Build a Better House - With Dirt

Tomorrows homes may be made of glass and steel—or they may resemble the shelters built by our prehistoric ancestors. Architects and engineers are taking a new look at ancient building techniques, including building with earth products. Imagine a magical building material. Its cheap, perhaps even free. Its plentiful everywhere, worldwide. Its strong enough to hold up under extreme weather conditions. Its inexpensive to heat and cool. And its so easy to use that workers can learn the necessary skills in a few hours. This miraculous substance isnt only cheap as dirt, it is dirt, and its winning new respect from architects, engineers, and designers. One look at the Great Wall of China will tell you how durable earthen construction can be. And, concerns for the environment and energy conservation make ordinary dirt look downright appealing. What does an earth house look like? Perhaps it will resemble the 400-year-old Taos Pueblo. Or, tomorrows earth homes may take on surprising new forms. Types of Earth Construction An earth house can be made in a variety of ways: AdobeRammed EarthCob (mud with straw)Compressed Earth BlocksStraw Bale (not really earth, but very organic) Or, the house may be made with concrete but earth sheltered underground . Learning the Craft How many people live or work in buildings constructed of earth? The folks at eartharchitecture.org estimate that 50% of the worlds population spend much of their time in earthen architecture. In a global market economy, its time that more developed nations take note of this statistic. Traditional adobe homes in the American Southwest have wooden beams and flat roofs, but Simone Swan and her students at the Adobe Alliance have discovered the African mode of construction, with arches and domes. The result? Beautiful, ultra-strong, and energy-efficient homes, echoing the adobe domes built along the Nile centuries ago and being built today like earth igloos in places like Namibie and Ghana in Africa. No one can argue with the environmental benefits of using mud and straw. But the ecological building movement does have critics. In an interview with The Independent, Patrick Hannay, from the Welsh School of Architecture, attacked the straw bale structures at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales. There would appear to be little aesthetic leadership here, Hannay said. But, you be the judge. Does responsible architecture have to be unsightly? Can a cob, straw bale, or earth sheltered home be attractive and comfortable? Would you like to live in one? Designing a More Beautiful Mud Hut The African earth igloos, however, come with a stigma. Because of primitive construction methods, mud huts have been associated with housing for the poor, even if building with mud is a proven architecture. The Nka Foundation is trying to change the mud hut image with an international competition. Nka, an African word for artistry, challenges designers to give these ancient building practices a modern aesthetic that is missing. The challenge outlined by the Nka Foundation is this: The challenge is to design a single-family unit of about 30 x 40 feet on a plot of 60 x 60 feet to be built by maximum use of earth and local labor in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The client of your design is the middle-income family in any township of your choice in the Ashanti Region. Total costs of constructing the design entry must not exceed $6,000; land value is excluded from this price point. The entry should serve as an example to the local people that mud architecture can be beautiful and durable. The need for this competition tells us several things: How something is built can have little to do with aesthetics. A home can be well-made but ugly.Attaining status through architecture is nothing new; creating an image transcends socio-economic class. Design and construction materials, the essential tools of architecture, have the power to make or break stigma. Architecture has a long history of design principles that often get lost through the years. Roman architect Vitruvius set a standard with 3 Rules of Architecture—Firmness, Commodity, and Delight. Heres hoping that earth igloo construction will rise to the level of being built with more beauty and delight. Learn More: Winners of the Mud House Design 2014 CompetitionTour a village of earth-walled homes in Loreto Bay, MexicoAdobe Mud: Building With Earth by Catherine Wanek, Mother Earth News, June/July 2009Earth Architecture by Ronald Rael, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010Earth Architecture in Iran: Earth Buildings, Mud Architecture, Sustainable Architecture, Rammed Earth, Mud Bricks by Hamed Niroumand, LAP, 2011Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction by Paul Graham McHenry, Jr., University of Arizona Press, 1989 Sources: Architecture: A house made of straw by Nonie Niesewand, The Independent, May 24, 1999; eartharchitecture.org; 2014 Mud House Design Competition [accessed June 6, 2015]

Advertisement and Food - 1818 Words

