the privatization process will be continued in sectors open for privatization in accordance with the approved state privatization programmes and transparency and efficiency in the privatization process will be ensured. Also, the process of privatization of state shares of â€Å"International Bank of Azerbaijan† will be finalized under the SPPRSD. With regard to strengthening the competitiveness of domestic production a nd increasing the export potential of the country, it is planned to continue WTO admission talks in rder to work toward fuller integration of the national economy to the global economy, and to adjust national legislation on foreign trade to the requirements of the global trade system. At the same time, anti-dumping and other preventive measures will be carried out to protect the domestic market from unfair competition, the production of export-oriented goods and goods that can replace imported goods will be encouraged, national quality control standards will be developed, the certification system will be improved, and the system of state regulation of prices of goods (services) will also be improved.Local and international transportation management will be improved to expand access to international markets and the integration of national transport system into the global transport system will be strengthened through the â€Å"TRASECA† and â€Å"North-South† projects und er the SPPRSD. 13 As regards expanding the ICT access, in order to create a national information security system and to protect the information rights of citizens, the ICT access will be improved, and higher quality radio-TV broadcasting and satellite communication services will be improved on the basis of new equipment and technology.At the same time regional information centers will be established to provide state, public and sectoral information resources and to create information systems and networks, and profound and apllied scientific researches will be supported to ensure building of the information society. In order to improve state regulation of ICT, and standardization, certification and regulation of radiofrequency and numbering resources will be organized in accordance with international standards.Also, it is envisaged to upgrade the postal service and to introduce new forms of postal service in order to expand access of the people, especially rural residents, to ICT. 4. 3. 6. Industry and Energy Policy A state programme on the development of this sector, outlining the government’s medium-term activities, will be adopted under the SPPRSD in order to ensure comprehensive development of the industrial sector, including the non-oil sector. Also, in accordance with the â€Å"State Programme on Development of the Fuel-Energy Sector of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2005-2015)† approved by the Presidential decree #635 on February 14, 2005 or the purpose of development of the fuel-power complex, implementation of activities will be enhanced to establish a sound competitive environment in this sector, to improve the structure of the sector, to attract bigger investment to the sector, to provide environmental safety, and to ensure that full payment is received for the consumption of fuel and energy resources. The provision of meters to the population will be finalized to ensure efficient use of power and to strengthen financial discipline in the sector, and relevant public awareness activities conducted to promote the thrifty and efficient use of power resources.In order to increase efficiency in the power sector and to create a more competitive environment, the increase of the private sector involvement in the area will be supported, and the activity of the newly established Azerbaijan Investment Company will be strengthened to meet the investment needs of the non-oil sector, to introduce new technology and knowledge in the area, and to promote strategic cooperation with foreign investors.The potential use of alternative and renewable energy will be increased through creation of new capacity relying on alternative and renewable energy sources (small hydro power stations, wind farms), and regular monitoring will be conducted and relevant financial sanctions applied to minimize any negative impact on the environment from the development of the fuel-energy complex. 4. 3. 7.Agricultural Development and Food Security Since over 48% of the population lives in rural areas, the agricultural sector is still an important source providing relevant employment and income generation opportunities for households. It is important to improve the access of agricultural producers to credit, equipment and other vital inputs and services, while ensuring that land is used in an environmentally sustainable way. First of all, institutional reforms aimed at improving management efficiency will be continued in the sector to help develop agriculture under the SPPRSD.The policy of exempting agricultural producers from taxes will be reviewed to promote decent employment and self-employment in rural areas, and the access of people involved in agriculture to finance-credit sources improved. Also, the insurance mechanism will be improved to reduce damage to agricultural employers as a result of natural disasters. The â€Å"Agroservice† network will be expanded to improve access of farmers to agricultural machinery and differ ent subsidies and incentive mechanisms designed and introduced to increase 14 the production of needed agricultural products.The use of up to date technology and provision of the agricultural sector with the necessary market infrastructure through the involvement of the private sector will be supported to encourage