Analysis of Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare Essay

In â€Å"Sonnet 18† by William Shakespeare and â€Å"Death† by John Donne, both poems describe how death is escaped. Both writers suggest that we shouldn’t fear death, because with death comes life. The use of imagery, metaphors, and personification are used to develop these themes of the sonnets. However, each sonnet addresses how they view immortality in different ways. While â€Å"Sonnet 18† focuses on immortality by capturing beauty, immortality in â€Å"Death† is viewed through a religious perspective. The speaker of the poem â€Å"Death† shows fearlessness in the first stanza of the poem. â€Å"Death be not proud, though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so† (1-2). Here death is being personified and confronted about his arrogant ways. The speaker lets death know that he is not as strong and scary as people perceive him to be. In the following lines death is brought down even more. The speaker reveals that death can’t really end our life because when we die we would then begin living eternally. John Donne uses his belief in Christianity to suggest to the reader there is life after death. The writer uses a metaphor in line five to compare death to â€Å"rest and sleep† to make matters worse. â€Å"From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be† (5). Rest and sleep are two things that are peaceful and calm, and are things we aren’t scared of at all. Sleep is interpreted as a temporary death which we wake up from in t his poem. The speaker talks about how death is doing people a favor by ending their life. â€Å"And soonest our best men with thee do go-/Rest of their bones and souls’ delivery† (7-8). These two stanzas propose that when death presents itself to us, we will finally be relieved of the pain, agony, and troubles of the world. Within stanza nine, imagery is used to describe the true image of death. Death is characterized as a servant who follows the rules of fate, chance, and kings as they are the only ones who make the calls on who dies or not.â€Å"Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men† (9). While death tries to fool us into to thinking he is the one who controls us, we realize that Death is really the one who is being controlled. As we read through the poem, we find out things about Death like who he associates with. The writer makes Death seem like someone we should not be afraid of when he affiliates him with poison, war, and sickness. In contrast the speaker’s beloved escapes death in â€Å"Sonnet 18† because he is written about in a poem. The poem starts off showing appreciation towards beauty by asking if he should compare his friend to a summer’s day (1). Within this stanza development, the speaker uses imagery to describe his beloved to a summer day. When we talk about summer time, we think of nice weather, nature’s beauty, and sunshine, all things which are compared to his beloved. Shakespeare repeatedly uses the word â€Å"more† in the second stanza to further suggest how beautiful this person is. He continues to going into detail about his friend, and how â€Å"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion dimm’d† (5-6). Here the eye of heaven is a metaphor that is represented as the sun. The writer comments on summer’s imperfections to remind the reader that summer isn’t always perfect. Sometimes summer is too hot, and other times the sun is dimmed by the clouds. We capture the temporariness of summer’s season in Shakespeare’s sonnet as well. Stanzas seven through nine emphasize how everything eventually comes to an end as time goes on (7-9). We know that as fall approaches and the weather becomes colder, nature becomes vulnerable. Leaves begin to fall from the trees and flowers begin to die. The writer makes a contradiction about the mortality of his beloved though. â€Å"But thy eternal summer shall not fade† (9). This suggests that his beloved’s beauty will not end like the season of summer does. Finally the writer explains that as long as people are alive to read poems, his beloved will be immortal because the sonnet brings life to the person he is referring to (13-14). These last stanzas reveal a metaphor that argues his beloved is better than a summer day because unlike summer, his beloved’s beauty will never fade. Both sonnets escape the inevitable because of their different views on death. While the writer of â€Å"Sonnet 18† defeats death by capturing beauty in a poem, John Donne defeats death by belief of what is to come after this life. These two poems suggest that we shouldn’t fear mortality because it only reveals life after death. Work cited Donne, John. â€Å"Death.† The Giant Book of Poetry. Ed. William Roetzhem. San Diego: Level Four Press, Inc.2006. 21. Print. Shakespeare, William. â€Å"Sonnet XVIII.† The Giant Book of Poetry. Ed. William Roetzhem. San Diego: Level Four Press, Inc.2006. 13.Print.