â€Å"Marketing is a social process by individuals and groups of people get what they need and what they want through creating, offering and negotiating free products and services of value with others†. However, actuality, the intense marketing of food toward the children, in fact, have offered what they need? What a child needs to eat when the question is what kind of food? There is the possibility of a child, too young, that does not have a defined taste, who can not tell exactly what they are eating and also they are not aware of the nutritional value of foods, be skilful to have a wish? Would have a child under one year, the ability to want a specific type of food which they never experienced before? So, who needs what and who is desiring to by whom? Children, parents, or the advertising of foods? Currently, vehicles of transmission to the public are increasingly dispersed. Most advertising messages relating to food have younger target audience. The use of food to differe nt marketing vehicles of information has allowed reach an increasing number of child consumers and consequently their parents since they allow entry of marketing in their homes or food choices outside when they buy products that children ask. For consequence, they are contributing to change their habits and feeding behavior, so children become not healthy, overweight and obesity. The kids are all the time being visually exposed through various types of marketing related to food advertising from the media,Show MoreRelatedEssay on Food Advertisements 2423 Words   |  10 Pages When my family moved away from the place I grew up I began to have a major problem with my weight; I turned to food to comfort me. I somehow felt secure while eating and because of that psychological reassurance I got from the food, I was soon over weight. I knew I had to do something but that urgency would die when I would be introduced to a new flavor of Brewster’s ice cream or a limited time only su preme large fries that I saw advertised on the television or in a magazine. My self esteem andRead MoreFood Advertisement Paper2017 Words   |  9 PagesWhy Were Advertisements Developed and How Have they Changed? An important topic in the late 1920’s was food. Since it was around the time of the Great Depression money was scarce and food was important for survival. In order to make money and beat competitors, companies had to get their products well known and keep their prices low. One way businesses did this was by either sponsoring a radio show or putting their product on paper, which was the beginning of advertising. This was significantRead MoreAn Advertisement On The Food / Drink Industry958 Words   |  4 Pageswhere we are, we will always see some form of an advertisement, whether it be a commercial, billboard, or anything else that a company uses to broadcast their product. Every company does it or else they won t have their product/business noticed by the public. On an average, American s are shown to be susceptible anywhere from 250 to 3000 advertisements per day.One of the most dominant advertising strategies used today is the use of false advertisements. False advertising is being used every day toRead MoreFast Food Advertisements Essay1002 Words   |  5 PagesThe power advertisements have to influence decisions and affect people’s lives is astounding. They are meant to be big, bright, and flashy to try and attract people to buy their products. Ads are also impossible to avoid. You cannot walk down the street, watch television, or browse the internet without seeing ads all over the place. The problem with this is that younger people can be too easily swayed by these ads and the results have many negative consequences. These upbeat and catchy commercialsRead MoreFast Food Advertisement Regulations1959 Words   |  8 PagesZachary Buerkle November 12, 2012 Is fast food the new tobacco? Should government further regulate fast food advertisements as done with tobacco advertisements? On June 22 of 2010, over ten years of intensive planning from the FDA would finally result in the extensive regulation of the $89 billion tobacco industry. Although the newly created laws could not illegalize nicotine or tobacco, the FDA was given vast authority to regulate the ingredients in tobacco products as well as the way theyRead MoreEffects Of Food Advertisements On The Health Of Children1303 Words   |  6 PagesEffects of Food Advertisements on the Health of Children Unhealthy food advertisements are causing obesity and health problems for children. Influential advertisements that are constantly shown to children while they watch TV, motivate them to make poor food choices. Children start to believe that unhealthy and non ­nutritious foods often referred to as â€Å"junk food† are what they should consume. Young children are not aware of what consists a healthy diet and they over ­consume the unhealthy junkRead MoreThe Negative Influence Of Fast Food Advertisements2025 Words   |  9 Pagesof Fast Food Advertisements We all know that watching TV is bad. In fact, young children should not watch more than 2 hours of TV every day. The interesting fact is that we don t actually realize the seriousness of watching TV. Parents usually think that young children should not focus on a screen for more than a couple hours because it is not good for their eyes, but there is actually a much bigger issue about watching TV. Companies specifically design fast food advertisement to pushRead MoreFast Food Advertisements Should Be Banned872 Words   |  4 Pagesof fast food ads, one controversial issue has been that fast food ads can be held responsible for childhood obesity. On the other hand, most people contend that fast food ads shouldn’t be banned because there are a lot of people who love fast food. Others even maintain that if people banned fast food ads, children will go more into the drugs instead of fast food. My own view is that fast food ads shouldn’t be banned. I know that fast food ads can manipulate children and adults to buy food which canRead MoreHow Are Teenagers Affected By Advertisements For Fast Food?1468 Words   |  6 Pages Nowadays, the increasing number of companies decide to boost the investment of advertisements in order to propagandize the new products more effectively and efficiently. Munusamy and Wong argue that advertising has become one of the important elements in our modern life (Munusamy and Wong). According to the most recent forecast of US advertising spending, eMarketer expects US advertisers to spend $171.01 billion on paid media this year, up 3.6% over 2012 spending levels (US Total Media Ad SpendRead MoreThe Impact Of Nutrition Information On Advertisement Of Fast Food Chains Essay1313 Words   |  6 PagesThe impacts of nutrition information on advertisement of fast food chains The fast food industry in the U.S. has rapidly expanded in the past few decades (Hwang, 2013). In 2014, the industry has created a 3% current value growth, indicating its robust and continued ability in the U.S. market overall (Euromonitor, 2015). This strong increase has largely changed Americans’ lifestyle and eating habits; the amount of money they spend on fast food is more than that on education, readings and videos (Schlosser