the expansion of the network of agro-processing enterprises, and to increase the competitiveness of agricultural products. In order to ensure intensive development of crops, the supply of fertilizers to farmers will be improved, the standards applied to agricultural products upgraded, and the fumigation (disinfection) of exported and imported agricultural products strengthened.Private veterinary services will be expanded, and the physical-technical infrastructure of regional veterinary departments, phytosanitary services, plant protection stations and quarantine stations strengthened in order to improve veterinary and plant protection services. The restoration of fertilit y of pastures, their protection from erosion and their use will be improved to protect the lands, increase their quality and regulate the pasture load. The physical and technical resources of seed-growing, seedling and pedigree facilities will be strengthened to ensure their efficient operation.In order to provide the agriculture with high-quality specialists, the system of agricultural staff training will be improved, the physical and technical resources of agricultural science strengthened, and trainings, experience sharing and scientific researches done to increase managerial skills and knowledge of farmers. Development of the agricultural sector does not only enhance employment oppurtunities and expand income generation sources for population groups working for this sector but also plays a key role in strengthening food security.Recent price rise at the world and local food markets did not pass over and affect population of the country, especially its poor groups, food supplying and living standards. From this prospective, reducing of the local food market dependence from importation and food supply to local population due to local production development has special improtance. In order to increase agricultural production and to improve food supply of the country population the State Program on Secure Food Supply to the Population in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2015 was approved by the Presidential Decree on August 25, 2008.With a view of food supply improvement first of all systematic activities will be implemented to develop agrarian business, more effectively use households production capacities, and upgrade consumption customs for promotion of the local foods consumption and production. 4. 3. 8. Tourism Development In order to expand the opportunity to benefit from the tourism potential in the country, to develop employment and self-employment in the regions and to better coordinate activity in this sector, a State Programme on the Development of the Tourism Sector for 2008-2016 was drafted.The legal and regulatory framework will be improved to promote tourism activity. Considering the importance of infrastructure in the development of tourism, the PIP envisages activities related to restoration of roads, communucations, and electricity and gas supply in the regions. In addition, ecotourism, rural tourism and other alternative types of tourism will be developed and tourist routes established to provide access to the country’s national, historicalcultural, socio-economical and natural features.The capacity of the newly established Tourism Institute and Mingachevir Tourism College will be developed under the SPPRSD to improve the staff training system for tourism and to supply it with high-quality specialists. In order to strengthen awareness-building and publicity activites in the tourism sector, the performance of existing information centers will be improved and new 15 tourism information centers established in th e Airport named after H. Aliyev, the Gala village and Imishli, Ismayilly, Gabala and Masalli regions. Chapter 5 Employment Policy and Social Protection of the Population 5. . Employment Policy and Labor Market Regulation 5. 1. 1. Link to Poverty Maintaining macroeconomic stability and ensuring economic growth, development of the non-oil sector lead to an increase in monetry income of the population. But in order to achieve poverty reduction, macroeconomic stability and economic growth need to be accompanied by policies which improve access of the poor population to work income and production assets. From this prospective system measures aimed at supporting business and promoting employment create favorable conditions for increased income generation opportunities.Employment related issues are outlined in the section above. These issues are also specified in relevant sections of the SPPRSD. This chapter focuses at reducing unemployment, improving social protection of the unemployed, d eveloping labor market as well as promoting employment for vulnerable groups of population. 5. 1. 2. Current Situation and Main Challenges It is well known that unemployment is a main factor which is associated with greater poverty risk. According to calculations made under the ILO methodology there were more than 281,100 unemployed in 2007 or 6. 5% of the active population.Considering the importance of increasing employment opportunities in order to improve the population’s welfare, under the State Program on Socio-Economic Development of Regions for 2004-2008 and other relevant programs about 672,000 new jobs were created. Business development and creation of job places in this period have contributed to implementation of the well thought employment strategy and social policy. Last 5 years nominal cash incomes of the population increased 2. 5 and reached to 14. 3 bln. AZN in 2005 or 1,690. 3 AZN per capita. Cash incomes of population included wages (31. %), business profits (50. 4%), received current and considerable remittances (17. 