Food for Education Improves Girls’ Education the Pakistan Essay

In the last decade, access to primary education has improved significantly in many parts of the world (World Bank, 2006). Yet, 77 million children of primary school-age, are not in school and 57 percent of them are girls. Despite overall advances in primary enrolment, significant gender disparities remain particularly in certain regions, notably the Arab States, South and West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Beyond the primary level, the gender inequalities in education are even more significant. In secondary education, only one-third of countries have reached gender parity and women account for 64 percent of the world’s illiterate adults – a figure, which has not progressed during the last decade (UNESCO, 2007). Girls’ education is affected by a variety of factors relating both to the demand and supply side of schooling: gender-stereotyped curricula and teaching practices, school infrastructure not adapted to the needs of girls (lack of separate toilets, school fencing, girls boarding facilities, etc. ) risks for girls’ safety on the way to and at school (girls being abducted, at risk of rape at school) or negative socio-cultural practices (early marriage, low value given to education of girls). One of the most significant obstacles to girls’ education is the direct and opportunity cost of schooling, which affects girls disproportionately. Girls from poor households register very low levels of school completion in many countries (Bruns, Mingat, and Rakotomalala 2003). In India, for example, a study found that, amongst poor girls, less than 10 percent had completed elementary education (grade 8), compared to 85 percent of rich boys (15-19 years age group). Educational attainment of girls was consistently lower than for boys across all income groups (Filmer 1999). Research from Guinea concluded that â€Å"Family income or wealth is a key variable that explains differences in educational opportunities and attainment between families. †¦ Poverty in a family will have a more detrimental effect upon the decision to enrol a girl in school than boys (Tembon and Al-Samarrai 1997). This is linked to the fact that girls spend a significant amount of their time on work, particularly domestic chores and agricultural labour. Their ‘child work benefit’ for parents, and thus the opportunity costs of their schooling, are thus greater than for boys. A survey in northern India found that girls’ responsibility for domestic labour and for sibling care was by far the most important reason for not sending them to school or for their dropping out (The PROBE team 1999). A study from Bangladesh came to the following conclusion: â€Å"Normally, a rural Bangladeshi woman works 10-14 hours a day, though most of this work is not visible or reflected in national statistics. †¦ The need to perform domestic chores to help their mothers impedes girls’ participation in formal education, forcing them into irregular attendance and/or to leave school† (UNESCO 1998). In addition, there is evidence that direct educational costs are higher for girls than for boys, for example because girls need safe transport to school or better school clothing to â€Å"look decent† (Herz and Sperling 2004). Where women and girls have low societal status, poor parents are often more reluctant to invest their meagre resources into the education of girls rather than that of their sons. Food for Education (FFE) programmes – school feeding (school meals or snacks) and, particularly, the provision of take-home food rations (THRs) – have proven to be an effective means of addressing these obstacles, enrolling more girls in school, keeping them enrolled, and enhancing their adulthood wellbeing and productivity as a result. In this paper we review the rationale behind FFE, particularly of THRs in supporting access to education  for girls and summarise the findings on the effectiveness of THR programmes available in the published literature. We then complement the evidence with a case study on a FFE programme in Pakistan designed to support girls’ education. Cost-effectiveness is central to policy-making on achieving gender equality in education; to date, however, there are very few studies that assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of FFE programmes. The Pakistan case study attempts to fill this gap by analysing the costs and benefits of the girls’ education programme. 2 Programme Description FFE programmes are widespread in developing and higher income countries. In 2005 the UN World Food Programme supported FFE programmes in 74 countries, benefiting almost 22 million students of whom 48 percent girls. Some 3 million girls received dry, take-home food rations in support of their education. Take-home food rations typically consist of food commodities that are of high value to families and part of their standard food basket, such as cereals or vegetable oil. They are distributed monthly or quarterly; sometimes, the distribution time is also targeted to the agricultural lean season, when family food supplies are lowest and little food available on the local markets. Receipt of the food ration is conditional upon the student’s regular attendance; in the case of WFP-supported FFE programmes, for example, a minimum of 80 percent monthly attendance rate is required. This helps to ensure that students don’t just enrol but actually attend school regularly. FFE interventions are generally designed to improve school participation amongst poor, vulnerable, food insecure populations and target areas where access to school and school completion are weak, particularly for girls. The risk of not accessing and/or completing primary school, a form of â€Å"educational vulnerability† anchored within a context of poverty and food insecurity, may be used to describe the common characteristic shared by the children targeted by FFE. This idea reflects the reality that household choices regarding education are often a result of complex decision processes, where poverty and hunger play an important role in determining the schooling outcomes (Dreze and Kingdon, 2001). As we have seen above, these factors are particularly significant in the case of girls’ education.. In a general model of FFE (WFP, 2007), the initial outcome that drives increased school participation is the incentive to the household to send children to school. Generally, the incentive is achieved by way of an income transfer to the family of the student and also through an enhancement of the services provided at school (Bergeron & Del Rosso, 2001). FFE also has an incentive effect on pupils actually wanting to go to school to receive some food, rather than staying at home and missing out. Both of these effects will contribute to shift, in the short-term, a households’ decision towards increased schooling. The effects are most significant amongst poorest populations and where education, including girls’ education, is not well established. Figure 1 summarises the main impact theory for THRs and traces the causal links between inputs and the desired educational outcome of increased access, promotion and completion for primary school children, particularly girls. Food for Education (FFE) programmes providing take-home rations are more suitable to target individual students such as girls and less complex to implement than conventional school meal programmes that require substantial investments both in terms of infrastructure and community inputs. For instance, THRs in the form of 4 litre vegetable oil cans are fairly easy to store and distribute, and THR distributions take place only once per month or less. More important, however, take-home food rations provide a more direct, higher value income transfer to families than school meals, which in turn provide the incentive for increased school participation. From this perspective, THRs provide an immediate, income based benefit, and another long-term benefit stemming from the returns to increased education, serving as both protective and promotive social protection (Devereux and Sabates-Wheeler, 2004). On the other hand, THR are not suitable to address nutritional and health issues affecting school children and their education, particularly cognitive capacity, which is a well established outcome of school meals (Kristjansson et al. , 2007). 3 MDG 2&3 Improved attendance Food Take-home rations distributed on condition of pupils’ regular attendance Targeted HHs received THRs on condition of their children’s regular attendance Incentive for HHs reduced drop-out Increased enrolment Better academic performance Changing parents’ attitude regarding schooling. Figure 1: Food for Education impact theory for take-home rations Impact of FFE programmes on girls’ education Evaluations of FFE programmes (see Adelman et al. , 2006) have shown that FFE programmes lead to increased enrolment and attendance, of girls in particular, reduced dropout particularly in the lower primary school grades, and for on-site meals or snacks programmes improved student learning capacity. Literature databases were searched to identify relevant studies on the physical and social benefits of FFE programmes to girls. The educational outcomes considered included school participation (including enrolment, attendance and drop-out). Primary school age children were the primary subjects of all the studies considered. Only one study was found on the impact of THR programmes highlighting the gap in evidence on this topic. Another paper was found on the comparative effects of the different modalities of FFE including THRs. One field-oriented evaluation of a WFP FFE programme was also identified in Pakistan and this is included in the main body of this paper as a case study. In Bangladesh, IFPRI and the World Bank evaluated the impact of a Government FFE programme (Ahmed and Del Ninno, 2002) that covered over 2 million children in 2000. The enrolment in FFE programme schools was found to have increased by 35 percent over the two year period between the programme start and after its first year. This increase was driven by a remarkable 44 percent increase in girl’s enrolment and by a 28 percent increase for boys. In non-programme schools enrolment increased by 2. 5 percent (5. 4 for girls and 0. 1 for boys) during the same period. Attendance in FFE assisted schools was found to be 12 points higher than in non-assisted schools (70 percent compared to 58 percent respectively). Drop-out rates were also found to be 9 points lower in FFE assisted schools than in non-assisted schools (6 percent compared to 15 percent respectively). The overall programme costs were reported to be US$0. 10 per child per day, though no analysis of the costs was provided. Another study analysed the comparative effects of the different modalities of FFE, including onsite meals combined with THRs (Gelli, Meir and Espejo, 2007). The results of this study of WFP monitoring and evaluation data showed that the provision of the FFE programme contributed to increasing absolute enrollment in WFP-assisted schools by 28 percent for girls and 22 percent for boys in the first year. Enrollment patterns after the first year varied according to the type of FFE program. Where provision of take-home rations for girls was combined with on-site feeding for all pupils, the increase in girls’ absolute enrollment was Increased access, promotion & completion, particularly for girls 4 sustained at 30 percent after the first year. However, in schools providing on-site feeding alone, the rate of increase in absolute enrollment after the first year reverted to the rates of increase found in the year prior to FFE implementation. The provision of take-home rations also appeared to reduce the dropout rate of female students, particularly in the higher grades. In addition, an analysis of WFP project expenditures in 2005 (Gelli, Al-Shaiba and Espejo, 2007) showed that the average cost of WFP THR programmes was US$29. 94 per child per year, the most expensive of FFE modalities. However, the cost driver for THR was mostly the large volume of food provided (72 percent of total programme costs, compared to 58 percent for school meal programmes). A study by Dreze and Kingdon from 2001 examined the effects of a wide range of determinants of school participation in rural northern India, focusing on school participation as a household decision. Amongst the school quality determinants, it was found that female school participation was about 15 percentage points higher when the local school provided a mid-day meal (MDM). Mid-day meals also were found to have a major positive effect on girls’ grade attainment; chances of completing primary education were 30 percentage points higher for girls living in a village with MDM. However, the MDM did not affect the enrolment of boys. The study confirmed that female schooling is far more influenced by household economic status than boys’ schooling: â€Å"parents are not generally opposed to female education but they are reluctant to pay for it. School meals could make a big difference here by reducing the private costs of schooling. † An earlier study found that the noon meal programme in Tamil Nadu in India attracted more girls to attend school and improved the attendance of those already in school (Devadas, 1983). The Pakistan Girls’ Education Programme Data on women’s participation in education in Pakistan shows low girls’ primary school net enrolment (59 percent) and female adult literacy rates (35 percent). Although female enrolment is increasing rapidly in all regions, girls’ participation rates at all levels are lower than that of boys and gender gaps persist, particularly in rural areas (WFP Pakistan, 2005). Since 1995, WFP has been providing food assistance to support the efforts of the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to improve access, retention and completion of girls’ primary education in 28 selected food-insecure districts of Pakistan, including seven districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The seven districts within the NWFP of Pakistan were identified by a WFP vulnerability analysis and mapping (VAM) study as being amongst the most food insecure areas in the country. Women and girls in these areas face huge barriers in terms of access to education. At the time when the project started, female literacy in rural areas was only around 10 percent and the primary participation rate of girls less than 30 percent. As a result, a take-home rations programme was introduced within these seven districts with the objective of increasing enrolment, retention and completion at girls’ primary schools. In 2005, THRs were provided monthly to 326,784 girls in 2,697 schools in vulnerable areas within 28 districts in the 5 provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and NWFP. Ration distribution was condition to regular school attendance. The monthly THRs consisted of a 4 litre tin of vegetable oil fortified with vitamin-A, and had an estimated value on the local market of US$5. Implementation Process Under the Country Programme agreement signed by the GoP and WFP, WFP is responsible for providing the commodities for the FFE programme to the port of Karachi. The GoP is responsible for the food distribution to the 28 districts, as well as the management of the timely delivery of the food in good condition from all the district warehouses to the assisted schools. Project Implementation Units (PIUs) were set up by the GoP in each assisted province to run the FFE programme. WFP provided a small truck for each district at the beginning of the project to facilitate the logistics and implementation. However, because of the very difficult terrain in the targeted low profile districts of NWFP, ensuring a timely 5 supply of the THRS to the schools has been challenging. As a result, many schools received the oil supply every second month or even later. Only two oil tins at the most, are distributed to