This Is My Most Important Event in My Life Free Essays

A Significant Event I think in a human life, everyone has a significant event that they can’t forget. Mine is a poignant farewell party where I said good-bye to my family, my relatives, and my friends. Everyone was laughing and telling funny stories, but I wanted to be alone. We will write a custom essay sample on This Is My Most Important Event in My Life or any similar topic only for you Order Now I sat on the roof of my house and looked at the stars. It was very hard to leave. I knew I loved them so much and I didn’t truly want to go to the U. S. ; however, I decided I must go and make my own future. I realized that this was my chance to build my career which would benefit me and my family. It was an emotional evening. I will always remember it. It was a lovely day with a sunny morning, a cloudy afternoon, and a windy evening. That morning, I went to the America Embassy for an appointment with the delegate for an interview to receive my F-1 Visa. Maybe it was my lucky day. There were many people who wanted to get a Visa that day. I had waited more than three hours in the waiting room for my turn. I was nervous about what he would ask me. But the interview was easier than I thought. I passed it with a smile on my face. When my father knew I had passed the interview, he was really happy. He told me he would organize a big farewell party for me, and he did it. He invited all of our relatives and friends. Then we prepared everything for the upcoming party together. When all of us were in my house, we separated two groups. One went to market to buy food and beverages. Another group went to the bakery to buy a big farewell cake. We attended the farewell party with a happy atmosphere. During the evening, we took photos and sang the songs we loved. We had a feast with a diverse menu, which included appetizers, main dishes and the desserts. We were joking while we were cooking and eating. The meal was good, but I really enjoyed our affection for each other. After the dinner, we went to the living room to continue the party with playing cards and video games. After a while, my grandpa began telling us some his legend tales. Step by step, everybody told many funny stories that made me laugh too much. I knew everyone was sad that I would be leaving, but they still celebrated because they loved me. I realized it, and I laughed with them because I didn’t want them worry about me. On the other hand, I still wanted to be alone so that I could think about many things. I didn’t even know what I was thinking about. I just wanted to find a quiet space so that I could feel peaceful in my mind. I climbed up, sat on the roof and looked at the stars on the sky. Some thought started appearing in my mind. I knew when I left my country; my parents would be sad and worry about me. I thought about my younger brother, who was still a teenager and hoped he would start studying hard and listening to what my parents said. I was also concerned that I would not see my grandparents anymore because they were very old. I knew I would miss my aunts and uncles also. I thought about my friends and all the good time we’d had together. We still had many plans to perform together. Furthermore, I thought about my future. I might perceive and experience more things in the other culture. In addition, I was able to improve my English skill in listening as speaking. This was my opportunity in order to build my career according to my plan; this also was my chance so that I could found my own company. Otherwise, I would be independent. I imagined that how many troubles I would meet. Not only I didn’t scare, but I also felt interesting. I would figure them out and handled by myself. There were some reasons motivate me that I should left Vietnam to the U. S. That really was my significant event; the first time I seriously thought about a lot of things in one night. And now I realize I have matured more since I came here. I’m becoming a man. I may solve many problems as well as I know how to take care of myself. Nonetheless, I still miss my parents, my all relatives. I always want to graduate the University as fast as I can so that I could come back my country and visit all of them. How to cite This Is My Most Important Event in My Life, Papers