2%) and income from property (0. 5%). The government employment policy provides support to the unemployed through a combination of active and passive measures. The passive measures mainly include the provision of unemployment benefits. In 2007, 2,523 unemployed received unemployment benefits minimum amount of which is 24 AZN. The active measures include organization of training courses and job fairs and many other activities aimed at creating and improving labor market and adjusting labor force to the economy needs.One of the main challenges is to further expand productive employment opportunities for population, especially in the non-oil sector. While share of the extractive industry in overall industrial production was 68% in 2007, it only employs 1. 1% of the labor force of the country. While employment creation will be achieved mainly through private sector development in the sectors outlined above, it will be importa nt to continue to undertake measures to help match the skills of jobseekers with those in demand on the labour market.It is also important to ensure that employees‘ rights are protected, and that there is reliable and regular data to allow monitoring of the labor market and employment situation. The improvement of wage regulation is another challenge. As was shown in the poverty results reported in Chapter 2, employment does not always protect individuals from poverty, due to the high number of low-paid and low-productive jobs. In recent years, a policy of increasing a 16 minimum wage to minimize the poverty risk among the employed has been pursued. Thus, the minimum wage has been increased, by stages, from 5. 5 AZN up to 60 AZN since 2003.Another problem relates to significant discrepancies between wage levels of those occupying the same positions in the public and private sectors. Thus in 2007 the average monthly wage in public sector was 171. 9 AZN and 296. 5 AZN, i. e. 1. 7 times higher in private sector. Education Health and social services Construction Mining industry Generation and distribution of electricity, gas and water supply 2006 86. 4 67. 2 198. 1 349. 4 134. 3 2007 144. 9 92. 5 298. 7 515. 5 210. 3 2006 128. 8 150. 7 403. 8 1,183. 2 272. 9 2007 186. 0 160. 7 454. 2 1,414. 8 198. 4 As Table 4. 1 shows, wages of people working in private health facilities are 1. , education – 1. 3 times, construction – 1. 5 times and mining industry – 2. 8 times higher than those working in public ones. This leads to the flow of more skilled staff from public facilities to private ones and has a negative impact on quality of services. 5. 1. 3. SPPRSD and Employment Policy The SPPRSD envisages activities in the following priority directions under the employment policy and labor market regulation: developing the employment system and strengthening the social protection of the unemployed; adjusting the training of specialists to labor marke t needs; improving the regulation f labor relations; strengthening labor market monitoring; expanding employment opportunities of the vulnerable groups. As regards developing the employment system and strengthening the social protection of the unemployed, State Programme on Implementation Employment Strategy for 2007-2010 was approved on May 15, 2007 under the Presidential Decree #2167.Within the framework of activities envisaged by this State Programme the management system of the State Employment Service will be improved, and the legal and regulatory framework for employment and work safety upgraded. Also, a single information database will be created to expand regular access of jobseekers and unemployed to vacancy information, and related awareness-building measures carried out among the people. At the same time, new consulting services and labor exchanges will be established.More official attention will be given to the vocational trainings aimed at providing job for the unemploy ed. The minimum amount of unemployment benefit will be gradually adjusted to the national subsistence minimum in order to further strengthen the social protection of the unemployed. Meantime in order to prevent inactivity and dependency of job seekers caused by growth of benefit it is envisaged to hold monitoring and to align gradual adjustment with efforts on retraining of job-seekers.As for adjusting the training of specialists to labor market needs by his Decree #2282 dated of July 3, 2007 the President of the country approved the State Program on Development of Vocational Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2007-2012. It is important to implement following measures in the vocational education section under SPPRSD: establishing direct relations between vocational education system and employers and training of specialists required by employers; 7 launching creation of the National Specialities Structure (NSS) based on the European system of specialities, comparable interna tionally and with national context shaped by the development of local economy and social sphere. NSS is a locally and internationally accepted multistage system used for measuring the training results (both formal and informal) which are interrelated and where ratio between all education and training diploma/certificates is established, i. e. nterrelated achievements made by trainees and graduates are measured through certificates and diplomas. In this sector a forecasting system will be established and marketing services organized in the educational institutions training skilled workers. Also, in order to develop the adult education system, the appropriate legislative framework will be prepared, a body of adult educators formed, new curricula developed, and