a student to cover the back-log of non-supply during the previous period. At the school level, the head teacher generally receives the oil rations and supervises the distribution to the pupils, conditional to monthly attendance rates of at least 80 percent. The entitlement of each student is checked against the school monthly attendance registers before the THR is distributed. The District Officers Education & Deputy or Assistant District Officers also pay monitoring visits to the schools and verify this aspect. Programme costs Project expenditure data was reviewed in order to estimate the costs of the FFE programme. WFP reports annually on project expenditures, alongside other project statistics, in its standard project reports (SPRs). Expenditures are broken down into commodity, transport, landside transport shipping and handling (LTSH), other direct operational costs (ODOC), direct support costs (DSC) – which added together form the direct project costs (DPC). A percentage of the DPC is then factored in as indirect support costs (ISC) to support WFP Headquarters. Table 1 presents a breakdown of total WFP expenditures in the country in 2005 alongside an estimate of the expenditure on the FFE programme, broken down by WFP cost category. Table 1: 2005 WFP total and estimated FFE expenditures in Pakistan Country Programme Total WFP Country Programme expenditures (USD) 11,667,043 970,358 0 90,856 621,934 874,879 14,225,070 Estimated school feeding expenditure (USD) 6,133,819 510,155 0 47,767 326,975 459,958 7,478,673 % FFE over total expenditures 82% 7% 0% 1% 4% 6% 100%. Commodities Transport LTSH ODOC DSC ISC Total Regarding the government contributions to the programme, the 2005 expenditures for each of the PIUs, divided into direct and indirect expenditures, are shown in Table 2Table 1. Direct expenditures have been divided into two parts i. e. (i) PIUs expenses which include staff salaries, renting of stores/warehouses, and other running expenses and (ii) the Transportation Cost incurred on the transportation of oil from Karachi to respective districts/tehsils/schools. Indirect expenditures include the expenditures (adjusted by proportion of time spent on programme activities) of other staff members of government who manage the FFE programme i. e. distribute oil, monitor its distribution and send reports to PIUs from Districts / tehsils / schools level whose salaries are not charged to PIUs. These staff members include the Executive District Officers, District Education Officers (Female), Deputy District Education Officers, Assistant Education Officers, Store keepers, School Teachers and Peons etc. These expenditures have been calculated by WFP Pakistan based on estimates following discussions with each respective PIU. As the entire FFE programme is managed by the provincial governments, PIU expenditures include all cost items required to deliver and manage the FFE programme. In 2005, school feeding activities accounted for 53 percent of food distributed in the whole WFP Country Programme. There were no further expenses incurred by the community in the running of the FFE programme. 6. Table 2: A breakdown of GoP budgeted expenses in 2004/2005 for FFE (THR) activities PIU Provinces Punjab Sindh Balochistan AJK* NWFP Total PKR 328,568 6,444,556 7,612,000 1,162,000 3,306,300 18,853,424 Direct Expenditures Transportation US$ PKR US$ 5,569 109,230 129,017 19,695 56,039 319,550 9,004,158 2,490,927 1,778,225 6,678,000 3,495,000 23,446,310 152,613 42,219 30,139 113,186 59,237 397,395 Indirect Expenditures PKR 22,984,227 23,795,400 20,183,829 25,194,939 92,158,395 US$ 389,563 403,312 342,099 427,033 1,562,007 PKR 32,316,953 32,730,883 29,574,054 7,840,000 31,996,239 134,458,129 Total US$ 547,745 554,761 501,255 132,881 542,309 2,278,951. Having collected estimates for the different costs that are associated with the FFE programme, from the procurement of food down to the distribution of the THRs to the school girls, we estimated the total cost of FFE in Pakistan for 2005. WFP and GoP contributions for 2005 total $9,757,624 USD, and dividing this by the number of beneficiaries resulted in $29. 85 USD per school-girl per year. In 2005 in Pakistan, food costs accounted for approximately 63 percent of the total cost. The share of WFP expenses over the total cost was 77 percent, with the remaining share covered by the GoP. The cost per beneficiary increases to $63 USD per child per year if we adjust for full food distribution to all the planned beneficiaries, and assume perfect attendance. Key outcomes and Impact. In 2004-2005, a set of surveys were carried out to assess educational and other socioeconomic programme outcomes (WFP Pakistan, 2005). The evaluation included the collection and analysis of detailed school-level records from all the 826 WFP-assisted schools and a set of 79 randomly selected non-assisted schools (control) in the region. A secondary study of the available literature (GoP, WFP, and other partners) and data was also undertaken, including an analysis of data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and in-depth interviews with various partners involved such as government, WFP officials, community members, parents, teachers and students. The evaluation showed that the programme had multiple benefits for girls’ education: †¢ The overall enrolment at sampled schools increased by 135 percent between 1998/99 and 2003/04, whereas during the same period enrolment at control school increased by only 29 percent. There was a particularly strong increase in enrolment in the first grade of primary school (Kachi class): 211 percent at programme schools, compared to 5 percent in control school. This indicates that the programme was particularly successful in stimulating enrolment of girls who, until then, had never entered a school. On average, 88 percent of students attended school for twenty or more days per month (and were thus eligible for the take-home ration). Despite the positive effects on enrolment and attendance, completion of primary school remains a problem. Out of every 100 female students enrolling in 1998/99, only 44 percent reached grade 5. Although the primary school completion rate improved to 47 percent for the cohort starting school in 1999/2000, this only reflected a national trend, and programme schools actually showed worse results than control schools. This shows that the effect of the food incentive is not sufficiently strong to ensure that girls stay in school as they get older, and older girls of the family might be replaced by their younger siblings. †¢ †¢ †¢ 7 †¢ †¢ The programme also broke new ground and increased awareness of girls’ education. Before the programme started, 48 percent of households did not send any of their daughters to school; now all parents educate at least one daughter. While 38 percent of respondents said that the food incentive was the only reason for sending their daughter to school, 29 percent they would continue educating their daughters even if the programme stopped. 27 percent said that general hostility to girls’ education in the community was no longer an issue. The food incentive was much appreciated by the families and provided them with tangible benefits. 32 percent of community members interviewed said that their income had increased, generating savings in the family budget and that they had more free time for agricultural activities or business. Costs and benefits of the FFE programme A basic framework was developed by WFP in order to evaluate the cost and benefits of the FFE intervention designed to support girls’ education (Espejo et al. , 2006). In this model, the benefits from FFE are assumed to consist of two components; the first is the monetary value of expected lifetime additional earnings after successful completion of primary school, whilst the second is the market value of a monthly take-home ration, provided on condition to a girls’ school attendance throughout the programme duration. If we apply this cost-benefit framework to the FFE programme in Pakistan the results show that every USD spent on the FFE yields approximately 1. 68 USD in benefits. An alternative to estimating the benefits of education through the monetary value of expected lifetime additional earnings after successful completion of primary school is to estimate the extra school days gained through the effect of a particular intervention aimed at increasing school participation. Comparisons of actual pupil attendance days to the perfect attendance day total can provide a single measure of school participation that encompasses enrolment, drop-out and absenteeism, the three main educational outcomes linked to FFE. A simple model developed to estimate the gain in pupil attendance days in FFE schools using averages for attendance, drop-out and enrolment resulted in an estimated 25 extra school days per child per year (WFP, 2007). This translates into approximately $240 USD per additional year of schooling for girls in Pakistan. The cost and effects of the THR programme are summarised in Table 3. Table 3: Estimated measures of cost-effectiveness of THRs in Pakistan (Source WFP Pakistan 2005, WFP SSFS 2003). Enrolment Effect (per year) Cost 22% increase Education Attendance 10% increase Drop-out 5% decrease 25 extra school days per year per pupil 30-60 USD per child per year Lessons learnt â€Å"Of all the programmes initiated in NWFP, this one has made the most visible impact. It has contributed a lot in this province† Fazle Manan, Director of Schools and Literacy from the Ministry of Education, when asked of WFP’s assistance to girls’ primary education. The FFE programme triggered a marked increase in enrolment of girls in assisted schools in Pakistan. The enrolment more than doubled during the first three years of intervention. These types of incentives and awareness campaigns are imperative to boost girls’ education, to improve female literacy and reduce the gender gap, especially in remote rural areas. However, the retention of girl students in the school system and further improvement of the participation rate is essential to achieve universal primary education. 8 As a result of the increased enrolment, the nearly empty school buildings have become more used, providing a better return of investment to the community and the government. However, the quality of education, itself a major incentive for sending children to school, has been constrained by the lack of teachers. Moreover, many of the assisted schools suffer from a want of adequate facilities, including furniture, water, sanitation, and boundary walls. This issue highlights the need to ensure that once children are in school, efforts are made to enhance the learning environment, as well as to support pupil attendance and retention. The involvement of the community and the local government has been essential to mobilise the resources necessary for improving the school infrastructure. The FFE project has raised the awareness among the assisted communities about the importance of educating girls. Even the most reluctant parents are now sending their daughters to school. This change in attitude is a remarkable achievement against the backdrop of the social and cultural taboos that had prohibited the education of girls in the past. The mothers of the girl students now get out of their homes and visit schools to enquire about the progress of their daughters. Most of the females in far-flung rural areas were previously not allowed to step outside their homes; now girls are going to schools and their elderly female relatives visit schools to enquire about the attendance, progress in studies and probable dates of supply of oil. This change in social attitude and behaviour is an important achievement of the programme. Future plans The impact of the THR programme in supporting access to education for girls in rural, food insecure areas of Pakistan has been remarkable. Though WFP was involved in the design, management and implementation the FFE intervention, the ownership of the overall programme was, through the course of the programme, handed over to the Government of Pakistan. As of 2005, project implementation units staffed with senior level Government officials took-over the full responsibility of the programme in terms of food delivery to schools, programme monitoring and reporting. Financial contributions from the Government of Pakistan have also been essential to the success of the programme to date. The successful hand-over of the programme management will be critical to ensure the sustainability of the FFE programme in the future. 9 References Adelman S, Gilligan DO, Lehrer K. (2006). A review of the economics of Food for Education programs. International Food Policy Research Institute. Ahmed AU, Del Ninno C. (2002) Food for Education program in Bangladesh: an evaluation of its impact on educational attainment and food security. Food Consumption and Nutrition Division, Discussion Paper 138. International Food Policy Research Institute Bruns B, Mingat A, Rakotomalala R. (2003) Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015: A Chance for Every Child. Washington, D. C, World Bank. Del Rosso J. (1999) School Feeding Programmes: Improving Effectiveness and Increasing the Benefit to Education. A Guide for Programme Managers. Devadas RP. (1983). The Honorable Chief Minister’s Nutritious Meal Programme for Children of Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore, India: Sri Arinashilingam Home Service College Devereux S, Sabates-Wheeler R. (2004) Transformative Social Protection’, Working Paper 232, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies. Dreze J, Kingdon G. (2001) School Participation in Rural India. Review of Development Economics. 2001; 5 (1), 1-24. Espejo F, Gabriele A, Gelli A. and Knips V. (2006) Submitted. Evaluating Food for Education Programmes: A Pragmatic Approach. International Journal of Educational Development. Gelli A, Al-Shaiba N, Espejo F. Estimating the cost of Food for Education Interventions. 2007. Filmer D. (1999) Educational attainment and enrolment profiles: A resource book based on analysis of demographic and health survey data; Development Research Group; Washington DC, World Bank Herz B, Sperling G. (2004) What works in girls’ education: Evidence and policies from the developing world. New York, Council on Foreign Relations Kristjansson EA, Robinson M, Petticrew B, MacDonald J, Krasevec L, Janzen T, Greenhalgh G, Wells J, MacGowan A, Farmer A, Shea BJ, Mayhew A and Tugwell P (2007) School feeding for improving the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged elementary school children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Issue 1. Tembon M, Al-Samarrai S. (1997) Who gets primary schooling and why? Evidence of gender inequalities within families in Guinea; IDS Working Paper 85; Brighton, Institute of Development Studies The PROBE Team (1999) Public Report on Basic Education in India; New Delhi, Oxford University Press United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme. The Essential Package. Twelve interventions to improve the health and nutrition of school-age children. WFP, 2005. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Education For All Global Monitoring Report. Strong Foundations. UNESCO, 2007. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The Leap to Equality. UNESCO, 2004. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation Bridging the gap between intention and action: Girls’ and women’s education in South-Asia. Bangkok, UNESCO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 1998. World Bank. From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes: An Unfinished Agenda: World Bank, 2006 World Food Programme Pakistan. Situation Analysis: WFP’s Assistance to Girl’s Primary Education in selected districts of NWFP. WFP Pakistan, 2005. World Food Programme. Food for Education works: a review of WFP FFE monitoring and evaluation 2002-2006. WFP 2007. 10.