People Culture and Contemporary Leadership †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the People Culture Contemporary Leadership. Answer: Introduction People are the most important elements for every organisation. These forces keep alive organisations values and purpose. They are the source of creativity, innovation and inspiration in an organisation. This is the reason while human resource is considered one of the important assets for every organisation. Today most of the leading organisations are developing high performance culture through creating an organisation culture that empowers employees. This report is basically based on organisations peoples practices and employee engagement. The company chosen for research is Google it is a big multinational company dealing in internet related products. The study is on Google and its HR practices. It clearly outlines and analyses the HR practices that are adopted by the company. It also determines the level of employee engagement in the organisation. The report also recommends some initiatives that could be taken by company to increase employee engagement. Organisation overview Google is a multinational company having its headquarters in America. The company deals in internet related products and services. It was founded by Larry page and Sergey Brin in 1998. Sundar Pichai is the current CEO of Google. Google has shown a fast growth over the years. In the year 2004 Google made initial public offer and today the company stands amongst the most renounced companies of the world. Google summarises its journey from garage to Googleplex (Google 2017). Companys vision statement is providing the worlds information at a single click. Googles mission is to collect the worlds information and provide it to the users universally (Thompson 2017). Both vision and mission statements guide the companys current practices. Both vision and mission statements run parallel to each other and guide the current practices of the company. It outlines four basic components namely worlds information, universal accessibility, one click and usefulness. Company maintains huge database as a collection to worlds information and provides universal accessibility at one click through its search engines world-wide. Easy access ensures that information is available for utilisation. Googles success can be credit to its effective organisation structure and culture. Google has matrix kind of organisation structure with some degree of flatness. It doesnt have that old convectional style of organisational structure. It has cross- functional organisation structure. Googles organisation structure is a blend of three characteristics function based, product based and flatness. Google has manpower strength of 75053 in the year 2016 (Statista 2017). Google effectively manages its huge and diverse workforce in the organisation. Google has its offices worldwide and headquarters in California, USA. The company has its operations around the globe. HR strategy of organisation Google is amongst the companies that have the best HR policies and practices in the world. The HR approach that Google uses is known as peoples analytics. People analytics can be defined as the data driven approach to inform your people about programmes, practices and processes. At Google its employees are known as Googlers. This approach is the used to inform Googlers about everything that company does to find, grow and keep people. The company is having the best strategies and polices to attract exceptionally talented pool of technologists and business people. The recruitment strategies of Google are aimed at attracting innovative and talented people who are ready to spend long hours in office. It tries to appoint people who are comfortable with flat organisation structure and working in teams. Google works on the principal that little things have big impact it offers various small benefits to make itself the best company to work for. Google offers it employees healthy snacks and m eals time to time. Google moms are allowed paid maternity leaves of 18 weeks. Company also allows its employees to bring pets to the office. Google clearly understands the theory of collectivism and individualism. In collectivism culture group performance is considered whereas in individualism the individual performance is taken into consideration (DeMooij 2015). Google appraises both team efforts and individual performance depending on the culture of country. Another HR strategy of Google is not having formal meetings; it has casual conversations in cafes or in lunch hours to increase employee participation. People and HR practices that exist within organisation Google has the pool of highly skilled and talented workforce. The company is able to maintain this workforce and keep its employees happy through its various HR practices (Bulygo 2013). Google has replaced subjective decision making approach in HR to data based decision making this is known as peoples analytics. People analytics team at Google analyse data to identify insights correlations and to provide recommended actions. This approach is the major HR practice or element for Google in achieving corporate greatness (Sullivan 2013). Employee training programmes at Google are also well designed and developed to maximise the benefits of training programme for both employee and the company. To make training programme more effective the company uses need analysis to identify different types of needs and design training programmes accordingly. The company tries to maximise the workforce efficiency with taking guidelines from Maslows need hierarchy theory. It has 5 categories of needs i.e . physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation needs (Datta 2014). The company tries to increase the employee motivation by fulfilling the5 levels of need. The company tries to fulfil these needs by providing attractive perks, long term employment, free food in office, recognition for performance etc. The companies HR practices are designed in such a way to keep workforce happy so that they can better concentrate of work rather than other issues. Google shows concern for its people, this helps to retain and attain premium quality workforce in the organisation. Examination of employee engagement Employee engagement can be defined as the approach in which the workplace offers the employee an environment that keeps him or her motivated to work enthusiastically with full dedication and commitment to attain organisational goals. In other words the organisation should give the employee