resource centers organized for career-guidance and awareness-building purposes.The adult education system will cover the following directions: educating the adult unemployed, upgrading their skills, providing social and psycholo gical adjustments, preparing for employment in new sectors; updating knowledge and skills of the adult employees, conducting refreshment and retraining courses for them in order to increase their intellectual and scholar level; arranging study and social adaptation of the adult IDPs and refugees; delivering training to the adult disabled that will promote to their re-integration.At the same time, a database will be created and the existing statistics improved in order to ensure efficiency and sustainablity of adult education measures. Effective arrangements within this system will help citizens to participate in economic and social life especifically to those affected by economic restructuring to acquire new skills which will make them more competitive on the labor market. As regards improving the regulation of labor relations, an Action Plan will be developed and implemented for legalization of informal labor relations, as well as, control over conclusion of collective agreements a nd contracts strengthened.Such issues as provision of employment and social protection of workers will be further focussed in the above mentioned agreements and contracts. Minimum wages will be gradually increased up to the national subsistence minimum and since 2011 it will exceed that minimum. It will become a substantial factor in elimination of the poverty riskis. The wage system for staff of budget-funded organizations will be improved with consideration of enhancment their financial autonomy and responsibilities as well as promotion of final outcome of this system in order to eliminate disbalance between wage levels aimed at improving overall wage policy.Measures related hereto will be aligned with those one in Chapter 4 of the SPPRSD that cover introducing normative (per capita) financing in fiscal policy. Also, wage supplements for geographic location and other difficult working conditions will be introduced, and principles identified for unification and payment of wage supp lements and bonuses to staff in the public sector. As for strengthening the labor market its regular monitoring will be carried out, and a national information system on the labor market, employment, labor safety regulations and standards established in order to help flexible policy making in this area.Furthermore, labor migration management system will be improved. 18 As concerns expanding employment opportunities of the particularly vulnerable groups, an Action Plan will be prepared for the development of entrepreneurship and self-employment among women and their retraining, also business training programs will be arranged, and measures introduced to improve labor conditions and social protection of those employed in the private sector, especially women.At the same time, an Action Plan will be prepared to improve gender equality in those sectors where there is a clear gender imbalance, and new jobs created for the population groups in urgent need of social protection. For this pur pose, the ILO Convention on employees with family responsibilities will be ratified and the national legislation adjusted to the Convention. 5. 2. Social Protection of the Population 5. 2. 1.Link to Poverty International experience suggests, while long term poverty reduction will be achieved through economic growth coupled with increasing employment and income generating opportunities in all regions of the country and different sectors of the economy, there will always be vulnerable members of society who will depend on the state system of social protection to help protect them from poverty. The state has a duty to offer these vulnerable groups effective social protection.Social protection is one, but not the only, mechanism for ensuring that some of the country’s wealth is redistributed from the richest to the poorest sections of society. It should be noted that social protection cannot offer any long term solutions to help vulnerable to exit from poverty. International expe rience suggests that disproportional oversaturation of the social protection sector generate dependency syndrome among people. As a result it affects economic activity and impedes development. In the wide sense there are 3 main elements of social protection. One is a social insurance element, which is designed to elp citizens prepare for times in their lives when they will not be able to earn their own living, e. g old age, sickness, and unemployment. Social insurance pensions or benefits are based on payments/contributions made by individual citizens during their working years, with some contribution from employers. The other element of the social protection is a social assistance system which consists of targeted state aid and social allowances and is material support paid from the state budget for those who have no insurance, other sources of income or their income is below the established rates.The third element of the social protection is a social assitance and special social m easures system addressed to the especially (socially) vulnerable population groups, i. e. IDPs and refugess, children deprived of parental care, disabled and children with limited health, old and alone citizens, etc. 5. 2. 2. Current Situation and Main Challenges Important measures have recently been undertaken in Azerbaijan to bring the social protections system in line with modern requirements.As a result of these purposeful measures the separation of the insurance and pension system from