Blood Donation: Reasons to Donate

Q: Hav u ever donated ur blood? Y? MKT case from America's Blood Centers(ABC). It was founded in 1962 and is the national network of nonprofit, independent community blood centers. The members of it work for more than 125 million ppl and more than 3,100 hospitals. It carried out a survey nationwide via telephone interviews in order to encourage ppl to donate blood. Reasons for giving blood: umani'tarian reasons as their primary reason for donating blood; 4 out of 6 top reasons are al'truistic motives: helping the community and responding a blood shortage Wanting to help others 34% Responding to a blood drive 25% Helping the community 13% hearing about a shortage 7% Because I might need it someday 4% Helping a local child 2% Reasons for not donating blood 44% cite health issues as reason for not†¦this group is likely to be difficult to call up donating. risk health); however, ;half(52%) say other reasons: being scared of the process and unawareness never thought about it 17% too busy 15% scared of process 10% afraid of infection 4% don't know where/how to give 4% don't know anyone in need 2% !many reasons could be eliminated by some specific education about the ease,speed and safety of the process of the blood donation. and make ppl aware the need for blood. ABC gave some effective msgs to encourage blood donation. family member, frd or child is in need. 86% 92% extremely and compelling†¦(see in table 4. 3) In addition, it find out the ppl who donated 1-2 times, 18-34 yrs ones and ppl who said†never thought about it†as the reason for not donating are most likely to change mind to donate blood. while the target were asked twice about the question: whether someone is likely to donate blood in the next 12 months. The yes answer grows from 34% to 41% It turns out that roughly 8% of respondents switched to yes while only 2%.. no.

Role of therapist in serving the old population Research Paper

Role of therapist in serving the old population - Research Paper Example The growth in the aging population in developed countries like United States of America has rendered due complexity to the treatment of complex diseases and chronic illnesses. The treatment of chronic illnesses in case of aging population demands the enhanced involvement of the human factor. The traditional systems of providing healthcare services to the aging population requires a sea change with the incorporation of a team of medical professionals operating in various medical fields. Further the modern health care system focused at elderly population must also encompass a larger network of specialized hospitals and nursing homes. Moreover more effective concepts promoting the development of rehabilitation centers along with home care systems pave the goal to health care success for the old people. This integrated model of modern healthcare is considered to be the most effective in providing proper medical services to the growing ageing population in United States. The aging people tend to become weak and frail to continue with their daily functions. Thus physicians largely relate moderate walking exercises and conducting of other activities where the elderly people can better communicate with themselves as potential instruments to help the elderly population regain confidence. Thus hospitals and nursing homes providing healthcare services to the old population must perform in an integrated network with also assisting collaboration from social and rehabilitation bodies. This will entail success to the treatment offered (Cassel, Fleece, & Reddy, 2009, pp. 47, 52-54). Role of Therapist in serving the old population Family Therapy The increase in the level of life expectancy in the United States is contributing a growth in the elderly population in United States. Further the mass of the elderly population in United States owes its origin to the baby boomer effect in the country. The elderly population in these countries largely feels unsecured about the changes h appening in the society. They feel traumatized about the various events happening around their surroundings. Hence elderly people suffering from chronic diseases often feel themselves to have become burdens on their family members and hence suffer from acute depression. In addition to the above effects the elderly people tend to take a lot of medicines by themselves without adhering to prescriptions. This leads to increased complications. Thus therapists taking care of the old population must endeavor to understand the complex family relationships of the elderly people with other factors like loneliness for having lost their spouses. This reflects the pressing need for a proper psychotherapy treatment to be offered to the elderly patients to help revive their condition. However, research shows that only a small fraction of the old population has proper access to this type of treatment. The main causes attributed behind such are lack of proper awareness about the treatment type. Ther apists’ failure to convince the old people to take resort to such treatments to cultivate their well-being has resulted into the development of negative mindsets about such treatment. Further the treatment type require high amount of expenditure often not met by the insurance companies thus culminating to their refraining to take resort to such treatments. The therapists providing health care services are also found to ignore the needs for providing psychotherapy to the elderly population. Therapists are often found stating that elderly people are stubborn by nature and hence do not feel the need to change. These medical professionals suffer from lack of training and lack of interest in their endeavor to serve the old population. The therapists tend to draw a stereotypic mindset that the elderly people are tough patients to be treated and hence must be left at their own plight. Thus healthy care bodies have come up in America, which is endeavoring to create mass awareness amo ng the elderly popul

CASE BRIEFING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CASE BRIEFING - Essay Example Hence, MGM sought damages while respondents claimed that they did not control or monitor the use of the software (Casenote Legal Briefs, 2009). 3. History: The district court and the court of appeals both had ruled the decision in favour of MGM with respect to copyright infringement but did not hold the respondents responsible for it and summary judgement was granted. MGM had then decided to move to Supreme Court appealing for summary judgement in their favour (Casenote Legal Briefs, 2009). 6. Reasoning: The evidence that MGM produced clearly showed that the respondents marketed and sold the software as tool that could be used to share copyrighted material. The respondents had a clear purpose of making profits from the violation of the act from the users. The respondents had actively promoted pirating. File sharing tools are not illegal and the manufacturers of the tools are not responsible for how the users use the tool until and unless the manufacturer actually encouraged infringement. I am of the opinion that the respondents encouraged sharing of copyrighted material on their software. Yes, the respondents cannot control how their software will be used once it is sold but if they generate a sale by promoting the software as a tool to share copyrighted material, then the main purpose of the software will be pirating. Hence, respondents should be held responsible for copyright infringement. Unlike the Sony Corp v. Universal Studios, the only use of software is to share files which can be copyrighted or not. In Sony, VCRs could only play already copyrighted content and in no way contributed directly to

Czech Republic country analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Czech Republic country analysis - Essay Example (4) Masculinity pertains to the degree to which a society supports the traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power (â€Å"Hofestede’s Cultural Dimensions† 1, 2, 3, 4). (1) Czech has a slightly lower power distance index in comparison to the US. This means that in the Czech Republic managers treat their subordinates with respect, entrust them with vital work and may even socialize with their subordinates. This is supported by the fact that the Czech has a well-educated population (â€Å"Czech Republic† 2). (2) The US individualism score is substantially greater than the Czech’s. In the Czech Republic the social unit is more important than the individual. Therefore when running a business there one has to remember that conformity is not only expected but is also perceived positively. In line with this it is important to note that most Czech’s end business early on Fridays for shopping or traveling to their country cottages for the weekend. (3) The US has a fairly greater masculinity score than Czech. This means that in Czech Republic men and women are given equal opportunities and positions. This would definitely affect the staff recruitment policy for a business moving from the US to Czech. With less masculinity, the Czech culture prioritizes family relationships and quality of life over work. People work to live which implies flexible working hours and longer vacations than their counterparts in the United States. This could be a disadvantage to opening a textile factory because the workforce may not be as willing to work round the clock to meet the often demanding short lead times characteristic of successful apparel retailers. (4) The Czech has a substantially greater uncertainty avoidance score than the US. According to Hofstede this is reflective of a society with a deep and long cultural history and a largely homogeneous population. The high

Thematic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Thematic Analysis - Essay Example It is the objective of this paper to present a thematic analysis concerning the working experiences of two (2) distinct hairstylists in the UK. Each hairstylist represents one kind of salon classified according to size: from a small independent salon versus that from a large chain salon. According to Fereday, a thematic analysis is a â€Å"search for themes that emerge as being important to the description of the phenomenon† – in this case, any underlying difference or similarities in the hairstyling business. This is determined from interviews conducted as part of an ESRC project about learning in the workplace during the years 2004 – 2007. As part of the thematic analysis process, coding is required. Fereday, in their article, defined coding as â€Å"a process in thematic analysis which involves recognizing (seeing) an important moment and encoding it (seeing it as something) prior to a process of interpretation†. Accordingly, he mentioned that the primary objective of coding (or tagging) is for â€Å"data retrieval. It is used to classify text according to theme, so that later on, when doing analysis, it is easy to retrieve all passages that relate to a given topic. Finally, to enable one to reach conclusive arguments from the codes and themes presented, analytical memos are necessary. According to Usability Glossary, analytical memos are â€Å"brief notes used during the coding and construction of data that summarizes a possible interpretation or analysis of the data. Accordingly, memos assist in remembering particular analysis and enable one to focus future data collection and coding to explore ideas in the memos.† It is imperative to note that the primary objective of going through with the interview or data collection was to represent the subjective viewpoints of hairstylists who shared their work experiences in their