a sense of belongingness so that employee can work for the organisation in an enhanced way (Anitha 2014). Google is the prime example of extraordinary employee engagement. For employee engagement nothing can be taken as the best formula company needs to continuously analyse the environment and needs to develop new thinking and actions. Google maintains employee engagement in the organisation by empowering its employees by transparency. Transparency increases employee engagement as employees want to part of something that has no hidden agendas. Employees at Google spend 20 per cent of time in activities other than normal work this promotes a creative culture in the organisation. Google aims to leave no stone unturned when it comes to employee caring. The company creates employee engagement by creating a caring and welcoming work environment for employees. Google- O Meter is a device used by Google that gives its employees an opportunity to air their views on various matters and potential cultural changes (Phelps 2016).All these measures help Google to maintain remarkable employee engagement in the organisation. Structured plan of initiatives that could increase employee engagement To form structured plan of initiatives that could increase employee engagement we need to identify determinants of employee engagement. Key determinants of employee engagement include job role, organisational support, rewards recognition, training development and organisational leadership and planning (Gujral and Jain 2013). The next step is to identify the possible outcomes of employee engagement. Possible outcomes include employee satisfaction, organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour (Albrecht et al. 2015). After analysing the predictors and potential outcomes of employee engagement successful plan can be developed. One initiative could be developing employees strength. This could be done with the application of R2 strength profiler. R2 strength profiler is a scientific way to develop and measure various strengths of employees (Albdour and Altarawneh 2014). This initiative will enhance the training and development procedure at the company and increase e mployee satisfaction. Another initiative that could be taken is introduce engagement as service measure on score card. This plan can be implemented by having an agreed engagement target score for each business unit that employees are measured against. This will impact the rewards and recognition predictor of employee engagement and help to enhance employee engagement in the company. Both the initiatives will not only impact the employee engagement in the organisation but will also result into improved productivity, high level of customer satisfaction, improved financial growth, staff retention, high morale of employees and ensures employee well-being. Conclusion It can be concluded that Google is an organisation that is working best for its employees. Google has adopted various HR practices such as free food, attractive perks, flat organisational structure, fun activities in the office, allowing pets in the office, paid maternity leaves and much more. The company has adopted these practices to ensure employee engagement in the organisation. The company works on Maslows theory of motivation and does it best to keep its workforce motived and enthusiastic to work. Google cultivates the culture of innovation and creativity in the organisations. The company believes in freeing the talent of the people and empowering its employees. The company effectively and efficiently manages its workforce to attain its mission and vision. The company is already a remarkable example for outstanding employee engagement but still two initiatives that could help the company are introducing engagement as a measure on score card and working to increase employees str engths. References Albdour, A.A. and Altarawneh, I.I., 2014. Employee engagement and organizational commitment: Evidence from Jordan. International Journal of Business, 19(2), p.192. Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35. Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International journal of productivity and performance management. Bulygo, Z. 2013. Inside Googles Culture of Success and Employee Happiness, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/googles-culture-of-success/ Datta, Y., 2014. Maslows hierarchy of basic needs: An ecological view. Oxford Journal: An International Journal of Business Economics, 8(1). De Mooij, M., 2015. Cross-cultural research in international marketing: clearing up some of the confusion. International Marketing Review, 32(6), pp.646-662. Google, 2017. Our story, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://www.google.com/intl/en/about/our-story/ Gujral, H.K. and Jain, I., 2013. Determinants and outcomes of employee engagement: A comparative study in information technology (IT) sector. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences, 2(5), pp.207-220. Phelps, S. 2016. Learning From Google: 15 Ways To Drive Employee Engagement, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://www.purplegoldfish.com/learning-green-goldfish-google-15-ways-drive-employee-engagement/ Statista, 2017. Number of full-time Alphabet employees from 2007 to 2016, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/273744/number-of-full-time-google-employees/ Sullivan, J. 2013. How Google Became the #3 Most Valuable Firm by Using People Analytics to Reinvent HR, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://www.eremedia.com/ere/how-google-became-the-3-most-valuable-firm-by-using-people-analytics-to-reinvent-hr/ Thompson, A. 2017. Googles Vision Statement Mission Statement, viewed on 12 August 2017 from https://panmore.com/google-vision-statement-mission-statement