Extend Definition of Secratary Job in Office Essay

Extend Definition of Secratary Job in Office - Essay Example Historically, the word ‘secretary’ has been derived from a Latin word ‘secernere’ which is a synonym for the English word ‘secret’ (Dictionary.com, 2011). Hence, one of the most important duties of a secretary involves handling and managing of classified or confidential information of the office. Who, among us all, can underestimate the role of the secretarial staff at Pentagon or White House! The responsibilities of a company secretary depend upon the size of the firm or company that appoints him/her, the activities undertaken by the company and the expectations of his/her employer(s). Other than that, the basic job of a secretary revolves around documentation, from typing to efficient file keeping and record tracking. Times and again, he/she is asked to record minutes of a meeting and prepare relevant supporting documents to reach to meeting conclusions / decisions. This way, he/she is expected to be both, a fine listener as well as a speedy w riter and typist (Lazary, 1988). The requirements for a secretarial post usually include a typing speed of 70 – 80 WPM (words per minute) and a legible handwriting. Along with that, secretaries are regularly asked to maintain filing systems in a perfectly arranged order. This is important so that the files can be found and accessed easily and quickly, at the time of need. A secretary must be aware of the basic rules filing systems, which include arrangement in accordance to alphabets, numbers, geographic location and subject. Secretaries are also responsible for attending and managing phone calls for their respective employers. During working hours, they are to answer all the calls and must have the clear understanding of which calls need to be dealt by them and which are to be forwarded immediately to their bosses (Lazary, 1988). They should also know what the person on the other side of the cradle will be calling about in case of regular and frequent callers, and must devel op a friendly relationship with them. This is important because they are representing the office on the online and any careless attitude expressed with the calling clients can serve as a blow to the office’s prestige. When it comes to mail reading, it is essential that the secretary is familiar with the standard forms required and used in the office (Macmichael, 2011). For example, if a person wishes to apply for the post of a legal secretary, he/she must have reasonable knowledge of bill, memo, affidavit, mortgage, lease, power of attorney etc. as he / she will not only be using them, but also held responsible for these different documents procurement and supply. Some other commonly assigned tasks include budget allocation, appointments scheduling, travelling arrangements, emails tracking, updating websites etc (Lazary, 1988). In a way, an efficient secretary’s job scope may range from compiling menu for a business lunch to managing corporate level conferencing betwee n business tycoons. The well-trained secretary is an extremely valuable employee to the company if he/she is able to accept the assigned tasks willingly and relieve his/her employer of many management liabilities. Blessed will be the boss whose secretary comes up with the required reference material for the document under discussion. A secretary also has to attend

Outsourcing is here to Stay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Outsourcing is here to Stay - Essay Example Off-shoring refers to the task which is assigned to a third party based in another country away from the country who intends to carry out the work. With an increase in globalization and the amount of task being outsourced, the difference between outsourcing and off-shoring is hardly felt. Counties like India and China have been two hotspots for carrying out outsourcing task. Central and Eastern Europe are attractive destinations, but costs are rising there, too. Offshoring is actually increasing in Africa and the Middle East, but political instability poses ongoing challenges there. In our day to day use, we get to hear different abbreviations like BPO, ITO, and KPO. But what do they actually mean and where lies the difference We need to look into the details of each and try to know the difference between these three different types of outsourcing. a. Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) - it refers to outsourcing a specific business processing task. It can again be divided into two categories namely front office outsourcing and back office outsourcing. Front office outsourcing includes customer-related services like marketing, technical support etc and back office support refers to services like billing or purchasing. b. Information Processing Outsourcing (ITO) - To impart information, information processing outsourcing too is being carried out both for front and back office support. c. Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) - Similar to ITO, we have the knowledge processing outsourcing units known as KPIs who by and large are knowledge-based units who provide analytical, technical and have decision-making skills. Pharmaceutical Research & Development units mainly fall under this category.     Even though outsourcing has been a very common concept in today's world mainly for the developing countries like India, but there are a large number of issues pertaining to this sector. Many BPOs, ITO, and KPIs have not been able to succeed in today's world because of a huge competition. The clients who have been able to deliver quality resource have been able to succeed. Thus, there is a need to have quality assurance and quality check to successfully carry out the task. The other problem that one can foresee is the conflict that arises between the client and the vendor. The client intends to get better service, often at lower costs, than it would get by doing the work themselves.

Concepts in Physical Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Concepts in Physical Science - Essay Example By combining observations rational arguments and experimentation he supported the theory of vision. He corrected the preconceived notion by stating that the rays of light are emitted from objects rather than coming from the eyes. He rejected the old theories of Ptolemy and Euclid about the theory of vision.He also corrected Aristotle’s theory where he had claimed that objects emit physical particles towards the eyes. During the first millennium, BC Babylonian Astronomy evolved into the most successful examples of scientific astronomy. This method of astronomical study was the first successful attempt at refining the mathematical description of astronomical movements. All further developments in astronomy by the Islamic world and the Indian scientists was made possible due to such research. During the middle of the fifth century BC, other great philosophers like Plato mentioned teaching arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry. The field of chemistry is as ancient as the scientific thought process itself. The earliest record of using metals by humans appears to be gold. It is usually found free or raw in nature and does not include chemical processing to obtain it. It also means that other metals like silver, tin, copper, and iron gave the earliest humans an opportunity to work with metals. Democritus was a Greek philosopher who founded the atomistic school where he worked on finding the reasons why different substances had different properties and why they existed in different states.

Training and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Training and development - Essay Example Experimental collection design for training evaluation offers the best design to use in the determination of the training outcome. The design offers a stronger link between the training outcome and the learning process. Experimental training design can evaluate that the training process led to a change in behavior. As much as the design may be difficult to implement, it avails accurate information needed for organizational growth(Arthur et al., 2003). Experimental collection design is an important factor for this case because it estimates the degree to which a training program has been successful. In addition to this, the design provides stronger evidence of causality that change in training as well as a powerful connection between the training outcome and the learning process. (ADAPP) program sought out to compare the trained group to another non-trained group, which makes it a very suitable design for hypothesis testing. Furthermore, learning as well as behavior is due to the training and only training program. (Saks & Haccoun, 2013). Training and development are crucial functions of the human resource management to ensure the staff yields quality performance. Since the employees are one of the most important assets that help in achievement of organization’s objective, the nature of training and development should be one that focuses on achievement of objectives. After a successful training session, the management of an organization must then carry out an evaluation process to determine the impact of the training process on the improvement of performance. It is thus important that the human resource management must have an appropriate evaluation design that will give an elaborate indication on the training outcome(Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). The three models that measure the effectiveness of training evaluation include;

Mary Shellys Frankenstein Essay Example for Free

Mary Shellys Frankenstein Essay In Chapter 5, Frankenstein brings the monster to life. Shelly uses a typical gothic method of mimicking Frankensteins disgust for the creature with weather, the dreary night of November. Frankenstein is appalled at his creation despite that the monsters limbs were in proportion and he had selected his features as beautiful. Frankenstein then describes the creature in such a way that the reader learns that although Frankenstein attempted to create beauty but is faced with the disgusting looks of the creature. his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. Shelly uses an ironic contrast of life and death in describing the monster, using elements like yellow skin which is relevant to a new born baby with jaundice and straight black lips, which is relevant to a dead body. She also uses descriptions like shrivelled complexion which is relevant to both a baby and a corpse. The creature also reacts to life as a new born baby does. It breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. This contrast is effective in showing the reader the irony in the fact that new life is given to parts of the dead. Shelly effectively describes the creature with enough detail to allow the reader to interpret the creatures appearance individually and also empathise with Frankenstein. Frankenstein has been disillusioned whilst creating the monster, but when it becomes alive, he is faced with its ugliness and abandons him. This is not an example of unconditional love and links in with Elizabeths arrival into the Frankenstein family. Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be more hideous as that wretch. The memory of the shock of the monsters looks is very powerful to Frankenstein and Shelly portrays this by using words like Oh! when Frankenstein is telling Walton his story. Frankenstein has a dream after creating his monster in which, as he kisses Elizabeth, she turns into the corpse of his dead mother. I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death. I thought I held the corpse of my dead mother. This dream shows that Frankenstein has subconscious fears of harm coming to his family, which does actually happen later on in the novel. The dream is an effective example of foreshadowing, another typical gothic technique effectively used by Shelly. The reader could also interpret that the dream foreshadows Frankensteins fears of creating the monster a wife. It presents the idea that although Frankenstein first thinks that building a companion for the monster will keep his family safe, the consequences could be much worse if he does as it is possible that the creatures will breed. The monster is not reunited with its creator until several months later, where he tells Frankenstein of the hardships of life he has endured as an abandoned and disfigured child. Father and son meet in the mountains; this location could be interpreted as an effort by Shelley to use the mountains symbolically, showing Frankensteins guilt for abandoning his child or as the towering glaciers threatening Frankenstein; telling him that nature is not to be toyed with by man. The creature learns that humans should have families by reading a book that he finds whilst living near the French family he grows to love. He meets a blind man from the family who treats him with kindness, but when the rest of the family see him, they drive him from their cottage with stones. This teaches the monster that people hate him for his ugliness and therefore develops a hatred for his creator for making him so ugly. Upon meeting Frankenstein, the creature makes a direct relationship between the bad parenting and upbringing he endures with his own desire to harm others when he claims misery made me a fiend. Shelley uses this line as a blatant point that bad parenting will result in evil.

Art, Drama, Music and Elements of Play

Art, Drama, Music and Elements of Play Art is important. Even as adults, we do enjoy engaging in different form of arts. The art has been associated with private leisure experience, separated from the main business of life. The arts are naturally playful however we should not associate it as unrealistic or lack of seriousness (Swanwick, 1988). Playing is part of learning and arts can help children flourish personally and emotionally (Swanwick, 1988). The arts are complementary part of a broad education; the arts when taught well can help raise attainment in other areas as they are intimately entwined with other learning areas (Arts in Schools Project, 1990). Drama comes naturally to young children and they are often engaging in pretend play. Children dramatic experience should be supported in school with activities that develop the childs ability to use his or her imagination, body and voice. Drama allows preschoolers to express themselves freely and interact with others. Some dramatic activities in which have been conducted in class since the taught module was drama games and role-play. The activities conducted were the Jungle game (similar to fruit salad) and freeze game. Through the activities, the children were encouraged to explore the limitations and the possibilities of movement inside a given space. The children learnt to share space with others and how to relate to others playful way. They explored how space, and people or objects in space, can have symbolic and dramatic meanings (Winston and Tandy, 2009). During the period of time, we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of some of the games taught during the module and modified a little. The children were from the age range 4 to 6 years old. There were two new children who were in the class for less than a month. They were Chinese expatriate and did not understand English. One child was more shy and withdrawn. He usually only interacts with the other child who was also from China. However during the activity, all the children were seen engaging in the activity. At first during Jungle game the children were given new role which are different types of animals in the jungle. They had to swopped places when their animals were called; when hunter is called out, everyone had to swop places. In the process, some children were seen knocking into each other and most only went to the few seats away from them. However, after a few rounds with the game, they were able to explore the possible movement inside the specified place. The children were able to explore and share the space without knocking into each other. Even the two China boys were able to engage in the activity and pretended to be the animals by imitating their movements as they move in the circle. As for the freeze game, the children pretended to be animals moving in the jungle, avoiding to be caught by the hunter. It was surprised that the children imitated the sounds of the animals as they moved when it was not told to them that they had to. It was amazing how dramatic games can lead children into different world showing their different side and creativity. Another activity conducted was interview of the character in the story. During that period we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of the story The forest child and pretended to be the hunter. The children were really involved in the activity and took turns to ask questions. That was the first time that we engaged in this kind of activity thus the children were excited and eager to ask questions. After several questions, I was surprised that the boys from China actually put up their hands and asked question: Why you so angry. I did not think that they could understand the activity we were engaging in, not to even say ask question using English language, which was a foreign language to them. Through this activity, the children could enter into the world of the story and try to find solutions. As the children are familiarised with the activity, they took turns to be the hunter. Through the activities, the children learnt to take turns by respecting others contribution, develop spatial awareness, and explore own body possibilities through imitating of different characters. Minimum props were used during the activities to encourage more imagination. Through imaginative play, children are experimenting with and learning how to manage the core elements of drama, those of time, space, people, action objects and subject matter (Winston and Tandy, 2009). Drama is a great way in providing children the opportunities to learn about themselves and others. It encourages interaction with each other and learn about body and spatial awareness. During drama, children are also encouraged to think differently. During role-play, they can become others, enhancing the creativity, and encouraging them to think about what certain people might think, say, or do in a given situation. It allows children to hide behind a mask and to be different. Music Music is a way of knowing the life of feeling (Langer as cited in Swanwick, 1988). In our preschool setting, we did not have much chance for musical activity during lesson time. It was usually during enrichment programmes which several children will go for their music lessons. During the module, many fun and meaningful activities were taught which could be implemented into the preschool setting. The activity that was conducted with the children was making music through musical instruments. I made used of the activities planned with my group during the module presentation, which was regarding the story of Big Al. The children were provided with musical instruments such as bells, tambourine, cymbal, maracas, drum, triangle and some other traditional musical instruments that were made of bamboos. The children were given the opportunities to choose and play the instruments according to different emotions and scenarios of the story. Music was combined with drama work in this case. Half of the children in the class acted out the story while the others created effects for the dramatisation using the instruments. The children had to imagine that they were in the story. According to Swanwick (1988), young children enjoy very loud and very soft sounds and are fascinated by tone and timbre and they can begin to see music as expressive. It can be observed during the activity. The childr en enjoyed exploring the loudness of sound produced from musical instrument. When it was exciting situation, they played the music fast and loud, and soft when sad. They were able to determine the speed of music by playing the various musical instruments. The children were able to create different expression using music. During the activity, two older boys were observed to be leading the group in the change of the music. Working in cross-age groups enables younger children to observe and learn from more experienced learners, while the opportunity to scaffold the learning of younger children enables the older children to clarify their thinking (Duffy, 1998, p.116). According to Duffy (1998), children need sufficient place to work and easily accessible resources if they are to make the best use of creative and imaginative experiences. Thus educators should provide more experience for art activities even when outside of lessons. After the module, I tried the method of giving the children freedom of recording. Recorder was introduced to the children and it was placed in the music corner in the classroom. After a week, to my surprised, I heard the voices of the two boys from China with a few other children from the recording. At first they said their name and begun humming some unfamiliar music (probably self-composed) with accompany of the musical instruments. When they sang louder, the music became louder too. This showed that they could make use of the tempo and dynamics according to the different emotions. There was expression in the music formed. Through the activities, the children could develop musical awareness and skills in terms of tempo and dynamics. Elements of play According to Swanwick (1998), the three elements of play significant to learning through arts are mastery, imitation and imaginative play. All these three elements were evident during the implementation of the activities. For mastery, the children were able to learn to work with others to make dramatic meaning and control of the musical instruments, keeping consistent rhythm. For imitation, the children were able to deal with the expressive nature of the art form. They were able to make musical sounds that suggest different scenarios. Lastly for imaginative play, the children could experiment with musical instruments until it suggest the appropriate scenario. The children were also seen experimenting with different movement during dramatic play. Practice motivates children as practice teaches them how to concentrate which in turns leads them to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of art they are learning and the pleasures of producing work of quality (Winston, 2010, p.77). If we wish chi ldren to be creative, we should ensure that all children feel valued and accepted; thus children will feel secure to take risks or make mistakes (Duffy, 1998). That was apparent in the case of the two Chinese boys who were at first withdrawn from the group and slowly got into the activities, engaging with the others. Conclusion As children grow, it seems that much of the school day is taken up by core subjects; creativity and imagination are often treated as additional or luxury. Thus it is the role of the educators in helping to ensure that the children have opportunities to engage in creative and imaginative experience (Duffy, 1998). A cross-curricular approach allows us to draw on the appeal ad potential of creative experiences to encourage learning and development in all areas of the curriculum. Children should be active participants in their learning. With appropriate planning, we can connect art with many other areas of the curriculum. This can provide valuable opportunities to place learning in real life experience by making stories and living through them, rather than hearing them told by the teacher. Arts provide creative release for children; children will have fun while they are learn, enhancing a lifelong desire for learning.

Flexible Manufacturing System Analysis

Flexible Manufacturing System Analysis Historyof Flexible Manufacturing Systems Introduction AFlexible Manufacturing System(FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is a certain degree offlexibilitythat allows the system to react in the case of changes, whether predicted or unpredicted. According toMaleki[1], flexibility is the speed at which a system can react to and accommodate change. To be considered flexible, the flexibility must exist during the entire life cycle of a product, from design to manufacturing to distribution. Flexible Manufacturing System is a computer-controlled system that can produce a variety of parts or products in any order, without the time-consuming task of changing machine setups. The flexibility being talked about is generally considered to fall into two categories, which both contain numerous subcategories[2]. The first category, Machine Flexibility, covers the systems ability to be changed to produce new product types, and ability to change the order of operations executed on a part. The second category is called Routing Flexibility, which consists of the ability to use multiple machinesto perform the same operation on a part, as well as the systems ability to absorb large-scale changes, such as in volume, capacity, or capability. The main advantage of an FMS is its high flexibility in managing manufacturing resources like time and effort in order to manufacture a new product. The best application of an FMS is found in the production of small sets of products like those from amass production. FM systems are supposed to provide the manufacturer with efficient flexible machines that increase productivity and produce quality parts. However, FM systems are not the answer to all manufacturers problems. The level of flexibility is limited to the technological abilities of the FM systems. FM systems are being used all over the manufacturing world and though out industries. A basic knowledge of this kind of technology is very important because FM systems are involved in almost everything that you come in contact with in todays world. From the coffee maker to your remote control FM systems are used all over. History of Flexible Manufacturing Systems At the turn of the twentieth century, FMS did not exist. There was no pressing need for efficiency because the markets were national and there was no foreign competition.Manufacturers could tell the consumers what to buy. During that period, Henry Ford had been quoted as saying â€Å"People can order any colour of car as long as it is black.† All the power remained in the hands of the manufacturer and the consumers hardly had any choices. However, after the Second World War a new era in manufacturing was to come. The discovery of new materials and production techniques increased quality and productivity. The war led to the emergence of open foreign markets and new competition.The focus of the market shifted from manufacturer to consumer. According to Maleki, the first FM system was patented in 1965 by Theo Williamson who made numerically controlled equipment. Examples of numerically controlled equipment are like CNC lathes or mills whichKusiaksays are varying types of FM systems. During the 1970s, with the ever-growing developments in the field of technology, manufacturers started facing difficulties and hence, FM systems became main-stream in manufacturing to accommodate new changes whenever required. During the 1980s for the first time manufacturers had to take in consideration efficiency, quality, and flexibility to stay in business. According to Hoeffer, the change in manufacturing over time was due to several factors. (Hoeffer, 1986) Increased international competition, The need to reduce manufacturing cycle time, and Pressure to cut the production cost. Everyday new technologies are being developed and even FM systems are evolving. However, overtime FM systems have worked for many manufacturers and hence will be around for the time to come. The Process of Flexible Manufacturing Systems As has been discussed above the flexible manufacturing system can be broadly classified into two types, depending on the nature of flexibility present in the process, Machine Flexibility and Routing Flexibility FMS systems essentially comprise of three main systems.[3] The processing stations: These are essentially automated CNC machines. The automated material handling and storage system: These connect the work machines to optimize the flow of parts. Central control computer: This controls the movement of materials and machine flow. The FMS as a system stands out because it does not follow a fixed set of process steps. The process sequence changes according to requirement to allow maximum efficiency. Sequence of material flow from one tool to another is not fixed nor is the sequence of operations at each tool fixed. Key Features of the Process[4] Some characteristics that differentiate FMS from conventional manufacturing systems are their technical flexibility, i.e., the ability to quickly change mix, routing, and sequence of operations within the parts envelope and also complexity resulting from the integration, mechanization, and reprogrammable control of operations i.e., parts machining, material handling, and tool change. Some key features of the process are discussed below. Cell: It consists of several groupings of two or more automated machines within a company. Each grouping is called a cell. All the machines present are controlled by a computer. They are programmed to change quickly from one production run to another. A key feature is the automated flow of materials to the cell and the automated removal of the finish item. Several cells are linked together by means of an automated materials-handling system, and the flow of goods is controlled by a computer. In this manner a computer-integrated manufacturing process is initiated. Random bypass capability: The material handling system has a random bypass capability, i.e. a part can be moved from any tool in the interconnected system to another because the transport system can bypass any tool along the path, on demand. This implies: Each part can traverse a variable route through the system. Again, this flexibility in material handling, in combination with multipurpose tools, makes it possible for a flexible manufacturing system to process a great diversity of parts. Automation: Computers are the heart of automation. They provide the framework for the information systems which direct action and monitor feedback from machine activities. As FMS involve a wide variety of components, each with their own type of computer control, many of these computer components are installed as islands of automation, each with a computer control capable of monitoring and directing the action. Each of the computer controls has its own communication protocol based on the amount of data needed to control the component. Thus, the task of computer integration is to establish interfaces and information flow between a wide range of computer types and models. Computer software provides the ability to transmit timely and accurate status information and to utilize information which has been communicated from other computers in FMS. Component redundancy: In FMS as the equipment is highly integrated, the interruptions of one component affect other components. This results in a greater time to trace the problem when compared with isolated components. In some cases, the interruption might be due to some other integration effect, and greater downtime may result before the actual cause of the problem is found. In this situation, component redundancy provides flexibility with the opportunity for choice, which exists when there are at least two available options. Flexible manufacturing contains functionally equivalent machinery. So in case of failure of one machine the process flow is directed towards a functionally equivalent machine. Multiple Paths: A path in flexible manufacturing represents a part sequence and requisite fixtures to complete its required operations. In a conventional machine environment, only one path exists for a part because a single fixture remains at a single machine. However, this is not the case within flexible manufacturing systems, where there are multiple paths. The number of paths which are present within flexible manufacturing is a measure of the degree of flexibility. Obviously, the higher the number of paths, higher is the degree of flexibility. Flexibility ranks high in Japan†²s manufacturing strategy but not in America†²s. A true flexible factory will not only build different versions of the same car, like a coupà © or a station wagon, on the same production line, but also a completely different car. This is what the Japanese factories are setting out to do. The cost of one factory can be spread across five or ten cars. Apart from lower fixed cost, it is also less painful to stop making one of those cars if it fails to sell. FMS as a system of manufacturing process can be compared to other processes in terms of the product volume it generates and its capacity for creating part variations. The above depicts the position of FMS vis-à  -vis that of stand-alone machine and transfer lines. The horizontal axis represents production volume level and the vertical axis shows the variability of parts. Transfer lines are very efficient when producing parts at a large volume at high output rate, whereas stand-alone machines are ideally suited for variation in workplace configuration and low production rate. In terms of manufacturing efficiency and productivity, a gap exists between the high production rate transfer machines and the highly flexible machines. FMS, has been regarded as a viable solution to bridge the gap and as a gateway to the automated factory of the future. The Process: With Reference to particular companies[5] Though the features of this manufacturing innovation process are similar across all types of firms, the manner in which they are adopted and implemented depends on product type, manufacturing, maintenance, process planning and quality control processes. It is also contingent upon the people carrying out these processes; the productive resources being used and the organizational arrangements used to divide and coordinate the processes distinguished. The description of the layout of a company that has adopted the flexible manufacturing system gives a clear idea of how the system works in practical life. It has all the features as mentioned before of a typical FMS. Flexible Manufacturing System at The Hattersley Newman Hender (H.N.H.) This company, located in U.K. manufactures high and low pressure bodies and caps for water, gas and oil valves. These components require a total of 2750 parts for their manufacture. That is why they decided to go for the system of F.M.S. to fulfill their machining requirements in a single system. The process described below shows how FMS is used for efficient production for this company. Their FMS consists of primary and secondary facilities. The primary facilities include 5 universal machining centres and 2 special machining centres. The secondary facilities consist of tool settings and manual workstations. System layout and facilities: Flexible Manufacturing Systems [F.M.S] Primary facilities: Machining centres: The FMS contains two 5-axis horizontal ‘out-facing machines and five 4-axis machining centres under the host control. All the machines have a rotating pallet changer each with two pallet buffer stations. These stations transfer pallets to and from the transport system which consist of 8 automated guided vehicles. The 5 universal machining centres have 2 magazines with capacity of 40 tools in each magazine. The special purpose out-facing machines (OFM) each have one magazine having a capacity of 40 tools. The tool magazines can be loaded by sending instructions to the tool setting room either from the host computer or the machines numerical controller. Processing centres: The system contains two processing centres a wash machine and two manual workstations. Ø Wash machines: It contains two conveyor belts where one is for input and one for output of pallets, each with a capacity of three pallets to transfer the pallets. The wash booth has a capacity of three pallets. The pallets are washed in the booth and turned upside-down to drain out the water. Then they are dried with blown air. Ø Manual workstations (ring fitting area): The operator fits metal sealing rings into the valve bodies at the manual workstations. He receives work instructions via computer interface with the host. Secondary facilities: Auxiliary stations: Ø Load/unload stations: The FMS has four-piece-part load and unload stations. Loading and unloading is performed at these stations with the instructions again received via computer interface with the host. Ø Fixture-setting station: At these stations the fixtures are readjusted to accommodate different piece parts. Ø Administration of tools: Tools are assembled manually. The tool-setting machine checks the dimensional offsets of the tools and generates a bar code for further identification of the tool that has been set. Auxiliary facilities: Ø Transport system: The transport system consists of a controller and 8 automated guided vehicles (AGV). The system also contains an A.G.V. battery charging area. Ø Buffer stores: The FMS has 20 buffer stores in order to store the empty and loaded pallets while they are waiting to be taken to another transfer station (i.e. a load/unload station or a machine tool etc.). Ø Maintenance Area: This facility caters to pallets that may be damaged or need servicing or for storing scrapped piece-parts. Ø Raw Material Stores: These stores are located in front of the load / unload stations and are used to store the raw materials (like forged valve bodies etc). The store is served by two fork-lift-stacker cranes and motor roller conveyors. It has a capacity of 80 containers. Ø Fixture store: The fixtures that are not stored in FMS are stored here. It has a capacity of storing 120 fixtures. The store is served by a stacker crane and motor roller conveyors. Flexible Manufacturing System at TAMCAM Computer Aided Manufacturing (TAMCAM) Lab. This is an example of flexible manufacturing system that is used to describe the TAMCAM Simulation-Based Control System (TSCS)[6]. This system is located within the TAMCAM Computer Aided Manufacturing (TAMCAM) lab. The system consists of three CNC milling machines, one CNC turning centre, two industrial robots, and an automated cart based conveyor system. In addition to the automated equipment, human operators are used to load and unload some machines and perform assembly and inspection tasks. Advantages of Flexible Manufacturing System Why would firms embrace flexible manufacturing systems? What benefits does FMS provide? Answers to these two questions are important to the success of flexible manufacturing systems. It is important to understand the impacts on product life cycle, direct labour input and market characteristics. Various advantages arise from using flexible manufacturing systems.[7] Users of these systems enlist many benefits: * Less scrap * Fewer workstations * Quicker changes of tools, dies, and stamping machinery * Reduced downtime * Improved quality through better control over it * Reduced labour costs due to increase in labour productivity * Increase in machine efficiency * Reduced work-in-process inventories * Increased capacity * Increased production flexibility * Faster production * Lower- cost/unit * Increased system reliability * Adaptability to CAD/CAM operations Since savings from these benefits are sizeable, a plethora of examples from the manufacturing industry are available to illustrate these benefits. â€Å"A major Japanese manufacturer, by installing a flexible manufacturing system, has reduced the number of machines in one facility from 68 to 18, the number of employees from 215 to 12, space requirements from 103000 square feet to 30000 and processing time from 35 days to a 1.5 days† â€Å"Ford has poured $4,400,000 into overhauling its Torrence Avenue plant in Chicago, giving it flexible manufacturing capability. This will allow the factory to add new models in as little as two weeks instead of two months or longer. The flexible manufacturing systems used in five of Ford Motor Companys plants will yield a $2.5 billion savings. By the year 2010, Ford will have converted 80 percent of its plants to flexible manufacturing.† The benefits enlisted above are the operational benefits.[8] Flexible Manufacturing Systems also give rise to benefits in terms of strategy for the firm. Operational Benefits Strategic Benefits Lower Costs per unit A source of competitive advantage in present and future. Lesser workstations Less space in plant required. Reduced Inventories Less of Storage Space. Plant Layout gets simplified. The space is freed up for other activities. Increase in labour productivity Lesser workforce required. Operational Flexibility Ability to meet varying customer demands in terms of numbers (seasonality) and choices. Improved Quality Increased customer satisfaction Less inspection costs Lesser lead time Increased Machine Efficiency Less technical workforce for handling maintenance and repair Less Scrap and Rework Consistent Production Process On a macro level, these advantages reduce the risk of investing in the flexible manufacturing system as well as in ongoing projects in such a firm. Let us look at how flexibility helps firms. To maximize production for a given amount of gross capacity, one should minimize the interruptions due to machine breakdowns and the resource should be fully utilized. FMS permits the minimization of stations†² unavailability, and shorter repair times when stations fail. Preventive maintenance is done to reduce number of breakdowns. Maintenance is done during off hours. This helps to maximize production time. Cost of maintaining spare part inventories is also reduced due to the fact that similar equipment can share components. Hence we can see that higher the degree of flexibility of the workstation, the lower the potential cost of production capacity due to station unavailability. To make a product every day, the trade off between inventory cost and setup cost becomes important. However, each time the workstation changes its function, it incurs a set-up delay. Through flexibility one can reduce this set-up cost. [9] CAD/CAM aids in computerized tracking of work flow which is helpful in positioning inspection throughout the process. This helps to minimize the number of parts which require rework or which must be scrapped. FMS changes the outlook of inspection from a post-position to an in-process position. Hence, feedback is available in real time which improves quality and helps product to be within the tolerance level.[10] Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are virtually always used in conjunction with just-in-time (JIT) order systems. This combination increases the throughput and reduces throughput time and the length of time required to turn materials into products. Flexible Manufacturing Systems have a made a huge impact on activity-based costing.[11] Using these systems helps firms to switch to process costing instead of job costing. This switching is made possible because of the reduced setup delays. With set-up time only a small fraction of previous levels, companies are able to move between products and jobs with about the same speed as if they were working in continuous, process type environment. To look at another aspect of strategic benefits, enterprise integration can be facilitated by FMS. An agile manufacturer is one who is the fastest to the market, operates with the lowest total cost and has the greatest ability to delight its customers. FMS is simply one way that manufacturers are able to achieve this agility.[12] This has also been reported in many studies that FMS makes the transition to agility faster and easier. Over time, FMS use creates a positive attitude towards quality. The quality management practices in organizations using FMS differs from those not using it. The adoption of flexible manufacturing confers advantages that are primarily based upon economies of scope. As a result of aiming simultaneously at flexibility, quality and efficiency, the future manufacturing industry will strive towards: producing to order, virtually no stock, very high quality levels, and high productivity. [13] Disadvantages of Flexible Manufacturing System[14] Now that we have looked at the multiple advantages flexible manufacturing systems offer, the next obvious question is, if they are so good and so useful then why are they not ubiquitous by now? It is essential to look at the other side, especially the impact these systems have on costing, product mixes decided by the company and the inevitable trade- off between production rates and flexibility. Following are the major disadvantages that have been observed Complexity These sophisticated manufacturing systems are extremely complex and involve a lot of substantial pre planning activity before the jobs are actually processed. A lot of detail has to go into the processing. Often users face technological problems of exact component positioning. Moreover, precise timing is necessary to process a component. Cost of equipment[15] Equipment for aflexiblemanufacturingsystem will usually initially be more expensive than traditional equipment and the prices normally run into millions of dollars. This cost is popularly known as the Risk of Installation. Maintenance costs are usually higher than traditional manufacturing systems because FMS employs intensive use of preventive maintenance, which by itself is very expensive to implement. Energy costs are likely to be higher despite more efficient use of energy. Increased machine utilization can result in faster deterioration of equipment, providing a shorter than average economic life. Also, personnel training costs may prove to be relatively high. Moreover there is the additional problem of selecting system size, hardware and software tailor made for the FMS. Cost of automation in the form of computer integration is the most significant cost in a flexible manufacturing system. The components require extensive computer control. Also, the costs of operation are high since a machine of this complexity requires equally skilled employees to work or run it. Adaptation Issues There is limited ability to adapt to changes in product or product mix. For example, machines are of limited capacity and the tooling necessary for products, even of the same family, is not always feasible in a given FMS. Moreover, one should keep in mind that these systems do not reduce variability, just enable more effective handling of the variability. Equipment Utilization Equipment utilization for flexible manufacturing systems is sometimes not as high as expected. Example, in USA, the average is ten types of parts per machine. Other latent problems may arise due to lack of technical literacy, management incompetence, and poor implementation of the FMS process. It is very important to differentiate between scenarios where FMS would be beneficial (ex, where fast adaptation is the key) and those where it wouldnt (ex where a firms competency is based on minimizing cost). Product/Job Costing[16] Arguably the biggest disadvantage of flexible manufacturing systems is the difficulty faced by the company in allocating overhead costs to jobs. Usually, several products share the same resources with different consumption characteristics. Ideally, the overhead allocation should be directly proportional to the resource consumption. But this becomes complicated in the case of flexible manufacturing systems since it is very difficult to estimate which product used which machine for which purpose and for how long. Often this leads to under costing of some products and consequently over costing of others. In systems that use FMS, usually the fixed costs are quite high due to the following reasons: * The machines are costly, material handling is more expensive and the computer controls are state of the art, thereby leading to a higher depreciation than seen in traditional manufacturing systems. * A lot of items which are otherwise usually treated as direct costs are counted under indirect costs in case of flexible manufacturing systems. For example, labour is normally attributed to the job directly done, but in FMS, the same workers work on machines that usually run two jobs simultaneously. Hence even labour costs are to be treated as overhead or indirect costs. * In order to ensure smooth running of the flexible manufacturing systems, a lot of support activities carried out by engineers and technicians. Keeping the above points in mind, we can infer that in order to cater to these scenarios, Activity Based Costing techniques are used with FMS to reduce distortion of product costs. FMS Adoption in Automobile Industry The Flexible manufacturing system has been adopted extensively in the manufacturing industry in this day and age. It addresses the issue of automation and process technology which is a key area for concern of manufacturing management along with inventory production planning and scheduling and quality. One industry which has extensively adopted this system is the Automobile Industry. Almost all global giants now follow the Flexible Manufacturing system and many have developed their own manufacturing system keeping FMS as an integral part of it. The Big Three of the American Automotive Industry namely General Motors, Ford Motors and Chrysler Motors enjoyed a monopolistic environment for a very long time. This in some way inhibited their innovation capabilities as there was no competition in the market which could drive them to innovate. These companies, therefore, maintained production facilities that were suitable for mass production of any single model, which ensured economies of scale and plant profitability. But gradually as Asian car makers gained prominence in the automotive market, the Big Three of the United States faced huge challenges across all product lines. The main Asian competitors that came into picture were Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi from Japan and Hyundai from South Korea. With these Asian countries exporting vehicles to the United States of America, competition heightened and the profitability of the Big Three decreased. To improve its profitability and maintain its market share Chrysler Corporat ion, General Motors and Ford Motor Company employed Flexible Manufacturing System in their production lines following what had been started in Japan. The essential driving force for adoption of FMS in Automobile industry is 1. The emphasis on increasing product variety and individualization has created a strong need to develop a flexible manufacturing system to respond to small batches of customer demand. 2. Cost savings were required to be more competitive. Newer varieties needed to be introduced in lesser time and at lesser cost. Given below are examples of some companies and their motive for adopting FMS as well as the benefits that they have achieved through it Japanese Companies and Latest FMS Toyota Toyota has been at the forefront of adopting flexible manufacturing system which has been in place since 1985. In 2002, Toyota unveiled its Global Body Line (GBL), a radical, company-wide overhaul of its already much-envied FMS.[17] The GBL process was developed so Toyota could implement a common vehicle-assembly â€Å"platform† at any and all of its worldwide assembly locations — regardless of volume or method of assembly. GBL helps Toyota to meet its goal â€Å"To seamlessly manufacture our products in any country, at any volume† The advantages that GBL delivers over the older FBL system of Toyota are * 30% reduction of the time a vehicle spends in the body shop. * 70% reduction in time required to complete a major model change. * 50% cut in the cost to add or switch models. * 50% reduction in initial investment. * 50% reduction in assembly line footprint. * 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions due to lower energy usage. * 50% cut in maintenance costs. More than 20 of Toyotas 24 worldwide body lines already have been converted, and the rest either are in the process of conversion or will be refitted for GBL in conjunction with upcoming model changes. Operations in Toyota Older Flexible Body Line (FBL) System : Each vehicle would require three pallets — each tightly gripping either a major bodyside assembly or the roof assembly and assuring its adherence to dimensional hard points — as the body panels travelled through the various stages of welding to the floorpan and to one another. Three pallets limited the number of vehicles that could be in the build sequence at any given time in some plants the number was 50. Also, the design of the pallets — which held the bodysides and roof panels from the outside — limited the access of welding robots and required a lot of floor space. Planners had to â€Å"guess† about how many pallets to build and work that guess into the plants vehicle mix (FBL-equipped plants could handle as many as five different models). Bad guesses about pallet allocation were very costly. Also, quick reaction to a change of production mix was discouraged by the 3-pallet system. Newer Global Body Line (GBL) System : GBL design solves those problems by replacing FBLs three pallets with a single pallet, one that now holds all three major body panels from the inside. This â€Å"master pallet,† layout eliminates the need for predicting initial pallet demand. Since each model or variant requires only the lone pallet, switching new models in or out of the production mix is a breeze. Thus the 70% reduction in time required to facilitate a model change[18]. GBL doubles the amount of floor space that can be occupied by robots, and, on a GBL tour here, every inch appears to be used. In the Georgetown plant of Toyota, the floor space freed by GBL allows a second GBL line — helping the plant achieve a recently announced capacity increase to 500,000 units. Highly advanced robots are central to leveraging the advantages of the GBL layout the system was designed to make the most of new-generation body shop robots that are smaller, more precise and more energy efficient. The number of robots has increased from about 250 to nearly 350. GBL system is enhanced by initial vehicle designs that ensure commonality for various hardpoints. This makes it easier to accommodate a variety of models: GBL-ready plants now can build as many as eight, rather than five with the FBL system. However even with the ability to produce eight different models, there is a limit to GBLs flexibility. Once pressed, engineers admit that not everything Toyota makes, from Vitz to Land Cruiser, can be produced on a single GBL line. There are two siz